September 26,2024 Student Life newspaper, WashU in St. Louis
Up, up, & away!
Olivia Salinger Contributing Writer
On the weekend of Sept. 21, thousands of people flocked to view two days of The Great Forest Park Balloon Glow and Race events. Starting in 1973 with only seven balloons, this year marked the 52nd anniversary of the event and featured upwards of 50.
The Balloon Glow began celebrations on Friday, Sept. 20. Food trucks, activities, inflatables, and games kept visitors entertained until sunset, after which the Balloon Glow was planned to begin. Unfortunately, due to inclement weather and lightning, the balloons were not released from their tethers until later than anticipated. However, shortly after 8 p.m., the balloons’ ropes were extended, and the balloons took to the sky. The night ended with a fireworks show.
On Saturday, Sept. 21, WashU hosted
DJ Reggie for a midday set to celebrate the history of the Forest Park Balloon Glow and Race. The Balloon Race began in the early evening despite the fear that the weather would again hinder the festivities. PNC Bank led the pack, while others such as BarnesJewish Hospital, WashU, Post-Dispatch, Purina, and the St. Louis Magazine followed behind in waves.
This year, the PNC Bank balloon was the “hare” to the other balloons’ “hound.” The “hare” begins the race and once it lands, its team draws a target on the ground. The rest of the balloons then drop bean bags from the air, and whichever team lands their bean bag closest to that target wins. The first-place winner of the 52nd Balloon Race was Joe Nusrala, at 97 feet from the target, followed by Carlton Sumner in second place and Dan Gerbus in third, at 110 and 136 feet away, respectively.
There’s only one way to properly describe the No. 8 Washington University volleyball team: on fire. The Bears walked into the weekend with an eightgame win streak, with three games to play in two days against nationally-ranked opposition. Against No. 17 Gustavus Adolphus College, No. 9 University of La Verne, and Cornell College at home, they extended their undefeated streak to eleven.
The Bears started the weekend with a hotly contested 3-1 victory over No. 15 Gustavus Adolphus. After losing the first set, the Bears bounced back to claim each of the next three and ultimately the
victory. Each game went to 20 points, none with a margin of victory over five, with WashU narrowly winning the second set 30-28. Senior outside hitter Lucy Davis gave WashU a narrow onepoint lead late with a clutch kill followed by a Gustavus Adolphus error that let the Bears pull through.
“I think we try to stay calm in situations like those,” head coach Vanessa Walby wrote in a statement to Student Life.
“We really focus on fundamentals and reminders of what is working during those scenarios…but most importantly we try to work together as a group and trust we will all do our jobs to the best of our abilities.”
SAM POWERS, EMILY KONG, GABRIELLA CULLEN | STUDENT LIFE
Senior Lucy Davis, who had a team-high 13 kills against No. 9 La Verne, spikes the ball in the Bears’ win.
DANIA BACKAL | STUDENT LIFE
SU senators describe toxic culture after three resignations
were tabled and discussed.”
Three members of WashU’s Student Union (SU) Senate resigned from their roles — two on Sept. 17 and one on Sept. 25.
Multiple senators told Student Life that they are considering leaving or not running again due to an environment that is divisive and stressful.
Senators who spoke with
Student Life referenced a range of issues contributing to the negative culture, including experiences of intimidation and bullying, a lack of respect, and backlash from other senators. While some senators have chosen to leave their seats, others are seeking ways to improve the Senate environment.
Sophomore Mahid Abdulkarim and junior Sahil Soni both resigned at a Senate meeting on Sept. 17, a week after Senate
passed a resolution — that was later vetoed — to drop student suspension cases, to disarm the WashU Police Department, and for Chancellor Andrew Martin to resign. Senior Lauren Fulghum resigned at the meeting the following week, on Sept. 25.
Fulghum told Student Life that she resigned due to conflicting meeting schedules.
While multiple senators talked about the resolution as part of Senate’s toxic culture,
many also said that the negative environment had been growing for a while.
Abdulkarim said that he wants to address a range of issues that affect students, but he feels unable to due to the polarizing environment of Senate following the events of Oct. 7.
“I want to do other things that help students but it’s just not able to happen when we argue for hours about things like disarming WUPD,” Abdulkarim said. “[But] not in the sense that I don’t support Palestine in any way — I just signed up for this to make the student body better.”
Senior Hussein Amuri, SU president, said that he vetoed the resolution because he believed it was only passed as a result of a culture of “intimidation, bullying, and flat-out gaslighting.”
Abdulkarim mentioned a specific instance where a senator said that if other students had not studied Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS), they would never understand police discrimination.
“As a Black student, I don’t feel like I need to study WGSS to understand racism, but it was like forcing my hand to vote in favor even though I clearly disagreed,” Abdulkarim said.
Sophomore and senator Noura Habona also felt like her voice was not being heard as a Black Muslim. She said she felt uncomfortable to speak on sensitive issues, since she believed it would be twisted by members of the Senate into seeming like she wasn’t
of my own opinion, I am here for the student body and believe that the arrested students should be able to come back.”
Kipnis said that she believes many recent SU resolutions are performative and are not written with the intention of passing changes for the students.
“If [they] truly cared about bringing back the students and dropping suspensions, [the resolution sponsors] wouldn’t lump that in with clauses that call for the resignation of Chancellor Martin and disarming WUPD, which would make the entire resolution thrown out by administration,” Kipnis said. Kipnis felt most excluded when a pro-Palestine letter was posted in May to the Senate Instagram, stat-
“Several senators who voted in favor came to me in private stating that voting in favor didn’t capture how they truly felt about the content of the resolution. In their words, they ‘felt pressured’ to vote yes,” Amuri said. “Such a culture, for me, goes against the very essence of what a representative student government is supposed to be.”
Sophomore senator Emaan Sayied said that Senate has been more involved in sensitive issues, including discussions about the Israel-Hamas war and police conduct on campus. Although she sees these issues as essential, she believes that senators have not always been respectful in their conversations.
“I get told by older senators that it hasn’t always been like this,” Sayied said. “Looking back, I wish we did a better job of establishing a baseline of respect for everyone else in the room.”
“Such a culture, for me, goes against the very essence of what a representative student government is supposed to be.”
