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Women take first, men finish third at D-III nationals.

P. 22

University reacts to pro-Trump chalkings

Student protest, P. 4 Administration’s response, P. 6 Letter from the editor-in-chief, P. 10

‘Batman v Superman’ “Ambitious in a way we’ve not seen before in this genre ... the film feels like it is trying to take the advanced class before it’s completed the basics.”

Arts & Entertainment, P. 14

The Independent Student-Run Newspaper of Emory University Since 1919

The problems with Emory student funding: Are you getting the biggest bang for your buck? SGA may be to blame for the devaluation of your college experience. P. 11 OPINION:

EMORY LIFE: Emory

UNICEF and HOPE raise $1,500 for UNICEF’s Tap Project with dodge ball tourney. P. 18 VOL. 97 ISSUE 22 March 23, 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS March 23, 2016 NEWS

NEWS

OPINION

4 students express discontent with trump chalkings, challenge administration

8 Emory community members receive women of excellence awards

10 Letter from the editor-in-chief

6 administration responds to student protest

9 dance marathon doubles proceeds, surpasses goal

7 climate week renews cop21 goals

9 Police report

11 The short-sightedness of student funding 12 why marta sucks 13 green lines, red tape

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

EMORY LIFE

SPORTS

14 ‘Batman v superman: dawn of justice:’ a film of equal highs and lows

18 emory unicef and hope collaborate to give back

22 women win seventh straight title, men finish third overall at ncaa d-iii nationals

16 ‘recovery road’ has a promising road ahead despite some bumps

20 professor spotlight: goizueta business school welcomes usha rackliffe

17 from icons to experience: tibetan iconography beckons viewers into an enlightened realm

Cover

21 india week promotes cultural awareness on campus

24 softball team improves to 25-1 25 track and field has strong start to season 25 eagle exchange

Emory Athletics (top), Julia Munslow, Executive Editor (middle), Warner Brothers Pictures (bottom)

photos courtesy of

EDITORIAL BOARD ZAK HUDAK | EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JULIA MUNSLOW EXECUTIVE EDITOR

SAMUEL R. BUDNYK MANAGING EDITOR

ELANA CATES MANAGING EDITOR business and advertising

News Editors Anwesha Guha Emily Sullivan Opinion Editor Brandon Wagner Sports Editor Jacob Durst

Senior Layout Editor Hayley Silverstein Social Media Editor Dana Youngentob Photo Editor Ruth Reyes

Digital Editors Brandon Fuhr Morgan Roberts Special Sections Editor Olivia Shuler Asst. Copy Chief Michelle Lou

Arts & Entertainment Editor Hannah Conway

Video Directors Hagar Elsayed Leila Yavari

Asst. News Editor Namrata Verghese

Emory Life Editor Alisha Compton

Senior Digital Editor Tarrek Shaban

Asst. Sports Editor Avery Yang

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NEWS

ANWESHA GUHA AND EMILY SULLIVAN | EDITORS NAMRATA VERGHESE | ASST. EDITOR

Students express discontent with Trump chalkings, challenge administration

Samuel R. Budnyk | Managing Editor

S

samuel.r.budnyk@emory.edu

tudents protested today at the Emory Administration Building following a series of overnight, apparent pro-Donald Trump for president chalkings throughout campus.

Roughly 40 students gathered shortly after 4:30 p.m. in the outdoors space between the Administration Building and Goodrich C. White Hall; many students carried signs featuring slogans such as “Stop Trump” or “Stop Hate” and an antiphonal chant addressed to University administration, led by College sophomore Jonathan Peraza, resounded, “You are not listening! Come speak to us, we are in pain!” throughout the Quad.

Peraza opened the door to the Administration Building and students moved forward towards the door, shouting “It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”

After approximately 10 minutes outside from the start of the demonstration, the gathered students were ushered into the Quad-facing entrance to the Administration Building and quickly filled a staircase to continue their demonstration. Pausing in the staircase, a few students shared their initial, personal reactions to the chalkings.

“I’m supposed to feel comfortable and safe [here],” one student said. “But this man is being supported by students on our campus and our administration shows that they, by their silence, support it as well … I don’t deserve to feel afraid at my school,” she added.

A short time later, students moved into the Henry L. Bowden Board Room, surrounding the long table that dominates its center, the students themselves surrounded by portraits of Emory University’s former presidents.

“What are we feeling?” Peraza asked those assembled. Responses of “frustration” and “fear” came from around the room, but individual students soon began to offer more detailed, personal reactions to feelings of racial tension that Trump and his ideology bring to the fore.

“How can you not [disavow Trump] when Trump’s platform and his values undermine Emory’s values that I believe are diversity and inclusivity when they are obviously not [something that Trump supports]” one student said tearfully. “Banning Muslims? How is that something Emory supports?” asked yet another.

University President James W. Wagner, who had been standing just inside the threshold of the door, had been called into the board room by students and listened at the head of the table while they described how the appearance of the chalkings made them feel. He addressed several questions throughout the time in the board room, including “Why did the swastikas [on the AEPi house in Fall 2014] receive a quick response while these chalkings did not?” to which Wagner replied that they “represented an outside threat” and clarified that it was a second set of swastikas that received a swift response from the University. “What do we have to do for you to listen to us?” students asked Wagner directly, to which he asked, “What actions should I take?” One student asked if Emory would send out a University-wide email to “decry the support for this fascist, racist candidate” to which Wagner replied, “No, we will not.” One student clarified that “the University doesn’t have to say they don’t support Trump, but just to acknowledge that there are students on this campus who feel this way about what’s happening … to acknowledge all of us here.”

According to the Dobbs University Center’s (DUC) Posting Policy, chalking must be reserved and approved through Emory’s campus reservation service, 25Live. The Posting Policy says that: chalk cannot be on columns or walls, it must be done on horizontal, ground surfaces and areas where rain can easily wash it away. Failure to comply with these policies results in a clean up fee. Chalking also may only remain

03.23.16 xx.xx.2015 for 48 hours. After this time, another group can chalk, if they reserve their chalking through 25Live.

The DUC’s Posting Policy also points out that the DUC is guided by the University’s policy on open expression, and any member of the Emory community who violates the open expression of others will be held in violation of said policy.

According to Emory University’s Open Expression Policy 8.14.5.8, “nonpersonal protests” such as chalking should follow “all applicable flyer posting policies and banner reservation rules.” It also states that “no nonpersonal protests will be denied because of the content” of the display as long as they falls within the law, and that members of the community who “deface the open expression of others” are also violating this policy.

Other students asked for improving diversity in the “higher positions” of the University, including the Board of Trustees and the faculty in general who should not be simply “diversity sprinkles” to improve statistics, as one student described it.

Grievances were not restricted to shortcomings of the administration. “[Faculty] are supporting this rhetoric by not ending it,” said one student, who went on to say that “people of color are struggling academically because they are so focused on trying to have a safe community and focus on these issues [related to having safe spaces on campus].”

While Wagner initially stated that he would not be writing a University-wide email regarding Trump, after over an hour of discussion in the board room, he appeared to have decided to begin working on an email concerned with at least the chalkings, at which point he gently wrapped up the conversation so that he could begin drafting it.

“There’s a certain amount of this that our campus needs to welcome — students coming together to express concerns… time honored, powerful ways to communicate to others while supporting each other,” Wagner said in an interview with the Wheel after the protesters had left the building.

Assistant Vice President for Community Suzanne Onorato, who was also present during the protest and suggested that she would look into hosting a forum for those involved, agreed with Wagner’s sentiments. “I think it’s wonderful that students are taking a stand for something that they’re passionate about, for something that’s so much about themselves — and we want to support that,” she said in an interview with the Wheel.

The chalkings that generated such controversy appeared overnight throughout Emory’s campus. College junior Harpreet Singh said that, initially, he did not find the chalkings significant. “I saw one big one, ‘Trump 2016,’ so I thought it was an isolated incident and I didn’t think much of it,” he said. “I thought, ‘Okay, it’s just a guy who wants to write whatever he wants to believe in for his political campaign.’ I was like, ‘Okay, I’m fine with that.’”

Singh reported having seen multiple chalkings that read “Trump 2016” between Cox Hall Bridge and the Dobbs University Center (DUC). “What I also saw on the steps near Cox [Hall] Bridge was ‘Accept the Inevitable: Trump 2016,’” he said. “That was a bit alarming. What exactly is the inevitable? Why does it have to be accepted?”

The University will review footage “up by the hospital [from] security cameras” to identify those who made the chalkings, Wagner told the protesters. He also added

5 that if they’re students, they will go through the conduct violation process, while if they are from outside of the University, trespassing charges will be pressed.

Organization and coordination of the protest appears to have fermented in individual student groups independently of one another. Singh, who participated in the protests, also had a part in their planning. While he said that each group or community held their own discussions on the chalkings over social media, he noted that “[he] also reached out to the Muslim community” and that several of these students attended the gathering.

Donald Trump obviously remains a flashpoint for many students, but according to Singh there is comfort to be found for those who feel oppressed. “For the students, it’s reassuring to see how they are able to voice out their opinions and, although it might be safe or uncomfortable, we know that we have a community behind us, whether that be the Latin[x] community, the Muslim community or the black student community — there are pools of safety we can go to,” Singh said.

The following day, University President James W. Wagner, as well as representatives from College Council (CC) and Student Government Association (SGA) sent emails to the Emory community to address student concerns and responses. In his University-wide email, Wagner wrote that he intends to implement “immediate refinements to certain policy and procedural deficiencies, regular and structured opportunities for difficult dialogues, a formal process to institutionalize identification, review and [the] addressing of social justice opportunities and issues and a commitment to an annual retreat to renew our efforts.” Wagner added in his email that the previous day’s chalkings represented “values regarding diversity and respect that clash with Emory’s own.”

In the joint email sent on behalf of CC and SGA, representatives wrote that they “remain unapologetically dedicated to inclusion, diversity and equity,” and that both institutions will stand in solidarity with any Emory students who have encountered a lack of safety and support. To provide Emory students an opportunity to discuss such support and inclusivity on Emory’s campus, SGA will hold office hours on Thursday, March 24 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and CC will hold office hours on Thursday from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. SGA President and College junior Max Zoberman said that although he has few expectations regarding the outcome of these office hours, he hopes that students will bring a variety of opinions and will provide SGA and CC with “some feedback as to the ways that [SGA and CC] can support them better.”

Additionally in the email, SGA and CC wrote that “emergency funds” will exist within CC monetary policy and provide student organizations the ability to host programs or discussions in response to “circumstances involving discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation [and] religion,” according to the email.

Zoberman added that through these efforts, members of SGA and CC hope to establish and maintain a healthy and sensitive climate on Emory’s campus. “We do have the right, and as far as I’m concerned, the duty, to advocate … whatever creates the healthiest and the strongest community on campus,” Zoberman said.

Reporting contributed by Executive Editor Julia Munslow, News Editor Anwesha Guha and Staff Writer Mengyao Yuan.

