Last Friday, the Obama administration announced that universities and hospitals, regardless of religious affiliation, cannot deny full birth control coverage to their female employees. Most employers have until Aug. 1 to come under compliance; nonprofits with religious affiliations have an additional year.

Dear Editor, A huge thanks to the Obama administration for its outstanding efforts to protect access to affordable birth control for millions of women, including women employed by religiously affiliated institutions serving the broader public. Birth control use for basic preventive health care is nearly universal in the United States.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to get out of Washington and talk with folks across the country about how we can create jobs and get our economy growing faster. This is a tough time for a lot of Americans—especially young people. You’ve come of age at a time of profound change.

Yesterday I attended a protest at President Obama’s St. Louis campaign fundraiser, urging him to reject the proposed Keystone XL pipeline for Canadian tar sands oil. In August, 1,253 brave people were arrested in acts of civil disobedience outside the White House in order to send the same message: reject the Keystone XL. I was not able to make it to D.C.

Senior Arielle Klagsbrun fell in love with Barack Obama in 2008 when she worked on his presidential campaign. When she saw the man she voted for three years ago on Tuesday, she interrupted him during a pause in his speech to ask him to veto the Keystone XL Pipeline Project.

President Obama boards Air Force One Tuesday night at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The president was in town for the evening for a fundraiser and private dinner.

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.

As the 2012 election season gets underway, Washington University students are already leading the charge in promoting their favorite candidates. Although both College Democrats and College Republicans have yet to start their campaigns, individual members from both groups have been working with national campaign organizations.

For the price we pay, we expect a great deal of benefits from the University. For the most part, the school delivers. But imagine if Washington University consisted of unresponsive teachers, poor job placement, fewer services, and unnecessary departments that yielded little benefit to students. And, on top of that, they asked for a substantial tuition increase.

Washington University confirmed that they have applied to host a presidential debate in 2012. The University hosted the 2008 vice-presidential debate, between then-candidates Sarah Palin and Joseph Biden. Before that, the University hosted presidential debates in 1992, 2000 and 2004.