WUGWU launches Valentines campaign

Washington University Graduate Workers Union (WUGWU) launched a Valentine’s Day-themed campaign to advocate for their Fight for $15 campaign, an action for graduate students and Washington University employees to be paid a living wage.

University community members filled out Valentines-themed templates with messages about paying Washington University workers a living wage through a form on WUGWU’s webpage. People wrote cards themselves in the Danforth University Center in the days leading up to Feb. 14.

WUGWU hand-delivered the cards to administrators during a rally that took place at 12 p.m. on Feb. 14.

Messages included:

“[Wash. U.] / say I do / Want to pay workers a living wage! $15/h for all and free childcare,” physics graduate student Katie Randolph wrote.

“Roses are expensive, our request is small, please give $15 and childcare for all,” english graduate student Trent McDonald wrote.

“Roses are Red / Violets are blue / Let’s have a campus where $15/hr is true. Share the wealth, Wash. U.,” anthropology graduate student Natalia Solano wrote.

WUGWU is currently planning a $15 & Childcare for All Candlelight Vigil for Mar. 1.

Washington University to host Day of Dialogue

Irshad Manji will be the keynote speaker for Washington University’s annual Day of Discovery, Dialogue & Action programming. She is an author, educator and supports a reformist interpretation of Islam.

The Day of Dialogue, established in 2015, serves as an open forum to discuss diversity and inclusion at Washington University. Manji’s keynote address will take place Tuesday evening in the Eric P. Newman Education Center on the Medical Campus. Her most recent book, “Don’t Label Me: An Incredible Conversation for Divided Times” will be available later this month, but the first 250 attendees will receive advanced copies.

The following day will open with an address from Chancellor-elect Andrew Martin and Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Lori White. There will also be panels featuring University members whose roles were created to create a more inclusive campus and a screening of the film on the history of St. Louis’ black hospital, called “The Color of Medicine.” There will also be excursion opportunities to Gateway Arch National Park and the Old Courthouse.

Keeline, Schmidt awarded NEH fellowships

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) awarded fellowships to Thomas Keeline and Leigh Eric Schmidt, members of Washington University’s College of Arts & Sciences faculty.

Keeline is an assistant professor in the Department of Classics, and Schmidt is the Edward C. Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor at the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

Both Keeline and Schmidt will receive $60,000 from NEH to support their research. Keeline will use his grant towards his research on the Roman poet Ovid, titled “Latin Textual Scholarship in the Digital Age: An Open-Access Critical Edition of Ovid’s Ibis and its Scholia.” According to his College of Arts & Sciences profile, Schmidt is a historian “who has written extensively on American spiritual seeking, holiday conflicts, evangelical Protestantism and liberal religious traditions.”

The NEH awarded the fellowships in December along with 82 other grants, totaling $4.6 million, to support “college and university teachers and independent scholars pursuing advanced research.”

Editor’s note: Two Student Life staff members will participate in this year’s Day of Discovery, Dialogue, and Action as speakers and panelists.