Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
SHOWER
WITH
YOUR
ROOMIE
33
AND MORE
WAYS YOU CAN
SAVE THE PLANET
+PLUS
JASON SCHWARTZMAN
The Coppola Connection
STUDIES THAT SIZZLE Fall 2007
$0
From B.A. to Gourmet Spare a tree,
share this
magazine!
fall_2007 current
green fever
Back to School:
Green for a Week. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18 departments
Current asks one ordinary student to take on a Sports:
lifestyle that would make Al Gore proud. “Inconve- A League of Their Own . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
nient” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Are big-spending schools making a financial foul
Eat Your Words (And Veggies) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 by blowing money on the court when they should
How to shop green without breaking bank. be funding the classroom?
Making an Eco-Abode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
From silk and hemp undies to stapleless staplers, features: next_step Health:
Killing Ourselves Softly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
everything you need for a greener school year.
We’re all going to die. Does anyone care?
Divining Their Futures 32
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .
Cover Story: Running on Empty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Most of us can’t even decide what to wear each day,
Easy Being Green 22
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .
When working out gets out of control.
let alone what we’re called to do with our lives. But
Kermit was wrong—well, partially. It may take
these faithful few are ready to do God’s work. Relationships:
a lot of hard work and ingenuity, but these six
campuses are proving that college students can Let’s Talk About Sext, Baby . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
Fast Money ................................................. ......... 36
save the world, one group shower at a time. Text messages change the rules of romance. A
I-banking lures a host of liberal arts grads with
vibrator that talks back.
Plus: promises of big bucks and a lavish lifestyle in ex-
Campus Green-o-Meter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 change for long days and longer nights. Will you be YourTurn:
What 16 tree-hugging campuses are doing right... seduced, too? Returning to Tech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
and wrong. One student reflects on the school year ahead.
Cooking by the Books .............................. 38
clipfile Blending an undergrad education with a dash of interview
current’s news and tips for campus life. daring, a new breed of Top Chef hopefuls bring the Last Word:
Therapy Pets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 classroom to the kitchen. Arnold Schwarzenegger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Blind science, footbaths, fundraising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 The Kindergarten Cop has graduated to tackling
Freshmen, theses and bad speeches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 backspin global challenges, using his famous face (and bod)
Pogs, underage drinking and cellies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7 Student Body. . . . . . . 43 Talent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 along with his political clout to take on the
Rutgers b-ball and bad applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Not quite hippie, not Keep an eye out for biggest issues of tomorrow.
Second Life and summer jobs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 quite hipster. We dare these young virtuosos.
you to define Alex. Spinto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Fashion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Six guys, three guitars,
On the Cover:
Christina Bell, Shannon Holste and Word art tees. one state: Delaware.
Emily Richardson, environmental Film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Playlists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
activists at Washington College. Ugh, not another 3rd. Like Party Shuffle, but
Photographed by Jim Graham. Schwartzman . . . . . . 46 made by humans.
His wild ride.
This page: Photo by Mirando Popkey; Illustration by Phillip Fivel Nesson; Photo by Ari Gunnarson fall 2007 | current 1
editors_note
xx
2 current
current | spring
| fall 2007
2007
current If you
went to…
Current Editorial Staff
Executive Editors | Rachel Johnson, Rebecca Rohr
Managing Editors | Sarah Kliff, Daniel Stone You’d be
Section Editors | Alexandra Hiatt,
Rebecca Kaden, Chip Sheridan
Staff Writers | Jane Gagnon, Temilola Sobowale
Copy Editors | Sophie Brickman,
able to…
Vivek Ravishanker, Kurt Soller
Staff Editors | Alicia Cowley, Lina Jun, Cecilia Soler
Art Institute in Philadelphia: go from Appetizers to Zeitgeist, p.37
Creative Consultant | Michael E. Jones
Editorial Director | Samantha Henig Arizona State: say no to Styrofoam, p.30
Editorial Advisor | Mark Starr Berea: call a biodome your home, p.29
Bowdoin: help Step It Up, p.30
In This Issue... Clemson: live life on the beat, p.9
Jen Ator Tatiana Lau College of the Atlantic: take apart Big Boxes, p.6
Allie Baker Catherine Lauigan Columbia: be wined and dined, p.36
Taylor Barnes Elizabeth Lewis
Alex Benenson Dan Loeterman Cornell: turn a tropical paradise even greener, p.9;
David Benjamin Janie Lorber stand the heat in Hell’s Kitchen, p.40
Lyndsie Bourgon Jackie Mantey
Robert Bowman Danielle McNally Delaware Valley: summer with lions, tigers and bears, p.9
Hillary Brody Joseph Midkiff Drake: dial up the heat, p.14
Katie Connolly Jemimah Noonoo
Ariel Davis Ruth Olson Earlham: meet “Jesus,” p.32
Matt Donnelly Robert Padnick Eastern Illinois University: explode onto the scene, p.8
Ben Eisen Jennifer Pelly
Sabina Ellahi Julianne Pepitone Emory: watch your food grow, p.31;
Katherine Evans Jody Pollock bump into the Dalai Lama, p.34
Michael Fodera Miranda Popkey
Peter Fritch Oscar Raymundo Florida: win the big game...x2, p.10
Jane Gagnon Sarina Rosenberg Harvard: smell Robert from a mile away, p.18;
Nikki Greenwood Kiersten Rowland
Dan Haley Chip Sheridan send your avatar to class, p.9
Matt Harper Temilola Sobowale Haverford: help kids play nice, p.9
Isia Jasiewicz Daniel Stone
Candice Jones Tara Tavernia Macalester: save your change, p.24
Maura Judkis Rory Wallace Northwestern: fight the power, p.6
Rebecca Kaden Trisha Wolf
Sarah Kliff Jordan Worley Ohio State: travel in high style, p.10
Carolyn Kylstra Amanda Yezerski Penn: work hard and party harder, p.37
Parsons: turn your shoes into a hat, p.49
Current Project for Student Journalism Reed: sleep with the fishes, p.31
Rochester Institute of Technology: share the Big Love, p.6
Current Business Staff
Director of Business Operations | Chip Sheridan School for Visual Arts: cross-dress with confidence, p.43
Director of Marketing | Peipei Zhang Southern Illinois: warn friends not to order the worm tea, p.25
Director of Recruitment | Ada Pema Tufts: do it in the dark, p.30
Staff Director | April Qian
Interim Director of Finance | Rebecca Anders
UC-San Diego: put stars on the map, p.9
Legal Counsel | David S. Korzenik University of New Orleans: get a virtual tan, p.9
Business Advisor | Paul Gillespie UMich-Dearborn: keep your feet squeaky-clean, p.5
UNC-Chapel Hill: lose your training wheel, p.49
Newsweek, Inc.
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief | Richard M. Smith UNC-Asheville: set your soundtrack a-simmer, p.51
President and Chief Operating Officer | Harold Shain Union: have a beer without fear, p.7
Executive Vice President, World Wide UVA: cook the books, p.38
Publisher | Gregory J. Osberg
Editor | Jon Meacham
Washington College: bathe by the buddy system, p.26
Managing Editor, Design | Amid Capeci West Virginia: make your mark in outer space, p.9
Consulting Editors | Brian Braiker, David Kaplan, Barbara Yale: be a real-life Planeteer, p.23;
Kantrowitz, Raina Kelley, Lisa Miller, Mark Starr, Peg Tyre
Senior Vice President, Manufacturing and
stay in Goldman Sachs’ sights, p.37
Distribution | Angelo Rivello
Manufacturing | Bill Barone, Becky Cassidy,
Kristin Denninger, Paul Smith, Lauren Pangione,
Kathy Magennis, Cintia Senmartin, John Nallen,
Vicki Randolph, Bob Serrano, Karen Stark
Distribution | Scott Bauer, Jack Widener
Advertising
Advertising Contact | Mongoose Atlantic, Inc. fall 2007 | current 3
646-467-6605, currentads@mongoosemedia.com
clipfile
die horribly on television, you
will not have died in vain. You
will have entertained us.”
— from Breakfast of Champions, by
Kurt Vonnegut, an American novel-
ist who attended Cornell, Carnegie
Mellon and the University of Tennes-
see and died in April at age 84
UNLEASHED
PROZAC
POOCHES
by Sarina Rosenberg,
Northwestern
Illustration by Eric Shansby; Photo by Aaron Mayes / University of Wisconsin-Madison fall 2007 | current 5
clipfile
THEN+NOW
Grad Speak
No graduation is complete
We all want to believe we’re from 13.6 percent in 1966 to without it: the often hokey,
nothing like our parents were at 19.1 percent in 2006. The most sometimes moving, rarely unique
our age, and new evidence shows significant decline was reported commencement speech. Here are
we’re right—sort of. UCLA’s by Jewish and Protestant fresh- some ’07 high- (and low-) lights.
Higher Education Research In- men, while the proportion THE SAD BUT TRUE
stitute has given a survey to hun- of self-reported Catholics re- Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Harvard
dreds of thousands of incoming mained fairly stable. Radcliffe was a great place to
college freshmen each year since > Race Card Denied: Over live. There were more women
1966, successfully collecting a third of students in 2006 [than men] up there, and most of
data from more than 8 million claimed that racial understand- the guys were science-math types.
students at more than 1,200 col- ing is “essential” or “very impor- That combination offered me the
leges and universities. tant,” but 19.1 percent declared best odds, if you know what I
How do we measure up? racism is no longer a major mean. This is where I learned the
Some of the findings aren’t at social concern. sad lesson that improving your
all surprising: kids from rich > Family Guy: odds doesn’t guarantee success.
Fight the Man:
families continue to attend pri- Despite the changing THE BUSH JOKE
Core values may
vate universities—no shocker have shifted, but times, we haven’t com- Washington Post’s Bob
there—while the number of we’re still our pletely abandoned our Woodward, Bucknell
parents’ kids.
minority students enrolling in family values—raising a I sent a copy of that 21-page
college is steadily growing, espe- moderation is definitely on the family is students’ No. 1 memo to President Bush. My
cially among Asian and Latino decline: more students than ever priority for life after college, a colleagues at the Washington
populations. But when it comes are labeling themselves either response that has held mostly Post said, “You sent George W.
to slightly more taboo topics, liberal or conservative. constant since 1966. Our eager- Bush a 21-page memo? You’re
the report noted shifting beliefs > God Is Dead: The per- ness to develop a meaningful crazy. There’s no evidence in all
about politics, God and race. centage of students claiming philosophy of life, however, has of Bush’s years at Yale and Har-
> Polar Opposites: Political no religious affiliation jumped steadily dwindled. ■ vard Business School that he ever
read anything that long.”
HEARD THAT ONE
BEFORE
Every year, tens of thousands of your classmates write thesis papers. Most are New York Times’ David
THESES too long, some are weirdly specific and a bunch are just plain boring. We combed Brooks, Wake Forest
PIECES last year’s batch to find a handful that seem worth a second glance. The average collegiate GPA for
a self-made millionaire is 2.7.
You know all those morons who
PAPERS THAT POP its narrative encourages viewers to sat in the back of the classrooms
“‘Products From the Bottom of Hell’: understand polygamy as an alter- goofing off? In a few years you’re
Rap Performances of the American native lifestyle and question their
going to have a new name for
Gothic Narrative.” Joe Bernstein, accepted notions of family.
them: Boss.
Northwestern University. An analy-
sis of how rap albums from the late ALTERNATIVE MEDIUM OBLIGATORY
’80s and ’90s by N.W.A., Public En- Instead of writing about legisla- ATTEMPT TO RELATE BY
emy and the Gravediggaz adopt and tion for a senior thesis, Elsie Flem- MENTIONING BEER
complicate the cultural tradition of ing and Daphne Loring created it. GM’s Rick Wagoner, Duke
fearing the “other” as a threat. The ’07 grads of the College of the 400 years ago today, Captain
Atlantic in Maine used their theses
John Smith landed in America,
“‘Polygamy Loves Company’: The to create an initial draft of a bill
met Pocahontas and, well, you
Narrative Construction of ‘Family’ requiring an impact study of all
in Big Love.” Carly Gioia, Rochester Cartoon Meta: In an animated companies seeking to build a “big know the rest. It took months be-
movie by Anthony Mair at the box” store in a Maine community. fore he could get a message back
Institute of Technology. Looks at
School of Visual Arts, characters
the hit HBO show about a polyga- find themselves acting in a That legislation passed—earning a to England: “Have landed in Vir-
mous family in Utah, arguing that student film that lacks a story. real-world summa—this June. ■ ginia. Send more beer.” ■
6 current | fall 2007 Photo: AP; Movie still courtesy of Anthony Mair
5 9 C M Y K
5
ON CAMPUS
night. But Union College found its pool, meet with professors and at- Some student scoff. One calls
Drink Up! answer in the Minerva program,
which turns a blind eye to underage
tend meals. They can also, regard-
less of age, imbibe with dinner.
the Minerva parties “really lame”
and says he only goes for the free
by Chip Sheridan,
drinking as a tactic to encourage The program provides a needed booze. Even so, the push for mod-
Dickinson College
partying responsibly. Now in its alternative to the binge-drinking eration may be working. “When
The Greeks dominate many fourth year, the program assigns all scene, says Tom McEvoy, the dean people drink at the Minervas,”
campus’ social scenes, making freshmen to one of seven Minerva of residential life and director of the another student says, it’s “not to go
admins struggle to take back the Houses where students can play Minerva program. out and get trashed.” ■
START-UP SUCCESS
SELLULARPHONE
by Jenna Youngs,
company sells an average of
1,000 phones per month on their
website, and they’ve generated
U. Missouri-Columbia more than $500,000 in total
sales in the past six months, ac-
After breaking his fifth cell cording to Laoruangroch.
phone in a year, Brian Laoruan- As part of its expansion plan
groch, a graduate of the Univer- to open more stores, including
sity of Missouria at Columbia’s one in Champaign, Ill., Green
business school, was fed up. Mobile produced an advertising
Determined to avoid shelling campaign featuring Laoruan-
out another $250 to Sprint, groch costumed as the “Green
Laoruangroch scoured eBay for a Mobile Man”—a hero deter-
phone compatible with his plan. mined to save customers from
Then he thought, if he could expensive cell phone purchases.
do this for himself, why not for Holt says customers come to
other hapless dialers in need of a them both to replace broken and
low-cost phone replacement? So lost phones and to upgrade to
Green Mobile, Inc. was born. better models at a lower price.
