AUGUST 29, 2024 Student Life at WashU in St. Louis
Welcome to WashU!
WILL
ROSENBLUM SENIOR SCENE EDITOR
During the seven days between Aug. 17 and Aug. 24, WashU’s campus was abuzz with circles of conversation in unexpected places. Recitations of names, majors, and hometowns peppered the
swamp. At one point, Dr. G even slingshotted t-shirts into an eager crowd. This could only be Bear Beginnings, the week-long first-year orientation that takes place before each school year. The day after Convocation, Student Life spoke to first-years to hear their thoughts on Bear Beginnings 2024.
CONTINUED ON PG. 6
New affirmative action data shows fewer students of color in Class of 2028
ELIZABETH
STUMP NINA LASER NEWS EDITORS
WashU’s Class of 2028 is the first class since 1961 to have gone through the admissions process without Affirmative Action policies. With the start of the semester, the data is out on how the Supreme Court’s abolishment of Affirmative Action has impacted the racial makeup of WashU’s newest class. Most notably, enrollment by students of color decreased by six percentage points.
Although, the amount of students who are low- to moderateincome or Pell Grant-eligible went up, and the percentage of students receiving financial aid increased from 42% to 48%.The number of first-generation students went up from 16% to 17%.
Leany Pino-Sanchez is a student in the Class of 2028 from Puerto Rico. She said she thinks the affirmative-action ban “is going to cause less diversity at prominent schools, and is going to further the gap between social classes.”
Affirmative action is the practice of considering an applicant’s race or ethnicity as a factor in admissions, and was first implemented to increase racial and ethnic diversity at highereducation institutions.
The overall enrollment of students of color went down by six percentage points this year compared to last year — from 53% in the Class of 2027 to 47% in the Class of 2028. Further, Black and African-American student enrollment was four percentage points lower, down from 11.9% for the Class of 2027 to 8% in the Class of 2028, compared to the Class of 2027. The number of white students increased by one percentage point, while the number of Asian and Hispanic students decreased by roughly one percentage point each.
The percentage of students who chose not to disclose their race increased by four percentage points.
“Since in Puerto Rico we have a different zip code, [admissions officers] knew that I wasn’t from
the United States,” Pino-Sanchez said. “But I have friends in the States that, since they couldn’t put their ethnicity in [their application], there was no way to differentiate unless it was in the essay.”
Affirmative action was commonplace in admissions offices, especially at selective universities like WashU, until it was banned in June of 2023. In response to the ban, the WashU admissions office added an optional short-answer question to the application about applicants’ experiences in their community, according to Assistant Vice Provost and Director of Admissions, Grace Chapin James.
“I think that [question] was a welcoming space for a lot of students who felt like they wanted to talk a little bit more about [their] race or identity in other ways in their application that might not have otherwise been present,” James said. “So they certainly took advantage of that.”
James said that this question was not just for applicants to showcase identifiers that would have been considered through former Affirmative Action practices, but also to talk about other aspects of their lives that they were unable to share with the admissions committee before.
According to a press release
WashU Transgender Center allegedly closing; University neither confirms nor denies claim
side effects of treatments.”
In an op-ed published on July 17 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jamie Reed — whistleblower and former case manager at the Washington University Transgender Center (WUTC) of St. Louis Children’s Hospital — wrote that the WUTC “quietly announced” last week that they will be “permanently closed.” However, sources from other news outlets deny the closure allegations.
In a statement to Student Life, University spokesperson Julie Flory neither confirmed nor denied Reed’s claims.
“We have continued to support our transgender patients appropriately and in accordance with the law,” Flory said. “We have no plans to change that approach.”
Flory did not respond when Student Life reached out again to ask whether patients would still be able to receive gender-affirming care at the WUTC.
Reed published an op-ed in The Free Press in February of 2023 about medical practices at the WUTC, which aims to provide healthcare for “transgender and non-binary people in a welcoming, affirming environment.” This story sparked national controversy about how gender-affirming clinics in the U.S. treat patients, with many criticizing Reed for being “misleading.”
Reed’s story aligned with Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s recent claims that patients at WUTC and their parents were illinformed about the treatments they were receiving. On Feb. 9, 2023, Bailey started an investigation into the WUTC under the Missouri Merchandising Practices Act based on Reed’s allegations.
“I doubt that any parent who’s ever consented to give their kid testosterone (a lifelong treatment) knows that they’re also possibly signing their kid up for blood pressure medication, cholesterol medication, and perhaps sleep apnea and diabetes,” Reed wrote.
from The Source, the admissions office is permitted to collect these answers, as they provide contextual information about the student — in accordance with the Supreme Court ruling.
“Not that they identify as Latinx, for instance, but how their identity shaped their experiences, character, aspirations or opportunities,” the release stated. “And a good percentage of students did choose to give us some additional information about who they are and what motivates them.”
