INDEX
Emory Events Calendar, Page 2
Crossword Puzzle, Page 8
Staff Editorial, Page 6
Police Record, Page 2
Student Life, Page 9
On Fire, Page 11
THE EMORY WHEEL Since 1919
The Independent Student Newspaper of Emory University
Volume 95, Issue 13
www.emorywheel.com
Friday, October 18, 2013
Every Tuesday and Friday EVENT
PUPPY PALOOZA
Passion Pit to Perform At Fall Band Party By Karishma Mehrotra News Co-Editor
Jessica Schneider/Contributor
E
mory Pawsitive Outreach is a student-run group that promotes awareness about homeless animals in the community. The club brought dogs on campus for Emory students to bond with last Wednesday on the Cox Hall Bridge. The organization also volunteers at local animal shelters, holds fundraisers and promotes animal welfare.
GREEK LIFE
Five New Chapters May Join Greek Life in Spring By Lydia O’Neal Greek Beat Writer Four Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) chapters and one returning National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) chapter are in the process of potentially joining campus Greek life this spring. NPHC’s Sigma Gamma Rho African-American interest sorority hopes to reestablish its Pi Omicron chapter on campus this spring after members graduated in 2007, leaving the organization inactive five years after it first came to Emory. MGC, on the other hand, has initiated an expansion effort this year in an attempt to aggrandize the council, which currently consists of just three chapters, according to Arthur Doctor, adviser to both MGC and NPHC. Doctor said the two councils’
growth is beneficial to the Greek community and the councils themselves. “Both [MGC and NPHC] have done a lot to get their names out there and expand their presence here at Emory,” Doctor said. “Experiencing growth is a great thing. It’ll give people more options during Spring Rush if they haven’t yet found their perfect fit.” Doctor worked with MGC’s executive board and president Grace Xia (’14C) to produce an expansion packet and application for each national organization that included information on chapter requirements and membership at Emory. After approval by the MGC, the packet was sent to executive directors of the three national MGC umbrella organizations: National Multicultural Greek Council (NMGC), National Association of Latino Fraternal
Organizations (NALFO) and National Asian Pacific Islander American Panhellenic Association (NAPA), all of which disseminated the expansion packets to their member organizations. Eleven of those organizations applied by the Oct. 1 deadline for the opportunity to officially join Emory’s Greek community, but only four were chosen by Emory’s MGC for a chance to visit campus and give upcoming presentations about their chapters. All Emory students can attend these presentations throughout October. Surveys will be distributed to attendees and collected by MGC. The council will use the surveys to help make its final decision on about which ones to welcome to Emory before notifying the organizations of
ADMISSIONS
their final status on Nov. 11. According to Xia, the council’s goal right now is to have a more diverse group of chapters. “MGC is still a small part of Greek Life,” Xia said, adding that each year typically yields between two and 10 pledges for the entire council of three chapters. After this year’s expansion process, according to Xia, MGC will need time to allow selected new chapters to establish their presence at Emory before undergoing a similar expansion, which will not occur again for at least another two to four years. This year, MGC’s expansion effort will include four organizations giving presentations: NMGC Fraternity Sigma Beta Rho, NMGC Sorority Theta Nu Xi, NALFO Fraternity
See POTENTIAL, Page 5
Indie pop band Passion Pit will perform at Emory for the annual Fall Band Party on Nov. 6, the Student Programming Council (SPC) announced Wednesday night. The event will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. on McDonough Field. Passion Pit is a four-member band known for songs including “Carried Away” and “Take a Walk.” The Fall Band Party will also feature the Joy Formidable, a Welsh alternative rock band. “The student body, we think, will really, really enjoy them,” SPC Band Party Co-Chair and Goizueta Business School senior Zachary Atlas said. “They are a band that is on the rise right now.” SPC Band Party Co-Chair and B-School senior Jordan Francis said SPC has been working to have Passion Pit come to Emory for four years. Francis was finally able to secure a relationship with the band’s agent and seal the deal in July. “They have an electronic bent which I think is really popular with Emory’s campus,” Francis said. “[It is] in the rock vein and has a full-band live show but would appeal to a night
Passion Pit, an indie pop band, will come to Emory in November as part of the Student Programming Council’s Fall Band Party.
total apps
17,493
17,705
acceptance rate
26.5%
26.5%
total enrolled
1,363
1,354
yield*
30.2%
28.9%
67%
67%
% with GPA >3.8**
By Naomi Maisel Staff Writer
*The percentage of admitted students who enrolled. **The percentage of admitted students who had a GPA greater than a 3.8. Data Compiled by Rupsha Basu/Asst. News Editor Graphic by Jordan Friedman/Executive Editor
Admissions Releases Class of 2017 Stats By Rupsha Basu Asst. News Editor Emory’s Office of Undergraduate Admission released the admissions profiles for the Emory Class of 2017 last month.
