October 20th, 2021

Since 1919

The Emory Wheel Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper

Volume 102, Issue 12

Printed every other wednesday

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Jack Harlow highlights Homecoming, but Fetty Wap doesn’t show

By Matthew Chupack and Uma Shenai News Editor and Contributing Writer

Oluwaseun A bitogun/Contributing (top) and Gabriella Lewis/Digital Operations Editor (Bottom)

Rapper Jack Harlow (Top) performs at the 2021 Homecoming concert.

Students line up for hours ahead of the Homecoming concert on McDonough Field.

“Damn, I wish Fetty Wap could’ve been here,” rapper Jack Harlow said as he surveyed the crowd of over 3,800 students at the 2021 Emory University Homecoming concert.

Harlow’s words midway through his performance reflected many students’ sentiments about the annual event, dubbed Swoop’s Ball, held by the Student Programming Council (SPC) on Oct. 16 to kick off Homecoming Week.This year’s homecoming performances mark the first on-campus concert in two years.

Following multiple hints posted on social media, SPC announced two days before the event that Harlow and rapper Fetty Wap would headline the concert.

“They chose very well,” said Jessica Apple (23C). “I was actually very surprised that we were able to get [Jack Harlow] for the concert because he’s a pretty big person.”

Hours before the gates opened at McDonough Field, students stood in lines stretching past Asbury Circle to the Goizueta Business School.

Anticipation transformed into agitation, however, as the minutes turned into hours, and Fetty Wap was nowhere to be seen.

SPC President Thomas Heagy (22C) announced at about 8:40 p.m., nearly three hours after attendees entered the field, that Fetty Wap missed his flight to Atlanta and would not be able to perform at the concert.

“It was kind of annoying that Fetty Wap did not show up, and I wish they

had told us that he had missed his flight earlier,” Isabel Brandt (23Ox) said.

Because Fetty Wap violated his contractual obligation to perform, Heagy said SPC and the University will not compensate the Grammy nominated rapper.

Expecting a large crowd, SPC took extra steps to maximize McDonough Field’s capacity while adhering to fire code restrictions via measures such as adding additional exits to the field.

“With students returning to campus, SPC once again seeks first and foremost to create opportunities for students to build community and engage with their peers at in-person programs,” Heagy wrote in an email to the Wheel. “Despite our success last year in bringing the Emory community to students’ doorsteps, nothing beats seeing the Emory student body together like they were on Saturday!”

Some students said they were enthusiastic to relive the concert experience they missed out on in 2020, with many saying they had listened to the rappers’ music for years.

“I’m a big Jack Harlow fan, and Fetty Wap, I feel like we all listened to him in 2016, so we all know his songs,” Raj Hegde (23Ox) said before the concert. “I’m excited to go crazy to ‘My Way’ by Fetty Wap.” Restricted attendee policy invokes disappointment for some Because the concert was only open to current undergraduate students, Emory alumni and graduate students

See SPC, Page 4

Emory joins Race to Zero, Sophmore runs for Atlanta Board of Education Climate Leadership Network

By Uma Shenai Contributing Writer

Coalition leaders Ben Levitt (22C), Clare McCarthy (23C, 24PH), Jack Miklaucic (23C), Jesus Palenzuela (23C), Eleanor Emory University President Partington (22C), Erin Phillips (22C) Gregory Fenves signed onto the Race and Sydney Warner (23C) planned a to Zero global climate campaign and protest on Sept. 24 that led to the conplaced the University in the Climate versation with Fenves and Howett.

Leadership Network (CLN) on Oct. 3 Levitt and Miklaucic said the science after he and Associate Vice President around achieving environmental goals of Sustainability Ciannat Howett met has changed since Emory’s 2011 Climate with members of the Emory Climate Action Plan, the last climate plan the Coalition to discuss the University released.

University’s next steps Given Emory’s status in combating climate as a highly ranked uni“We’re working off change. the back of years of versity, both Levitt and The Race to Zero is Miklaucic agreed that student activism.” an international camparticipating in both the Race to Zero and paign created by the — Ben Levitt (22C), the Climate Leadership United Nations in 2020 to unite institutions, Emory Climate Network will allow the companies and cities in Coalition leader University to implesetting immediate goals ment the newest develfor achieving net zero opments in climate carbon emissions. CLN science. is specifically geared towards aiding uni“The Race to Zero specifically is versities and colleges that seek to take trying to get Emory and institutions urgent climate action. Howett and Fenves around the world to take greater climate also expressed interest in continuing to action in advance of the Conference of work with the Coalition on other climate- the Parties that starts later this month,” Levitt said. “It’s really based on the newrelated issues in the future.

The Coalition is an umbrella term that est science from the [Intergovernmental includes Emory Climate Organization, Panel on Climate Change] released in Emory Climate Analyse and Solutions and Emory Climate Reality Project.

See STUDENT, Page 4

NEWS

Mutual aid group raises thousands for lowincome students PAGE 4 P

EDITORIAL Vote Dickens for Atlanta mayor ...

PAGE 5

By Eva Roytburg Contributing Writer While most college sophomores are currently worried about exams or homework, Royce Carter Mann (24C) has other concerns: running for political office. At just 19, Mann is competing in this November’s election to be the At-Large Seat 7 representative on the Atlanta Board of Education.

The city of Atlanta will hold general elections for Board of Education members on Nov. 2, in addition to other local offices such as mayor and city council seats. Early voting for these races began on Oct. 12. Along with Mann, four other candidates are vying for Seat 7.

As a native Atlantan and a recent graduate of Midtown High School, which is part of the Atlanta Public School (APS) system, Mann says he is best positioned to represent the voice of students.

“There’s so many obstacles that prevent students from having any sort of say in the decisions that affect us on a day to day basis,” Mann said. “I first and foremost want to see a voice on the Board of Education that truly represents students in APS.” In fall 2018, Mann began to look into creating a student board member seat that would be permanently held by a stu-

dent. However, after running into legal roadblocks, he decided the next best option was to run himself, launching his campaign on May 3 this year.

“I’ve been involved in advocacy in APS, worked on the governance team at my high school and on the LGBTQ+ task force for the district,” Mann said.

“I saw it every step of the way that, when we have students in the room, when we’re discussing educational policy, the impact that students have is incredible.”

Mann has been a visible activist for several years now. In 2014, a poem he wrote entitled “White Boy Privilege” went viral, propelling him into fame.

He was invited to present on several television programs and conferences, including at the Obama Foundation Summit.

Additionally, Mann co-founded Students for Ossoff and Warnock, a campaign to mobilize young voters to elect the Georgian senators. He has also served as legislative director for March for Our Lives Georgia, to advocate for policies that reduce gun violence.

This past experience is reflected in his vision for the school board.

Mann’s campaign website has six categories outlining his platform: early education and literacy, ending racial and economic segregation within APS, ensuring curriculum is culturally rel-

A&E ‘Dune’ is the start EMORY LIFE

Student

epic ...

PAGE 12

of the next great sci-fi

PAGE 7

creates criminal justice reform club...

Courtesy of Royce Mann

Sophomore Royce Mann (24C) is running for the Atlanta Board of Education.

evant and prepares students for college and career, combating the schoolto-prison pipeline through restorative justice and mental health support, and increasing student, teacher, and community engagement.

Given his experience in social and political activism, Mann said he felt ready when he formally announced his campaign. So far, he has been endorsed

by Georgia State Rep. Park Cannon,

See MANN, Page 3

SPORTS Reflecting on

...

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sexual assault in sports

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

R E Q U I R E M E N T

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You’ll hear from the Emory Law Office of Admission and students who graduated from Emory University and are now attending Emory Law.

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The Emory Wheel

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

3

Mutual aid group raises thousands, advocates for low-income students

By Madi Olivier Contributing Writer Elisabet Ortiz (24C) knows her story isn’t unique.

A native Floridian studying computer science and finance at Emory University, she is like a lot of college students. She likes coding, listening to Harry Styles and watching reality TV shows with her friends.

And, like 19% of students on campus, Ortiz received a Federal Pell Grant, which is given to low-income undergraduate students. She has gone without adequate health insurance since starting at Emory as a QuestBridge scholar and experienced homelessness last summer. When the weather turned cold during her first winter in Atlanta, Ortiz didn’t have enough warm clothes.

Even though she knew other students in the same position, Ortiz felt like a wall was separating her from her peers, many of whom she said have socioeconomic privilege.

“You feel like you’re the only person that’s experiencing something as severe as homelessness or food insecurity, things that are basic necessities,” Ortiz said. “A lot of times, it’s really difficult to talk about that ... The effects of not having those resources are time consuming and life consuming.”

Ortiz said she didn’t receive adequate help from the University, and after talking to other low-income students at schools with similar class sizes and endowments to Emory, she realized that changes could be made to help advocate for students like her.

These discussions inspired Ortiz to start Emory Students for Students last April, a mutual aid fund to raise money for students in need. The

group’s mission statement is “making Emory University more equitable through advocacy and community.” “[Other universities] had a lot more student activism and a lot more grassroots advocacy work going on in their student body, which just doesn’t happen here as much,” Ortiz said. “So there was definitely a correlation between those institutions, and student activism, and having those policies set in place.”

Ortiz said Students for Students is not officially chartered with the University to avoid the hierarchy and jargon of administration, and keep its resources more accessible to students.

However, the Student Government Association and College Council both passed resolutions in support of the club’s advocacy work on Sept. 27 and Sept. 29, respectively.

“At the end of the day, we hope to create an Emory that has so much infrastructure and support in the University that our group doesn’t have to exist anymore,” Ortiz said.

Ortiz worked with Selma Hassan (24C), Isabel Segre (24C), Alysha Posternak (24C) and Isabela Galoustian (24C) to form the club, which has 35 members as of Oct. 11. “[Ortiz] told us about it and we were like, ‘Oh, that is so cool,’” Hassan said.

“She knew that we would want to be a part of it, so then we kind of helped her start it up and venture out.”

Both undergraduate and graduate students can apply to receive money from the fund for necessities such as food, housing, textbooks and medical bills. As of Oct. 11, the group said it has raised a total of $5,235 and redistributed $4,775.75, fulfilling 32 aid requests.

“We have been really pleasantly sur-

Lin Yu/Staff

Emory Students for Students and College Council partnered to organize a clothing drive for low-income students. prised with how much funding we’ve been able to receive,” Ortiz said. “Every single time that we post an urgent aid request, like, ‘This student needs help: they’re going to be evicted,’ or, ‘This student is experiencing food insecurity,’ the Emory community always shows up.”

The majority of the group’s funding has come from donations, although they have also partnered with student artist Cynthia Salinas-Cappellano (24C) to raise money and recently hosted a drive for winter and business clothing, where they received over 100 articles of clothing.

“I wouldn’t be able to donate money, but I can sure donate clothes,” Hassan said. “I think that was also the importance of it, just getting people to help in any way they can, whether it’s through

Emory-discovered antiviral drug under FDA review

By Tanika Deuskar Senior Staff Writer Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics submitted Molnupiravir, an antiviral pill discovered by Emory University scientists, to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for Emergency Use Authorization on Oct. 11.

If approved, Molnupiravir will become the first orally administrable antiviral drug for COVID-19 treatment. Other antivirals being used for COVID-19 treatment, such as Remdesivir, have to be administered intravenously, limiting the ability to treat outpatients.

The company submitted the application after licensing Molnupiravir from Emory and conducted clinical trials that found the drug “significantly reduced the risk of hospitalization or death” after contracting COVID-19.

Molnupiravir was discovered by scientists at Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE), a nonprofit company funded and owned by the University that aims to discover drugs to treat infectious diseases. DRIVE CEO and Co-Founder George Painter led this initiative.

According to interim data of a phase three clinical trial published by Merck on Oct. 1, non-hospitalized patients who had “mild to moderate” COVID19 symptoms and were treated with Molnupiravir were about 50% less likely to require hospitalization or die compared to patients who received the placebo.

The drug prevents the virus from making accurate copies of itself.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus is composed of RNA, a molecular blueprint that instructs cells to make specific proteins.

