The Hub

‘A Ladder, Not A Crutch’:

Emory Community Adapts to AI in Academia

Table of Contents

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Cover by Ivana Chen

‘A Ladder, Not a Crutch’: Emory Community Adapts to AI in A cademia

By Ellie Fivas and Siya Kumar

‘Flashing Red Light’: Open Expression Policy Reviewed, Revised and Rebuffed

By Josselyn St. Clair

Balancing emergency

medicine , academics : H ow

Alex Dolle leads Emory EMS

By Madeline Shapiro and Amelia Bush

A World Away, Yet Right at H ome : I nside E mory ’ s International Student Athlete Experience

By Alex Waryn and Sonia Liew

The Emory Wheel

Ellie Fivas Editor-in-Chief

Spencer Friedland Editor-in-Chief

Madeline Shapiro Executive Editor Catherine Goodman Managing Editor Will Peck Managing Editor Wendy Pelayo Managing Editor Jack Rutherford Managing Editor Lauren Yee Managing Editor Siya Kumar News Editor Jacob Muscolino News Editor Carly Aikens Editorial Board Editor Ethan Jacobs Opinion Editor Cayden Xia Opinion Editor Hunter Buchheit A&L Editor Amelia Bush A&L Editor

Sammy Brodsky Sports Editor Chloe Nam Sports Editor Ivana Chen Illustration Editor Sasha Emmerich Deputy Illus. Editor Saba Faisal Deputy Illus. Editor Sage Buchris Deputy Photo Editor

Ivan Wang | Business Manager Business/Advertising Email business@emorywheel.com

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Esther Fu Social Editor Clément Lee Senior Editor Alex Gerson Deputy Editor Angela Chan Copy Chief Disha Kumar Senior Copy Editor Malia Yap Copy Editor Aimee Zhang Copy Editor

letter from the editor

By Ellie Fivas and Spencer Friedland

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hen we became editors-inchief in March, we were well aware of the commitment of the position, anticipating hours upon hours of work to keep The Emory Wheel running. Soon, however, we realized the true toll of serving in these roles: The weight of supporting student journalism amid a challenging time for press freedom. At Emory University, we are lucky to have the resources to maintain a financially and editorially independent student newspaper. This is not true for all universities, as we saw in October with the Indiana University administration’s censorship of its student newspaper, the Indiana Daily Student.

While developing concepts for The Hub, our annual magazine, we were stumped trying to develop a theme. Traditionally, our staff chooses a broad topic to base our longform articles around — last year, it was disorder, characterized by articles examining the chaos felt by community members throughout 2024. This year, however, our theme did not come easily. Stories swirled around, but without clear direction — ideas were plentiful, but the threads between them were thin.

With The Hub 2025, we decided to return to student journalism’s true purpose in the face of a nationwide landscape that questions its value: storytelling. From four different corners of campus, readers can find four wildly different stories in this year’s magazine, all focusing on unique aspects of the Emory student experience.

Across the United States, artificial intelligence (AI) is flooding into classrooms, changing the very nature of higher education. Many Emory community members are engaging with the generative technology in new and innovative ways, from replacing textbooks and lectures with AI-powered versions to training chatbots to serve as teaching assistants. Whether you are in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing or Goizeuta Business School, AI usage is all around. In this year’s Hub, learn about the innovative ways our campus is engaging with AI. Leaving the classroom, this issue also takes readers onto the track, into the pool and beyond with a look at the realities of being an international student-athlete. For Emory’s international student-athletes, mov-

ing to college not only means packing up their clothes and equipment, but also packing up their lives in their home country. This year’s Hub includes perspectives of international student-athletes on the pressure to perform, adjusting to life in the United States and where their Emory educations may take them in the future.

Emory’s Atlanta campus is home to more than only its students — the area also hosts the Emory University Hospital and other medical facilities. Included among the University’s medical services is its awardwinning Emory Emergency Medical Services (EEMS) team, which is entirely student-operated. In this year’s issue, we sat down with EEMS Chief Alex Dolle (26C), who deftly balances student life with his EEMS duties — working 36 hours per week, administrating the organization and being on-call for issues 24/7. Dolle, driven by his love for emergency medicine and saving lives, shows us what life looks like for these student volunteers who serve our campus.

Lastly, this issue zooms out from close-up tales on campus to tell a broader story about Emory’s community. In March, the University announced a revised Open Expression Policy, developed by the administration based on recommendations from the University Senate’s Open Expression subcommittee. Calls to change the previous policy had increased after the University called outside police to remove a pro-Palestine encampment from the University Quadrangle on April 25, 2024.

Since the University released the revised policy, the future of open expres-

sion remains unclear. Despite revisions to improve the policy, many critics have accused the University of violating the new policy in the past year. Following Anna Kenney’s social media posts about the assassination of right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, the School of Medicine terminated the former professor in September. The Committee for Open Expression later found that the medical school did not adequately consider the Open Expression Policy in her termination, resulting in a violation of said policy in their eyes. In this year’s Hub, opinion staff writer Josselyn St. Clair (26Ox) argues that the University has abandoned the Open Expression Policy and warns of a grim future ahead for free speech at Emory.

Together, these four stories are emblematic of a campus rich with innovation, imagination and inquiry — but also one subject to the turning tides of University administrative change, national politics and widespread uncertainty.

Without the work of student journalists, these stories would not be told, and we are proud to still bring the Emory community independent reporting and storytelling.

These stories are just one example of what student journalism can provide for an institution, and after our term as editors-in-chief ends, we look forward to reading much more independent Wheel journalism in the years to come. Thank you to our entire staff for making this magazine possible. We hope you enjoy these four snippets of life at Emory.

These articles reminded us about the value of student-led storytelling, and we hope they remind you as well.

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‘A Ladder, Not A Crutch’:

Emory Community Adapts to AI in Academia

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By Ellie Fivas and Siya Kumar

hen students in Associate Professor in the Practice of Information Systems and Operations Management Wen Gu’s courses have a question on their assignment, they have a choice: Wait for Gu or one of his teaching assistants (TA) to be available to help them, or consult another aid: an artificial intelligencepowered (AI) TA chatbot.

Three years ago, OpenAI publicly released ChatGPT, which has become the most popular AI chatbot in the world. Now, 90% of undergraduate college students reportedly use generative AI tools in their academics, according to Forbes.

