Postdoctoral community speaks on grant cuts
By JacoB Muscolino and Tori Mooney News Editor & Staff Writer
Amid recent federal cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) did not renew Emory University’s Fellowships in Research and Science Teaching (FIRST) program, according to Senior Program Coordinator of FIRST Angela Shennette. The FIRST program unites Atlanta universities in a shared initiative to help postdoctoral researchers develop both research and teaching skills to prepare them for careers in academia. A study from 2017 found that of the 177 FIRST Fellows who had been in the program, about 50% are African American. Shennette called FIRST’s promotion of diversity “promising” for the academic world.
By aarush KuMar Staff Writer
U.S. President Donald Trump’s executive actions targeting pro-Palestine individuals have caused dissent nationally, including at Emory University. Emory School of Law’s National Lawyers Guild (NLG) hosted a “Palestinian Human Rights and the Limits on Freedom of Expression” event featuring immigration attorneys, human rights attorneys and former Emory School of Medicine student Umaymah Mohammad, who Emory suspended for violating “professional conduct” after saying a professor who volunteered in the Israeli Defense Forces “participated in aiding and abetting a genocide.”
The panel focused on the work of the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Georgia), which protects the civil rights of Muslims through legal action and advocacy, according to CAIR-Georgia Legal Director and panelist Javeria Jamil. During the
The NIH’s decision to not renew FIRST comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has attempted to eliminate publicly funded programs related to DEI, values which FIRST has emphasized in the past.
The program’s five-year contract will end on Aug. 31, according to Shennette. For fellows whose research funding comes exclusively from the FIRST program, Shennette said that day will likely be their last being employed by the initiative.
In response to a question about the program’s closure, Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond referred The Emory Wheel to a page regarding the University’s response to federal directives.
On April 2, National Institute of General Medical Sciences Division of Training and Workforce Development Director Kenneth Gibbs Jr. emailed FIRST Director of
event, the panelists also spoke about their concerns for the safety of protesters after recent Trump administration policies.
Mohammad emphasized the importance of her support system after her suspension from Emory’s medical school.
“When I was suspended in December of last year, … I was introduced to a global network of healthcare workers throughout the world who have also been repressed, who have also been suspended, some fired, some harassed for they’re antigenocide organizing, but who are also fighting alongside me for a liberated world,” Mohammad said.
Mohammad responded to a question about safety for student protestors and said that students should be ready to create “safety plans,” especially amid rising Islamaphobia.
“The way that I see it is that we are already unsafe, like our everyday lives, we are not safe,” Mohammad said. “Even before, growing up as a Muslim, we have already been afraid
Professional Development Lou Ann Brown announcing the program’s termination.
FIRST Postdoctoral Fellow Jasmine Hope (15C, 22G) emphasized the impact ending the FIRST program will have on the availability and quality of scientific research.
“There’s definitely going to be less people who are doing this very important innovative research,” Hope said. “And then for the people who are going to still be able to do it, there’s going to be less training.”
During the program’s history, FIRST has provided postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to conduct scientific research at Emory and other Atlanta institutions through the Atlanta University Center Consortium, like Clark Atlanta University (Ga.), Morehouse College (Ga.), Morehouse School of Medicine (Ga.) and Spelman College (Ga.).
Faculty Council passes resolution to support international students, academic freedom
By ellie Fivas and JacoB Muscolino Editor-in-Chief & News Editor
On the afternoon of April 15, the Faculty Council unanimously approved a resolution defending academic freedom, Emory’s Open Expression Policy and its “principles for all members of our community.”
This resolution comes amid national freezes for university federal funding.
The Trump administration has threatened to cut funding for public and private universities across the United States. Trump has presented colleges such as Harvard University (Mass.) and Columbia University (N.Y.) with lists of demanded changes to admissions policies, Middle East studies programs, disciplinary measures for students and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices to avoid cuts.
Some universities, like Columbia, have conceded to the changes and are implementing new policies, such as banning face coverings at protests. However, Harvard University (Mass.) recently rejected Trump’s demands, resulting in the Trump administration freezing billions of dollars in federal funding for the school, on April 14.
The Faculty Council titled the resolution “The Lines We Must Not Cross,” which Emory University Senate President-Elect Noëlle McAfee said was inspired by an op-ed by Professor of Classics Clifford Ando at the University of Chicago’s (Ill.), where he said the institution must stay true to its values, in the face of possible opposition from the federal government.
McAfee emphasized that the inspiration for proposing and passing the resolution was standing up for academic freedom.
of [the Department of Homeland Security] and the FBI and people coming for our family members for illegitimate reasons.”
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) recently forcibly restrained and arrested a Tufts University (Mass.) doctoral student, Rumeysa Ozturk, who was involved in pro-Palestinian activism. The Trump administration has also canceled about 530 visas of students, faculty and researchers across 88 higher institutions.
Jamil urged students to learn about their rights, especially when dealing with ICE. She emphasized the need for pro-Palestine students to keep themselves safe in the current political climate.
“Folks generally need to brush up on their rights when they interacting with law enforcement,” Jamil said. “Whether that’s in a private space or a public space, what that means for them, what they can and cannot do if something does happen, they need to make sure that they have emergency
contacts in place who can call for legal help for them and can be their support system if they are abducted or jailed.”
Jamil said she would like the Emory administration to publicly condemn the Trump administration’s recent actions.
“The Trump administration is coming after any children of color right now, and it is really important for the university to exercise its … power and come out and help you condemn the Trump administration,” Jamil said.
After the event, Emory NLG President-Elect Mary Thomas (27L) encouraged her fellow students to be aware of the reality of protesting in 2025. Similar to how Harvard University (Mass.) reacted to the Trump administration’s policies, Thomas advocated for Emory to push back and protect its students.
“Students should feel safe and protected by their schools,” Thomas said.
“We saw just today, with Harvard not bowing down to the demands of the
“The Faculty Council really do represent and stand for the academic mission of the University, and core to that is academic freedom,” McAfee said. “The freedom to teach what we think is important, how we think is important.”
Associate Professor of Law and Faculty Council Elected Representative of the Law School Alexander Volokh applauded universities like Harvard that have attempted to resist federal demands and have chosen to stay true to their values.
“It’s good when universities put up a unified front because a lot of universities might be concerned that if they’re seen as resisting, they might be targeted more, but if every university acts together, then it’s harder to do that targeting,” Volokh said.
Volokh and McAfee both added that University President Gregory Fenves was present at the meeting.
When asked about Fenves’ views on the resolution, Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond wrote in an email to the Wheel that the University is committed to “shared governance” with the Faculty Council and supports its emphasis on academic freedom.
“Academic freedom is a foundational principal upon which our teaching, learning, research and scholarship thrive. Emory will not shy away from defending it,” Diamond wrote.
Volokh said the attitude of the meeting was generally positive, with little opposition to the resolution.
The resolution claimed that demands from the federal government, such as erasing diversity, equity and inclusion programs from higher education institutions, encroach not only on the Emory community’s academic freedom and open expression
See MCAFEE, Page 4
Trump administration, really seeing schools stand up on behalf of their students, because at the end of the day, that’s what makes a school a school, is the students.”
— Contact Aarush Kumar at aarush.kumar@emory.edu
Ginna nebriG/Staff illuStrator
Jack rutherford/ManaGinG editor Council on America-Islamic Relations hosts a press conference last year.
Written by Jacob Muscolino and Meiya Weeks
April 25 to today: Emory shaken by year of division
April 25 timeline
Content Warning: This article contains references to antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism.
7:45 a.m.
Approximately 45 to 50 protesters assembled on the Emory University Quadrangle, setting up an encampment including tables, chairs, tents and fake blood-covered bodies wrapped in blankets.
9:00 a.m.
Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Georgia State Patrol (GSP) arrived to assist the Emory Police Department (EPD) around 9 a.m.
9:17 a.m.
Deputy Chief of the EPD Timothy Powers verbally gave protesters 10 minutes to disperse. Protesters began to bang on plastic buckets and chanted, “Cops off the lawn.”
10:30 a.m.
APD and GSP officers began to surround the encampment and arrest some protesters. Law enforcement arrested 28 demonstrators, 20 of whom were Emory community members, including Philosophy Department Chair Noëlle McAfee. A GSP officer tased a protester four times after they resisted arrest. Officers also deployed PepperBall, a crowd control projectile that dispersed the crowd using irritating pepper powder.
5:30 p.m.
Approximately 500 protesters regathered on the Quad after most of the police presence left. Throughout the day, protesters gathered around campus in small groups.
6:00 p.m.
Roughly 300 protesters moved from the Quad to the Candler School of Theology, where more protesters sat inside. Additional GSP officers and the GSP Crime Suppression Unit (CSU) arrived at the protest.
7:00 p.m.
Pro-Israel demonstrators organized outside of Ali’s Cookies in Emory Village that evening in support of the Jewish business owners who had allegedly received a postcard saying “Gas the Jews.”
7:30 p.m.
A confrontation between protesters and officers took place in front of the Candler front doors as protesters attempted to pin officers with homemade wood signs against the doors. Additionally, protesters threw water bottles at the police after the police refused protesters access to the building. CSU officers deployed 15 to 20 rounds of PepperBall five feet in front of the protesters. According to police reports obtained by The Emory Wheel, EPD had requested protesters be denied access to campus buildings to prevent destruction.
8:32 p.m.
After the confrontation in front of Candler, protesters returned to the Quad, where approximately 50 officers stood on the far side of the Quad. Protesters began linking arms to form a circle and set up a smaller encampment with sleeping bags and tents on the Quad.
8:56 p.m.
Following April 25, Emory’s encampment and protests made nationwide news. In addition to Emory, protests erupted at other universities such as Columbia University (N.Y.), New York University and the University of Southern California on April 25, 2024. At Emory, various protesters spoke out against the University’s response to the previous day’s demonstration, which resulted in 28 arrests.
The DeKalb County Magistrate Court released protesters arrested on April 25, 2024, in the afternoon of April 26, 2024.
Protests continued into the following day, April 27, 2024, with proPalestine protesters who strung up signs and linked arms in solidarity on the structure for the upcoming commencement stage.
On the same day, the Student Government Association (SGA) con-
demned the arrests at the protest and the University’s response. In addition, the SGA introduced a referendum for students to vote on their confidence in University President Gregory Fenves.
By the last day of classes on April 29, 2024, many professors had altered their plans for final exams or canceled them altogether. At noon, pro-Palestine students and faculty organized a walkout from classes. Student protesters yelled, “Fire Fenves” during a protest around Asbury Circle. The Emory College of Arts and Sciences College (ECAS) Senate voted to send out an electronic ballot to ECAS faculty on their confidence in Fenves.
On April 30, 2024, CAIR-Georgia and the Atlanta Multifaith Coalition for Palestine held a press conference in front of the Peavine Visitor Parking Lot. The organizations denounced the University’s response to the protests on April 25, 2024, and continued demands for disclosure and divestment from endowments from Israel. In addition, the Oxford College Student Government Association passed a resolution calling for Fenves to be removed from his position.
On May 1, 2024, the seventh day of protests, Chabad at Emory Rabbi Zalman Lipskier led Jewish and proIsrael students in prayer in resistance to the ongoing protests. Later that
day, both pro-Israel and pro-Palestine demonstrators continued to advocate for their causes across from each other on the Quad.
The ECAS faculty voted 75.05% for “no confidence” in Fenves on May 3, 2024, after over 90% of Oxford College faculty members voted “no confidence” in the University president.