RNA is made up of four types of nucleoside bases and each type of virus has a unique identity based on the order of these four bases. Viruses use an existing RNA molecule as a

money or clothing or food or whatever.”

The club is currently planning to host a clothing pickup later this month where students can browse the donations they received during their clothing drive and take what they need. Additionally, Ortiz said the club has other events in the works they announce soon.

Two weeks after starting the mutual aid fund, the group expanded its focus on activism and long-term change to the University’s resources for lowincome students.

“Financial equity isn’t separate from racial equality or equality for femme-presenting people,” Ortiz said.

“Those things go hand in hand, so we are very active with working with cultural organizations on campus because that is 100% a part of inter-

Courtesy of Merck

template to synthesize new RNA that can infect other cells.

Molnupiravir is a molecule similar to a nucleoside so that it can masquerade as one and takes the place of a particular nucleoside during RNA synthesis. The viral RNA containing Molnupiravir becomes a faulty template, leading to a mutation. As more mutations accumulate, the virus is unable to function and eventually dies out.

Research on Molnupiravir at Emory predates the COVID-19 pandemic by several years. In 2014, Emory received a grant from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to find a treatment against Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV).

VEEV is transmitted from horses to humans via mosquitos. In humans, the virus causes severe infections that can lead to long-lasting neurological symptoms and even death.

Painter and his team studied molecule EIDD-1931, a known nucleoside

analog, for its effectiveness against VEEV. They eventually modified the molecule to form EIDD-2801 (Molnupiravir) and found that it was effective against VEEV in mice models and influenza in ferrets. Other studies demonstrated its effectiveness against SARS and MERS viruses.

EIDD-2801 was approved for a clinical trial to treat influenza in 2019.

When COVID-19 started to spread, Molnupiravir was tested against SARS-CoV-2 in mice models. The treatment’s effectiveness eventually allowed for clinical trials.

The FDA plans to hold a meeting regarding Molnupiravir’s emergency use authorization application on Nov. 30.

Painter did not respond to the Wheel’s requests for comment.

— Contact Tanika Deuskar at tanika.deuskar@emory.edu

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

Mann encourages more students to run for office

Continued from Page 1

Scientists at Emory University discovered MoInupiravir, an antivrial pill that research indicates reduces COVID-19 deaths.

sectionality, and promoting diversity at the University is making sure that students who are most at risk have that financial support.”

The club organizers’ current goal is to advocate for increased student employee wages. Hassan, who is also a low-income student and participates in federal work-study through the Scholarly Inquiry and Research Experience program, said that she cannot comfortably live off of her salary of $10 per hour, given that her hours are capped at 15 per week. The group hopes to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, as seen on campuses such as Northwestern University (Ill.) and Duke University (N.C.).

“It will ease the pain for some of our low-income students in being able to afford the necessities,” Hassan explained.

All resources relating to Students for Students are available on the group’s Linktr.ee, which is on their Instagram page. This includes their aid request forms, PayPal, Cashapp, Venmo and public transaction records.

Students interested in getting involved are welcome to join the group and Ortiz said anyone can also help by volunteering, donating or simply by sharing the club’s social media posts to raise awareness.

“Now that we’re opening up this narrative and creating this platform that really serves as a voice for the voiceless and a voice for all of this unspoken suffering, people are like, ‘Oh, that’s wrong, that’s not OK and I don’t want that happening at my university,’” Ortiz said.

Vice Chair of Dekalb County Board of Education Diijon DaCosta and the Georgia Equality Organization, a prominent LGBTQ+ rights advocacy group.

He is leading his race in fundraising, with $33,659 in contributions, according to the Atlanta Board of Education Campaign Disclosure Report.

However, Mann said there were unforeseen challenges ahead in running for election.

“I didn’t have a family fortune to invest in my campaign or access to highdollar political consultants,” Mann said.

“Whether it was having trouble getting a bank account set up so we could raise money, or having trouble filing with the city to officially be on the ballot, there were definitely times that I was tempted to give up.”

Mann explained his campaign was

possible through the support of students, friends and “other activists.” ”I had folks around me that reminded me that the reason we’re pursuing this is because we need to ensure that these local elected bodies are more accessible,” Mann said.

Mann believes that despite the challenges, more students and young people should consider running for office.

“Any young person out there who is considering the idea of running for office, or just getting more involved politically in whatever way, whether that’s becoming a voter after being a non-voter, whether that is starting to volunteer for candidates or causes that you support, there’s so many ways to be involved,” Mann said. “We need to start claiming our power politically.”

— Contact Eva Roytburg at eva.roytburg@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel Volume 102, Issue 12 © 2021 The Emory Wheel Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editor-in-Chief Isaiah Poritz iporitz@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.

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Wednesday, October 20, 2021

SPC: ‘[External] Fetty Wap | We’re sorry’ Continued from Page 1

took to social media to express their frustration.

“No guests,” Mikahla Gay (21C) commented on a Oct. 14 SPC Instagram post. “What about a washed up alum that missed out on concerts because of COVID.” “Good job finally getting decent homecoming artists and then excluding alumni & then @emoryuniversity still wants to call us for money,” Ashley Crooks-Allen (15C) wrote on the same SPC Instagram post.

The restriction to an undergraduate audience was the result of a split between the SGA and the Graduate Student Government Association in 2017 that separated student activity fees for the student bodies.

“Emory’s administrators made the decision this year to eliminate ticket sale options due to COVID-19 protocols,” Heagy wrote. “As a fiduciary to the undergraduate student body, SPC cannot allow graduate students, who voted for their split from SGA, to enjoy full access to the festivities at cheap ticket prices.”

Heagy also explained that previous year’s student activity fees were not used to finance the 2021 Homecoming concert.

“Emory reimbursed the Student Activity Fee from the 2019-2020 school year due to COVID-19, and additional reductions (including a reduction to $0 in Spring 2021) occurred,” Heagy wrote. “The Student Programming Council strives to uphold our fiduciary duty to the student body as trustees of a portion of the undergraduate Student Activity Fee allocated by the Student Government Association.”

Despite impatience and disappointment, Harlow excites students By 6 p.m., students percolated into McDonough Field. But as students got closer to the entrance, the slow-moving line transformed into a chaotic swarm. Frenzied students shoved each other and cut through gaps in the fence

to get ahead.

“Some people almost fell because of a step that no one could see because the entrance was a literal mob,” Areej Memon (23Ox) said. “It was very dangerous, and I didn’t like so many people being that close to me.”

Brandt expressed a similar sentiment, noting that it was “more chaotic” being in the line than it was at the actual concert.

But despite the anticipation getting onto the field, not everything went as planned.

After students made it through the horde and scanned their event passes, they arrived to SPC sporadically providing pizza and Insomnia Cookies.

Samuel Berliner-Sachs (22C), whose stage name is DJ Samwell, entertained the crowd until around 7:30 p.m., when Fetty Wap’s DJ stepped in. At 8 p.m., though Fetty Wap was supposed to perform, the DJ continued to play music.

“My brother Fetty Wap is running late,” he said to the impatient crowd.

After Heagy revealed that though Fetty Wap’s team had arrived, Fetty Wap himself had missed his flight and would not be performing, students boo’d with disappointment.

“Like everyone else, I was pretty disappointed,” Memon said. “But also, I think it’s pretty funny that he missed his flight. It makes for a fun story to tell.”

Heagy emphasized that students should reach out to him with any feedback on how SPC can “better serve” the student body in the spring.

Fortunately, Harlow had already arrived and was ready to perform.

After a quick introduction from his DJ, he sauntered onto the stage to the world-famous “Squid Game” theme music.

In seconds, the crowd’s energy shifted from irritated to thrilled.

Despite all the confusion and impatience, Harlow entertained students through personalizing the concert experience to Emory. “There was a girl that used to go to Emory that I was so obsessed with,” Harlow said. “I’ve been

on this campus before because she let me in her dorm.” The crowd erupted into laughter.

“I kissed her a couple times, but nothing else happened, nothing else happened. True story. So I’m hoping that tonight…” Harlow didn’t need to finish before screaming ensued.

“He was talking to us and vibing with us on such a great level that it just made the whole experience enjoyable,” Memon Artur (23C) said, noting that though she wished he had stayed longer, she appreciated his performance of Owl City’s “Fireflies.”

“SPC decided to jokingly tease that the headline artist would be Owl City, which students seemed to find funny,” Heagy wrote. “Without any planning, Jack Harlow decided to play a rendition of ‘Fireflies’ for the crowd. We couldn’t believe our … ears.”

Though many students waited for under an hour of Harlow performing, several audience members said they enjoyed every second.

“I’ve been to other concerts where they don’t really talk to you and they just sing their songs, and that’s it,” Bazata said. “But he seemed like he actually cared.”

After the concert, SPC volunteers took a photo with Harlow. Heagy noted that he “thanked [Harlow] for his great performance on behalf of the Emory student body.”

SPC requested Emory Emergency Medical Service (EEMS) to “be on standby” for Swoop’s Ball in case of an emergency, EEMS Command Staff said. The Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response staff, an emergency medicine physician and two ambulances joined the 12 EEMS personnel at the concert.

Eight students received care at the concert, with one person taken to a local hospital for additional medical attention, EEMS Command Staff added.

— Contact Matthew Chupack at matthew.chupack@emory.edu and Uma Shenai at uma.shenai@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Student organizers credit change to previous activism

Tiffany NamKung/Contributing

Continued from Page 1 August in the sixth assessment and accord, and it’s trying to use that science to leverage immediate goals.”

By joining CLN, the University has committed to updating their climate action plan once every five years and submitting annual progress reports to the network and the public. Through immediate action and urgency, the University is attempting to reach net zero carbon emissions before their original goal of 2050, by which their 2011 statement said they would cut emissions by 50%.

Miklaucic said that one aspect of the current climate plan in need of revision concerns the specifics of how the University plans to reach net zero. “[The current] climate action plan says Georgia Power is what we rely on to get to net zero, but it doesn’t say what we’re gonna do about it,” Miklaucic said.

As a result of these climate action updates, Miklaucic and Levitt said that more resources, including institutional funds and a new climate action liaison, will be put towards achieving Emory’s environmental goals.

“We’re hoping that by next year, Emory will have hired that person and that person will be a full time internal staff member who is really starting to make that work happen,” Levitt said.

Another important change is the creation of a climate action task force by the fall of next year. This task force would consist of students, faculty and staff passionate about combating climate change.

Levitt said this task force will create “infrastructure for ongoing structured collaboration” and will hold the University

accountable for achieving their goals.

Miklaucic added that students will have more opportunities to have their voices heard and to get involved in climate justice. Still, he stressed that it should be the University’s responsibility to really make changes.

“It shouldn’t be a student’s job coming in to spend a lot of time really thinking about this because they’re not the ones with the resources necessary to make this happen,” Miklaucic said.

In the past year, Emory Climate Coalition has worked to further climate justice efforts at the University by coordinating strikes and working with College Council to pass a resolution for heightened climate urgency. In the spring, they researched the University’s Emory climate commitments in order to push for change.

They then organized a virtual climate strike in April and ran Climate Week.

“We’re working off the backs of years of student activism to get to this point,” Levitt said. “The most important point is that this is a multidisciplinary, University-wide initiative.”

While Coalition leaders expressed excitement at the University’s adoption of the Race to Zero initiative and joining the CLN, student leaders said there is still more work to be done. Levitt, in particular, expressed a need for the University to further their work on transit and social justice initiatives.

Miklaucic agreed, saying, “The results that we’re hoping for are not even close to here yet. That’s not their fault, they’re just gonna take time, but I can’t feel satisfied yet.”

— Contact Uma Shenai at uma.shenai@emory.edu

SGA swears in vice president, hosts panel with University president and dean

By Claire Fenton Associate Editor The 55th legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) unanimously confirmed Aditi Vellore (21Ox, 23C) as executive vice president and hosted an Q&A session with University President Gregory Fenves and Dean of Campus Life Enku Gelaye at their Oct. 18 general body meeting.

Vellore, who previously served as Vice President of Elections and Charters at Oxford College and as the Secretary of SGA, filled the vacancy created by Amon Pierson’s (22C) resignation in August.

