Since 1919
The Emory Wheel
Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 99, Issue 24
Printed Every Wednesday
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
POLITICS
LEGISLATURE
Lynch’s Appointment Elicits Confusion
CAMPUS LIFE
SPC Scrambles For Funds Post-Split
By BeliciA rodriguez Senior Staff Writer
By Alex KlugermAn News Editor
The 52nd legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) convened on Monday and rejected a bill that would fund puppies for the annual Goizueta Week. SGA President Dwight Ma (17Ox, 19C) appointed two students to fill vacant SGA representative positions. BBA SGA Senior Representative Jacob Spitzer (19B), who acted as the unofficial speaker of the legislature,
Several Student Programming Council (SPC) events that were scheduled for Spring 2018 were cancelled because SPC did not have enough money to fund them after the Student Government Association (SGA) split decreased SPC’s funds by 20 percent. SPC had planned events for the 2017-18 academic year based on the assumption that Campus Life (CL) would make up the about $56,000
See legiSlature, Page 4
forreSt Martin/Senior Staff
“i think it’s complete nonsense that you need to have decades in another field before joining politics,” former georgia Congressional candidate Jon Ossoff says to about 30 emory students at a Pi Sigma alpha event on thursday.
See OSSOff, Page 3
GREEK LIFE
See SPC, Page 2
SGA
Alumni Support Insufficient Ma Proposes $6K Cut to Admin. Budget To Keep Pike’s House By richArd cheSS Executive Editor
By emmA SimpSon Contributing Writer Alumni of Emory’s chapter Pi Kappa Alpha (Pike) intervened to support the chapter after the Office of Sorority and Fraternity Life’s (OSFL) did not offer the fraternity the 10 Eagle Row house next school year, to no avail. The Wheel reported in February that Pike would not be allowed to return to its house because the chapter failed to recruit enough new members. Alan Ballard (71C) met with Director of OSFL Marlon Gibson and Pike members in February to request that Gibson reconsider his decision to not allow Pike to return to 10 Eagle Row, but Gibson denied the request. Gibson said that he has been working with Pike to address its lack of membership for years. Ballard presented paperwork, signed by 20 Pike members, agreeing that they would live in the house, but Gibson said he did not look at the paperwork because student housing is handled in coordination with the Office of Housing Operations who establish the housing process. The Wheel confirmed with 16 of the members that they signed paperwork. “In order to be successful this year, [Pike had] to be very successful in recruitment,” Gibson said. “[They] needed to have at least 20 men recruited [in the 2017-18 school year].” The fraternity had an understanding with OSFL about the requirement, according to Gibson. “We had this conversation last summer with the headquarters, with the advisers, with the chapter,” Gibson said. “Everybody was on board.” Current Pike President Kenneth Salkow-Shapiro (20C) said the 20-member minimum was set by Pike, not OSFL, and it was not a mandatory
requirement. “I personally didn’t speak with Marlon and OSFL during the summer, but I do understand what the conversation entailed,” Shapiro said. “Jose, the previous president, set a goal to get 20 guys during this year — that was a goal set by Jose.” A misunderstanding occurred between Pike and OSFL, according to Shapiro. Former Pike President Jose Sandoval-Ramirez (16Ox, 18C) did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. “That’s where the line got blurred,” Shapiro said. “While 20 was a goal, and I’ve spoken to Jose and our alumni advisor ... that wasn’t an end all be all.” After Pike did not recruit any members during the Fall recruitment season, Gibson said he met with Pike’s leadership. If they did not recruit 20 men during Spring 2018 recruitment, they would be unable to return to the house, Gibson reiterated. On bid day in the Spring 2018 semester, Pike only recruited five new members, according to Gibson. Following rush in the Spring, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Joshua Gamse, reached out to the chapter and gave them a two-week deadline to recruit 20 members, Shapiro said. “For whatever reason, the president didn’t share the word with the entire chapter and he was going to try and handle it, and he just didn’t,” Shapiro said. “The two weeks came, and we had picked up one more guy.” At this point, the chapter began to contact Pike alumni for support. Zachary Zlatin (19C), who was the president at the time, sent a petition to chapter alumni, according to Zlatin. However, the petition was
See OSfl, Page 5
NEWS SororitieS Vote on OP-EDS graduating
eliminating noVemberfeSt, recruitment changeS ... PAGE 4 P
Student Government Association (SGA) President Dwight Ma (17Ox, 19C) vetoed the government’s administrative budget, which was passed by the previous legislature and signed by former SGA President Gurbani Singh (18B), leading to questions over the constitutionality of Ma’s move. The administrative budget covers operational expenditures incurred by SGA. Ma told SGA on Monday that he vetoed the budget because the miscellaneous supplies and printing budgets were too high. Ma presented the alternative budget for first readings to the legislature. Ma’s proposed budget reduces the miscellaneous supplies budget from $9,652 to $4,500 and the printing budget from $1,520 to $520. Savings from the new administrative budget will go into the macro account to provide more funding for clubs, Ma said. The bill calls to “temporarily [waive] any applicable finance code rules”
and adds that doing so is permitted because the SGA Constitution supersedes the Finance Code. Dwight’s veto is unconstitutional, according to Singh, former SGA Speaker of the Legislature and Senior Representative William Palmer (18C) and former SGA Attorney General Elias Neibart (20C). The vice president of finance of the prior legislature must propose an administrative budget for the next legislature prior to SGA elections each year, according to Part 2, Section 6 of the Finance Code. The previous legislature approved the 2018-19 administrative budget of $27,458.80 on April 3. Neibart said at Monday’s meeting that the veto and any bill replacing it is unconstitutional because Singh already signed it. “I really need to jump in because this is two weeks in a row where you guys showed a disregard for the rules,” Neibart said. “That bill was approved by [Singh], and it was sent to be operationalized for the next coming year.
The bill was … passed. Dwight can’t veto that bill. It’s done.” After Neibart’s comments, the meeting was adjourned because SGA’s room reservation had ended. “This is a sham,” Neibart said. Neibart, who lost the SGA presidential run-off against Ma, was not selected to be the SGA attorney general, according to Ma. Ma told the Wheel on April 18 that SGA Executive Vice President John Priddy (19C) prefered that Neibart serve a second term as attorney general, but Ma said he chose to appoint Elliot Ji (20C), who has no prior SGA experience. Priddy did not respond to request for comment by publication time. Former SGA Freshman Representative Austin Graham (21C) said that if the veto is legitimate, he will submit a challenge to the Constitutional Council requesting that the veto and proposed budget be suspended.
— Contact Richard Chess at rchess@emory.edu
Parth Mody/Senior Staff
Sga President Dwight Ma (17Ox, 19C) vetoed the administrative budget passed by the previous legislature, raising concerns over constitutionality.
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