Authorities have canceled the search for missing University of Minnesota student Austin Ray Retterath after finding a deceased man in the Mississippi River on Wednesday, according to a statement from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). The Ramsey County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man as Retterath.

Authorities said there were no signs of foul play.

Retterath, 19, was reported missing May 8 and last seen outside near East River Road and East Franklin Avenue.

Retterath was a College of Science and Engineering student set to graduate in 2025, according to his Instagram page.

Voting for Georgia’s primary elections closed on May 24 at 7 p.m. Winners will represent the Democratic and Republican parties on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. Although the races for the secretary of state Democratic nominee and the lieutenant governor Democratic nominee advanced to a runoff after no candidate received over 50% of the vote, several major nominations were declared, including the candidates for Georgia’s governor and U.S. Senate seat. The runoff election will take place on June 21.

Photos courtesy of Flickr and Creative Commons. (Madi Olivier/News Editor)

Kemp, Abrams advance to gubernatorial general election

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp won the Republican primary race with 879,397 (73.7%) of the 1,193,361 votes counted by press time at 4:09 a.m., securing his spot on the Nov. 8 gubernatorial general election ballot. Former Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) was strongly endorsed by former U.S. President Donald Trump and Kemp’s closest opponent, garnering 260,170 (21.8%) votes at press time at 4:09 a.m.

“David Perdue is a great leader and a wonderful guy,” Trump said in an endorsement video. “He has my complete and total endorsement.” 

While in office, Kemp signed the “heartbeat bill” into law in 2019, banning most abortions after six weeks, but the bill was struck down by a federal judge in 2020 for violating the 14th amendment. He also passed the Unmask Georgia Act, which prohibited schools from requiring masks, and legislation repealing citizen’s arrest after the death of Ahmaud Aubrey, whose killers alleged they were implementing a citizen’s arrest. 

Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, who ran unopposed in the primaries, won the Democratic nomination for the general election. 

Kemp thanked conservative voters for supporting “our vision for this great state” in a speech Tuesday evening, earning cheers and chants of “four more years” from the crowd. 

“Our battle is far from over,” Kemp said. “Tonight, the fight for the soul of our state begins to make sure that Stacey Abrams is not going to be our governor or the next president. The reason that’s so important is because Abrams would take Georgia in a completely different direction.” 

Abrams last campaigned against Kemp in the 2018 gubernatorial election, which caught the nation’s attention and sparked claims of voter suppression and election fraud in Georgia. She refused to concede after Kemp declared victory on Nov. 7, 2018 and launched a provisional ballot program, alleging that provisional and absentee ballots still remained to be counted. A court-mandated review of rejected ballots yielded an additional 650 absentee and 82 provisional ballots to be counted in the race.

Kemp, who alleged that state Democrats hacked Georgia’s voting system days before the election, was officially declared as governor-elect on Nov. 28, 2019, beating Abrams by 1.5 percentage points. Abrams subsequently founded her nonprofit Fair Fight Georgia and advocated for election reform in the state. 

She launched and funded a program to recruit and train voter protection teams across 20 states and funded 24 grassroots organizations dedicated to mobilizing voters of color in Georgia. 

“Four years ago, I warned about the failure that Kemp was going to be,” Abrams said May 24 before her win was confirmed, according to the Associated Press. “And four years later I am going to prove he was the wrong choice for Georgia.”

Warnock, Walker advance to U.S. Senate general election

Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate with 685,090 (96.0%) of the 713,499 votes counted by press time at 4:09 a.m. Warnock will be campaigning for reelection against Republican Senate nominee and former NFL running back Herschel Walker, who earned his spot on the Nov. 8 ballot with 796,452 (68.2%) of the 1,167,533 votes counted by press time at 4:09 a.m.

During his time in office, Warnock cosponsored the Solar Energy Manufacturing for America Act and introduced the Preventing Election Subversion Act.  