The Secretary position, according to SGA President Rachel Ding (20Ox, 22B), will be replaced by an “emergency vacancy appointment.”

Ding and Speaker of the Legislature Joseph Banko (23C) moderated the Q&A session, calling on students who submitted questions beforehand.

Fenves and Gelaye fielded questions concerning financial support for lowincome students, availability of mental health resources and the University’s plans to address climate change within the Emory community.

Khegan Myers (24C) asked Fenves and Gelaye about the University’s plans to expand financial assistance outside of financial aid, calling the current federal work study wage “inadequate” to support low-income students.

In response, Fenves said the University’s 2036 campaign, a capital fundraising initiatives, will play an integral role in increasing scholarship endowments and continuing the University’s commitment to need-blind admission.

“We know that [college] is very stressful financially on students, and so we’re always looking at ways of how we can better address that,” Fenves said. “That’s going to be a major part of this campaign with very ambitious goals to increase the endowments.”

Gelaye added the University is also working to enhance resources, such as the Emory Together Fund, that assist students with daily necessities.

“In addition to the long term planning and financial aid packaging, which is ongoing work and does require some level of a capital campaign as described, we also understand there are day-to-day and immediate needs for students,” Gelaye said.

“You have to know where to go to get those resources, and also that the university has to be as proactive as we can be about those resources.”

Alyssa Stegall (21Ox, 23C) broached the topic of student mental health and accessibility to mental health resources, an issue which Gelaye said has become a greater focus for administrations since the onset of the pandemic.

“Mental health and just general well-being is probably the most impor-

tant work that we’re doing now,” Gelaye said. “It’s also important that we have culturally diverse offerings. It’s also very important to talk about wellness, how you’re sleeping, your access to food, your access to community.”

In addition to better communicating the mental health resources available to students, Gelaye said the University has drawn on conversations with students to improve their policies.

Fenves said that the University endeavors to think “holistically” about the college experience and that mental health is a constant topic of discussion among administrators.

“It’s a problem at Emory and it’s a problem nationally,” Fenves said.

“Every time we meet, we’re talking about student mental health at Emory and what the needs are and how we can address them.”

Noah Marchuck (24C) inquired about the University’s sustainability objectives, comparing its goal of attaining net zero emissions by 2050 to recent data which suggested a 2030 deadline.

Fenves recently signed the Race to Zero, a pact under a United Nations campaign that commits the University to intensify efforts to achieve net zero emissions.

Noting the recently built solar panels, recycling initiatives and water reuse practices, Fenves affirmed the

Claire Fenton/A ssociate Editor

Dean of Campus Life Enku Gelaye (Left) and University President Greg Fenves (R ight) speak to the Student Government Association.

University’s commitment to sustainability. Fenves said that the University plans to address environmental issues by maintaining a relationship with Georgia Power and deferring to global scientific consensus surrounding climate change.

“Our approach has been to follow the science about climate change,” Fenves said.

“Our commitment is that we’re going to follow the science and not just pick an arbitrary date, but a date that

will make sense in terms of worldwide planning.”

Gelaye added that the administration noted students’ participation in the Emory’ Climate Coalition’s climate strike on Sept. 24 and encouraged students to continue to voice their concerns and advocate for sustainability initiatives.

— Contact Claire Fenton at claire.fenton@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

O������ W��������, O������ 20, 2021 | Opinion Editors: Sophia Ling (sophia.ling@emory.edu) & Martin Li (martin.li2@emory.edu)

EDITORIALS

On Election Day, vote Andre Dickens for Atlanta mayor While federal incompetency and state controversy has dominated headlines for months, an ongoing city election will determine the direction of Atlanta for at least the next four years as several mayoral candidates duke it out for the highest office in city hall. Atlanta’s next mayor will have plenty of issues to address, including an uptick in crime, an undersupply of affordable housing, clogged transportation routes and the possible secession of the Buckhead neighborhood from the city. The best candidate is City Councilmember Andre Dickens.

Emory students should vote for Dickens. His platform provides nuanced and sustainable fixes to Atlanta’s pressing public safety issues and tackles systemic problems like gentrification and racism that derive from the city’s lack of affordable housing. Most importantly, he values ethical character more than his contenders do.

On the issue of crime and public

safety, Dickens wants to implement a balanced four-step plan known as S.A.F.E. Streets Atlanta (Surge, Arrest, Force, Empower). It includes racial sensitivity measures and comprehensive training in de-escalation techniques and provides officers with resources to engage in community policing. Such a push would be combined with 250 more police officers to counter the city’s elevated crime rate, as well as deploying specialists to handle nonviolent situations, such as mental health crises or to aid the homeless. This would hopefully reroute nonviolent prisoners from prisons to other support systems, allowing Atlanta to allocate more tax dollars to other pressing problems, such as the affordable housing crisis.

Inspired by his partnership with the Atlanta Housing Authority, Dickens has several refined ideas to combat the city’s affordable housing shortage. He aims to ramp up development of mixed-income and

mixed-use housing, which would increase access to transit in underdeveloped parts of town. His transportation platform also would offer free MARTA passes to those who can’t afford it, increase bike infrastructure and expand the BeltLine to unify more parts of the city. This would also benefit students without cars or those who do not want to spend money on parking, allowing them to explore the city without spending so much on rideshares.

Most importantly, Dickens is pushing to streamline the city’s rigid building codes and zoning rules, which date from the 1920s and have slowed the development of mixeduse housing. Emory students, in particular off-campus students and graduates looking to stay in the city, would be permitted to remain in the metropolitan area while maintaining access to campus. By revamping zoning regulations to increase density, Atlanta would better retain its human capital and bolster the labor

market.

Unlike former mayor Kasim Reed, Dickens has not faced an ethics investigation that could harm the credibility of his administration.

Rather, Dickens will prioritize the city’s ethics code and improve resources for the ethics investigator to prevent public corruption and future Kasim Reeds in Atlanta.

However, all that isn’t to say, Dickens, relative to other leading contenders such as Reed and City Council President Felicia Moore, is a star-studded pick for mayor. Dickens fails not only to fully justify the necessity of increasing police presence to reduce crime, especially when many studies argue against this, but also does not address large-scale issues to unite different groups within the Atlanta community.

Dickens is also somewhat inexperienced compared to the race’s frontrunners and lacks the name recognition of some of his contenders.

Nevertheless, we believe Dickens'

track record as a city councilmember who aided the development of the BeltLine Inclusionary Zoning for affordable housing, and his program to raise police officer salaries demonstrates great potential to get the job done. Perhaps most vitally, Dickens' platform touches on every facet of the Metro Atlanta area — from reducing crime to expanding business and increasing diversity and unifying the city, he offers convincing strategies and feasible solutions. Such commitment distinguishes Dickens from Moore, whose tunnel focus on crime and disregard for other issues makes her insincere.

Dickens’ policies focus on the key issues facing everyday Atlantans. We need Dickens’ resolve, character and vision to carve out a renovated and united Atlanta, and for that, he should have our votes.

In both Fulton and Dekalb counties, early voting is open until Oct. 29.

To see a new, prosperous future for Atlanta, vote Dickens.

Evictions in Georgia are reaching alarming heights Ms. Juliet, a low-income, elderly widow with chronic health issues living in Decatur, Georgia, is being evicted from her home of 27 years.

Ms. Juliet’s case is emblematic of systemic issues surrounding evictions and segregation in Georgia, where hundreds of thousands evictees do not receive adequate assistance or media coverage.

While Atlanta was the first city to create public housing in 1936, they began to demolish public housing buildings over concerns about their appearance after the 1996 Summer Olympics. Simultaneously, the houseless population of Atlanta was subjected to numerous police sweeps. By 2011, Atlanta became the first city in the U.S. to close all of its

last public housing projects. As a result, there is no safety net to protect residents from the onslaught of rising rent prices and gentrification.

Unfortunately, Ms. Juliet is just one of many victims of gentrification and evictions that have continued to rise exponentially in Atlanta throughout the pandemic. Landlords continuously displace and exclude low-income, often Black and brown residents, from their home communities in the interest of making a profit on properties in newly desirable locations.

Due to gentrification, nearly half of all Atlanta neighborhoods have experienced an increase in housing costs in the last 20 years, and 13% of all low-income households are in

neighborhoods at risk of gentrification or displacement.

Furthermore, ongoing trends indicate a pattern of advancing exclusion in the city’s northern counties and active displacement in the southern counties and other prominent neighborhoods.

These housing patterns correspond with Atlanta’s long legacy of race-based housing segregation and structural changes that promote urban revitalization — a necessary precursor by which citizens are attracted to major cities most commonly through advancing infrastructure.

Independently owned properties will continue to be bought up by corporate investors, just as they have

for years. However, financial profit should not come at the expense of someone else’s home.

Atlanta has not counteracted the negative effects of gentrification, and in some cases, expedited them.

Despite originally envisaged as a development project to revitalize a run-down rail line as a walkable greenway, the Atlanta Beltline lacks affordable housing for people who have lived in the area for decades as well as an inability to preserve low-costs for low income residents.

With the federal government ending the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium in August, residents like Ms. Juliet have no institutional support left.

Though federal Emergency Rental Assistance provided Georgia with $552.3 million to aid Georgian residents behind on rent, only a fraction of it has been paid out. Most either didn’t apply because they weren’t aware of its existence or applied and never received anything in return.

Neither has local media covered her case, rendering her story unknown by the local community. As Atlantans, we should be the force rallying behind her in support.

So sign Ms. Juliet’s petition, donate to her GoFundMe and spread them as widely as possible. This is a chance to make a material difference in the life of one person in real need.

We would be cruel not to take it.

The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board.

The Editorial Board is composed of Viviana Barreto, Rachel Broun, Kyle Chan-Shue, Sara Khan, Martin Li, Sophia Ling, Demetrios Mammas, Daniel Matin, Sara Perez, Sophia Peyser, Ben Thomas, Chaya Tong and Leah Woldai.

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OPINION

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

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Hooters promotes female exploitation and objectification Sophia Peyser Just four miles away from Emory’s main campus is a dystopia of female exploitation and french fries. Hooters is a magical paradox where burgers are served by hypersexualized waitresses in zero clothing, yet “kids eat free” nights happen regularly with readily available booster seats. Recently, the internet has been ablaze over how Hooters changed its already revealing uniforms to even skimpier ones.

Although Hooters has amended its uniform policy in response to the backlash, the restaurant’s existence is a disturbing indication of the extent of normalization of sexual harassment at the hands of massive, male-owned corporations.

Some young women may view going to Hooters as female empowerment, in that female restaurant-goers can reclaim a male fantasy and support the waitresses. Others might even argue that Hooters is the embodiment of sexual freedom, as a rejection of stuffy, uptight feminism and support of sex workers. It’s not. Spending money at Hooters means supporting a corporation that sexualizes young people and reinforces the objectification of women. Nobody should be directing their money toward such an abusive corporation. Instead, we should work to denormalize such harassment.

The exploitation of women at Hoot-

ers is frighteningly casual. The servers are marketed as sexy burger-carrying objects who are required to wear skin-tight tops, heavy makeup and minuscule shorts. They are also forbidden from showing tattoos and wearing too much jewelry. The quintessential Hooters girl is a sexy, well-kept, thin-yet-curvy male fantasy, at whom male restaurant-goers can gawk while

Hooters’ new uniform further

enjoying their meal. Customers can even purchase calendars that boast over 200 Hooters girls in swimsuits.

“When the first Hooters calendar sold out in 1986, we knew we’d stumbled on another winning idea,” reads the website. The idea: further monetizing the bodies of women.

Despite all of its efforts to be family-friendly, the restaurant fails abysmally, framed as a wing joint with a side of sex. The job description lists that waitresses are expected to be “fit and glamorous,” catering to the male gaze’s definition of female beauty. Even

the logo is a depiction of breasts disguised as an owl in a double entendre, as if it’s meant to be an inside joke between adults. Kids get to eat chicken fingers from the kids menu and parents get to laugh at the boob joke in the logo. Family-friendly, right?

