The Emory Wheel Since 1919
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Volume 107, Issue 10
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Wednesday, September 23, 2026
U.S. News & World Report ranks Emory No. 23 Augostini earns $3.9 million in in National Universities, a rise from last year 2024, according to tax filing By Irene John News Editor
Sasha Emmerich/Image Editor
By Eileen Zhu Senior Staff Writer Emory University ranked No. 23 in the U.S. News & World Report’s (USNWR) 2027 “Best Colleges” ranking for national universities, rising one spot from No. 24 last year. Emory tied with Georgetown University (D.C.) at No. 23. USNWR ranked Emory No. 20 in 2016, with the ranking falling in the following years. The University ranked No. 21 in 2017, No. 22 in 2022 and No. 24 from 2023 through 2026. Last year, Emory tied with Georgetown University (D.C.) at No. 24. This year, both universities moved up to No. 23.
The Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing rose one spot to No. 1 in the “Best Bachelor of Science in Nursing” ranking. USNWR also ranked Goizueta Business School’s undergraduate program No. 15 on its “Best Undergraduate Business” ranking, falling three spots from its No. 12 ranking last year. USNWR also ranked Emory No. 19 for the “Best Value” school, rising two spots from No. 21 last year. Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Badia Ahad praised Emory’s faculty, students and staff whose work contributed to the University’s achievements, particularly in undergraduate teaching and best value.
“These distinctions reflect our commitment to ensuring that talented students from every background can access an exceptional education, learn from extraordinary faculty, and receive the support they need to flourish at Emory and beyond,” Ahad said. Ahad wrote that the rankings are a measure of Emory’s progress and emphasized the University’s focus on academic excellence. “I believe deeply that the caliber of Emory’s academic enterprise, and our potential for even greater distinction, call us to keep raising our ambitions,” Ahad said.
— Contact Eileen Zhu at eileen.zhu@emory.edu
During his tenure as executive vice president and chief operating officer, Emory University paid University President Christopher Augostini approximately $3.9 million in reportable direct compensation in tax year 2024, according to Emory’s financial disclosure report. The Internal Revenue Service requires tax-exempt organizations like Emory to file an annual Form 990 to disclose their finances, operations and highest-paid employees. The University’s tax filing covers the fiscal year from Sept. 1, 2024 to Aug. 31, 2025. Emory’s Board of Trustees selected Augostini as the 22nd University president and announced his appointment in a community-wide email on May 28. He succeeded Interim University President Leah Ward Sears (80L) on Sept. 1., who had led the University for one year after Fenves transitioned from president to university chancellor in September 2025. During the tax period, Augostini served as Emory’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. The University paid him $3,879,842, including $1,474,735 in base pay, $756,667 from related organizations, $300,000 in bonuses and $1.35 million in other reportable compensation. The total includes $1,161,590 in deferred compensation
that Emory reported in prior years and paid after it vested in 2024. Emory also provided Augostini with $392,179 in retirement contributions and nontaxable benefits, making his total compensation package $4.27 million. In the same period, Fenves, then university president, received $2,344,632, including $1.76 million in base compensation and $408,000 in bonuses and $175,000 in other reportable compensation. Fenves earned around $3.02 million, including retirement contributions and additional benefits. Former Executive Vice President for Health Affairs at Emory University and Vice Chair of the Emory Healthcare Board of Directors Dr. Ravi Thadhani earned the highest income, with the University and its related organizations paying him $5.34 million in reportable compensation, including retirement and benefits. Thadhani left his positions at Emory on July 1, 2025, but remains an adjunct professor in Emory's Department of Medicine. Augostini’s reportable compensation exceeds that of leaders at several peer institutions. The University of Michigan will pay its presidentelect C. Cybele Raver $2 million, while Georgetown University (D.C.) paid former President John DeGioia approximately $1.7 million.
— Contact Irene John at irene.john@emory.edu
AI Strategist Jeff Ruhnow shares impact of AI on job market, education By Siya Kumar Managing Editor As students and faculty around the country begin to feel the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom and job market, nearly 50 Emory University community members gathered in White Hall on Sept. 22 to hear Jeff Ruhnow lecture on how to adapt to AI’s impacts on the professional world. Ruhnow leads AI strategy at Francisco Partners and is a former Principal Architect at Amazon. Ruhnow called AI a “disruption” to the economy for its tendency to change the job market. More broadly, he began by noting that previous generations have also experienced forms of changes due to technology. From the dot-com boom to the shift from agriculture to machine-based labor during the Industrial Revolution, Ruhnow said that the need to adapt to innovations is not new. However, he emphasized that the speed of AI's evolution has made it more difficult to adapt to than previous advancements. “It impacts the next generation with what they would be doing, and this is where most of the change occurs,” Ruhnow said. “With our change today, it’s going to act a little bit differently.”
When discussing concerns about employment after graduation, Ruhnow said the downward shift in undergraduate employment rates began before generative AI was released to the general public in November 2022. According to him, private-sector employment has remained relatively stable as the market has not responded to changes in productivity. “COVID is where the unemployment rate of graduates versus the broader market inverted,” Ruhnow said. He also explained French mathematician Gaspard de Prony’s concept of the division of labor in three rooms. The first room includes high-level thinkers, the second includes problem solvers, and the third room includes executors. Ruhnow noted that AI cannot complete the high-level thinking work that occurs in room one. For him, the work in room one involves conducting abductive reasoning — a type of logic that works backward from an unexpected observation to find the most likely explanation — based on how a current market works. Although AI can look at the results of a specific action, Ruhnow argued that AI cannot replace the innovative processes behind creating those hypotheses. “What is a business? An abduc-
tive hypothesis,” Ruhnow said. “Every business is an abductive hypothesis about what the world needs, and it continues to follow the same pattern, despite the reasoning falling to almost zero.” Ruhnow said AI fails to create abductive hypotheses because it cannot work backward from an observation to find the action that led to it. AI can only look at a multitude of possibilities and find the statistically most likely result, which Ruhnow believes creates a large margin for error in AI’s problem-solving capabilities. “They often make very large mistakes because they presume a level of expertise and awareness that they don’t actually have,” Ruhnow said. Whether AI will or will not replace high-level human work, Ruhnow shared concerns that it will make companies less likely to hire younger candidates, preventing people from developing the abductive skills they need to work effectively with AI. He believes that the market will create new roles that train graduates to complete higher-level work. “Does the world become unemployed? It does not,” Ruhnow said. “We define new ways of thinking about problems.”
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Alejandra Saavedra (28C) shared that as an economics and math joint major, she left the talk with a stronger understanding of the impacts AI is having on her job search. “I really like that he was a little bit optimistic, and there’s been a lot of technological revolutions and that people have been employed before and after,” Saavedra said. “It just looks very different.” Saavedra said that many students use AI to help improve their job applications. She noted that many prestigious internship positions have had to close their applications early due to the influx of applicants. “It’s helping people just get more applications in everywhere,” Saavedra said. “It’s making it more competitive.” Professor of Economics Elena Pesavento, who helped plan the event, talked about the burdensome impact that AI is having on universities and the teaching process. “We have to restructure a lot of our classes and change a lot of the way we teach,” Pesavento said. Pesavento also shared her concerns that student dependence on AI is creating a “cognitive gap” where students use AI to replace the learning process. Pesavento is teaching a class called
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“Economist's Guide to Thinking with AI,” where she hopes to give students the resources to use the technology effectively. “Ultimately, it’s going to be up to the students themselves to decide how much they want to delegate and where are they going to … keep the process for themselves,” Pesavento said. Aire Thamthiwat (27B) similarly said that the talk made her more optimistic about the impact AI is having on the job market. Working as an investment banking intern in Thailand over the past summer, Thamthiwat learned how companies are incorporating AI to review valuations and create models. “Although some of the jobs are disrupted by AI, a lot of the jobs are created because of AI,” Thamthiwat said. For Thamthiwat, one of her main goals when using AI is to use it effectively. She believes that Emory should hold more conversations that teach students about how to use AI as a tool. “It is very important for you to not let AI do the job for you,” Thamthiwat said. “AI has a lot of limitations. It is you who uses AI, don’t let AI use you.”
— Contact Siya Kumar at siya.kumar2@emory.edu
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The Emory Wheel
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
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60th SGA leadership discusses improvements to student experience for upcoming semester By Tori Mooney SGA Desk Following an Emory University Student Government Association (SGA) special election on March 27, former Oxford College Student Government President Jack Steffen (26Ox) defeated former College Council President and current SGA Speaker of the Legislature Vlad Senenko (27C) to win the 2026 SGA presidential election. Less than two months later, Steffen announced his transfer to Yale University (Conn.) in a social media post. Then-SGA Executive Vice President Naomi Nelson (29C) and then-SGA Speaker of the Legislature Alette HahnHansen (29C) invoked the line of succession and assumed office as president and executive vice president. Now several weeks into the new semester, Nelson shared that one of the 60th SGA’s main priorities is representing student perspectives to University administration. “SGA is meant to be the liaison between the student body and administration,” Nelson said. “The things that we do are more so focused on making sure that student voices are heard in spaces that not every student can be.” HahnHansen said one of her goals for the 60th SGA is to prioritize the student experience. “When we look at Emory as an institution, we have these great academics, we have all these great campus resources, but we don’t necessarily focus in on the student experience the way that we should,” HahnHansen said.
One of the 60th SGA’s first actions was creating a Signature Event Fund. SGA launched the Signature Event Fund in July to support events that Belonging and Community Justice (BCJ) previously financed, before BCJ faced University-level funding cuts. “We saw a gap where the University was no longer supporting these students, and we took that and made sure that every student organization was able to have the events that they want,” HahnHansen said. SGA Vice President of Finance Richard Formica (28B) wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel that SGA granted money from the Signature Event Fund to approximately 60 student organizations. SGA allocated $141,200 for Signature Events and $58,200 through the mini-grant program for clubs planning to start new events. To be eligible for funding from the Signature Event Fund, a student organization must have hosted the same event for at least five consecutive years, have demonstrated attendance of at least 150 participants and be open to all undergraduate students. Mini-grant funds are available for any events open to all undergraduate students. Formica wrote that he plans to propose a Student Activity Fund (SAF) increase to support the continuation of the Signature Event Fund program. Students must approve proposed SAF increases in a referendum. SGA’s work on the Signature Event Fund sparked ideas to further address club funding concerns, according to Nelson.