By May 6, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) opened an investigation into anti-Palestinian harassment at Emory after CAIR-Georgia and Palestine Legal filed a complaint on behalf of Emory Students for Justice in Palestine (ESJP) on April 5, 2024.
On May 8, 2024, 73.5% of undergraduate students voted that they had “no confidence” in Fenves. In total, 3,401 students cast ballots in the referendum.
On May 6, the University relocated commencement to the Gas South District in Duluth, Ga., and canceled its annual Class Day Crossover following the protests on campus due to safety concerns.
Student protests continued at the 2024 Commencement Ceremony on May 13, 2024. Pro-Palestine students displayed their resistance by yelling “Free Palestine” from their seats and holding keffiyehs and Palestinian flags.
the
Madi olivier/forMer editor-in-chief
Naeman Mahmood (22Ox, 24C) unfurls a large Palestinian flag before holding it up on stage at 2024 commencement.
Spencer friedland/editor-in-chief
A banner calling for Hamas to release Israeli hostages spans across Asbury Circle.
Jack rutherford/ManaGinG editor
Police officers restrain an Emory University community member on April 25 2024.
After
protest leaders told the crowd to leave, the protesters cleaned up the encampment and left the Quad.
Reflecting on a year of protest, tension on Emory's campus
Before classes began in the fall 2024 semester, University President Gregory Fenves added an addendum to the former Respect for Open Expression Policy. This policy prohibited encampments, building occupations and protests between midnight and 7 a.m. — all activities that occurred during the protests following April 25, 2024. Fenves said that the addendum clarified practices previously upheld by Emory toward open expression on campus.
According to University Senate President and Professor of Law George Shepherd and Committee for Open Expression Chair Ilya Nemenman, Fenves allegedly took action without consulting the University Senate.
The same week, most students returned to campus, chalkings saying “Emory arrests profs” and “Emory teargasses students” appeared on Eagle Row and in front of the Emory Student Center on Aug. 24, 2024. These chalkings came after CAIR labeled the University an institution of “particular concern” for creating a “hostile campus environment” for pro-Palestine students. In a press release, the CAIR said the complaint was filed on behalf of ESJP by CAIRGeorgia and Palestine Legal.
Students returned to campus amid ongoing discourse over revising the Respect for Open Expression Policy.
SGA passed a resolution condemning Fenves’s addendum on Sept. 9, 2024. Additionally, SGA requested the University withdraw the addendum to allow input from the University Senate, which includes student representatives. However, SGA tabled a second resolution, which stated the addendum infringed upon students’ right to “peacefully” assemble, on Sept. 23, 2024. SGA tabled the resolution due to concerns that passing it would curtail the relationship between SGA and Fenves, making future communication and negotiation difficult.
In the first major protest since the Spring 2024 semester, about 200 pro-Palestine protesters gathered in front of Convocation Hall on Sept. 12, 2024, to protest the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. While the protest was largely peaceful, SGA passed a resolution condemning an Instagram story post they considered antisemitic. The Instagram story consisted of a picture of pro-Israel students and the caption “Started smelling like pennies on the quad…”
On Sept. 18, 2024, more than 60 Emory faculty members participated in a vigil to protest for academic freedom and shared governance in response to the new addendum.
Ultimately, the University Senate created a new subcommittee to revise the Respect for Open Expression Policy, on Sept. 25, 2024. ECAS College Senate President-Elect Clifton Crais and University Senate President-Elect Noëlle McAfee said the goal of the new policy would be to make Emory’s practices more accessible by using content-neutral language.
The Emory Divest Coalition and Emory Students for Socialism hosted a protest on Oct. 4, 2024, in solidarity with the pro-Palestine movement. Students marched from the Emory Student Center to the Oxford Road Building. After marching to the Oxford Road Building, protesters marched through the building.
The University feared for the potential events that would ensue on the anniversary of the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, that marked the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war. Emory Hillel, Emory-Israel Public Affairs Committee and Eagles for Israel hosted a vigil to honor the lives of those lost in the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel. The following day, ESJP, Emory Muslim Students Association, Emory Arab Cultural Association and Emory Divest hosted a memorial to commemorate lives lost in Gaza and Lebanon.
After the U.S. Department of
Education’s OCR opened an investigation into anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim harassment in March 2024, the University reached an agreement to settle the case on Jan. 23. Emory affirmed it would meet specific measures, including revising nondiscrimination policies, adjusting campus protesting policies and improving anti-discrimination training among faculty.
On Feb 5, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to deport “pro-Hamas” students to fight antisemitism. Additionally, a recent memorandum from the Department of Homeland Security claims it will screen the social media accounts of “aliens” for antisemitic posts.
On March 20, after five months of work by the University Senate’s open expression subcommittee, Emory adopted a new Open Expression Policy. In the new policy, Emory agreed to a content-neutral approach to handling expression. Additionally, the new policy clarified time, place and manner restrictions, which Shepherd said would align with the First Amendment.
The Trump administration has revoked hundreds of visas for students, among them many who engaged in pro-Palestine protest efforts.
By April, the Trump Administration had canceled around 530 visas. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported Mahmoud Khalil, a Columbia University graduate and legal permanent resident, which has drawn attention following his participation in various recent pro-Palestine demonstrations.
On April 8, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Lanny Liebeskind announced that U.S. ICE had terminated the visa records of three Emory alumni and one current student on the Student and Exchange Visitor Information Program database.
kevin an/contributinG photoGrapher
Over 60 Emory faculty members gather on the Emory University Quadrangle for a vigil in defense of academic freedom and shared governance on Sept. 18, 2024.
courteSy of MiriaM lipSkier
Jewish community gathers on the Emory University Quadrangle on Oct. 7, 2024, for a vigil to honor the lives lost in the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7, 2023 and remember those held hostage.
Jack rutherford/ManaGinG editor Pro-Palestinian protesters march through the third-floor lobby of the Oxford Road Building on Oct. 4, 2024.
Jack rutherford/ManaGinG editor Emory Students for Socialism protest against Israel's renewed military action in Gaza Strip on March 25.
Spencer friedland/editor-in-chief
At the beginning of the 2024-25 academic year, chalkings condemming Emory University's actions in the spring appeared.
Jack rutherford/ManaGinG editor
Emory University community members march against Israel earlier this semester.
Emory community members protest against international student visa terminations
By Tori Mooney Staff Writer
To protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) termination of the visas of four Emory University community members, a group of about 50 protestors participated in a walkout on April 14.
On April 8, ICE terminated the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System records of three Emory alumni and one student. In response, various pro-Palestinian groups publicized a protest.
The protest, which was also in support of Palestine, began at the top of the Emory Student Center’s (ESC) steps before protesters marched through Asbury Circle and the University Quadrangle before returning to the ESC.
As ICE continues to terminate international student visas nationwide, protesters emphasized support for Emory’s international student community, chanting, “Say it loud, say it clear; all students are welcome here.”
SFS co-President Tasfia Jahangir (23PH, 29G) addressed the crowd, calling upon the Emory administration to protect its international students by declaring Emory a sanctuary campus.
“When institutions allow their students to be targeted like this, they become accomplices to oppression, to injustice,” Jahangir said. “We demand answers. We demand protection. We
demand that Emory declare itself a sanctuary campus and stand unequivocally against this campaign of fear.”
Jahangir emphasized the importance of international students to the Emory community, saying that their presence increases the diversity of viewpoints in the classroom and beyond.
“International students, they contribute substantially to the quality of our education,” Jahangir said. “We learn so much from all the different perspectives that they bring. It’s one of the … things that makes higher education top-tier in the United States. We would lose that if we kept waging a war on people with student visas and it would not only hurt international students, but it would hurt the broader student body and Emory community in general.”
Tyler Lee (27C) said that his connection to the movement inspired his participation in the walkout.
“I know a lot of international students myself, and my mom, my mom’s family, they too, were immigrants to this country, and it was quite shocking for me, over the past few weeks and past few months, to see these students and faculty forcibly having their place here taken away,” Lee said.
Abby Rollins (26C) said it was hypocritical for ICE to terminate students’ visas at higher education institutions, which champion free thinking and free speech.
“How are we going to say that we’re
McAfee urges Emory community to stay true to University's mission
Continued from Page 1 but also on public health and safety. The writers mentioned how funding cuts to biomedical research could threaten Emory’s medical research.
In addition to its focus on academic freedom, the resolution also said the University Senate plans to protect community members subject to “arrest, deportation, and visa revocation.”
“We further commit to providing assistance to members of the University community whose legal status makes them vulnerable to state authority,” the resolution read. “Furthermore, we will help any member who travels abroad to rejoin our community of inquiry.”
McAfee said she is looking into how students who ICE may deported can continue their degree at Emory.
“We know how people can Zoom in and continue their studies so that they can finish,” McAfee said. “We need to step up for that, at a minimum, and then also provide legal assistance.”
Volokh said he hopes the resolution is heard beyond the Emory com-
munity and convinces universities nationwide to resist together against the Trump administration.
“[The resolution] shows people that there are institutions that are unwilling to accommodate the Trump administration,” Volokh said. “That’s helpful for the Emory brand in the long term, and I think it’s helpful for other institutions as they think what to do, because one of the things when you want to resist injustice is that it’s always very difficult for someone to do something if they think they’re the only one.”
McAfee urged community members to stay true to their values, even amid a federal government seeking to encroach upon academic freedom.
“It’s important to just think now, what are my values?” McAfee asked. “What are our values? What are we going to stand for? What will we not ever give up? Now’s the time.”
— Contact Ellie Fivas at ellie.fivas@emory.edu and Jacob Muscolino at jake.muscolino@emory.edu
The Emory Wheel
Volume 106, Issue 7 © 2025 The Emory Wheel
Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322
Business (404) 727-6178
Editors-in-Chief Ellie Fivas and Spencer Friedland ellie.fivas@emory.edu spencer.friedland@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.
a place of intellectualism and supporting intellectual ideas and growth and movement, but we’re removing people from our campus?” Rollins said.
The walkout also protested the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. Jahangir said that ICE is terminating some international student visas due to their pro-Palestine political organizing.
“Across the country, we have been seeing that students are being punished for refusing to be complicit in genocide,” Jahangir said.
In recent weeks, the U.S. government detained and attempted to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine activist at Columbia University (N.Y.). ICE also arrested and attempted to deport Columbia student Yunseo Chung, who had previously attended a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
SFS co-President Zachary Hammond (23Ox, 25C) connected
protesting international student visa terminations to the ongoing movement supporting Palestine.
“In a broader sense, this is a continuation of the student movement for Palestine that we’ve been fighting for at Emory for over a year,” Hammond said.
Hammond emphasized the impact that recent Trump administration actions have had on the morale of the Emory community.
“It’s a really dark day for the Emory community where our fellow community members, whether they be alumni or students, are directly under attack by the federal government and being targeted for deportation, presumably for their free expression.”
Several community members emphasized the importance of continuing to take action against the Trump administration’s policies. Emory Department of Mathematics
Postdoctoral Fellow John Darges said freedom of speech is in danger during this conflict.
“Academia is supposed to be a place of free expression,” Darges said. “Whatever the reason that people have their visas terminated, it has this chilling effect where people are worried about what they say or what they research.”
Jahangir highlighted that these recent actions have emboldened student activism.