Gathering five fraternity panded to his own aptly named phones in bulk from distribu- “They want to change their
brothers as business partners, site, sellyoularphone.com, which tors, replaces old batteries with phones like they change their
Laoruangroch set off on a mis- he later replaced with gogreen- new ones and tests the phones shoes,” Holt says. “With our
sion to make replacing cell mobile.com. Now the six friends to ensure quality. Then they cat- phones they can just remove the
phones easier and cheaper. run both the website and a loca- egorize them by service provider SIM card, switch it out to a new
Initially selling used models tion in a Columbia, Mo. mall. compatibility on the site. phone and go.” That's a plan that
on eBay, Laoruangroch soon ex- Green Mobile purchases used Partner Davie Holt says the should get good reception. ■
clipfile
COURTSIDE
ESSENCE ON IMUS
by Matt Harper, Dickinson College
Essence Carson, the six-foot Current to discuss her whirlwind
guard for the Rutgers women’s year and her hopes for her last
basketball team, was thrust into season as a collegiate star.
the national spotlight along with Current: Looking back on the
her teammates last April during controversy surrounding Imus’
the Scarlet Knights’ exhilarating comments, how do you feel about
run to the NCAA championship how the situation unfolded?
game against the Tennessee Lady Essence Carson: A lot of Brave Knight:
Essence Carson takes
Vols—and again soon after, when people were pretty much expect-
charge on the court and
radio “shock jock” Don Imus made ing it to be a long, drawn-out soap in the Imus fallout.
his infamous comments about opera, but I believe we did a great
the team. As the team’s captain, job of keeping it short and sweet
Carson led the ladies through the and just being precise about what
media storm, appearing on TV message we wanted to convey to
programs including Larry King people across the country. I be- the people of their home state and Current: You’ve said that
Live, The Today Show and Oprah. lieve that we helped a lot of people at Rutgers. you would like to cap off your
Carson has been lauded for open their eyes. Current: There has been a career with an NCAA champi-
her eloquence in the Current: You told lot of buzz recently about Imus onship. Are you and the team
“Whenever
face of controversy as anyone thinks the country that Imus returning to radio in coming determined to accomplish that
well as her abilities on of this year’s “stole a moment of pure months. How do you feel about this year?
championship
the court, having been they automati- grace” from your team. that prospect? EC: Definitely. We realize
twice named Big East cally connect EC: Not only from EC: We expected him to come that, you know what, it’s going to
it with Imus.”
Defensive Player of the us, but also from the back. For him to come back on be that much harder than it was
Year and winning four gold med- championship team. Whenever the radio, more power to him. last year to return to that same
als with USA Basketball. Off the anyone thinks of this year’s cham- Who knows how he would host stage because right now we have
court, the Paterson, N.J. native is a pionship they automatically con- his show now? Maybe, just a target on our backs. So we have
music major who plays the piano, nect it with Imus. The only people maybe, he might watch what he to walk into every game like ev-
bass guitar, drums and saxophone. that pretty much realize that Ten- says, but I don’t think he needs eryone’s going to play their best
This summer she sat down with nessee won the championship are to prove anything to anyone. game when they play Rutgers. ■
DON’T
BE
THAT
GIRL
THIS APPLICATION BOMBED
by Current Staff
Ah, the college application suspicious appearance compelled envelope held a completed applica-
process. A universally beloved university officials to call the bomb tion, including three pieces of pa-
chance to cobble together 18 years squad to inspect the package. It per and a check to pay the submis-
of history—GPA, SATs, list of clubs took about five hours—and a run sion fee. Apparently that’s about
you went to once—into a package through an X-ray machine—for the all it takes to become a Panther at
of paperwork that conveys the very investigators to declare the ap- EIU, where the acceptance rate is a
core of your being. plication and the mail center area whopping 73 percent.
For one woman, that package safe. This student may have secured
got her more attention than she It comes as something of a sur- herself a slot in the freshman class,
bargained for. Her application to prise, then, that EIU administrators but we still think her application
Eastern Illinois University arrived to contain normal documents, with- decided to accept the student just faux pas was enough to earn admis-
on campus in an envelope that out a return address and with the 11 days later. According to campus sion into the ranks of girls and guys
seemed too small and overstuffed institution’s name misspelled. Its spokesperson Vicki Woodard, the you so don’t want to be. ■
SECOND LIFE
Virtual U.
BEYOND THE BUBBLE
A quick look at a world of summer jobs you could have had.
by David Benjamin,
JOHN RICE, CLEMSON ’09
UCLA HOMICIDE DIVISION
Greenville, SC
In Hurricane Katrina’s wake, Worked in County Sheriff’s Office
New Orleans’ colleges and uni- for a taste of real police work
versities shut down for months.
If there is another such disaster,
one local school intends to keep KRISTIN ANTONACCIO & WILLIAM CHANG,
DAVE KRAMER, UC-SAN DIEGO ’08
right on teaching. The University DELAWARE VALLEY ’09 INDIE MUSIC BIZ
of New Orleans, a public univer- EXOTIC FELINE CARE London, England
Boyd & Bridgeport, TX Kickstarted new U.K. & U.S.
sity with an enrollment of more Prepared food and cleaned cages indie-rock groups for young
than 17,000, has opened a virtual for lions, tigers, bobcats, cougars agency Traffic Marketing, Ltd.
and grizzly bear cubs
campus within the digital world
KATHRYN MONTALBANO,
Second Life, allowing students to HAVERFORD ’09
take courses online if their real- CONFLICT ZONE
Belfast, N. Ireland
world campus is hit by another Played team-building games with
crippling storm. cross-religious groups of kids to
break down social barriers
If you’ve somehow missed
the buzz, Second Life, run by
San Francisco’s Linden Lab, is a
virtual 3-D universe where users
create avatars (online charac-
ters) that interact. It’s like The
Sims—only you have to spend
real money to build a house, and
anyone in the world can be your
neighbor. The program serves as
a cheap and efficient way to set
up classes online: UNO paid only
$980 for its 16-acre “island”—a
slice of virtual real estate on
Second Life—plus an ongoing
monthly fee of about $200. More
than 60 schools, including Har-
vard, Princeton, Stanford and ANDREW
HEILMANN,
MIT, have already established a CORNELL ‘09
presence in Second Life. FOUR SEASONS
GREEN GLOBE
Although UNO is not re- Bali, Indonesia
quiring students to create ava- Met with local village
chiefs to promote eco-
tars—yet—several courses will be awareness at two Four
available online starting this fall. Seasons properties
While many were happy to hear
about the university’s participa-
tion, some, like junior Lauren
Miller, were a bit put off. She TATIANA ROSTOVTSEVA,
feels that the university should NORTHWESTERN ’09
REBECCA MCCAULEY, EDUCATION REFORM
“use resources elsewhere on cam- WEST VIRGINIA ’07 Accra, Ghana
pus” and says she had no trouble
NASA SPACE FLIGHT RESEARCH Helped write a standardized
Greenbelt, MD curriculum for a nursery school
with Blackboard after Hurricane Helped NASA scientists develop a in Ghana, learning hands-on
Mars dust sample reader expected about African education
Katrina. That may be, but you to be sent into space in 2009
can’t fly on Blackboard! ■
Infographic by Amanda Yezerski, reporting by Tara Tavernia and Elizabeth Lewis fall 2007 | current 9
sports_
Together Again:
Florida and Ohio State
battled it out for two
championships last
season. Coincidence?
NCAA High Rollers Texas draws you in with its recently reno-
vated, $150-million stadium. Michigan ups
the ante, showing you designs for its newly
approved $226-million renovation plan.
list of top college spenders, only two teams sports are public universities. So while their whopping $23.9 million—it used the
ranked lower than 15th—traditional athletic programs bloat with enormous money to buy new scoreboards for the foot-
football powerhouses Florida State and television deals, donations from alums and ball field and a plane for team travel, even
Miami—have won the Division I football ticket and merchandise sales, many of the as University Regents slashed $6 million
championship since 1991. That’s an inevi- same universities are also struggling to from the university budget as part of state-
table result of what John Fizel, co-editor cope with drastic spending cuts, a result of wide cuts. At Texas last year, just $1.2 mil-
of “Economics of College Sports,” calls the nationwide budget-trimming at the state lion of a $14.2-million athletic profit was
“arms war” of athletic spending. “Every level. At Florida, for example, enormous transferred back to university academics.
time someone adds a new facility—whether debt in the College of Letters, Arts and Sci- Meanwhile, tuition costs for students are up
it be a weight room, training facility, sta- ences cost the dean his job and led to major again—on average 5 percent over the past
dium or dorm—the other teams feel obli- cuts in the English and math departments two years—due to state scrimping. And at
gated to meet that,” says Fizel, who directs in the fall of 2006. The previous academic schools whose athletic departments are not
Penn State’s online MBA program. “If one year, Florida’s athletic department had self-sustaining—most schools, because ath-
gets ahead, they will have the advantage in turned a tidy profit of $4.2 million. But the letics are so expensive to maintain—money
recruiting, retaining athletes and winning.” profits generally end up in one of those ath- can pour directly from the university into
This arms race may result in part from letic department “reserve funds,” instead of sports even during tight times. Rutgers
the fact that, at some of the biggest spend- enticing scholars of Shakespeare or number University, for instance, faces massive
ers, the athletic departments are almost theory to Gainesville. Schools like Florida layoffs in an effort to close a $66-million
completely autonomous, often functioning have a way to bail out ailing academics, but spending deficit in the general university’s
with little oversight from university offi- the opportunity is being wasted. budget, but its athletic department received
cials, and, more importantly, with separate Rather than allowing athletic programs $14.5 million from those same general
operating budgets. Almost all of those ath- to hoard the profits, universities should be university funds in the ’04-’05 year. That’s
letic programs are self-sustaining, and tend held accountable for how they prioritize more than any other athletic department in
not to share their profits with the general spending. If athletic departments were the country, according to the Star’s review.
university. Instead, they funnel excess cash required to give a sizeable portion of their As the arms race spirals ever upward,
into reserve funds to be spent later on more profits back to the university, cash flow it risks compromising the competitive
expensive coaches, state-of-the-art facilities into starving academic programs would re- integrity that, among other charms, distin-
or perks for athletes. open and teams with smaller budgets could guishes the college game from pro sports.
Given the huge divide between the top compete more successfully with their There is little hope for re-
spenders and the next tier, it seems naive wealthy opponents. Of course, if ath- Schools like versing the trend in the near
not to take spending into account before we letic departments knew they had to Florida have future. The NCAA’s October
are wowed by some programs’ continued surrender profits at the season’s end, a way to bail report warned universi-
out ailing
success. We already do that with pro sports: they might find other ways to spend academics, ties to rein in the disparity
when the Yankees win the World Series, the money first. But that highlights but the between the rate of athletic
we love to denounce their bloated payroll the present system’s essential flaw: opportunity is and general spending, in-
as the decisive advantage. But when teams permitting those departments to op- being wasted. sisting that “the rate of such
with lesser funding win championships, as erate as autonomous fiefdoms within growth simply cannot be
the Marlins did when they beat the Yankees the university. maintained.” But the NCAA tends to move
in 2003, they are hailed as David slaying The NCAA does recognize this prob- toward reform at a glacial pace, so don’t
Goliath. lem. An October 2006 report on athletic count on any imminent policy changes to
While payrolls and salaries for the big spending released by the association urged level the playing field.
leagues are routinely discussed, budgets schools to make their revenue and expense In the meantime, nobody should be
barely earn a mention in the rah-rah cover- sheets more transparent and accessible. shocked to see another Florida and Ohio
age of big-time collegiate athletics. Yet we And it found that athletic spending at Divi- State “coincidence” in the BCS champion-
may be heading toward—or perhaps are al- sion I schools is increasing at a worrisome ship game this season. After all, the schools
ready in—an era when the top spenders like rate—three times that of the spending of have 180 million reasons between them
Ohio State and Florida become a Yankees- the general university. why it just might happen again. ■
esque super-elite, perpetually dominant So where does the money wind up now, if
across new seasons and changing line-ups. not with the university? It feeds right back Dan Loeterman is a sophomore majoring
Why should this concern anybody be- into the arms race and the competition to in journalism and poli-sci at the Universi-
sides fans of those poorer schools forced recruit the best players, says Fizel. In ’04- ty of Southern California. He has to admit
to battle with giants? Perhaps because 18 ’05, when Georgia’s athletics department that a huge athletic budget doesn’t seem so
of the 20 schools that spend the most on turned the largest profit of any school—a bad when your school is ranked No. 1.
health_
Grandpa’s Age
Sarah Kliff sizes up the risks of a sedentary lifestyle.
at Columbia, who has not had a check-up
in three years. “I don’t overindulge or gorge
myself, but I also don’t keep track of what I
am eating.”
That’s not good enough, according to
Don’t know your cholesterol, do you? Didn’t think so. a recent study of 800 University of New
Hampshire undergrads, which found that
60 percent of male students had high
blood pressure and more than two thirds of
women were not getting enough calcium,
iron or folate. The researchers also looked
for risk factors like elevated blood pressure,
high cholesterol and insulin resistance—all
signs that point to an increased chance of
coronary heart disease and type II diabetes.
More than half the students in the study
showed signs of at least one of those risk
factors.
“Many of the students were astounded
that they could be at risk for what they
viewed as elderly-related diseases,” said
Joanne Burke, a researcher who led the
UNH study.
Jordan Caley is among those students. A
nutrition major at UNH, Caley says she has
usually paid attention to health issues and
watched what she ate. But until this study,
she never thought about checking her blood
pressure or cholesterol. “You never hear of
a 20-year-old having a heart at-
“Many of the tack,” she says. “Nutritional con-
students were
astounded cerns in college are much more
relationships_
found her lurking in the corners of bars
jumping (literally) when her cell vibrated.
She couldn’t get enough of her text-lovin’
fling and his sexy—and sort of creepy—late-
night messages. “Why don’t you just call
him?” I finally asked. Looking horrified,
she said, “We’d have nothing to say to one
another.” Exactly.
Maybe texting was always the doom of an
AOL Instant Messenger generation: these
are the same kids who spent middle-school
years in front of computer screens during
the wee hours, always just a click away from
learning friends’ and crushes’ deepest se-
crets (or sexiest 13-year-old thoughts). Now
they’ve turned to text messaging for a simi-
lar rush. Like AIM, texting feels pleasingly
illicit, as if we know this isn’t what we’re
supposed to do with our machines.
