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Mike MavredakisApril 19, 20237min
The ability to explore, open-mindedness, diversity of thought, the culture, the community, an emphasis on the arts—these were all reasons that prospective students gave for why they were considering enrolling at Wesleyan in the Fall. “We try to create a culture where people can listen to each other; because by listening to each other, we discover things about ourselves and about the world that we wouldn't otherwise,” President Michael S. Roth ’78 said at WesFest 2023 on April 14. For Elizabeth Littell, 18, of Portland, Maine, the community at Wesleyan is the main attraction, she said. “Everyone is just so…

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Steve ScarpaApril 5, 20236min
David Rabban ’71, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin School of Law, delivered a wide-ranging exploration of academic freedom and freedom of speech at the annual Hugo L. Black Lecture on Freedom of Expression. The lecture was presented by The Allbritton Center for the Study of Public Life and took place March 30 in the Daniel Family Commons. “One of the things I loved about Wesleyan when I was here was the commitment of the faculty and administration to free speech and academic freedom,” Rabban said. His talk cited a wide array of case law to show…

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Mike MavredakisApril 4, 202311min
Who collects your data? Which data? Why? Where does it go? Who is buying it? What are they doing with it? Can we protect our data or choose who gets to use and sell it? What laws are in place to protect your data? What’s the path forward for data privacy? These were all questions tackled by data privacy experts from Wesleyan, New York University, Google, Harvard, Boston University, Carnegie Mellon, and others who spoke at the annual Shasha Seminar for Human Concerns on March 31 and April 1. “The importance of freedom from unauthorized intrusion is on the top…

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Editorial StaffMarch 29, 20231min
The Wesleyan Board of Trustees voted to increase tuition by 4.7 percent for the upcoming 2023-24 academic year.  Tuition will be $66,716. The Residential Comprehensive Fee (RCF) will be $19,034. There will also be a $300 student activities fee, bringing the total cost to $86,050. Wesleyan continues to recognize that any increase in student charges can create financial difficulties for families. The University remains committed to meeting all of a students’ demonstrated financial need. In academic year 2022-23, 39 percent of students received need-based grant awards totaling more than $75 million. “We are mindful of the cost of a Wesleyan education.,” said President Michael…

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Steve ScarpaFebruary 7, 20236min
Wesleyan University’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. commemoration, held February 3, was a moment for hard truths about racial justice in the United States and inspiration for where we might go as a nation. The annual commemoration concluded Equity and Inclusion Week and launched a series of events to recognize Black History Month. The MLK Commemoration, hosted by Demetrius Colvin, director of The Resource Center, featured a recollection of King’s special relationship with Wesleyan. The civil rights leader visited campus four times and was an honorary degree recipient in 1964. In addition, Black Raspberry, an all-Black student musical group, offered…

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Steve ScarpaFebruary 1, 20237min
In a time when the wounds of racial injustice continue to be raw in America, Wesleyan University’s Black History Month programming hopes to represent the complexity, struggles and joys of the African American experience. “We explicitly want to highlight the importance of the Black joy we are living,” said Demetrius Colvin, director of The Resource Center. “There is so much death, sadness, and trauma. We have to honor that. But an important aspect to the joy and sorrow is how people are surviving, resisting, and thriving.” The University will celebrate the month with gallery exhibits, film screenings, performances, and celebrations.…

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Jeff HarderJanuary 31, 20237min
Poet, author, activist, and educator Mahogany L. Browne is having a moment. The stage adaptation of her acclaimed young adult novel Chlorine Sky premieres this month at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater. She’s finishing up a “poetic orchestral” performance she expects to unveil this spring at Wesleyan, where she’s deep into a stint with the inaugural group of Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence. And next week, Chrome Valley—the latest collection of verse from Browne, the first-ever poet-in-residence at New York’s Lincoln Center—was published by W.W. Norton & Company. Here, Browne offers insights into her work, creative process, and bringing a sense of…

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Editorial StaffJanuary 25, 20233min
The University is re-locating a number of its administrative departments to 55 High Street in Middletown. The Office of Advancement, currently on 291 Main Street, will be the first department to move. Advancement will be subsequently joined by the offices of Finance, Human Resources, Information Technology (which is currently located in the Exley Science Center), General Counsel and University Communications. “I am excited for the creative synergy possible when perspectives from across many university departments are brought together under one roof. You can’t underestimate the value of impromptu conversations and brainstorming sessions that come from smart and committed people being…

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Amy AlbertDecember 5, 20226min
International Education Week (IEW) was held from November 10th through the 18th to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. Wesleyan has participated in IEW since 2017-2018 through the Fries Center for Global Studies (FCGS). This year, the IEW Planning Committee included representatives from the Office of International Student Affairs (OISA), the Gordon Career Center, the Resource Center, ResLife, and the Shapiro Writing Center. The U.S. Departments of State and Education launched the initiative in 2000 to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment. Associate Director for Intercultural Learning Anita Deeg-Carlin said, "It's exciting for me…

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Amy AlbertNovember 10, 20224min
Housemates Charissa Lee Yi Zhen ’23 and Robyn Wong Min Xuan ’23 met during International Student Orientation and became close friends living in the Womanist House together Spring 2021. Now they have one more thing in common – they are the student recipients of the social justice award named for Peter Morgenstern-Clarren ’03, a social justice activist. However, their journeys to activism took different paths­—one developed their passion long before they came to Wesleyan and the other discovered it while on campus. Wong explained that while she learned leadership in high school, “Coming to the U.S. and specifically Wesleyan awakened…

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Editorial StaffOctober 11, 20228min
  The Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery has a climate problem. “The airflow is not democratic,” said Ben Chaffee, associate director of visual arts and the curator for this fall’s exhibit by artists Renee Gladman and Nick Raffel, running through October 16. In the wing that is favored by airflow, Raffel installed a fan. In the other wing is Gladman’s collection. Her lines of prose and lines of drawing are neglected by the ventilation system. Raffel’s installation, called airfoil, explores how the aesthetics of utilities express historic understandings of energy usage. Gladman’s exhibit, called THE DREAM OF SENTENCES, is the…

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Jeff HarderOctober 11, 20227min
Yuri Herrera, part of Wesleyan’s inaugural Shapiro-Silverberg Distinguished Writers in Residence program, is regarded as one of the most remarkable writers in contemporary Mexican literature. In spare, weighty prose flecked with language-bending neologisms, Herrera explores borders—the physical, the social, and beyond—in books like The Transmigration of Bodies and Signs Preceding the End of the World, the latter of which The Guardian named one of the 100 best books of the 21st century. A professor at Tulane University in New Orleans, Herrera holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso and a PhD from the…