The University News

“U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved the sale of $20 billion dollars worth of military equipment to Israel on August 13.”

Read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Joseph Glaser

“A long-standing tradition in the St. Louis community, the Festival of Nations took place in Tower Grove Park from Aug. 24 to Aug. 25 this year. This festival is powered by the International Institute in St. Louis…”

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✍️ Nivindee Fernando
📸 Nivindee Fernando

Tonight is our Journalism 101 crash course! Come join us tonight to talk stories and how to write for us. ANYONE IS WELCOME!!

“If you were walking down West Pine Boulevard the morning of August 24th, it was impossible to do so without being stopped by one of the 200+ university clubs participating in SLU’s annual Involvement Fair.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Aditya Gunturu
📷 Aditya Gunturu

“Career preparedness is one thing, but many agree that stories are the most important element gained from the college experience. Stories meant to be shared that portray the reality of the human condition. There are so many different stories all around you in college. You meet people who become your best friends in a week, yet once their true colors are revealed, you find them unbearable. You meet people with no concept of money because they have had the privilege of always being “comfortable,” and others who have to pretend they have money to fit in. Then you meet people who work two jobs and can still barely afford the cost of living but make it work for the promise of a better future. Sitting next to them is the student with a 2.0 GPA, who thinks college is stupid and doesn’t need to care because they have a well-paying pseudo-job set aside through familial connections.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Joseph Glaser

Read two new opinion articles at unewsonline.com written by Julián B. García.

“There is political violence coming from both the left and the right, and it has made America more divided than ever. But throughout all of this, one thing is certain: as Americans, we must unite against the threat of political violence, advocate for peaceful discourse and stand together in upholding the values that define our nation. Only by rejecting violence can we hope to maintain the integrity of our political system and our society.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Anthony Laurenceau
📷 Evan Vucci/AP

Join us and come hang out! Our staff is excited to welcome you☺️

Welcome back to campus fellow students! 🤍🩵

We will be having our next meeting next Wednesday at 6:00 pm. All are welcome and we will post more information about that meeting later this week!

“As college students, we have not taken the initiative to learn about the city we reside in, and Saint Louis University has failed to educate us on it. The boastful city of St. Louis is the pinnacle of beauty and waste. Filled with abandoned homes, the city neglects its potential by letting them rot depending on the economic status of each block. St. Louis is choosy. Street by street you feel the difference, and this can be easily seen just around SLU’s campus as well.”

“One of the more popular areas in the city, the Delmar Loop, attracts many St. Louis residents, particularly Washington University and SLU students. The street blossoms with color and attractions. As you walk with friends, you will notice a variety of shops such as record stores, tattoo parlors, art shops, clothing stores and other miscellaneous things. In my experience, Delmar flaunts with character and music.”

“Though, there are some things you will not see on the websites gushing about the greatness of the Delmar Loop, and that is that its bright neon signs pull the light away from the bleak and stark reality that it signifies the greatest racial divide in the United States.”

read the full article at unewsonline.com

✍️ Lauren Hutchens
📷 KSDK

Read The University News articles about the upcoming Presidential election from writers Joseph Glaser and Aditya Gunturu.

📷 Getty Images

“From the very first frame, it is clear that director Osgood Perkins attempts to create something different with ‘Longlegs.’ While the film may have all the trappings of the classic horror movies that came before it, such as, a mysterious killer, supernatural tendencies and a protagonist with an unknown past, the film is much more than a classic horror. It is something completely new, giving the audience levels of fear that must be seen to be believed. 

‘Longlegs’ follows the rookie FBI agent Lee Harker (Maika Monroe) as she attempts to catch the notorious serial killer, Longlegs (Nicolas Cage), a mysterious murderer who managed to kill numerous families without leaving a single sign of his presence behind. While this plot may seem basic, Perkins manages to elevate this film by embellishing one important aspect: cinematography.”