But a dependence on texting can com-
plicate early courtship. Let’s say my law
boy had returned my message—what next?
Maybe we’d keep texting back and forth in
the pre-dawn hours, maybe the texts would
turn salacious, maybe I’d decide I kind of
Sexting Up Ur Nite
Andrea L. Zimmerman knows that starting a romance
like him. But even if I did, it wouldn’t mean
much. In the nebulous realm of texting,
there is always the possibility that he’s con-
sulting his funnier friends for a good line,
should be hard...but texting is so temptingly easy. or that his auto spelling function is masking
his poor grasp of the English language.
texting. We’re
whole other story. We’re no longer sexting. And it
real relationship by then, the
romance in the language of T9 is a We’re not just kind where we do our pillow
talk face-to-face rather than
be worse: at least he doesn’t have a lame, just texting; we’re sexting. And comes with screen-to-screen. But hell, if
rambling voicemail of mine saved on his sometimes it’s dirtier—and more its own set a few more decades of texting
phone to laugh about. complicated—than the real thing.
of symbols, means I’ll never have to make
thrills and
It was just one of many times I’ve leaned Take my friend Jess, a bona fide complications. awkward small talk on my cell
on the crutch of text messaging to get me sext goddess. After a one-week again, I’ll hold off on intimacy
through the otherwise awkward early weeks spring fling with an older guy, she parted until I’m 50.
of a budding relationship—a time normally ways with him, only to launch into a full- Yesterday, my phone rang. It was the law
marred by stilted small talk and fumbling fledged sext relationship upon her return. student. I stared at the screen in disbelief. I
phone conversations. Believe me, I know We’re talking XXX. The seemingly playful stared for so long I missed the call. Call me
that texting is the furthest thing from deep, “What are you wearing?” turned into “Tell back, the voicemail said. So I texted him. ■
unbridled romance. But it’s just so easy, so me what you want me to do to you,” which
safe; I can concoct a winning message in turned into things I will not write lest my Andrea Zimmerman is a senior journalism
no time and shake off a losing response just father ever read this. Jess could get any major at Drake University. She is grateful
as fast. guy she wants, yet the post-vacation weeks her parents still pay her cell phone bill.
your_turn
S leep-deprived and
with eyes still raw from
crying, I walked up the
stairs of Burruss Hall
after an interview with
CNN. Burruss is normally a bustling
scene; it houses the president’s of-
fice, administrative offices and the
office of undergraduate admissions.
be measured by it either. Going forward,
each member of the community must
show the watching world what makes
this school amazing: our unbreakable
spirit.
Tech’s newest class has quickly learned
the sense of pride each Hokie carries.
More than 5,000 students accepted
Tech’s offer of admission, making the
But two days after the shooting Class of 2011 the largest (and most aca-
that scrawled our university’s name demically impressive) class in our his-
across televisions and computer tory. Admissions did not pull any from
screens worldwide, the stairwell felt its waiting list of 1,441.
empty and somber. As a tour guide, But though the class of 2011 can make
I work closely with admissions of- The class of ‘11 a fresh start on campus, upperclassmen must return to places
ficers, and I hadn’t heard from many can make a fresh and people that serve as constant reminders of last spring. Many
of them since before April 16. start, but upper- will look down at the ground in silence as they pass Norris Hall,
classmen must
On my way up the stairs, I passed return to places forcing themselves not to picture the long fall from the second
two high school students, clearly lost and people that floor windows. As they sit in class, some will continue to scan the
and overwhelmed. I led them up- serve as constant room for the fastest exit, just in case. But they will still have to do
stairs to the admissions office, where reminders of last their best not to doze off during Electric Theory, and they will still
spring.
they learned that all official tours had laugh with friends while playing soccer on the Drillfield. Everyone
been canceled. The two had traveled all the way to Blacksburg anticipates as eagerly as ever the first snowfall of the year, when
from Cooperstown, N.Y., and though their timing couldn’t have the Corps of Cadets faces off against the civilians in our tradi-
been worse, it was their only chance to see the school. tional snowball fight. It will take some time, but things can return
I looked at my watch. to normal.
“I have a free hour. Do you guys want to go for a walk?” Getting ready for the new school year this fall means something
For the first time since Monday, I was at ease doing what I love: different for our community: looking forward and looking back
selling Virginia Tech. The visitors told me they originally had been in tandem. Our annual blowout opening-day football game will
drawn to Tech’s academic standards and football scene. Once they be a little different this time around when the Hokies open their
were accepted, they only needed to visit campus to be sure. season. We will join together—faculty, staff, students, alumni and
Yet over the past 24 hours, their vision of the university had even the greater Blacksburg community—to celebrate our team,
changed. The smiling pictures from promotional pamphlets re- but also to honor the 32 victims. On October 28, another group of
ceived in the mail were now joined with images from the news the Hokies will do their part to help the community heal, when 100 of
night before: thousands of Hokies gathered at a candlelight vigil them will join the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C..
to pay tribute to the 33 we lost. But the tragedy, these visitors told They are running to raise $100,000 that will endow a scholarship
me, could have happened anywhere. They wanted to be a part of honoring those who lost their lives that day in April.
this community. The tribute of many students will be as small as placing a rib-
I’ve given many tours since then, and nearly all prospective stu- bon on their car or wearing a memorial T-shirt, but not a single
dents and families echo that sentiment. Some students needed to student will forget. Instead, we remember those we lost and we
be dragged to visit Tech, resisting merely the association with the move forward in their memory. ■
tragedy. But many more hadn’t even considered attending until
they too saw photos from the vigil or the convocation—the images Robert Bowman is a senior industrial systems engineering major
of our students coming together during a time of struggle. at Virginia Tech. He was managing editor of the Collegiate Times
My university cannot rid itself of the tragedy, but we should not when the shootings broke out on campus in the spring.
cover
special issue:
smells like
Green
spirit Green isn’t just the new black this fall.
From now on, it’s a perennial staple. But
think only big-talking celebs can deck out
their lives in earth-friendly hues? Turns out
we can, too. That’s what our cover story is all
about: making just a few of the million little
choices that add up to change. We’ve come
up with 33 to get you going—and for an
extra boost, we handpicked six of our
favorite campus green initiatives, from
recycling with earthworms to showering
with friends. Maybe the sustainable—but
still sleek & sexy—dorm we’ve designed
will inspire you to spruce up your living, or
maybe mouth-watering descriptions of one
school’s locally grown dinners will do the
trick. As we’ve learned editing this issue,
you’re never too late to the green party.
cover
green for a week (or) ally a heinous torture. Not because it’s so
cold, but because of the demonic, Gak-like
to trash
by Robert Padnick
up the sun qualifies Sheryl as an environ-
mental scientist. But
what Ms. Crow fails to
realize is that while rock
stars may have the lux-
Harvard University ury of 30-ply potty silks,
we college students are
When Current asked me to live green for stuck using jumbo rolls
a week, I said yes—yes, I will be a hero. My of tracing paper that
assignment: Forfeit air conditioning in the disintegrate upon skin
middle of July, eat organically and locally, contact. She can enjoy
carry all my trash in a bag and generally be her butt-wiping soirees
at one with Mother Nature for seven days. Throwing in the Towel: with the sheikh of Dubai
Robert Padnick can’t
The following is my diary. It should tide handle the heat of a week and Kid Rock, but I’m
you over until Lifetime airs my made-for- without A/C. going to do the globe a
television movie, “Mother Nature’s Gentle- favor by using as many
man Caller: The Robert Padnick Story.” I gaze up at my inactive air conditioner, I squares as it takes to avoid smelling like a
Thursday: I head to the school cafete- realize that global warming isn’t happen- toxic dump.
ria groggy from last night’s cookout—my ing, it happened, and A/C is all that’s keep- Tuesday: I visit the local farmers’ mar-
environmental bachelor party before mar- ing us out of the frying pan. If only I could ket to peruse its green wares. I approach
rying my green wife. (I suspect that our shrink like in Blues Clues and jump into a honeycomb candles vendor and proudly
smoke-spewing grill runs off of ozone and my air conditioner’s winter wonderland to tell her that I’m living green for a week.
dolphin souls.) But today it’s goodbye sau- play tic-tac-toe with penguins. I manage “Just a week?” she asks.
sages, and hellooo tofu and sprouts. After to type an e-mail query: Dear editors, why “Yeah, a whole week! That’s seven
my first meal of greens and beans, I stash have you sentenced me to burn to death? days!” I say, beaming.
my leftovers in the trash bag I’m storing Waiting for a reply, I pass out till Saturday. I wait for my pat on the head, but she
in my backpack. A lady seated next to me Saturday: I feel refreshed from my full- looks at me like I haven’t said anything. I
looks over with pity. I explain to her that day blackout, until I get a whiff of myself. tell her it’s been hard, that I had to pass up
I’m keeping my trash to show how much I Yikes! I possibly smell worse than my bag nacho day at the cafeteria. Nacho day! I
accumulate, but she pretends not to hear of rotting beans. I take a military shower in buy a candle and slink away, pouting.
me. She’s only an arm’s length away. which I rinse myself in cold water, turn off Wednesday: It’s my final day, and I’m
Friday: I’m lying on my dorm room the tap, soap and shampoo and then rinse a lean mean green machine. A paper towel
floor spread-eagled and motionless, pre- off the suds with more cold water. Sounds after washing my hands? No thanks, I pre-
serving my energy like a desert lizard. As like a practical measure, but it is actu- fer my reusable hand cloth. Join my friends
for pizza? No thanks, I don’t have friends
anymore due to my awful stink. One
Eat This Magazine tice green values. 8. Write to Con-
5. Bring your own mug gress—nay, e-mail. Square Method? Get real, Sheryl.
10 ways to get green now to get coffee. 9. Bank online to I wonder how green I’ll remain after
6. Eat at restaurants avoid accumulating midnight. The hand towel is no problem.
1. Unplug your cell sleep when you do. that have “bring your piles of unread, un- The A/C’s going back on, but I’ll turn it off
phone charger when 3. Cold? Wear a own bowl” programs… shredded bank state- when I leave the room. And I’m definitely
it’s not powering any- sweater. Hot? Wear a and actually bring ments. keeping my bag of trash. I just don’t have
thing. Same goes for tank top. your bowl. 10. Do readings for the heart to toss the little guy after all we’ve
the iPod. 4. Support businesses 7. Fill your dishwasher class on the screen been through. ■
2. Let your computer that share and prac- before you run it. instead of printing. Thanks to eco-consultants Frog Design for
the trash bag idea and to Sheryl Crow’s blog.
Stay Green,
Save Green
going eco on the cheap
by Katherine Evans
University of North Carolina,
Chapel Hill
Veg Out:
Eating green just If you’re scrimping this year and still
requires a little want to save the world, take heart. The
extra grocery-
store savvy. best way to spend sustainably isn’t on
pricey organic sheets and a solar-powered
iPod charger—it’s on less of everything.
“Look at what you don’t need,” says
Emily Main, senior editor of National
cover_story
The Green Room
Cool Green
Stuff b.
b.
a.
c.
e. d.
f.
At this point in the year, you’ve probably loaded up with all the back-
to-school basics—pens, highlighters, overpriced textbooks—but what
about a solar powered calculator? Or notebooks with covers created
from recycled records? Current rounded up a few of the eco-friendly
dorm goodies that you won’t find at your campus bookstore. And with
items like silk and hemp undies, shopping green has never been sexier.
a. Water Powered Desk Set, thinkgeek.com, $9.99 b. Album Cover Notebook, eco-artware.com, $18 c. Max- g.
Lite Spiramax Flourescent Lamp, amazon.com, $4.99 d. Stapleless Stapler, revdesign.biz, 6.29 e. Hannah
Swivel Tilt Chair, izzydesign.com, $260 f. Reware T-Shirt, reware.com, $26 g. Low-rise Bootcut Hemp Jeans,
rawganique.com, $88 h. Silk and Hemp Knickers, greenknickers.org, $50 i. Mobile Wallpaper, mioculture.
com, $28 j. Fong Chopstick Lamp, chopstickart.com, $42 k. EcoBasics Pillow, ecobasics.com, $24 l. Can-
pactor, conservastore.com, $69.95 m. Grocery Bag Trash Can, containerstore.com, $4.99, n. Bestrite Tack
Board, stales.com, $79.99 o. Seventh Generation Ultra Liquid, lowimpactliving.com, $12.50.
cover_story
The Green Room
Cool Green
Stuff b.
b.
a.
c.
e. d.
f.
At this point in the year, you’ve probably loaded up with all the back-
to-school basics—pens, highlighters, overpriced textbooks—but what
about a solar powered calculator? Or notebooks with covers created
from recycled records? Current rounded up a few of the eco-friendly
dorm goodies that you won’t find at your campus bookstore. And with
items like silk and hemp undies, shopping green has never been sexier.
a. Water Powered Desk Set, thinkgeek.com, $9.99 b. Album Cover Notebook, eco-artware.com, $18 c. Max- g.
Lite Spiramax Flourescent Lamp, amazon.com, $4.99 d. Stapleless Stapler, revdesign.biz, 6.29 e. Hannah
Swivel Tilt Chair, izzydesign.com, $260 f. Reware T-Shirt, reware.com, $26 g. Low-rise Bootcut Hemp Jeans,
rawganique.com, $88 h. Silk and Hemp Knickers, greenknickers.org, $50 i. Mobile Wallpaper, mioculture.
com, $28 j. Fong Chopstick Lamp, chopstickart.com, $42 k. EcoBasics Pillow, ecobasics.com, $24 l. Can-
pactor, conservastore.com, $69.95 m. Grocery Bag Trash Can, containerstore.com, $4.99, n. Bestrite Tack
Board, stales.com, $79.99 o. Seventh Generation Ultra Liquid, lowimpactliving.com, $12.50.
Mean v.
Green
you are what you buy
Looking to green up your spending as you
get back into the swing of things this year?
Check out these eco-friendly alternatives to
i. basic college necessities:
Mean:
SUVs. A 2004 Lincoln Navigator gets, on
average, 13 miles to the gallon—that’s about
$3,461 in gas costs a year.
Green:
Used Bicycle, waterloocycles.com, from
$100 to $900. Bikes rank second only to walk-
ing in terms of environmental-friendliness,
j. and a used bike is even better.
h.
