SELF-CARE
13 OVER TWO GAMES
The Bears cruise to victory against Carroll, winning 5-0 in their home opener.
CHOPPING CHICKEN
One writer’s experience learning to butcher a chicken
(Scene, pg 5) Washington University announced on Friday that they will adopt a “no loan” policy for all undergraduates starting fall of 2024. The policy promises to eliminate federal loans from financial aid packages, allowing students to graduate without debt.
(Sports, pg 7)
The announcement is the newest large amendment to University financial policy, following need blind admissions in 2021 and the implementation of the WashU Pledge in 2019.
In a statement, Chancellor Andrew Martin said the University is committed to financial accessibility.
“We have worked hard to make good on our promise to remove financial barriers for all admitted undergraduate students, regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds,” Martin wrote. “We want to get them here, support them during their time here, and prepare them to do great things. Now, when they graduate from WashU, they will do so debt-free.”
Data from Student Financial Services tracked that 25% of students who graduated in the class of 20202021 did so with an average debt of $22,740.
Mike Runiewicz, Director of Student Financial Services, said that the new policy will likely be most impactful to families whose income is between $75,000 and $200,000 dollars annually, but that it could expand even further.
“Even families who make more than $200,000 of income may qualify for need-based financial assistance because the cost of attending WashU is pretty high,” Runiewicz said.
The current annual tuition for full-time undergraduates is $61,750, with the total estimate of University charges given average meal and housing plans coming to $83,760.
When senior Sam Schwartz applied to college, he found that many of the schools he was interested in had similar tuition to WashU. In the end, WashU gave him the best financial aid package “by a wide margin,” a critical factor in his decision to attend.
His package included $3,500 to $7,500 of federal loans.
“Those federal loans, they seem like a really small part of the package… But it adds up quickly,” Schwartz said.
Schwartz also took out private loans in order to help with room and board costs throughout college, which he described as “much less friendly” in terms of interest rate than federal loans.
Now, months away from graduating, Schwartz will have to pay back $27,250 of federal debt.
“It's definitely a bit foreboding,” he said.
While Schwartz will graduate before the new plan takes effect, he says his initial reaction to the University’s announcement was positive. But he also wondered about what else might have to happen behindthe-scenes in order to fulfill the no-loan policy.
“It's kind of a black box of how [colleges] calculate what ‘need’ is,” Schwartz said. “I’m nervous that they could give a smaller package just without federal loans.”
Runiewicz said that the University’s ‘need’ calculation will stay the same despite the no-loan policy.
“There are [annual] changes to the financial aid formula, but any changes to the financial aid formula will be advantageous to students this year,” he said. “This is truly dollar for dollar additional scholarship and grant.”
Runiewicz also said that the estimated cost to the University in order
An editor reframes “self-care” to highlight realities of inadequate mental health resources (Forum, pg 6)
As students return to the classroom for the third academic year since the initial outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, professors are still grappling with the best way to handle absence policies when positive cases emerge.
to eliminate loans from aid packages will be about eight million dollars. To his knowledge, the finance department is still putting together pieces of funding to meet that goal.
Despite the policy's name, Runiewicz said that some families may still choose to take out private loans in order to cover the costs of a Washington University education.
“Students might borrow for several reasons,” Runiewicz said. “Maybe a family wants to borrow so they have to pay less out of pocket this year.”
Runiewicz, who has overseen Student Financial Services for over a decade, is thrilled with the new policy.
“I've had lots of great days at WashU being in the financial aid office …but when that article came out announcing no loans, it was the greatest WashU day,” he said.
fraught nature of state politics:
patients could sue for a minimum of $500,000 up to 15 years after the patient turns 21 or ceases receiving care.
On Sept. 11, Washington University released a statement regarding the future of the Washington University Transgender Center (WUTC) two weeks after Missouri state law banned genderaffirming care for all minors after Aug. 28.
Going beyond the restrictions outlined in SB49, the University will cease gender-affirming care for all minors — even those who were receiving the care before the state laws went into effect. WashU stated that it will be referring minors who wish to continue treatment to “other providers.”
In a statement, the University said that it is responding to SB49, which makes providers liable for potential damages. Under the law,
The statement highlighted the “new legal claim,” which creates “unsustainable liability for healthcare professionals and makes it untenable for us to continue to provide comprehensive transgender care for minor patients without subjecting the University and our providers to an unacceptable level of liability.”
Tamsin Kimoto, assistant professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, felt that the University should not have restricted gender-affirming care at WUTC so severely.
“I think taking the risk-aversive approach puts the University on the side of a deep, deep injustice,” Kimoto said.
They also questioned LGBTQ+ advocacy on campus, given the
“I think that’s deeply troubling that we have a standing committee [that’s] theoretically devoted to advancing the interests of the LGBTQ+ people at the university, and they’re nowhere to be seen when we’re in the midst of this ongoing legislative attack.”
Susan Appleton, Lemma Barkeloo and Phoebe Couzins Professor of Law, hoped the University would not restrict gender-affirming care for minors and instead continue its services despite the liability.
“I'd love to see doctors and institutions take a bolder approach — a more heroic approach — and an approach that centers patients rather than economic concerns,” Appleton said.
Amy Cislo, a teaching professor in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, theorized that the University’s hands were tied when
deciding on their plan of action for WUTC. She was nonetheless frustrated with the outcome.
“It’s such a disappointment that our institution can’t keep it running,” she said. “That we aren't in a position to push back and say, 'Oh, we're gonna do this despite the law.’ But the reality is we have to be fiscally responsible.”
AJ Robinson, librarian of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, felt that the University’s influence over healthcare in the state of Missouri shouldn’t be taken lightly, and that specific
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Despite recent reports from the Washington Post that indicate that colleges across the nation are currently experiencing a rise in positive cases as students return to school, Washington University in St. Louis currently has no formal policy requiring professors to teach asynchronously due to COVID.
While some professors are continuing to upload their lectures or enforce flexible attendance policies in order to prioritize safety, many students feel as though there are no guarantees that their absences won’t jeopardize their academic careers.
Cheri LeBlanc, Executive Director for Student Health and Wellness, stated that WashU abides by the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), mandating that those with COVID should quarantine for five days from the onset of symptoms. After that, students and faculty are required to wear a mask while in class for an additional five days.
LeBlanc explained the difference between quarantine and isolation, saying that isolation occurs when people who test positive stay home, whereas quarantine occurs when someone who was exposed to the disease limits their interactions with others in case they develop the disease.
“Exposed students no longer need to quarantine,” LeBlanc said.
In past years, professors have been required to offer asynchronous class options for COVID-positive students, but since this semester began, there have been no such requirements. However, despite the lack of requirements, many professors have continued to offer virtual classes for their students, with policies varying depending on the professor and the undergraduate school.
In large lecture halls, professors often record their lectures to accommodate hundreds of students. An example is Professor Douglas Chalker from the school of Arts and Sciences, who teaches biology classes with upwards of 350 students.
SEE COVID PAGE 2
Faculty in the McKelvey School of Engineering are grappling with how to best prepare computer science students for careers that will be fundamentally changed by generative Artificial Intelligence (AI).
AI has altered the landscape of every field for which it can create content, including writing and art. Coding is no different. 15-20% of the Washington University student body is majoring or minoring in a program associated with computer science. McKelvey faculty is working to address the ways that AI is changing the workforce and pedagogical landscape.
McKelvey professors are deciding how to teach students to not only use AI but also understand the back end of AI. At the same time that faculty navigate these questions, they are working to ensure that students do not fully rely on chatbots to complete their coding assignments.
