The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 VOLUME 148, NO. 5
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2026
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Balloon Glow:
Community, fireworks, and a runaway hot air balloon HANNAH LA PORTE MANAGING SCENE EDITOR
This past weekend, thousands flocked to Forest Park to experience the 54th anniversary of the secondoldest balloon race in America. On Friday, Sept. 18, onlookers watched as around 50 hot air balloons lit their burners and cast a warm, multicolored glow as the light filtered through the nylon balloons while they sat in Forest Park. The night culminated with the energetic After Glow dance party and an exciting fireworks show. The next day, 35 balloons raced across St. Louis, starting in Forest Park and landing in residential neighborhoods across the city. One such balloon landed at the intersection of Leduc Street and Marcus Avenue and got stuck in a tree, and although the crew was safe, the balloon was not so fortunate. The first place winner was Brian Trapp, flying Louie. In second place was John Schettler, flying Checkmate, and in third place was Denis Sutter, flying Dream On. Fly high, and see you next year for one of St. Louis’ most uplifting traditions.
ALYSSA WANG, JACOB SELTZER | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS ISABELLA DIAZ-MIRA | MANAGING PHOTO EDITOR
At St. Louis education panel, Martin stands by engagement with Trump administration TANVI GORRE COBY RINKE MANAGING NEWS EDITORS
Chancellor Andrew D. Martin defended WashU’s engagement with the federal government — including meeting with the Trump administration and U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon — at a panel on higher education Wednesday morning. The panel included leaders across higher education in the St. Louis area, who discussed the power of education for the St. Louis community. The event was held at the Missouri History Museum. Martin met with McMahon at WashU on Sept. 17. The same day Martin met with McMahon, he missed a forum on a report on humanities research commissioned by Martin and the chancellor of Vanderbilt University. Martin said at the Missouri History Museum event that McMahon emailed him with a week’s notice to schedule a visit discussing civic engagement and rural health. “The answer was, ‘Of course, Madam Secretary,’” he said. “We’re happy to sit down and talk to you. ... We are an educational institution, nonetheless, and you are the Secretary of Education.” Martin said WashU’s approach has been to engage with politicians across Washington, D.C. “We engage and meet with everyone, and we advocate for our interests, sometimes publicly, most of the time privately,” he said. “I can tell you that there are many members of the Washington University community who do not think that is the right thing to do.” According to Martin, WashU’s engagement with representatives and politicians from Washington,
D.C. predated Trump’s arrival at the White House by a year. In the year leading up to Trump’s election, Martin went to Washington at least once a month. Now, the University has placed full-time staff in the area and occupies a space in Penn Quarter. The University continues to lobby in the region and has declined to comment on its focus areas. Martin said the University is fighting for its interests behind closed doors. “I can tell you we are fighting, we are pushing back, [just] not publicly,” Martin said. James Minor, chancellor of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville and former deputy assistant secretary of the Department of Education (DoE), agreed higher education’s engagement with the DoE is crucial, in part because several people working at the department didn’t have a background in academia. “I was the only person arriving in Washington, D.C. with books and research journals — none of my colleagues had those things in their offices, and I would find myself in
these vigorous policy debates with people who have never taught a class, never worked at a university,” he said. During the Q&A following the panel, fourth-year Ph.D. candidate Nikita Gupta, an international student from India, asked what the University is planning on doing in response to federal actions impacting international students. Gupta went on to say the University has not provided timely coverage of policies on the matter as the situation develops. Martin said the University is working on communicating changes to the WashU community. He added they are working with partner institutions to push back on changes to Curricular Practical Training and Optional Practical Training. After the event, Gupta said she wanted the University to respond to an August 2026 letter released by McMahon. The letter warned against “foreign actors” influencing research, which Gupta believed was code for international students. “[Martin] has not said anything about these demands in the
[McMahon] letter about whether he agrees with them or not about standing up for international students. How am I supposed to know he’s on my side?” she said. Third-year Ph.D. candidate Bobby Huggins said he was particularly concerned by the humanities report Martin commissioned. “If the chancellor wants to insist that he’s fighting for us … then I’d really like an explanation for how the humanities report is fighting for humanities scholars,” Huggins said. Looking to the future of higher education, Martin hopes for education to become more accessible. “A hundred years from now, higher education will be much more affordable than it is today,” he said. “The reason for that is that it is politically unviable for higher education to not be available to the most talented students in the country.” For several of the university leaders on the panel, moments in their education shaped their trajectories. For Minor, it was a mentor of his, Cecil Forbes, who made sure he went to college. The University of Missouri–St. Louis’ interim
TANVI GORRE | MANAGING NEWS EDITOR Chancellor Andrew D. Martin participates in a panel discussion at the Missouri History Museum on Wednesday, Sept. 23.
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chancellor got a push from his professor, Harry Heaney. The president of the Missouri Historical Society and moderator of this panel, Jody Sowell, named his journalism professor, Mark Witherspoon. “Whether I’m teaching or leading, I’ve basically been doing a 30-plus year impersonation of Mark Witherspoon,” he said. Education has had a profound impact on the St. Louis region through bringing in employers, recruiting talent to the area, training the next generation of talent, and creating hospitals that act as health safety nets. WashU’s purpose spans these objectives as well as providing world-class research to St. Louis. When asked about concerns regarding research grants, Martin said the University still remains strong in its funding. “To be clear, we continue to brag about the number of federal grants that we’re getting and all the jobs that those grants create here in St. Louis and all the great science that they empower.” Federal grants brought in approximately $812 million in research funding in the fiscal year 2025. Records were not found for research funding at WashU for the next year. As the University continues its lobbying efforts and engagements across the state and Washington, D.C., Martin said he continues to stand by talking with this federal administration. “That’s just going to be something that we’re going to have to disagree about,” he said. “Sustained engagement with policymakers, whoever they are, is important because these policymakers affect every one of our institutions in different ways, more or less, but really fundamental in terms of what we’re up against.”