Warnock thanked Georgia voters who supported his campaign in a May 24 tweet after the Associated Press declared his win. 

“It is the honor of my life to represent Georgians in the U.S. Senate,” Warnock tweeted.

In his acceptance speech, Walker said that he aimed to save the United States from “a bunch of maniacs too drunk with power” who “don’t even like this country,” according to the New York Times.

Walker’s entrance into U.S. politics has been controversial. Several domestic violence allegations were filed against Walker — who has dissociative identity disorder — between 2001 and 2008. In 2005, Cindy Grossman, Walker’s ex-wife, alleged that he behaved in a violent and controlling manner and secured a protective order against him. Walker was never arrested or charged with a crime.

The race for this Senate seat was widely watched in 2021. Former Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) resigned on Dec. 31, 2019 due to health concerns, and Kemp appointed former Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) to complete the remainder of Isakson’s term. However, Warnock beat Loeffler in a runoff election, allowing him to occupy the Senate seat until this year’s election cycle. 

Warnock’s 2021 victory was historic as both he and Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) beat the Republican incumbents, therefore flipping the Senate and establishing a thin Democratic majority with 50 Democratic senators plus U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote. This turned the U.S. Senate blue for the first time since 2014.

U.S. House District 5

Rep. Nikema Williams (D-5) is up for reelection for the U.S. House District 5 against Republican nominee Christian Zimm (15Ox, 17C, 20B, 20L), who ran uncontested. While in office, Williams  introduced the Striking Workers Healthcare Protection Act, which has not passed the House, and re-launched the bipartisan Congressional Endometriosis Caucus. Since leaving Emory, where he was the president of Emory College Republicans, Zimm worked as a real estate agent. 

Lieutenant governor

The Democratic lieutenant governor election advanced to a runoff between former member of the U.S. House of Representatives Kwanza Hall (D-5), who completed the late Civil Rights icon and Congressman John Lewis’ term, and Attorney Charlie Bailey, as no candidate received over 50% of the vote. 

The results of the Republican lieutenant governor election were still not available at press time at 4:09 a.m., according to the New York Times. Of the 1,103,669 votes counted at the time, which is over 95% of the total votes cast, Georgia State Senator Burt Jones (R-25) was in the lead with 552,704 (50.1%) votes, while President Pro Tempore of the Georgia Senate Butch Miller (R-49) sat in second place with 343,619 (31.3%) votes. If Jones maintains over 50% of the votes, he will avoid a runoff election.

Secretary of state

Georgia State Representative Bee Nguyen (D-89) and former Georgia State Representative Dee Dawkins-Haigler (D-91) advanced to a runoff election for the Democratic secretary of state election, as no candidate received over 50% of the vote. The winner of the runoff will advance to the Nov. 8 general election against Republican incumbent Brad Raffensberger, who won the primaries. Trump was an outspoken critic against Raffensberger, who publicly refuted the former president’s claims of fraud during the 2020 election and confirmed Biden’s win.

Attorney general

Incumbent Attorney General Chris Carr, who is considered the chief lawyer representing Georgia in legal cases, is up for reelection against Georgia State Senator Jen Jordan (D-6), the Democratic victor. During his tenure, Carr established the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit and secured a $636 million opioid settlement. 

State school superintendent

Republican incumbent Richard Woods and Democratic candidate Alisha Thomas Searcy were nominated for state school superintendent, the administrative head of the Georgia Department of Education. While in office, Woods issued a one-time bonus of $1,000 for teachers and staff during the pandemic, and decreased high-stakes standardized testing.

Supreme Court justice

Georgia Supreme Court Associate Justice Verda Colvin was elected into office, beating her only opponent, Attorney Veronica Brinson. She was appointed by Kemp in 2021 to fill the position until this election cycle, making her the first Black female to be chosen by a Republican governor. Justices Shawn Ellen LaGrua and Carla Wong McMillian, both of whom ran unopposed, were also reelected. 