Amid this AI boom in academia, Emory Office for Undergraduate Education Associate Dean Jason Ciejka, who leads Emory’s Honor Council, said that as the technology improves, the tools may lead to more students cheating.

“Many tools being free and accessible to students, that makes it easier, and in some ways, more tempting, for students to misuse artificial intelligence,” Ciejka said.

Some humanities professors have shared their fears of a “ChatGPT outbreak,” including Associate Professor of Political Science J. Judd Owen. However, with recent advances in AI, other professors are adopting and incorporating the technology into their classrooms.

At Emory, individual organizations, schools and departments have “autonomy” over how to use AI in their respective domains, according to Assistant Vice President of University Communications and University Spokesperson Laura Diamond. In fact, the University plans to curate a set of resources for organizations to reference while developing their own AI guidelines on a “University-wide Responsible AI website.” Still, the University is working to make sure community members use AI in a “responsible” manner, according to Diamond.

“Emory values the safe, ethical, and secure use of AI across all of our environments, and at the same time we equally value academic freedom, faculty governance, and the autonomy of schools, departments, and student leaders to set policies that align with their needs,” Diamond wrote.

Emory faculty members have the flexibility and freedom to implement the technology on their own terms, and on different corners of campus, professors are doing so in unique ways.

Psychology Professor Ditches Textbooks for ChatGPT

said the first time she was ever exposed to AI was in Kazama’s PSYC110 course.

Mullins found Kazama’s approach to AI in the classroom to be beneficial for her and other students.

“It creates an opportunity to engage with the material and ask questions if you’re confused about a certain area,” Mullins said.

Now, as a learning assistant in that same course, Mullins said some students find switching between classrooms where AI is banned and classrooms where the professor embraces AI to be difficult.

“They were just confused like, ‘Oh, is it really just we input a prompt to ChatGPT and interact with it, and then we answer a question?’” Mullins said. “It just felt like, ‘Oh, we’ve never done an AI homework before.’”

Mullins said Kazama’s incorporation of AI into the classroom improves students’ learning experiences by preventing them from relying on AI when completing assignments.

Department of Psychology Director of Undergraduate Research and Associate Teaching Professor Andrew Kazama (06G, 10G) began experimenting with ChatGPT when it first launched. Kazama explored ChatGPT with the intention of helping students learn more effectively. Now, he has “basically tossed” the standard Psychology (PSYC) 110 textbook.

Instead, Kazama instructs students to use three prompts to have ChatGPT retrieve necessary information from the internet. Rather than reading pages of a psychology textbook, students first ask ChatGPT for information on a subject, then how the subject relates to their lives, and finally, they ask the generative AI for an “adaptive quiz” on the topic.

“The guiding principle for how I use it is to make sure that students are using it as a ladder, and not a crutch,” Kazama said.

“The primary goal for all of my courses is: I want to give my students the tools to build themselves into better of undergraduate college students reportedly use human beings. That’s the thing I care about generative AI tools in thier academics the most.”

Kazama noted that he still keeps physical textbooks on course “Having an assignment where you’re directreserves for students who prefer “more tradi- ly engaging with AI is a lot more of an opportional learning.” However, he emphasized that tunity to do active learning, it eliminates that no students have expressed discomfort with temptation,” Mullins said. “No one’s going to using ChatGPT. use AI to cheat on an AI assignment, in my “I haven’t had a student to come up and talk opinion.” to me and say, ‘OK, I’m really uncomfortable According to Kazama, a key benefit of using using this in my class,’” Kazama said. “I hope ChatGPT in his classroom is financial accessithat I’m not intimidating students … I don’t bility for students. The PSYC110 textbook can think students should be forced to use AI, but cost students over $100, making it unaffordit’s an important skill to learn.” able for some.

Kazama said that since he has brought AI “I came into college as a low-income stuinto his courses, he has seen students’ grades dent, so I’ve always been very sensitive to improve, although he has not conducted a full pricing, and a lot of these AI systems are free study. or nearly free,” Kazama said.

“It’s going very well,” Kazama said. “It’s While Kazama sees numerous benefits to gotten good reviews, and my test scores have using AI in the classroom, he also stressed honestly gone up, so they actually are learning the need for students to learn how to use the it better.” tool properly, noting the potential pitfalls of Psychology major Siobhan Mullins (26C) relying on AI.

90%

" The guiding principle for how I use it is to make sure that students are using it as a ladder, and not a crutch. The primary goal for all of my courses is: I want to give my students the tools to build themselves into better human beings. That’s the thing I care about the most.

- Professor Andrew Kazama (06G, 10G)

Siya Kumar /News Editor

“Students are under a lot of pressure to perform, and a lot of the misuse of AI comes from pressure on students to be perfect, to get the perfect score,” Kazama said. “If we could do things to reduce that need for perfection in all things and all domains, we would actually solve a lot of these issues.”

Kazama said he appreciates the freedom the University gives professors to implement AI into their classrooms. He envisions a future in which Emory students and professors learn and grow from AI use in education together.

“You’re here at Emory to learn and grow and become the next best version of yourself,” Kazama said. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we taught you what AI is, how AI is contributing to that and what are some of the deficits that it might be creating that you’re not even aware of?”

AI TAs Enter Business School Classrooms Across campus, at Emory’s Goizueta Business School, Wen Gu is using AI to improve classroom resource accessibility. In his courses, students not only learn about AI, but they can also learn from an AI chatbot.

Gu noticed an ongoing issue where students wanted to meet him or his TAs for office hours but could not find a time that worked for both parties.

“A lot of times, no matter when I scheduled my office hours and how many TAs that I have, there were always people who said, ‘Oh, when I wanted to get help, I couldn’t get help,’” Gu said.

Gu turned to AI to combat office hour inaccessibility for students.

Last fall, after months of experimentation, he introduced an AI chatbot, trained on the content of his courses, to serve as a TA avail-

able 24/7 to his students.

When designing his courses, Gu said he experimented with different methods using the AI chatbots, including having only human TAs, only AI TAs and a combination of both. He found that using a combination of both human and AI TAs has been most successful for students.

After Gu implemented the TA chatbot, other professors in the business school began adopting Gu’s model and training their own TA chatbots. He estimated that over 15 other professors are using the same technology for their courses, including a computer science professor. Last year, Gu, along with other business school professors, developed an AI task force to tweak the technology to suit individual courses.

“We’re trying to work with individual faculty members to see what is the best way for us to provide different tools that we develop to fit their individual need,” Gu said.