- Hussein Amuri, Student Union President
against police brutality or the violence in Gaza.
Abdulkarim voted in favor and Soni voted against the resolution, but both wished for an opportunity to table and amend it. However, they felt like they were unable to do so given how polarized the Senate had become in the last year.
“I went in there [and] realized that we’re not doing what we signed up for — debating and compromising,” Abdulkarim said. “Someone asked if we could table topics to talk more about them, and [a sponsoring senator] said that nothing would change even if they
“If a Black or Muslim senator is saying they don’t agree with clauses in your pro-Palestine resolution or that they don’t agree with disarming WUPD and want to table it to discuss it further, you should value and take their advice,” Habona said. “You can’t help a community that’s facing issues without hearing them out.”
Senator Mika Kipnis, a junior, said she felt judged and silenced because of her Jewish identity and stance on the Israel-Hamas war.
“They look at me and say she’s a stereotypical proIsraeli, who doesn’t give a f*ck about Palestine,” Kipnis said. “If you would just talk to me for a second, you would see that my perspective on the situation is more nuanced and that regardless
ing that it was signed by “a majority of senators.” However, she and the only other Jewish senator were among senators who were sent the letter for review 10 minutes before it was due, while many others were sent it much earlier that day.
“I just felt entirely silenced. It’s like [the resolution sponsors] put a pin on me as a Jewish senator and because of that my opinions aren’t valid,” Kipnis said. “I am not resigning and I will run again, because I refuse to be silenced.”
HADIA KHATRI DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION EDITOR
Senators discuss committee updates during a weekly Senate meeting, Sept. 24.
BRI NITSBERG | STUDENT LIFE
WashU revises the Student Code of Conduct
WashU’s Office of Student Conduct & Community Standards (OSCCS) released an updated Student Code of Conduct over the summer of 2024. The updates came after a semester of internal discussions and feedback from Student Union (SU) members about University policies and procedures.
The main changes to the Code consist of the addition of the Harassment and Bullying subsection under the Offenses section, the incorporation of the University’s new academic integrity process, and new definitions for terms used throughout the Code.
Nicole Gore, Associate Dean for Student Conduct and Community Standards, told Student Life in an interview that most of the recent changes to the Code were focused on the accessibility of its wording rather than any substantive changes to offenses or procedures within it.
“I think it’s important to know that this is just a revision, right? It’s not a new code — it was revised,” she said. “So some of the changes were really designed to make the Code more accessible for students.”
Gore noted that one of the changes to the Code of Conduct was the division of broader offenses, like the harassment offense, into several distinct offenses.
“If we look in the old Code, we see this one offense was for stalking, hazing, domestic violence, interpersonal violence, and harassment, right?
All in one. That’s a lot,” Gore said. “So now we’ve broken that particular provision into four separate offenses. That gives more specificity so that students understand what we’re talking about when they have to interact with our office.”
Gore also said that the most-significant revisions to the new Code are in Section II: Definitions, which expanded from four terms (“student,” “campus,” “member of the University community,” and “student group”) to 24. Notable terms added include “Student Conduct Board Chair” and “pre-hearing.” Other definitions, like the Code’s definition of consent, are not new but have been relocated to Section II with the Code’s other definitions.
Gore wrote in an email to Student Life that her office researched and consulted with various peer institutions like Emory University, Johns Hopkins University, and Duke University when revising the Code.
Gore and Dean of Students Rob Wild presented the new changes to the Code at Student Union’s (SU) joint session on April 9. Student Life previously reported on concerns raised by several SU members at the session, which primarily focused on sections of the Code pertaining to off-campus “disruptive conduct” and bullying. Some SU members were also worried that the new Code could result in students facing consequences from the University for noise complaints at off-campus locations.
Gore clarified that the consequences of noise complaints were not introduced by the updated Code. The new code simply reworded the existing scope of the consequences, which have been part of it for years.
“People are seeing [the Code’s scope] in a different way because it is phrased in a different way, but the scope of the sorts of behavior that might be a violation of the Student Code of Conduct has not changed,” Gore said.
Gore also told Student Life that she remembers SU members having concerns about the absence of the term “cyberbullying” in the updated Code, but she believes the addition of the term “bullying” adequately encompasses cyberbullying.
“Cyberbullying is also part of bullying, which is also part of harassment,” Gore said. “So we do feel like that is covered in the Code, and we’ve tried to make that more explicit by including ‘bullying’ in the new Code.”
Gore emphasized that the OSCCS holds student feedback in high regard, and anyone is free to reach out to her office with suggestions for revision or other feedback.
“Students are welcome to submit comments [or] questions [to] our general email address studentconduct@wustl.edu,” she said. “They are also welcome to meet with us, with me, with the assistant director if they do have any questions. We work very closely with campus partners to help students find answers and get them the resources and help that they need.”
WU implements new, centralized academic integrity process
Washington University implemented a centralized undergraduate academic integrity process led by two full-time academic integrity coordinators at the start of the fall 2024 semester. The new integrity process replaces the previous school-specific processes to ensure consistency in the University’s handling of alleged academic misconduct.
These changes to the academic integrity process mark the first in nearly a decade, and they were spurred by concerns about school equity and resource allocation, along with the growing influence of generative AI.
The new academic integrity process is overseen by a combined academic integrity board that includes two coordinators, 23 faculty members appointed by the Faculty Senate Council, and the Student Conduct Board — which is composed of 12 students appointed by Student Union and the Graduate Professional Student Council.
Jennifer Smith, Vice Provost for Educational Initiatives, was heavily involved in the initial proposal for changes and the decision-making that followed.
“[The] process for adjudicating academic integrity violations was different in different schools, and it seemed like it shouldn’t [be],” Smith said. “The process should be the same regardless of what school the alleged violation happened in.”
In October 2023, the
Faculty Senate and Student Conduct Board came to the decision to hire full-time academic integrity coordinators to take over the responsibilities of the faculty that ran academic integrity hearings in the past.
This change, according to Smith, was intended to allow the previously incharge faculty members more time to focus on their students, programs, and projects.
“It was about [how we] could help basically free up resources for school advising offices by taking this responsibility off of them,” Smith said.
