INDEX
Emory Events Calendar, Page 2
Police Record, Page 2
Crossword Puzzle, Page 8
Staff Editorial, Page 6
Movie Review, Page 9
On Fire, Page 11
THE EMORY WHEEL Since 1919
The Independent Student Newspaper of Emory University www.emorywheel.com
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Volume 94, Issue 20 Every Tuesday and Friday
EVENT
CAMPUS LIFE
SGA Votes Down Amendment to Bylaws
Flood Causes Damage in Hamilton
By Rupsha Basu Contributing Writer
By Dustin Slade Staff Writer
The 46th Legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) convened voted down a bill Monday evening that would have amended SGA’s Constitutional bylaws. The bill would have required that all current and future appointments of executive assistants be approved by the legislature. Executive assistants are currently appointed by SGA Executive Board members to help with daily SGA responsibilities, most consisting of clerical work. The bill stated that “the Constitution grants the privilege of confirmation to the Legislature” and stipulates that “all executive assistants shall be subject to…approval of the Legislature…impeachment by the Legislature.” SGA currently operates under a system where executive officeholders appoint assistants at their own discretion. However, currently, the legislature does not have to first approve any appointments that these officeholders make. “This bill is exactly what is happening right now. We’re just writing it down to make it official,” said Ted Guio, a Governance Committee Chairperson and sophomore in the College. The bill failed to pass despite strong support from the SGA Governance Committee, which presented it to the legislature. The SGA Governance Committee advocated that SGA ought to follow the text of its Constitution. The text of the Constiution currently states that appointments to what the Constitution deems as “permanent subsidiary offices” are subject to approval first by the legislature. The Governance Committee said that they believed that executive assistants fall under the category of “permanent subsidiary offices.” The question of whether executive assistants are considered permanent subsidiaries sparked a debate over interpretations of the Constitution among those legislators present. Legislative members brought up a number of potential problems with the bill. Many members said that they believed this bill would create an additional layer of unnecessary red tape to SGA’s responsibilities. Among those opposed to the bill was senior representative Brad Clement. “It would make the exec board less flexible…assistant to a current office is not a brand new office so it’s clearly not against any rule now,” Clement said. The discussion rapidly turned into a debate about the wording of the Constitution and members of the legislature clashed over the different interpretations of what “permanent subsidiary office” meant. Members of the Governance Committee like Chairperson and College sophomore Raj Patel and Senior Representative Malika Begum repeatedly insisted that “permanent subsidiary office” included the offices of executive assistants. “A subsidiary office is anything that helps carry out the duty of that office,” said Patel, reiterating the Governance Committee’s interpretation of the wording of the Constitution. Currently, assistants to executive positions “shall serve a term equivalent to the officer who they were appointed by,” according to the text of the bill. The variability of term for executive assistants led other members of
members perpetrated sexual assaults. Other students cried as they shared their personal experiences of sexual assault. Sexual Assault Peer Advocates (SAPA) were present and available to comfort survivors with especially intense emotional responses to the memory-triggering details of the stories. As survivors expressed feelings of guilt, they said it was extremely difficult to talk to others about their experiences.
College freshman Stephen Fowler awoke Saturday morning to a stream of two to three inches of water under his bed. Outside his room, water had spilled into the surrounding hallways and rooms of Hamilton Holmes Hall between 4 and 7 a.m. Bryce Robertson, Residence Hall Association vice president of advocacy checked the water supply meter and concluded that someone must have turned a shower on and let it run for several hours. Although Fowler’s room was the only residence to receive heavy water damage, the water had extended down the fifth floor hall, but avoided most rooms. The water, however, did leak down to the fourth floor, inflicting damage to the room below Fowler’s in addition to ruining many ceiling tiles and carpeting below. Emory Police (EPD) responded to a call around 6 a.m. in response to the flooding. An EPD report stated that the flooding was found to be noncriminal. The report added that the damage costs and cause of the flooding have yet to be determined. Although the police have yet to determine the cause, students and administrators have their own opinions. “Someone left towels over a shower drain and caused water to flood over into a room and a hallway,” Andy Wilson, director of residence life, wrote in an e-mail to the Wheel. Byron Liu, the Hamilton Holmes residence hall director, agreed with Wilson in an e-mail to the Wheel as to the theory behind the flooding. Affected students, however, feel that the cause of the flooding was not as simple as a towel over a drain. College freshman Yiwei Gao awoke around 6:30 a.m. to turn off the flooding shower. “Based on what I saw, I didn’t notice a towel,” Gao said. “I would say somebody was in there, passed out, blocked the drain and woke up a few minutes before I walked in.” “Somebody clearly had used a lot of water; it wasn’t a leak in the pipe,” said Robertson. “In this particular case, it appears that someone had actually blocked the drain, whether they sat on it, fell on it, slept on it. There is no way to know who did it.” Fowler agreed with Robertson, citing that for once it wasn’t the building itself — referring to previous maintenance issues that have plagued the hall — that caused the damage, but simply “someone’s drunken debauchery.” “I don’t think it was anyone from our floor,” Fowler said. “On weekends, about half the people living here don’t live here.” Although the incident is disheartening to many residents, affected students have praised Emory’s response time to the flooding. Fowler noted that 30 minutes from the moment Gao contacted Emory police, officers and maintenance workers arrived at the hall. Fowler added that Emory later contacted a private firm, Full Circle Restoration, to complete the restoration and repair process. According to Liu, with the restoration process underway, both Fowler and Gao will be displaced for only a couple days. “At this point, it’s sort of a waiting game to see what’s next, and how quickly people can move back in,” said Robertson. “Hopefully the quick response will help.”