“We realized that there was this gap between what clubs were being able to have because departments were pulling back, which was really unfortunate,” Nelson said. “We were able to talk with some department directors, and they told us that they were just not receiving the funding that they used to have.” Nelson added that SGA hopes to find more sustainable ways to secure funding for student organizations as departments reduced funding for clubs. “We’re asking student organizations to stay focused on the fact that these departments are pulling back,” Nelson said. “Don’t look away from that and think that it’s okay for that to happen, because it’s not. These departments are here on campus to help students.” Additionally, Nelson said SGA is revising its governing documents to improve “clarity and conciseness,” especially for non-SGA members less familiar with its policies. SGA’s governing documents outline the organization’s rules and regulations, including the Finance Code, Code of Elections and Rules of Legislature. When the SGA Constitutional Council ordered a special election for the vacant SGA presidential role in March, the council recommended that the SGA Elections Board update the SGA Elections Code and Constitution to avoid “future ambiguity.” In an email to the Wheel, SGA Attorney General Lauren Wald (25Ox, 27C) wrote that the previous SGA administration passed a bill to clarify prior inconsistencies, reformat several governing documents and codify
the new roles of deputy attorney general and vice president of the Peer Advocate Office. Wald added that SGA plans to continue this work in the current administration. “This year, a Governing Documents committee has been assembled to continue to address remaining inconsistencies across the Governing Documents,” Wald wrote. During its Sept. 21 legislative session, SGA passed bills establishing standing joint sustainability and student concern committees. These committees will be open to undergraduate students not part of SGA, consisting of the vice presidents of each committee, two members of the SGA student legislature and at least three undergraduate students selected through an application process. Co-Vice President of Student Concerns and Experience Hadassa Toussaint (29C) said she and fellow bill authors decided to propose the joint student concern committee to increase communication between SGA and the student body. “We were really motivated because we saw a need, a gap between student concerns and them reaching SGA,” Toussaint said. “We do have student concern forms, and we do have the online forms, but they’re a little bit hard to reach.” Co-Vice President of Sustainability Anissa Patel (27C) said the joint sustainability committee hopes to work with the Emory Climate Coalition to bring together environmentallyfocused clubs on campus. “We’re hoping to work with [sustainability clubs] to set priorities for figuring out what each club’s niche
is, what they can do, and what their initiatives should be and then what the coalition’s initiative should be as a group,” Patel said. In an email to the Wheel, Senenko wrote that SGA plans to increase the overall role of committees in its work. “This year we are moving to formalize [SGA legislators’] involvement, as well as the involvement of the student body in the work that we do by establishing formal committees that are composed of members of the executive, legislature, and students,” Senenko wrote. “The students will be able to see the impact of this work, as we are also going to provide substantive reports accessible to the student body.” Senenko also encouraged students to share their ideas with SGA by getting involved. “We’re always looking for people for a range of positions, and there’s always something you can contribute,” Senenko wrote. “You can write and submit a bill yourself, join a committee as a student member, or reach out to your divisional representatives.” Similarly, Nelson said that SGA welcomes opportunities to hear directly from students. SGA plans to begin posting summaries of passed legislation on social media following General Body Meetings, according to Nelson. “I want students to know that SGA is approachable,” Nelson said. “We’re in this position because we want to be the voices for students, so please come up to us.”
— Contact Tori Mooney at tori.mooney@emory.edu
Lipstadt establishes institute to educate future leaders on antisemitism By Ellie Mukamal
and Sophia Rodkin
Contributing Writers Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies Deborah Lipstadt, who served as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, founded the Emory Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism (EPICA) in September. The institute aims to educate students and faculty on how governments and institutions can address antisemitism and its effects on Jewish communities. The program plans to launch its fellowship in January 2027. The institute has three main priorities that focus on scholarship, policy and education. EPICA plans to combine academic research on antisemitism with public policy, allowing the Emory community to engage with policymakers and other leaders. Former U.S. President Joe Biden named Lipstadt as the U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism in 2021, a position she held until 2025. Throughout her career, Lipstadt has taught, conducted research, written books and defended herself in a trial against a Holocaust denier. Lipstadt wanted her takeaway from her time in the U.S. State Department to be more than “just coming home and telling interesting stories” to friends and students, which inspired her to pitch an antisemitism institute to Emory. “I turned to Emory College, and I proposed this idea,” Lipstadt said. “They loved it.”
Program fellows will have the opportunity to attend around five seminars led by Lipstadt, conduct research, meet with policymakers and leaders in Washington, D.C. and intern for eight weeks at an EPICA partner organization over the summer. “I’ve gotten tremendous support from the college and the provost’s office,” Lipstadt said. “They love the idea … of the wedding of a particular policy with academic rigor.” Emory Hillel Springboard Fellow Tessa Scharff said she appreciated Emory’s commitment to combating antisemitism in the current political climate. “It’s one thing to hear about something,” Scharff said. “It’s another thing to see in action, to get that exposure. It builds a perspective and hearing about things is one thing, but when you see something in person, it helps [students] learn how to take action.” Lipstadt echoed the importance of hands-on learning, describing how her own experience with the U.S. government transformed her perspective on antisemitism. “Take my own experience,” Lipstadt said. “I knew a lot about antisemitism when I went into the State Department, but I didn’t know how it got translated into government policy.” For Lipstadt, the institute’s main goal is inclusivity, and she encouraged all students to apply regardless of their background. “This is a fellowship that is open to all students, irrespective of their political views, their ethnic or religious heritage or their field of study,” Lipstadt said. “We want as broad of a
Courtesy of Emory University
Deborah Lipstadt founded the Emory Policy Institute on Countering Antisemitism.
group as possible.” Jakob Kofsky (30C) said that as a Jewish student, the opportunity to learn about and make an effort to curb antisemitism in both the Emory community and in Washington, D.C. is important to him. “I do care a lot about public policy,” Kofsky said. “That’s the way we make the most impact, especially in the U.S. with our political system.” Kofsky said the appeal of using public policy to address antisemitism makes the program a compelling opportunity. “It’s super important to raise awareness, but until things become set in policy, they can change,” Kofsky said.
— Contact Ellie Mukamal at ellie.mukamal@emory.edu and Sophia Rodkin at sophia.rodkin@emory.edu
The Emory Wheel Volume 107, Issue 10 © 2026 The Wheel Publishing Company Alumni Memorial University Center, Room 401 630 Means Drive, Atlanta, GA, 30322 Business (404) 727-6178 Editors-in-Chief Jack Rutherford and Lauren Yee editorinchief@emorywheel.com
Founded in 1919, The Emory Wheel is the financially and editorially independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University in Atlanta. The Wheel is a member publication of Media Council, Emory’s organization of student publications. The Wheel reserves the rights to all content as it appears in these pages, and permission to reproduce material must be granted by the editor-in-chief. The statements and opinions expressed in the Wheel are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Wheel Editorial Board or of Emory University, its faculty, staff or administration. The Wheel is also available online at www.emorywheel.com.
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Wednesday, September 23, 2026
NEWS
The Emory Wheel
Professors examine implications of interest rate increase
Muhammad Faisal Hossain/Contributing Illustrator
By Alyson Harvey Politics Desk The U.S. Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point on Sept. 16, its first increase since 2023. The Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to raise the federal funds rate target range from 3.5% to 3.75% to a new range of 3.75% to 4%, effective Sept. 17. The Fed’s target interest rates can affect a diverse range of financial products, including the interest rates on credit cards, mortgages and car loans. Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of Economics and Associate Chair of the Economics Department Vivian Yue said the Fed’s decision makes sense
given its goal to keep inflation around 2%. “The labor market is doing very well,” Yue said. “The unemployment rate is 4.1%. That's near full employment actually…The data shows that the Fed should do something before the inflation gets out of control.” U.S. President Donald Trump nominated Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve after former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s term ended on May 15. Trump’s decision to nominate Warsh sparked speculation about the Fed’s impartiality after Trump denounced Powell’s decision to hold interest rates steady. However, Yue claimed that the Fed’s decision to raise interest rates rather than lower them depicts the Fed’s separation from
U.S. politics. “The recent action to raise the interest rate to 3.75% to 4% shows that the Fed has independence and shows that the Fed’s decision is data-driven,” Yue said. Teaching Professor of Economics Musa Ayar said higher interest rates will affect students by increasing tuition and the amount students will have to pay towards their loans. “Student interest rates can also be subsidized by the government, and they are actually to some degree,” Ayar said. “In other words, it will also be more expensive to go and get higher… education because that will be more expensive due to higher interest rates.” Professor and Director of the Master’s Programs in Economics Kaiji
Chen agreed, noting that private loan interest rates for post-secondary education would likely increase with the Fed’s action. “The federal student loan changes the interest rate every July, so if those students already have the student loan, that’s not gonna affect the interest rate in the coming couple of months, but for those students who actually take the private student loans…their cost of funds is gonna increase,” Chen said. Ayar also mentioned that interest rates are less likely to affect institutions with larger endowments, because they may be able to invest a greater percentage of their endowments into the bond market. Emory currently has the 13th largest endowment in the
country, which is currently valued at around $11,358,435,000. “They might be even in a better position because they can put some of their endowments into the same bond market, assuming that the interest rates are higher there,” Ayar said. Chen said that regardless of the Fed’s action, the economy is still in a great place. For him, interest rates may reduce inflationary pressure and support the U.S. economy overall. “The high interest rate definitely is somehow trying to cool down the economy a little bit, which on the good side may reduce the inflation pressure,” Chen said.
— Contact Alyson Harvey at alyson.harvey@emory.edu
Crime Report: Property damage, domestic violence, motor vehicle theft By George Segall Crime Desk Content warning: This article contains references to domestic violence and suicide. The Emory Wheel regularly meets with Emory Police Department (EPD) Commander of Emergency Communications Captain Leigh Vaughn and Communications Director of Campus Safety Morieka Johnson (94C, 24L). The Wheel uses EPD’s public crime log to inform the Emory University community about recent crime on and around Emory’s campuses. To report a crime, contact EPD at 404-727-6111 or police@emory.edu. Criminal damage to property on Clairmont Campus Officers responded on Sept. 13 at 3:10 p.m. to a report of property damage on Emory University’s Clairmont Campus. The victim got into a disagreement with their roommate on Sept. 12, which led the roommate to gather some personal belongings and move to emergency housing for the evening at 10 p.m. On Sept. 13 at 2 a.m., the victim observed that someone damaged her portable speaker and the kitchen ceiling light cover. Later that day, at
2 p.m., the victim noticed additional damage to her laptop, including several dents on the top and a broken screen. In total, EPD valued the property damage at around $1,300. No one observed anyone damaging the property. This is currently an ongoing investigation between Emory University Campus Life and EPD.
exiting the car and attending her appointment, she called the police. Her boyfriend had left the area, and EPD directed her to contact the City of Atlanta police, where she had previously reported a domestic violence incident with her boyfriend the night before. Police did not locate the subject or his vehicle, a black Kia Sorento, during the investigation that day.
