City Foundry STL, a 14-acre plot that is set to become a Midtown hub and public market, has been an object of interest for the SLU community since the announcement of its transformation in the summer of 2016. After delaying its grand opening in August, the Foundry is now expected to be complete by the end of spring 2021. 

SLU students eagerly await the opening:  “I’m super excited about [City Foundry] coming together, this is something that everyone’s been looking forward to since [my] freshman year,” said Danielle Taylor, a sophomore SLU student

City Foundry STL sits along the I-64 interstate on Forest Park Avenue, and is at the center of Midtown and near the Grand Center area of St. Louis. Various sources of dining and entertainment are expected to emerge in the City Foundry area, including an event space, a food hall, offices, shops and a theatre. Spaces which are sure to be popular include Press Waffle Co, Kalbi Taco Shack and the Fresh Thyme Farmers Market. 

About 100 years ago, in 1929, the area that City Foundry STL currently sits on was owned by the Century Electric company, which produced internationally-sold generators and motors. 

In August of 2016, City Foundry STL first announced that the area would be updated from an old manufacturing factory site to an upbeat, social hub for the surrounding St. Louis community. 

As planning continued, more retail and financing was added on, with the final project estimated to cost around $340 million. In April of 2018, demolition began, with construction finally beginning at the site in July. 

Initially, City Foundry STL was expected to be open spring of 2020, however COVID-19 provided a unique challenge for the Foundry team. Many public elements of City Foundry STL halted their plans, but steadily, they’ve begun to organize an opening, while still planning to follow COVID-19 precautions. 

Recently, it was announced that an outdoor concert series is underway at the Foundry, and will host local acts until June 23. The Floozies, Andy Frasco and John Moreland lined up to perform. The concert series is being hosted in collaboration with Jamo Presents, an independent concert promoter and venue management company. 

“Seventeen of the first 24 indoor shows at City Foundry sold out,” said Drew Jameson of Jamo Presents. “There aren’t many places out there right now in the country where you can see live music up to four nights a week in a socially distanced setting – especially outdoors.”

Amidst COVID-19, City Foundry STL has prevailed and remains on track to open and be a hub for the St. Louis community. 

A longtime in the making, African American studies is finally becoming a department at Saint Louis University, and is set to get full department status by the fall 2021 semester. 

Many in the SLU community have waited for African American studies to become fully departmentalized, and it was a prominent goal of both the Clock Tower Accords and the more recent list of demands from the Breonna Taylor Memorial incident last fall. 

In the 1970’s, SLU began offering their first African-American Studies classes, pioneered by Barbara Woods, Ph.D., who directed the SLU African-American Studies Program. Woods was known as one of the architects of Black studies throughout universities across the nation. As the African-American studies program solidified, SLU created a certificate and a contract major, where students put together classes that would be viable for an African-American Studies degree and had it signed off by a professor. In the 1990’s, SLU’s African-American Studies became a formally instituted program under the leadership of Karla Scott, Ph.D., and was granted the ability to graduate traditional B.A. majors through the program in 2010. 

In recent days, Christopher Tinson, Ph.D., the current director of African-American studies and other members teaching within the program have taken part in faculty meetings and conversations to make the African-American studies program a full department. However, the road to becoming a department has not been smooth or quick. As movements for Black empowerment have gathered momentum, so too has the push for the departmentalization of the African American studies program.

 One obstacle that stood in their way was repeated questioning of the necessity of the program. Tinson responded, “We’ve been making the case over 40 years for why this is a viable area of study.” 

With departmentalization comes a more official footing within the university. Tinson elaborated on the benefits of departmentalization, saying: “It gives us more visibility and viability. And also, most importantly, it allows us to hire and tenure our own faculty who have lines in African American Studies.” The program is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for a joint position within African-American studies and the School of Education, as well as for community-based endeavors. 

“It’s definitely exciting,” said Clarke Taylor, senior and student worker within the African-American studies program. 