I think [WashU] had good essay questions. Others were too general, and I didn’t get to speak much about myself,” Pino-Sanchez said.
In response to the end of affirmative action, Chancellor Andrew Martin pledged to provide the admissions office with additional funding to implement new programs in support of historically underrepresented communities at private institutions.
Read the rest online!
Parents of some WUTC patients pushed back against the notion that the treatments were unsafe or hastily prescribed, stating that they provide necessary, beneficial care. When interviewed by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, they said they felt WUTC’s doctors gave their children “full attention” to let them “ask questions and review possible
Reed’s former co-worker Jess Jones also told the St. Louis PostDispatch that Reed received negative performance reviews at the WUTC in 2021 after suggesting “misgendering” patients as a form of “exposure therapy.” Reed acknowledged the negative reviews in her first op-ed and stated that her 2021 review contrasted her “solidly positive performance reviews” from previous years.
After the initial publication of this article, Reed wrote in an email to Student Life that Jones’ claims about her misgendering patients were unfounded.
“I have never received a poor performance review for that reason,” Reed wrote “This is a false allegation by a former employee who had personal issues with not only myself on staff but even with the co-directors.”
The Washington University School of Medicine conducted their own internal investigation in April of 2023 in light of Reed’s allegations and stated that her claims were “unsubstantiated.” Additionally, a professor from WashU and a researcher from the University of California, Los Angeles — Jeremy Goldbach and Shannon Dunlap — released an article in February of 2023 opposing Reed’s views and highlighting the importance of gender-affirming care.
After the investigation, however, the WUTC began to require parental consent before prescribing gender-affirming medications and custody agreements before a minor’s first appointment with the clinic, which Reed’s attorneys state “acknowledges the validity” of her claims.
On Aug. 28, 2023, the WUTC halted gender-affirming care for all minors in response to bill SB49, also known as the SAFE Act, which bars providers from starting gender-affirming therapy for new patients under the age of 18 and makes providers liable for potential damages from gender-affirming care.
TANVI GORRE NEWS EDITOR
WashU’s Transgender Center, located at the University’s School of Medicine, has been the site of national controversy since February of 2023.
LYDIA NICHOLSON | STUDENT LIFE
A letter from suspended faculty against genocide
Dear Washington University Community Members,
We write to welcome you back to campus and to provide what we feel is important context for the upcoming academic year.
On the surface, things look much the same as ever: the quad is neatly manicured; students eat, study, and catch up with friends in the usual haunts; the unsightly security fence has finally been removed, and our handsome old buildings are again visible from the street.
But from our perspective, things are far from normal.
As faculty members who were suspended and banned from campus this spring for standing with students against the genocide in Gaza, we know that our school remains gripped by a moral crisis stemming from its complicity in the occupation of Palestine.
In April, we experienced firsthand how the University prioritizes its ties to weapons contractors like Boeing over its commitment to the safety and well-being of its community members.
Given the stress of impending final exams, the call of summer vacation, and the general unpleasantness of the events of this April, it is forgivable if some of us have forgotten— or would like to forget— what happened on campus last spring.
The shortened version of
events is as follows: On the afternoon of Saturday, April 27, after a semester filled with smaller demonstrations against the University’s ties to Boeing and its active role in the genocide in Gaza, hundreds of students, staff, faculty, alums, and other community members gathered for a peaceful protest in Tisch Park. As faculty members, we were there to express our solidarity with the Palestinian cause and to show the students there that they would not have to be alone in courageously living up to the ideals publicly professed by their school.
Shortly after some participants said an evening prayer, amid families with kids playing and young people snacking and texting while relaxing on the grass, police moved in on the small encampment. Under the orders of the highest-ranking members of the University, over 100 people, including several of us faculty, were violently arrested and charged with criminal trespassing. Steve Tamari, a professor at nearby Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, had nine ribs and his hand broken and was beaten nearly to death for recording the police response. Many other students, staff, alumni, and community members were also injured by WUPD.
When asked by the press in June about the
administration’s excessive and illegitimate use of force, Andrew Bursky, Chair of the WashU Board of Trustees, had only this revealing remark to share: “I know there’s pictures of police beating on others and so forth, which is unfortunate.”
In total, seven different police departments were mobilized to crush the peaceful encampment in its first hours. Even relative to other brutal crackdowns on nationwide campus protests against Israeli genocide in spring, this puts WashU’s reaction among the most extreme and intolerant in the country.
It seems that Andrew Bursky’s only regret is that the crackdown wasn’t harsher, telling donors on a private call that he wanted the FBI to come to campus to investigate the protests, per reporting in The Intercept. This is meant to protect the school’s financial ties to the weapons industry and to have a chilling effect on future activism around any issue that is at odds with the administration.