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TANVI GORRE & COBY RINKE | MANAGING NEWS EDITORS | NEWS@STUDLIFE.COM
THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2026
Professors push back on humanities report at highly attended forum LEXI LAWSKY NEWS EDITOR
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Six WashU faculty members critiqued a report commissioned by WashU and Vanderbilt on the politicization of the humanities in front of approximately 200 in-person students, faculty, and WashU community members, as well as 81 more watching virtually. The event was hosted by the Center for the Humanities on Sept. 16. In June, a committee of scholars funded by WashU and Vanderbilt published a report on the state of the humanities and humanistic social sciences which found that research in many humanistic fields are politically driven. The report generated national criticism, and many WashU professors raised questions about what WashU’s role in the report was, what the report meant for humanities funding, and more. After the report’s release, Director of the Center for the Humanities Stephanie Kirk worked with colleagues within the humanities as well as the provost’s office to plan the forum, which was titled “Advocacy, Objectivity, and Method” and hosted in Hillman Hall. The panelists were Professor of Law Adrienne Davis, Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology Rebecca Lester, Professor of African & African American Studies Dwight McBride, Chair of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Diana O’Brien, Chair of the Department of History Corinna Treitel, and Director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics Abram Van Engen.
Provost Mark D. West, Arts & Sciences Dean Feng Sheng Hu, and Chancellor Andrew D. Martin were all scheduled to attend the event, but at the last minute, it was announced that Martin was unable to come. Martin’s absence coincided with a visit from Secretary of Education Linda McMahon. The panelists critiqued the report as singling out the humanities when all fields engage in similar research, called for a more thorough investigation into its claims, and presented new empirical research on the topic. Davis questioned why the humanities were singled out in the report, noting how nearly every school at WashU, undergraduate and graduate, engages in promoting social justice and combatting institutional racism. Lester added that research has always been molded by political forces, a discovery made within the humanistic community. Lester concluded her speech with a call to Martin. “I ask you, Chancellor Martin, when you watch this, not to denounce this report, but to stand by it … and leverage WashU’s well-earned reputation as a world-class research university to initiate a rigorous, transparent, interdisciplinary, and independent investigation of these issues across the entire academy,” Lester said. Following Lester’s speech, McBride asked: “What if at least some of what the report identifies as the politicization of scholarship actually reflects the diversification of the academy itself ?”
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After the lightning talks, students and faculty members lined up at a microphone to ask questions or make comments about the report and the panelists’ speeches. Sophomore Alandee Patil was curious as to whether there were people at WashU who agreed with the report. “We’re such a huge school, and I would love to understand more about if there is an imbalance in perspectives responding to the report, why is that? Or if there isn’t, I would love to hear more about the other perspective,” Patil said after the panel. Senior Justice Crandall attended the forum with a women, gender, and sexuality studies class, From Decolonization to Globalization. “I hope that we have a future where we can see academic freedom and freedom of political expression at a wider scale in the country and specifically on college campuses. This report is not something that stands alone. It comes in a greater context of attacks on personal freedoms,” Crandall said.
ALYSSA WANG | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER WashU faculty members discuss a report on the validity of humanistic research in the presence of WashU community members and University leadership.
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Although the report’s authors acknowledge the potential political use of the report, that threat is no longer hypothetical, McBride said. “On August 3rd, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a national call to action to university presidents and governing boards. In it, she praises this very report as one of the ‘courageous documents’ demonstrating the need for what she calls ‘essential reforms’ of higher American education,” he continued. O’Brien approached the report from an empirical standpoint and looked into whether research in the humanities lowered public trust in universities. As a scholar of political science, she conducted her own research with 800 participants from across the country after the report came out. She found there was no increase in trust in higher education when humanities oversight increased. Treitel spoke to her firsthand experience of the rigorous work done by humanities and humanistic social sciences professors at WashU. She also called for several more reports on topics like research funding, AI, graduate training, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Lastly, Van Engen talked about the importance of self-examination when conducting research and Boghossian’s lack thereof. “[Boghossian] allowed very little input from others, and mainly used the opportunity, it seems, to promote his own book. So that’s why I call it ‘The Boghossian Report,’” Van Engen said.
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WashU neighborhood Skinker DeBaliviere shows off its community with PorchFest STL ELIJAH LECKERMAN STAFF WRITER
EMMA MARGRAF | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER HANNAH DORVAL | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Between Skinker Boulevard — home to student favorites Kaldi’s and Nami Ramen — and DeBaliviere Avenue — which many students can’t even pronounce — is one of St. Louis’ best and underrated neighborhoods, proven by PorchFest STL on Sunday, Sept. 20. Every year, the Skinker DeBaliviere neighborhood is the home of PorchFest STL, St. Louis’ edition of the nationwide event that brings musical performances to local porches. PorchFest first began in 2007 in Ithaca, New York, and arrived in St. Louis in 2017 thanks to WashU students who wanted to create a local version for the community. The host neighborhood’s historic houses have served as stages since the very beginning, providing community along with porches. PorchFest STL is emblematic of what makes Skinker DeBaliviere special. Across the Skinker/Forest Park Parkway intersection is a neighborhood full of history, charm, and community. Whether it’s stopping to pet a dog and conversing with the owner or renting a bed at the McPherson Community Garden, there are many easy ways to see how special the neighborhood’s community is.
