Checking in with students on the first day of the fall semester.
(Photo on pg 8)
CLASSES
Upperclassmen give advice on how to navigate 100-level courses. (Scene, pg 4)
Led by a group of graduate students, there are high hopes for football going into this season. (Sports, pg 7)
Missouri laws SB39 and SB49 took effect this past Monday. Both are facing lawsuits from multiple organizations.
SB39 makes it illegal for students at all public, private, and charter schools to play sex-specific sports that do not match the gender they were assigned at birth. SB49 bans the new administration of “cross-sex hormones” or pubertyblocking drugs for minors, incarcerated people, and people who use Medicaid; however, those who were receiving treatment before Aug. 28 remain eligible. Washington University professors with expertise in transgender studies believe that the ban will have a profound impact on both the university and the wider Missouri LGBTQ+ community. At the moment, the University has not released an official statement responding to the ban. Some students have reported feeling disheartened by the University administration’s lack of public acknowledgement.
Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications Julie Flory sent a statement about the ban to Student Life.
“[We] remain committed to providing compassionate, family-centered care to all of the patients and families we serve,” the University said. They said the Center has reviewed all allegations before determining that “physicians and staff have treated patients according to the existing standard of care.”
Sophomore Penny Thaman, co-president of Transcending Gender (TG), a student-run group that offers a safe space for individuals who wish to discuss and find support for their gender identity or expression, was one student disappointed by the University’s lack of public statement responding to the state ban. “I don’t feel like the
administration is doing everything they could to really support trans rights,” she said.
She was specifically upset with the fact that Chancellor Martin willingly let public officials investigate the WashU Trasngender Center (WUTC) earlier this year.
The notion that this ban is a part of a larger political agenda is an opinion shared by multiple university professors, including Brown School Lecturer Elizabeth Fuch, who also serves on the University LGBTQ Council. Fuch believes there is a chance that full bans on gender-affirming care could pass into law in the future.
“Some entity is really interested in homogenizing further the United States,” she said.
Fuch, who was a lobbyist for trans rights in Missouri, helped escort transgender children to the state capitol in an attempt to make politicians aware of who was affected by signing anti-trans legislation into law.
Medical bans have a direct impact on Fuch’s students. She once saw one of her students coloring a protest sign which read “Hitler started with trans people too.” Fuch said that it was “the most surreal moment of [her] life.”
Brown School Professor Paz Galupo studies queer resilience and BIPOC members of the transgender community. When Galupo started at WashU earlier this semester, they were interested in seeing how many families with at least one LGBTQ+ member are leaving Missouri due to legislation like SB39 and SB49.
Initially they thought it would be hard to find people who were fleeing – but it wasn’t.
“You talk to anybody, you know, within the community and everybody has a story about people who are making these really heartwrenching decisions for their family,” said Galupo.
Galupo believes that these families are choosing to leave because “they are not having any
of their basic needs met,” and “can’t keep their kids safe.”
Galupo sees laws like these, and the politicians who write them, as having the potential to fracture the LGBTQ+ community, and cause “lesbian and gay individuals [to] want to distance themselves from the trans community.”
According to them, the politicians have been intentional in “isolating trans issues as if we’re not talking about human rights, and if we’re not talking about the right to autonomy of everybody’s body.”
One thing that has really stuck with Galupo is the fact that these transgender bans are actually passing in state legislatures. Assistant Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Tamsin Kimoto spoke about the ban in Missouri specifically and said that other states are viewing it as a legal “litmus test.”
Kimoto agrees with Galupo
and sees the issue of transgender health as part of a larger medical and political debate.
“I think what a lot of people have tended to miss in thinking about the political significance of something like Roe v. Wade is that it wasn’t just a landmark case for abortion. It was a landmark case for the right to privacy,” they said.
Teaching Professor for Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies
Professor Amy Eisen Cislo said that the part of SB49 that prohibits prisoners who weren’t receiving gender-affirming care before Aug. 28 from doing so now seemed like “cruel and unusual punishment” and a violation of Title IX. She described this ban as being the work of politicians pushing an agenda rather than doing what constituents actually want.
“There are people who aren’t even sure what the legislature is trying to ban and some people are believing the false narrative…
artificial intelligence) must be appropriately acknowledged and work that is presented as original must be, in fact, original.” How professors take it from there is up to them. Syllabi run the spectrum of how much to permit or ban the technology, with little to no way to enforce those bans.
Canvas as a way to try and catch academic integrity violations, including AI related ones, with the caveat that professors should not rely solely on the technology to assume that someone has used AI.
[that] trans and drag are all of these scary, evil, gender-bending bodily changes that disrupt normative society,” she said.
She highlighted that knowing someone who is transgender can make “you just feel threatened by the legislation,” but that if someone knows nothing about transgender studies they could be more likely to believe “false narrative[s]” of politicians as facts.
Looking ahead, Cislo has one message for all students, especially those concerned about this legislation.
“Vote! Vote. That would be my message. Make sure you understand the issues and vote for people who will advocate for what you think best. If you don’t vote, you have no say,” she said. “And if enough people who care about LGBTQ+ rights care to elect representatives who have that same concern, we’re not going to be dealing with this.”
This is the first full academic year for professors and students to contend with the academic integrity implications of generative AI.
In the past, students could plagiarize information, but their work could be scanned by highly accurate plagiarism detection tools. These tools could also pinpoint which parts of the content were taken from other parts of the internet.
AI detectors are unable to
pinpoint why they flag content as potentially plagiarized because they learn to make their decisions based on data from other pieces of writing. This leads to a higher rate of false positive flagging for AI work, and makes it nearly impossible for a professor to ever be sure that a given piece of work was plagiarized with AI.