Aspects of the new changes were proposed by a faculty committee as far back as 2018, but no real action took place until the COVID-19 pandemic.
“[Things] got pretty stressful during the COVID remote years,” Smith explained. “We started to see a lot more [academic integrity] issues with [students]. That’s what triggered the school academic integrity officers
coming together and sketching out a direction, and then pulling together the faculty and student committees to flesh it out.”
Going forward, students with alleged academic integrity violations will meet with one of the academic integrity coordinators to be informed of their rights and the forthcoming process, which may include a hearing in front of two faculty and one student member of the academic integrity board. However, Andrea Melrose and Tucker Copi, the new academic integrity coordinators, urged students to not feel too overwhelmed in case they are contacted.
“We really want the [integrity] process to be developmental,” Melrose said. “I know it creates a lot of anxiety to get a letter from one of us, but we hope that as students get to know us and get to know the process, that some of that anxiety will go away, and that we’re not so scary.”
Avi Holzman Nina Giraldo
Editors-in-Chief editor@studlife.com
Aliana Mediratta Managing News Editor
KRITIKA MAHESHWARI CONTRIBUTING WRITER
LAWRENCE HAPEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ILLUSTRATION BY ANAELDA RAMOS
ILLUSTRATION BY ANAELDA RAMOS
VOLUME 146, NO. 5
SCENE
Worth fighting for: an afternoon with WashU’s Belegarth Medieval Combat Society
Saturday afternoon, Ligget-Koenig lawn.
Although it was already 2 p.m., the South 40 was quiet, a blanket of muggy heat holding everything at a sticky, leisurely standstill. Nearby, students nursed spillover regret from the previous night or unhurriedly ambled towards the main campus for some semblance of studying. Productivity wasn’t the only facade, though. So was peace. Within minutes, this place was about to descend into a frenzied, murderous battle.
Since 2005, WashU has been at war. Twice a week, challengers armed with swords, shields, and spears descend onto the field off Shepley Drive, and with a rallying cry of “Weapons up!
Play on!” the vicious fight to the death breaks out.
The only problem is that said weapons are late, being shuttled over from Danforth House.
In the meantime, the members of the WashU Belegarth Medieval Combat Society lingered around the
picnic benches surrounding the perimeter of the field, filling water bottles and strapping on knee pads as they waited for practice to start. It was my first practice; after months of curiosity, I was finally swapping out my books to join the study of the blade.
Belegarth describes itself as a full-contact combat sport, combining fight elements of fencing and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu with the simulated aspect of Airsoft. Like other alternative subcultures — such as cosplay — crafting and customization is a large part of the activity. Players source imitation medieval weapons from
online crafters or make them by hand with hardwarestore-accessible materials like foam, wood, and PVC pipes, which are then used in hand-to-hand combat with other players. Fighting is simple: use your weapon to make hits on other players, defend against hits yourself. One hit “disables” a limb, preventing it from being used. Two “disabled” limbs equals death, signaled by dropping your weapons and leaving the field. There are several classes of weapons, but the most common is sword and shield. Practices alternate between training drills and games that wouldn’t
be out of place in a typical middle-school gym class, like capture-the-flag but upgraded with weapons. The heart of Medieval Combat, though, are line battles, where players split into two teams and simply duke it out. At their largest, battles can include hundreds of players at national meetups, which the WashU chapter travels to a few times a year.
WashU Belegarth operates under a modified version of the rules that prevents grappling and decentralizes a focus on physical strength. It’s one of the many steps Belegarth has taken in recent years to make the sport more inclusive and social.
“Weapons have become a lot more accessible. They used to be very heavy, so you would need a certain amount of raw strength to get into it. Now, technology has trended towards lighter gear, which people who have less strength or certain body weaknesses can use. I have weak wrists, so our old stuff I couldn’t really use at all. But with newer technology, I’m able to actually participate,” Angela He, WashU and Belegarth alum and current staff advisor for the club, explained. However, the simulated weapons are as far as the fictive elements go. Contrary to common misconception,
Belegarth is not a form of Live Action Roleplaying, or LARP. There is nothing in the meticulous, 29-pagelong Book of War forbidding players from dressing up. As then-senior Ben Mudd reported to StudLife in 2008, “You can say you’re an elf, I guess, but it doesn’t mean anything,” he said.
Sixteen years later, the misnomer of a reputation still follows Belegarth. You don’t have to scroll far down the notoriously-democratic anonymous social media forum Sidechat to find references to the “LARPers on the lawn.”
WashU Belegarth is more than familiar with their reputation. The play may involve unconventional elements and require some imagination, but that’s as far as the fantasy goes.
2024 St. Louis Fellows Showcase: How WashU students engaged with the STL community this summer
ELIZABETH
JUNIOR
“I’ve been in St. Louis for three years now, and I’ve never spent a summer here,” senior Caroline Fong said.
She and many other St. Louis Fellows echoed the same sentiment: while WashU is in St. Louis, students find it hard to actually engage with the community. In the business of changing that, the Gephardt Institute runs their St. Louis Fellows Program each summer.
Another fellow, junior Spencer Annor-Ampofo, remarked that the program “changed how I saw St. Louis.”
Each year, the Gephardt Institute accepts applications from students who are interested in community engagement in and around St. Louis. Most students who are accepted into the program are paired with
a nonprofit organization for the summer through an additional application and selection process during the spring. The fellowship’s cohort also includes some fellows who are part of subcohorts working on more specific projects. In general, the program balances individualized work for specific organizations with cohortwide activities, community engagement opportunities, and curriculum.
The program was started in 2008 as the Goldman Fellows program by a WashU student who spent a summer in St. Louis and felt compelled to support other students in doing the same.
According to senior Grace Archer, “it’s a well known program, and it’s definitely growing.” 40 WashU students participated in the program this summer, which is a sizable increase from 32 students last year, and 22 two
years ago.
“It launched as 10 fellows,” Sarah Nash said, the Community Engagement Manager at the Gephardt Institute, “and then about four years ago they started to scale it up.”
“My favorite parts are just getting to watch students engage with and fall in love with St Louis,” Nash said. In addition to working 35 hours a week for their specific nonprofit, Gephardt prioritizes getting fellows out into the city during “Engage STL” days, where they visit different neighborhoods, meet with residents, eat locally, and support small businesses.