Mean:
The average American cheeseburger.
One environmental journalist estimated that
the yearly greenhouse gas emissions from the
production and consumption of cheeseburgers
equals the emissions of about 6 million SUVs.
Green:
Amy’s California Veggie Burger,
www.amys.com, $3.99 for a pack of four from
k. FreshDirect. It’s flavorful, low-cal, and made
from completely organic ingredients. Plus you
can just pop it in the microwave.
Mean:
n. Rubber flip-flops, like those by J.Crew or
Havaianas that are made in part with PVC, a
plastic that has been shown to release toxins.
Green:
Ethletic Sneakers, www.ethletic.com, about
$68. They’re durable, so you won’t have to
replace them every year, and look a lot like
Chuck Taylors. The latex for the sole is respon-
sibly harvested.
Mean:
Beauty supplies, like lip balm and sham-
poo, containing petroleum products. Fossil
o. fuels are insanely un-green.
l.
Green:
Burt’s Bees Rosemary Mint Shampoo
Bar, www.burtsbees.com. $6. Because it’s a
bar of soap for your hair, it doesn’t come in
a plastic bottle, and its ingredients are “99.9
m. percent” natural. It smells super good, too.
new haven
gothicR:omanoff
Alexandra
aretto
and Emily Cas om
fr
see their food at
ro ut to sp oo n
sp
rm .
the Yale Fa
5 9 C M Y K
5
cover_story
planting a
new crop of
planeteers
by Jody Pollock and Veronique Greenwood
University of Pennsylvania and Yale University
Today’s college students are the first generation to grow up with green. In kindergarten, we anointed
Captain Planet our hero; in grade school, the three R’s—reduce, reuse and recycle—became a classroom mantra.
The cumulative community service hours we put in picking up trash beside local roads or cleaning wetlands be-
hind our high schools may total somewhere in the millions.
It’s only fitting that, now in college, the same kids that spent our playground days yelling “Earth! Wind! Wa-
ter! Fire!” are beginning to throw real weight behind those words. Environmental issues today are more press-
ing than sorting paper and plastic: the threat of global warming, waning of oil supply and destruction of natural
resources are complex, international problems. But on campuses across the country, we are taking them on with
real energy—solar and otherwise.
Current has unearthed students, faculty and staff at six campuses who are making some of the most impres-
sive moves toward a greener future. While the stakes may be overwhelming, these innovators prove that solving
Earth’s problems can actually be fun. And when students are committed and campuses are enthusiastic, the
payoff is big. Take a look.
closer
Yale university
bles. YSFP has grown from a student group advocat-
ing for organic foods in dining halls into a full-fledged
university-funded operation serving 40 percent of all
>>There’s no mystery meat on the menu at Yale food on campus. The average American meal travels
University’s Berkeley College dining hall. Instead, a between 1,500 and 2,500 miles from starting point
dinner menu this fall might include asparagus soup, to your plate, according to the Worldwatch Institute,
roasted squash, maple-syrup-and-sage pizza and accruing a steep carbon price tag. But YSFP’s food
grass-fed beef hamburgers, finished off with cran- comes entirely from regional producers.
berry oatmeal cookies. Definitely a step up from ra- The project’s centerpiece is the Yale Farm, a one-
men. Not only that, but it’s all seasonal fare supplied acre plot a few miles from campus. One acre isn’t
by producers in the New Haven area. enough to supply much of the food served at Yale, but
cover_story
the farm is a teaching ground designed flavors of topnotch, locally grown meals will release a compilation of the project’s
to include students in every aspect of the complement a college budget. When the complete parameters for nurturing a sus-
growing process. Volunteers and six sum- project began, sustainable food cost an tainable, healthy food culture on campus.
mer interns plant, tend and harvest the exorbitant 70 percent more than conven- It’s a recipe book for a tastier, more whole-
produce, then sell it at the farmer’s market tional food, but as the program expanded some planet.
in downtown New Haven. Students work- its directors have become savvier about
ing the farm also learn about sustainable spending. By making large food purchas-
agriculture methods, like putting plants ing agreements with farmers and stream- most bang per buck
where they can make the best use of re-
sources and spreading mulch instead of
lining their operations, YSFP brought
down the price of a sustainable menu to pay it
nitrogen-boosting fertilizers.
So far, the results of the food project
have been delicious, and student appetites
just 37 percent more than conventional
food. That’s good news for the majority of
students, who value food quality over price,
forward
Macalester College
are picking up on the difference. In a 2005 portion or overall dining experience, ac-
survey, 79 percent of students said they cording to the same 2005 survey. >>Some would have seen the leaky
would eat in dining halls more if the food The Food Project isn’t meant to stop freezer in the vegetarian co-op dorm at
were sustainable and 83 percent find the growing at Yale’s gates; it was created as a Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn. as a
project’s offerings to be of higher quality model for other schools seeking to incorpo- nuisance. But to three enterprising under-
than other food served on campus. (Makes rate sustainability into campus dining. graduates, it represented an opportunity
you wonder what you’re missing.) The project’s purchasing guidelines
YSFP is now hard at work to make the are available online, and soon Yale
Passing on Gas
earth-friendly ways to fill up your tank
Every decade thinks that it’s the most al- green) choice is a hybrid plug-in, which
ternative. The ’60s brought us alternative love, uses both battery and fuel power.
the ’80s claimed alternative rock and now the
’00s are making way for their own alternative— It’s the Bomb: Hydrogen biochemist Chris Somerville. Eucalyptus and
alternative fuels, which are cleaner and greener Hydrogen-powered vehicles may become switchgrass are ideal sources of biomass be-
than traditional fuels like gasoline and diesel. a hugely successful alternative over the next cause they consume less water (and thus fewer
Northwestern’s Laura Schocker breaks few decades, but some scientists worry that resources) as they grow.
down some of the cutting-edge technologies we don’t have enough time to wait for results.
fueling big-time changes. Hydrogen-powering also brings up a chicken- Pretty Corny: Ethanol
and-egg dilemma, says MIT researcher Jeroen Produced by fermenting sugary plants like
Plug it In: Electric Cars Struben. No one will buy the car without a sugar beets, sugercane and corn, ethanol
Some of the earliest cars on the road were widespread re-fueling infrastructure in place— can safely be combined with gas in most car
electric, but the trend gave way to steam and like gas stations with hydrogen pumps—but engines in 5-percent doses. Almost all gas sta-
the internal combustion engine. Now elec- fuel providers are reluctant to make the invest- tions in California already provide 5-percent-
tric cars are making a comeback, says John ment without high demand for hydrogen cars. ethanol mixtures at the pump, says Humphrey,
Humphrey, an eco-consultant for Sustainable and in Brazil—which invested in ethanol during
Energy Partners. This fall the $98,000 Tesla A Use for Eucalyptus: Biofuels the ’70s oil crisis to become more self-suffi-
hits the streets. It’s a 100-percent electric Biofuels come from biomass, which is a fancy cient—about half of all cars run off ethanol.
car—meaning that it gives off no harmful emis- name for plant matter and waste. Devoting a
sions—that can travel an impressive 200-plus small percent of the arable land in the world Flower Power: Diesel Alternatives
miles per charge. now farmed for food to the cultivation of bio- Biofuels and ethanol only work with special
If you’re in the market for a slightly more af- mass would “go a long way toward meeting our car engines, but biodiesel is a simpler alterna-
fordable set of wheels, another good (but less needs for renewable energy,” says Stanford tive, since diesel engines are already on the
for investment. By replacing this outdated, Before it was so eloquently defined, 100,000 gallons of water per year in that
241-kilowatt-hour freezer with a cheaper, CERF was just an idea bouncing among a building alone. An industrial-size wind tur-
energy-efficient, 42-kilowatt-hour freezer, green-conscious trio: Timothy Den Herder- bine is also in the works, an investment that
Macalester will save about $150 a year and Thomas and Asa Diebolt, both freshmen at will produce the equivalent of 40 percent of
the co-op’s supply of frozen Boca Burgers. the time, and senior Richard Graves who Macalester’s total energy needs and, within
All of that is thanks to Macalester’s Clean has worked as the New Media Fellow at the a decade, a projected $150,000 per year for
Energy Revolving Fund (CERF), founded in Energy Action Coalition, a youth-led clean- the fund.
the spring of 2006. A revolving loan fund is energy advocacy organization, since gradu- Last spring, Diebolt and Den Herder-
“a wonderful mechanism for capturing cost ating in 2006. The three spent their spare Thomas teamed up with AASHE to publish
savings from wise [sustainable] investments time researching notable loan funds, and a how-to guide for students looking to start
and funneling them back into more invest- what they found was startling. Harvard’s revolving loan funds on their own campuses.
ments,” says Chris Wells, assistant professor Green Campus Loan Fund was averaging The guide is careful to emphasize that, at
of environmental studies and chair of the a return on investment of 27 percent in the beginning, bigger green loan funds
CERF Board, which oversees project selec- 2007—a number that is unheard-of com- aren’t necessarily better. In fact, students at
tion and allocation. A green fund like CERF pared to the stock market’s average return California State University in Monterey Bay
operates by taking the money saved from of 7 percent. It was doing even better than began their fund with $250 from a private
successful energy-efficiency projects—like Harvard’s own endowment. “A 27 percent donation. When CSU’s Office of the Chan-
replacing a freezer, installing low-flow return on investment really opens the eyes cellor matched that $250, the fund had just
showerheads or building a wind turbine— of the treasurer of a college,” says Diebolt, enough to replace four high-pressure so-
and cycling it back into other sustainability proving that it’s not always “the environ- dium light fixtures on the indoor basketball
initiatives. ment versus the economy.” court. Slam dunk.
The compact fluorescent lightbulb,
or CFL, is a classic example. CFLs
are significantly more expensive than most creepy crawly
roads. This fuel is typically made from the
oil of natural products like olives, peanuts,
regular bulbs upfront but can prove
worthwhile as long-term investments remixing
grape seeds, sunflowers and soybeans.
Humphrey cautions that those products
in reduced electricity costs.
The real magic of CERF is that it the earth
must be planted in a sustainable way—or-
ganically or locally grown—to make this a
truly green alternative.
captures, accumulates and reinvests
those gains rather than losing them
to unrelated ends, says Julian Dau-
worm
Southern Illinois u.
tremont-Smith, Associate Director of
Here Comes the Sun: Solar Power the Association for the Advancement >>Feeding earthworms wasn’t a skill
Capturing just one percent of all solar of Sustainability in Higher Educa- Andilee Warner listed on her resume. But
energy that reaches one percent of the tion (AASHE). That’s exactly how the for Warner, the recycling and solid waste co-
earth’s surface would be enough to provide students presented CERF when they ordinator at Southern Illinois University at
transportation worldwide for an entire year, came before the administration with Carbondale (SIUC), feeding two million of
says Stanford’s Somerville. But solar energy their ideas—as a smart investment. them everyday has become vital to her work.
certainly isn’t going to make cars any sexier: They won approval and a $20,000 The feeding is actually just one part of a
there simply isn’t space on most automo- donation from Macalester’s student process called “vermicomposting” (literally,
biles for enough solar panels to power the government, the largest contribu- “worm composting”), an earthworm-fueled
entire vehicle, says Humphrey, although tion to any single project in student recycling method. In an average work week,
plugging an electric car into a solar-pow- memory. these red wrigglers compost between 500
ered home would work nicely. CERF is closing in on a target and 1,000 pounds of food waste from three
goal of $100,000 in combined initial of SIUC’s cafeterias as well as paper waste
Ready to fuel up a greener life right now? investments and project savings, from a commercial-size shredder, trans-
Kidding Around:
Hit up the pantry and fill your diesel engine recording $70,000 as of this spring. forming the leftovers into supplemental
Alexandra Haar balances fer-
being an undergrad and
with straight vegetable oil—in warm weather The Board is currently reviewing tilizer for the campus grounds.
a single mom. “We’re taking
(and with a heater when it’s cold), a bottle several proposals, including the in- what has traditionally been waste going into
of Wesson gets almost the same miles to the stallation of low-flow showerheads, the landfill and turning it into a very pre-
gallon as gasoline. It may cost about three dual-flush toilets and low-flow fau- cious and powerful commodity,” explains
times as much, but saving the planet is cets in one dorm—expected to chop Warner. For every pound of food fed to the
priceless, so suck it up, tightwad. 39 percent off the water bill and save red wrigglers, only one-fourth of a pound
cover_story
remains after digestion and excretion to into the kitchen on a food tray and it’s Group showers—or at least staged pho-
emerge in the form of worm “castings,” or biodegradable, it gets composted,” Warner tographs of them—are par for the course
poop. says. But when students left SIUC for sum- during George Goes Green, an annual,
Warner, who was named “Recycler of mer break, Warner discovered a hitch in campus-wide initiative at WC to raise
the Year” by the Illinois Recycling Associa- the plans: the cafeterias shut down, and the awareness about sustainability and conser-
tion in June, can’t take credit for inventing worms were left without a constant flow of vation. Though it began two years ago as a
vermicomposting. The first recorded use food waste. three-week-long exercise, the program has
of the practice dates back more than 2,000 The solution was paper waste. The flourished, now running for a full semester
years, and more than 100 years ago Charles earthworms seemed to cope with the diet and featuring a building efficiency competi-
Darwin noted in the results of an extensive change, even if it meant a downgrade in tion, a sustainable ideas contest, a Green
study that red wrigglers can eat their own food quality. “It’s like the difference between Pledge and a No Energy Day.
weight in organic matter in a single day. eating a sausage from the griddle and a rice Inspired by similar programs at other
Vermicomposting has long since been a cake,” she says. “Of course they like food schools around the country, in particular
favorite of eco-conscious homeowners with waste better, but if they’re going to starve, Dickinson College, Middlebury College
big bins (and lots of worms) to spare. But they’ll eat paper.” and Warren Wilson College, George Goes
Warner believes no one has attempted this Now, after a year of eating and excret- Green is just a part of the movement to
kind of project on such a large scale before, ing, the worms have produced enough for make going green a good time.
and John Russin, associate dean of the the harvesting to begin. The castings that “Colleges have always been at the fore-
College of Agricultural Sciences at SIUC, have been accumulating in the worm beds front of progress and what’s coming next.
is certain that it’s the first example of ver- since last fall will be collected and used to They have to set an example,” explains ’07
micomposting in Illinois, if not the whole create what Warner calls “worm tea”—and alum Shannon Holste, the student behind
Midwest. what most people would call watery worm George Goes Green and a representative to
On a campus where food waste once dung. Storing the vermicompost material the Sustainability Committee of WC’s Cen-
made up a quarter of all dumpster weight, in a container that’s seeped in water, much ter for Environment and Society.
according to trash audits—making for one like tea in a tea bag, creates a nutrient-rich To get George Goes Green off the
“very nasty” pile, says Russin—vermicom- compost-water mix ready to be sprayed ground, Holste created a coalition of dedi-
posting is expected to save SIUC $93,000 onto campus grounds. cated students, faculty and staff. “You can’t
over 10 years in garbage removal costs. But This phase of the process has yet to be turn the campus green on your own,” she
just as important are the tons of natural tested on such a large scale, but Warner says. The administration was quick to join
fertilizer the program will generate and the is hopeful about the results and about the the cause, especially since the college is
creative research it stimulates—explaining potential for a recycling breakthrough. located in the heart of the Chesapeake Bay
why Warner received an initial $150,000 Let’s just hope she doesn’t decide to cele- watershed, a region continually threatened
grant from the Recycling Expansion and brate success with crumpets and worm tea. by chemical, air and landscape pollution.