“But we want to show them that repression actually breeds more resistance, especially when we know that we’re not engaged in any criminal activity,” Jahangir said. “We're exercising our right to free speech. We're exercising our right to organize. We're exercising our right to mobilize.”
— Contact Tori Mooney at tori.mooney@emory.edu
Research grant termination threatens postdoctoral diversity
Continued from Page 1
According to FIRST Fellow Monica Thieu, by working with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), FIRST has led to an increase in the number of postdoctoral researchers from underrepresented backgrounds.
Hope mentioned that while promoting diversity is not necessarily at the heart of the program, FIRST is an opportunity for postdoctoral researchers of diverse racial backgrounds to learn from one another, especially through interactions with fellows from HBCUs.
“It's good to be able to have the opportunity to teach, not just a racially different background, but people with different career goals,” Hope said. “The conversations that I've had while mentoring my Emory students versus my Spelman students, while there is some overlap, it kind of broadens my skill set and how to help them.”
Shennette highlighted that the FIRST program helped increase representation in higher education research and faculty, especially considering the disproportionate lack of diversity currently in higher education research.
“All too many times, you go to different academic settings, other colleges, and you look and you don’t see as many people that look like me,” Shennette said.
FIRST has successfully created a path from learning to teaching to conducting research for FIRST postdoctoral researchers since its founding in 2000. An NIH study that surveyed 145 FIRST alumni found 64% became science faculty at universities, 13% at community colleges and K-12 schools and 24% entered the science industry through some other avenue. The NIH has renewed the program five times since its start 25 years ago, according to Shennette.
According to Thieu, program
cuts will translate to unemployment for many postdocs since performing research relies on grant funding for their salaries. Thieu said FIRST postdocs are trying to transfer to other programs at Emory whose grants are still active but speculated that many will need to seek opportunities at other universities due to limited spots at Emory.
With the program’s funding not being renewed, FIRST Postdoctoral Fellow Tommy Lee mentioned that he is considering pivoting from his lifelong dream of becoming a tenured professor.
“Postdoctoral FIRST fellows are honestly thinking about other types of careers that might be more supportive of us, in terms of financially or otherwise, potentially moving away from academia, moving towards industry or moving into a different type of position that doesn’t allow us to realize our ultimate dream of becoming faculty members,” Lee said.
Shennette called the end of this program “bittersweet” and highlighted the progress she has seen among the postdocs she has worked with during her tenure.
“It's amazing to see where they started and where they are now,” Shennette said. “I have the amazing opportunity to have them, watch them, into the program.”
Lee described the impact of the FIRST program on his life as “tremendous.” He highlighted the unique opportunity to partner with HBCUs as part of his research and teaching journey.
“Not only am I able to impart science knowledge to the students, they also teach me a lot too about how to work with diverse populations and how to successfully mentor many different types of students traditionally from marginalized backgrounds,” Lee said.
Thieu, also an Emory postdoctoral fellow of psychology and chair of the University’s Postdoctoral
Association, emphasized how FIRST aimed at deconstructing barriers in the field of science for Black postdoctoral researchers, who are historically underrepresented.
“Specifically because those schools serve Black students, it was a chance to increase access for minoritized undergrads to get involved in science,” Thieu said.
Hope praised the program’s collaborative community, which she said she has experienced through connecting with fellows and teaching at Spelman.
“That experience has been invaluable,” Hope said. “It’s been so enriching. It has really confirmed for me that teaching is what I want to do.”
In addition, Thieu said the program has supported many current faculty members of Emory’s biology department. She also noted the potential adverse effects on future teaching quality due to the grant not being renewed.
“Much of the biology department [at Emory] comes from this program,” Thieu said. “If you’ve taken and enjoyed a biology class, it was probably a FIRST alum who was your professor. Losing this means not only that we are losing research talent, but we’re also losing teaching talent. Emory is going to be worse off.”
Hope emphasized the upending effect that the end of the program has had on her life, especially on her postdoctoral research career as a new mother.
“At the end of the day, as much as I love research and I love what I’m doing when it comes to teaching, and I want to find, ideally, a job where I can teach and do some research,” Hope said, “Still, I have to also think about my well-being, my son’s wellbeing, my husband’s.”
— Contact Tori Mooney at tori.mooney@emory.edu and Jacob Muscolino at jake.muscolino@emory.edu
Spencer friedland/editor-in-chief
Protesters gather on the Emory University Quadrangle earlier this semester.
The Emory Wheel Opinion
EDITORIAL
5 years later, Cop City demands Atlantans’ attention
Despite opposition from students, activists and community organizations — including forest defender occupants and several attempted referendum petitions — the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, colloquially known as Cop City, is set to open and begin full operation in the coming weeks.
On April 9, the Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Atlanta Fire Rescue Department held a flag raising ceremony to commemorate the launch of Cop City. According to the Atlanta Police Foundation, the training center has labs for testing technological innovation and a mock streetscape designed to simulate “real-world crisis situations faced by law enforcement officers.”
Behind the superfluous ribbon cutting and flag raising is an unsettling truth: The continued militarization of Atlanta’s police force is undergoing a rebrand, not a reconstruction. As we near the twoyear anniversary of the April 25, 2023 Emory Stop Cop City protests on the University Quadrangle, it is crucial that we reflect on our part in this movement and keep the spirit of dissent alive.
Outrage arose in 2021 as community members realized that the $100 million project — one-third of which is funded by Atlanta taxpayers — would bulldoze 85 acres of the Weelaunee Forest, which holds deep cultural and historical significance for the Muscogee (Creek) people. Activists also emphasize the forest’s ecological significance as one of Atlanta’s largest green spaces, which Atlanta-based reporter Sean Keenan dubbed “The Lungs of Atlanta.”
Equally as outrageous, Cop City partially sprawls across the site of the Old Atlanta Prison Farm, a nowabandoned prison complex where the City of Atlanta forced Black incarcerated people to produce food for the region’s prison system in a modern form of indentured servitude.
To build a police training center over a site where Black people were once brutalized only to further enable the systems that continue to harm them is not only dystopian, but disrespectful. In Atlanta, Cop City demonstrates that Georgia is doubling down on carceral control, expanding surveillance over residents and suppressing mass public dissent.
On Jan. 18, 2023, Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, an environmental activist who went by the name Tortuguita, was killed when Georgia State Patrol (GSP) troopers raided a “Stop Cop City” encampment. Allegedly, Tortuguita fired at GSP troopers first before being fatally shot, but there was no body cam footage to corroborate this statement.
While a DeKalb County Medical Examiner autopsy stated that there was no conclusive evidence for how Tortuguita was positioned, an independent autopsy report showed that police shot Tortuguita at least a dozen times while possibly sitting down in a position of surrender.
A special prosecutor did not charge the six GSP troopers who shot and killed Tortuguita with any crime. Under the carceral state, police are encouraged to shoot first and ask questions second.
Atlanta law enforcement’s patterns
of escalation and intimidation in its policing has been demonstrated right here on Emory University’s campus.
In 2023, APD responded to the “Stop Cop City” protest on the University Quadrangle alongside officers from the Emory Police Department (EPD).
Although the protest was peaceful, around 1 a.m., EPD along with 11 armed APD vehicles arrived to remove protesters from the space. And last April, police responded to a
Department held a special training session, in which it taught officers how to interact with individuals on the Autism spectrum. However, this special training session only lasted two days.
Although these initiatives are meant to make the reputation of the police more palatable, they are not enough when police militarization training centers are actively being built across the country — centers
peaceful pro-Palestine protest with pepper bullets and irritant gas.
While police agencies across Georgia have made attempts at sensitivity training and police violence reduction, these measures have little concrete effect on the broken state of policing.
The Atlanta Police Foundation, which is funding Cop City, claims the training center will address the “variety of citizen concerns that modern policing in a diverse city requires.” In this same vein of cultural awareness, the Chamblee Police
which promote the opposite of empathetic policing. Many cities, including San Pablo (Calif.), Dallas, Chicago and Nashville (Tenn.), have allocated incredible amounts of money to these projects, with at least seven cities planning to spend over $100 million for their own Cop Cities.
This nationwide trend reveals that cities are not interested in addressing the root causes of crime in productive ways and are instead choosing to fund state violence under the guise of public safety.
The overwhelming force that the GSP and APD are known for is a symptom of the larger illness of American policing. The hypermilitarized police of America aim to stun public dissenters into a private quietude of terror and selfregulation, directly contradicting the values of free speech our nation is predicated upon.
To the Emory community, we urge you to stay vigilant of the true nature of the police — especially within Georgia — and to not be coerced into being content with a system that takes the side of indifference towards the sanctity of life and expression. As students, faculty and staff, we can promote the use of community service officers (CSOs) as an alternative for the continued expansion of the police.
While CSOs can be associated with more standardized forms of law enforcement, they differ from forces like the EPD as they are not sworn-in officers and do not carry weapons — lessening the chance of violence. For example, San Diego State University’s community-engaged campus policing aims to stop the reliance on more traditional forms of militant policing when it comes to monitoring its campus.
Cop City may be centered in Atlanta, but its implications echo across the nation.
We cannot become desensitized to a police presence that promises community friendliness while operating within a system that prioritizes suppression over support. We must fight for a future where our safety does not come at the expense of people’s dignity.
eLLie Fivas editor-in-Chief
Siya Kumar News Editor
Jacob Muscolino News Editor
Carly Aikens Editorial Board Editor
Ethan Jacobs Opinion Editor
Cayden Xia Opinion Editor
Hunter Buchheit A&L Editor
spenCer FrieDLanD editor-in-Chief
MaDeLine shapiro exeCutive editor
Catherine gooDMan Managing editor
WiLL peCk Managing editor
WenDy peLayo Managing editor
JaCk rUtherForD Managing editor
LaUren yee Managing editor
Amelia Bush A&L Editor
Sammy Brodsky Sports Editor
Chloe Nam Sports Editor
Esther Fu Social Editor
Ivana Chen Visual Editor
Meiya Weeks Design Editor
Clément Lee Senior Editor
Alex Gerson Deputy Editor
Angela Chan Copy Chief
Disha Kumar Senior Copy Editor
Malia Yap Copy Editor
Aimee Zhang Copy Editor
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Editor Carly Aikens, Mira Krichavsky, Hunter Buchheit, Marc Goedemans, Allie Guo, Carson Kindred, Eliana Liporace, Niki Rajani, Ilka Tona and Crystal Zhang.
Ha-Tien nguyen/Senior STaff illuSTraTor
After protests, I am not the activist I envisioned
By JosseLyn st. CLair
ContriButing Writer
As my senior year of high school came to a close, my mom sat me down. Her lips were pursed, her hands in her lap. The news played in the background. I knew what this was about. “You will not get arrested,” she told me, and I had nothing to say. In the corner of my eye, I watched disturbing images sear across the screen — protesters avoiding pepper balls while police shoved students and faculty to the ground on Emory University’s Quadrangle. Sitting beside my mom at that moment, I could not help but remember that my family had never heard of Emory before my acceptance, and the brutal scene on the news was their first glimpse of the university.
It became easier for me to envision myself demonstrating, against my mom’s wishes, as I saw more of these protests. I could picture myself on the Quad with a picket sign of my own. I was confident that I would have been willing to take a risk for the cause I believed in when I arrived at Emory the following year.
