Last Daily Deac until Jan.
In this Issue:
- IFC (i.e., fraternity) recruitment webinar
- Editorial: We Owe It to College Students to Create Tech-Free Spaces
- Wake Forest closed Dec. 22-Jan. 2, 2026
- Daily Deac will resume Jan. 5
This is the last work day of the calendar year at Wake. Starting on Monday, Dec. 22, faculty, staff, and administrators will be on our own holiday break through Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. We will get back to work on Monday, Jan. 5.
Here’s what I have for you today – the last Daily Deac of this year. Enjoy!
IFC (i.e., fraternity) recruitment webinar
If you were not able to attend the Interfraternity recruitment webinar that took place on Dec. 15, you can view the recording online.
Editorial: We Owe It to College Students to Create Tech-Free Spaces
As a higher ed professional, I like to share articles about higher ed issues and college parenting where I can. An intrepid Daily Deac reader shared an article with me this morning and I thought you might enjoy it as well. It is an editorial about the benefit of having tech-free spaces in college. You can read the editorial here, but I will give you a taste:
“Since 2014, I’ve led a study-abroad writing course for Yale University in Auvillar, a village in the southwest of France. For many of those years, I’ve experimented with requiring these students to go completely offline for our month together. No texting, no Googling, no posting photos of duck confit on Instagram….What I witnessed in the four weeks that followed has convinced me that we owe it to today’s college students to create internet-free spaces, programs, dorms and maybe even entire campuses for students committed to learning with far fewer distractions….
I’m no longer certain that the content of my course is where my greatest impact as a teacher lies. With the current generation, at least, what we as educators keep out is as important as what we put in. In creating containers, we give members of this technology-crushed generation a fair chance to be with their own thoughts, until they’ve made something of them and felt the oldfangled dopamine hit that comes with assembling meaning. I don’t know what we owe our students if not that.”
As with any opinion piece, there will be points on which reasonable people may disagree. But this was really interesting food for thought for me as I think about a course I will be teaching this spring, and whether I can move the needle with a tech-distractions-free space.
Wake Forest closed Dec. 22-Jan. 2, 2026
Wake Forest will be closed Dec. 22 through Jan. 2. In the unlikely event that you need assistance during our closure, please see our After Hours Help page.
As a reminder, if you have a non-urgent situation (i.e., something that does not involve immediate life, health, or safety concerns), administrators will respond to you when we reopen on Jan. 5.
Daily Deac will resume Jan. 5
This will be the last Daily Deac of 2025 – we’ll start back up again on Monday, Jan. 5, 2026.
To all of our readers – parents and families, grandparents, students, staff who follow the blog, everyone! – I wish you and yours a joyous holiday season with those you love most. In the words of my late P’92 mother, may you be safe, healthy, and happy.
I remain eternally grateful for each of you who reads the Daily Deac; your interest in the blog allows me to keep doing the job I love, which brings me meaning and joy beyond measure. So thank you.
Happy New Year and see you in 2026!