The organizations represented in the program vary widely. While some commit to hosting a fellow annually, new organizations apply each year. Nash embraces the fact that “every year we have fellows who introduce us to new community partners.” Since the program has a variety of different ways for fellows to choose their organization, Nash likes to say that the program is “student-led, but Gephardt-supported.”
summer’s fellows presented on their summer projects and recounted their experiences at the Delmar DivINe for all to see at their annual showcase. This year’s fellows worked at a wide range of nonprofits and organizations.
As the culmination of their 10 weeks of work, this
ILLUSTRATION BY ERICA SHI
Senior fellow Caroline Fong (left) smiles with her boss from her summer internship, L. Elaine Sutton Mbionwu (right).
Grab popcorn: WashU Film Club holds inaugural Film Festival
BRICEIDA BELLON
BRANDON CHOI
NICOLE RESNICK
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
“Film is such a special way…to show people art and emotions and feelings… where even through language barriers you can still understand stories and get to experience them,” Sophie Weiss, junior and film director, said. WashU Film Club created a space to make such an experience possible.
On Sept. 13 and 14, the WashU Film Club hosted its inaugural Film Festival, where filmmakers showcased submitted short films.
Audience members flocked to Simon Hall and Brown Hall, where WashU and non-WashU students alike presented narrative, documentary, and experimental films to an expectant crowd and judges. Student filmmakers were eligible to win six awards in the following categories: Best Narrative Film, Best Experimental Film, Best Documentary Film, and Best Super Short Film.
independent filmmaking that there is both quality work that is engaging while also entertaining,” she said.
“Watching [the filmmakers] put their heart, soul, time, and effort into presenting their work to the public really moves me.”
For junior and WashU Film Club president, Marielle Morrow, presenting films to a live audience was a “rewarding experience.”
“There were definitely some moments where I think I heard some of the audience members go, ‘whoa.’ It’s like all of this work that I’ve put into this has really paid off,” Morrow said.
Students weren’t limited to one film submission for the festival. Weiss, a film and media studies major, produced and assistant-directed three of the films screened at the Film Festival: “Nona,” “Blown Vein,” and “The Other Side of the Clouds.”
Back in April, the WashU Film Club announced the Film Festival, and students globally were given the opportunity to submit films until Aug. 16. After a onemonth screening period, 47 films were selected representing filmmakers from 10 different countries and 28 colleges and universities. Eleven of the 47 films were from WashU students.
but everyone contributed in different capacities, from directors to editors to extras. Weiss found that the collaborative effort was not without its challenges.
“It’s hard to work on a film in a peer environment because everybody is very much equal. However, film crews naturally have hierarchies. There’s a lot of passion in those [film] sights, so it takes a lot to be able to recognize other people’s talents and your own flaws. I think the hardest part is definitely just trying to put any differences aside to make sure the final project is the best it can be,” Weiss said.
Pham describes her movie as, “A girl gets bored and takes herself on a date.” This isn’t the first time “Crunch,” a nominee in the experimental section, has been shown.
Another challenge for Weiss was the editing and logistics.
“‘Crunch’ was also selected for an independent film festival in California, and my film has been screened at a couple of school events,” Pham said.
A film major at DePauw University, Pham reflected on her starting ideas for the movie.
in the film, recounted the differences between her experience in theatrical acting and film acting.
“It’s really different from theater, but it’s really fun.
Even sleeping is hard on screen…staying still,” she said, recalling a 20 second sleep scene that took half an hour to film in 40 degree weather.
The film was also a first for assistant director Aline Nguyen.
“‘Nona’ was the biggest undertaking up to this point that I’ve taken on,” Weiss said about “Nona’s” 20 minute run-time. “It’s a psychological thriller about a guy who has a lot of internal battles, and his relationship with women is very complicated, and he tends to use violence to replace actual emotions and empathy. We get to follow his descent into madness.”
The team got the rights to Stephen King’s book through a project called “The Dollar Baby.”
“There’s the actual cut of the film, but then there’s color, sound, music, and putting it all together…We do our best to prepare for everything possible, but there’s always something that happens, whether it’s weather or a location we thought we’d secured not working out,” Weiss said.
With so many moving parts, from actors to weather, a designated person to coordinate roles is imperative. This was Weiss’s job as a producer and assistant director.
“It was intended to be a short, sweet project. It’s originally just a class final project, and I believe at this stage of life, the story I can tell best within my abilities are things I know about myself. I have to make stories out of my own experiences before I go on and understand and portray others’ experiences,” Pham said.
For Pham, it is making movies, not watching them, that inspires her.
“I want to make things move. I feel a really strong sense of connection when I put things together that don’t seem to belong and then really harmonize,” she said.
“This was a new experience for me…I searched the internet ‘what does the assistant director do,’” she said. “Chi Q has taught me a lot about lighting and sounds and how to arrange the set.”
From start to finish, “Crunch” took two months of long work.
“I didn’t feel married to any specific points in the story, just genuinely married to the visuals of this project, and that was my main focus…It’s a first for everyone, so I wanted everyone to have the most creative liberty in it,” Le said.
“I consider ‘Crunch’ my first official film.”
This movie was a first for the film’s composer Bekah Paul as well. She enjoyed that her work on this project added something valuable to a larger project; she explained that music is an integral part of a film for her.
The films weren’t the only projects that took time. The newly-christened WashU Film Festival epitomized the significant growth and success of the WashU film and media studies program in recent years. Particularly, the festival highlighted the school’s investment in student film with the creation of the production concentration in the major.
Chapman explained that after the hiring of Professor Deirdre Maitre, the department noticed a change in student culture.
“We noticed another kind of big leap in terms of the skills that they were getting in classes, and the ambition of the films that they were making, and just the culture of the students all being excited about film together,” Chapman said.
For Morrow, preparation for her film “To My Future, Whether Near or Far,” came in part from the program’s emphasis on theory and history.
“A lot of inspiration in the style of my film came from movies that I saw…and I’ve written essays about in classes,” Morrow said.
As a whole, the festival provided a space for WashU and the larger film community of student filmmakers to present their creations on the big screen and to celebrate the medium.
