Covering a college campus can be one of the trickiest tasks for a young reporter. You try to maintain a level of professional objectivity, but with each passing year and story, you become more entwined and connected to the increasingly small community you are covering.

Rachel was not brutally attacked, gagged or assaulted by a stranger. She did not go out alone, walk home late at night, or get lost in an unfamiliar part of town. But Rachel is a rape survivor.

The proposed speaker that had Washington University students in an uproar for nearly two days is no longer scheduled to appear on campus. Bristol Palin, 20, was expected to be the keynote speaker at this year’s Sexual Responsibility Week. But her $20,000 price tag led students to contest Student Union Treasury’s funding decision, arguing that she is unqualified to speak about the subject of abstinence on a college campus.

The repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that barred gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military could help mend a historically tenuous relationship between the military and some top-tier universities.

Wash. U. backed out of a partnered event with Target Corp. after the retail powerhouse received heat for a donation it made to an organization backing a Minnesota gubernatorial candidate with a history of staunch opposition to gay rights.

On Monday night, senior Wyatt Crane spoke at a University City council meeting about the increasing frequency of the University City Police Department’s invocation of the newly-enacted zero-tolerance policy. Two days later, Crane was arrested outside of his Kingsbury Blvd. apartment after being issued a citation for noise from a gathering that he said he did not even attend.

Nearly 50 students attended a University City City Council meeting on Monday night to express frustration over the increasing frequency of University City Police Department’s enforcement of noise violations. The students were responding to a rapid rise in citations and arrests of Wash. U. students in recent months as a result of a newly enacted zero-tolerance policy for noise complaints—a policy under which University City police issue a summons whenever they respond to a reported disturbance.

It’s not common for a hip-hop sensation to address the Wash. U. student body. But on Monday afternoon, Grammy Award-winning rapper Common spoke to a packed Graham Chapel as part of the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Symposium hosted by the Association of Black Students. Common opened with a rap tailored for Wash. U.: “Yeah, you know what? Yo, I came to rock you. I’m looking at my people out here at Wash. U.

Dozens of students and local community members pitched tents and camped out in downtown St. Louis Wednesday night to kick off a series of demonstrations aimed at rallying the community to stand up against corporate power.

The [open] slate swept the election for Student Union executive office early Thursday evening, according to Election Commissioner Colin Towery. Sophomore Morgan DeBaun will be the next SU president and Eliot Walker, John Harrison York, Kirsten Miller and Cody Katz will be the next VP Finance, VP Programming, VP Administration and VP Public Relations respectively. [...]