Humanities & Society

In the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings, some people are calling for an increase in surveillance cameras throughout U.S. cities. “This would be a mistake,” says Neil Richards, JD, privacy law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “It would be dangerous to our civil liberties, and it would be bad policy.” Richards gives his personal reaction to the Boston bombings and offers three reasons why increasing the number of surveillance cameras would be an unnecessary response to recent events in a CNN opinion piece, “Surveillance State No Answer to Terror.”

With awareness ever increasing about young adults with autism transitioning into the workforce, a 2012 study by Washington University in St. Louis researcher Paul Shattuck continues to get national recognition. Shattuck’s June 2012 study “Postsecondary Education and Employment Among Youth With an Autism Spectrum Disorder” was one of 20 selected for inclusion in the 2012 IACC Summary of Advances in Autism Spectrum Disorder Research.

Several new faculty members have joined the Brown School and the School of Law this academic year. Read more to learn further details about the new additions.

As Germany prepares to enact quotas that will mandate quotas for female participation on major corporate boards, the United States is feeling the pressure to improve board diversity, says Hillary A. Sale, JD, corporate governance expert and professor of law at Washington University School of Law. After years of little growth, the percentage of women directors on U.S. Boards remains at 12 percent.

Pre-K through 6th-grade students and their teachers at Cool Valley Elementary School were the lucky recipients of more than 350 books donated by education students in Washington University’s Kappa Delta Pi honor society. As part of KDP’s service project this year, they raised funds to purchase the children’s books, which they delivered to the school on April 12.

Hoping to help future generations of WUSTL students as they themselves have been helped, the Senior Class Council recently kicked off its Senior Gift Campaign with a rousing, fun video featuring Chancellor Wrighton and a group of seniors dancing the Harlem Shake in the chancellor’s office.

Washington University in St. Louis has been named to the Princeton Review’s list of the most environmentally responsible “green colleges” in North America.

It’s called Sketch-a-Song. It’s free and it’s designed to make music creation accessible to everyone — even people without formal musical training. WUSTL seniors Jacob Zax and Adam Segal are members of the team of seven high school friends who devoted last summer to creating the app.

Discovering ways to honor the dignity of individuals coping with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias is the goal of an interdisciplinary symposium on “Finding Humanity in Advanced Dementia” to be held in Wilson Hall on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St Louis on Saturday, April 27.

More than 1,600 people participated in the 12-hour, overnight Relay for Life April 13 and 14, which raised $220,287 for the American Cancer Society. Organized by students, WUSTL’s 11th annual Relay for Life opened with a symbolic “survivors’ lap” around Bushyhead Track.