Emory students protest pro-Trump chalkings found across campus on Monday, March 21, at the Administration Building. | All photos by Julia Munslow, Executive Editor

NEWS

Administration responds to student protest Namrata Verghese | Asst. News Editor namrata.susan.verghese@emory.edu

“A

ctivism can be a powerful tool to raise the consciousness of the entire campus community,” Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Ajay Nair wrote in an email to the Wheel, in response to the March 21 Trump chalking protests.

“Our purpose at Emory is to educate and practice community. This is how we teach our students to lead beyond the ivory tower.”

Nair’s positive response to the student activism, which he called “an effective strategy to gain the attention of the campus community on very difficult issues,” reflected general administrative sentiment.

University President James W. Wagner echoed this perspective in a March 22 interview with the Wheel, praising the protests as a “mechanism for interaction.”

He said that college campuses should encourage activism as a form of expression of concern that will ultimately better the community.

“Look, I’m so pleased I was in the building when [the protesters] arrived,” he said. “The opportunity to listen and their willingness to try to explain more and more clearly to me what the root of the concerns were was very effective.”

In a campus-wide email, Wagner outlined four steps that administrators plan to take in order to address the issues raised by the protesters. He proposed “immediate refinements to certain policies and procedural deficiencies; regular and structured opportunities for difficult dialogues; a formal process to institutionalize identification, review and addressing of social justice opportunities and issues; and commitment to an annual retreat to renew [their] efforts.”

Wagner said that social justice, racial justice and freedom of expression issues have been at the forefront of administrative discourse in the past year.

“I hope beyond thinking and conversation, we are also harvesting the fruit of that to go beyond conversation and identify where we can take action,” he said. He cited the Racial Justice Retreat and its follow-up event, the Next Steps Committee, which will release its recommendations by April 1, as examples of tangible progress in this area.

Wagner added that the Freedom of Expression Committee is meeting to address whether the person or people responsible for the chalking were in compliance with Emory’s policy. He said that they would debate technical issues, such as whether or not the chalkings

were done on an appropriate surface. However, he believes that the broader concern motivating the protests had to do more with the ideas for which the chalkings stood for than how they were done.

“Was it really just a message about a political preference, a candidate preference or was it a harsher message?” he asked. “And I will tell you, those who met with me were genuine in their concerns that it was the latter.”

Ultimately, Wagner said he thinks that Emory’s Respect for Open Expression Policy, which states that Emory is “committed to an environment where the open expression of ideas and open, vigorous debate and speech are valued, promoted and encouraged,” permits people to “feel as though they have safety in speaking up” and allows administrators to “feel comfortable responding to incidents and concerns like this.”

However, College senior Alex Reibman believes that the proposed administrative response will prove to be counterproductive.

“I think the best step forward would be for administrators to engage in discussions with the students,” he said. “They could actually capitalize on this and allow for a better way of freedom of expression.”

He suggested that administrators consider the possibility of implementing “free speech zones” at Emory, which would allow people to voice their personal opinions and for others to counter those opinions. “Hate speech, whether we like it or not, is a crucial part of free speech,” he said.

College freshman Amanda Obando disagreed with Reibman’s view, saying that it dismissed the personal experiences of many who felt offended by the chalking.

“My reaction to the chalking was one of fear,” she said.

“I told myself that it was a prank, and that the responsible individual was probably laughing in their room. I told myself that Emory would do something about it.”

Obando felt concerned that no one other than the Latino community and its allies took definite steps to address the offensive implications that the chalkings held.

“People still don’t understand that the protest yesterday served not only as an expression against one interpretation of the chalking, but also as a collective manifestation against the fear that a bigot leader can create,” she added.

For some administrators, the protests served as a reminder of the challenges that the Emory community faces. While Assistant Vice President for Community

Suzanne Onorato said that her values do not align with those that Trump espouses, she did not immediately realize the extent to which the chalkings could affect people when she first saw them on campus.

“As an administrator, I can say that we’re not helping to alleviate that pain,” she said. “They want to know why I’m not contacting them directly when these issues happen, why we’re not reaching out to students, what we can do better.”

Nair acknowledged that, historically, the burden of advancing racial justice in higher institutions has disproportionately fallen to students of color.

“They carry the dual burdens of advancing a social agenda and achieving academic success,” Nair wrote.

“We rarely account for or honor the lives and labors of these students and their enormous contributions to transforming our communities.”

Upon speaking with student protesters at a March 22 meeting in the Centro Latino, Onorato felt that she gained greater insight into the pain that some students experienced as a result of the chalkings.

She and the students developed action steps that emphasized greater communication and transparency between administrators and the Emory community, such as increasing points of administrative contact and fostering awareness of minority issues within the Emory community.

“The Racial Justice Retreat addressed some of these problems, but we still have progress to make,” she said.

“We need better and more communication and transparency. We need to make sure our students are heard.”

Nair added that he hopes Emory administrators can “be proactive and create structures to respond more effectively to campus climate issues,” noting that this will be a likely outcome of the Black Students of Emory demands and subsequent developments in student activism over the course of this year. He said he believes that Wagner’s aforementioned planned steps serve as a testament to Emory’s commitment to create a “sustainable movement that reimagines and recreates a more socially just university community.” He hopes that this goal would ultimately position Emory as a preeminent institution for addressing social justice issues.

“Indeed, the results of student activism on our campus have helped to place Emory on the path of innovation in terms of how we address issues and improve our community,” he wrote.

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03.23.16

Climate Week renews COP21 goals Lauren Balotin | Staff Writer lauren.paige.balotin@emory.edu

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mory Climate Organization (ECO) will hold Climate Week from March 21 to April 4, an event that aims to “educate and activate Emory’s community on climate literacy so that climate action can be taken immediately,” according to ECO’s website.

The week is an offshoot of the 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21), where nine Emory students and faculty observed climate change events and negotiations in Paris, France in December 2015, according to Eri Saikawa, an assistant professor in Emory’s Department of Environmental Studies who attended COP21 as a delegate. The students and faculty who attended the conferences are part of “Paris is an Explanation: Understanding Climate Change at the 2015 United Nations Meeting in France,” a Coalition of the Liberal Arts (CoLA) course that uses an interdisciplinary approach to look at climate change issues.

ECO, too, is a result of the students’ and faculty’s experiences at COP21, after which they decided to create an organization that would allow them to have a lasting impact with climate change issues on Emory’s campus, according to Saikawa.

Saikawa said that she was pleased that students took the initiative to found this organization, noting that the class created it after realizing that Climate Week cannot be a one-time event. Instead, it must be “a tradition that [ECO holds] regularly in order to be truly powerful.”

“A lot of the students who went to Paris are graduating, so we thought, ‘What can we do to perpetuate this in the future?’”

Senior Lecturer in the Writing Department Sheila Tefft said. “We’ve built a core here, now let’s pass that on to the next classes of students, so they can carry this forward.”

The events of Climate Week will also parallel the interdisciplinary approach of the COP21 class, according to College junior Caiwei Huang and Tefft.

“There are ways for [students] to look at the [climate change] issue and be in-

volved through their own particular discipline and perspective,” Tefft said. “It’s so important for all of us to be involved in our own way.”

College senior Mae Bowen, who took the CoLA course and worked with faculty and staff to promote dialogue, echoed this idea, noting that she hopes that the events of Climate Week will inspire Emory students to become involved in climate change issues, similarly to how COP21 inspired her to become involved with ECO. “We are trying to take momentum from the Paris [COP21] Conference and what we learned last semester to make programming that will engage different parts of campus this semester,” Bowen said. “We’ve seen the activism around other issues, and we wanted to harbor that energy with groups around environmental issues.”

B ow e n said that the process to plan these interdisciplinary events began while the students were in Paris, with each student going to different events such as watching government centric negotiations or visiting art exhibits. The social justice of individuals working with nonprofit organizations during the conference, in particular, inspired her.

ECO has also partnered with different groups on campus, including Volunteer Emory, Climate@Emory, the Barkley Forum and various undergraduate sustainability groups, Bowen and College senior Tyler Stern said.

These partnerships are critical, according to ECO’s website.

“Collaboration with other sustainability groups will be essential for deep, lasting change to occur, but the green tide is

rising faster than ever at Emory,” ECO’s website states.

Saikawa agreed that engaging all members of the Emory community, as well as the greater community, will be critical for the future of climate change. “[Change] cannot just be done by one person or one policy,” Saikawa said. “Everyone acting together is very essential.”

According to Tefft, “engaging the students makes all the difference.” Tefft also noted that while Climate@Emory is a faculty initiative, Climate Week is a student initiative that is representative of “how key the students are to addressing this enormous challenge of climate change.”

Similarly, Stern said that students of different academic backgrounds, including those of humanities, business and science, each had a different role in the COP21 conference in Paris.

Huang noted that there are also events that will appeal to visually-minded students, such as art and photo exhibitions.

These exhibitions are a continuation of ECO’s Humans of COP21 project, which featured photos of and quotations from various individuals at COP21. There will also be debates and panels of students, as well as informational sessions and film screenings.

On March 23, there will be an information session entitled “What’s the Deal with the Climate Deal?” organized in conjunction with the Atlanta Science Festival.

The following week, on March 28, ECO will open a Climate Change Art Exhibition lasting for the entirety of the week, followed by an Earth Festival presented by the Office of Sustainability

Initiatives on March 29 and an informational panel entitled “Change the System, Not the Climate: Environmental Justice Panel” on March 30.. There will also be a film screening of Years of Living Dangerously with Associate Director for Climate Change at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) George Luber on March 31.

Next month, to follow Climate Week, ECO will host Climate SALON, a TEDxEmory talk on April 2, as well as an informational session on April 4 entitled, “A Seat at the Table: Food as the Solution for Sustainability, Wellness and Equity.”

Film screenings of Ice and Sky with the French Consulate and This Changes Everything with a panel discussion will also take place on April 6 and April 12, respectively.

In the future, ECO can continue to grow — because Emory has delegation status for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, its students can attend future Conferences of the Parties, such as COP22 in Morocco next year, according to Saikawa. Tefft added that ECO hopes Climate Week will be an annual event because it covers ongoing issues.

However, it is important for ECO to focus on engaging students through this year’s Climate Week, first and foremost, Bowen said.

Although Bowen believes students are proud of the sustainability already existing on Emory’s campus, the events during Climate Week will focus on a larger problem that examines climate change as an issue on a global scale, “a void that needed to be filled.”

“We’re all aware of the little things we can do to help the environment, but it doesn’t go much beyond that,” Bowen said. “We want Emory to be known not just as a sustainability focused school, but also as a climate-focused school.”

Huang agreed that the issue is important to be aware of, but noted that it should go beyond Emory’s campus, because it will “affect every industry in the future, from business to politics to social justice.”

NEWS

ANWESHA GUHA AND EMILY SULLIVAN | EDITORS NAMRATA VERGHESE | ASST. EDITOR

Emory community members receive Women of Excellence awards Maya Subbanna | Contributing Writer

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ast Thursday during the Women of Excellence Awards, the Emory Alumni Association (EAA) and Emory’s Center for Women acknowledged female university staff and alumni who have performed extraordinary feats in the past year.

