INDEX
Emory Events Calendar, Page 2
Staff Editorial, Page 6
Police Record, Page 2
Crossword Puzzle, Page 8
Entertainment, Page 9
On Fire, Page 11
THE EMORY WHEEL Since 1919
The Independent Student Newspaper of Emory University www.emorywheel.com
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Volume 94, Issue 29 Every Tuesday and Friday
GREEK LIFE
SOUND OF MUSIC
Sorority Rush Sees Major Rise in Bids By Jordan Friedman Associate Editor
Jason Lee/Staff
F
rom sitar players to painters, finalists of the 2013 Emory Arts Showcase presented at Gala Night on Friday at 8 p.m. in the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. The event was planned by senior Kevin Kang and supported by Campus Life, the Emory College Center for Creativity & Arts and students in the Hamilton Holmes “Creativity and Innovation” Living-Learning Community.
ACADEMICS
Courses Move From Classroom to Chatroom By Lydia O’Neal Staff Writer After a series of seemingly endless adjustments — lighting angles, his distance from the camera, his speaking pace — in a studio in the basement of Woodruff Library, Professor of Music Steve Everett began his lecture. His audience: nearly 35,000 students, the majority of which live outside the U.S. “Hello, my name is Steve Everett,” he said to the camera. “I’m a professor of music at Emory University, and I want to talk to you about a course I’m offering: The Introduction
to Digital Sound Design.” Everett, one of the three Emory professors now teaching massive open online courses (MOOCs), launched a virtual class providing free, notfor-credit education for upwards of 30,000 students across the globe. Emory has joined 33 other universities — including Stanford, Duke, Columbia, Johns Hopkins, Vanderbilt and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology — in collaboration with Coursera, an American-based company bringing a diverse, growing student body free, not-for-credit courses. These courses, the subjects of
FUNDING
ACADEMICS
which range from equine nutrition to fundamentals of personal financial planning, last between three and 15 weeks and require a weekly workload of three to four hours. Those who complete a course receive a certificate from its professor, as well as a new set of skills. Everett’s four-week Introduction to Digital Sound Design began on Coursera Monday. His class will help meet the high demand for a similar one taught in-person at Emory. “The reason I was interested in doing Coursera was that my [in-person] class only held 15 students, and there was always a big waiting list,”
he said. “If I can do a big, not-forcredit first semester course through Coursera, the students can use it as an unofficial prerequisite to get into my second semester course.” Lee Clontz, an adjunct faculty in the Journalism Program and a University Technological Services (UTS) specialist who helped create the courses, finds them “extremely flexible” after test-driving several himself. “It’s a really awesome opportunity for people who just want to learn something,” Clontz said, who
See PROFS, Page 3
The number of bids given during this year’s underclassmen sorority recruitment rose about 50 percent. This change resulted from an increase in the number of sorority participants, and the fact that Alpha Epsilon Phi (AEPhi), whose charter was revoked in 2011, and Sigma Delta Tau (SDT) did not participate in rush, according to College senior and ISC President Camille Sheppard. The number of girls a sorority can accept is based on a quota, Sheppard wrote in an email to the Wheel. Because of a rise in the number of girls who rushed this spring, the recommended quota for each sorority — and thus the number of bids offered — increased, Sheppard wrote. This year, 470 girls participated in recruitment, up from 405 last spring. Eighty percent of girls, or 385 rush participants, received bids — a rise from the 65 percent of rushees who were offered bids last year, according to Megan Janasiewicz, director of the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life. If a rushee maximizes their options — meaning that they mark two sororities as their top choices during “pref night” — it is recommended that she receives a bid, Sheppard wrote. The number of accepted bids was not available by press time. Meanwhile, Sheppard wrote, with fewer sororities on campus, other sororities “are often able to take larger pledge classes.” SDT is inactive this semester, Sheppard wrote, so they did not hold a formal recruitment. The University revoked AEPhi’s charter in spring 2011 due to alleged hazing violations (Read more about SDT in the next issue of the Wheel.) The rise in the number of rushees was also, in part, the result of a larger
RUSH NUMBERS Sorority Recruitment Participants: 470, up from 405 Offered Bids: 385, up from 257
Fraternity Recruitment Participants: 408, up from 404 Accepted Bids: 223, down from 234 freshman class for the class of 2016, Sheppard added. “It’s really only a good thing that more women are excited to be part of the Greek community and do great things,” Janasiewicz said. Sheppard explained that in addition to these factors, ISC hosted new recruitment events this year, including a “hot chocolate mixer” to increase interest in sorority life. ISC also changed the format of other events, such as Sorority 411, which is an opportunity for potential Greek life members to learn more about the experience through a panel and dinner event. While Sheppard said the process “will always have some bumps” with so many participants, she is satisfied with this year’s recruitment. She wrote that Jordan Krant, the vice president of recruitment and a Goizueta Business School senior, did “an amazing job of getting girls to register and then making sure the process ran as smoothly as possible.” Sorority recruitment aside, the number of fraternity participants held steady, rising slightly to 408 from 404 last year. Last spring, the number of participants rose to 404 from 269. The number of fraternity accepted bids decreased slightly to 223 this year from 234 last year. A total of 322