PorchFest attendee Camille Smith, a senior at Saint Louis University who did a community assessment of the neighborhood for her social work major, admires the integrated community. “I really love the connectivity in this area — the bond between students and permanent residents as well. I think that’s something that sets it apart,” she said. Smith attended PorchFest to cheer on WILD alum Underpass, for which her friend Ceci Oses, a junior at WashU, is the lead vocalist. The student band performed their pop-rock covers at a non-WashU event for the very first time, right on Pershing Avenue. Oses had previously attended PorchFest as a listener and was excited by the opportunity to attend as a performer. “It’s always nice to be involved in St. Louis and do things outside of the WashU bubble, especially something so cool,” she said. A crowd of student fans and other community members cheered on Underpass, standing in the shaded street, resting on lawn chairs, and sitting on picnic blankets. Two blocks away on McPherson was another audience setup, that of DJ T-Money, which had an equally fun but different vibe. In front of the DJ was a yard filled with
STAFF WRITER
Where does a pop girl go when she’s lost her way? Inward, maybe — enter the cliché “my most personal album yet” — or perhaps she sands her rougher edges in a grab at mass appeal. For Miley (sans Cyrus), it seemed to be a return to the ancient texts. On “Bass Persuades,” the lead single to her new album of the same name, Miley pulls from Britney’s “Blackout,” Gaga’s “Born This Way,” and Madonna’s “Confessions on a Dance Floor,” covering the trite material all surface-level pop is concerned with: bodies, dancing, parties, and a vague concept of “forever.” Enticing, if not a little redundant — who better to resurrect the hedonistic dance-pop of the mid-aughts than someone whose stardom was just
then burgeoning? Alas, call it the Dua Lipa Problem: “Bass Persuades” is a case of false advertising. On the whole, the album doesn’t deliver a slick, Gagalite pop revival, but is rather a midtempo romp through the duller parts of Miley’s psyche. It commits a worse sin than simple boredom — for someone with a history of pushing the mainstream envelope, it’s a disappointment. Although not without highlights (“Different Religion” is an experimental, industrial cut, grimy and disjointed in its ferocity, and “Aftermath” soars with melancholia), the water that Miley treads on the rest of the album is inoffensive, familiar ground. “Bass Persuades” is bookended by its two strongest tracks: the title track and its remixed sister. In the music video for “Bass Persuades,”
benefits to living in Skinker DeBaliviere as a student, most apparently the strong sense of community and pride within the neighborhood. After 6 p.m. on Sunday, when the performances concluded, many people stuck around Greg Freeman Park — the centerpiece of the neighborhood — to hang out and talk to each other. Children continued to run around the playground, while dogs rested in the shade of the trees. Although PorchFest is SDCC’s most popular event, the organization puts together several other annual events throughout the neighborhood. Last month was Rags 2 Riches, an outdoor vintage market with participating houses as vendors. Winter Market is Skinker DeBaliviere’s own holiday artisan market, which will be in December. Additionally, in the spring, a community garden tour allows community members to show off their gardens as a stop on the route. Hendricks said, “Skinker DeBaliviere, the neighborhood, is a part of WashU. This is our community as well.” To the underclassmen looking to live off campus, she urged, “If you want to learn to be a good neighbor, come to Skinker DeBaliviere.”
Close! But not quite: A review of beabadoobee’s latest album ‘Pylon’
Miley’s bass could stand to persuade a little harder JOSHUA MILLER
outdoor kids’ toys, a bubble machine, chalk, and other activities. A young boy entertained the crowd with his toy bicycle tricks while the adult residents of the house gave out free food and drinks, sparking conversation with the changing audience. Since Skinker DeBaliviere is positioned right next to campus and is home to many WashU students, the University has an interest in the prosperity of the neighborhood. Redell Hendricks, community relations coordinator in the Office of Government & Community Relations, helped plan aspects of PorchFest and represented WashU — a big sponsor of PorchFest — at the event. A colleague in her office sits on the board of the Skinker DeBaliviere Community Council (SDCC), of which WashU is a founding member, and representatives of WashU often attend the council’s monthly meetings and security committee meetings. “For a student perspective, one thing that we hear often is that [neighborhood residents] want you guys here. They want you guys to be their neighbors and add to the vibrancy of the community, and that’s something that you don’t always get with a neighborhood that’s so close to a campus,” Hendricks said. There are many
HELEN SHAO Miley saunters back to her natural position — the apex predator of the room, clad in leather, commanding a mass of ripped, shirtless men. For a moment, Miley’s star-status is justifiable, her God-given right, even. If only it weren’t a translucent veneer on a wholly unremarkable project. She’s right to lament that “the kids don’t wanna dance” — the death of the dancefloor has been chronicled again and again. But when this is the soundtrack, is it really our fault?