The academic integrity section of the “Syllabus Resources and Template Language” document that faculty receive states that “in all academic work, the ideas and contributions of others (including generative
Jennifer Smith, Vice Provost for Educational Initiatives, said that professors should assume that students are going to be using ChatGPT and that nobody she’s spoken with is “banning generative AI,” although she added that might not be the case for all professors. Smith said that beyond banning directly copying and pasting a chat bot’s direct response to a prompt, which professors might be able to flag on their own as plagiarized, it is futile to ban the technology.
She said a philosophy colleague argued that enacting an unenforceable ban undermines the rule of law. “When you make rules that are fundamentally unenforceable, you diminish the value of rules in general,” Smith said, summing up her point. Turnitin is still being used on
“I don’t want students to be freaked out that they’re going to get falsely accused of using AI,” Smith said. “That’s why we ended up in this middle place where that’s something that might alert a faculty member to take a closer look at a student’s work to see if it shows any of the other signs of use of AI.”
Some professors are letting their students use AI, but are requiring that the students let them know.
Dr. Joseph Loewenstein, Director of the Humanities Digital Workshop and the Interdisciplinary Project in the Humanities, said he’s asking students to tell him when they’ve used AI, in part to help him pinpoint why something in their work might be inaccurate.
“I’m going to encourage students to tell me if they’re using it, but frequently I won’t
Washington University has introduced five new local restaurants to campus, while also changing pre-existing dining locations such as the Danforth University Center (DUC) and Bear’s Den (BD) dining halls.
The new restaurants include Beast Craft BBQ and LaJoy’s Coffee Cafe in the Schnucks Pavilion, Collins Farm in Anheuser Busch Hall, Corner 17 in Olin Library, and The Fattened Caf in McKelvey Hall.
The University is prioritizing bringing local Missouri or St. Louis restaurants on campus, in a similar model to Coffee Stamp in Hillman Hall. The restaurants are also all women or minority owned.
Director for Dining Services Andrew Watling explained why the University has taken on these local restaurants.
More than 500 people came to Zachary Porter’s memorial service in his hometown of Lake Bluff, Illinois.
Maybe it was because he was such an easy person to be friends with. Because of how quick he was to volunteer hugs and piggybacks. Maybe it was because of the expansive group of friends who loved him through the two years of school he completed at Washington University.
His fraternity brothers came to the service. His club baseball teammates attended. His friends from all over campus attended. His parents heard story after story about their son who tutored his classmate for hours and refused payment. They heard about a student who was thinking about transferring from WashU, but who said that “Zach made me like it here.
“I always looked up to Zach, even though he was younger than me,” said Elizabeth Porter, one of Zach’s two older sisters. “I knew he was great, and I really did appreciate having him as my brother when he was alive. But in death, it’s hearing all these stories just over and over again…I respect him 10 times more.”
More than 500 people came to mourn the death of the 20-year-old who, by all accounts from his family and friends, was going to be an incredible adult.
On Sunday, May 21, 2023, Zach was visiting Alaska with friends when he got stuck in a tidal mudflat. Despite troopers and rescue teams being notified, rescue efforts were unsuccessful. He is survived by his mother, father, and two sisters, as well as countless young adults from WashU and beyond who lost a lifelong friend.
“I was not the same person before I met Zach Porter, and I will not be the same person now that he’s gone,” junior Ben Coulter wrote in his memorial speech.
When Zach got to WashU, it was evident to his parents that the school was an excellent fit. He could have profound conversations late at night about the meaning of life with his roommates. He could continue his lifelong love of baseball by playing on the club team. He
could juggle all his different interests and hobbies. He could explore new interests, like philosophy.
“It was so great just to see him there, with all those diverse interests,” his dad, Todd Porter, said. “WashU was the perfect place — he felt comfortable there. It was fun to see him getting exposed to new ideas, and we were happy that he was branching out and making some smart friends.”
He was majoring in economics and data science. He talked to his parents about maybe working at the Federal Reserve writing economic policy to help with economic inequality, and to his friends about how much he would love being a high school teacher. He was excited to study at the London School of Economics over the summer. He taught chess to local elementary schoolers, despite having never played before, learning along the way. He tutored students, volunteered often, stayed on top of his studies, and still managed to find time to hone his guitar skills, polishing Blackbird through lots of practice and playing it for his friends.
If it sounds like he was wildly busy, it’s because he was never one to waste time.
“He got a lot out of life in 20 years,” junior Nikhil Datta said. “He’s definitely the greatest person I’ve ever met. I look up to him a lot — I always have, and a lot of my friends always did. We were always trying to make him proud. He was always involved in the right kind of stuff, and he really made the
world a better place.”
For Zach, that also meant improving the organizations that he was a part of, even if that meant butting against authority to do what he thought was right. “He had a very strong independent, anti-authoritarian streak,” his father Todd Porter said. “He didn’t believe in traditions for the sake of traditions. He was always skeptical. He liked to stand up and ask questions.”
At 13, Zach staged a dugout coup for his baseball team, baiting the coach into abandoning the dugout. He was a good ball player — the best on his U14 team — and late in the game, his coach said, “Okay, Zach, you’re going in.” Zach refused because the team already had a very healthy lead, insisting that the coach play the kids who hadn’t pitched all year. After heated words, his coach stormed out of the dugout, and Zach coached the team for the last four innings of the game. The team won; the coach quit; the kids who never usually got time on the mound pitched for the win, which was what was most important to him.
Five years later, his moral compass still strong as ever, he rushed a fraternity during his freshman year and then dropped it on bid night. “He was like, this is stupid — I don’t know why anyone participates in an organization that does this to its members,” his sister said. “They were like, ‘Oh, it’s tradition.’ He said, ‘That doesn’t mean we have to continue doing it.’”