After all, history looks kindly on people who sacrifice everything in the face of injustice. Alabama police officers imprisoned Martin Luther King Jr. for peacefully protesting bans on so-called “race-mixing” in the 1960s, and children now read his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” in schools across the nation. Hans and Sophie Scholl, German students executed by Nazi Germany in 1943 for their protests against the regime, now have a memorial at the same university that once celebrated their arrest.
Courage is the overcoming of fear, and that is exactly what makes it so commendable.
It is easy to look at the sacrifices activists made in the past and believe that you, given the same opportunity to speak out against those injustices, would have done the same.
However, when I set foot on campus, I was not automatically the activist I expected to become. At first, I was convinced that this was a result of the lack of protests — we had seen demonstrations flare up in April, but by September, the University’s use of
scare tactics suppressed most of the protests.
I saw no encampments on the Quad. I saw no students with picket signs. The uprisings of the previous semester had become less frequent and I told myself that my chance to raise my voice had diminished with them. I remember sighing, believing I was doing so out of disappointment. Now, I recognize it as relief.
When the protests resumed in mid-September, I started to make excuses to not join them. As an Oxford College student, I have to be intentional about commuting to Atlanta, and every protest during my first semester seemed to fall during what I deemed an inconvenient time.
However, I do remember one day on the Atlanta campus when I stepped off the shuttle and saw a protest wrapping around the Emory Student Center. Demonstrators raised their signs above a sea of black and white keffiyehs, echoing chants shouted to them by an organizer. I did not think about joining.
Instead, I ducked my head and rounded the corner without shame.
I could hear my mom’s voice, ringing like a siren: “You will not get arrested.” With each protest I have walked by since then, those words continue to claw their way back into my head.
Courage is the overcoming of fear, and that is exactly what makes it so commendable. I see this courage in students like Cornell University’s (N.Y.) Momodou Taal, who protested for Palestine and recently left the United States after losing his visa.
I think too of Emory’s own Umaymah Mohammad, a graduate student who the Emory Medical School suspended for a year for speaking out against a professor who had served in the Israeli Defense Forces.
These are the people that our history textbooks will come to honor, people who have given up everything because they know what is at stake.
Today, my news feed is flooded with stories of the Israeli army killing Palestinians, and it will never be just sadness that this brings. Now I crumple with guilt, the cruel reminder that I am unwilling to do anything to stop this violence.
But there are people around me who are more willing to take a risk.
I think of a photo essay The Emory Wheel compiled during last April’s protests and the included shot of a faculty demonstration in which they called for solidarity with student protestors.
I am proud to say that one of
my professors is among them. I remember seeing the faces of my classmates during a demonstration a few weeks ago, exercising their right to call out the injustices we are all witnessing. I wish I were brave enough to stand alongside them. I am continuously inspired to maintain my beliefs by the people around me — I wonder where I would be without them. By refusing to take a stand, I reckon with the fact that I am not only failing those in Gaza but the people around me.
Earlier this academic year, I published an article about the importance of looking to history in order to avoid repeating our previous mistakes. I called for readers to protest for the change they want to see, but I am embarrassed to admit that I do not practice what I preach. I worry for Emory’s Class of 2029, wondering who their role models will be if protests fizzle out.
I worry for Emory's Class of 2029, wondering who their role models will be if protests fizzle out.
I can only hope they will be inspired by the activists they read about in last April’s news, like I was. But, unlike me, I hope they can overcome any fears they have about demonstrating and inspire real change.
The next generation will turn to our generation for guidance on how to fight wrongs, just as we look to those older than us. It is so easy for us to jab a finger at many in the past and ask why they did nothing in the face of the events that defined their generation. We assume that we will be different and act when the time comes.
That time is here, but I am sickened to realize that I am struck by the inaction I criticize in others. I hoped that we, as a generation, will learn from our mistakes, but I see that I am only mirroring the complacency I previously called for readers to resist.
Someday, I may be asked why I did not act during this pivotal moment in history. I do not think that I will have a response.
— Contact Josselyn St. Clair at jmstcla@emory.edu
Don’t let Trump scare you into
By seLena teng Contributing Writer
The plague of visa cancellations finally descended upon our campus. As Emory University students finished a day of classes on April 10, our phones lit up with an email notification reading “SEVIS terminations at Emory.” We skimmed the email to discover that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had terminated the visa records of an Emory student as well as three alumni.
In the past few weeks, ICE has targeted about 800 foreign college students across the United States through arrests, attempted deportations and visa terminations, especially those who have expressed pro-Palestinian beliefs.
This persecution is horrifying — perhaps horrifying enough to scare students away from supporting Palestine or criticizing the Trump administration. To protect controversial political speech and our peers’ rights, we must continue to voice dissent instead of giving in to fear.
The horror show began on March 8 when ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a permanent U.S. resident with a green card, for leading proPalestinian demonstrations last spring while he was a student at Columbia University (N.Y.). U.S. President Donald Trump orchestrated the attempt to deport Khalil — not for any criminal charge, but for his political expression. Secretary of State Marco Rubio stretched an obscure Cold Warera law to claim the power of deporting any immigrant whose presence “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences.”
By labeling Khalil’s activism as antisemitic, the Trump administration claims his speech counteracts the policy of combating worldwide antisemitism. Applied broadly, this line of reasoning is absurd. “Ensuring economic and energy security,” for example, is an explicit objective of the U.S. State Department. Under Trump’s interpretation, simply condemning government-backed oil pipelines could become a deportable offense.
Trump’s persecution applies even to occasional participants in proPalestinian protests, such as Yunseo Chung, another Columbia student active in grassroots engagement like attaching fliers to trees. Deporting residents for political speech stabs at the heart of democracy, flouting basic First Amendment and due process rights.
The Trump administration has already set a chilling precedent of punishing political speech. Columbia has been investigating dozens of “students who have expressed criticism of Israel,” including Maryam Alwan, a senior who advocated for divestment from Israel in an op-ed. ICE detained Tufts University (Mass.) student Rumeysa Ozturk, who co-authored an essay calling for Tufts to “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide.” I wonder whether I, too, could be targeted for this op-ed condemning Trump’s witch hunt.
Students now face seemingly absurd yet entirely legitimate fears of retaliation for even modest forms of political expression. The Trump administration’s calculated use of vagueness perpetuates these fears, especially because students deprived of their visas are often left in the dark
silence
as to why they must leave the country. This ambiguity creates a chilling effect as anti-Trump and pro-Palestinian students silence themselves amid uncertainty.
For all these reasons, it is even more extraordinary when students stand unwavering in their support of political expression.
On March 20, dozens of Emory University students protested in support of Palestine and against Khalil’s detainment, demanding “ICE off our campuses” and calling upon the federal government to “free Mahmoud Khalil now!” Emory students could have remained silent, giving in to the Trump administration’s Red Scarestyle purge, but they did not. They spoke up. Seeing my peers unwilling to concede to repression was reassuring and inspiring, as it exhibited the courage we, as students, are ready to display in these dark times.
The times have only darkened since Khalil’s arrest. If Emory students ever believed we would be spared from Trump’s wrath, we must recognize that it is now destroying our own community — but also that we have countless methods of resistance at our disposal.
We can host demonstrations. We can share information about U.S. immigrants’ rights. We can support our friends who fear they may be next on the chopping block. However, different positions call for different obligations. I especially empathize with my peers who could be in danger of losing immigration statuses or visas, as they are at the heart of the Trump administration’s crackdown. I cannot, in good faith, compel them into imperiling themselves.
Deporting residents for political speech stabs at the heart of democracy.
Dissent involves risk for everyone, but it is far more dangerous for some students than others — which is why those of us privileged enough to lack certain dangers carry the additional duty of speaking up for those who cannot.
My experience witnessing students’ continued dissent highlights its ripple effects, and I have faith that we at Emory will stand up for our peers. Dissent signals defiance to repressors of political speech and encourages initially apprehensive people to participate by creating a shared sense of community. Despite the growing risks of dissent — or rather, precisely because of the growing risks of dissent — we cannot muzzle ourselves.
The very fact that Trump is targeting political speech makes it essential to safeguard and continue to express. Failure to uphold this principle would make it our fault, as much as Trump’s, that college campuses turn mute. Whether through loud demonstrations or intimate conversations, resist being self-imprisoned by fear and voice your dissent with pride.
— Contact Selena Teng at selena.teng@emory.edu
Students host a pro-Palestine protest outside the Emory Student Center on Oct. 4, 2024.
Emory administration must rebuild trust on campus after April 25
By DiLek hUseyinzaDegan ContriButing Writer
It is not an exaggeration to say that Emory University’s campus has been a haunted place for many community members since April 25, 2024. Now, nearly a year later, I am still waiting for Emory administrators to take concrete steps to address and remedy the events of that day to rebuild trust on campus.
I am a researcher with 20 years of experience in higher education, 10 of which I have spent at Emory as a philosophy professor. Around 11 a.m. on April 25, 2024, a heavilyarmed police officer pointed a long gun at my forehead and threatened me with arrest on my own campus as police rounded up our students and colleagues near the Administration Building. My mistake was trying to help a student arrestee, who, having recognized me amid the chaos, was shouting out their parent’s phone number for me to call. The weapon was a pepperball gun that had been used on protestors, though at the time I thought it was a gun with real bullets. Either way, I was terrified.
Following the trauma I had endured that day on campus, I obtained medical accommodations to teach and work remotely during the past fall semester. But, it is one thing to have a global pandemic or catastrophic climate event confine me to online teaching. It is quite another to do so because the leaders of our university have made me feel unsafe on this campus.
To be clear, the encampment on Emory’s campus, just like nearly all pro-Palestinian campus protests, was peaceful. The groups being violent were the Emory Police Department (EPD), Atlanta Police Department (APD) and Georgia State Patrol. The latter two used violent military
dispersion tactics, pepper bullets, chemical irritants and tasers against peaceful protestors and others who happened to be on the University Quadrangle at the time.
An institution of higher education is successful to the extent that all community members trust each other.
Within an hour, the police had arrested 28 people, including three Emory faculty members, one of whom is the Department of Philosophy Chair and Professor Noelle McAfee. She had simply refused to walk away as a police officer was pummeling a student in front of her on the Quad.
At least two other faculty members and dozens of students were dragged to the ground, and in a video that went viral, police repeatedly tased one protester.
Most of the arrestees are Emory community members and a majority continue to face charges today. McAfee said she, along with others, could remain in judicial limbo for up to two years.
These experiences of police brutality and repression of free speech on campus in April were among the reasons why I cast a vote of “no confidence” in University President Gregory Fenves last May, along with 73.5% of undergraduate students and 75.05% of Emory College of Arts and Sciences faculty members who voted in referendums on their confidence in Fenves.
The APD had shown up on our campus to interrupt peaceful protests before. On April 25, 2011, police arrested seven people for criminal trespass while they were protesting Emory’s food vendor on campus.
And, just two years ago, Emory students had staged a peaceful campus protest against the multimillion-dollar Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, colloquially known as Cop City. In the middle of that night, EPD and APD arrived and threatened our students with arrests. Emory faculty tried to intervene by publishing an open letter in The Emory Wheel, condemning the police escalation on our campus and inviting Emory to reconsider its relationship with the police on and off campus. Unfortunately, efforts to establish a dialogue between administration, faculty and students to foster a healthy environment for open expression were met with silence two years ago.
On March 20, the University released an updated Open Expression Policy. Despite revisions made in consultation with the University Senate and student governments, we cannot trust that Fenves and other Emory administrators will not repeat the scenes from April 25 under the revised Open Expression Policy. In fact, Fenves has stated that he would permit the arrests of students again if given the same information.
