Journalist gets rave reviews

Students filled Irvine Auditorium last night to hear famed investigative journalist Bob Woodward speak on ethics, politics and even poke a little fun at President Bush.

Woodward discussed the role of ethics and integrity during the presidency of Richard Nixon -- during which Woodward first broke the Watergate scandal with fellow Washington Post reporter Carl Bernstein that led to Nixon's resignation -- and its role today.

More than 1,250 students filled Irvine Auditorium to enjoy Woodward's personal stories including his admiration of Washington Post publisher Katherine Graham and his interviews with Bush, during which the president claimed to have read some of Woodward's books.

"I was tempted to quiz him... but did not," Woodward said, also noting that "Woody" was the nickname given to him by Bush.

Students said they felt Woodward was a good representative of integrity, considering his work to uncover the largest presidential scandal to date and his refusal to name the true identity of the infamous Deep Throat.

"He's an important figure in American history," College freshman Adam Weber said. "The Watergate scandal affected all of America."

"He's a legend," College freshman Michael Sanders added.

Especially in the wake of recent business scandals, most students said they believe the issue of integrity to be especially pertinent.

"Integrity is a really important issue... for society at the moment," College sophomore Adam Levin said.

Woodward surveyed the audience several times on topics such as the impeachment of former President Bill Clinton and the war on Iraq.

He also fielded questions at the end of his talk on topics ranging from his own morality to which of his eight bestselling books he would recommend to the audience.

"The one that costs the least," Woodward joked.

Students were pleased that Woodward added humor to his speech and asked for audience participation.

"It was entertaining," College sophomore Josh Cohn said. "I'm not normally into politics."

"I thought it was pretty good... pretty enlightening," Wharton junior Rohit Shatty said.

However, not all students found the talk exciting. College sophomore Eric Berrin called the speech "pretty boring."

"I thought it would be more entertaining," Berrin said, adding that he enjoyed Woodward's Bush stories and would have preferred Woodward to talk "more about inside stuff rather than generalize about integrity."

College freshman Julia Zhou also said that Woodward's talk could have focused more on journalism.

Woodward's talk was part of the University Honor Council's third-annual Academic Integrity Week that continues through this week with a corporate ethics panel and a showing of All the President's Men, the movie based on Woodward's first book.

"I thought the talk went very well," Social Planning and Events Committee Connaissance branch Co-Director Mark Jocivar-Norbury said. "A lot of really insightful questions were posed... interaction between audience and speaker was fantastic."

Connaissance was a host of the event.

"We weren't really sure what the demand for the tickets would be," Jocivar-Norbury said, but "the demand for tickets was incredible... we had enough applicants to fill Irvine probably three times."

The talk "went off without a hitch," he said, adding that he was "thrilled with the attendance."

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