Gu said adjusting the technology for different subject areas required “a lot of customization.”

As the technology spreads to other departments, he anticipates needing to further modify the AI TA. Raphael Nelson (25Ox, 27B) helped develop a similar AI TA to the one used in Gu’s classroom for

ISOM 351 with Professor in the Practice of Information Systems & Operations Management Steve Walton. He mentioned that students appreciated these TA chatbots because they improve access to classroom resources.

“It can be a nice, good way to let students ask questions without needing a TA to be ready at any moment of the night,” Nelson said.

“Generally, AI is pretty well-suited to that task.”

Nelson also shared that AI TAs are specialized in the course content, allowing students to receive more effective answers to their questions.

“The benefit is any time of day you can ask it a question,” Nelson said. “You don’t have to be worried about being judged or looking stupid, if that’s a concern for someone, and you can be confident that it’ll reliably give you a good answer based in the course material.”

While Nelson noted AI has been implemented in some of his courses, he also said that not all business school professors have incorporated the technology into their classrooms. However, he noted that many business professors are open to using AI within their classes.

“How can [AI tools] save you time, or make you more efficient,

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Siya Kumar /News Editor

and, where can they not?” Nelson said. “School is a good place to learn that lesson, as long as you’re following class rules.”

Nursing Professor Uses AI Start-Up as Teaching Tool Similar to Gu, Assistant Professor of Nursing Patti Landerfelt (96N, 19N) has harnessed AI to expand educational resources for students. Landerfelt partnered with Qvio, a digital content company, to develop video lectures for students. Qvio is an interactive video platform that enables authors to create interactive video questions for viewers.

Landerfelt shared that Qvio inputs her class content into ChatGPT and generates 50 questions for students to answer.

From there, Landerfelt matches the answers to the 50 questions with corresponding parts of the video lecture. When she publishes the video, students have access to a chatbot and the questions. Landerfelt highlighted the “positive” student response to the chatbot.

“The students like it,”

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Landerfelt said. “They’ve given us some great feedback on what they do like, what they don’t like, what’s cumbersome, but for the most part, they wanted it.”

Landerfelt noted that students who interacted with the Qvio videos were more likely to answer related questions correctly.

“If they interacted with [Qvio] … then they had a statistically significant increase in their exam scores on these questions that directly related to the Qvio,” Landerfelt said.

However, Landerfelt emphasized that even though Qvio is an AI tool, integrating the questions still took a lot of time.

“It took quite a while to do it, especially considering that students want a video for every single lecture, and it’s taking me forever to do a 30-minute lecture,” Landerfelt said.

Landerfelt sees AI as a tool to enhance the classroom experience, but one that requires significant instructor input and oversight.

“When you’re an early adopter, you’re going to have a lot of hurdles,” Landerfelt said. “That’s

kind of what I’ve experienced, but I don’t regret implementing this.”

AI, Not Your Professor: Business Professor Automates Grading Like Landerfelt, Gu also uses AI to assist on the backend of being an instructor. About a year ago, Gu introduced an AI-powered grading system, designed to reduce wait time for grades and provide AI-generated feedback on student work.

Gu said many students liked the automated AI grading system.

“About 84% of the students prefer the type of feedback generated by autograder and its focusing on, not the negatives, but the part that can be improved,” Gu said.

While the autograder is a helpful tool, the technology still makes errors, and Gu said he always goes through and checks the AI’s work.

But Gu framed what some could see as a negative as another teaching moment: If students can catch grading errors in their assignments, they are still learning.

“If the grading has errors, I’m happy to double the points that

has been mistaken back to you — not just to give you the correct grade, but also award you with double the points,” Gu said. “The evaluation of the actual grading is actually an extremely valuable learning opportunity.”

Gu emphasized that AI usage will only increase as students enter the workforce, especially for those entering the business world.

“We want to have business students as principled, world leaders,” Gu said. “How can you be a leader without understanding how technology will change or shape the future?”

Center for AI Learning Keeps ‘A Human in the Loop’ with AI.Data Lab The Emory community is also engaged in AI research beyond the classroom. Launched in 2023, the Center for AI Learning offers several programs to the Emory community, including the AI.Humanity Seminar Series, public workshops and their AI.Data Lab. Any Emory student can apply to join the AI.Data Lab, which

" We want to have business students as principled, world leaders How can you be a leader without understanding how technology will change or shape the future?

- Professor Wen Gu

runs on a semesterly basis.

Assistant Director of Programs at the Center for AI Learning Tyler Cook said this fall, about 200 students applied to be a part of the 120-person program.

Cook highlighted the strengths that an interdisciplinary group of students brings to AI research.

Students in the AI.Data Lab learn to implement the technology into projects ranging from assisting the nursing school to analyzing sports statistics.

“It’s really cool to see that kind of collaborative environment where it’s not just one viewpoint that’s dominating, but it’s a number of different viewpoints that are coming together and working together on these projects,” Cook said.

Cook emphasized the importance of teaching students to use AI effectively before they enter the workforce, which the center helps achieve through its programming.

“We want to help humans and people and Emory students figure out how to partner with these tools or how to collaborate with these AI tools in order to make sure that the AI isn’t doing all the work … that you still have a human in the loop,” Cook said.

Coming from an ethics and philosophy background, Cook highlighted fears that teaching students about AI use might increase their dependence on it.

“I do worry about a scenario

where we’re just offloading a lot of our cognitive judgement or exercise or capabilities or activities onto these systems,” Cook said. “If we get to a scenario where we’re doing too much of de-skilling, critical thinking, all that diminishing, that’s the kind of scenario we want to avoid.”

Cook hoped that participating in the AI.Data Lab and the center’s other programs has helped Emory community members understand the importance of using AI ethically and responsibly.

“You can either do that thinking for yourself and you can be a human, or you can just automate it and let an AI do all that thinking for you,” Cook said. “Which one of these do you want to be? Do you want to be just sitting around letting AI do all the thinking for you or do you actually want to be a critical thinking human?”

‘A Human-Centered Approach to AI’: The Future of AI Innovation in Higher Education While all of their implementations of AI are distinct, there is one fact that Kazama, Gu, Landerfelt and Cook can all agree on: People need to find a balance between utilizing AI while not having it replace their work, thoughts and creativity.

“AI can be kind of a crutch, right?” Kazama said. “It can

Siya Kumar /News Editor

replace critical thinking. It can be used to take shortcuts. But every time you don’t use it in that way, you exercise that integrity muscle, and it gets stronger.”