“I am really impressed with the representation from different parts of the world,” Deirdre Maitre, senior lecturer in the WashU film and media studies department, said. “I am also really inspired that they have chosen films that are meaningful…it’s central to
“You’re able to buy the rights to a Stephen King short story for a dollar,” Weiss said.
As it turns out, it’s easier to get rights to a Stephen King story than to produce a film, especially when working with a team of almost 30 people. Weiss’s team was entirely WashU students,
PUZZLE PUZZLE Mania
“I love producing because it’s the organizational side, and every role is so important, so being the sort of overhead watcher, I get to see everything that’s going [on],” she said.
“Crunch” was a movie submitted by students from DePauw University. Though out of state, several students, including Chi Q Pham (director), Aline Ngyuen (assistant director), Jolie Le (actor), and Bekah Paul (composer), attended the festival.
“It completely changes it and so does the lack of music. It adds a whole other dimension to the film…The music makes the emotions better, or detaches the audience for a certain part, or brings them in, and it adds a whole other aspect to it…it’s definitely a core part to the film,” Paul said.
Jodie Le, the lead actress
“I think the film department is obviously doing an amazing job just from the quality of their productions…Seeing your film on your laptop or in your class is one thing, but seeing it on a big screen with other people is a completely different feeling and [one] that everybody should experience,” Emmett Williams, a judge and the Director of Festivals Curation and Education at Cinema St. Louis, said. “So the fact that this festival is providing that for people is such a big deal.”
ILLUSTRATIONS BY JAIME HEBEL
“The first foray into production that we did in film and media studies was by hiring our screenwriter Richard Chapman. Professor Chapman has taught screenwriting for many years, and [he is] an industry veteran,” Professor John Powers, a judge and associate professor of film and media studies, said. “But when we started the production concentration, which was in 2018, that’s when we really started to see the filmmaking side of things beyond screenwriting really take off.”
FORUM
21st century witch-hunts: addressing cycles of hate against women
If you have been on the internet at any point in the last 10 years, you have probably encountered the “White Boy of the Month” phenomenon. This concept mocks cyclical online trends heralding a new famous white boy for his looks and charisma. From viral pictures of Logan Lerman with salt-and-pepper hair to the reevaluation of Jeremy Allen-White, any Caucasian male celebrity can have his moment in the spotlight. With that in mind, it is natural to wonder what the female equivalent of this phenomenon is. In my opinion, famous women also get a monthly revival; their names start to trend on Twitter, Buzzfeed pops out 30 opinion articles about them, and the internet’s newest “Most Hated Woman of the Month” takes over. Before anyone points out the laundry list of sins for the women in this article, I want to clarify that the women in this article are
not perfect or above criticism. However, the vitriolic hatred women are met with online, particularly when contrasted with male absolution and idolization, is astonishing.
A few years ago, Brie Larson became the target of online hate after she played Captain Marvel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) film of the same name. Though it started with reasonable criticism of the movie and Larson’s acting, dislike of the film rapidly turned into a hate campaign against the actress. People analyzed and dissected Larson’s interviews and concluded that her co-stars disliked her. Larson’s history of advocacy for diversity in cinema was rewritten as a man-hating crusade by MCU fans. Her previous statements on diversity were twisted into the narrative that she hated men, and she was deemed too woke for Marvel. Suddenly, every social media site was littered with video compilations and rants explaining why Brie Larson sucks. Even after the
steady decline in the quality of MCU movies and the plethora of controversies that have plagued the cast and crew of these films, the hate towards Brie Larson surpassed each of these in extremity.
Hatred of female celebrities has been normalized. To this day, Joey King’s face ignites unabashed hatred in people’s hearts. The young actress has received constant, undeserved online hate. After the “The Kissing Booth” movies, King publicly dated actor Jacob Elordi and was mocked for her looks, which snowballed into mass judgment of her personality. Now, every project her name is attached to becomes subject to ridicule.
A very different example of this phenomena is Jennifer Lawrence, who was an internet darling for a while, until everyone started to hate her. Lawrence was the poster girl for relatable celebrities; she was awkward, clumsy, silly, and pretty. Between professing her love of pizza too often and tripping during award
shows twice, the internet got tired of Lawrence’s relatability and the hate began. Eventually, Lawrence took a five-year break from acting, partly due to the wave of criticism leveled against her.
Women of color experience a different form of online abuse at the intersection of racism and sexism, but the cycle is the same. Usually, a young woman of color is placed in proximity to one of the internet’s favorite white boys, and all hell breaks loose. This cycle is particularly insidious because of how unwarranted the hate is. Usually, women of color receive this treatment simply for succeeding in their field.
When Avantika Vandanapu was fan-cast as Rapunzel with Milo Manheim as Flynn Rider, the internet rallied against Avantika, outraged over the casting of a brown woman in a previously white role. The actress received backlash over a rumor, and her comments filled up with racism and misogyny. The same thing happened to Rachel Zegler after being cast as
Snow White in the liveaction movie. Zegler was deemed “too dark” to play Snow White. The onslaught of hatred for these actresses snowballed because people weaponized their criticism of blind casting to scrutinize these actresses’ every move. Zegler was accused of being ungrateful for criticizing the original Disney film. As a result, her personality and looks were moralized and used against her.
Earlier this year, British actress Francesca Amewudah-Rivers was cast as Juliet in a stage version of “Romeo and Juliet” alongside Tom Holland. Fans of Holland attacked the actress for her looks on social media. The online abuse spread, and Amewudah-Rivers received violently racist and misogynistic messages about her suitability for the role. Though Amewudah-Rivers had starred in the BBC show “Bad Education,” she did not have the same level of fame as her co-star or any of this article’s aforementioned celebrities. The backlash against Amewudah-Rivers
was horrific, directed at her because of her proximity to a beloved “White Boy of the Month” and rooted in misogynoir. Most of the hatred directed at her came from people who would never watch the play, and this hatred would have never occurred without Holland in the role. It was simply online communities taking advantage of a situation to disparage a woman of color. The celebrities on this list will recover from the hate campaigns against them — some already have. Celebrities will likely bounce back from internet hate, but this is a cycle. Men accused of violence (Brad Pitt, Shia LaBeouf, Chris Brown, etc.) receive less backlash than women accused of being rude or annoying.
