March 1, 2023

The Emory Wheel

Emory hosts first Georgia Filipino Student Association summit

By sAndy Ge Oxford Campus Desk

Emory University hosted the first Georgia Filipino Student Association (FSA) Leadership Summit in the Emory Student Center on Feb.

26. FSA student leaders from five universities across Georgia — Emory, the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University (Ga.) and Mercer University (Ga.) — gathered to celebrate their community, Emory FSA President Danielle Mangabat (23C) said.

According to Mangabat, the overarching theme of the summit was Bayanihan, a Filipino custom derived from the word “bayan," meaning nation, town or community. The term means “being in a bayan,” referring to the spirit of communal unity and cooperation to achieve a goal.

During the summit, students sat at tables with students from each of the five universities and participated in team building activities to build the best bayan.

Mangabat noted that she wanted to have the summit so that FSA leaders from different campuses can “really create a legacy together” and make sure “that the club stays running as a cultural hub and safe space for our Filipino American students.”

Leaders across the universities shared stories of what FSA means to each of them, Mangabat wrote. They also participated in workshops, such as Georgia Tech’s “Bulaklakan Dance Workshop,” and educational sessions facilitated by Filipino associations, including the Malaya Movement

See FILIPINO, Page 4

Graduate students fight for unionization amid upcoming stipend increase

By MAdi Olivier News Editor

Elijah Ullman’s (25G) mom has stage four cancer. She lives in Colorado, leaving over a thousand miles between her and her son, who is a Ph.D. candidate at Laney Graduate School.

Living on a graduate worker’s check, Ullman explained that he can barely scrape enough money together to visit his mom. He said that out of his monthly stipend from Emory University — which totals around $2,300 after taxes — about half goes to housing, followed by food and medical bills. He then has to pay for the phone in his pocket and the gas in his car.

This pushed Ullman to help reignite the movement to recognize EmoryUnite!, a graduate worker union based out of Laney, as a majority union under the National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 25, 2022. A majority union includes over half of the employees in a workplace.

Though EmoryUnite! has yet to form a majority union, the organization has helped create recent change, EmoryUnite! organizer Isaac Horwedel (17T, 23G) said. After continued pressure from students, the University announced on Feb. 13 that most Laney doctoral students’ stipends will increase by 6% starting in fall 2023. The stipends averaged to $34,595.63 during the 2022-23 academic year. With the increase, that average will rise to $36,637.53.

Additionally, business program stipends will increase by about 8%, from $37,000 to $40,000. Students in the biomedical engineering program, which is affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology, will continue to receive $34,500 without an increase.

“Increasing the stipend is a key

priority for LGS and we continue to maximize our ability to support our students every way we can,” Assistant Vice President of University Communications and Marketing Laura Diamond wrote in an email to the Wheel. “We appreciate the dedication, commitment, and excellence demonstrated by our graduate students across programs at Emory.”

Ullman explained that although the increased stipend is beneficial, it still falls about $3,000 short of the living wage in Atlanta — which is about $39,375 for one adult without children — leaving Emory lagging behind some other institutions. For example, Washington University in St. Louis will offer graduate students

a $37,000 stipend, falling above the city’s $33,571.20 living wage for one adult without children. Additionally, the University of Pennsylvania’s stipend also covers Philadelphia’s living wage.

“It's going to be harder for them to bite the financial bullet of coming here,” Ullman said. “They're still meeting a failing grade in that regard.”

However, some of Emory’s peer institutions also fail to pay Ph.D. students above living wage, including Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) and the University of Chicago.

EmoryUnite! goals

EmoryUnite! Organizer M Wu (27G) said that unionizing is the only

route to truly impacting graduate students’ stipends.

“There's only so much you can do working within the department that you're a part of,” Wu said. EmoryUnite! is currently gathering signatures from Laney students who support unionization through their card drive. Once 30% of Laney students sign the card, EmoryUnite! can file a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, which would decide if the group qualifies for an election day. If more than 50% of voters express support for unionization in the election, EmoryUnite! would become a recognized majority union, requiring

Club Involvement Poll aims to promote belonging, involvement in campus clubs

By Ashley Zhu

Assistant News Editor

College Council presented their findings from a Club Involvement Poll on Feb. 17 to Provost Ravi Bellamokonda and the Undergraduate Council, which consists of members from across the Emory University undergraduate community. The survey, which began on Feb. 3, is the beginning of College Council’s efforts toward improving “belonging efforts, promoting involvement and expanding access,” according to an email from College Council.

Incoming College Council President Neha Murthy (24C) is leading the initiative to improve club culture at Emory along with other College Council representatives, including outgoing Fourth Year Legislator Rhea Gupta (23C), incoming Third Year Legislator Corinne Phillips (25C), outgoing Third Year Legislator Harry Kou (24C), current Vice President of Organization Management Hridansh Saraogi (24C), incoming Second Year Legislator Rachel Alpert-Wisnia (26C) and outgoing Oxford Continuee

Legislator Arden Chan (22Ox, 24C).

Murthy said she is worried that Emory clubs reject students too frequently.

“Hearing from actual students of being rejected from like 13 clubs, or trying to get into the same club over two or three years, and then facing the rejection multiple times — it’s really disheartening, because we’re trying to create a college environment, and it’s an experience you should be able to enjoy, be involved and learn,” Murthy said. “We also see a lot of burnout, so I think that people being in a lot of leadership positions also causes that decrease or decline in mental health.”

According to Murthy, Student Involvement, Leadership and Transitions (SILT) invited College Council to share their data with the full SILT staff in order to “make some tangible changes from there.” One of the largest concerns that College Council is bringing to the dean and provost’s attention is that students are not getting the experience from campus clubs that they worked hard for, she said.

Murthy said that when students

attempt to get involved in campus life, the application and interview processes — which she said are unnecessary at times — add a high barrier to entry. She also noted a large gap between the role of general body members and executive board positions, where the executive members do most of the work and have internal bonding events.

The interview process also often

favors extroverted people, Murthy noted, even if introverted candidates are able to do the work better than their extroverted peers.

According to the poll, the greatest number of students felt excluded by pre-professional business clubs, followed by cultural and academic organizations, then political, service and ideological organizations.

Students from all racial and ethnic groups besides Hispanic felt it was hard to get involved in the community and students from all racial groups besides Middle Eastern felt strongly that the same people “availed too many positions.”

On average, each Emory student is involved in 3.32 clubs and has been rejected from 2.86 clubs. Students also interview for 3.7 clubs on average, while only holding 1.47 executive board positions.

“Another thing that I have on my mind is that we have a large divide of people who are extremely involved, hold multiple board positions,” Murthy said. “And then there’s the opposite extreme and then a lot of people are in the middle. But it’s a lot on the extremes — not involved or very highly involved.”

Engaging with community and developing a sense of belonging are essential components of student flourishing for the Emory student experience, according to SILT Associate Director of Student Organizations and Governance Dion Webb-Figueroa.

“In SILT, we are working to enhance

Courtesy of Neha Murthy

Incoming College Council President Neha Murthy is leading the initiative to improve club culture at Emory.

soph Guerieri/staff photoGrapher

EmoryUnite! members gather on the Quad to collect signatures on their card drive and celebrate their progress on Feb. 20.

WEST-EASTERN DIVAN ENSEMBLE

Michael Barenboim, violin and leader

Thursday, March 2 | 8 pm

Featuring George Enescu’s String

Octet, op. 7 and works by Dvořák and Ravel, the West-Eastern Divan Ensemble celebrates the ideas of unity through music with an ensemble of outstanding Palestinian and Israeli musicians.

MARCH MUSIC

LAWRENCE BROWNLEE—RISING

with pianist Kevin J. Miller

Friday, March 17 | 8 pm

With the premiere of this new song cycle, Rising, Brownlee and Miller will perform texts by Black authors and poets of the Harlem Renaissance, set to music by leading composers such as Shawn Okpebholo, Damien Sneed, Emory Alumnus Joel Thompson, and others.

CHAD LAWSON | PIANIST AND COMPOSER with Judy Kang and Seth Parker Woods

Saturday, March 25 | 8 pm

A modern-day master of reinvention, Lawson’s bold interpretations of the classics, atmospherics, and electronic loops resonate with both EDM fans and neo-classical traditionalists. Joined by violinist Judy Kang and cellist Seth Parker Woods, the concert features variations on compositions ranging from Chopin to Billie Eilish.

Take a trip: A look inside Emory's new psychedelic center

By nicA leunG Atlanta Campus Desk

The room resembles an unassuming Ikea showroom, with cream-colored walls, a white fur rug and a simple twin-sized bed. Potted plants frame each side of the room with an orange lamp and a bag of blue corn chips atop asymmetric tables.

The only indicator that something is abnormal is the two chairs at the front of the room facing the bed. Indeed, this is no ordinary bedroom. It is the site where patients are given psilocybin — commonly known as magic mushrooms — for research by Emory University’s Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality (ECPS). The chairs are reserved for two therapists to monitor a patient as they undergo a psychedelic experience.

Located in the Emory Brain Health Center, ECPS is the world’s first center that studies psychedelic medicines by integrating psychiatry and spiritual health practices. The center launched in Aug. 2022 under the leadership of co-directors Dr. Boadie Dunlop (01MR, 12G), associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and George Grant (85T), executive director for spiritual health in the Woodruff Health Sciences Center.

“The goal of ECPS is to understand the role that spiritual [and] mystical experiences have in enabling people to benefit from treatment with psychedelic-assisted therapy,” Dunlop said.

ECPS is not the first time Emory faculty has dabbled in psychedelic experiments. In the 1950s, Dr. Carl Pfeiffer, who chaired Emory’s Department of Pharmacology and Chemical Biology at the time, conducted experiments with lysergic acid diethylamide — commonly known as LSD or acid — for the CIA under Project MK-Ultra. Pfeiffer experimented on approximately 80 to 100 prisoners in Atlanta in an effort to study the drug’s effects on behavior control. Additionally, in 2012, Emory researchers filed a

psilocybin patent for psychedelicassisted psychotherapy to treat “social disorders such as autism.” The project was later abandoned and has no association with ECPS, according to Dunlop.

Experts have only recently begun exploring the effect of psychedelic compounds and psychotherapeutics in supporting mental health and substance use disorders — a movement coined the “psychedelic renaissance.” Dunlop believes psychotherapeutic research opens the door for possible treatments and may help with anxiety and substance use disorders, along with other major life stressors.

Goodrich C. White Professor of American Religious History and Cultures Gary Laderman, who is also an ECPS Board member, said that psychedelics are eventually “going to be everywhere,” benefitting pharmaceutical companies and emerging psychedelic-focused therapy.

“They're a super powerful new, what many would refer to as, a miracle drug,” Laderman said. “And that? That means billions and billions of dollars.”

ECPS’s current clinical trials examine the impact of psilocybin on demoralized cancer patients in palliative care who have depression that doesn’t respond to typical treatment. According to Dunlop, the unique properties of psychedelics could benefit these patients.

“As long as the approach is done within a standard clinical trial framework … it would be a disservice to patients to not pursue this as an area of research,” Dunlop said.

“We have very little treatment for people facing end-of-life anxiety, depression, demoralization.”

Though patients may experience increased blood pressure, resurfacing of traumatic memories or a substance use disorder during the trial, Dunlop doesn’t view such symptoms as the biggest risk to psychedelics research. Instead, he is worried about implicitly encouraging recreational use.

“The biggest risk is the effort to legalize the use of the substances in

the idea that they are therapeutic in and of themselves, which will lead to use in uncontrolled settings,” Dunlop said. “That was what is associated with bad experiences and potential harms.”

ECPS Research Program Manager

Tanja Mletzko added that patients undergo a total of 12 hours of psychotherapy before and after their single dose of psilocybin during the clinical trial.

Some researchers criticize psychedelic research for cultural appropriation and ignoring the Indigenous history behind spirituality and drugs in medicine. Laderman said that though ECPS is still grappling with the “important” questions around appropriation, he applauded ECPS for its inclusion efforts.

“They're working to think more about diversity integration, the history of what demonstrates another example of … ingrained racism in American society and, in particular, the larger history of drugs,” Laderman said.

According to Dunlop, ECPS regularly meets to vet ideas with working groups, including members from the departments of medicine, psychiatry, spiritual health, nursing, philosophy, religion and others across Emory’s schools. As a result of combining this interdisciplinary expertise, ECPS is writing a paper led by ECPS Director of Research Projects Roman Palitsky. The paper creates a framework for understanding and addressing how psychedelic-assisted therapy may engage spiritual and existential material within patients.

ECPS also is in the process of publishing another paper which develops a “lexicon” for monitoring potential adverse effects of psychedelic-assisted therapy. Dunlop views establishing a framework and common standards — to “operationalize” the mystic experience, as Mletzko put it — as crucial to advancing the field of psychedelic research.

