The Student Government Association (SGA) Elections Board has not reached a verdict on the winner of the SGA presidential election between Goizueta Business School junior and SGA Chief of Staff Matthew Willis, and College junior and SGA Representative-at-large Raj Patel. This decision was due to allegations of cheating against at least one of the candidates, according to Matthew Kuhn, the chairman of the SGA Elections Board and a second-year law student.
In addition, B-School junior Raghvi Anand won the election for Student Programming Council (SPC) president with 53.02 percent of the vote, and College junior Graham Brooks won SPC vice president with 58.88 percent of the vote.
The races for SGA vice president, College Council (CC) vice president and CC president positions will have a run-off election on Tuesday. Their campaigns start today.
SGA Presidential Election
According to Willis, when he met with the Elections Board last night, the board presented him with allegations they had received about his opponent. Willis said the allegations concerned campaigning the day of the election, an illegal move that is stated in SGA elections rules.
Willis and Patel told the Wheel that during the meeting, the board said the results were very close. Kuhn declined to release which candidate received more votes yesterday in the case that a run-off will occur.
Last night, Willis told the Wheel that he will submit a formal written challenge against Patel to the board.
Willis also said the board told him that no allegations were made against him.
Among the allegations that Willis will include are an email Patel sent out to Clairmont campus residents yesterday, as well as a Facebook post and other students’ conversations with Patel.
Patel denied the allegations.
“I did not campaign today,” Patel said. “I encouraged people to vote … I never asked anyone to vote for me. I promise you that.”
Willis said he does not think Patel campaigned for students to vote for him blatantly but said it was “borderline” and still something Patel should not be doing.
“I don’t know why anyone would risk [that],” Willis said. “That was extremely grey.”
In accordance with Elections Board procedures, the board will look at the written challenge and determine whether there will be a hearing. Two days after the submission of the written challenge, both candidates will present their cases.
The earliest the Elections Board could hold the hearing is this Sunday, Kuhn said.
“I want to know what all these allegations are,” Patel said. “I want to hear them firsthand from the Elections Board.”
After the hearing, the board will meet privately.
Kuhn said the board has a range of options when it comes to a decision, from requiring community service of the candidate to a runoff election to disqualification.
The Results
As for the other positions, the SGA vice presidential election is now between College junior and CC Divisional Treasurer Ye Ji Kim and Governance Committee Chairperson and SGA Sophomore Representative Ted Guio.
The election for CC president is between College junior and junior legislator Bisi Adeyemo and College junior and CC Chief of Staff Jeremiah Lau. And the election for CC vice president is now between College freshman and CC freshman legislator Reuben Lack and College sophomore and CC sophomore legislator Adam Chan.
After winning the SPC presidential election, Anand said she was so overwhelmed when she found out about her win, citing her experience as the reason for his election into the position.
“I know SPC, but I [also] know how to take it to the next level to a bigger and better place,” Anand said.
Brooks said being able to know the result is “a wonderful gift.” He said implementing sustainability initiatives is one of the first steps he will take once in office.
“One of the things that I was campaigning about was sustainable events, so making sure that sustainability and zero waste is central to [this year],” Brooks said.
B-School junior Patrick McBride won the election for BBA president.
“I will work as hard as possible to better the Goizueta experience through more resources, more collaborative programming with SGA and CC, and more discussion regarding strengths and weaknesses that Goizueta and the BBA Program can emphasize and change,” McBride wrote in an email to the Wheel.
– By Karishma Mehrotra
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.
The Wheel is financially and editorially independent from the University. All of its content is generated by the Wheel’s more than 100 student staff members and contributing writers, and its printing costs are covered by profits from self-generated advertising sales.
As a senior legislator in the SGA this year, I find it my personal duty to respond to this article. The first thing that needs to be addressed here is that the elections for the SGA elections need to be decided by the students, not the elections board. Given that there were only two candidates, there is an obvious winner that holds the majority of the votes – it is the responsibility of the elections board to make that information public to the students. Not only is it a responsibility they have to the students, but also given every other position was decided, withholding this information is UNFAIR. Additionally, the charges against Raj Patel have not been made public and therefore cannot be assumed they can lead to a disqualification. Furthermore, as far as the student body is concerned the Emory Wheel is designed to serve an unbiased report of the facts – journalism seeks not to judge but to state the facts as they are known and present them to the public for their own personal interpretation. This article attacks Patel while portrays Willis as a victim, whether or not this is true should be the discretion of the students and not this newspaper. Why is Willis even challenging if he does not believe that Patel campaigned on election day? It seems to me that the student body has decided to choose the underdog as their next leader and voice on campus.
These same arguments were made in the 2000 US presidential election. And we ended up giving the presidency to the cheater. Worst decision ever!
Seems like you’ve already decided who the winner is.
You should probably disclose that you are a close friend of Mr. Patel’s and spammed ruthlessly on his behalf.
I lol’d. Every comment in this article is by a friend of the candidates, or the candidates themselves.
