The independent newspaper of Washington University in St. Louis since 1878 THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023
VOLUME 145, NO. 4
BALLOON GLOW
WWW.STUDLIFE.COM
SMALL TALK SUCKS
The 51st annual Forest Park Balloon Festival lifted off Friday night. (Scene, pg 4)
50 POINT WIN
A freshman laments about least favorite social interactions. (Forum, pg 7)
Football crushes Millikin, ahead of home opening. (Sports, pg 6)
WashU drops to No. 24 in U.S. News rankings #4 women’s soccer grabs two following changed formula commanding wins to remain undefeated
HUSSEIN AMURI MANAGING SPORTS EDITOR
ILLUSTRATION BY MANUEL LOPEZ
NINA GIRALDO LUKE MYERS MIREYA COFFMAN SHAZA ALI SENIOR NEWS EDITOR STAFF WRITER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Washington University ranked No. 24 in the annual Best National University Rankings list by U.S. News & World Report, nine spots lower than last year’s No. 15 ranking. The report was published on Sunday evening. The change follows an adjustment to U.S. News’ methodology that was announced in May. The new ranking methodology places increased weight on a university’s “success in graduating students from different backgrounds” and removes alumni giving, faculty with a terminal degree, class size, and high school standing as ranking factors. Several of the University’s peer institutions also experienced movement in rankings, including the University of Chicago, which dropped from No. 6 to No. 12, and Dartmouth College, which dropped from No.12 to No. 18. Some large public schools moved ahead of the University in the new rankings, including the University of California, Los Angeles and The University of California, Berkeley — both of which are now tied for No. 15, up from No. 20. “The large public schools that tended to benefit the most from the change are incredible institutions who have been doing the work of socioeconomic mobility for decades, and I’m honestly happy to see them recognized for that work — it’s pushing us to really center that as core,” Jennifer Smith, Vice Provost for Educational Initiatives, said. In a statement to Student Life,
Provost Beverly Wendland wrote that U.S. News uses data from as far back as 2011 from which to base their rankings — though she said that the reasons for the utilization of old data are unclear. Since 2011, Washington University’s efforts to increase socioeconomic diversity on-campus include Pell-grant initiatives, a needblind admissions policy, and their most recent “no loan” policy. Smith said that the change in the U.S. News rankings shows a legacy of the University having moved late in diversifying its student body. “We still expect this to be a tailwind that helps us, but everybody is trying to do better on this,” she said. “We will benefit from [the work] in the rankings as years go on.” Wendland also said that current efforts will likely show up in rankings years into the future. “What matters today is that, about 10 years ago, our previous administration decided to make a serious commitment to increasing socioeconomic diversity, and we have been working hard at it ever since,” Wendland wrote. “This progress is not reflected in this year’s U.S. News ranking, and we look forward to seeing improvement in this metric in future years, when the data catch up with the ranking.” Smith said that regardless, rankings are still arbitrary, as seen by how drastically they can change when different factors of an institution are given different weights. She guesses that U.S. News moved toward a methodology that is reliant on public information in order to avoid universities providing outdated or incorrect information. Last year, Columbia University’s inflation of statistics made national news.
