This semester, students used WashU’s Student Interface System, WebSTAC, to register for classes for the last time. Starting next semester, the university plans to move to the sleeker, more universal model of Student Workday — and oddly, it breaks my heart. 

Yes, I know — the archaic site was developed over 35 years ago, but WebSTAC has a charm no new system can replicate. The blurred, outdated logo perched on the far left of the screen, the stale-red drop-down boxes, and the ability to access my “telephone account details”: This is the website of a different era and one of the last of its kind still running. 

With these nostalgic thoughts in mind, I set out to learn more about the system’s over three-decade reign. But as I began researching, I found very little on the subject. Unlike Student Workday, which is used by many universities, WebSTAC was developed by and for WashU. In other words, most of its history exists only in Student Life’s records. 

So, I immersed myself in the StudLife electronic archives, searching for any mention of the soon-to-be-retired website. Along the way, I found a 2023 article detailing the end of WebSTAC Faces, a database that once displayed photo IDs of individual students. A 2015 article highlighted WebSTAC’s adoption of a more inclusive preferred name policy, while a 2011 piece described how the then-new social media platform Facebook connected freshmen who wanted to discuss anything from St. Louis banks to starting bands — and, of course, “how to log in to WebSTAC.” 

I even stumbled upon a letter to the editor written in 2004 that offhandedly mentions the student interface while arguing for telephone lines within each dorm room. 

Finally, near the end of my search, I came across a cheeky article from 2002 offering a list of words and terms “unique to the WU campus.” The article defines familiar St. Louis staples like Art Hill, Schnucks, and Blueberry Hill (with readers warned that the latter “takes carding seriously”). 

Fontbonne University, too, gets a nod: “This small university located across Wydown Boulevard from the South 40 has achieved an almost mythical status at WU. Students are rarely, if ever, seen on its campus.”

At first, I chuckled at the irreverent description, but then it hit me: Fontebonne won’t be around much longer. 

Last spring, the struggling institution announced it would be shutting down for good, and hours later, WashU disclosed its plan to purchase the property. This coming year, the university, which recently celebrated its 101st year since its founding, will hand over its final set of diplomas.

It appears that nothing is impervious to change, whether that be a century-old university or the outdated website that once allowed you to (as the 2002 article describes) “ … check your grades, vote in Student Union elections, and see a picture of that person you heard had a crush on you.” 

With Thanksgiving break coming up soon, I will have to confront the place where change is often most apparent: home. I’ll crack a smile at the juvenile decorations of my old bedroom, play with my aging, childhood dog, and catch up with my hometown friends. 

As WashU moves on from its very own WebSTAC, I consider what I have left behind, what I hold on to, and what I will soon lose. I know, those all-nighters can feel eternal, but, in the long run, college is a mere blip in our lives. So, this Thanksgiving, let’s be grateful — for WebSTAC, for WashU, and for the fleeting time that we get to spend together.