Aaron Bobick, Dean of the McKelvey School of Engineering, said the school’s upcoming strategic plan will outline their goals regarding the use of AI for research and educational purposes.
These research goals
include investigating how AI can work in tandem with other domains like the social and environmental sciences to improve research and increase the efficiency of work in engineering fields.
The two AI educational pillars of the plan are to ensure that all engineering graduates are competent with AI and that faculty come up with ways to assess students’ knowledge effectively given the presence of chatbots.
“McKelvey shouldn’t be graduating anyone who doesn’t understand the role of AI within the domains in which they were getting educated, whatever engineering discipline that may be,” Bobick said.
For people who know how to engage with these tools, AI will undoubtedly be a time saver, said Bobick. For example, professional coders can produce code about twice as fast with generative AI.
“Practicing software engineers use these tools, so it would be unreasonable to say we’re not going to have you use these tools,” Bobick said.
Yevgeniy Vorobeychik, a McKelvey Computer Science & Engineering professor who primarily teaches about AI, echoed Bobick’s sentiment about the need to educate students how to successfully use AI.
“AI education should be an important component of
essentially all engineering disciplines,” Vorobeychik said. He added that a key part of what courses will have to teach is how not to misuse these technologies from an ethical perspective.
Vorobeychik also said that McKelvey should be preparing students for a workforce changed by AI.
“[The advancement of AI tools] is a bit worrisome, I suppose, for lower-level engineers,” he said. “But on the flip side, it might just change their job description… [to] higher level design things and less lower-level coding,” Vorobeychik said.
Similarly, Bobick said that AI can help people write pieces of code, but coders will still be needed in the foreseeable future to create coding systems. He also added that a chatbot can create relatively complex code through ongoing prompting of the tool, but that understanding the fundamentals of coding is important for effectively carrying out those exchanges.
William Sepesi, a senior majoring in computer science and mathematics, predicted how AI might alter the landscape for coders over the next couple decades.
“If I had to make a bet on whether or not AI will be able to take everyone’s job eventually, I would say that it could,” Sepesi said. He
noted that AI is able to do extremely advanced tasks if prompted correctly, but that its usefulness is extremely variable depending on how competently a user can prompt the bot.
Sepesi said that McKelvey is preparing students to be the ones to code the AI itself.
To prepare students for this world of coding, Bobick said that it is important they understand some of the fundamentals of the coding material, which means contending with how students can use chatbots in classes.
Bobick suggested professors could test in a way that reveals the intentions of the student's code, ensuring that students are engaging with the process of coding.
Jay Turner, Vice Dean for Education at McKelvey, said
that the process of assessing students poses particular challenges in larger classes.
“One aspirational goal in the very near term will be more extensively leveraging [our Assistants to Instructors to] understand what the students know and more importantly help the students learn how to learn in this new environment,” Turner said.
While there is currently a lot of consternation in pedagogy about how to best handle AI, there is also a sense that generative AI in coursework might quickly become the new normal.
Bobick compared the use of generative AI for coding assignments to using spell checking tools for writing papers.
“Asking Chat GPT to make sure the syntax is correct in your code… is not
stunningly different from having Microsoft Word tell you you just misspelled ‘committee’ for the 47th time,” Bobick said. “We're embracing it as a tool set and we do know that we're going to have to change a bit how we do certain types of assessment of capabilities because producing this artifact will no longer be evidence that you know how to do that.”
Regardless of how individual professors decide to implement AI into their own coursework, it is clear that those in McKelvey will lean into the technology in the years to come.
“Here at McKelvey, we’re embracing this big time,” Bobick said. “There’s no leveraging of AI that we’re not going to make sure our students are doing.”
The University’s College of Arts & Sciences has hired 55 new professors for the upcoming academic year, an unprecedentedly large number of faculty compared to previous years.
These hires include 29 tenure-track professors and 26 teaching-track professors. The tenure track professors include 13 in the humanities, nine in the social sciences, and seven in the natural sciences. The hires are a mix of general hires and ‘target hires,’ instances where the University reached out to specific people to fill positions.
Vice Dean of Undergraduate Affairs Erin McGlothlin said the new faculty are being introduced to supplement the learning already happening
at the University.
“We're calling this a transformative decade,” McGlothlin said. “The hires are to support our students and to really support particular areas.”
These particular areas are departments including Statistics and Data Sciences and Sociology, said McGlothlin. The fields with the most new hires is the department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and Political Science.
Dean of Arts & Sciences
Feng Sheng Hu said the aim of the new hires is to expand the University.
“One of the goals of our strategic plan is to grow our tenure-track faculty by 100 in ten years,” Hu said. “With the new hires this year, we are at around 411 [faculty total]
with more already committed to joining us in spring and next fall.”
Jennifer Smith, Vice Provost for Educational Initiatives, said the growth of the University’s faculty is also conducive to how individual departments grow.
“We want to strengthen scholarly productivity,” Smith said. “We want to increase the student-faculty ratio. There’s oftentimes a connection when you look at department rankings and department reputation: bigger departments, more people, usually are better. Not always; this isn’t a recipe of automatic awesomeness, but frequently when we look at aspirational peers, our departments are smaller.”
Hu also said a lot of the University’s departments
“We record our lectures so students can turn in the work by the end of the day, and so that there’s no reason they have to come to class in this section,” Chalker said.
Chalker emphasized the importance of students being able to succeed when they are unable to come to class.
“If we’re forcing students to come to class when they’re sick and going to spread it to others, it is just going to exacerbate the problem,” Chalker said. “An assignment is not as important as a student’s health.”
While recording lectures may be adequate for large lecture classes, it can be more difficult to accommodate students in small classes that require group work, active discussion, or in-class assignments.
Professor Rebecca Leffell, who teaches in the Sam Fox School of Art and Design, explained that many classes involving studios have fairly strict attendance policies so
are relatively small in comparison to other similar universities. The faculty hires are getting these departments bolstered to a similarly strong level.
McGlothlin said that encouraging a diverse group of new hires is essential and important to the University, especially in disciplines like physics that “don’t have a historically good track record” in terms of faculty of color or female-identifying faculty.
Hu echoed the sentiments that the University is committed to diversity, especially in its new hires.
“We are deeply committed to cultivating an ecosystem where faculty, students, and staff from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives are all welcome and will thrive,” Hu said.
that students are present and participating.
“While it’s difficult to make up for a class that’s so dialogic and experiencebased,” Leffell said, “I think we really try to give our students whatever space they need to feel better.”
Leffell explained that, difficult as it may be to find adjustments, she and her colleagues care about students feeling empowered and supported.
“We’re really taking it one day at a time as the communication comes in from students, and really crafting our response on a person-byperson basis,” Leffell said.
Professor Tristram Kidder, who teaches in the Department of Anthropology, pointed out that there is no way to record group assignments or recreate them perfectly in an online setting, but that he sees value in treating students with mercy and grace.
“Our concern, at the end
McGlothlin said that diversity of origin is also instrumental to student success.
“International faculty is also important, because we want to attract the best talent we can,” McGlothlin said. “We know that our students are also looking for faculty with whom they can identify, because students should be able to see themselves reflected in the faculty.”
The University has been dealing with issues in regards to classroom availability and general space being usable, Smith said.
“We’re feeling a pinch in classroom space,” she said. “We’ve been digging into this, and we’ve been working with our University Registrar to determine how we use classroom space. There is a
of the day, is about student learning,” Kidder said.
Kidder also emphasized the systemic issues that make it difficult for both students and professors to navigate classes while remaining safe, saying that he believes the University is probably not doing enough to support students.
“The entire healthcare structure — not only of the university at the undergraduate level, but frankly, in America — is creaking and groaning,” Kidder said.
