As November 2016 nears, the political climate on campus is going to escalate: there may not be protests or loud political opinions now, but there will be soon.

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: If you don’t understand what’s going on at Mizzou—or why so many of your classmates are posting Facebook statuses about standing in solidarity with Mizzou students—you’re not alone. Don’t know where to begin? Here are some of the basics.

It seems time we set some things straight. Being “PC” is not the same thing as infringing people’s right to free speech. Furthermore, it’s not nitpicky political correctness to criticize overtly racist acts like dressing in blackface, yelling the n-word at a group of black students or drawing a swastika in feces on a dorm.

A few careful considerations may be in order in the wake of recent protests at Yale and the University of Missouri (Mizzou).

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.

Washington University students have been protesting with thousands of St. Louis residents since a St. Louis County grand jury’s decision Monday not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson for killing teenager Michael Brown in August, with some being hit with tear gas and pepper spray and one being arrested.

Op-eds, open forums, class discussions and direct participation in rallies and protests are only a few of the ways that Washington University community members are responding to the recent events in Ferguson, Mo.

Most Washington University students are proud to call St. Louis home for at least nine months out of the year—as such, it is important for us to fully grasp the tension in Ferguson and the tragic events occurring so close to our adopted home.

Although it fell short of its goal of 1,000 participants, Saturday’s rally on Brookings Steps—the largest to date—brought together hundreds, who reiterated their demands that the school cut ties with Peabody Energy.

As a Washington University alumnus, I was disappointed but not surprised by the responses from fourth-year Olin Business School students regarding recent student protests at Bank of America’s on-campus recruiting events.