As employees of the University, we were summarily suspended and banned from campus, forbidden from speaking to students and colleagues, had our online services revoked, and were subject to a shambolic, nonsensical “investigation.” This totally nontransparent
process made it impossible to determine whether the school was abiding by its own rules and procedures. In response, our colleagues voted overwhelmingly in the Faculty Senate for an independent fact-finding committee to review the niversity’s erratic response. But as they allegedly did with Student Union (SU) Senate’s own pro-Palestine resolution, again the Board stepped in to make sure the interests of their donors were protected.
In conjunction with Chancellor Martin, Bursky made clear in an email this summer that the democratic will of the Faculty Senate would be overruled. He stated that only the Board could conduct such an investigation, that faculty were “biased” and “unqualified,” and that he would not allow administrators to participate in a faculty-led investigation. The University is either involved in a cover-up of its outrageous and possibly illegal actions, or it simply does not care that it appears to be.
Because of the University’s dubious justification for cracking down on the protests, and because no criminal charges have yet been brought against us, we have been informed that the administration has stopped its campaign against us and lifted our suspensions. We celebrate this unqualified
victory and return to our respective jobs on campus ready to teach, research, and support our students and colleagues.
But we also know that the work is far from over.
Many students who were there with us that day have been subjected to a long, frustrating, and punitive hearing process intended to make them regret speaking out and to silence the rest of the campus community.
At least three students were suspended relating to the April 13 protest after hearings and at least one student from the protest on April 27 still awaits a decision. Several others are currently on probation. The administration’s slow process left many students facing uncertain futures right up until the end of summer.
We continue to call on the administration to drop all disciplinary proceedings and punishments against all of the student protesters.
So long as a single student has an outstanding conduct charge, probation, or a withheld degree, we will not consider this matter resolved. If faculty and staff can go back to work, students should be able to go back to their classrooms.
We look forward to getting back to business, but not business as usual. After a 65-year-old man was nearly beaten to death by WUPD cops, after a hundred of us
were violently arrested at a peaceful protest on our own front lawn, after the Board of Trustees has made clear it will not respect the will of student and faculty democracy, there can be no more business as usual. We welcome you all back, and we look forward to seeing you around campus this year.
Dr. Michael Allen
Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and Urban Design: Sam Fox School (Former); Visiting Assistant Professor of History; West Virginia University (Current)
Dr. Megan Green, Adjunct Instructor: Brown School (Former); President of the Board of Aldermen (Current)
Dr. Bret Gustafson Professor, Department of Anthropology
Dr. Angela Miller Professor, Department of Art History & Archaeology
Dr. Aaron Neiman, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology (Former); Postdoctoral Research Associate: Brown School (Current)
Dr. Scott Ross, Lecturer, Department of Anthropology
A newcomer’s guide to last year’s campus protests
JORDAN SPECTOR SENIOR FORUM EDITOR
In the past year, college campuses have spent time in the center of national (and international) news, and Washington University in St. Louis has been no exception. No matter where you’re coming from, this article is a guide to the recent protests that have taken place at WashU.
As new faces come and old ones go (in that wavelike flow of a college campus student body), discourse will inevitably evolve. Being a part of the WashU community comes with the responsibility of continuing that discourse, of understanding our shared history, politics, and place in the world.
Campus politics are nuanced and expansive, not limited to any topic or issue. But the most notable events
that have defined our current moment are related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas: a war which has, for many, brought foreign conflict close to home.
Tensions everywhere are heightened, and first-years are stepping foot into a campus as highly divided as the rest of the world. It may seem strange, walking around with political undercurrents seeping their way through many interactions. To ease your confusion and help explain how we’ve gotten to this point, I have tried my best to create an outline — not from a news angle, but as an editor who has read nearly every opinion article StudLife received last academic year.
In learning about the various perspectives that shaped the timeline of last year, it is my hope that you will be able to develop a perspective of your own. Campus
politics may seem surreal, unbearable even. (Perhaps they’re the absolute last thing you’re looking forward to approaching in the fall.) Even so, do not be afraid to voice your own opinion, to join the conversations around you, to advocate for what you believe is right.
Before I continue: I am an opinion writer. You can find my opinions online, published by StudLife, if you are so inclined. This piece, focused on a relaying of events, is not the place for my own political slant. That said, I acknowledge that the idea of objective reporting on this particular issue is nothing short of a facade. I am not only reporting on a largely semitic struggle, I am also dealing with a semantic one. What I choose to include and exclude, what details I provide, what language I use, are all informed by my own thoughts
and experiences, no matter how objective I attempt to be. It turns out that the beginning is a very difficult and disputed place to start. Nevertheless, let’s go to October of 2023. Following Chancellor Martin’s statement regarding Oct. 7, Student Union (a representative body of students elected by students, colloquially referred to as SU), released a statement of their own, condemning both Hamas and the Israeli government and alerting students about mental health resources on campus.
