UKRAINE International student Melisa Galiba discusses war at home. (Forum, pg 6)
ASA RUNWAY
The vibrant fashion, music, dancing, and props from ASA’s ‘Leral.’ (Scene, pg 4)
Government hiring freeze leaves students in disarray
WashU students and recent graduates in the Government, Policy, & Social Impact career community are being forced to drastically shift their career plans after a series of executive orders from President Donald Trump’s administration resulted in mass firings and a hiring freeze.
With newsletters titled “Recalculating” and “Back to Basics,” sent out by Susan Craig on behalf of the Government, Policy, & Social Impact (GPSi) career community, the over 1,000 students in the GPSi community received different messages on how to navigate the government job market.
Career communities are departments within the Center for Career Engagement that students can opt into to receive specialized career support. The GPSi career community focuses on coaching students who hope to go into fields related to government, social work, and international affairs.
On Jan. 20, Trump announced an executive order blocking the hiring of civilian employees and the creation of new positions in all executive departments or agencies. This freeze is set to remain in effect for 90 days. The effects of executive orders
to overhaul the federal workforce are widespread. Federal workers are struggling to meet the demands of their departments due to staff shortages while job offers have been rescinded, leaving both workers and students alike concerned about job security.
Susan Craig — Associate Director of the GPSi career community — explained that the future of government jobs is very uncertain, especially for students seeking summer internships.
“It’s kind of unclear what [the federal hiring freeze] means for internships, and it’s also agency by agency, so some students who had government internships last summer
… are able to continue, and then there’s just a big question mark on a lot of things,” Craig said. “Maybe [unfilled internships that have been applied for] will go through, but we’re not really sure.”
Craig emphasized that the job cuts are indiscriminately affecting students of all political affiliations in contrast with previous presidential administrations.
“There are students who are interested in working in this administration also, the unfortunate thing is that there aren’t opportunities for them either because there’s just a kind of interest in slashing government and the workforce broadly,” she said. “So even people that are conservative
don’t have opportunities where, in typical years, at least there would be a trade off.”
She noted that, while fellowships at all agencies are in the air, students and alumni in certain specializations and agencies are being hit hardest.
“The biggest impact [the GPSI community has] seen so far is in the international development space, with the US Agency for International Development (USAID),” Craig said.
One 2024 graduate from WashU, who will be referred to using the pseudonym Alex due to fear of professional retaliation, was hired to be an Acquisitions and Assistance specialist at USAID, but was furloughed before they could even complete the orientation process. They had grown up hoping to one day work at the agency.
“USAID specifically had been something that I had dreamed about … since like the age of 10,” they said.
After being furloughed without pay, Alex initially hoped that the job would resume shortly, but after a week and a half, they learned that Elon Musk was pushing to dismantle USAID. Neither they nor their colleagues know what will happen to their jobs at the moment.
SEE JOBS, PAGE 2
Student Union passes $4.6 million general budget for next year
Student Union (SU) unanimously passed its $4.6 million general budget for the upcoming fiscal year on Feb. 18. This year’s Treasury budget was passed in 49 minutes, making it the second-fastest budget passed in SU history. The budget will create a new fund to pay for cleaning costs for student organizations, increase the budget for Night at the Pageant to $100,000, and decrease funding for student council.
Vice President of Finance and junior Meris Damjanovic said creating the budget for the 2026 fiscal year was an endeavor that involved senators and treasury representatives alike.
“From the start, the whole process is meant to be collaborative,” Damjanovic said.
SU’s annual budget comes from the activities fee, which is tied to tuition, and increased by 4.5% last year. The student activities fee is set at 1% of tuition, meaning that when the University increases tuition, the activities fee budget increases proportionally. When balancing next year’s budget, Damjanovic balanced the budget assuming there would be no increase in SU’s revenue for next year. Damjanovic said any additional funds from a revenue increase will be funneled into the Budgets & Appeals account, the main source of funding for student organizations on campus.
Damjanovic said that while there are plenty of line items SU has to consider when creating the general budget, SU wants to ensure that clubs get the funding they need.
Since the student activities fee is determined by the price of tuition, SU will not know what their exact revenue will be until this March. If tuition goes up as expected, the Budgets & Appeals account will have $2,644,287.96, which is a $27,706.38 increase from last year. If tuition does
not increase, the Budgets & Appeals account will total $2,532,555.52, a $84,026.06 deficit from last year.
However, next year’s Budget & Appeals account does not include cleaning costs, thanks to a new $75,000 fund called the WFF fund.
The fund will go solely towards offsetting cleaning costs for WashU spaces, so student organizations will no longer have to budget or appeal for that money.
The Budget & Appeals account funds clubs’ annual budgets and appeals through the fiscal year.
Money from the fund is initially allocated for club budgets, and any remaining funds are distributed by SU Treasury through appeals.
Damjanovic said the budget requests for the upcoming fiscal year total $2.5 million, a decrease from last year’s $2.7 million in budget requests, which will hopefully leave room for a larger appeals budget.
“Last year we allocated $2.2 million… so I don’t think that we’re actually going to allocate close to that $2.5 [million]. I think it will be a bit lower,” Damjanovic said. “The goal, as I’ve understood it from [the] Budget Committee, has been we want to give Treasury the greatest amount of flexibility,meaning the most amount of money in appeals.”
The appeals budget is the same budget that ran out earlier this fiscal year and was replenished through supplementary SU funds. Currently, this year’s appeals budget sits at $100,000 which, according to Damjanovic, may cover appeals to the end of the year.
This year’s appeals budget deficit primarily came from clubs holding onto funds that were allocated for canceled events and or programming. To prevent a similar situation next fiscal year, Damjanovic took into account clubs’ spending histories when allocating funds in the general budget.
“There were some lines where we looked in the general budget and we saw [clubs had] no history of spending on this for this past fiscal year, [or] the fiscal year before,” Damjanovic said.
“That’s money that would better be served by student groups who will spend it.”
Namely, these funds came at the expense of a 33% decrease in the SU executive appeals budget; a 17% monetary decrease in SU adjacent entities such as the school councils, Leaders in Interpersonal Violence Education, and Student Environmental Council; and a 22% decrease in Uncle Joe’s block funding.
The budgeting process took 55 hours, according to Damjanovic, and was facilitated by four section teams composed of treasury and senate representatives. SU began using section teams post-pandemic, and the new structure has expedited the budgeting process.
Junior Grace Marcus, a Treasury representative and External Communications Chair, chaired the section team for SU entities, Leaders in Interpersonal Violence Education, and Student Environmental Council funding. Marcus said, by using this section team structure, SU
HIGH SCORER
Sit-down interview with Bears standout Hayden Doyle. (Sports, pg 7)
COBY RINKE TANVI GORRE STAFF WRITER NEWS EDITOR
Both St. Louisans and WashU community members are calling for WashU to compensate surrounding communities through Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs), due in part to WashU’s growing real estate portfolio in the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County. However, WashU does not anticipate changing its stance on PILOTs, stating the University contributes to the surrounding municipalities in other ways.