Faced with a federal government intent on quashing critical thinking and free expression, it is now more important than ever for us to think about how to handle dissent on campus. Last month, Emory entered into a resolution argument with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights on a Title VI complaint of discrimination against Muslim, Arab, Palestinian and Black students. To protect targeted community
members, revising the Open Expression Policy is not enough. For starters, it is crucial that the Emory administration reinstate Umaymah Mohammad, a Palestinian-American graduate student at Emory, who the University suspended for expressing her views.
To protect targeted community members, revising the Open Expression policy is not enough.
When the administration called the city and state police on dissenters on campus, it jeopardized our academic integrity. An institution of higher education is successful to the extent that all community members trust each other.
We ought to feel physically and mentally safe “to create, preserve, teach, and apply knowledge in the service of humanity,” as stated in
Emory’s mission. But, such activity requires an environment of trust and openness, not one where the institution itself instills fear and violence. Minimally, Emory must request that charges be dropped against all 28 people arrested on Emory’s campus on April 25.
In addition, Emory administrators, notably Fenves and the University Board of Trustees, must issue a public apology addressed to every community member physically and mentally harmed by police brutality on campus.
I remain worried about the future of our campus life because I have not seen the University take any concrete steps toward mending the trust that it broke with its various community members on April 25. To regain our confidence, the Emory administration must immediately act to address these outstanding trust issues on our campus. Their actions now will determine if Emory can weather the current and upcoming challenges to higher education.
— Contact Dilek Huseyinzadegan at dhuseyi@emory.edu
No exceptions: Justice must be for everyone at Emory
By noah stiFeLMan ContriButing
Writer
I believe in protest. I believe in free speech. I believe in the power of students raising their voices to demand justice, accountability and change. And, I believe something else: Protests and activism on college campuses must never come at the expense of another community’s safety.
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Jewish students, including myself, have found ourselves in an impossible position. We have watched the war in Israel and the Gaza Strip unfold with heartbreak and horror. We have sat in classrooms, walked across the Emory University Quadrangle and scrolled through social media, trying to hold space for mourning and empathy for the hostages still in captivity and the lives lost. However, on this campus, especially during the protests in April 2024, that space has felt increasingly closed to us. Progressive students have repeatedly told Jewish students at many universities that in order to be accepted as part of our campus community, in this fight for a more equal world, we must disavow Israel. However, 90% of American Jews support the state of Israel, as do each major Jewish organization on this campus. Still, we are told that if we speak up — even if
we say we feel unsafe — we are trying to silence others. We are not, we are trying to raise awareness for our safety and the plight of the hostages.
I do not condone the violent suppression of protests. What happened on April 25, 2024 — the arrests, the crackdowns and the images of students in zip ties — was painful to watch. No student should fear punishment for exercising their right to speak out, especially on political issues that matter deeply to them. We must protect that right with urgency and conviction. But free speech does not mean free rein to traffic in hate.
At that protest, among the chants and signs calling for peace and justice, were words that crossed a line — chants of “there is only one solution, intifada revolution,” signs that erased Israel’s right to exist and rhetoric that reduced Jews to oppressors and Zionism to a slur. We saw posters accusing “Zionists” of genocide plastered around Emory’s campus — as if that word is not tied to the identity and survival of most Jewish students. I heard protesters cheer, taunt and glare when Jewish students like myself walked by.
The worst part is that this horrific language used at these protests was not only encouraged but defended by many of our professors in an open letter to University President Greg
Fenves.
These students and professors missed something essential – calling out antisemitism and protecting the right to protest are not contradictory. We can and must defend the right to protest and call out times when that protest veers into antisemitism. Both things can be true at once.
This is what’s missing in this moment — the willingness to hold complexity. To understand that Palestinian suffering is real and deserves our compassion, and that Jewish pain is real and Jewish students deserve protection. Justice is not a zero-sum game. Empathy is not a limited resource.
Our university prides itself on being a place of inclusion. We write statements of solidarity with Ukraine. We host teach-ins for proPalestinian protesters. The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board, a group of students claiming to represent the greater campus community, even wrote an editorial in support of Palestinians just a few days after the horrific Oct. 7 attacks. But when it comes to Jewish students, that clarity, that context, too often disappears. Suddenly, our pain is complicated. Our fear is political. Our dignity becomes debatable.
No student should feel like they must hide their identity to feel safe on campus. No one should feel as though
their belonging is conditional. That is not inclusion. That is exclusion masquerading as progressivism.
So here is my ask: Be consistent. If we believe in protecting marginalized communities, then that protection must include Jews.
If we believe in free speech, then let’s defend it — for everyone. But let’s also be honest when that speech slips into harassment or hate. Protecting Jewish students does not mean silencing others. Let’s learn from the events of last April and ensure that in the future, students do not target or incite hatred or violence against Jewish students on
our campuses. We can do this by grassroots teaching and activism. Let’s encourage debates and dialogue sessions and make sure that the complexities and nuances of the conflict are understood instead of simplifying it to an oppressor versus oppressed narrative as so many on our campus do.
Justice must be for everyone — no exceptions. That includes Jews. That includes Palestinians. That includes every student who calls this campus home.
— Contact Noah Stifelman at noah.stifelman@emory.edu
Jack ruTHerford/Managing ediTor
Georgia State Police and the Atlanta Police Department push back protesters at a demonstration on April 25. 2024.
The Emory Wheel Arts Life
Theater Emory’s ‘Lysistrata’ emasculates masculinity
By NoBle Garcia
S taff W riter
There is no problem that sex cannot solve. At least, that is the philosophy of Theater Emory’s latest production, “Lysistrata or Lucy’s Strategy: Atlanta’s Stolen Erection.”
The musical, written by the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes and newly translated by Assistant Professor of Classics David van Schoor, opened on April 10 under the direction of Park Krausen (99C).
While Aristophanes’ “Lysistrata” takes place in Greece during 411 BCE, covering a sex strike during the Peloponnesian War, van Schoor reimagines the story as a “pantheistic America” where citizens worship deities of all shapes and sizes. While the play included references to Greek gods like Zeus and Apollo, there were also mentions of controversial influencer Andrew Tate and Glinda the Good Witch from “The Wizard of Oz” (1993).
Though amusing, these figures
CAT’S COLLECTION
By catheriNe GoodmaN m anaging e ditor
Meryl Streep sliding down a banister wrapped in a teal feather boa, Amanda Seyfried donned in a fluffy white veil, the crystal blue water off Damouchari Beach — these are likely the first images that come to mind when thinking of the Swedish pop group ABBA. However, while “Mamma Mia: The Movie” (2008) is a little under two decades old, the album that holds the movie’s title track turns 50 on April 21. According to ABBA’s official website, this self-titled third record “was arguably where they finally came into their own.” To celebrate the 50th birthday of this shining album, Cat’s Collection presents five standout ABBA tracks that demonstrate their diverse talent.
‘Mamma Mia’ (1975)
Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock — Benny Andersson’s piano pulses at the onset of this powerhouse track. The rhythmic beat, soon sliced by Björn Ulvaeus’ electric guitar, immediately sets a tone of uninhibited desperation and desire that runs rampant throughout “Mamma Mia.” “I’ve been cheated by you since I don’t know when / So I made up my mind — it must come to an end,” lead vocalists Agnetha Fältskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad declare at the onset of the track. However, as infatuation prevails, the pair’s menacing threat soon falls by the wayside. In the pre-chorus, the curtain lowers on an unrelenting
feel out of place, as the script has too many pop-culture references to ever establish a concrete foundation for the society of “Lysistrata.”
In this alternate world, Florida and Atlanta are two southern “sibling states” — like Greek city-states transported into modern times — who have been at war for decades. When Florida bombs a beauty pageant, killing the newly crowned “Miss Athens,” the women of both states are in shock.
One woman in particular, Lucy (Andreanna Kitas (26C)), is outraged at the bombing and how the men continue to fight in a meaningless war.
Thus, Lucy proposes that the women go on a sex strike to sway their husbands to acquiesce. After convincing the pageant women to abstain from “spreading their legs,” the women of Atlanta storm the state capital and refuse to leave until Florida and Atlanta reach an armistice.
At this point in the story, the writing begins to drift off, as the dialogue becomes immature rather than empowering.
Throughout the play, Lucy and other women admit that if their husbands retaliate and abuse them during the strike, they will inevitably give in and provide them with sex.
However, the threat’s dramatic tension is instantly negated by how the women jokingly lament their need for sexual gratification. This contradiction would be fine if “Lysistrata” did not attempt to hold a serious tone.
When the play takes swings at
Oxford students launch Poxkit, new marketplace app
By aNya aGarkar S taff W riter
If you are a student at Emory University, you have seen countless messages sent via GroupMe from peers asking for anything — from cooking supplies to extra stationery to textbooks. While resourceful, this disorganized method of obtaining supplies more often leads to confusion than successful and careful transfers.
Dharshini Kannan (26Ox) and Samuel Santana (26Ox), two friends who met during first-year pre-orientation, have witnessed this chaotic exchange firsthand at Oxford College. Taking matters into their own hands, the duo created Poxkit, a gamified marketplace app for college students, currently only available to Oxford students. The app, which debuted on the App Store on March 18, emerged from Santana’s desire for a more streamlined process for requesting items.
The app’s feed tab allows users to request and trade for any item they need. To proceed with a trade, users must pay with in-app coins earned by playing minigames, sharing content or logging in daily. The app tracks successful trades via photo submissions, and the parties involved in the trade can exchange coins only after the app has received a clear photo. If someone forgets to return a borrowed item, the app charges the person coins.
While the feed enables temporary trading, students can purchase
items in the marketplace section. This way, Poxkit allows students to exchange real money for non-returnable commodities.
Confidential third-party app Stripe processes these transactions so financial data is not collected or stored, according to Kannan. The app also includes a messaging platform, a profile page and a leaderboard where users with the most coins can earn prizes such as gift cards.
Santana first conceived Poxkit when he noticed Kannan constantly asking her friends for various supplies. While poking fun at Kannan’s incessant borrowing, the duo stumbled upon their idea: to create an app through which students could find necessary items without having to search door to door. At its inception, Poxkit was just a few scribbles on a whiteboard.
However, Kannan and Santana decided to design the app around a map of Oxford — a choice that became Poxkit’s foundation, informing everything from the user interface to the design. Throughout the development process, the whiteboard was home to ideas and anxieties — such as how they would verify the trades — but after making the map, the app came to fruition and Kannan submitted it to iOS.
“I know Dharshini had a lot of fun making the map,” Santana said. “It’s just really cool seeing our campus into the game.”
The map is not the only thing inspired
lover: “Just one look and I can hear a bell ring / One more look and I forget everything, woah.” The facade of callousness fully shatters in the energetic chorus as Fältskog and Lyngstad admit, “Mamma mia, here I go again / My my, how can I resist you?”
While this quick transition from goodbye to googly eyes is a relatable fall from grace for any scorned lover, the true magic of this track is the production by Andersson and Ulvaeus. The persistent piano enlivens the thirsting lyrics, almost imbuing the song with its own heartbeat. The guitar cuts through the air and subtle xylophone riffs keep the audience engaged. The track soars and swells, never falling short sonically. Like the lyrics declare, it is almost impossible to retain “control” under the influence of this intoxicating arrangement.