Bottom line: nobody gives a damn about SGA. If they were to disappear tomorrow, the student body wouldn’t care.
I completely agree with Ms. Begum! Raj has won and should be declared the winner. Matt Willis is an idiot and an over-confident fool and doesnt deserve to be SGA President. Most Greek life members feel that just cause they are popular at school, they can get what they want.
^Because Emory is full of bitches, that’s why.
Matt seems like a sore loser
Shut up Oxtard!
Matt’s camp seems like a good bunch of people
wow you’re mature and intelligent
Even if election board isn’t saying so, it’s obvious Patel won. Why would there be potential for a new vote if the only allegation out there is that Patel broke rules? Refusing to release numbers is stupid.
And the relationship between Willis and the election board looks shady for two reasons:
1. Why did the election board go up to a candidate to say that his opponent was accused of breaking rules, instead of having the people who made allegations file a challenge? To be like: “here Willis, take these allegations and file a challenge!” is weird.
2. “…Willis said the allegations concerned campaigning the day of the election…”
“Willis said he does not think Patel campaigned for students to vote for him…”
If campaigning on election day is the violation, and Willis doesn’t think Patel campaigned on election day, why is Willis filing a challenge?
Willis and election board should not be like “vote until you get it right!”
Mr. Patel did the exact same thing during his SGA presidential bid at Oxford, and was ultimately disqualified. History repeats itself?
Are election rules the same at oxford and main? If the actions are the same but the rules are different, why does it matter what happened at oxford?
Completely different situation, I was on the executive board at Oxford that disqualified him and they were all minor violations (some of which were contestable) that simply added up to a maximum number of service hours that required us to disqualify and has not repeated the same mistakes. The allegations are baseless, he only asked people to vote not to vote for him. Totally within the rules. So long story short history doesn’t repeat itself
Patel did cheat. He did the same shady shit at Oxford and obviously didn’t learn. Malika can’t really talk she acted as his campaign manager so all she’s doing is acting as damage control for Raj.
Completely different situation, he didn’t cheat at oxford. I was on the executive board at Oxford that disqualified him and they were all minor violations (some of which were contestable) that simply added up to a maximum number of service hours that required us to disqualify and has not repeated the same mistakes. The allegations are baseless, he only asked people to vote not to vote for him. Totally within the rules. So long story short history doesn’t repeat itself
Wagnerzmyhero: Matt also cheated. Did you not see his banner over Cox Hall the day of elections!?!? Also a rule violation. Matt lost. Get over it.
The real question remains: how on earth did Matt Willis botch his campaign badly enough that the race was even close? He could not have drawn an easier opponent in Raj Patel. Patel is a notorious glory hound. He has time and time again either passed meaningless legislation, or managed to sneak his name on someone else’s, all so he can take the credit. He seeks these titles and positions just to pad his resume. He is, without doubt, one of the least genuine people I have ever met. Justice will be done if the elections board sees fit to bail Willis out.
Willis needs to understand that winning an election is more than just being a part of ATO – you can’t NOT CAMPAIGN and just expect to magically win an election; it is this kind of backward thinking that needs to be eradicated from this campus. I am in no way favoring Raj Patel, but as you yourself said, “Matt Willis botch[ed] his campaign” and it was his own doing. As far as I am concerned Raj went around garnering support in all the right places and in the end came out victorious. This is how an election is meant to me — If you all think Raj is unfair and is a “glory hound” why don’t we talk about Danielle Zamarelli, who randomly appeared out of nowhere for last years VP elections, someone with NO experience with SGA at all became the VP over three MORE qualified candidates — talk about using your popularity to get into office. Raj campaigned and WON, everyone needs to get over that and move on, he was ELECTED. Willis should not have underestimated Raj, that is his own tragic flaw, and needs to accept it.
An election board invalidating a democratic process without some insanely compelling evidence isn’t justice.
A friend of mine that goes to this campus informed me of this. Hilarious. You guys are pathetic. No wonder your school is getting such bad rep due to prevalent stupidity like this. Simple. Make the results and challenges public. If there is a majority winner, he won (I’m assuming that’s how you win in your school). If there are any challenges, make it public, then decide after that. Back door meetings with one of the candidates (the ‘frat’ boy, I’m assuming), shows clear preference towards him from your elections committee. But keep it up Emory, I’m looking forward to seeing you guys on the Times again 😉
I might not go to an ivy like you “real ivy” but this seems stupid to me nonetheless. I’m sure every election has its drama, but to support the “frat” boy, who’s obviously getting preferential treatment, makes this article more of a mouth piece for the frat boy wannabe elite than fox news is for republicans. I wouldn’t be surprised if the writer had a few with the Willis guy. The overpriveledged frats here are nothing compared to the real ones at state schools, yet the ones over there don’t resort to such petty things.
you mean IN* the Times.
Let’s not pretend like people who don’t go to Emory read this paper. You are trolling and no one believes you.
Moral of this story…everyone posting has a bias towards one of the candidates.
Maybe we should do a revote and everyone vote “no confidence”. Honestly, I think a rock could do a better job running Emory.