“Tonight we celebrate the women you are, the women in your lives, the women you seek to emulate and the women you are becoming,” Assistant Vice President for Community Suzanne Onorato said during the presentation of the awards.

EAA members nominated women who have taken an active role in promoting female empowerment on campus. Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of African American Studies Carol Anderson received the Award for Public or Digital Scholarship, which honors an individual whose work has sparked conversations about feminist or gender-based issues throughout the Emory community.

Anderson has acted as a “leading thinker of race in America,” Program Coordinator for the Center for Women at Emory Tiffany Del Valle said. Anderson has worked extensively with Emory’s Center for Women and has appeared on national radio and television to speak about the issues of race, gender and education.

Kathryn Yount, Asa Griggs Candler chair of Global Health and professor in the Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Sociology, received the Mentorship Award, which acknowledges an individual who has served as a role model, inspiration and advisor for others.

maya.medha.subbanna@emory.edu

With her position, Yount ad- for the Center for Women for in different phases of my work, vised several post-doctoral fel- such a long time and was nomi- and right now it feels just like lows and encouraged students nated for this award three times. I’ve won an Oscar.” to pursue their passions in is- When they called and said I had This year, undergraduate sues relating to gender based won this time, I was so happy.” and graduate seniors were also violence, maternal and child Dabney Evans earned the recognized for their accomhealth, gender, family and qual- Unsung Heroine Award, which plishments and for becomitative and quantitative research honors a woman who has dem- ing “Women of Excellence.” A methods. She also formed Grow, onstrated extraordinary dedica- pinning ceremony and toast an organization that serves as a tion to issues that affect women honored female graduating seglobal inspiration for women’s at Emory and the larger com- niors of Emory undergraduate empowerment. A mentee re- munity but whose efforts have and graduate schools that were ferred to Yount as the “most gone unrecognized by the pub- nominated for the awards. significant mentor in [her men- lic eye.

Women could be nominattee’s] twenty-plus-year career.”

Evans effectively led a team to ed by themselves or others by Amy Elkins, a professor in the research partner violence and describing the ways in which English department at Emory, health care provider interven- they demonstrated excellence achieved the Award for Excel- tion. She continually contrib- at Emory. 50 to 60 seniors were lence and then chosen “Tonight we celebrate the women you are, the P e d a g o g y. to receive the The award of women in your lives, the women you seek to Women celebrates a Excellence emulate and the women you are becoming.” Award. teacher who is willing to One group bring gender of women — Suzanne Onorato, assistant vice president for issues into also collecCommunity the classtively received room in crean award for ative and inspiring ways. utes to Emory’s global presence their expression of black femiElkins has a reputation of in the field of public health. nism through theatrical perforbeing an outstanding educator The Outstanding Alumna of mance. and leader in the campus com- the Year Award was presented College senior Troizel Carr munity by teaching literature to Barbara Bruner. This award and his cast and crew of the play through the arts. recognizes an alumna leader “For Colored Girls Who Have The Leadership Award was who has demonstrated a strong Considered Suicide/When the presented to Lynell Cadray, As- commitment to the Emory Rainbow is Enuf,” written by sociate Vice Provost for Equity community and beyond.

Ntozake Shange, were presented and Inclusion at Emory. This After graduating from Emory, with the Program of the Year award is presented to anyone in Bruner worked as a physician Award, which recognized an inthe Emory community that has with a speciality in pediatrics. dividual or group who created demonstrated leadership to or She served as director of pediat- an initiative that strived to infor women. rics at the emergency clinic and crease gender equality and cater Cadray mentored many chief of service in pediatrics at to the needs of women at Emory women who were pursuing law Grady Hospital. Bruner is also a or in the general community. and provided opportunities for former professor at the Emory “‘For Colored Girls’ was underrepresented students to School of Medicine and remains praised because it carved out a join a profession that was diffi- heavily involved in the events of much needed space for celebratcult to enter.

Emory University. ing the extraordinary potenOn her success, Cadray re“I’ve really had a wonderful tial of black women’s collective marked, “It is such an honor for life,” said Bruner after receiv- power while also recognizing me because I’ve been working ing her award, “I come and go the painful reality of their lives,”

said Del Valle.

Natalie Turrin, graduate fellow in the Center for Women, spoke about the reasoning behind initiating the Women of Excellence Awards.

“The Women of Excellence Awards are an expansion of the awards ceremony we held every year, called the Unsung Heroine Awards,” Turrin said. “We wanted to celebrate women who were excellent in different kinds of categories. This is also the first year of the pinning ceremony, as we realized we wanted to celebrate seniors, too.”

Turrin recalled that it took several months to plan the event, “because of the nomination and selection process and then planning the ceremony.”

Camila Donoso, a senior in the Emory College of Arts and Science, spoke about the prevalence of those in her sorority, Lambda Theta Alpha, at these awards. Donoso stated, “Most of the seniors in our sorority are receiving the Women of Excellence Award, which I think really says something.”

One of the goals of the event is to recognize women across campus.

Turrin stated, “The awards honor women from the undergraduate, graduate, staff and alumni levels.”

A reception inside the Miller Ward Alumni House included hors d’oeuvres and casual mingling amongst the soon-to-be alums. “[The Women of Excellence Awards] is a really nice way to expand the ceremony on the cusp of 25 years of the Center for Women and 100 of accepting women to Emory,” Turrin said.

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03.23.16

Dance Marathon doubles proceeds, surpasses goal Namrata Verghese | Asst. News Editor namrata.susan.verghese@emory.edu

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mory Miracle more than doubled last year’s fundraising proceeds at its fourteenth annual Dance Marathon last Sunday, March 20, raising an unprecedented $25,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Atlanta.

“If you’d told me that we’d reach $20,000 a week ago, I wouldn’t have believed you,” Emory Miracle Co-President and College senior Mary Levett said, noting that the organization raised over $1,000 the day of the event alone. She credits this accomplishment to this year’s improved work ethic, organization and expanded leadership.

Levett said that the group added bubble soccer to the event this year and that it included two inflatables, several student dance groups and a local band called 4J.

“Having two presidents this year was great,” she said, adding that she had served as Emory Miracle’s sole president last year, a position that Greenwell held the year before. “When you have a partner in crime, it’s not as daunting to be confident.”

Levett and Greenwell have both been deeply involved with Emory Miracle since their freshman year. Levett, who is originally from Iowa, where the first Dance Marathon programs started, said that this organization and its cause were always present were always present in her life. Greenwell participated in large-scale Dance Marathons in her home state of Kentucky and knew that it was a great way to fundraise, with some organizations raising millions of dollars for their local hospitals.

“I knew how much Emory needed this,” Greenwell

POLICE REPORT The crime report is a selection of police-related incidences that have directly affected the Emory community in the prior week.

Compiled by Brandon Fuhr | Digital Editor brandon.spencer.fuhr@emory.edu

On March 16 at 2:07 p.m., Emory Police Department (EPD) responded to a call regarding a theft that occurred on Eagle Row. A female student notified officers that $30 in cash was removed from a wallet in her room in a sorority lodge between March 15 at 9:15 p.m. and March 16 at 7p.m. The case has been turned over to an investigator.

On March 17 at 12:48 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding suspicious activity at Clairmont Tower. An individual notified the police that there was a strong scent of marijuana coming from the main level. Officers searched

the location but were unable to locate the source of any suspicious activity.

On March 19 at 2:02 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding an underage individual under the influence of alcohol at Clairmont Building F. Emory Emergency Medical Services (EMS) and American Medical Response also arrived on the scene. The student had been drinking at an unknown offcampus location. The individual was not transported to the hospital. Campus Life was notified.

On March 20 at 12:27 a.m., officers

said. “A lot of the time, people claim Emory lacks school spirit and this [event] brings community around a cause that needs attention.”

Looking forward, both presidents hope that next year’s Dance Marathon will be bigger and better.

They hope to transition to a 12-hour Dance Marathon model, implement more extensive planning, give the new executive board all the tools they need and conduct more events throughout the course of the year.

“We’re excited to see where [the Dance Marathon] heads, and pumped to recruit new members this spring for next year. One hundred percent improvement should be our new standard,” Levett said. “To the Emory community — come meet with us, donate, dance with us. For the kids.”

were patrolling Eagle Row when they observed an SUV blocking the road.

Officers noticed that a student was holding a can of beer in the middle of the road. Officers gave the student a citation for possessing an open container of an alcoholic beverage in a public area.

On March 20 at 2:16 a.m., officers were on patrol when they observed two individuals smoking in the vicinity of the auditorium at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Administration Building.

When officers approached the individuals, they detected the odor of burnt marijuana and located a hand-rolled cigarette that contained a substance which was later determined to be marijuana. The two students were issued a citation for possession of marijuana.

On March 20 at 4:24 p.m., EPD

responded to a call regarding a theft at the Dobbs University Center (DUC). A student called EPD claiming her iPhone 5S was stolen from a table in the building.

During the same time period, there were four similar incidents, including a theft of another iPhone and a MacBook Air. The case has been turned over to an investigator.

On March 21 at 1:28 a.m., EPD responded to a call regarding a fire at the Woodruff Residential Center dining area.

Officers arrived on the scene and met with DeKalb County Fire and Rescue and the building manager.

According to the manager, the electric griddle caught fire as employees were cleaning it. The fire was extinguished using a fire extinguisher before officers arrived. There was no damage to the building.

OPINION

BRANDON WAGNER | EDITOR

Letter from the editor-in-chief Dear Emory Community, Over the past few days, we have been confronted with controversy, fear and demand for change surrounding the chalking of “Trump 2016” and other phrases in support of the Republican presidential nomination front-runner. The Wheel’s Editorial Board discussed extensively the position that the paper would like to take and, as our hour of print approaches, we have realized that the discontent on campus requires more nuance and cannot be addressed as hastily as our editorial process would have required.

The Editorial Board agreed that Donald Trump is an offensive man.

Publically, he has made racist, sexist and xenophobic statements. For many students, their concern is more palpable than mine – it is a concern not merely of what will become of the country should Trump be elected, but one of what will become of their own lives. Trump has changed the game, so to speak. I was proud to be an Emory student when I saw students protesting on the Quad and voicing their concerns regarding their mental and physical safety on campus.

But the very idea that allowed students to speak up — especially those who felt attacked by the Trump chalkings — is under siege by those very same student protesters. The legendary U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants,” and this holds true here. Institutionally prohibiting an ignorant, hurtful or violent idea does not destroy it; it allows the idea to grow and worsen in the shadows, far from the moderating effects of public scrutiny. The best way to destroy an idea is to confront it.

