The Emory Wheel

President Donald Trump made his “America First” policies a focal point during his campaign, commenting in February 2024 that he intends to end foreign aid that is not structured as a loan. Although this sounds drastic, Trump’s plans are not always as outlandish as they may sound. Throughout U.S. history, foreign aid has often camouflaged ruthless conditions that maintain the country’s own economic profits and global interests. Even though the United States only spends a fraction of its annual budget on foreign aid, it has an outsized impact that can fundamentally sabotage the status of developing nations.

The Emory Wheel is the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University, since 1919.

By some miracle, you bumbling imbeciles have managed to make it to yet another year. While I am sure your hometown escapades over winter break were positively thrilling, the time has come to leave the past — and your high school ex — in 2024. A time of new beginnings has commenced, and so far, Emory University’s spring semester has already made quite the splash — although, given this month’s frigid temperatures, “avalanche” may be a better term. Though I know even the most put-together students among us will be bombarding me with asinine questions and pleading for advice soon enough, let us begin this semester with a simple recap from yours truly. After all, I know you all are desperate to hear my comforting voice.

A few months ago, a reporter at The Emory Wheel asked one of us in an email about Emory University professors’ views on “the new levels of surveillance on Emory's campus, including the addition of cameras on the quad and changes to the signage policy.” While the article is not yet published, we, four professors across Emory’s schools, wanted to state our views on the additional surveillance in the more sustained form of this op-ed. We hope and expect that more representative bodies will make more formal statements on behalf of larger groups of faculty.

You do not need an economics professor to tell you that tariffs are generally poor economic policy. Despite that, the downsides of tariffs — including deadweight loss and possible retaliation — were a daily topic of conversation in my economics class, Global Trade and Finance. So, you can imagine my shock when President Donald Trump, who made massive tariffs a centerpiece of his campaign, won the 2024 presidential election in which 31% of voters named the economy as their most important issue in exit polls.

Content Warning: This article contains references to suicide.

The Emory Wheel is the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University, since 1919.

When I arrived at Emory University as a first-year student in fall 2023, I carried a certain vision of what college would be. I imagined a place where ideas openly clash, where students and professors alike test old texts and radical notions for truth and relevance and where spirited debates deepen students’ understanding of each other and the world. I expected late-night dorm conversations that pushed everyone beyond their comfort zones and classrooms that wholeheartedly welcomed controversial opinions. If any environment were suited to intellectual risk-taking, I felt it should be Emory — one of the top liberal arts universities in the world.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jan. 27, almost 160 students, faculty and community members gathered in Emory University’s Ackerman Hall to witness a living survivor’s account of the Holocaust, an increasing rarity in 2025. George Rishfeld, an 85-year-old Holocaust survivor, told his story of struggle and strength from his time in the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland.

The Emory Wheel is the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University, since 1919.