“The approach that we’ve chosen is rather than just write a check … we are much more interested in co-investing [with local municipalities] in places where we think that the investments are going to have the biggest impact,” Chancellor Andrew Martin said in an interview with Student Life on Oct. 9, 2023.
PILOTs are voluntary payments universities make to surrounding municipalities to make up for a portion of the money they would otherwise pay in property and federal income taxes. If WashU paid PILOTs, they would likely go to the City of St. Louis or University City. Several universities across the country pay PILOTs to their surrounding municipalities, including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Brown, and Boston University, with Yale contributing the most at $23 million annually. University City Mayor Terry Crow wants WashU to follow their example.
“By law, they don’t have to [pay PILOTs], but the peers that [WashU] likes to compare [itself] to have chosen a different path,” Crow said.
A 2015 report from University City concludes that, in 2018, the university’s tax-exempt properties would otherwise generate almost $2 million annually, and a 2020 report commissioned by University City finds WashU places a “significant fiscal burden on the City.”
representatives have to engage more deeply with the process.
“When dealing with a budget of $4.6 million, we need to have productive discussions that capture the voices of all treasury and senate members,” Marcus said.
Sophomore Sydney Kim, a Treasury representative and chair of the Social Programming Board (SPB) section team, said section teams helped bring different perspectives to SU’s budgeting.
“My section team consisted of six treasurers and five senators, presenting the opportunity for both legislative bodies to discuss their ideas and concerns,” Kim said. “I think this system allows for a diverse range of opinions as well as an overall more efficient general budget process.”
For this upcoming year, Damjanovic hopes that student organizations feel like they know what is going on with SU budgeting and finances.
“This has been my motto all year: extreme transparency,” Damjanovic said. “If you don’t understand something, or you feel a little upset, please come and talk to us; that’s the environment that I’m trying to cultivate here.”
While University City officials told Student Life they would likely use PILOTs to finance city services such as police and trash collection, some residents of University City and St. Louis said they hope the money would go toward public schools in their respective areas.
What jurisdictions are affected As WashU has purchased more property in surrounding areas, the issue of PILOTs has become more pressing. WashU owns property in University City, Clayton, and St. Louis. The South 40, West Campus, most of the Danforth campus, and the Fontbonne campus are located in Clayton, while the Medical Campus, some of the East End, and several student housing units are in the City of St. Louis.
Read the rest online!
Students in the Government, Policy, and Social Impact career community wrestle with federal hiring freeze.
SAM POWERS | MANAGING PHOTO EDITOR
TANVI GORRE NEWS EDITOR
‘Borderland: The Line Within’ screening fosters dialogue on immigration in the US
KAYLA GUZMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
The Gephardt Institute hosted a screening of Borderland: The Line Within, a documentary about the struggles of immigrants in the U.S. on Feb. 20.
Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honors Society, and Alpha Psi Lambda, the co-ed Latiné fraternity, led the event, which was followed by a Zoom Q&A session with the directors of the film. The event was hosted as part of WashU’s Civic Action Week, which highlights civic engagement opportunities throughout campus.
Before the screening of Borderland, Paco de Onís and Pamela Yates, producer and director respectively, spoke on the significance of the film in relation to the political culture surrounding immigrants in the U.S.
“Right now, we’re living in a very tough time. Our communities are under threat, immigrants that we know and work with are scared,” Yates said. “I think it’s really important in making these kinds of documentaries … to find people who are showing the way forward. Those are the people you are going to meet in this film.”
Borderland, released in 2024, highlights narratives of Latinx immigrants navigating
the 2016 Trump administration’s immigration policies, the impact of COVID-19 on their migration and residence in the U.S., and their civic engagement with organizations like the Poor People’s Campaign and the International Mayan League.
“We tried to introduce people watching the film to a wide variety of ways that they can participate in being a force for good in immigration rights and human rights in the
solidarity to strengthen their communities.”
The stories of the protagonists of the film, Gabriela Castañeda and Kaxh Mura’l, were central to the film. Each played a key role in advocating for their communities at both the national and local level in the U.S.
Yates said that the humancentered narrative of this film is important to interweave into the overarching subject of Borderland, which is the
benefits.
“What we’re trying to tackle is not the agent, but [it] is the system,” Castañeda says in the film.
When asked about what they’d like their audience to take away from the film, the filmmakers said they hoped to make people reflect on their own ability to engage in civic action.
“We all have leadership qualities. We may not think of ourselves that way, but we
a Zoom webinar they will be hosting on March 31 at 7 p.m.
Eastern time to participate in conversations on immigration with immigrant activists and leaders. They said that the twohour rally will be a space for solidarity and to share experiences related to immigration.
After the screening,
President of Pi Sigma Alpha and junior Ambar De Santos told Student Life about the importance of hosting events that foster dialogue on immi-
“More than ever we have seen this administration’s efforts to silence us, to degrade us,” De Santos said. “But we’re gonna move forward from that and we’re going to be bigger than that. We’ll get through this together.”
United States,” Yates said.
In the Q&A session, the filmmakers answered student attendees’ questions on their narrative selection process, challenges faced over the fiveyear long filmmaking process, and anti-immigrant rhetoric among the Latinx community.
“I wanted to counter the narrative that we see most often in the mainstream media, which is that immigrants are victims, that immigrants are powerless, because in actuality, they have a lot of agency,” Yates said, when asked about narrative selection. “They have leadership [skills], [they’re] educated. They educate each other. They have important strategies for
Border Industrial Complex.
“The very personal stories that have a very strong sense of journey can intersect with [the] overarching theme of the Border-Industrial Complex, and the amounts of money that are being spent and who’s profiting from it, and how interconnected this Border Industrial-Complex is,” Yates said.
A student attendee asked the filmmakers about Latino border patrol agents who have “anti-immigrant views within immigrant communities.”
According to de Onís, employment within the U.S. Customs and Border Protection is often attractive to Latinos because of its financial security and
do,” Yates said. All of us who are here right now, we’re in an incredibly privileged position.”
De Onís said that getting in touch with relevant local Congress representatives and putting public pressure on them to alter the immigration system are ways to get involved. He also said that it is important to fight stereotypes, whenever they come up.
“We really need to push back against [the narrative of undesirable criminals] in every way we can,” de Onís said.
“Locally, in conversations with people, with friends, Congress [representatives], wherever it comes up.”
