Since 1919
Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper
The Emory Wheel
Volume 99, Issue 3
Printed Every Wednesday
Wednesday, Septemeber 13, 2017
Irma’s Fierce Winds, Rain Rattle Ga. Justice’s SUPREME COURT
Visit to Emory Cancelled By MicheLLe Lou Executive Editor
Hayley SilverStein/Managing editor
A large tree fell on Glenn Memorial United Methodist Church (Left). Power lines were damaged by fallen trees, closing off several streets, including Ridgewood Drive NE (R ight), in DeKalb County Tuesday morning.
Univ. Shuts Down for Two Days Due to Severe Weather By MicheLLe Lou Executive Editor Downgraded to a tropical storm, Irma hit Georgia early Monday, causing intermittent power outages and downed trees on and around Emory’s Atlanta and Oxford campuses. Irma was downgraded to a tropical depression Monday night but continued to flood parts of the Georgia and South Carolina coasts throughout Tuesday, according to The Weather Channel. Irma was downgraded to a posttropical cyclone late Tuesday as it moved into the Tennessee Valley, according to the Times.
The University was closed Monday and Tuesday due to severe weather conditions from Irma, according to a University press release. Emory Clark-Holder Clinic, Emory West Point, Emory Southern Center for Orthopedics in LaGrange (Ga.) and Emory Ambulatory Surgery Center at LaGrange were closed Monday, according to the Emory Healthcare website. Emory Healthcare employees contacted patients at those locations to reschedule their appointments, the website said. Fuel outages are being reported
See TROPiCAl, Page 5
Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor’s visit to Emory University has been cancelled because of the impending severe weather forecast for the Atlanta metropolitan area, according to a Sept. 10 email from Emory School of Law Director of Communications A. Kenyatta Greer to the Wheel. The School of Law hopes to reschedule the justice’s visit as soon as possible, Greer wrote. sonia sotomayor, Associate Supreme Court Justice
Students Sat on Edge as Irma Hurtled Toward Their Homes By aLex KLugeRMan News Editor Before Irma pummeled into Georgia, knocking down trees and leaving thousands without power, the then-hurricane ravaged Florida and Caribbean islands, places that some Emory students call home. Category 5 Hurricane Irma hit Cuba Saturday morning with maximum wind speeds of 160 mph and a 10-foot storm surge, according to ABC News. Kenny Igarza’s (19C) father, grandparents and cousins weathered out the storm on their native island and don’t expect to have power restored for “a
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couple months,” Igarza told the Wheel. Igarza’s family vacation home had its roof blown off, with most items inside the home destroyed by water damage. “[The hurricane] knocked out the majority of trees where I live,” Igarza said. “The property didn’t get damaged, but the yard was awful. My family owns two houses right by the beach, and they suffered a lot of damage.” Igarza said he was unable to contact his mother and brother, who live in Naples, Fla., which was in the direct path of Irma, from Sunday afternoon
The justice was scheduled to have a public conversation with Emory Associate Professor of Law Fred Smith Jr. at Glenn Memorial Auditorium Wednesday afternoon. Smith clerked for Sotomayor during the October 2013 term, according to an Emory press release. Emory University will shut down Monday as Hurricane Irma projections indicate “severe weather” could hit the Atlanta area with heavy rain, wind, flash flooding and tornadoes, according to a Sept. 10 University
See iRMA, Page 5
See sChOOl, Page 2
IMMIGRATION
Obama’s Title IX Rules to be Rolled Back DeVos Seeks Fairness in Campus Sexual Assault Cases By Madison BoBeR Contributing Writer
ance of evidence, allowing accusers to appeal not-guilty findings and accelerating investigations.
Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that her department plans to rescind the “failed system” of Obama-era campus sexual assault guidelines to ensure fairness for both the survivors and the accused. The Obama administration’s 2011 “Dear Colleague Letter,” which provided guidelines to universities about sexual assault cases, would be rescinded, DeVos told CBS News in an interview after she announced Thursday at George Mason University (Va.) that she planned to change campus sexual assault guidelines. Those guidelines include lowering the burden of proof to a preponder-
“The era of ‘rule by letter’ is over,” DeVos said in her speech at George Mason. “Through intimidation and coercion, the failed system has clearly pushed schools to overreach.” To generate new policies, the federal government will “draw on medical
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TroublEs WErE noT rElaTEd To irma ... PAGE 5
betsy DeVos, United States Secretary of Education CourteSy of eduCation departMent
professionals, counselors, clergy and law enforcement for their expertise,” DeVos said. Part of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title IX is designed to protect people from discrimination, exclusion or denial of benefits in any education program that receives federal funds on the basis of sex. Although DeVos emphasized that sexual assault would not be tolerated, she said the low burden of proof required to find an accused person responsible and the lack of appeal rights for the accused and accusers make the Obama-era policies unfair. DeVos cited past cases of individuals who have been wrongfully accused
See ObAMA-ERA, Page 4
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FaThEr’s dEporTaTion 10 yEars in dirEcTorial dEbuT, laTEr ... PAGE 9 PAGE 8 ‘columbus’ ...
DACA Phase Out Faces Backlash By MoLLy BaLL Contributing Writer Though President Donald J. Trump tweeted Sept. 7 that Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients “have nothing to worry about” during the six-month phase out, some — including Emory community members, government officials and organizations — nationwide have pressed the administration to keep the DACA recipients in the country past the March 2018 expiration date. DACA is a temporary immigration benefit granted to some undocumented immigrants who entered the United States before their 16th birthday. The
program offers a work permit and two years of deportation protection. To be eligible for the program, recipients had to be enrolled in high school or hold the equivalent of a high school diploma and have a clean criminal record. University President Claire E. Sterk, along with 56 other Association of American Universities (AAU) presidents and chancellors, sent a Sept. 7 letter to key congressional leaders, explaining that DACA students “contribute to our society” and imploring Congress to take legislative action. “America needs hardworking talented people – and these students are
See sTERK, Page 4
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ThEsE Tips To Earn FrEE sWag VollEyball TEam sWEEps on campus ... PAGE 14 Emory classic ... Back Page