SGA to Use More Activities Fee Money
The incoming Student Government Association (SGA) will receive two percent of the Student Activities Fee (SAF) starting next semester, a one percent increase from this year, following a decision made by the outgoing legislature. The SAF consists of the $86 that students pay each semester as part of their Emory tuition. SGA and other divisional councils — or those that support and oversee organizations in different Emory schools, such as College Council (CC) — use the fee to fund student activities and initiatives, specifically those that SGA-chartered organizations run. SGA determines how the SAF is split among the divisional councils….
Our Opinion: Disappointed With SGA Presidential Election Decision
Student Government Association (SGA) presidential candidate, current SGA Chief of Staff and Goizueta Business School junior Matthew Willis raised claims of cheating against his opponent in the election, College junior and SGA Representative-at-Large Raj Patel. Willis’ claims included allegations of campaigning via social media, email exchanges and personal conversations with students on the day of the election, which according to the SGA elections bylaws, violates the rules. After the SGA Elections Board held a meeting to hear both sides and concluded that Patel did, in fact, violate some campaign rules, he was still awarded the position of SGA president. The…
Raj Patel Elected As SGA President
The names of individuals, other than the candidates, in attendance of the meeting who spoke during the hearing have been omitted, in accordance with the terms that allowed the Wheel to attend the meeting. College junior and current SGA Representative-at-Large Raj Patel was elected to the position of SGA President last night after facing multiple allegations of campaign procedure violations from his opponent, Goizueta Business School junior and SGA Chief of Staff Matthew Willis. Although Patel won the election, the SGA Student Elections Board assigned 20 community service hours to Patel to account for the campaign violations. This decision came…
SGA Tables TEDx Emory Bill, Discusses Improvements
The Student Government Association (SGA) voted to table a bill to fund the TEDxEmory Conference on April 20 after amending the bill to read that SGA would vote on providing the organization with $4,000 rather than the originally-requested $15,000. Ideally, TEDxEmory would have needed $15,000 to fund the event. SGA, however, has only about $9,700 for the rest of the semester. SGA President and College senior Ashish Gandhi explained the procedure for asking SGA for funding, noting that SGA typically requires students to go through two divisional councils before coming to a legislative session. This year, TedxEmory consulted College Council…
SGA Presidential Election Results Delayed, Anand and Brooks Win SPC
The Student Government Association (SGA) Elections Board has not reached a verdict on the winner of the SGA presidential election between Goizueta Business School junior and SGA Chief of Staff Matthew Willis, and College junior and SGA Representative-at-large Raj Patel. This decision was due to allegations of cheating against at least one of the candidates, according to Matthew Kuhn, the chairman of the SGA Elections Board and a second-year law student. In addition, B-School junior Raghvi Anand won the election for Student Programming Council (SPC) president with 53.02 percent of the vote, and College junior Graham Brooks won SPC vice…
Bill For Wagner ‘Confidence’ Vote Fails
The Student Government Association (SGA) voted down a bill Monday evening that would have added an option to vote no confidence in the direction the University is headed in this Thursday’s student leadership elections electronic ballot. The bill was amended to shift its focus from University President James W. Wagner’s leadership specifically to Emory’s direction as a whole. Fourth-year student in the Laney Graduate School Andy Ratto authored the bill, which was tabled during the previous two SGA legislative sessions. The SGA legislature debated the bill for about an hour on Monday evening. “This is an opportunity for SGA to make…
SGA, CC Candidates Focus on Inclusivity
This year’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates for College Council (CC) and the Student Government Association (SGA) discussed their goals and visions to increase transparency and expand campus dialogue and open communication with administrators during the Wheel’s annual candidate debate yesterday. The event, which took place at 7:30 p.m. in Harland Cinema, featured candidates running for the position of SGA president, including College junior and SGA Chief of Staff Matthew Willis and College junior and SGA Representative-at-Large Raj Patel. SGA vice-presidential candidates include College junior and CC Divisional Treasurer Ye Ji Kim; College sophomore, Governance Committee Chairperson and SGA Sophomore Representative…
SGA Bills Fund Bike Racks, From Election Board
The Student Government Association (SGA) voted to fund bike racks at the intramural fields and appointed two members to the SGA Elections Board. The Campus Services Committee determined that the Michael Kaminsky Intramural Park at Candler Fields was the most strategic location for the bike racks because it does not have enough car parking facilities and situated at a place inconvenient for walking, according to the bill authors. “Bicycle racks provide important infrastructural support for current cyclists on campus, provide security and convenience of storage … discourage the storage of bicycles in inconvenient or dangerous places … and incentivize new…
Joint Campaigns Bill Fails, Oxford Candidate Bill Passes
The Student Government Association (SGA) discussed potential changes to the election structure to allow joint campaigning and to allow Oxford continuees to participate in College Council (CC) elections. President and College senior Ashish Gandhi also introduced the updated process to apply to become a chartered organization. Gandhi, SGA Vice President and Nursing School senior Danielle Zamarelli, Student Programming Council (SPC) President and College senior Will Levinson and SPC Vice President and Business school senior Olubukunola Adebo presented a bill to amend the codes of elections to allow party candidacy so that students running for University-wide positions can campaign for another…
SGA President Ashish Ghandi Responds
Dear Emory Community, In many senses, this year has been one of revelation. The acknowledgment of misrepresented admissions data, an admittance of past anti-Semitism and the implementation of curricula changes have made us realize the imperfections of our University. More recently, we have come forth in concern and disappointment over remarks made by students on “The Dooley Show” and by President Wagner in Emory Magazine. The recent comments have offended and hurt many students on our campus, but they have also reaffirmed an underlying culture of insensitivity and apathy at Emory. We face the irrefutable fact that, as individuals and…
