Washington University for Socioeconomic Diversity (WU/FUSED) hosted a rally to raise awareness of socioeconomic diversity during Wrightonpalooza Monday.

Protesters gathered on Mudd Field, where the celebration of Wrighton was being held, around 4 p.m. and circled through the crowd twice while chanting sentiments like “Wash. U., step off it, put people over profit.”

Grace Bruton | Student Life

Student members of Washington University for Socioeconomic Diversity disrupted Wrightonpalooza with a rally to raise awareness for socioeconomic diversity. One organizer, junior Zach Leonard, said that Washington University “is a symbol of exclusivity in higher education.”

Before entering the festivities, the group convened in Edison Courtyard to discuss what issues were most important to them. Increasing the number of Pell Grant-eligible students and becoming a need-blind institution were among the primary concerns. Another key issue for the protest, according to member junior Mashoud Kaba, was the group’s belief that Chancellor Wrighton had not done enough to solve issues of socioeconomic diversity during his tenure.

“We thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to bring to the forefront the fact that, despite Chancellor Wrighton having done a lot of things on campus, he has not paid so much attention to socioeconomic diversity,” Kaba said. “It was a message to administrators, [to] basically tell them that it’s time to change, especially if Wrighton is leaving.”

During the rally, member junior Zach Leonard said that the University is not as accessible as it needs to be to low-income students and that it needs to improve.

“Wash. U. is a symbol of exclusivity in higher education,” Leonard said. “I believe that as a society we should have some semblance of equal access to opportunities, and I think that starts with this institution here.”

Leonard also emphasized the efforts in recent years to increase the University’s socioeconomic diversity after a New York Times article named the University the least socioeconomically diverse university in the country.

“Four years ago, we brought more low-income students to Wash. U,. and we did it dragging our feet because we got caught with our pants down in front of the New York Times and the whole country,” Leonard said.

One of the members of WU/FUSED that helped organized the rally, junior Amaia Cook, said she felt that the rally was an overall successful.

“I think the turnout was better than what we expected,” Cook said. “We aren’t very high in numbers in the organization itself, so seeing so many people in support of this cause and this demonstration was very indicative of the push for more opportunities, resources and support for under-resourced students.”

Freshman Mandy Huang said she participated in the rally, because she believed it was important to, despite the ongoing festivities.

“I feel like it’s important to stand for what you believe in, even when it’s supposed to be a happy time, even when you’re supposed to be celebrating,” Huang said.

Going forward, Kaba emphasized the importance of pursuing need-blind admissions, which Chancellor-elect Martin described as a priority.

“College should be something that’s affordable to everyone,” Kaba said. “We [shouldn’t] have to worry about your socioeconomic background standing in the way of getting into Wash. U.”

Additional reporting by Matthew Friedman