Even when he eventually
found his place in another fraternity, Sigma Nu, he constantly questioned pointless rules. He was playfully admonished by his fraternity brothers for being too nice to the pledges. He liked his fraternity brothers because he felt that they were kindred spirits, his sister said, but that didn’t prevent him from voicing his opinions.
“The main role that Zach had within Sigma Nu was holding us to a high standard,” Datta said. “Zach would always speak out if he felt that something was wrong. If he felt that we were doing things because they were traditions and not because they were true to who we are, what we believe, he’d say something about it.”
Sophomore year, Zach developed a new pregame stretching routine as pitcher for the WashU’s club baseball team, the Slayers: handstands. Captain Joseph Merkedeau would always see Zach, one of the best players on the team, with his legs swaying in the air as he tried to hold himself up.
“I don’t really know that helped him stretch, but he was doing them for like 10 minutes — seeing how long he could hold a handstand,” Merkedeau said.
He also nominated himself as the team’s Twitter manager, and every game, he would tweet out a Slayer of the Day poking fun at his teammates. “Skipper Joe Merkadeau is OUT following the birth of his second child. Congrats Joe! Sam Toy has
been placed on the 120 day [injured list] following a base jumping incident,” Zach wrote on @WUSlayers. He even got the account verified with a blue checkmark, even though it only had 112 followers.
“He was a really funny guy — his style of comedy was really unique,” Merkedeau said. “He just liked to do these bits.”
His humor was just one of the many things his friends loved about him.
For some of Zach’s close friends, their first impression of him was a “sporty, stereotypical, dude,” Datta described. “But he really was not like that at all.”
Through time, they got to know his strong values: his compassion, his clear priorities in life, and his friendship and desire for genuine connection. He made people know that he cared about them. He was thoughtfully aware of other’s feelings. He was an incredible storyteller.
“As I grew closer to him throughout the year, his genuine care and desire for human connection were dissimilar to anyone I’ve ever met,” Coulter wrote.
His family realized right away that there would be an outpouring of support from all of the people who loved Zach, and they wanted to harness that into something he would be proud of. The Zachary Porter Foundation has a mission statement to honor and celebrate Zach’s life by “subsidiz[ing]
enrichment activities, including music lessons, sports, park programs, and outdoor field trips, for kids who would not otherwise have the access to the same opportunities.”
“Basically, we want to help other kids have the type of experiences that Zach had that made him such an incredible guy,” Elizabeth Porter said.
The Foundation has received around 500 contributions already, allowing them to donate $10,000 to a program that gives grants to children to attend summer camp, which enabled up to 50 kids to have that opportunity this summer.
Zach’s family is currently in the process of evaluating what they want to do next; the Foundation website explains that their long term goal is to “establish an outdoor space where animals of all kinds can take refuge and children can come to learn about the natural world that Zach so deeply valued.”
Zach Porter talked about learning the piano during the fall semester. He was going to be the risk chair for Sigma Nu. He was going to learn more Beatles songs — his dad’s favorite band — to play when he got home. He was going to decorate St. Louis with more Save The Fish United stickers, a trademark joke in his friend group. He was going to go on more adventures with his best friends and probably hop a few more fences in the process. He was going to add, immeasurably, to the WashU community, to the lives of everyone lucky enough to call him a friend.
“I’m so glad Zach was a part of my life, he was truly a gift to this world,” Coulter wrote. “So go live your best life for Zach, hug all your friends, laugh loudly, give people flowers, and go on an adventure. Tell people about your dreams, your favorite colors, your favorite books, and dance whenever the opportunity presents itself. Make sure to cherish all these moments for Zach.”
For those interested in donating to the Zachary Porter Foundation, more information can be found at zacharyporterfoundation. org and updates can be found on Instagram: @ thezacharyporterfoundation.
DINING from page 1
“With Bon Appetit leaving, that opened us up to having an opportunity about how we think about dining on campus and how we do it,” Watling said. “This was an opportunity to do something really exciting, not just purchase food from local restaurants, but give them an operational space to have an impactful opportunity with our campus. We want to be a partner with these restaurants.”
Watling said that, along with the local restaurants being brought to campus, Sodexo was also hired after intensive vetting to confirm that they could meet the unique needs of the University’s dining services.
“Sodexo has helped us with expanding our allergen friendly menus, our halal menus, and things like that,” Watling said. “We have expanded the Simply Made space at the DUC, our allergen friendly station, and we have a build-your-own grain and rice bowl that’s free of the top 9 allergens.”
All food at Village Cafe will be halal, Watling said. Given the focus on job stability during this transition, Watling said that every Bon Appetit employee on campus was offered employment with Sodexo with the same level of seniority, pay, and benefits, which 97% of Bon Appetit employees ultimately accepted.
Jennifer Smith, Vice Provost for Educational Initiatives, said that, in regards to bringing the new restaurants onto campus, a lot of the value arises from the diversity and representation that comes with them.
“It’s different cuisines that people may otherwise not try,” Smith said. “I hope it encourages them to go off campus and visit these folks brick and mortar or food trucks off campus.”
Smith also said that there is intrinsic value in partnering with the St. Louis community broadly, and that connecting these partners with University students is crucial.
Watling echoed these sentiments, expressing that the University is aiming to connect students with genuine, authentic food.
“I hope that students can find a place where they belong,” Watling said. “Food is a key part of our identity — who we are, where we come from. Food is such a big part of nourishing you and giving you a home. With the local restaurants coming in, I hope that there’s another level of authenticity and representation that students can find.”
Sophomore Jack Zhou said his experiences with campus dining have been better this year.
“[Campus dining] has definitely improved a lot,” Zhou said. “The overall quality, it has gotten more delicious. The food in general has just gotten to a higher level.”
He also said the presentation of the food, especially in BD, has improved greatly, though he also mentioned it is noticeable that prices have gone up.