The Wheel will update vote totals as counting is completed.

The post Kemp, Abrams named gubernatorial candidates, Warnock, Walker elected as U.S. Senate nominees in primary elections appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

UC Berkeley researchers find distance from abortion facilities limits access

Lorenzo Dela Cruz/File

Physical distance from abortion facilities may limit accessibility for those seeking abortions, according to a study published by the UC Berkeley School of Public Health.

A new study published by UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health revealed that physical distances from abortion facilities may pose insurmountable barriers for those seeking abortions in the United States.

The study, published in JAMA Network Open on May 13, showed a correlation between living 50 miles or more from an abortion facility and still being pregnant four weeks later. Those who lived 50 miles or more were either still seeking abortion care four weeks after their initial search or planned to continue the pregnancy, according to the study. 

Ushma Upadhyay, an author of the study and an associate professor in the Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science department at UCSF, said in an email that the findings of the study should demonstrate to lawmakers the potential impact of overturning Roe v. Wade and banning abortions.

“If Roe is overturned, state abortion bans will create tremendous barriers to abortion,” Upadhyay said in the email. “This will have dire consequences for individuals and their families.”

According to Upadhyay, the team found the participants of the study using Google advertisements. People who searched for abortions were shown advertisements inviting them to volunteer to participate in the study.

This strategy, according to Upadhyay, allowed the team to reach people early in the abortion-seeking process, which differed from previous studies that interviewed people in clinics who were able to overcome the “distance barriers.”

Elizabeth Pleasants, another author of the study and a doctoral candidate in the campus’s School of Public Health program, said in an email that in a cohort of pregnant people from all 50 states and Washington D.C. who were considering abortion, only 48% obtained their desired abortion four weeks later.

According to Pleasants, the study was conducted between 2017 and 2018 and participants took online surveys at baseline and four weeks later. The data was analyzed in 2021, which is when the team explored the association between distance from an abortion facility and abortion and pregnancy outcome four weeks later.

“The harmful effects of travel distance to reach an abortion facility can be mitigated by supporting the use of innovative approaches to abortion care, such as telehealth provision and effective support for self-managed medication abortion,” Pleasants said in the email.

According to Upadhyay, abortion care, like other pregnancy care, is often out of reach for many people living in rural parts of the country.

Upadhyay added that people should be able to access healthcare regardless of where they live.

“Abortion care is healthcare,” Upadhyay said in the email. “There is a great need to ensure that all pregnant people can access safe pregnancy-related healthcare regardless of the state they live in.”

Contact Anna Armstrong at aarmstrong@dailycal.org, and follow her on Twitter at @annavarmstrongg.

The Daily Californian

As Los Angeles County moved from the low transmission category into the medium coronavirus risk level Thursday, USC Student Health waits to see if a summer surge will trigger indoor mask mandates, Chief Student Health Officer Dr. Sarah Van Orman said in a briefing with the Daily Trojan Monday. The potential transition into a high risk level will reintroduce the indoor mask mandate on campus, Van Orman said. 

Current University protocols do not require surveillance testing for students and staff, but positivity rates in the University community have risen to 7% for students and 3% for faculty over the past week. L.A. County reported 4,725 new cases on May 18 — the highest case count seen since the winter — County Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said during the briefing, and hospitalizations are on the rise. 

“I’m actually encouraging people to consider routine surveillance testing now, even though it’s not required by campus,” Van Orman said. “Testing is available, and if you are regularly moving into crowded situations and working with others, consider just coming to campus every week and getting a test.”

The current position in the medium category of L.A. County sanctions indoor masking mandates on public transit, wider accessibility of vaccinations and improvements to indoor ventilation. L.A. County is seeing the emergence of two new Omicron variants, BA.4 and BA.5, Van Orman said, which are more contagious. Individuals who have been infected with a different variant are not immune to these new variants. 