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Similar to the LaJoy’s matcha lattes (read: milk with matcha essence), beabadoobee’s newest album “Pylon” fell severely short of my expectations. Just as everyone at WashU seems to have the same closet, all the songs in “Pylon” could very well be each other’s doppelgangers. “Pylon” was supposed to be a fresh start for the Filipino British singer-songwriter — a
LEAH NIEBUHR | CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR
new indie rock vibe in contrast to her previous bedroom and alternative pop style. Singles “Switchblade” and “Sun Has Set” were released over the summer, garnering my excitement for her rebranding. “Sun Has Set” features a prominent drum and electric guitar instrumental throughout, while “Switchblade” is more bass heavy and less upbeat. The style difference between the aforementioned songs led me to believe that “Pylon” would be a hodgepodge of a variety of tracks. You can imagine my disappointment when I noticed that 11 of the 14 songs on the album feel far too similar, starting off slow and musical with primarily guitar and vocals and then transitioning to synths, electric guitar, and drums.
Even though I’m not a huge fan of the majority of the songs, “Pylon” still has some bangers. “Memories” is my personal favorite because of its consistent energetic and upbeat vibe. “Sun Has Set” is a close second, as the electric guitar and drums throughout the song are very much head-bop-inducing. Every other song can fight for third through 14th place. “Pylon” was definitely a rebrand. Was it a good rebrand? Not really. The album is just solid enough to demonstrate beabadoobee’s musical range as an artist. Although it certainly places her in the alternative rock circle, rather than creating waves with its release, she simply induced a few ripples.
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HANNAH LA PORTE | MANAGING SCENE EDITOR | SCENE@STUDLIFE.COM
THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2026
Carolina Caycedo returns to the Kemper Art Museum with ‘Growing Deep Roots’ ELLE LUDWIN SCENE EDITOR
On Sept. 9, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum opened “Carolina Caycedo: Growing Deep Roots.” The exhibition is a collaboration between LA-based Colombian artist Carolina Caycedo and Kemper Senior Curator Meredith Malone. The two collaborated last year on a related exhibition, “Seeds: Containers of a World to Come,” a group show. After “Seeds,” Malone offered Caycedo a solo exhibition at Kemper set to open at the same time as Counterpublic, a triennial St. Louis-wide public art show in which Caycedo is also showing several pieces. Caycedo works in several forms of media, and “Growing Deep Roots” is reflective of this. Caycedo tends to create works in series, and the works in this exhibition are pulled from various projects, including several that are ongoing. The media include sculpture, video, prints, drawings, and even satellite images. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a hanging sculpture that is part of a series called “Cosmotarrayas,” which features various hanging sculptures formed from
artisanal or recovered fishing nets. This particular work, called “Celestial Autonomy, the Dance of Big Dipper and North Star,” was made in Alaska and constructed from recovered dipping nets and buoys. “[The Big Dipper and North Star] are very visible in Alaska and used by native peoples there to locate themselves and to navigate geographically their lands and their waters, their oceans. So I’m talking about that kind of knowledge that exists in our relationship with stars,” Caycedo said. The exhibition features works from three of Caycedo’s other collections, each telling a different but still interconnected story. Three of the featured works are from the series “Root Portraits,” from which the exhibition’s name is drawn. While two of the works are unconnected colored pencil drawings of roots — one showing the intertwined roots of two Kernza plants, a type of perennial grain — the leftmost work is a three-part relief depicting root systems of six prairie plants, all native to the Midwest.
TAMIAH WOODFORK | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
“Prairie plants have very deep roots. Many of them have roots up to 15 feet deep. They absorb water. They absorb carbon. They’re perennial, so they come back every year. And I wanted to highlight this because these are things that we can’t see because all this is happening underneath our feet, under the soil,” Caycedo said. Intriguingly, this threepart portrait is drawn to scale, with the roots stretching to accurate anatomical lengths. Tap roots, which are typically around nine feet long, take up nine feet vertically on Kemper’s gallery walls. Caycedo explained that she kept the actual root lengths because she wanted to depict the complexity of what is happening beneath our feet while taking creative liberties with color and texture. She chose to create this particular portrait, depicting only plants native to the
Midwest, to connect the exhibition to the individuals who visit it. “We are responding to things that are important in St. Louis, that are things that experts, citizens, scientists, tribal members are proposing, so we can live together in a rapidly changing earth,” Caycedo said. Another series represented in the exhibition is “Mineral Intensives,” which consists of vibrant collages done in colored pencil. These drawings piece together various vignettes of mining sites, labor, and processes. Caycedo contrasts natural forms, such as mountains, waterfalls, and lakes, with hazmat suits and harsh metal machines. Some of the landscapes are even based on the shape of mining sites or common uses of the mineral. The four minerals featured in this exhibition — lead, indium, neodymium, and molybdenum — are all used in clean energy
technology, a dichotomy starkly shown in the drawings. Indium is essential in modern electronics, touchscreens, and crucially, solar panels. In “Indium Intensive,” Caycedo sketches an electronics graveyard, filled with cracked computers and broken phones, lit by solar-powered street lamps. The foreground is gray and somber, a sharp contrast to the vibrantly multi-colored background. However, the cracks spiderweb through the colorful backdrop, revealing black beneath. Other works in the exhibition include two videos, one in the main gallery and one downstairs. There is also a mural covering a full wall, composed of overlapping and collaged satellite images, called “Elwha’s Healing.” Finally, there are two works from a series called “Plant Portraits,” which shares many similarities with “Root Portraits.” In addition to presenting her own work, Caycedo also curated an exhibition in the room next to “Growing Deep Roots,” titled “Our
Feminine Lineage.” This display is composed exclusively of artwork created by or depicting female and nonbinary artists. The works are all drawn from Kemper’s permanent collection, except Caycedo’s own contribution to the exhibition, a printed banner displaying over 140 female environmental activists from around the globe. Two display cases rest in the center of the gallery, containing six plant samples from the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Herbarium; one case contains native prairie grasses, while the other presents plants named by or for women. Caycedo hopes that people who visit the exhibition walk away wondering how they can give back to the natural world. “I hope that they can requestion or rethink their relationship to nature and to natural systems, to understanding not as resources that are there for humanity to exploit until depletion, but instead think about other ways to relate, more reciprocal ways to relate to plants, to water, to minerals,” Caycedo said. Both exhibitions are open to the public from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day except Tuesday until Jan. 4, 2027.
