Three Washington University students were arrested Thursday at an Occupy St. Louis protest downtown. The students participated in the march from Kiener Plaza to the bridge as part of a national day of action recognized by the entire Occupy movement. The Post-Dispatch reported that 800 people marched and 14 were arrested.

Washington University is planning to erect fences on the North Side residential area of campus over the coming year as part of an ongoing effort to improve security. The project will involve placing three fences along the Village East and Millbrook dormitories, which will be connected to fences already in place on the northern border of campus.

Professor Evil feared children were becoming dancers instead of doctors in the cultural show’s skit this year, but that didn’t stop students from dancing and acting for charity on the Edison Theatre stage this weekend. Students in the nearly three-hour show performed traditional garba, raas and bhangra dances, as well as Bollywood fusion and hip hop.

For the most part, Washington University students are happy here, and it shows. Washington University was ranked No. 17 in highest retention rate by the Center for College Affordability and Productivity. “This is very important for us,” University Provost Edward Macias said.

Washington University’s endowment grew by almost $800 million in the last fiscal year, officials said recently. The endowment totals $5.35 billion as of June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton said the increase is due to both the return on the University’s investments and donor gifts.

Because of a decrease in federal funding, Washington University has laid off 54 employees from its Genome Institute. The firing accounts for almost 17 percent of the Institute’s 327 person staff. The layoffs were due to a cutback in funding from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). NHGRI cut its funding from 37.

Bottled water on campus has been banned since 2009, but that has not stopped students from buying the bottles of Dasani water that were mistakenly put into a Cupples II vending machine. The error was probably a blunder on the part of the vendor, according to Christopher Doyle, the senior contract management liaison for Resource Management.

MetroLink trains are not running on schedule this evening due to a medical emergency on an Eastbound train.

Police reported a robbery that took place at around 9:50 Wednesday night on the 700 Block of Westgate in an email this morning. The victim was walking when a man ran up behind him and took the victim’s phone and cash. The victim did not report any injuries. The suspect is a 6-foot tall black [...]

Grilled trout, Brussels sprouts with Missouri-apple-cider gastrique and sweet potato purée may not seem like unusual fare at Ibby’s, but on Tuesday eateries across campus all changed their menus to serve locally-grown food. The different menus were a part of Washington University’s Eat Local Challenge, an annual event that promotes eating local foods in season.