“Even though you’ve had infection, you may still be at risk,” Van Orman said. “It’s a really important situation right now … We’re all watching to see if there’ll be a summer surge.”

Student Health works with USC Environmental Health and Safety and USC Youth Protection and Programming to assess coronavirus regulations for on-campus summer activities. Van Orman said the summer is a different kind of risk than the normal academic year because of the variety in the duration that individuals — students taking classes, faculty teaching, the ongoing operation of research labs and youth programs in USC Housing — reside on campus.

“Individuals will be testing with us. Some of them have their own testing programs,” Van Orman said. “Many of the programs, based on their risk, are requiring surveillance testing.”

The aerosol transmission of the coronavirus prompts consistent replacement of air filters, Van Orman said, to regulate ventilation in indoor environments. Executive Director of Facilities, Operations and Maintenance Eric Johnson said the filters are changed at least twice a year.

“In some buildings, we can get information through an energy management system that indicates the air pressure through the filter has decreased,” said Johnson in a statement to the Daily Trojan. “In these situations, filters are changed more frequently.”

There are no updates on what developments will occur in Fall 2022, Van Orman said, because of the coronavirus’ unpredictability. She said she expects that if cases worsen, the University will uphold the principles of testing, vaccination, masking and upgrading indoor air quality.

“Students really left campus right as this current surge was starting, and so we’re going to anticipate it really increasing,” Van Orman said. “But in some ways, we were fortunate that the semester ended before the community surge really started, and we’re seeing this [rise in cases] across the country right now.”

The post Student Health cautions University community amid rising cases appeared first on Daily Trojan.

Emory University and Georgia State University will establish the Antiviral Countermeasures Development Center (AC/DC), a hub for research dedicated to preventing the next pandemic. The Center will develop potential COVID-19 antivirals, medications that attack viruses, beginning in late June. 

Over the next three years, AC/DC will receive $52 million in federal funding, making it one of nine U.S. Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers for Pathogens of Pandemic Concern to receive funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) as winners of the Antiviral Drug Development Awards. The funding distributed by the NIAID was provided by Health and Human Services under an emergency procurement act by Congress.  

The AC/DC was chosen through a multi-step peer review process based on its “scientific and technical merit,” according to a May 20 email to the Wheel from NIAID.

Researchers will focus on developing antivirals that can be given to patients outside the hospital and combat viruses that are more likely to cause future pandemics. The “most promising” antivirals produced by the AViDD Centers will be chosen for late-stage preclinical development.

Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory CEO George Painter (left) and Georgia State’s Center for Translational Antiviral Research Director Richard Plemper (right) will be the principal investigators at the Antiviral Countermeasures Development Center. Photo courtesy of Emory University

In a May 18 announcement, NIAID Director Anthony Fauci wrote that COVID-19 has “highlighted the need for new antiviral drugs,” especially those that could be administered at home for patients with mild symptoms. 

“Decades of prior research on the structure and vulnerabilities of coronaviruses greatly accelerated our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we hope that similar research focused on antivirals will better prepare us for the next pandemic,” Fauci wrote.

University President Gregory Fenves wrote in a May 18 press release that by selecting Emory and Georgia State, the National Institutes of Health and NIAID have made a “game-changing investment in pandemic preparedness and public health.”

“The Antiviral Countermeasures Development Center will generate breakthrough discoveries and build on the innovations pioneered for decades by Emory scientists and Georgia State colleagues,” Fenves wrote. “Georgia has been a leader throughout the pandemic, in medical research, treatment and clinical care, and we will continue to serve at an even higher level through this new center.”

Drug Innovation Ventures at Emory (DRIVE) CEO George Painter (72C, 73G, 77G) will direct the AC/DC alongside Richard Plemper, director of the Center for Translational Antiviral Research at Georgia State. Plemper was previously an associate professor in Emory’s pediatrics department.