Subjectivity in ranking methodologies has long been subject to criticism, as seen by the withdrawal of Yale and Harvard Law School from the U.S. News rankings last year. Earlier this year, alongside several other top-ranked medical schools, Washington University’s School of Medicine also pulled out of the U.S. News rankings, stating that the rankings are too easily manipulated and serve as a “flimsy scaffolding upon which to base our pride and satisfaction.” According to a report summarized by Inside Higher Ed, students might not rely heavily on rankings when choosing a school. Only about 25% of surveyed students reported that they paid attention to any one particular ranking source. “Our students have wildly variable experiences, and what makes it good for each of our students can be really different,” Smith said. “So how do you reduce that to a couple of numbers?” Wendland said that, looking forward, it is difficult to say how the University’s drop in rankings will affect prospective-student pools. “I don’t think there will ever be a perfect ranking, but this seems to be a step in the right direction, at least in terms of measuring something that actually matters,” she wrote. For first-year Rohan Reddy, rankings were not a huge factor in his decision to come to the University — rather, he was drawn in by the cooperative environment. “It’s nice to have rankings to see if one college is better than other in general, but I don’t think rankings should be taken too seriously, because it depends on what the best college for you should be,” Reddy said. Senior Mary Falstin echoed that
rankings did not affect her decision, saying that she chose to come to the University because it was where she felt most supported as a firstgeneration, low-income student. However, there are students to whom the U.S News list played a large role in their college-decision process. Junior Brenna Loftus said, “My mindset was just ‘Go to the best school you can get into,’ and rankings definitely played a part in that.” Junior Illiana Wong shared that it was others’ opinions that played a significant factor in her commitment to the University. “[Rankings] certainly had some effect with my parents — they obviously want me to go to a good school,” Wong said. “There’s that image that elite schools put on students, and also an expectation, [which] students who go to more elite schools get forced under, so there’s a lot of pressure.” Ultimately, the University plans to continue emphasizing student outcomes and upward socioeconomic mobility, Smith said. “All we have to do to get better is [to] keep admitting first-gen, limitedincome students and graduate all of our students the best we can,” Smith said. “Things that we would need to do to improve within the rankings are things [that] we are doing anyway — and believe in doing.” The fall in rankings has raised concerns among students that the University’s quality of educational services has decreased; however, Wendland wrote that this is not the case. “We haven’t changed; the U.S. News ranking has. WashU remains as strong as ever, and we all should be proud of this world-class institution,” Wendland wrote.
Scoreless in the first half, the #4 Washington University women’s soccer team headed toward its first draw of the season. A stubborn Rhodes College defense proved too difficult to break down. From counter after counter, crosses after crosses, the Bears’ attacks were not connecting. But all that changed in the 59th minute, when a handball inside the Lynx’ penalty box awarded WashU with a penalty. Tasked to put the ball into the net was senior midfielder Jessica Greven, having done so in the Bears’ previous game. “Jess does a great job in the midfield very well and stepped up when we needed her to,” said women’s soccer head coach Jim Conlon after the game. Stepping up is just what she did. With great composure and ease, the veteran from Carmel, Indiana, buried the ball into the bottom right corner beyond the reach of the Rhodes goalkeeper to give WashU a 1-0 lead. “Let’s Go WashU, Let’s Go!” chanted a group of young girls who came to support the team in the stands. This past Sunday, women’s soccer fought its way to a commanding 4-0 victory against Rhodes College to record its second win in three days. The Bears had previously beaten DePauw College 4-0 Friday evening. With these wins, the team improves their season record to 5-0, remaining undefeated. Not only did the team manage to stay undefeated, but it also recorded another shutout — their fifth of the season. Led by senior goalkeeper Sid Conner, the Bears have yet to concede a single goal this season, making them the most formidable defensive unit in Division III women’s soccer right now. This impressive defensive catalyst was backed by an offensive engine that scored eight goals in those two games, bringing the season total to 23 goals so far. “I feel like our women are really starting to understand what we’re trying to do on the training pitch and transfer it over to the game field,” Conlon said. “I mean, when you go that deep and everyone’s running, you want them to run in the game. I’m just proud of them for understanding what we’re trying to do from the whole team.”
SEE SOCCER, PAGE 5
Weekend sees multiple off-campus car break-ins ALIANA MEDIRATTA SRUTHI KOTLO TANVI GORRE JUNIOR NEWS EDITOR CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
ELLE SU | STUDENT LIFE
At least a dozen cars were broken into in the area surrounding WashU’s campus over the weekend.
In the past week, at least nine student-owned cars were broken into in the neighborhoods surrounding Washington University, and nine individuals, including at least five juveniles, were detained by police officers in relation to these vehicle break-ins, according to the WashU Police Department (WUPD). Angela Coonce, Chief of WUPD, said that the department increased patrols in affected areas in response to the break-ins. She
believes that the WUPD patrols are in the right place, but that patrol zones are large and car break-ins occur quickly. “There’s areas like the 6300 block of Enright, where there were eight cars broken into, [where] we’ve had a lot of extra patrol[s] this week,” Coonce said. Coonce said that Fox 2 St. Louis reported on a “spree of shattered car windows” in the Central West End between Saturday night and Sunday morning, and that the incidents might be related because the windows were broken. “Ten years ago, it was common to break out the windows, but now, a lot of times, they’ll just check the
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car doors and see if they’re open, because it’s a lot faster,” Coonce said. WUPD informed Student Life of the 13 total break-ins that occurred in the past week, nine of which were confirmed to be damage to student vehicles.
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