Four high-level administrators in Emory University’s Campus Life division, including two deans, have left their positions according to an announcement on the Emory New Center on July 15.
Provost and Interim Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Lanny Liebeskind also announced the departures of Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Enku Gelaye, Associate Vice President for Belonging, Engagement and Community and Dean of Students Kristina Bethea Odejimi, Associate Vice President for Health, Well-being, Access and Prevention James Raper, and Chief Business Officer and Assistant Vice President of Campus Life Lina Vargas in an email to members of the University Student Leadership Council last week.
All four administrators were part of the core Campus Life leadership team according to a now-archived web page. Emory Student Government Association (SGA) President Tyler Martinez (26C) emphasized the crucial role that these Campus Life administrators played in shaping the overall student environment in a July 15 email to The Emory Wheel.
“Campus Life encompasses several key offices and departments that form the backbone of the student experience at Emory, including Belonging and Community Justice (BCJ), the Emory Student Center, SILT, the Center for Civic and Community Engagement (CCE), CAPS, and the Office of Open Expression, among others,” Martinez wrote. “These departments do more than host programs—they foster identity, community, mental health, and student leadership development and advocacy.”
According to the press release, Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Affairs Heather Mugg will now add supporting Campus Life teams focused on health, well-being, belonging and community to her position. Erin Herting, current associate dean and chief business officer for Emory School of Law, will serve as interim chief business officer and Mekeshua North will manage Campus Life human resources.
The University announced the changes without any warning to students, according to student leaders. Martinez and SGA Executive Vice President Zoe Grotjan (24Ox, 26B) shared that they are now even more concerned with Emory's lack of transparency in decision-making processes and their possible implications for student life.
Martinez and Grotjan emphasized their concerns with these leadership decisions in a statement to the Wheel.
“We both feel blindsided by the transition announcement we received this afternoon, which informed us of the departure of key staff,” Martinez and Grotjan wrote. “We are deeply concerned about the sudden change in our leadership, which will have a direct impact on our students, faculty, and staff.”
Emory College Council President Vlad Senenko (27C) echoed those concerns in a statement to the Wheel, describing himself as “deeply disappointed” with the University’s lack of transparency. According to Seneko, the departure of prominent Campus Life leaders reflects a broader restructuring of Emory administration unfolding without student input. He alleges the pattern indicates how the University may be dismantling the entire Campus Life department.
“There is no doubt that this was not done overnight, and this is one of the signs of the complete restructuring of the Division of Campus Life that Emory leadership is doing without the input of the very same students who are affected by it,” Senenko wrote. “Dissolving Campus Life means that students lose decision-making over their own experience, and the vibrancy of a community that has been working so hard to heal.”
SGA Speaker of the Legislature Sohan Bellam (26C) also criticized the “functional elimination” of Campus Life, citing previous changes such as the shift of Emory Housing and Dining from within Campus Life to under Emory Business Operations.
“[Campus Life] may exist in name, but the organizational structure that brought individual parts of the university together to deliver services and experiences for students no longer exists,” Bellam wrote.
Additionally, Bellam mentioned that these developments not only restructure Campus Life leadership but will also likely change the campus experience overall.
“I would argue this isn’t a change in Campus Life leadership but just a picking apart of Campus Life itself,” Bellam said. “There are no plans to appoint Interim Dean of Campus Life, Interim Dean of Students, Interim Assistant Vice President of Wellness, Well-being, et cetera. There are no plans to conduct a search for positions to replace these people.”
Assistant Vice President of University Communications Laura Diamond wrote in an email to the Wheel that the University could not provide additional information on the departures or any potential search processes.
In an email to all undergraduate students on July 21, Liebeskind and Mugg reassured students about the University’s continued commitment to supporting student life, despite the recent departures.
“Engaging with each of you to support your growth, wellbeing, and academic progress in our top priority, and the division of Campus Life remains central to this work,” Liebskind and Mugg wrote. “Our team is working to carry the momentum we have built over the past several years in the fall semester.”
Student leaders like Grotjan and College Council Vice President Braden Newsome (25Ox, 27C) also pointed to rising national political pressure against diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs as a possible influence for these administrative changes. U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has levied federal funding and grants to influence higher education institutions to end DEI programs.
“It could definitely be due to working to dismantle some DEI, and I think it does bring upon the concern of what the future is going to look like at Emory, especially given that these roles are most likely dissolved,” Grotjan said in an interview.
Newsome added that the political climate surrounding universities in the United States made the timing of the departures more troubling.
“With everything that’s been happening in higher education, specifically targeting elite private schools, which is what Emory is, it’s concerning that we don’t know why these individuals who were so heavily involved in Campus Life are leaving us now,” Newsome said.
These Campus Life leadership changes follow the University’s suspension of SGA and College Council due to allegations of “discriminatory harassment.” Grotjan mentioned that this restructuring could impact the investigation into these allegations.
“Dean Odejimi was actually overseeing the entire thing on a higher administrative level, and so now it is a bit concerning because we haven’t really been given a lot of progress updates,” Grotjan said.
According to Grotjan, Raper was one of the most prominent advocates for the Open Expression Policy changes, making her worried about the future of open expression at Emory.
Grotjan emphasized that these leadership changes in Campus Life will disrupt many aspects of students’ overall campus experience.
“This is going to affect their club funding,” Grotjan said. “This is going to affect the events that we have on campus. It’s going to affect who you can go to when you have a problem…I really just want the students to know this will impact them in a pretty extreme way.”