Simple assault, false imprisonment, family violence battery at Emory Clinic Lowergate Parking Deck
Theft by taking of motor vehicle at Campus Crossings Briarcliff
EPD received a call at 2:38 p.m. on Sept. 15 in response to a domestic violence case at the Emory Clinic Lowergate Parking Deck between a couple unaffiliated with Emory. A woman arrived at the deck around 1:30 p.m. with her boyfriend for a doctor’s appointment. The woman mentioned that the pair got into an argument on the way there. The argument grew increasingly heated as the couple drove through the parking deck. When they reached the top level, her boyfriend sped through the deck toward a concrete barrier, leading her to believe he was going to drive off the edge. After the incident, the woman attempted to get out of the vehicle when the boyfriend grabbed her and pulled her back into the car. After
At approximately 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 15, EPD officers responded to a call of a stolen vehicle at Campus Crossings Briarcliff apartments. The victim, an Emory student, stated that they parked their car at about 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 14 and made sure it was locked before walking away. The victim returned to the parking deck on Sept. 15 at about 6:00 p.m. to discover their vehicle was no longer there. They checked every floor of the parking deck but could not locate the car. They then went to the leasing office to report the missing vehicle. The office assured the victim that their vehicle had not been towed or repossessed. EPD found no broken glass near the vehicle, making it unclear how the vehicle was broken into. The vehicle was a 2024 Honda Accord. The victim did not have any
Jack Rutherford/Editor-in-Chief
The Emory Police Department meets with The Emory Wheel weekly to report crimes and breaking news on campus. valuables inside the vehicle. EPD and Psychological Services at (404) notified Campus Life and is currently 727-7450. You can call the Emory working to obtain camera footage Police Department at (404) 727-6111. to review. EPD entered the vehicle You can reach the Georgia Suicide into the state and national systems Prevention Lifeline 24/7 at (800) as stolen. 273-TALK (8255) and the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24/7 at 988. You If you or someone you know is can reach Georgia’s domestic viohaving thoughts of self-harm or sui- lence statewide hotline 24/7 at (800) cide or experiencing abuse or domes- 334-2836. tic violence, you can call Student Intervention Services at (404) 430— Contact George Segall at 1120 or reach Emory’s Counseling george.segall@emory.edu
The Emory Wheel
Opinion
Fight remaining embers of BioLab fire By Josselyn St. Clair Staff Writer
Disaster engulfed Conyers, Ga. — a town 24 miles east of Atlanta and just 11 miles from Emory University’s Oxford College campus — on Sept. 29, 2024. A fire sparked in the BioLab, a pool chemical manufacturing facility located in the town, after a corroded sprinkler went off in the warehouse and triggered a reaction with several chemical compounds. The result was a plume of orange and black smoke that smothered Conyers, forcing many in the area to evacuate and others to shelter in place. After repeated protests from both Conyers and Atlanta residents and fines from the U.S. Department of Labor, the BioLab has since halted its manufacturing operations and has largely faded from public discussion. In spite of this, the larger Atlanta community must work to help Conyers residents in their larger fight for justice.
The smoke that drifted into Atlanta in 2024 reminds us that we, too, are vulnerable to the threats facing our neighboring areas.
Muhammad Faisal Hossain/Contributing Illustrator
Officially, no fatalities were reported as a result of the fire. However, Rockdale County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor and Conyers resident Kenny Johnson complained of shortness of breath during a speech at the Georgia State Capitol a few weeks following the incident. Soon after, he collapsed and was later pronounced dead as a result of acute respiratory failure. Johnson’s family has since filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the BioLab’s parent company, arguing that his respiratory failure
was the result of inhalation of toxic gases caused by the fire. Despite this tragedy, reporting still claims that the BioLab fire produced no immediate deaths, diluting the severity of the fire’s impact. With the possibility of similar cases to follow, reporting that the BioLab did not cause any fatalities without acknowledging Johnson’s death denies mourning families the basis for demanding accountability for their loved ones. Conyers residents filed a class action lawsuit against the BioLab in early October 2024, suing it for having been potentially exposed to toxic chemicals. Plaintiffs are demanding medical monitoring and financial compensa-
tion for medical bills, property damage and lost income due to the fire. While major law firm Morgan & Morgan appears to make it easy for victims to join this lawsuit, that process has deceptively become much more complicated. Clients were outraged to find out that Morgan & Morgan unexpectedly dropped all personal injury and non-property damage cases despite promising to represent prospective plaintiffs facing a variety of negative effects from the BioLab fire. Even though the lawsuit itself has not changed, Conyers residents believe that Morgan & Morgan is dropping these specific cases because they would be difficult to argue. It is
unacceptable that BioLab survivors, many of whom complain about debilitating health issues and financial consequences as a result of the event, are left scrambling for representation for claims meant to provide some relief from these issues. The Atlanta community cannot look away and assume that, just because this class action lawsuit is underway, Conyers residents will receive justice. Protest with the Conyers community and attend their city council meetings to know which issues are still at stake — do not let them fight alone. Frustratingly, the 2024 BioLab fire was not a unique incident that immediately triggered the facil-
ity’s closure and paved the way for a massive lawsuit. In the span of 20 years, the BioLab has caught fire four times and triggered several evacuations. Previous fires caused road closures and massive marine death in a nearby lake, but it took two decades of pressure from both the local community and national government to shutter the facility. However, this is not the only environmental issue Conyers faces. Currently, plans stand to construct a data center in Rockdale County, of which Conyers is the county seat. Conyers residents are rightfully fuming — after repeated environmental catastrophes, they should not have to neighbor a project that is likely to poison local water with toxic substances. This community is at risk of further environmental and health degradation, and we must work to ensure Conyers remains liveable. Two years later, the Atlanta community must recognize how the BioLab fire continues to hurt Conyers residents and should aid them in their fight for justice. With an average annual household income $20,000 lower than Atlanta’s, Conyers is a lower-income community that lacks the resources of its western neighbor. We must not allow companies like the BioLab to prey on Conyers’ vulnerable residents. This means standing up against the construction of new data centers in the area and other threats to this community. Do not allow our distance to present the illusion that metro Atlanta is safe from the physical and environmental threats taking place 24 miles away — the smoke that drifted into Atlanta in 2024 reminds us that we, too, are vulnerable to the threats facing our neighboring areas. Help our Conyers community to extinguish the last embers of this fire — otherwise, we all risk seeing smoke rise on the horizon again. — Contact Josselyn St. Clair at jmstcla@emory.edu
The Emory Wheel Volume 107 | Number 10
Jack Rutherford Editor-in-Chief
Lauren Yee Editor-in-Chief
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Wednesday, September 23, 2026
OPINION
The Emory Wheel
Extinguish wildfires through climate foreign policy By Kenan Bajraktarevic Staff Writer
When U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term began in 2025, his administration dismissed roughly 6,000 employees from the U.S. Forest Service, the federal agency responsible for wildfire prevention and suppression in America’s national forest lands. Now, more than half of polled wildland firefighters report inadequate staffing and low morale. This combination of severely limited firefighting capacity and rising global temperatures culminated this summer in images of overworked first responders battling fires of unprecedented strength — a crisis mirroring the extreme wildfires long seen elsewhere in North America and around the world. Our country has no choice but to remediate this crisis because we currently bear its costs. As Georgians, those costs are especially acute. It is no surprise that with a shrunk firefighting labor force, 68.1% of Georgia’s highrisk acres went untreated in 2025. As a result, this land — officially identified through wildfire risk modeling as most prone to dangerous fires — lacked critical preventative management such as prescribed burns and brush clearing. During the 2026 fiscal year, over 92,400 acres burned in Georgia. That is steeply higher than the 15,786 acres that burned on average from 2020 to 2025. While restoring our country’s firefighting capacity would treat the immediate threats of wildfires, preventing future devastation requires us to target one of main causes: global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, alongside addressing domestic climate policies, we must also exercise our country’s unique ability to shape cli-
mate action through foreign policy. Climate initiatives are inherently tied to international relations because carbon emissions respect no borders. Without penalties for climate inaction, however, individual states often avoid the expense of green policies and instead free-ride on the progress of other nations. Past climate agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol and Paris Agreement have failed because of this very issue. The United States controls the largest share of global household demand and can uniquely influence other countries’ approaches to emissions by leveraging international trade. By integrating climate policy with foreign policy, we can incentivize manufacturing nations to adopt stronger greenhouse gas controls.
Our generation cannot afford to let mainstream issues blind us to the flames affecting Georgia along with the rest of the world. Current momentum across the Atlantic offers a clear blueprint for action. We should abandon the voluntary participation mechanisms of past climate treaties and instead align American trade policy with that of the European Union (E.U.). On January 1, the E.U. introduced a Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) which adds a carbon tax on imported goods produced with high greenhouse gas emissions. By creating a “climate club” that initially would command 43.9%
of nominal global gross domestic product, the United States and E.U. could enforce carbon targets by levying tariffs on imported goods from noncompliant members. According to economic modeling by Nobel laureate William Nordhaus, when a bloc of this size cooperates to develop such tariffs, the penalty for failing to cut emissions becomes more expensive than the actual cost of cutting emissions. This club would incentivize non-club members to join and naturally implement their own domestic emissions reforms to maintain access to their most vital export destinations. The E.U. has largely done its part in this equation. It is now our turn. Democratic lawmakers, led by U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), are currently floating the Clean Competition Act, a CBAM proposal that levies a carbon fee on both domestic and foreign producers. It is true that products might cost more overall. But, just as we are willing to tolerate higher prices to support fair wages in foreign factories, a carbon fee ensures we account for the environmental impact of what we buy. Even if the climate transition financially stings, Congress still has the ability to remedy that burden for the working class through subsidies for consumer purchases of emissions-compliant products, just as it did through the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA committed hundreds of billions of dollars to consumer tax credits and rebates for green technologies, proving that the government can protect everyday Americans from the immediate price shocks of environmental action. The groundwork exists to mend our climate foreign policy. The bipartisan PROVE IT Act passed in January,
directing the U.S. Department of Energy to compare the carbon emissions measured between domestic producers and global competitors. Such a study is necessary to responsibly levy tariffs on carbon emissions just as the E.U. has done. When the department completes the study in January 2027, Congress must pivot from gathering data to drafting policy. U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.), who is up for re-election in November has been recognized for prioritizing decarbonization through historic clean energy legislation that assists both households and producers. In contrast, his opponent, U.S. Representative Mike Collins (R-Ga.), previously voted for a resolution that denounced similar carbon tax policies. As Georgia’s fires burn at unprecedented rates, we have the opportunity to redefine our climate strategy. Ultimately, it is up to Georgia vot-
ers, including those in the Emory University community, to decide what stance our state’s representatives will take when the opportunity to tackle carbon emissions appears. The prevalence of voter concerns surrounding the economy, leadership and immigration has contributed to fewer political discussions about our country’s role in saving the planet, a trend increasingly known as climate hushing. Our generation cannot afford to let mainstream issues blind us to the flames affecting Georgia along with the rest of the worl d. We have a window of opportunity to find resolution through diplomacy. Voters cannot settle for less — we must demand candidates who are ready to leverage our country’s global influence to put out the flames rather than watch our future turn to ash. — Contact Kenan Bajraktarevic at kbajrak@emory.edu
Courtesy of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Southeast R egion/Wikimedia Commons
Honey Prairie Fire burns in Okefenokee Swamp, Ga. in 2011.