An additional risk of improperly using AI in the classroom is the risk of information “hallucinations,” according to Kazama. AI hallucinations occur when a Large Language Model, like ChatGPT, provides false information as fact. These malfunctions are very common in newer AI tools, with rates as high as 79% on some AI systems.

“If we’re going to use AI in the classroom, you need to understand where it’s strong, but also, even more importantly, where it’s weak, where the hallucinations going to be issues with citing peerreviewed papers, sometimes it will make them up,” Kazama said.

Landerfelt also shared the dangers of students receiving incorrect information from outside AI models.

“When students go to ChatGPT, there’s no telling what’s going to come back out,” Landerfelt said.

“They can put in a prompt, which is very minimal words, but the output is not necessarily congruent with what we’re teaching in the class.”

Gu also recognized the potential downsides of neglecting critical thinking in pursuit of complete automation, but added that he intentionally designed his virtual TA to limit students’ reliance on the technology.

“The future work is shaped by humans and AI working together in a lot of different areas,” Gu said.

Even amid concerns that AI may replace student-led thought,

Kazama emphasized it is important to know how to use AI and for professors to effectively implement it in Emory’s classrooms.

“If you’re going to allow AI, you should understand what are the benefits and what are the impacts of it on student learning, on many different domains,” Kazama said.

Likewise, Gu said using AI in the classroom is vital for students and preserving the long-term relevance of higher education.

“I would strongly recommend my colleagues all start to think about how, or what exactly, is the core value that we’re providing to students?” Gu said. “We should think about, not just for our own survival, but really, for the point of education.”

When looking to the future, Gu said he is interested in how AI will change both the classroom and Emory students’ futures.

“I believe there is incentive for us to actually change the pedagogy,” Gu said. “Maybe we can work with AI during your learning, so that when you start working, then you will be creating more value in your future workplace.”

Looking to the future, Cook is optimistic about the Center for AI Learning and Emory’s roles in AI innovation and development.

However, he warns that AI users must engage with the technology and not rely solely on pure automation.

“Right now we’re in this critical phase where it’s new and it’s cool and it’s advancing,” Cook said. “ [I am a] big advocate for thinking about not just full speed ahead on innovation and automation, but, humans first, and a human-centered approach to AI.”

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Sasha Emmerich / Deputy Illustration Editor

Editor

‘Flashing Red Light’:

Open Expression Policy Reviewed, Revised and Rebuffed

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t the heart of many major protest movements lie students. At the height of the Civil Rights Movement in 1960, four Black college students boldly protested segregation by sitting at an all-white lunch counter in Greensboro, N.C. Just 10 years later, Kent State University (Ohio) watched in horror as the National Guard shot and killed four students who were protesting U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War. In 1985, a blockade of students at Columbia University (N.Y.) overtook an academic building for three weeks, demonstrating against the apartheid system in South Africa. Students return to the power of protest time and time again, looking to their First Amendment right to challenge global tensions and change the course of history.

Today, colleges and universities attempt to preserve these legacies of student activism in their institutional histories, aiming to show modern-day students what they can achieve when they raise their voices — Emory University is no different. The Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library maintains meticulous records concerning racial justice protests on campus, including the Four Days in May demonstrations. In 2o21, Emory News Center even featured the 1969 movement as a significant moment in institutional history, citing protesting as an opportunity “to develop leadership skills and advocate on and off campus for issues important to them.”

The University’s touting of past protest movements juxtaposes much of what some current Emory students feel about protesting at Emory. April 25, 2024, rests in infamy for many Emory community members: That morning, students gathered on the University Quadrangle to condemn Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip and demand that the University divest from Israel. Emory administration called the Atlanta Police Department (APD) — who then called the Georgia State Patrol — onto our campus, permitting officers to brutalize protesters by throwing them to the ground and releasing PepperBalls on the site.

Now, over a year and a half since April 2024, Emory administration has continued to crack down on protesting and campus expression, ignoring even its own policies and pledges to protect free speech for community members.

By Josselyn St. Clair

Emory’s Open Expression Policy acknowledges that, as a private institution, the University is “not bound by the First Amendment,” but states that Emory “respects the protections and principles of free speech and assembly as set forth in the First Amendment.” This policy should imply that Emory students and faculty have ample opportunity to express their beliefs and challenge the beliefs of others, yet the policy’s granting of the right to free speech exists only on paper.

Following the April 2024 demonstrations, community members began urging administration to revise the former Respect for Open Expression Policy, feeling as though the previous policy did not adequately protect student rights. After months of collaboration between administration and the University Senate, a shared governance body composed of students, faculty, staff and administrators, the University announced a new policy on March 20.

students to think more deeply about what this rating means. With their green light rating, FIRE is looking solely at the policy Emory has written on paper — not the way they continue to dismiss their own rules.

Another part of this rating should further alarm our community: FIRE stamped Emory with a D- grade for its speech climate, which refers to how safe students feel expressing their views on controversial topics. For Emory community members, a flashing red light should go off in their minds upon seeing this rating.

According to a FIRE survey, 41% of Emory community members report they are selfcensoring at least once a month. Students and professors do not feel safe expressing their opinions, even though there is a policy supposedly protecting us, and that should frighten all of us.

Professor of Law and University Senate Committee for Open Expression Chair Sasha Volokh said in an interview with The Emory

The University’s complete disregard of the Open Expression Policy is a threat to the Emory community, and the administration must do more to protect its students.

This new policy was a bright spot for open expression advocates at Emory, but since then, the administration has continually failed to support its own revised policy. The University has repeatedly cast away students and professors whose actions challenge its image. The University’s complete disregard of the Open Expression Policy is a threat to the Emory community, and the administration must do more to protect its students.

What Emory’s Misleading ‘Green Light’ Free Speech Label Ignores

In late September, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) granted Emory’s free expression policies a “green light” rating for the extent to which they threaten free speech. Out of 257 ranked U.S. universities, Emory stood at 67th place, climbing 87 spots from the previous year — an admittedly positive improvement. While this fact alone may encourage administrators to pat themselves on the back and pronounce the University as a protector of free speech, I urge

Wheel that he believes this self-censorship could be inhibiting the transformative dialogue meant to make Emory a place of growth.