ILLUSTRATION
THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2026
STUDENT LIFE 5
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Comic corner
A juvenile sun star eating a snowcone - Shelby Schroeder, WashU Faculty/Staff
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HANA MULLEN | CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR i love illustration!
The fork is offended when the human uses chopsticks for their ramen noodles - Maya Radder, Current WashU Student
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A Marine Moment ACROSS 1 Bombard with texts 5 Cultivate, as a garden 6 There's two per state in the Senate 7 Listening devices? 8 Friend DOWN 1 Take without permission 2 Oyster's treasure 3 Restless 4 Some BJC workers 6 Ariel's home
MAC MOTZ | PHOTO EDITOR Last week’s answer: Danforth University Center (DUC)
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THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2026
Education secretary’s visit to WashU leaves more questions than answers DION HINES MANAGING FORUM EDITOR
WashU College of Arts & Sciences held a forum to discuss the University and Vanderbilt’s Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities on Sept. 16. The report, which alleges an overpoliticization of humanities departments, has drawn significant controversy. Faculty and students, including myself, filled the room, excited to have the chance to express concern over the scholarship and validity of the report. Provost Mark D. West opened by stating that the talk was meant to spark constructive dialogue about the report within the institution. He and Stephanie Kirk, director of the Center for the Humanities and the moderator of the forum, declared that, despite original arrangements, Chancellor Andrew D. Martin would not be present. The U.S. Department of Education revealed later that night that Martin was instead at a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon and the heads of the Gephardt Institute as a part of McMahon’s Returning Education to the States Tour. This information was not announced at the forum. There were no reports about the meeting from any
national or St. Louis news outlets. I reached out personally to Kedra Tolson, the associate vice chancellor for University Communications, and was told that “during her time on campus, McMahon learned more about the university’s commitment to student success and the local community. She also attended a public health panel discussion that explored the ways WashU is addressing access and affordability of healthcare for rural residents.” The specifics of the conversation have yet to be revealed. I know that WashU’s administration is made up of very intelligent people, so I also know that our administrative leaders understand the power of communicating with their community. They purposefully kept McMahon’s visit from faculty, students, and media outlets. While I understand why WashU wouldn’t want media attention in such a matter, I can’t respect their consistent lack of transparency. It’s important for WashU administrators to be clear about their intentions with this meeting. Hosting McMahon — who is trying to get rid of the Department of Education — here sends a message against the academic freedom that WashU claims to support. Talking to her instead of attending a talk that would force Martin
PHOTO COURTESY OF WHITNEY CURTIS U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon pictured on WashU’s campus on Sept. 16. to confront the reality of the Humanities Report sends the message that he cares more about grazing elbows with federal officials than tending to the members of his university’s community. The administration’s persisting silence amplifies these messages, and I doubt WashU
wants that. It’s quite convenient, too, that this meeting was scheduled at the same time as the forum about the humanities report. If Martin had attended the forum as expected, he would have heard the concerned yet firm voices of his students
and faculty. Now we can only hope that Martin will watch the recording of the forum as we were promised. But how resonant will our words be through computer speakers? It’s been over a week since that meeting happened, and WashU administration has not yet made a clear public
statement on the visit. We must not be deafened by this silence. Since WashU vice chancellors and provosts alike emphasize their availability to students, email them and ask: What was being said during that meeting that they didn’t want us to know?
EDITORIAL BOARD
Secretary McMahon’s visit demonstrates WashU admin’s failure to include students in civic discourse U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon visited WashU’s campus last Thursday, Sept. 16, and attended a roundtable talk with Chancellor Andrew D. Martin and leaders of the Gephardt Institute. The visit was part of McMahon’s 50-state “Return Education to the States” tour. At the same time, the College of Arts & Sciences held a forum to discuss the WashU- and Vanderbiltcommissioned Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities. Martin’s participation at the forum would have shed some muchneeded light on his decision to copublish the report, which
has implications for future of humanities studies at WashU. But instead, Martin opted to meet with McMahon. Hosts and attendees of the humanities panel were notified of Martin’s absence only shortly before the event began. By leaving students and faculty in the dark on the humanities report and instead participating in an unpublicized meeting with McMahon, Martin deprived community members of the opportunity to participate in meaningful dialogue regarding the future of the University. We at Student Life understand that, since WashU receives considerable federal funding, Martin likely feels
responsible to meet with a federal official if they are in the city. But it is also the chancellor’s responsibility to inform our community that a meeting with a high-profile figure who is actively shaping our academic lives is set to occur. Last year, Montana State University (MSU) also hosted McMahon, but they instead structured the visit as a roundtable that students were invited to attend. Given WashU’s history of student protests, the chancellor might have chosen to avoid student inclusion in conversations with a controversial figure. However, choosing not to inform those at WashU of the secretary of education’s presence directly
MARCELINE LEE | ILLUSTRATION EDITOR conflicts with the administration’s values of civic participation. Martin has often advocated for free speech during his time at WashU, even teaching a class on the subject. The chancellor must practice what he has preached in the years leading up to this meeting and give members of the WashU community the chance to engage in civil discourse with members of the Trump administration who are actively attempting to dismantle policies and protections many of us rely on — including federal student loans, research funding, SNAP benefits, international student visas, protections from ICE raids, and more. Martin owes the WashU community an explanation for his absence from the ArtSci humanities report forum, his decision to meet with the secretary of education, his objectives for holding the private meeting, and a studentfacing discussion about what came out of the conversation. While other universities like MSU have chosen to use
McMahon’s visit as an opportunity to include students in such important discussions, Martin’s actions demonstrate an unwillingness to do the same. That decision is in direct conflict with WashU’s professed values of civic discourse and student participation. The chancellor’s meeting with McMahon also highlights a broader pattern of direct engagement with federal officials while offering limited information about the purposes and outcomes of those conversations. Going forward, we expect WashU administrators to provide a clear account of what they wish to accomplish in engagements with federal officials and how our community will be involved. It’s essential that meaningful student inclusion happens before decisions affecting us have already been made. Staff editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of our editorial board members. The editorial board operates independently of our newsroom and includes members of the senior staff.