While some professors have made efforts to adjust their classes and attendance policies, some students have reported experiences that made them feel left-behind in their courses.
A freshman student who wished to remain anonymous tested positive for COVID during the first week of classes and eventually decided to go home to quarantine.
“[WashU] told my
huge inefficiency with classes on Friday and before 10 am, but nobody wants that time. This isn’t an issue on the student side.”
Smith and many other faculty members are excited about the new hires.
“This is exciting!” she said. “The kind of nerdiness of faculty, having someone you can do research with or collaborate with, is really really exciting. Getting to have a new colleague that you can collaborate with is a really big deal. We can offer more robust curricula and we can offer a new track in our majors, for example. This creates a new opportunity for scholarship and education. It’s really awesome.”
roommate that because she’s not immunocompromised, they couldn’t do anything for her and [that] she’ll just have to wear a mask,” the freshman said. “I felt like it wasn’t a good policy to have — I just went home because my parents were able to pick me up.”
They explained that some professors quickly developed solutions.
“My professors did a really good job of getting back to me and stuff like that,” the freshman said. “One of my teachers didn't really believe in technology; he ended up recording the lecture, but it was only an audio recording, which was kind of annoying.”
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With the new dining company Sodexo, Washington University’s Dining Services’ gluten-free options have been updated this year.
Simply Made, a station for allergen-friendly dining, is no longer available on Grubhub; however, Simply Made by You, the service for students with extensive allergy needs, will continue to be exclusively available on the Grubhub app.
This change in accessibility will allow students with dietary restrictions to get their food faster. Sophomore Harrison Goodman-Cohn reported that last year, gluten-free students experienced frustration with inaccurate wait times and unexpected order cancellations which in turn caused interruptions in their schedules.
Because of these problems, Goodman-Gohn said he “felt like I had to plan my day around getting food.” To
alleviate this issue, he now lives off-campus and cooks his meals at home.
Another difficulty Goodman-Cohn encountered was discrepancies between the gluten-free options listed on the menu versus what was actually available for consumption.
“I would order a glutenfree burger, and they would
give me something that wasn’t gluten-free at all,” GoodmanCohn said. “Or they would say that they were out.”
First-year Gabriella Jager, another gluten-free student, described how she has had a very positive experience with WashU dining overall. However, there were very apparent supply issues during Bear Beginnings and at the start
Treasury representatives in Student Union (SU) heard appeals from six clubs and allocated $18,866.03 in funding for sports teams to travel and clubs to host on-campus events, bringing the total amount of money allocated this semester to $34,685.53.
The meeting began with a presentation from members of the student-run fashion and arts magazine Armour, who received $3,020.34 to host an event where students can sell handmade crafts on Mudd Field in early October.
After Armour presented, the meeting format moved from appeals directly by club members to Treasury team recommendations, which is the other process clubs can receive funding through.
Junior Sadie Karp, who serves as Speaker of the Treasury, explained the difference between the two methods of presenting an appeal.
“Treasury team [appeals] are for more typical appeals or events we’ve seen before,” Karp said. “Appeals made directly to Treasury are for larger events and newer events, and it also depends on how many appeals we have.” When a club submits an appeal that will not be presented directly to Treasury, members of the group meet with two to four Treasury representatives to explain why they are requesting funds and go through each line item to determine whether it is a necessary cost.
After listening to their rationale, the Treasury representatives relay that information to the group at large, with the addition of a recommendation for what they believe the group should
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receive. Then, the group moves into discussion before voting to either fund the motion in full, subsidize part of it, or to deny it entirely.
The first Treasury team presentation of the meeting was for the women’s ultimate frisbee team, which asked for $5,780 in order to send 45-50 club members to a tournament in Indiana and was funded in full.
Next, Chabad requested $2,292 to rent out the Athletic Complex to host a Rosh Hashanah event, which more than 300 people are expected to attend to celebrate the Jewish holiday and share a meal.
They received all of their requested funding.
The women’s club soccer team had two separate appeals, requesting $600 to book hotels to play a game in Arkansas and $1,450 to pay referees for their home games.
During discussion for this appeal, Treasury representatives noted the group had filed their appeal less than four weeks away from the tournament, so they were allowed to receive a maximum of $120 per hotel room per night based on the new policy that took effect last week. The Treasury funded the group in full, receiving a total of $2,050.
Continuing with the sports appeals, the men’s club basketball team requested $4,842.69 to travel to Texas A&M to play in a tournament, subsequently receiving funding to do so.
Finally, Treasury representatives heard an appeal for $801 by the WashU sailing club to send four competing members and one alternate to a regatta at Northwestern University.
The Treasury team recommendation, which was
presented by junior and Budget Committee Chair Leena Rai, did not match what the group initially requested for housing.
Sailing club asked for $700 to house five people over two nights, equating to $70 a person per night.
Senior and Treasury Representative Sam Hogan pointed out that the appeal was filed on Sept. 6, which is exactly four weeks before Oct. 6, when the regatta begins.
Rai pointed out that the recommendation was not meant to punish the group but rather encourage it to be more proactive, as it requested a relatively high amount for housing but had a couple of weeks at the beginning of the semester where it could have submitted its appeal ahead of time.
“The thing that was driving our decision was the fact that this was not a last-minute or out of control event, it just was not as proactive as it could have been or should have been,” Rai said.
Representative Justin Kouch pointed out that the group did submit the appeal before the four week cutoff, emphasizing that it would be inconsistent to hold them to the standard of a club that did not meet the deadline.
“I think if we’re trying to stay consistent with the rule,” Kouch said, “ if they submit it without four weeks, which they did, as long as they meet the deadline, should they be penalized for that?”
Treasury representatives agreed to compromise between the group’s $700 request and the Treasury team’s $480 recommendation allocating $560 for housing, amounting to $881 total.
Campus Executive Chef James Ellison described Dining Services’ efforts to keep gluten-free options in stock and ensure the health and safety of people with special dietary needs.
“Like with any new company, there were obviously some hiccups to start,” Ellison said, “But we’ve located second and third providers for these menu items to ensure we stay supplied.”
to reach out to the Dining Services Team if they encounter any issues.
“Don’t be afraid to advocate for yourself. You can email our team at diningservices@wustl.edu,” Miller said.
When asked how people who are gluten-free can make their dining experience better at WashU, Chef Ellison pointed to the wide range of menu items.
of the school year as both students and dining staff were learning how to navigate allergen-friendly dining.
“I went to the pasta station twice and asked about glutenfree pasta,” Jager said. “They said they had never seen it before. I had to cook some of my own meals during orientation when I wanted something other than rice and potatoes.”
Ellison explained that Simply Made employees undergo supplemental training in addition to the general training for all dining employees so that they can understand how to take extra precautions for allergens. He also emphasized how he and the rest of the dining staff are more than willing to answer any questions.
“If you are gluten-free, celiac, or have any questions or concerns about allergens in the food, don’t be afraid to come up to any of the chefs on hand or anyone with a white jacket,” Ellison said.
Rebecca Miller, Director for Nutrition and Dietary Wellness, asked all students
“I’d recommend checking out the menu at all of our restaurants to see if there’s something that’s gluten-free because there are options at most,” Ellison said. “In Bear’s Den alone, seven of our restaurants have gluten-free meals.”
Jager expressed how much smoother her dining experience has been and how much she has loved the variety of food choices since supply has increased.
“I’ve loved everything I’ve been able to get at Corner 17, especially their veggie rice and rice wrap,” Jager said. “Recently, I’ve been able to find something everywhere I go.”
After an incident occurred at Shepley House at 12:13 a.m. on Monday, four individuals who are not affiliated with Washington University in St. Louis are facing pending criminal charges.