“The key addition we want to

make is a way to understand how to characterize decisions made in the wake of an experience like psychedelic-assisted therapy, which gets more to the core of people's sense of self and meaning,” Dunlop said. “Then, do traditional pharmacological treatments.”

ECPS plans on expanding clinical trials, publishing papers and procuring grant funding, according to Mletzko. They will also hold a day-long, virtual Science on Spiritual Health Symposium on April 1 to discuss spiritual health in medical settings and psychedelics research with international speakers. Mletzko added that she is working on establishing a “rigorous” training program for spiritual

health clinicians and therapists to incorporate psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy in their practice.

Laderman said he is looking forward to ECPS’ future because it is “solidly grounded” in the study of religion and health sciences.

“There's no place like it,” Laderman said. “That is rare, and so this is why something like this is super exciting.”

Executive Editor Matthew Chupack (24C) currently takes a course with Goodrich C. White Professor of American Religious History and Cultures Gary Laderman and was not involved in writing or editing this piece.

— Contact Nica Leung at danica.leung@emory.edu

Murthy pushes to increase participation and accessibility in campus clubs

Continued

support for our student organizations and increase process transparency and training,” Webb-Figueroa wrote in an email to the Wheel. “SILT is committed to gathering students’ input on their experiences and collecting data on the selection processes of chartered student organizations. This information helps SILT to make informed decisions on how to further extend support for student organizations and address any concerns from the community within our scope related to this topic.”

Business students’ experiences with club rejection

When Daniel Ren (24B) was rejected from multiple business clubs and the Asian Student Organization’s Leadership Experience Advising Program during his first year at Emory, he did not understand why.

“I honestly expected I would be involved in stuff immediately and be able to get into things, but I had no idea that the clubs were this selective, especially for the pre-professional ones,” Ren said.

The Emory Wheel

Volume 104, Issue 4

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Editor-in-Chief Brammhi Balarajan bbalara@emory.edu

Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief.

The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staff or administration.

The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.

Frustrated, Ren repeatedly asked for feedback from clubs that rejected him. He received either no response or “random excuses,” such as clubs being “too competitive” or having “very qualified people” making it “very hard to decide.”

However, being “humbled” by business clubs gave Ren an understanding of the competitive world awaiting after college.

“It’s really difficult for them to accept everyone who wants to be in it,” Ren said. “Otherwise, the talent is going to be diluted and it’s going to be really hard to create a good experience for the few who got in.”

He added that if a person asks for genuine feedback, the club should do a better job giving feedback, regardless of rejection or acceptance.

Ren is among many students who were puzzled after receiving club rejections. Iris Duan (21Ox, 24B), who was also rejected by several business clubs, noted there is a range of exclusivity to the clubs.

Business consulting clubs — including 180 Degrees Consulting, Atlas Consulting Group and Goizueta Investment Management Group — are among the most exclusive. Factors like internal politics play into executive board appointments, according to Duan. However, there are also clubs with “less hostile” application

processes, such as the Economics Society Business Club and the Emory Climate and Solutions Team, Duan said.

“It does make sense because, say, for the dance club, if you’re gonna go to competitions, you do need the best people,” Duan said. “I wouldn’t say that rejection culture is necessarily bad when it comes to exec positions.”

Even though club interviews are good practice for job interviews post-college, Duan said there is an access issue between students who are well-prepared compared to lowincome students who are unfamiliar with finance and consulting interviews.

Duan said this disparity became clear when interviewing people for 180 Degrees Consulting.

“When interviewing people, I really noticed that kind of pattern and trend,” Duan said. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, it’s an equal fair shot,’ but it really isn’t because some people just come pre-prepared.”

However, Duan said that the disparities reflect the real-life job market.

Though Wyatt Wolfman (26C) was rejected from Alpha Kappa Psi Fraternity Inc., Atlas Consulting Group and Goizueta Investment Management Group, he doesn’t see the rejections as a bad thing.

“Having a high bar and their rejection, that’s basically real life,” Wolfman said. “You’re not going to get every single job you apply to. You’re not gonna get into every single school that you apply to.”

Wolfman added that students should work harder and better themselves to get into clubs. He said that though rejecting students might feel like a disservice, it’s worse to set them up to get every opportunity.

Murthy disagreed, noting that a part of the “real world” is people receiving multiple job offers and having the option to reject them.

One of the group’s current ideas is to implement implicit bias training into the Officer Compliance Training, a training mandatory for all club presidents and treasurers or financial officers for student organizations, in an effort to make selection for executive positions more inclusive. However, Murthy said that the initiative is still in its discussion stages, but they are still in the “baby steps” of working to “make an impact from [their] data.”

“We see this large problem on campus and we’re here to start the conversation and see what can be done to fix it,” Murthy added.

A white bed sits in the middle of an observation room at the Emory Center for Psychedelics and Spirituality.

Graduate students advocate for living wage

Continued from Page 1

university administration to bargain with them.

Hundreds of Laney students have signed the card drive out of the 1,883 students enrolled for the 2022 academic year, according to Horwedel. They are hoping to file for an election day this academic year.

If they do so, EmoryUnite! would be joining a recent wave of graduate student unionizing across the United States.

Living below living wage

This year, Laney graduate student workers’ average pay of $34,595.63 falls $4,778.77 under Atlanta’s living wage — a gap that EmoryUnite! organizer Jerik Leung (27G) said was shocking.

“A lot of it was due to feeling like I was pitched a certain kind of story or security about coming to Emory as a Ph.D. student, and a lot of challenges arose in that first year,” Leung said. “It's not actually as easy to advocate for yourself, and the cost of living was higher than I expected, but also kept going up.”

Earning a living wage is one of the main goals of EmoryUnite!, Ullman added.

With food costs increasing by 9.9% in 2022, Ullman found in a survey of 50 to 80 Graduate Division of Biological and Biomedical Sciences students that 32.8% of respondents believe it is “often true” that they worry about running out of food before their next paycheck.

Additionally, 45.6% of respondents indicated that it was “often true” that they are worried about secure housing options.

Ullman said that comparing the stipend to nearby housing costs paints a “grim” picture. In 2015, the average rent for a one bedroom apartment in Atlanta was $1,144. By 2023, that number had risen to $1,700 — a 48.6% increase. Meanwhile, the average monthly Laney graduate student worker stipend increased 43.79% during the same time period, going from $2,005.04 to $2,882.97.

Atlanta is experiencing the second

highest inflation rate in the United States at 10.8%, only falling behind Metro Phoenix at 11%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professor of Economics Esfandiar Maasoumi explained that this exemplifies the “ethical” side of inflation, noting that the increase will immediately hit students.

“The amount of impact is huge because a very high percentage of their income, often all of it, is spent on necessities, and right now the price of necessities is going through the roof,” Maasoumi said. “The real value of incomes gets attacked, declines as you have inflation.”

Diamond wrote in an email to the Wheel that the University implemented the Graduate and Professional Student Housing Initiative to address this, allowing students to live within a 15 minute walk of campus at competitively priced housing. Construction is expected to conclude in fall 2024.

Horwedel and Ullman also raised concerns about health insurance. Currently, Laney student workers receive 100% of Emory’s student health insurance premium, amounting to $4,370 with family and domestic partner rates available. Diamond explained that “doctoral students have no out-of-pocket costs for health insurance premiums.”

However, Ullman alleged that for some students, this is still not enough, recalling that some students with health concerns were concerned about going to the doctor and facing a mountain of medical bills. His survey reported that 50% of respondents believe it is “often true” that they are worried about affording necessary healthcare and medications.

“If you're worried about being able to afford health care, how are you gonna get good quality Ph.D. work done?” Ullman said. “Emory has enough that they can provide us the resources that we need, but they've decided that they don't want to.”

EmoryUnite! Organizer Nadia Raytselis (27G) agreed, noting that she has to manage a chronic illness while using Emory’s insurance.

“Having to pay medical expenses is challenging on the stipend that we are given,” Raytselis said.

Diamond noted that although students have no out-of-pocket costs for health insurance premiums, the University understands that “every student has a unique set of healthcare needs, which causes their out-ofpocket healthcare expenses to vary.”

Diamond added that Emory knows graduate students are “concerned about cost of living” and shares their concern. She wrote that Laney Ph.D. students have their tuition covered each semester, and have the chance to earn financial support for professional development, such as attending conferences. She added that about one-third of Laney Ph.D. students receive funding beyond their stipend.

Additionally, all Laney doctoral students registered for summer 2022 received a one-time $500 payment to provide immediate assistance, while the University explored more permanent solutions in July 2022, according to Diamond. Then, in September 2022, most Laney students’ stipends increased 8%, while the business and biomedical engineering programs had a 6% increase, effective for this academic year.

“Emory has a strong history of listening to our students and working with them to address their concerns,” Diamond wrote. “This is part of our commitment to providing a studentcentered educational experience.”

However, the 8% increase was originally set to be 3%, which was announced in February 2022 and reiterated in a June 17, 2022 email to students.

“They said that 3% was all that they could afford,” Ullman said. “You know, ‘Sorry, thoughts and prayers,’ essentially.”

Ullman and the Division Student Advisory Council, which he has since stepped down from, met with Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Ravi Bellamkonda and Laney Dean Kimberly Arriola on July 7, 2022 to request a living wage. A month after the meeting, Ullman

said Emory increased the stipend raise to 8%.

Ullman printed and framed the two emails announcing the 3% and 8% stipend increases as a reminder of the work he has done.

“They’re hanging on my wall as a trophy,” Ullman said. “A $3.5 million trophy.”

History of EmoryUnite!

EmoryUnite! was founded in 2016 after the majority Democratic National Labor Relations Board ruled that graduate students at private universities could unionize. The group began collecting signatures on their first card drive with the goal of being recognized as a majority union by the National Labor Relations Board.

Opposition from University administration was quick to follow, according to Jonathan Basile (22G), one of the original EmoryUnite! organizers. Basile said that after EmoryUnite! went public, Laney posted an FAQ page on their website with what he deemed “basic union busting talking points.”

The FAQs include information about what unions are and how they are formed, making note of the fact that removing an established union is “complex” and can take years — a statement that Basile called an “infantilizing” union busting tactic.

“We're doing this because we want a union,” Basile said. “We're not unaware of how serious the step we're taking is, and it's just kind of a way of scaring people who are on the fence.”

When asked if the University views the webpage as having union busting tactics, Diamond wrote that it offers “useful context” offering accurate information about unionization.

Following U.S. President Donald Trump’s election, the national tone surrounding unions became more hostile, Basile said. In this climate, Emory hired Proskauer Rose, a law firm that advises employers on cases involving union organization and has represented the University of Chicago, Duke University (N.C.), and Washington University in St. Louis. Horwedel described Proskauer Rose

as “union busting.”

When asked about Emory’s history with Proskauer Rose, Diamond wrote that Emory is “committed to complying with the National Labor Relations Act” and engages with outside law firms for advice when appropriate.

Since reigniting their card drive, Horwedel said EmoryUnite! has not faced anti-union rhetoric from the University besides the FAQ page. He added that professors have been largely supportive, with 67 Laney faculty members signing an open letter in favor of EmoryUnite! since its publication this semester, as of Feb. 28.

Professor of Human Genetics David Weinshenker was among the faculty who signed the letter, saying that the students drive a lot of the research in his lab.

“Since they're really doing that full time, having a livable wage is really important, so that they can really focus on that work and they don't have to be really concerned with having to choose between rent and food and medical care,” Weinshenker said. Horwedel agreed, saying that unions are vital for student success.

“It's an important fight to have universities and colleges serve a sort of important social function and not just be these kind of big businesses,” Horwedel said. “If you believe in any kind of social role or function for colleges and universities, it's an imperative to support unions.”

Bellamkonda did not respond to two requests for comment, instead referring the Wheel to Diamond. Arriola and Interim Senior Vice President and General Council Amy Adelman initially agreed to comment, but Diamond later responded to refer the Wheel to her own response. Senior Associate Director of Financial Aid Cindy Gershman did not respond to two requests for comment before Diamond referred the Wheel to her own response. Gershman was also unavailable for an interview.

— Contact Madi Olivier at madi.olivier@emory.edu

Filipino student leaders gather from five schools across Georgia

in these spaces for young Americans who may not have a space prior to going in, or just trying to reclaim their identities,” Garnace added.

Kennesaw State University FSA President Sophia Lonzanida added that everyone contributed to the event. She said that Mangabat was one of the main people to work on the event and she allowed students from the other schools to come to Emory and talk with her connections.

“We really just wanted to bring everyone together, show them we can all be close together in different schools,” Lonzanida said.

to find community after the pandemic.

“I refounded the club in the fall of 2021, when I got back to campus, because I was really in need of seeking community after a really difficult pandemic,” Mangabat said. “And also, I really lacked the experience of connecting with other Filipino students during my freshman year, and I really wanted to create that community.

