WFU in the news: April 15-21, 2024

FEATURED NEWS

Americans throw away up to $68M in coins a year. Here is where it all ends up.
By Oyin Adedoyin | The Wall Street Journal
Coins are as good as junk for many Americans. “If you lost a $100 bill you’d look for it. If you lost a $20 bill you’d look for it. If you lost a book you’d look for it,” said economics professor Robert Whaples. “But a penny, you’re just not going to look for it.” Whaples has encouraged the government to kill the penny, which costs about three times its value to make. – 4/17/2024

NATIONAL & INTERNATIONAL

One of world’s leading honesty researchers accused of plagiarism
By Christian B. Miller | Forbes
“Another day, another academic researcher is being accused of dishonesty. In this case, it is Francesca Gino, recently the Tandon Family Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. The particular kind of dishonesty in question is plagiarism,” writes philosophy professor and character scholar Christian Miller. – 4/15/2024

Weedkiller manufacturer seeks lawmakers’ help to squelch claims it failed to warn about cancer
By Hannah Fingerhut, David Lieb | Associated Press
Law professor Jonathan Cardi, a product liability and torts expert, said a strict reading of the Iowa legislation extends beyond liability claims, and “the way it’s drafted makes it interpretable to mean nobody could bring any suit.” – 4/16/2024

Biden leans on young voters to flip North Carolina
CBS News
Tarak Duggal, a senior at Wake Forest University, was one of the event’s participants.”It is inspiring and helpful to see that the campaign is taking us seriously and is listening to us and understands how important of a voting bloc that young people are,” she said. – 4/20/2024

REGIONAL & TRADE

The coming Pearl District already has a tenant – Charlotte’s first medical school
By Chase Jordan | Yahoo
With the final beams in place on an academic building, construction on Charlotte’s first medical school is nearly completed — along with the first phase of The Pearl district project. While a ceremony took place in December to celebrate “topping off” the construction of two buildings, more work is expected for the $1.5 billion innovative district and the new Wake Forest University School of Medicine-Charlotte. – 4/15/2024

LOCAL

New improvements to be made to Polo Road in Winston-Salem for pedestrian safety
By Celeste Smith | WGHP-TV (High Point, NC)
The university partnered with the city during the planning phase in 2014 to identify transportation needs. “Our objectives are twofold really to enhance safety for active modes of transportation: walking, bicycling, skateboarding, etc. and also to decrease the number of single occupancy vehicles that are on the road as an institution where students that are commuting and faculty and staff that are commuting,” said VP for Sustainability and Chief Sustainability Officer Dedee DeLongpre Johnston. – 4/15/2024

NC Court of Appeals rules some COVID-19 restrictions harmed bars
By Richard Craver | Winston-Salem Journal
Law professor Mark Hall said the panel’s opinion “shows a surprising reluctance to defer to public health officials in the midst of a national emergency.” He added: “It appears to require public health officials to back up their expert professional judgments in those circumstances with scientific studies that have been published in peer-reviewed journals – something that simply is not possible in a realistic time frame during an unexpected emergency.” – 4/18/2024

Trevor Noah in conversation with Sam Sanders April 30
By Kaela Carter | WXII-TV (Winston Salem, NC)
The upcoming Face to Face conversation will feature popular comedian and political commentator, Trevor Noah. The moderator and Journalist, Sam Sanders joined the Local Vibe ahead of their conversation to give a preview of what guests can expect to hear. Sanders also shared how he plans to approach his conversation with Noah and why it will be so popular. – 4/15/2024

WFMY also previewed the upcoming Face to Face event.

WAKE FOREST NEWS

President Susan R. Wente joins 60 college presidents to advance civic preparedness
By Cheryl V. Walker | Wake Forest News
President Susan R. Wente is joining 60 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and to uphold free expression on campus. – 4/18/2024

‘RiverRun’ offers opportunities for WFU film students to shine
By Cheryl V. Walker | Wake Forest News
The University is well-represented at this year’s RiverRun International Film Festival. Films with Wake Forest ties include a narrative feature, a feature-length documentary and eight narrative and documentary shorts. The 26th RiverRun International Film Festival runs April 17 to 28 at various venues in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, with screenings of almost 200 short films and features from more than 50 countries, as well as panel discussions and special events. – 4/17/2024

2024 student art-acquisition trip selections unveiled
By Kim McGrath | Wake Forest News
Eight Wake Forest’s student on the University’s art-buying trip selected eight works for the Mark H. Reece Collection of Student-Acquired Contemporary Art. “I’ll never know exactly what the impact of the work we acquired will be, but we paid close attention to what students have not been represented here on campus so far in the collection. We wanted to fill those gaps.” said junior art history and communication double major Georgia-Kathryn Duncan who participated in this year’s trip. – 4/19/2024

WFU Environmental Justice Summit brings key issues to forefront
By Keri Brown | Wake Forest News
Wake Forest University is preparing to welcome several national, state and local experts to campus for the 2024 Mellon Environmental and Epistemic Justice Summit. The full-day program will take place on April 24 from 9 a.m.-6:30 p.m. at the Broyhill Auditorium in Farrell Hall. The free event is open to the public. – 4/17/2024