‘Dancing Queen’ (1976)
It is almost impossible to discuss ABBA without acknowledging their most-streamed song, “Dancing Queen.” While my first-year dorm’s Songfest rendition — “this is the Complex dream” — permanently altered my listening experience, the original “Dancing Queen” retains a devoted fan base for good reason. “Dancing Queen” embodies ABBA’s unrelenting magic.
The track opens with a strong hook as the group sings, “You can dance, you can jive / Having the time of your life / Ooh, see that girl, watch that scene / Diggin’ the dancing queen.”
Even if you cannot in fact “dance” or
“jive,” this track will make you want to try. This song is as empowering as it is energetic, forcing the listener into optimistic submission — like brainwashing, but catchier. The harmonies envelop you, the beat entices you and the lyrics boost your confidence tenfold.
It is no surprise Rolling Stone named “Dancing Queen” ABBA’s best track. Just like the “young and sweet, only seventeen / Dancing queen,” this track is forever youthful, forever timeless.
‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)’ (1979) On “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight),’ ABBA pulls no punches with an unapologetic dive into electro-pop. Electric strings reverberate throughout the introduction before Fältskog and Lyngstad deliver a robotic harmony. The track is cinematic in both its production and lyrical performance, as Fältskog narrates the emotional unraveling of a desperate woman. Alone in her flat, staring into the midnight sky, “There’s not a soul out there / No one to hear my prayer,” she howls at the moon.
The chorus is both subdued and sweltering. “Gimme, gimme, gimme a man after midnight / Take me through the darkness to the break of the day,” the group sings. After the chorus, Andersson returns with additional synth riffs to further emphasize these gnawing desires. In the solitude of the night, only ABBA’s musings pierce the darkness, advocating for a
lonely lover to find her proper company. In its glittering, eerie melancholy, “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” reflects ABBA’s dynamic appeal.
‘The Winner Takes It All’ (1980)
“The Winner Takes It All” showcases a different element of ABBA’s musical prowess: the ballad. Unlike the aforementioned tracks, “The Winner Takes It All” substitutes creative production for candid lyricism. Opening with a solemn piano and soft harmonic ad-libs, this track offers a glimpse beyond the glitter and glamour of ABBA’s pop hits. “I don’t wanna talk about things we’ve gone through,” Fältskog muses. While her voice remains dominant, her words express defeat: “Nothing more to say, no more ace to play.”
Fältskog continues with a powerful chorus as she sings, “The winner takes it all / The loser standing small.” The group compares love to a game with only one victor. Departing from the unapologetic desire of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!” and “Mamma Mia,” in “The Winner Takes It All,” Fältskog resigns herself to loneliness and romantic oblivion. “Somewhere deep inside, you must know I miss you / But what can I say? Rules must be obeyed,” she sings.
“The Winner Takes It All” claims a top spot among ABBA’s discography for exactly this reason — unlike their peppy tracks oozing optimism, “The Winner Takes It All” displays vulnerability and defeat. Such resignation demonstrates the group’s sonic
diversity and adaptability. After all, it is unrealistic to always be the dancing queen.
‘Thank You For The Music’ (1977)
“I’m nothing special, in fact I’m a bit of a bore,” Fältskog sings at the onset of “Thank You For The Music.” While King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silva of Sweden, who delivered the royal orders of knighthood upon each member of ABBA in June 2024, might disagree with this claim, Fältskog’s peculiar declaration surely draws listeners in.
The self-deprecating lyrics eventually relent when Fältskog admits, “But I have a talent, a wonderful thing / ‘Cause everyone listens when I start to sing.” More than a bait and switch, this opening finds ABBA acknowledging their privileged position as pop stars and their debt to their devoted fans — an exchange that reinforces the mutual benefaction of listening to their music.
Andersson, Ulvaeus and Lyngstad soon join Fältskog for a goosebump-inducing chorus. “So I say thank you for the music, the songs I’m singing / Thanks for all the joy they’re bringing,” the group sings. While the track is perhaps less sonically impressive than the band’s other AnderssonUlvaeus arrangements, the group still presents an evocative and emotionally resonant track dedicated to their true love — music.
– Contact Catherine Goodman at catherine.goodman@emory.edu
CourteSy of theater emory
The “Lysistrata” poster showcases the new style and edge present in this modern interpretation of a classic play.
More than an advice column: Michael Coren on ‘Climate Coach’
By ilah ross C ontributing W riter
Around the world, people are feeling the impact of climate change. With floods in Nigeria displacing over 400,000 people in August, wildfires in California destroying over 16,000 structures earlier this year and a 13-year drought in Chile leaving more than half of its population suffering from “severe water scarcity,” for many, the realities of the climate crisis have become undeniable. nd, while scientists have been sounding the alarms for quite a while, it seems that simply citing frightening statistics will not be enough to inspire collective action. In his role as The Washington Post’s “Climate Coach,” Emory University alumni and journalist Michael Coren (02C) is rewriting the climate action playbook with a personal, solution-focused approach.
“Climate Coach” — an evidence-based column centered around navigating the climate crisis — redefines how we look at our changing planet and provides a road map for individuals to take action in their own lives.
Earlier this semester, Coren returned to his alma mater as part of the creative writing department’s reading series. The journalist spent three days on campus discussing his career trajectory, his work on “Climate Coach” and the lessons he has learned after 20 years in journalism. During his time at Emory, Coren double-majored in environmental science and journalism — a now-defunct program. As an undergraduate, Coren was unsure what career he wanted to pursue. However, he knew he was interested in science and journalism and resonated with the com-
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monalities between the two fields.
“They were looking for something fundamental about the world,” Coren said. “They were asking these basic questions, they shared this love of facts and testable hypotheses and there was a willingness to be wrong.”
An Emory graduate with “no plan,” Coren was awarded a Henry R. Luce Fellowship in 2002 and traveled to Cambodia to work as a writer for the Phnom Penh Post. He said his time in Phnom Penh was pivotal for his journalistic skills, and he spent the year reporting on topics like government corruption, embassy burnings, illegal logging and Buddhism.
“The solutions to our environmental problems are not economic, they are not technical — they are political,”
—Michael Coren
“It was no better way to learn how to do that job than to be in a place where you had to do everything and you had the opportunity to do everything,” Coren said.
After a year as a writer, Coren assumed the role of managing editor for the Phnom Penh Post. At 22 he became one of the newspaper’s youngest managing editors and spent another year in Cambodia overseeing a 15-person newsroom.
When he returned to the United States in 2005, Coren began working
as a science producer for CNN. Soon after starting at CNN, he pitched a special report on climate change, a topic he believed to be “the story of the century.”
With a group of volunteer graphic journalists, data experts and producers, Coren put out the network’s first climate change special. His intuition about the importance of this story proved to be correct, and the special went on to guide CNN’s climate coverage for years after, according to Coren. Coren left CNN in 2006, seeking a stronger understanding of policy, science and the economy.
He went on to attend Yale University’s (Conn.) School of the Environment, where he received a Master of Environmental Science in 2009. Over the next few years, Coren established himself as a jack of many trades. He consulted for the World Bank, designed conservation projects and even built his own startup, a digital publishing company called Publet. Even during his other ventures, Coren continued to foster his love of writing.
As a freelance reporter for The Economist, Foreign Affairs, The Christian Science Monitor and other publications, Coren lived and reported in Jakarta, Indonesia, New York City and Washington. In 2016, Coren found himself drawn back to journalism as he felt most at home in the newsroom.
“I had never lost my deep curiosity, my love of words and this deep suspicion of authority of all kinds,” Coren said. “And that is not a great fit for most workplaces, but it is a good fit for the newsroom.”
With this realization, Coren began writing for Quartz, covering econom
of climate and technology at Quartz, Coren led a Pulitzer Center-backed investigation into the presence of leaded aviation fuel on children in California and its impact across the United States.
“I had never lost my deep curiosity, my love of words and this deep suspicion of authority of all kinds. And that is not a great fit for most workplaces, but it is a good fit for the newsroom”
—Michael Coren
However, during his time at Quartz, Coren grew frustrated with the pessimistic nature of climate coverage. In 2022, Coren joined The Washington Post and launched his “Climate Coach” column. In this role, he sought to approach the climate crisis from an individualistic and solution-based angle.
“We thought of it as this way to address the fact that climate is this deeply personal, impactful thing that’s happening to millions of people who feel very helpless when facing it,” Coren said. “At the same time, similar columns, these advice columns, these environmental advice
tackles everyday climate decisions — like comparing the cost of filling up gas and electric vehicles on a hypothetical road trip, why you should eat lentils more, the regions where climate change poses the most risks to homeowners and more.Coren’s thesis for “Climate Coach” is simple and he believes it is this simplicity that makes the column so effective.
“The solutions to our environmental problems are not economic, they are not technical — they are political,” Coren said. “And so I wanted to go to the source and change the culture.”
Although his work is classified as an advice column, he considers himself to be someone in the “business of culture change.” In his role as the “Climate Coach,” Coren seeks to reshape how traditional media engages with audiences, shifting from one-way reporting to fostering modern dialogue and community.
With only 31% of Americans expressing substantial trust in journalistic institutions, Coren conveys his goal to experiment with his column and begin building back trust.
“Legacy media has been very bad about having a conversation,” Coren said. “We’re very good about speaking to, but I would not say we’ve been very good at conversing. If you want to look at new media, it is a conversation. It is the journalist as the curator and the starter of conversations.”
By reframing climate action as a cultural and personal issue, Coren is carving out a space in journalism that feels both urgent and empowering.
“Climate Coach” offers something rare: the invitation not just to listen, but to participate.
Maundy Thursday April 17 7pm, Fellowship Hall
Good Friday April 18
6:30pm, Organ Prelude 7pm, Sanctuary
HOLY WEEK & EASTER AT GLENN Sunday, April 20 7:15am, Sunrise Service, Lawn 9:30am, Brunch, Fellowship Hall 11am, Sanctuary
For students, by students: Kannan, Santana develop app
Continued from Page 8
by Oxford’s campus: The entire app features Oxford-specific imagery. For example, the app logo includes Sox, a black-and-white cat that frequents the campus.
To Santana, ensuring Oxford remained central to the app’s design was one of the most enjoyable parts of the development process.
“Those little things that just make it Oxford-specific are the most fun to watch,” Santana said.
Kannan, who had little prior experience with app development, learned to code JavaScript and other coding languages to supplement Santana’s creative direction.
“I like coding it. So it was convenient, because he came up with the idea,” Kannan said.
CROSSWORD
New production delivers laughs, lacks plot
Continued from Page 8
Initially, Kannan and Santana went around campus to market the app’s release and inform friends and acquaintances about their creation. After allowing people to “play around” in the app’s development build, they began advertising Poxkit on a larger scale.
While the duo hopes to bring the app to the Atlanta campus by the beginning 0f 2026. But, no matter how big the app gets, they want to retain Poxkit’s current community-like feeling above all else.
“Oxford is known for having its close-knit community, and we just essentially want to bring that exact same feeling to other schools,” Santana said.
– Contact Anya Agarkar at anya.agarkar@emory.edu
7. Pageant garment
8. Spanish dictator Francisco
9. Red-nosed reindeer
10. Whispery YouTube videos
11. Greek X’s
12. Kit ___
13. Ave. crossers
21. Journey to Mecca
22. Row
25. “Balderdash!”