Dion Hines Managing Forum Editor Kate Theerman RodriguezForum Editor Campbell Crum DEI Editor Apurva Ganti Head of Training and Recruitment Laurel Wang Editor-in-Chief Lewis Rand Editor-in-Chief Maddie Morgan Forum Editor River Alsalihi Forum Editor Lucia Thomas Managing Illustration Editor Hannah La Porte Managing Scene Editor Alex Dering Photo Editor Jake Isenberg Scene Editor Quinn Moore Managing Newsletter Editor Bee Austin Sports Editor
THURSDAY, SEPT 24. 2026
DION HINES | MANAGING FORUM EDITOR | FORUM@STUDLIFE.COM
STUDENT LIFE 7
OPINION SUBMISSION
I’m a cultural anthropologist and I do rigorous scholarship REBECCA DUDLEY PH.D. CANDIDATE, ANTHROPOLOGY
You might think this statement is too banal to open an op-ed. But thanks in part to Chancellor Andrew D. Martin’s Report, it’s a very political claim these days. Over the summer — a time when my colleagues and I tend to turn to our research, field sites, writing projects, and families — the Report on the State of Scholarship in the Humanities and Humanistic Social Sciences dropped. I, like my colleagues, was stunned when I read it. As members of last week’s Center for Humanities panel agreed, the report makes huge claims on little data. Among its many flawed assertions and seemingly biased analyses, it singled out anthropology as especially intellectually corrupted, unrigorous, and politically biased. This is the very opposite of my experience with this scholarly community. I chose to study cultural anthropology because of its intense methodological rigor, intellectual depth, and political and intellectual selfscrutiny. I chose it because of its longstanding ethic of questioning social reality and what it means to be human with an unflinchingly honest lens. I fell in love with cultural anthropology as an undergraduate. The courses I took then taught me how to think critically, how to assess what is taken for granted, and how to imagine other ways of being. Anthropology is about unsettling norms, about turning
careful attention toward what appears natural. This is also what makes anthropology dangerous to some. Now, as a WashU-trained cultural anthropologist with an interdisciplinary focus, I have taken six semesters of graduate coursework, proposed and defended a research topic to a committee of expert scholars, conducted months of ethnographic and historical research, won external funding from one of the discipline’s most prestigious granting agencies, presented at conferences, developed four classes across a range of anthropological subjects (and taught or co-taught three of them), and written a seven-chapter dissertation with longstanding and intense analysis of my research, which I’ll defend this spring. This is what getting a Ph.D. in anthropology looks like for many of us — I am far from unique. Our work requires rigor. To understand the depth of this rigor requires an understanding of what ethnography is — our primary method. Cultural anthropologists talk to people. We identify a population of people that our research is about, and whose experiences matter for answering our research question. We do this with careful scrutiny and peer feedback, assessing if our questions are, indeed, questions (rather than theses), and if they are answerable. When we get to our field sites, we practice participant observation — observing how people go about daily life and activities, often by their sides. We do participant observation for weeks, months, and years,
PUZZLE
taking notes along the way, and asking lots and lots of questions. We conduct formal and informal interviews individually and in groups, often building months long or years long engagement with our research participants. How many interviews we conduct ranges from dozens to hundreds. For me, I conducted 68 interviews, a low estimate, and developed close relationships with 22 people over three to four years. I “observed” hundreds of others. Once we get back from the field, we analyze. We interpret our data — our reams of notebooks, recordings, photos, books, artifacts — and iteratively ask “Does my interpretation hold up?” and “What else could explain this?” This qualitative analysis often looks like typing up notes, tagging them with interpretive themes, seeing how themes emerge across areas of data, and reiterating again and again. While the brunt of my research concluded in 2024, I still reach out to my interlocutors to make sure I’ve got the facts straight. Our analysis, being qualitative, is based in writing. We work with each other in workshops, defenses, conferences, papers, seminars, discussions, and colloquia to evaluate our interpretations. We evaluate with harsh exactness how the data substantiates the interpretive claim and what data interrupts that interpretation. We continually ask ”Are these the right questions to ask?” This is the definition of rigor — strict analytical precision. Anthropologists seek to
DANESH TEMIRBEKOVA | CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATION understand how people think and the social worlds they build. My years long research took me to a place I wasn’t from, to people I didn’t know before, and to ideas that were entirely new to me. I built my dissertation arguments through an analysis of their life experiences and family histories. Again, I am far from unique. This is what anthropology looks like. Our work is threatening to many people, especially those who want the social world and its norms to remain unscrutinized, or those who are uncomfortable with ambiguity or unsettling truths.