I do not take lightly the fears and pains of those students who felt victimized by the “Trump 2016” chalkings around campus, and I try my best to support oppressed groups on campus. The duty of a newspaper to give a voice to the voiceless surpasses that of echoing those in power. I acknowledge again that Donald Trump is unlike any recent candidate who has lasted to this stage of a presidential election and that, for many Emory students, support of him holds a different connotation than support for Hillary Clinton or John Kasich.

It is nonetheless necessary to ask those protesters what would happen should the tables be turned. Suppose we had a different administration. Suppose it was ruled that protests, such as the one on Tuesday, made Trump supporters feel threatened on campus. Freedom of speech works both ways, and its hindrance affects both sides. It is not the role of an institution that is devoted to the critical education of its students to tell those students which opinions they are allowed to have.

I urge the Emory community to respond to me, respond to our news coverage and respond to the campus climate surrounding the chalkings and protests. I will also be holding open office hours 2 to 5 p.m. Friday, March 25, in my office on the fifth floor of the Dobbs University Center (DUC), and I encourage those who find fault with this letter to speak with or email me.

The Editorial Board will continue to move toward an official stance over the next days, but a constructive conversation over free speech at Emory can exist only with a total allowance of speech — and with a concerted effort to remain sensitive and respectful toward the opposition and its views. Protesters, protest. Chalkers, chalk. Let us not forget that each side of an argument is reliant on its opposition for progress.

If we shut down the opposition, we lose our purpose as a university.

We lose the courage to inquire, and we lose the ability to engage with the contention that we will encounter outside of the Emory community.

Sincerely,

Zak Hudak, Editor-in-Chief

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#GreensboroNow

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Ryan Stevenson | College Senior Manchester, New Hampshire

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ach semester, every Emory student logs on to OPUS and pays their tuition and fees. While the amount may differ between the College and Medical, Nursing and Business Schools, anyone who is enrolled at Emory University pays a $92 “student activity fee” (SAF). This annual $184 pays for the “college experience,” all programming and events that are not strictly academic — but you probably only see $20 of it.

In other words, the process of providing funds to student organizations leads to highly disparate levels of funding. Depending on the organizations in which a student is involved, they may never see a return on their investment.

The SAF is sent directly to the Student Government Association (SGA), which disseminates the money to all University divisions. The results are disastrous, as clubs remain sorely underfunded. SGA’s inability to fund or manage its student organizations is a failure with profound consequences for student organizations. Each organization feels the downward spiral: less funding, more requirements, changing rules.

They are not alone.

This issue is not about people, but about systems.

Student government should not be accused of having a hidden agenda; our elected representatives are performing as well as they can in a flawed system.

While student government cannot be faulted for accepting their elected positions, they must be held accountable, as they are the ones who ultimately have the power to fix this system.

As a member of many executive boards of disparate organizations over the years and having had these discussions with other campus leaders in private, I cannot remain quiet any longer. After sitting down with SGA members and campus leaders, I see that there is widespread frustration on this campus about a host of issues. Until recently, it has been discussed only between friends or raised publicly at Finance Town Hall without any change.

One problem is the recently enforced and rarely discussed 84 percent rule, which states that student organizations must supply 16 percent of funding out of their own pocket. In effect, student government does not fully fund its own organizations, which is unreasonable and untenable, as no club has the po-

tential for growth or innovation — inconsistent and illogical funding mechanisms lead to stagnation. Requiring clubs to fundraise links the success of their campus activities to their ability to raise money.

I counter that an organization’s existence should depend on having interested people and good events, not its fundraising capabilities.

While there can be philosophical differences, there is no argument over numbers. Simply, SGA does not have enough money. SGA raises about $2.5 million per year, which is distributed through the Fee Split.

The College Division, namely, College Council (CC), receives only 40 percent of each college student’s contribution to the SAF, totalling approximately $300,000. The SAF, instituted long ago, increases with inflation every two years in the Cost-of-Living Adjustment — as does everything. But over the past few years, more clubs (especially within the College) were chartered and began to ask for funding in the process.

With the relatively flat amount of money coming into SGA and the increasing amount requested by student organizations, SGA (after running out of money) tried to raise the SAF by $15 in a public referendum put to student vote. While this would have mitigated all the problems since, it was resoundingly rejected in a referendum that amounted to a vote of no confidence in SGA. In the end, SGA resorted to slashing funding for organizations across the board and put the burden on students to raise residual funds.

Instead of alerting anyone that they were constantly running out of money, SGA and CC put the burden on clubs to not only raise their own money but also budget an entire year in advance. Operational budgets due March 14 are now to include all events through April 2017 — even though their own finance codes explicitly say not to include such events. This is ridiculous. Events change, organizations grow, new ideas emerge. If SGA and CC cannot have their house in order, clubs should not be expected to predict their future trajectory like Fortune 500 companies.

In the finance codes, words like “open,” “essential” and even “lavish” are ill-defined and easily abused, as they can be enforced at the discretion of the budget committee, which is especially worrying given the

lack of clear definitions.

CC even has a martial lawesque “state of flexibility” that seems to override most of the rules. It is problematic that a club officer who has attended many budget hearings over the years must comply with the new and seemingly arbitrary rules of a rotating set of appointees that do not seem to understand how student organizations work. A lack of institutional memory and consistency notwithstanding, CC representatives fail to liaise or attend events, and the CC executives seem unwilling to consider another perspective.

In a perfect world, SGA would have enough resources to fully fund the events that organizations bring to them, semester by semester. They could help clubs have clear processes for determining what events to fund and find ways to work with each club’s idiosyncrasies, rather than a one-size-fits-all mindset. Remember, of the thousands of dollars paid to the university, only $184 is allowed to go to student organizations.

Fortunately, there are solutions to this quagmire.

First, SGA should prioritize raising its source of funding — asking the administration, holding another (actually explained) referendum or cutting down on “closed” events. SGA and CC need to update (and understand) their publicly available documents so that all students are on equal footing. And finally, they need to accept that they might have actually been wrong as part of the long process to re-earn student trust.

None of what has been said here is new. All of it is drawn from publicly available sources. Yet it seems that SGA and clubs have been talking past each other for far too long.

Any senior on an executive board can recall how it “used to be” and will continue to complain, but what everyone needs to know is this: they are not alone.

All organizations are hurting. All organizations hate the funding process. All organizations feel their future impeded by regulations. Club rules and finance codes are not particularly sexy, but they are the foundation of the college experience at Emory. So instead of complaining about the lack of good events, find out why they are not happening. It may be easier to fix than you think.

OPINION Michael Fier | College Junior Rye Brook, New York

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t’s no secret that the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA), what is supposed to be a robust and well-developed mass transit system for the Atlanta metropolitan area, is incredibly lacking.

It does one thing pretty well in that it gets people from the airport to Downtown, Midtown and Buckhead and back. And that’s about it.

Want to fly in from New York and get to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during rush hour in a reasonable amount of time? Good luck.

And good luck to you for a while. MARTA’s ambitious plans around Emory to reduce congestion along the Clifton Corridor are lackluster at best and will most likely never happen. Why? It comes down to three things: politics, something called “right of way” and safety concerns. I’ll explain throughout this piece.

Before I move on, understand that even with those obstacles in mind, any capital infrastructure project, no matter how large or small, typically becomes a delayprone mess. Public works projects almost always exceed any initial financial or timing estimates. There are always more complications than what meet the eye.

As many Emory folk know, MARTA’s access around Emory consists of a few bus stops that take you either to Lindbergh or Inman Park stations. Sure, it is easy to access MARTA rail from the 6 route if you want to spend double or triple the time it would take by car. And by the time MARTA gets you from your origin to your destination, you might as well have hopped in an Uber.

And during rush hour? Forget about it. Another Uber car on the road just means more traffic and congestion.

In the long term, it sets Emory up for disaster as travel times to Emory and the CDC will just get worse and worse with more cars being added to the road.

MARTA’s solution for that is a light rail system, something similar to the new streetcar launched last year in the Downtown area (streetcar.atlantaga.gov). The current Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), the publicly available document created by MARTA demonstrating the need for the project, calls for linking two MARTA lines. That link would be between the Avondale Station on the Blue line with Lindbergh Center station on the Yellow and Red lines while cutting through North Decatur and Emory’s campus. It’s like a trolley system with its own dedicated pathway that would run parallel or “at grade” with the road. Think of it as a hybrid beGraphics by Olivia Shuler, Special Sections Editor

tween a train and a bus. If you have been to Prague, Edinburgh or Jersey City, you are probably quite familiar with how it might look.

While that all sounds good, the cost does not. According to the Locally Preferred Alternative plan published in 2011, it would cost $1.7 billion to build this new system. And that estimate is quite a few years out of date. For example, the recently completed World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York ran $2 billion over budget. The Second Avenue Subway extension in Manhattan took almost 100 years to complete and ran out of funding on multiple occasions due to improper budget estimates. This project probably will be no exception. Most capital construction projects run far over their estimates, so when all is said and done, it will probably cost somewhere north of $2 billion. Yikes!

Funding for this light rail system project right now is pretty bleak as well. The latest proposal tossed around is a marginal increase in the penny sales tax, the tax used to fund MARTA, by half a penny. That is, if voters approve it in a referendum vote. The idea came out of a bill, SB 369, that was recently passed by both the Georgia House of Representatives and State Senate. It is currently awaiting Governor Nathan Deal’s signature. The problem with the legislation though, is that the referendum vote only applies to Fulton County, not DeKalb.

People are hoping that a DeKalb-inclusive bill will be introduced during the next legislative session. Thus, at the end of the day, there is still no funding plan in place, and the can keeps getting kicked down the road.

Hypothetically, even if the funding were secured, the EIS calls for a good portion of the proposed system to run next to the “right of way” or path that CSX, the railroad which operates adjacent to Emory’s campus, uses. Any Emory freshman living in Raoul or Longstreet-Means Hall could tell you by their vibrating walls at three in the morning that those tracks are heavily utilized. CSX is also one of the two largest railroads that operates on the East Coast of the U.S. With that in mind, odds are they probably do not want to give up any autonomy over their trackage, especially since that track leads to one of their main interchange yards

in westside Atlanta. It would be a long and drawn out battle to secure the land parallel to those train tracks for a continuous operation envisioned by MARTA. In addition, this proposal might conflict with Federal Railroad Administration regulations which prevent passenger and cargo trains from running along the same track due to safety regulations. God forbid in the event of a collision of a cargo train, a thorough assessment would need to be conducted to make certain that there is sufficient physical separation between cargo and passenger trains. That will only add further delays.

The general story here goes that politics are getting in the way of successfully funding this project, CSX holds a lot of power over the proposed land to be used and there might be potential safety concerns that will need to be addressed. All of that will come at a high cost, both in terms of time and money.

What those in the Emory community need to understand though is that there is no magic wand that will solve the Clifton Corridor’s traffic problems overnight. Public works projects like the proposed light rail system take lots of time, and that is by design. Sure, the system might be fundamentally flawed and thereby incapable of quickly addressing the region’s transportation needs, but there is also no one powerful enough to kickstart a project of this magnitude. Patience is paramount.