26. Run again, as a TV episode
27. Eyes
28. Earl Grey, e.g.
29. Suggest 30. Buffoon
31. Shuteye
32. Still breathing
33. Solo one
38. “___ It Be” (Beatles Song)
40. N.T. book after Galatians
41. The Mother of Dragons, in “A Game of Thrones”
44. Tricky situation
48. Like matryoshka dolls
49. Moo goo ___ pan
50. Hogwash
51. Apt deodorant brand for a Lumberjack
54. Inform
55. Flag down
56. Practice fight
57. Trial version
58. Kind
59. CT ___
60. Brontë heroine Jane
61. Driver’s lic. info
62. Single-stranded molecule
heavier issues, those crude jokes linger, rendering the messages futile.
Despite the women’s anti-sex crusade, “Lysistrata” is highly erotic. The costumes, wigs and props are vibrant and provocative.
The women wear blue wigs and cranberry dresses with spiral-patterned cones on their breasts, while the men sport cheetah coats and Harlem Globetrotters jerseys. Additionally, every male character has a form of accentuation drawing attention to their crotch, whether leather pouches, bananas, pickles or even plastic lightsabers.
These costumes draw attention to the overtly sexual nature of “Lysistrata” while providing the audience with necessary laughs. It is in these absurdist, over-thetop moments where “Lysistrata” succeeds.
While sex jokes can be tiring when you have heard 19 ways to describe genitalia, the actors and actresses obviously understand the obnoxiousness of the onslaught of innuendos.
No joke comes without a strange delivery.
Standing out throughout the play were Jolene (Noah Lian (23Ox, 25C)), Victoria (Alexis Crupi (28C)) and the Florida Senator (Lila Bakir (28C)), with their crass performances and comic timing allowing them to make the most of lines like “Chalamet’d a local Timothee.”
“Lysistrata” also boasts impressive, sophomoric music from Music Director Eugene Russel IV and Assistant Music Director Olivia Stanley (28C).
With minimal percussion alongside horns, adding low, reverie-like vibrations, the instruments accompany the various raps and songs. Among some of the gruffer vocals in the cast, actresses Dionna D. Davis and Crupi stand out throughout the play.
Their great singing, complemented by silly lyrics, gives a much needed power to verses rejoicing over gorgeous ladies or presenting woes of sexless living.
However, the script does not spend enough time developing its characters. In turn, the key narrative moments and character growth segments are entirely detached from the humor-focused scenes.
The results of the sex strike and the celebration that ensues at the strike’s conclusion should feel revelatory, but instead, they serve as a reminder that the senators, strikers and sex-starved are hollow figures built on nothing but gags.
Despite the actors’ prowess, their characters resemble what a 10-yearold would write if he accidentally saw an adult film.
Overall, “Lysistrata” is an empty comedy. Satirical elements regarding the power imbalance between men and women in ancient times drown beneath an onslaught of obscene lines.
Complexity and nuance are afterthoughts. The characters all feel like plot devices. Nevertheless, “Lysistrata” is not bad.
Most of the sex jokes are hilarious, whether it is watching men trying to conceal raging boners represented by blow-up toys or witnessing fake babies hurled across the stage.
Graduation
By ethaN altshul Crossword Desk
This humor saves “Lysistrata,” but the fundamental lack of structure is ever-present.
The best parts of the play come when the script ditches the poorly written drama and fully leans into the cartoonish nature of this alternate world.
When the humor peaks, the cast is so animated and vulgar that it is reminiscent of shows aired on Adult Swim like “The Boondocks” (20052014) or even a highly elongated cutaway bit like in “Family Guy” (1999-).
A peak moment in the play, exemplifying the resemblance to these shows, is when Lucy tasks Jolene with making Jolene’s husband, Ryder (Chase Brown (27C)), join their cause.
Here, Brown gives the show’s standout performance — his comedic chops shine through the chiseled frame of a cowboy desperate to recover his cowgirl.
At its worst, “Lysistrata” is middling, bordering on unfunny. Any director would have difficulty dealing with such a lackluster script, but Krausen makes do with what she is given.
Though “Lysistrata” has its fair share of issues, its problems are partially masked by its ridiculous and sultry humor.
Any Emory student who is looking to laugh out loud for two hours and is comfortable with a remarkable amount of penis quips will find “Lysistrata” great.
But do not bring the aforementioned 10-year-old — he might get the wrong idea.
– Contact Noble Garcia at noble.garcia@emory.edu
CourteSy of Samuel Santana Samuel Santana (26Ox) focused on developing the creative direction of Poxkit.
CourteSy of dhar Shini K annan Dharshini Kannan (26Ox) taught herself how to make the code of Poxkit.
Hawks finish regular season strong, fall in first play-in game
By Clément lee Senior Editor
The Atlanta Hawks lost 120-95 to the Orlando Magic in their first playin game on Tuesday night following a win against them to end the regular season on Sunday. The Hawks entered the SoFi play-in game with an overall play-in record of 3-1 since the inception of the format in 2020.
The Magic built a sizable lead in the first half and led by as many as 22 points. The Hawks struggled from three and finished the first half down 61-47. The team shot 40% while guard Trae Young shot 27% from the field.
The Hawks clawed their way back to contention after a slow scoring output from the Magic in the third quarter. A layup from Hawks guard Caris LeVert with three minutes left in the quarter cut the Magic’s lead to 71-68.
A 17-foot jump shot and dunk from forward Wendell Carter Jr. helped the Magic gain momentum for the rest of the game. Guard Cole Anthony’s 13 points in the fourth quarter added to the scoring production, while the Magic maintained their lead and won the game.
The Hawks still have the chance to keep their playoff hopes alive and will face the winner of the play-in game between the Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat to determine the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference on April 14.
Hawks bench unit shines in last regular season game
In a press conference prior to Sunday’s game, Hawks head coach Quin Snyder emphasized that the team’s development this season was thanks to a collective effort by the players instead of individual performances.
Forward Jalen Johnson had a breakout year before going down with a season-ending injury in late January, averaging 18.9 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.0 assists a game this season. Guard Dyson Daniels led the NBA in deflections and deflections per game, while Young earned an AllStar selection as an injury replacement for Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo.
The Hawks entered the last game of the regular season against the Magic on April 13 on a two-game win streak. Despite it being Fan Appreciation Day, both teams knew their seeding before the game. As a result, they used the game as an opportunity to rest their players. Although key players such as Young and forward Paolo Banchero were put on inactive lists, Risacher remained a starter.
Synder added to this sentiment in a press conference prior to the game and said that the Hawks were more focused on Tuesday’s play-in game against the Magic and saw the opportunity to prepare for the postseason
strategically.
“Over the course of last week, this game could’ve taken a lot of different shapes had we won in Orlando, either one of us dropped a game, missed a game, whatever the case may be,” Snyder said.
The first quarter began with guard Keaton Wallace leading the point, dishing it to wing Terance Mann for the first bucket of the game. Magic forward Jonathan Isaac had a strong start with six points and two blocks in the quarter. Despite shooting poorly from three, the Magic capitalized on the Hawks’ turnover errors and kept the game close early. Toward the end of the quarter, the Magic committed three more turnovers and forward Vít Krejčí hit two three-pointers, giving the Hawks a seven-point lead.
The Magic continued committing turnovers in the second quarter, while Hawks players such as guard Daeqwon Plowden and forwards Garrison Mathews and Jacob Toppin sank shots from deep. The Magic eventually found their groove and cut the Hawks’ lead from 10 to two after scoring contributions from veteran guard Gary Harris and forward Tristan da Silva.
An alley-oop dunk from Wallace to forward Dominick Barlow reenergized the Hawks. A few plays later, Garrison Matthews went for a three, was fouled and converted the free throw, for a four-point play. The
Star pitcher leads softball to postseason
from Back Page
that same season and being named an All-State First Team Pitcher as a junior. While she is not the most vocal player, usually allowing her play to speak for itself, Duford has become a leader this season for a young roster that sports 16 underclassmen, according to second-year head coach India Chiles.
She said Duford’s quiet leadership is a driving force behind the team’s success this year.
“She’s not the type of leader that’s gonna get in someone’s face or even be too loud in the dugout,” Chiles said. “But everyone sees her work ethic. Everyone sees her attention to detail. Her ability to hit her spots on the mound is something I’ve never seen of any pitcher that I’ve been a part of a program, playing and coaching.”
Duford has taken herself to new heights throughout her Emory career with the help of her coaches, according to Chiles. The star pitcher said working with Emory’s new pitching coach Katie Griffith has improved her technique, while building close bonds with her teammates has helped the mental aspect of her game.
“I’ve become a lot more expressive on the field and a lot more emotionally involved in all the games that we play,” Duford said. “A big part of that is how close our team has gotten this year. Without that bond with all my
teammates — all of us wanting each other to do well — I don’t think that we would be winning as many games as we have.”
Duford has also shown an ability to persevere and overcome roadblocks. In her first game on the mound against Drew University (N.J.) at the Division III Ulili Softball Invitational in Hawaii, Duford scattered an uncharacteristic three earned runs over four innings, giving up three walks to go with three hits. The team rallied around Duford and won the game 7-6 after a tworun seventh inning.
Duford then bounced back in the second half of the doubleheader against Drew, giving up zero hits over 2.1 innings in relief. Two days later, she fully returned to form against SUNY Oneonta (N.Y.), allowing only three hits over five scoreless innings in an 11-0 win.
Chiles credited the Hawaii trip as the turning point for the team this season, teaching them to play to win rather than not to lose. She said Duford’s resilience in Hawaii and her ability to thrive in uncomfortable situations catalyzed that response.
“She’s just that warrior athlete that didn’t like that uncomfortable feeling, did what she needed to do to bounce out of it, and she has been flawless since,” Chiles said.
As a student-athlete balancing softball with pre-med aspirations, Duford has learned how to manage being successful both on the field
Hawks finished the first half with a 12-point lead over the Magic. da Silva and Mathews scored 11 points and eight points, respectively, leading the game in scoring. Both teams struggled with turnovers as the Hawks ended with nine and the Magic with 10.
Entering the second half, the Hawks went with a much different lineup. Toppin and Krejčí substituted in for Risacher and forward Mouhamed Gueye, who did not play for the rest of the game. With strong performances from Wallace and Mann in the first four minutes of the third quarter, the Hawks built a comfortable 15-point lead with a score of 73-58. Following poor shooting from the Hawks, the Magic cut the lead to single digits after defensive and offensive contributions from Isaac and guard Anthony Black. The Hawks rebounded their way back to a 92-84 lead before the fourth quarter.
The Hawks added to their lead with a series of stops, which led to multiple fastbreak opportunities. With 3:40 left in the fourth quarter, Plowden made a three, giving Atlanta a 20-point lead.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Hawks won the game 117-105, thanks to a strong showing from their bench. The 2024-25 Hawks finished the regular season with a record of 40-42, a four-game improvement over their record last season.
and off of it. This past summer, Duford took an observership at a hospital in Atlanta to gain research experience for her career. However, since everybody on the team had left Emory for the offseason, including her catcher, she knew she would need to find a different way to practice.
“I would go to the field probably three, four times a week and just throw into one of the nets,” Duford said. “A lot of this has to do with wanting to be there for all your teammates and knowing that they depend on you and that they need you to put in the work just as much as you want yourself to put in the work so that you do well the next season.”
Chiles said that Duford’s willingness to practice over the summer, even without her teammates to help her, highlights her commitment to her game.