FSA founders at other schools observed a similar pattern of rapid growth.

and the Filipino American National Historical Society of Georgia.

Co-president of the Filipino American National Historical Society of Georgia Alexandra Thomas, who spoke at the event, said in her speech that Filipino Americans have a long, untold history of building community.

“And so in their role at their FSAs, how are they building community?” she asked. “How are they building on the shoulders of our ancestors to continue to build and collaborate with

each other?”

Mac Guintu (25C), one of the three emcees of the day, said the summit turned out “pretty well,” especially considering that “it is the first time Emory FSA is holding an event this big.”

Tiffany Garnace, who graduated from the University of Georgia in 2018 and participated in their FSA, helped with logistics at the event. She said that she loved that each of the five schools were represented.

“It's kind of like a testament to a population booming and just to be

Mangabat received over $4,000 from Asian Americans Advancing Justice, a nonprofit civil rights organization, to fund the event.

After former president Kino Maravillas (19C) graduated in spring 2019, Mangabat revamped Emory FSA in fall 2021. She independently recruited four new members in spring 2022. A year later, Emory FSA has grown into an association with 11 executive members and an average of 37 students at each event, according to Mangabat.

Mangabat was inspired to reinvigorate FSA because she wanted

Mercer FSA President and Founder Moriah Cabadin said that her association has hosted multiple successful events such as food and book stands.

“It's our very first year on Mercer's campus and I like to say that we've been doing pretty well so far,” Cabadin said.

Georgia Institute of Technology FSA President and Founder Betina Siopongco emphasized the importance of community and family at the beginning stage of her association.

“When we were both freshmen, we actually only knew like five Filipinos total on campus,” Siopongco said. “So,

I knew being an out-of-state student, it was really crazy to me to know that we didn't really have a Filipino community or something to call home at Tech. So when I started [Georgia Tech] FSA, I really wanted to just establish and emphasize the idea of family.”

Mangabat expressed her amazement at the turnout of the summit and her commitment to further advancing Filipino cultural values.

“When I started Emory FSA in 2021, standing outside alone of Eagle Hall with a small trifold and Filipino snacks, I never imagined that I would have grown a tightknit family Emory FSA and hosted a statewide FSA Summit,” Mangabat wrote. “As I continue to be an activist and conduct public service work after graduation, I vow to continue to make a safe and inclusive environment for fellow Filipinos, to advocate for our community on a local and national level and to spread education about important Filipino history and social justice issues.”

— Contact Sandy Ge at sandy.ge@emory.edu

GabrieLL a Lewis/M a NaGiNG eDitor

Emory University hosted the first Georgia Filipino Student Association Leadership Summit in the Emory Student Center. Continued from Page 1

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W��������,M����1,2023 |OpinionEditor:SophiaPeyser(speyser@emory.edu) AssistantEditors:SaanviNayar(snayar@emory.edu),EllieFivas(ifivas@emory.edu)&ShrutiNemala(snemala@emory.edu)

AlovelettertoopinionandtheWheel

I'mthankfulforpeoplewhohave readmywritingat3a.m.,whohave pushedmetowritethewriting theybelieveI'mcapableofand whoIhavehadthechanceof lovingdeeplyand unconditionally.

TomypeopleinOpinion— It'seasytosayIlovegoodwriting. Itmakesmefeeltherightemotions andreinventsclichesapplicableto mylife.ButwhatIlovemoreare goodwriters.Thosewhohavehundredsofunfinisheddraftsontheir computerbecauseanidearequires post-mathematicalprecisionintime andspace.Thosewhoarewillingto shareapartoftheirsoulbecause maybesomeoneneededtohearthem toliveonemoreday.Thosewhocan understandthatwordinessisnot necessarilyelaborateartistry, becausesometimesallittakesisone wordoronelinetocausesomeone’s heartmusclestomomentarily contract.

Writingexistseverywhere.But goodwritersarerare.Theyaremore oftennamesthantheyarepeople. Buttheyaremorerealthanmeand you.BeingpartoftheOpinion sectionattheWheel,I'vehadthe chancetomeetsomanyofthem.

Tome,writersembodythe chaotic.InmytimeattheWheel,I'm honoredtobesurroundedbythese humblewriters.Thesamepeople whohavemadethemagicofwritten expressionomnipresentforme.

Arguably,thebestpieceI’veever writtenwasbasedonasingleline thatcametomewhileIwasdriving toPublix;Istartedthispiece,infact, onmywalktoClairmont.

Ilovetheunhinged:birthdayshowerthoughts,testtube meat,U.S.cheeseschemesand endlessTKTKs.Theemotional: closeddoorconversationspeoplekeepbarginginon,drunk speechesatpartieswherewe sayhowmuchweloveeach otherandthelittleremarks thatgetsnuckintorecruitment pitchesabouthowmuchwe’ve impactedeachother.Andlest weforgettheuglytoo:taking disciplinaryactionagainst peers,seeminglyendlessroundsof gossipandanonymousvitriollodged atusthroughtheinternetandword ofmouth.Admittedly,theWheelwas notallperfect.Inmanyways,ithas testedmyabilitytoworkwithothers, toresolveconflict,tostandupfor myselfandtogivemyselfaseatatthe tablewhenitfeltlikenothingIdid wouldbeenough.Inthemostpainful moments,Irereadtheunsent resignationletterinafolderonmy desktopeveryday.

TheTKTKsIuseindailyjargon areasecretcodeembeddedin everydayspeech,anemblemIwant tokeepsoIcancallmyselfaWheel editoralittlelonger.Havingsentthe fourth-greatestnumberofSlack messagesofalltimeshouldprobably beembarrassing,butperhapsit couldalsobestatisticalproofofmy continuanceanddedicationtoward thisorganization.

Workingwithpeoplewhohave stoodbymeevenwhentherewereso manyreasonsnottohastaughtme resilience,loveandcompassion.But aboveitall,Ibelieveoursectioncan bedescribedwithoneword:loyal. I'vegonethroughmyshareofrapid turnover–butwhathasalways remainedthesameismylovefor everyoneI’vemetthroughourlittle, yetmightyOpinionsection.

ChoosingtoleavetheWheel beforegraduationwasneverinmy

anticipatedfour-yearplan.Inthe grandschemeofthings,threeyearsis notalongtime.Butpassageoftime isallrelative,andgiventhatmost peopleonlyspendfouryearsin college,dedicatingmylife,mytime andallmyworktoanorganization forthreeyearsandabruptlyleaving feelslikeahugeshock.I’veavoided sharingthisinformationuntilthelast moment.

Iwillneverforgetthelookof surprise–shock,even–onthefaces ofourassistanteditorsandour EditorialBoardmemberswhenI announcedthebignews.Having ruminatedaboutthisdecisionsince lateOctoberandearlyNovember,I thoughtexplainingmythought processwouldonlygeteasier.But whenIwasphysicallyfacedwiththe newBoardIworkedtotrainand peoplewhoIconsiderclosefriends, leavingfeltlikeabetrayal.Iwillstill wonderifI’vemadetheright decisionandhopeIdon’tleavea messtobecleanedupinmywake.

IcameintotheWheeljustwanting towrite;backthen,writingwasjusta healingprocess.Istillremember beingtoldjokinglyto“keepmy

informtheirdiningchoicesaround Atlanta;havingrebuiltasectionon thebrinkoffallingapartandhaving builtanewone–Multilingual–in hopesofmyparentsactuallyreading mywork;havingwrittenenough articleswithmyever-annoyingpresencethatpeopletextmeandsaythey cannotimagineaWheelwithoutme init.IfnotforstartingoutinOpinion withthepeopleI’vemet,Idonot thinkIcouldhavecomethisfar.

EveryoneattheWheelhasmade theirownuniqueinvaluablemark.I pickeduponthosemomentsages ago,when–despitealltheinterpersonalissueswe’vedealtwith–people arestillabletoraisetheirglassesat ourend-of-yearpartyandtella seniorastoryaboutamomentthat couldhavechangedtheirlife.Icould tellthosesamestoriesaboutthe editorsandeditors-in-chiefsthat camebeforeme,thosewhoI’vehad thehonortoworkalongsideasa memberoftheBoardofEditorsand theExecutiveBoardandthewriters whosearticlesIhaveedited.Whether werealizeitornot,thelittle complimentsinourcommentsand ourwillingnesstomeetwithwriters toexploretheirvoiceis whatsticks.

bothgivenandtaken manypartsofmylife, butIleavewithno resentmentandwill continuetolovethis organizationforwhat itmeanstome.

questionstomyself”andtostop usingrhetoricalquestionsandemdashes(definitelydidnotlearnfrom thisone).Ileavenowhavingpassed downmyknowledgefrommymanagingeditorstomysectioneditors andtheirassistants;havingimpacted freshmenwhowillcomeuptome andsaytheyusemyarticlesto

TheWheelwasthefirst communityIfeltlikeI belongedin.It’sbothgiven andtakenmanypartsofmy life,butIleavewithno resentmentandwillcontinuetolovethisorganizationforwhatitmeansto me.

Opinionhasalwaysbeen anunderdog.Wedon’t coveraspecificregionof topicslikearts,sportsor studentlife–wecarveour printsintothispaperby assertingoverandover againwhoweare,whatwethinkand ultimately,howwedefendnotjust ourpassionsbutouropinionsagainst thepublic.Thisiswhatdrewmeto Opinioninthefirstplace.Irememberfirstreceivinghatecommentson articlessaying“yawn,racism”and gettingtoldracismwasoverrated;I wonderedifIcouldstillwritefor

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OpinionwheneverythingIsaywould getscrutinizedunderamicroscope. ButIrealizeditwasnodifferentfrom reallife.Tothosewhohaveaskedme howI’vegottenpastthis,Isaythe samethingthatwaspassedontome, byamentor,aninfluentialforcein mylife:“Ifpeoplearereacting stronglytowhatyou’resaying,it meansyou’resayingsomething important.”

Icarrythesewordswithmeto shieldmyselffromgettinghurt,but alsoasareminderthatthereisvalue inwhatwehavetosayandweshould keeppushingourselvestosayitall.

TomypeopleinOpinion–you knowwhoyouare–Iambeyond proud.Iaminaweofallyouhaveall accomplishedasstudents,journalists andfriends,butmorehonoredto havebeenapartofyourcollege experienceatonepointortheother. ForthefewthatstayattheWheel, whoovercomethesometimesharsh andtoxicenvironment,ittakes someonespecialtopersevere–we haveaccomplishedahugefeatthat shouldnotbediminished.

I’vegrownattachedtowhoweare asasectionandeachconnectionhas madeitexponentiallyhardertosay goodbye.TheWheelisgenerational; everyprintcopyIownisamemoryof sharedexperiences.Selfishly,Iwill missseeingmynameonthemasthead.ButIcannotwaittowatchmy sectionsthrive.Tomysectioneditor: Ican’twaittowatchyoulead.You havemademesoincrediblyhonored andgivenmememoriesandloveI willsharefortherestofmylife. Opinionisyourrightfulplace;donot letanyonetakeitaway.

Tomynewassistanteditorsand EditorialBoardchair:newbloodis alwaysexciting;butgettingtowork withallofyouinthelasttwomonths wasinvigorating.Ihaveneverbeen moreproud.Andtomyformer managingeditor:there’snotmuch lefttosaybetweenus,butitwas throughyourloveandrespectthat I’vecontinuedmywritingjourney thusfar.Thankyou.

SophiaLing(24C)isfromCarmel, Indiana.

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TheWheelwasthe firstcommunityIfelt likeIbelongedin.It’s

SophiaLing

AnnaDelvey’sdishonestyshouldn’tbeglamorized

desireforfame.

Despiteallofthenation’sideals aimedatmaintainingmeritocracy, Americansare,nonetheless,enamored bythearistocracy.Theenduring popularityofshowssuchas“Gossip Girl,”“KeepingUpwiththeKardashians”and“TheWhiteLotus”demonstratesthisobsessionwiththemegarich.It’swhymodernaudiencesare captivatedbycelebritycultureand takenbythelikesofPrinceHarryand MeghanMarkle.Andit’swhythey hyper-glamorizeindividualslikeAnna Sorokin—perhapsbetterknowntothe worldasconartistAnnaDelvey.

Ifhernameisunfamiliartoyou, Sorokin’sstorylikelyisn’t.Thesubject ofNetflix’shittelevisionshow“InventingAnna,”theRussian-Germanfraudstermadeheadlinesinrecentyearsfor scammingNewYorkCity’seliteand conningherwayintosociety’suppermostechelons.Sorokinadoptedthe aliasofDelvey,falsifiedbankrecords andswindledaround$275,000from unsuspectingfriendsandfinancial institutionsbeforehereventualarrest. Uponherreleasefromprison,Sorokin, whoisaGermancitizen,wastakeninto custodybyImmigrationandCustoms

Enforcementwheresheremainedfor overayear,sellingartworkthat allowedhertoeventuallypurchasea chicEastVillagedwelling.