On Monday just before noon, the Washington University Police Department (WUPD) sent out a security memo to the student body, informing members of the community that an incident had occurred just 12 hours prior.
The memo states that four subjects went to the second floor of Shepley and knocked on a suite door, which led the students inside to look through the peephole, partially open the door, and then close it again “after the subjects said something unintelligible to them.”
The students went into their individual rooms and heard a loud noise, before returning to the common room where they observed that someone had damaged their door.
“Nothing appeared to have been taken and there were no injuries reported,” the memo said.
In a statement provided to Student Life, WUPD said that they received a call making them aware of the incident at 12:35 a.m., by which time the four individuals had already left campus.
“WUPD was able to confirm through CCTV that
the four subjects entered the Shepley House by following or ‘tailgating’ a WashU student into the dorm,” the department said.
Tailgating occurs when someone enters a building after a student swipes their key card to gain access and unlock the door, thereby allowing them to get into a facility without needing valid WashU identification.
Although WUPD said that they are not releasing information about the four individuals responsible for the incident due to the ongoing investigation, they confirmed that all four were located and criminal charges are pending with the St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
“The criminal charges are still pending but this is the only outstanding, and ongoing, aspect of this investigation,” the department said.
Despite the fact that this incident occurred within Shepley, some residents were unaware of what happened until they received the security memo along with every other WashU student.
One resident, who wished to remain anonymous and who will be referred to as X, said that they did not receive any communication specifically geared towards Shepley students.
“No email. Nothing on teams,” X said.
Another Shepley resident was not aware of the breakin even after the memo was sent.
“I honestly didn’t know there was one,” they said, “I’m pretty positive my suitemates haven’t heard [anything] either.”
Some students have expressed that they feel more on-edge after the break-in.
“It was scary because I’d never heard of anything like that happening before,” X said. “But I was happy that they caught them.”
In the wake of the event, some students have responded by taking tape off the side of their door frame, a practice that is commonly used by students so that the lock can’t engage and the door can be pushed open without having to use a key.
“I don’t think anyone’s [used] extra precautions except taking tape off the door,” another Shepley resident said.
Others have begun being more wary of who they let into their dorm buildings.
“I think you have to be smart,” X said. “You’ve got to be careful with who you’re letting into the building and if you’re careful with that then you should be fine.”
In the security memo, WUPD listed safety tips, including reporting suspicious activity, not letting unknown people into buildings, and locking your doors.
For students who have been affected, WUPD told Student Life that the Office of Residential Life has provided resources.
“WUPD immediately coordinated with our WashU partners,” the department said. “Res Life and Student Affairs have been actively involved from the onset of this incident and will continue to coordinate with the impacted students.”
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Olivia Rodrigo’s debut album, “SOUR,” was an unprecedented success. At only 20 years old, the singer broke numerous records, as well as winning Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards. Personally, I was obsessed with “SOUR” (as in Olivia Rodrigo was my top artist of 2021 obsessed). So on Sept. 8, I, like many others, was anxiously awaiting Rodrigo’s sophomore album, “GUTS.”
Sophomore albums often fall victim to the “sophomore slump,” where an artist’s second work fails to meet the expectations set by the first. But Rodrigo masterfully avoids this trap by delivering a highly relatable, witty, and artfully produced album (essentially determining my 2023 Spotify wrapped).
From getting back with an ex to struggles with body image, “GUTS” is a perfect snapshot of the life of a teenage girl in 2023. Rodrigo is literally spilling her guts, giving a brutally honest peek into the mind of a teenager on the cusp of adulthood. Sonically, the album has two sides. The first has a more acoustic, folky sound, while the second is more reminiscent of 2000s rock anthems. Together the album is a perfect mix of
songs to cry to under the covers and songs to scream in the shower.
The album opens with “all-american b*tch,” in which Rodrigo describes the unrealistic expectations society places on teenage girls, especially those in the spotlight, chanting “I’m grateful all the time/I’m sexy and I’m kind/I’m pretty when I cry.”
Consistent with Rodrigo’s style, the song begins with a guitar melody but later shifts into a rock production with a driving drum beat in the chorus. Rodrigo’s producer Dan Nigro expertly pushes and pulls between these two sounds in the rest of the song, foreshadowing the sonic qualities of the entire album.
There’s no denying that Olivia Rodrigo is a masterful lyricist. Throughout the entire album, Rodrigo drops clever and comedic lines.
“Everythin’ I do is tragic/
Every guy I like is gay” she laments in “ballad of a homeschooled girl” (which is in fact not a ballad). In “love is embarrassing,” Rodrigo wails, “You found a new version of me/And I damn near started World War III.”
But Rodrigo’s wittiest lines appear in “get him back!” a pop-rock song about, well, getting him back. The song is brimming with relatable quips, from “He said he’s 6’2 and I’m, like, ‘Dude, nice try’” to “And when I told him
how he hurt me, he’d tell me I was trippin’/But I am my father’s daughter, so maybe I could fix him,” a quip with an additional layer of depth, as Rodrigo’s father is a therapist. The singer’s lyricism shines in the bridge, where her contrasting thoughts about getting back together with her ex are further exemplified with “I wanna break his heart/Then be the one to stitch it up” and “I wanna meet his mom/Just to tell her her son sucks.”
Perhaps her most impactful lyrics, though, come with her more acoustic, softer songs.
In “logical,” a song about the irrationality of love, Rodrigo cries, “And now you got me thinkin’/Two plus two equals five/And I’m the love of your life/’Cause if rain don’t pour and sun don’t shine/Then changing you is possible.” Combined with an arpeggiating piano, the song is a beautiful and heartbreaking glimpse into the self-blame that can result from a relationship filled with deception.
Similarly, “the grudge” paints the picture of a young woman attempting to forgive and move on from a turbulent relationship. “My undying love, now, I hold it like a grudge/And I hear your voice every time that I think I’m not enough,” Rodrigo admits. How the singer
perceives herself is a recurring motif within the album, and, like many of us, she draws much of her self-worth from her romantic relationships.
In “vampire,” a lead single to the album, Rodrigo describes a relationship that left her feeling used. The singer belts, “I used to think I was smart/But you made me look so naive/The way you sold me for parts/As you sunk your teeth into me.” Rodrigo utilizes this vampire metaphor to explore how her partner leeched off of her fame for their own benefit, while at the same time exploring the intricate power dynamics between the two.
The song that most clearly details the teenage girl experience is the penultimate track, “pretty isn’t pretty.” “I could change up my body and change up my face/I could try every lipstick in every shade/But I’d always feel the same/’Cause pretty isn’t pretty enough,” Rodrigo professes in the chorus. Rodrigo’s lyrics are painfully accurate to how teenage girls are taught to view themselves in today’s society. With the introduction of social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, it is extremely hard for girls to feel beautiful or good enough. There’s always a new beauty or fashion trend, and expectations of young girls are constantly revolving. It can seem impossible to fully
accept who you are when you are constantly shown girls whom society deems as prettier, smarter, or funnier than yourself, as Rodrigo so expertly details in this song.
The closing track of the album, “teenage dream,” explores Rodrigo’s fears about growing up and disappointing those around her. The song also parallels the opening song of her previous album, “brutal,” where Rodrigo shouts, “where’s my f*cking teenage dream.” But now, just a few years later, the singer whispers, “Got your whole life ahead of you, you’re only 19/But I fear that they already got all the best parts of me/And I’m sorry that I couldn’t always be your teenage dream.” The song ends with Rodrigo looping the lyrics, “They all say that it gets better/It gets better the more you grow/Yeah, they all say that it gets better/It gets better, but what if I don’t?”
