We’re excited to welcome our new intern, Dylan Halper, to The Assembly team. He is a rising junior at Duke University, studying political science, journalism, and history. He is also currently editor-in-chief of The Chronicle, Duke’s student publication.
At The Assembly, he’ll be covering higher education and politics, including pitching in on The Quad and The Caucus newsletters. We asked him a few questions to help you get to know him.
What’s your favorite story that you’ve worked on?
While it’s hard to choose a favorite, I am definitely most proud of a story I wrote last fall for The Chronicle, uncovering how the Duke School of Medicine shuttered a graduate support program without consulting any students, faculty, or staff. Before my story was published, the university had not publicly acknowledged the program’s closure, and students and staff were deeply frustrated with the decision, which many suspected was because of the program’s “DEI” elements.
What’s the first thing you read when you wake up in the morning?
Every day, I read three daily newsletters: Punchbowl News AM, The Downballot, and Politico’s New York Playbook (you can probably tell I am a bit of a nerd for politics—and a native New Yorker). The first two are great at giving me the rundown of the nitty gritty of what’s going on in Washington and in elections around the country, while the latter gives me the local politics perspective at home, which I find especially important to keep up with while in North Carolina.
Since I’ve started my tenure as editor-in-chief, the first thing I really look up is “duke university” into my search bar to see if there’s any breaking Duke-related news I need to know about.
You’ve been a student in North Carolina for two years. What’s one thing in the state you want to see or experience in your next two years here?
I really want to travel to Western North Carolina and explore the beautiful mountains and nature it has to offer. I have not had a car during my time at Duke, so I have not been able to make it out there yet, but hope to sometime soon!