The funding for AC/DC follows a decade of Painter and Plemper working together on collecting data in cell culture and animal models for various diseases.

“I’m gratified to get [the funding], but it does bring a lot of responsibility,” Painter said. 

Painter is the executive director of the Emory Institute for Drug Development and is a professor in Emory University School of Medicine’s department of pharmacology and chemical biology. He recently led the discovery of the antiviral pill Molnupiravir — which became one of the first orally administrable medications for COVID-19 treatment — and is the co-inventor of over 45 patents, six of which helped develop commercially available drugs treating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hepatitis B. 

As a professor at Georgia State’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Plemper specializes in the development of therapeutics against myxovirus infection, which refers to any of a group of ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses including the influenza virus. He has previously developed orally-active antivirals and led the creation of COVID-19 animal models. 

The Emory and Georgia State scientists will work with affiliate research partners from across the United States and Estonia, including viral pathogen and drug development experts. Although the nine AViDD Centers will be working independently to produce antivirals, Painter said the researchers involved have long-standing collaborations and will continue to work with other centers. 

After the three years of funding are complete, Painter said the government will evaluate if the AViDD Centers are on track to producing drug candidates. If the researchers are successful, they will receive funding for two more years. If not, their Centers will be dissolved. 

Conducting antiviral research at the AC/DC is an “exciting” and “timely” opportunity, Painter added, explaining that current “issues” in the world — including conflict and displacement due to war, climate change and urban crowding under poverty — give rise to disease.  

“I hope that [the Centers] deliver,” Painter said. “They’re going to be very important to making a good level of global health.”

Plemper did not respond for comment by press time.

The post Emory, Georgia State receive $52 million for drug development center dedicated to pandemic prevention appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

The last couple of years have been incredibly taxing. Time and time again, I feel as if our government makes decisions that benefit only a select few. COVID-19 continues to spread and has mutated into many new and more contagious variants. The government continues to sweep pressing issues under the rug in order to appeal to a select group of people. And meanwhile, they do nothing to address the issues many Americans actually want to act on. 

By making decisions that only benefit the minority of Americans, the government fails to accurately represent the people it governs. Our democracy is broken.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, national and local legislators repeatedly made decisions that failed to keep people safe. During the January 2022 Omicron spike, the Utah Legislature repealed mask mandates in Salt Lake and Summit counties a mere week after implementation. The Omicron variant spread much easier than previous variants, therefore posing a higher risk of skyrocketing case numbers. Even with this knowledge, legislators chose to remove all mask mandates and put more Utah residents at risk, especially the immunocompromised and those with other comorbidities. This move worked directly against the best interests of the people the Legislature should protect.

The federal government didn’t demonstrate any better response to the pandemic. They promised stimulus checks to help people make ends meet. In the end, the checks were disappointingly small and few and far between. The lack of governmental assistance forced people to put themselves at risk, going back to work before it became safe to do so. For many Americans, the assistance offered barely covered living expenses for a month. Even so, it didn’t stop conservative Congress members from pushing back, asking why they afforded such a “large sum.” However, the majority of Americans backed receiving financial aid from the federal government during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This string of unpopular decisions doesn’t stop at subpar COVID-19 response protocols. The leaked draft opinion from the supreme court revealed plans to strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling. If Roe v. Wade gets overturned, 33.6 million people with uteruses could lose access to lifesaving health care. The blatantly partisan opinion does not reflect the views of most Americans today. The majority of Americans don’t support banning abortion, including many from both ends of the political spectrum. The court’s opinion doesn’t reflect the ideals of the people they are supposedly representing. It also negatively impacts the health of millions. The supreme court is not a governing body elected by the people. Allowing six people to take away the reproductive rights of millions of people opposes democracy. Unlike the other branches of government, we have no way of voting the justices on or off of the court.

