Marceline Lee | Illustration Editor

On Nov. 5, 2025, Quadrangle Pharmacy, the primary pharmacy for most students residing on the South 40, shut down. On Feb. 24, 2026, WashU announced that they purchased a pharmacy school. These two events, though months apart, are a testament to WashU’s failure to care for current students in the name of the university’s future. 

Part of what made me so enthusiastic and sure about my choice to attend WashU last year was the ease with which I could seek medical care. Since the Habif Health and Wellness Center was right next door, I had a pharmacy within walking distance for my medication, and I could get free appointments with mental health specialists. I raved about these luxuries to friends from other colleges. I advised seniors back home to apply here, in part, because of this implicit promise of well-being. 

Now, in my sophomore year of college, I regret raving. The unfortunate closure of the pharmacy is not the issue. They couldn’t have predicted or prepared for such a sudden departure. Though I find it a bit irresponsible to only have one staff member, it is not inherently the University’s fault for not having an on-hand replacement. My main qualm rests with the continued closure of the pharmacy. Students were led to believe that the pharmacy would reopen when a new pharmacist was hired, but no one ever was. We were all told that this closure was temporary. 

Well, it’s been five months, and we are still down our only pharmacist. But don’t worry; we have a shiny new pharmacy school to fill the void. It is peculiar that our perfectly functional university made absorbing a pharmacy school a priority over following through on their responsibilities to current students. 

Everyone blames the continued failure of the school to support students on budget cuts, but WashU’s purchase of this pharmacy school shows that, clearly, we have the budget to expand. It is not the funds that are the issue, but their allocation. 

We all made a commitment to go to WashU under the impression that the University would provide accessible care throughout our time here. We were promised that students’ quality of life was paramount, but no amount of Well-being Wednesdays can hide the fact that the University does not see the health and wellness of their students as worth the cost. 

Current students should be the priority, not hypothetical future ones. We should not have to wait for a graduate of this soon-to-be pharmacy school to step up and fill the opening at Habif. WashU has no business expanding when it cannot support the needs of the students it already has.