Sorokin’stangledwebofdebtand deceithasbeenthesubjectofheavy mediacoverageandcomparedtothat ofamodern-dayGatsby.Shehastaken theworldbystorm,andtheNetflix showwasonlythebeginning:inlate Januaryofthisyear,theButternut productioncompanyannouncedthat Sorokinissettostarinherown unscriptedtelevisionseries,“Delvey’s DinnerClub.”Theshowwilltakeplace intheex-convict’sapartment—where sheiscurrentlyunderhousearrest— andhighlighthertimespentinprison. GlamorizingSorokininthiswayisboth harmfulandhypocritical;itallowsher tobenefitfromcrimeswhiletaking awayfromthedevastatingexperiences ofotherimmigrants.

AfterajudgeruledthatSorokin demonstratedinterestinpursuing legitimateemployment,shewas allowedpermissiontoremaininthe UnitedStates.It’sevidentthatSorokin haswalkedawayfromalifetimeoflies withlittlemorethanaslaponthewrist. Withtherecentnewsofhertelevision show,sheisevenbeingrewardedfor herrecklessbehaviorandinherent

Sorokinisevidenceofabrokenlegal system:onewhereaconventionally attractive,blondewhitewomangains notorietyandsympathyforbreaking thelawwhilemillionsofothersareleft tosuffer.Middle-classpeoplefacing theprospectofdeportationdon’tgetto serveouttheirsentencesinswanky pieds-à-terres;theyarearrested,jailed andsometimesforciblyremovedfrom theirchildrenbytheworkofCustoms andBorderProtection.Countlesscases ofexcessiveforcehavebeenrecorded, andacultureofviolenceatthehandsof BorderPatrolAgentsiscommon.

Manyvotershadhopedthatthis abhorrentpracticewouldimproveand becomeincreasinglyrareafterareversalofformerPresidentDonald Trump’szero-toleranceimmigration policies;however,asrecentlyasearly January,PresidentJoeBidendoubled downonthoseseekingrefugeatthe borderwithMexico,increasingrestrictionsonasyluminordertohinder illegalbordercrossings.

IndividualsattheU.S.southern borderwithMexicoareoftenstereotypedascriminalsandterrorists— despitethefactthatmanyofthemare simplyseekingaccesstohighereducation,healthcareandimprovedeco-

nomicconditions.Conversely,Sorokin hasactuallycommittedcriminalacts, yetisletoffthehook.Astarkdouble standardisclearlyatplay.

Sorokinhaspreviouslyhintedthat aspartofherseries,shewouldliketo shareherideasforlegalreform,butas anindividualfamousforherforgeries, sheisclearlynottherightpersontodo so.

ByglorifyingSorokin’sactions, journalistsandentertainmentwriters havelikenedthefakeheiresstoanantiheroineandgivenhermodernsociety’s mostpowerfulweapon:aplatform.The mediashouldnotethatcontributingto acultureofamplifyingliesisthelast thingourpoliticalenvironmentneeds rightnow;forevidenceoftheconsequencesofdeception,justlooktothe exampleofCongressmanGeorgeSantos(R-N.Y.),whobetrayedhisconstituentswithoutrightoutlandish claims.Privilegedindividualslike SorokinandSantosshouldnotbegiven leadershipopportunitiesbasedon fabricatedidentities,norshouldthey gounreprimandedfortheirimmoral actions.

Sorokinwillonlygainadditional distinctionandwealthfromhernewfoundendeavors—unlessviewershave somethingtosayaboutit.Don’tgetme

wrong,I’mallfortheoccasional indulgenceinglitzandluxury,andI’ve neverbeenonetoendorseblindcancel culture.

ButIbelieveanexceptionshouldbe madeinthecaseofblatantcriminality. IfwedonotcondemnSorokin’sactions atthismoment—intheeraof alternativefacts—adangerousprecedentwillbesetforothers.

Thepremiseof“Delvey’sDinner Club”isnotjustanotherlight-hearted realitytelevisionescapeorsappysatire. IthighlightsthelargerproblemscurrentlyatworkintheUnitedStates.It’s areminderofthejarringprivilegethat moneycanafford—asymbolthatthe AmericanDreamisnolongeravision ofequality,freedomandjustice,but ratheraglorificationofachieving individualwealthandstardom—by anymeansnecessary.

Criminaljusticeandimmigration reformsareundoubtedlyneeded,butI amsimplynotinterestedinhearing Sorokin’sthoughtsonthematter. Therearebetter,morehonestvoicesto bringtothedinnertable.

Icertainlywon’tbetuningin,andI imploreyounottoeither.

SafaWahidi(24Ox)isfromSugar Hill,Georgia.

FloridaGov.RonDeSantishasspent hislastfouryearsdevelopinganational profileasarightwinghardlinerwhose traditionalbrandofconservatismcontrastswithformerPresidentTrump’s identity-basedpopulism.Hehas becomeadarlingoftheright,with nationalmediadeeminghima“superstar”andpredictinghecanassemblea “Reagancoalition”in2024.

OneofthecentralpillarsofDeSantis'platformisanefforttodismantlea systemof“indoctrination”inU.S. schools.Severalpiecesoflegislation haveglidedthroughbothRepublicanheldchambersinFloridaandontothe Governor’sdeskinrecentmonths, includingthe“StopWokeAct”andthe “Don’tSayGay”bill.DeSantis’most recentinitiativerejectedanAPAfrican AmericanStudiesclasswhichhe claimedwouldadvocatefor“abolishing prison.”

Thetheorybehindthesemeasuresis thattheU.S.iscurrentlyplacingtoo muchtrustinteacherstoavoid ideologicallydrivenconclusionsand politicalagendasintheclassroom, resultinginbiasedcurricula.However, takinglegalactiontopreventbias simplyshiftsthattrustontopoliticians whobenefitdirectlyfromtheadvancementofpoliticalagendas.Teachers’ motivetopushanideologyisalmost alwaysindirect,whilelawmakers dependonpoliticalagendastomain-

taintheirstatusandsalaries.Inother words,educationusuallycomesfrom teachers,andindoctrinationusually comesfromgovernment.Thissortof effortsignalsanew,corrosiveformof governmentoverreachestablishing itselfattheheartofDeSantis’Republicanparty.

AsRonaldReagan,oneofthe right’smosticonic“superstars” famouslyputit,“TheninemostterrifyingwordsintheEnglishlanguageare ‘I’mfromthegovernmentandI’mhere tohelp.’”

DeSantis’“StopWokeAct”takesan exclusionaryapproachtoshaping curricula,forbiddingteachersfrom discussingasetofsocialconceptsthat areconsidereddamagingandprejudicedintheclassroom.Mostofthese forbiddenconceptsarealready shunnedineducation,includingteachingthatsomeracesare“morallysuperiortoothers.”However,thesestipulationsbecomemorevagueasonereads furtherintothebill.Forexample,the billforbidsteachersfromsuggesting thatcertain“virtues”suchas“excellence”and“racialcolorblindness”are “racist.”“Colorblindness”haslong beenscrutinizedasasocialjustice ideal,consideringthatdisregardingthe roleraceplaysinsocietyignoresalong historyofsystemicracism.Equating thisquestionablevirtuewith“excellence”andentanglinganycriticismofit withaccusationsofracismwilllikely leadtoavoidanceofconversations aboutraceingeneral.Becauseofits

vagueness(amongotherconstitutional issues),thebillwasrecentlystruck downbyaFloridajudge.

Justamonthpriortothepassageof the“StopWokeAct,”theinfamous “Don’tSayGay”billwassignedinto law,promptingnationalcriticismand condemnation.Thefunctionofthisbill canbesummedupinitspreamble, whichstatesitspurposeastheprohibitionof“classroomdiscussionabout sexualorientationorgenderidentity.”

Thereissomedisagreementabout howexactlythiswouldmanifest,but advocatesofthebillclaimitisaimedat protectingstudentsfromsexualinformationthatmaybeconfusingor disturbingatayoungage.However,the bill’sexplicitfocusonLGBTQteachers suggestssomeinherentlyinappropriateortabooelementtothesesortsof relationships,andthreatenstoscandalizeconversationthatwouldbeperfectly normalinaheterosexualcontext.For example,anelementaryschoolteacher simplyreferringtotheirsame-sex spousemaybeseenasaviolationofthe law,despitealongacceptedpracticeof discussingbasicfamilydynamicswith students.

Inordertoassesstheimplicationsof thislegislation,itisimportantto considerthemeaningandmoralityofa politicalagendaintheclassroom,and imaginewhatsourcesaremostlikelyto producethisbias.

First,areminderthatthedifference betweeneducationandindoctrination isthatindoctrinationtrainspeopleto

acceptacertainsetofbeliefsuncritically.Tobeuncritical(anddisregard informationthatmayleadtoanundesiredconclusion)isusuallyasymptom ofsomeulteriormotivethatsupersedes thedesiretounderstandanunbiased truth.Thisservesasaworkingdefinitionforapoliticalagenda.Anagendais uncompromising;itisconcernedonly withagoal,likeideologicalconformity forthesakeofpoliticalobedienceor consensus.Bythisdefinition,apolitical agendaisaneducationalcontaminant. DeSantis’statedidealofacurriculum of“facts”ratherthanideologymust rejectanyeditorializationonthepartof teacherswithanagendainorderto ensurethatstudentsremaincritical, ratherthanindoctrinated.

Anideologicalstatementischaracterizedbyasynthesisofseveralfacts, leadingtoabroadermoralconclusion, oftenconsideringalternativesand historicalimplications.Itmaybehard forstudentstodeterminewhena teacherhasveeredintoideological territory.Thismeansthatpolitical opinionmaygounidentifiedandbe conflatedwithfact,or,ifidentified, maythrowunderlyingfactsdiscussed intoquestionbecauseoftheimpressionofageneralpoliticalbias.

Thesestatementsarealsoawarning signthatanagendamaybeatplay. However,justbecausetheseassertions canbedefineddoesnotmeantheycan beprohibited,becausereverseengineeringlegislationtoforbidideological conclusionsmayendupstunting

teachers’abilitytorelayunderlying facts.

Forexample,let’ssayateacheris givingalessononhowcapitalism incentivizescompaniestousecheap laborfromcountrieswithfewerlabor protections.Thisseemslikea factualassessmentofcauseand effect.Let’ssaytheteacherthenmakes ablanketstatementthatbecauseof this,“capitalismisharmful.”This seemsinappropriatebecausethestatementispromotinganideologyor agenda.

However,iflegislationstatedthat teachersmustnotmakeclaimslike “capitalismisharmful,”thenthat underlyingfactaboutincentives towardcheaplabor(which,onitsown, doesserveasevidencethatcapitalism isharmful)islegallyquestionableand maybedisregardedaltogether. Biasinschoolsisoneofthemany issuestoodelicatetobehandledbythe government.Itsbroadapplicationand crushingenforcementistoobluntto untangleeachindividualknotof ideologywithinateacher’sworldview. DeSantismustknowthis.Tolegislate classroomdiscourseaccordingto ancientconceptionsofpurerelationshipsorvaguelywordedvirtuesthat crushandconfusereasonableconversationaboutthehistoryofraceinthis countryisasteptowardsindoctrination,notawayfromit.

JustinLeach(25C)isfromWayne, Pennsylvania.

SafaWahidi

JustinLeach

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | Arts & Entertainment Editors: Eythen Anthony (eaantho@emory.edu) and Oli Turner (oli.turner@emory.edu) Assistant Editors: Mitali Singh (mitali.singh@emory.edu) and Ben Brodsky (ben.brodsky@emory.edu)

Theater Emory’s multilingual adaptation of ‘Our Town’ makes small town feel big

By Bridget Mackie Contributing Writer

The audience sat around the circular stage in the Schwartz Center Theater, the line between onlookers and performers blurring as we were introduced to the small, New England town called Grover’s Corners. At times, it felt like the audience was a part of the town.

Emory Theater’s production of Thornton Wilder’s play “Our Town” ran from Feb. 16 to Feb. 26. The play was originally created in 1938, and Emory’s production was adapted from a 2017 multilingual translation by Nilo Cruz and Jeff Augustin, produced by Miami New Drama. The play was codirected by Emory Assistant Professor Lydia Fort and Horizon Theatre Company Associate Artistic Producer Marguerite Hannah.

This multilingual production of “Our Town” came about as an attempt to better represent the multiculturalism of Emory. The original translation by Cruz and Augustin includes English, Spanish and Creole, but Fort explained that the change to Mandarin better represented the Emory community.

“Being inclusive in the way we are culturally trying to interpret it now means we are trying to allow the specificity of our cultural experience inform a moment, as opposed to sim-

ply seeing a representation of somebody and saying, ‘You are included because I allowed you into the space,’” Hannah said in a February Creativity Conversation.

