As the saying goes, sometimes truth is stranger than fiction. With the current field of Republican candidates, a corollary certainly holds true: truth is funnier than fiction.

After a few months at Wash. U., I was happy to have established that education might be a major worth pursuing during my time in college. I soon found out, however, that this seemingly liberating decision only led to a more complicated fork in the road. Wash. U.’s education program separates its students out into two categories that aren’t necessarily distinct.

In a speech on Sept. 23, President Obama gave a speech linking economic recovery with improved educational standards by proposing additional measures to reform the public school system. “We have to pick up our game,” he said, noting that America has fallen to 16th in the world in terms of percentage of college diplomas earned by its citizens.

Dear Editor, I would like to expand a bit on the history that Davis Sargeant reported on “Civil Rights and Washington University: a complex history,” Stud. Life, 9/1/11. In 1968, a confluence of events led the normally compliant WU faculty to set up a large number of committees to examine virtually all aspects of university governance.

In his State of the Union address last Tuesday, President Barack Obama recalled a time when jobs were plentiful and university degrees were optional. According to our president, the rules have now changed—while we are more productive than ever thanks to technological innovations, jobs are scarce and tough to obtain.

On Monday, ABS held an event called “Prepping for College Prep” to expose middle school students from East St. Louis to college life and help get them excited about the prospect of an education beyond high school.

Although the Obama administration recently released new recruiting guidelines for universities across the nation, there will be little effect on Washington University. The University will be making information about graduation rates and career paths more accessible.

“You can separate church and state, but you can’t separate religion and politics,” Jon Meacham said Tuesday in the inaugural keynote event for the John C. Danforth Center on Religion in Graham Chapel. Student Life’s Kate Gaertner sat down with Meacham after the event’s reception to talk about how civic responsibility and politics relate to the role of the university in American life.

It was the latest buzz-worthy documentary, “Waiting for Superman,” that drew me to the movies, but once that heady buzz of empathetic emotional turmoil wore off, I was left with a pervading sense of dissatisfaction.

With 6144 students, the undergraduate population of Wash. U. represents a sizable voting block with the ability to influence electoral outcomes in the surrounding legislative districts and statewide.