So sit tight and put on a good playlist while you are stuck in traffic around Emory. Even if everything goes according to plan (which it will not), estimates right now are for the project to be completed in 2025. MARTA is going to continue to suck for a very, very long time.

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03.23.16

This piece was written by the Executive Board of Emory J Street U on behalf of the organization as a whole and speaks for the organization as a whole.

W

e, the leaders of Emory J Street U, are reaching out to the campus community after a series of troubling events regarding our application to be chartered by College Council. After months of silence, we were told recently that our original acceptance as a student organization was no longer valid and that our charter had been revoked. We write this piece to tell our story and to advocate for change in a system that continues to be unfairly and unnecessarily difficult, inconsistent and contradictory in its decision making.

In August 2015, we gathered around a table in Eagle’s Landing to form officially the Emory chapter of J Street U, a progressive organization that advocates for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine.

Our chartering hearing went smoothly, but College Council had an additional request: 10 student signatures on paper with ID numbers. We happily complied, sending in the final piece of paperwork with the signatures of students interested in and supportive of Emory J Street U’s formation. We were granted a “Self-Generated (Non-Recommended for Funding)” charter on Nov. 16, 2015.

Despite our official charter, Emory J Street U could not access OrgSync, so we emailed College Council and waited.

And emailed again. And waited. And finally, we texted.

On Jan. 26, 2016, two months after we were chartered, the College Council vice president of administration texted back to inform us that Emory J Street U was under investigation for falsifying our signature list. No word of this allegation had reached us in the previous months and no official email laying out these charges was ever sent to our organization. In fact,

Graphics by Olivia Shuler, Special Sections Editor

the only email we ever received regarding this matter was from the president of College Council on Jan. 31 notifying us of our de-chartering.

Upon hearing these allegations, the J Street U board began contacting the members on our signatures list in an earnest effort to ensure that no mistakes had been made on our end. And despite the “due diligence” referenced in the College Council president’s de-chartering email, nine out of the 10 signatories told us that they had not been contacted by College Council and were extremely shocked and displeased when we told them the news of our de-chartering.

We appealed College Council’s decision to the Student Government Association (SGA) and were granted an appeals meeting. Essentially, this was supposed to be a space where our executive board and a College Council representative would argue our cases to the SGA jury.

We discovered that College Council’s case rested on their allegation that we had “solicited signatures from nonmembers.” We had no way to meet any definition of membership because, as the College Council representative later told us, no such definition exists. For unchartered organizations, there is an inherent ambiguity in what constitutes a member; we can’t have meetings, events or even reserve spaces, so student involvement is by definition informal and nonbinding. Yet instead of acknowledging the implausible and confusing standard of membership they had set, College Council leadership accused us of fraud and denied our chartering application.

When asked to provide the text and details of the specific procedures we had violated, the College Council represen-

Leah Michalove | College Senior Josh Niemtzow | College Senior Zoe Robbin | College Freshman Jon Rosen | College Sophomore tative shrugged and mumbled that the website was “under construction.”

Rather than justifying that decision with an official rule, the College Council representative explained that concerns with our membership list arose from a conviction that certain individual signatories would never support the politics of J Street U. In fact, he disclosed that the investigation began when a member of College Council expressed disbelief that an acquaintance of theirs would support J Street U. Though SGA insisted they made an effort to depoliticize our case, which we appreciate, the inquiry’s basis in political assumptions about both our organization and our signatories must be taken seriously.

We left SGA’s committee to its deliberations after our hearing, as we were asked. Yet, for a reason unbeknownst to us, the College Council representative who had made the arguments against us was allowed to remain inside the room during the vote, harming its integrity.

Despite evidence of our concerted effort to rectify the issue and of a substantial pro-peace constituency on campus, SGA upheld College Council’s decision.

We are deeply disappointed with College Council and SGA’s ruling, but we are even more disappointed with the opacity, inconsistency and lack of professionalism of this multi-month process.

The obstacles faced by Emory J Street U are neither unique nor freak-accidents in bureaucratic oversight; rather, they are emblematic of deeper systemic challenges. When it comes to chartering, finances, rule infractions, fundraising and fund distribution, our governing body is consistently ineffectual and unequivocally nontransparent. The laws that dictate

these protocols are constantly revised but rarely consolidated, each set of instructions giving different directions and timelines. Lost in contradicting emails and causal text messages, J Street U’s leaders mistook a list of interested students for a membership list. In response, College Council called us “deceitful” and denied our chartering application with the promise of an opportunity to begin the whole process again next year. The system is not glitchy. It is broken.

While J Street U hopes to work with students and College Council itself to review and revise the College’s chartering guidelines, we also strive to work on the issue that motivates us: ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are part of a national organization advocating for a resolution to one of the most pressing political and moral issues of our time.

This is the issue that demands our attention and energies and yet we are stuck fighting a battle of semantics with our own representative body.

We hope to help protect students’ freedom to pursue their interests and speak their minds through organizations on campus. To do so, the system must be fixed. Emory should be a place of free expression, a community to build with our peers, to engage with the world and to develop the leadership skills that will serve us long after graduation. By using flimsy and inconsistent pretenses to deny student organizations the space and resources to grow, College Council stymies student passion, student development and student power.

Without these important pillars, our university is little more than a collection of gleaming, empty, marble buildings.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

HANNAH CONWAY | EDITOR

‘Batman v. Superman: A film of equal highs and lows Brandon Wagner | Opinion Editor bhwagne@emory.edu

H

ow am I to struggle against the inner fanboy of my nature? With Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, I am deeply conflicted, wanting to laud this film for all that it does right and wanting to hide all its flaws. Yet, as a critic, I cannot ignore the dichotomous nature of the film itself. It is a film of highs and lows, nothing in between.

Following up on Man of Steel, we rejoin the DC universe 18 months later. The effects of Superman (Henry Cavill) are fully felt, as the world continues to debate his presence after the destruction of Metropolis, wrought by his battle with alien invasion. The government questions whether he is good for the United States and, on a larger scale, good for the world.

While he is popular with the public, a number of powerful people throughout the world oppose him.

One of those powerful people is Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) who has slid into governmental meetings and high-class events like a devil to influence the government to join him in his crusade against Superman and give him the weapons to defeat Superman. The other is Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck), who saw the direct effects that Superman can have on the world when Wayne’s Metropolis building came crashing down, killing a number of Wayne’s employees in front of his eyes. The tragedy made Wayne bitter and cruel, igniting his vendetta against Superman that ultimately drives the rest of the film.

I use a lot of proper nouns in that summary because with any comic book property the characters are paramount. This is where Batman v. Superman is at its strongest. The DC crop of super heroes, unlike the decidedly more downto-earth Marvel Studios figures, is mythological, like Greek gods standing above the world and descending down to rescue it from the worst of humanity.

And this film understands that in the best way. While I may have quibbles with specific adaptation choices, there’s an understanding of how these characters play within their own world that keeps the film unique — ambitious

in a way we’ve not seen before in this genre. An attempt to forge its own path and find something thoughtful and dark.

I’m thinking specifically of the three most maligned cast members: Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor and Ben Affleck as Batman. In the face of their respective challenges, each seems to rise and exceed.

Gal Gadot (though she gets little time) is absolutely phenomenal, making the most of every line and displaying a talent for relishing in and selling savage action sequences. Jesse Eisenberg finally gives us a different, refreshing Lex Luthor, a clear echo of his Mark Zuckerberg performance in The Social Network with a hint of Heath Ledger’s Joker. It’s remarkably compelling, even when it hits the edge of silly.

But it’s Ben Affleck’s Batman who steals this film right out from under everyone around him. He’s badass, conflicted and displays a great deal of detective work in his problem solving, a particularly new trait for cinematic Batman. He provides this film with its moral conflict — its core — and I, now, more than ever, anticipate a film centered on him.

But as I said, every high comes with a low, and that low resides in Superman.

It isn’t the fault of Henry Cavill, actually.

He does a fine job with the character, giving Superman all the presence and charisma he can muster.

But this film makes me believe more than ever that Warner Brothers simply doesn’t know what to do with Superman as a character.

There’s a weakness in the writing of the character; his motivations change from scene to scene.

For most of the film, I’m not sure whether the film itself believes that he is a hero or a villain, though when it finally reveals its decision, it’s too late to affect my viewing. The damage has already been done.

Director Zack Snyder has indeed composed a world of great moments, mythic elements and things that will make you stand up in your seat.

There’s a Batman fight sequence reminiscent of the Arkham series of video games that took me back to the feeling of pure joy of childhood

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Dawn of Justice’ play in a Batman cape. I’m seeing Batman simply be Batman in the most kickass way. And the first appearance of Wonder Woman erupted the crowd in spontaneous applause, the kind of theater-going moment I’ll never forget.

There’s so much of this film that is good. Zack Snyder’s direction, Chris Terrio’s script and Larry Fong’s cinematography occasionally craft pure mythological magic, scenes that are visually arresting and wonderful to see.

Scenes that make you think. Scenes that reach far beyond themselves to attempt to

The film wants to be so much, but it hasn’t found the underlying foundation that would make it work. capture something greater about what these characters mean.

I’ve said before that I believe that Superman and Jesus are foil characters, and apparently Snyder agrees with me. The film is loaded with questions about the nature of God and what it means to be a god. It’s a deeply theological film, and the sheer ambition of addressing such a theme in a film where two men in tights clash has to be admired.

But that admiration goes hand in hand with the more fundamental problems. Every bit of praise I’ve mentioned before now pertains to detached moments, questions and ideas. However, the film has nothing to string them together. There are wonderful bits of dialogue, but so many of them seem to lack a story or character reason to connect with to the audience.

Especially for the first half of the film, I felt dragged along by the endless tide of the history

unfolding before me. Characters are introduced, scenes are jumped to, bizarre moments happen and all I can find are question marks.

Why is this here? What does this mean?

And it isn’t that this isn’t a difficult film. But it’s often difficult in the wrong ways. I’m finding myself asking questions and constantly seeing that the film didn’t think through their answers.

It’s often like watching a film edited down for cable — I know that scenes are missing, and the presentation here simply makes no sense. This film has massive structural issues and all the amazing moments in the world don’t mean a thing when the next one is just as likely to tank as it is to succeed.

There’s ambition here, I get that. Snyder is trying to represent so much of the inner lives of these characters in dreams and images, trying to make each aspect stand for something more.

It’s the strength of comics and specifically, the mythological characters that comprise this film.

But it becomes impenetrable. I can applaud ambition, but ambition must be done within reason, within skill. That’s not what occurs here.

It often feels just a hair short, in need of another story session or another pass at the script to be finished.

I believe Zack Snyder and everyone involved love these characters and worked hard on this film.

It shows any time Batman is on screen, it shows in gorgeous shots of Superman saving the world and it shows in the ideas about God, man and the nature of superherodom that I continue to turn over in my head.

The film feels like it is trying to take the advanced class before it’s completed the basics.

The film wants to be so much, but it hasn’t found the underlying foundation that would make it work. It knows the comics. It knows what can be cool and awesome. But it doesn’t know why.