De Onís and Yates invited the WashU community to join
JOBS from page 1
“[I felt] a wave of emotions, shock was kind of the first, then a lingering sense of dread, just because it’s like, what does this mean for me?” Alex said. “What does this mean for the greater organization that deals primarily with humanitarian assistance? ... It’s a matter of life and death for so many people around the world.”
While alumni are being impacted in the space, current students have also been grappling with uncertainty about future plans.
Disha Chatterjee, a senior studying Cognitive Neuroscience with a Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies minor, worked at the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) last summer. Chatterjee hoped to continue to work there before law school, however, her supervisor at the OVW has been unable to respond and the director of the office had to resign, leaving the office in flux.
“I talked to someone who works [at the antitrust program] right now, and she was saying they aren’t hiring right now, which is hard,” Chatterjee said. “If they do start hiring again, it’s likely that I wouldn’t have a job until July, which has been really scary knowing that I am probably not going to graduate with a job.”
Chatterjee noted that while she was aware that the director of the Office on Violence Against Women and head of the DOJ would change, she had not anticipated losing this job opportunity.
“I did not think that they were going to stop hiring, that was definitely out of
grant rights. She pointed to ICE agent sightings in the St. Louis area as an example of the urgency surrounding immigration issues in our community.
“The concept of immigration at WashU isn’t talked about, and I wish it was, and I’m trying to change that this year,” she said.
Junior and Alpha Psi Lambda member Lorena Alvarez attended the screening and said she noticed a disparity in the diversity of attendees.
“The turnout was a lot of people that I already knew, and so I feel like that kind of reflects who is already showing up in these spaces that support this community,”
Alvarez said. “It’s kind of hard to get somebody to come here if they don’t already have a connection to the community.”
External Vice President of Alpha Psi Lambda, junior Samira Saleh, said that it was nerve wracking to host the event given pressure from the Trump administration on colleges to end DEI initiatives and programs. She celebrated WashU’s ability to provide spaces for “unfiltered” dialogue and discussion that encourage students to be honest, and hopes that the screening and dialogue with directors highlighted the reality of immigrants in the U.S.
“These are the types of experiences that we see in this exposé documentary that are real. This is someone’s reality, that as we speak, they’re going through,” Saleh said. “This is not just something we’re learning in a class that we’re getting credit for to graduate, this is real s***.”
De Santos concluded the event with words of courage for those anxious about the Trump administration’s immigration policies.
“More than ever we have seen this administration’s efforts to silence us, to degrade us,” De Santos said. “But we’re gonna move forward from that and we’re going to be bigger than that. We’ll get through this together.”
the blue for me,” Chatterjee said. “There’s a law that makes sure the office exists and receives funding, and the office exists every year, so I didn’t expect it.”
Maddy Molyneux, a senior studying Political Science and an intern for the GPSi career community, said she was prepared for this outcome.
“Leading up to and after the election, we sort of knew to expect this,” Molyneux said. “That being said, it’s harder now that it’s real.”
Craig laid out how her team has been preparing for this possibility since last fall, including coming up with ways for students to stay interested in government through local and state opportunities outside of Washington.
“I would encourage students that are interested not to give up on it, because there’s a lot of work to be done,” she said. “If they want to get involved or engaged, then there’s lots of opportunities to do that and you can make a difference in a lot of different spaces.”
As someone interested in international work, Molyneux said her entire LinkedIn feed is USAID workers saying they are out of work.
“It’s a little jarring, as someone who was looking to all of these people as established professionals who could help me, and now they’re flailing just as much as I am,” she said. Similarly, Alex emphasized that they are among thousands of people who have been affected by job terminations and furloughs. Feeling as though there is nowhere else to go, Alex is now looking to move into
other industries.
“The possibility of me remaining in the international development space is essentially zero, which is hard to think about,” Alex said. “I was looking at returning to [Capitol] Hill, but the Hill is pretty difficult right now because it’s the only federal [option] that’s hiring, and so now [I’m] looking into the private sector.”
While some students are changing trajectories, Chatterjee intends to continue pursuing a career in public interest work and direct service legal aid.
“The need for that kind of work is always going to [be] present, and even more so when the government can’t be relied upon,” Chatterjee said.
Within the GPSi community, this time has brought a lot of uncertainty, especially for seniors looking for jobs, but there has also been increased motivation to seek work.
“I’ve seen a mix of emotions. People are disheartened, but I wouldn’t say they’re fully discouraged. I think there’s been sort of a fire lit under a lot of us,” Molyneux said. “We know it’s going to be more competitive. We know we’re going to have to work a little bit harder, but everyone wants this really bad, because all of these jobs are rooted in our value system.”
SCENE
Bold and earnest: A review of ‘The Wolves’
On Friday, Feb. 21, WashU’s Performing Arts Department (PAD) opened its production of “The Wolves,” a Pulitzernominated play by American playwright Sarah DeLappe, at Edison Theater. Directed by PAD professor Annamaria Pileggi, “The Wolves” is a dive into adolescence that dares the audience to look away.
Throughout the play’s 90 minutes, a girls soccer team warms up for six of their fallseason games with long sets of drills. The team is caught up in its self-imposed hierarchy, fraught relationships, and petty rumors, all while each of the nine girls face a coming-of-age. Yet, the play is deeper than the typical cutthroat high school drama (ahem, ‘Riverdale’). Its emotional core lies in each girl’s search for belonging, identity, and peace of mind, despite the odds. While the
girls’ actions are occasionally misguided, their journeys are fueled by moments of undeniable sincerity as well as laugh-out-loud humor, and the audience cannot help but cheer the team on as they finally find community amongst themselves.
“It was really challenging, in the best sense of the word … I couldn’t be prouder of this company,” Pileggi said when asked about directing such an innovative play. She cites how challenging it was for the cast: “Having nine people on stage, almost all the time” with “no furniture” — not to mention the fact that “none of the actresses is a dedicated soccer player” — made the play uniquely difficult.
While Edison Theater normally seats over six hundred, Pileggi opted for a more intimate setting. The stage is cut in half: A blanket of turf marks the actors’ space, while the other half lays out a set of bleachers for the audience. The front row is inches
away from the team, allowing the audience to notice the subtle nuances of each player — their physical, verbal, and social mannerisms that characterize their place on the team.
Pileggi praised the cast’s dedication. “They have really done the work,” she said.
At the core of “The Wolves” are the 10 featured actors, each of whom bring exceptional personality, presence, and humor to the stage. Seniors Ella Sherlock, Taylor Miller, and Danielle Bryden are thoughtful #11, precocious #25, and awkward #46; first-years Parker Lesher and Coco Jones are sarcastic #7 and insecure #14; sophomore Talia Vinson is childlike #8; firstyears Raquel Elle Brouwer, Charlotte Bartels, and Leo Young are stoner #13, perfectionist #00, and innocent #2, respectively; and PhD student Frauke Thielecke is the lone adult, Soccer Mom. These 10 actors are firing on all cylinders throughout the
show. The ensemble piece demands a monumental effort from each actor, and the success of the play is a testament to their talent and hard work. The actors bring to life the team’s antics and show what it means to be human: triumphs, failures, and everything in between.