Modernization (REM) program of Illinois’ Nine teams of dorms and academic
Department of Commerce and Economic buildings competed to claim the biggest
Opportunity when SIUC approved the plan sexiest sustainability cutback in energy consumption over the
two years ago. With $55,000 more from
the university and $15,000 from Jackson pumped course of the semester. In case bettering the
world wasn’t enticing enough, the competi-
County Health Department, she was well
on her way. up to tion offered an extra incentive: the winner
got a free breakfast served by Holste and
Warner has learned that worms have an
important edge over traditional methods of
composting: intestines. “A banana in a pile
suds up
Washington College
other students during finals week—with
biodegradable plates and cups, of course.
Holste also encouraged her classmates
of leaves take a long time to decompose but to sign a Green Pledge, committing them
if you eat the banana, it’s a much more ef- >> Last year, several students at to green practices like washing clothes on
ficient process,” she says. Washington College in Chestertown, Md. the cold cycle and avoiding any products
SIUC is still working out kinks in the piled into a shower together and snapped a involving Styrofoam. Four hundred green
vermicomposting procedure. There was, picture. A little while later the photograph flags were planted on the college lawn to
for example, the unforeseen problem of surfaced online—on the official Washing- represent those who signed.
summer starvation. The worms mainly are ton College website. But there was nothing April brought “No Energy Day”—a day
fed what Warner calls a “tuna casserole” of inappropriate or objectionable about the of eco-festivities celebrated by classes
cafeteria waste, which includes everything shower scene. It was, after all, for a good held outside or in the dark, a special
from spaghetti to milk cartons. “If it comes cause: they were saving water. candlelit dinner and a bonfire party. To
squeaky
greenB:ell and
Christina
e got
Shannon Holst ion
nt
students’ atte
that
by telling them e
ow ers ar
group sh erve.
ay to co ns
one w
room for s:
wrigglarenerr has
Andilee W
illion
more than 2 m s
ees: w or m
employ
co m-
hard at work ty
iver si
posting un
trash.
top it off, George Goes Green sponsored a ability policy brought before the university
student contest to brainstorm other kinds friendliest fight Regents in December 2002 had big goals:
of sustainability on campus. The winning
student’s idea, which earned a $250 cash think big, calling for new and renovated buildings to
meet LEED green building standards and
prize, was two-fold: replace inefficient water
fixtures in school bathrooms and create a
campus wetland. While the wetland awaits
play nice
university of calif.
to take 50 percent of power from renewable
energy.
The real innovation of Go Solar, how-
funding, Holste believes the bathroom proj- ever, wasn’t its green ideas but its golden
ect will kick off soon. >> The California Student Sustain- touch. The 30 or so students who lobbied
The photographs on georgegoesgreen. ability Coalition, or CSSC, was born at the Regents worked deliberately to cooper-
com tell a story of real impact—images of a time of statewide energy turmoil. The ate with administrators rather than butt
students studying by candlelight, profes- blackouts and budget crises that led to the heads. It’s an approach that isn’t always
sors turning off unused computers and a recall of Governor Gray Davis were at high embraced by college activists, who often
self-proclaimed Energy Conservation Patrol boil. So, in the fall of 2002, student sustain- confuse assertion with aggression, but one
confiscating inefficient appliances and is- ability groups from University of California that helped make CSSC a success.
suing citations to brazen energy users. The schools teamed up with the environmental The UC Regents agreed to a revised ver-
photo-documentation also kept the process group Greenpeace to turn the UC system— sion of the Go Solar policy in July 2003. All
light-hearted, which is a huge part of keep- a community of more than 200,000 stu- new and renovated buildings would now
ing students engaged. dents—into a sustainable force of nature. be required to generate 25 percent of their
Sustainability “can come off sounding The initial campaign, called UC Go So- power on campus and to meet the equiva-
like it’s a big chore, but if you can make it lar, brought together student activists, ad- lent of LEED certification standards, and
enticing and show it’s easy to make a part of ministrators and faculty to tackle the lack of the entire system would take 10 percent of
your life,” says Holste, “your movement will formal environmental awareness among the its overall power from renewable sources
be that much more successful.” UCs. The proposed system-wide sustain- by 2014. “The policy was a dramatic shift,”
cover_story
says Mike Cox, co-chair of the CSSC’s advi- campus green living. What the Ecovillage to teach residents how to live sustainably.
sory board. “There was no thought of green is not, says Richard Olson, the director of For his part, Hawn looks to create a
building or purchasing renewable energy Sustainability and Environmental Studies responsible community for the future. In
prior to the policy. Now the UCs are one of (SENS) at Berea, is a solution. It’s just the addition to his roles as house director and a
the largest institutional purchasers of clean beginning. fulltime student of Sustainable Community
energy in the country,” and have put $8 bil- The Ecovillage was built more than two Development, Hawn, 41, is a husband and
lion of funding into green construction, he years ago at the college, located in Berea, father of two. His daughters, ages two and
says. Ky., to provide additional housing for the seven, have plenty of eco-friendly places to
With the campaign completed and a giant sizable “nontraditional” student popula- romp around the village with other kids,
first step made, Greenpeace left. But the stu- tion—mostly married couples and students like all-natural playgrounds outfitted with
dent coalition persisted, and the CSSC—now with children. Conceived as the centerpiece slides built into hillsides. Plus, all children
spanning nine campuses and sponsored by of Berea’s campaign for campus-wide ef- living in the Ecovillage help recycle and
the Earth Island Institute, an environmen- ficiency, the Ecovillage is made up of a compost, making it a perfect place to raise
tal-group incubator—continues to research complex of 50 townhouse-style apartments, another generation of eco-conscious fami-
and implement expansions of the policy they a childcare and educational laboratory, a lies.
pushed through five years ago. community center and a demonstration The green playground is certainly
The CSSC is a sterling example of how house. But the moniker “village” certainly unique, but Berea’s campus-wide effort to
student activists can work together with understates the development’s complexity. reduce energy use 45 percent by 2015 is
administrators to institute change. Student It aims to achieve a 75 percent reduction in not. In 2002 Cornell University’s Energy
activists are at their most effective when energy use (against the baseline of average Conservation Initiative declared its plan to
“they’re not just going off and shaking their regional household use) and a 75 percent reduce campus energy use to 20 percent
fingers at people,” says Merrillie Herrigan, reduction in per capita water use (against below 2000 levels by 2012, and in 2000
director of education for the Alliance to average Berea household use), plus the re- the University at Buffalo pledged a one-
Save Energy. cycling, reusing or composting of at least 50 fifth reduction within a decade. Plenty
So what’s next on the agenda? Pushing percent of all waste. more schools have pledged big carbon
for local and sustainable food purchases That’s a tall order, but the Ecovillage emissions cuts for the next twenty years.
on campus, a project spearheaded by Tim certainly seems up to the challenge—it al- Still, even “the forefront is not far
Galerneau, a Food Systems employee at ready features an impressively full array of enough,” says SENS director Olson. No
UC-Santa Cruz. And although this year the green designs, including passive solar heat- campus in the U.S. can justifiably claim that
CSSC replaced its traditional grassroots ing, wind-powered electrical generators, it is sustainable, at least not yet, according
structure with a more formal hierarchy, a ground-source heat pump and a natural to Olson. He warns that, unless the nation
the group’s core values remain intact. Says wastewater treatment system. Indoors, resi- takes major steps now, simply being more
Montgomery Norton, co-chair of the Irvine dents find recycled-fabric carpets, energy- conscientious about turning off lights or
Student Sustainability chapter, “When we efficient appliances and reclaimed wood— saving water will no longer cut it. In just a
go to the administration, we thank them originally destined for landfills—making up few decades, Americans may need to aban-
for what they’ve done, and ask them to take siding and ceilings. don the ideal of owning a house in the sub-
the next step.” Does saying please and thank Still, as Olson says, installing the right urbs with two cars and seriously begin to re-
you mean they’re catering to the man? Well, infrastructure and technology only makes localize economies, food sources and energy
with the environment at stake, it’s worth two-thirds of the difference; the rest is up systems. “If we just change the lightbulbs
minding your ps and qs. to individuals. Residents must apply to live and buy a Prius, we’re dead,” Olson says.
in the village and sign a contract when they But we have to start somewhere, and not
move in, pledging to recycle and to take on a everyone can live in an entirely self-sustain-
most conscious crib few chores from a “menu” of green options, ing Ecovillage. So where to begin? “Go grow
cover_story
That Care
Luckily for the planet, there aren’t enough pages in this magazine to do justice to the
vital sustainabilty efforts taking place on college campuses around the country. We surveyed
bus passes, shuttle buses, carpool parking
incentives and electric vehicles for facility
workers. Carnegie Mellon plans to up its
green building even further and makes sure
students stay involved as part of a task force
to stamp out the campus’ carbon footprint.
75 top schools to see what they are doing right—and where they’re falling short. With the
help of Mindy Pennybacker, former editor of The Green Guide and creator of Greener-
Penny.com, we tallied up those with the best scores across the board, looking at basics like
energy-saving buildings and pesticide-free grasses along with even greater—and more un- Transportation water monitoring
usual—endeavors, from wind turbines to fish sanctuaries. Here is our green honor roll:
Colby College
Arizona State U. Bowdoin Driven by a dedication to reducing water
Arizona State University’s dining halls Bowdoin College’s small student body— consumption and waste excess, Colby’s en-
have a growing appetite for sustainability. only 2,500 students—packs a big punch vironmental studies department developed
Besides eliminating Styrofoam use and when it comes to being green. This year, a program called RESCUE (Recycle Every-
starting a composting system, dining ser- students organized a rally on campus as thing Save Colby’s Usable Excess). And so
vices are supporting a new, entirely organic part of Step It Up, a national grassroots far it’s working: dining services compost all
buffet to be supplied largely by local farm- campaign asking Congress to help America food waste, and each week Colby recycles
ers; eventually, the university hopes to grow cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. an average of 42 pounds of waste per per-
some of its own organic food. The Office of More than 400 people showed up to sign son. Every building and dorm is equipped
Sustainability would like to see more stu- petitions and march in support of the goal. with low-flow shower heads and low-flush
dent involvement in its projects, though. Students were also the driving force behind toilets, and recycling is readily accessible
the college purchasing Renewable Energy for everything from paper products to elec-
Credits, which kicked off in the spring of tronics.
2006.
food student involvement
30 current | fall 2007 * LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and refers to widely-used
national building standards developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization.
5 9 C M Y K
5
WashU
To lead the community of St. Louis into
buildings transportation fish Preservation Buildings a more sustainable future, Washington
University is willing to try anything and ev-
Emory U. of Florida erything. So far, it’s installed solar panels on
Emory has more square footage of Besides its athletic fields, all UF’s green top of the main campus library, made plans
LEED-certified buildings than any other spaces, including the first Audubon-certi- to construct exclusively LEED-certified
campus in the country. And its green fied sanctuary at any university, are main- buildings in the future and invested $55
energy isn’t just spent indoors; the uni- tained with reclaimed water, and natural million in a renewable energy initiative.
versity has designated three “food gar- predators are used to keep pest ecology
dens” throughout campus to stress the balanced. UF has also been making large
importance of eating locally. (The gardens strides in green architecture, with more
are largely educational in design and will than 50 new and renovated buildings
renewable energy recycling
produce little actual food.) A new policy re- either LEED-certified or submitted for
quires future construction to meet at least certification.
silver LEED-certification. Syracuse
With 247 buildings and 8.57 million
square feet of space, staying green can be
tricky (especially for a school that bleeds
buildings athletic fields
orange). Proving that sometimes common-
buildings alternative energy
sense ideas are just as good as out-of-the-
U. of Washington box ones, eco-designers focus mainly on
Kenyon College The Seattle campus is completely pow- simple concepts—like insulation and day
Neighboring communities are key for ered by renewable energy—a fact that’s lighting—that create maximum efficiency
Kenyon, where the use of locally grown pretty impressive on its own, but astound- with minimal output. New buildings, in-
food has spiked 150 percent in the past two ing when you consider that the university cluding an upcoming engineering research
years. The complete inventory of campus supports an undergrad population of lab, a residence hall and a new basketball
food cultivated within 75 miles of campus 36,000. Dormitories have replaced all their practice facility, are all planned to satisfy
is extensive and varied: it includes all beef lights with long-lasting halogen bulbs, cam- LEED requirements of various levels.
products, hormone-free chickens, Amish pus cafeterias serve locally harvested foods Things would be near-perfect, if they could
eggs, dairy products, apples and other sea- and bicycle trails offer students the option just figure out how to get citrus to upstate
sonal produce and even local jams. of traveling carbon-free. NY more sustainably during the winter.
next_step
ANSWERING
THE CALL
Finding the faith on secular campuses
Students struggle to earn their G.O.D.
by Taylor Barnes and diversified, offering students a nearly limit- spiritual rewards to come.