The one track that fell short for me was “making the bed.” Sonically, the melody was rather repetitive. Especially in the chorus, each line essentially has the same pattern of notes, leading to a rather monotonous sound. Lyrically, this song didn’t stand up to the rest of the album. The repeated line of “But it’s me who’s been makin’ the bed” felt rather overdone by the end of the song. I wish this metaphor had been expanded upon in the verses instead of simply thrown at the listener in the choruses and outro.
Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Olivia Rodrigo’s sophomore album and would highly recommend a listen for any non-teenage girl trying to understand the complicated mentality of our species or for any teenage girls trying to find something to cry and/or scream their hearts out to.
Anyone who’s ever been on WebSTAC paging through course listings would quickly discover that WashU offers fascinating classes. From psychology seminars that revolutionize your mindset to deep dives into St. Louis’ history and culture, WashU’s hallowed halls offer a wealth of knowledge. Despite the abundance of classes, two weeks into the semester, I was looking for something more… true to life.
No, what I sought out to do could not be summarized in a syllabus or captured in the classroom. To find it, I had to brave the daring trek to the Village Café. Twenty minutes to 6 p.m. on a dark and almost-stormy Thursday evening, armed with only my trusty tote bag, the entire Apple ecosystem, and flanked with the friends I could drag away from improv auditions, we began the journey: ready to learn the Real Life Skill of butchering a whole chicken.
On arrival, we were led to a small, partially partitioned
area off the side of the main food service area that constituted the “private dining room.” Throughout the cooking process, there were several times when people craned their necks over the divider to watch us struggle to handle knives. The whole experience has given me great empathy for Jimmy John’s sandwich assemblers. Free smells only!
There, we met Claire Conroy, the Special Event Coordinator for WashU Dining Services. As we noshed on a platter of fancy cheeses, assorted berries, and sliced sausage, I learned that Cooking Around the World classes, like the one I was attending, are offered a handful of times each semester as a collaboration between the Rec Center and Dining Services. Classes are free and provide small group instruction on various cultural dishes with the Dining Team dieticians and chefs.
With that, a tray of raw, pink whole chickens was carried out. Seeing them laid out in an unceremonious jumble made the task at hand seem almost more daunting. See, I think I
failed to mention one crucial fact about myself at the outset — I am a vegetarian. Not a staunch one (don’t tell me what’s in refried beans or broccoli cheddar soup!), but the salad bar in Paws and Go has really become a fixed pillar of my life.
So why was I taking this class? Well, firstly it seemed like a really funny thing to do, and that’s the primary basis for most of my life decisions. Other than that, I just wanted to learn how to do it. I had never handled raw meat in my life, but it felt like a basic step to take in becoming the “Real Adult” who cooks; never mind the fact that I lead a lifestyle in which anything un-microwavable simply does not fit in.
The first steps seemed straightforward enough — we got fitted up in smart black aprons and cut-proof gloves, took a very serious chef photo à la The Bear, and gathered around to watch Executive Chef Corey Fischer show us how to handle a chicken.
The headless and naked chicken stared at me. I, feeling very exposed, stared back. We named it Lenny
because naming things gives you power over it or something... My friend, freshman Hannah Crawford, and the other half of my so-called “chicken couple” shook Lenny’s wing. With introductions out of the way, it was time to begin.
The first cut was a struggle. The flesh of the chicken somehow resisted the jabs of our insistent knife and each attempt struck my confidence just a little more. Eventually, we found our stride with the guidance of Campus Executive Chef James Ellison, who possessed chicken butchering experience numbering in the thousands. Sure, Hannah and I were the last ones done (the wing joint was surprisingly hard to find), but we conquered the task of butchering a chicken!
Broken down into parts, the chicken was promptly whisked away for some magic kitchen marination time. After washing our hands, we gathered again to
watch Chef Corey prepare “Asian-style” green beans. My stomach growled as the fragrant smell of tossed garlic and ginger filled the dining hall.
When I first entered the class, I had fully made peace with the idea that I would only have green beans and rice for dinner. Heaven (and my roommate) knows that’s not the worst thing I would have eaten that week.
But instead, the dining staff had thoughtfully prepared me tofu steeped in the same marinade used on the chicken. It was flavorful, lightly crisped, and completely devoured by my friends when I left my halffinished plate to conduct a quick interview.
For Conroy, the accessibility of classes is a priority for the dining team. “As a dietitian, I love being able to have classes that are inclusive. We really strive to make sure that every student is able to eat or at least participate,” she said.
Did I ultimately learn anything from the experience? Without a whole chicken in front of me, it’s hard to say. Next time, I might still have to WikiHow it. But maybe what I gained was really the friends along the way (including Lenny).
Fellow chef freshman Noah Zheng was grateful for the free large dinner and reported that “touching raw chicken was fun.” For Zheng, the chicken butchering class (or maybe just any somewhat strange Thursday night situation you throw college students in) was surprisingly a uniquely suited environment for making “eight new friends” (nine, if you take the time to bond with your chicken).
As Conroy put it, “Cooking, to me, is like the best thing you can do with friends. It’s such a bonding experience, and I think it’s just a sort of wonderful thing to bring your friends around a table and eat.”
“When I first started at Washington University in St. Louis, the idea of it becoming need-blind wasn’t even on the table,” said Lauren Chase, the former president of WU/ Washington University for Undergraduate Socioeconomic Diversity (WU/ FUSED).
Like Chase, many higher-education experts would argue that financialbased arguments against need-blind admissions are unfounded. Claims such as “Our endowments are restricted” or “Low-income students accepted offers from other top colleges” are a distraction from the main concern. The main concern regards how admitting Pell-eligible students would affect WashU’s goal of climbing higher in the U.S. News & World Report college rankings.
According to Stephen Burd, a senior writer and editor with the Education Policy program at New America, the focus on rankings and salaries for many prestigious universities prevented WashU from entertaining the idea of need-blind admissions in the first place.
“My sense was that there was definitely worry about academic standards, and probably rankings [falling off]…which I think is really unfortunate,” Burd said. “I think the U.S. News rankings have a really pernicious effect on [Pell-eligible numbers]. It rewards schools for being more exclusive. That especially affects the schools that are striving to move up the chain, and WashU went through that process in the
‘80s and ‘90s.”
The U.S. News rankings formula is complicated. According to experts, it involves three major criteria. The first is students’ performance on standardized admissions tests, such as the SAT or ACT, which are largely tied to their family income.
A 2017 Upshot article by the NYT showed that the median family income at WashU is $272,000.
Furthermore, the Upshot disclosed that about 3.7% of WashU students came from the top 0.1% of the income bracket, 22% from the top 1%, and only <1% from the bottom 20%. These numbers were some of the lowest in the country.
The second major criterion for the formula is having a lower acceptance rate — a feat that many colleges achieve by accepting and enrolling more students from their early decision admissions programs, programs that historically enroll primarily wealthy
enrolling more Pell-eligible students; Murphy theorized that WashU may have done the same. “You’ll never get anybody from the administration to admit that, but they’re going to pay attention,” he said.
Closing the 2010s, WashU did start to climb the U.S. News rankings, and that positive mobility did correlate very well with the increase in Pell-eligible numbers that the university was seeing.
students who attended private high schools. In a written email to Student Life last spring, the WashU Admissions Office stated that the University enrolls about 60% of each incoming class through its early programs (Early Decision I, Early Decision II, and QuestBridge Match).
“The students who are most likely to apply early decision to a college are students who go to independent private schools and international students. What do those students typically have in common?
They’re not Pell-eligible students,” said James Murphy, Deputy Director of Higher-education Policy at Education Reform Now.
