An audience of mostly older St. Louis community members and a handful of students filled Graham Chapel to hear Pulitzer Prize-winning, conservative political columnist George F. Will on Tuesday evening. His speech, focusing on how the government has overstepped its proper regulatory role, was this semester’s keynote lecture for the John C.

Wearing his usual Yankees hat and V-neck sweater, businessman and hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons took the stage in Graham Chapel. Midway through the Congress of the South 40’s initial introduction of the Def Jam cofounder and Phat Farm creator, Simmons ignored his cue and just walked onto the stage.

Wes Moore, author of the Freshman Reading Program Book, “The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates,” spoke to students and faculty in College Hall Tuesday. His book narrates the lives of two men, both named Wes Moore. One, the author, grew up to be a Rhodes Scholar, U.S. Army veteran and avid voice for education.

NBC’s Chuck Todd filled Graham Chapel with people and occasional chuckles while talking about what people can expect from the 2012 election: a close race.

“Much of the intense reaction to my book has been based on a misunderstanding,” Amy Chua, author of the controversial book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” told a full house in Graham Chapel. “I never approved that headline, and I never saw it until I opened up the Sunday headline and saw it for the first time. And, in fact, I don’t agree with [it].

Blowing up airplanes on television is not what Deanne Bell first envisioned for her career. But the Washington University alumna has never taken a conventional approach to engineering. More than 100 students and community members attended her Friday-night lecture that marked the end of EnWeek, the annual weeklong event held to promote engineers on campus and beyond.

In the first Assembly Series lecture of the semester on Feb. 10, author Dr. Parker J. Palmer spoke on how to make democracy possible through a “cultivated heart.” Although the student attendance was low, Graham Chapel was packed on Friday with attendees from the Washington University community and local area.

Student Union Treasury voted to allocate $105,569 to bring musician John Legend, actress Sofia Vergara and law professor Amy Chua to campus in a meeting flooded by over 100 students Tuesday night. Seven appeals were not funded, including ones for Sanjay Gupta, Garry Kasparov and Ashley Judd. SU Treasury also rejected appeals for Djimon Hounsou, [...]

Steven Galloway, author of the Freshman Reading Program novel “The Cellist of Sarajevo,” addressed the importance of the civilian narrative in times of war during a lecture in College Hall on Monday.