Daniel Stone less array of fields to study. Pursuing an age-old profession in the
Brown University and University But even as schools drift from their 21st century is in some ways just as com-
theological roots, religion maintains its plicated as ever, but given a growing list of
of California at Davis
strong, if quiet, pull and now attracts more lucrative opportunities, it requires
more students than ever. The Association a sense of purpose—and guts—like never
When Justin Cannon moved into the of Theological Schools reports 74,600 before.
dorms at Earlham College in Richmond, students studying Protestantism and Ro- DEUS EX MACHINA
Ind., his new friends started calling him man Catholicism in 2006—a 7.3 percent Acts of self-denial may seem a tad out
Jesus. It wasn’t just because of his resem- increase from four years prior. Hebrew of place in college, more widely understood
blance to iconic images of the Messiah. “I Union College has seen a 9 percent in- to be a prime opportunity for personal
had a full beard and told them I wanted to crease in rabbinical and cantorial ordi- indulgences and social excesses. What can
be a priest,” says Cannon. And at Earlham, nations since 2005. Even Islam, which make the desire to forgo worldly tempta-
a liberal arts college—even one rooted in requires no formal training or ordainment tion strong enough? Many students credit
the Quaker faith—his life plans stood out process of its religious leaders, has seen a calling, usually a specific experience that
from those of his teasing dormmates. It’s new highs in the number of young people provokes interest in a spiritual life followed
not that theism is absent on college cam- becoming Islamic scholars in the past five by small signs guiding them down what
puses—a startling 80 percent of college years, says Daisy Kahn of the can seem like a lonely road.
College years
students believe in God, according to a American Society for Muslim aren’t usually That’s exactly how it hap-
2004 survey by UCLA’s Higher Education Advancement. a time for pened to Aaron Graham, an
Research Institute. Having religion is one What distinguishes these great acts of ’02 University of Richmond
thing. Devoting your life to it is, well, quite pious few from many of their self-denial. graduate, after a week-long
What can make
the leap of faith. peers are the sacrifices they the desire to missionary trip to Belize dur-
Along with a growing number of under- must make. Their paths re- forgo wordly ing high school. “I thought,
graduates at secular universities across the quire years more study and temptation ‘why only do this for a week?’”
strong enough
nation, Cannon is picking out the vaguely promise far less earning poten- for aspiring he says. “Why not do it for
marked path to becoming a religious tial than other graduate-track spiritual life?” But when he arrived at
leader in a culture that prizes monstrous occupations like business and leaders? college, he felt isolated, certain
earnings and instant reward. Many uni- law. That can make following that he was set utterly apart
versities, like Syracuse and George Wash- God’s will a tough choice to explain—to by his call to the ministry. He turned out
ington, were originally founded to prepare friends, to family members and even to to be wrong. In the first weeks of school,
students for ministerial service in a time oneself. Many who pursue the ministry Graham met five dormmates with similar
when priesthood, not banking or medicine, point to an otherworldly calling as the aspirations. “I started not to feel alone,” he
guaranteed professional prestige. Since reason behind their choice, justifying what says. “These guys were really committed.
then, most schools have academically they give up now with the expectation of Their calling was genuine.”
Spirituality 101:
Justin Cannon’s clerical
aspirations surprised
some of his dormmates.
next_step
Plenty of steps still lay between Graham
and his commitment to doing the Lord’s
bidding—an endeavor that’s far from sim-
ple. He says he felt a disconnect between
the church’s work and broader problems
and “wanted to help it become a greater
force for social change.”
After college, he entered an evangelical
seminary program in Boston, and then de-
cided to enroll in Harvard’s Kennedy School
of Government for a master’s in public
policy. “I figured both pastorship and policy
training would allow me to integrate my
interest in the ministry with social concerns
Road Less Traveled:
and poverty,” he says. His ministry work Ryan Patrico celebrated
also introduced him to a woman equally Pentecost this year in
Salzburg, Germany with
summoned to religion and social service. As two Dominican nuns.
husband and wife, they founded the Quincy
Street Missional Church to address poverty
in a low-income Boston neighborhood. year, satisfaction won’t come cheap. On the other end, salaries aren’t exactly
Not everyone receives as clear a call as enviable, since priests and preachers aren’t
Graham. David Sideman says, quite simply, THE COLLECTION PLATE meant to live extravagantly, and are gener-
that he has yet to hear the voice of God. So Money is a huge issue for any grad- ally supported by their congregations. A
when he graduated from Boston University school bound student. But those en route lifelong contract with the Lord, it seems,
in 2006, he did what any confused and to the clergy encounter particularly acute doesn’t quite account for hefty loan pay-
ambitious liberal arts major would: he en- fiscal hardships, like sparse financial aid ments.
tered law school. But during his first year in opportunities and few specialized scholar- The struggle of getting on God’s payroll
Rutgers University’s law program, he found ships. On top of that, the path to ordina- isn’t limited to tuition and future interest
himself disinterested and lost. And then it tion is long. Training to become a Catholic payments, which is why some aspiring re-
hit him: “I discovered that the passions and priest can last from five to six years and ligious leaders have already made slightly
the things that I cared about pointed me to- cost nearly $30,000 annually. Christian more earthly back-up plans. Randy Schultz,
ward becoming a rabbi.” He plans to begin pastoral ordination costs around $14,000 a junior at the Georgia Institute of Technol-
a six-year rabbinical ordination program a year, says the Dallas Theological Semi- ogy, plans to become a missionary—but
this fall at the Jewish Theological Seminary nary, though the exact price tag varies with he knows his divine calling won’t pay the
in New York City. On this unforeseen path, each church’s program and the certification bills. Right now he’s a management major,
he’s finally satisfied—but at $28,000 each sought. reluctantly earning his undergraduate de-
gree while waiting to start his career. “Most man divided. He is committed to the idea choosing a religious path, but he’s getting
small start-up churches can’t support a pas- of Catholic priesthood but also feels pulled there. He says that his theology and sociol-
tor, so I’ll need a full-time job,” he says. in an entirely irreconcilable direction: a ogy studies at Boston College enhanced
He currently works for a small tutoring relationship with his long-term girlfriend, a his faith. But since first feeling the pull to
company, hoping to earn enough money to romance that can have no future, of course, serve God in high school, he has wrestled
support himself and his fiancée after their in the life of a priest. For now, he’s trying to with the decision. His parents, devout
wedding in December. “It’s not really about keep an open mind and to put his eventual Asian-American Christians, fostered his
what I’m interested in,” he says, “but the plans in God’s hands. “Choosing marriage spirituality, but now they are skeptical of
work I can do with the money I earn.” After doesn’t mean priesthood is wrong,” he says. him making a career of his devotion. “It’s a
graduation he and his wife plan to move to “I’ll just go where I’m called.” touchy issue,” says Park. “Deep down, they
Bozeman, Mont. It may seem like a long Patrico finds that being outside the col- probably hoped that I would pursue some-
way to go, but Schultz anticipates good lege mainstream—“an environment that thing more lucrative.”
opportunities there both for missionary says sex shouldn’t be reserved for marriage,” Park makes an effort to control his daily
work—he says the area is “heavily under- he says—is difficult. Still, he’s not a saint behavior, even if that restraint sets him
churched”—and a business career, since just yet and admits to the odd college foible, apart from most people his age. “Getting
Bozeman is also home to a number of tech like occasionally indulging in a drink. drunk is unhealthy and I’ve never really
startups. But he’s not putting down roots For Earlham’s Justin Cannon, skepticism had the opportunity to have sex,” he says,
just yet. “I’ll go anyplace else God wants me among classmates pales in comparison with conceding that maintaining his discipline
to go,” says Schultz. a much bigger obstacle, one that extends might become more difficult as he gets
Even with hefty expenses, it’s still pos- far beyond campus boundaries: he is openly older. “But ultimately,” he says, “I just want
sible to make a livable wage, which is good gay. He is a member of the first wave of to please God with my choices.”
news for Shoshana and Elisa Abrams. They openly gay aspirants pursuing ordainment Park, a junior, now feels more at ease
graduated from the University of California by the Episcopal Church, which elected its with his future than he did just one se-
in Santa Barbara in June with a clear—and first homosexual bishop just four years ago. mester ago; his convictions are stronger
identical—call to serve, and plan to become Sexuality is still a divisive issue in the than ever, he says. Park even began to feel
cantors, the musical leaders of prayers in church. When Cannon sought approval to strongly this summer that he is meant for
Judaism. become a priest, his home church in Lex- something really big in God’s plan. What
At the cantorial program they’ll begin ington, Mich. voted not to recommend him exactly does he (or the big “He”) have in
later this year—also at the Jewish Theologi- for the priesthood, a decision he thinks was mind? “Do you know Billy Graham?” he
cal Seminary, but with a focus on cantorial tainted by concerns that he would use the asks. “I think I’m headed in that sort of di-
music and Hebrew studies—their com- pulpit to practice gay activism rather than rection.” If he weren’t called to the Christian
bined annual tuition will amount to nearly spirituality. The church would The salaries ministry, Park says he would be
$60,000. Any financial aid will be limited not discuss why Cannon was aren’t exactly at a loss for what else he would
to paltry federal grant money and small denied. enviable, since do. “Maybe a career in music
priests and
independent scholarships. As a result, the He has since taken sanctu- or writing?” he muses. “That’s
preachers
twins’ parents will end up juggling their ary in California, where he aren’t meant to never crossed my mind.”
daughters’ interest-accruing undergraduate found a bishop supportive of live extrava- Fickle liberal arts majors,
loans with new ones on the way. ordaining gays and enrolled gantly. Enter- prone to major-hopping, may
ing a contract
The Abrams take comfort knowing their in Berkeley’s Church Divinity with the Lord, it envy such certitude. What pre-
starting salary could be well over $80,000 a School of the Pacific. On the seems, doesn’t med gone artist gone pre-med
year, the figure given by a survey conducted West Coast, he is transforming quite account again wouldn’t appreciate a lit-
by Hebrew Union College. Professions his sexuality into an important
for hefty loan tle guidance from above? Those
payments.
within Judaism typically offer competitive personal and spiritual asset. like Park know they don’t look
salaries to attract the best clerics, accord- He started TruthSetsFree.net, a website forward to a lifetime of material riches or
ing to the survey results. “The amount of to offer support to gay Christians, and has luxury. But believing you have a place in a
money is really nice to think about,” says received donations from users that help pay higher plan, pulling your feet forward past
Elisa, “but that’s not why we’re doing it.” for his steep seminary costs. the commencement walk—that must feel
divine. ■ —with Isia Jasiewicz
MIND OVER MATTER FINDING (AND KEEPING) FAITH
Some of the hugest challenges for stu- Many more students are on the fence, Taylor Barnes is a junior Latin Ameri-
dents entering ministry have little to do praying their four years in college will give can studies major at Brown; she hears a
with finances and everything to do with them the conviction to follow a calling—or divine calling to journalism. Daniel Stone,
day-to-day issues of, well, the flesh. Ryan to be sure it’s a calling in the first place. Mo- a recent grad of UC-Davis, is glad he’s no
Patrico, a senior at Brown University, is a ses Park isn’t completely comfortable with longer an aimless liberal arts student.
next_step
I-BANK,
THEREFORE I AM
Alter egos emerge as liberal arts grads go corporate
Overworked, overpaid and oversexed in the city
by Dan Haley
Columbia University
salaries come long hours and high-pres- years, possibilities can seem limitless. Coufos of Columbia’s Center for Career
sure demands, as well as a lifestyle that “The appeal of this field is that after two Education.
can turn even bookish history majors years, I can do pretty much whatever I Without that key credential, Nick figured
into big-spending VIPs. “You order $800 want,” says Joe. “I can move to France and he was sunk. But he wasn’t about to let a
bottles of liquor for your table and you become a painter, or join a private equity little thing like the truth stand between
feel pretty slick,” says Nick, who now bears firm, or go surfing in Australia. It’s not just him and the high life. “I had a friend who
little resemblance to the tolerant, laid-back the money. Well, it is the money. But it’s had an asset management company, and he
guitarist he once was. “People ask you what also the freedom the money affords.” made it look like I had interned with him,”
you do and you say you’re an investment But success in the first two years requires he says. “It had to look like I had an interest
banker.” a round-the-clock, work-hard, in the field, which I didn’t.”
“You need that
Every year the banking industry lures in party-harder lifestyle. Last With a falsified resume and
‘I’m a banker’
hundreds just like Nick: liberal arts majors summer, when Joe interned the know-how gleaned from the
feeling. If you
willing to compromise their passions for with the bank he now works Vault Guide to Top Internships,
don’t have it,
a shot at a different type of dream. At Co- for, nights ending before 1 Nick aced his interviews. By
none of the
lumbia University’s Columbia College, an a.m. were one of his great- November an elite bank offered
suffering will
arts and sciences school that doesn’t even est luxuries. He’d hop in the him an analyst job with a salary
be worth it.
offer a business major (its strict core cur- waiting town car—a standard of $55,000, an annual bonus
The image is
riculum revolves around the study of the corporate perk if you work that would at least double
what
Western classics), post-grad jobs in finance late—and hit the town. that—and a $12,500 signing
fuels you.”
are among the most popular. Of the class of “There were people who bonus. The lesson learned? Ly-
2006, 29 percent said they were accepting didn’t drink at all and came out just to keep ing pays. And it pays big.
positions in finance right after graduation, up appearances,” he says. “And then there The rest of senior year was a breeze: “I
according to a survey conducted by Colum- were people who would be downing tons of was just sitting around feeling great,” he re-
bia’s Center for Career Education. Macallan and Glenlivet and sneaking off to calls. “I was going to be a f***ing banker.”
Of course, Columbia isn’t the only elite the bathroom for a bump—or 12.” After graduation, Nick joined the ranks
college sending its students to the Street. How do liberal arts majors go from of those who boast a 100-hour workweek—
Twenty-nine percent of ’06 Cornell Univer- strumming the guitar in a dorm hallway to ranks that also include David, another
sity grads with jobs lined up by graduation dropping G’s on liquor and snorting coke in pseudonymous Columbia alum. When
entered finance, and that’s not counting swanky bar bathrooms? For Nick, the idea David interned with a top i-bank in Hong
the students pursuing consulting or other of making immediate money, and lots of it, Kong last summer, he came into his of-
business fields, which brings the figure up without any extra education pulled him in. fice one morning at 9 a.m. not knowing he
to 47 percent. The proportion is the same at (Medicine and law require years of school- faced a 30-hour workday. “My boss says you
Princeton University. And at the University ing before offering the same kind of payout, should be able to operate on four hours of
of Pennsylvania, about a third of ’06 School and by the time a young lawyer or doctor is sleep,” says David, nodding earnestly. “For
of Arts and Sciences grads entering the actually making $150,000, his banker peer around three weeks, I only got three hours
workforce went into finance. is already earning three or four times as of sleep during normal business days.”