DOOLINO KNOWS BEST
Dear Doolino, did I move to a retirement community? By Doolino Campus Overlord Dear Doolino, I just moved to Clairmont Campus, and I am having an existential crisis. Does having an apartment mean I am a real adult? How do I reconnect with my childhood whimsy? Sincerely, Wrecked Renter Dear Wrecked Renter, Four years really go by so quickly, don’t they? It was just yesterday that you were a wide-eyed baby first-year, making your mark on Atlanta with not a clue nor care in the world. Now, I can only assume you are a junior here at Emory University, grappling with the fact that you are now an upperclassman. Students now look at you as if you know things, despite the fact that you have never known anything in your entire life. Professors make fewer allowances. Everyone around you is preparing for — trigger warning — internships, graduate school tests and the ever-dreaded swath of job applications that are looming over you like my glorious statue on your morning walk to Callaway Memorial Center. While living in a Clairmont Campus apartment is certainly not the worst fate anyone has ever inherited, I understand your real concern — you
feel as though it is all going by too fast. Never fear: If your goal is to reconnect with your youth, I am more than happy to provide some suggestions. You might want to write them down — after all, your memory could be the next to go. My first suggestion would be to lurk in the first-year halls that you once called home. Were you an Eagle Hall resident? Sneak in behind a firstyear student and make your way to your old tingle, or triple single, which three unlucky first-year students get the opportunity of sharing. Just the thought of living in close quarters with two complete strangers will certainly make you tingle as much as the name does.
Students now look at you as if you know things, despite the fact that you have never known anything in your entire life. Or perhaps you lived in Aladobbs, filled to the brim with rooms even cozier than the tingles. If you are lonely on Clairmont Campus, consider hiding under one of the beds in Alabama or Dobbs Hall each night, concealing yourself within the comically small space. You will certainly feel less lonely — in fact, with the close quarters cutting off your circulation and making your body go
Saba Faisal/Deputy Illustration Editor
numb, you will feel less in general. If you get caught, do not worry: Dobbs Hall is old enough that students are likely to attribute the appearance of someone as ancient as you to a routine haunting and simply assume you are a ghost. Following these tips and letting nostalgia lead will surely lessen your quarter-life crisis. With any crisis comes a shift in personal expression, and this situation is no different. One way to distract yourself from the crushing weight of growing older is to make a drastic style change. If you put the “arts” in liberal arts student and lean more experimentally with your fashion, consider making a visit to the Pathways Center’s career closet. Collect a fancy suit previously owned by a graduate of the Goizueta Business School. When your friends and professors see you next, they will flock to you, automatically smelling the self-righteousness
and unearned confidence of a business student on you like catnip. Conversely, if you consider yourself to follow more of a buttoned-up style, let loose! Show the world you are young and hip by wearing merchandise from Maggie’s Neighborhood Bar and Grill, the most niche going-out spot in all of Atlanta. This will make people assume that you are younger, because no one is more of a Mags fan than a first-year student with nowhere to be. Everyone knows that when you are old and sad your style stays stagnant forever, so making a change in what you wear might be just what you need.
Yes, you are, as the kids like to put it, unbelievably “unc.” But, you are not, as the kids like to put it, irreparably “cooked.” Speaking of partying, there is another way to forget about your struggles, and this sour skeleton has a hunch that it will be your favorite. Everyone knows that time flies when you are having fun. But, what if you have so much fun that time slows down? That’s right. Party yourself into a fugue state so you forget about your struggles — you now have an apartment to host! Now, as a cultured skeleton, I would never encourage someone to work themselves into a state of intense
inebriation. However, even if fully sober, talking to a room full of strangers and planning multiple ragers per week will certainly wear your brain thin enough that you do not have the capacity to worry about growing older. Maybe you do not like the idea of staying close to the apartment that spurred this very predicament. That’s okay! Judging by your crisis, you are old enough to at least passably sneak into Senior Tuesdays, Emory’s yearly tradition that gives seniors the chance to celebrate their approaching demise every Tuesday of the school year. If you are too tired to plan your partying schedule, let other tired upperclassmen plan it for you. Overall, Wrecked Renter, it is important to take a step back from the whinging and acknowledge your privilege, something that many of your classmates are incapable of doing. Yes, you are, as the kids like to put it, unbelievably “unc.” But, you are not, as the kids like to put it, irreparably “cooked.” You have a lovely apartment to yourself, complete with food, a gym and a pool (the things I would give to swim in a pool again! Unfortunately, the chemicals they use to clean it may dissolve me then and there). You have the power to make your upperclassman years wonderful ones. Be proud of yourself and enjoy how far you have come, and never forget that Doolino knows best. — Find Doolino six feet under the University Quadrangle.
The Emory Wheel
Arts Life
‘From Tablet to Tablet’ exhibit honors scholarship, explores time By Hunter Buchheit Features Editor A prayer book from a Jewish minister in Charleston, S.C. celebrating Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year; a rabbinic decree written by Atlanta Rabbi Tobias Geffen announcing Coca-Cola soda as kosher after the company removed glycerin from the recipe; a 4000-year-old cuneiform tablet; a digital tablet and everything in between: manuscripts, papyrus scrolls, microfilm, CDs and DVDs. These are just some of the items on the third floor of Emory University’s Robert W. Woodruff Library as part of the Schatten Gallery’s latest exhibit, “From Tablet to Tablet: Exploring Emory’s Jewish Studies Collections.” The curation celebrates the 50th anniversary of Jewish studies at Emory, serving as a physical representation of decades of interdisciplinary Jewish scholarship. For over a year, Emory’s Jewish Studies Librarian Katalin Rac and
Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies Eric Goldstein (92C) have co-curated the display. Growing up in Maryland near Washington, D.C., Goldstein often visited exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art and noticed titles that often referenced the “treasures” in their displays. Goldstein knew he eventually wanted to showcase the “treasures” of Jewish collections, but instead at his alma mater. He received his undergraduate degree from Emory and returned as a professor in 2000, where he has since worked on other library collections. “I’ve worked a lot with the library over the years and become very knowledgeable about the collections and had an appreciation for how rich our collections were in the Jewish studies area,” Goldstein said. Rac joined Emory’s library staff three years ago as the University’s first dedicated Jewish Studies Librarian. Her unique position
Courtesy of the Robert W. Woodruff Library
The display, located in the Robert W. Woodruff Library, examines over 50 years of Jewish studies at Emory University.
paired with the 50th anniversary of Jewish Studies being taught at Emory, made the duo jump at the opportunity to propose the exhibit. Soon after, the pair began the curation process. Rac led the process of sourcing items from across Emory’s library system, meticulously searching through collections and finding items people had either forgotten or did not even know existed. Like discovering riches in an attic, Goldstein was “amazed” by some of Rac’s uncoverings — especially two Torah scrolls from Baghdad, one of which came to Emory from Hong Kong. “There’s this whole story, and nobody ever knew that it was sitting on a shelf somewhere,” Goldstein said. “Now we know a lot more about what we have.” Now complete, the exhibit contains three distinct sections — a rotunda, a hallway and the main gallery. Although items in the rotunda focus on Jewish studies and the various types of materials libraries and museums compile, they also broadly represent the study of history. The next part of the exhibit, the hallway, explores the development of Jewish studies as a field. Divided between two walls, this section uses pictures, documents and plaques to describe how the academic discipline has moved and shaped itself over time and space. One side of the hallway documents the history of Jewish studies in the United States after it originated in 19th-century Europe, and the other side focuses on Jewish studies at Emory. The gallery is divided into four main quadrants with a few sub-sections, including history and memory, law and religious studies, technology, social sciences, arts and literature and medicine and natural sciences. Rac and Goldstein collaborated with the Emory Herbarium, a museum of preserved plant samples that the Emory community can use fwor swtudy and research. “We wanted
to include something from every repository, so we figured out a way of working some plant specimens into the theme of Jewish studies,” Goldstein said. The herbarium provided four ritual plants that worshippers use during the Jewish harvest holiday of Sukkot, which the library displays alongside other medicinal artifacts and copies of documents that convey the evolution of Jewish medical practices. The outer walls focus on traditional Jewish scholarship. Goldstein notes that this contrast between living culture and objective observation complicates the story the gallery tells, opening a dialogue between past and present academic interpretation. The exhibit held its opening event on Sept. 17, inviting a diverse range of individuals — faculty, students and interested community members alike. The crowd spanned generations, from a first-year student enrolled in a Jewish Studies course to an alumna who studied at Emory in 1976, the same year the University formally recognized Jewish Studies as a part of its curriculum. Vice Provost for the Emory University Libraries, Michael C. Carlos Museum and Emory Center for Digital Scholarship Valeda Dent opened the event with a speech. In her talk, Dent touched on the exhibition’s purpose — to blend knowledge creation, preservation and interpretation — and emphasized the “village” of people involved in its curation. Dent stressed the importance of scholarship and the significance of the display itself. In her eyes, “From Tablet to Tablet” is both an exhibit and a celebration, a testament to the growth of the Jewish studies department at Emory over the past 50 years and an ode to preserving knowledge for future generations. “The exhibition invites us to think about how knowledge is created, how it’s preserved, how it’s interpreted and then how it’s shared,” Dent said.