“Education and African descendants go hand in hand, and we always want to make sure people understand that [and] appreciate that. We’re here to celebrate that, as well as produce new people who can carry on that tradition. So that’s what we’re here for,” added Tinson.

Jesuit Hall at SLU, located on Lindell Boulevard, has existed for one hundred years; initial construction was completed in 1921. Originally the building was known as the Melbourne Hotel, one of the nicest hotels within the Midtown St. Louis area. It was later purchased by Saint Louis University and served as a residential space and later a women’s dormitory, until an agreement in 1973 between the Jesuit community and SLU for it to become a residential space for Jesuit members in the SLU community. 

As time has gone on and the hall has continued to house individuals for a century, normal wear and tear has occurred. Recently, Neighborhood Properties of Clayton have bought the building with plans to rehabilitate the building and update its systems. While only approximately 65 people live in the building currently, maintenance and repairs will expand the housing capacity. 

The exterior of the building is to remain the same, and the current plan is to turn the hall into an apartment complex, adding retail spaces on the street level of the building and a parking lot. In addition to Jesuit Hall itself being changed, there are also plans to have a second apartment complex made with a corresponding parking lot and retail on the street level. 

Fr. David Suwalsky, S.J., Vice President of Mission and Identity at SLU, commented on the development of Jesuit Hall at SLU: “ It’s going to bring a lot of people into the Grand Center Arts District in Midtown here. And I’m sure they’ve got it in their mindset, a number of those people would be students.”

Although the Jesuit Hall at SLU on Lindell will become a changing landscape for the Jesuit community present within SLU, a new residence hall for the Jesuits with additional spaces is to be built on SLU’s north campus. This new residence hall would include private, solely residential halls that could house 20-25 Jesuits within the SLU community and a chapel and dining hall for the residents. Suwalsky spoke on the importance of a more present Jesuit structure on campus, stating: “We really want the Jesuits residents’ [place] to be seen as a place for hospitality and a strong supporter of the University’s mission….There has been a Jesuit community at St. Louis University since 1829. And so this is just an opportunity for us, both the university and for the Society of Jesus to assert that the Jesuit community is part of the fabric of the university.”

Currently, fundraising is occurring for the new Jesuit Residence Hall on campus, and the Jesuit Hall on Lindell is to start site preparation by the end of February. Both projects are on a similar timeline, with hopes for both communities to be completed and ready by spring of 2022. 

The chess piece statue outside of Morrissey Hall is by far one of the most loved attractions on campus. Sitting outside the home of SLU’s very own chess team, it has a giant chess board with spots nearby to sit and play the game. 

Not only is it a favorite for those currently attending SLU, but it also manages to capture the attention of all visiting families and potential students. “I remember visiting SLU with my family and seeing the chess piece. We all thought it was really cool,” said Tara Burke, sophomore. 

Recently, many students and faculty alike have noticed construction being done on the chess piece. Then, the chess piece disappeared completely, with caution tape surrounding the vacant area. This has left many SLU members wondering: What is going on with the chess piece?

Initially, there was speculation that the chess piece was vandalized. One student, sophomore Kara Bruns, reported that she had noticed when the piece was still on campus that there seemed to be a large dent towards the top of the piece. She added, “I wish I did some personal investigating while it was still there.” 

These concerns were put to rest by Bradley Storr, a SLU Construction Supervisor, who spoke with the University News about the current situation with the chess piece. It turns out that earlier in the fall semester, water infiltrated the finish of the chess piece and inflicted damage to the interior of the piece. Later on, there was a storm that caused the top of the chess piece to shift, making it unsafe for staff and students to walk past. 

The chess piece has since been moved to a SLU warehouse for further assessment and planning. An estimated time of arrival back to campus is not currently known. 

“We want to make sure that it is solid and safe to return to its pedestal,” said Storr.

At the beginning of this semester, Club Resilient opened their doors to the SLU community with a mission to empower women through discussions on mental health. The idea was first brought forward this past summer by Megan Tweedie, a sophomore, and Audrey Williams, a freshman, after they both noticed a lack of community space devoted expressly to the discussion of mental health issues. 

