Jones played for the Braves for 19 seasons, finishing his career in 2012 with a .303 batting average and 468 home runs. He is the only switch hitter in Major League Baseball history to hit higher than a .300 and more than 400 home runs in his career.

Jones walked up to the stage accompanied by his “walk-up” music and joked that as a “dumb jock” he had no business being at Emory.

“Well, it’s a tremendous honor,” Jones said. “I mean, when the graduating class votes to have you come, that shouldn’t be taken lightly.”

As he began his speech, he said he had no set agenda in mind.

“Everyone always asks me what I am going to talk about when I come up here,” he said. “To be honest with you I prefer just winging it.”

Jones was awarded the National League Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 1999 and helped lead the Braves to a record 11 consecutive National League East Division championships — the first being in the 1995 season, which ended in a World Series win, and the last coming in 2005. This year is Jones’ first season of retirement.

“Quite frankly, I’m retired now,” Jones said in an interview after the speech. “If I was playing baseball, I wouldn’t be able to [come to Emory], but I have the time. I love talking to young people. I love to influence someone here and there, because if you talk to enough people, you influence enough people. That’s a really, really good thing.”

Jones discussed his days growing up on a fern farm in DeLand, Fla., which he referred to as “fern country.” He credited his successes on and off the field to his parents’ work ethic and drive. Both of his parents as well as his girlfriend were in attendance at his speech.

During his career, he said during his speech, he suffered two anterior cruciate ligament tears — one in his earlier days and the other at the end of his career.

“If I was diligent in my workouts and my rehabilitation, I knew that I would come back just as strong,” Jones said. “Whether I was 22 when it first happened or 38 the next time it happened, there was no difference in the mindset. These kids will be the same way. They’re tough and resilient.”

Following remarks about his career and family life, Jones turned to the audience to lead the discussion.

Graduating seniors came up to the microphone, one at a time, to ask Jones questions about topics ranging from autograph requests to his professional and personal relationship with retired Braves manager Bobby Cox.

When asked by a student to share his parting words of wisdom for the graduating class, Jones talked about staying focused on one’s work. In order to be a “good professional,” he explained, one must compartmentalize.

“There are certain things that are going to affect your life off the field, that are going to affect what you do on the field,” Jones said in the interview after the speech. “I was able to compartmentalize and go out and do my job for a few hours every night, and deal with my own demons off the field. It takes some time, but I don’t think my performance off the field suffered all that much.”

Jones also told the graduating class about what it was like achieving fame at a young age, noting that it was “very tough for me to keep attention at arm’s length.”

“Part of you wants to soak it up and, you know, live it up,” Jones said. “Trust me, I did it — it was awesome — but eventually it comes back to haunt you. And I think it’s just one of those things. You give a 21- or 22-year-old kid that much money and that much notoriety, it’s a recipe for disaster. What I tell kids nowadays coming up is, don’t read your press clippings.”

Before Jones spoke, the University held a lottery awarding two graduating seniors a baseball bat autographed by Jones and tickets for two to sit in Jones’ personal seats at Turner Field for an upcoming Braves game. The proceeds of the lottery went to the senior class gift.

The recipients of the tickets were College senior Kevin Mauge-Lewis and Nursing School senior Jason Slabach.

— By Sports Editor Nathaniel Ludewig

View the appeal to the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee here.

View the petition to appeal the Grievance Committee’s response here.

Faculty members recently filed appeals claiming that administrators violated Emory’s governing principles in decisions to reassign them to other departments or not renew their contracts.

Both documents, obtained by the Wheel, state that the University failed to adhere to policies in the Emory College Statement of Principles Governing Faculty Relationships, also known as the “Gray Book,” and other established governance procedures in implementing these changes, which coincide with the department cuts announced last semester.

As a result of “phasing out” and suspending various academic departments and programs in the College and Laney Graduate School, 19 lecture-track faculty and three non-tenured assistant professors will not have their contracts renewed. An estimated 18 tenured faculty will be offered positions in other departments, and 20 staff positions will be eliminated.

Three faculty signed the appeal about the contract non-renewals, which was submitted to the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee of the College on April 16. Fifteen signed the document addressed to the University’s Faculty Hearing Committee, dated April 25, which claims violations in both the contract non-renewals and faculty departmental reassignments.

The Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee consists of five faculty representatives and two ex-officio members who focus only on lecture-track faculty issues in the College. Additionally, the Faculty Hearing Committee, comprised of five faculty members, focuses on employment and is a standing committee of the University Faculty Council.

The appeals, along with a grievance that many of these same faculty members filed on April 4, are the first documents to detail alleged bylaw violations in the process that led to the cuts. These documents have been released amid ongoing controversies between College faculty and the administration over the implementation of the department changes.

The Grievance Committee has since ruled that it does not see reason to take further action on the issues presented in the 13-page grievance, which extensively cites bylaws, meeting minutes, letters and governing principles, and asks that the Grievance Committee recommend that the University void the department cuts. Still, the signatories have expressed frustration over the fact that the committee only responded to two sections of the grievance, the Wheel reported on April 23.