‘Kamala is brat’ and pop culture politics
of social media engagement, however, is unprecedented.
On July 21, 2024, pop singer Charli XCX posted on X saying “kamala IS brat.”
The internet went wild with edits, memes, TikTok sounds, and trends, causing an explosion of attention around the new presidential candidate. In turn, the Harris campaign embraced the endorsement with small moves like temporarily changing the @ KamalaHQ X banner to match the format of the “brat” album cover.
As a sociology major who is constantly thinking cynically about public relations and the way famous people market themselves, I’m bound to be hyperaware and hypercritical of these topics. This interaction is fun and lighthearted, but it could indirectly contribute to an audience without critical media literacy voting in an uninformed way.
Other relatively superficial appeals to young voters have led to campaign successes in the past; for example, John F. Kennedy’s generally-agreedupon attractiveness made a significant impact on voter perception of his first-ever televised debate against Nixon. Actual celebrity endorsements have, of course, also contributed to a presidential win, as many believe Taylor Swift’s Joe Biden cookies did in 2020.
A reciprocal interaction between political and pop culture figures with this level
Social media’s increasingly major role has considerable implications for the ways young adults interact with and make decisions about politics and voting; it can increase visibility and accessibility of information, but with that accessibility comes a flood of unimportant information as well.
Some believe that any tactic that encourages young people to learn about candidates and perform their civic duty, including linking pop culture and politics, results in a net positive. This increase in youth civic engagement is necessary, as older voters show up to the polls much more consistently than do their younger counterparts. Plus, in the wake of Joe Biden’s time spent as the 2024 Democratic Party presidential candidate, the Democratic party is certainly incentivized to reverse public perception of them as decrepit and old. What better vehicle to appeal to disengaged young people than one of the most popular albums of the summer?
It’s no secret that the current political landscape discourages and disappoints most people our age, constantly bombarded by doom and gloom on the news and social media. Many of us feel disempowered to make any difference in the United States government and the social systems it oversees. At a certain point of looming dread and loss of control, it’s
easy to disengage with the election. The cost of investing time and energy into researching current events, candidates, and policies can seem disproportional to the hypothetical benefit.
But when this begins manifesting in an influx of unserious internet content surrounding a very serious situation (which is quite literally life or death for some people), the consequences can run deeper than a few individual losses.
Sure, politics has been turned into meme content for over a decade, especially around presidential elections. (I’d argue that old political cartoons were the equivalent pre-memes.) There’s no foreseeable end to that phenomenon. But a dance to a Trump soundbite turned song, “They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats…,” is a completely different beast. A racist comment about Haitian immigrants simply becomes another joke on TikTok or Instagram reels because we don’t know how else to cope. Overexposure to ridiculously prejudiced statements causes us to forget the institutional discrimination backing those statements.
Political engagement via pop culture is alluring when we are too tired and scared to engage in more meaningful ways. Breaking down complex issues into humorous posts that take advantage of a popular commodity
— because music is a product that requires marketing just like any other thing being sold —makes it easy to understand and strips it of emotionally exhausting elements.
Are we critically reading this content, though? Is it really true that anything that gets young people to vote is a good thing? I worry that this disengaged, recreational engagement gives political figures the opportunity to capitalize on young people’s exhaustion without doing anything positive for their citizens. I worry that those
citizens won’t recognize that in the depths of the internet’s meme-ification of every interview and debate.
Maybe people aren’t planning to vote for Kamala in November just because Charli XCX mentioned her once, but at what point could someone’s political world become so saturated with celebrity culture, Instagram posts, and TikTok trends that it’s hardly based on the actual campaign anymore?
Though it may not color a person’s whole worldview, I still implore my peers to step back from pop culture politics
and consider the motivations behind each public figure’s actions: how much publicity does each figure gain, and what kind? Is the potential for cash (either directly as compensation or through a surge in public visibility) overriding a figure’s true values? Are a figure’s true values of interest to you, someone who does not know them personally? Answering these questions may change how interactions between public figures appear, and how much they influence their audience’s opinion.
ILLUSTRATION BY CHARLIE WANG
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SPORTS
Athlete of the Week: Zach Susee’s journey from high school stardom to WashU
The Bears showed poise throughout the match with a string of timely shots to take each of the next two sets. Senior outside hitter Jasmine Sells once again came through for the Bears with a season-high 22 kills and her first 20 kills, 20 digs match of her collegiate career.
Junior setter Sam Buckley, who was named the American Volleyball Coaches Association Division III Player of the Week, logged 53 assists in the win over Gustavus Adolphus. Her role as a setter is crucial to the success of other players like Sells.
“Sam and I have always been close. I think this year especially we have a lot of trust in each other, which has helped with our connection on and off the court,” Sells wrote to Student Life.
“All of our hitters work really hard with our setters to connect, which is particularly important for our middles who run a faster tempo.”
WashU’s second match of the weekend was against powerhouse University of La Verne. WashU’s offensive output was too much for La Verne. Five members of the WashU lineup had eight or more kills while the entire lineup only had two errors, which led to an efficient and deadly attack that kept the opposing team on their toes.
The onslaught was led by outside hitters Sells and Davis. Although the score may have said it was three sets to none, the games turned out to be much closer than that. After a 25-16 victory in the first set where the Bears only trailed for the first point, the second set was much closer.
In a back-and-forth battle, the teams traded runs until the score was 26-26. From there, WashU pulled away to win on two costly errors by the Leopards.
The final set looked as if the Bears were losing steam, as they went down 19-14. However, the team then reeled off six straight points, including kills from Sells and senior Zoe Foster and more errors from La Verne. The game continued to go back and forth until the teams were tied 24-24. At this point, the Bears took matters into their own hands, as graduate student Lily Steinbach got two back-to-back kills to end the match. The Bear Invite came to a close against Cornell College, and the Bears were looking to finish the weekend with a third win. However, the game started
LEWIS RAND IZZY MBATAI JUNIOR SPORTS EDITOR CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Junior Zach Susee has been a standout for the Washington University men’s soccer team this season. Susee has started in all eight of the team’s games so far this year, and he has recorded four goals and a team-high six assists. The Minnesota native is also a captain for the Bears. Susee sat down with Student Life to discuss growing up with former collegiate athlete parents, his goals for the 2024 season, and which professional player he models his game after.
off bleak for WashU with a first-set loss that was littered with 11 errors.
