Campus & Community

Andrew Whitaker, a two-sport athlete and a senior biomedical engineering major at the McKelvey School of Engineering, has spent his undergraduate career giving back.

Washington University students are not only excited to vote in the upcoming election, they are stepping up to help others on campus and in the community cast their ballots. Here, three students share how they are getting out the vote.

The Washington University Student Health Ambassador program is a new peer-to-peer initiative designed to protect students from the spread of COVID-19. Students are dispatched daily to locations across campus to remind their peers to wear masks and to confirm students have completed their daily health screenings.

With high hopes and bulk supplies of hand sanitizer, the Class of 2024 arrived at Washington University in St. Louis Sept. 4-6. “This is what we’ve all been waiting for,” said Nick Cloney, an Arts & Sciences student from Boston. “It may not be what we expected. But even in this altered world, we can still have those integral first-year experiences.” 

Across campus, students, faculty and staff are finding creative ways to welcome the Class of 2024 despite ever-evolving public health directives and university policies, said Katharine Pei, director of First Year Programs. There have been calls from WUSAs, peer mentorship programs, Spotify playlists and gooey butter cake. 

Rob Morgan, in Arts & Sciences, shares the story of how he steered the Beyond Boundaries Program — in its first cohort in 2019-2020 — to roll with the challenges of COVID-19. Embracing resiliency and creativity, Morgan and the program pivoted, creating a podcast to bridge the digital divide.

The Trump administration on Tuesday quickly rescinded the July 6 policy directive that would have prohibited international students from being in the United States if all of their classes were online. Washington University supported a lawsuit filed by Harvard and MIT challenging the policy.

Starting July 1, Washington University in St. Louis will offer its students, faculty and staff a new, free phone-based app designed to address and promote personal safety both on and off campus. WashU Safe replaces Noonlight and offers enhanced security features.

When Washington University students weren’t able to return to campus in mid-March due to COVID-19, faculty fellows and their families living on the South 40 stepped in to tend to the large student-run garden outside the Alumni House.

We are deeply concerned by any action of the United States government to prevent entire segments of the academic community from traveling into the country as students, teachers, researchers and scholars. The recent presidential proclamation directed at some Chinese scholars is only the most recent example of steps this administration has taken to make it more difficult for people to come here for purposes of education and research.