Student Union’s (SU) Senate and Treasury leadership for this calendar year were elected in an internal election on Dec. 4. Student Life spoke to the Senate and Treasury’s eight new leaders to hear about their goals for the semester, with many members focusing on changing the budgeting, appeals, and correspondence procedure and addressing student concerns regarding academic resource accessibility, alcohol and substance abuse awareness, student health, and relationships with University leadership.

After a year of development from student organizers, WashU will have its own chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). This development comes after decreased Black-student enrollment this year following the Supreme Court’s decision to end affirmative action.

The new Dean of Public Health, Dr. Sandro Galea, sat down with Student Life editors Lily Taylor and Zach Trabitz.

When junior Marissa Mathieson, a Diné student at WashU, arrived on campus, she was frustrated to find how little support there is for Native American students such as herself.

The day after the 2024 presidential election, several WashU students, all of whom are Black, received explicitly racist text messages asking them to report to the “nearest plantation” from an unknown source.

At an event called Decolonizing Thanksgiving, students learned about the different Native American perspectives and prominent myths surrounding the holiday, Nov. 22.

After a 2013 New York Times article identified WashU as having one of the least socioeconomically diverse student bodies among elite colleges, the University has launched several initiatives aimed at diversifying its overall student population. One such focus has been  on rural student recruitment, which fully launched in 2023, and has led to a 34% increase in rural first-year enrollment between fall 2023 and fall 2024. 

After piloting the All You Care To Eat (AYCTE) program for three weeks at the Bear’s Den (BD) dining hall, Washington University Dining Services decided to extend the initiative through the end of the academic year.

In Student Union (SU) Senate’s final meeting for the semester, senators presented reports regarding food accessibility for students and a resolution calling to extend the course-drop deadline, which passed unanimously, Nov 19. 

The dining report highlights key issues with campus dining, including its financial strain on students, widespread dissatisfaction with food options and quality, and its broader effects on student well-being.