One of Emory’s missions is to create and apply knowledge, but the University cannot do this when its speech climate stifles necessary dialogue. The University should be appalled: By shutting down its community’s ability to learn, administration is in direct contrast to what it preaches. It is no wonder community members feel the need to self-censor when our institution so blatantly shows its distaste for open expression.

Rather than allow a space for the community to create new ideas, University pushback against beliefs that veer away from the political center — such as its crackdown on a Stop Cop City protest in 2023 and proPalestine protests in 2024 — will push us all back to the center and stunt the growth of our learning. Administrators should do everything in their power to prevent Emory from becoming an echo chamber, this intellectual brainrot inflicts harm on both students and faculty alike. By enabling an environment that

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promotes and rechurns existing perspectives and shuns students’ unique thoughts, the University takes away the community’s ability to cultivate the type of critical thinking Emory claims to promote.

Emory Denies Umaymah Mohammad Her Right to Free Speech The Open Expression Policy upholds First Amendment principles for community members on campus, but there is another barrier that chills many students from exercising those rights — a lack of protection from University retaliation. If students are chilled away from using their free speech rights, this is a clear issue: Open expression has essentially become meaningless, with this policy as a

Despite pressure from the Committee for Open Expression, the School of Medicine refused to consider the Committee for Open Expression’s report on the incident in Mohammad’s hearing.

If this isn’t a blatant rejection of the University’s supposed protection of open expression, then it is unclear what would qualify.

The committee’s report shows that this incident was littered with misdoings. According to the report, Executive Associate Dean of Medical Education and Student Affairs William Eley (80C, 83M) asserted that the medical school does not “include a role” in student disciplinary matters for open expression and refused to engage with the University Senate. Despite the committee recommending the University drop conduct code proceedings

Other Emory governing bodies are essentially powerless in stopping the University from committing these policy violations. mere facade.

The University has repeatedly violated its own Open Expression Policy by suspending and even terminating students and professors who publicly voice their opinions. In November 2024, the School of Medicine suspended MD-PhD student Umaymah Mohammad for publicly calling out a professor for his volunteer work for the Israeli Defense Forces. According to a lawsuit the Georgia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed on behalf of Mohammad, Emory claimed Mohammad’s actions were a breach of “professionalism standards.” Although the University granted her a hearing, Mohammad said to The Guardian that the hearing was “dehumanizing” and claimed that the medical school refused to engage the University Senate’s Committee for Open Expression. Alarm bells should go off: This is not how Emory pledges to protect open expression on campus.

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against Mohammad in September 2024, the University ignored the University Senate and her case continues to be strung out in court.

I am troubled by the report’s blatant neglect of the policy — and everyone else who values their voice and freedom to speak on campus should be as well. The University cannot claim to allow “broad latitude to speak” while it disciplines Mohammad without full consideration of open expression. If the School of Medicine, and thus, the University, can cherry-pick when it implements this policy and when it does not, then there truly is no free expression. This puts the entire Emory community in danger.

Open expression cannot just be a limp written document. The Emory community must pressure the University to use the policy consistently, or else these rights will remain hidden in the dark — no green lights in sight.

Emory Withholds Open Expression from Anna Kenney The Mohammad incident does not exist in isolation. Emory administration has openly ignored the new Open Expression Policy — its own policy — just a few months into its revision.

Most recently, the Emory School of Medicine terminated School of Medicine Associate Professor Anna Kenney after she made several comments on Facebook about the murder of right-wing podcaster Charlie Kirk. In these posts, she called his ideology “disgusting” and responded to his death with “good riddance.” Even though Kenney’s statements were repulsive, the University needs to follow the Open Expression Policy to ensure that free speech is protected – even when the University may disapprove of it.

In a recent interview with the Wheel, Interim University President Leah Ward Sears (80L) said the University consults the Open Expression Policy in personnel decisions, but, damningly, the Committee for Open Expression issued an opinion on October 22, finding that the University failed to consider the policy in Kenney’s termination. The president’s statements have left the Emory community no choice but to wonder if we can trust her, clearly seeing that evidence shatters her claim.

Other Emory governing bodies are essentially powerless in stopping the University from committing these policy violations.

Neither the Faculty Council, composed of Emory professors, nor the University Senate, which includes faculty, staff, administrators and students, can do anything beyond publicly pressuring University leadership. This is emblematic of the problem that all higher education shared governance systems face, but it is deeply concerning that community members are meant to simply ignore the lack of care that University leadership has for the protections only they can act to preserve.

Emory has discovered that it can rip away the community’s protections when doing so is beneficial to it, leaving the Open Expression Policy undefended and unenforced. Emory first tested the waters when it called in APD, leading to an overblown response to the 2024 pro-Palestine protests. Emory administration has shown through its actions that the revisions of the Open Expression Policy, meant to partially address issues brought up

by April 2024, were implemented for show, not to truly uplift open expression. Opposition to the University’s preferred narrative is not protected — no matter how much the University has preached its protections of free speech. From Mohammad’s suspension to Kenney’s termination, University-sanctioned silence screams for the community to see that Emory leadership’s word will always trump ours.

It is hard to foresee what the future holds for open expression and free speech at Emory. As FIRE’s rating epitomizes, Emory’s policies might have a green light — but its implementation and followthrough have a failing grade as the University continues to trample expression. Until administration commits to fostering spaces where open dialogue is not just possible, but encouraged, and does not reprimand community members for voicing opinions that oppose its interests, our campus will remain hostile to the pursuit of knowledge.

The University must rip its hand from the mouths of its community members and allow everyone to engage with pressing issues without fear of censorship.

Time and time again, critics of the University have recited Emory’s own mission statement back to the institution: If Emory truly stands for the pursuit of knowledge, then its actions of silencing figures like Kenney and Mohammed are bullets it is shooting into its own foot. Emory’s future lies in its community, and with each wound it allows to be inflicted upon us, Emory bleeds too.

Balancing Emergency Medicine, Academics: H ow A lex D olle L eads E mory EMS

By Madeline Shapiro and Amelia Bush

phone.

“This has been such a goal for so long,” Dolle said. “It's cute to have little snapshots of where I was in my trajectory and how I've come to achieve these goals.”

‘Expert After A Call’: How Dolle Leads With Knowledge

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n an overcast autumn day in October 2018, Alex Dolle (26C) wandered around his hometown of Portland, Ore. Equipped with a camera, Dolle and a friend stopped by the Portland waterfront to take photos — a pastime he enjoys. On his way home, the pair waited at a light rail stop when Dolle saw a man walk across the tracks. He thought the stranger would stop before the train approached, but the man did not. The streetcar struck the man on the tracks right in front of their eyes.