I came in wanting so much, and the film gave so much to me. I’ve waited 20 years for this film, and in many ways it did not disappoint.

But in many more ways, it did. We see it fly so close to the sun, but its wings melt before our eyes.

Grade: C Digital artwork by MessyPants/DeviantArt

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

‘Recovery Road’

has a Promising Path AheaD Despite Some Bumps Wadian Massoud | Contributing Writer wadian.esther.massoud@emory.edu

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reeform, previously ABC Family, has had no difficulty transferring literature onto the big screen, from its hit series Pretty Little Liars to its latest series Shadowhunters. Recovery Road, based on Blake Nelson’s young adult novel of the same name, is the new addition to the bunch, except instead of facing off against psychopathic stalkers or slaying hideous demons, the characters of this series confront a real world issue far more frightening than any supernatural monster — addiction.

Recovery Road is centered around Maddie Graham (Jessica Sula), a girl who appears to be a healthy teenager from afar but must contend with a heavy, personal demon — alcoholism. After a night of forgotten debauchery, Maddie is caught with a bottle of alcohol at her high school. To avoid expulsion, she is forced by her school’s counselor, Cynthia, to participate in a sobriety program that requires her to spend 90 days at a rehabilitation facility for recovering addicts of all ages.

Many shows on Freeform have done a wonderful job pushing boundaries with a progressive edge, such as The Fosters, and dealing with life-altering situations, like Chasing Life. Recovery Road is a prime example of a series that encompasses both. But, at the same time, having drug and alcohol addiction at the forefront of the show inevitably gives it a darker undertone not present in your average Freeform series, separating Recovery Road from the rest.

The series highlights universal issues that could affect any race, any sexuality, any gender or any identity.

Grade: B Even though the rehabilitation center is filled with occupants of different races, different backgrounds and different sexualities with different stories, they’re all bound together by the same mission: overcoming their addiction. We see how these characters’ choices and internal struggles influence their lives in a realistic way; from the very beginning, we know what’s at stake if these characters don’t maintain their sobriety. Recovery Road doesn’t sugarcoat anything, and it brings forth the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse while making sure not to bombard us with them. They balance the heaviness of the subject with light-hearted moments, such as scenes between best friends Vern and Cynthia or any scene with the hyper Trish. These characters add comic relief, and they are a breather for the audience before we jump right back into the angst and anxiety of the difficult matter at hand.

The biggest shortcoming of the series, however, is its lack of development of Maddie’s life before her sobriety. Screenwriters jumping straight into the action is sometimes necessary to keep the audience’s attention, but it loses its effect when it leaves us unable to judge for ourselves the type of person Maddie was beforehand. We haven’t been exposed to her addiction, unrestricted, before she got the help she needs. We’ve only heard about it and gotten a few glimpses here and there through flashbacks. This makes the series lose part of its urgency. The audience would root for the recovery of the central character more and understand her internal turmoil better if they witnessed the

severity of her condition firsthand.

In general, Maddie’s life outside of her time at the center is kept hidden from us. We’ve seen her friends, who we’re supposed to believe are “her life,” only a handful of times. They got more screen time by the fourth episode, but it still wasn’t enough. That foundation wasn’t created from the very beginning, and this makes her friendship group shaky rather than steady. On top of that, we hardly see Maddie and her boyfriend, Zack, interact and display the chemistry a regular couple exudes. Again, additional screen time between the two in the fourth episode didn’t make up for their lack of rapport. If anything, it made the issue more obvious, and it’s mostly on Maddie’s end, which could be intentional. Either way, the relationship seems forced. Maddie is a complex and flawed character who has so much potential to be an enjoyable heroine, but her life outside of her sobriety needs to be explored more to make her a rounder, threedimensional character.

Overall, Recovery Road has a lot of potential. The cast is filled with great actors who get the emotions across without being too melodramatic. The series has many storylines that could be expanded upon in a dramatically pleasing manner. The characters are relatable and diverse, and they have the right balance of angst and humor. This series isn’t perfect, and there are certain aspects of the characters and the plot that the writers still have to develop and build upon, but watch out — Recovery Road may just become your new addiction.

Courtesy of Disney-ABC Domestic Television

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FROM ICONS TO EXPERIENCE Tibetan iconography beckons viewers into an enlightened realm

Courtesy of Emory Photo

Olivia Shuler | Special Sections Editor olivia.shuler@emory.edu

T

he viewing experience in an art museum is somewhat predictable: a work of art is centered on a blank wall, perfectly leveled, illuminated and punctuated by a block of text enumerating its name, artist, medium, date, significance and so on.

Move down the wall, and there’s another piece. Perhaps a sculpture is seated on a smooth stand. This is something we’ve come to expect; however, Doorway to an Enlightened World: The Tibetan Shrine from the Alice S. Kandell Collection offers an entirely different experience.

On display at Emory’s Michael C. Carlos Museum until Nov. 27, 2016, the pieces in Kandell’s collection of Tibetan Buddhist iconography have not been separated out and labeled as one might expect, but rather integrated into one cohesive, stunningly experiential display.

“One of the critical things to understand is that the reason for displaying a shrine like this is that it helps us to understand not only the icons themselves, but the practices that would be undertaken in the presence of such a shrine,” Sara McClintock, associate professor of religion, said. “We’ve designed [this exhibit] so that there’s a sense of entering a sacred space.”

The shrine, located on the Carlos Museum’s third floor gallery, is hidden from view at first, but upon rounding a corner, the viewer is met with an astounding richness of color, sounds, iconography and a spiritual presence.

Featuring many objects, including gilt statues, offering bowls, musical instruments, hanging iconography and intricately painted and carved furniture, the exhibit is meant to evoke a personal shrine that might be found inside a Tibetan Buddhist home.

Because the display of Kandell’s collection is so experiential — even allowing the viewer to enter — it likens the viewer’s experience to the perspective of a Buddhist practitioner entering for spiritual purposes.

“When someone comes into the presence of a shrine, the very next question is what should that person do?” McClintock said, “One [practice] is to make offerings of rice, water, flowers, incense, sounds in the form of bells ringing and so on. There would also be prostrations and verses of praise, and a very popular practice is confession of one’s faults. At the end of each practice, one dedicates the merit that he or she has generated [during the practice] to all sentient beings and one’s own future awakening.”

Personal transformation is a theme that is deeply embedded in this shrine for practitioners, viewers and collector Alice S. Kandell herself, whose connection with Tibetan iconography began in her college days.

In an almost mythic twist of fate, Kandell’s friend, Hope Cooke, met the Crown Prince of Sikkim, an almost entirely Buddhist state in Northwest India, after her freshman year of college in 1959 and married him in 1963.

When the King of Sikkim passed, Kandell was invited to her friend’s coronation, who subsequently became the Queen of Sikkim.

“When I got [to Sikkim],” Kandell said, “I was overwhelmed completely by the beauty of the mountains, the air, the clouds, the people and, most of all, the beauty of the iconography.”

Kandell returned multiple times, capturing thousands of photos of life in Sikkim, before the state was annexed into India in 1975 and Cooke separated from her husband, moving back to the United States. The experience left its mark on Kandell, who fell in love with Tibetan iconography and began to collect it. Later, she merged her collection with that of Phillip Rudko, a deacon in the Russian Orthodox Church and close friend. While she

maintained the collection in her home, Kandell and Rudko ultimately decided to donate it.

“I really felt that [the collection] should be shared, so we went to the Dalai Lama and asked him what he thought about it,” Kandell said, “He said that the events of the past 50 years had been disastrous for Tibet and that we need something to show people what Tibet was. He was very happy.”

Donated to the Smithsonian Institution’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery in 2011, the collection will ultimately return there in 2017.

For now, the shrine remains on display at the Carlos Museum, with its public opening kicking off Emory’s Tibet Week (March 21 to 25, 2016) and its presence further enriching the Emory-Tibet Partnership.

This Doorway into an Enlightened World is not only a breathtaking display of Tibetan iconography, but a gateway to learning about and beginning to grasp the depth of Tibetan Buddhism.

“The shrine room gives you a sense of spirituality, even if you’re not a Buddhist,” Kandell said of her collection, “Each piece is beautiful, but no matter how beautiful they are, together [they form] a whole spiritual experience.”

EMORY LIFE

ALISHA COMPTON | EDITOR

Emory and

collaborate to give back Alisha Compton | Emory Life Editor alisha.bhatia.compton@emory.edu

H

elping Organizations and People Everywhere (HOPE) and Emory’s United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) collaborated to put on a dodgeball tournament on March 19.

This tournament aimed to raise money for UNICEF’s Tap Project.

According to the UNICEF Tap Project website, the Tap Project is a nationwide campaign to provide clean water and adequate sanitation to children around the world by using money and volunteers to improve access to safe water and sanitation facilities in schools and communities and to promote safe hygiene practices.

“The month of March is designated

by UNICEF as the Tap Project, and that is basically raising clean water for children all across the world,” UNICEF President and College junior Yunsun Roh said. “So 100 percent of our fundraised money will go towards UNICEF and helping children.”

Since it’s inception four years ago, HOPE has put on a variety of events including the HOPE Olympics, which included a dodgeball event that spurred community interest in a dodgeball tournament. For each event, UNICEF

tries to pick a different nonprofit to work with.

“There’s also a UNICEF fellow that works in Atlanta and works directly with UNICEF,” Roh said. “She reached out to me saying that there was an outside organization that she knows that wants to collaborate with a student

man, met Co-Founder and Executive Director of HOPE, Inc. Munir Meghjani, who graduated from the College in 2010, at a panel where she talked about UNICEF and the Tap Project.

“For the past three years, we’ve been doing a media campaign for UNICEF Tap [Project] which is basically leave

“Before every event ends ... I kind of find a spot where I can kind of just take it all in.”

—Munir Meghjani, co-founder and executive director of HOPE, Inc. campus organization, and she thought Emory would be a really good school to represent Atlanta. We were more than willing to meet up and discuss possible ideas and collaborate, and this is what we decided on.”

The global citizenship fellow at UNICEF whom Roh mentioned, Ruhi Rah-

your phone on, [and] as the minutes go by, Giorgio Armani donates money for clean water for individuals who need it, for children specifically,” Meghjani said.

Since players couldn’t use their phones while playing dodgeball, they were encouraged to go on uniceftapproject.org on their phones during the

game so that fresh water could be donated for every five minutes they didn’t use their phone. Additionally, during breaks, participants were asked to make sandwiches to donate to the homeless through the crossroad ministry.

Five hundred sandwiches were made for the homeless, and a total of $1,500 was donated to the UNICEF Tap Project. The fundraising goal was $2,000, according to Meghjani. This money came primarily from the 12 teams participating in the event, which totaled 75 players. Additionally there were 25 volunteers and spectators. $1,500 is equal to one year of clean water for 100 people, or roughly four hand pumps, which could serve approximately 1,000 people.

According to Roh, this was Emory UNICEF’s first time collaborating with an outside organization.