“Our Town” is a classic American play that focuses on the lives of Grover’s Corners residents in the early 1900s. It features a plethora of characters, but zooms into the Webb and Gibbs families in depth. In particular, we see the elder Gibbs son, George (Tom Zhang (17C)) and the elder Webb daughter, Emily (Ashley Alves (24C)), grow up, fall in love and grieve. The play gives

us a window into the relationships and experiences that intersect these two families and individuals.

“The characters are all obviously from different backgrounds and they speak different languages … and that arc that you see from Act I to Act III is so different,” Alves said. “And seeing the characters grow is so fun and makes me fall in love with the stories that they have to say.”

The multilingual adaptation of “Our Town” feels right. This play seeks to capture life through the lenses of individuals that make up a community.

Reflecting on Black History Month: five hip-hop albums to

By Ben Brodsky Assistant A&E Editor

Relative to its historic lifespan, hiphop has only recently emerged into mainstream acclaim as a significant genre. For nearly 30 years, from the early 1970s to the late 1990s, hip-hop was almost entirely underground, a reflection of how contemporary Black art was consumed by American listeners. Hip-hop is, by definition, a product of Black history. For the last 50 years, the genre has been a living document of changing — and often unchanging — facets of Black life. As this Black History Month comes to a close, here are five hip-hop albums to celebrate hip-hop, an unstoppable force of transcendent, Black art.

task. Between the rebellious group’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” (1988) and “Fear of a Black Planet” (1990), I went with “Black Planet.” The bombastic confidence with which Chuck D delivers his now-famous bars explains how Public Enemy was able to amass such a widespread fan base. Notably, the final track, “Fight the Power,” has been cited as one of the greatest protest anthems of all time. The powerful chorus, repeating the title of the song, inspired protest songs of the future.

celebrate

two walls of a pinball machine, highlighting their respective strengths in each song. An undisputed classic, the album came during a moment of hiphop history in which growing commercialization and fame were beginning to overshadow artistry. The duo shines a Blacklight on the changing landscape, staying true to the genre’s origins with old-school, looping beats and altered takes on legendary songs, especially “Children’s Story,” a cover of Slick Rick’s 1988 song of the same name.

‘Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor’ (2008) by Lupe Fiasco

Notable Line: “I think the world and everything in it / Is made up of a mix, of two things / You got your good, y’know, and your bad / You got your food, and your liquor.”

Life, as the play presents it, is challenging, messy and full of love and beauty. This experience of life is true everywhere and broadening the play’s cultural scope only makes it a more complete and true picture.

“Making this multilingual … makes it very relatable for a lot of people and makes it more universal,” George Gibbs understudy Alex Mao (26C) said. “The idea of cherishing life is not just for Americans or for English speakers, but also for Spanish speakers or Mandarin speakers or the whole world.”

As per Wilder’s original stage notes, sets and props are very minimal; about a dozen chairs lined the stage and were the primary set and prop pieces of the play. The absence of sets and props compe lled the audience to focus on the characters of the play. The story focuses on movement and space as a way to build relationships among the characters. This emphasis on gesture connects to the multilingual aspects of the play as well.

“There are some moments in the play where I do not care what language they are speaking,” Hannah said. “It is very clear what is happening. When the moment is flushed, you really don’t need to know what they’re saying.”

Supertitles above the stage area projected each line translated into

English, Spanish and Mandarin. I ended up focusing less on understanding the meaning of each word, but rather recognizing the body language and tone associated with the words.

At the end of Act I, Emily speaks to her father (Cristian Gonzalez) as she gazes at the moon from her window. Language wasn’t necessary to understand the tenderness between the father and daughter—the weight of the moment as Emily grows into an adult.

Hannah and Fort both emphasized this production as the beginning of a new way to think about this play.

“Regardless of how far the end result reads, I think that we have explored a lot of things that can be used going forward for other productions,” Hannah said.

However future theaters might use this production of “Our Town,” it remains a stunning adaptation—a love letter of life to the Emory community. One of my favorite moments of the play was when George and Emily look out their windows at the moon while a choir sings in the distance. As the two children come of age, we are allowed to revel in the wonder of small joys. Life might be chaotic, but the moon is always shining.

— Contact Bridget Mackie at bridget.mackie@emory.edu

Eythen’s Blu-ray emporium: documentaries by Black filmmakers

By eythen anthony A&E Editor

A story deserves to be told, Doesn’t matter if it’s new or old. We won’t disappear, We’ll always be here, Remembered as the brave and bold.

Documentaries can be glimpses of forgotten pasts as well as dives into the shocking, saddening, but often beautiful, moments of today. I’ve always had a soft spot for documentaries, not only as someone with an avid craving for knowledge, but also due to a love for the human experience. The genre gives viewers the chance to deeply connect with the films’ subjects, finding similarities, as well as recognizing differences; highlighting our own individuality.

Black Horror’ (2019)

In the spring of 2018, director Jordan Peele won the Academy Award for best original screenplay for his directorial debut “Get Out” (2017), making history as the first Black man to win the award. Peele’s win, along with the critical acclaim of the film, marked a significant moment for horror films created by Black producers and actors, opening the genre to the public and inviting Black filmmakers to tell their scary stories. Although horror films such as “His House” (2019) and series like “Lovecraft Country” have furthered the genre’s impact, the movement has had its fair share of highs and lows throughout history. And, it’s this framing that introduces us to the 2019 documentary “Horror Noire.”

‘Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star’ (1998) by Black Star

Notable Line: “I find it distressin’ there’s never no in between / we either n—--s or kings, we either b—--s or queens.”

‘Fear of a Black Planet’ (1990) by Public Enemy

Notable Line: “Most of my heroes don’t appear on no stamps.”

Choosing a Public Enemy album to discuss political hip-hop is no easy

The collaboration of two quintessential conscious, East-coast rappers jumps out of the speakers on “Black Star.” Talib Kweli and Mos Def are well-respected New York MCs, each regarded in their own right. The duo flows off each other’s energy like the

In the late 2000s, hip-hop was a burgeoning force, taking over American culture with bonafide stars like 50 Cent, Ye and Jay-Z. Lupe Fiasco represented the genre much differently in his music, paying homage to the less-mainstream voices of the Black community, or as Fiasco calls them on the album, the “traveling band of misfits and outcasts” who “nod they heads from Misfits to OutKast.”

“Food & Liquor” is a brilliant debut album speaking to the young, New York adolescents kicking and pushing their skateboards to escape adult problems.

From racial degradation to food insecurity to lack of parental guidance, Fiasco tells his story through the narrative of a disheartened but persistent

When I first began this article, my focus was going to be on simply Black character-driven documentaries, such as “Hoop Dreams” (1994). However, as I began researching and writing my first draft, I realized that a lot of the films I was talking about were directed by white people. I don’t think this negates their significance, but I believe there is an importance to having Black stories present in front of the camera as well as being orchestrated behind the camera.

Here are three of my favorite documentaries that highlight the emotions and experiences of Black peoplesubjects through the lenses of Black filmmakers.

‘Horror Noire: A History of

Directed by Xavier Burgin, “Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror” explores Black representation in the genre, from its beginnings in the early 20th century to reappearing tropes like the non-white character being the first one to die. Based on a book of the same name, the documentary gives a chronological look at the films that influenced Black horror with commentary from critics as well as impactful actors and directors who equally impacted the genre, such as Tony Todd, Rachel True, Ernest R. Dickerson and many more.

A majority of the horror commentary takes place inside a movie theater, where pairs and trios sit together to discuss the influence of certain films as well as facts about the production. This format was an interesting deci-

Theater Emory’s “Our Town” featured multilingual supertitles in Mandarin, Spanish and English.

Brodsky’s Boombox

Eythen’s Blu-ray Emporium

The best conscious hip-hop of the 2010s

protagonist; one that doesn’t always get air time in today’s cultural terrain.

‘To Pimp a Butterfly’ (2015) by Kendrick Lamar

Notable Line: “Dark as the midnight hour, or bright as the mornin’ sun / Brown-skinned, but your blue eyes tell me your mama can’t run.”

With “Butterfly,” Lamar connects threads from West Coast hip-hop, American Jazz and traditional African music: three scales of Black music layered into one album. Lamar has a knack for making impossibly-difficult topics consumable, but this album is in no way simple. On “Butterfly,” Lamar actively reflects on his Blackness and its presence in the world as we know it.

Tackling such topics as colorism, imposter syndrome and being “cocooned” into an institution, “To Pimp a Butterfly” remains one of the

most deeply introspective projects I’ve ever heard, while also targeting issues at a macro level. In the #1 spot on many critics’ album of the decade lists, almost all that can be said about “To Pimp a Butterfly” has been. If you haven’t listened to this album in full, you should.

Africa / Old panthers lookin’ back like who gon’ come up after us?”

‘Eve’ (2019) by Rapsody

Notable Line: “And still we persevere like all the 400 years of our own blood,

“Eve” is perhaps the most unrestrained Black-feminist hip-hop album ever made, with each track named for a different Black, female icon. Rapsody has cemented herself as the greatest female rapper since Lauryn Hill. From “Hatshepsut,” the first female Egyptian Pharoah to Nina Simone, Serena Williams and Oprah, Rapsody leaves few Black, female legends unrecognized. Having risen to community acclaim with her guest verse on “Complexion (A Zulu Lie)” on “To Pimp a Butterfly,” there is seemingly no limit to the creativity of the Brooklyn MC. Transitioning from Black History Month to Women’s History Month, there is no better modern album to celebrate both.

— Contact Ben Brodsky at ben.brodsky@emory.edu

Black-directed films chronicle Black experiences

Exploring Emory’s art scene: spring break

By alexandra kauffMan Campus Life Desk

Carlos Museum Tom Dorsey Exhibit

Date: Feb. 18 - July 16

Location: Michael C. Carlos Museum

Cost: $8 (GA) | Free (Emory Students)

Never-before-seen works by Thomas Dorsey, a photographer known for the personal, intimate glimpse into 1970s Chicago African American communities, will be exhibited at the Carlos Museum from Feb. 18 until July 16. These photographs not only capture the city of Chicago and the people within it but also Dorsey’s memories and attachments from the time.

“Little Syria” Performance and Workshop

Date: March 1, 6 p.m.

Location: Harland Cinema

Cost: Free

In this performance-lecture, poet Omar Offendum and Los Angelesbased beatmaker Thanks Joey offer a fresh perspective to Syrian-American art, bringing “forward-thinking” contemporality and honoring their heritage.

Spanish Poetry and Recitation Contest

and performance can transcend national boundaries and international conflict.

Elena Cholakova and Yarbo

Davenport Concert

Date: March 4, 8 p.m.

Location: Cherry Logan Emerson

Concert Hall

Cost: Free

Schwartz Center for Performing Arts Artist-in-Residence pianist Yarbo Davenport and Emory University Director of Piano Studies violinist Elena Cholakova will perform works from Florence Pierce, John Corigliano and more in this concert recital.

Atlanta Master Chorale: Magnificat

Date: March 10-11, 8 p.m.

Location: Cherry Logan Emerson

Concert Hall

Cost: $38 (GA) | $10 (Emory Students)

Renowned classical music group

Atlanta Master Chorale will perform selections from Bach, Rachmaninoff and more alongside readings from the ancient liturgical text “Magnificat” – a “hymn of praise” and “prayer for justice.”

Atlanta Science Festival: Blending Art and Science

sion because while clips of the film are spliced in throughout, the interviewees are watching these moments on the big screen too. In doing so, we share the same reactions and we see the excitement and memories return for the viewer.

If you’re a fan of horror, looking for new movies to add to your watch list, or interested in the intersection of race and horror, then I highly recommend watching “Horror Noire.”

‘Afro-Punk’ (2003)

While there is a wide range of ideologies that fall under the punk umbrella, an important feature of all punks, one that I’ve witnessed firsthand, is care for community. Whether helping a fellow fan stand up in the pit or engaging in the protection of your peers against institutional powers, punks aspire to create a protected atmosphere. However, as history has shown, these kinds of spaces can often become dominated by white, cisgender men, thereby setting up a barrier that makes it difficult for new fans to feel comfortable, as seen in the documentary “Afro-Punk.”

Released in 2003, “Afro-punk” investigates the experiences of Black people involved in the punk scene across the U.S. Focusing on personal anecdotes from musicians and fans alike, director James Spooner illustrates the recurring dysphoria of being Black in a scene largely led by white artists.

The feeling of isolation is a major theme throughout the documentary.

Not only did Black fans express feeling lonely while within the white punk scene, they felt a similar distance established by Black people outside of the scene. As a result of this loneliness, fans either took steps to look as if they “belonged” in the punk scene, such as by straightening their hair, or left to establish a more Black-led space. However, among these stories of isolation existed moments of community; times when fans would rage together. Spooner points toward the flaws of the scene while highlighting the beauty that can exist in punk.

