University leaders have said there is an ongoing investigation into the vandalism and that they hope to provide more information in the near future.

The spray-paint consisted of a white base layer underneath red and blue messages in support of a white nationalist hate group. 

A different kind of welcome message greeted new students at the South 40 Underpass this year.

Every trip to class is riddled with social booby traps.

In a rush, you might just cut through the trash can gap without even thinking about the level of risk you have accepted. Because your backpack just hit the wall as you were turning, it leaves you with a scarlet letter—newsflash, that paint is never coming off—a permanent mark of humiliation, a reminder that, once again, you have been claimed by the power of the Underpass.

For the past few semesters, the southeast wall of the Underpass facing the South 40 has been left largely blank, but it may see renewed use by the athletics department.

The iconic South 40 underpass is structurally unstable, according to a recent report released by the Federal Highway Administration. A structurally deficient bridge is not necessarily at high risk of collapsing, but does require consistent monitoring and inspections at least once a year.

Stress relief at Washington University is now instantaneous. Each Friday for the past two months, freshmen Greg Herren and Mike Bjorgaard have positioned themselves by the Forsyth Boulevard Underpass to compliment students as they walk to class. They arrive at 8:30 a.m. and continue to dole out compliments until 11 a.m.

The underpass connecting the Danforth campus and South 40, constructed sometime in the 1960s, is pending a complete renovation. But while discussion on the changes has already begun, actual construction is not expected to happen until the summer of 2012.

While peppy signs plastered throughout campus welcomed freshmen to Washington University, an unknown number of people greeted students with a message of their own on the first day of classes: […]