In October, I wrote an article about my experience with Student Health Services (SHS) and their failure to provide me with adequate mental health care. In response, multiple op-eds by students were submitted documenting their similar SHS horror stories. In the last few weeks, since the publication of the op-ed “Not a threat”, a slew of students have submitted articles documenting the failures of SHS, the Title IX Office, the Washington University Police Department (WUPD), the Office of Student Conduct, fraternity councils and many other departments to address cases of sexual assault and take action against active threats on campus. If one thing has become abundantly clear to me over the course of the last school year, it’s that the Wash. U. bureaucratic structure is not working.

The administration constantly says they are in the process of repairing their broken systems. To quote Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori White’s recent op-ed, “…we are regularly considering other ways to be more responsive, more supportive, more thoughtful and more deliberate.” This is far too broad and unsteady a direction for a system which is clearly not working. While the administration “considers” corrections to the systems it has in place, people are being hurt, patients aren’t being given adequate treatment, lives are being ruined and active threats are being allowed to continue to terrorize students. So rather than renovate and repair the broken system, maybe it’s time we just tear it down and rebuild.

I am not advocating for liquidating the entire administration and restructuring the offices. However, I feel the leadership is in need of a massive change. Those in charge of the system have been negligent, inattentive and careless, allowing for these problems to continue. For example, Chancellor Mark Wrighton has yet to make any statement to the student body regarding the massive amount sexual assault articles, despite having made past comments on non-Wash. U. related issues. For the figurehead of the entire University to not do so much as send out an email on an issue currently consuming the entire student body is a very telling sign as to how much the University actually cares about its students. It’s time we turn over these offices to a new generation of leadership, one which will actually give two s—-.

Wash. U. has a duty to provide these services to everyone in its community. Students should feel that their university is there for them. They should believe that it has their back in the worst of times. And most importantly, students should be able to feel safe on their own campus. Otherwise, Wash. U. has no justification charging astronomically high tuition, regardless of how respected its academics are.

If basic human empathy isn’t convincing enough for the administration to listen, let me put all of this in context. We are your future donators. We are your future alumni. The reputation and donation pool of the University rests on us. If you don’t provide for us while we are here, don’t expect us to pick up in a few years when you come calling for money. You want to build up family legacies here, but why would you expect us to send our children here if we feel they won’t be safe? Provide for us now and we will be there for the University in the future. Otherwise, your future alumni weekends will be nowhere near as populated.

We as students have a right to feel safe and comfortable on Wash. U.’s campus. However, it has become clear that the University is not doing what it is supposed to do to make that a reality. So I feel it is about time the administration turn over a new leaf (quite literally) and shift to a new generation of figureheads who will actually be there for the University’s biggest shareholders: the students. It’s about time we strike another match and start anew.