While Bon Appetit had contracts with essentially the whole Danforth campus, Sodexo’s contract only applies to BD, the DUC, the Village dining hall, and University concessions at sporting or other events. Watling explained the reason for this is to allow the local restaurants more flexibility.
Sophomore William Wu expressed that campus dining has improved, but he is concerned about the increased traffic in places like Olin.
“It’s really crazy,” Wu said. “This is the place to go in-between classes to get something and relax, but the traffic is so long all the time and it’s difficult to come here now.”
Watling also said the new restaurants did not have to provide much upfront maintenance. The restaurants do not have to do as much upkeep as the University covers most of it.
“We collect a commission to fund operations of the building and the equipment,” Watling said. “One of the unique things about the setup is that we didn’t ask any of the restaurants to come in with any up-front investment, as we own most of the equipment and perform upkeep of the buildings. We collect commissions to make sure that they still have full resources. We market for them, all of that kind of stuff.”
First-year student Camila McGinley expressed she likes the current dining on campus.
“I really like Bauer,” McGinley said. “Also, Subway has been really good.”
Watling stressed multiple times that there were far easier ways for the University to handle dining, but they specifically wanted to go above and beyond with the new options.
“Our team is very focused on the student experience,” Watling said. “Universities tend to do dining on a business transaction basis, but we want to make sure we’re doing something different — something that makes WashU special.
When you choose to go here, you’re getting an experience that is unique to WashU and to St. Louis.”
Watling noted that on the Dining Services website (https:// diningservices.wustl.edu/) there are opportunities for students to join the DSAT, the dining service advisory team, or become mystery shoppers (a student who goes to dining locations, purchases food and reviews their experience to dining services while acting as a normal student) for University Dining.
AI from page 1
have a way of confirming or disproving,” he said.
He added that it may be a waste of time to try and regulate students about their use of these technologies and that it’s ultimately up to students to take responsibility for their own education. “I’ll explain that ‘it’s your education,’” Loewenstein said. “If you want to cut corners, if you want to use ChatGPT to make paper writing go faster, you’re not going to learn as much.”
Dr. Wolfram Schmidgen, a Professor of English, is one of many faculty who have asked students not to use ChatGPT in their course. His syllabus notes that he “will treat the submission of an essay that has been partially or wholly generated by a computer as a violation of academic integrity.”
Schmidgen wrote in an email to Student Life that his policy acts as “a basic reminder of the values that govern a course such as mine” which include “individual expression, original analysis and insight, and independent thought.”
He also acknowledged the unreliability of AI detectors and that he can’t fully enforce his policy on academic integrity. “But I thought it was important to remind students that the ArtSci policy on academic integrity obviously applies to ChatGPT-generated content, even if we have, as of yet, no very effective way to identify such content.”
Regardless of how professors are allowing students to use AI in their courses, many across the board are working to develop assignments that can’t be answered well by AI.
Dr. Eric Fournier, Director of Educational Development at the Center for Teaching and Learning, said that the faculty AI workshops they hosted over the spring and summer encouraged faculty to engage with the technologies to see what its limits are.
“Faculty were really behaving like students,” he said. “They were taking their essay prompts and putting them into ChatGPT and looking at the output and critiquing it. They then spent time refining the prompts to make it harder for AI to complete the assignments well.”
He said that prompts about current events or literature specific to the class are harder for AI to answer comprehensively, so professors can lean into those themes in their assignments.
Fournier also said that he asked faculty, at a minimum, to spend a couple of hours engaging with the chat bots like they
did in the workshops. He said this includes “entering the essay prompts from your course, looking at the output, playing with the tools so you understand enough about them to make effective policies for your course.”
One idea that’s been floated by some academics and AI pundits is to shift towards more in person assessments to counteract increases in undetectable cheating.
Fournier said he’s planning on increasing the amount of in-person testing he conducts in his own class, specifically to test his students on knowledge accumulation. “Recall questions might be best answered in class, on paper, instead of takehome exams. And then keep the more in depth analyses as papers.”
His line of thinking reflects the commonly held understanding that generative AI is currently stronger at basic regurgitation of facts than forming thoughtful pieces
of argumentative writing or literary analysis.
Fournier also said professors could ask students to turn on track changes in their writing to look at the forensics of the work.
Dr. Aaron Bobick, Dean of the McKelvey School of Engineering, brought up a similar idea to Fournier’s, focused on checking for academic integrity in coding assignments. He said professors could ask students to show iterations of their code or engage in dialogue with students about parts of their code to test their understanding.
“There are a lot of things that are open,” he said. “Some of this is going to be incredibly frustrating to our students this semester because they’re going to get an awful lot of different directions from different faculty in different situations. I hope they cut us a little slack because this is a new phenomenon.”
Both Bobick, and his colleague Dr. Jay Turner,
Head of the Division of Engineering Education, brought up the challenges of assessing students depending on the size of a class. Turner said he once taught a course with about 15 students and was able to discuss term projects with individual students to see how well they knew the material. “That doesn’t scale well, but there’s other things we can be doing.”
He focused on the role that undergraduate teaching assistants, Assistant Instructors, can hold in this assessment process.
“Our aspirational goal is that in the very near term, we’ll be leveraging our assistant instructors, our teaching assistants, in ways that help them really understand what the students know, but more importantly help the students learn how to learn in this new environment,” Turner said.
ALICE GOTTESMAN SENIOR SCENE EDITOR
The transition from high school to the first year of college is a big and jarring adjustment. Walking into the stadium seating of Wrighton 300 for the first time certainly doesn’t ease the anxiety of that transition. But that auditorium will quickly fill up because introductory courses are something that every student will experience — regardless of school, major, or interests. These large 100-level courses come in different formats and with different resources meaning there are varied ways to succeed in each of them. Just take it from the upperclassmen.
