The Emory Wheel
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Emory Events Calendar, Page 2
Police Record, Page 2
Arts and Entertainment, Page 9
Crossword Puzzle, Page 8
Staff Editorial, Page 6
Sports, Page 11
Since 1919
The Independent Student Newspaper of Emory University www.emorywheel.com
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
Jones Wins 2015 McMullan Award The College of Arts and Sciences selected Jovonna Jones as this year’s winner of the 2015 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award, which grants $25,000 to a College senior who exhibits leadership skills and a penchant for community outreach, according to an April 3 College press release. Faculty members who nominated Jones, an African American studies major and philosophy minor from just outside of Boston, highlighted her revamping of the Black Student Alliance (now the Black Student Union), her work as an intern at the Center for Women and her research for two fellowship programs. Faculty and staff write recommendations for McMullan nominees — “exceptional members of the senior class” — and send their nominations to a committee of College faculty members who select a recipient, according to Associate Director of the Honor Council Jason Ciejka. Jones will officially receive the accolade, an endowment given by corporate lawyer William L. Matheson (’43C, ’47G) that was first awarded in 1996, at this year’s College diploma ceremony during Commencement on May 11. When she heard the news last Tuesday, Jones said she was shocked, as McMullan recipients aren’t notified when they are nominated — only when they’ve won. On Monday, March 30, Jones received an email from Andrea Lentz, the assistant to Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education Joanne Brzinski, requesting that she meet with Brzinski and College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robin Forman without specifying the reason. “When I sat down with Dean Brzinski, she asked, ‘Do you know why you’re here?’” Jones recalled.
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Every Tuesday and Friday
taste of africa
awards
By Lydia O’Neal News Editor
Volume 96, Issue
Jones mentioned several ways she might use the money: a vacation for her parents’ wedding anniversary in May, a foundation to support photography education and scholarships, traveling and simply saving most of the $25,000 prize.
Jovonna Jones, College senior and 2015 Lucius Lamar McMullan Award recipient While Jones plans to pursue a Master of Fine Arts in photography at Georgia State University and received highest honors for her thesis on the work of black women photographers last week, much of her time at Emory has been rooted in social activism. As a sophomore and president of the Black Student Alliance (BSA) in 2013, she allied the group with other campus organizations, changed its name to the Black Student Union, helped redefine its goals and mentored its new leaders. Following University President James W. Wagner’s controversial reference to the three-fifths compromise in a column that year, Jones wrote a Wheel op-ed from the BSA’s perspective and later joined a livestreamed discussion with three other speakers for a Huffington Post video debate. “That was remarkable, the way she turned [the BSA] around,” said African American Studies Professor Nagueyalti Warren, one of the nine faculty members and administrators who nominated Jones. Warren added that, at the time, the BSA came close to becoming obsolete.
See McMullan, Page 3
A
Courtesy of Cam St. Julien
byssinian Experience performs various traditional Ethiopian and Eritrean dances on Saturday evening at the Emory African Student Association’s annual “Taste of Africa 2015: So You Think You Know Africa?” in Cox Hall Ballroom. The event featured food, dancing, music and performances from groups such as Samba Diallo, An Ka Fo Drum & Dance, Zuri African Dance Troupe and others.