The massive popularity can be attributed much.) It’s a small investment with a poten- That schedule is par for the course in
partly to banks’ vigorous recruitment tac- tially giant payoff. Though no econ major, investment banking. But guys like Nick get
tics, which often include ritzy receptions Nick knew a good bet when he saw one. through the pain by romanticizing it. “You
with free drinks. And the allure continues The only real problem was getting the need that ‘I’m a banker’ feeling,” says Nick.
to build upon itself. As prominent stu- job. Nick had a 3.6 GPA and strong quanti- “If you don’t have it, none of the suffering
dents head off to top banks, others follow. tative skills, but he was still a history major will be worth it—you won’t push through.
“I looked around and I felt like the best with no previous finance experience. And The image is what fuels you.”
people, the brightest minds, the most ambi- in this playing field, his Ivy League back- And though the schedule is tough to
tious people at Columbia were going into ground wouldn’t give him much of an edge. maintain, in many ways banking is actually
banking,” says Joe. “I’m a really competitive The majority of new hires in banking come an easy way out, Nick says. It’s an industry
person, and that was a huge motivation.” from elite “target” schools like Columbia, full of “people who want to make money
But at the bottom of it all, many say, is Penn, Harvard, Yale and New York Univer- but won’t take risks,” he explains. As long
the bottom line—the money that can be sity, according to sources in the industry. as you’re “hard-working and reasonably
made and the relatively few years it takes to Nick knew his lack of a previous intern- smart,” he says, “you’ll be a millionaire.” ■
make it. Bankers speak of “exit opportuni- ship could be the deal-breaker. “Employers
ties,” the options they have after the initial favor students with internship experience Dan Haley is a senior majoring in English
two-year contract expires. With the money as they have demonstrated an early foray at Columbia University. He’s disappointed
and skills accumulated over those arduous into the professional world,” says Eleanor that writers don’t get signing bonuses.
next_step
by Rebecca Kaden once secured, they rarely offer fame or as a profession.” She adds that she wouldn’t
Harvard University fortune. According to the U.S. Bureau of be surprised by the advent of culinary
Labor, head chefs in full-service restau- master’s degrees in the near future.
Harrison Keevil was supposed to be an rants made an average salary of $13.57 per Keevil is pleased with his decision to
investment banker. He studied foreign af- hour in 2006, nearly $6 per hour less than sidestep the Street to enroll in a yearlong
fairs at the University of Virginia, and after the overall average for amusement and program at New York’s French Culinary
graduation set off for London to intern recreation industries. But while the wages Institute, where he is working toward a
for Parliament. A year later he returned to might suggest otherwise, chefing is hardly degree in Classic Culinary Arts. He quickly
New York City for the banking job he had a fallback for high school dropouts. In fact, found a passion in the kitchen that he was
lined up senior year, only to realize that his many would-be chefs are college grads— never quite able to muster in the class-
heart was somewhere else. students like Keevil, who trade in suits and room. “At UVA, I did the work and did
The story could end there, with a dis- ties for the tall, white chef ’s hat. okay, but didn’t find it interesting,” Keevil
gruntled banker living out his years won- “The role of the chef is changing,” says says on the walk between the two res-
dering what could have been. But Keevil is Christopher Koetke, dean of the School of taurant jobs he now holds in Manhattan.
one of the lucky few who could decide on Culinary Arts at Kendall Col- “Now I’m enjoying absolutely
Many grads are
a dream that’s slightly off the beaten track lege in Chicago. “It used to be trading in suits every minute of learning about
and actually try to follow it. “I had one of that you just sort of cooked, and ties for cooking.”
those ‘what are you going to do with your but now you have to cook and the tall, white But Keevil is happy he didn’t
life’ conversations with my parents,” he understand the business.” An chef’s hat. But spend his undergrad years be-
topnotch
says, “and I decided to do cooking.” undergraduate degree is no culinary jobs hind a stove. He credits UVA
A few decades ago, Keevil’s career substitute for smooth knife are hard to economics and business classes
change might have seemed like a tumble work and a sophisticated land and rarely with giving him insight into
offer fame or
down the professional ladder. But the understanding of spices, of “all the behind-the-scenes stuff
fortune.
enormous popularity of shows like Top course, but highly educated that doesn’t involve the actual
Chef and Hell’s Kitchen, the household cooks are finding their coursework to be an food.” That knowledge could help him
celebrity Emeril and a summer spat of food asset in the kitchen. achieve his next big goal: opening his own
films have all but stamped chefing as the Drusilla Blackman, vice president of restaurant within five years. “I’ve talked to
new “it” profession alongside standbys like Enrollment Management at the Culinary people who say it’s ballsy,” Keevil says, “but
acting and pro sports. Institute of America (CIA), says about 20 it’s something I want to do.”
Reality, of course, is never as glamor- percent of students enrolling in each class Keevil says he has no regrets about pass-
ous as prime-time television. Topnotch have B.A.s. “Whereas being a chef used to ing up on the more plentiful (and immedi-
culinary jobs are hard to come by, and be seen as a trade,” she says, “it’s now seen ate) earnings of banking. “I cook because it
next_step
is what I love to do,” he says. “I get to follow the college degree pushes you further.”
my passions and live a dream every time Stanton’s studies have helped him take
that I step into a kitchen. Not many bank- his cooking to the next level. As the execu-
ers can say that [about their jobs].” tive chef of New York’s brand-new Sanctu-
Kevin Stanton originally chose the more ary Tea Restaurant, a scientific knowledge
straightforward route into chefing. After of happenings inside the oven enhances his
graduating from high school, he spent dishes. “I consider the cooking side first,”
a year working for celebrity chef David he says, “then I think about the scientific
Bouley in New York City, then “Back in the side of it”—like taking into ac-
skipped out on a typical college day being a count the effects of tempera-
experience to enroll in École Su- chef wasn’t ture control and oxidation on
périeure de Cuisine Française, a as glorified. taste. Scientific know-how is
Your parents
culinary school in Paris. wouldn’t be as a must, he adds, when cook-
But he has since learned the proud as if you ing with tea.
drawbacks of forgoing a bach- were a laywer Joint degree programs are
or doctor. The
elor’s degree. “There are things title of chef popping up that will make
Fork it Over:
you need to know about law and denotes much Stanton’s combination of Cornell grad
regulation that you don’t learn in more honor training easier to find. In May Kevin Stanton
runs the kitchen
culinary school,” he says, such as now.” of 2006, Cornell’s School of at Sanctuary Tea
Room in New
how to deal with recent trans fat Hotel Administration teamed York City.
legislation in New York and Chicago. “With up with the CIA (no, not that one), allow-
an undergrad education, you know where ing students in their junior or senior year to
and how to find information.” earn both degrees at once: a B.S. in Hotel
So Stanton returned to the classroom as Administration and an associate’s degree
a student at Cornell’s College of Agriculture from the culinary school. The program
and Life Sciences, and last spring, at the puts students in first-rate kitchens for eight
age of 27, he received his bachelor’s degree months, teaching real-world technical and
in Food Science. “I knew how to cook, but culinary skills like front-of-the-house ser-
I needed the undergraduate education to vice and advanced wine selection.
break through the wall,” he says. “Where the The leg up costs about $15,000, but it
limits of just a culinary education stop you, lends grads a “depth and breadth to their
next_step
is what I love to do,” he says. “I get to follow the college degree pushes you further.”
my passions and live a dream every time Stanton’s studies have helped him take
that I step into a kitchen. Not many bank- his cooking to the next level. As the execu-
ers can say that [about their jobs].” tive chef of New York’s brand-new Sanctu-
Kevin Stanton originally chose the more ary Tea Restaurant, a scientific knowledge
straightforward route into chefing. After of happenings inside the oven enhances his
graduating from high school, he spent dishes. “I consider the cooking side first,”
a year working for celebrity chef David he says, “then I think about the scientific
Bouley in New York City, then “Back in the side of it”—like taking into ac-
skipped out on a typical college day being a count the effects of tempera-
experience to enroll in École Su- chef wasn’t ture control and oxidation on
périeure de Cuisine Française, a as glorified. taste. Scientific know-how is
Your parents
culinary school in Paris. wouldn’t be as a must, he adds, when cook-
But he has since learned the proud as if you ing with tea.
drawbacks of forgoing a bach- were a laywer Joint degree programs are
or doctor. The
elor’s degree. “There are things title of chef popping up that will make
Fork it Over:
you need to know about law and denotes much Stanton’s combination of Cornell grad
regulation that you don’t learn in more honor training easier to find. In May Kevin Stanton
runs the kitchen
culinary school,” he says, such as now.” of 2006, Cornell’s School of at Sanctuary Tea
Room in New
how to deal with recent trans fat Hotel Administration teamed York City.
legislation in New York and Chicago. “With up with the CIA (no, not that one), allow-
an undergrad education, you know where ing students in their junior or senior year to
and how to find information.” earn both degrees at once: a B.S. in Hotel
So Stanton returned to the classroom as Administration and an associate’s degree
a student at Cornell’s College of Agriculture from the culinary school. The program
and Life Sciences, and last spring, at the puts students in first-rate kitchens for eight
age of 27, he received his bachelor’s degree months, teaching real-world technical and
in Food Science. “I knew how to cook, but culinary skills like front-of-the-house ser-
I needed the undergraduate education to vice and advanced wine selection.
break through the wall,” he says. “Where the The leg up costs about $15,000, but it
limits of just a culinary education stop you, lends grads a “depth and breadth to their
POSTER SHADY
Today he sports
trendier sungear,
but Alex’s favorite
BOY
Alex Smith, originally from Philly,
graduated in May from NYC’s
shades are meant
for old folks with
cataracts.
e up on their e”
irls to pinm iro n tom
nt so r o r ity g to pu m p
“I wa fr a t g uys
a lls , a nd
w
THE XX JEAN
Women’s jeans— HOOP DREAMS
worn These snazzy red-
“aggressively” and-black sneaks
— are Alex’s go-to are all form, no-
pants. function. “I don’t
play basketball,”
he says, “but I love
that Nike swoosh.”
backspin
FASHION
Style Sans
Leggings Serif
by Alex Benenson, Yale
Bite the Call it the shirt that launched
Dust, Again
by Allison Baker,
a thousand slogans. U.K. label
House of Holland’s stark neon
“fashion groupie” tees—drawing
Syracuse
on the famous Katharine Ham-
This summer, for the second nett “Choose Life” and “Frankie
time in 25 years, we bid farewell Says Relax (Don’t Do It)” slogan
to leggings. They’ll probably be shirts of the 1980s—have kicked
back, once our childbearing days off a frenzy for word-art tees.
have left our thighs incapable of T-shirts over-
doing them justice. But for now— run with giant
again—leggings are officially out. sans serif text
The spandex sensation first are cropping up
struck big clinging to Madonna’s everywhere from
legs in her “street chic” phase and Urban Oufit-
hugging Jennifer Beals’ hips in ters to high-end
Flashdance, but soon went the boutiques in New
way of the scrunchie, relocat- York and L.A. The Say it Loud: Slogan
tees evoke the revolu-
ing from the runway to the early printed word, at tionary spirit of ’60s art
morning run. Two decades later, least when it comes by questioning the
power of designers
they were back, this time gracing to fashion, is in. while simultaneously
cashing in on them.
the gams of size-zero Hollywood At first glance the
royals Lindsay Lohan and Nicole signature tees, fea-
Richie and seducing the every- turing snarky rhym-
woman with a comfortable—if at ing couplets directed
times grossly unflattering—alter- at British designers,
native to pants, and a surefire way such as “Get Yer Freak on, Giles
to transform shirts into dresses. Deacon, or “Treat Me Mean,
But as tragic as it may be for Alexander McQueen,” seem like
Kelly Kapowski devotees, the unlikely trendsetters. Not only do
second coming of leggings has al- the simplistic designs look ridicu-
ready passed. Until, Thriller-style, lously crude against the baroque
they rise again. ■ runway landscape, but the slogans
smack of self-referential and self-
limiting industry elitism. Just
who is Giles Deacon, anyway?
Nevertheless, these tees have
single-handedly kicked off the
word art revival—a return to a
seductively simple, subversive
Long Live
Leggings? aesthetic dating back long before
We’ve had the births of today’s trendsters.
enough for
our lifetimes. To understand the history
of slogan tees, start with Annie
Leibovitz’s iconic shot of Rolling
LIQUID
( )
MEASURES Sip in style with
Venetian +
a sophisticated
backspin
ONE-ON-ONE WITH JASON SCHWARTZMAN
Graduating from
‘Rushmore’
by Peter Fritch, Cornell
You might expect Jason Schwartzman working dinners. “About 200 meals later,”
to be the sort of over-ambitious go-getter Schwartzman says, “we had the movie.”
that he plays in the 1998 film Rushmore. The outcome is the hilariously subdued
After all, he’s made quite a name for him- Darjeeling Limited, in theaters nationwide
self by age 27, starring in cult hit films like this October. The movie stars Schwartz-
I Heart Huckabees, releasing three albums man, Adrien Brody and Owen Wilson as
and starting his own record label. But to Jack, Peter and Francis Whitman, three
hear Schwartzman tell it, the successes estranged brothers who decide to embark
that have come his way weren’t seized so on a train ride—and, this being an Ander-
much as received with open arms. With son film, spiritual journey—through India. A Wild Ride: Jason
Schwartzman, Adrien Brody
his easy-going nature, Schwartzman man- Like the film’s youngest two broth- and Owen Wilson play three
ages to capitalize on his talent in a way that ers, steered into their Indian odyssey by brothers on a trip through
India in this fall’s The
Rushmore’s poor Max Fischer never could. the smooth-talking older sib (Wilson), Darjeeling Limited.
His latest credit, co-writing and co-star- Schwartzman is no stranger to being along
ring in Wes Anderson’s next whimsical for the family ride. He’s one of the newest
family drama, The Darjeeling Limited, was stars of an entrenched Hollywood clan—
particularly serendipitous. When I ask him the son of actress Talia Shire (“Adrian”
what it was like to pen his first screenplay in Rocky), nephew of Francis Ford Cop-
with indie-flick guru Anderson, Schwartz- pola, cousin of Roman and Sofia Coppola
man laughs and says, “It all happened so as well as Nicolas Cage and brother of
quickly I wasn’t aware that we were writ- Robert, actor and frontman for the band
ing anything.” Rooney.