Introduction to Macroeconomics and Introduction to Microeconomics
Junior Sydney Henderson, an economics and finance major, took Econ 1011 (Intro to Microeconomics) with Professor Rogers and felt that the most helpful way to study was to do the practice problems from the book.
“There are no big surprises on the exams. So if you do the readings, go to lecture, do the practice problems, you’re set,” Henderson said.
For Econ 1021 (Intro to Macroeconomics), the
structure was slightly different. Henderson took this class with Professor Petersen and recommends taking any class taught by her. Much of this course is structured around collaboration.
“Take notes, because that will come in handy for the group quizzes,” Henderson said. “Meet people at the beginning of the year… be chatty those first few days because your quiz group is set for the semester, and you do five quizzes, and it’s a huge chunk of your grade.” The same group will do the final project together too. As such, communication and collaboration are crucial in this course.
General Chemistry 111:
Senior Mishka Narasimhan, a biology major, took Chem 111 with Professor Daschbach and acknowledged that the lectures can be intimidating on the first day, but that shouldn’t deter people from going. She encouraged students to use the resources available and not to get caught up with grade pressure.
“Don’t be discouraged if you get a bad first exam grade. You have plenty of chances to bounce back. Take advantage of the resources like RPMs, office hours, nongraded homework, and
ILLUSTRATION BY TUESDAY HADDENthen the best one of them all PLTL – you won’t regret it,” Narasimhan said.
Narasimhan cautioned against trying to strategically plan which exam to drop the grade for.
“Treat every exam like it’s gonna count and then figure it out in the end when you get all your grades back. It’s not worth trying to plan it out,” Narasimhan said.
Narasimhan emphasized that students should try to enjoy the material, saying, “your passion for the subject matter is probably going to be your best friend throughout the semester.”
American Politics: Junior Amea Bretz, a political science and math/economics double major, took American Politics with Professor Christenson. She outlined two important
details for exams. First, “do the non-textbook readings,” Bretz said, and second, “since it’s a memorization class, for the most part … do a Quizlet stack and have the vocab down … know where everything fits in with the additional readings and also the bigger themes in the textbook.” She also noted that the online textbook had premade flashcards that were easy to integrate into her studies.
Bretz explained that the introductory classes in the political science department are not necessarily representative of the upper-level courses students can expect.
“If American Politics isn’t exactly what you thought it was going to be, know that the upper levels are different, and right now, they’re trying to lay the groundwork. Then you can go into the
more interesting things,” Bretz said.
History of Western Art, Architecture & Design:
Junior John Tischke, a communication design major, found that attendance was the most important factor to succeed in the introductory Art History course with Professor Wallace. The information shared in lecture was exactly what students were tested on. Tischke kept an ongoing notes document and found that exams weren’t nearly as daunting as they seemed.
“They tell you exactly the pieces you need to know. So if you take good notes in class, you don’t need to do any outside research or even really look at the textbook all that much. It’s pretty much all gonna be given to you,” Tischke said.
Tischke also found it helpful to seek out his TA during the larger essay assignment in the course.
“It’s really good to go to office hours for that, not only because they help, but also I really endeared myself to the TA who’s grading my work,” Tischke said.
Tischke recommended students look for obvious hints of information — like artist signatures — on the exams. He explained when identifying art in
the midterms, “it’s not as scary because the answers are all directly in front of you.”
College Writing: The college writing classes that most firstyears take have a variety of themes and are often inconsistent from one professor to another.
Junior James Richard, a political science and economics double major and linguistics minor, found that his course description had little to do with the actual class. Officially, he took “Technology and Selfhood,” with Professor Berson, but found that the professor was “mostly just teaching us how to write.”
Richard advised “Take it seriously. I get that it’s like a writing class and everybody wrote in high school, but it’s very useful to just learn how to write and … really internalize everything that you’re learning and you will be a better writer by the end of it.”
Beyond the content of the course itself, College Writing classes are often much smaller than other introductory courses.
“I would warn against skipping the class … It’s a smaller class … which led me to foster a pretty good relationship with Dr. Berson,” Richard said.
On Aug. 19, Washington University’s Class of 2027 moved onto campus, prompting the start of Bear Beginnings. The annual orientation program for first years features a series
social events, academic panels, Washington University Student Associate (WUSA) group meetings, and, most notably, convocation at Brookings Quad. Bear Beginnings serves as a transition for many students as they settle into college, providing them with structured activities and the opportunity to make new
Initial impressions of WashU are shaped by each student’s respective move-in and orientation experience.
Forming friendships early on provides students with a strong support system to rely on during the college transition.
“When I first came to
WashU, I thought that everyone was going to be closed off and was going to make their own friend groups within the first day,” Ashley Matamoros said. “However, most people were really nice and willing to get to know you throughout all of Bear Beginnings! Seeing this really made me feel at ease and helped me feel like I could belong here at WashU.”
This experience was corroborated by Lauren Ciudad who felt a sense of belonging at WashU almost immediately.
“Honestly, I was a bit surprised by the genuine commitment to community, but it made me feel right at home,” Ciudad said. “I felt super comfortable just going out to eat at BD or even looking for
textbooks and required materials. The adjustment was so easy for me I could hardly believe it’s only been a little over a week since I got here!”
Many expressed their admiration towards the campus architecture as one of their main attractions towards the school.
“My first impression of campus is that it’s absolutely breathtaking! The architecture is stunning and the greenery is so serene,” Iyanu Dosunmu said.
Dung Tran agreed eagerly, describing WashU as a “classical castle on the outside with glass buildings and greenery on the inside.” Tran also noted his fascination with WashU’s butterfly garden, where he
spent ample time during his first few days.
“It made me feel like I’m enacting that flower path scene in ‘Spirited Away,’” Tran said.
The food in the South 40’s Bears Den (BD) was another fan favorite of the incoming class, with first-year Emily Segura expressing her love of the rigatoni and meatballs in
BD’s Ciao Down pasta.