Read the rest online!
Outside Olin Library, one protester wraps a keffiyeh around the George Washington statue.
LYDIA NICHOLSON | STUDENT LIFE
NATALIA JAMULA STAFF WRITER
In a viral TikTok, Hannah Neeleman is captured opening a birthday present from her husband Daniel Neeleman. She says, “Hoping they’re tickets to Greece,” only to discover an egg apron. Daniel replies, “Now you can gather eggs,” confining his wife’s aspirations to domestic labor.
It’s been 50 years since women gained the financial freedom to own their individual bank accounts, which granted women the right to work for themselves. However, recently, “trad wives,” short for traditional wives, or women who spend their days caring for the home and children, have begun documenting their activity on social media, forming a trend that only benefits the patriarchy.
To the Student Body,
We, Hadia Khatri and Madison Yue, are excited to serve as the new Student Life Managing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion editors. After careful evaluation of Student Life’s coverage and staff diversity audits, we realized that the paper doesn’t represent the diversity of ethnicities, religions, and
Preparing meals, cleaning the home, and raising children may seem like harmless tasks to publish on social media. However, this narrative normalizes a conservative, patriarchal home structure. While some women may prefer this lifestyle to a corporate career, the glorification of dominant-submissive marriages on social media serves as anti-feminist propaganda to younger audiences.
Billionaire Daniel Neeleman is one of the greatest examples of abuse of power in a marriage via this “traditional” lifestyle. His wife, Hannah Neeleman, has been named the queen of “trad wives” due to her TikTok account Ballerina Farm. Using this account, Hannah showcases her life on their farm just outside of Kansas, making bread, milking cows, and homeschooling their eight children.
Prior to dating Daniel,
Hannah was practicing ballet at the prestigious Juilliard School. Hannah wanted to date for at least a year before getting married so she could finish school, but Daniel insisted on getting married immediately. Within a month of dating, the two were engaged, and three months after their marriage, Hannah became the first Juilliard undergrad to ever be expecting.
Supportive partners should at the very least encourage one another to continue hobbies, careers, and activities that make them happy; it is essential for one’s freedom within a marriage.
Letter from DEI Editors
perspectives that make up the WashU community.
Because of this, we have decided to launch several initiatives and work to change our paper internally and externally. Our goals are to 1) increase our coverage of cultural and/or affinity groups on campus and 2) increase representation among our staff. Among our initiatives, we are having personal meetings with the executive members
CAPTION CONTEST
of a number of clubs to receive feedback and share our ideas. Through these conversations, we hope to get suggestions, as well as a list of events to potentially cover. If you are a student leader of an affinity and/or cultural group and would like to speak with us about our coverage or advertisements, we strongly encourage you to reach out.
It’s not just student groups that we want feedback from.
Caption this! Enter this week’s contest
ILLUSTRATION BY JAIME HEBEL
Scan the QR code to enter your submission by 11:59 p.m. on Monday.
We want to know how all students, especially those with minoritized identities, are feeling about our coverage and content. Email us at dei@studlife. com to connect with us. StudLife is made by students, for students — and that includes all students on campus. We want you all to feel welcome and included in our University and paper. We also hope to increase our staff diversity, since
that translates directly to an increase in campus awareness and therefore coverage. Recruitment season is underway, and we hope to have students of all backgrounds join each of our sections. During our open house on Wednesday, Sept. 4, we want to make all students feel included and comfortable. We want you to see our paper and office as a second home.
To all the first-years
coming into WashU: Welcome home, and welcome to StudLife. We hope to do you justice in our coverage. But to help us do that, we would LOVE to see you at our open house. We are looking forward to connecting with you and promoting an inclusive newsroom environment this year!
Sincerely,
ILLUSTRATION BY ERICA SHI
Hadia & Madison DEI Editors
SCENE
St. Louis summers get a bad rap — here’s what the StudLife staff has to say about theirs
Co-Editor-in-Chief and a senior at WashU, prepared for her EIC role by working as a Features Reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She found the role through Student Life in the previous fall, where she applied and was accepted. Giraldo, a self-described foodie, made sure that her summer in St. Louis was packed with tasty eats and fun day trips.
“Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant on South Grand Blvd. is lifechanging,” she said.
She also recommends Terror Taco, on the same street, as a great vegan option with a spooky vibe. Making sure not to skip over dessert, she also ventured to St. Charles to try Grandma’s Cookies, the highly acclaimed bakery ranked #1 in the country. “They were good, sure, but that might be a stretch,” she said.