Not so much. The sexualization of children and the way the restaurant markets itself as a child-friendly

exploiting women. According to a lawsuit filed in 2010 by the California branch of the National Organization for Women, Hooters also tries to market itself as a family-friendly environment, with children’s menus and high chairs.

According to the same lawsuit, the restaurant also sells clothing in children’s sizes that reads “Future Hooters Girl,” which is an absolutely twisted

waitresses and customers who take issue with the restaurant's policies can just go elsewhere. However, the simple fact that women volunteer to work at Hooters is just a testament to how normal it has become for women to use their bodies to please men. The introduction of the new uniforms further clarifies how little Hooters cares to hide their message: the more skin you show and the more sexually available you are, the more money you make.

Hooters was founded in 1983, and the fact that it has survived for so long is horrifying.

An entire job based on sexual harassment was unacceptable then, and it certainly shouldn’t be acceptable now. So instead of taking a spontaneous girls’ trip to Hooters — an idea that I’ve heard proposed more than once at Emory — direct your money to organizations that are owned by women instead of ILLUSTRATION BY A LISON BARLOW ones that view their exemplifies sexual exploitation and objectification of the body of female workers. bodies as moneymaking tools. Stop institution are also wildly problematic. way of informing children that in a few spending money on corporations that The corporation requires employees, years, their bodies will be objectified by profit from peoples’ bodies all together. some of whom are underage, to sign a men. The “family-friendly” title, mixed Focus on supporting events like the contract that states that they will with how Hooters acts like they’re Georgia Women’s Food Fest and “interact with and entertain cus- doing people a service by providing forums like Let’s Talk Womxn, which tomers” and that they understand that good food and attractive people to look celebrate and support women in the their job is based on female sex appeal. at, allows the corporation to avoid food industry. Spend money at womanThis means wearing revealing accountability when accused of sexual- owned restaurants like Busy Bee Café clothing and parading their bodies to izing workers. and Lake & Oak. appeal to male customers. They also Despite all the evidence lodged Next time you want some wings, have to confirm on the contract that against them, some people, including get them without the side of female they do not find their job duties former employees, still argue that exploitation. “offensive, intimidating, hostile or Hooters is ethical since servers choose unwelcome.” In doing so, Hooters is to work in that environment. After all, Sophia Peyser (25C) is from Manhatrendering itself unaccountable for there are other minimum wage jobs, so tan, New York.

Beware. Our eating experience is in jeopardy.

Sophia Ling For almost the entirety of my first semester of college, I ate alone in my room. Of course, extraneous circumstances made it difficult to find people to befriend. So for three months, I was pathetically accompanied by the illuminated screen of my computer and a borrowed Netflix account trying to catch up on every Marvel movie.

Our lives are inescapably intertwined with technology. For instance, in China, you can’t get around the city without WeChat, a social media app that combines the functions of Uber, Venmo, Instagram and Facebook into one multipurpose networking musthave. While the world continues to obsess over technological advances that make our lives easier and more efficient, its implications for food service — like waiting tables and ordering food — threaten it to become an obsolete practice.

One of the biggest, most recent adaptations that restaurants have made in light of the pandemic is the eradication of paper menus. No longer

can we feel the greasy, laminated film or the crinkly, reused menu in our hands. Instead, your waiter seats you at the table and asks you to scan the QR code. Sometimes instead of a waiter, there’s an iPad where people can place their order, pay and then leave. Besides the waiter who brings your food, everything else is replaced by electronic communication. Often, the built-in devices sit immobile on your table, obstructing your vision of the other people you might be sitting with or distracting you with the newest Geico ad or some new TV show. Talking to waiters is more than for jotting down your order. Waiters can offer you their personal favorites and help you decide between difficult choices.

Soon, we won’t be signing checks, trying to calculate the tip or scrawling out our signatures on a piece of paper.

Cafés and restaurants equipped with iPads that can read credit card chips and send recipes through text or email will become the norm. In fact, we’re so deep into this technological era that escaping it almost seems to make you either elitist or antiquated.

Technology encourages people to dine alone and reduces the amount of

social interaction we are meant to have with others. I admit, I enjoy being alone. People frustrate and torment me in ways that my own thoughts have yet to surpass. But I absolutely adore eating with other people, seeing waiters bustle around and hearing the chatter of restaurants.

Restaurants are meant for people, not for robots and iPads. The technological ease of ordering food and paying the check is causing people to forget why restaurants exist in the first place.

They serve as some of the cornerstones of cultural conversation and city life.

First dates, birthday parties and anniversaries, are all commemorative milestones that we often celebrate by going out to eat. Unlike music, food has not yet been made freely available and disseminated to every corner of the world. While the ability to experience your friend’s favorite songs at the click of a mouse is convenient, it doesn’t come with the same excitement or anticipation as when we meet people for food.

Solo dining no longer turns heads the way it used to. People are launching themselves into this trend of lowinteraction dining to avoid any form of

social interaction. In Japan, Ichiran is one such restaurant that emphasizes anonymity and focuses on the food in front of you.

While there is nothing wrong or shameful about this, it is intended to be a different experience than having technology replace social interaction.

When we eat alone, most people cannot resist the temptation of checking their phones. But doing so defeats the purpose of solo dining and only serves to incorporate dining into part of a person’s to-do list rather than a time to sit down and relax.

I can support one-person dinners under certain conditions. They are luxurious. They embrace solitude and tranquility. For 30 minutes, it’s like pressing pause on your busy world. But only if you do it right. No writing emails, reading papers or binging Netflix. Just you and your food.

Embracing and destigmatizing individualistic habits like Ichiran is important, but should not be our primary focus. Eating alone is too often negatively associated with mental and physical health conditions, such as depression and an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes. Instead, we

should turn to new food-sharing initiatives like London’s Casserole Club and South Africa’s Food Jams, both of which aim to not only improve food security and provide food for those who do not have time to cook for themselves but also create a place to socialize and make new friends.

Dining is more than a meal — it's a therapeutic, social, yet simultaneously private exchange of ideas, thoughts and culture. Restaurants take gastronomy and passion for food to a higher level; they fuse together architectural statements with expensive tastes that bring our society closer together.

Admittedly, improved labor efficiency and a cheaper workforce are reasonable motives to shift into a more electronic-centered business model.

However, we must be wary of the way that this changes the way we interact with people. For once in my life, I would rather go back to the times where we are able to see and talk to other people.

Call me old-fashioned, but at least I know how to enjoy my meals.

Sophia Ling (24C) is from Carmel, Indiana.

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Emory University Office of Spiritual and Religious Life Emory OSRL is a multifaith resource center that supports religious, spiritual, ethical, and cultural life, learning, and exploration for everyone at Emory. We encourage you to explore the many opportunities we offer: • Our weekly e-newsletter of spiritual life and social justice opportunities at Emory

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Emory University Office of Spiritual and Religious Life Team

From left to right top row: Maury Allums, OSRL Director of Music and Voices of Inner Strength Gospel Choir; Dr. Isam Vaid, Muslim Religious Life Scholar; The Venerable Priya Rakkhit Sraman, Buddhist Chaplain; The Reverend Dr. Gregory W. McGonigle, Dean of Religious Life and University Chaplain; Katie Rappold, Program Coordinator; Chaplain Maddie Henderson, Christian Chaplain; Rabbi Jordan Braunig, Jewish Chaplain. Bottom row: Zachary Cole, Chief of Staff; Brahmacharini Shweta Chaitanya, Hindu Chaplain; Lakishia Hines, Executive Administrative Assistant.

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Arts Entertainment Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | Arts & Entertainment Editors: Eythen Anthony (eaantho@emory.edu) & Jackson Schneider (jdschn3@emory.edu)

‘Dune’ is the start of the next great sci-fi epic

By Jackson schneider A&E Editor Since the original “Star Wars” defined the space opera in 1977, many films have tried and failed to replicate the grandiosity of such a genre. “Dune” is not one of those films. It’s been a long time since a film has taken my breath away quite as often as Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of the legendary 1965 sci-fi novel. The film is so colossal in scale that, staggering out of the theatre, the real world felt small by comparison.

“Dune” showcases masters perfecting their respective crafts at the highest level. Villeneuve shows immense directorial restraint and precision, Greg Fraser’s cinematography is sparse and gorgeous and Hans Zimmer’s score is perhaps his greatest to date.

Not to mention that the source material itself, written by Frank Herbert, is a literary masterpiece and one of the most important science fiction novels ever written. All of these elements put together make for a film that is astounding in its ambition and aweinspiring in its execution.

“Dune” is set in a galactic feudal empire thousands of years in the future, and centers around the noble House of Atreides and the heir of the family, Paul (Timothée Chalamet).

Courtesy of Warner Bros PiCtures and Legendary PiCtures

Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides in sci-fi epic “Dune.” The film premieres in theatres and on HBO Max on Oct. 22.

Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) is forced into a war over the desert planet Arrakis, which contains Spice: The most valuable material in the universe because it is necessary for interstellar travel. It is also a sacred hallucinogen for the Indigenous Fremen tribe of Arrakis. After a betrayal, Paul and his mother (Rebecca Ferguson)

make their way through the desert, where they come into contact with the Fremen. There, Paul meets Chani (Zendaya), a young woman with whom he has an inexplicable link.

In a roundtable interview with the Wheel, Zendaya said her friendship with Chalamet helped establish the dynamic between their characters. “It

felt very effortless,” she said. “It wasn’t like I had to go there and be like ‘Let me pretend to be friends with this person.’ [Chalamet] is someone that I really appreciate and that I feel is valuable in my life.”

“Dune” is first and foremost a coming-of-age story: a young protagonist learning the ways of the world, finding

out that they are a chosen one and ultimately being thrust into a prophecy they cannot control. Though the character of Paul was first dreamed up over a half century ago, his story still carries the same universality that it did back then. My favorite character

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IMAX experience worth the price Continued from Page 9 dynamic was between Paul and his mother, who reckon with their shared destiny as they travel across the dangerous sands.

The plot involves intense political intrigue between the houses of Atreides and Harkonnen and social commentary about the nature of colonialism and exploitation. The noble houses bicker over a world that is not theirs, over their right to subjugate a people and use their labor to industrially harvest a substance with great spiritual significance. It crafts a world that is so fleshed out through its details that from the opening credits, you feel as if you’ve been dropped into a world that has a long and storied history. This film, officially titled “Dune: Part One,” covers about half of the novel, with a sequel currently in the works. Chalamet, Zendaya, and the rest of the ensemble deliver solid performances, but it’s Frank Herbert’s story and worldbuilding combined with Villeneuve’s masterful filmmaking that truly steals the show.

Much like “Arrival” and “Blade Runner 2049”, “Dune” is a testament to Villeneuve’s ability to render scenes that feel massive in scale. Gargantuan, organically-shaped ships dwarf the mechanics below and the forms of Paul and his mother become little black dots against the vast and shifting sands below their feet. “It was great not to work on green screens the whole time,” Chalamet commented.

“I was in a constant state of being awe-struck…” The incredible score by the legendary composer Hans Zimmer also contributes to the immense sense of awe. Thundering drums, psyche-

The Emory Wheel

A&E

Wednesday, September 22, 2021

delic string crescendos and wailing vocals echo like war cries across the dunes of Arrakis. While “Dune” is releasing in theatres and on HBO Max simultaneously, it would be a shame to watch this movie for the first time on the small screen. The IMAX experience was a feast for the eyes and ears and enhanced the already immersive nature of the film.

The ending of the film, however, is likely to divide fans. Without spoiling anything, “Dune” ends on a very anticlimactic note seemingly halfway through the story. While this is a setup for the second film, Warner Bros has not even greenlit the rest of Villeneuve’s vision yet, as they are waiting for this movie’s box office numbers. A conclusion to Paul Atredies’s story is likely more than a few years away, which may kill any momentum built up by the first movie. I certainly left the theatre a bit unfulfilled by the abruptness of “Dune”s final moments, feeling almost like half my plate was taken away halfway through an amazing meal. When I asked them about a part two, Chalamet and Zendaya both expressed that they hope to be given the opportunity to continue to work together and further develop the characters of Paul and Chani in the second half of the story. Although it feels like only half of a story, I still believe that “Dune” is one of the best science fiction movies in years. Its awe-inspiring visual direction and complicated and nuanced storyline shouldn’t be missed.