UNICEF and HOPE spent over a month planning this event, according to Roh. They advertised through UNICEF’s Facebook page and other social media platforms.

HOPE had the connections to get sponsorships and organize various other aspects of the event. Additionally, some members on the HOPE board are

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Community members compete in the charity tournament for the title of dodgeball champions. | Ruth Reyes, Photo Editor

alumni of or go to schools somewhere other than Emory.

This allowed UNICEF to reach out and make sure that students from other universities were coming to participate in the event.

“We thought it would be really good idea to have an event that unites students across Atlanta,” Roh said. “So not just in Emory, but also GSU [Georgia State University], GTech [Georgia Tech], anyone who is interested in participating for raising money for providing clean water for children.”

Meghjani hoped to raise awareness for UNICEF, raise money to donate to the Tap Project and bring the community together.

One of the goals of HOPE is to get a unique group of people to come out to

the events.

The Teraballs from the Atlanta Jewish Committee and The Dodgefathers, who won best team name, were some of the eclectic teams that participated.

The dodgeball champions were a group called Twerking On It! “We’ve got a variety of people in there of all ages [and] socioeconomic classes, and they’re shoulder to shoulder,” Meghjani said. “In an era where we have so much negativity, so much racism and so many things to divide us, it’s great to see that something as simple as dodgeball can bring us together.”

Bringing the community together and raising awareness are also two of UNICEF’s largest initiatives, according to Roh. “Most of the time we’ve stayed with

small events on campus: Wonderful Wednesdays, GBMs, documentary screenings,” Roh said. “But actually holding a tournament with an outside organization has pushed our organization to look for bigger opportunities, to make a greater impact,” Roh said.

According to Meghjani, HOPE would like to do this event again in the future.

He was happy to see the vast student participation despite their busy schedules.

Roh is one of the students who took the time to do this by planning and participating in the tournament.

“It’s really given me a great outlet to help people beyond my own college bubble,” Roh said. “Since UNICEF is a nationally recognized organization for

helping children, I wanted to take my next step as a college student and not just impact my own social bubble but go beyond that and impact the greater world, especially for children who really should be given basic privileges that all of us in college are basically rewarded.”

For Meghjani, it is seeing this commitment to helping those in need that drives him, and consequently HOPE, forward.

“Before every event ends at HOPE, I kind of find a spot where I can kind of just take it all in — just seeing all these people come together, seeing the nonprofit and the smiles on their faces and seeing everyone have a good time. I think that moment alone is inspiration for the next event,” Meghjani said.

EMORY LIFE Professor spotlight: Goizueta Business School welcomes

Usha Rackliffe Karissa Dzurik | Contributing Writer

A

karissa.anne.dzurik@emory.edu

s I walk into her office, Goizueta Business School Assisstant Professor Usha Rackliffe wears a St. John’s style dress, garnished with pearls and a peacock broach. A student sits with her, going over an exam. The student looks up, and asks if she should leave.

“Of course not, darling,” Rackliffe replies. “I have complete trust in you; just shut the door behind you as you leave.”

And with that, she grabs her bag and leads me to Highland Bakery, where we sit and talk for an hour over coffee, eggs benedict and a cinnamon bun. Throughout our conversation, multiple students and faculty members come up just to say hi, and Rackliffe excitedly greets each one. This is typical for Rackliffe, as she prides herself on being cheerful towards everyone she meets.

“We aim to be bright, and we aim to brighten everybody’s day, including our own,” Rackliffe said.

This is one of the many ways Rackliffe’s presence has impacted Emory’s campus since accepting her position as assistant professor in the practice of accounting in fall 2015. Previously, Rackliffe held the position of chief financial officer (CFO) for the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia, where she managed the seven billion dollar budget for the thirty-five public universities in Georgia at the time. After her tenure as CFO, she spent four years as a full time faculty member in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University.

However, finance and accounting are not the fields in which Rackliffe saw herself working. In the late 1980s, she left her home in India to pursue a degree in journalism from the University of Mississippi.

“Growing up in India, I would listen to a lot of foreign radio stations. I would listen to BBC, Voice of America and one [station] from Australia,” Rackliffe said. “The radio was my window to the world … You’d hear about life in different cultures and read about different stuff and think, ‘Wow, there’s so much happening beyond

just where I am.’”

Moving across the world without family was a difficult process, as she had to adjust to a culture which starkly contrasted her own. Before coming to America, Rackliffe had never been on a plane nor spent a night away from home. Looking back on her first experiences in the United States, she fondly remembers her first visit to New York City.

“Even though you know so much, have read so much about the world, you don’t really know anything until you get off that plane,” Rackliffe said. “So up until then, the only thing that I really knew about New York was from the movie Saturday Night Fever … But then you come to America and you see that it’s every bit as extraordinary, exciting and energetic as the movie depicted.”

Although not everything about her immigration was easy, Rackliffe is glad she took the risks that she did.

“It’s a beautiful country, and I’ve loved it,” Rackliffe said.

Along with her degree in journalism, she has an undergraduate degree in business, a Master of Business Administration, a Juris Doctor and is a Certified Public Accountant. “[Having many degrees] is like opera singers,” Rackliffe explains. “Opera singers have range. So this is like my repertoire: I can do many things.”

Even with a background as diverse as hers, Rackliffe is always open to exploring new opportunities. A motto of “fluid and flexible” has guided her life ever since she decided to forgo journalism after working at the editorial desk for two weeks at The Atlanta JournalConstitution. She felt that she could do more exciting things with business, and that choice completely changed her path.

Years later, while she was working as the CFO for the University System of Georgia, Rackliffe again chose to change directions. The job was highly stressful and kept her extremely busy. She would often work 12-hour days, including weekends.

Courtesy of Emory University

“I’ll never forget, on my daughter’s last day of first grade, the teacher had sent all of the pictures from the year, and she [was] flipping through all of them,” she said. “There was not one single picture of me, because I was never there. Mother-daughter tea? Jerry [Rackliffe’s husband] was there. There was mother-daughter pumpkin carving; all the moms and Jerry [were] there.

He always had to step in. I thought to myself that this is my miracle baby, and I don’t get to see her at all.”

After this realization, Rackliffe decided to leave the CFO position and take an offer to teach at Georgia State.

“When an opportunity comes along I have to think, ‘Woah, is this something I’d like to do?’ And if I say yes, I’m going to go try it and see if it works, and that’s how you learn things,” Rackliffe said. “That’s the beauty of life, it’s like going to a buffet. You see different things and may think, ‘Wow, I’ve never thought of that.’ But it’s really an eye opening experience. You always have to be open to possibilities, and that’s really been the story of my life.”

Four years later, she accepted the teaching position at Emory University and has loved being a part of the community here.

“I have to pinch myself; I’m so excited. I can’t believe how wonderful this place is. It’s everything I thought it would be and more,” Rackliffe said.

She has also fallen in love with teaching and working with students.

“If you can light that fire and inspire a student …

That is what I live for,” Rackliffe said.

This motivation is what drives Rackliffe to go above and beyond as a professor and mentor to her students.

From her policy of giving her cell phone number to students in all of her classes to coming in on Fridays even though she doesn’t have class, she truly portrays the kind of work ethic she wants to inspire in others.

“Do things for the right reasons, and trust me, you will feel that sense of purpose and accomplishment,” Rackliffe said. “It’s like you’re walking on air for the rest of the day.”

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India Week

promotes cultural awareness on campus Sumera Dang | Contributing Writer sumera.dang@emory.edu

D

iversity is at the core of Emory University, and the various nationalities present on campus exemplify this. To celebrate diversity, the Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning and the Indian Cultural Exchange (ICE) have come together to present India Week. This week, India Week begins March 28 and runs through April 4, with a special event planned for each day at various campus locations.

India Week is an annual week-long celebration that brings forth several shades of India with respect to its culture, social, political, economic and ethnic diversity. It is a chance for Emory students to explore and learn more about Indian culture and also a platform for Indian students to express themselves and share their rich traditions with the Emory community. This event was first initiated in 2010 by Goizueta Business School students and has grown since. Emory’s Halle Institute took over the operations in 2012, with the goal of expanding the scale of the events held during the week.

Since Emory University has a substantial population of Indian students, one of the key challenges for

the organizations is sufficiently capturing the particularities and cultural soul of the diverse regions in India through mediums such as music, dance and food. This year, the Dobbs University Center (DUC) will also be serving Indian dishes each day of India Week.

“Our biggest event is the keynote speech by the Consul General of India in Atlanta, Mr. Nagesh Singh,” said College senior Mazhar Kadwalwala, president of the student committee at the Halle Institute. “Mr. Singh’s talk is titled ‘India and the World of the 21st Century.’ The talk will highlight the idea that as political and social strife, extremism and terrorism show their ugly faces in various parts of the world, it is vital for us to understand the reasons for India’s relative success, despite its diversity and complexity in terms of its myriad languages, ethnicities, castes, religions and socio-economic disparities.”

Other events that will take place throughout the week include a faculty panel exploring research opportunities in India, free food from different regions of India at Wonderful Wednesday, a cricket tournament and a Holi celebration.

“One of the things I am really looking forward to is the celebration of Holi. Being away from home, it’s always nice to know that Emory, through its various cultural organizations, truly provides us with an inclusive environment and another place to call home,” College sophomore Rusha Naik said.

Multiple events have been organized and implemented through the integration of the Halle Institute, ICE, Hindu Student Association (HSA), Student Programming Council (SPC) and Emory Cricket Club (ECC). India Week’s events are open to undergraduates and graduates, as well as faculty members.

“We believe that cultural awareness can only be achieved through mass participation, and this is why we want people from all backgrounds and walks of life to attend our events,” Kadwalwala said.

“Exposure to diversity is the primary way

by which we can remove the blindfold of ignorance and use it as a tool to educate and broaden our understanding of our multicultural world.”

India Week is not only about allowing various Indian-based organizations on campus to join hands to bring about a one of a kind experience, but also about providing students with exposure to different cultures and traditions right here on the Emory campus.

“Exposure to diversity is the primary way by which we can remove the blindfold of ignorance and use it as a tool to educate and broaden our understanding of our multicultural world.”

—Mazhar Kadwalwala, College senior “India is such a large and diverse country with countless ethnic groups and subcultures, and one of the benefits of that diversity is the ability to explore the connections between them,” College sophomore Kavya Sundaram said. “India week allows us to appreciate the interdependence of these subcultures and understand their place in the landscape of the beautiful aggregate Indian culture that we know today.”

SPORTS

JACOB DURST | EDITOR

Women win seventh straight title, men finish third at Nationals Avery Yang | Asst. Sports Editor avery.huang.yang@emory.edu

E

mory’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams competed in the 2016 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving National Championships March 16 to 19. The women’s team won their seventh consecutive national championship, while the men finished in a solid third place.

The women’s team came in with high expectations, as they had already taken home six consecutive wins previously.

“There were four teams that could’ve definitely won,

with 476. This is the women’s ninth championship in program history.