Rennard, Reardon’s friend.
For many WashU students, Mardi Gras is a rare reason to wake up early on a Saturday.
Students travel to downtown St. Louis to party in a crowd — and maybe power through a 3 p.m. hangover.
While students may spend three or four hours in Soulard, the planning that goes into Mardi Gras reflects 5,000 hours of volunteer work throughout the year.
Despite the widespread belief that the origin of St. Louis’ Mardi Gras is related to the city’s French history, the Soulard parade is less than 50 years old. The tradition started in 1979 when five
people threw a house party and decided on a Mardi Gras theme. The celebration has since expanded to include a variety of events hosted throughout January and February, culminating in the Bud Light Grand Parade on March 1, 2025. Social organizations, known as krewes, walk, bike, and ride in the parade, usually fully costumed or towing floats, and they also compete for awards. Per 2023 estimates, 3,000 people will walk or ride in the parade, throwing 15 million beads to cheering crowds of at least half a million.
Matt Reardon is a founding member of the Mystic Knights of the Purple Haze, the most award-winning
krewe in the Grand Parade, and has been involved with the growth of the event since its “very early days,” he said.
In high school, Reardon was a member of an ultimate frisbee team called the Purple Haze, which practiced on WashU’s fields.
Some of Reardon’s Purple Haze friends moved south to attend college in Mobile, Alabama — a city that may be home to the U.S.’s oldest Mardi Gras spectacle. When the group of frisbee friends finally reunited, they decided to join the small celebration in Soulard.
Coincidentally, they built their first parade float two blocks from the WashU campus, in the garage of Andy
“[Rennard] said, ‘Hey, let’s name it the Mystic Knights of the Purple Haze because that’s sort of Mardi Grasthemed and we’ll be a krewe,’ and there’s no one in St. Louis [who] even really knew what a krewe was,” Reardon said. “We figured out after one year or two years … if we start a few weeks early, we can be the best float in the parade.”
The Mystic Knights
Speaking to what she hoped audiences would take away from “The Wolves,” Pileggi said that the play’s message is simply “how hard it is to grow up, especially in our current moment … The 21st century offers unique challenges that I certainly didn’t have to ruffle with growing up in the mid to late 20th century. I think this play communicates that in a very poignant way.” “The Wolves” continues to run this weekend: Friday, Feb. 28, Saturday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, March 2 at 2 p.m..
raised the bar for floats in St. Louis, both for decorations and, more literally, height regulations.
“One year we did Jimi Hendrix at Monterey [Pop Festival], where he lights his guitar on fire, very famous thing. … [The float] was 17 feet tall. And you can only have a 13-foot-tall float because the Mardi Gras float goes under a railroad overpass. … We figured out how to use counterweights and
put hinges in Jimi Hendrix’s body, and we could fold him down. … We got a 17-foot float,” Reardon said. “They never had a float like that.”
Seniors Ella Sherlock (left) and Danielle Bryden (right) play teenage soccer players in PAD’s “The Wolves.”
COURTESY OF DANNY REISE
Students celebrate vibrancy of African heritage at annual ASA fashion show
The annual African Students Association’s (ASA) fashion show took place this past Saturday, Feb. 22. This year’s show, “Leral”, promotes African Iridescence: The Vibrancy Of Heritage. Four main regions — East Africa, West Africa, North Africa and Southern Central Africa — were featured in the immersive show through fashion, dancing, music, and props. From models to performers, here are a series of photos showcasing several moments from the show.
Written
by Madison Yue, Managing DEI Editor, Elizabeth Grieve, Senior Scene Editor, and Sam Powers, Managing Photo Editor
by Scott Zarider, Staff Photographer
For those with an academic itch to scratch, college presents an uncomfortable crossroad — safety or passion. College is supposed to be a time of self-discovery and intellectual exploration, but the pressure of choosing a career path is ever-present. The definition of an acceptable major is set by parents, peers, movies, and even memes. If a student isn’t blessed with a propensity for STEM or stocks, they are met with concern and urged to
reconsider their choices. Fret not, dear Bashful, you are not alone in your journey. You might be aware of the precarious and nerve-racking nature of professional development and feel tempted to chase the dough (cash, kesef, mula, etc.). Well, a single, magic word might be the difference between success and failure: drive, naught but the motivation to push yourself toward a goal. Mechanical engineering might have an appealing starting income, but trudging through the degree complicates things. Without drive,
you may not gain the competitive edge required to succeed. Although a few careers have been proclaimed as the only reasonable option (doctor, lawyer, engineer), nothing is ever so simple. What may be a safe bet today could become a highly competitive endeavor tomorrow. Despite the illusion the WashU student body may present, we can’t all be doctors or investment bankers. Uneasiness over technological developments and their ability to replace human labor has been a source of apprehension toward almost every job. There
are no safe bets; every career has competition and potential for failure. Success after graduation comes from effort and luck, not the major on your degree. The truth is, it does not matter what degree you get if you don’t put in the effort to succeed. It takes skill, passion, and a lot of networking to get what you want. There is no recipe for professional satisfaction, except maybe following your dreams, and to quote a comforting idiom, YOLO (you only live once). Pursuing a degree for four years while
yearning for something else will only make you miserable. Also, you can always change your mind. What you study in college doesn’t define what you
Dear Bashful B. A.
Sophomore ASA Exec Binta Fall sports a traditional Senegalese dress as she walks the runway.
Students model outfits designed by Cameroonian-American designer Claude Kameni during the designer walk portion of the fashion show. Left-to-right: Sophomore Grace Robvais, first-year Hadya Djidda, junior Spencer Annor-Ampofo, and senior Mercy Olatunde.
First-year Brian Babisa models Southern Central African clothing.
First-year Hadya Djidda holds up the flag of Chad during the show’s flag walk.
First-year Brian Babisa and senior Lidya Wolde show off East African clothing from Ethiopia and Eritrea.