“Dune” premieres in theatres and on HBO Max on Oct. 22.

— Contact Jackson Schneider at jackson.d.schneider@emory.edu

Harlow the only silver lining at HoCo concert By elaine Zhou Contributing Writer “I hope you don’t have lice!” Rapper Jack Harlow yelled after taking a student’s cap from the crowd — his lovable wit single-handedly saving this year’s Swoop’s Ball.

With a line of students stretching all the way to Cox Hall, Jack Harlow and Fetty Wap drew thousands of people to McDonough Field for the first homecoming performance since the start of the pandemic. Students were stoked to hear Harlow’s modern hits as well as Fetty’s treasured Trap throwbacks, finally all in-person. In fact, given the shoulder-toshoulder proximity between us and the volume of maskless kids ignoring Student Programming Committee (SPC) guidelines, a spectator wouldn’t be able to tell that COVID-19 existed in the first place. It’s safe to say that the excitement for the concert overwrote any tendency to be COVID-safe.

However, as we waited nearly an hour for doors to open, none of us could anticipate the tragedy that awaited.

Emory’s own DJ Samwell’s lively remixes excited the crowd to something reminiscent of a mosh pit; the energy was undoubtedly brimming upon entry.

The scene was idyllic, with smiling students and blaring music all underneath a beautiful Georgia sunset. But confusion set in quite quickly at the closing of Samwell’s set as students started roaring, “where’s Fetty?”

Violent impatience plagued the crowd as the stage remained empty long after the opener. “Back up!” members of the SPC repeatedly yelled as fans aggressively pushed their way to the front. I definitely lost feeling in my foot after being stepped on in the frenzy. After about half an hour, some students began to depart and others stood in irritation, losing faith in our beloved headliner. I can still recall the commotion after someone proclaimed,

“Fetty missed his flight!” Madness, I’ll tell you. The crowd broke out into an uproar of booing as SPC members tried to band-aid the situation with an apology over loud music. The scene was truly bleak until Harlow finally took the stage.

The lights finally dimmed, students perked their heads in thrilled curiosity as the “Squid Game” red light, green light theme faded into Jack Harlow’s “Tyler Herro.” There was the man of the hour: the Grammy-nominated Kentucky rapper ran across the stage,

“Damn, I wish Fetty Wap could have been here!”

— Jack Harlow

moving the once-defeated crowd to exuberant exclamation and dancing.

Whether you know him from his popular sounds on TikTok or his scintillating performance with Lil Nas X at the VMAs, the musical heartthrob is arguably one of 2021’s biggest artists.

Apparently, this was not his first time at Emory.

Harlow maintained his flirtatious charm in sharing an anecdote of when he tried to pursue an Emory student years ago; he recounts that he made it into her dorm room but only “got a kiss.” Harlow quickly followed it up with “so I’m hoping… tonight…” The lewdness of the comment was dismissed by the screaming of love-struck fans.

Harlow performed every fan-favorite track throughout the night such as, “WHATS POPPIN”, “I WANNA

SEE SOME ASS”, and “Already Best Friends.” Initially sporting a blue hoodie, the crowd’s infatuation increased when he was reduced to a tight white tank top and jeans.

Pre-med students especially felt the love when Harlow gave his token of appreciation to the “doctors and nurses” of Emory. Perhaps one of the most exhilarating moments was when Harlow promised that if “y’all keep the energy up to here, I’m coming down there,” against security’s wishes. He ultimately did (kind of) go into the crowd, swiping a fan’s hat as memorabilia. Harlow’s connection with the crowd grew even more as he announced the afterparty at the fraternity Sigma Chi. The rapper paid his respects duly.

Harlow made sure to name-drop the Trap King: “Damn, I wish Fetty Wap could have been here!” sharing in our sorrows. He also shouted out familiar names Bryson Tiller and Lil Nas X before performing their collaborative tracks “THRU THE NIGHT” and “INDUSTRY BABY.” Harlow, 23, said he was glad the crowd was about the same age as him, and proceeded to play Owl City’s “Fireflies” as an homage to one of our widely-cherished childhood pop tunes.

This year’s Swoop’s Ball was an emotional rollercoaster for all of us.

While Harlow undoubtedly revitalized the crowd with his electric and charming stage presence, many students, including myself, are still mourning the loss of Fetty Wap. But overall, I don’t regret attending.

The event allowed students to reunite for homecoming after a lonely school year and, frankly, quality bonding came out of our shared vexation.

Let’s just now pray that the rest of the homecoming activities prove to be more smooth-sailing than that messy kick-off.

— Contact Elaine Zhou at elaine.hsihang.zhou@emory.edu

Season 2 of ‘Ted Lasso’ brings laughs and just an many tears By noah Gentry Staff Writer This review contains spoilers and mentions of suicide and death of a parent After only one season, Apple TV’s “Ted Lasso” quickly garnered a reputation for being wholesome, bright and heartwarming. All of these descriptions were accurate, but they felt incomplete. To call the first season of “Ted Lasso” wholesome and leave it at that is a disservice to the first ten episodes, which skillfully tackled heavier emotions surrounding divorce and learning to belong.

The second season, which finished on Oct. 8, turns its focus toward mental health and strained parental relationships without losing a lick of the humor that defined season one. Where season one presented unlikeable characters, only to pull back the layers to the lovability underneath, season two shows those characters working to be their best selves. Season two proves that “Ted Lasso” isn’t heartwarming because every episode sees the cast skipping through fields of daisies; it’s because each character pushes one another to greet darkness with a smile and a head held high.

“Ted Lasso” boasts an electric cast, as evidenced by the show’s near sweep of the comedic acting category at the 2021 Emmys. Jason Sudeikis, who plays the titular football coach, expands upon the already stunning acting chops he displayed during the first season. Throughout the season, he seamlessly switches between an affable dad-type and a man wracked

with fear and anxiety. He portrays Ted’s panic attacks with keen physical control, moments where wild flailing or overacting could come across as disingenuous. Season two also sees Brendan Hunt’s Coach Beard step into his own, serving as more than just a sounding board for Lasso’s nonstop volley of quips. Hunt not only maintains the understated bluntness central to Beard’s character, but explores how the coach’s dry wit might manifest itself during some of his more emotional moments with his girlfriend, Jane (Phoebe Walsh).

Of course, the resident scene stealer this season was Brett Goldstein, whose foul-mouthed Roy Kent brought some of the series’ most tender moments thus far. Whether he’s heatedly demanding that AFC Richmond owner Rebecca (Hannah Waddingham) find a partner that makes her feel like she’s “been struck by … lightning” or lambasting football pundits for evaluating players they aren’t able to speak with, Goldstein’s gruff performances were weekly tearjerkers.

“Ted Lasso” is also the most consistently eye-popping TV comedy since “30 Rock.” In one of the season’s earlier episodes, Roy and Ted take Richmond’s team captain, Isaac (Kola Bokinni), to play street football where Roy grew up. The ensuing sequence is pure eye candy, with the white stadium lights illuminating the black skies of South London and causing the vibrant colors of the players’ clothes to pop.

Players slide around the pitch engaging in goofy celebrations, as Ted and Roy watch from the dimly lit sidelines.

Bokinni actually provides anoth-

Courtesy of a PPLe tV

Kola Bokini as Isaac McAdoo (center a Bove) and Toheeb Jimoh as Sam Obisanya (center Below). er one of the season’s greatest visual offerings in what will surely come to be known as “the haircut scene.” The sequence, as you might have guessed, sees Isaac giving star-player Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) the haircut of a lifetime. Players gather around to watch the spectacle, as Isaac imbues the simple act of cutting hair with the flair of a chef, a surgeon and a bullfighter all rolled into one spellbinding package. With each flamboyant move Isaac makes, the players explode into cheers, while the spotlight on Sam gives the scene a mockingly dramatic feel, like the world’s silliest Renaissance painting. The deftly curated lighting, set design and choreography allow the cast’s energy to bleed off of the screen and overtake the viewer.

Of course, the second season of “Ted

Lasso” has a few lapses in brilliance.

For one, it’s hard to feel as though Sam Obisanya is anything less than perfect. Aside from his (well-deserved) anger at the return of Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), he seems to make the right decisions and say the right things at each and every turn. It doesn’t stop the viewer from rooting for him, but in a show about flawed people learning to conduct themselves with maturity, the character starts to read as inauthentic.

I also take issue with the ending of the episode “Beard After Hours.” After forty-five minutes of Coach Beard working to process his immense selfdoubt following a humiliating loss for Richmond and a split from Jane, the episode ends with Beard and Jane dancing and making up in a nightclub. Not only does this choice cause Beard’s journey to ring hollow, but it

overlooks Jane’s characterization as an emotionally abusive partner throughout the season. The episode’s end is played up to seem sweet and romantic: a misguided portrayal of how we as an audience should be perceiving Jane and her treatment of Beard. Of course, these are nitpicks, small blemishes on an otherwise masterful twelve episodes.

One of the show’s most emotional sequences thus far comes in the form of two overlapping monologues performed by Sudeikis and Waddingham.

As Ted discloses to his therapist the experience of being in the house when his father committed suicide, Rebecca recounts to her mother the time she found her father cheating. Their sentences begin to overlap, occupying a space between a tug-of-war and a dance, as each character pours their heart out. Moments later, Ted appears at a funeral for Rebecca’s father, joining Rebecca in a bittersweet rendition of Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up.” It’s moments like these that viewers are referring to when they call “Ted Lasso” hopeful or heartwarming. “Ted Lasso” does not ignore the darkness that at times seems to overtake our lives. Instead, it teaches us to greet darkness with honesty, compassion and a one-liner that will stick in your head for days (like a Kesha song, or one of those jingles for a local car dealership you used to hear on the radio).

— Contact Noah Gentry at noah.oliver.gentry@emory.edu

The Emory Wheel

Emory Life

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | Emory Life Editors: Lauren Blaustein (lblaust@emory.edu) & Kaitlin Mottley (kaitlin.michelle.mottley@emory.edu)

Emory student creates criminal justice reform club

By Oli Turner Contributing Writer In the 100-degree south Florida heat, Shivani Kumar (23C) visited a prison for the first time, witnessing the inhumane prison conditions that would spur her to found a club to fight for justice reform.

Outside the prison, she saw families waiting for hours in direct sunlight to visit their loved ones. Inside, she learned that deadly Legionnaires’ disease prevented inmates from drinking water or showering.

“It was absolutely horrid,” Kumar said. “I looked at these people, and I was like, ‘I can’t just walk away and then go back to my nice life at Emory.’”

4 Justice Emory, founded by Kumar in 2020, aims to work toward criminal justice reform by spreading awareness for the issue and collaborating with nonprofit organizations.

Shivani Kumar (23C),

Courtesy of Shivani Kumar

In the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, Kumar was inspired by poets, musicians and others who used their talents to fight racial injustices, and she wanted to contribute her leadership skills to the cause. So, in the early summer of 2020, Kumar created 4 Justice Emory starting with an Instagram account.

After forming the club’s executive board, Kumar contacted organizations

like CAN-DO Clemency — a “non-profit foundation that advocates clemency for all non-violent drug offenders” — and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) to facilitate collaboration with 4 Justice.

In the fall of 2020, Co-Vice President of 4 Justice Kheyal Roy-Meighoo (23C) was the leader for a collaborative project with CAN-DO Clemency that reorganized the nonprofit’s website.

Her group ensured the consistency of prisoner profiles, consolidated information and identified missing information on the website.

Simultaneously, a second collaborative project with CAN-DO Clemency gathered materials and information to write a proposal for a clemency file. Another checked for grammatical errors and consistency within existing clemency files, Roy-Meighoo said.

At a meeting with CAN-DO Clemency in late 2020, the club worked directly with three incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people to learn about mandatory minimums, which are sentences the court must give to a person convicted of a crime, regardless of the offender or the offense.