Sydney Tran
Head of Design and a junior at WashU, worked as a research assistant at the Cognitive Control and Psychopathology Lab at WashU. She found this opportunity by talking to her instructional assistant for her Psychopathology and Mental Health class and has been working there since last summer.
While busy with research, Tran still
Lore Wang
Staff writer and sophomore at WashU, interned for the Sierra Club this summer doing deep canvassing work about energy burden in six STL neighborhoods. Wang worked outside for eight hours a day, knocking on strangers' doors to ask them about their utility bills, which was a stimulating and exhausting experience. If that wasn’t enough, Wang picked up two other jobs, working at a coffee shop on the Loop and at Sumers Rec Center. Wang found her jobs on Handshake, which is a platform she
recommends to any students looking for their next summer gig. “If all else fails, I can attest to printing out 20 copies of [my] resume (half of them accidentally double-sided) and walking up and down the Loop to see if anyone is hiring,” Wang said. “You might get a few weird looks, but you also might get commended for your ‘gumption,’ and that’s just a fun word.”
The Student Life staff had many adventures during this past summer, but special recognition goes to those who survived a St. Louis summer. The infamous summer, clouded by raging humidity and grueling internships, are a necessary part of the WashU experience. As we head into the upcoming semester and students look toward their summer 2025 plans, the StudLife team wants you to know what a St. Louis summer will entail, including the highs, the lows, and everything in between.
found time to get outside in the summer sun, recommending that others keep their water bottles and look out for shady tree spots to prevent getting burnt. One of her favorite activities was going to the St. Louis Punk Rock Flea Market — which she heard through word of mouth from locals — and it made her feel like she was part of the St. Louis community.
Investigative Editor and a junior at WashU, spent this summer working as a Gephardt St. Louis Fellow interning at the Contemporary Art Museum of St. Louis, building on his art-history curiosity and pushing him to engage with all neighborhoods of the city. Trabitz applied to Gephardt
— specifically for the artengagement fellowship — at the end of February on a whim, and he was pleasantly surprised when he landed the role even though he had no previous experience working in a museum. He recommends that students apply to as many places as possible when they are looking for opportunities. While Trabitz admits that he got rejected from many prior to Gephardt, all it takes is one to succeed!
Nina Giraldo
Zach Trabitz
ZARA SHARIFF SENIOR SCENE EDITOR
Lore Wang | Staff Writer
Dear Scene,
The semester only just started, but I’m already feeling stressed about my classes. It’s a heavier load than what I’m used to, and I’m really worried about keeping up with the pace and still having a life. Help!
Welcome to the new semester! Throughout the past few months, you’ve been inundated with advice. Your teachers wish you the best four years of your life, your parents lecture you to “Just Say No!,” that sort of distant uncle hypes up crypto as the next big thing, your WUSA tells you to seek out university resources, your dentist waxes poetic about her favorite restaurant in Seattle (wrong Washington), sophomores with unsolicited opinions on the school paper advise you that you’ve gotten more advice than you know what to do with. You’ve heard it all.
And so, you don’t need this column. Go to class, study hard, attend office hours, and form study groups. There’s your academic advice, done and dusted.
But you’re here anyway, right? It’s all stuff you’ve heard before, but you’re still looking for guidance. And that makes sense; college is an overwhelming experience, and everyone seems more than happy to pile endless aphorisms and platitudes on you anyway.
The big, scary thing about college is that all your time is now yours to do with what you please. No parent glowering at the foot of your bed while you oversleep for the fifth time that week, no mind-numbing fourth period (it’s always fourth period) spent daydreaming about all the cooler things you could be doing. The world is your oyster, and that means you now have the ability to do things your way. Because let’s be honest: sitting in a classroom for eight hours straight probably wasn’t the most optimal method for your brain to learn anyway.
PUZZLE PUZZLE Mania
So you know all the basic advice for how to study. But being in college is a special environment that can supercharge those tips to launch you into success.
Firstly, figure out what kind of environment you like to study in. In the past, your options were probably limited between home and school. But WashU has six libraries, endless lounges, plenty of sprawling lawn space, surprisingly comfortable floors (if you’re so inclined), and, of course, your own dorm. Believe me, studying is much more fun when you’re at a coffee shop or sitting in an ancient library pretending you’re in “The Secret History.” Of course, I’ll be gatekeeping my favorites, but you should get out there and find your own! Secondly, stay organized. Whether you’ve got a meticulously color-coded Google Calendar or just a Post-It in your pocket (believe
me, I’m both), staying on top of all your classes, events, and meetings requires you to actually know when, where, and why they’re happening. Staring down the barrel of a semester’s worth of content dumped in an unformatted syllabus is intimidating; separating your assignments by week is not.