Forty-five faculty members have since signed a petition to appeal the Grievance Committee’s response.

New Documents Emerge

Both of the recent appeals allege violations to several Gray Book policies, and also cite a document titled “Appointment and Review of Lecture-Track Faculty” (ARLTF) and the grievance itself to support the claim that these employment changes stemmed from improperly executed program cuts.

Unlike the appeal submitted to the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee, the appeal sent to the Hearing Committee focuses on both the lecture-track faculty position cuts and tenure-track faculty reassignments.

The Hearing Committee appeal requests that the committee declare the forced reassignments and non-renewals “invalid, null and void,” and that these decisions “be halted immediately.” The faculty members also ask that the Hearing Committee respond before the end of the semester and that the committee file its final recommendation with Provost Claire Sterk rather than College Dean Robin Forman given that Forman was directly involved in the cuts. The Grievance Commitee denied this same request to the grievance signatories last month.

The appeal to the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee recommends only that “the University void the announced non-renewals.” According to ARLTF, an ad hoc panel of three faculty representatives from the Faculty Council reviews such appeals. Though the panel advises the Dean, who then makes a decision, the faculty may appeal the Dean’s decision to the Provost.

Hiram Maxim, an associate professor of German Studies and the chair of the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee, wrote in an email to the Wheel that the committee met last week to review and discuss the appeal. The committee, he wrote, hopes to complete a response to the appeal later this week.

Meanwhile, James Hughes, an associate professor of law and the chair of the Hearing Committee, wrote in an email to the Wheel that the Hearing Committee is at the “very beginning” of the appeal review process and that there is “no set timeline” in place for the review.

Violation Claims About Non-Renewals, Reassignments

In its claims that administrators violated governance policies, both appeals mention Item 8 of the Gray Book, which states that the Dean must confer with affected faculty or members of their respective departments about any recommendations to not renew their contracts. In addition, the policy requires the Dean to communicate with the faculty about the established procedures that serve as the basis for the decision.

However, chairs of the affected departments have confirmed that Forman did not consult with them about the cuts and its implications for some lecture-track faculty until after Forman declared the decision “final,” according to both appeals.

Additionally, the documents note that the procedures Forman and the College Financial Advisory Committee (CFAC) used in proposing these position cuts “were neither established nor communicated to the faculty prior to their implementation.” All members of CFAC, a subcommittee of the College Governance Committee (GovCom) that helped Forman evaluate departments, have since resigned.

Administrators also violated the policy, the appeal claims, because no formal recommendation for the contract non-renewals was made.

Forman declined to comment on the claims presented in the appeals.

The appeals also discuss Section 3.1 of the Gray Book, which states that faculty members “should have security adequate for freedom to teach and to seek truth” and are “assured of reasonable protection against arbitrary pressures and procedures.” According to the appeals, the processes that the administration used in determining the cuts and the consequential contract non-renewals and departmental reassignments “violate this provision … and hence violate academic freedom itself.”

In addition to the Gray Book, the appeals point to a provision of ARLTF, which states that the renewal of lecture-track faculty appointments depends on both “meritorious teaching and service” as well as a “continued departmental need for the faculty members’ services.”

Forman has expressed his respect for faculty in affected departments, the appeal adds, such as through a letter to Director of the Journalism Program Hank Klibanoff. It also states that officials in the eliminated programs did not decide for themselves that the service of these faculty members was no longer needed.

The two appeals further argue that while the University gave the affected faculty notice of their contract non-renewals in a timely fashion — a policy mandated in the document — the process leading to the cuts still violated bylaws and “the resulting decisions are therefore illegitimate.”

The faculty who filed the appeals additionally note that the “Termination” provision of the ARLTF would not apply to the matter at hand because termination occurs in the middle of a contract agreement, while non-renewal happens at the end.

Tenure-Track Faculty

The Hearing Committee appeal, unlike the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee appeal, also addresses issues specific to tenure-track faculty. In the appeal, the signatories ask the Hearing Committee to confirm that the reassignments do not suggest that administrators can dismiss the affected tenured faculty as a result of the department and program closures.

This section of the appeal was included, the appeal notes, “in light of the violations of the Gray Book described in this document, and as part of the recommendation to void the forced reassignments of tenured faculty.”

As stated in the Gray Book and discussed in the appeal, the three conditions under which a faculty member can be dismissed are resignation, retirement or cause, referring to conduct and competency.

In the appeal, the signatories also cite a paragraph of the Gray Book that allows the Board of Trustees to discontinue academic programs “under extraordinary circumstances” and permits the University president to reassign faculty under such circumstances. However, the Gray Book does not say that these administrators can dismiss tenured faculty as a result of program discontinuations, according to the appeal.

And, the Gray Book describes the “fiscal obligations” of the University to tenure-track faculty if their appointment is terminated for reasons “not involving moral delinquency.” Like the other cited paragraphs, this clause “does not name or imply closure of departments as grounds for termination of tenured faculty,” according to the appeal.

