As I think about the current situation, I wonder if the students that Chancellor Martin is deriding and threatening will have the same reflection at their reunion weekends. Then I think, with the experience they are having, would they even come?

As we learn to advocate for our clients and communities, to further social justice, and to challenge institutional and systemic oppression, we find the Brown School’s silence on the genocide in Palestine fundamentally hypocritical and thoroughly in opposition to our institutional values.

To be “pro-Palestine,” one does not have to justify the horrific acts of terror that were committed on Oct. 7. To be “pro-Palestine,” one need not be anti-Israel. And being anti-Israel doesn’t make one effectively pro-Palestine.

“The WUIMC has a fiduciary responsibility to make decisions that are financially, ethically, and legally dubious (to put it nicely). The WUIMC will only seek to profit from the violation of basic human rights and dignity when the Chancellor deems it ‘socially responsible’ to do so.”

There is no genocide against the Palestinians. As journalists, you have an ethical duty to push back on statements that are probably untrue. Do better.

But it appears even with positive reviews and evaluations from students, strong teaching-track faculty can be let go without any clear rhyme or reason. We call on the University to extend a new contract to Dr. R and all other well-deserving TRaP faculty who are foundational to the excellent education that Washington University provides.

As I depart my South 40 dorm each day for the next four weeks before the final time I close the door, I’ll likely find myself becoming more and more reminiscent as my undergraduate years come to an end. But for now, I’ll hold off on staring longingly and romantically out onto the South 40 from a window (until the inevitable sound of a fire alarm or a shouted obscenity) and try instead to spend as much time as possible with the people for whom I will never be able to truly express the extent of my gratitude and love.

In making social movements trending topics online, we also somewhat dissociate from their reality, making the activism itself dependent on algorithms and a majority stance. But we can’t afford to repeatedly relearn everything we committed so much reeducation to in 2020.

Native students like us deserve to be here. We deserve Native and Indigenous professors to teach and mentor us. We deserve a department to study critical Native Studies topics. We deserve a space to learn and grow and gather. We are here, we are WashU, and we deserve to be seen.

Instead of acknowledging WashU’s continued inaction on its students’ desires, Martin makes no meaningful distinction between the protesters’ political goals and the environment that enabled the egging incident.