Photos
NICOLE BACKAL | STAFF WRITER
When walking around the Danforth Campus, you may see University leadership figures like Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs Dr. Anna “Dr. G” Gonzalez at a Fun House or Dean of Students Rob Wild on the way to his next meeting. You may, on the rare occasion, even catch a glimpse of Chancellor Andrew D. Martin walking around. These iconic administrators are crucial to WashU’s daily functions; however, there is another group of key executives that go largely unseen by the student body: the board of trustees. Since WashU’s founding in 1853, the board of trustees has served as the chief governing body of the University. The board oversees new degree programs, budgets, the appointment of the chancellor, and the $12 billion endowment, of which they delegate responsibility to the Washington University Investment
Management Company (WUIMC), established in 2006. The board is separated into 10 committees, including Facilities and Campus Planning, Academic Affairs, and Student Experience. The board is composed of roughly 40 voting members, as well as two undergraduate and two graduate nonvoting representatives, chosen by the University Representative Selection Committee. Despite attempts to include student representation, the board notably lacks direct student-elected and affinity group representation. Student-elected and affinity group representation on the board of trustees has existed in the past, with the Student Union (SU) President and the Association of Black Students (ABS) President being given nonvoting seats. An SU Senate resolution from 2015 called for the addition of a third SU representative. It was approved by an 80% vote by the student body in the spring election that year. Since the introduction of the University-nominated representatives, with two undergraduate student seats, the previous seats have been removed. There are currently no seats for the SU
PUZZLE PUZZLE Mania
President, ABS President, nor a student-approved individual. In recent years, the SU Executive Board has advocated for an SU student representative seat to be reinstated, to no avail.
Members of University leadership have expressed that although they are interested in fostering a relationship between the board of trustees and SU, it seems to us that they do not wish to reinstate a nonvoting position due to the diverse nature of the student body. It appears to us that in their view, it is more equitable to hand-select representatives. Conversely, the entire undergraduate population is eligible to vote in SU elections, ultimately electing the SU President. Therefore, the SU President has a unique responsibility to over 8,000 undergraduates which the other two representatives, chosen for academic and extracurricular merit by University administrators, do not.
Following Donald Trump’s inauguration as president this year, there has been a barrage of executive orders addressing everything from border control issues to so-called anti-Christian biases. Many of these orders target higher education, and WashU has already begun to feel the impacts.
Earlier this month, Chancellor Andrew Martin released one of two statements regarding the most recent NIH cuts to indirect university research funding. The statement, which was emailed to the WashU community and student body, sought to reassure students and faculty that the University’s administration is closely monitoring the national funding situation. He wrote that the administration is “mobilized on multiple fronts” and ready to address the “threat” that these funding cuts pose to WashU, St. Louis, and the future of various research initiatives around the world.
“With this latest announcement [regarding NIH cuts], we felt it was important to reach out to our full community so you all are aware of how we are responding,” Martin wrote.
At Student Life, we commend the Chancellor’s willingness to reassure WashU’s researchers of the administration’s commitment to the university’s education and research.
We wonder whether there is the same willingness to publicly comment when it comes to the slew of anti-DEI initiatives, attacks on gender-affirming care, and ICE immigration arrests at schools across the nation. Martin says that the University prioritizes patient care above all — we ask, which patients? Where was this proclaimed commitment to our University’s principles when news spread that WashU’s transgender clinic was closing its doors to minors last summer?
As the Student Life editorial board, we call on Chancellor Martin and the WashU administration to stand up for minority students on campus, just as they do for their researchers.
It is unsurprising that the WashU administration would jump to address NIH cuts more so than other executive orders attacking higher education, due to the enormity of its financial impact. According to a recent Student Life estimate, had the cut been implemented last year, it would have cost WashU about $106 million of research funding.
In his latest op-ed with The Chronicle of Higher Education, Martin claims that universities must return to the principles of excellence, academic freedom, freedom of expression, and a culture of
civil discourse. If the administration believes a return to these core principles to be as necessary as they claim, we ask that they apply them equally to all challenges that higher education faces today, not just to those with the most significant financial impacts. WashU, raise your voice in support of everyone that is under attack by the Trump administration — don’t pick and choose which battles would most benefit you.
Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.
Nina Giraldo, Editor in Chief
Jordan Spector, Managing Forum Editor
Avi Holzman, Editor in Chief
Elizabeth Grieve, Senior Scene Editor
Alice Gottesman, Managing Scene Editor
River Alsalihi, Junior Forum Editor
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Imagine the whole of WashU’s student body, undergraduate and graduate students, disappearing over the three weeks of Winter Break — more than 17,000 people. That is the speed at which casualties are occurring in the Russia-Ukraine war since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On Feb. 24, 2022, 43.5 million people woke up to a new reality: the destruction of their land and the loss of their peaceful homes.
Since then, over 1.1 million people have died or been wounded, and more than 10 million people have left their homes.
This article aims to discuss three things: one, factual statistics; two, the “reasons” that the Russian government gave to start the genocide of Ukrainians; and three, what could be done by other countries and people to stop the war.
As a student, I find it vitally important to inform the WashU student body on the severity of the war we face at home.
Students seem to understand the severity of the war between Israel and Hamas. I do not wish to compare the atrocities of these wars, but I want to use the Israel-Hamas war as a measurement for understanding the drastic scale of the war in Ukraine.
This is especially true right now, as American President Donald Trump falsely accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of being a dictator, and the U.S. has sided with Russia on a recent UN Security Council resolution. Americans should be concerned, because America is failing to maintain its significant role, outlined in the Budapest Memorandum, of protecting the safety of my home and my people.
Let’s start by understanding the size of the biggest conflict in Europe since WWII.
Losses after three years
By December 2024, official numbers reached 43,000 Ukrainian soldiers killed and 370,000 wounded. That compares with 600,000 dead and wounded for Russia, according to Zelenskyy.
Compared to the IsraelHamas war, as of February 2025, the number of killed and wounded people in the entire Middle East has reached 166,000.
Another 571,000 Ukrainians are exiled outside of Europe, bringing the global total of those exiled to 6.74 million people. Additionally, 3.7 million people are internally displaced within Ukraine’s borders, according to the UN.
According to additional statistics, over 2.5 million homes have been destroyed during the war in Ukraine, which has caused additional waves of internal displacement and citizens fleeing the country.
Despite massive losses, economic crises in both countries, and prolonged peace negotiations, the war continues.
Ukraine vs. Russia
A few main economic factors can describe a country’s financial or political power.
Let’s look at a few of them from Feb. 24, 2022. The population of Russia is three times bigger, the area almost 30 times, and the GDP per capita 2.4 times.
Since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian military has become among the 20 largest militaries. Ukraine spends a larger share of its GDP on their military than any other country. The Russian military is inarguably the world’s thirdlargest military, the first-largest in terms of nuclear weapon capabilities.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine can be compared to the U.S. invading Mexico — a huge, powerful country invading a, geographically and militarily, much smaller state under the guise of making it “a better place” due to supposed “issues in the Mexican government.”
So, why did Russia, struggling with its own political freedom and social prosperity, decide to “help” Ukraine? “Justifications” from the Kremlin, and how the invasion started
regime for eight years.”