As such, the curation of “From Tablet to Tablet” displays more than pieces of history — it is a testament to collaboration and intellect, expanding beyond preconceived notions of what scholars may include in Jewish studies. To Goldstein, the exhibit exchanges knowledge with a wide variety of subjects, a conversation between past and present Jewish study. “There’s a dialogue between the traditions of Jewish culture and the modern academic interpretation of it,” Goldstein said. “From Tablet to Tablet” invited faculty participation throughout the curation and assembly process. On unused library catalog cards, students also wrote about readings that impacted them. Current visitors can also write their own notes, answering the same question posed to students: What is a memorable reading for them? Rac said she appreciates the role that Emory faculty have played in curating the different items. Over the years, faculty, community members and community donors have shaped the collections within Emory’s 14 distinct libraries. “There’s some things that are the work of faculty members, just to make the point that every collection — every library — is different, and it’s shaped by the people in the community that the library serves,” Goldstein said. One of those community members is Kasiah Vercelli, an alumna of Agnes Scott College (Ga.) who attended the opening event. Vercelli, who is interning at the Pitts Theology Library, noted that one item — the Torah scroll from Baghdad — came from the Pitts Library’s collection. “As much physical media as we can preserve in a digital world, where things can disappear in a cloud, is so important,” Vercelli said. “Museums, libraries, archives — it’s one of the most important things to protect.” – Contact Hunter Buchheit at hunter.buchheit@emory.edu
ON SCREEN
Embrace unscripted moments, watch these 3 reality TV shows By Alex Gerson Senior Staff Writer
When I meet someone new, a familiar pattern plays out. Once I mention that I am a film major hoping to work in entertainment, they inevitably ask about my favorite movies and shows. I will then rattle off my go-to prestige films and scripted series, before hesitating for a split second, eventually admitting the whole truth: I also love reality TV. Next to scripted television, reality TV has always felt like the less respectable, low-brow, more embarrassing of my interests. There is an inherent voyeurism to it: watching ordinary people sell their stories or place themselves in humiliating situations, purely for a mass audience’s entertainment. Despite that, dear reader, I refuse to let shame get the better of me. Reality TV is not something to look down upon, but something to examine and, yes, celebrate. So, with that, here are a few shows that prove reality TV deserves more credit than it gets.
‘Survivor’ (2000-)
‘The Bachelor’ (2002-)
As I have written before, “Survivor” — a show in which 20 strangers are marooned on an island and forced to vote each other out in pursuit of a million-dollar prize — functions as a microcosm of American capitalism. As the show strips ordinary Americans to their core without food, contact with the outside world or the comforts of home, their best and worst instincts surface. At times, underdog players band together, using clever strategies to outwit and defeat their opponents. In others, players in power exploit their alliances to isolate and eliminate competitors who threaten them. Humanity in “Survivor” is often beautiful and deeply ugly, usually at the same time. Legendary “Survivor” player Rob Mariano embodies this dichotomy — finding his wife while on season eight of the show and steamrolling and isolating his competition when he returned for season twenty-two. When one person’s win is always another’s loss, humanity’s darkest tendencies emerge. But when survival depends on relying on each other, humanity can also triumph.
“The Bachelor” is the quintessential reality show, combining two integral elements of the genre — finding love and defeating competition. The show, which has been on the air for more than two decades, gamifies the very human experience of falling in love. Instead of meeting someone at a bar or through friends, the show wagers that the best way to find a soulmate is to compete against 30 strangers you also happen to be living with for the affection of one person. “The Bachelor” matters not because it produces real, lasting relationships — it ends up leading to more breakups than marriages — but because its warped, competition-driven version of love reveals something about how we understand romance in the 21st century. The framework positions the bachelor choosing you as the ultimate goal, redefining love as something to be earned or won rather than something natural and spontaneous. In an increasingly individualistic, competitive society, “The Bachelor” shows us how even love can be commodified.
‘The Traitors’ (2021-) In some ways, the multi-Emmy Award-winning “The Traitors” feels like the culmination of all of 21st-century reality television. The U.S. version gathers an assortment of individuals — reality TV veterans, Olympians or individuals related to celebrities — in a castle in the Scottish Highlands for a game of hidden identities. Most players are designated “Faithfuls,” tasked with uncovering which of their fellow competitors are secret “Traitors,” who “murder,” or eliminate, a different contestant each day. The show is inherently campy. It plays as a send-up of classic murder mysteries, with reality stars melodramatically embracing the game’s supposed life-or-death stakes. While unscripted, the show often feels as if it has veered into self-parody. Because its contestants are often seasoned stars, they seem more focused on playing up their established personas than on the game itself — when host Alan Cumming asked season four cast member Lisa Rinna why she would be a good traitor, she responded: “Well, I think because I am
Lisa f*cking Rinna.” The show, then, is a hybrid: real people making real choices but also celebrities performing, or subverting, their established public images. The show’s popularity with the celebrity version has been so successful that they are now set to release a “New Blood” season featuring ordinary Americans instead of pre-existing celebrities. “The Traitors” captures reality TV contestants’ evolution from everyday people into celebrities in their own right. Reality TV is no longer a stage for the average person — instead, it has become a launchpad for larger-thanlife personalities to build followings and caricatures, transforming them into celebrities in the process. Reality TV is often absurd and rarely realistic, but still worth taking seriously. Watching these manufactured yet genuine programs teaches us something about humanity, love and what it means to be a celebrity. So the next time someone asks about your favorite shows, feel a little less shame in admitting you are a reality TV fan. I know I have. – Contact Alex Gerson at alex.gerson@emory.edu
8 Wednesday, September 23, 2026
The Emory Wheel
A&L
OFF THE RECORD
‘Seize the moment and stay in it’: 6 tracks to walk into any room By Amelia Bush Managing Editor
Conflict is hard — this is no secret. Finding a good icebreaker for editors’ meetings at The Emory Wheel, however, is harder. And I should know. After weeks of fruitless attempts to craft the perfect question, one capable of turning a group of 20 peers into the best of friends, I resorted to asking what their ideal icebreaker would be. Yes, it became that difficult. Finally, I found one: “If you were a baseball player, what song would you play as you went up to bat?” To my surprise, I received no criticism. What I am dubbing “walk-up songs” cover a wide range — tracks that make you want to move, fight or laugh. Because when it comes down to it, facing life and its many hardships is no simple task. You are at the plate. The ball comes flying at you. What gets you to swing? ‘Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down)’ by Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton (2015) One recurring ordeal in my life is print night for the Wheel. And if any night requires a song to get me hyped, it is this one. Enter the Tony Award-winning musical “Hamilton” (2015). Now, some may say that comparing one night working for a college paper to the American Revolution is melodramatic, and to that, I say: no. And no track motivates me more to keep working, writing and InDesigning than “Yorktown (The World Turned Upside Down).” Because if any song knows how to prepare you for battle, or print night, it is this one. The track comes at a pivotal point in the musical: George Washington (Christopher Jackson) invites Alexander Hamilton (Lin-Manuel Miranda) to return to the battlefield, and tensions between the U.S. and British militaries are at an all-time high. It is the last glimpse of war before the show turns to politics and personal problems. Miranda interpolates a phrase used throughout the musical, but ups the tempo and extends the language: “I imagine death so much it feels
more like a memory / This is where it gets me,” he sings, on the verge of welcoming death. Yet Hamilton chooses to remain. “We will fight up close, seize the moment and stay in it,” he concludes. While I have always identified more with the Schuyler Sisters or even Hamilton himself, it is Hercules Mulligan’s (Okieriete Onaodowan) verse that makes this the perfect walk-in track: “When you knock me down, I get the f*ck back up again.” ‘HUMBLE.’ by Kendrick Lamar (2017) By now, reader, since you have obviously read every edition of my column, I am sure you can piece together one thing about my music taste: I love lyrics. Sparkly pop songs and introspective ballads will always be precious to me, but, perhaps more unexpectedly, I also adore Kendrick Lamar. Although Lamar’s 2024 vivid diss track “Not Like Us” and the calmer “B*tch, Don’t Kill My Vibe” (2012) match my lyrical preferences, his hit from “DAMN.” (2017), “HUMBLE.,” is a true fireball. While he demands modesty and chillness from his foes, on “HUMBLE.,” Lamar is anything but. Lamar opens the track with a record scratch and pounding bass: “Nobody pray for me / It been that day for me / Way (Yeah, yeah),” he sings in between the noise before exploding into a frenzy of confidence and speed. “B*tch, sit down (Hold up, lil’ b*tch) / Be humble (Hold up, b*tch),” Lamar repeats — his eye-roll palpable. This repetition, paired with a constant beat and Lamar’s voice underscoring the main lyrics, lets the listener feel the rhythm, find a pattern and lock in. ‘I’ll Make a Man Out of You’ by Donny Osmond (1998) On a fateful September evening, I was stranded on the side of the road with some friends, attempting to change a flat tire. Well, my friends attempted — I sat on the curb and scoured the internet for a tutorial to amend our situation. After 10
minutes of watching helplessly, one of them turned to me and gave a single command: Play some tunes. I asked for requests, which led me to blast “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” from the seminal animated Disney film “Mulan” (1998), from my iPhone speaker. Did we get strange looks from kids biking by? Sure. Did we get the job done? Yes. Much like “Yorktown,” “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” carries real weight in the movie. The titular character, Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), is about to give up on her scheme to enter the military disguised as a man to protect her father. The track’s title, then, carries as much irony as significance. In the chorus, the military commander, Li Shang (BD Wong), details what it means to “be a man,” telling the soldiers to be swift as a river, gather the force of a typhoon and offer the strength of fire. These traits are meant to turn these “girls” into true men. Mulan, however, subverts those traditional gender roles, ultimately becoming the most successful soldier in her unit despite disguising her identity to get there. ‘Steal My Girl’ by One Direction (2014) During my senior year of high school, I found myself in the most difficult, stress-inducing role I have ever held, one that gave me not one, but two new gray hairs: captain of The Blake School’s varsity girls tennis team. To cope, only one song could heal all, one I forced upon the girls I drove every day, making sure to queue it so each time we pulled into the courts, it would radiate out my windows and into the air: One Direction’s “Steal My Girl.” With a beat drop leading into a chorus featuring each band member, the infectious melody will truly make you believe someone is trying to steal your girl. From the cute verses, like when band member Louis Tomlinson sings, “I don’t exist if I don’t have her / The sun doesn’t shine, the world doesn’t turn,” to the group chiming in for “Na-na-na-na-na-na-na,” “Steal My Girl” makes for a perfect walk-in moment, not because of its
Ginna Nebrig/Staff Illustrator
lyrical depth but purely because of its screamability.
gious screamability, “Taste” succeeds through its sassy danceability.