Our government also has a diversity problem. Although white men only make up 30% of the U.S. population, they make up 62% of elected officials. This lack of diverse perspectives severely limits the scope of congress. It doesn’t accurately reflect the U.S. population. This limited perspective is reflected in Congress’ approval rating. As of right now, it sits at a mere 20%.

It’s been proven time and time again that Congress favors those with the most money and influence. A Princeton study found that the wealthiest 10% of Americans — those that speak for big business — have the most influence over what the government passes. Our government does not have the majority of the American people’s best interests in mind, only those who can make large donations to their campaigns.

In its current state, our government has done nothing but disappoint and frustrate me. A good government enacts changes that benefit its citizens, not actively make their lives harder. At this time, our government makes decisions that only benefit those at the very top, sweeping the needs of the majority of Americans under the rug. We need a government that listens to what the people need, one that can make decisions to benefit the country as a whole. I, like most other Americans, am tired of feeling powerless to the interests of the select, privileged few.

e.cowley@dailyutahchronicle.com

@elle_cowley_

The post Cowley: I Feel Powerless appeared first on The Daily Utah Chronicle.

Jose Gonzalez Campelo/The Cougar

Since the advent of social media sites like Twitter, Reddit and Facebook, the issue of free speech has had its boundaries tested and continues to be a hot-button issue across the nation. While it is of course a fundamental right outlined by the Constitution, many universities and organizations have taken steps to outline what exactly is free speech and what is harassment.

UH’s anti-discrimination policy is a violation of this fundamental right, according to a ruling given by a federal judge last Friday.

The ruling, issued by United States District Judge Lynn N. Hughes, places an immediate preliminary injunction on the policy.

“The University cannot choose to abide by the First Amendment in the Constitution,” the injunction stated. “It is not guidance — it is the law.”

The case was brought against the University by three anonymous conservative students working in conjunction with Speech First, an organization dedicated to protecting students’ first amendment rights on and off campus.

The lawsuit, which was filed back in February, stated that its goal was to protect politically conservative students who wished to espouse their views on topics such as transgender athletes, abortion and illegal immigration.

In a press release issued by Speech First’s executive director Cherise Trump, the organization accused the University of forcing students to adopt a particular political perspective on certain hot-button issues.

“Universities should not be ideological instruments for propagating expression carefully curated to match whatever ideas and beliefs happen to be popular at the moment,” Trump said. “Rather, they must once again establish themselves as open forums where students can engage in debate and dialogue without fear of retribution.”

In response, the University issued a statement claiming Speech First had misunderstood the policy.

“We believe Speech First has misconstrued or misread this policy as our policy clearly indicates that actionable harassment must be ‘unlawful severe, pervasive, or persistent treatment,’” a UH statement said.

Earlier this month, however, the University amended its policy to more clearly define harassment, just a little over a week before the judge ruled on the issue. This appears to have been too little, too late for the courts, as the injunction stated that “voluntary cessation does not guarantee the University will not amend its policies.”

The preliminary injunction will remain in place until a court rules definitively on the case. Until then, the University’s original anti-discrimination policy will remain unenforceable.

“The University says that it will be injured if recourse is unavailable for harassment against students or faculty,” read the injunction. “As important as that is, students also need defense against arbitrary professors.”

news@thedailycougar.com

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“Judge rules against UH anti-discrimination policy” was originally posted on The Cougar

Jiselle Santos/The Cougar

For many Cougars, the month of May can be a bittersweet ordeal. This month marks the time when many students say their final goodbyes to the University and set off into the wild, unforgiving world of adulthood.

In acknowledgement of this momentous occasion, last week the University held its commencement ceremonies. These ceremonies recognize graduates from the 2021 Fall semester and the 2022 Spring and Summer semesters.

The 2022 commencement ceremonies included 5,917 total graduates, 2,542 of which earned Latin honors. These were among some of the University’s highest numbers, said executive director of protocol and special events Tonja Jones.

Business and administration graduate Shauzab Murad looked back on how graduating with honors from UH has shaped him. Post-graduation, he plans to work as an inside sales account manager.