The women set two school record times and one DIII national record during the meet. In addition, they also had 24 All-American winners, with 19 individuals and five relays taking home the honors. In addition, Emory Head Coach Jon Howell was also named the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Women’s Swimming Coach of the Year for the fifth time in his career.

Members of Emory’s women’s swimming and diving celebrate winning their seventh consecutive NCAA D-III Swimming and Diving National Championships. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

so we weren’t focused just on winning, but more focused on having great relays and individual races,” junior All-American Annelise Kowalsky said. “But obviously the title is always on your mind, too.”

Focusing on the little things paid off in the end. The Eagles won the D-III title by posting 560 points over the course of the meet, an impressive 84 points ahead of second place Kenyon College (Ohio), who finished

The title was up for grabs until the final event on Saturday sealed the championship for Emory. The 400-meter freestyle relay team of juniors Marcela SanchezAizcorbe and Marissa Bergh and freshmen Fiona Muir and Meg Taylor swam a time of 3:21.37, which clinched the Eagles’ victory.

On attaining All-American honors, Kowalsky said, “I’m always proud to represent Emory, so I was just try-

ing to get as many points for the team as possible.”

The men’s side finished third in the D-III Championships.

Among their greatest achievement was winning the national championship in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

The 400-meter freestyle relay team consisting of freshman Trey Kolleck, junior Hayes Burdette-Sapp and sophomores Oliver Smith and Alexander Hardwick won the event with a school record time of 2:57.44.

The men’s team added two other national champion-

“I’m just happy how we were able to come together and support each other a lot. I think if we had not been as supportive as we were and trained so hard as a team, we probably would not have won. The win reflects all the training that we put in.”

—Annelise Kowalsky, junior All-American ship wins during the meet: Smith in the 50-meter freestyle and the 200-meter freestyle relay team of Hardwick, Smith, Kolleck and sophomore Aaron Schwartz.

The men’s team also set five school records at the championship meet. Smith set a record in the 50-meter freestyle (19.55) and the 100-meter freestyle (44.43), while the relay teams put up record times in the 200-meter freestyle relay (1:19.83), the 800-meter free-

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“I’ve been around people who have had all these great successes and had their pictures on the walls, and I’ve just really wanted to have an opportunity to do that myself ... It makes it all worth it to get up there on the podium. It’s really special to me.”

—Thomas Gordon, freshman All-American style relay (6:35.36) and the aforementioned 400-meter freestyle relay.

Smith, junior Christian Baker and freshman Thomas Gordon took home individual All-American awards.

Smith finished the 100-meter freestyle in fifth place with a time of 44.78, Baker finished fifth in the 1,650-meter freestyle (15:29.55) and Gordon finished fourth in the 1,650-meter freestyle (15:27.81). The men also won the award in the 400-meter freestyle relay.

With the season now over, and with the team’s success evident, members of both the men’s and women’s

Freshman Trey Kolleck and his freestyle relay team compete during the D-III national championship this past weekend. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

squads reflected on the season as a whole.

“I’m just happy how we were able to come together and support each other a lot,” Kowalsky said. “I think if we had not been as supportive as we were and trained so hard as a team, we probably would not have won.

The win reflects all the training that we put in.”

On the men’s side, Gordon reflected on the success of the team’s season.

“I’ve been around people who have had all these great successes and had their pictures on the walls, and I’ve just really wanted to have an opportunity to do that

myself,” Gordon said. “It helps validate my decision to come here, validates all the time I’ve spent in the water when I could’ve done other things. It makes it all worth it to get up there on the podium. It’s really special to me.”

The women’s team will look to continue their success next season, when they will compete for their eighth straight national title.

The men’s team will look to build on their successful year, when they will compete to improve on their third place performance.

Senior Elizabeth Aronoff (Left) swims a heat at the D-III championships this past weekend. Sophomore Oliver Smith (Right) celebrates winning his heat at the D-III championships this past weekend. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

SPORTS E

Softball team improves to 25-1

mory softball had an absolutely fantastic week, winning all four of their games.

The wins moved the Eagles to 25-1 on the season and extended their winning streak to 16 games. The Eagles won against Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.) 9-1 and 9-3 and defeated Maryville College (Tenn.) 8-0 and 4-3.

This past Wednesday, Pomona-Pitzer made the trip to Emory for a doubleheader. Emory managed to win the first game 9-1 in a mercy rule. The Eagles started off the first game hot with a six-run first inning, highlighted by a three-run homer by freshman third baseman Lana Herrmann, her fifth of the year. Senior center fielder Alyssa Pollard registered a pair of hits in three plate appearances. Emory had five different players drive in runs: freshman shortstop Cassie Baca, senior catcher Melody Carter, sophomores second baseman Janelle Turnquest and first baseman Ashley Powers, freshman third baseman Jessica MacWilliams and Hermann.

Junior pitcher Brittany File notched the win after starting and going the first three innings, allowing one earned run and striking out six.

Freshman Madeline Maday threw the remaining two innings, allowing no runs.

In the finale of the double header against Pomona-Pitzer, Emory triumphed by a score of 9-3. Pollard turned in a three for four effort at the plate that included two runs scored and one RBI. Turnquest collected a pair of hits and five RBIs to spark the offensive attack. As a team, the Eagles pounded out 13 hits against the struggling Pomona-Pitzer staff.

File earned her second win of the day, her seventeenth in 18 decisions. Instead of start-

ing this game, though, she came in relief and went four and one-third innings, allowing one unearned run, three hits and striking out two.

On Thursday, Emory played another doubleheader, this time against Maryville. In the opener, Emory defeated Maryville by a score of 8-0. Emory crushed 14 hits and never looked back after scoring four runs in the first inning.

Pollard had a fantastic outing, going four for four with three runs scored. File started and went four innings, fanning eight, while freshman pitcher Toko Miller threw a perfect fifth to end the game because of the mercy rule once again.

In the second game of the doubleheader, Herrmann’s solo blast capped an Emory comeback that saw the team rally for the win in a game where they had trailed by a 3-0 margin.

The Eagles knotted the score in the bottom of the fifth with a sacrifice fly by Baca, pushing Herrmann home, and a two-out, two-run RBI single by Carter, plating Pollard and junior first baseman Taylor Forte.

Miller got the start this time, but only managed to go two and two-thirds innings, giving up all three Maryville runs. However, the rest of the pitchers didn’t allow another run, and File eventually notched the win, tossing two scoreless innings of relief that saw her strike out four.

Emory was supposed to finish the week by playing a doubleheader against Berry College (Ga.) on Saturday, but the game was postponed and will be played at a later date.

The Eagles will take the field next on Thursday, March 24, when they visit Lynchburg College (Va.).

Junior pitcher Brittany File (Left) got the win in three of Emory’s four games last week. Senior outfielder Alyssa Pollard was one of several Eagles’ that stood out at the plate. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

Andrew Burnside | Senior Staff Writer andrew.burnside@emory.edu

Junior first baseman Taylor Forte swings the bat during one of Emory’s two wins against Maryville. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

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Track and field has strong start to season Oliver Rockman | Senior Staff Writer oliver.m.rockman@emory.edu

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he Emory men’s and women’s track and field teams began their outdoor seasons last weekend by hosting over 45 schools at the Emory Invitational. Both teams started off the season on a positive note, with the men coming in fifth place with 59.50 points, and the women winning the event with 109 points.

Coach John Curtin explained how he expects the transition to the outdoor season will benefit his team: “We get a little bit of advantage as a southern team,” Curtin said. “We had perfect weather for our first competition, and the kids really took advantage. In addition, we are usually pretty good at the additional outdoor events. We throw javelin well, on the women’s side we run the 10k well and we hurdle very well on both sides.

These additional events are a real plus for our team.”

Sophomore Daniel Pietsch’s success from the indoor season carried over, as he won the 400m dash with a time of 47.80 and earned a fifth place finish in the 200m dash. Junior Michael McBane and sophomore Benjamin Rogin combined for a pair of fourth place finishes in the 1500m run and 110m hurdles, respectively. Rogin added a sixth place finish in the 400m hurdles.

Emory’s two distance relay teams

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finished in second and third place. The team of McBane, junior Jake Schlessinger and sophomores Winton Leung and Shane Sullivan posted a time of 10:34.18, narrowly beating out teammates freshmen Ian George and Tyler Breeden and seniors Lukas Mees and Josh Traynelis, who finished the relay with a time of 10:37.01, good for third place. Curtin praised the performance of College senior Traynelis for running out to a big lead during his leg of the relay.

The men’s team was also impressive in the field events. Seniors Jacob Seigel and Spencer Koh earned fourth and fifth place finishes in the discus and javelin, respectively, with distances of 44.56m and 48.28m. Curtin also was impressed by sophomore Charlie Hu’s personal best in the high jump.

The women’s side provided many impressive performances en route to winning the meet.

The Eagles won three events, all distance runs. Senior Aileen Rivell won the 5k race with a time of 17:37.20, marking the first time in her collegiate career winning a race. Senior Julie Williamson won the 1,500m run, and ran the opening leg of the distance medley team (which included junior Elizabeth Mango, sophomore Gabrielle Stravach and freshman Clare Ubersax) that would

agle xchange Emory vs. MIT

Baseball Wednesday, 23 March 2016 1:30 p.m.

Senior Julie Williamson was one of the many Eagles who shined this past weekend, as she won the 1500m run. | Courtesy of Emory Athletics

take first place with a time of 12:16.46.

The 4x800m relay team consisting of freshmen Kristi Kwok and Radhika Shah, sophomore Hanna Saadegh-Vaziri and junior Alexa Young came in second place with a time of 9:49.15. Amanda Martin finished third in the 5k race with a time of 17:46.37. Coach Curtin felt Martin’s strong performance really “jumped out.”

“She improved by over a minute in women’s 5k to take third place,” Curtin said of Martin. “She broke 18 minutes in the 5k for first time in amazing fashion.

Amanda is a real competitor.”

Highlights from the women’s field events came from freshman Jordan Small, who took tenth place in the high jump with a mark of 1.50m and freshman Kaleena Jesson who finished ninth in the pole vault.

Curtin mentioned the performance of sophomore Valerie Linck, who set personal bests in both the javelin and the high jump, adding that he expects her to be competitive when United Athletic Association (UAA) competition rolls around.

On the whole, Curtin felt the Emory Invitational set a positive tone at the beginning of the season for both teams.

Emory will host another meet, the Emory Classic, on a smaller scale on March 25 and 26. Curtin looks forward to the team building on strong performances and continuing to improve.

“Some of our kids are ready to step it up to another level,” Curtin said. “Many will run in different events than last week to get a good evaluation of everybody and where they are at this point in the season.”

Emory vs. Kalamazoo Men’s Tennis Wednesday, 23 March 2016 2 p.m.

Lynchburg vs. Emory Softball Thursday, 24 March 2016 2:30 p.m.

Emory vs. DePauw Women’s Tennis Friday, 25 March 2016 12 p.m.