Outside its amenities, many first-years found immediate friendships with their roommates, despite the oftentimes stressful nature of random housing.
“Currently, I live in the best residential hall, Koenig, and I love it. My amazing roommate Maya has helped make this transition so much more fun and easy,” Dosunmu said.
The Fattened Caf. is one of four minority or womanowned restaurants new to campus this year as an effort by University Dining Services to bring the St. Louis restaurant community to WashU.
Partnering with Starbucks and moving into Bytes Cafe in McKelvey Hall, The Fattened Caf. owners, Charlene and Darren Young, will sell authentic Filipino barbeque to students.
“[The owner of Coffeestamp] told us WashU was a really great community to be a part of, so when we were given the opportunity to apply to be in one of the locations that were opening up, we jumped right on it,” Charlene Young said. She also noted that “there
was a pretty long weeding out process. We had to do samples of our food and a breakdown of what our money could look like. They really had to believe that our intentions were to serve the students.”
The restaurant began with a fusion of Darren’s barbequing talents and
what Filipino food tastes like. As a college student I looked for something that is reminiscent of home cooking. We make sure that we’re sourcing good jasmine rice because there’s a huge international population at WashU that is looking for good quality rice. With this inspiration my husband and I create the recipes ourselves,” Charlene Young said.
Charlene’s Filipino heritage. The Fattened Caf.’s menu was born out of family game night dining in 2017, and the owners have continued to use classic Filipino recipes from Charlene Young’s grandmother, as well as Filipino barbeque staples.
“I’m Filipino so I know
In addition to their restaurant and their products sold at Fresh Thyme and United Provisions, The Fattened Caf. team expressed their excitement to be at the University and to bring Filipino cuisine to WashU’s campus. They’ve begun integrating themselves already by hiring WashU Filipino students to work with the new establishment.
“The mission of The
Fattened Caf. is to love food but to always love people more, and we love being a part of the communities that exist within St. Louis. WashU invites diverse populations and wants those populations to feel at home. That’s one of the things that we love to do. We love people more by providing quality food — giving food that nourishes the body, but also nourishes their souls in a way. We want our space to be a part of every single student that comes our way to be a part of their community,” Charlene Young said.
The Youngs have big aspirations to continue developing new recipes from their homes. They plan to create new special events and dishes to bring to campus.
“I’ve known Charlene for years. I personally am
here to watch her succeed and watch her business grow as much as possible. I want to help make The Fattened Caf. as big as possible and if I can help be a hand in that, I will do my best to be perfect and help make it a home for everyone,” Director of Operations Vanessa Vera said.
The Youngs are looking forward to adapting to student needs and cravings.
“We are going to keep trying new things. We are going to have specials hopefully every month that caters to only chicken eaters or vegans and vegetarians. Especially during the winter, we’ll have soups and Filipino stews available. Definitely check us out. Our menu is consistent but there’s always something new that you’ll be able to get,” Young said.
it isn’t so common to keep those Bear Beginnings friends until graduation.
Over the summer, I attended a conference as part of my nine-week internship. While I learned a lot and got to meet great people, the four-hour flight for just a day and a half trip was tiring. Later in the summer, I traveled cross-country to Las Vegas for a two-day competition. Around all that, I also went on a family vacation. So why do I mention all this?
During the initial COVID shutdown and for the ensuing year, there was the never-before opportunity to physically slow down because we didn’t have to go anywhere.
This will sound strange, but bear with me: those months were some of the most enjoyable of my college experience. Every weekend for the rest of that semester, my parents and I would hike at a state park and pack a picnic lunch. I got to see places within an hour or two from my home that I would have never seen otherwise. There was no agenda and no need to rush back home for anything. I stayed in touch with friends I had made that year, having late-night Zoom calls on weekends, getting to meet their pets, and learning about their hobbies that they didn’t have time to pursue at school. In normal circumstances, I think
Now, three and a half years later, it all still seems a little surreal, and I’m not absolutely sure I’m ready to forget that time. If not for COVID, I probably wouldn’t have met some of the people who ended up being my closest friends in undergrad. We ate outside in the November chill, built a snowman behind BD, and went on morning walks in Forest Park. It was all easy to do because there wasn’t anything else going on. Fast forward two or three years: we’re all busier, evidenced by the fact that I only played poker in my dorm once last year. We did other things, such as going out to dinner, to a Blues game, or to SPB events. But this all felt more rushed, like we always had to run back home because the inevitable flow of assignments and extracurriculars would overwhelm us if we didn’t.
I am probably the rare exception who enjoys spending time with my parents as much as I enjoy spending time with my friends. Similar to most WashU students who don’t live near St. Louis, I only go home during breaks, and only some breaks at that. So except for COVID, I have only been home for about two months in total during the past four years. For some reason, that bothers me.
The past two years just felt like I’ve been constantly packing, moving, and repacking, racing to get to an activity or the next meeting.
The slow COVID days aren’t coming back (hopefully, at least, for humanity’s sake). But I hope all of us at WashU can look back and appreciate that time as much as we can, despite the hardship it created. So although it was emotionally devastating, it was also a special time that we can’t reclaim. For instance, I wish I had more time for pleasure reading on a regular basis. During the COVID year, I read eight books (my average is two or three).
I didn’t feel like I lost anything socially, as it presented an opportunity to reconnect with high school and neighborhood friends. And once everyone returned to campus in the fall of 2021, it made my WashU friendships even more meaningful. It’s hard to imagine what life would have been like if we had all been on campus the whole time, but I suspect that the years of college would have been less clearly distinguished.
My advice is to take some time to slow down occasionally by taking a day or two off from homework or meetings throughout the semester.
I think you’ll remember it.