“There’s no nuance to understanding what people did and what their actions were,” Roy-Meighoo said. “I think that it was really impactful to hear that.”

The club’s collaborative projects vary in topic and skill level. Secretary Jessica Cruz (23C) said she joined 4 Justice during the early stages of its formation, with no prior knowledge or experience with justice reform.

“I remember [I became interested] during [the] time the Black Lives Matter movement was happening,” Cruz said “So I really thought it was a good time to bring more awareness towards justice reform.”

By the end of the fall semester, the

Courtesy of Oli Turner

Co-vice President Kheyal Roy-Meighoo (23C) explains 4 Justice Emory’s accomplishments at the club’s first GBM of the semester on Oct. 15. club was able to see some of the incarcerated individuals released, and three people who had recently been granted

“I really thought it was a good time to bring more awareness towards justice reform.”

— Jessica Cruz (23C)

clemency spoke to the club.

Within their first year of operation, the club also promoted a Compassionate Release Petition through Twitter and other forms of

social media to collect signatures in the spring of 2021. The club was able to collect over 2,000 signatures during the semester.

Roy-Meighoo said the club also held a panel in the spring, which included the current president of FAMM and several contributors affiliated with CAN-DO Clemency.

Following the panel, she and other executive board members received an outpouring of positive feedback.

“I had so many people message me after the event being like, ‘Thank you for this,’ ‘This was so impactful, and I did not know this,’” Roy-Meighoo said.

“So I think I would just encourage people to be open to learning about what the problems are, and then that’s how we can reach the solution.”

Roy-Meighoo believes that the fight for justice reform begins with awareness, and 4 Justice strives to call the Emory community’s attention to the issue.

“There [are] just so many issues with how we even view criminality and how we view the criminal justice system and how we view prisons that it really needs to start with that awareness,” Roy-Meighoo said.

Kumar also stresses the urgency of the issue and the importance of 4 Justice Emory, as well as its relevance to the social justice turmoil of the past year.

“It’s so much more than politics or legislation,” Kumar said. “It’s mothers being separated from their children; it’s little kids not knowing where their parents are; it’s people being subjected to solitary confinement. It’s scary, it’s traumatizing and it’s morally wrong.

It needs to be fixed, and it hasn’t been fixed yet. That means it’s time for us to step up.”

— Contact Oli Turner at oli.turner@emory.edu

Cailen Drinks Coffee | Ready-made cold brews to buy from the grocery store

CIllustration by A lison Barlow

By Cailen Chinn Chief of Digital Operations We’ve all seen bottled, pre-made cold brew at the grocery store. Some of us have probably tried it too, whether it be from Starbucks, Dunkin or a more indie brand with nice packaging and the “Non GMO” and “organic”

stamps of approval. With all of them priced within fifty cents of each other, they can’t be that different from each other, and it can be difficult to navigate which one is best. Lucky for you, I’ve done the research and taste testing of store-bought cold brew so you don’t have to.

I tried three different brands of

black cold brew that Kroger stocks — Starbucks Dark Roast, Califia Farms Light Roast and STOK Cold Brew Bold & Smooth, each of which were priced at $4.99 for 48 ounces. I chose brands that I see often or had tried before.

I’ve had Califia’s non-dairy milks, but found it interesting that they branch into coffee products as well.

Throughout my tastings, I followed the same formula for consistency: ice, about 12 ounces of coffee and a splash of oat milk. I spread out my tastetesting over three days and took notes after the first few sips of each.

Starbucks’ taste is so distinct that you could recognize it anywhere.

Think burnt, earthy and heavy mouthfeel (the sensation that you get from the weight and viscosity of coffee in your mouth) for their dark roast coffee blends, sometimes with a bitter taste.

The milk hardly diluted the coffee taste, which is great if you want to drink a strong coffee. But remember, a “strong” flavor doesn’t mean more caffeine, just a longer roast time that can usually also lead to bitter flavor. This cold brew was adequate, but lacked any complex tasting notes or interesting flavors.

Califia Farms is better known for their almond and oat milks than their coffee, but I could understand why the

brand would want a foot in the door with products that are so often consumed together. The blonde roast of Califia’s Black Cold Brew was sweeter and brighter than Starbucks’ blend and tasted a little more sophisticated.

The smooth bottle shape and simple, pretty packaging only added to the experience. My knowledge of the brand as a Los Angeles-based specialty beverage company set the bar high, but I was still impressed by the prominent fruity notes of the coffee.

Frankly, I was a big fan of this drink; I felt like I could make a cold brew equally as flavorful with my own beans at home.

I might be a little biased towards STOK Cold Brew as it’s from my home state of Colorado, but I think everyone will get the hype. This cold brew tasted as advertised: bold and smooth.

The flavors were more like Starbucks than Califia Farms — a darker roast with earthy and chocolatey notes, not as much mouthfeel and a cleaner flavor profile overall. Less gritty than Starbucks, not bright and citrusy like Califia, but simple, flavorful and smooth.

If you’re in a rush (aren’t we all?), this is a great option. Like my argument for the Keurig, it’s ridiculously quick and easy to make yourself a cup

of iced coffee.

Normally you would either have to buy it from a cafe for a higher price than you pay for the five or six servings you get in these bottles, wait twelve hours for your own cold brew to steep or dilute hot coffee with ice and milk.

In using store-bought cold brew, all you do is throw your ice, coffee and milk in the same cup and go.

I think if you enjoy the taste of these coffees, it might be worth taking the next step in your coffee habits and making your own cold brew rather than buying it from the store.

Ultimately, it ends up being cheaper per serving while making better coffee and supporting a coffee roaster rather than a large corporation like Starbucks. I’m a big believer in “shop small,” especially when it comes to coffee.

When buying beans from a cafe, ask the barista to grind them coarse for cold brew, if you don’t have your own grinder. Then just add the grounds and water to a carafe (a large water bottle works too) and let it brew overnight in your refrigerator. Filter the grounds out the next day, and you’ll have four to six servings of great coffee at hand.

— Contact Cailen Chinn at cailen.anne.chinn@emory.edu

13

EMORY LIFE

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

The Emory Wheel

Rating the top DCT The symbiotic relationship between foods of the month Emory students and major brands

By Isabella Lester and Chaya Tong Contributing Writers We all know that the Dobb’s Common Table (DCT) food can sometimes be hard to navigate. What’s good on the menu? How do you know when you’ll end up with cold congealed pasta sauce or resort to just eating bananas and soft serve for dinner? We picked our favorite DCT dishes from the past few weeks. The list includes old favorites like nachos and pizza, as well as some of the DCT’s newest additions like penne pasta mac and cheese and shawarma. Between DCT classics and new additions, there is surely an item for everyone to enjoy.

Barbacoa, 4 stars The beef barbacoa was definitely a pleasant surprise this month. The dish is typically served with tortillas and green salsa. The slow-cooked meat was soft and moist, and it had a variety of flavors. Getting to choose your own adventure with the toppings made the experience that much more enjoyable; the taco bar offered pico de gallo, sour cream, and multiple types of salsa.

Make sure to check out the pico de gallo.

This dish was nothing compared to past DCT taco options. It was more filling, and was very juicy with a lot of flavor. Even though this meal has only been offered once, it will likely return.

When it does, get in line fast.

If you see these hearty staples at the DCT, don’t miss out on your chance to grab them before they run out.

Nachos, 4 stars In recent weeks, the DCT has been going nacho crazy, serving every variation from vegan nachos to nachos in chip bags. Every option has proved themselves as solid lunch meals, offering a new food experience to the somewhat repetitive dining hall. With its buffet style serving at 605 Kitchen, you can customize your nachos with beans, beef and sour cream, even adding them to a frito bag, making for a great quick meal for those who tend to rush in and out of DCT. The vegan nachos, with cheese and beans, are also a tasty alternative offered at the Stem to Root station.

Pesto Pasta Salad, 3 stars The pesto pasta salad is a new addition to the salad bar and is becoming a quick favorite. The pesto is refreshing, and is a more tasteful alternative to the pasta served at Hearth and Stone. It can also be a satisfying side for entrees.

Try mixing this dish with other items at the salad bar, such as corn to add texture and color to your plate.

This dish, though, does have its flaws as sometimes the pesto tastes like it has too much mayonnaise in it.

Mac and Cheese, 3 stars The DCT has served a few different types of mac and cheese in the past month. So far, three have stood out: cheese sauce with penne pasta, cheese sauce with macaroni noodles and a buffalo chicken version. But, the penne pasta mac and cheese without a doubt takes the crown as the best option.

One day, the meal was so popular that it ran out in 15 minutes. The quick disappearance of the food, however, was unsurprising; the mac and cheese had a nice crust on top and was very creamy. The regular mac and cheese has been fairly good, but has varied widely in quality. In the past, the dish has tended to need more cream and cheese, but more cheese has been added recently which has tremendously improved its overall quality. While the buffalo chicken macaroni was an interesting spin on traditional mac and cheese, the sauce was somewhat sour.

Quesadillas, 3.5 stars The DCT has been serving quesadillas a lot lately but for good reason.

The meal will get prepped right in front of you and served fresh. While some can come out burnt, the quesadillas usually don’t miss if you arrive to the DCT at the right time.

The quesadilla “bar” only adds to the flavor, offering different types of salsa and condiments. Whether you’re looking for a quality grab-andgo option or attempting to make the perfect meal, the quesadillas have you covered.

Refried beans and rice, 4.5 stars If you’re in search of comfort food, the rice and beans are what to get.

Alongside alternating taco and quesadilla options, the rice and beans are a staple to any meal. While such simple foods, the rice and beans have plenty of flavor and are sometimes sufficient enough to become the main course.

Pepperoni pizza found at the “Hearth and Stone” station in the DCT. Pizza, 5 stars If there’s any DCT offering you can count on, it’s the pizza. Most visits to the Hearth and Stone station are promising, with a near endless supply of parmesan garlic bread sticks and fun additions like eggplant and fennel pizza. Yet, its sheer consistency makes the cheese and pepperoni pizza an alltime favorite. As DCT’s staple item, the pizza garners itself a five-star rating, with its gooey cheese and short lines sealing the deal.

Shawarma, 4 stars The DCT Shawarma is definitely a meal worth repeating. The marinated ground beef has plenty of flavor, and goes well with the warm pita bread.

The pita bread also comes in a whole wheat option and a regular option, and there are multiple sauces offered as well. Despite all this, the rice lacked flavor and tended to clump together, but added good texture when mixed with the meat and sauce. All in all, the Shawarma added some nice variety to the menu, and its extensive options for personalization make it a great choice for lunch or dinner.

— Contact Isabella Lester at isabella.lester@emory.edu and Chaya Tong at chaya.tong@ emory.edu

Left to right: Kaplan Student Brand Ambassador, Amal Umerani (23C); Coca-Cola Ambassador, Lucas San Miguel (25C) and Xfinity Campus Ambassador, Peter Cooke (23C).

By Kerry Zhu Contributing Writer What drink are you going to buy in the checkout aisle at Target? Where should you go to watch a show or movie? How are you going to study for the MCAT? Every day, we face many decisions.

That said, it’s easier to choose brands we are familiar with, whether we learn about them through online advertisements or a recommendation from a friend. Companies are well aware of this concept, and they spend billions of dollars each year to spread brand awareness.

To reach college age students, brands often implement campus ambassador programs to increase their presence at colleges across the nation.

Student ambassadors are employed by a company and tasked with sharing a brand’s image through social media and on-campus activities.

While the ambassadors promote the company’s brand and available products or services, they are also able to develop professional skills along the way.

Many students, like Lucas San Miguel (25C), represent such brands.

San Miguel is a Coca-Cola ambassador, and he first learned about the opportunity from a student ambassador and Coke Scholar at Arizona State University. Fascinated by what the work entailed and a fan of Coca-Cola, San Miguel applied for the position.

“Now, as an ambassador, I work on Coke-affiliated content creation and sponsoring Emory events,” San Miguel said.

On top of making social media posts featuring the Coke brand, San Miguel also helps Coca-Cola sponsor events at Emory. This involves communicating with the Emory administration and Coke brand to provide events with free products.