Read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Aditya Gunturu
📷 Hollywood Reporter

“Employees at Saint Louis University claim the university continues to offer an ‘unacceptable wage package,’ one that they have overwhelmingly turned down three times as SLU’s negotiation team offers little change.

The employees consist of Service Employees International Union local 1 janitors, ground and maintenance crew workers on campus. They claim as a collective that they are being underappreciated by the university despite ensuring a clean and safe campus environment.

About 25 union workers gathered in front of the Busch Student Center on Thursday, April 25, in protest of SLU’s wage package and subsections within the contract.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Lauren Hutchens
📷 Arthur Simoes

“Approximately 500 SLU students filled the Wool Ballroom in the Busch Student Center after waiting patiently in line to see transgender social media influencer and activist Dylan Mulvaney at Saint Louis University on April 22. Protests erupted at Mulvaney’s arrival, supporting and disproving her presence.

While students were picking out their seats, a group of about 15 protestors were gathered outside, holding up signs that read ‘God! Help Us!’ and chanting Catholic prayers.

Michael Gomez, a protestor and National Guardsman not affiliated with SLU attended the event in protest of Mulvaney’s presence on campus.

‘We’re protesting today because a man will never be a woman and a woman will never be a man. Despite how many shots, hormones, or surgeries one gets, there is no such thing as switching genders. God loves us all. He made us in his image,’ Gomez said.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Ashlyn Jones
📷 Ashlyn Jones

FINAL PRINT DAY!!!
💌📰💌📰💌📰💌

Be sure to grab a copy of the May Edition at a blue Kiosk around campus or check out the articles online!

“A crowd of over 400 gathered Wednesday evening at Saint Louis University for a peaceful protest in solidarity with Palestine. Encampments and protests across the country have been met with police crackdowns and brutalization, like Washington University’s controversial response to a protest on its campus Saturday which resulted in the arrests of over 100 people.

SLU DPS and police made no arrests during the nearly three-hour protest, barring two detainments made at the end of the event from a personal conflict.

Alderwoman Alisha Sonnier said she worked with SLU President Fred Pestello to ensure the event did not escalate.

In a letter before the protest, Pestello promised SLU would ‘meet peace with peace’ so students could ‘engage in advocacy’ without disrupting SLU’s operations.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Owen Herdrick
📷 Lauren Hutchens

“Cinema in 2024 has been off to a rocky start. ‘Argyle’ and ‘The Beekeeper’ were mindless action flicks with inane plots. ‘Madame Web’ did not inspire confidence in the new age of superhero movies, and streaming films like ‘Ricky Stanicky’ and ‘Lift’ made people even more wary of spending their already limited time watching something new. ‘Dune: Part Two,’ very thankfully, broke that trend. 

Frank Herbert’s genre-bending space opera ‘Dune’ was a book once called ‘impossible to adapt,’ according to Aaron Bady at Slate. David Fincher was unable to condense the story properly in 1984. George Harrison was held back by a TV budget in 2000. Denis Villeneuve, however, had the brilliant idea to split the book into two films. This meant that there would be a lot of time for the background information to be laid out and for the proper moments to shine. Shine they indeed have.”

read more at unewsonline.com

✍️ Aditya Gunturu
📷 Associated Press

Exhibit reimagines what art and nature can do for St. Louis Art can look like white walls and fancy canvases. At Exhibit A in Delmar, the colorful walls are filled with doodles and writing. The temporary art exhibit is playful and engaging by design, creator and artist Jayvn Solomon said. Solomon’s work merges art, sustainability and community, while explo...

Read an update on Saint Louis University’s men’s basketball team, written by staff writer Ismael Domin!

Read the full article at unewsonline.com!

Student Government Association elections for the 2023–24 Senate will take place tomorrow March 1 and March 2. Voting will open at 6 a.m. on SLUGroups.

The presidential candidates submitted letters to the editor about their campaigns. Visit unewsonline.com to read more.

Thee University News encourages all students to cast their vote!