While Murphy was critical of early admission, he did note its benefits when it comes to recruiting students from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds.
“Early decision can be a force for good; colleges can use it to prioritize lowincome students,” Murphy
added. “So I don’t think early decision in and of itself has to be harmful to both racial and socioeconomic diversity. But it certainly would be important for a university to open the books right and let the world see if that’s indeed how it actually works.”
The last major criterion in admissions decisionmaking is alumni giving — a process that incentivizes universities like WashU to appease alumni by accepting their kids, creating a legacy-admissions system.
“The people who benefit from legacy preferences are overwhelmingly wealthy and overwhelmingly white,” Murphy said.
For Murphy, here is where the problem lies. While he applauds the university for increasing its Pell-eligible numbers from 5% in 2014 to 20% in 2023, he states that more can be done on this matter. Specifically, he advocates for a detailed disclosure of some
of the numbers the University advertises, such as the percentage of each incoming freshmen class that is first-generation and low-income.
“I think WashU can be proud of its record of improvement; I don’t think it can be complacent about that record of improvement,” Murphy said. “A lot of colleges like to talk about how many firstgeneration students they admit. But how many students are first-generation and low-income?”
Rankings often come up when the issue of Pell-eligible students is discussed, but the U.S. News ranking system can be a force for good on the issue of socioeconomic diversity — especially after some of the small reforms it has undergone in recent years. Specifically, U.S. News added a component for Pelleligible students — around 5% of its formula. Other institutions like William and Mary made a push on
Another important component that Murphy notes about the U.S. News rankings being a force for good has to do with the issue of class size. “Is it using its endowment to accommodate more students?” Murphy said. “Or is it staying small to hold on to that low admit-rate, which is so important for so many colleges and alumni?”
As of right now, the current WashU acceptance rate is 13%, with a 15.54% average rate over the past nine years. “Why do we need a society where [universities and colleges have an admission rate of 13%]?” Burd said. “I think that we’ve seen that there’s just been such a focus on exclusivity as being this metric of quality: the more exclusive you are, the better you look.”
“There’s no way [WashU] is ever gonna not be a majority wealthy [institution]. But it does seem, for all my cynicism [and] for the reasons they got involved in this in the first place, [that] I do think that it’s very positive that they have continued and gone beyond what they initially pledged,” Burd said. “I hope that they continue and keep striving to make [their campus] more diverse.”
Colorful bath bombs, a nail file, lavender-scented fabric softener, self-tanner, and yoga pants with pockets — all items listed as “selfcare” essentials by popular sites like Buzzfeed and E! News.
This language around self-care is not limited to Buzzfeed articles, and mental health practices seem to be regularly conflated with this particularly consumerist, individualistic approach to self-care. As Teen Vogue puts it, “self-care is all about what you make of it.” But that assertion cannot be true when self-care is often limited to its consumerist contexts and is stigmatized when expanded to include mental health accommodations that challenge existing structures and norms.
Don’t get me wrong — I have a deep appreciation for fuzzy socks, satin pajama
sets, and the occasional journal entry rant. These activities and items can truly be relaxing, and taking time for yourself each day is often a vital mental health practice. But labeling the individual action of purchasing a sheet mask or plush robe as a mental health practice — and having the definition of “selfcare” stop there — ignores the structural ways in which mental health resources and accommodations are often inadequate and stigmatized.
In “Reclaiming the Radical Politics of Self-Care: A Crip-of-Color Critique,” authors Jina B. Kim and Sami Schalk challenge our current perceptions of self-care and reexamine what self-care looks like through the lenses of feminist and disability studies. Kim and Schalk argue that self-care must exist “beyond the individual and outside capitalist temporalities focused on productivity and profit.” Their approach completely reframes “self-care” from
a consumerist-driven, individualistic practice to a broader look at the state of mental health accommodations within institutions and the stigmatization of asking for those accommodations amidst a culture that values productivity and profit over mental health.
Additionally, various forms of “self-care” associated with mental health are not treated equally. As Kim and Schalk write, “Taking time for self-care is acceptable only insofar as it enables the further optimization of one’s time spent at work.” Self-care is given value when centered within the consumerist contexts of collecting various “self-care” items, particularly when paired with the goal of addressing mental health to better one’s productivity in other areas. In contrast, when self-care practices disrupt expectations of productivity, accommodations often become virtually nonexistent.
An institution that hands out colorful journals yet lacks adequate and available mental health resources or necessary accommodations for time off for mental health reasons is not an institution promoting true self-care in all its forms.
WashU as an institution also must reframe selfcare and mental health to ensure students receive proper resources and accommodations. Professors themselves must treat mental health as a valid and important reason for extensions on assignments rather than stigmatizing asking for mental health accommodations. At an institutional level, policies must be put in place to enforce these expectations while also dismantling existing standards that instruct professors to limit extensions, time off, and other accommodations for students.
Taking time for yourself is an essential mental health
practice — one that can look like writing a journal entry, taking a break to complete a coloring page, or playing a favorite video game. But the longer that mental health and self-care are framed as solely individual issues based on handing out sheet masks or purchasing the latest and greatest selftanning solution, the roles of institutions in disregarding and stigmatizing what mental health care actually looks like will continue to be ignored. And, prioritizing one’s mental health at the individual level can only
go so far — or may only be viewed as acceptable within certain bounds of productivity — while existing within institutions that do not provide adequate time off for mental health reasons. So please don’t throw your sheet masks, bath bombs, or fuzzy socks away. But to the University and to any institution looking to provide proper mental health care, reexamine existing policies and qualities of mental health accommodations before claiming to be proponents of “self-care.”
On June 29, the conservative-led U.S. Supreme Court prohibited the use of race as a factor in the college admissions process. This decision ends a policy that has increased socioeconomic diversity in universities’ admissions processes, and the ability to address inequities in admissions is now heavily dependent on how various university administrations move forward.
Chancellor Andrew Martin responded quickly to the decision in his email to the student body titled “Our commitment to diversity,” in which he made a bold promise: “While we must respect and abide by this decision, it’s important for you to know
one thing: Our commitment to cultivating, welcoming, and supporting a diverse student body that includes individuals from a broad range of backgrounds and perspectives has not changed and will not change.”
The University has demonstrated some recent progress in areas of socioeconomic diversity, such as establishing need-blind admissions in 2021 and a newly announced “no loan” financial policy. We appreciate the University’s swift response committing to socioeconomic diversity in a post-affirmative action world. However, the University must consider other areas such as legacy admissions to further
demonstrate continued commitment to socioeconomic diversity.
Credit should be given where it is due, and the WashU administration has taken important steps towards socioeconomic diversity in the admissions process through both written commitments and action. In an article with Inside Higher Ed, Martin stated that “a university’s budget, in many respects, is a statement of its values and priorities,” and as such, allocating funding towards financial aid has become a priority for the WashU administration. While WashU once held the lowest position of socioeconomic diversity in the country, its
recent actions in need-blind admissions and no-loan policies reflect progress in the University’s admissions processes.
Nevertheless, the WashU administration must also consider other areas in which to address socioeconomic diversity, such as legacy admissions.
Legacy admissions refer to an applicant having a higher chance of getting admission into a university because they are related to one or multiple alumni. The practice of legacy admissions favors white applicants — in Harvard University’s case, 70% of applicants connected to donors or with legacies are white. An analysis by the
Harvard research group Opportunity Insights additionally found that legacy admits are more likely to come from wealthier families, with those from the richest 1 percent being 5 times as likely to be offered a spot at the university than non-legacy applicants with the same test scores. According to a study of an anonymous university, the parents of legacy students were more likely to be top donors to the university.
