SCOTUS preview: First Amendment expert supports rights to speech, assembly in Supreme Court​ brief

​Anti-abortion groups are well known for demonstrating and sidewalk counseling at women’s reproductive health facilities, but a Massachusetts statute criminalizes even peaceful expression on public sidewalks near these clinics. An upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case will determine the constitutionality of Massachusetts’ selective exclusion law, which applies only to streets and sidewalks near reproductive health-care facilities. “If Massachusetts can close off the sidewalks surrounding reproductive health centers to peaceful expressive activity, then the government can prohibit expression in a wide range of circumstances,” says John Inazu, JD, First Amendment expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.​

WUSTL to host environmental engineering conference

Washington University in St. Louis will host environmental engineering students and faculty from Missouri and Illinois Sept. 20-21 to learn the latest in environmental engineering technologies and to share research. The 18th Annual Mid-American Environmental Engineering Conference will be held Sept. 21 in the Stephen F. & Camilla T. Brauer Hall and is sponsored by the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering in the School of Engineering & Applied Science.

High-design bird blind

Think of it as reverse camouflage. In the wild, animals use color and pattern to disguise themselves from predators. But last spring, a team from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts flipped the calculus. How, they asked, do we keep human observers from disturbing animals in their natural environments?

Emergency communication system to be tested at noon Wednesday, Sept. 25

Washington University will test its emergency communication system, WUSTLAlerts, at noon Wednesday, Sept. 25. The test will take place unless there is the potential for severe weather that day or some other emergency is occurring at that time. WUSTLAlerts will send emails to @wustl.edu addresses and text messages to cellphones. 

Visiting English professor hosts lecture and workshop Sept. 30 – Oct. 1

Paula Rabinowitz, professor of English at University of Minnesota, will give a lecture and lead a workshop during a two-day visit to Washington University in St. Louis. Her lecture, “Paperbacks: Pulp Modernism, Demotic Reading and Censorship in Cold War America,” will be held at 4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 30.

Women’s Society hosts panel on postgrad life for women Oct. 29

The Women’s Society of Washington University is hosting a panel discussion and networking event, “Composing a Life,” that will feature five diverse women sharing their insights about life after college. The event will be from 5:45-8 p.m. Oct. 29 in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall.