Daily Deacon

Column // Rachel Hirsch

Bar Piña, the only rooftop bar downtown in Winston Salem has opened on 770 Liberty View Court, just above the Famous Toastery.

Patrons conversed and sipped their drinks while listening to “September” by Earth Wind & Fire in dim lighting. This did not give the feel of a rooftop bar in Miami that Borawski, a bar back, said the owners were trying to go for.

The bar offers a wide variety of drinks such as craft beers and cocktails and is particularly excited for its slushies served on the rooftop overlooking the beautiful downtown stone buildings.

Eboo Patel – Todd

Wake Forest University announced Eboo Patel, head of the Interfaith Cooperation and founder of Interfaith Youth Core, will deliver the 2016 Commencement Speech.

In an email to the Wake Forest senior class, WFU President Nathan O’Hatch stated “Patel is recognized around the world for bridging divisions among people of different faiths. At a time when so much global conflict is rooted in religious difference and the need for interfaith cooperation is so great, I am pleased he will be Wake Forest’s commencement speaker.”

Patel was a member of President Barack Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-Based Neighborhood Partnerships, a part of the Executive Branch that seeks “to expand the role of this office as it relates to policy issues where religious and local leaders can be effective.”

Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) nonprofit in 2002. According to the IFYC website, the nonprofit aims to bring people from different faiths together through activities. Through exposure with other faiths, the goal is that students will learn to be comfortable with different beliefs and cooperate towards a “common good”.

Patel is recognized for his books “Act of Faith” and “Sacred Ground”. Patel blogs for the Washington Post, The Huffington Post, USA Today, and many others. In 2011 he was ranked in The Nonprofit Times’ list “Top 50 Power and Influence”.

Patel earned a doctorate in sociology of religion from Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar.

Patel was not available for questioning about his speech.

The last two Wake Forest commencement speakers were The Daily Show’s host, Stephen Colbert (2015) and former executive editor for The New York Times, Jill Abramson (2014).

Senior Alana McCarthy commented, “I am excited for Eboo Patel to be our commencement speaker because he is such an accomplished individual and will surely deliver a strong message.” She went on to say, “That being said, I was initially a little bit let down when I heard it was him, simply because I had never heard of him, and my expectations were so high after Stephen Colbert.”

WFU announced Eboo Patel as the commencement speaker on April 15th, much later compared to years prior. The 2014 announcement came on March 20th and the 2015 announcement came on March 2nd.

Eboo Patel will deliver his speech in front of Wait Chapel on May 16th.

https://www.ifyc.org/about-us/eboo-patel

Thrive Week’s Campus Canvas Event Photojournal

More than 60 students flocked to the Magnolia Quad on Friday, April 1^st for an afternoon of art for Campus Canvas. The event was organized and sponsored by Thrive, an initiative created by Wake Forest’s Office of Wellbeing. Organizers provided students with free paint and canvases as an outlet to express their creativity and self-expression. The event was part of Thrive Week, a week-long awareness initiative that featured events around campus to promote mental health and well-being around the Wake Forest community. Catherine Currin, one of the event’s organizers said the event was “a really great time,” adding “I honestly did not think that this many people would come.”

Students showing off their paintings on Davis Field

Sustainability Group leaders displaying their unique painting techniques

Students on the quad paint their canvases, surrounded by the signature Thrive Week leaves

A student diligently working on a painting on the quad

Event organizers, Catherine Currin and Katie Ambrose, showing off some paintings as participants work in the background

Event organizer, Alex Patrone, displaying his graffiti advertisement for the event

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.

Crossing Campuses: WFU’s cross-registration system with Salem College

It’s the first day of Fall semester at WFU and sophomore Emma Battle joins the throngs of students making their way across the brick labyrinth of campus. Tan, blonde, and passable for a J. Crew brand ambassador, she effortlessly blends in the rest of the student body. If anything, Battle represents a quintessential WFU undergrad – actively involved in WFU political clubs, academics, and social scene.

However, as Battle takes her seat in” Latino Political Behaviour” and listens to Professor Wilkinson take attendance, she never hears her name called. The professor seems confused, looking up at Battle and then back to the roster in search of a missing name. When introductions go around the room, one-by-one, the rest of the students find out why.

“My name is Emma Battle,” she says, “but I actually don’t go here.”

Battle, in fact, attends Salem College, a women’s college located 7 miles down University Parkway.

Each semester, approximately 30 students from Salem College enroll in courses at Wake Forest. This is a part of the WFU cross-registration relationship with Salem College, which began in X (*fact check) as a way for both institutions to expand their course offerings. The program allows Salem and Wake Forest students to utilize academic opportunities otherwise not available in their own school’s program. With no extra tuition cost, Salem students are permitted to enroll in Wake Forest courses and vice versa.

For students like Battle, the cross-registration system plays an integral part in expanding her educational horizons.

“When I took ‘Latino Political Behavior’ at Wake Forest, there wasn’t anything like it being offered at Salem at the time,” said Battle. “It’s a great to add diversity to your education, whether that be diversity of opinions, subject matter or even college campuses.”

The registration process itself is less straightforward. According to Melissa Cumbia, Academic Counselor at Wake Forest, the student must first receive approval from the Dean of Academics by writing a brief explanation of why they want to take the class. Once approved to move forward, the student must also contact the course professor and ask for permission to join the roster. On receiving the professor’s approval, the student’s paperwork is then sent to the WFU registrar for processing, but the student will not be formally added to the waitlist until a few days before the start of the course. Even then, the student must remain on the waitlist until the course begins.

“Unfortunately, cross-registered students cannot be put into our system and formally registered until the start of the semester,” Cumbia wrote in an email. “I advise students to contact their professor before the beginning of classes and let them know of their intent to enroll.”

“I registered basically like any other Wake student would,” said Battle. “The only difference was I had to wait until mid-August to ensure the class wasn’t filled by actual Wake students first; that part wasn’t fun, but it comes with the territory I guess.”

The same goes for WFU students who take classes at Salem College. The niche course offerings in Arts Management and Not-for-Profit Management appeal to those looking for more specified areas of study. Wake Forest graduate student Tiansong Zhou was seeking to focus on archeology, a track that can be carved through WFU’s Anthropology Department. However, while searching for more centralized courses, Zhou’s advisor recommended he look into the Salem College course catalog.

….

The process might be haphazard, but it usually resolves well. Salem College junior Ella Hill, an has taken two courses, “Fashion in the Age of the Atlantic Revolution” and “Music History of Winston-Salem,” at Wake Forest and says the experience was fairly smooth both times.

“When I initially reached out to both professors, they were supportive of my desire to join their class, and I have felt incredibly welcomed into the classroom,” says Hill. “I have thoroughly enjoyed my Wake Forest experiences and would highly recommend cross-registering for both Wake Forest and Salem students.”

Then and Now Wake Forest, Annabel Love

On February 3, 1834, Wake Forest College was founded in the town of Wake Forest, North Carolina. In the spring of 1956, Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The people, books, furniture, events, traditions, and personalities made the transfer to the Winston Salem Campus. Since 1956, some buildings have stayed the same but they have also gone through tremendous changes.

Timeline: Wake Forest and its Innovation Quarter — Eisert

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ijz–0q1DGv77WWqh3sCgIq_1w4UpBF3_T2rW5RyL4Y/pubhtml

Student Government Hosts Debate // David Blue

The debates between candidates running for Student Government executive positions were held this past Sunday night, April 5, at 8:30 in Pugh Auditorium inside the Benson University Center.

Running nearly two hours, the debates consisted of candidates running for the offices of secretary, treasurer, speaker of the house and president. Current president Adam Hammer and Board of Trustees representative Millicent Hennessy moderated the debates.

Each debate consisted of a two minute opening statement, followed by the candidates answering questions from the moderators and then the audience. Incumbent student body secretary and sophomore Dante Lizza and freshman senator Danny Reeves kicked off the first debate for the office of secretary.

Lizza largely discussed the need for the administration to provide free transport for students to off campus counseling centers, citing that over 900 students a year seek off-campus counseling.

