Chancellor Mark Wrighton released a statement on the Wash U Voices website Friday with the message, “we agree.” The Washington University contingent of STL Students in Solidarity is hesitant to accept that claim. We thank Chancellor Wrighton for accepting our demand for a meeting in January to discuss more detailed and tangible demands with the Washington University administration. However, we find the Chancellor’s response to the protest on campus last night to be inadequate.

With hundreds of students participating in protests responding to this semester’s events in Ferguson and police brutality across the United States, student protesters are claiming a new kind of class is in session for Washington University.

Yes, I know what you might be thinking: “Oh, poor millionaire white man. How hard it must be to be the figurehead of a massive amount of resources.” And you are right: feeling any semblance of sympathy for my complex job as chancellor is ludicrous. Yet I maintain it is a difficult position.

Whitman is our first-year athletic director, having replaced John Schael after a tenure spanning nearly four decades. Whitman has actively recruited students to our sporting events with all-school email blasts advertising Red Alert. But one message he sent to only student-athletes last week is his most significant yet, and it has little to do with Bear sports.

Bigger may be better for Washington University: administrators recently revealed plans to admit classes the size of this year’s 1,765-member freshman class for the next several years until the undergraduate population reaches a total enrollment of 7,000.

A letter from alumni expressing concern about Jill Carnaghi’s June 2014 departure from Washington University has received a response from administrators, but no details about whether Carnaghi was forced to resign were provided.

In his annual State of the University Address this Monday, Chancellor Mark Wrighton discussed the Lofts of Washington University and the undergraduate graduation rate, but many students in attendance seemed most interested in the school’s work on socioeconomic issues.

If you missed the chancellor’s State of the University Address on Monday, you aren’t alone—only about 50 students were in Tisch Commons during the speech, and a hearty portion of those were Student Union members whose attendance was expected.
Then again, if you missed the address, you didn’t miss much.

We are the lifeblood of this University, and we need to remember that fact when our University responds to challenges.

Dear Chancellor Wrighton (and the board of trustees): Have you been inside the new Bauer Hall? It’s pretty impressive—six stories of soaring glass-and-steel atrium, state-of-the-art classrooms and impeccable modern decor. But what am I talking about—of course you’ve been inside; you’re the ones who run this school.