Occupy activists may not have actually been protesting anything on campus yesterday, but that didn’t stop their meeting from being relocated.

A recent publication of Student Life has yet again illuminated an issue of ostensibly infinite concern for many Washington University students: rankings. A news report and a staff editorial brought to our attention the fact that the University’s international reputation does not seem to match its national reputation.

Student Life reported today on the state of the National Merit Scholarship Program (NMSP) at Washington University. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation sponsors a $2,500 scholarship for select finalists—Wash. U. participates in the NMSP by extending this scholarship, awarding these scholars $2,500 each year from their sophomore to senior years, and by sponsoring a $2,000 annual scholarship for every other NMSP finalist attending Wash. U.

Wash. U. has been selected as the backup site for the presidential and vice presidential debates during the 2012 general election, the Commission on Presidential Debates announced earlier today.

As a student at Washington University, it’s kind of hard not to feel Dean James McLeod’s impact. His influence is everywhere—in our classrooms, in our administration and even in our residence halls.

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.

Junior Brandon Rogalski earned his second win of the season, driving in the game-winning run in the 11th inning of Washington University’s 8-7 victory over Millikin University on Wednesday night.

Harvard and Princeton have recently re-instituted early action undergraduate admissions programs after cutting them in the fall of 2007. Presumably, these two premier institutions initially took the lead in abolishing their nonbinding early action programs in an attempt to influence peer universities to follow in their footsteps.

With a new coach at the helm and a multitude of returning starters, the baseball team is expecting a major upswing in 2011. The team finished last season 17-15 and surrendered an average of 7.56 runs a game.

Washington University is considering expanding passing time between classes from seven minutes to 10. The proposal, if approved, would come into effect in the fall of 2012.