The lights were bright, the air contained that nostalgic, sickly sweet carnival smell, and the rain was pouring down. This past weekend WashU hosted its annual carnival, ThurtenE, celebrating philanthropic dedication to the greater St. Louis Area through their community partner, the Little Bit Foundation.

After weather-related cancellations on both Friday and Saturday this weekend, on its final day, the 90th annual ThurtenE carnival was open all day on Sunday April 6. That afternoon, two juveniles—one of whom was armed—were arrested near the carnival’s entrance; however, the event continued until its scheduled close at 8 p.m.

By any metric, last year was not the outcome that the 13 juniors in charge of the ThurtenE carnival had envisioned after months of meticulous and intensive planning.

One year later, a new class of juniors has taken over the parking lot for setup week, spending 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. outside Simon Hall to coordinate the arrival of carnival rides and supervise student groups as they build their booths. 

The final day of Washington University’s annual ThurtenE Carnival, Sunday, April 21, was canceled by the University administration due to crowd safety concerns after several fights broke out and the event was shut down on the evening of Saturday, April 20. 

Plenty of Wash. U. students plan charitable and community engaging events and don’t ask (nor want) compensation for their efforts. What makes ThurtenE different? Why does the University allow this lack of transparency?

Members of the Washington University Graduate Workers Union and Fossil Free WashU held protests at Brookings Hall and Anheuser-Busch Hall Saturday.

This past Saturday, we, the Wash. U. Graduate Workers Union (WUGWU), took action with Fossil Free WashU at ThurtenE Carnival to demand that Washington University stop its exploitation of graduate workers, St. Louis and the planet.

Washington University’s annual ThurtenE Carnival will be held in its original location near Francis Field April 11-13 and will feature a visit from Food Network’s show, “Carnival Eats.”

Despite what it might feel like outside, it officially became spring in St. Louis almost two weeks ago.

Title IX had passed nearly 20 years earlier in 1972, but the 80-plus-year-old honorary had yet to open its doors to women.