Last week, the Student Government Association (SGA) announced that two second-year Emory Law students, Kenneth Liebowitz and Edward Kovel, will receive a $5000 grant to build a fitness trail through Lullwater Park that will feature several exercise stations located at various points along the trail. The pair’s idea was the winning submission in the SGA’s $5000 for Change grant competition.
A few years ago SGA started a similar project which offered $500 to create smaller scale projects. We are glad that SGA decided to offer a more substantial sum to the winner, seeing as it is difficult to create much change with $500. Although SGA sent out an email announcing the $5000 for Change — calling for submissions — and another email asking the Emory community to vote, we feel that the opportunity could have been more widely advertised. As far as we can tell, a majority of the advertising took place on Facebook, but that medium has its own limitations (e.g. those who are not friends with SGA representatives would not see the project). Perhaps there could have been more flyering around campus. Overall, however, we recognize that it is difficult to reach those members of the Emory community who do not read all of their emails or are generally uninterested.
We would like to commend SGA’s choice in awarding this grant to the Lullwater Fitness Initiative. While other submissions were of a more temporary nature, we are glad that Liebowitz and Kovel’s idea is not only permanent, but also sustainable. With just a little maintenance, the proposed trail and exercise stations will be around for many years to come. Furthermore, we believe that the project will serve many purposes for Emory and the surrounding community. The trail will encourage a healthier, more active lifestyle and might attract more people to Lullwater.
As an aside, we would like to suggest that Liebowitz and Kovel include an area with swings in their final plans. We, at the Wheel, love swings, and we look forward to the timely construction of Lullwater’s latest addition.
The above staff editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel‘s editorial board.
The Emory Wheel was founded in 1919 and is currently the only independent, student-run newspaper of Emory University. The Wheel publishes weekly on Wednesdays during the academic year, except during University holidays and scheduled publication intermissions.
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Has Liebowitz and Kovel gotten approval from the Lullwater committee? Doesn’t seem like they’ve done their homework. Numerous Lullwater initiatives have been rejected such as lights and water fountains in Lullwater. It is doubtful that this would be approved in light of previous rejections. Seeing as SGA has no control over the university, it seems irresponsible to award money for something that hasn’t been approved yet.