“Afro-Punk” is a pivotal DIY documentary that raises important questions about exclusion and acceptance, all accompanied by a head-banging score.

‘Black Is … Black Ain’t’ (1995)

Marlon Riggs was an influential documentarian in the late ’80s and early ’90s who explored not only what it meant to be Black in America, but also how his race intersected with his sexuality as a gay man. A majority of his work featured personal anecdotes about the difficulties with understanding his identity, as well as deep examinations of queerness and Blackness in culture. Riggs passed away in 1994 as a result of AIDS complications and his final film, “Black Is … Black Ain’t” is a testament to his work as an artist.

“Black Is … Black Ain’t” asks what it means to be Black, investigating not only its beauty but the ways it coexists with gender and sexuality. Using

archival footage, interviews with Black scholars and activists such as Angela Davis and Michelle Wallace and recordings of Riggs, we get an expansive look at the role of labels in defining ourselves.

The film uses interviews and quotes from famous Black figures to provide a comprehensive look at how descriptors such as “Black” or “African” have been imbued with new meanings throughout time and, as a result, have sparked new conversations about the idiosyncrasies in identity. Along with these broad discussions though were intimate moments with Riggs, specifically recordings of him on a hospital bed. He’s aware of his failing health, acknowledging the fact that he’s losing weight and directly telling the cameraperson how he wants certain shots to be implemented in the film. Yet, he possesses hope and a smile as he imitates the sounds of jazz music and laughs with those around him. Riggs is able to find comfort in the time he has left as well as in himself.

Riggs gives a quote in the film that’s really stuck with me: “There is a cure for what ails us as a people, and that is for us to talk to each other.” It’s a thought that I not only echo but I also think this documentary sets out to explore the idea. “Black Is…Black Ain’t” is a reminder that each of us possess rich, thoughtful experiences and rather than combat one another or isolate ourselves because of them, we can listen.

— Contact Eythen Anthony at eaantho@emory.edu

Date: March 1, 7 p.m.

Location: Casa Émory

Cost: Free

Listen to Emory students share their original Spanish poetry or recite pre-existing poetry they love.

Portuguese Poetry and Recitation Contest

Date: March 2, 4 p.m.

Location: Modern Languages Building, room 201

Cost: Free

Come by to hear Emory students recite pre-existing or original works of Portuguese poetry.

West-Eastern Divan Ensemble Performance

Date: March 2, 8 p.m.

Location: Cherry Logan Emerson

Concert Hall

Cost: Free

The West-Eastern Divan Ensemble is the chamber formation of the namesake orchestra founded in 1999 by Palestinian scholar Edward Said and Israeli pianist Daniel Barenboim. Led by concertmaster Michael Barenboim, the entirely Palestinian and Israeli ensemble prove that music

Date: March 12, 3 p.m.

Location: Schwartz Center for Performing Arts Theater Lab

Cost: Free

New media artist Jane Foley and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine Madeleine E. Hackney will discuss science and art’s overlap, the dialogue between the two fields and the solutions to worldwide challenges that dialogue inspires in a Creativity Conversation.

The Queer Nuyorican:

Racialized Sexualities and Aesthetics in Loisaida

Date: March 13, 12 p.m.

Location: Robert W. Woodruff

Library, Jones’ Room

Cost: Free

Join Cornell University Assistant Professor of Performing Arts & Media

Karen Jaine, the latest entry in the Emory Race & Difference Colloquium Series, for a talk about the evolution of the word “Nuyorican” from an ethnic identity to an aesthetic marker.

—Contact Alexandra Kauffman at alexandra.kauffman@emory. edu

Why is Rosie the Riveter in the A&E ampersand?

In celebration of Women’s History Month, we’ve featured an icon of women’s history in the header of page 7. Keep an eye out for similar celebratory ampersands in the future!

Arts Aplenty

The Emory Wheel

Emory Life

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | Emory Life Editors: Chaya Tong (ctong9@emory.edu), Xavier Stevens (xsteven@emory.edu) and Jordyn Libow (jeibow@emory.edu)

Sunday night on the Emory SafeRide shuttle

By Xavier StevenS Emory Life Editor

From a roll, the Emory University SafeRide shuttle screeched to a stop on the street between Emory Hospital buildings on Sunday night. Three people —a whispering couple and an asleep student — sat in the shuttle’s white light en route to the Clairmont campus. The driver, Shantay Mitchell, honked and pulled her lever to swing the doors open toward a student walking alone in the dark.

“You didn’t want to call a ride?” she yelled out the doors.

“I was just going to walk,” the student said. The response was one that Mitchell hears all too often, but she recognized the student by face as a SafeRide regular.

“No, come on!” Mitchell said. The student smiled and stepped onto the shuttle.

Mitchell passed through the gates of Starvine Way and reached Clairmont in five minutes, where she dropped off the four students.

It was a quiet night for Mitchell, who volunteered her Saturday and Sunday nights to drive SafeRide—Emory’s free and on-demand shuttle service. It operates on the Atlanta campus from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m., after the daily shuttles stop. Students request a ride through a phone call or the app Transloc to go anywhere on campus, as well as

Clairmont and Emory Point. Two to three shuttles operate as SafeRide every night, 365 days a year.

Mitchell started as an Emory shuttle driver two years ago and drives the Emory Shuttle Executive Park Route during the day. But, she said she enjoys the night shift of the SafeRide more, not only for the extra pay but also its capacity for life.

On Saturday, students from parties try to convince Mitchell that it’s water in their red solo cup. They talk about seeing their ex at the party or their dog at home. Between conversations, Mitchell helps confused students figure out the process of requesting a ride.

On Sunday, students talk less overall but more about what matters most. Mitchell knew that students don’t like living in the Clairmont Tower, which professors graded too hard and midterms schedules. She will stop by students wandering from the library or on Starvine Way to ask if they need a ride.

It’s in the name of getting students home safe.

Here comes a student who wants to take the trip from Clairmont to the freshman dorms with his two friends. They have never ridden SafeRide, and with no pending requests, Mitchell takes the time to walk them through it.

“SafeRide is your Uber,” she told them. “You just request it, and I will be here to get you. But, I want you to go

through the process, so you know how to do it next time.”

The student requested the wrong location on the app but got it right when he called the transportation office, who set up his ride to Raoul Hall.

“Now, you can sit down, baby,” Mitchell said.

Over the next three hours, more than two dozen students ride the SafeRide covering the expanse of Emory’s campus. An exodus from the library sends Mitchell to Emory Point three times and Clairmont five times. Around midnight, the shuttle waited several minutes for “Austin” at CVS, who ended up being a no show. Mitchell recently discovered the Emory Bayit House past the baseball stadium and picked up a regular rider at 12:30 a.m.

The job comes with its daily challenges, ranging from personal to technical. One night, a student refused to take his feet off the seats after coming in from the rain. A student last Saturday wanted to be dropped off before Mitchell picked up another student on the way. On Sunday, Mitchell had to hop a curb at Woodruff Residential Center to avoid cars parked in the circle out front.

On the way back to Clairmont on Starvine Way, Mitchell beeped her horn at another shuttle who beeped back. She radioed the other driver

to tell them their destination sign said “Route M;” the other driver radioed back to tell Mitchell her destination sign was blank. Both drivers had set their destination signs to say “SAFERIDE.”

Mitchell plans to drive SafeRide as long as she stays at Emory. With the extra pay and quieter shift, it’s a highly-requested job with even more senior colleagues taking Monday through Friday. It works well with her schedule, and she said she enjoys working with students. One of the hardest parts of her job is that most students don’t

know what SafeRide is or how to use it, Mitchell said.

At 1 a.m., an Emory employee walks towards the SafeRide shuttle but then turns away to start on Starvine Way. Mitchell honks and waves her back towards the shuttle.

“Ma’am, do you want a ride?”

Mitchell said. “This is the SafeRide.”

“I can just walk, it’s okay,” the employee said.

“Ma’am, come on.”

— Contact Xavier Stevens at xsteven@emory.edu

Student entrepreneurs use AI to improve student studying experience

By Jordyn LiBow Emory Life Editor

Fast-paced math and computer science major Karam Khanna (25C) is bothered by inefficiency. During the final exam period last fall, he found himself frustrated by the laborious, tedious act of creating review materials, which stole valuable time away from actually studying the material. For busy college students around the world, time is absolutely precious.

Being a computer science major, Khanna has a strong interest and advanced knowledge of artificial intelligence (AI), which got him thinking about how he could use this new technology to replace this current “terrible, terrible system,” and solve the issue of inefficiency so prevalent in studying.

By winter break, his solution was born. Khanna built what is now to be known as Eightball, a website that uses the power of AI to make studying more efficient and easier.

Upon returning to Emory after winter break, Khanna recruited his two entrepreneurial friends Shaan Basin (25B) and Ben Craver (25C) to join the team and help bring this startup to life. Basin runs growth and community outreach and Craver runs digital branding.

“Seeing as we’re all students, you know, we’re at the intersection of understanding the current technology coming out, and the actual student experience, as in the pain points and the difficulty parts,” Khanna said. “And so, our goal is to merge those two together, and build the first kind of app that leverages AI to build a whole suite of services for students.”

The team seeks to “save students’ time, enhance the learning process and empower educators” with their mission statement.

Eightball’s website was officially released about two weeks ago. It wel-

comes and motivates student users with a border of A+’s written surrounding the Gen-Z-popularized phrase, “Academic Weapon.” Currently, the website’s only published tool is an instant flashcard service, that’s webpage is branded by the slogan “Never write flashcards again. Work hard. Work smart.” The flashcard service allows users to upload materials including lecture slides and typed or handwritten notes, then it will automatically spit out flashcards based on the uploaded material.

The origin of Eightball coincided with the rising popularity of ChatGPT, which garnered a lot of intrigue and excitement, as well as fear, especially within academic contexts.

“ChatGPT was kind of that last push we needed to jump in the pool, because it validated that students want to use AI for their workflow,” Khanna said.

“But, ChatGPT is an all-purpose tool for everyone and everything. Our goal is to refine that and make it really targeted to students who we understand the experience of their pain points to make the student experience better.”

This flashcard feature is only step one in the grand plan of Eightball. The team has two more features in the works, expected to be released on the website by mid March. The first creates practice tests and corresponding answer keys, and the second is a homework helper, which they consider their next major feature.

Basin said that this homework-helper service is distinct from other homework solver platforms.

“We feel that we have a moral responsibility,” Basin said. “Our goal is not to solve your homework, it’s to be the companion, to be that tool next to you. It is not that tool, like Chegg, that simply just spits out the answer. It is a tool that is going to help you genuinely learn your material.”

Khanna eagerly whipped his computer out of his bag to demonstrate the flashcard feature in action, easily creating a batch of 40 intelligent flashcards derived from his uploaded class notes. The website is equipped with simple instructions for how to upload files and export the flashcards once they’ve been generated. The whole pro-

cess took about two minutes.

“It’ll come up with really powerful and intelligent flashcards,” Basin said. “The algorithm that we’re using is piercing through your data, it’s piercing through your notes, and it’s reading that, taking that in, and coming up with very relevant flashcards.”

Eightball uses Open AI on the backend of the operation, which allows Eightball access to relevant information from the internet as well as the uploaded file.

Khanna describes the process with a clear adoration. He speaks rapidly, intent on getting every detail across to fully showcase this project’s immense capabilities.

“The same way that ChatGPT just knows things, it’s the same way Eightball works,” Khanna said. “It has a lot of background information to enrich things.”

One of the biggest challenges of working on Eightball at Emory has been the University’s lack of entrepreneurship and startups.

Through growing Eightball, the team hopes to consequently grow the startup scene at Emory. One challenge they’ve had to overcome is working on a “tight” budget to develop the company.

“As students, we’ve got like $10,000 to make this work,” Khanna said. “It’s really fun and exciting to see how we can hack together and save like every last cent because we’re really bootstrapping this from the ground up.”

Despite this, Eightball has gained lots of attraction. Through spearheading virtual branding for Eightball, Craver has been able to track engagement. He uses platforms, including Instagram, TikTok, Discord and Reddit to get the word out about Eightball. Since this social media marketing effort, the website garnered roughly 60 daily users.

The website has also had an interna-

tional impact. Craver has tracked use in the UK, China, Canada, Lebanon, the Philippines and more.

Khanna said that the team’s biggest asset lies in having a first-hand understanding of the student study experience and genuinely wanting to help ease the pains that come with that.

They also have unique strengths in their speed. Khanna’s advanced understanding of the technology allows him to create new features in rapid time—he built a mobile version of the website in one day. Basin is promptly connecting with students, organizations, professors and teaching assistants on campus to increase exposure. Craver has quickly created a “virtual backbone” for the platform through his digital branding strategies that established a community of people behind the product.