The Grievance and the Petition

The April 27 petition to appeal the Grievance Committee’s response to the faculty grievance is addressed to Sheila Cavanagh, a professor of English and the chair of the College Grievance Committee. It has received signatures from faculty members both affected and unaffected by the cuts.

Cavanagh declined to comment.

The Faculty Bylaws require at least 25 faculty members to sign a petition to appeal the actions of a Standing Committee, or the College Grievance Committee in this case.

According to the bylaws, GovCom must now place “the matter of the appeal” on the agenda for either the next regular faculty meeting or a special meeting to take place within four weeks of the receipt of the appeal. Appeals must be considered within the academic year in which they are filed.

The action of a standing committee can be reversed if a majority of attendees at the meeting — which must consist of at least 50 votes — vote to do so.

Despite the publication of the recent grievance and appeals, Forman has denied that the process resulting in the cuts violated bylaws. In an email to the Wheel, Forman wrote in reference to the grievance that he believes “participation of faculty in this process was significant.”

The process was “established, administered and endorsed by GovCom,” he wrote. GovCom assigns work to committees or subcommittees as it deems appropriate, according to the bylaws, and Forman wrote that administrators worked with CFAC, which GovCom established and which included GovCom representatives.

But those who signed the grievance wrote in a statement to the Wheel that GovCom did not authorize activities in which CFAC engaged.

“The problem is one of function,” they noted, explaining that GovCom created CFAC to work on financial matters, not programmatic and curricular cuts, “much less to do so secretly.”

While none of the recent documents are directly affiliated with the organization, some of the signatories are also members of the AAUP, an organization that supports shared governance and academic freedom at universities across the United States.

The Emory chapter of the AAUP has been involved in reviewing the process leading to the department changes since the fall. The chapter has been in contact with the national AAUP office about the document, according to the April 23 Wheel article.

Sharon Strocchia, a professor of history and the current president of Emory’s AAUP chapter, said she has no information to add at this time.

The signatories of the appeal to the Lecture Track Faculty Promotion Committee include, from the journalism program, David Armstrong and Sheila Tefft; and from the Russian program, Vera Proskurina — all of whom also signed the appeal to the Hearing Committee.

Other signatories of the Hearing Committee appeal include, from the Institute of Liberal Arts, Angelika Bammer, Kevin Corrigan, Sander Gilman, Anna Grimshaw, Sean Meighoo, Catherine Nickerson and Walter Reed; from the Department of Economics, Samiran Banerjee; from the Division of Educational Studies, Joseph Cadray and Carole Hahn; and from the Department of Visual Arts, Jason Francisco and Julia Kjelgaard.

— By Jordan Friedman

Correction (May 2 at 3:40 p.m.): The original version of this article misidentified Chair of the Faculty Hearing Committee James Hughes as a professor of medicine and public health. Hughes is an associate professor of law.

Some seniors have decided to brave the job market while others have chosen to remain in the Atlanta area for opportunities and connections they have made.

College senior Madeline Teissler found a job through Emory’s English department. She will be a teaching assistant at the Cliff Valley School, which is a small, progressive, independent school in Toco Hills for preschoolers through eighth graders. Her job will involve teaching four subjects — English, math, social studies and science — to middle school students.

“I’m really looking forward to continuing being in school while not being in school if that makes any sense at all,” Teissler said. “Sharing knowledge and seeing that feedback loop is just the coolest thing in the world.”

As a Theater Studies and English double major — and as somebody who always knew she wanted to teach — Teissler has extensive experience as a theater instructor. Teaching other subjects, however, will be a new experience.

“I advocate working a little before you go to grad school,” Teissler said, speaking to the pressures that many students face in attending graduate school immediately after finishing their undergraduate studies. Teissler said that graduate school may still be in her future.

While Teissler has decided to put her theatric aspirations on hold, College senior Tim Harland, also a Theater Studies major, is in the process of auditioning for shows in the Atlanta area.

“With my profession, there will most likely never be consistent, certain work. A show’s contract would only last a little less than two months between rehearsal and shows, so I will be stuck constantly searching for work,” Harland wrote in an email to the Wheel.

Harland, however, said that he is excited to be an “eternal student” in a constantly evolving mode of art.

But not all have chosen to remain in Atlanta.

With the unemployment rate for 20 to 24-year-olds now at 13.3 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor, some students see postponing work as the path of least resistance.

Even though he had been warned of the sparse range of work opportunities for students who pursue academia, College senior Max Ashton will nevertheless attend Stanford University (Calif.) in the fall as an English Ph.D. student focusing on Medieval English and Anglo-Saxon poetry.

“The woman I’ll be working with at Stanford told me [that] when I visited how bad the job market is. I’ve been hearing that for four years,” he said.

Ashton, however, did not turn to graduate school as a last resort. His consistent attraction to graduate school has had much to do with being in a new city as it does the subject matter.

“My life outside of school will be really fantastic,” Ashton said, noting that he looks forward to being near San Francisco. “San Francisco is really cosmopolitan.”

Also embarking to new territories, College senior Jeff Sporn plans to spend six months to a year traveling across Europe. Sporn decided long ago that entering the job market was the last thing on his mind.

