SUMMER 2003
JUNE 2
Former University student Jeremy George files a lawsuit against the University, claiming his expulsion from the University in spring 2003 on charges of helping football teammates cheat on an introductory computer science midterm was unjust.
AUGUST
Princeton Review ranks Wesleyan most politically active. Wes also garners top ten rankings in “Great College Theater” (fifth), “Happy Students” (ninth), “Birkenstock-wearing, Tree-Hugging, Clove-Smoking Vegetarians” (seventh) and “Students Most Nostalgic for Bill Clinton” (fifth).
FALL 2003
EARLY SEPTEMBER
As part of “The Library Project,” over 500 call numbers corresponding to books in Olin Library are placed across the Wesleyan campus and throughout the Middletown area. Department Chair of Art and Art History Professor Jeffrey Schiff organized the project.
SEPTEMBER 11
Over 100 members of the University community gather on the steps of North College Thursday in remembrance of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
In response to widespread complaints, a coalition of students, administrators and the Jewish Chaplain cancel plans to make Montague’s Deli a kosher deli.
SEPTEMBER 13
Forty University students travel to Yale as part of a crowd of 10,000 unionized workers, faculty and students to protest Yale University’s treatment of its workers.
SEPTEMBER 17
Members of Students for a Free Palestine, wearing all black, lie “dead” in protest on the ground in front of the Campus Center to commemorate the 21-year anniversary of the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
SEPTEMBER 21
A “flash” dance party at the corner of High Street and Lawn Avenue is broken up by officers from Public Safety and the Middletown Police Department (MPD), with backup from other area police. Officers used ten rounds of pepper balls to disperse the crowd of nearly 200, according to Sgt. Amy Pear of the MPD Records Division.
SEPTEMBER 26
Students vote to use points off-campus, prompting protest from dining services workers and students against off-campus point use.
Director of Residential Life Jeff Ederer submits his resignation, effective Dec. 31, 2003. Ederer cited his goal of finishing his doctoral studies by this summer as reason for his leave.
A lawsuit filed against the University by Robert Cohen ’06 is settled out of court this week. Cohen was suing for damages as well as reinstatement as a student after his semester-long suspension for allegedly burning a cross on Foss Hill in May.
OCTOBER 1
Christina Crosby, Professor of English and Women’s Studies, is airlifted to a nearby hospital after a bicycle accident in Middlefield. Crosby is currently recuperating and plans to return to teaching.
OCTOBER 2
Owner of Giuseppe’s Pizza Rose Aresco submits a letter to the Argus announcing that she no longer plans to accept students’ meal points at her restaurant.
OCTOBER 11
Public Safety officers arrest a non-University person on Foss Hill after spotting him with two student laptops.
OCTOBER 15
Former Dean of the College Freddye Hill announces resignation to some members of the Administration. Hill resigned on Oct. 22, and Vice President Peter Patton took over as interim Dean.
OCTOBER 26
WSA passed dining resolution to focus on improving on-campus dining and provide a temporary off-campus points option.
NOVEMBER 4
The body of Terence Leary ’06 is found under a South Main Street bridge after a distressed phone call to his family prompts a nearly 12-hour search. The state medical examiner ruled the 19-year-old student’s death a suicide after conducting a preliminary autopsy.
NOVEMBER 5
The switch to an electronic add/drop system is announced to community via an all-campus e-mail.
NOVEMBER 13
Service in honor of Terence Leary ’06 held at the Memorial Chapel.
NOVEMBER 22
Walking alone to a friend’s house after a party at around 3 a.m., Shepherd Smith ’04 is approached and assaulted by a group of four teenage men on the corner of High Street.
DECEMBER 1
Pi Café opens on the first floor of the Science Tower.
DECEMBER 4
As Thai Gardens staff members finalize an agreement with Aramark and the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) to allow for use of student points, concerned students and service workers rally outside of the Campus Center in protest.
LATE DECEMBER
Former Wesleyan student Jeremy George drops his lawsuit against the University.
SPRING 2004
JANUARY 21
Summerfields re-opens its doors, featuring a renovated interior, made-to-order food, and late-night dining.
JANUARY 29
Approximately 25 Wesleyan students join almost 200 protesters from around the state at an anti-President Bush demonstration in Greenwich, Conn. Bush was attending an alleged $2,000 per plate campaign fundraising dinner.
LATE JANUARY
The Psi Upsilon fraternity receives notification from the Administration that the Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC) rejected its request for program house status. The URLC found Psi U in violation of the University’s non-discrimination policy because it excluded women.
FEBRUARY 2
Mafeesa Monroe ’99, a spoken word artist who has opened for the singer Jewel, leads the first event of Black History Month Convocation, speaking on multi-racial identity and race relations on campus.
FEBRUARY 3
Michael Cunningham, author of the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “The Hours,” gives the annual Annie Sonnenblick lecture.
FEBRUARY 5
Thai Gardens starts accepting points during select hours of operation.
FEBRUARY 7
Activism 102 conference held despite protest by many students and faculty. The event gathered between 70 and 80 students and others involved in Israel-Palestine issues. The conference was organized by Wesleyan’s Students for a Free Palestine (SFP), New Haven organization Middle East Crisis Committee (MECC), and the Conn.-based Palestine Right to Return Coalition (Al-Awda).
MID-LATE FEBRUARY
Ten of the 12 senior players on the men’s ice hockey team are deemed ineligible to compete in the final two regular season games after digital photographs of freshmen drinking alcohol at a pre-season gathering come to the attention of the Administration.
FEBRUARY 20
The Office of Residential Life informs Psi Upsilon that they have received program house status for the remainder of the spring semester and the 2004-2005 academic year.
FEBRUARY 24
A carbon monoxide leak at 156 High St. causes an evacuation at approximately 2 a.m.
MARCH 28
WSA passes a resolution to resubmit last year’s chalking proposal to President Doug Bennet.
LATE MARCH
A committee consisting of students, administrative officials and Public Safety decides to enforce underage drinking laws at Spring Fling by requiring students over 21 to wear wristbands at the event.
EARLY APRIL
Dan Stillman ’04 and Matt Eaton ’04, WesMatch creators, accuse Yale University of plagiarizing content and design.
President Doug Bennet announces in an e-mail to the senior class that Professor Njabulo Ndebele, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, will deliver the principal address and receive an honorary doctor of letters at commencement in May.
The Office of Residential Life announces the creation of additional quiet homes on Lawn and Home avenues, making both streets completely “quiet.” Quiet houses require that all noise generated must not be audible outside the house.
APRIL 2
In a statement issued to the WSA, President Douglas Bennet upholds the campus-chalking ban.
APRIL 8
The Undergraduate Residential Life Committee (URLC) decides to give all incoming frosh the option of living in gender-neutral housing in any first-year residence. The new policy will replace the gender-blind hall.
APRIL 18
A string of assaults from Williams Street to Hi-Rise at about 2:45 a.m. sends three students to the hospital.
APRIL 25
Over 300 Wesleyan students attend the March for Women’s Lives in Washington, D.C.
LATE APRIL
Assistant Director of Residential Life Rich DeCapua asserts that changes to the University’s housing options over the next few years will eliminate the need for off-campus housing.
The Social Committee of the WSA announces the finalized artist lineup for Spring Fling 2004. Ghostface Killah is confirmed to headline the event, and will be preceded by Soulive, ESG and the Wesleyan band Monsters of Rock.
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