“From a young age, Bailey was interested in entrepreneurship. She always found herself spearheading her own innovations while working regular jobs when she needed to. After graduating from Mehlville Sr. High School in 1997, she quickly realized that her passion in life was to be a self-starter.”

✍️ Stasia Hanonick
Read the rest of the review at unewsonline.com

Extra extra, read all about it! 🗞🗞

Pick up your copy of The University News at a blue kiosk on campus!

Swipe for a sneak peek at this issue’s articles! Also look out for our Black History Month Spotlights!

Two former Saint Louis University faculty members—one who taught at the university as recently as July 2021—were added to the list of Jesuits and former Jesuits who have been credibly accused of sexual abuse of minors or vulnerable adults. The Jesuits of the U.S. Central and Southern Province added the late Daniel Campbell and David Meconi to the list on Wednesday, Feb. 8.

Campbell was a faculty member at SLU in the 1950s, during the time of the alleged abuse. David Meconi, whose estimated time of abuse was between 2015-2016, was a former Jesuit priest, theology professor and founding director of the Catholic Studies Center. He worked at SLU up until July 2021 when the university said he was placed on leave for matters unrelated to the allegation. According to the province list, there are a total of six Jesuit priests with assignments at SLU who have credible allegations of abuse.

The province informed the university that investigations were opened in February 2022 and concluded with “a high degree of probability” last week that the allegations took place, and “that the possibility they did not occur is highly unlikely,” according to an email sent to the university community by President Fred Pestello on Feb. 9. 

“Our hearts are with those who have suffered from abuse, and we are committed to supporting efforts to prevent abuse from happening to anyone else,” Pestello said in the statement. 

Father David Suawlsky, VP for the Office of Mission and Identity, said the university was not asked for participation in conducting the investigation and was not aware of any legal actions or complaints against Meconi during his time at SLU. Suawlsky also said the university does not know the identity of the victim or the location of the abuse. 

“In this case, there was very little that was shared by the province with the university because my guess has been—it’s only my guess—is whatever that matter was, didn’t intersect with the university,” Suawlsky said.

✍️ Gabby Chiodo and Ulaa Kuziez
Read the full article at unewsonline.com

Happy Valentine’s Day!

To celebrate the holiday of love, the UNews staff gathered together our favorite love songs into one playlist!

The link is in our bio! Enjoy 💌

Graphic art by Ariana Magafas

If you are a current writer or interested in writing for the University News, join us this Wednesday at 7 p.m. for an insightful journalism workshop presented by Dr. Kelsey Mesmer of the Department of Communication.

“On Saturday, Jan. 28, SLU’s Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) transformed the Saint Louis Room in the Busch Student Center into a slice of Vietnam. In celebration of the Lunar New Year, VSA hosted their first ever Tết show. Lunar New Year, following the first new moon on the Lunar calendar, represents an important celebration in many East and Southeast Asian cultures. Celebrations typically last several days with traditional foods, family gatherings and festivities. VSA’s Tết also had a “Paris by Night” theme featuring a red carpet and photo booth inspired by the Vietnamese variety show series. The evening was filled with food, fortune, culture and community, honoring many themes of the Lunar New Year.

Building off of the theme of community, the Tết show brought together many different people, including members of VSA, families and even students who do not typically celebrate the Lunar New Year. Groups of friends took photos on the red carpet, and many friends and family were dressed in traditional clothing. The show even included an Áo dài dress competition, where audience members who were wearing traditional clothing went onstage and the rest of the audience cheered for their favorite outfit. Furthermore, many families, local businesses and SLU’s Cross Cultural Center sponsored the event, helping bring a unique cultural experience to members of the SLU community.”

Read the full story at unewsonline.com

✍️ Hannah Johnson
📸 Lauren Trinh

Need advice? Ask Dear Becky in our advice column!

Submit questions in the link in our bio! All questions are 100% anonymous!

Want to write a candy gram to a friend, loved one, or stranger and have it featured in our February issue? Find the Google Form in our bio link to learn more!! 💌💌💌

Graphic by Morgan Hausback