On a larger scale, the team hopes to one day replace Quizlet. They believe Quizlet is just a “middle man,” since the student is still the one putting in the effort of creating the flashcards.

Khanna said that he has built their exact products in a demo and could easily put it out for free.

“We’re a way more powerful tool,” Basin said. “And, growing on a college campus, the world is our oyster.”

Khanna, Basin and Craver said that they are committed to this project for the long run.

“Our end goal is we’re not gonna be happy until students who use Eightball can’t go back to not using it,” Khanna said.

The “8” on a Magic 8 Ball can be interpreted as a symbol for infinity, and when you shake a Magic 8 Ball, it responds instantaneously. Eightball grants instantaneous aid and infinite knowledge—nothing short of “magic” for busy students

— Contact Jordyn Libow at jordyn.libow@emory.edu

Courtesy of Ben Craver

Eightball’s logo was designed by Ben Craver (25C).

X avier stevens/emory Life editor SafeRide operates from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and goes anywhere on campus and beyond to Clairmont and Emory Point.

Turning the Wheel: Balarajan reflects on 4-year journey

By Chaya tong Emory Life Editor

After four years at The Emory Wheel, Editor-in-Chief (EIC) Brammhi Balarajan (23C) is concluding her term as EIC. In May, she will graduate with a degree in political science and English and creative writing from the Emory College of Arts and Sciences.

Balarajan took over as EIC in February 2022. She started out at the Wheel during her freshman year as a contributing writer for the Opinion section and created her political column, Brammhi’s Ballot, which went on to win first place nationally in the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ) Large School Division General Column Writing contest. She also served on the Editorial Board and the Wheel’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion task force. Balarajan assumed the role of Opinion Editor in 2020, where she spearheaded the 1963 Project, a series of articles on Emory University’s desegregation and racial inequities, which won a regional firstplace award with SPJ.

After moving into a role as Managing Editor, overseeing Opinion, Arts & Entertainment and the editorial board, she was elected EIC. Throughout her time at Emory, she has interned with The Georgia Voice and The Colorado Sun through The Dow Jones News Fellowship and the Asian American Journalists Association Voices fellowship.

Balarajan sat down with the Wheel to discuss her college and journalism journey.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length.

Emory Wheel: Why did you join The Wheel, and what made you decide to run for EIC?

Brammhi Balarajan: My freshman year first semester, I went to an interest meeting with a horde of other freshmen, and it was really funny because everyone else was like editorin-chief of their high school newspaper, had kind of done the whole thing before, and I was a little bit newer to the scene. I had done a little journalism in high school, but I hadn’t fully been super committed to it throughout high school or anything. I remember talking to one of the people who later became my Managing Editor, Shreya Papparaju, at the interest meeting, and I remember her telling me that opinion can be a form of advocacy or a

way to tell untold stories or tell stories that aren’t often heard. That really resonated for me, so that’s why I chose to join opinion because I really liked the idea of sometimes doing reporting, sometimes doing interviewing, but being able to use that and amplify other voices, but also your own voice, because I think your own voice is really important as well, and that’s how I kind of fell in love with writing and journalism and how I got invested from there.

And I think from there, my sophomore year, there were a lot of really important conversations happening with the death of George Floyd and with COVID and a lot of other things happening, and I wanted to become a really vocal voice in our newsroom for how we could be more equitable in our coverage and how we could be a more diverse newsroom, so that’s when I joined DEI, that’s when I tried to become really vocal about when I felt like we were doing things wrong or when I felt like we were not being as equitable or as inclusive as we could be. And, I think taking a stand and kind of asserting myself as a leader and as someone who really wanted to spearhead these changes, that helped establish me as someone who really cared about the Wheel and someone who really wanted to be more invested. And from there, I just got more and more involved. I held a lot of different positions, I helped manage a lot of different sections, I helped start a lot of different things.

[EIC] is a really thankless job. You’re pouring 40 hours a week sometimes, you’re doing so much work, you’re not really getting paid much and it’s so easy to feel unappreciated, but I think watching other people grow, watching other people build sections or come up with really cool articles and being able to support people in doing that—I think that’s what I’ve always wanted to do, that’s what I’ve loved doing as an editor and mentor, and I always saw being Editor-in-Chief as a way to do that on a larger scale and also able to just make the Wheel that could be something more diverse and inclusive.

EW: What is your favorite piece that you’ve written for The Wheel?

BB: I was actually re-reading one of my old pieces from the other day, but it’s when turnover happened and I was no longer, and I decided not to write for Opinion anymore because I wanted to try out some other sections, I wrote a goodbye to Opinion on why I love

By Katherine Wang

opinion writing and why I love sharing vulnerable stories, and I think that’s probably my favorite piece I’ve written. And then, also an honorable mention to former Emory students reflecting on the gender quota 50 years ago when that was abolished because that was a very interesting story to do, and 1963 because that was just so pivotal to my journey at the Wheel.

EW: What are some of your favorite Wheel articles from any sections?

BB: Oh my gosh, that’s such a hard one because every day I feel like every day I read a new article and I’m so amazed because we have so much talent within the Wheel community. But, I mean, Sophia Peyser just came out with the “Love from Druid Hills” project, and I thought every piece in that was absolutely phenomenal. Our A&E writers all have this beautiful way of writing—Eythen’s Blu-ray column is always so fun to read. I could go on and on, but those are just a few favorites off the top of my head.

EW: In your time on the Opinion section, what’s the spiciest take you ever read?

BB: There was an article about how Emory shouldn’t be testing sewage water during COVID, which I remember was published during my sophomore year, and I just remember that it raised a lot of conversation because it’s just a really random article. And then, within our editorial board discussions, we had some really spirited debates, especially during COVID, about whether masking should still be mandated, about whether testing should be mandated.

EW: What’s your favorite memory from The Wheel?

BB: Doing production nights has just always been so fun and so meaningful. I think there’s a different side you see to people when you’re up with them until 4 a.m., 5 a.m. and just trying to get the wording of an article right, but also just seeing how everyone is so dedicated and committed to putting a paper together and putting these articles together and making sure everything looks great. People do this because they want to do it. They don’t do it because there’s any other incentive. We don’t get paid. If you want a resume booster, there are probably things that are less of a time commitment you can do, but people do this because they really love it. Seeing that passion on print nights is like one of my favorite things about The Wheel.

EW: What is your favorite class or

professor at Emory?

BB: Asian American History with Professor Chris Suh was a really interesting class, I really, really liked this one. And then, just any creative writing workshop. I’ve taken some nonfiction ones with Professor Klibanoff, who is [the Wheel’s] advisor, but I’ve also taken fiction writing with Tayari Jones and poetry writing with Robyn Schiff. No matter what major you are, I think everyone should take a creativewriting workshop.

EW: What are you going to miss most about Emory?

BB: The Wheel. I think that the Wheel is what I’ll miss the most. It’s been some of the best times of my life and some of the worst times of my life, but I think there’s nothing that I’ve ever been so dedicated to or so passionate about. and it’s really taught me how to be passionate about your work and passionate about your writing, and I’m really gonna miss that. I’m really gonna miss these people, especially.

EW: What is the most important thing The Wheel has given you?

BB: The Wheel taught me how to stand up for myself, and it’s also taught me how to stand up for what I believed in. When I was a freshman, all the editors thought I was like the quietest person ever. It was so hard to get me to speak a word during editorial board meetings. I was not super outspoken and think now that’s not a way anyone at The Wheel would describe me probably. I’ve changed a lot because of how much change I wanted to see in the Wheel and how passionate I was about the Wheel, and so I think that’s something I’m glad changed about me and

the Wheel helped me grow so much, and I’m really grateful for that.

EW: What advice would you give to future EICs and what advice would you give future writers?

BB: For future EICs, it’s actually something the past EIC, Isaiah Poritz, told me right before I became EIC, and it ended up being really helpful. It’s that, when you make a decision, to write out exactly why you’re making that decision and stick to it and to know that that’s why you’re making that decision. I think it’s really easy to question yourself, and people aren’t always going to like the decisions you make or why you make them, and just knowing exactly why you made that decision can be really, really helpful in times of stress or conflict. I would also add the note that you are more important than the job and that you are always more important than any job or any position.

And then, for future Wheel writers, I would say to challenge yourself. I think there’s a lot of stories you can write that are right in front of our face, but I think challenging yourself to find new stories you didn’t know about, challenging yourself to write things about yourself that things you’re scared of, challenging yourself to write with perspective and to write things about yourself that maybe you’re scared to put out in the world, I think that can be something that’s really freeing, and that can be something that really pushes yourself. Do the writing that pushes yourself, even when it’s scary.

— Contact Chaya Tong at chaya.tong@emory.edu.

Brammhi Ba L ajaran/editor-in-Chief

Brammhi Balarajan (23C) started as a writer for opinion as a freshman and ascended to EIC in February of 2022.

Adaptability key to successful season

Continued from Back Page

hope will propel them forward this year.

“They’ve learned how much focusing on the little things can benefit them,” Baggetta said. “What we can carry from game to game [and] how we grow daily, weekly, monthly makes a difference. Last year showed them that even with a small team, you can still be pretty successful.”

Nellis agreed with Baggetta that she will carry learning experiences from last season into this year.

“I would say the biggest thing I learned is to be adaptable on-and-off

the field,” Nellis said. “Things aren’t always going to go as planned. If you and your team are adaptable and pull together when needed, there’s really no limit to what you can do.”

With these lessons in mind, the team is ready for an eventful season. In the coming weeks, they will get the opportunity to improve their record against competitors. The Eagles will next play on March 4 when they travel to Covenant College (Ga.) for a doubleheader against the Scots.

— Contact Sophia Arruda at sophia.arruda@emory.edu

Figuring it out and ‘sports are helping me get there’

Continued from Back Page

mon and accepted, but even despite that, it never felt like my community. And although it makes no sense that I needed to watch interviews of famous basketball players to find queer solidarity in concepts my friends had spoken about for years, discovering a group of people with a shared queerness in a niche space finally allowed me to build the queer space I needed.

I wrote the first draft of this piece a year and a half ago scribbled in my locked notes app. Since then, on almost every plane ride, finally isolated from distraction, I have come back to the draft. Sometimes I add to it, wordsmith and think more, and other times I just read it.

Often when I sit down to write my column, I’m not exactly sure how to put everything in words and wrap my rambles in a tightly knotted bow. As I sit here writing this column’s

finale, I am no longer pontificating about another person’s story or cultural touchstone – instead, I’m writing my own story. Throughout the two dozen times I’ve come back to this piece, including in the more recent frantic moments knowing it will see the light of day, I am never sure how to explain the transformative power a sports league has had on me in tidy thesis that my ever-so-patient editors will sign off on.

It is no secret a lot of the world hates the WNBA, and caring about it means developing a tough skin. Battling my urges to fight Twitter trolls in my mentions or having to justify every statistic about a game you love is a constant challenge.

Caring about women’s basketball is exhausting, but it’s part of what’s made me stronger.

The more confident I became with the statistics, financial innerworkings

and free agency pontifications of “the W,” the more I became sure of who I am. Although I’m not exactly sure why, the WNBA gave me the voice and space I needed to be myself in my own unique way.

Writing this piece has challenged me immensely. There is nothing like knowing your words will be splashed across the back page of your college newspaper to force your concrete, succinct thoughts on your chaotic identity. Even though I have found a level of acceptance, it is scary to share who you are and not fear being known as a walking cliche. But as I’ve tried to prove throughout this column, sports are deeply impactful, and although I haven’t fully figured out how to tell my story, sports are helping me get there.

— Contact Gabriella Lewis at gabriella.lewis@emory.edu

Urban breaks two UAA indoor records

Continued from Back Page

with a distance of 7.15 meters. On the same day, Brandstadter captured the high jump crown with a 1.98-meter jump. His jumps helped propel Emory to two more all-UAA performances and keep the team in range of WashU and CMU.

Junior Kenya Sei also broke the Emory weight throw record, placed third and won an All-UAA performance for the Eagles with a distance of 16.16 meters.

The preliminary running events saw strong performances from runners like sophomore Sam Ryba who recorded a time of 6.97 seconds in the 60-meter dash and Price who won the 200-meter dash in 22.55 seconds. Building off the energy from the preliminaries, sophomore Dawit Dean won the 400-meter dash final with a time of 49.83 seconds and freshman Bryce Wurster secured third place with a time of 50.74 seconds.

Despite winning the 400-meter dash final and placing third as a team, Dean said the team felt slightly discouraged with their finish on Feb. 26.

“We really wanted to win it, and we believed that we could, and I think that is an accurate assessment,” Dean said. “We just had a few events that we didn’t do as well as we had anticipated. So I think overall, the atmosphere was a little bit of disappointment, but I think as a team … we’ve come a long way.”