‘Taste’ by Sabrina Carpenter (2024)
‘Bejeweled’ by Taylor Swift (2022)
William Congreve is often credited with the proverb “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” adapted from a line in his 1697 play “The Mourning Bride.” Though these words are more than three centuries old, America’s favorite 21st-century blonde bombshell epitomizes the idea in her music. Sabrina Carpenter does many things well — raunchy humor, wellplaced innuendo and reflective honesty. But on her Grammy-nominated single, “Taste,” Carpenter’s wrath, sweetened by her winks and whimsy, shines brightest. The music video, in which Carpenter co-stars with former Disney star Jenna Ortega, reimagines Robert Zemeckis’ “Death Becomes Her” (1992) — a film that also features themes of man-hating vengeance — and helps shape the track’s overall image. Revenge may not be the best approach to intense situations. “Taste,” however, is. “I heard you’re back together and if that’s true / You’ll just have to taste me when he’s kissin’ you,” Carpenter quips. She may be angry, but the track is bubbly — the crisp electric guitar rings out a single note before Carpenter’s charming voice enters. While most walk-in songs focus on seizing the moment, Carpenter revels in her rage. And if “Steal My Girl” works because of its conta-
Most selections in this list are implicit in their walk-in-ness. Taylor Swift’s “Bejeweled,” by contrast, is explicit. She begins the chorus singing, “Best believe I’m still bejeweled / When I walk in the room / I can still make the whole place shimmer.” On “Bejeweled,” Swift demands more than what her lover gives her, and a high synth opens the track, mirroring the sparkling reinvention Swift aims to feel. “Midnights” (2022), the album “Bejeweled” stems from, is a concept record built around 13 sleepless nights, marked by heavy synths and ’70s visuals. Swift shares many sides of her life across the album, from accepting growing up to characterizing karma as both a friend and feline to realizing love sometimes means embracing a soft silence. But “Bejeweled” is spunky and quirky, offering a buoyancy and lightness in its sound and verses that represent Swift’s resilience. In the face of frustration, Swift remembers her dazzle — it is a hype song for herself, reminding her of her worth. It is also a comfort. After all, if billionaire-icon-artist Swift can feel a little lost and still walk into the biggest rooms with the biggest people, maybe we can too. – Contact Amelia Bush at amelia.bush@emory.edu
Printmaker Sergio Suárez depicts ‘Anamnesis’ in contemporary world By Sophia Knudsen Contributing Writer Intrigue filled the Michael C. Carlos Museum well before printmaker Sergio Suárez even began speaking. Visitors chattered as they viewed Suárez’s carvings and tap-
estries until an announcer signaled for everyone to find their seats. Each guest was there for one purpose: to learn about Suárez’s exhibition “Anamnesis.” The term comes from a Greek word meaning recollection. For Suárez, that idea becomes an act of defiance
against time itself. Originally from Mexico City, the Atlanta-based artist came to the museum on Sept. 19 for a “Curatorial Conversation,” hosted by Curator of Greek and Roman Art Ruth Allen and Curator of Works on Paper Andi McKenzie. At the heart of the discussion sat Suárez’s central
Sophia K nudsen/Contributing Writer
Sergio Suárez, Ruth Allen and Andi McKenzie discuss “Anamnesis" in the Michael C. Carlos Museum.
artistic drive: to challenge traditional narratives in art. Suárez noted that time is fundamental in this task. His exhibit sits deliberately within both the museum’s Indigenous Arts of the Americas and Greek and Roman Art galleries, placing his woodblock carvings alongside ancient Greek sculptures and Incan ceramics. The exhibition resists linearity, with no clear beginning or end. For Suárez, that refusal pushes back against a distinctly human urge to compartmentalize. His work treats objects not as static artifacts but as active, transitory parts of time’s surface. “Wood is its own record, of time, of place, of climate,” Suárez said. “So it does become a collaboration with those marks.” Kristen Gee, who came to the discussion for her Intro to Printmaking class at Georgia State University, was similarly fascinated by the collision of time and art. “Not only are the carvings of the stone ancient, but the stone itself is so ancient,” Gee said. According to Gee, Suárez’s work prompted her to think about geologic time and about humanity’s habit of exploiting it. “I’ve been thinking a lot about geology and how we carve highways right through these ancient rocks like it’s nothing, but they’re so old,” Gee
said. “Who are we to do that?” Former Curator of Indigenous Arts in the Americas Miranda Kyle has followed Suárez’s work for years, noting how time challenges colonial tradition. “For many peoples around the world, they don’t approach time in the same way we do in the West, where we think of how time can be extracted from for capital instead of a way in which we can work with time and through time to create a better world and a better reality for ourselves,” Kyle said. For DeKalb School of the Arts student Emer Temple, the exhibit felt like a validation of themes explored in her own art, including Christianity and how it relates to systems of white supremacy. “It’s super cool to see him talk about that, especially with mythology,” Temple said. As visitors filed out of the room, Kyle urged the importance of visitors to not rush their engagement with Suárez’s work but to “absorb it.” “If you can find time to be in here by yourself and meditate on what it means to you, I think it would be really profound [of] an experience for students and visitors alike,” Kyle said. – Contact Sophia Knudsen at sophia.knudsen@emory.edu
The Emory Wheel
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
A&L
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Lizzy McAlpine finds herself, creates listener’s heaven on ‘Angel’ By Madeline Leahy Contributing Writer After years of discussing the pressures of her life and the effects of heartbreak, Lizzy McAlpine finally found her wings. On her fourth studio album, “Angel,” released on Sept. 18, the singer-songwriter behind “ceilings” (2022) and “Spring Into Summer” (2024) delivers a lush, richly written record built around a single subject: love. The album does lack a cohesive story structure, but McAlpine’s stellar lyricism and willingness to experiment with new musical techniques make the listen worth it regardless. “Angel” still carries McAlpine’s signature devastation, but her musical and emotional growth surfaces just as clearly in the album’s sentimental moments.
The album opens strong with “The Light in the Painting.” McAlpine and her producers, Taylor Mackall and Mason Stoops, spin an ethereal soundscape out of soft synth chords. “Holy ground when you kiss me / Sacred spaces all around,” she sings, casting love in an enchanting, almost heavenly glow, soothing the listener with her angelic voice. While the opener suggests the album might follow a single romantic arc, as it details one relationship, the record strays from this concept. McAlpine’s tracklist unfolds less like a story and more like a scattered collection of moods, leaving the listener unmoored. The album hits its stride with “I have a friend.” McAlpine’s voice glides between keys with an ease that belies the melody’s true complexity, a quality that will likely trip up future concert-
Photo Manipulation by Sasha Emmerich/Image Editor
goers trying to sing along. It is utterly transfixing and unlike any of her previous songs. McAlpine describes a warm, settled kind of love in plain, tender terms, viewing herself in the relationship’s context: “There is no room / Without your voice to fill it / My mouth is just a straight line / Without your lips to kiss it.” McAlpine’s lyrical and musical instincts are in full command here — the song practically glows, like golden-hour amber light spilling through a window. McAlpine’s purest love songs may be the record’s strongest performances, but she ranges well beyond them. She craves more attention in a relationship; she does the slow work of moving past a breakup and makes peace with an ending. Her writing stays sharp throughout, especially on “The moon,” where the speaker likens herself to the planet orbiting her partner, wishing he would circle her in return. The musical texture, which oscillates between strong beats and softer guitar chords, serves the song well and creates memorable melodies for both verses and the chorus. Conversely, “Anybody’s fool” has real potential, but a soft, static beat keeps it from building to the emotional gut punch it is clearly reaching for. A stripped-down, acoustic version might have served the song better, especially with emotionally charged lyrics such as “Want to move on and I’m trying to / But when the bombs hit, I look for you.” McAlpine’s strong vocals could easily replicate a raw, vulnerable version of this song, but she strangely chooses to stay soft and restrained, repressing the song’s true, vivid nature and leaving the listener lost. “Our strange ways” unspools as a slow-building ballad laced with allu-
Emory MSA hosts community-wide celebration of Muslim culture
sions to the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, ancient Greek mythology’s two most famous lovers. After Eurydice dies, Orpheus, with his alluring voice and lyre, attempts to save her from the underworld, but ultimately fails. The comparison emphasizes an eternal connection, despite the subjects’ separation. “A world without you is not one I want to live in,” she sings, a melodically sweet phrase that reveals her resolve, knowing this person exists in the world. Its closing reverb wraps around McAlpine’s voice like the flicker of an old film reel. It creates a specific nostalgia that tugs at the listener’s heartstrings and makes the over-seven-minute-long runtime feel like no time has passed. However, every album has its weak points, and “Angel” is no different. “Peach” and “Two elevens” are pleasant enough but never quite earn their place, drifting closer to filler than matching the album’s lyrical depth. Melodically, they are harder to grasp, not due to an overachieving complexity, but simply because they are less memorable. Despite the record’s primary focus on romantic love, “The crowd” shows McAlpine’s talents in describing familial connection. McAlpine dedicated the track — and similarly, the 13th song on every one of her albums — to her father, who died in 2o2o. Her emotional proximity gives the subject strength, especially as she sings, “Everything I do / I make it big so you can hear the crowd.” The image lands with devastation: a daughter still trying to reach her father in the audience, wherever he is now. “Soldier of the road (Featuring Fleet Foxes)” stands apart, breaking altogether from the album’s central preoccupation with love. McAlpine’s collaboration with Fleet
– Contact Madeline Leahy at maddy.leahy@emory.edu
CROSSWORD
Mini Crossword
By Aliyah Aftin Contributing Writer Intricate henna designs dried on wrists across the Emory Student Center as bracelet beads clinked and the scent of freshly fried samosas lingered. Emory University’s Muslim Student Association (MSA) welcomed students and members of the wider Atlanta community on Sept. 18 for its annual Welcome Gala, an evening built around connection, culture and celebration. The organization encouraged students to come dressed in cultural attire, and most did, turning the room into a wide array of colors and cultures from both within and outside Emory’s Muslim community. The night started with a recitation of an excerpt from the Quran, the holy book of Islam, followed by a prayer and remarks from faculty member Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Mohamed Abdel-Hakeem, MSA’s advisor. An Atlanta restaurant, Bismillah Cafe, catered the event before the MSA education committee presented this year’s theme, “Ihsan,” an Islamic principle which translates into “doing something in a good and fair way,” representing a constant state of mindfulness. The festivities continued throughout the evening, with various desserts, stations for henna, bracelet making and painting, along with a photo booth. Attendees also received bingo cards with prompts that encouraged them to meet and converse with new people throughout the event, filling each square as they went. Yasmeen Mannan (28C) wore multiple hats for the event — assisting
Foxes, whose low harmonies anchor the track, plays out as a protest, likening people trapped under oppressive systems to weary soldiers. Even so, the song holds onto hope for life’s simple pleasures: “Soldier of the road, stepping out of the light / I have people to love, I have music to write,” she sings, before the key shifts from a minor key into its parallel major as the track closes, a stark change that builds on the song’s storyline and creates a hopeful ending. A low, plucked guitar line underscores the track, calling to mind Odysseus stringing his bow in Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.” The heroic image works in the song’s favor, swaying the listener to support the underdogs. McAlpine closes the album with its titular track, “Angel,” another soft love song that casts its subject as a divine figure she was always destined to find. It creates repetition within the album that can be tedious to the listener, but the guitar layering is still pleasant. The lyrics echo those in “The light in the painting,” bringing the album full circle with a glowing vision of love. “Angel from another world holding me,” McAlpine sings, providing a satisfying circular finish. Having found the person meant for her, she seems, at last, content to simply be herself. “Angel” stands as a testament to McAlpine’s gift for lyricism. She thrives when experimenting with new musical approaches, even if the melody occasionally gets lost on the album’s simpler tracks. Nonetheless, the record offers a rich, rewarding listen — and one that leaves these songs well worth hearing performed live.