Reeves proposed a pre-orientation program for the executive branch of government, where everyone can come together and learn more about the political climate on campus. He explained that this would help representatives in student government feel more comfortable with each other before the start of the semester.

Next was junior Kathryn Webster, who is running unopposed for her second consecutive term as treasurer.

Webster was asked about how she would work to allocate funds to groups across campus, even as they increase in number every year.

“There is a $600,000 budget for 139 groups on campus,” Webster said. “We need to work to get more funding from campus life or financial service. It is a matter of the administration understanding that we don’t have enough funding for the organizations.”

Junior Hakeem Oufkir, who is also running unopposed as speaker of the house, explained that one of his main duties will be educating new senators on parliamentary procedure. He too supports the summer pre-orientation program so that he can educate senators before the semester starts.

Oufkir was the only executive candidate that endorsed a presidential candidate. He explained his endorsement for junior Ann Nguyen, explaining that he also was planning on running for president until he found out Nguyen was running.

“When she told me her initiatives and what she wanted to do, I found that they were so much more detail-oriented than my own, and she really has a plan for this school,” Oufkir said.

The presidential debate, at an hour long, was by far the most extensive. In addition to more questions asked by the moderators and the audience, each candidate present was able to ask each other a question. Juniors Jordan Monaghan, Nguyen and Suvra Mostafa were the debaters.

Mostafa began the debate with a five- minute opening statement, as she was unable to participate in the debate due to an Anthropology conference she was attending in Vancouver.

In her statement, Mostafa proposed a number of student reforms, including more diversity in food options, a ladies only section of the gym and more efficient shuttle routes. She also explained that she wanted to improve working conditions for Aramark employees on campus by creating a break room.

The rest of the debate, following their opening statements, consisted of Nguyen and Monaghan answering questions.

The two candidates had two very different approaches in their platforms. Nguyen proposed having a monthly town hall where the student government would explain what they have accomplished or not accomplished in the previous month. In addition, she would attempt to have administrators present who were responsible for preventing student government from reaching their goals.

“What this is trying to do is bring accountability, but also transparency, and finding a different way to put a face to our emails,” Nguyen said.

Nguyen also plans to challenge Aramark, the corporation in charge of providing facilities and food on campus. According to Nguyen, the company has too much power and influence on campus.

Monaghan proposed the idea of student groups electing ambassadors that have a seat in the senate, so that every group is represented.

He also proposed continuing Mental Health Week to raise awareness of mental illness, with the added element of peer led educational sessions, where students can ask questions about mental illnesses and talk about them.

When asked what specific actions he would take to implement these policies, Monaghan said he did not know.

“There are many students on this campus that are doing so many phenomenal things right now that address campus culture, and I don’t know what the best step is for student government.

What I want to do is work with those students, so they have an advocate on their behalf.” Audience reaction to the debates marveled at the intensity of the debates.

“First of all, these debates were really intense — more than I expected — especially the questions from the audience” said sophomore senator Suyash Keshari.

Sophomore senator and academic chair Kiya Khalil agreed with Keshari, saying that she “was surprised by a few [of the questions] that were mentioned.”

She was also impressed with the performance of the candidates, saying that “the candidates facilitated themselves very well and presented their platforms very clearly.

Hustle and Humility // Rachel Hirsch

“Hustle and humility” are Charles Bests’ two qualities that helped him be a leader and eventually become the CEO of DonorsChoose.org. On Tuesday, April 5^th students, faculty and community members gathered together in Broyhill Auditorium to listen to Bests discussion on Leadership and his nonprofit company.

DonorsChoose.org is a website Best created where public school teachers create and request classroom projects and then donors can choose any project they would like to donate to. Teachers can request anything they think will help their students, that goes beyond what the public school system can offer.

“1,776 projects have been funded in Forsyth County in North Carolina” Best said. He explained how once a project is fully funded, DonorsChoose.org purchases the particular supplies a teacher has requested and sends it directly to the schools.

David Waneenenaam, a freshman at Wake Forest University said, “I thought it was really interesting how a crowd funding website could do so well and be so useful.”