“UH encourages diversity and has helped me become a better human being in all aspects of life,” Murad said.  “I am looking forward to graduate summa cum laude. As an immigrant, it’s like a dream coming true for me.”

Each college had several speakers at this year’s ceremonies including students, faculty as well as prominent community leaders from Houston and around the country.

Among those who spoke at the ceremony was the president of Outback Steakhouse for the College of Hospitality, the former president of H-E-B for the College of Business and the head of Shell U.S. energy transition integration for the College of Engineering.

For economics and business management graduate Shehroz Kayani, the ceremony was not only a time to celebrate prospects for the future, but also an opportunity to appreciate past accomplishments.

“I remember dancing after opening the email of my letter of acceptance from UH,” Kayani said.  “Even though it was the beginning, I already felt I had achieved my goal, because getting into UH was already an achievement in itself.”

Kayani plans to use the knowledge he gained at UH to further his education in investment banking and financial literacy.

Human nutrition and foods graduate Tony Trabulsi also reflected fondly on his time as an undergraduate. For Trabulsi, his time at UH was defined by the work he did with organizations such as the Project Engagement Encouraging Rising Students.

“My undergraduate experience has been amazing and I am so thankful to have experienced it at UH,” Trabulsi said. “Some of my favorite memories at UH include all the nights I spent studying at M.D. Anderson library and my work with PEERS and Honors in Community Health.”

Trabulsi plans to attend a master’s program after graduation and apply to medical school in the future. Until then, he looks forward to celebrating his accomplishments at graduation.

“It is so exciting to be recognized for all the hard work my classmates and I have done in our undergraduate career!” said Trabulsi. “I’m looking forward to the joyful atmosphere and to be surrounded by all my family and friends who have supported me throughout my academics”.

news@thedailycougar.com

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“2022 commencement gives UH grads chance to reflect” was originally posted on The Cougar

Two days before Oxford College’s commencement ceremony, Dean Douglas Hicks sat in his office on the fourth floor of Seney Hall. From his prime view of the quad below, he overlooked the stage where he would send off second-year students to the Atlanta campus for the sixth year in a row. This year, he joined them in their farewells as he prepared to return to his alma mater, Davidson College, in August as its next president. 

To Hicks, this change is a bittersweet one. He expressed “gratitude, above all else” for the friendships and relationships he’s built over his past six years at the College.

“We have a very strong and robust community at Oxford, so I will miss my faculty and staff colleagues,” Hicks said. “I will miss working with Oxford students and alumni, and I’m really excited to be going back to my alma mater to be the president there.”

Through a pandemic, improvements to the campus’ physical design and Emory University’s ongoing reckoning with its troubling history, Hicks has presided over a historic six years in Oxford’s history. During what he called a particularly difficult past two years “for everyone,” Hicks takes pride in the University’s perseverance and resilience. 

“The students have been superb in following protocols and helping take care of each other,” Hicks said. “We use that language a lot at Emory, ‘Take care of each other,’ and so we’ve done it together.”

While he acknowledged there have been moments of tension and disagreement on campus  during the height of the pandemic, Hicks extended his appreciation to students, faculty and staff for their “acknowledgement that this has been hard work, and it’s been shared work.” 

This year, he served as the co-chair with Professor Gregory C. Ellison II on the University’s Twin Memorials initiative, a project to erect a tribute to the enslaved peoples who built the College on each of the University’s campuses. In the last week of April, the committee submitted an interim report to President Gregory L. Fenves to document the progress made in the past year.

Baskervill, the design firm the committee partnered with for this initiative, will present design ideas to the community in August based on this year’s 18 facilitated conversations with community members. 

Hicks said he has “learned a great deal” from his colleagues and “will personally miss the work.” His experience leading the committee and engaging in heavy conversations with descendants of enslaved peoples and other community members about the University’s past role in enslavement will carry over to his new position. 