By Ethan Altshul Crossword Editor
Sage Buchris/Photography Editor
On Sept. 18, Emory University’s Muslim Student Association held their welcome dinner in the Emory Student Center.
other executive members, delegating roles, doing public relations work and, as MSA’s education chair, helping choose the theme that guides MSA’s activities and programming for the year. The dinner was an opportunity to highlight the work MSA does throughout the year. While MSA primarily organizes Islamic events, they conduct philanthropic programming as well. “We have many social groups, networking with alumni,” Mannan said. “There’s a lot that MSA has to offer, including, but not limited to, religious events.” Maryam Mumin, a student at Georgia State University, learned about the event from a friend and noticed the event’s diversity, especially in the range of colleges present. Just as students from colleges all across Atlanta — including Georgia Institute of Technology, Morehouse College (Ga.), Georgia State University and more — attend MSA events, the association strives to appeal to all audiences, not just those who are Muslim. For Jamie Shen (28B), the dinner marked her first time at a majority-Muslim event.
“I learned a lot,” Shen said. “I’m personally Christian, so I feel like a lot of the principles and values align similarly, and that was cool to see and be able to learn.” MSA president and Shen’s friend, Asmaa Ali (28C), invited Shen to the dinner and let her borrow an abaya, a traditional loose-fitting, full-length robe, to wear for the night. Shen left the night meeting people whom she said she likely would not have encountered otherwise — including a graduate from a university outside Georgia. “It was just a very beautiful event, and I really enjoyed it,” Shen said. MSA’s welcome gala also provided Muslim students with fellowship. According to Mumin, it can be difficult to find a consistent community, especially in college, where people who practice Islam are often a minority. “Finding people who have similar beliefs to you is important because, especially for Islam, it allows you to build on your religion and your knowledge,” Mumin said. – Contact Aliyah Aftin at aliyah.aftin@emory.edu
ACROSS 1. Jumped 6. Uncredited actor 7. Name derived from Latin for “luck” 8. Vestige 9. Disapproving sounds
4. Small wound 5. Death counterpart
DOWN 1. . Adjective for 8 Across 2. Wield, as influence 3. Volume of the world
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The Emory Wheel
Sports Let bandwagon fans enjoy their ride By Alex Waryn Sports Desk Am I a bandwagon fan? Absolutely. I had never considered myself a New York Knicks fan until this summer. Suddenly, I found myself planning my nights around the tip-off and yelling at television screens as though the team’s playoff fate had weighed on me for years. I didn’t know the pain of the team’s worst seasons, own a drawer full of blue and orange merchandise or inherit my loyalty from generations of long-suffering New Yorkers. I simply showed up during the playoff run, along with seemingly everyone else in the city. I was the textbook definition of a casual fan “jumping on the bandwagon.” Some sports fans tend to treat loyalty like a suffering contest: The longer you have watched a team lose, the more entitled you are to celebrate when it finally wins. But fandom has to begin somewhere. Sometimes fans inherit it at birth, but other times they find it on a packed city street, surrounded by strangers who suddenly feel like close friends. According to the aforementioned superfans, that is the wrong way to become a fan. But great teams attract attention, and exciting runs give people something to share. The timing may be convenient, but that does not make the passion any less genuine. In my interpretation, the term “bandwagon fan” describes people who join a fanbase once winning makes the team impossible to tune out. They arrive for the winning streaks and playoff runs without having followed the team through its less glamorous seasons. This label suggests that sports loyalty must be earned through years of disappointment. New supporters are expected to prove that they cared
Derek Huang/Contributing Illustrator
before the winning began, as if suffering were a requirement for celebrating success. But every die-hard fan was once new — sometimes you find yourself watching the first game of your new favorite team because it is simply too exciting to ignore. Longtime supporters undoubtedly experience a different kind of satisfaction when their team succeeds: Years of anticipatory excitement result in a greater sense of achievement (it has something to do with delayed gratification). Supporters who remained loyal through years of losing will internalize the weight of every playoff win more than those who started watching just weeks earlier. They remember the times when believing in their team
wasn’t nearly as rewarding. So yes, dedicated supporters’ history with their team deserves recognition, but it doesn’t give them exclusive ownership of the celebration. In fact, bandwagon fans often make those successful moments feel even bigger by filling bars and crowding city streets. Their presence proves that teams can do the impossible: capture the attention of people who normally would not care. After the final buzzer that made the Knicks champions, fans (longtime and bandwagon alike) ran into the streets to join those singing and dancing to Frank Sinatra’s classic “Theme from New York, New York” (1977). No one stopped to ask celebrants how long
they’d supported the team. For the first time in arguably 53 years, New York united in a state of communal ecstasy, and for the remainder of the summer, the collective effervescence radiated throughout the city of New York. Safe to say it wouldn’t have been possible without bandwagon fans. Bandwagon fans are also necessary for fanbases to grow. Not everyone who began following the Knicks this summer will still be watching next season, but many will. Today’s casual viewer could become tomorrow’s season-ticket holder ... or at least the person shouting at the television every week from the couch. Plus, the Knicks are hardly the first team to attract a sudden wave of
supporters. The Stephen Curry-era Golden State Warriors turned casual viewers across the country into devoted fans. Lionel Messi’s arrival at Inter Miami attracted people who had never followed Major League Soccer. Critics often dismissed these fans for appearing only after the excitement began, but their interest also reflected what those athletes and teams had accomplished. Of course, the criticism of bandwagon fans is not entirely baseless. It can be irritating to watch someone adopt a successful team and then disappear as soon as the winning ends. No lifelong fan enjoys hearing a brand-new fan who discovered the team midway through the playoffs say, “We finally did it!” But that behavior is not proof that all new fans are fake fans. In reality, the way people choose their teams is often more random than we’d like to admit. Some support the team closest to home. Others begin watching because of a favorite player or even a uniform they like. None of these reasons is inherently more legitimate than a sudden interest during a winning season. What matters is not how you became a fan, but what connection you developed to the team afterward. I can’t promise that I will spend the rest of my life organizing my schedule around Knicks games. Maybe this summer marked the beginning of lasting loyalty, or maybe it was simply one unforgettable season in New York. Either way, the experience reminded me why people become sports fans in the first place: to feel a part of something larger than themselves. Some of us may have climbed onto the bandwagon late, but while we were there, we were real fans.
— Contact Alex Waryn at alex.waryn@emory.edu
Swim teams dive into 2026-27 season with high hopes, new focus By Liam Rojas Contributing Writer After a long offseason, the Emory University men’s and women’s swim and dive teams are coming off successful seasons — business as usual for two perennial national championship contenders. The men’s team enters the season off a 27th straight University Athletic Association (UAA) title and a 25th straight topfive finish at the NCAA Division III Championships. The women’s team experienced similar success, narrowly finishing as runners-up at both the UAA and NCAA Championships. The Eagles opened their season with their annual Blue-Gold intrasquad meet on Sept. 18, with the men’s Gold team winning 184-110 and the women’s Gold team winning 160-113. Senior swimmer Natalie Boorjian said the meet was filled with “enthusiasm” and determination despite a demanding first week of training. “Everyone went out there, gave their best, and we’ve had a hard week of training, so it was a great way to show who we are as a team,” Boorjian said. “We fight for all our races, even when we’re tired.” Despite a decorated history and
lofty expectations, the focus inside the Madeleine Jude Brown Aquatic Center is less about numbers than about building a strong mentality that will carry the teams through the season. Junior swimmer Ben Pritchard noted the inherent challenge of the opening weeks — coming off a long break and matching the intensity of training. For Pritchard, who was abroad for much of the summer, the start of the season is about trusting the coaching staff and teammates to push him toward his best form and mindset.
“Everyone went out there, gave their best, and we’ve had a hard week of training, so it was a great way to show who we are as a team.” - Natalie Boorjian
“If you’re mentally not ready, it’s very easy to collapse under that pres-
sure,” Pritchard said. “The mental work is just as important, and our coaches support us through that, teammates support us and we have many resources for that.” As an upperclassman, Pritchard is stepping into a leadership role to help guide the squad, aiming to serve as a role model while leaning on the senior captains to steer the ship. After placing fourth in the NCAA 1650-yard freestyle last season, Pritchard said he, along with the team, has sights set on climbing higher onto the podium this spring. On the women’s side, junior swimmer Victoria Layden said the team’s success is rooted in shared purpose and a tight-knit team culture. “We come together and are able to work toward a common goal, and it’s a really beautiful thing to do, to all have something that we’re passionate about and feel driven towards,” Layden said. Layden said her past two years of collegiate competition have taught her to approach early meets as opportunities for growth rather than definitive measures of performance. “We can take those lessons and use it as feedback and start building goals and working on things from there,” Layden said.