I thought he was just being modest. Silly Contrary to my speculations, working
me. with his family did not involve the retell- man shudders. “It would be unnatural for
The film, Schwartzman explains, ing of embarrassing childhood stories or me to be a part of that,” he says. “My idea
emerged sort of “strangely” from conversa- on-set arguments culminating with the of a wild night is getting something crazy
tions with Anderson, the writer and direc- line “God! You always do that!” Far from at a Whole Foods in Westwood.”
tor of Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums it, Schwartzman says. Acting in Darjeel- Schwartzman did develop an early
and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. ing with Roman Coppola and previously appreciation for movies, but it was just
“Wes didn’t call me beforehand “My idea of under Sofia’s direction in Marie like the rest of us: as an ordinary viewer
and say what he wanted,” he a wild night Antoinette, Schwartzman says mesmerized by the silver screen, and
says. “He was living with me is getting he benefited artistically from not a jaded studio brat barking orders at
and we would walk together at something the family connection. “Because Mommy and Daddy’s assistants.
crazy at
night and tell each other stories.” Whole they knew me as a little kid, they “I know this sounds strange, but I
Unbeknownst to Schwartzman, Foods.” could say things like, ‘Remember didn’t really grow up around movie sets.
those stories were being ar- when you were little and you My mom didn’t work much when I was
ranged into a screenplay. It was Anderson’s used to do that weird thing with your fist? a kid,” he says. And the young Schwartz-
way of coaxing Schwartzman into writing Yeah, do something like that,’” he says. man was happy to steer clear of the film
the script with him—the script for a movie But Schwartzman hasn’t translated his industry. “I didn’t really have a thought
Anderson already had in the pipeline. star-studded family tree into glamour and in my head that was like, ‘I could do that
With their ideas sketched out, the glitz. When I suggest the image of him too.’ I wouldn’t have even thought to try to
close-knit trio of Schwartzman, Ander- strutting from one VIP room to another, do something that spectacular and other-
son and Roman Coppola began nightly the paparazzi skidding behind, Schwartz- worldly, really.”
WHAT’S
ON JASONNE’SXT
NetFlix QUEUE
But Schwartzman was a natural enter- cousin would be perfect as Max Fischer, ❏ Nuts in M
:
ay (1917)
tainer, and so he turned to music—a “more the precocious high school sophomore who ❏ The Misfit
s (1961)
tangible” art form, he says. While movies competes with a depressed steel tycoon— ❏ Bedazzled
(1967)
seemed distant and unattainable, music played by Bill Murray—for the affections of ❏ The Hills
(Season 1)
was something he could do on his own. a widowed first-grade teacher. The casting ❏ The Five O
bstructions (2
“With music, you can hold an instrument director agreed. ❏ Wall Stree 003)
t (1987)
and play it and create something.” “Here I was, going into my senior year ❏ The Makin
g of ‘Rumors’
In 1994, Schwartzman and three high- of high school thinking about applying to ❏ 9 to 5 (198
0)
school friends started the pop-rock band colleges, and I was making this record with
Phantom Planet, famous for its unavoid- my band, and literally a few months in, I
ably catchy hit (and O.C. theme song) found myself in Houston making a movie
“California,” which features Schwartz- with Bill Murray,” he says.
man on drums. When the guys began to Ten years later, Schwartzman’s career ing a former high school a cappella star
record their first album, Phantom Planet hasn’t let up speed. In 2006, he started his still living in his past.
is Missing, in 1997, the then-17-year-old own record label, Young Baby Records, Schwartzman’s biggest hope now is to
Schwartzman assumed he had found his and in March released his debut solo al- strike a healthy balance between singing
big break. bum “Nighttiming” under the performing and acting. “I’m going at a pace that feels
His family, however, had other plans in name Coconut Records. Schwartzman also comfortable,” he says. But given the guy’s
the making. Sofia Coppola tipped off the co-stars with Ben Stiller in the upcoming history of unexpected breaks, there might
casting director of Rushmore that her little film The Marc Pease Experience, portray- be more up ahead than he sees coming. ■
backspin
STUDENT
TALENT
Sound Travels:
Canadian Ben
Caplan’s music
has Latin flavor.
Bad Breaks, Bossa Nova and enough for you, he’s also recently started playing Bossa Nova, a
Brazilian fusion of samba and jazz.
an Album in the Uven Caplan’s career began at 13 in his hometown of Hamilton,
a city close to Toronto with a bustling music scene, when his
Ben Caplan already has one Behind the Music-worthy grandmother bought him an acoustic guitar. He still draws
scandal in the bag. This spring, Caplan, now a junior at Uni- inspiration from local Hamilton acts produced by Put On Your
versity of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, thought his Drinking Cap Records, along with classics like Phish and Pink
prayers had been answered: an actual producer was offering Floyd. During the school year, Caplan headlines at the campus
him the chance to record his new album, and promised him an pub The Wardroom and venues around town.
“on the cheap” deal. It sounded too good to be true—and it was. For a guy who can play seven instruments and has a new solo
The producer disappeared without a trace before
Caplan looks album in the works, it’s hard to believe Halifax will
the project was over, leaving Caplan record-less and the part, but be big enough for long. He also plays as one half of
the studio stiffed. he doesn’t a band, Uvenburd (pronounced “oven bird”), which
Maybe that’s why Caplan, 21, doesn’t aim to be- want to be a he formed with high school friend Joe Girard in
rock star.
come a rock star. He recently built a studio in the 2004—a set-up he hopes could lead to touring. But
basement of his parents’ house so that he can use school breaks since Girard still lives in Hamilton, even practicing together
to mix, master, record and edit new music by himself, without is difficult. Still, with the release of their new album, “Flood-
worrying about producers. Defining his style as experimental watching,” Caplan is more optimistic the two will hit the road.
folk rock with Latin influences, Caplan credits his travels in “It would be a dream come true to live off my music,” he
South America and exposure to new rhythms and instruments says. “But if not, there are other important things in the world.”
there with transforming his sound. “My eyes and ears were Let’s hope that’s a line he can laugh about on VH1 someday.
opened to a new musical paradigm,” he says. “It was great to —Lyndsie Bourgon
escape the monotony of the popular North American scene. Website: www.myspace.com/caplan; album on iTunes
Shoe photo courtesy of Rob Spalding; Unicycle photo by Adam Biel fall 2007 | current 49
backspin
BACKSTAGE
When Rocking Out sake. “Nick had just started playing with us
at the time,” explains Sam, “and he told us
about his grandfather, and showed us some
Is a Family Affair
by Jennifer Pelly, Fordham
of the sheet music. We started playing some
of Roy’s songs. Now we write our own songs,
but the name stuck.” Although the guys have
moved on to create their own sound, Roy’s
music was a major influence as they devel-
If you think the best things about Dela- unusually close. Guitarist Joe Hobson and oped their style.
ware are its lack of sales tax and shoutout in drummer Jeff Hobson are brothers, as are The family act continued on “Nice and
Wayne’s World, think again. An unexpected Sam Hughes, keyboard, and Thomas Hughes, Nicely Done,” their latest and most success-
breeding ground for indie-rock groups, bass guitar. The Hughes brothers met guitar- ful indie-label release, which was produced
this state has been home to such musicians ist Nick Krill in middle school and guitarist by guitarist Jon Eaton’s uncle in Nashville.
as Cab Calloway and Bob Marley, plus it’s Jon Eaton through their parents, who were The guys call it “the most professional thing”
pumped out some smaller bands whose all close friends in Wilmington, they have ever recorded.
Touring can
names you might not know, but should. The Dela. The web is more tightly- be tough, but The album’s hit single, “Oh,
latest set of up-and-coming crooners: The woven still: five of the six guys had the boys pre- Mandy,” seems to be dedicated to a
Spinto Band. relatives in a group called Sin City fer the rocker dreamy love interest named Mandy,
lifestyle to
Formed in 1996, this indie-pop sextet Band, making music a natural fit. “getting up but it’s actually about the mandolin
has drawn comparisons to popular art- In their early years, the boys at 7 a.m. and Krill is playing in the background.
ists like The Flaming Lips—and even The drew inspiration from a local un- going to He had no prior experience with the
Beatles—and has toured with The Arctic derground duo called The Pony
work every instrument before composing the
morning.”
Monkeys, Of Montreal, We Are Scientists Brothers, whom Krill credits song on a friend’s mandolin, so “it
and Art Brut across the U.S., Europe and with inspiring many local kids to start bands. was easy to come up with new songs and
Japan. This August, the guys headed to Los “There was this spirit of making your own different ways to play,” Krill says.
Angeles to record the follow-up to their hit music,” he says. After “Oh, Mandy” became a success,
first release, “Nice and Nicely Done.” For the But when Krill found sheet music in his Sears ran a commercial featuring the song.
as-yet-untitled album, slated for release in attic written by his grandfather, Roy Spinto— Soon after, the band put out a “Mandy” mu-
early 2008, the band teamed up with Dave some of it scribbled on Cracker Jack wrap- sic video under the direction of John Watts,
Trumfio, producer of breakthrough records pers—the band got a kickstart and its name- who has directed videos for Fatboy Slim and
for Wilco and OK Go.
Lots of small-town bands are friends first, Party Animals: Band members Joe Hob-
son, Jon Eaton, Nick Krill, Thomas Hughes,
musicians second, but the Spinto boys are Sam Hughes and Jeff Hobson...and dogs.
Death Cab for Cutie. The video juxtaposes of The Spinto Band, it’s because they toured even provided free water before their act.
real-life images with cartoon cutouts of the with U.K. rock phenomenon The Arctic Mon- Still, they prefer the rocker lifestyle to “getting
guys performing, complete with the mechani- keys in 2006. That’s a hot gig, but the guys up at 7 a.m. and going to work every morn-
cal mannerisms that characterize their stage warn that touring can be a strain for young ing,” Joe says.
shows. (Picture all six band members’ heads bands on the rise. Joe recalls one especially With a new album in the works, the guys
bobbing from side to side as if to the same bad day at the South by Southwest music fes- may not have to become working stiffs for a
metronome as their guitars). tival in Austin, Texas, when they had to carry while. In the meantime, check them out at
Chances are, though, that if you’ve heard around their own equipment and weren’t NYC’s CMJ Music Marathon this October. ■
last_word
Pumping Electric
THE TERMINATOR TALKS ABOUT WIPING OUT THE ECO-THREAT
BY DANIEL STONE
In his acting days, Arnold Schwarzeneg- the engine. We can change the engine and find
ger certainly wasn’t typecast as the guitar- ways of reducing the greenhouse emissions by
strumming, long-haired hippie. But with 50 percent or even completely with electric
his innovative ideas and global celebrity, cars, like the Tesla. I ordered one for myself
California’s hotshot governor has become a because it’s going to be really great to see a car
face for the green movement. After signing that has zero emissions—and to make it that
a 2006 bill reducing the state’s greenhouse good-looking. Same thing with airplanes. Virgin
gas emissions across every sector of its Air is partnering with GE to create engines that
economy and appearing in April on MTV’s will run on biofuel. So it’s not like saying, “Let’s
Pimp My Ride to revamp a 1965 Chevy shrink the planes and make people crouch.”
Impala, Schwarzenegger is converting his No. Let’s make the planes bigger, but let’s cre-
own image while he works to change oth- ate the engines with new technology.
ers’ ideas. In the cigar tent outside his Sac-
ramento office, the governor chatted with Have you found that young people are engag-
Current’s Daniel Stone about little cars, big ing with environmental issues? Young people
planes and how to save the planet. are more and more responding to it, but they
are always ahead of everyone. If they don’t
What motivated you to embrace the environmental movement? like something, they’ll protest. Young people are very rarely up
The position. When you’re governor, you have the ability to make for the status quo. They’re always up for change. I want them to
great changes and improve people’s lives. Everything I’ve ever feel that they really have the power to make the changes. I think
done in my life has been global. Body building, show business, it makes them feel good—like they’re part of the action.
those were global. Environmental issues have a global impact
and, because California is so big, we can inspire other states to What kind of new opportunities do you think will be available to
do the same thing. young people entering the workforce as a result of the industry
Need new caption
changes you foresee? In California, I think the technology sector
When it comes to advocating environmental change, how much will explode. The Wall Street Journal called it the gold rush and
does celebrity help? I’m not out there as an environmentalist. that’s exactly what it’s going to be, because wherever you look,
I’m out there as Arnold the guy you know from the movies, you there are people and companies in technology coming up with
know, all the hip things I’ve done in the past. Bodybuilding and new ways to be greener. I think that young people will be a big
movies are cool, and here’s another cool thing: go and take care part of that and will get jobs in those areas.
of the environment. Be someone who really has the power to
contribute. That’s what it basically is—inspiring people to be part What kind of advice do you give your own kids about being ef-
of the change. ficient? Well, I teach them not just to talk about it but to do it.
Forget the 15- or 20-minute shower—it’s the-five minute shower.
But to some you’re still known as Arnold, the guy with the Hum- When you walk out of the room, turn out the lights. Everything
mers who commutes to work via private jet. We’ve now con- you do all day long, think about the impact. My kids are very
verted three out of five of the Hummers. One is a hydrogen Hum- much into all this. For instance, my daughter currently drives
mer and one is biofuel, and the other one uses new technology a Volkswagen, and she wants to change it to a hybrid car. But I
developed in California that actually reduces greenhouse emis- didn’t say anything. It was her idea.
sions by over 80 percent. That’s huge. I don’t drive any of them,
because I drive with the California Highway Patrol, but I wanted So what role should she and her friends take in this movement?
to try out the technology. What young people have to do is just think about what they can
do to contribute and invent new ideas. That’s really where the
So whereas most people are talking about conservation, your future is. They’re the next generation that’s going to take this
main focus is technology. That’s what I always say: besides con- thing through the roof; they’re responsible to get it started and
servation, technology is going to save the day. I think everyone to recognize that for 400 years we screwed up the environment.
recognizes that the size of a car has nothing to do with it. It’s Now let’s try to fix it. ■
56 current | fall 2007 Photo courtesy of Duncan McIntosh, Office of Gov. Schwarzenegger