We ask that all students and members of the WashU community, regardless of their political affiliations, be willing to protect everyone’s inalienable rights, whether that be through writing letters to the WashU administration or standing up for peers who are being threatened and targeted. We also urge the University administration to clearly and transparently state the actions it intends to take if a WashU international student’s visa or green card is revoked without the University’s consultation, and if federal agents attempt to detain a student on campus grounds.

Not all of this curiosity should be treated as finite fuel to get our boat from point A to point B. It’s OK to ride the waves, look at the reefs, and sometimes submerge ourselves in the water (make an elaborate felt LaGuardia High School costume).

This is a university failing its federal legal obligations under Title IX. Students deserve to know the truth.

This past year, I started referring to each task, instead of myself, as the orange. Rather than just getting through the day and feeling like my orange was intact, I looked for the sweet nectar elsewhere, drained it, and savored the full glass of juice. This reframing not only helped me feel more in control, it also helped me find and enjoy the sweeter things.

A student engaging in high-risk drinking or suffering from alcohol use disorder is more likely to require emergency medical services as a result of alcohol overconsumption.

It should be enforced that professors respect this time. All midterms should be out of the way. Students should not have to study, write, or complete assignments. Moments of rest and relaxation, after all, are key to productivity. A proper break helps prevent end-of-semester burnout.

Though many students are aware of how public high schools train them to become obedient 9-5 workers with limited creativity and personal opinion, I don’t think enough people notice this aspect of suppression. It stood out to me because I always felt like something was wrong, and I became combative without fully understanding why: I had to ignore an author’s endorsement of systemic and interpersonal discrimination and focus my analysis on textual elements. 

Doing “girl stuff” saved me, and it hasn’t stopped saving me since. After another mental downpour this semester, I began frequenting BearFit classes at Sumers, such as Zumba.

We call upon WashU leadership to protect our students, staff, and faculty by committing to non-cooperation with ICE beyond the legal requirements of judicial warrants. 

Workday is visually unappealing, aesthetically distressing, and emotionally offensive. All while being caught in the borderlands of a mixed-use platform many of us are familiar with only in the context of punching in or out of on-campus employment, now doused with a clean coat of Lowe’s finest acrylic into a software for educational use.