“There are Active Minds and there’s other clubs that do a really good job at educating people about mental health, but there wasn’t anything for people who were actually struggling with mental health … There wasn’t anything to bring those people together,” Williams said. 

The student-run organization is led by Tweedie, Williams and freshman Elle Flock. Echoing the words of her colleagues, Flock spoke on the importance and uniqueness of Club Resilient’s mission, stating: “There’s a difference between knowing in theory that it exists and sitting down with a group of people that are all open about it, all not okay and willing to work on it together.” 

Club Resilient has a goal to not only try to improve mental health, but also to create a community of acceptance and support through open conversation. Each meeting begins with an introduction from each person in attendance as a means of building trust and familiarity with one another. 

Introductions are followed by a brief presentation of the week’s theme, given by Tweedie, Williams and Flock. Some weeks, a personal experience or testimony related to that week’s theme is shared by a Club Resilient member.  

Testimonies are organized by participants writing  their names next to the themes they’d like to speak on, or they can email Tweedie, Williams or Flock. On the weeks where there is no testimony, club members participate in some sort of group activity. 

The main mission of the club is to give every member access to a space where they can discuss their mental health. To conclude the meeting, each attendee is given a small quote or tip to carry with them throughout the week. 

Summarizing the overall impact of Club Resilient, Tweedie said: “It just makes people know they’re not alone and that they actually can meet people that they can turn to [and] talk to.” Williams added: “Overall it’s probably improved the SLU community by building relationships, building conversation around mental health and hopefully improving people’s life in the realization that they are not alone.” 

Club Resilient meets every Wednesday at 6:15 in the KSLU room. If you have any further questions about the organization, email megan.tweedie@slu.edu, audrey.williams@slu.edu or elle.flock@slu.edu.

At the beginning of this semester, Club Resilient opened their doors to the SLU community with a mission to empower women through discussions on mental health. The idea was first brought forward this past summer by Megan Tweedie, a sophomore, and Audrey Williams, a freshman, after they both noticed a lack of community space devoted expressly to the discussion of mental health issues. 

“There are Active Minds and there’s other clubs that do a really good job at educating people about mental health, but there wasn’t anything for people who were actually struggling with mental health … There wasn’t anything to bring those people together,” Williams said. 

The student-run organization is led by Tweedie, Williams and freshman Elle Flock. Echoing the words of her colleagues, Flock spoke on the importance and uniqueness of Club Resilient’s mission, stating: “There’s a difference between knowing in theory that it exists and sitting down with a group of people that are all open about it, all not okay and willing to work on it together.” 

Club Resilient has a goal to not only try to improve mental health, but also to create a community of acceptance and support through open conversation. Each meeting begins with an introduction from each person in attendance as a means of building trust and familiarity with one another. 

Introductions are followed by a brief presentation of the week’s theme, given by Tweedie, Williams and Flock. Some weeks, a personal experience or testimony related to that week’s theme is shared by a Club Resilient member.  

Testimonies are organized by participants writing  their names next to the themes they’d like to speak on, or they can email Tweedie, Williams or Flock. On the weeks where there is no testimony, club members participate in some sort of group activity. 

The main mission of the club is to give every member access to a space where they can discuss their mental health. To conclude the meeting, each attendee is given a small quote or tip to carry with them throughout the week. 

Summarizing the overall impact of Club Resilient, Tweedie said: “It just makes people know they’re not alone and that they actually can meet people that they can turn to [and] talk to.” Williams added: “Overall it’s probably improved the SLU community by building relationships, building conversation around mental health and hopefully improving people’s life in the realization that they are not alone.” 

Club Resilient meets every Wednesday at 6:15 in the KSLU room. If you have any further questions about the organization, email megan.tweedie@slu.edu, audrey.williams@slu.edu or elle.flock@slu.edu.