“I think it’s silly to spend so much of [one’s] youth working for a career,” Sporn said. “You have your whole life to make a career.”

He will visit family and friends before working in France with World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms, an organization of organic farmers who offer jobs to travelers in exchange for food and housing around the world.

For Sporn, the biggest challenge will be staying fiscally responsible. He plans to save money by couch surfing, a system where strangers offer their homes to travelers through an online database. He said he looks forward to the new job and new culture the most.

Other students have also decided to pursue unconventional post-graduate dreams. College senior Tess Komarek will join the Peace Corps in September, working in the health sector for two years before she attends medical school.

According to Komarek, the influence of her grandfather’s experience in the Peace Corps and traveling to underprivileged areas as a child encouraged her to apply. She will most likely be placed in West Africa because that is where most of the health-related offices of the Peace Corps are located.

“Because I’ve traveled a fair amount and seen parts of the world that don’t have basic access to medical care, that is what I want to do with the rest of my life after medical school — go and serve in underprivileged areas around the world,” Komarek said.

She said she believes her experience in the Peace Corps will prepare her for her ultimate career aspirations.

Like Teissler, Komarek is optimistic about gaining work experience before attending graduate school.

“I may be entering [medical school] with people that were freshmen and sophomores when I was at Emory … but I’m excited to gain this life experience that will only enhance my application and experience once I’m in medical school and beyond,” Komarek said.

Komarek is a strong advocate for taking advantage of having few responsibilities as a fresh graduate.

“This is the perfect time in your life to just go and do and experience and learn what life means,” she said.

— By Rupsha Basu 

Photo courtesy of Bryan Meltz

The Great Recession has taught us to get the best and highest paying jobs possible and many have searched for the best opportunities they can find.

The result is that students have asked themselves which route will be best for them. Where will they find the most job security, the best salary and the most prestige. These are important, practical things to ask and I urge another question to consider: What can I contribute?

This question applies to any course of action whether it is a summer position or a long-term career. Instead of focusing on the best company, internship or graduate school that will accept you, why not ask how your talents can be best used?

As Civil Rights leader, the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, proclaimed: “To hell with your career! What is your calling?”

These questions are not mutually exclusive. Aspiration is an admirable quality, but so is spending one’s time with a higher calling. There are obvious benefits to asking where one can thrive, grow and be indispensable. Job security and personal fulfillment come to mind, but personal and professional growth comes with finding a place in which you can thrive.

The best job training is doing what you are passionate about — learning to improve will come naturally.

American society and political rhetoric tends to value risk-taking in terms of business. Entrepreneurs and innovators receive much glory and admiration, and for good reason. The future economy depends on the pursuit of passion and contribution to society.

But why should it be limited to entrepreneurship? Risk-taking applies as much to following a passion in the humanities, arts, and other pursuits.

Society depends upon people risking financial security or what seems certain in exchange for shaping the culture and identity of society. It is indicative of societal values that these risks are not as celebrated.

Any society is made up of people who love what they do and always strive to do better, whether clergymen and women, teachers, doctors and nurses or volunteers. These are the people who have influenced us the most, who we should thank as we prepare to do more with our lives and whose values we should perpetuate.

Of course, the luxury of having the option between choosing a course of fulfillment or one of professional or financial security is not available to everyone. Decent jobs are hard to come across for college graduates at the moment, and there is nothing wrong with putting personal fulfillment on the back burner for a while.

In our time, a college education is also unreasonably expensive, and makes the pursuit of personal growth more difficult. But, when the question inevitably arises again, reflect upon your time since graduation and think of where you have been and where you want to go.

Essentially, it is important not to settle. There is not much time left to take important risks in life. Most of us are not quite the people who we will be for the rest of our lives, so why not make the most of the time now while we don’t have to worry about providing for a family?

As easy as it is to complain about coursework and academic obligations, our education has afforded us incredible opportunities. We owe it to ourselves, and more importantly to society, to return and build upon what has been entrusted to us.

To the graduates, I applaud your hard work and wish you the best in your calling.

Online Editor Ross Fogg is a College junior from Fayetteville, Ga.

Cartoon by Jessica Goldblum

It has been a memorable year here at On Fire.

We have seen LeBron James warn the federal government about a natural disaster, Kobe Bryant live-tweet from the sidelines of a Lakers’ game and people from Chicago celebrate in a singularly strange manner.

We have discussed the merits of hot wings versus Swedish models, determined exactly what is so weird about Europe and soccer and ranked our favorite athletes/rappers.

We have opened an internship program which will possibly give participants four course credits and a HAPW requirement, and though we have not yet had any applicants, we are optimistic for its future.

We have considered hosting an open forum, and ultimately decided that we had better things to do.

We have successfully avoided any and all constructive dialogues on issues of race, class, social justice, the environment, gender, drugs or any other important topic you could name.

All in all, it has been a banner year for On Fire.

2. A Hero Goes Dark

In light of the ongoing NBA playoffs, LeBron James has turned off his cell phone.

Our first instinct is to praise him for this. After all, he is displaying supreme focus and absolute determination is pursuit of a noble and lofty goal – that is, an NBA Championship.

