Radish: SPEA reveals XCORE

In a surprise press conference last Thursday, School of Public and Environmental Affairs Dean John D. Graham announced an addition to the curriculum for SPEA students matriculating in the fall of 2010.

Xcore combines all of the prerequisites SPEA students take, like non-profit accounting, professional writing and introduction to business. For 10 days, students will be set up into hypothetical mini-agencies of six or seven. The end goal is to try and save your agency from being written out of the federal budget by putting together a series of PowerPoint presentations. In a candid discussion with Michael Stallone, a chancellor’s professor and mustache enthusiast, he shouted, “Job preservation is how most bureaucrats spend their time in Washington. Let’s put the constant fear of termination in them.”

Current SPEA students are not worried for the next generation. Most are predicting the same level of difficulty they have experienced in the past. Like junior James Geller, as he passed a joint he put it simply, “Come on guys, it’s still SPEA,” before he sprawled out on his couch and began to starfish.