Daily Deacon

John Allison Speech

Business is noble work. Successful businesses help clients, employees, communities and shareholders and are self-disciplined by the market.

Retired CEO and president of BB&T and Cato Institute John Allison criticizes the government for being responsible for the financial crisis in 2008.

“It was altruism that caused the financial crisis, not greed.” The government instructed banks to hand out mortgages to those with poor credit ratings.

The keynote speech took place on Apr. 14 in Broyhill Auditorium in Farrell Hall and was attended by professors, faculty, businessmen, and a few students.

Common belief is that greed led bankers to distribute these subprime mortgages with high interest rates. According to Allison, it is the government who was responsible for these loans and the government’s fault for bailing out businesses meant to fail.

America has dropped from 3^rd to 20^th place in free market ranking. Allison asserts that America is far from being a free market, it is under crony statism. Crony statism involves private businesses being supported by the government.

To support his claim Allison brought up that after the Sarbanes Oxley act was passed to regulate and make public businesses transparent, fraud increased. Allison states rule of law is essential but regulations are typically destructive to innovation and compliance drives out ethics.

Allison’s fundamental goal for BB&T was to make the world a better place to live. During his time as CEO, the company’s worth grew from $4.5 billion to $152 billion. He stated that sense of purpose, rationality, self-esteem, and motivation are the foundations of a business.

“Self-esteem is earned by how you live your life,” said Allison. For students aiming to work in the business world, Allison stated a good businessman has mental discipline, is reality grounded, independent thinking, honesty, integrity, justice, teamwork.

“Successful business men are independent thinkers and that gives them a sense of responsibility.”

It is entrepreneurs who think for themselves and bring ideas to life that start businesses. Markets work because they allow human innovation and creativity. Successful businesses focus on clients not shareholders. For these reasons, Allison advocates that businesses are better off without government regulation and free markets raise the standard of living.

“We are fundamentally traders, life is about figuring out how to get better together.”

Businesses receive benefits for providing service to others creating a win win scenario.

After the event concluded, Wake Forest marketing professor Michelle Steward stated, “John Allison knows more about the travesties of government regulation than anyone yet remains upbeat, he knows his purpose.”

Steward stated that Allison’s speech was very powerful and if there is anything a student could have taken from it, it would be the importance of purpose, self-esteem, and value.

“It was an interesting topic for me, brings a new concept, new theory about the financial crisis,” said Simon Liu, a rising senior studying finance at Wake Forest University.

Chipotle Aims to Regain Trust Among Customers – Brandon Liu

FRAC article lead

Winston Salem has a 34.8% food hardship rate among households with children making it the #1 ranked in a 2009-2010 survey of metropolitan areas by the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC).

B Matter – Brandon Liu

DEM15

Hillary Clinton is a strong candidate among minority and female voters. In South Carolina, the black voters that Obama won in 2008, voted Hillary over Sanders 6 to 1. The results from Super Tuesday confirmed Hillary’s popularity among black voters in southern states.

Self-described democratic socialist, Bernie Sanders continued to remind voters that the race is determined by delegates.

After Super Tuesday, Bernie Sanders who is popular among youths made a greater effort to appeal to black voters, starting in Michigan.

Voter turnout for both parties during the primaries was record setting. The Democratic party received 250,000 votes, significantly less than the Republican party which received 285,000 votes.

GOP15

Trump led the Super Tuesday primaries with more delegate counts than Cruz and Rubio combined.

The GOP faces internal conflict after Thursday, when previous Republican presidential nominees Mitt Romney attacked Trump, receiving endorsement from previous GOP presidential nominee John McCain, and support from many others.

Exit polls in Virginia during Tuesday’s primary showed Republicans voted satisfied with their candidate while Democrats voted out of dissatisfaction towards the opposing candidate.

VOTERS15

North Carolina’s recently passed voter ID law makes voting for minorities and students to vote. Only two out of 35 million votes were referred in cases of voter fraud between 2000 and 2014, leading critiques to believe the law was implemented to strengthen the Republican vote.

Early voting takes place between March 3 and March 12. Voters can go to any open polling location during early voting but must go to their assigned precint on March 15.

More than 600 people showed up on the first day of early voting in Forsyth County.

