Chancellor Martin

Staff Editorial: WashU must join the fight for academic freedom

On April 22, 2025, the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AACU) released a statement signed by hundreds of university and college presidents opposing government intrusion into institutions of higher education. The signatories included presidents from both public and private universities, many of which have faced direct attacks from the Trump administration. While the number of signatories has grown to more than 500 since the statement’s publication, WashU’s Chancellor Andrew Martin has yet to sign the letter.

Q & A with Chancellor Martin, Spring 2025

WashU Chancellor Andrew Martin sat down for an interview with Student Life last Thursday, April 3. Martin spoke about University plans regarding federal defunding, on-campus construction, and student advocacy.

and | Staff Writers

Opinion Submission: Academia has never been apolitical, and that’s OK

Martin and Diermeier’s hubris becomes even clearer when applied to other university departments. Is the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department expected to be neutral on the topic of feminism? The Latin American Studies department on human rights abuses by the U.S. government? WashU’s own WashU & Slavery Project is certainly not neutral on its subject matter, nor should it be! Academic work is often quite political, and that’s OK. 

| Class of 2025

Opinion Submission: Challenging the narrative — embracing opportunities for free speech

If we keep spreading the narrative that WashU is a place of suppression of expression, then yes, it will be a space of uncomfortable silence. We, the student body, have both passively and actively created that perceived reality for ourselves.

| Class of 2026

Opinion Submission: WashU deserves better representation than Chancellor Martin’s national op-ed

I deeply value the intellectual community I have found at WashU, and am regularly struck with admiration for the students, faculty, and staff who constitute it. That is why it pains me to see our community represented in a national news outlet by such a morally unserious statement. WashU deserves better.

| Second-year PhD student in English and American Literature

Chancellor Martin addresses Student Union, fields questions about protest, encampment policy

In a joint session on Tuesday, Sept. 10, Chancellor Andrew Martin addressed Student Union Senate and Treasury in a rare Q&A, expressing gratitude to the student leaders and fielding questions regarding campus protests, encampments, and concerns with Title IX policies from various Senators. 

| Contributing Writer

Staff Editorial: WashU Admin: We are listening, will you?

If administrators only answer certain criticisms, are students really being listened to?

“Disagree without being disagreeable:” Chancellor Martin hosts panel on free speech, protest, and democracy

Chancellor Andrew Martin met with Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, and Washington Post reporter Michael Isikoff to discuss free speech and democracy on college campuses on Sept. 9. 

and | Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Editor and Staff Writer

Israeli professor and American professor talk free speech at universities

Chancellor Andrew Martin moderated a conversation on freedom of speech between Hebrew University in Jerusalem professor Barak Medina and Washington University professor Lee Epstein in Umrath Lounge, Sept. 3. Attendees filled the 130 seats, with roughly another 60 standing in order to watch. 

| Staff Writer

Opinion Submission: Stop running WashU like a corporation

I am deeply in support of the expansion of university resources and the long-term sustainability of higher education. I am not convinced, however, that tying up billions of dollars in private capital is the best way to fulfill WashU’s obligations as an educational institution.

| Class of 2025

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