According to the office’s website, the school received a record 17,705 applicants and admitted 26.5 percent, ultimately enrolling a class of 1,354, a yield of 28.9 percent. For the 25th-75th percentile, the students of the Class of 2017 had a
GPA range of 3.73 and 3.98, respectively, and a composite SAT score of 2000 and 2230. John Latting, assistant vice provost for Undergraduate Enrollment
See OFFICE, Page 5
Emory launched an initiative this fall to spread the word about oncampus activities involving students with disabilities. The Disabilities Studies Initiative plans to hold film series and reading groups that are open to the Emory community as well as the general public, according to Benjamin Reiss, professor of English and the initiative’s co-director. Reiss added that there are mixers and information sessions held throughout the year for Emory undergraduates and graduate students to learn about the program and contribute ideas. Reiss worked with Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, professor of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, to start the initiative this year, and they now act as co-directors, according to Jennifer Sarrett, a graduate student in the Institute of Liberal Arts. “It was created in response to a strong disability studies group on campus,” Sarrett said. According to Reiss, disability studies began at Emory University in the 1990s and is a “humanistic approach to physical, cognitive and psychological variation.” Reiss said correcting or curing dis-
NEWS RESEARCHERS
OP-EDS EFFECTS OF
STUDENT LIFE
ALZHEIMER’S GENE DISCOVERY ... PAGE 5
DEBT CEILING ON COLLEGE
EMORY STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN PRIDE PARADE ... PAGE 9
MAKE
STUDENTS
...
PAGE 7
TECHNOLOGY
Disability Studies Initiative New App To Include Films, Speakers Aims to Help Suicidal Students
admissions statistics class of 2017
— Contact Karishma Mehrotra at kmehrot@emory.edu
Courtesy of Flickr/pennstatenews
STUDENT LIFE
class of 2014
party atmosphere.” Both chairs said that usually, SPC hosts rock bands for the Fall Band Party but does not receive the high turnout that the other hip-hop and rap artists do. “This is a band that can really pull the size of the audiences that we have had in the past with Kendrick Lamar and Wiz Khalifa and B.O.B,” Atlas said. “So we wanted to try something new with that, and I have high expectations for it.” SPC President and College senior Raghvi Anand wrote in an email to the Wheel that the team took the Passion Pit offer immediately. “We hope that this artist will appeal to a majority of Emory students,” Anand wrote. “We hope to see a big crowd this year.” Francis said he has seen a great response as he and his team members placed flyers on campus on Tuesday night. “I am so excited to hear that Passion Pit is coming to Emory,” College junior Hannah Rose Blakeley wrote in an email to the Wheel. “I love their music, and I think it’s appealing to a range of people with various musical tastes.”
abilities has previously been the focus of academic studies in medicine and health science. He added that disability studies aim to fight for better civil rights for those with disabilities. This initiative is an attempt to open discussion about disability in academia at Emory. Sarrett said disability studies define disability as a minority standing and view disabilities as a natural and significant part of the community experience. According to Reiss, he and the disability initiative’s steering committee wish to bring both secular and academic programs to Emory, to include public appearances by scholars, writers and performers, in order to portray disability in a more expressive light. Sarrett added that these speakers and exhibitions will demonstrate how everyone can relate to disability in one way or another through various experiences such as art, science and medicine. Those on the steering committee and others involved in the disability initiative teach several courses in multiple disciplines across the University, including “Disability and the Law” and “The Politics of Appearance in Contemporary America,” according
An Emory team has created a new mobile application to aid people who are showing signs of suicidal behavior by making resources in care and support available to them. The app, ReliefLink, offers easy access to helpful resources such as live chats, lifeline phone calls, treatment facility map locators and reminders for medication and appointments for users at risk of suicidal behavior, said Nadine Kaslow, Emory University School of Medicine psychologist and leader of the team that designed the application. ReliefLink, according to Kaslow, also includes built-in psychological intervention techniques, such as exercises for relaxation and mindfulness, as well as the opportunity to create a safety plan in case of a crisis. According to a Sept. 17 University press release, Kaslow and her team recently received a first prize award of $50,000 in a national competi-
See REISS’, Page 5
See KASLOW, Page 5
SPORTS EMORY SWIMMING & DIVING READY TO DEFEND TITLE ... BACK PAGE
By Mallika Manyapu Staff Writer
NEXT ISSUE EMORY’S COLLABORATES ON GENOME PROJECT ... TUESDAY