But then, we thought about all the natural disasters LeBron has warned the government about this year.

In truth, he has only warned the government about one disaster. But that is one more than your On Fire correspondent has warned the government about, and that is probably one more than any of my readers have warned the government about. (If you have warned the government about a natural disaster this year, please consider applying to On Fire’s internship program this summer. We could really use skills like yours.)

For those of you who are unaware (all our loyal readers of On Fire should be aware, but we will repeat ourselves for the sake of the parents who have come to town for graduation and do not follow us on our blog), LeBron was driving around Dayton County and saw signs of flooding the other week.

He took pictures of the flooding, uploaded them to Instagram and tweeted them. Through this, the National Weather Service discovered the natural disaster.

In light of LeBron’s decision, we at On Fire feel compelled to warn all the residents of the greater Miami area to extra alert for possible natural disasters. Your greatest protector has gone dark.

3. Creative Names

The Bowl Champion Series (BCS) unveiled the name of the new college football playoff this week. It will be called “College Football Playoff.”

In a follow-up question, a reporter asked the Executive Director of the BCS, Bill Hancock, if the name of his dog is “Dog.” Hancock replied that he does not own a dog.

But joking aside, this name is brilliant for many reasons.

First of all, the acronym: CFP. Does that not just roll of the tongue? It sounds sweet and silky smooth, like Dove chocolate.
Second, it leaves in just enough room to add in a title sponsor. College Football Playoff, brought to you by Skittles: Taste the Rainbow. Say it a few times – there is a nice ring to it.

The words NCAA or FCS or Division I-A are nowhere in sight. If and when major college football goes rogue and ditches all other institutional connections in favor of a loose confederation of SEC schools, Texas and Ohio State, the name will not have to be changed.
The words “National,” “Championship” or “Title” are nowhere in sight. This way, no one can legally challenge the College Football Playoff on the grounds that it is unfairly excluding someone. This is not the end all and be all of football games. This is just some college football teams holding a playoff.

There are no numbers involved like college basketball’s Final Four, meaning that it can be expanded to whatever size the non-national and non-championship-bestowing group of college football teams wants it to be expanded to – in short, it can be expanded as long as the powers-that-be can still make money off it.

All in all, this name is brilliant.

Emory had a long run in the NCAA tournament, which ended in the finals. The Eagles breezed through the first two rounds of the tournament with 2-0 wins against Depauw University (Ind.) and No.7-ranked Centre College (Ky.). In the third, “Sweet 16” round, Emory slipped past Loras College (Iowa.) by a score of 2-1, in a match played in Pittsburg, Penn.

In the elite eight, the Eagles saw a familiar foe. The team defeated the No. 17-ranked, Carnegie Mellon University Tartans. The game initially ended in a 0-0 tie before going into a shootout, which the Eagles won by an 11-10 score. The Tartans also play in the UAA.

Emory’s final win of the season came in the NCAA semifinals match against Wheaton College (Ill.). The Eagles breezed to a 2-0 victory off of goals from sophomore forward Emily Feldman and junior defender Lauren Gorodetsky. The match was played in San Antonio, Texas.

In the NCAA-title match, the Eagles fell behind by a goal early to No.1-ranked Messiah College (Penn.). Emory was never able to answer back. The team went on to lose by a final score of 1-0.

Emory’s historic season did not go unnoticed as the Eagles’ players and coaches were showered with numerous postseason accolades. Head coach Sue Patberg was awarded the NCAA Division III Coach of the Year award by D3Soccer.com. Patberg received the award based on the strength of the team’s success.

On the players side, Gorodetsky led all award-getters. During the season, the UAA compiled a list of the top 25 UAA players of all time in its UAA 25-Year Anniversary Team. Gorodetsky was the only active UAA player on the list.

Based on her success in the tournament, Gorodetsky received the most Outstanding Defensive Player of the NCAA Championships award from D3Soccer.com.

The accolades kept coming for Gorodetsky in the postseason. She was named the Defender of the Year by D3Soccer.com at the close of the season.

The junior also found herself on the D3Soccer.com and National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) All-America First Teams.

It did not stop there for Gorodetsky. Gorodetsky was also named the UAA co-MVP, an honor she shared with Anna Zambricki of Washington University in St. Louis.

This is her second consecutive season winning the award. Gorodetsky was also named to the UAA first team.

“This year I really set higher goals for myself,” Gorodetsky said. “As a junior, I had to find new ways to push myself to be better for my team and never stopped trying to improve.”

Gorodetsky was not the only Eagle to win postseason accolades. For their NCAA tournament success, junior outside back Lauren Drosick and sophomore outside back/midfielder Kaelyn Lucas were each named to the all-tournament team.

Kellu Costopoulos was named to the NSCAA all-tournament team along with Gorodetsky. Veronica Romero was named to the third team. Romero also joined Gorodetsky on the first team all-UAA, while Costopoulos, Feldman, and junior midfielder Greta Jochmann were all named to the second team. Lauren Drosick and senior goalkeeper Kaele Leonard were both honorable mentions.