SC primary coverage analysis – Brandon Liu

Clinton Trounces Sanders to win South Carolina Democratic Primary – by Maya T. Prabhu and Schuyler Kropf

This article is very informative, and provides videos and images that capture Hillary’s success well. It also provides good background info and comparison to how she performed vs Obama in 2008 which is significant because her success was greatly attributed to the minorities. Many of the verbs may seem bias, but I think they are justifiable due to Hilary’s 73% vote. Although the article is focused on Hillary, it does not forget to cover data and information regarding Sander’s votes. Great use of quotes that capture the main thesis of Hillary’s campaign. The quotes used at the end also capture the voters and public’s enthusiasm regarding the primary.

The article’s could maybe add some visuals for the data to make them more clear.

Trump Wins South Carolina Primary in Runaway – Schuyler Kropf

This article excels on immediately addressing all of the other relevant candidates right after the lede. Includes numerous quotes from all of the leading candidates. Does a good job of covering the next steps, such as Cruz and Trump expected to compete over previous Bush supporters.

The article could use some more quotes from the voters. It uses data from an exit poll, but only interviews two people, a wife and husband, which are not diverse enough. The Democratic primary coverage included more interesting statistics regarding the composition of the voters for each candidate. I think the article jumped around from candidate to candidate a little bit too frequently making it less fluent.

Wake Forest Business School Undergraduate Program of 2016-2017

The Wake Forest School of Business recently made its decisions regarding admissions for the undergraduate program of 2016-2017. Emails released between Feb. 10 and Feb. 15 informed students whether they were accepted on the condition that they continued to perform well during the fall semester of 2016, deferred and given a chance to reapply after the fall semester, or rejected and advised to evaluate other opportunities at Wake Forest to help attain their goals.

Admissions status was based on completion of MTH 111 or 112, ECN 150, and ACC 111, the GPA for these core classes, and cumulative GPA. The process is fairly competitive due to only having 265 seats available and approximately 350 applicants each year. The average GPA for the undergraduate program of 2015-2016 was a 3.2 for core classes and 3.5 for cumulative according to Betsy Hoppe, Executive Director of the Undergraduate Program.

“The key traits that the program looks for in applicants are analytical skills which are reflected in the focus on Mathematics, Economics, and Accounting courses and hardworking which is reflected in overall GPA,” said Pat Dickson, Associate Dean of the Undergraduate Program. Dr. Dickson led the business school’s sophomore orientation on Feb. 21 in Broyhill Auditorium.

Wake Forest international student from Beijing, China, Anling Deng, was accepted on Feb. 11 and stated, “I was not really surprised, but relieved after getting accepted. I don’t know anyone who got rejected.” Deng is aiming to be an auditor working in the U.S. and was attracted to the business school due to holding top pass rates on the CPA exam among all U.S. institutions, and it’s #1 ranking for academic quality by Bloomberg in 2014. Deng is one among many international students drawn towards Wake Forest’s Business School by its accolades.

The undergraduate program offers Accountancy, Business Enterprise Management, Finance, and Mathematical Business majors. Dr. Dickson stated that all of the programs are equal in quality and there are multiple paths one can take to get where they want in the business world. Dr. Dickson also included that one of the strengths of the Wake Forest Business School is its close connection to the liberal arts side of the school, giving students “the best of both worlds.” In the past few years, leadership and communication skills have been implemented into the curriculum for every business school class. Changes are also constantly made to the undergraduate program based on what the market wants and what qualities employers are looking for.

Wake Forest sophomore, Dean Beckford, who was deferred from the business school said, “I was missing a required course for the Mathematical Business program, but I am not worried.” Beckford believes after the completion of this fall semester, he will be accepted.

For those rejected, Dr. Dickson who majored and received a PhD in communications recommends, “work hard no matter what you are majoring in, be passionate about your studies, employers can teach you their trade provided that you are passionate and a critical thinker.” Dan Feldstein who was the featured speaker for orientation, is the Chief Marketing Officer and co-founder of Red Ventures which accepted 35-40 Wake Forest students in 2015, half of them being from the liberal arts division of Wake Forest. Dr. Dickson emphasizes that any major can get you to where you want in life.

multimedia post

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/18/health/florida-palm-beach-teen-doctor-arrest/

This article is about an 18 year old who was arrested for treating patients without a doctor’s degree. It is on the short side length and detail wise, but the hyperlink to the 18 year old’s website provides great context about how serious and well designed his fake business was. Without it, it would be difficult to assess why people found him credible.