Data from the office of the Commissioner of Human Rights of the occupied Donetsk region in Ukraine presents a contradiction. Since the invasion by Russian forces in 2014, the border of the occupied Donetsk region has remained a war zone with many casualties.
The death of 4,500 people in eight years cannot be labeled a “genocide.” To compare, the average death from car accidents in the occupied Donetsk region is 90–100 people in a year.
Putin also spoke about the abuse of Russian-speaking people in Ukraine. The author of this article was born in the Donetsk region and lived in Kharkiv, speaking purely Russian. I haven’t seen or experienced any abuse due to language in my 17 years of living in Ukraine.
2. “And for this, we will strive for demilitarization and denazification.”
Contradiction: This “goal” is pointing to the “denazification” of Ukraine, which was pointed out when the Russian government argued that the Ukrainian government consists of Nazis. For reference, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is Jewish.
3. “At the same time, our plans do not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories. We are not going to impose anything or anyone by force.”
This is clearly false; millions have fled the occupied region because they didn’t want to live under the Russian government.
5. “Today’s events are not connected with the desire to infringe on the interests of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people. They are connected with the protection of Russia itself from those who took Ukraine hostage and are trying to use it against our country and its people.”
A powerful country with one of the world’s largest militaries is trying to protect itself from a significantly smaller country, even though Russia invaded and occupied regions of Ukraine in 2014?
Russia’s military campaign has gone beyond targeting military objects. Their attacks have targeted civilian homes, punishing Ukrainians for simply wanting to live in Ukraine. One of the major examples of inhumane violence was captured after Bucha was freed from Russian occupation, where mass amounts of dead, mutilated bodies were found on the streets.
Budapest Memorandum
In December 1994, Ukraine, Russia, and the United States signed the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances, which is eerily similar to the proposed “mineral deal” by the Trump Administration.
Under the agreement, Ukraine — which had the world’s third-largest nuclear arsenal after Russia and the U.S. — agreed to give up all of their nuclear weapons to Russia. In return, the Russian Federation provided security assurances to Ukraine, promising to neither attack nor threaten them.
To prevent the madness of the Russian Federation, other globally powerful countries could assist in negotiations or provide support to Ukraine to resolve the issue as quickly as possible, preventing further casualties, economic costs, and diplomatic deterioration with Russia.
Nevertheless, the war is ongoing, so we can discuss what could have been done. Here are just a few examples: On Feb. 19, former U.S. President Joe Biden gave a speech, announcing that “Russia will invade Ukraine.”
Ukraine had not been given enough defense in advance of this operation so that they could prevent a full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation. Giving more weapons to Ukraine at the beginning of the war and expediting sanctions against Russia.
Despite relatively significant help from the U.S., Ukraine wasn’t allowed to attack Russian territory until May 2024, two and a half years after the invasion. It was permitted in May, but only for defending Kharkiv, the second-largest city in Ukraine, located 18 miles from the Russian border. So, in two and a half years, Ukrainian civilians were less defended, due to the ban from the U.S.
To illustrate, it takes missiles fired from the Russian city of Belgorod 30 seconds to reach their taWrgets in Kharkiv, which is only 30 kilometers (18 miles) away, roughly the same amount of time that air defense systems need to respond. By that time, the lives of dozens of people and the homes of hundreds could be destroyed.
military and giving old weapons to Ukraine, with contracts of returning money as a long-loan. So it is a mutually beneficial strategy: Ukraine obtains more weapons to defend itself, and the U.S. strengthens its military power.
At the same time, U.S. help is not that big in comparison to other countries in terms of help to Ukraine. The European Union, which has a GDP per capita of 43.35 thousand dollars (the U.S. sits at 86.6) has given a total of 138.55 billion dollars in aid. Meanwhile, the U.S. gave 119.60 billion dollars in aid. Even with an economy twice as powerful as the EU, the U.S. has still given less.
From the agreements with Russia in 1994, the start of the war in 2014, to the fullscale invasion in 2022, to the insecurity of more than 40 million Ukrainians, to the biggest conflict in Europe since WWII, to the world’s reaction to the ongoing bloody war, Ukrainians are constantly fighting for a right to live independently. Since the invasion in 2014, Russia has occupied three regions of Ukraine: Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk Oblast. Since then, the conflict has dramatically decreased and left the territories of independent Ukraine under the control of Russia.
In 2022, Russia invaded again.
If history repeats itself and the world abandons Ukraine once more, that will grant validation to the current territories rooting for Russian influence on occupied regions. It would cause a repeat of the full-scale invasion in 10 years, which will result in many more deaths and even more military spending globally.
Not returning Ukraine’s territories to the borders of 1991 will set a precedent that so long as you are a powerful country with nuclear weapons, no one will care about peace and justice.
What can be done now?
War is ongoing, and to support innocent civilians and those in occupied regions, everyone can help. Yes, you can help, too! Since war is a multidimensional battle touching many domains — such as the military, the medical field, humanitarian resources, rescues from occupied regions, the rebuilding of homes in unoccupied regions, or responses after a missile attack — all domains have different needs. Peace for Ukraine. My
6.168 million Ukrainian refugees were registered across Europe by the end of July 2024, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
The Russia-Ukraine war has caused the largest population-displacement crisis since World War II. A third of the Ukrainian population has been forced to flee their homes.
In a speech to the citizens of Russia on Feb. 23, 2022, Putin announced that he had made a decision to start a special military operation in Ukraine. His goals were:
1. “Protecting people who have been subjected to abuse and genocide by the Kyiv
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4. “Neither when the USSR was created, nor after the Second World War, no one ever asked people living in certain territories that are part of modern Ukraine how they themselves wanted to arrange their lives.”
Contradiction: After the collapse of the USSR, the independent nation of Ukraine organized fair and transparent presidential and parliamentary elections, featuring a rigorous debate about the future direction of the country.
The United States pledged support to Ukraine in exchange for Ukraine’s adherence to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. Just 20 years later, Russia invaded Ukraine without any significant consequences or penalties from the U.S. and other signatories.
There were more points made by other Russian government officials, with different but equally absurd “reasons” for starting a massive war, killing thousands of innocent people and taking their homes. What could have been done?
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And, of course, more aid. To understand the actual situation regarding all aid to Ukraine and the countries that contribute the most in terms of their ability, let’s look at the graphs.
The graph provided, sourced from the Kiel Institute, is of the countries that gave the most aid to Ukraine, in the percentage of GDP, in descending order.
According to Time magazine, “90% of Ukraine aid spending stays in the U.S., creating thousands of jobs.”