For example, San Miguel worked with Costa Coffee (a subsidiary of Coca-Cola) to bring a free food truck to an Emory soccer game. He also hosts “pallet drops,” where Coca-Cola sends him a large quantity of drinks to hand out around Emory. These are not linked to a particular event on campus.

“They sent me over 2,000 cans of Coke Zero. It is as logistically complicated as it sounds, and students cannot typically receive shipments at the loading docks,” San Miguel said.

“Fortunately, I have official Coke business cards to prove that I am an actual employee and authorized to receive freight shipments at the student center.”

Like San Miguel, Peter Cooke (23C) was introduced to being a campus ambassador for Xfinity by a peer.

Since he uses Xfinity so frequently,

Cooke was interested in the opportunity. Cooke’s deliverables for Xfinity are similar to San Miguel: He has to post about Xfinity on his social media and host events on campus every other week.

“Events include holding watch parties through Zoom or having tabling events and handing out free merch,” Cooke said. “It’s really fun showing everyone what an awesome service they can access for free.”

Through these activities, Cooke introduces students to the many perks that Xfinity offers, such as free oncampus TV streaming. One of the ways that Cooke can gauge how well he is expanding Xfinity’s presence on campus is by monitoring his social media engagement analytics.

“It’s really fun showing everyone what an awesome service they can access for free.”

— Peter Cooke (23C)

“I constantly work on brainstorming creative ways to get people to engage with my posts, such as sharing links or asking questions,” Cooke said.

“Tasks like holding events and eliciting interaction have helped me develop a really solid set of soft skills that are widely applicable.”

Xfinity is not the only company that offers free services to students. Amal Umerani (23C) works as a Kaplan student brand ambassador to spread awareness about the many free test

preparation resources available to students.

“I use tabling at Wonderful Wednesday and social media to introduce students to the free grad school exam study guides currently offered,” Umerani wrote to the Wheel in an email. “I also present at clubs, and at these presentations, I offer Kaplan discounts and discuss opportunities to win an Earned Scholarship, which is essentially access to a Kaplan Course.”

In addition to learning soft skills through promoting a brand, campus ambassadors are also able to meet many new people.

“I like that I am able to have a network outside of Emory,” Umerani said.

“Being an ambassador has allowed me to explore different avenues and gain access to resources that will help me in my future endeavors.”

Another benefit that all three echoed is the flexibility that being a campus ambassador offers. They each have to meet a quota of posts and events, but they have control over when they complete their deliverables within the set timeframe. When midterms came around, San Miguel was able to take the week off and focus on his studies.

“They understand that we are students first and that we have to prioritize school first and then being an ambassador,” Umerani said.

A campus ambassador is no doubt a very useful way for companies to spread their brand around a campus.

And for students, the work is fun, relaxed and presents many unique experiences.

“You’re getting paid to share a brand that you love,” Cooke said. “And it is a service that you already frequently use.”

— Contact Kerry Zhu at kerry.zhu@emory.edu

Illustration by CHRISTOPHER LABAZA

Atlanta looks to hold series lead on the road

Continued from Back Page scored right after to tie the game. The runs stalled in the sixth and seventh innings, with both teams struggling to get their bats on the ball.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, fans were starting to wonder if the game would lead to extra innings with the game tied at four. With two outs in the eighth inning, 2020 National League MVP and first baseman Freddie Freeman hit a home run to center field and gave Atlanta a 5-4 lead. Braves fans celebrated with their signature “Tomahawk Chop” and chant. Relief pitcher Will Smith came in to close the game for the Braves in the top of the ninth and struck out two Brewers hitters to secure Atlanta’s spot in the next round of the playoffs.

Jenna Daly/Contributing Writer

Even though Emory’s men’s and women’s tennis teams’ fall seasons will wrap up soon, they have not seemed to slow down in the slightest.

In the last few weeks, the teams have collectively claimed five Regional Champion titles as well as a National one. At the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) South Regional Championships in Sewanee, Tennessee, from Sept. 24-26, two doubles pairs on both the men’s and women’s teams claimed the Regional title and earned a spot at nationals.

Junior Alexa Goetz and her doubles partner sophomore Xuanjin Li went 5-0 as the top seed at regionals, winning the Regional Champion title together.

This past weekend at the ITA Cup in Rome, Georgia, the pair competed at the national level where they advanced to the quarterfinals and had a tough loss against Tufts. Their teammates, seniors Emma Cartledge and Jessica Fatemi, lost a tough three-set tiebreaker, 2-6, 6-3 (9-11) to Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.), but ended their tournament experience with a victory in their first consolation match.

Women’s tennis head coach Amy Bryant (96B) was pleased with Cartledge’s and Fatemi’s play in the match.

“They did a great job sticking to their game style, strengths and doubles techniques,” Bryant said.

The men’s team experienced similar success to the women’s team in the doubles draw. Seniors Andrew Esses and Sahil Raina also claimed the Regional Champion title in the ITA Regional Championships doubles draw. After playing in both tournaments, Esses was proud to bring home the championship in at least one.

“It’s a solid accomplishment and guaranteed All American honors, but it was way more special doing it with one of my best friends and roommate,” Esses said. “It’s an accomplishment we will share and look to build on.”

At the ITA Cup, the two had a victorious match against the University of Mary Washington (Va.), winning 6-3, 6-3 and securing a spot in the quarter finals.

After winning another match, Esses

14

SWOOP’S SCOOP Sport

Opponent

Time

Wednesday Oct. 20

M Soccer

@ Piedmont

7 p.m.

Friday Oct. 22

W Soccer Volleyball

Roanoke @ Randolph-Macon Inv.

4 p.m.

6 p.m.

@ Birmingham-Southern @ Randolph-Macon Inv. @ Randolph-Macon Inv.

11 a.m.

12:30 p.m.

5:30 p.m.

Jenna Daly/Contributing Writer

Atlanta now faces the defending World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, in the NLCS to fight for a spot in the World Series. The Braves have won the National League East Division for four consecutive years, but they have struggled to win and advance beyond the NLCS. Their last NL pennant was in 1999, creating a 21-year-old drought that is waiting to be broken. The Dodgers entered the series favored to win, given their extremely talented pitching staff and elite power in their lineup. However, the Braves are not listening to the oddsmakers and are looking to continue their unexpected playoff run.

The Dodgers snapped the Braves’ five-game win streak and now trail the Braves 2-1 in the NLCS. The first two games were tied until the ninth inning, where the Braves squeaked

Emory first year tennis player wins ITA Cup

By Pilar Rossi Contributing Writer

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

SPORTS

The Emory Wheel

and Raina lost in the semifinals to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Athenas (Calif.) by a score of 6-3, 6-2. The senior pair competed alongside their teammates junior Samuel Dean and fifth year Santiago Suarez, who lost a tough first round battle against Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.).

While the doubles teams had mixed success at the ITA Cup, freshman Eliza McPherron earned a spot in the singles draw at the ITA Cup after becoming the Regional Champion.

McPherron went undefeated in four tough matches, earning the National Champion title. She played her first match against an opponent from Carnegie Mellon, winning 7-6, 6-0, followed by two other victories against Washington and Lee University (Va.) and Pomona-Pitzer Sagehens (Calif.), winning 4-6, 6-1, 6-0, and 6-2, 3-6, 6-3, respectively. These victories gave McPherron a spot in the finals where she beat Middlebury College’s (Vt.) freshman Sahana Raman 3-6, 7-5, 6-2.

While Bryant is thrilled about the victory, she is not surprised with McPherron’s success in the tournament and throughout the fall season.

“Eliza has added a great spark to the team,” Bryant said. “She is very coachable, always willing and open to learning as much as possible. She has a great foundation for the game.”

As their spring season approaches in February, Bryant and the Eagles are looking forward to the team’s season and have a positive outlook for the season.

“We are going to work together and have a great time doing it,” Bryant said. “This is a great team; we are a big family.”

McPherron also noted that having her teammates and coaches surrounding her on the court definitely had a huge impact on her success.

“It is very different from juniors where it is all individual as you show up with your parents rather than a team,” McPherron said. “Having a team makes all the difference.”

The Eagles have their next matches Oct. 29-31 at the Wofford Tournament at Wofford College (S.C.).

— Contact Pilar Rossi at p.rossi@emory.edu

out a run to win each. In Game 1, Riley hit a walk-off single to win 3-2 and in Game 2, Rosario hit a walkoff single to Dodgers second baseman Corey Seager, who was unable to field the ball. This left the window open for shortstop Dansby Swanson to score the Braves’ fifth run.

In Game 3, the Braves led 5-2 but surrendered their lead to Dodgers outfielder Cody Bellinger’s three-run home run in the eighth inning to tie the game at five. The Dodgers then scored another run in the eighth to secure a 6-5 win and avoid a 3-0 series hole. The next two NLCS games will also be in Los Angeles where the Braves will be without their home-field advantage.

— Contact Jenna Daly at jenna.daly@emory.edu

Saturday Swimming & Diving Volleyball Oct. 23 Volleyball

Monday Oct. 25

M Golf

@ Chick-Fil-A Inv.

All Day

Tuesday Oct. 26

M Golf

@ Chick-Fil-A Inv.

All Day

*Home Games in Bold

Chicago Sky win first WNBA title

By Gabriella Lewis Digital Operations Editor The WNBA’s Chicago Sky took home their first title on Sunday in an 80-74 win against the Phoenix Mercury, bringing the league’s 25th season to a close.

After Chicago took the first game (91-77), Phoenix countered with beautiful play in Game 2 (91-86). Then, in a sold-out Wintrust Stadium, Chicago delivered with a record-breaking 86-50 Game 3 win, making it the largest point differential in WNBA Finals history. Although a valiant Mercury effort, the Sky persisted as the best team despite their underdog status.

The nail-biting Game 4 of the Finals was only fitting after this postseason’s excitement: full of close games, upsets and overtime madness. In the potentially title-determining match, the first half was complete with seven lead changes until Phoenix began to take over at the end of the second quarter. Mercury center Brittney Griner, a dominant force all season, led Phoenix on a powerful run. If Griner and the rest of the Mercury could secure a victory, the series would head to a Game 5 in front of Phoenix’s notoriously rowdy and supportive crowd.

Announcer Ryan Ruocco said it best during the run: “Brittney Griner is possessed right now.”

Backcourt guards Skylar DigginsSmith and fan-voted GOAT Diana Taurasi dropped 16 points each, and with Griner comprise Phoenix’s “Big Three.” The guards brought tenacity, energy and critical three-point swishes, and Griner remained unguardable, finishing with 28 points. But, even with Taurasi’s famous clutchness, Chicago was too great a challenge for Phoenix.

The Mercury were up 44-37 at the start of the third quarter, with the lead moving to 14 points by the middle of the third. The Mercury appeared ready to run away with it. However, the Sky had other plans.

Chicago guard Allie Quigley, the reigning Three-point Contest champion, had an unbreakable shot through the second half. Quigley finished with 15 points in the second half, contributing to her 26 points overall for the game. Veteran forward Candace Parker also answered Chicago’s prayers with her quick, physical and smart play.

Her disdain for a potential Game 5 was palpable, and she was a vital force in reversing the Mercury’s momentum.

She ended the game with 16 points and 13 rebounds, solidifying her position as one of the best leaders and players the league has ever seen.

Parker took off on a 7-0 third quarter run in just over a minute and a half. Starting the fourth, Phoenix was up just 61-54, and slowly but surely, they began to fall apart. In the last quarter, the Mercury missed six layups and continued their night of poor turnovers.

The Sky tied the game with two minutes left in the fourth and sealed the deal with an 8-2 run that Phoenix continuously failed to counter. Second string Sky center Stefanie Dolson also played a key role in their win with six points, two crucial defensive rebounds and an assist in just the fourth quarter.

The Mercury, who have seen three championship titles under Taurasi’s reign before, were nonetheless demoralized by the Finals loss.

“We’ve just been so good at the end of games that we just thought we’re gonna pull it out because that’s just what we do,” Taurasi said to media.

The teams competing in the Finals combined for the lowest regular season win percentage ever. The fifthseeded Mercury and sixth-seeded Chicago only clocked in for an average .547 regular-season win percentage.