“She found a way to get better all on her own when no one else was around,” Chiles said. “She was determined to come back and be her best, instead of waiting around for those ideal opportunities when someone could train with her.”
Duford’s determination is evident even when she’s not on the mound. Chu said Duford’s willingness to support her teammates proves that she understands the role of being a leader.
“When she does get taken out, she never has an attitude about it,” Chu said. “She’s always there cheering people on. Even when she doesn’t start a game, she’s always there cheering. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her not cheer.”
Duford eventually plans to go into the medical field, but this spring, she is dedicated to leading her team to victories. Chiles said Duford is devoted to helping the team make a deep playoff run this season.
“She’s totally bought into everything,” said Chiles. “There’s no question, she is here to get to the postseason and here to compete for a national championship.”
— Contact Sukhroop Singh at sukhroop.singh@emory.edu
Wallace filled up the stat sheet in the final outing and ended the game with a triple-double, scoring 15 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds. Mann led scoring for the Hawks with 19 points. Snyder said that the game and Wallace’s performance were indicative of their efforts this season and that they can always strive to be better.
Regarding his triple-double, Wallace said he was not thinking about his individual performance and instead wanted to end the regular season on a high note. The game marked Wallace’s last of the season because the NBA prohibits players signed to two-way contracts from playing in the playoffs.
“I knew it was going to be our last game of the season,” Wallace said. “I just wanted to go out, play hard, make sure we was playing the right way and get a dub.”
When reflecting on the regular season, Krejčí said that his teammates’ collective growth led them to where they are today.
“From where we started and with the development we had, a lot of guys got a lot better throughout the year,” Krejčí said. “You can see that on the paper and you can see it on the court. That’s been amazing how we approached this season with this development.”
— Contact Clément Lee at clement.lee@emory.edu
Golf teams looking forward to NCAA Championships
Continued from Back Page
Sept. 22-23, 2024, and the Tartan Invitational tournament from Oct. 7-8, 2024.
Emory has also been gaining momentum throughout the spring.
From March 21-23, the Eagles made their way to St. Simon Island, Ga., for the Jekyll Island Women’s Invitational, where they placed first out of 24 teams. The tournament came down to the final putt, which Dong said gave way to the team’s most exciting moment of the season.
“We were second and then after the final round, we won by one shot,” Dong said. “That’s really the highlight moment so far of the season because it was so close. After I saw my teammate finish her last putt, we knew that we won a tournament only by one, which is definitely happy and exciting.”
The team competed in the Max and Susan Stith Invitational tournament from March 31-April 1 in Glen Allen, Va., where they placed third.
Additionally, the Eagles placed first in their April 13-14 tournament, the Deb Jackson Invitational.
Junior Katie Park said the team has benefited from the support of the coaching staff, consisting of Fernandes and assistant coach Heidi Mitchell. Park said they are dependable and assist with problems on and off the course.
“Our coaches are mentors,” Park said. “Someone you can always go to no matter your situation, whether it be golf or your life or school. I know they’re always there for me, always have my back.”
As the team prepares for the NCAA Championships beginning on May 13, Dong said the Eagles are aiming for a “great finish” to cap off their season. However, she said the team is going to keep their routine consistent and maintain the lighthearted environment they have had all season.
— Contact Alex Waryn at alex.waryn@emory.edu
Continued
Courtesy of ellen Dong
The Emory University women’s golf team poses for a team photo.
Courtesy of M aCkenzie Dufor D Mackenzie Duford meets with teammates on the pitching mound.
The Emory Wheel
Sports
Boon leaping to new heights in historic individual track season
By Charles segal
Contributing Writer
Graduate student and multi-event athlete Nikki Boon had an unforgettable indoor track season this year.
Boon became the first woman at the Division III level to reach 4,000 points in the indoor pentathlon at the NCAA Division III Indoor Track and Field Championships and the second Emory University athlete ever to win an individual indoor national championship. Her record-breaking performance included first-place finishes in the 60-meter hurdles and shot put and top-three finishes in another three events. Boon said she hopes to avoid injuries and carry this momentum through the final stretch of the outdoor season.
“I opened up outdoor season really well as well, so that just came off of indoors, and it was great,” Boon said. “Hopefully I can keep improving and score even more points.”
Boon credits much of her success to her work with Emory University Track and Field assistant coach Jessica Fritsche. She said she works with Fritsche throughout the indoor and outdoor seasons to improve both her performance on the track and her mental approach.
“We’ve just been working really hard on mental health and just staying positive, and honestly, just having fun,” Boon said. “I went into nationals with a mindset like, ‘Oh
SOFTBALL
I’m excited to be here, and I’m ready to compete and I’m just excited to have fun,’ and I think it shows in the results.”
Last year, in her first season at Emory after competing at Coastal Carolina University (S.C.) as an undergraduate, Boon had plenty of success, scoring a second-place finish in the pentathlon at the Indoor Track and Field Championships. This season, Fritsche said Boon has focused on consistency in her training which helped her immensely in earning the national championship this season.
“When you improve in that way as an athlete, then your practices end up being better, and then your competition ends up being better,” Fritsche said. “She really now loves what she does. She enjoys every moment, enjoys the process, and it’s just made the experience so much better.”
Boon’s teammate, graduate student sprinter Eva Carchidi, said she is a “natural leader” because of her athletic ability and positive impact on other team members.
“She’s just a really great teammate,” Carchidi said. “Everyone just looks up to her as a person and as an athlete. She’s always just super supportive, she knows what everyone has going on. She wants the best for everyone and wants to get the best out of them.”
Boon and Carchidi ran together on the 4x400 meter relay that earned fifth place at the indoor champion-
Mackenzie Duford in the midst of dominant season
By sukhroop singh Contributing Writer
As the Emory University softball tea m’s season comes to a close, the team has built an impressive 24-6 record and has established itself as the No. 18 NCAA Division III softball team. A huge reason for the Eagles’ success has been star junior pitcher Mackenzie Duford, who holds an 11-2 record this year. Duford has notched a 1.36 ERA this season and has held opposing batters to a stifling .208 batting average, while giving up only 14 earned runs over her 17 appearances.
Success is nothing new for Duford. As a freshman on a depleted 2023 team that only had 10 people on its roster, Duford threw a staggering 132.2 innings over 23 appearances and still managed to notch an impressive 2.43 ERA. In 2023,
her 13 wins and 71 strikeouts were fourth and sixth, respectively, in the University Athletic Association. Last season, Duford compiled a 3.63 ERA for a 9-6 record, her 56 strikeouts that season again ranking sixth in the conference.
Junior outfielder Ashley Chu praised Duford’s reliability and said she can “always go to her” for problems on or off the field.
“She has always come across as dependable,” Chu said. “She’s very level-headed. When she’s put in a situation where it’s stressful, she comes through basically every single time.”
Coming from Seminole, Fla., Duford arrived at Emory after being the captain of her high school softball team her senior year, earning AllCounty First Team Pitcher honors
See DUFORD, Page 11
ships. Carchidi said her teammate knows how to boost the team’s spirits and prepare them for a race.
“She definitely can get very hype, very energetic,” Carchidi said. “But she also does bring a very confident and calm presence before, and I think she knows when to bring both of those out, and what teammates need which from her.”
In addition to being a leader during competitions, Boon has impacted the program as a whole. Fritsche said in her short time at Emory, she has embraced being a role model for many younger athletes.
“When you are good and you are performing really well, you have these younger athletes that are coming in and being like, ‘I want to be like her,’” Fritsche said. “She has made such a big difference in our program, especially on the women’s side, of building those relationships with the freshmen, with the sophomores, and being not just a good example, but just helping guide them.”
While Boon looks to finish the rest of the outdoor season strong, Fritsche said Boon has already cemented her Emory legacy.
“She’s someone we look at, as coaches, as a leader for this program,” Fritsche said. “And someone who’s really made a huge difference in her short time here.”
— Contact Charles Segal at charles.segal@emory.edu
Emory golf wraps up standout seasons
By alex Waryn Contributing Writer
While Augusta’s fairway is drawing the eyes of golf fans everywhere for the Masters Tournament, the Emory University men’s and women’s golf teams are making their own mark this season, minus the crowds, the azaleas and, of course, the pimento cheese sandwiches. But do not let that fool you—Emory’s golfers are in the swing of things as they prepare to wrap up their regular season and head to the NCAA Division III Championships. The men’s team is currently sitting at No. 3 in the Golf Coaches Association of America rankings, while the women’s team was ranked No. 2 in the most recent Women’s Golf Coaches Association poll.
The men’s team started their season strong in the fall by capturing the 22nd University Athletic Association (UAA) Championship in program history from Sept. 9-10, 2024. Junior Brian Hanson was named UAA Tournament MVP and named to the All-Tournament team alongside senior Michael Burry and freshman Zach Pelzar. The Eagles followed that performance with a dominant first-place finish at the Flower City Preview in Penfield, N.Y., from Sept. 22-23, 2024, which saw the Eagles shoot a combined 833, the second-best three-round score in program history.
The Flower City Preview was held at the same location as the upcoming NCAA Championships, giving
the top Division III teams a chance to familiarize themselves with the course and see how they fare against other top teams. Burry said the team’s strong performance boosted their confidence heading into the championships.
“The guys we took played great, and we just kind of blew other teams out of the water,” Burry said. “It’s giving us a ton of confidence going into the national championship that we’re a team that can play well there. I know it’s given me a lot of confidence that in a month, I’ll be able to perform.”
The team has continued to have success more recently, including a fourth-place finish at the Tiger Invitational in early March, a thirdplace finish at the Jekyll Island Collegiate Invitational from March 21-23 and a runner-up performance at the Capitol City Classic in Montgomery, Ala. from April 7-8.
Sophomore Dustin Miller said that head coach John Sjoberg and assistant coach Sarah Butler, who joined the team in January, have helped his game by setting him up for success in practices.
“They did a good job facilitating the growth of my game,” Miller said. “Now I know what part of my game in particular I need to work on every time I go practice.”
In addition to their performance and preparation on the course, the team also has a great dynamic, which aids their success. Burry said that, as a senior, the team environment is what he will miss the most after
graduating.
“This year especially, we have a really great group of guys,” Burry said. “It’s not gonna be so much all the performance-based things that we did, but driving to qualifying together, getting food after qualifying — those are the really special moments with this team that I feel like I’m gonna miss the most.”
The Eagles will compete at the Discover DeKalb Invitational in Conyers, Ga. from April 19-20, their last tournament before the NCAA Championships begin on May 20. Burry said that despite feeling nostalgic about his college career coming to a close, he is putting his effort into helping the team finish strong.
“I’m really hoping that we can do something special up there,” Burry said. “I’m gonna work my tail off to make sure that we put ourselves in the best position for that tournament.”
The women’s team is also having a successful season, placing first in three events this season, including capturing the program’s third UAA title in the past four seasons, and the first under head coach Liz Fernandes, to start the season. Freshman Zimo Li earned UAA Tournament MVP and made the All-Tournament team with senior Ellen Dong and sophomore Carys Code.
The Eagles followed that performance with consecutive first-place finishes at the Montgomery Women’s Intercollegiate tournament from
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Courtesy of eva CarChiDi
Graduate multi-event athlete Nikki Boon runs around the track at the NCAA DIII Indoor Track and Field Championships.
GOLF
Coursety of M aCkenzie Dufor D
Junior pitcher Mackenzie Duford deals pitch at Cooper Field.