Campus life
Survey Examines Emory’s Response to Sexual Assault By Sarah Husain Staff Writer
Just a few hours after the Division of Campus Life and the Office of the Provost released a survey on Tuesday, March 31 on the University’s sexual misconduct policy and sexual assault prevention, more than 600 students had already completed it, according to Carolyn Livingston, senior associate vice president of Campus Life and Title IX Coordinator for Students. As of Monday evening, April 6, Livingston said that 1,109 students have taken the survey. This survey is the first of its kind
at Emory and is part of an initiative by the Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs and the Division of Campus Life, according to Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life Ajay Nair. Nair explained that this survey is not in response to changes in policy or any new issues with sexual assault at Emory University. “Simply put, we want to better understand the thoughts and perceptions our students have about these critical issues on our campus,” Nair wrote in an email to the Wheel. “Our goal is to be a prominent resource on violence prevention, advocacy and
response.” Nair said that he wanted to know student views of Emory’s sexual misconduct policy, assault prevention programs and response initiatives. Last year, Emory was included in a list of 55 U.S. colleges released by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights that are under federal review for the handling of sexual violence allegations. Last year the White House Task Force to Protect Students from Sexual Assault also released a report detailing recommendations for dealing with sexual assault on college campuses. It recommended that universities conduct a “campus climate”
relay for life
student government
New SGA Sworn In, Speaker Elected
survey to understand the extent of the issue on its campus. The Association of American Universities worked with the White House task force to develop a survey for member schools, such as Emory, to use. According to Livingston, Emory opted out of using that survey because the administration wanted a survey tailored to the Emory community. Last summer, the Sexual Violence Prevention Visioning Task Force, a committee that includes Emory faculty, staff and students as well as scientists from the Centers for
See CAMPUS, Page 3
Commencement
Berman Selected as 2015 Class Orator
By Luke White Senior Staff Writer
By Lydia O’Neal News Editor
The 49th Legislature of the Emory Student Government Association (SGA) gathered for the first time on Monday evening, marking the transition between new and old SGA regimes. SGA also elected Sophomore Representative and College sophomore Crystal McBrown as its Speaker of the Legislature for the upcoming year after a quick vote. College junior and new SGA President Raj Tilwa was sworn in at the meeting as the outgoing president, College junior Jon Darby, looked on. There was little to discuss at the meeting, which was largely ceremonial. However, the one important procedure that took place was a vote to determine who would replace outgoing Speaker of the Legislature and Goizueta Business School senior Luke Bucshon. McBrown and SGA Sophomore Representative and College sophomore Cameron Duncan were the only members of SGA who ran for the position, and they both gave brief speeches explaining their credentials
A selection committee chose College senior Orli Berman as this year’s class orator, who will speak at the College of Arts and Sciences’ diploma ceremony as part of Commencement on May 11, according to a Friday press release from the College.
See attendance, Page 4
S
Erin Baker/Staff
tudents participated in shaving cream wars on McDonough Field during Relay for Life’s main event on Friday evening. Proceeds from the event went towards funding cancer research. The event included games and activities such as an Easter egg hunt, kickboxing, tiedyeing and a bouncey house.
lecture
Professor Lectures on Chinese Rituals By Emily Lim Staff Writer
University of Michigan Anthropology professor Erik Mueggler used death rituals by the Yi ethnic minority in southwest China to show how this group subjects the dead to a form of politics on Monday evening, as part of the anthropology department’s Distinguished Speaker
News College senior Orli Berman chosen as 2015 class orator ... PAGE 4
Series. More than 30 faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students attended the lecture, “Songs for Dead Parents: the Politics of a Minority Literature,” which was sponsored by the Confucius Institute at Emory, the Hightower Fund, the Russian and East Asian Languages and Cultures department and East Asian Studies. Mueggler’s research focuses on
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ritual, religion, science and nature in China’s border regions as well as social and cultural theory, according to University of Michigan’s website. Mueggler stated that the Yi in the 1950s in Zhi Zuo, China facilitated relations among the living. The dead were considered social beings and were thus subject to politics, he said. Mueggler distinguished three main types of songs that describe the
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PAGE 9
Orli Berman, College senior and 2015 class orator
stages of death: first, the “cradling” of the soul until it is lifted; second, the “clothing” of the soul by monkey skins; third, the “return songs” in which the soul is returned to life. The songs, according to Mueggler, illustrate the fundamentals of the politics of death, in which the dead must be controlled in order to give
The only speaker at the diploma ceremony, Berman, an international studies and economics major from Bethesda, Maryland, applied for the opportunity to serve as class orator and, along with 25 other applicants and students nominated by College seniors, wrote a 500-word version of her speech to the committee. She and several other selected finalists then auditioned for the position by revis-
See mueggler, Page 3
See ORATOR, Page 4
Sports Track & Field
D1 athletes at High Point ... Page 11 competes against
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President Carter’s lecture on Ebola ... Friday