Members of a freshman floor grapple with issues like marijuana, Adderall, roommate struggles and pressure to join specific cultural groups—all the while preparing for an impending General Chemistry exam—in “Freshman Dis-Orientation,” a drama performed in the basement of Mallinckrodt Center.

Whenever the topic of my future comes up at a family gathering and I admit that I want to pursue a career in politics, inevitably one of my relatives will shake their head and tell me, their voice deep with concern, that politics is a nasty business that I would be better off avoiding.

Washington University senior Jacob Siegel first began studying aikido last October while abroad in Paris, he recognized in its pacifist philosophy a potential for social change.