Need to Read, Jan. 27: Protester demands, Star Clipper closing and the sex survey

| Editor-in-Chief

When sitting in a lecture class with a computer at your fingertips, it’s tempting to multitask by half-listening to the lecture and half-maybe-actually-three-quarters surfing the Internet. We’ve all been there, and we’ve all seen our classmates scrolling through Facebook newsfeeds and Pinterest pages while only occasionally glancing up to copy down PowerPoint notes.

That’s where Need to Read comes in. If you want to make those Internet detours productive and to complement your professor’s droning voice with a side dish of stories—and if you don’t have time to flip through the pages of StudLife on a regular basis—then come to Read All Over each week for a look at the top articles and events occurring on Wash. U.’s campus. It’s the bite-sized news you can get on the go.

Up this week: protester demands, Star Clipper closing, the annual sex survey and more!

NEWS

Wash. U. students spent first semester protesting racial inequality and police brutality following the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson in August. After a St. Louis County grand jury decided not to indict police officer Darren Wilson, hundreds of students joined a protest on the first Monday back from Thanksgiving break, and Chancellor Mark Wrighton agreed to meet with leaders of the movement.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton greets students at Brookings Hall on Friday. Wrighton, Provost Holden Thorp and Associate Vice Chancellor for Students Rob Wild met with four STL Students in Solidarity leaders for an hour and a half about the latter group’s demands of the administration.

Chancellor Mark Wrighton greets students at Brookings Hall on Friday. Wrighton, Provost Holden Thorp and Associate Vice Chancellor for Students Rob Wild met with four STL Students in Solidarity leaders for an hour and a half about the latter group’s demands of the administration.

On Friday, Wrighton, Provost Holden Thorp and Vice Chancellor for Students Rob Wild met with four leaders of STL Students in Solidarity, a group of student activists, for an hour and a half to discuss the group’s demands of the administration. The demands are designed to address three key issues: improving the experience of people of color on campus, developing a culturally conscientious campus population and repairing the University’s relationship with the St. Louis community.

Read the full StudLife story here, and check out the full list of demands on an STL Students in Solidarity page.

On the sports scene, a weekend trip to the East coast didn’t go as planned for the basketball Bears. The No. 3 women, who entered the trip undefeated and hadn’t had to play a close game all season, trailed for the entire game and fell to No. 7 New York University. Their male counterparts, meanwhile, entered the weekend ranked fourth in the country, also suffered a defeat in New York, losing by 24 points to NYU.

FUN FEATURES

The Pikers, Wash. U.'s oldest a cappella group, sing on Saturday night. The all-male a cappella group performed in its 30th-anniversary show over the weekend.Brian Benton | Student Life

The Pikers, Wash. U.’s oldest a cappella group, sing on Saturday night. The all-male a cappella group performed in its 30th-anniversary show over the weekend.

The Pikers, Wash. U.’s oldest a cappella group, celebrated their 30th anniversary over the weekend. Read our Scene profile on the “drinking group with a singing problem”-turned-a-cappella-scene-staple, and find out how the group got its start (hint: more drinking is involved).

The Kemper Art Museum is the new host of Sam Durant’s historical art project, currently on loan from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Durant’s project is a social commentary, in which he reimagines 30 monuments to dead white and Native Americans, transposing them from their original locations to the National Mall. Nearly all of the monuments—25 of the 30—commemorate white-American death while only five commemorate native death.

OUTSIDE THE BUBBLE

The Delmar Loop might not be too far from Wash. U.’s campus, but that’s our first stop outside the bubble this week, as comic book store and customer favorite Star Clipper is closing its doors. Stop by the store one last time—if not to say good-bye, at least to check out the clearance sales.

For other college news, check out Vox’s primer (now two weeks old) on President Barack Obama’s announced plan to make community college free. You might have heard him mention it during last week’s State of the Union Address—read part 2 of Vox’s explainer for a better understanding of how the plan is designed to help the middle class.

And last for this week, fill out the annual StudLife sex survey. You might not want to spend too much time on this page in class—that kid reading your screen over your shoulder probably doesn’t need to know what you’ve done in the orchestra pit on Brookings Quad after hours—but be sure to bookmark it and complete the survey soon. Results will be released online and in the special Sex Issue, on newsstands Feb. 12.

Sign up for the email edition

Stay up to date with everything happening at Washington University and beyond.

Subscribe