Scrutinizing social worlds requires flexibility. This is because social worlds are multifaceted, at times selfcontradictory, and constantly evolving. And, as researchers, we are part of the social worlds we examine, even if distantly. Our flexibility is what makes our method robust. I’ve talked about participant observation and interviews, themselves flexible methods, but there is so much more that falls under the umbrella of anthropological research. We conduct surveys, record conversations (with permission), take photos, encounter artifacts, read histories and other cultural
analyses, self-assess, and more. And this doesn’t even begin to mention the rich methodologies of my colleagues in the other subdisciplines of our field — archaeology, biological anthropology, and linguistics. I am nearly finished with my Ph.D. dissertation edits and am preparing to defend it. Like one of the guiding principles of last week’s panel — to begin a conversation — I invite anyone who wants to better understand the rigor of cultural anthropology to attend a Ph.D. dissertation defense, which are generally open to the public. You’re welcome to come to mine.
8 STUDENT LIFE
SPORTS HANNAH MUCH | MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR | SPORTS@STUDLIFE.COM
THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2026
No. 20 football improves to 3-0 in 31-24 win at Wittenberg University ROMAN PETERSON STAFF WRITER
The No. 20 WashU football team remains undefeated with a 31-24 road win over Wittenberg University, moving to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC). With this game, the Bears notch their first 3-0 start since 2023, as well as their first NCAC away game victory. Sophomore running back Brayden Lewis was the star of the show, rushing for 126 yards and one touchdown on just 13 carries. Lewis averaged just under 10 yards per carry, providing the Bears with an
explosive threat out of the backfield throughout the afternoon. Aside from Lewis, the veterans made their presence felt throughout Saturday’s matchup. Senior quarterback Levi Moore led the way with 93 rushing yards, which was accompanied by 135 passing yards and two touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Drew Bomar led the team in receiving yards with 65, and senior wide receiver Makael Carter contributed 44 yards, including two receiving touchdowns. Head Coach Aaron Keen emphasized the impact of the team’s upperclassman presence to start
the season. “We’ve felt very good about this group of seniors coming back,” Keen said. “With the amount of football they’ve played and their impact on the locker room and the field, it’s been nice to see them rewarded with some big wins so far.” WashU struck first on a 36-yard touchdown run from Moore, but Wittenberg answered late in the opening quarter and took a 10-7 lead in the second after capitalizing on a fumble by the Bears. WashU responded before halftime, as a nineplay drive ended with Moore finding Carter for a 27-yard touchdown and
a 14-10 advantage. The Bears extended their lead immediately after the break when Lewis broke free for a 64-yard touchdown run. Wittenberg pulled within four before the fourth quarter, but WashU regained control behind an 18-yard field goal from junior kicker Matias Adrogue and a key interception from junior safety Zander Ealy. The turnover set up Moore’s second touchdown pass to Carter, pushing the lead to 31-17. Wittenberg added a late touchdown, but WashU closed out the game to secure the 31-24 victory. Lewis’ 126 rushing yards
Soccer at home:
marked a career high for the sophomore running back, more than doubling his previous best this season and offering a glimpse of the impact he can make in his increased role on the Bears’ offense. “[Lewis] had an excellent freshman season and training camp,” Keen said. “It was super exciting to watch him get loose. ... He’s been a real game changer for us.” This victory showed WashU’s ability to respond under pressure, as the Bears
overcame their first deficit of the season and made key plays on both sides of the ball down the stretch. The team will look to stay unbeaten in its next matchup on the road against Oberlin College, which kicks off at 12 p.m. on Sept. 26.
No. 1 women win two games, men’s team falls short AARON WILLIAMS BEE AUSTIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER SPORTS EDITOR
Entering their games on Saturday, Sept. 19, and Sunday, Sept. 20, both the WashU women’s and men’s soccer teams held undefeated season records. However, only one team left the weekend undefeated.
No. 1 women’s soccer WashU women’s soccer has not ceded a single goal in the 2026 season. Last weekend proved no different as the Bears defeated the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Rhodes College 4-0 and 3-0, respectively. The Bears took early control against UCSC, with junior forward Olivia Clemons scoring in the 22nd minute, finishing a pass from junior midfielder Emily Fox. WashU continued to build this lead after halftime, as senior forwards Julia Moore and Madi Foley extended the Bears’ advantage 15 minutes apart to make it 3-0. First-year midfielder Muriel Gamble capped the scoring with her first collegiate goal in the 75th minute. WashU dominated offensively, outshooting the Banana Slugs 25-1, recording nine shots on goal and five corner kicks. “Part of [our team’s defense strategy] is to try and keep the ball in our offensive third and part of it is to value the ball,” Head Coach Jim Conlon said. “The more we possess the ball, the less the other team has it. The less the other team has it, the [fewer] opportunities they have to score goals.” On Sunday, Sept. 20, the Bears took on Rhodes, pushing their season’s record to 7-0. Not only did WashU win 3-0, but they did not let Rhodes have a single shot on goal. This stat has not been reached since the Bears’ season
opener against Greenville University, reflecting WashU’s ability to control possession and limit opportunities throughout the game. “I feel like [strong defense] starts up top,” Conlon said. “I think our forward line, our midfields, make the play very predictable for our backs, and then the backs are doing a good job winning the first ball or the second ball.” Assisted by Fox, Clemons scored the first goal of the game by sinking the ball into the lower right corner. The second goal came in the 53rd minute: Senior midfielder Sophie Viscovich launched a 20-yard free kick over the Rhodes wall and into the net, giving WashU a 2-0 lead. The final goal came from another Clemons-Fox connection. Clemons dribbled around the goalkeeper, who had charged well off her line, and fired a cross to Fox. Fox buried the ball in the back of the net, cementing the Bears’ 3-0 win. The Bears will be looking to extend their undefeated record at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 23, on Francis Olympic Field against Millikin University.