When Best was a teacher in the Bronx he discussed how he came up with the idea behind DonorsChoose.org. “In the teachers lunch room we all talked about what we wanted our students to have and what we wanted them to learn” said Best.

His students became his staff members and his classroom became his office. After a couple years of balancing being a teacher and his company, he decided to put his teaching career behind him.

Sarah Teegarden, a junior at Wake Forest University said, “Charles Best was an extremely impressive social entrepreneur not just because of his success, but because of his passion. Hearing about how he created Donors Choose from his personal experiences as a teacher and wanting to help out other teachers showed a lot of compassion.”

Best acknowledged teachers for knowing what is best for their students because they are the ones inside of the classroom, which is why he claims DonorsChoose.org has done so well.

In order for his start up to be so successful he encouraged everyone to have first hand experience and “hustle and humility.” Best described how he needed to be a teacher to experience it in order to make this company. He also said that he needed to be “crazy persistent” and to be okay with the fact that “teachers have the killer ideas, not us.”

Emily Conroe, a junior at Wake Forest University said, “I love how he shows his passion and how he wanted to help teachers so much especially ones at low income schools.”

When asked about the biggest challenges ahead for his website, he said there were two factors. Best would need to continue to find more donors to support all of the projects and to react to the criticism that has come to his attention.

Many people believe Bests’ website shows just how many problems there are within the education system, but he believes this website gives teachers a voice.

“Hearing about how he is trying to continue to make Donors Choose better showed his passion to help the schools, teachers, and kids in the long run. He’s trying to use Donors Choose to help solve the long-term problem of impoverished schools not having the tools they need,” said Teegarden.

To learn more about DonorsChoose and how you can fund teachers all around the country check out http://www.donorschoose.org.

Student athlete adjust in preparations for the Sports Performance Center – Conte

Wake Forest student athlete lifting facilities were temporarily moved from the Manchester Athletic Center to the Sutton Center as the Wake Forest Athletic Department rearranges the functions of its buildings and awaits the opening of Sports Performance Center.

Student athletes made the transition from the Manchester Athletic Center to the Sutton Center Monday, March 14th and are projected to be practicing in the Sutton Center for about two years until the Sport Performance Center is complete.

The Sports Performance Center, which will be located between the Miller Center and the McCreary Field House, will begin construction in July. However, according to Craig Zakrezewski, Director of Equipment Services said this timeframe is subject to change based on fundraising and construction.

The athletes and teams that use the Sutton Center for their lifting facility have noticed the differences between the temporary weight room they use now and their past weight room in the Manchester Athletic Center.

Heather Wiley of the field hockey team said, “The temporary weight room has all the same equipment as the Manchester weight room, just a lot less. It’s smaller in size for sure and there isn’t much space.”

Steve Michaelsen, of the track and field team, said he has found an appreciation for the smaller size of the Sutton Center as compared to the Manchester Athletic Center. However, he added, “If there is more than one team in there [the Sutton Center] at a time it can be crowded and sometimes dangerous”.

In addition to its smaller footprint, athletes and strength trainers describe the temporary weight room as stoic or dungeon-like, with pipes hanging from the ceiling.

Ethan Reeve, Strength and Conditioning Coordinator, said this moving process has demanded a greater flexibility out of the teams in terms of their availability due to limited space in the Sutton Center.

Although some conflicts have emerged throughout this transition, Reeve stressed the benefits Wake Forest athletes can receive by working through this type of adversity.

Reeve continued on by saying the temporary placement in the Sutton Center weight room will not impact the athlete’s abilities within games, meets or matches. He added with a laugh, “After all the weights still weigh the same.”

While recognizing the temporary inconvenience, Zakrezewski explained the athlete’s time in the Sutton Center is ultimately for the greater good of the Wake Forest Athletic Department.

According to the Wake Will campaign, the Sports Performance Center will house a “state-of-the-art strength and conditioning area”, a designated area for nutrition as well as offices of coaches and meeting areas.

Wiley added, “We know that something even better is coming and we are looking forward to the new weight room when it is finished.”

Members of Wake Forest Basketball Team use Sutton Center Weight room