See ATTENDEES, Page 4
— Contact Dustin Slade at dustin.slade@emory.edu
Erin Baker/Staff
Indian dance team Azaadi performed at Indian Cultural Exchange’s annual Diwali celebration this Saturday. Tickets for ICE Diwali were in high demand as they were sold out in six days. The event included transportation to the celebration at the Hilton Atlanta.
Diwali Event Celebrates Indian Culture, Tradition By Harmeet Kaur Staff Writer Woodruff Circle was filled with Emory students draped in brilliant colors and sequins this past Saturday evening, waiting anxiously for a shuttle to whisk them away to the night’s Diwali celebration. This year, Emory’s Indian Cultural Exchange (ICE) hosted its annual event of food, festivities and dancing at the Hilton hotel in downtown Atlanta. The event opened with a cocktail hour at 6:00 p.m. during which students mingled and sampled Indian appetizers, such as samosas and pakoras, before the event officially began at approximately 8:30 p.m. College seniors Ali Rae and Ashish Gandhi, president of Student Government Association (SGA), served as Masters of Ceremony
(MC). Student a cappella group Hum Acapella opened the event by singing “Jana Gana Mana,” the Indian national anthem. Afterwards, The Gathering, another student a cappella group, sang the “Star Spangled Banner.” Lord James W. Dooley addressed the guests on behalf of his guards and engaged in the festivities himself by breaking it down with a dance, Bhangra-style. Dean of Campus Life Ajay Nair gave the keynote address, describing the history of Diwali celebrations at Emory and how the event has expanded to encompass students of all cultures. Keeler and Kugathasan also said that this year, they tried to incorporate a fusion of cultures to highlight the diversity of Emory’s student body. The Cultural Show included several collaborations between Emory dance
CAMPUS LIFE
groups, fusing Indian dances with other dance forms. The all-female Indian dance team Sitara performed with all-male hiphop group TrickaNomeTry (TNT). Karma Bhangra performed with hiphop group Persuasion and Azaadi, Emory’s all-male bhangra team, performed with Zeebah, the Persian belly dance team. In addition, Indian dance groups SaRaas and Savera performed solo numbers. Students enjoyed a dinner catered by Viceroy Royal Indian Dining, indulging in dishes such as chicken tikka masala, paneer makhani, and chole saag, while watching Emory’s dance groups perform at the program’s Cultural Show. Afterwards, students danced the night away to the musical stylings of DJ Teek. Students expressed an overall enthusiasm about most aspects of
the event, highlighting the entertainment as one of their favorite parts of Diwali. “I thought it went well,” said Shreya Seth, College sophomore and member of Emory dance team Savera. “It was very well thought-out and extravagant. The program was entertaining and the food was great.” College sophomore Vincent Vartabedian said he especially enjoyed the Cultural Show. “I liked all the collaborations between all the dance groups because that’s something that probably wouldn’t happen at any other event,” Vartabedian said. “I thought that really made Diwali something extra special.” However, Seth and Vartabedian also offered suggestions for improvements that could be made for Diwali
See TICKETS, Page 5
VETERANS DAY
Project Replicates Greek Parthenon By Anusha Ravi Staff Writer Even if you can’t afford a ticket to Greece, you can still experience its culture. Kind of. A team of Emory professors, students and Michael C. Carlos Museum staff conducted an experiment to emulate the experience of visiting the Parthenon in Athens on the replica in Nashville, Tenn., on Saturday. The experiment involved recreating “frieze” — a series of sculptured panels — that used to surround the Parthenon in Athens and raising them up onto the Parthenon replica. The Parthenon, an iconic building in Athens, Greece, was formerly a temple. Scholars have been fascinated with the Parthenon for many years, College senior Rebecca Levitan said, because it was one of the first iconic pieces of Western architecture. Most aspects of Western architecture derived some elements from the Parthenon because the building stood for the values of democracy and liberty. In addition, it displayed a complex architectural structure. Located high above eye level in the dark and cramped corners behind the colonnade, or a long sequence
See EXECUTIVE, Page 4
NEWS FILMMAKER CLAIRE DENIS TO SPEAK AT EMORY... PAGE 3
See PANEL, Page 4
Austin Price/Photography Co-Editor
E
mory celebrated Veteran’s Day in an annual flag raising ceremony held on the Quadrangle that recognized community members who have served and continue to serve in the U.S. military. In addition, there was an address and recpetion held Thursday at the Goizueta Business School.
EVENT
Sexual Assault Survivors Speak at Rally By Lizzie Howell Multimedia Editor The Alliance for Sexual Assault Prevention raised awareness about sexual assault through their 8th annual Take Back the Night event. The event consisted on a Kick Off event that featured performances from a cappella groups, statistics about sexual assault and a candle light vigil on Friday evening. I n addition, the organization hosted a Speak Out on Monday evening to
listen to stories from survivors of sexual assault. “It’s hard to listen to, but its so necessary,” one of the attendees at the Speak Out, who wished to remain anonymous, said. “As a survivor, it was the biggest comfort to know people don’t feel that they don’t have to stay silent anymore.” At the Speak Out, audience members cried while Emory community members read survivors’ anonymous accounts in which acquaintances, boyfriends, neighbors or family
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