Student Life, St. Louis, MO (2025)

10/22/2025

The Women & Engineering (W&E) Center in the McKelvey School of Engineering was founded in 2023 to foster a community that supports female engineering students navigating their collegiate and professional careers. Over the summer, the W&E Center closed with no explanation.

As a senior in McKelvey and a vice president for the WashU Society of Women Engineers (SWE), I saw how instrumental the W&E Center was in supporting SWE’s success. It was a place where women engineers could talk openly about their experiences in a field still largely dominated by men.

WashU leaders should stand up to the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI programming. They should have allowed the center to continue to operate and benefit the student body. For women in engineering, these initiatives are often the bridge to internships, mentors, and careers in spaces that remain challenging to enter and thrive in.

If the closure of the W&E Center was unavoidable, the University still owes its students transparency and accountability. That means clearly explaining why the decision was made, what factors led to it, and how WashU plans to continue supporting women engineers. Silence erodes trust; transparency rebuilds it.

Read more at
https://www.studlife.com/forum/2025/10/16/the-quiet-closure-of-the-women-engineering-center

✍️ Ella Giere
🎨 Olivery Ni

10/22/2025

Dean of WashU’s College of Arts & Sciences, Feng Sheng Hu, announced the end of the task force created to explore the reorganization or consolidation of six separate academic departments and programs in the humanities at a Tuesday evening faculty meeting, Oct. 21.

In the meeting, Hu did not completely rule out the possibility of considering a reorganization of the departments in the future. His office has not returned a request for comment as of publication of this article.

While there are no plans to restart the task force at the moment, Parikh noted that Hu reserves the right to reconvene the task force at any time. In addition, Stephanie Kirk, Director of the Center for the Humanities and the other task force co-chair, said that efforts to increase academic cooperation between the departments may continue.

Read more at the link in bio.

✍️ Matt Eisner and Elizabeth Stump

10/22/2025

Dean of WashU’s College of Arts & Sciences, Feng Sheng Hu, told faculty at a meeting on Tuesday that Chancellor Andrew D. Martin does not plan to sign the Trump administration’s compact for higher education in its current form, according to five faculty in attendance. Hu reportedly said he had spoken with Martin, who shared that he didn’t plan to sign the compact.

The faculty members said that Hu did not rule out further conversations between WashU and the Trump administration over the compact or other issues. They said Hu also announced his own opposition to the compact in the meeting. Hu did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Read more at the link in bio.

✍️ Coby Rinke
📷 Curran Neenan
🔍 Riley Herron contributed reporting to this article.

10/21/2025

In his email, Chancellor Martin acknowledged that there were strong opinions in the community regarding the compact and WashU’s decision to participate in conversations with the federal administration.

“We believe it is in the best interest of our university, and higher education more broadly, for us to participate constructively, share our experience and expertise, and help inform policies that strengthen the nation’s research and education ecosystem,” Martin wrote.

Trump officials plan to revise their compact based on universities’ feedback and will release an updated version by Nov. 21, The Economic Times reported.

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/news/2025/10/20/chancellor-martin-defends-decision-to-meet-with-trump-administration-amidst-student-faculty-criticisms

✍️ Aliza Lubitz and Elizabeth Stump

10/20/2025

Student Life's Rena Cohen and Alex Nickel (Class of 2025) share how to make a mini crossword! Watch the full video on YouTube. Play the mini Monday through Friday at studlife.com/games.

📽️ Sanchali Pothuru, Alan Knight and Molly Fletcher

10/20/2025

RAISE plans to organize spaces for student volunteers to discuss and process experiences from the hotline and protect their own mental well-being.

“We’re not just volunteers. We’re students first,” Marquez Salgado said.

Though students do not have the resources to understand or materially change the national landscape of immigration policy, Marquez Salgado urged students to continue standing in solidarity with immigrant communities.

“Acknowledging our privilege as WashU students, we have both the responsibility and the power to amplify voices in the immigration community, talk about these injustices, and mobilize against them,” Marquez Salgado said.

