NEWS
The Emory Wheel GOVERNMENT
Emory’s Lobbying Expenses on the Rise
Christina yan/a sst. nEws Editor
director of State affairs Kallarin Mackey and assistant director of State affairs hillary Thrower often network with legislators and their staffs at the Georgia State Capitol. lobbying efforts in 2017. Emory’s increased spending reflected the growth of the now seven-person Office of Government and Community Affairs and increased travel costs for sending University President Claire E. Sterk and other Emory staff to Washington, D.C., Vice President of Emory’s Office of Government and Community Affairs Cameron Taylor said. “I have spent more time educating and advocating with legislators be they in the state of Georgia [or] D.C.,” Sterk told the Wheel in a March 1 interview, adding that she has met with the “full Georgia delegation.” Sterk said that she spoke with lawmakers about protecting undocumented students, the importance of Pell Grants and federally funded research. “[Emory has advocated] a lot about DACA students and ‘Dreamers’ … I haven’t given up,” Sterk said. “We spend a lot of money on financial aid — and we should — and that links to the excise tax. Do we give the money
to the government to pay taxes or do use it to we continue to invest it in financial aid?” Taylor emphasized the positive development that the increase in spending represented, saying that Emory was broadening its reach in areas of public policy. “There were certain issues that I just didn’t get to [before with a smaller team],” Taylor said. “We are at the table a lot more now. … We’ve gotten smarter, more coordinated and just overall better at how we do our lobbying.” In a March 5 email to the Wheel, Taylor wrote that she is working on advocating for the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which would “ensure strong and consistent funding” for items such as research and financial aid. Composed of six lobbyists and an administrative assistant, the Office of Government and Community Affairs focuses on “promoting and protecting
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By ChRistina yan Asst. News Editor Emory University spent $310,000 on lobbying in 2017, an amount that since 2012 has increased by more than $170,000, according to U.S. Senate lobbying reports. Last year, Emory lobbied for “programmatic increases for NIH and other health programs and research agencies” and “student aid funding”; provided information to legislators about University endowments when the tax bill had a provision to tax University endowments; and advocated for legislation to undocumented students to legally remain in the U.S. after President Donald J. Trump’s administration announced it would rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program, according to U.S. Senate lobbying reports. What 15 years ago was an office of three people has grown into a sevenperson Office of Community Affairs, through which Emory aims to advocate for its interests in public policy. The Emory Wheel went behind the scenes with a few Emory lobbyists during a typical day at the Georgia State Capitol. The Wheel shadowed Emory’s Director of State Affairs Kallarin Mackey and Emory’s Assistant Director of State Affairs Hillary Thrower, both Emory employees at Emory’s Office of Government and Community Affairs specializing in lobbying at the state level. From 2010 to 2017, Emory spent an annual average of about $230,000 on lobbying, compared to an average of about $72,000 from 2000 to 2009. In comparison, peer institutions such as Washington University in St. Louis (Mo.) spent $90,000, Rice University (Texas) spent $130,000 and New York University spent $510,000 on their
Wednesday, March 7, 2018
On Feb. 27 at 5:07 p.m., Emory Police Department (EPD) responded to a call from an Emory student regarding a theft by taking at the Woodruff Physical Education Center (WoodPEC). The complainant, a member of the women’s basketball team, reported that on Feb. 19 around 7 p.m., she plugged her Apple Beats wireless earbuds into a wall jack in the women’s basketball locker room in the WoodPEC to charge overnight. When she returned to the locker room on Feb. 20 at about 10 a.m., she discovered her headphones missing. The locker room is secured by a keypad lock, but the complainant said that other members of the team, athletic staff, housekeeping staff and laundry staff have access to the locker room. There are no security cameras in the area and the exterior doors of the WoodPEC are secured at 11 p.m. when the building closes. The headphones are valued at $150. The case has been assigned to an investigator. On March 2 at 10:42 a.m., EPD responded to a call from a faculty member in the philosophy department regarding harassing communications. The complainant reported that at 10:35 a.m., she received a call from an unknown individual who threatened to cause bodily harm to another professor in the philosophy department. The individual identified himself as “Air Force Man” and asked to speak
with the professor. When asked to identify himself, the individual only stated “N****r [name of professor], and I’m going to his office right now to knock his motherf****ing head off,” before hanging up. After the call, the complainant called EPD and said that she feared for the safety of the professor because the caller seemed very adamant about going to the professor’s office and causing harm. EPD attempted to contact the professor who was threatened. The case has been assigned to an investigator. On March 3 at 1:11 a.m, EPD responded to a call regarding an intoxicated Emory student. When the officer arrived, the student was lying on a couch in the lobby of LongstreetMeans Hall. The student was breathing, but unconscious and not alert. The student vomited while Emory Emergency Medical Services (EEMS) attempted to provide medical assistance. A witness reported that two students had dropped the individual off in the lobby 10 minutes prior and laid her on the couch. DeKalb County Fire Rescue Engine One and American Medical Response (AMR) arrived to provide medical assistance to the student. DeKalb AMR transported the individual to Emory University Hospital (EUH) for treatment. Campus Life has been notified about the incident.