WFU Beat – Brandon Liu

People
1. President Nathan O Hatch
2. Andy Chan – Vice president of career development
3. Penny Rue – Vice president of campus life
4. any members of the campus life advisory board
5. Wendy Harper, Senior Financial Management Analyst
6. Michele Gillespie, Dean of the College
7. Dr. Malika Roman Isler, Director of Campus Wellbeing
8. professors

sources
1. http://institutionalinformation.wfu.edu/
2. http://financialaid.wfu.edu/
3. http://wfuogb.com/
4. https://win.wfu.edu/
5. http://campuslife.wfu.edu/
6. Wake Forest Social Media
7.

Three story ideas:

1. What is the average tuition cost for a Wake student, and average salary for a wake Graduate?
2. What percentage of students are involved in clubs/sports and how does that affect their lives?
3. What qualities does Wake Forest look for in professors that make them unique. What rules are given to lead them to the desired Wake teaching style?

Awake All Night Event – Brandon Liu

Student Union sent Wake Forest students on a playful trip back in time to the medieval age on the night of the 6^th. The competitive and sportive nature of a knight was invoked at the highlight of the event as attendees raced on horses, jousted, and battled in tug of war. Hundreds of students showed up and were ready to enjoy the festivities at Benson Center, where the event occupied the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th floors. Free of cost, the event was open to students and friends from 9:00 pm to 1:00 am.

Benson center was decorated with balloons, streamers, and banners and rang with upbeat pop music. On the second floor, a film was being shown in the Pugh auditorium and a late night open mic was hosted in Shorty’s where students were given the opportunity to display their talents.

A large hand painted castle banner guided students to the third floor where tables of finger foods, cake, and punch occupied the center. Next to the food was a face painting and balloon art stand.

The usually quiet study space of Benson Center was replaced with a neon lit casino. Well-dressed, elderly, adults hosted Poker, blackjack, and roulette in which players could win poker chips that could be exchange for tickets used at the end of event raffle.

Wake Forest sophomore Jack Garvey organized both the Fall 2015 event and Spring 2016 Awake All Night event, leading both to be very successful.

“The turn out has been great, definitely more people than expected, it’s been fantastic. The most popular attraction is probably the build a bear workshop and the food is always big hit too.”

Said Student Union head of special events, Jack Garvey.

Dragons, unicorns, and bears were brought to life at the build a bear station in room 410 where students could give a soul and hand stuff the bears themselves. The option of machine stuffing was also available for those in a rush to explore more of the event.

Loud hammering came from the adjacent arts and craft room where students pounding metal stamps into leather to make bracelets. Three tables were set up, one for sand art, one for crafting and dying leather bracelets, and one for bead bracelets. At the sand art table, students could pick from a rainbow assortment of sand and stack it to create patterns in a jar.

“I found the sand art the most interesting but actually enjoyed watching people joust the most because it’s funny”, said Wake Forest graduate of 2015, Kyungjin Yoo who has been to two previous Awake All Night events.

In the corridor, a long line for a psychic led to the other side of the fourth floor where the light hearted medieval games took place. Jousters wore oversized suits with heavily padded poles in attempt to knock off the opponents head. Students also participated in the derby race using three inflatable green horses. They bounced and rocked their way slowly to the finish line and back. The tug of war rope which was almost the length of the entire room allowed anyone willing to show off their strength in one on one or team battles. Freshmen Sashank Sakamuri and Alessandro Rizzi left the event with three inch rope burns near their elbows in a close match.

Awake All Night is a semiannual event organized by the special events division of Student Union which meets every Tuesday at 5:00 pm to provide fun for all Wake students.

Megan Schmit Profile – Brandon Liu

Sophomore Megan Schmit is studying communications with a minor in journalism and art history at Wake Forest University. In the past year, Schmit has been more serious in considering a career in writing and editing for women’s fashion magazines and has chosen to take Journalism 270 to improve her skills and opportunities in this field.

Schmit has been interested in women’s fashion magazines since the age of 10 and from her exposure, she believes that fashion is something the world pays a lot of attention to. Some of Schmit’s favorite magazines include, Marie Claire, InStyle, and Vogue.

In the past, Schmit has written about sexual education disparities, the Oregon school schooting and recapped major changes on Wake Forest campus over the summer. Schmit believes these subjects are important and writes to encourage the public to be more informed about them.
Her articles can be found on hercampus.com.

From only a few classes, Schmit has already gained a greater understanding of journalism.
“I have a new appreciation for being extremely accurate, including where and who you get you’re information from, and making sure you’re titling everyone correctly.” Other skills that Schmit hopes to take from journalism are, the ability to analyze, and communicate effectively.