Trying to help the injured stranger, Dolle dialed 911. Speaking with the dispatcher on the phone, his voice faltered, and he struggled to articulate his location despite having been to that area of town “a thousand times.”

“I felt so disempowered and helpless,” Dolle said. “I just wanted to help them, and there’s nothing I could do.”

Soon, the fire department arrived on the scene. Watching the firefighters assess the situation and care for the wounded man inspired Dolle and changed the course of his life. From that day forward, Dolle felt a new calling: to learn the knowledge and emergency medicine expertise required to help those in need.

Stumbling Upon Emergency Medicine After witnessing the light rail accident, Dolle decided to begin his emergency response journey with the best training he could think of: lifeguarding.

As a lifeguard, Dolle mostly tended to scrapes and cuts, but in one instance, he dove into the pool to save someone from drowning, reinvigorating his dedication to lifesaving work.

Sage Buchris / Deputy Photo Editor

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the pool Dolle worked at shut down, but still compelled to help save lives, Dolle pivoted, joining the Portland Bureau of Emergency Management to work as a notetaker. At age 16, about a year later, Dolle became deputy chief of vaccine operations for the City of Portland, giving him valuable experience providing health services.

After assisting with COVID-19 relief programs, Dolle interned at the Portland Fire & Rescue’s Emergency Medical Services office, where he earned his Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) license the summer before coming to Emory University.

Before moving to Atlanta as a first-year student, Dolle attended an admitted students tour and stayed at the Emory Conference Center Hotel, which sits across the street from the Emory Emergency Medical Service (EEMS) headquarters. Walking up the path to the hotel, Dolle peered into the parking lot, spotting the EEMS trucks — white cars with orange and blue stripes and the Emory medical insignia — that would soon become a major part of his college experience. Dolle’s curiosity was undeniable: He wanted to know more.

After conducting some initial research on the agency, Dolle learned that EEMS was a volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) run

by Emory students, with some oversight from Emory’s Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response.

Dolle discovered that EEMS applications for his freshman year were open to students with an EMT license. The pieces fell into place, and Dolle applied for and joined EEMS before he had even attended his first Emory class. Reflecting on this consequential moment, Dolle said he saved his EEMS acceptance voicemail to his

While most incoming students occupy their first days in Atlanta with learning where to find the dining hall or how to balance studying and sleep schedules, Dolle threw himself into the deep end of Emory’s emergency response teams during his first year at Emory.

Emory Police Department (EPD) Sergeant Christian Theis noticed the young responder’s potential as soon as he joined the agency. Theis and Dolle, in their roles at EPD and EEMS, work together to support campus safety, but Theis also described the two as friends and emphasized his appreciation for Dolle’s presence in his work and life.

“He’s always been a leader from the get-go,” Theis said. “He’s super knowledgeable in the field of emergency medical services, he knows what he’s doing.”

EEMS responds to a wide range of calls from students, faculty, staff, visitors on campus and the surrounding community. Working constantly to improve his medical knowledge, Dolle frequently independently studies treatment options to fill any gaps in his care.

“Knowledge is power for me,” Dolle said.

“Anytime I run a call that I don’t feel like I know as much as I’d like to about, I become an expert after a call.”

Emory School of Medicine Research Specialist Kylie Taylor (25C), who was part of EEMS when she was an Emory undergraduate student, said Dolle’s prior emergency response set him apart from other newcomers in his early EEMS responses.

“I remember him coming in on the first skills day of the year and just bringing a lot of enthusiasm,” Taylor said. “I had no idea he was a freshman because he seemed already very passionate, very excited, very comfortable. You could tell that this was his field and his domain from the start.”

Only a week into his time at EEMS, Dolle began serving as a teaching assistant for an EMT certification course. And in his second

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year at the agency, Dolle became a field training officer, educating the next generation of Emory’s emergency responders.

A Day In Dolle’s Life With so many responsibilities,

"I want to make the right decisions. I don ' t need to be right ."

- Alex Dolle Dolle joined the EEMS command staff in his junior year as the Division Chief of Training and Education, building on his love for mentorship and education. That same year, the organization won the Georgia Emergency Medical Service of the Year award, honoring EEMS as the top emergency medical service in the state.

EEMS Deputy Division Chief of Field Training Sofie Ragins (26C), whom Dolle trained, said he is an invaluable resource for his trainees and staff.

“He’s always there to support me,” Ragins said. “Even though it’s his first time doing a lot of these things, he always has the right answer, and if he doesn’t, he admits that as well, and we’ll figure it out together.”

Now as senior, Dolle serves as Chief of EEMS, spending 36 hours a week on shift and on call 24/7 to respond to any questions from the 76-member EEMS team.

Whenever he needs to make difficult decisions regarding EEMS practices, Dolle uses intuition to guide himself and considers different viewpoints from his staff.

“I want to make the right decisions,” Dolle said. “I don’t need to be right.”

As someone who loved overseeing one-on-one training, Dolle initially worried that his role as chief would be too administrative and removed from the education process. However, Dolle said becoming chief allowed him to give back to the organization he loves.

“I found that [being chief] was an opportunity to, at the very highest of levels, advocate for the agency, for the good work that we do,” Dolle said.

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Dolle manages his days through discipline and a strict schedule. The EEMS chief wakes up each morning around 6 a.m. — or 5:45 a.m. if he is on shift. Within minutes of opening his eyes, he moves through his morning routine: shower, blowdry his hair, brush his teeth, shave and, eventually, make himself a cup of coffee. Steaming beverage in hand, Dolle then sits on his couch with his iPad to read The New York Times. However, routine, not caffeine, motivates him.

“It's funny, I don’t need coffee, but I really enjoy the ritual of it,” Dolle said.

When he is on shift, Dolle’s morning routine extends beyond his Clairmont Campus apartment.

When he arrives at the EEMS office, he rounds up the equipment he needs, checks on his crew, gets the run-down from the outgoing shift, conducts truck examinations and grabs breakfast and coffee around 8 a.m.

Just six hours after he wakes up, Dolle is already preparing for nighttime. He stops drinking caffeine after noon and eats dinner at 4:30 p.m. While Dolle acknowledges that his routine appears rigid, he insists on its flexibility.

“I’m so busy throughout my day that having some consistency of, no matter what’s going on on my plate, wind down time is 8:30 [p.m.],” Dolle said.