of these attempts, Head Coach Andrew Bordelon liked what he saw from his team in the second half. “If we [continue to] put on a performance like that second half, we’re gonna win a lot more games,” Bordelon said. WashU’s offense outshot the Tigers 20-7. The
duo of senior forward Ethan Wirtschafter and sophomore forward Wole Adeoye together put up 11 shots, five of which were on target. As a team, the Tigers only had four shots on target. Looking ahead to conference play in the University Athletic Association
(UAA), which begins on the road versus Brandeis University on Oct. 3, Bordelon remains optimistic about the rest of the season. “I’m really encouraged about the UAA season, and hopefully we can continue to do very well there,” Bordelon said. “I
know we’ve got a target on our back, but I think these guys are ready for it.” WashU will have another chance to improve before UAA play when they take on a nonconference opponent, Centre College, at home on Sept. 26.
BRAYDEN WEIGELT | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Junior defender Quentin Wallace passes the ball down the sideline.
Men’s soccer Heading into a heavily anticipated Senior Day matchup against the DePauw University Tigers on Sept. 19, WashU men’s soccer had always found a way to win. However, the Bears’ luck seemed to run out, as the team fell to the Tigers 1-0, suffering their first loss of the season. DePauw struck early in the ninth minute, heading the ball into the left side of WashU’s net. The Bears tried to equalize but failed to convert on any of their six shots on goal in the first half. Trailing 1-0 at the break, the Bears came out aggressive in the second half, outshooting DePauw 14-1, compared to their six shots in the first half. Though the Bears couldn’t find the back of the net on any
SYKES CARLSON | CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER Senior forward Julia Moore charges down the field for the ball.
THURSDAY, SEPT 24, 2026
STUDENT LIFE 9
HANNAH MUCH | MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR | SPORTS@STUDLIFE.COM
Golf makes two holes-in-one in three days ASHER DARLING CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Sophomore Jessy Young saw her ball land close to the hole, but she couldn’t tell where it ended up. She was staring into the sun, and she’d mishit her 9-iron on the 132-yard par-3 eighth hole. Then, her mother, who flew in from Atlanta to watch, started screaming. Young had made her firstever hole-in-one. Young’s ace on Sept. 15 was the second by a WashU golfer in less than a week. First-year Jessica Liu made a hole-in-one from 145 yards away with a 7-iron in a practice round at a different course, just three days before Young’s. Young was playing alongside junior Nicole McGuire in match play against Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships. The tournament was held at Elks Run Golf Club in Batavia, Ohio. “It was super nice having my teammate and my mom
there and having it be in the tournament,” Young said. “We started jumping up and down and screaming.” Young’s ace capped off a four-hole stretch in which she went from three holes down to one up. She ended up tying the match with CMU first-year Yixuan Chen. “I was definitely on a high for a while, but then on the next tee shot I had to be like, ‘Okay, [your opponent] is really good still. You have to focus,’” Young said. Head Coach Dave Reinhardt wasn’t with Young during her ace, but saw her a few minutes later. “I wanted to make sure that she kept the golf ball and that she wasn’t playing with it,” Reinhardt said. “But she didn’t want to [switch balls]. She wanted to keep the good luck with that golf ball going.” This is the first time Reinhardt has seen two aces at the collegiate level within three days. “The odds are about one in 10,000, so I was just
PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSICA LIU
PHOTO COURTESY OF JESSY YOUNG
First-year Jessica Liu (left) and sophomore Jessy Young (right) celebrate their holes-in-one. super happy for her and proud of her,” Reinhardt said. “It definitely helped [Young] finish that day strong.” This was Liu’s third hole-in-one. She made one in seventh grade and
another during a match in her first-year year of high school before her ace at Westborough Country Club on Sept. 12. “I was like ‘Wait, that’s the perfect distance for my 7-iron,’” Liu said. “It just
happened to be hit really well. And I saw it go in, and we were really hyped. It’s the same feeling every single time. It’s super exciting.” Westborough Country Club gave Liu a flag to
commemorate the shot. It now hangs in her dorm room. Liu also said she sent photos to her parents, who sent her $100 in return. “It’s so cool that we both made one,” Liu said. “So we’re hole-in-one twins.”
CAPTION CONTEST 9/24 WINNERS
First Place: “Oh, these? $40 at Avalon. Each.”
Caption this! Enter this week’s contest
- Al Tyliszczak, WashU Alum Second Place: WashU fix your printers so I can drip out - Mark Kimmel, Current WashU Student Third Place: Trying to find something to wear, but my options are paper-thin DANESH TEMIRBEKOVA | CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR
- Sean Henry, Current WashU Student
DALE SON | CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATOR Scan the QR code to enter your submission by noon on 9/29.
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WEEKLY BAR, RESTAURANT AND FUN GUIDE
8 STUDENT LIFE
HANNAH MUCH | MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR | SPORTS@STUDLIFE.COM
THURSDAY, OCT 16, 2026