In the second set, the team went down 9-3 early. WashU kept the game close with kills by Foster and sophomore Leah Oyewolel.
Nearing the end of the set, the score was 24-22 in favor of the Rams. Facing a 2-0 deficit and all the momentum for the Rams, Sells and Buckley had other ideas. Back-to-back kills tied the score up 24-24, before two errors from the opposing team won the set for the Bears 26-24. This was the turning point for the squad, who won the third set in smooth fashion, never trailing and attacking the Rams from all sides of the court.
Foster had two blocks early that set the tone for the squad, and seven different players had kills in the set. The Bears boast a well-rounded attack, which is enabled by the setters’ ability to spread the ball around.
“Particularly when we pass well, we are able to utilize all of our hitters,” Sells wrote. “Having every hitter involved makes our offense unpredictable, which allows us to capitalize on offensive opportunities.”
The final set was another back-and-forth battle, with errors on both sides of the court keeping the game close. Eventually, WashU capitalized, turning a 17-14 deficit into a 17-19 lead. The Bears never relinquished the lead from there, ending the fourth set just like the second one: two straight errors from the Rams.
WashU won the match 3-1 and ended the invitational with a sweep, a true testament to the potential of this team. Being tested twice against ranked teams was nothing for the likes of the Bears, who have now won 11 games in a row. According to Sells, the team’s depth and mindset have been crucial to the strong start.
“I think our team is doing well because we are utilizing our depth in every position, and playing to win instead of playing not to lose,” she wrote.
Update: In their last game before the start of conference play, WashU beat Webster 3-1. The Bears will put their 12game win streak on the line when they play No. 7 Emory University, No. 21 Case Western Reserve University, and the University of Rochester in the first University Athletic Association (UAA) Round Robin Sept. 28 and 29.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Student Life (SL): How did you get into the sport of soccer?
Zach Susee (ZS): My dad was a Division I soccer player. When I was three or four years old, he put me in the rec and from there, I just loved it. It was my main sport, starting from like six and onwards, I played travel and I credit my dad mostly for that aspect of it.
SL: Both of your parents were collegiate athletes. How did that influence the athlete you are today?
ZS: Just being able to ask them both for advice. My mom was a college gymnast, so she always took the more injury prevention side and my dad is like the psychopath soccer player, kind of, so he was always pushing me harder. He wanted me to buy cleats that were two sizes too small, and they would debate over stuff like that. It really helped me, not only with my motivation, but also just having someone to talk to that understood growing up as an athlete and having the same ambitions as I did was huge for my development.
SL: When did you decide that you wanted to play college soccer and how did you land on WashU?
ZS: I probably decided I wanted to play college soccer when I was like seven. My dad had this big poster in our basement that was from his senior year at [University of] Richmond that had him and a couple other guys on it. Being a curious kid, I asked him about it and he was like, “Yeah, that was when I played college soccer.” And I was like, that’s what I want to do. I had a really long, dragged-out recruiting process. I took a gap year, so it took me a while before I decided on WashU. But I think [former head coach] Joe [Clarke] was a big, big influence in that. And then I just really liked the academic side of it. The year before I came, they
won the conference championship. So being able to compete for that and also go to a top 25 university was such a good draw, it’s hard to turn down.
SL: In your senior year of high school, you won the Gatorade Minnesota State Player of the Year Award. What was that experience like?
ZS: You know, because it was COVID, it was a little bit less. I didn’t have to give a speech or anything, which I was really happy about. Normally, there’s a big state tournament banquet in Minnesota, and I remember seeing, when I was a junior, the seniors all having to give their speech. I was like, “I do not want to do that,” but it was really cool just to get the recognition after working so hard. And it’s kind of cool that there’s a banner of me up in Shakopee High School. I worked at a summer camp this last summer, and there’s a couple people that work there that go to Shakopee High School, and they looked up at me and they’re like, “You’re the guy from the poster.” I’m like, “Yep, that’s me.” It’s a little awkward, but it’s funny that people know me that way now.
SL: Obviously, you performed at a very high level in high school. What was the transition to WashU and collegiate soccer like?
ZS: It was definitely different. When I came in I had only pretty much ever played forward or attacking midfielder, and the first eight games of my college career, I played center defensive midfield, just because we had a ton of injuries my freshman year and that was where we needed players. I’m happy to play anywhere but it was definitely different. Obviously the speed of play is significantly higher than high school, so it’s definitely an adjustment. This year, I finally settled into the flow of play a little bit more and put on a little bit more weight and got a little more physical, which has helped a lot.
SL: You are a captain on the team this year. What does that leadership role look like?
ZS: It’s definitely been a bit of a weird adjustment, just because when you come in, there’s these old guys, and you’re like, “They’ve been here forever, they know everything.” Then when you get to that position, and you’re the one that’s the old guy, you’re like, they didn’t know anything, you’re pretty much doing it on the fly. Obviously with the new coaching staff, that’s also been an adjustment, but I think it’s been good. We had a lot better turnouts at captain’s practices this year, and it’s definitely fun to be in a leadership role and on a team.
SL: What are your goals for the season both personally and as a team?
ZS: I think the goal for everyone is to win a national championship. Everyone that comes to WashU comes here because they want to compete. They don’t come here because it’s just a school to go to to play soccer, we all came here because we want to win a national championship. I think that is the most important thing for everyone on the team. You know, the personal stuff is whatever to me. I’d take a zero-goal and zeroassist season if it meant that we won a national championship.
SL: Shifting gears, you’re a Computer Science major. How did you come to decide on that?
ZS: My school had some computer science growing up. I took robotics in 8th grade and I took AP Computer Science Principles my freshman year and I absolutely hated it that year, so I didn’t do any more of it in high school. I came here, took [CSE] 131 and I was like wait, I actually really like this. I really like the appeal of the work-life balance of software and also just really like coding. I think it’s a fun puzzle to work on.