See NUMBER, Page 3
DANCING WITH THE STARS
Winship Webpage Offers Overview Receives Of Credit-Hour Changes $10M Donation By Jordan Friedman Associate Editor
By Rupsha Basu Staff Writer The Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation donated $10 million to Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute for advancing breast cancer research making it the first grant of this magnitude to the institute. The Winship Cancer Institute conducts a variety of clinical trials from experimental drugs that treat the deadliest forms of breast cancer to pioneering surgical procedures. The Glenn family donated in gratitude for the experience their daughter had as a patient at the Winship Institute in 2003. Previously, the family also funded Ruth O’Regan, an expert in cancer research, to hold an endowed chair position, according to the Emory news center. The Glenn Family Breast Center — a subdivision of Winship — consists of a team of physicians that conduct trials and research on more than 900 breast cancer patients a year. Walter J. Curran, Jr., executive director of Winship Cancer Institute, explained the institute’s relationship
See NEW, Page 3
Students with questions about the credit-hour changes that will take place next fall can now find several answers online. In a College-wide email sent to students yesterday evening, the University announced the launch of a webpage providing information on the credit-hour changes. “We have tried to anticipate some of the biggest questions that students will have regarding these changes,” Steve Savage, communications specialist for the Office of Undergraduate Education, wrote in the email. “To help answer those questions, we are launching an information webpage. This site outlines some of the biggest questions we think students will have, and we’ll continue to add questions and answers to the site as we discover other common questions students are asking.” Next fall, the College will begin following the Carnegie Credit System, meaning that the number of credit hours designated for each course will match the amount of time students are in the classroom each week. As a result, the “standard” course will be worth three credits, though others — particularly those with an extra component, such as a lab — can range from four to six. The site provides some information that, until now, has been unknown to students. Specifically, students will have to complete at least 32 academic courses during their
time at Emory, even if they reach the graduation requirement before then. The website states that it would be possible, for instance, for a student majoring in a subject with mostly four- or five-credit hour courses to reach the 124 hours required for graduation much more quickly than other students. “The 32-course requirement is a way of ensuring that all graduates of Emory College have appropriate depth in their majors as well as breadth across the curriculum,” the website states. According to the site, summer 2013 courses will adhere to the current credit-hour system, but the changes will affect these classes — including those offered during Maymester — in the following summer. In addition, courses that satisfy the continued writing requirement GER will be worth four credit hours, reflecting an extra hour needed to revise assignments, meet with faculty and, in some cases, attend writing workshops, according to the site. Courses satisfying the writing requirement will simply carry the letter “W” in the course name. According to the website, HIST 301W would fulfill the writing requirement, but HIST 301 would not. Science courses with lab will be designated as Science, Nature and Technology with Lab (SNTL). Currently, all courses are designated as “SNT” either with or without a lab component. “[The current designation] makes
See COLLEGE, Page 4
James Crissman/Asst. Photo Editor
I
ndian Cultural Exchange and Xi Kappa Fraternity hosted a Bhangra workshop in the Woodruff P.E. Center yesterday. Xi Kappa Fraternity seeks to promote Asian awareness, according to Emory’s Interfraternity Council’s website and ICE serves those of Indian origin, according to their website.
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
SGA’s Two Bills Fund Student Events By Rupsha Basu Staff Writer The Student Government Association (SGA) held its first meeting of the semester yesterday evening, passing bills to fund the Emory Chinese Student Association’s (ECSA) Lunar Banquet and a competition for pre-health students. The Lunar Banquet is a celebration of the Chinese New Year. ECSA has received funding for the event in the
NEWS PROFS SEE PROS
OP-EDS HB 29
ENTERTAINMENT
AND CONS OF ONLINE EDUCA-
PROBLEMATIC FOR COLLEGE
ARTS SHOWCASE ANNOUNCES FINALISTS ... PAGE 9
TION
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CAMPUSES
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past two years. SGA provided $4,200 for the event this year. At first, however, SGA’s finance committee recommended that SGA provide only $3,000, explaining that SGA had provided about that amount to the Indian Cultural Exchange (ICE) for their annual Diwali event last semester. The legislature, however, voted on a motion to amend the bill from $3,000 back to $4,200 after some SGA members, including College senior and SGA President
SPORTS MULTI-TALENTED GREVEN LEADS MEN’S BASKETBALL ... BACK PAGE
Ashish Gandhi, voiced concerns about comparing one event’s funding to another’s. ECSA is asking for $200 more than last year due to steeper catering costs, according to bill authors – EASDA President Qilin Liu and Vice President Dong Ba.SGA Student Life Committee Chair and College senior Calvin Li warned the legislature that ECSA has had financial issues in the
See BILL, Page 3
NEXT ISSUE ‘UNIVERSAL PICTURES’ HOLDS SERIES AT EMORY ... Friday