To those who didn’t know former Washington University cornerback Andrew Whitaker — or “Whit,” as those close to him call him —, seeing him sign a professional contract with the Seattle Seahawks may have come as a surprise. But to those who know him or have been following his story, an NFL contract was inevitable.
“We’re immensely proud. A lot of people would be shocked, but we’re not,” said senior defense-back Shawn Yates. “We…saw this coming. We knew he was working his butt off for this. It’s just really cool seeing a former teammate — especially coming from a D3 school and a place where it’s more focused on academics — make it [to the NFL].”
This past month, Whitaker— a 2021 WashU graduate, signed a professional contract with the NFL franchise Seattle Seahawks after spending some time playing for the Houston
Roughnecks in the XFL.
However, on Tuesday, Aug. 8, Whitaker was waived/injured after suffering a knee injury at a mock game.
In signing the contract, Whitaker joined a long list of former WashU football players who took their talent to the NFL. Most notably, the late Super Bowl champion Shelby Jordan played 11 seasons in the league with the New England Patriots and the Oakland Raiders respectively. Wilson Rutherford “Bud” Schwenk Jr. is another significant WashU football alumni. He played four seasons in the NFL for the Chicago Cardinals, Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Colts, and New York Yankees as a quarterback in the 1940s.
“We’re proud of his efforts and preparing himself for this opportunity,” said football head coach Aaron Keen.
“You know, there are always people in any program who come through with talent and may have some opportunities [to go big]. I think the players [that] take advantage of those opportunities through preparation and patience,
[do see results]. It’s a long road to get to that point and a lot of tryouts and setbacks and exciting things along the way. But those players — the people who persevered– end up making it.”
At WashU, Whitaker played 39 games for the Bears, registering 145 tackles, 115 of them being solo. He also had 23 passes defended and seven interceptions. He scored his first career touchdown in his final year with the program on a pick-six. He garnered First Team All-CCIW honors in his final season after earning Second Team All-CCIW honors as a junior.
While football was his main passion during his time at WashU, Whitaker was a three-sport athlete as he competed in both winter and spring seasons for the Washington University men’s track team. He was a key member of the 2022 men’s indoor track team that won the 2022 NCAA Indoor Track national — the first in program history — as he won the 60-meter hurdles with a time of 7.943.
“Andrew expected to win
even though, on paper, he had no business winning going into the meet,” said track & field coach Jeff Stiles after the historic day. “He’s one of the most competitive athletes I’ve ever been around. He loves winning, but he hates losing and keeps pushing himself.”
At WashU, he was as sharp in the classroom as he was in the field. That was visible in the numerous academic accolades that he received. Whitaker was a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American and a twotime CoSIDA Academic All-District.
“This is a Biomedical Engineering student who has his master’s degree from Washington University and was a multi-sport athlete here,” said Keen. “He had the desire to compete for championships in sports that he loved while he was getting a world-class education. He’s going to be a wonderful doctor someday.”
Many at WashU will remember Whitaker for the legacy he left behind. But to his teammates and friends who got to compete and train
with him daily and weekly, he will be remembered as a leader and friend. He will be remembered for his character.
“I think that Andrew does a good job of connecting with people on a very personal level and providing support in that way as a mentor in the football sphere,” said fifthyear defense-back Bradley Hamilton. “We’re very proud of Andrew and everything he’s accomplished and the legacies he left with the program.”
“I think that’s the biggest thing that he’s given us through this — if you put the work in, the results will come back [eventually],” Hamilton went on to add. “He’s a great representation of just keeping your nose to the grindstone and seeing what comes up.”
In signing with the Seahawks, Whitaker helped his professional ambition of playing in the NFL. But in doing so, he also helped his former football program as, for Coach Keen, having a former player who signed an NFL contract will have a positive impact on his staff team’s ability to recruit talented
players to come to join the WashU program.
“I think it’s certainly beneficial for our recruiting process and helps younger players who might be looking at our institution and adding our football program for their future opportunities,” he said. “To know that they can pursue their passions academically, get a worldclass education, and get a life-changing degree at a place like WashU without football having to take a back seat — you know, that if they have dreams, they can pursue those dreams at this institution.”
50 years after Shelby Jordan was drafted by the Houston Oilers, another WashU alumni reached the NFL. Coming off a football program that prides itself on being there for its members, one thing is clear: WashU is cheering “Whit” on through everything.
“We’re all behind him, supporting him, and rooting for him on whatever steps he takes in his journey, setbacks, accomplishments, and anything — we’re all behind him,” said Yates.
Washington University
football has five graduate students on its roster. Five players who have decided to use their extra year of NCAA eligibility after COVID-19 canceled the 2020 season. Five students who have delayed their postgraduate life for one more year on the sizzling turf of Francis Field.
How big of a difference can five players make? A lot.
Two-year starting quarterback Matt Rush will return for a fifth year after spending the spring season at the University of Oregon. Rush was listed on the Oregon roster as a walk-on senior transfer, but the graduate student returned to the Bears for his final year. The consensus from his teammates and coaches is that his reinstatement is huge for the team.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt [that] that’s a really positive thing for us as a football team. I think his teammates view it that way, [and] certainly, coaches do,” head coach Aaron Keen said.
“To get him back, with all the knowledge that he has, it’s going to really propel us forward to try to beat those top
two teams like North Central that we lost to last year,” sophomore Fred Ware said. “It’s huge, having our quarterback come back for one final year, and also helps the younger guys learn from him once more.”
During his time in St. Louis, Rush has only gotten more accurate. Last season, he had a pass completion rate of 70.4%. He’s worked with the team’s offensive powerhouses for the past two years building chemistry, a group that includes junior Collin Goldberg, senior Collin Hoyhtya, and junior Kenneth Hamilton.