Across the country, some universities have responded to the end of race-based affirmative action by eliminating legacy as a point of consideration in admissions. For example, shortly after the Supreme Court decision,
Wesleyan University, a private liberal arts college, terminated their legacy admissions. In fact, six universities considered among the top ten in the world no longer consider legacy in their admissions — MIT, UC Berkeley, Oxford, CalTech, Cambridge and University of Washington.
previous week, wouldn’t let their story end in yet another defeat.
boosted the game as the Bears won 25-20 to win the match in four sets.
In a weekend to remember, the Washington University volleyball team left its mark in California. The Bears — who traveled to the Golden State to compete in the East to West Invitational — battled through tough opposition for three impressive victories, including two wins over teams ranked Top 10 in the nation.
“It was a fun weekend for our team and program,” head coach Vanessa Walby wrote to Student Life. “This tournament has been designed to provide some of the best competition in Division 3. It really helps us to grow as a group and see high-level competition before we head into UAA play. It was fun to watch our team battle, enjoy competing, learn from our mistakes, and have fun together as a group.”
The Bears played three teams over the course of two days. They bested #7 John Hopkins University in four sets with a score of 3-1 in their first game, they slayed the #2 Claremont McKenna College with a scoreline of 3-2, and swept California Lutheran University.
First up was #7 Johns Hopkins University, a team that came into this matchup with only one loss. Their firepower continued as the leaders in kills came from the two Johns Hopkins outsides with 15 and 19 kills, an attack that led them to a first-set victory. Johns Hopkins put themselves into a familiar position, but the Bears, coming off a crushing loss to #6 Hope College the
In the second set, the Bears took complete control, never relinquishing their lead and winning 25-21. Despite having fewer kills than John Hopkins, key aces and taking advantage of errors allowed them to stick a “W” onto their match. Critical skills from senior Paris Nix, sophomore Sam Buckley, and freshman
Leah Oyewole put the Bears in a position to control their destiny in a crucial set. The momentum carried itself into the third set, capitalized by an absurd 0.538 kill percentage by junior Jasmine Sells. She would go on to lead WashU with 16 kills.
“Leah and [junior]
Elise Gilroy made the AllTournament team at this tournament…which is a huge honor,” Walby wrote. “Just at this tournament alone were the #2, #6, #7, #14, #12, and #17 ranked teams. So to have two members on the AllTournament team is a huge honor. I think it is a testament to how hard our team is working together to improve every single day as a group.”
This dominance was also accompanied by an atrocious 0.058 kill percentage by the Blue Jays and a season-high 10 errors. The fourth set was closer, but the Bears maintained a lead the entire time once again. John Hopkins fought after the first set was complete, and a lack of excitement on the court demonstrated that. The California crowd seemed to get quieter as the game moved on, with the Bears only getting louder and louder to make up for the lack of noise. A season-high 0.315 kill percentage and 33 assists from setter Sam Buckley
“Sam brings a lot of consistency to our offense,” Walby wrote. “She really works hard to better the ball and put her attackers in a good situation to score. She works to get extra reps and studies herself on film just as much as she studies our opponents.”
“She is truly committed to being great for her teammates on a regular basis,” she continued.
In the nightcap, WashU faced off against #2 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, an undefeated team. However, the task seemed a little easier coming off an afternoon game that saw WashU take down a titan in JHU. The first set saw the Bears neck-and-neck with the Deers, with seven lead changes throughout the first 20 points. However, a six-point run capitalized by kills from freshman Leah Oyewole and attacking errors on the other side saw the Bears maintain a lead that they never relinquished, en route to a 25-21 victory. However, the following two sets proved why the Deers were given their twoseed ranking. A combined 0.563 kill percentage and 0 errors across these two sets saw them earn a lead that they would never relinquish.
Despite a set-high seven kills from Jasmine Sells and four from junior Lucy David, the Bears’ best efforts were crushed by an absurd display on the other side. However, the team had found itself in positions like these before, and this underdog mentality allowed it to prevail once again. In the fourth set, Jasmine Sells and Sam Buckley again worked in tandem to help lift the Bears from a six-point deficit to a
25-22 win.
The stage was set for a decisive Set 5, the biggest set of the season thus far for the Bears. On one hand, the Deers had proved their dominance, putting up video-game numbers in Sets 2 and 3. Meanwhile, the Bears displayed a team that knew how to come from behind, a team that was more a family than a group of players, emphasized by their relentless energy on the court. This team knew how to perform when it came down to the clutch.
After a relentless back-andforth effort, the game was 11-12 in favor of the Deers.
Buckley, who hadn’t targeted Davis since the beginning of Set 4, put all her trust into the six-foot outside, and she delivered. Davis’ four straight kills were all over the court, and had so much velocity that the Deers’ defenders didn’t stand a chance. The Bears had won the game of a lifetime in Set 5, 15-12. It was an experience they wouldn’t forget.
Following their top-two
Top 10 wins, the Bears finished the weekend with a Saturday-morning matchup against California Lutheran.
To start the opening set, the Bears were cruising. Freshman
Leah Oyewole delivered a kill to earn the first point before the Bears went on a 10-point scoring run, building a substantial 16-1 lead and forcing two timeouts by Cal Lutheran. Cal Lutheran displayed more fight toward the end of the set and brought the score to23-10 before the Bears cruised to finish out the set 25-11.
The Bears held a comfortable lead throughout the second set, coasting to another 25-11 win. However, in the third set, Cal Lutheran refused to be put away easily. They trailed 17-11 ten minutes into the set, but quickly brought the set to a tightly contested 23-22. The Bears managed to seal their victory with a 25-23 win.
In the match, Oyewole produced a team-high 17 kills, while Sells posted 13, building on her 2022 All-UAA First Team season. 2022
AVCA Freshman of the Year
Sam Buckley delivered 37 assists, and junior Elise Gilroy notched a team-high 17 digs to help lead the team to victory.
At the conclusion to the East to West Invitational, Walby was pleased with the team’s overall performance and how the players came together to embrace top-tier DIII volleyball competition.
“I love that our team is embracing the process of competing,” she wrote. “They are learning each day how to compete together and work for each other. They are finding their [personalities] and [identities], and it is fun for me to watch — really look forward to seeing how our team continues to grow.”
The Bears head back to St. Louis for their Wednesday, Sept. 13 match at Webster University. There, they’ll look to extend their win streak to four games before traveling to Wisconsin for the UW-Whitewater Invite.
ARYAN KUMAR STAFF WRITER
In his last year of eligibility with the Washington University football team, graduate student Matt Rush has seen it all since his early days at Francis Olympic. He has progressed from a member of the Junior Varsity squad, to being Washington University starting quarterback for the past 2 seasons as well as being named Second Team
Hendrix College in Arkansas. For his performance, Rush was named CCIW Conference Athlete of the Week. Student Life sat down with Rush to learn more about the long career he has had at WashU, his time at Oregon University football this past spring, as well as who he is on and off the gridiron.
This Interview was edited for length and clarity
Student Life: Entering your final year as a member of
football team, what are some personal and team goals you have?
Matt Rush: I think realistically the team goal every year is to just take it a week at a time and win every game. I feel like we have a good roster and everybody has bought in and so the goal every year is to win every game on our schedule.
SL: What was the thought process behind returning as a graduate student? Was that a quick and easy decision or was it something you had to think about for a long time?
MR: I think it was a pretty easy decision. Once my sophomore year was canceled by
COVID I thought, I want to get this year back. It sucked not being able to do anything. So I think with that opportunity, I knew that I was going to want to play a 5th year of football.
SL: This past spring, you were with the Oregon football team. What was that like? What were some things you felt like you learned that you can apply to this year with WashU?