SL: What do you like to do for fun outside of soccer?
ZS: When I’m not stressed out of my mind, I play a lot of FIFA. I think guys on the team can attest that I put a lot of hours in on that. Then I spend time with my friends and call my girlfriend who is 500 miles away. Those are probably the three biggest things.
SL: Who do you model your game after?
ZS: My favorite player was Eden Hazard. I was a Chelsea fan growing up. I probably watched the video “Eden Hazard - The Art of Turning” on YouTube 150 times. I always wanted to play like him growing up because I’m a short guy. He was short and just a tricky dribbler.
SL: If you could play a pickup soccer game with three professional players from any time in history, who would they be?
ZS: Oh, definitely Pelé, because I want to see how good he is. Like, I’m just so curious because he played in just such a different era. Probably in the same boat, I’d bring Maradona and Messi, because I think they’re the best of their three eras. It’d be cool to see them all in the field at same time and hopefully prove my point that Messi is by far the greatest player of all time.
SL: My last question is one that we ask in all of our Athlete of the Week interviews. Would you rather have fish for hands or adopt a child everytime you hear Bohemian Rhapsody?
ZS: I think I hear Bohemian Rhapsody at least 15 times a year. So I’m thinking, I’m 22, hopefully I live to at least 80. That’s a lot of children. That’s several hundred children. I’m gonna have fish for hands, I think that probably ends my soccer career as well. So I don’t know, either way I’m pretty much screwed, but I think I’m taking the fish for hands because I don’t think I can deal with, you know, many hundreds of children.
2024-2025 Athlete of the Week Tracker: Adopt a Child 0. Fish for Hands 1.
Zach Susee leads WashU with six assists this season.
Junior Eva Boling and sophomore Naya Ohuabunwa attempt to block a shot in the team’s win over Webster.
JIALING SUN | STUDENT LIFE
BRANDON JUAREZ-RAMOS | STUDENT LIFE
Football dominates Carroll
35-7 in home opener
In the third quarter of their home opener, the Washington University football team was riding high. Sophomore defensive back Brett Kersemeier intercepted a Carroll University pass for a touchdown that dropped Pioneers quarterback Caden Pendleton’s completion rate to a meager two for 19, then ran it 52 yards for a pick six. WashU was up by double digits.
To put it simply, WashU’s game plan was working.
“Our coaches wanted us to play fast and trust the game plan they gave us,” Kersemeier said. “We did that, and we saw the result.”
With their 35-7 routing of Carroll on Sept. 21, the Bears improved to 2-0 record and maintained their undefeated streak against their conference
rival in the opening game of College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) play. WashU also received votes in the D3Football.com Top 25 poll.
“I just thought it was such better football today against a good team,” head coach Aaron Keen said. “I’m even more excited about how much better we can be.”
Both teams struggled to score on their first two drives, but WashU aimed to set the tone before the end of the first quarter.
Led by senior running back Kenneth Hamilton and senior receiver Collin Goldberg, WashU drove down the field, highlighted by Goldberg’s 11-yard reception on a crucial third down. Three plays later, sophomore quarterback Levi Moore threw a quick pass to junior running back Fred Ware, who ran past Carroll defenders for a 25-yard touchdown.
Despite Carroll’s challenging defense, the Bears’
offense was prolific. Senior starting quarterback Clark Stephens continued to lead the passing game, completing 11 of 18 attempts and contributing 88 yards to the team’s 146 passing yard total. The run game, though, was most lethal. Hamilton led the halfbacks with 72 rushing yards.
“This Carroll defense has made things complicated from a play-calling perspective over the years because they give you a lot of different looks,” Keen said. “So when you can run the ball, that helps a lot.”
On the next drive, Bears first-year cornerback Trent Carrier recovered a bad snap on a Pioneer punt attempt for a turnover. The Bears’ offense took advantage of their field positioning in the red zone, and drew up a double pass play. Moore pitched the ball to graduate student tight end Grant Hajicek, who then passed it to sophomore tight end John Benke who was wide
open in the endzone for his first career reception and touchdown.
Late in the second quarter, WashU’s defense forced another turnover as sophomore linebacker Joy Chane recovered a fumble near Carroll’s 30-yard line. WashU, once again, had great field positioning and was led by Hamilton and Goldberg as they advanced down the field, highlighted by Goldberg’s 19-yard catch near the goal line.
The Bears added another seven points and a oneyard touchdown from Hamilton, extending their lead to 21-0 into halftime.
Throughout their week three matchup, the WashU defense maintained control of the game by forcing turnovers and holding Carroll to 166 yards of total offense. Moreover, the Bears’ secondary forced Pendleton, the Pioneer quarterback, into his worst collegiate performance with a 10.5% completion rate.
“Our defensive coaches
did a great job in preparations from week one to week three,” Keen said. “There’s a lot of improvement in technique and scheme.”
Late in the third quarter, Kersemeier returned his interception for a touchdown to improve the WashU advantage to 28-0. The pick-six was the sophomore’s first interception with WashU and the first defensive touchdown for the Bears this year.
“Their receiver ran the out route, and I just jumped for it,” Kersemeier said. “It felt really good.” Carroll responded with their only touchdown of the game in the fourth quarter, but on the next drive, Moore evaded the Carroll defense for a career-high 69-yard touchdown run to increase WashU’s lead to 35-7.
Moore, who is typically the team’s backup quarterback behind Stephens, had his hand in all of the Bears’ offensive touchdowns against the Pioneers.
“If you have a quarterback like Levi [Moore] who can run, you’ve got a plus run game,” Keen said. “It just adds another dimension to our offense.” Next weekend, the Bears will travel to Naperville, Illinois to face the No. 1 North Central College Cardinals. The Cardinals are the most dominant team in all of Division III and have given WashU plenty of fits over the years, including last year’s 49-3 victory over the Bears. WashU has not defeated North Central since the Bears joined the CCIW in 2018. Still, WashU is embracing this challenge as they look to prove themselves in conference play.
“Our guys were told that we’re going to compete for championships,” Keen said. “So to have the opportunity to go play for play against the No. 1 team in the country? What more can you ask for?”
Senior Taidhgin Trost evades the Carroll defenders during WashU’s home opener.