The WNBA does not seed by conference and favors higher-seeds, so the chances of a fifth seed meeting a sixth seed are slim. This year’s Finals mark the first time such an event has ever occurred. Both teams competed in three elimination rounds to reach the Finals, the most possible in the WNBA playoffs.

“Nobody thought it would be Chicago and the Mercury,” Griner said in her end-of-season exit interview.

“We proved everybody wrong.”

Part of the key to success was fighting off fatigue — an especially difficult task for Phoenix, who lost starting guard Kia Nurse in Game 5 of the semifinals and were without reserve guard Sophie Cunningham in Game 1 due to a calf strain.

And although the Mercury arguably has the best “Big Three” in the league, equipped with two first-ballot Hall of Famers and two 2021 First-Team members, the Sky’s depth proved more powerful.

The two standouts of the playoffs and series were All-WNBA Second-Team point guard Courtney Vandersloot and guard Kahleah Copper. Copper, dubbed “KFC,” short

Gabriella Lewis/Digital Operations Editor Phoenix Mercury face Seattle Storm in July 2021.

for Kahleah “Freaking” Copper, was awarded a well-deserved Finals MVP. But the playoff drama continued past the final game. Mercury players declined to attend the postgame media session and didn’t give any public comment until the following day.

The Mercury were fined $10,000 on Tuesday. The events also sparked a Twitter debate over whether the decision appropriately prioritized mental health or disrespected hard-working media.

Reports also revealed Taurasi broke the locker room door in a postgame moment of frustration. It’s an especially crushing loss for Taurasi, who hasn’t lost a championship since high school. Game 4 was also only her third elimination-game loss of her 17 yearWNBA career.

A successful playoff run didn’t come easy to either team, though. Chicago came into the playoffs with a .500 record and only won one Parker-less game for the nine games she was out with an ankle injury.

But the Sky is no stranger to struggle. The last time they were in the Finals was in 2014 when the Mercury beat them in a three-game sweep and consecutive seasons in crushing playoffs losses. Vandersloot and Quigley, who are married, have been on the team for 10 and eight years, respectively, without championship rings.

Fortunately for Chicago, their championship drought ended when Parker summoned the rains.

The league’s biggest offseason move was Parker’s decision to end her 11 year tenure in Los Angeles to make her Chicagoland homecoming. The team was many analysts’ preseason favorite but completely floundered throughout the year, making this win extra sweet.

It was a series to remember and reminded the world just how fun the WNBA is. The league will be back next year in May; but until then, many players are competing in EuroLeague or Athletes Unlimited competition, and college ball starts very soon.

— Contact Gabriella Lewis at gvlewis@emory.edu

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Cannupa Hanska Luger (Mandan, Hidatsa, Arikara, Lakota, European) and Marie Watt (Seneca and German-Scots), Each/Other, 2020–2021. Steel, wool, bandanas, ceramic, leather, and embroidery thread. © Cannupa Hanska Luger and Marie Watt.

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Shakyamuni Buddha, Tibet. Ca. 13th–14th Century. Gilded bronze, pigment.

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Sports

Wednesday, October 20, 2021 | Sports Editor: Michael Mariam (mmariam@emory.edu)

EMORY SOCCER SENIOR DAY

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Reflecting on sexual assault in sports

By Grace Reyer Staff Writer

Lin Yu/Staff Photographer

Emory soccer seniors were celebrated during their games on Oct. 17 against Carnegie Mellon University (Pa.). Senior forward Molly Miller (top) dribbles while senior defender Josh Berman (bottom) kicks the ball out of the backfield.

Braves lead NLCS 2-1

By Jenna Daly Contributing Writer The Atlanta Braves beat the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Division Series (NLDS) from Oct. 8 to 12 to clinch a spot in the National League Championship Series (NLCS), which started on Oct. 16.

Their performance in the shortened 2020 season, particularly in the postseason where they fell one game short of making the World Series, marked the Braves as the strongest team in the NL East.

The Braves entered the 2021 season favored to win the NL East with an impressive lineup consisting of new players and MLB veterans alike.

However, the Braves had a rough first half of the regular season, suffering blows to their lineup with injuries.

Pitcher Mike Soroka blew his Achilles tendon, outfielder Marcell Ozuna dislocated two fingers during an early game in addition to a domestic violence case and catcher Travis d’Arnaud injured his thumb when preventing the Toronto Blue Jays from scoring a run. If those injuries weren’t enough, the Braves lost outfielder Ronald Acuña Jr. to an ACL tear, the team’s best player and one of the league’s best stars.

The Braves approached the trade deadline with a 51-52 record, but the acquisition of outfielder Joc Pederson and catcher Stephen Vogt seemingly turned the season around. In the second half of the season, the Braves bullpen delivered what their talent had originally promised, and the Braves’ hitting improved tremendously.

Thus, when the division series rolled around, the Braves came ready

to play. Milwaukee won the first game of the division series at home and was favored to advance to the NLCS. But the Braves persevered and won three games in a row to seal the deal. The final two games of the series were played at Truist Park in Atlanta, where Braves fans came out in full force to back their team.

Atlanta clinched their berth in the NLDS during game four of a five-game series. Despite a slow beginning, the first inning looked hopeful for the Braves, but they were unable to bring second baseman Kolten Wong on third base to home plate. Both the Brewers and the Braves struggled to get players on base, leading to a 0-0 game going into the fourth inning.

During the top of the fourth, Brewers catcher Omar Narvaez and center fielder Lorenzo Cain hit two singles that brought right fielder Avisail Garcia and third baseman Luis Urias home. With two outs, the Brewers had the bases loaded and were in a good position to score, but Braves starting pitcher Charlie Morton ended the inning by striking out shortstop Willy Adames. The Braves deleted their deficit by scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth off left fielder Eddie Rosario’s single that brought catcher Travis d’Arnaud and third baseman Austin Riley home.

The Brewers, though, only pushed back in the fifth inning. First baseman Rowdy Tellez hit a two-run home run to give Milwaukee a 4-2 lead.

The Braves, however, continued to be resilient and responded. Second baseman Ozzie Albies scored off outfielder Joc Pederson’s single, and Riley

See ATLANTA, Page 14

The world of youth club sports, specifically soccer, is a crazy one. Young children train almost every day as if they are professional athletes. Parents push their kids to extremes and coaches attempt to get their players to reach their full potential, no matter what it takes.

I have played club soccer and been a part of this world since I was 8 years old. For the past 12 years of my life, I have dedicated everything to playing soccer at the highest level I could. The commitment was year-round; but, I loved soccer so much that this commitment didn’t seem to be much of a sacrifice.

2012 was a transition year in my life. I moved from Maryland to New York and had to start my life over at only 10 years old. The main question on my mind was, “Where am I going to play soccer?” By 2014, I joined a soccer club in New York called Albertson Fury Soccer Club. I was excited join this particular club because the director of coaching was Paul Riley, a prominent figure in the women’s soccer world.

Riley was also a top National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) coach for the Portland Thorns (20132015) and the North Carolina Courage (2016-2021). The NWSL is a professional league for women’s soccer and is considered the highest level of competition in the United States, and arguably in the world. Riley’s team was also considered one of the best women’s soccer clubs at the time.

A dream of mine was to play professional women’s soccer, and Riley could be a stepping stone to my aspirations. I admired him greatly and got excited whenever he walked around our practice field observing us playing.

Whenever Riley was watching us play, I felt as if I had an opportunity to show my skills. My teammates and I also admired Riley for getting us tickets to watch his Portland Thorns NWSL team play and for the opportunity to meet some of the professional players.

Riley was a role model to us, young girls.

Last week, I was shocked by the news that the NWSL was mired in allegations of sexual misconduct, inappropriate and homophobic comments and questionable behavior. I was even more shocked to see the name of the main culprit in the headlines, my exclub Director of Coaching Paul Riley.

The same man that had inspired me was accused by multiple women of being a sexual predator.

In a recently released report from The Athletic, former NWSL player Sinead Farrelly described how a married Riley coerced her into his hotel room to have sex. Another reported situation explains Riley coercing Farrelly and teammate Meleana Shim back to his apartment and pressuring the two to kiss each other.

Riley was fired by the Thorns in 2015 after Shim had first reported allegations against him, but only a few months later, he was hired by the North Carolina Courage until he was let go as the recent news came out.

Riley should have never been allowed back on the field coaching after the first incident report in 2015, but his actions went without consequences for over half a decade.

One of my ex-teammates from the

Wikimedia Commons/kkimphotography

Sinead Farrell, a former NWSL soccer midfielder, recently accused Riley of sexually coercing her.

Albertson Fury Soccer Club Isabelle Sullivan, a current member of the Skidmore College (N.Y.) Division III soccer team, was caught off guard when she heard the news about Riley.

“I was just shocked and pretty disturbed because of the fact that I was so young when I used to play for his club, and it’s crazy thinking that someone I knew and someone that I looked up to so much could do something like that,” Sullivan said.

Not only was the news surprising and unsettling, but it made my former teammates and I realize that sexual abuse in the women’s sports world is more common than most people are aware of. What happened to some NWSL players could have easily happened to me.

When I was younger, society taught me to always please my coaches, and this meant doing what I was told, working my hardest and not complain-

“It’s crazy thinking that someone I knew and someone that I looked up to so much could do something like that.”

— Isabelle Sullivan, Former player of Riley

ing. Society taught me to trust my coaches, and so I did. I looked up to them as mentors, and whenever I was complemented by them, I felt flattered.

But, along with this trust comes vulnerability. Sexual abuse can happen to the best, brightest and most ambitious people because they are the ones who would go through anything to make their dreams come true.

Certain coaches abuse their power and status to exploit the vulnerable.

“It could happen to anyone,” I keep repeating in my head.

When learning about the sexual abuse in the NWSL, Victoria Ganeles, an ex-club teammate of mine and current Massachusetts Institute of Technology Division III soccer player, wasn’t as surprised by the news as one might expect.

“I am sadly not surprised about the sexual abuse news in the NWSL,” Ganeles said. “It seems that whenever men are put in positions of power over women, they abuse that power.

It is terrible to know that women and girls are so frequently put in situations where they feel trapped because they are put in disgusting situations with no easy way out. Power dynamics are so easily abused.”

Ganeles and I were on the same club team in high school when an ex-club coach of ours showed up to a practice intoxicated and acted extremely inappropriate with us.

My team felt very uncomfortable, so I went to the field next to us to get a female coach that could help us with the situation. Our coach was fired after that incident, but it was a scarring experience that I, and my teammates, will never forget.

“The situation made me feel extremely uncomfortable,” Ganeless said. “It was scary to have someone in a position of authority showing up in that state.”

Another ex-teammate of mine, who wished to be kept anonymous, told me about an incident when her club soccer coach invited her to his hotel room with his girlfriend at a soccer tournament. A different ex-teammate of mine told me about a time when her coach was fired for inappropriately touching one of her teammates while traveling on a plane to a soccer showcase.

Unfortunately, the women’s sports world is surrounded by sexual abuse.

The NWSL story is one of many situations of sexual abuse in sports. The U.S. Gymnastics team doctor Larry Nassar sexually assaulted hundreds of girls. Women are not the only victims.

Young children are at high risk for abuse as the world has seen in instances of sexual assault in the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church.

Something has to change. Society has to take responsibility. Society tells us to please our superiors and do what we are told. There has been a failure in the adult world of pushing children to blindly follow their superiors. Young women then often feel like people won’t believe them or that there is too large of a toll in coming forward.

Children, who feel compelled to follow directions, can often feel uncomfortable speaking up, or they are unaware of what is right and wrong with regard to how adults treat them.

I do not ever want to feel uncomfortable by a coach of mine in the way that my teammates have felt in the past, or the way that I felt with my intoxicated club coach, or the way I could have felt under the leadership of Riley.

The victims of sexual abuse, like those in the NWSL, U.S. Gymnastics and many others, deserve more.

Society needs to change and stricter consequences must be put in place for the perpetrators.

— Contact Grace Reyer at grace.reyer@emory.edu