MR: Yeah, it was an interesting experience, and I learned a lot. But as I said, I’m definitely excited to be back and be around my best friends and learning from Coach Keen, who has done so much
to progress my game forward.
SL: With 41 new freshmen joining the program, what has your role as one of the leaders been to help those new faces feel comfortable with the team?
MR: Yeah, it’s definitely crazy seeing so many new faces. But I mean, that’s also why you play the game. It is to also help those kids and it keeps me young.
SL: What have been the biggest strides you’ve made as an overall football player on the field from now versus when you entered WashU as a freshman?
MR: I definitely think Coach Keen coming in really
helped me go through progressions and understanding defenses better, because that was something that you don’t get to do much of in high school. And then being a Freshman, I wasn’t really playing so you’re running the scout team. You’re not really analyzing defenses.
“We have a lot of work to do to get where we’ve got to go, but the best way of learning is learning while winning,” said Coach Jim Conlon in his message to the Washington University women’s soccer team following their home opener against Carroll University on Friday afternoon. If the best way of learning includes winning, then the 10th ranked squad in the country has definitely learned a lot through three games.
Through those three games, they’ve already scored 15 goals, a feat that took them 13 matches to accomplish last season. In addition, with the 5-0 win against Carroll University Friday, the Bears jumped out to a 3-0 record, their best start to a season since 2018. That year, the team didn’t lose a game until the NCAA semifinals. While the red-hot attack may draw many headlines, the squad’s rock-solid back line is just as deserving of praise. They still have not conceded a goal this season and
held Carroll to just one shot on target all game. Making the feat even more impressive is the fact that Friday’s game marked the season debut for a number of key players, including senior goalkeeper Sidney Conner, who was unable to compete in last weekend’s road trip game.
When asked about the team’s defense, Conlon said he’s very proud of the team’s performance and that to be sitting with “3-0 with three clean sheets really is a testament to the team, the unselfishness, and doing whatever is asked of them on any given day.”
The unselfishness Conlon mentioned extends to the team’s forwards as well. Their 15 goals have been scored by nine different goalscorers, and all five goals on Friday were scored by different players.
From the jump, the Bears outplayed the visiting Pioneers. However, despite controlling possession for the first 40 minutes, the hosts’ best chance rolled onto the post and bounced back out. Just when it looked like the teams would go into the halftime break tied, however, WashU finally struck gold. When a loose ball bounced around
the box with two minutes left in the half, sophomore Grace Ehlert pounced, slotting the ball past the blue-jerseyed defenders and into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead.
The momentum continued into the second half. Five minutes in, senior Anna Viscovich whipped in a corner kick. When the goalkeeper bobbled the cross, chaos ensued, but graduate student Ally Hackett was in the right spot to deflect the ball into the goal for her first goal of the season. Less than ten minutes later, Viscovich also earned herself a spot on the score sheet. After turning away from a defender outside the box, the midfielder unleashed a right-footed strike into the bottom right corner of the net to make it 3-0.
In the 70th minute, the Bears extended their lead on a fortunate bounce. After Kaci Karl’s strike hit the crossbar, it ricocheted off of the back of the outstretched goalie’s head and into the goal. A few minutes later, junior Meryl McKenna tacked on the Bears’ final goal with a strike from outside the box. Although the keeper got a hand on it, she couldn’t keep
it out of the top corner, and McKenna had her third goal of the season, joint-most on the team.
With three minutes left, first-year forward Julia Moore earned a penalty kick, but was unable to convert for her first career college goal. The shot was meaningless, however, as the Bears rode their 5-0 lead to the finish line.
“We have a lot of depth, and there’s a lot of trust in every player that steps on the
field,” said McKenna, who subbed in during the second half. “We’re able to rotate in, and really just put other teams under and run at them. Our goal is just to kind of keep this energy going… Ultimately, we’re trying to win another UAA championship. And then looking for the national championship, that’s always our goal.”
The Bears hope to keep the dominance rolling into their matchups against tougher
opposition. Next week, they will host two teams who are also currently undefeated when they face off against DePauw University on Friday and Rhodes College on Sunday. Though the team will need to keep pushing themselves to keep their winning streak alive, they have a lot to celebrate two weeks into a campaign that has the potential to include a deep postseason run.
The Washington University men’s soccer team (2-1-1) continued their out-of-conference season with mixed results, convincingly defeating Principia College on Thursday evening and drawing with Aurora University on Sunday afternoon. While the Bears exploded for five goals against Principia, WashU’s failure to convert opportunities and controversial penalties hindered their chance to sweep their weekend series. After failing to score against Illinois Wesleyan last Friday, WashU desperately needed to find more opportunities on the attack. They had no shortage of chances Thursday night against Principia, thrashing
the Panthers 5-0. Graduate student Christopher Alwang opened the scoring in the 21st minute with his first collegiate goal. The Bears extended their lead in the 41st minute as freshman Ethan Wirtschafter found the back of the net for his first NCAA goal. Wirtschafter found himself at the center of the action again just a few moments later. After a Principia midfielder fouled the Bears’ forward, he was sent off after receiving a second yellow card, just moments before the end of the first half.
WashU took the upper hand of the one-man advantage in the second half, exploding for three goals. Forward senior John Daniels, sophomore Peter Radovich, and junior Joseph
Hipskind all scored for the Bears, marking the first goals of the season for Radovich and Hipskind. A strong performance from the Bears’ defense made it an actionless evening for the WashU keepers – Principia did not record a shot on goal. The Bears’ victory Thursday continued a streak of domination of Principia by WashU; in their last seven matches, WashU has outscored Principia 26-1.
“We showed how well we can play as a team and how we can dominate a game,” Hipskind said. “If we can build on the better parts of the weekend, we will have a very dangerous team going forward.”
WashU continued their hot start on Sunday against Aurora, with Hipskind’s slick right-footed shot
beating the Spartans’ keeper in the third minute. Despite an offensive onslaught from WashU – the Bears peppering 13 shots on the Aurora netminder in the first 45 –the two teams were locked even at the end of the first half.
The second half was not without its controversy. In the 60th minute, senior midfielder Owen Culver received a warning from the referee for time-wasting. The Bears would go on to be awarded a penalty kick in the 63rd minute, but the referee would not allow the long-time penalty taker Culver to take the shot. This was no issue for sophomore midfielder Zach Susee, who smoothly converted the penalty for his first goal with WashU. The Bears held onto the lead until the 80th minute, when
Aurora was awarded a controversial penalty. Midfielder Landon Green, who went down on the play, was called for a foul in the box himself by the linesman, leading to the game-tying goal for Aurora. A last-second free kick for Aurora – given after another questionable call – was stopped by a wall of WashU defenders, saving the game for the Bears and securing the 2-2 draw.
Much of the team’s weekend success is thanks to their younger, less experienced players. After many key starters graduated last year, WashU has become increasingly reliant on their freshmen and sophomores.
With goals this weekend from Susee, Radovich, and Wirtschafter, solid defensive performances by midfielder Colin Link and
defender Nathan Szpak, and a stellar goalkeeping rotation of Owen Ross, Adam Mallalieu, and Cal L’Hommedieu, the Bears’ youth was on full display against Principia and Aurora. To Hipskind, a junior who has taken an active leadership role on the team, the Bears’ youth is one of their biggest strengths.
“The sophomores have worked incredibly hard over the past year and it’s really shown on the field. And we haven’t seen the freshmen at their peak yet, since so many have been injured,” said Hipskind. “It’s awesome seeing the younger guys come in and improve their game in the way that they have.”
Men’s soccer will travel to Decatur, Ill. on Saturday to face Millikin University (3-1).