Anna Dorsey | Staff Illustrator

If you’re reading Student Life, the odds are high that you have push notifications on for the New York Times (NYT) or another similar publication. Your commitment to being informed is admirable, but in the wake of the current administration’s actions, you’re likely exhausted. It feels impossible to keep up with the news on a federal and international level. 

The daily revocation of civil rights, the collapse of federal programs, and constant beration of minorities coming from the Oval Office each day is enough to wear out anyone, even if you aren’t an avid NYT daily-email reader. While it’s normal to feel that news-induced burnout, we cannot afford to tune out local news. The fight against an administration committed to rapidly unraveling the rights and systems foundational to our democracy starts at home.

This past November, Missourians voted to overturn the state’s abortion ban and to raise the minimum wage to $13.75/hr this year and then $15/hr in the next. These results were due to the efforts of grassroots organizations, local initiatives, and intense work from organizations like the Missouri Abortion Fund and many others. Several local election results were victories. Those victories, like we’re seeing on a national level, are not set in stone.

Already there has been pushback to both shifts in legislation. The Missouri Independent reported last month on legislation that sought to exempt over 95% of private employers from implementing the increase in minimum wage. On Feb. 5, 2025, Missouri House representative Melanie Stinnett proposed a restrictive abortion bill to lawmakers on the Missouri Children and Families Committee. Not only is the bill intensely restrictive regarding abortion access, it also bans transgender youth from accessing gender-affirming healthcare, like hormone treatments.

Civil rights, access to healthcare, and fair compensation are under threat in Missouri. If getting involved at the national level seems daunting or futile, don’t just tune out. There is a battle to be fought locally. Here is what you should be doing to stay informed and active.

To stay engaged requires being aware. While national publications can provide the best information on the national stories, they do not have reporters covering the stories that most directly affect the city of St. Louis and the state of Missouri. Right now there are around seven reporters covering the White House in varying capacities for the NYT. If you search for “St. Louis” on their site and scroll through the bylines, none of the reporters writing on the city are based in St. Louis. This is not just a problem unique to the NYT; do the same exercise with the Wall Street Journal, and it will yield the same result. These reporters are doing positive work but are not connecting with the city on a deeper level. Their coverage only represents the city when it makes national headlines, and it does not include in-depth daily coverage of St. Louis. 

It’s no secret that regional and local newspapers are struggling to stay afloat in a news industry that favors national publications and hyper-local outlets, leaving out regional papers. Regional papers are the ones with the means to serve a larger community (such as a midwestern city like St. Louis). These papers are likely unknown by most students despite how many of them are easily accessible. The St. Louis Argus and the Webster-Kirkwood Times, for example, are accessible through a quick Google search. Other outlets have to hide their content behind a paywall to stay afloat, like the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Right now, WashU students can access Post-Dispatch articles for free via Factiva and Nexis Uni, two databases the University subscribes to. However, these platforms exist to primarily aid researchers with finding archival information, rather than serve as a source of breaking news. Neither is updated regularly enough to be the ‘go-to’ place to read about what is currently happening, especially without a specific article in mind. The University should make Post-Dispatch subscriptions available to students through a model similar to the larger publications to which it subscribes. 

The WashU administration has an obligation to provide its students with proper resources to stay informed. Students can use their WUSTL login to access the NYT, St. Louis Business Journal, Chronicle for Higher Education, and Wall Street Journal. The WashU administration should be making local news outlets just as accessible to the student body as larger publications, regardless of paywalls. 

Last year, UCLA made NYT subscriptions free to 32,000 students for just 31,000 dollars. WashU has about half the number of students. There are currently a little more than 15,000 students, 4,500 faculty, and, as of last March, 19,000 staff members employed by WashU. The WashU administration should subsidize subscriptions to local news for everyone. Being “In St. Louis” and “For St. Louis” means understanding what is happening in St. Louis at the current moment. 

Further, subsidizing the cost of Post-Dispatch subscriptions would not only help students stay informed on local issues but would support local businesses that are dedicated to serving the entire St. Louis community.

Student Life is free, but its coverage largely focuses on the campus community, less on the surrounding metro area. We don’t have the resources to cover all city and state news. Therefore, we call on the WashU administration to fill that information gap with improved access to all local media for the WashU community.

Reading the news is the first step in fighting back against the harmful actions the Trump administration is taking right now. It’s integral to stay informed, but that is only the first step. There are numerous St. Louis organizations that are supporting communities and programs that are under threat. Consider getting involved with groups like The Missouri Abortion Fund, the International Institute of St. Louis, ArchCity Defenders, STL Mutual Aid, and the ACLU of Missouri. Staying educated and informed is an act of resistance. Read local, then act locally.

Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.

Alice Gottesman | Managing Scene Editor

Avi Holzman | Editor-in-Chief

Jordan Spector | Managing Forum Editor

Kate Theerman Rodriguez | Junior Forum Editor

Nina Giraldo | Editor-in-Chief

Sam Powers | Managing Photo Editor

River Alsalihi | Junior Forum Editor

AnaElda Ramos | Illustration Editor

Sophie Schwartz | Junior Scene Editor

William Fieni-Thies | Junior Forum Editor

Sara Gelrud | Junior Scene Editor

Eliza Stulman | Junior Sports Editor

Elizabeth Grieve | Senior Scene Editor 

Olivia Lee | Junior Scene Editor