Democracy means having your election invalidated by a bunch of unaccountable people nobody’s ever heard of who were appointed by a close personal friend of the losing candidate.
It’s kind of ironic that this is the same body that has tried to quash a student vote on departmental cuts that were perpetrated by an unaccountable, untransparent process.
No. It’s completely different. Please quit trying to bring cuts into this, Ms. Graduate Student. The reallocations are staying. If you have a problem with them, then leave our school…we’ve moved on, and so should you. You’re reply to this will probably include the word “racist” or “racism”, too, because we also live in this close-minded microcosm where all conversations have to be negatively charged.
Who”s “WE”? The faculty? The undergraduates?
The only saving grace here is that the SGA Gov’t at Emory isn’t as corrupt as the faculty one, it’s just misguided and ineffectual.
If the bulk of other comments in this thread are any indication, you guys need to stop and reflect on where you are right now instead of “moving on”.
Actually, I take that back. You guys are apparently as compromised as shit, just do a shittier job of hiding it, and now that the faculty government’s coming to its senses, exerting its rights, and cleaning house, you’re getting left behind in the dust.
“Your” school? Who do you think teaches you, grades you, organizes your event? Do you also realize you’re not speaking for all undergraduates? Or that “your school” isn’t your school – it belongs to a Board, and to administrators, who just treat you as customers – albeit grossly entitled, self-important ones?
And as for race, I know this might be hard for you to understand, but I don’t think you guys in the SGA are really the most sensitive or aware when it comes to the issue – even Ashish Gandhi knows what “all” the “African Americans” think and clearly that makes a ton of sense. And reading some of the comments here make me wonder, also, how much you guys are up to speed on some basic other issues of prejudice as well. Of course this may sound awfully “negative” to you, but then again, I’m not the one dropping slurs at other SGA members because my election didn’t go your way.
And, honestly, what right do you have to say “we’ve moved one” when you guys killed a vote to determine the position of the community in the first place? You spent a whole session saying you would look “immature” if you LET YOUR OWN CONSTITUENTS vote on No Confidence – and argued that they weren’t “informed enough” to make that kind of decision. Never mind that they were apparently informed enough to vote you guys into office, the fact that the faculty the next day moved forward on precisely that joke revealed that you folks in the SGA are more worried in not rocking the boat and are desperately afraid of even seeming to question the parental authority of the administration. And now, reading these comments – as various parties engage in a trainwreck shitshow, slurs included – it’s pretty damn obvious who the really immature ones are.
Emory Student Government is an undemocratic, self-important joke. Nice work squandering your claims to legitimacy.
PS. The other poster isn’t a “Ms”, but hey, it’s classy and in no way patronizing for you to say that either.
oooh “reallocations” …. nice word choice, only people in admin use it. sounds like you had the very mature pleasure of a meeting with somebody important who told you how to think of things and now you’re carrying water for them
typical SGA – you just care about access and the dubious glamor of having admins use you
Is ATO still the gay fraternity at Emory?
YES…
Absolutely! The frat with a million faggots who dont deserve to be at Emory!
There aren’t even a million students at Emory?
So if I understand this correctly, the debate boils down to either, “I ‘m jealous of ATO” or “people from Oxford are stupid.”
About right?
+1
Yes also there’s some homophobia and misogyny in the mix as well.
Emory SGA, just like actual university governance, but with less articulate twits and less pretense
BTW they sit on circa $9 million in funds
I heard that Matthew Willis made some deal that if he got the job, he wouldn’t allow a no confidence vote in Wagner.
Do you have any details on this?
It’s actually a good sign if admin is trying to cut deals with student government – they must be desperate as hell. But the cat’s already out of the bag, faculty are going to vote No Confidence. The only question now is whether or not students get left in the dust by people who should normally be more conservative than them. If they are, it will be solely because of obstructionism by timid / compromised SGA members.
Hi, Berman. Stop spreading rumors. You just wish that you had used this tactic when you lost the election.
The Emory Wheel Staff members,
I find it comical a story of this stature would be posted on your website when in fact staff members were promoting certain candidates. Anyways it’s become quite apparent with the rise of Facebook and other social media sources that no cares about the wheel anymore. Back when my father attended Emory he would read the wheel to learn about upcoming events, read about things on campus and whatever else fancied his mind. Nowadays I receive all this information much quicker via social media. In addition the information I received isn’t some BIASED piece of shit.
Yours truly,
A student who doesn’t care about the wheel
No dude. The Wheel is mad important. Without the Wheel,the administration could get away with murder. How is this article biased?
-writer for the wheel
Amen. The Wheel does a great job – what little transparency we have at Emory is in large part due to the Wheel. Hell (and this is no joke) news breaks in the comments sections of some of these articles alone.
Keep up the good work, Wheel.
Only a writer for the wheel would think “the wheel is mad important”. It’s like saying journalism is mad important to Emory. Oh wait..
Point out one non-attributed bias statement in this article.
Yes, I like it.