Davidson College, which was founded in 1837 — a year after Emory’s founding — has its own troubling past with enslavement, which its leadership has begun to address in the past several years. Hicks said the skills and knowledge he has gained on the Twin Memorials committee will allow him to better serve in Davidson’s diversity, equity and inclusion work. 

“I look forward to joining that work in progress to acknowledge and honor enslaved laborers who are a part of Davidson’s history,” Hicks said. 

While Hicks said he recognized the importance of students’ first two undergraduate years before he came to Oxford,  he said he leaves with a greater understanding of just how formative they can be. 

“Before I arrived at Oxford and right now, I have the same belief that the first two years of college are the most important two years for many, many students,” Hicks said. “I leave Oxford with that commitment even more strongly held than when I got here.”

Along with recognition of the campus’ past, the College also experienced immense physical growth under Hicks’ direction, with the completion of a new dining hall and student center in 2020. In this past academic year alone, the University reopened the newly-updated Humanities Hall and rededicated the Language Hall to honor the late judge Horace Johnson (77Ox, 79B). 

“It’s gratifying to see we were able, as a community, to make that happen,” Hicks said.

An ongoing challenge faced by the College is its division from the Emory College of Arts and Sciences in Atlanta, both by its physical distance but also because of student complaints of disparities in course and pre-professional opportunities. 

“Differences are important — we’re in two different contexts — but we don’t want disparities,” Hicks said. “So, there’s continued work, and that’s work in Atlanta and in Oxford to make sure we’re both moving each other forward.”

In the past six years, Hicks has worked closely with leaders like Emory College of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael Elliot and Goizueta Business School Dean Karen Sedatole every day to address any perceived disparities between the two campuses.

In addition to increasing cross-campus departmental communication between faculty members, the College debuted its first annual spring festival this year, which welcomed Oxford continuees currently enrolled in the Emory College of Arts and Sciences to revisit their former campus and connect with current Oxford students. 

“It was a post-COVID moment that was poignant, and I hope it’s a tradition we can build,” Hicks said. “Oxford is such a resource for Emory University, and Emory University is what made Oxford College possible, so I think the bridges we build between Oxford and Atlanta will always be a core part of what we do.”

While Hicks said he feels substantial progress has been made in his time, he believes there is still more work to be done on breaching any perceived gaps.

“Oxford in a few decades will be asking the same questions about how to make sure that the Oxford and Atlanta experiences are as integrated as they can be,” Hicks said. “Yet, I think we’re in a stronger position now for students than we were a decade or six years ago.”

Provost Ravi Bellamkonda is currently meeting with members of the College’s faculty, staff and other stakeholders in the search for the College’s next interim dean, who will be named in the coming weeks, Assistant Vice President for Undergraduate Communications Minnie Glymph told the Wheel on May 18. Following this appointment, the provost will begin a national search for the College’s next permanent dean.

As he prepared to say farewell and reunite with his alma mater, Hicks extended his “deep appreciation” to the friends and colleagues across the University “who’ve made this work possible.”

“Oxford College is in a stronger position than it was when I got here,” Hicks said. “I believe our relationships across Emory with Atlanta are stronger than ever.”

The post As Oxford Dean departs, he reflects on historic past six years, changes still to be made appeared first on The Emory Wheel.

The Daily Free Press Board of Directors held its last Spring 2022 meeting on the COM lawn to enjoy one of the first warm days of the year. There, seven board members — Ananya Panchal, Alex LaSalvia, Victoria Bond, Nick Telesmanic, Sarah Readdean, Alexia Nizhny and Allison Pirog — officially retired their positions to pursue life post-graduation. We congratulate and thank them for their work at the Daily Free Press. Throughout the semester, the Board made great progress in some ongoing projects. Nick Kolev, Standards Chair, finished curating internal transition documents in order to streamline the onboarding process for future […]