Finally, take advantage of your resources. Seriously. College can be a weird concept if you start thinking about it too hard — a bunch of kids hopped up on caffeine, surrounded by some of the world’s most eminent experts in esoteric fields. You’re never going to be in another position like this again.
For the past couple of years, I’ve had a poster of the Immaculate Heart College Art Department Rules up on my wall. I’m actually not an art student, nor am I rooted anywhere but the Midwest. But these also aren’t normal student guidelines.
For example, rule 2:
“General duties of a student: Pull everything out of your teacher. Pull everything out of your fellow students.”
Between office hours, PLTL, your TAs, and basically anyone in your class, you’ve got an endless supply of brainpower to help you tackle any challenge. It can be intimidating to ask for time and space from a professor, but keep in mind that you are literally paying for their attention and knowledge. You are invited to occupy the space, and you belong there as much as anyone else.
You’ve already proven with your track record that you’re perfectly capable of keeping up with the pace.
Just the very fact that you’re already thinking about how to stay on top of your work and proactively working out a study plan demonstrates discipline that’ll serve you well through the new
semester. At the end of the day, the reason everyone in your life is so eager to pile you with advice is because they’re just about bursting with the lessons they’ve gathered. This is going to be a fantastic, busy, and challenging year, and you’ll grow in ways you can’t even imagine. But don’t take it from me: go out and live it for yourself. I can’t wait to read your advice column next year!
Your classmates, Scene Need saving? Scan here!
ILLUSTRATION BY ANAELDA RAMOS
Bear Beginnings in pictures
Photos by Bri Nitsberg & Ella Giere
“My first impression is that everyone seems so nice and the school cares about us — and not just academically, but in other ways, too — so I’m excited for the year. I was really impressed with how organized things were. Things ran really smoothly.”
— Madison Dennig
“[I’m]
excited to get more comfortable with the campus and have my spots.”
— Cece Milde
“[Orientation] was exhausting and overwhelming, but not in a bad way.”
— Phi Chanda
FALL SPORTS PREVIEW
New-look
The 2023 Washington University football season was one of ups and downs. On one hand, WashU football set records. Their 66-0 thumping of Elmhurst University was the program’s largest victory in 85 years, and then-junior Collin Goldberg broke the record for the longest-scoring play in program history — only to break his own record the next week.
On the other hand, the Bears finished fourth in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW), their worst showing since joining the league in 2018. WashU missed the Culver’s Isthmus Bowl — the CCIW’s postseason bowl game — for the first time since the game’s inception in 2021. A midseason loss to upstart Augustana College rocked their momentum, and their heartbreaking Hail Mary loss to Wheaton College, one of Division III’s finest programs, left the Bears hungrier.
This autumn, the squad hopes to rebound from a successful, but nevertheless disappointing, 2023 season.
Key Players
They will do it without quarterback Matt Rush, whose eligibility expired in 2024 after leading WashU for three straight seasons. Replacing Rush’s production at QB will be no small task, but the Bears will most likely turn to senior Clark Stephens, though head coach Aaron Keen said he will not officially name a starter until fall training camp. Stephens, Rush’s backup for the previous two seasons, was successful in 2022 when Rush missed time due to injury.
“[Stephens] has some experience on his side. He started two games for us as a sophomore,” Keen said. “We’re looking forward to some great things from him this season.”
In addition to Stephens, the quarterback room includes goal line specialist and sophomore Levi Moore, who recorded seven rushing touchdowns as the third-string QB in 2023. While Stephens and Moore will play a majority of snaps, junior Luke Johnston, who excelled in junior varsity games for the Bears, could also be part of the Bears’ plans this season.
“I think we’ve got good depth with good talent,” Keen said after the 2023 season’s final game. “It’ll be a heck of a competition, and that’s what you want.”
Goldberg, now a senior, will be the primary wide
WashU
Last Season: 24-10 Record, Sixth Place in UAA, No. 14 Nationally
Sep. 7 vs. No. 8 Trinity
Oct. 13 vs. No. 4
Oct. 19 vs. No. 21
receiver, with WashU needing him to replicate his production with Stephens at the helm. Collin Hoyhtya, the Bears’ second-leading receiver from 2023, will be returning for his fifth year of NCAA eligibility, a huge boost to the WashU offense. Seniors Zach Ginsburg and Taidhgin Trost and sophomore Makael Carter showed flashes of talent in early-season games last year, and should play a bigger role this season.
WashU got lots of its offensive production from the rush last year, and all four of the Bears’ premier running backs — seniors Kenneth Hamilton and Kenvorris Campbell and juniors Fred Ware and Artrell Miller — will return in 2024.
Defensively, WashU will look to junior defensive back Ryan Schmadtke, who led the team with four interceptions last season. Sophomore defensive lineman Henry Murr impressed in his first season, and senior defensive lineman Nate Light will provide consistency for the Bears.