— Contact Valerie Sandoval at valerie.sandoval@emory.edu
Daly Seeks Monetary Compensation, Court Order to Return as Student Continued from Page 1 sexual actions were consensual until sexual intercourse, court documents show. The Wheel is omitting identifying information about the woman to protect her privacy. The lawsuit comes amid a national debate on consent, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) review of Title IX procedures in schools nationwide and an Office for Civil Rights (OCR) investigation into Emory for possible violations of Title IX in handling sexual violence complaints. Court documents reveal the details of a Title IX process that eventually led to Daly’s lawsuit, in which he alleges Emory breached its contract with him by suspending him unfairly after he had paid full tuition for the Spring 2017 term. He claimed the suspension caused irreparable harm since he would have difficulty enrolling in another law school, sitting for the bar exam or becoming an attorney. He alleges Emory took genderbiased disciplinary action under pressure from federal agencies such as the OCR and ED and “internal forces at the University,” but did not identify the internal forces, court documents reveal. The lawsuit also refers to OCR’s ability to revoke federal funds from schools that violate Title IX. If institutions fail to comply with the Clery Act, the ED may impose maximum penalties of $35,000 and stop institutions’ participation in federal financial aid programs. Daly seeks a trial by jury, monetary compensation from Emory and return
to Emory School of Law. Prior to Daly’s lawsuit in DeKalb County, Emory’s Title IX Office handled the case. Title IX prohibits “discrimination based on sex” at institutions receiving federal funding, and the ED has expanded its scope to cover sexual assault and harassment. In February 2017, a Title IX hearing board recommended that Daly, who enrolled as a first-year law student in Fall 2016, be suspended until the woman graduated, according to court documents. Daly appealed his case with the Office of Title IX, which upheld the original decision and extended the suspension to two years. After Daly filed the lawsuit, he asked Emory to eliminate the suspension because the woman had left Emory. Former University Title IX Coordinator and current Vice Provost of Equity and Inclusion Lynell Cadray told Daly that Emory reduced his suspension to one year, court documents show. Associate Vice President of University Communications Nancy Seideman declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Neither Daly nor his attorney returned multiple requests for comment. heaRing BoaRd Finds daly in Violation oF eMoRy sexual MisConduCt poliCy The woman accused Daly of sexual misconduct late August 2016, and the Office of Title IX found sufficient information to charge Daly for violating Emory Sexual Misconduct Policy, court documents show.
In its Title IX adjudications, Emory uses a preponderance of evidence standard and a majority vote of the Hearing Board to make its decision. That standard requires that “it is more likely than not that sexual harassment or violence occurred.” Seven months after the woman’s complaint, the Board concluded that all actions were consensual until penetration. The Board found that “[the woman] gave clear signs that penetration was not acceptable to her” and that it could not substantiate Daly’s claim of receiving “verbal and/or active consent to engage in sexual penetration.” But court documents show that Daly argued the hearing didn’t follow “procedures outlined in the code” and that the finding was inconsistent with the weight of the information. An Appeals Board re-affirmed the original decision and extended Daly’s suspension because the woman would likely remain at Emory after graduation at a divisional school. The Appeals Board also recommended that Daly complete sexual and relationship sensitivity training before he could be re-admitted into the law school. Cadray wrote that Appeals Board determinations are final and not appealable. After the appeal, Daly asked Emory to permit him to finish his Spring 2017 term instead of immediate suspension, but Emory declined. daly sues; eMoRy R eduCes daly’s suspension, R equests l awsuit disMissal Nine days after the appeal outcome,
Daly sued the University. At Daly’s request, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Clarence F. Seeliger ordered Emory to permit Daly to complete his Spring 2017 term. Emory allowed Daly to complete his finals and the 2016-2017 academic year. After finals, Emory requested dismissal of the lawsuit, arguing that Daly had completed the Spring 2017 semester, making his original request moot, but the judge denied the request. In subsequent months, Daly discovered that the woman was not remaining at Emory and requested that Emory eliminate his suspension. Emory “suggested” it would “reconsider its decision” via the Appeals Board, according to Daly’s lawsuit. In June, Cadray told Daly that Emory reduced his suspension from two years to one year, which would last through the 2017-2018 academic year, court documents show. Five days before the Fall 2017 term began, Daly requested that Emory allow him to attend classes. Emory refused on the grounds that Daly filed the motion days before classes started and failed to verify his motion or complaint. The judge ordered Emory to allow Daly to take classes starting from the Fall 2017 semester. As of Spring 2018, Daly, who did not respond to request for comment, is no longer listed as a student in the Emory directory. The parties in the case are undergoing a discovery period until March 26. l aCk oF pRopeR R edaCtion In March 2017, Emory filed an emergency motion to seal and redact
the exhibits attached to the lawsuit to protect the woman’s identity. The court granted the motion, ordering the plaintiff to refile within three days the redacted exhibits without references to the woman. The plaintiff re-filed the Exhibit 1 and Exhibit 2 and redacted mentions of the woman’s name, but did not refile Exhibit 3. When the Wheel inspected case documents at the DeKalb County Courthouse in early February, the woman’s name was partially visible on one document. The plaintiff, who was responsible for re-filing the documents, did not respond to the Wheel’s request for comment. After the Wheel asked Seideman why the name had been improperly redacted, the University contacted the courthouse and a judge’s clerk reviewed the file for the redaction, determining that it had been improperly redacted. “Unfortunately, the name was identifiable in the file you reviewed,” Seideman wrote in a Feb. 20 statement to the Wheel. “Emory takes the privacy of our students seriously and took action to protect the complainant’s privacy throughout this process. We regret that the name was identifiable and we appreciate that the DeKalb court is taking steps to correct this error.” Richard reporting.
Chess
contributed
— Contact Michelle Lou and Julia Munslow at michelle.ann.lou@emory.edu and julia.munslow@emory.edu