People have fought for the right to learn about marginalized and minority identities, their cultures, and their histories at WashU. People are also actively fighting against that same right. It is imperative that students from all backgrounds take classes that involve identities other than their own. Unfortunately, this is not nearly as common as it should be.

For many WashU community members, the defining political issue on campus in the past year has been the Israel-Hamas war that began on Oct. 7. 

The Washington University Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences hosted Professor Robert Sellers from the University of Michigan as the speaker for the inaugural Robert L. Williams Lecture on Oct. 23. The lecture was a part of the University’s efforts to honor Williams’ legacy after his death on Aug. 12, 2020.

Because I was Black, I thought using AAVE was fine. I had as much a claim to these words as anyone else. But that wasn’t my voice.

For musician Kishi Bashi, American society needs more omoiyari. Although there is no direct translation of omoiyari from Japanese to English, it is often roughly translated as “empathy.” According to Kishi Bashi, however, the word is better characterized as “the idea of creating compassion towards other people by thinking about them.”

Racial identity functions on a spectrum and is something that an individual has the power to define independently. It isn’t an absolute concept, so there’s no reason why anyone should have to live up to certain expectations about his or her race. Just because you don’t conform to those expectations also doesn’t mean that you can’t still culturally identify with it.

Reemerging from the depths of middle-school playlists with the same unexpected voracity as Ricky Martin, Andrew W.K. recently came out with his long-awaited (or long since forgotten) third album: “Close Calls With Brick Walls/Mother of Mankind.” The album isn’t exactly new material; it was released back in 2006 but for some reason only saw light in Japan and Korea.

My skin tone is a shade in between a raw umber and chocolate brown. On most forms, I am guessing for demographic purposes, I am Black/African American. Since elementary school, I have had this notion that February is a month for Black History. This year, as I grasp at threads to try and understand my identity, I find myself a bit perplexed.

The conventional wisdom (or something I just came up with the other day—not sure which) is that college (we actually don’t really talk about the relevance of high school anymore—sorry) […]