Giving military aid to Ukraine is not a straightforward process; the U.S. is creating and investing in new technology for their
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Despite losing three straight games two weeks ago, the No. 13 WashU men’s basketball team has found their groove again with five straight wins as they near the end of the regular season. WashU defeated the University of Rochester 78-48 and No. 12 Emory University 85-75 on Feb. 21 and 23, respectively.
Head coach Pat Juckem attributes the team’s explosive offense that comes from being disruptive defensively.
“I really think the catalyst tonight was our activity defensively,” he said.
Senior forward Drake Kindsvater, who led the Bears against Rochester with 15 points and recorded two blocks and two steals, echoed Juckem’s sentiment.
“I feel like we always take pride in our defense,” Kindsvater said. “We watch all their plays. We can prepare
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into the game, the Bears’ defense helped create a large lead. With only three deflections in the first eight minutes of this matchup, WashU quadrupled its total, entering halftime with 13 deflections.
Many of these defensive deflections provided WashU with more opportunities to transition and make quick and easy baskets, and put the Bears ahead by 26 points at the half.
The Rochester game celebrated Black History Month and had a high attendance which Juckem attributed to the Bears success.
“It’s certainly the beauty of playing at home,” Juckem said. “It’s exciting to play in front of a really ampedup crowd. I just appreciate knowing our students really have gotten behind our team and our teams the last couple years.”
In addition to this team’s commitment to deflections, the Bears are focused on running in transition and playing with pace, particularly as they
clock is the highest-efficiency time because you’re typically getting advantage shots,” Juckem added. “[Our] best is when we’re getting in transition.”
From the get-go in the Emory game, the energy and intensity was high in the Field House. Both Juckem and senior Hayden Doyle attributed the spirit of the game to the fans and the mutual respect both the teams have for each other.
“I thought the fans were awesome today,” Doyle said. “Sometimes you don’t know what to expect, but I thought the fans were incredible. You could feel them, you could hear them. They definitely helped us win both games.”
The first shot of the game was taken within the first nine seconds: a good 3-pointer from the Eagles. WashU responded with a dominant 9-0 run. The Eagles tried to
Women’s basketball honors seniors, defeats
Rochester and Emory
Coming off a loss against Carnegie Mellon University, the WashU women’s basketball team went 2-0 for their last regular season home games of the year, defeating the University of Rochester and Emory University on Feb. 21 and 23. The Bears beat Rochester 80-64 and Emory University 83-66. In both matchups, WashU got off to a slow start before dominating in the later parts of the game.
On Friday, the Bears put up a solid performance for their Black History Month game.
The first quarter began with the teams trading buckets. That was until Rochester went on an 11-0 run. The Bears were able to tighten the lead before the quarter ended because sophomore center Lexy Harris put up two free throws and first-year guard Ava Blagojevich put up a
up an impressive 3-pointer.
The Bears’ lead continued to be chipped away until they went on a 7-0 run. The Bears finished the quarter up 68-54. Neither team had great scoring success in the fourth quarter. Both teams combined notched/scored/sunk/etc. only 22 points. Throughout the quarter, the Yellowjackets could not get any closer than 10 points away from the Bears and were even trailing by as much as 17 points. Rochester scored a couple of last-minute points, but it did not make a difference. Sophomore guard Alyssa Hughes put up a 3-pointer with less than a minute left that sealed the Bear’s 80-64 win against the Yellowjackets.
This game, as well as many of the games this season, the Bears have outrebounded the other team. Their average rebound margin of +13.1 remains the fourth best in Division III.
graduate student.
The game started with both teams playing strongly, both quickly making 3-pointers. An effort, including a pair of made free throws by Loftus and an “and one” by Harris, tied up the game. After an Eagles layup, the first quarter ended with Emory up 20-18.
Although the second quarter started with buckets from junior forwards Jordan Rich and Nailah McBeth, the momentum shifted towards the Eagles as they went on a 10-0 run that put them ahead by 11 points. The Bears were able to make their deficit single digits from a 3-pointer by Rogers. The first half ended with the Eagles up by nine points.
“It was a little bit stressful in the first half, we weren’t really playing great,” Brooks said. The Eagles brought their lead back up to 13 in the start of the third quarter. Then the Bears’ comeback began, with better scoring and strong defense. Later in the quarter, the Bears were only trailing by one point, and with a pair of free throws by Brooks, the Bears finally reclaimed the ued to fight, ending the third Emory was unable to find the basket in the fourth quarter, allowing WashU to quickly regain and extend its
shots made, with 158 and 62, respectively. This past weekend, Doyle and the team picked up two more important conference wins, defeating the University of
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Student Life (SL): Going back to the beginning, how did your journey with basketball get started?
that basketball was going to be the thing you would do in college?
HD: Honestly, not really. Not when I was really young, at least. When I was really young, I liked baseball the best. And then I also liked
ting recruited primarily by Division II schools. It was kinda weird because Wisconsin has a really good Division III league, but I didn’t really get recruited by a lot of those schools. And I came to camp here going into my junior year of high school [in the] summer and loved it … I was between here and a Division II school in Michigan, and WashU was definitely the better fit, so I committed.
SL: Of course, this past weekend, you guys picked up a couple of big conference wins. What do you think were the keys to grabbing both of those games?
ing. Defense and rebounding. We were really active on defense. We played really hard. ting a lot of rebounds on the defensive side, but we also got a lot of offensive rebounds which game?
HD: Conversion defense, our transition defense always. That’s quintessential Juckem, conversion defense. And then other than that, running, getting out in transition on offense before their defense is set so we can get some easy buckets that way. Rebounding is always a huge emphasis. And then just playing hard and having fun.
HANNAH MUCH STAFF WRITER
“I thought our guys did a good job of finding rhythm, finding pretty good shots, because you got to take good shots against [Emory],” Juckem said.
In the second half, the Bears made seven 3-pointers from behind the circle and only allowed the Eagles to have one. Of WashU’s made 3-pointers, Doyle alone had three deep shots in the second half, helping his team’s lead stretch as high as 13 points.
“When I feel like I play a good game, a lot of it is just not a lot of thinking or even feeling,” Doyle said. “I feel the emotions of making a big shot and things like that. But you just try and keep
playing. … My teammates and coaches trust me to take some tough shots, but having their trust and confidence in myself, that’s just really what it comes down to.”
Sophomore Ryan Cohen also contributed five to WashU’s total 3-pointer count, a new career high for him.
The Bear’s ended their last home game of the regular season with an 85-75 victory, with a total of 39 points, 21 rebounds, and seven assists credited to the team’s two senior starters. The third senior, Kyle Beedon, is injured and is expecting to accept his fifth-year eligibility next season.
“It’s a really special group, and they’ve left their mark,” Juckem said about the team’s senior class.
