The year started with the University’s largest-ever incoming class and the further transformation of the South 40.

The residential college JKL and fraternity Sigma Chi won a trophy, but not for any athletic feat. They were the winners of the first Green Cup competition. Washington University tried to cut down on energy consumption by pitting all of the South 40 Residential Colleges against each other, and all of the fraternity houses against each other.

Even though about 140 students were not assigned housing in Round 3 of the housing-selection process, the Office of Residential Life says that it will be able to provide housing for all students who signed housing contracts for the 2011-2012 school year.

Most broken clocks are only right twice a day. After remaining stationary at 1:55 for several weeks, each face of the South 40 Clocktower was frozen at a different time on Tuesday. The inner mechanics of the Clocktower are currently being repaired. This is the first time the Clocktower has failed since it was erected in 2000.

A tornado warning for St. Louis County led students across campus to seek shelter—though many students could barely hear the sirens. According to Mark Bagby, Washington University’s emergency management coordinator, there have been no reports that sirens did not go off as expected, and a silent test conducted this morning proved the system to be operational.

While our campus’s effort towards increasing sustainability in recent years should be applauded, there is still much work to be done.

Moving from one far corner to the center of the South 40, the new location for the Social Justice Center is expected to bring social justice to the forefront of students’ minds.

Students came to campus this year to find a new look on the South 40. New buildings include College Hall and a new Bear’s Den dining facility, as well as the completion of the South 40 House.

The sun was shining, the air was warm and a palette of colored T-shirts dotted the South 40. This past weekend, the Congress of the South 40 held the annual Residential College Olympics. According to sophomore Hannah Bowling, outgoing CS40 speaker and current Student Union senator, almost 600 residents of the South 40 took part in the weekend’s festivities. “RCO was an incredible success,” she said.