Wake Forest University creates immersive virtual Lovefeast
December 22, 2020 | 88.5 WFDD
For more than 50 years, Wake Forest has celebrated a Moravian holiday tradition known as Lovefeast. Initiated by a student in 1965, the gathering has grown to be one of the largest of its kind in North America. This year, due to COVID-19, the University adapted the experience into a full-length video recording. It captures every element of the ritual including well-known Christmas carols sung by the choir and various musical performances. “It’s a very simple service that provides, I think, an ideal environment for the softening of some of the divisions that we actually see every day in real time,” said University Chaplain Tim Auman.
Hip-hop and virtual jukeboxes strengthen WFU community
December 17, 2020 | 88.5 WFDD
A unique art project at Wake Forest is bringing people together musically during the pandemic. “Jukebox Therapy” was designed by senior Rhythm Badal (’21) for her public art course, and after collecting several hours of hip-hop content from students, faculty, and staff so far, it’s creating quite a buzz. Wake lecturer and Assistant Dean Donovan Livingston is a spoken word poet and hip-hop artist who collaborated on the project, which utilizes QR code technology to build a shared community playlist.
New jobs, unemployment, IRS Form 1099-G: What you need to look out for
January 8, 2021 | WFMY
The Wake Forest Law Pro Bono Project helps residents get legal assistance while helping students increase their legal skills. Wake Forest University School of Law students, working under the supervision of faculty members, will offer no-cost guidance and consultation to North Carolina residents who have questions about unemployment insurance and federal supplements.
What a Democratic-controlled Congress could mean for renters struggling amid the pandemic
January 6, 2021 | CNBC
With Democrats securing a majority in the Senate, a number of relief measures targeted at renters struggling amid the pandemic – including a right to counsel for those facing eviction and a larger pot of money for back rent – now have a better chance of materializing. “Democrats have a rare opportunity to directly and swiftly end the eviction crisis and prevent severe harm to renters and landlords nationwide,” said Emily Benfer, a visiting law professor at Wake Forest University.
Are ads against Ga. Senate candidate also an attack on Black churches
January 5, 2021 | NPR
Steve Inskeep on NPR’s “Morning Edition talks to Jonathan Lee Walton, dean of Wake Forest School of Divinity, about the political ads taken out against Georgia Senate runoff candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock. “It’s about keeping track of the most vulnerable in society. I believe that Raphael Warnock is standing on the shoulders of those like Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., like Reverend A.D. Williams, Martin Luther King Jr.’s grandfather, all of these towering progressive pastors that have been in this grand lineage of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta,” Walton said.
Should vaccine volunteers now get the real thing
January 1, 2021 | Associated Press
With the rollout of vaccines and the uncertainty of their status, volunteers could decide to drop out once they are eligible to get one. They might stay in the study if they’re told what they got, said Ana Iltis, a bioethicist at Wake Forest University. “Participants could leave in droves. They could say, ‘If you don’t tell me what I got, I’m out of here,’” said Iltis. “You cannot force people to stay.”
Five from N.C. schools, including a Wake Forest senior, are named Rhodes Scholars
November 23, 2020 | News & Record
Senior Savarni Sanka is among 32 Americans chosen by the Rhodes Trust to study at England’s Oxford University in the fall of 2021. Sanka, who is from Raleigh, N.C., plans to pursue a masters in public policy and masters of science in refugee and forced migration studies. “It’s an incredible honor to be named a Rhodes Scholar,” she said. “Every single professor at Wake Forest has influenced me in some way.” Sanka, who is majoring in politics and international affairs and Spanish, is Wake Forest’s first Rhodes Scholar since 2013 and 14th since 1986.
Media report for Oct. 17 - Nov. 13, 2020
November 20, 2020 | WFU News and Communications
The Wake Forest News Media Report for Oct. 17 – Nov. 13, 2020 is now available online.
Without more pandemic aid, renters struggle to keep up
October 19, 2020 | Marketplace
Many renters will do anything to avoid the eviction system, Emily Benfer, a law professor at Wake Forest said, so the moment they receive a notice, they leave. “That’s what starts the crowded living environments,” she said. “That’s what starts the increased contact with others and that inability to social distance.” In the 17 cities tracked by the Eviction Lab, property owners have filed for more than 60,000 evictions during the pandemic. When the CDC moratorium expires at the end of December, Benfer said, “we can expect that evictions will increase to unseen heights.”
A time to heal, a time to build
October 21, 2020 | Brookings Institution
“We have shared the hope that although differences on church-state matters will inevitably persist (our nation, after all, has been arguing about some of these questions since the beginning of the republic), those differences can be narrowed, principled compromises can be forged, and the work of lifting up the least among us can be carried out and celebrated across our lines of division,” said Melissa Rogers, Wake Forest School of Divinity professor.
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