The Eagles will look to build on their success next season. The Eagles will add five new freshman to replace the losses of seniors Lee Bachouros, Merrill Bachouros, Katy Kruse, Ashley Kaiser, Erica Stein and Kaele Leonard.

“The graduating seniors left a legacy of perseverance,” Gorodetsky said. “From their freshmen to senior years, they went from the worst to the best seasons in program history. From not qualifying to the NCAA tournament to a national runner-up finish. Our seniors showed us how great things can come from rising above.”

— By Nathaniel Ludewig

Photo by Christine Hines

“We didn’t play poorly either game,” Head Coach Jason Zimmerman said. “We knew there was a lot of basketball left but still had to get better.”

Zimmerman met with his star guard, junior Alex Greven, and the two discussed what the team had to do to improve.
“They were upset they weren’t discouraged,” Zimmerman said of his Eagles.

The women’s team, too, had just dropped a close game to Wash. U, a 56-53 overtime game. The loss evened their UAA record at 1-1 and knocked them out of the conference driver’s seat.

Flash to March, when both teams finished first in the UAA and earned NCAA Tournament bids.

Women’s Head Coach Christy Thomaskutty credits her team’s attitude as the key part of their title run.

“It came down to the Rochester game [a double-overtime, 73-67 win],” Thomaskutty said. “That’s when I knew our team was legit. At no point was there any sense of panic.”

The men’s team strung together five straight wins, each by double digits, putting themselves right back in the midst of the conference race. Perhaps even more impressive was the team’s five-game winning streak to close the season a clinch a share of the title, capped with a regular-season ending blowout of the Rochester squad that beat them in their conference opener.

“There’s no better feeling than accomplishing a goal,” Zimmerman said. “It wasn’t just one year. We’ve been close for the last couple years. It was as good a feeling as you can have as a coach.”

From there, the men qualified for the NCAA Tournament, where they trounced Randolph College (Va.) in the opening round before falling to Whitworth University (Wash.). Still, it was a record-breaking season for a team that had not been to the tournament since 1990 and, with a record of 20-7, earned its second-highest win total of all time. However, this success did not come out of nowhere.
“It was a six-year process,” Zimmerman said. “It started when I got here.”

The women’s team caught fire as well after the Wash. U loss. The Eagles relied on stingy defensive play and won seven straight games, not allowing more than 64 points in any of them. A four-game winning streak to close the season gave the team sole possession of first place in the UAA and a final conference record of 12-2.

The Eagles breezed by Whitworth and Huntingdon College (Ala.) in the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament to reach the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 1997 and just the third time in program history. The run ended there, as they lost to Whitman College (Wash.) in a close 67-62 contest to close the season with a record of 24-4 and a national ranking of 14th.

“It was a game we thought we should win,” Thomaskutty said. “It was a disappointment. It took me a few weeks to get past that one, because this is such a great group of girls.”

Both teams’ tournament losses do nothing to take away from their record-breaking seasons that were as thrilling as they were successful.

“It’s hard for any coach to say it was a great season when it ends with a loss,” Thomaskutty said. “But it was one of the program’s best seasons ever.”

The men’s team relied heavily on its one-two punch of junior forward Jake Davis and senior guard Alex Greven. Davis led the Eagles with 18 points per game, while Greven was not far behind at 16.5.

The two stars led a powerful Emory offense that averaged 82 points per game and on average outscored opponents by more than 15 points.

Junior guard McPherson Moore and senior forward Michael Friedberg added 12.0 and 11.7 points per game, respectively. Friedberg led with 6.9 rebounds per game, while sophomore guard Michael Florin was tops in assists with 5.8 per game.

It was a happy ending for Greven and Friedberg, who alongside fellow seniors Ollie Carleton and Nash Oh qualified for the NCAA Tournament for the first time in their Eagles careers.
Zimmeran spoke highly of the success of his senior class, citing their 74-28 record in their Eagles careers.

“I was really excited for those guys,” he said. “It was a special journey. To be able to put up a banner in the gym, that’s something that no one can take away from them.

The women’s team relied more on their defense, averaging 71.2 points per game and holding opponents to just 55.1.

Junior guard Hannah Lilly led the team in scoring with 13 points per game, while junior guard Savannah Morgan and senior forward Misha Jackson contributed 11.9 and 11.1, respectively. Jackson led the Eagles in rebounds with 9.0 per game.

Along with Jackson, the team will be losing seniors Danielle Landry and Katie Dickerson, but Thomaskutty believes the future is bright.
“Anytime you’re relying on freshman, you’re cautiously optimistic,” she said. “It’s going to hinge on one thing, and that’s leadership.”
The men, too, will look to build off their success this season.

“I think we can be better,” Zimmerman said. “That’s the coach in me talking. We have to replace some great players and great leaders.”
If there’s one lesson that this season taught us, it’s to never count out the Emory basketball teams. The Eagles will be back and hungry to build off their success in 2013 — but no matter what, there’s no taking away from just how big of a season this was for both squads.

“The bar has been set really high,” Zimmerman said. “It’s exciting to see how high we can raise that bar.”