Rush isn’t the only key fifth-year from last year’s
team to return. Matt Schmal and Bradley Hamilton played major minutes, as did returning kicker Chris Vartanian, who hit 59 of 62 extra-point attempts in 2022.
“It was really big to hear this summer — having both of the Matts back,” senior nosetackle Johnathan Smith said. “It brings back a dynamic to our team of having those guys who have been in the system for a long time, and they are really, really, really good players.”
The freshman class is a hefty 41 players, but the
coaching staff is particularly excited about the 10 new offensive linemen that they’ve brought in.
“We needed more depth there to be able to compete, whether we want to compete at the top of the conference, getting in the playoffs, or compete for a National title,” Keen said. “We’re excited to see what they can bring to the program and [are] watching their development, but, you know, we’re gonna need some of those guys to step in early.”
Keen has slowly been
cultivating his offensive line’s talent since his first year. Now, he has a running-back core that Smith described as “an embarrassment of riches, with so many guys that can just ball out on every level.” Kenneth Hamilton rushed 848 yards last season for 16 touchdowns.
Kenvorris Campbell was dominant at the team’s scrimmage against Illinois College. Combined with the lethal group of receivers, including Goldberg and Hoyhtya, this team’s offense is proven to be competitive against the top teams in the country.
“Those guys are gonna be nasty because everyone brings something different,” Smith said. “The point is, you’ve got dudes across the board where you’re like, ‘Oh, that dude’s a baller. He’s gonna play some good football.’ So there are questions about who’s gonna play what spot, and who’s going to be the number-one guy. But the fact that we can have that debate is a good problem to have.”
For the past two years, the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) standings have looked the same.
At the top is North Central College, which hasn’t lost a conference game since 2019 and was crowned the 2022 National Champion. Consistently finishing second in the conference, Wheaton College (IL) has reliably infiltrated the playoff schedules into the second and third rounds.
Consistently in third place in the conference, the Bears have trailed for the last two years. They finished the 2022 season with a 7-3 record; North Central held them scoreless at 31-0, while they duked it out against Wheaton for a seven-point loss.
There are two conference playoff spots up for grabs, meaning that the Bears have a clear path to the postseason: beat either North Central or Wheaton, while fending off the tough competitors of the CCIW.
“We’re super, super juiced,” Ware said. “We’re excited to get the season rolling. We’re working our tails off so that we can finally get to the playoffs again — get back to what WashU football is all about.”
The team will spend the first two weeks on the road before their home opener against Carthage College on Saturday, September 23.
SL: How do you feel about being a senior?
LB: I feel great. I mean, I’m honestly super excited for this last year, just to be back and spend time with each other for the last little hurrah.
SL: Is there anything in particular that you’re looking to do this year?
LB: I am looking to probably explore St. Louis a bit more while I still have the chance to. Try new restaurants, go to new places.
SL: Is there anything that you’re nervous or apprehensive about looking into this year?
LB: Job searching.
Student Life stopped students on the first few days of classes to capture a snapshot of how they were feeling about the year, their day, and of course, their outfits. Here’s what they told us. Interviews have been edited for length and clarity.
SL: What have your impressions been of the first few days of class?
OA: It’s been…it feels almost too slow — because when I’m in school, I’m expecting, “Oh, I got to do work.” But then here, there’s nothing to do. So I’m kinda feeling a bit lost.
SL: What has been the hardest thing you’ve experienced since being here?
OA: The main thing is making friends outside of people you frequently meet with. I’m already in a friend group with my suitemates. We had an Instagram group before moving in, so we’re already kind of close.
But it’s making friends outside our group because I don’t get to see them all day, and we take really different classes.
SL: What is something that has brought you joy or happiness since classes started?
OA: Ironically, it’s the same thing that caused me the most pain. It’s basketball. Yeah, I got to meet a ton of people, and when I run into them in between classes, I can actually say, “Hey, what’s up,” start a conversation from there.
But then, at the same time, I haven’t been able to play basketball as much as I used to — because on the first day I got here, I injured my shoulder.
Student Life: What was your favorite thing that you’ve done so far today?
Marcela Arguello: I went to Corner 17 — which is very nice to have on campus — and I really enjoyed being there. I got a boba tea.
SL: Anything that you’re nervous about for the semester?
MA: This semester, I’m taking Intro to Medicinal Chemistry, which is a three-hour class every week, so I’m a little bit nervous for that.
SL: What are you most excited for this upcoming year?
MA: I can already notice from last year the different faces that are here on campus. So I’m excited to meet more people who are similar to me, and I can share with them some of my experiences on campus.
I’m from Nicaragua…I was there for the summer. And it’s been a little bit of [an] adjustment being here after being over there. But yeah, I’m excited to meet more Latino people.
Student Life: What has been the best part of your day today?
HU: Well, my professors are really eccentric. So that’s always fun. [They’re] in the Film and Media Studies department.
SL: Is there anything that you’re nervous about for this year?
HU: I feel like my group of friends was pretty closely tied to my dorm as a freshman and so moving into a new dorm, I kind of feel like I have to figure everything out again.
SL: How did you pick out your first-day outfit today?
HU: There was a massive stain on what I was going to wear, so I grabbed this last-minute. Which, for the record, is a standard red WashU shirt, and [now] everybody thinks I’m a freshman.
SL: Is there anything this week that you’re looking forward to?
HU: The Activities Fair is mostly what I’m looking forward to right now.
SL: Are you part of a club or activity that you’re really passionate about?
HU: No, that’s kind of why I want to figure something out. Find something.
SL: What was the best thing you did today?
ZG: Probably the best thing [that] I did today was my roommate made me a breakfast burrito. And it was eating that, because it was delicious.
SL: What is one thing that you’re gonna miss from sophomore year?
ZG: Not being stressed about my future.
SL: What is one thing you’re looking forward to later today?
ZG: Making fried rice! Everything’s about the food today.
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