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/news/2025/10/15/uplifting-immigrant-voices-washu-students-found-new-immigrant-justice-club

✍️ Sonal Churiwal

10/20/2025

On October 17, Student Life photographer Mac Motz captured this fall’s ArtMart, WashU’s premier student flea market.

10/19/2025

When dinner time rolls around, most students in the College of Arts & Sciences turn to the dining halls or return home to cook themselves a meal. For students in the McKelvey School of Engineering and the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts working in a studio or study space, there is a lack of options.

In response to the issue, Dining Services has launched a pilot program on the East End of campus to extend dining hours. The program’s goal is to decide what dining option should remain open for extended dinner hours. The Fattened Caf., which normally closes at 6 p.m., extended its hours until 8 p.m. during the week of Sept. 8-12. Beast Craft BBQ will have extended hours until 8 p.m. from Oct. 20-24, and LaJoy’s Coffee Cafe will have extended hours until 8 p.m. from Nov. 17-21. Normally, Beast Craft BBQ and LaJoy’s close at 3 p.m.

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/news/2025/10/16/dining-pilot-program-tests-out-extended-hours-on-east-end

✍️ Flannery P**n
📷 Axl Cedeno

10/17/2025

Chancellor Andrew D. Martin met with White House representatives to discuss President Trump’s compact for higher education Friday afternoon.

Liz Huston, Assistant Press Secretary to the White House, did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.

Student Union executives declined Student Life’s requests to comment at this time. WashU Republicans and WashU Democrats also declined to comment for this article.

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/news/2025/10/17/washu-meets-with-white-house-to-discuss-trump-higher-ed-compact

✍️ Coby Rinke and Aliza Lubitz
📷 Curran Neenan

10/17/2025

When applying to college, like many FGLI students, money was at the forefront of my mind. I had heard horror stories about the amount of debt people accrued from college and how it significantly influenced their livelihoods. Navigating the college search process on my own was already challenging, but knowing that debt could be the outcome made it even more difficult.

The WashU Pledge relieved some of my fears, and it made me feel like WashU actually wanted students like me, that I would belong there. I have spoken to many friends from St. Louis who attend WashU and other universities, and they share similar sentiments. The commitment provided us with hope during the college process, allowing us to set some of our worries aside and focus on academics. But the commitment is losing its power. Other institutions, like the ones mentioned above, are doing more, and students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are attracted to their schools, not WashU.

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/forum/2025/10/12/opinion-submission-free-tuition-at-penn-harvard-emory-vanderbilt-why-not-washu

✍️ Mason Shaver

10/16/2025

Students passing Mudd Field last Thursday, Oct. 9, may have noticed sets of chairs and tables set up on the eastern portion of the field. The furniture, which consisted of tables set with plates and silverware and pictures of Israeli hostages taped to 48 chairs, was part of a commemoration event organized by seniors Tim Mellman and Charlie Weingarten in collaboration with Jewish student organizations.

“We wanted to honor their memory and remember that these are real people with real stories,” said senior Charlie Weingarten, co-president of WashU Hillel’s student board. “We hope that people on both sides can come and learn the stories of those who have been impacted.”

Attendee Dahlia Levy is a senior and transfer student from Scripps College who transferred in the fall of 2025 because of what she described as a “very antisemitic” atmosphere at her previous institution. “WashU is one of the few schools that is able to just have something for Oct. 7 that’s not turned into something different,” she said. She noted that she was glad that there were no counterprotestors at the event, something which she felt was unique to the University.

Jewish student groups are also holding a vigil to remember lives lost on Oct. 7 this upcoming Thursday, Oct. 16 at 6:30 p.m. in Brookings Quadrangle.

Read more at the link in bio.

✍️ Elizabeth Stump
📷 Bri Nitsberg

10/15/2025

Whether you’re frustrated by changes to higher education and WashU’s vague approach to adapting to these changes or think that consolidating these programs will bring about a new era of innovation in academia, lean into those emotions. At the same time, it is important to recognize why these programs were created and why we should fight for their continuation.

Read more at https://www.studlife.com/forum/2025/10/06/looking-at-the-history-of-the-washu-departments-at-risk-of-consolidation

✍️ Astrid Burns

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