The Dualities And Demands Of The Job Even though Dolle maintains a strict daily routine, he understands the “duality” of EEMS life, where responders serve as both emergency medical providers

and students. At one moment, an EEMS student may be in class taking notes, while in the next, they are on call, responding to life-altering situations. Dolle said that EEMS providers are able to make light of the sometimesstressful responsibilities.

“It’s a running joke now that anytime someone has something they have to get done, they’re just going to have calls all through that,” Dolle said. “That’s just how that works, and it’s just an unlucky fact of life.”

To help reduce the tension of a stressful shift, little things, such as interacting with children, offer small moments of joy. While EEMS students drive around with stuffed animals to give to children, what truly excites kids most is seeing the EEMS trucks themselves. On rare occasions, EEMS calls offer moments of inspiration and celebration, such as assisting childbirth.

“Most people are having an inherently bad day when they call EMS,” Dolle said. “It’s really difficult to shoulder that burden of ‘Well, I’m going to get called to another bad day. My whole day today is gonna be other people's bad days.’”

While Dolle has so much love for his job, he understands being an EEMS student can be stressful, both in terms of time commitment and mental toll, and he takes these stressors seriously.

“Maybe an average person experiences death a couple times in their life, and it’s when it’s someone that they are close to, and as an EMS provider, that’s the type of thing you’re seeing on a very weekly basis,” Dolle said.

Those who work with Dolle attest to his ability to foster meaningful conversations. According to Ragins, Dolle opens up to those around him and always has his phone ringer on for staff to contact him.

“The easiest way to get through burnout and the difficulties is to remember why you’re there,” Ragins said. “He is always one of those people that will either

remind you for you, or he will bring that energy when you are having a bad day.”

An Infectious Love For EEMS After he graduates this spring, Dolle hopes to attend medical school and explore careers in both medicine and public policy. As the first person to serve on the EEMS command staff two years in a row since the COVID-19 pandemic, Dolle will leave a lasting impact on the organization and its people.

For Ragins, Dolle’s enthusiasm for emergency response medicine inspired her to pursue leadership roles within EEMS. “He brought the best out of me, and he also wasn’t afraid to tell me areas I needed to grow in,” Ragins said. “He inspired a lot in me, and watching him through the journey made me want to do the same.”

Taylor emphasized that Dolle sets an example for effective EEMS education.

“He just has a very genuine passion that translates, at least for me and the people I know in the agency, you can tell that he cares,” Taylor said. “He’s always learning new things, teaching new skills, trying to improve the agency every day.”

As chief, Dolle’s relationships extend beyond the EEMS staff and stretch into EPD as well. Theis said Dolle is “one of the kindest people” he knows, bringing happiness and light to every situation.

From acting as a bridge between EPD and EEMS to being an open leader, Dolle hopes his main impact will be on the people and culture within the organization.

“I want a culture to be my legacy, and I want it to be one of holding people incredibly accountable in a way that is so loving and supportive,” Dolle said. “That's my goal.”

Far off from the scared 14 yearold dialing 911 at the light rail on a damp fall day, Dolle empowers the next generation of young volunteers ready to act whenever an emergency strikes.

A World Away, Yet Right at Home:

Inside Emory’s International Student Athlete Experience

By Alex Waryn and Sonia Liew

E

Emerson Farrar / Contributing Photographer

Sophomore tennis player Ruilin Feng, who is from China, gets set to practice at Emory University.

ach year, thousands of students leave home to attend Emory University — even fewer of these students are varsity athletes, expected to balance academic demands with maintaining excellence in their sport. An even smaller percentage of these student-athletes are international students, who not only leave home for college but leave home for a new country.

At Emory University, international studentathletes navigate intense practices, heavy course loads and the challenges of adapting to a new culture, all while being thousands of miles from their home. Behind each international student-athlete’s jersey are not only impressive wins and exciting moments on the field, but journeys shaped by change, their identities and pride in both the school they represent and the countries they come from.

The United States is unique in the scale of its commercialization and the cultural significance of its college sports, attracting international students who dream of competing in the sport they love at the next level. With its elite Division III (DIII) athletic programs and world-class academics, Emory has become a destination for many international studentathletes seeking to pursue both their sport and their education at the highest level.

How International Athletes Choose Emory Adeyemi Oni, a senior forward on the men’s soccer team, is originally from Lagos, Nigeria. Oni knew he wanted to attend college in the United States after attending boarding school in the United Kingdom. There, he learned about American universities, leading him to begin his collegiate career at St. Mary’s College of California, a DI school.

In his junior year, Oni decided to transfer to Emory, drawn to the academics and strong soccer program.

“I chose Emory because obviously it’s a very good school, and also, the soccer is growing in the DIII space,” Oni said. “The main reason was the reputability of the school, and access to the business school, Goizueta, as well as the amazing professors we have on campus.”

Similarly, Kevin Zhong, a sophomore jumper on the men’s track and field team, said he chose Emory for its perfect blend of great academics and a successful track and field program. Zhong said he and his family wanted his college education to get him outside of his comfort zone — before growing up in Vancouver, British Columbia, the jumper

lived in China.

“My parents definitely wanted me to come to the States because I had stayed in Canada for about a decade,” Zhong said. “It was definitely one of my goals to try something new, coming to the States.”

While balancing academics and athletics, incoming international student-athletes face the challenge of settling into life in the United States. The first few months on campus can be a difficult transition for many students, but coming from a different country can add to the stressors of being a first-year student.

For Jessy Chen, a freshman on the women’s tennis team, having a group of supportive teammates and coaches made the sometimestreacherous journey a little easier.

Chen grew up in Limassol, Cyprus, and said she is still getting acclimated to life as a student-athlete in the United States. Chen said her teammates and coaches have supported her by showing her around Atlanta, helping her move in, and being there for her when she has any problems, whether academic or personal. Chen said that the exciting and shocking cultural differences made her transition to the United States much easier.

“I never had Chick-fil-A, Chipotle, stuff like that, before coming here, but it was cool seeing a lot of the stuff that you saw online and seeing

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them here in the U.S.,” Chen said.

“Everyone here is really friendly and welcoming, so I really felt that since the first week of school.”