—By Ryan Smith

“But our team took a different approach,” senior captain Anna Dobben said. “We saw this meet as a chance to race, and that was when I knew that we would do big things this year.”

Emory Swimming and Diving did do big things this year. The women’s team won the National Championship for the fourth consecutive year, and the men finished fifth in the nation. Additionally, each squad won the University Athletic Association (UAA) championship for the fifteenth year in a row.

“Everyone really made a commitment to improve as individuals and to come closer as a team this season,” Head Coach Jon Howell said. “You have to do something special to be successful at this level.”

The women’s squad was led by the relay team of senior Renee Rosenkranz, sophomore Nancy Larson, senior captain Ann Wolber and Dobben, who won National Championships in the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays.

The 400-yard freestyle relay was the final event of the NCAA Division III National Championships, and the women had already clinched the team title.

Yet that did not prevent Rosenkranz, Larson, Wobler and Dobben from winning the National Championship in a NCAA Division III-record time of 3:21.28, an incredible .71 seconds better than the previous record.

“It was pretty cool to know that we swam faster than anyone else in Division III ever had,” Dobben said. “It was a Hallmark-like way to end my swimming career — it was a fairytale ending.”

This is just one of a staggering number of team and individual accomplishments the Eagles compiled this year.

Senior captains Miller Douglas and Peter O’Brien led the men’s team. Douglas, who transferred to Emory after his sophomore year, won the National Championship in the 200-yard butterfly, and also earned All-American honors in the 200- and 400-yard individual medleys.

“He has been one of our top performers across the board,” Howell said. “He will graduate as one of the best we ever had, and he was only here for two years.”

O’Brien earned All-American honors in the 200-yard individual medley and the 200- and 400-yard medley relay at the NCAA Championships, setting school records in each event in the process.

Along with Douglas, he set the tone for the men’s swimming team both in and out of the pool.

“Douglas and I were able to take charge and think about where we wanted the team to go and rally the men about that goal and vision,” O’Brien said. “If you start at the top and all the seniors are doing it right, it naturally falls to the others to adopt that in some way.”

Though it started at the top for both the men’s and women’s teams, the list of individual accomplishments for Emory swimmers goes on and on. The women delivered a total of 26 individual All-American performances, five relay All-American performances and 15 individual All-American honorable mention performances.

The men earned eight individual All-American honors, four All-American relays, seven individual All-American honorable mentions and one honorable mention relay.

O’Brien explained that the incredible breadth and depth of the team comes from the culture that the seniors have created.

“There is an atmosphere that we have to set as leaders on the team,” O’Brien said. “There is something special about that team bond which enhances athletic performance. We are very committed, and we breed that atmosphere. When you come in, you conform to that.”
That team culture extends beyond athletic championships and honors to academic and personal success and a strong team identity.

“A lot of times people look at our program and focus on our success at nationals, but for us, it is a much more holistic approach,” Howell said. “For us, it is about supporting our swimmers in all aspects of life.”

The Eagles do this through the remarkable community they have created that serves as a network of support for the swimmers both inside and outside of the pool.

“This has been a unique characteristic of Emory swimming and is a reason people are drawn to us,” Howell said. “Your swims are more than just your individual swims. You swim for something bigger than yourself, and it brings out the best in people and makes it more fun.”

For Dobben, two moments define the nature of the Emory swimming community.

The first is the 400-yard freestyle relay at the UAA championships. Dobben was in the pool competing, and she remembers all her teammates, even members of the men’s team, outside of the pool cheering on her and the rest of her relay team.

The second was outside of the pool, when the Emory women’s basketball team hosted the NCAA Tournament and the entire swim team went out to support them.

“Emory swimming means so much more to so many people than we realize while we are here,” Dobben said. “We are not here just to swim. We are here to make others people’s lives better, and we are here to make our lives better. When I became a part of Emory Swimming, my life changed for the better, and it has been an amazing experience.”

For Coach Howell, people such as Douglas and Dobben, who as seniors provided an example to the underclassmen as athletes, teammates and people, exemplify everything that is remarkable about the Emory swimmer.

“Miller is the ideal teammate,” Howell said. “He has a lot of enthusiasm and a great work ethic. He loves his sport and he loves Emory. Anna has been the spirit behind our team — a great organizer, enthusiastic, a hard worker and she had a wonderful end to her. She has been a great leader and a great performer for us.”

The accomplishments of Emory swimmers outside of the pool are perhaps best exemplified by the five seniors who were awarded the NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship — Mia Michalak and Ann Wobler for the women, and Douglas, O’Brien and Justin Beegle for the men.
“It is a huge honor,” O’Brien said. “What is remarkable is that we all intend to genuinely enjoy our studies. It is not about achieving the mark. We have great conversations in the locker room about all sorts of things that we have learned from class. We have a great mix of athletics and academics on the team.”

Student-athletes must be nominated by their athletic department, and the award is given based on athletic accomplishments, academic success and service to the community. The NCAA awarded just 30 of these scholarships to student athletes from winter sports across all levels of NCAA competition.