Key Matchups
According to Keen, in order to succeed, WashU will have to set the tone with a positive mindset at the beginning of the season.
“It’s time for our guys to decide to be great. Then, we’ll follow that up with the right actions to get us in the right place,” Keen said. “If we have that mentality, we’ll play some great football, knock off some of the better teams, and get back to the postseason.”
The Bears will first travel to Memphis to face Rhodes College, their only non-conference opponent of the season in September. The Bears will reignite a storied rivalry against Rhodes, having played them the most out of any other team in school history. The CCIW conference schedule is familiar and difficult. After an early-season bye week, WashU will face No. 1 North Central College away for a secondstraight year on Sep. 28. A home tilt with No. 9 Wheaton College on Oct. 26 will be crucial for the Bears’ playoff hopes, as will the final game of the season: a home matchup with Augustana College on Nov. 16.
WashU will likely need to win one or two of these three critical CCIW games for a shot at the NCAA tournament or a bid back to the Isthmus Bowl. While they will need to overcome some adversity to get there, Bears football has every reason to be optimistic about the upcoming season.
Last Season: 7-3 Record, Fourth Place in CCIW
Games to Watch:
Sept. 28 at No. 1 North Central College
Oct. 26 vs. No. 9 Wheaton College
Nov. 16 vs. Augustana College
Senior wide reciever, Collin Goldberg
2023 was a season of highs and lows for the Washington University volleyball team. Despite recording six winning streaks of three or more games and finishing 24-10 (5-2 in conference play), a disappointing performance in the UAA tournament resulted in a school-worst sixth-place UAA finish.
However, after snagging an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the Bears secured a dominant first-round win vs. St. Olaf College. A loss to the No. 4 University of Wisconsin–Whitewater in the second round ended WashU’s hope for a Cinderella run. Still, the Bears were able to turn their season around in 2023 and will look to compete in the postseason again in 2024
Key Players
Despite the loss of several key contributors, the Bears’ core remains intact entering the 2024 season. The team’s success starts with their senior tandem of outside hitters: Jasmine Sells and Lucy Davis. Sells, an All-American Honorable Mention recipient and All-Region and AllUAA First-Team member, led the team with an impressive 440 kills, adding 388 digs (second-most on the team) and 44 blocks (third). Davis finished fifth with 200 kills in increased playing time. The senior class also includes key defensive specialist Elise Gilroy and dominant middle blocker Zoe Foster, who led the team with 75 blocks.
The junior class is led by setter Sam Buckley, who
has taken home All-UAA honors the last two seasons and was an Honorable Mention All-American in 2023. Buckley provides a steadying presence for the offense while being a positive contributor on the defensive end (fifth on the team in blocks).
The Bears also have several key underclassmen, including two sophomo res: All-UAA Honorable Mention right-side hitter Leah Oyewole and libero Ellie Laird. Look for contributions from the first-year class and other sophomores, as well, over the course of the season.
Finally, the Bears’ roster will be rounded out with three fifth-years: Isabella Lipacis, an outside hitter who previously played at Colorado College; Lauren McCurley, a middle blocker who spent four years at Division II McKendree University; and returning middle/right-side hitter Lily Steinbach.
Key Matchups
Head coach Vanessa Walby, now in her 11th season, will attempt to lead the Bears to their third UAA title under her tenure. Walby continues to employ her tactical prowess to enhance the Bears’ robust offense and defensive success. Playing in one of Division III’s most competitive divisions, the Bears will once again have several tough conference matchups, many of them at home in the WashU Fieldhouse. For an early look at the Bears against national competition, check them out when they host California Lutheran University, Trinity University (Texas), and Tufts University in the East-toWest Battle Sep. 6 and 7.
Last Season: 17-2-4 Record, UAA Champions, National Runners-Up
Games to Watch: Aug. 30 vs. Trine University, Oct. 19 vs. No. 10 New York University, Oct. 27 vs. No. 16 Case Western Reserve University
RILEY HERRON MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR
In the fall of 2023, women’s soccer was WashU’s team to watch. The Bears held opponents scoreless through their first 15 games, earned their 16th University Athletic Association (UAA) title, and finished as national runners-up in a thrilling NCAA Tournament run.
Key Players
With a fresh slate of games ahead of them, the Bears’ have the potential to be just as exciting this fall. Their attack, which averaged 2.76 goals per game last season, is led by a trio of AllUAA forwards — juniors Grace Ehlert and Ella Koleno and senior Gaelen Clayton. Behind them, a balanced midfield includes senior Meryl McKenna, junior Kaci Karl, and sophomore Sophie Viscovich.