‘Someone to Turn To’: Finding Support at Emory For many international athletes, early support from teammates and coaches laid the foundation for turning Emory into home. Senior swimmer Meredith Liu, who hails from Toronto, said it was only after she was admitted to Emory that she emailed the coach to discuss joining the swim and dive program. Unlike her teammates, who had already toured the school on recruitment trips, her introduction to Emory’s athletic programs and meeting her teammates was during pre-orientation. Still, Liu said her team quickly welcomed her, helping ensure her success in the pool and in the classroom.

"

I am the only one without any family members here in the U.S. I won’t be seeing [my parents] until Christmas - Jessy Chen

“Freshman year, nearly all of my classes were with teammates, and so that was really helpful,” Liu said.

“If we had questions or if we missed a lecture or whatever, there was always someone to turn to.”

Despite the support on Emory’s campus, many international student-athletes are still far from home and their support systems and comforts. Chen said her distance from Cyprus has brought challenges that some domestic student-athletes do

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not face. She shared that she misses her parents’ support at matches and dislikes the uncertainty of when she will next see her family.

“I am the only one without any family members here in the U.S.,” Chen said. “I won’t be seeing [my parents] until Christmas, and if that doesn’t work out, because there’s a lot of issues going on with traveling, I might not even see them till next year.”

Sophomore golfer Covi Yan, who calls Hong Kong home, also shared how difficult it can be to live so far from her family. Yan said she is reminded of the distance between her and her family when her teammates’ parents attend games to cheer on the team.

“When we travel to other states or from states that they’re from, their families are able to drive out and watch them, or maybe fly out from nearby states to watch them,” Yan said. “That’s very difficult for me because my parents are 15 hours away.”

While Yan said the distance was hard to deal with, she also mentioned that her community on and beyond the golf team makes it easier. When U.S.-based teammates’ parents attend games, they are not only cheering on their student-athletes — they are also supporting and uplifting Yan. “[They] come and they watch us like we’re all their kids, which is really amazing,” Yan said.

Emerson Farrar / Contributing Photographer

Freshman tennis player Jessy Chen winds up to swing.

Athletes Rep Blue, Gold and Flags Many international student-athletes take pride in representing both Emory and their home countries.

These student-athletes are often competing in their sport at a level far beyond what is available back home.

Sophomore tennis player Ruilin Feng from Shanghai said he takes pride in making his country, family, and friends back home proud. He was the first Chinese student-athlete to be crowned the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Cup DIII national champion this past October.

Tyler Huff / Contributing Photographer

Senior forward Adeyemi Oni waves for the ball.

Moving Beyond Emory Athletics

Sage Buchris / Deputy Photo Editor

Sophmore Meredith Liu swims in a match at Emory.

“I made my country proud, because I’m a little influencer on social media in China,” Feng said.

“When I posted it, I felt so good.”

Like Feng, Chen is motivated by her ability to represent her country in high-level college athletics. She said she plays not only for herself and her family, but for people back home who look up to her.

According to Chen, she wants to do well so younger athletes can see her success and strive toward their own.

“I do feel like there’s a lot of people that look up to me, like younger people from back home [in] Cyprus … and a lot of younger players who also want to come to the States,” Chen said. “I want to do well so they can see that and want to do the same thing, and come to the States to play a sport that they love as well.”

Senior swimmer Henri Bonnault feels similarly to Chen and said the opportunity to represent his home country of France motivates him.

“You’re not racing only for yourself, you’re racing for your country,” Bonnault said. “It’s definitely something that boosts me and it makes me mentally stronger.”

Aside from their teams, many of

these athletes have found community with other international students at Emory who share similar experiences. While originally from China, sophomore golfer Zimo Li and her family moved to Vancouver when she was in 10th grade. Whenever she is on the course, Li keeps a Chinese flag on her golf bag, repping her country with pride. Although close with her teammates, Li has also sought out other communities for Chinese Emory students, including in places like the Emory Chinese Student Association.

Unlike in the home countries of some international student-athletes, Americans approach sports culture as a highly competitive environment and a defining part of school identity, where representing one’s school at this high level is a major source of pride and identity. Zhong said the sports culture in the United States is far more serious and competitive as compared to in Canada.

“Canada is all supportive, but the competitiveness is not that big,” Zhong said. “In the States here, when I went to competitions, everybody was really locked in and focused, and that’s a really good thing because that can also help me push myself.”

Learning to adapt to a new culture while navigating a sense of dual representation is challenging, but the pressure does not stop there.

These athletes are also students and have to balance their sports with Emory’s rigorous academics. Bonnault said that, compared to France, a difference for him as a student at Emory was the high expectations he had to meet in the classroom and in the pool simultaneously.

“Academic-wise, we have to be more autonomous here,” Bonnault said. “In France, we don’t have any college teams so it’s very difficult to keep swimming or doing your sport at a very high level while pursuing your academics.”

Like domestic students, international student-athletes are focused on building their futures beyond Emory, for which the university provides countless opportunities to form connections in various fields.

Bonnault, a senior, will be pursuing a master’s degree in finance at Emory next year. He said he hopes to continue competing while continuing his education, a path made possible with the support he has on both the academic and athletic fronts.

“My goal would be to keep training as a pro next year, while studying at the same time, to potentially make it to the French Olympic trials and make it to the Olympics for the French national team in 2028,” Bonnault said.

Unlike Bonnault’s ambitions, other athletes do not plan to continue competing after graduation but remain grateful for the opportunities their teams have provided, both athletically and in shaping them as individuals. Yan said competing at Emory has opened numerous doors for her, giving her a valuable opportunity that will shape her future.

“I am not sure if I will continue my sport professionally,” Yan said.

“I’ll be able to take so many skills and connections, and that’s always what’s most important when it

comes

"

to

It might be daunting at first to think about moving to a different side of the world and being alone, away from your family.

But once you do it, you would not regret it.

- Adeyemi Oni receiving an education outside of your home country.”

Yan’s experience reflects a broader impact that many other international student-athletes experience.

Their presence enriches the Emory community not only on the field, but also by diversifying the University’s campus with different cultures, languages and traditions. Athletes from all around the world come together on Emory’s campus to compete, but this phenomenon is also about something bigger, according to Bonnault.

“I bring a new approach of collaboration,” Bonnault said. “Being international, my background is very different from the others, and this is a strength for me.”

For athletes who are unsure about moving internationally to pursue their sport, the message from Emory’s student-athlete community rings loud and clear: Students should “take the leap,” according to Oni. “It might be daunting at first to think about moving to a different side of the world and being alone, away from your family,” Oni said.

“But once you do it, you would not regret it.”

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