On May 7, WashU announced the formation of a University-wide committee tasked with reviewing and recommending changes to the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and activities. The announcement emphasized that the creation of the committee is the latest step in the University’s ongoing evaluation of its DEI efforts. 

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced that it was investigating 45 universities across the United States, including WashU, for allegedly “engaging in race-exclusionary practices” in their education programs and activities Mar. 14.

WashU research projects have been affected by Trump administration policies that have restricted funding and access to critical information. To better understand these impacts, Student Life editors Aliza Lubitz and Zach Trabitz spoke with individuals involved in two university programs: the St. Louis Integrated Database of Enslavement (SLIDE) team and the Enhancing Neuroscience Diversity through Undergraduate Research Education (ENDURE) program.

He kept threatening to “repeal and replace” Obamacare; he attempted a “Muslim Ban”; he advocated for higher police force when it came to protests; he told Colin Kaepernick to get up. My God, he kept messing with North Korea. But what my parents, sister, and many others saw as irreparable damage being done to the stability of our democracy — whatever little remained — the rest of America only saw as stand-up material.

As a small group of graduate students listened in the audience, MD/PhD student Jamie Moffa explained how to convey the importance of their research to local and state legislators.

The students were gathered — both in McDonnell Hall and at WashU’s medical campus — as part of a nationwide day of action through the organization Labor for Higher Education to phone bank in opposition to recent proposed funding cuts to the National Institute of Health (NIH). 

As WashU students, we have the opportunity to interact with a variety of people from different backgrounds. We simply need to seek opportunities to learn about them in clubs, campus seminars, DEI programming, and classes, to name a few.

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. 

As a coalition of affinity groups representing Black, Latine, and Asian students at WashU, we are deeply disappointed by the substantial decline in students of color enrolling at WashU.

After careful evaluation of Student Life’s coverage and staff diversity audits, we realized that the paper doesn’t represent the diversity of ethnicities, religions, and perspectives that make up the WashU community.

When my friends Talia Zakalik, Sophia Bukowski, and Izzy Borah were trying to save a squirrel from a pipe, they found a student ID in the bush. Labeled from 1996, it read “Aman Boyd”, and besides some scratches and dirt stains, it was relatively unharmed. I thought this would be a really cool interview for my Creative Nonfiction class, where we had to interview someone, and asked to meet up with him.