That mindset has been reinforced through recent training, including a team clinic with two-time Olympian Olivia Smoliga and a former Emory swimmer, who encouraged the team to cultivate confidence and set ambitious goals. Beyond developing individual confidence, Emory is focusing on team performance and connection. Led by a strong group of experienced upperclassmen, the Eagles are prioritizing camaraderie off the block. Boorjian, who placed seventh nationally in the 200-yard freestyle this past spring, is entering her fourth year with a perspective that reflects the team’s collective mindset. For her, the start of the season is an opportunity not only to get into form but to understand team dynamics and keep spirits high. “We support each other in and out of the pool, and that each of us are able to become our best versions as students and as athletes,” Boorjian said. “I found that super gratifying.” Emory’s cohesion faces its first test on Sept. 26, as the team travels across town to square off against Division I Georgia Institute of Technology. The Eagles are tempering their excitement, treating the dual meet as an opportunity to focus
on strong technical execution and support each other, all while bringing a uniquely vibrant energy on the pool deck.
“We come together and are able to work toward a common goal, and it’s a really beautiful thing to do, to all have something that we’re passionate about and feel driven towards.” - Victoria Layden Ultimately, what drives this Emory program is the long-term journey. With conference and NCAA championships waiting far on the horizon in February and March, Emory is embracing the work as a team. The Eagles are taking it one practice, one checkpoint and one mental victory at a time.
— Contact Liam Rojas at liam.rojas@emory.edu
Wednesday, September 23, 2026 11
SPORTS
The Emory Wheel
New roster, same Falcons
Courtesy of A ll-Pro R eels/Wikimedia Commons
Bijan Robinson led the offense in the Atlanta Falcons’ season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 13.
By Aidan Park Contributing Writer The Atlanta Falcons opened their 2026 NFL season on Sept. 13 with a disappointing loss, falling 20-13 to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Despite major offensive investments and playoff aspirations, Atlanta’s season opener offered little reassurance that this year would be any different from the last. The Falcons entered the season with significant changes across their roster and coaching staff, most notably signing quarterback Tua Tagovailoa after his release from the Miami Dolphins. Despite performing poorly with the Dolphins in 2025, Tagovailoa was named the starter for the Falcons over quarterback Michael Penix Jr., who had a promising preseason performance. The Falcons also seemed focused on revitalizing their offense, investing in star running back Bijan Robinson and wide receivers Drake London and Zachariah Branch. On defense, rookie linebackers Jalon Walker and James Pearce Jr. made significant impacts in 2025, boosting the Falcons’ pass rush to a franchise-record 57 sacks, up from just 31 in 2024. However, Pearce Jr.’s arrest and subsequent eight-game suspension in August, alongside Walker’s season-ending ACL injury, left the team shallow. As defensive studs Kaden Elliss, Leonard Floyd and Arnold Ebiketie departed via free agency, the Falcons signed three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Za’Darius
Smith to a one-year deal. Despite these losses, the return of defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich and standout players A.J. Terrell, Divine Deablo, Jessie Bates III, and Xavier Watts provides some optimism heading into the season. In traditional Falcons fashion, Tagovailoa was reported to be nursing an oblique injury sustained during practice just one week before the season opener. With Penix Jr. still deemed ineligible to play for health reasons, offseason addition Cooper Rush was named the starting quarterback. In its game against the Steelers, Atlanta’s offensive struggles emerged within the first quarter, with a holding penalty on offensive lineman Matthew Bergeron, an incomplete pass to tight end Kyle Pitts and a missed pass to wide receiver Jahan Dotson that forced an opening-drive punt. However, after Falcons defensive lineman Cameron Thomas forced a fumble by Steelers running back Jaylen Warren, the Falcons regained possession in Pittsburgh territory. Robinson capitalized with a 23-yard screen-pass touchdown, giving Atlanta a 7-3 lead. As the Falcons moved into the second quarter, their momentum didn’t last long. After a holding penalty negated an explosive punt return by Branch, Rush threw an interception to Steelers safety Jaquan Brisker. Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers capitalized, delivering a dime touchdown pass to make it 13-7, a lead Atlanta was unable to overcome.
The Falcons’ offensive line continued to crumble after allowing four sacks on Rush. Unable to maneuver in the pocket or send the ball deep, Rush looked stagnant with only two combined targets in the first half to London and Pitts. Despite Atlanta’s offensive struggles, the defense kept the game close. Smith sealed a crucial sack on Pittsburgh right before the half to maintain the 13-7 score, and cornerback A.J. Terrell’s pass interference call prevented a long touchdown in the second quarter. However, kicker Nick Folk missed two field goals, and the Falcons lost out on six potential points. Atlanta continued to struggle offensively in the second half. While the combination of rushes by running backs Bijan Robinson and Brian Robinson Jr. moved the ball deep into Steelers territory, Atlanta was unable to convert any red-zone opportunities, depending on Folk’s first made field goal to narrow the deficit to three. Atlanta’s comeback hopes ended early in the fourth quarter when Steelers linebacker T.J. Watt intercepted a pass and returned it 35 yards for his first career pick six. The Steelers extended their lead to 20-10, and Atlanta could only manage a final field goal to seal its 20-13 defeat. Rush ended with 12 completions on 22 pass attempts, throwing for 143 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. Robinson carried the offense, leading with 83 rushing yards on 21 carries, 90 receiving yards and a touchdown on eight receptions. Rush’s second start with the Falcons this past Sunday against the division-rival Carolina Panthers did not look any more promising. Undrafted Division II free agent Jack Strand replaced Rush in the third quarter but proved just as ineffective, throwing a pick six in his opening drive to cap a 34-3 blowout in the Falcons’ home opener. Despite the relatively weak NFC South, the Falcons will have a steeper challenge in front of them compared to seasons prior, with the New Orleans Saints, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Carolina Panthers all demonstrating greater offensive floors. The Falcons will look to bounce back in a short week against the Green Bay Packers in a Thursday-night matchup with Penix Jr. taking the starting role. Hoping for a boost to their offensive firepower, the Falcons will need to take advantage of a weakened Packers defense as 6.5-point underdogs.
— Contact Aidan Park at aidan.park@emory.edu
Courtesy of A ll-Pro R eels/Wikimedia Commons
Commanders linebacker Frankie Luvu sacked Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr.
Courtesy of Hameltion, R ick Munroe and Nicholas Needleham/Wikimedia Commons
Alexander Zverev and Elena Rybakina both won their first US Open titles, adding a second 2026 Grand Slam title for the pair.
New US Open winners at Flushing Meadows By Jerry He Contributing Writer
Any tennis fans out there would agree that this year’s US Open result was both thrilling and shocking. With Elena Rybakina and Alexander Zverev claiming the women’s and men’s singles titles, respectively, the tournament at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (N.Y.) brought countless enjoyable moments for fans and newcomers worldwide. Across two weeks of play, defending champions fell, American players made deep runs on both sides of the draw and both champions added another Grand Slam trophy to their 2026 seasons. Rybakina denies Sabalenka historic three-peat No. 2 seed Rybakina defeated topseeded Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 in the women’s final on Sept. 12 to secure her second Grand Slam title of the year and third of her career. The victory followed Rybakina’s Australian Open championship win in January. Rybakina might be an introverted player off the court, but her oncourt presence is anything but that. Sabalenka entered Flushing Meadows as the two-time defending champion and was attempting to become the first woman since Serena Williams (2012-2014) to win three consecutive US Open singles titles. Sabalenka’s path to the final was demanding. In the quarterfinals, she survived Wimbledon champion Linda Nosková 7-6(1), 3-6, 7-6(7). The victory extended Sabalenka’s US Open winning streak to 18 matches and sent her to a sixth consecutive semifinal in New York. In the semifinals, she met the Buffalo, N.Y., native Jessica Pegula in a rematch of the 2024 US Open final. Sabalenka once again defeated the American 7-5, 6-2, winning seven of the final nine games to advance to her fourth consecutive US Open final. On the other side of the draw, Rybakina met Pegula’s compatriot Coco Gauff in the semifinals. Rybakina won 76% of her first-serve points compared with Gauff’s 58%. Gauff took the opening set, but Rybakina held her ground and defeated the two-time Grand Slam champion 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Sabalenka and Rybakina split the first two sets of the championship match before Rybakina pulled away in the third, winning the deciding set 6-2 to end Sabalenka’s two-year reign in New York.
The women’s tournament also featured a rare run of form from its highest seeds. Sabalenka, Rybakina, Pegula and Gauff — the top four seeds — all reached the semifinals, marking the first time the top four women’s seeds had done so at the US Open since 1975. Zverev ends Shelton’s historic run to win first US Open The men’s tournament began without one of its biggest stars, Jannik Sinner, who withdrew because of a right knee injury. Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz also arrived with health doubts after missing more than four months of tennis with a right wrist injury. Alcaraz nevertheless won his first four matches at the US Open before running into No. 8 seed Ben Shelton in the quarterfinals. Shelton pulled off one of the tournament’s defining upsets, defeating Alcaraz 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3, 1-6, 7-6(7) in a grueling match that lasted four hours and 28 minutes. The Atlanta native ended the defending champion’s 18-match Grand Slam winning streak and sealed the victory with a 146 mph ace at 3:33 a.m., the latest finish in US Open history. The victory set up an all-American semifinal matchup between Shelton and No. 11 seed Frances Tiafoe. Shelton beat Tiafoe 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 and reached the first Grand Slam final of his career. Top-seeded Zverev followed a different path to the championship match. The German fought through the first couple of rounds before defeating Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-6(7), 7-6(6) in the semifinals. The victory sent Zverev to his third consecutive Grand Slam final, following his French Open title and Wimbledon runner-up finish earlier this year. In the final showdown, Zverev took control early, winning the first set 6-3 before taking the second-set tiebreak 7-2. Shelton battled back by winning the third set 7-5, but the German responded with a 6-2 fourth set to complete a 6-3, 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-2 victory. For Shelton, the loss ended a run that included victories over former top-10 players Hubert Hurkacz, Denis Shapovalov and Stefanos Tsitsipas before his five-set upset of Alcaraz and semifinal victory over Tiafoe. Despite falling one match short of the title, the 23-year-old became the first American to reach the US Open final since Taylor Fritz in 2024.
— Contact Jerry He at jerry.he@emory.edu
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