On the other side of the pitch, graduate student Ally Hackett, a Second-Team All-American last season, and All-UAA senior Emma Riley McGahan, will lead a stalwart back line that allowed just two goals in the 2023 regular season. Graduate student First-Team All American goalkeeper Sidney Conner, who now leads WashU all time in shutouts, will be key between the pipes.
Alongside seven first-year players, the Bears also added senior midfielder Katie Leeker, who was named to the all-conference team in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last year while playing for Fontbonne University. Fontbonne will no longer be fielding a women’s soccer team this fall before the school’s closure in the summer of 2025.
With their new additions, the Bears will look to fill the holes of a class of six departing seniors whose play was crucial to the team’s success.
“Those seniors will definitely be missed. I think our women
learned a lot from them, and I think we’re in a position to continue to move forward,” Conlon said. “I think we’ve got a lot of really bright things ahead of us because of what the seniors have left us.”
Key Matchups
Last season, the Bears went 10-0 in regular-season nonconference play, outscoring opponents 38-0. They will face some tougher opposition outside of the UAA this year, including a Sep. 23 rematch of last year’s Sweet 16 at No. 15 Calvin University.
Conlon’s side hopes that those non-conference matchups will prepare them well for the highly competitive UAA conference slate. Five of the Bears seven UAA opponents are ranked in the national preseason top 25, including No. 6 University of Rochester, the team who ended the Bears’ undefeated streak last fall, and No. 10 New York University.
The Bears will need to be ready to fend off nationally ranked opponents to win another conference title, but the intensity of conference play should make the Bears battle-tested ahead of the tournament.
“The easiest way to do well in the tournament is to win the conference. So we have to be ready to do that — we have to be ready to take on anyone in the UAA — and ultimately, if we can accomplish that goal of winning the UAA, we know we’ll be ready for a good run, because the conference is very good,” Conlon said.
Entering the 2024 season, the squad can look to their history for inspiration. After 2015, when the Bears lost in the National Championship game, the squad rebounded to win the program’s only national title the subsequent season. With a strong core of returning players, a trip back to the postseason appears to once again be within reach for the WashU women’s soccer team.
Despite a challenging 2023 season that ended with a 7-8-1 standing, the Washington University men’s soccer team is looking to rebound in their fall 2024 campaign, with a couple of new faces leading the charge.
After long-time head coach Joe Clarke announced his retirement last November, Andrew Bordelon stepped into the role. Clarke had served as the program’s head for nearly three decades, leading the squad to 275 wins, 11 NCAA tournament appearances, and four University Athletic Association (UAA) titles — most recently in 2021. Bordelon most recently served as an assistant coach at the Division I University of Wisconsin–Madison, and brings new energy to the team.
“My plan is to continue to build on what [Clarke] has built here, and hopefully then take it to new heights as well. It will be tough replacing a legend and a gentleman who I have so much respect for, but at the same time, you know, I have to be myself and introduce philosophies and expectations that I believe in,” Bordelon said in March.
Key Players
An important task for Bordelon will be replacing the seven seniors who have graduated since last season. Fortunately for the Bears, midfielder Owen Culver will be returning as a graduate student after a season where he led the team with 16 goals and was named to the All-UAA first team.
The Bears also bring in three graduate students who excelled at the Division I and Division III levels. Midfielder Gordon
Bernlohr and forward Jesus Tadeo join the team from Division III Catholic University and Rhodes College, respectively, and defender Cole Hutson makes the move to WashU after playing at Division I Lindenwood University.
In addition to the newcomers, the Bears will look to returners to step up this fall. Junior forward Zach Susee and senior forward Joseph Hipskind both scored four goals last season and will be important pieces of the attack. Senior midfielders Landon Green and Eugene Heger and sophomore defender Quentin Gomez, who was named the UAA Rookie of the Year in 2023, will be other players to watch this fall.
It will also be interesting to keep an eye on what Bordelon will do with the team’s three goalies — junior Adam Mallalieu and sophomores Cal L’Hommedieu and Owen Ross — all of whom split time last season.
Key Matchups
The team’s season will start Aug. 30 with a matchup at home against Millikin University, and they’ll face an early test in their final non-conference game of the season against No. 15 Ohio Northern University on Sep. 28. The UAA schedule, which includes matchups against national powerhouses like No. 7 University of Chicago, No. 20 Emory University, and No. 22 Case Western Reserve University, will feature many enticing fixtures.
WashU ended last season third from the bottom in the eightteam UAA and will hope to improve and climb the rankings this upcoming season. With a refreshed coaching staff, a returning core, and the addition of an exciting recruiting class, the Bears are assembling the pieces for a strong 2024 season.
Last Season: 7-8-1, Sixth Place in UAA
Games to Watch: Aug. 30 vs. Millikin University, Sep. 28 vs. No. 15 Ohio Northern University, Oct. 27 vs. No. 22 Case Western Reserve University,