“To have five seniors win the award shows you that they are taking this experience to an extremely high level,” Howell said. “I think that these accomplishments tell you the most about our program. The NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship is a testament to excellence. These awards speak volumes to their work ethic and to them performing at high levels as students and as athletes.”

The Eagles have set a high standard for next year. With 10 women and nine men graduating, a number of underclassmen will have to step up.

“I feel good about next year, but if we want to be in the hunt, we have to get better,” Howell said. “We look forward to that challenge.”

—By Bennett Ostdiek

Photo by Christine Hines

My time at Emory has left me far more quickly than I thought it would. At times, four years doesn’t seem like enough. There’s not the time to do everything! I wanted to shout on those days when I lived in Woodruff Library, buried up to my nose in homework. I didn’t go to half the events I wanted to go to on campus. I didn’t study abroad. I never made it to Music Midtown. I have yet to set foot in the Pitts Theology Library; I only ever ventured into the Carlos Museum because of class. And I never did manage to catch a Dooley’s Week T-shirt properly at Wonderful Wednesday (the one that managed to land on my head that one time doesn’t count).

Somehow, graduation has crept up on me. A time when half the Quad is cordoned off with yellow tape, a large metallic frame for the stage appears overnight and seniors face the question we’ve been hearing since September: “so what are you doing with the rest of your life?” One moment, I was planning how many books I need to return at the library, and the next, it hits me: I have one more week of classes for my entire college career left.

It’s hard to appreciate how earth-shattering this realization can be until it hits you. One more week of classes. One week of finals. Graduation. Then: the real world. You think, how on earth did I already spend my four years?

I spent an inordinately large amount of them in the Wheel offices, managing the spelling and grammar side of the newspaper while the staff of section editors changed every year. The midnight hours I spent staring at a computer screen and looking for wayward Oxford commas became all too familiar, but they afforded me the chance to appreciate the rush of meeting the printing deadline. And the night sky when no one else is awake to see it. And the stupidity of signing up for an 8:30 French class the morning after a production night. Through all four years, Evan and Roshani have been two constants at the Wheel — no matter who was in charge or what section was running late, I knew that Evan would finish his work absurdly early, and Roshani would meow at anyone who bothered her

I witnessed the majority of the performances held in the concert hall of the Schwartz Center without too many bumps or moments of ‘gracefulness’ to live down. I saw every candlelight entrance and exit for Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas. I investigated for the Honor Council and helped at a speech language and learning lab in the Psychology department and invaded Dr. Rusche’s office for two-hour conversations that were meant to be only five minutes. I survived writing my honors thesis. I watched way too many weird movies with my roommate. I laughed until I literally could not breathe more times than I can count with my friends.

Somehow, my four years filled themselves with friends, interests and activities that I never would have imagined myself having at the beginning of freshman year. I was barely 17, not even old enough to sign my own documents when I signed up for housing in the spring. I couldn’t have predicted the importance that King Arthur or Doctor Who or Aldous Huxley would have to me now.

Four years have passed since my orientation at Emory. Next year, I will only be a visitor to the campus. I will be living in the real world and not in the Emory bubble. I will be a graduate student, on her way to a Ph.D. Time will slow back down to its regular rush.
Curiouser and curiouser.

Senior Editor Steffi Delcourt is a College senior from St. Simons Island, Ga.

I’ve never posted a secret to the website “Emory Secrets.” Even anonymously, I don’t want to tell anyone anything outright. I believe fear, pain, sadness and frustration should not be told without first distilling them into something else. Perhaps this is unhealthy. But I don’t care.

The one time I told someone about whatever was bothering me, she wrote a play about it. Her name is Allie Kayhart, and it was a badly-written play. It was produced at Emory. She didn’t change my name and misspelled the coffee shop that I worked at. Incidentally, the week it went on, I decided to buy clippers and give myself a haircut. I am very cheap. I accidentally cut the left side too short and had to shave the whole thing off. The next day, I walked into class with a professor who had seen the play about me. Seeing a newly-shaved head, he asked after class, “Alfred, is everything all right?” Everything was, except my shaky hands. I’m just cheap.

I can’t give you any insight into Emory. If you want to know any real secrets of Emory that I know, it’s that the third floor of the library has two bathrooms, and the one by the back is the best place to take a poop in solitude and reflect on life. It is where I am composing this reflection on my phone. I can give you insight into the only thing of worth I did at Emory. I hope that I made people laugh. The only way you can do that is to have pity, and to have something pitiful to hide.

You can’t make fun of people for being stupid unless you admit that you are also stupid. No one has anything all figured out.
And to mock someone for not having things figured out, without acknowledging your own lack of direction, is not funny. The best stories are the ones that secretly say, “I’m pathetic.”

If you want to be funny, hide your feelings or make fun of them. And of course, write on the toilet.

As I wrote this, a man walked into the bathroom talking on his phone in spanish or italian. He continued the conversation while taking a s–t. It reminded me of the only thing I can say about humor with confidence: Good humor reminds us that everybody poops.

Humor Columnist A.J. Artis is a College senior from Sunnyvale, Calif.