In 2025, the News Section covered a wide variety of on-campus events and topics. These stories recapped the happenings in the Wake Forest community and covered student responses to national events.
In the spring, the section was led by section editors Maria Silveria and Caroline Khalaf. The editors and their staff covered many important topics throughout the semester.
Editor-in-Chief Ella Klein covered the controversy and subsequent cancellation of an invitation from Jewish Life for a former IDF soldier to speak on campus. She also covered a statement on freedom of expression and academic freedom issued by the University. Mattie Stillerman wrote about how the University joined a growing list of colleges and universities supporting “a call for constructive engagement.”
The news section covered important aspects of the campus community, such as Black History Month, Mental Health Week, Islam Awareness Week and Women’s History Month through event recaps and interviews. Additionally, Wake Forest celebrated traditions and giving back with Founder’s Day, Wake ‘N Shake fundraiser, DESK philanthropy event, second annual Jam for Janey tournament and Arnold Palmer Day.
The 2024-25 Face to Face Speaker Forum ended with David Brooks, a bestselling author and columnist, and John Legend, an acclaimed musician and EGOT winner, on campus.
In the fall, the section was led by section editors Caroline Khalaf and Jill Yoder, who covered larger events, such as the dedication ceremony of Hopkins Hall in honor of Professor Beth Hopkins and Dr. Larry Hopkins, and the termination of the employment of a University employee following social media comments about the death of Charlie Kirk. Klein covered the closing of the Office of Diversity at the start of the semester and President Susan R. Wente’s announcement to conclude her presidency in the coming year.
At the beginning of the semester, the news staff covered the naming of Nell Jessup Newton as interim provost and wrote about how professors are navigating AI usage in the classroom. Due to national discussions surrounding the freedom of universities, Wake Forest hosted David M. Rabban from the University of Texas School of Law to lead a lecture on academic freedom and free speech.
For the second half of the Face to Face Speaker Forum, Wake Forest welcomed Chris Paul and Mitt Romney as speakers and featured Tyler Shultz at a campus speech on his experience as a whistleblower. The University announced a move to become tuition-free for families earning under $200k, expanded freshman dorms to Huffman Residence Hall and officially dropped below the top-50 U.S. News ranking.
The news section covered campus traditions such as the annual Hit the Bricks and Project Pumpkin fundraisers, which both experienced record-breaking years for fundraising and attendance. Additionally, the news staff covered the Climb to Remember community event to honor victims of 9/11.
In October, Wake Forest alumni returned to campus to celebrate Homecoming weekend alongside current students. The following month, students celebrated South Asian culture at Holiday Fest, came together for Pitsgiving and made hundreds of Thanksgiving meals for Winston-Salem residents at TurkeyPalooza.
Before Thanksgiving, the news staff covered alleged sexual assault cases on-campus and new student government legislation to create a committee to assist with the sexual misconduct campus climate survey in January 2026.
To conclude the semester, students gathered for the annual Lighting of the Quad on Dec. 1 to celebrate the holiday season with performances by various student groups.
We are proud of the hard work and dedicated reporting of all of our writers, and we look forward to continuing to cover Wake Forest news and events in the coming spring semester.