Senior Thomas Davis helped lead the 4x400-meter relay along with Dean, Wurster and sophomore Tristan

Moore. They won the event with a time of 3:21.09. Senior Brett Lucas also placed third in the 3000-meter race with a time of 8:22.70, the second fastest in program history. The men’s team placed third with 136 points.

Moore was proud of his team for improving on their fourth place finish at the 2022 UAA Indoor Championship.

“We’re very encouraged with the result,” Moore said. “So, we finished fourth last year and this year we finished third. But we nearly doubled our point total. That was a very encouraging step forward.”

The women’s team entered the championships ranked No. 14 in the nation and No. 3 in the UAA conference. Senior Annika Urban looked to continue her dominant year, breaking the Emory mile record, posting a time of 4:50.74 on Feb. 3, and winning the 3000-meter race with a time of 9:28.14 on Feb. 10.

Hoping to improve on their fourth place finish last season, the Eagles garnered 28.66 points on the first day of the meet, trailing the University of Chicago (UChicago) and WashU.

Urban set a new UAA indoor championship record in the 5000-meter race with a time of 16:55.37, followed by sophomore Liesl Scherrer (17:57.67) and junior Julia Danko (18:00.24).

This marked the first All-UAA honor of the championship. The preliminaries also saw strong performances from junior Clementine Bodus who ran the 60-meter hurdles in 8.96 seconds, the sixth-fastest time in program history.

In the finals, Urban continued her hot streak and broke another UAA

record in the one-mile with a time of 4:53.43. Emory’s second individual UAA title was awarded to sophomore Audrey Johnson who won the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.70.

Urban said that heading into the Indoor Championships, breaking records was not her primary goal.

“Going to the races, I didn’t realize what the record was,” Urban said.

“I wanted to get the title [in] both of those races and I’ve been obviously training and preparing for a while, but in the end I just did what I knew that I could do.”

The women’s team placed third with a combined team score of 90.16 in 16 events. Graduate student Nyjah Willis won the final UAA title of the meet for the Eagles, breaking the weight throw record with a distance of 16.27 meters.

Urban said the women’s team felt proud of their accomplishments.

“I’m overall really impressed with how the whole team did and also individually, I went through everything I wanted to do this weekend,” Urban said. “I’m really happy about it.”

Johnson said that the team will use the gap between UChicago and Emory as motivation for future meets.

“[There were] huge jumps from last year but I think there’s still room for more,” Johnson said. “[For] the girls, there’s still a pretty big gap between the top two teams in the way, but it definitely gives us something to work off of.”

— Contact Clement Lee at clement.lee@emory.edu

Oxford hoping to improve facilities

Continued from Back Page

new facility to help with recreation, intramurals, the physical education classes,” Stubbs said. “We had a feasibility study [for a new athletic space] over five years ago. And with that feasibility study, the price tag came back, it was very expensive. So, we’re hoping that they restart the feasibility study, because we really do need a new facility.”

Stubbs hopes that more space will allow new varsity sports to emerge. First on the list is cheerleading, which is currently a club sport. In fact, all varsity sports begin at the club level and then get elevated to the varsity level after the athletic and admissions departments determine there

is enough student interest for a full roster.

“We’re looking at the cheerleading program and dance,” Stubbs said. “They’re doing so well with the numbers that, it’s a possibility that we could move that up to varsity in the near future.”

Given the 18 national championship titles that Oxford College currently holds, the future for Oxford Athletics looks bright. This spring, the men’s and women’s tennis teams will look to defend their respective national championship titles and bring more hardware back to Oxford.

— Contact Sophia Lin-David at sophia.lin-david@emory.edu

Wednesday, March 1, 2023 | Sports Editors: Jenna Daly (jenna.daly@emory.edu) and Claire Fenton (claire.fenton@emory.edu) Asst. Sports Editors: Clement

Lee (clement.lee@emory.edu) and Madeline Shapiro (madeline.shapiro@emory.edu)

Softball seek NCAA tournament berth

By Sophia arruda Contributing Writer

Track and field place third at indoor UAAs

By Clement lee Asst. Sports Editor

The Emory University men’s and women’s track and field teams competed at the University Athletic Association (UAA) Indoor Championships in Waltham, Mass. on Feb. 25-26. The men’s team scored 136 points while the women’s team scored 190.14, both finishing the meet in third place. The Eagles hoped to build off of strong performances at the University of South Carolina Open on Feb. 17 as the men’s and women’s teams entered the championship ranked 22 and 14, respectively.

For the men’s team, this season has been defined by record-breaking runs. Earlier in the season, senior Spencer Moore broke Emory’s one-mile record on Jan. 21 with a time of 4:09.86, surpassing junior Spencer Watry’s record of 4:11.51 set in 2022. Moore beat his own record on Feb. 3, running a time

of 4:09.07 for the third fastest mile in Eagles’ history. Likewise, junior Scott Masterson, freshman Bryce Wurster, sophomore Marcus Cheema and Watry broke the record for the fastest distance medley relay racing a time of 9:53.00. Sophomore Jackson Price also broke the school record for the 200-meter dash earlier in the season recording a time of 21.99 seconds. These performances gave the team momentum leading up to the UAA Championships.

Sophomore Dawit Dean said the team focused on getting the nerves out in training leading up to the UAA Championships.

“The week leading up to [UAA Indoor Championships] is one of those weeks where we were still training but it’s not like we’re trying to push our fitness,” Dean said. “It’s more like keeping our legs fresh and making sure we’re still able to access those fast twitch muscles. So, it was nothing

Finding identity in the WNBA

By GaBriella lewiS Managing Editor of Digital Operations

I was never great at sports. On every team I was the least athletic, slowest and odd one out. And although I spent ten years of my life begrudgingly playing sports and watching mostly men’s teams on television, it always felt like a world that was not mine. This is peculiar considering I have spent the better part of the last three years obsessed with every stat, game, player and storyline of a professional sports league.

I grappled with my sexuality for a long time. And despite a culture of acceptance throughout my life, I ducked and dodged coming to terms with my own identity for many years. When asked about it, I responded with a squirm and a breathless, “I’m figuring it out.”

Until I became obsessed with the WNBA (Women’s National Basketball Association).

In May 2021, I sat in my childhood home working my remote summer job, slipping away between meetings to rake the internet for WNBA content

and study the on-and-off-court moves of players like Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner, Courtney Williams and more. And although my obsession didn’t start with me seeking out a queer journey, that’s where it took me.

Sometimes my life feels like a series of all-consuming obsessions. These fleeting absorptions last for a matter of days or months before they eventually burn out, stored in a cavity for a future fun fact at a party. Growing up, sports leagues were among the ranks of my fleeting obsessions, like an Oakland Athletics roster or a NBA podcast. But the WNBA was different.

In a few short months, I had roped my best friend into the obsession, journeying across state lines to watch a game and build a community on Twitter. And core to those various communities, whether it be the phantom figures on social media, my real life friends or the players’ stories I memorized was a shared queer identity.

I am lucky that I grew up in a community where queerness was com-

tense.”

For Moore, his main goal was to get “as many points he could for the team,” while runners like Dean were focused on staying composed.

“I was trying to stay relaxed and not make myself too nervous because sometimes if you overthink things, you cannot execute as you would have liked,” Dean said. “ I didn’t really concern myself with exactly what I was going to do, and I didn’t constantly replay the perfect race in my mind. I stayed relaxed and chill leading up to the race.”

The Eagles came in third place on the first day of the Championships, trailing Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) (Pa.) by 13 and 8.33 points, respectively.

In the field events, freshman Henry Brandstadter won the long jump title

See URBAN, Page 11

The Emory University softball team is looking forward to what the 2023 season has in store after a fifth-place finish in the University Athletic Association (UAA) standings last year. The Eagles kicked off their season Feb. 18-19 at Cooper Field, the home of the softball team, with two wins against LaGrange College (Ga.) and two losses to Pacific Lutheran University (Wash.). They secured four additional wins against Agnes Scott College (Ga.) on Feb. 25 and the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Ind.) on Feb. 28, leading them to a 6-2 record to start the season. Head coach Adrianna Baggetta expressed the joy of playing against a different opponent rather than scrimmaging themselves in training.

“It was fun to get on the field and compete against a different color jersey,” Baggetta said. “The excitement and energy is there.”

Baggetta is entering her fifth season at the helm of Emory’s softball program. She remains impressed by the dedication and commitment of Emory student-athletes.

“Proud is an understatement,” Baggetta said. “It’s not just my team, but the student-athletes put in work on-and-off the field to compete at such a high level. The things that they do, the things they accomplish and just the fact that they can go out there and compete is a phenomenal feat.”

The Eagles’ roster consists of only 10 girls with one returning senior in utility Tyler Miller. A softball team needs at least seven players to start a

game, so last year, the team utilized athletes from other Emory teams to fulfill this requirement due to injuries. Volleyball players managed to attend practices for their own team, while also being present for a few softball practices a week.

Due to the team’s small size, all hands are on deck. With five new freshmen, everyone is expected to contribute immediately. According to junior outfielder Page Nellis, size has no effect on the strong camaraderie among teammates.

“Honestly, I just love game days with my team,” Nellis said. “They’re so much fun. I love being in the locker room. I love warmups. I love being in the dugout with the girls and on the field.”

The Eagles will play 26 of their 38 games at home this year. They will begin UAA conference play against Case Western Reserve University (Ohio) at home on March 24. The team has entered the season with high goals in mind.

“Ideally, we’re looking to compete for a conference championship and make the postseason,” Baggetta said. “[We want] to grow and attack every day with 100%.”

Nellis also expressed the desire to not only compete in the UAA, but to win the conference and compete in the NCAA Tournament as well. The Eagles will need to improve upon last year’s season in order to do so. In the 2022 season, the team finished 18-20, with a conference record of 7-13.

Baggetta said the team has learned a lot from last season which they

An inside look at the history of Oxford sports

By Sophia lin-david Contributing Writer

Most people don’t know that Oxford College has their own sports teams, let alone that those teams hold a staggering 18 national championship titles. In fact, first and second year student-athletes at Oxford College compete independent of Emory’s NCAA Division III program at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division-III level. Oxford currently has nine varsity sports: men’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s soccer and men’s and women’s tennis. The cross-country teams are the newest addition to Oxford’s varsity offerings when the team was elevated to varsity status in 2016.

At Oxford, student-athletes have the unique experience of competing for two years at the junior college level as opposed to four years at the NCAA level. Sophomore Julia Bazata ultimately chose to attend Oxford because it allowed her to play golf competitively while still attending Emory.

“[Emory women’s golf head coach Katie Futcher’s] team is really impeccable,” Bazata said. “I can never shoot what they shoot ... but I still wanted to go to Emory. So, I looked at Oxford.”

Bazata is one of two current mem-

bers on the Oxford women’s golf team. In fact, recruiting athletes to play at Oxford so that teams have a full roster is a challenge that coaches face every year.

Oxford men’s basketball head coach and athletics director Roderick Stubbs emphasized how difficult recruiting can be given Oxford’s two-year commitment, which requires teams to replace a sizable portion of the roster every year.

“We have to build relationships,” Stubbs said. “We start [recruitment] early in the summer, trying to build those relationships with the studentathletes. And we know it’s very important to get them to campus. So, we try to have showcases in the fall to get them to campus. And that’s helpful in us yielding the students if we can get them on campus. It’s a year-round process and it’s difficult.”

In addition to recruited athletes, some students decide to join varsity teams once they step on campus. Oxford cross-country head coach Ella O’Kelley said many athletes join her team after they were already admitted to Oxford through word-of-mouth or simply because they love running.

“It was literally the students who went out and said, you got to be a part of this,” O’Kelley said. “From there, we just built a reputation. I get a lot of

emails [from students saying], I want to run a cross country team … but I wasn’t the top. I said, ‘Listen, just bring your heart, your willingness and commitment, and we’ll do the rest.’”

The women’s cross-country team has gone on to reach new heights, and they even won the NJCAA Division III National Championship after just five seasons as a varsity team in 2021.

Stubbs is hopeful that with more athletic space, the athletics department would be able to better support student-athletes and the entire student body. Currently, Oxford’s Williams Gymnasium hosts varsity basketball and club cheerleading and dance, as well as intramural badminton, volleyball and basketball. The gym also has a weight room that overlooks the basketball court. Oxford also maintains an aquatic facility to host club swimming, as well as 10 tennis courts for varsity tennis and recreational use. Behind the tennis courts is the William Troy Bivings Athletic Field, where the varsity soccer teams practice. Additionally, physical education classes make use of all available athletic facilities on campus.

“Facility space is one of our major challenges ... the number of students that we have, we really do need a

SOFTBALL C ourte S y of A nnik A urbA n

Senior Annika Urban competes at the UAA Indoor Championships on Feb. 25-26. The men’s and women’s teams both placed third.

GLOVES OFF WITH GABRIELLA

OXFORD