A newcomer’s guide to last year’s campus protests

In the past year, college campuses have spent time in the center of national (and international) news, and Washington University in St. Louis has been no exception. No matter where you’re coming from, this article is a guide to the recent protests that have taken place at WashU. 

As new faces come and old ones go (in that wave-like flow of a college campus student body), discourse will inevitably evolve. Being a part of the WashU community comes with the responsibility of continuing that discourse, of understanding our shared history, politics, and place in the world. 

Campus politics are nuanced and expansive, not limited to any topic or issue. But the most notable events that have defined our current moment are related to the conflict between Israel and Hamas: a war which has, for many, brought foreign conflict close to home. 

Tensions everywhere are heightened, and first-years are stepping foot into a campus as highly divided as the rest of the world. It may seem strange, walking around with political undercurrents seeping their way through many interactions. To ease your confusion and help explain how we’ve gotten to this point, I have tried my best to create an outline — not from a news angle, but as an editor who has read nearly every opinion article StudLife received last academic year.

In learning about the various perspectives that shaped the timeline of last year, it is my hope that you will be able to develop a perspective of your own. Campus politics may seem surreal, unbearable even. (Perhaps they’re the absolute last thing you’re looking forward to approaching in the fall.) Even so, do not be afraid to voice your own opinion, to join the conversations around you, to advocate for what you believe is right. 

Before I continue: I am an opinion writer. You can find my opinions online, published by StudLife, if you are so inclined. This piece, focused on a relaying of events, is not the place for my own political slant. That said, I acknowledge that the idea of objective reporting on this particular issue is nothing short of a facade. I am not only reporting on a largely semitic struggle, I am also dealing with a semantic one. What I choose to include and exclude, what details I provide, what language I use, are all informed by my own thoughts and experiences, no matter how objective I attempt to be. 

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