Forum

Another school year is winding down. Wash. U. has made progress, to be sure, but we still have a few bones to pick. Here are our suggestions for making Wash. U. better. Sahil Patel, Editor-in-Chief 1. A sports fanbase—We have some remarkable student-athletes at Wash. U. who are doing outstanding things on and off the field; they deserve some support. 2.

A friend of mine showed me an article a while ago that he’d come across. “Disgusting,” he said. “This is why we need to address rape culture.” I glanced at the headline, which pretty much speaks for itself: “School Principal Discouraged Teen Girl from Reporting Sexual Assault Because It Would Ruin Attacker’s Basketball Career.” Skimming the article, I had deja vu.

On April 15, 2013, at 2:49 p.m. EST, two bombs exploded on Boylston Street near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Within seconds, the Twittersphere was abuzz. Between 4:06 and 7:04 p.m. that day, more than 500,000 tweets with the #BostonMarathon hashtag flooded Twitter.

My four years at Wash. U. have been a period of numerous ups and downs, self-inflicted and otherwise. The University has changed since my arrival; the oozing abscess that was Eliot Hall has been demolished, a new pink castle rising in its place, and the South 40 has been transformed from an unnavigable construction zone into a whimsical St. Louis Disneyland-lite.

At any given point during the day, someone might be watching you. In a straight-up “1984” way. Not just that hottie in Whispers Cafe, but some random person drinking Mountain Dew as his glazed eyes take in every movement of your nubile limbs. I mean, the gazer could just as easily be a Selena Gomez look-alike, but how likely is that?