INDEX
Emory Events Calendar, Page 2
Police Record, Page 2
Staff Editorial, Page 6
Mad Libs, Page 10
Crossword Puzzle, Page 8
OnFire, Page 11
THE EMORY WHEEL Since 1919
The Independent Student Newspaper of Emory University www.emorywheel.com
Friday, September 14, 2012
Volume 94, Issue 5 Every Tuesday and Friday
SPEAKER
RANKING
U.S. News Ranking Remains at No. 20 Following Investigation, Emory Submitted Corrected Data for 2013 By Jordan Friedman News Editor U.S. News & World Report
Emily Lin/Photography Editor
Former President Jimmy Carter discussed recent conflicts in the Middle East, U.S. health care and his own experiences from his presidency at the annual Carter Town Hall event, held Wednesday evening in the Woodruff P.E. Center.
Carter Explores Health Care, Middle East Politics By Rachel Duboff Contributing Writer Former U.S. President and Emory University Distinguished Professor Jimmy Carter discussed issues ranging from recent conflicts in the Middle East to health care at the 31st annual Carter Town Hall Meeting Wednesday evening. Carter said that the Atlanta-based Carter Center has been successful and necessary in the Middle East since its founding in 1982. The Center has played a role in overseeing political elections in many countries to ensure the growth of new democracies in recent years, he said. The Carter Center recently deployed observers to Egypt and Libya to assess that the elections were running smoothly and to plan
for future and fair elections. One student asked Carter for his thoughts about the potential consequences of the attacks on the U.S. Consulate in Libya this past week. Carter assured the audience that Libya will not have strained relations with the United States, since the Libyan people have themselves condemned the militants responsible for the attacks. Carter also expressed confidence that the Carter Center’s previous work in helping the Libyan democracy grow has only resulted in positive relations between the Libyan people and the United States. Through the Carter Center, he has been able to “fill the vacuums of the world,” he said, because other past organizations had not been addressing violated human rights and suffer-
EVENT
ing issues. Carter also mentioned his views on President Obama’s Affordable Care Act. When Carter was president, he said, he had an idea of a type of single-payer health-care system, which would act just as Medicare has, yet the age at which one qualifies for health care would be lower in order to include all Americans. While this system was not implemented, Carter said he was hopeful that Obama would enact a similar system. Though Obama’s health-care act was not exactly the type of plan Carter had hoped for, he said he was pleased with the Supreme Court’s recent decision to uphold the constitutionality of the law by stating the health insurance would work as a tax.
This approval, Carter explained, would provide health care to 32 million Americans who did not have health insurance in the past. In addition to health care in the United States, Carter singled out inadequacies in American political organization, which he sees as having enabled the “poorest democratic processes of elections in the world.” The heightened polarization of today’s political parties can be linked to the Supreme Court’s 2010 ruling in ited campaign funding, he said. Carter added that this ruling has allowed politicians to accept “massive influxes of selfish money,” which they have spent on negative advertis-
See FRESHMEN, Page 4
Dialogue, Candlelight Ceremony Honor 9/11
from professors in a wide range of disciplines, and to perform research and undertake original scholarship in many different settings,” Provost Earl Lewis said in a Sept. 12 University press release. “Whatever ‘marks’ we might be assigned by others, Emory by any measure is one of the world’s leading centers of discovery and learning.” The rankings were released just weeks after the University disclosed to the public that administrators had misreported admissions data for
See FORMAN, Page 5
HOUSING
Emily Lin/Photography Editor
Hamilton Holmes, Emory’s newest residence hall, has been facing issues with plumbing and electricity.
Hamilton Holmes Faces Maintenance Problems By Minah So Contributing Writer
By Karishma Mehrotra Contributing Writer
See STUDENTS, Page 4
Emory’s peer institutions’ U.S. News rankings. See Page 5.
Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which allowed unlim-
GO FOR THE GOAT
Tears filled College junior Jenni Seale’s eyes as 40 students gathered around the Quadrangle’s flag pole in silent darkness on Sept. 11. The only lights shone from the dim flames of the candles that each student held, illuminating their faces. Around 20 of the students who attended the candlelight vigil Tuesday night had just filed out of Cannon Chapel, where, as part of Volunteer Emory’s Dialogue on Unity, they had taken part in a showing of the 45-minute documentary “Coexist” about the Rwandan reconciliation movement followed by a 20-minute interactive discussion. This first annual Dialogue on Unity event is part of Volunteer Emory’s larger social dialogue initiative, according to staff member and College senior Shekar Dukkipati. Similar events throughout the year will focus on a variety of social issues and correspond to different days of service. This particular dialogue corresponded to the 9/11 Day of Service
ranked Emory University No. 20 for the third consecutive year in its 2013 “Best Colleges” rankings released Wednesday morning. The news organization uses both statistical data as well as subjective surveys when ranking colleges. U.S. News based its rankings on several categories, with 22.5 percent given to undergraduate academic reputation, 20 percent to graduation and retention rates, 20 percent to faculty resources and 15 percent to student selectivity, among other components. “As a research-intensive university, Emory offers undergraduates unsurpassed opportunities to study
SEE INSIDE
Isabel Kurzner/Staff
S
tudents were able to take a break between classes and pet the goat featured at this week’s Farmer’s Market, which also offered wares - such as fresh vegetables, fruits, and pastries - from local bakeries and farms.
POLITICS
Abramowitz Predicts Obama Victory By Anusha Ravi Staff Writer Alan Abramowitz, the Alben W. Barkley Professor of Political Science, has released his forecast for the outcome of the presidential election this November. Abramowitz, who has accurately predicted the popular vote winner of every presidential election since 1988, says incumbent President Barack Obama will win the election by a close margin of about 1.2 percent. Abramowitz based his forecast on statistical analysis composed of the
candidate’s approval rating at the end of June, the growth of the economy and the value of the “incumbency factor,” which refers to the advantage a candidate will have simply for being the candidate that voters are familiar with. “The Democratic constituency is just larger than the Republicans’ and encompasses far more different types of people,” Abramowitz said. “Even if Romney receives the maximum turnout from white Republican voters, he won’t win.”
See ‘INCUMBENCY,’ Page 5
Alan Abramowitz, professor of politial science at Emory, predicts that Obama will win the election. ELECTION SERIES This Week: Abramowitz predicts results
Maintenance issues are putting Hamilton Holmes residents in a stinky situation. After reports that the University’s newest freshmen residence hall Hamilton Holmes has been experiencing power outages and faulty toilets, Residence Life and Housing (ResLife) officials have confirmed that they are addressing the issues. The central complications at Hamilton Holmes, which houses 125 freshmen, involve electrical problems “as a result of the circuits being overloaded,” ResLife Executive Director Andrea Trinklein said. Students who live in the residence hall have substantiated this report, as several say that they have been experiencing a loss of power in areas of the building, mainly in restrooms. Students have also made assertions of malodorous recycled toilet-water in restrooms, which has led to “really foul-smelling bathrooms,” according to one College freshman who spoke on the condition of anonymity. While many students have taken to social media outlets to voice their complaints, sophomore and resident advisors have insisted that freshmen only speak to maintenance. On the Hamilton Holmes Facebook page, one resident advisor insisted that freshmen not comment to the Wheel on the matter. In response to an onslaught of complaints, the Campus Services staff and New South, the construction company that built Hamilton Holmes, have both been inspecting the building in order to respond to these problems as they occur, Trinklein said.
SEE INSIDE Editorial reaction to the response to maintenance issues at Hamilton Holmes Hall See Page 6. “The other day, maintenance people came into the room across the hall to take a whole toilet from the wall, but the problems came back,” another College freshman said. New buildings like Hamilton Holmes often experience unforeseen problems that can surface even when potential problems are checked after construction, according to Trinklein. The Residence Hall Director Byron Liu (’12C) in collaboration with the Hamilton Holmes Hall Council Executive Board have also recently created an online survey in the Hamilton Holmes Facebook group. The purpose of the survey is to ensure that New South can determine the sources and extent of these issues, according to the posting on the Facebook page. The survey asks residents questions such as whether they have been experiencing electrical and plumbing issues in their rooms, as well as whether they have noticed other problems throughout the building. Residents have not been shy voicing their discontent. During the past two weeks, several students have made claims on various social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter about these maintenance and plumbing issues. One student, for example, wrote on the Hamilton Holmes Facebook group page, “Everybody please go on
See RESIDENTS, Page 5
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