With the win against then top-ten Emory, the Bears will likely move up in the NPI rankings, which are used to determine the NCAA Tournament bracket and influence host sites for Division III March Madness.
WashU will play their final game of the regular season on the road against the University of Chicago on Mar. 1. A win against Chicago would propel WashU to 10-4 in conference play and a second-place finish in the University Athletic Association.
The Bears’ defense prevented the Eagles from scoring for three minutes, allowing the Bears to increase their lead to 16. The Bears even pushed their lead to 21 points with a jumper from Harris. The Bears played an efficient fourth quarter, making 71.4% of their shots.
About a minute before the game ended, the two seniors subbed out. Loftus and Brooks were given hugs by all of their teammates and coaches and received a standing ovation from the crowd. The game ended shortly after with a win of 83-66 over the Eagles.
Harris was also the Bears’ leading scorer against the Eagles, scoring 33 points.
– a season high and only two points off of a career high.
She also had 10 boards, which secured her 10th double-double of the season and averaged 29 points and 10.5 rebounds over the weekend.
“Really none of the girls from Emory could guard her and I think we just really exploited that and did a good job of capitalizing on that,”
Brooks said about Harris’ performance. “I am super proud of her. She had a great game and she’s been working really hard all week.”
Brooks scored 21 points against the Eagles and had three steals. Harris and Brooks are a formidable frontcourt duo.
“Lexy is insane,” Brooks said. “She is a very sweet girl and any sort of feedback you give her, she takes and immediately implements, which I think is a very special thing that not all players can do. Me and Lexy have a really special relationship off the court and I think it translates really well on the court.”
WashU finishes its regular season against The University of Chicago on Mar. 1. The Bears currently sit 48th in the NPI rankings, which determine who makes the 64-team NCAA Tournament. A win against Chicago could propel the team to the postseason.
Softball opens season sweeping, Coe and St. Catherine
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MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR
JUNIOR SPORTS EDITOR
The WashU softball team opened its season with four consecutive wins on Feb. 22 and 23, including three mercy-rule victories. The Bears defeated St. Catherine University 9-0 and 9-3, then defeated Coe College 10-2 and 12-0.
“They’re two very respectable programs and those were commanding and pretty dominant wins,” head coach Casey Cromwell said. “Not very many times in any opener do you go three of four in short games [in] five inning kind of situations, especially against opponents that are receiv ing votes for top 25 and [are] just really respectable programs.”
kept the Bears indoors for much of the winter, forc ing them to focus
primarily on hitting and pitching rather than fielding skills, according to Cromwell. However, these limitations did not stop WashU from finding success in all facets of the game last weekend.
“We talked about it going into this weekend — that defensive errors [are] going to happen,” Cromwell said.
“Those things are going to happen. But we need to lean on what we’ve been working on that translates seamlessly, which is pitching and hitting.”
In their first game, the Bears made quick work of the St. Catherine Wildcats. After a lead-off double in the second inning by junior Sydney
first-year Harper Nix’s sacrifice fly advanced Schnieder to third base, setting up Schnieder to steal home and score the Bear’s first run of the game. Nix went on to hit two RBI’s later in the game.
Sophomore Kennedy Grippo, who got on base in all three of her at bats, hit a double and the first of her two RBIs in the second inning to bring the Bears’ lead to 4-0.
Senior Taylor Geluck scored two runs during the game, the first being a lead-off home run in the third inning to advance the Bears to a 5-0 lead.
The last three runs of the game were scored in the fourth
the Bears in a position to mercy the Wildcats in five innings.
Senior Jordan Rossi pitched all five innings, allowing just two hits and two walks in 73 pitches. In addition to Rossi’s nine strikeouts, the Bears played a great defensive game, exhibiting no fielding errors.
Three hours later, the Bears returned to the field to face their second opponent of the day: Coe College. After two scoreless innings, the Bears found their rhythm. A single from Geluck to left field allowed Grippo to run home, putting the Bears up 1-0.
drink.
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At the next at bat, graduate student Dawson Dabboussi was hit by a pitch, loading the bases. A base clearing triple from senior Maggie Baumstark put WashU up 4-0. Baumstark was then able to come home with a single from sophomore Kristina
In the fourth inning Coe responded with two runs, but it would not be enough to threaten the Bears.
In the top of the fifth, WashU put up five runs to seal the 10-2 victory in the fiveinning game. Grippo and Geluck led the Bears in runs against Coe, while Baumstark’s triple gave her WashU’s highest RBI count of the game, at three.
The Bears finished the game with 17 hits, and senior Jamie
Burgasser pitched the whole game in 90 pitches, allowing four hits in 21 at-bats.
On Sunday, the Bears faced off against St. Catherine again, defeating the Wildcats 9-3 in seven innings. WashU got off to a quick start against St. Catherine at the top of the first. An up-the-middle single from Nix brought Dabboussi and senior Natalia Pilpil home to put the Bears up 2-0. From there the Bears didn’t look back, scoring in the second, third, and fifth innings. While the Wildcats tried to mount a surge in the sixth inning to make the game 7-3, it would not be enough. WashU secured two runs to end the game 9-3.
Nix led the Bears with three RBIs, while the runs were evenly distributed among nine different players. Two players saw the mound during the game: sophomore Hattie Bond pitched just over five innings, securing the win before being relieved by Rossi. The duo only let up nine hits and two errors across 122 pitches.
WashU secured its final win of the weekend later that day, defeating Coe 12-0 with only nine hits over five innings.
The Bears started the game similarly to how they started the St. Catherine’s game a few hours earlier: getting on the scoreboard early. WashU put up four runs in the first, third and fourth innings of the Coe game. Grippo, Pilpil, first-year Christina Smith, and sophomore Elena Locascio each scored two runs. Baumstark
led the team in hits with two, and in RBIs with three.
Sophomore Maria Brooks pitched the entire game, giving up only two hits and one hit by pitch throughout the game. With the four wins, the Bears next compete against No. 11 Central College on Feb. 28 and March 1 and against Calvin University on March 1 as they prepare for conference play that will begin later in March.
In the run up to University Athletic Association (UAA) play, the team hopes to focus on living out their motto for the 2025 season — “[being] the standard.”
The team will begin its UAA season on March 21 against Case Western Reserve University who beat them out by one game to last season’s UAA title. Cromwell hopes to use the time to prepare and learn through mistakes to be ready for Case Western and conference play.
“We got to work out the kinks before we get to March 21 [and] for us, I think that’s going to be more defensive than anything,” Cromwell said. “I think failure is where you figure out what you need to work on. So we’re going to fail a little bit. … And you know, the biggest thing for us is to work through those failures and know how to come back from them, so that when they happen, if they happen, once we start UAA playing, especially opening up with Case Western, we can work through them.”
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