10th-annual Wheel Debates displays a bravado of respect, camaraderie

The Emory Wheel hosted its 10th annual Wheel Debates for the 2022-23 Student Government Association (SGA), College Council (CC) and BBA Council elections on March 16. Over the course of an hour and a half, candidates pushed for their respective campaign platforms, responded to both scripted and audience-written questions and debated various social issues. 

While candidates ranged from SGA president and vice president, CC president and vice president and BBA Council president, the underlying thread that tied all prospective leaders together was an urgent call for radical change. 

SGA presidential debates

The four SGA presidential candidates at the time discussed key points to their campaigns while responding to underlying academic, social and cultural issues at Emory. 

Since the debate, however, former SGA presidential candidates Elisabet Ortiz (24C) and Ranjan Kesavan (24C) have been disqualified from the race by the Elections Board.

In a March 17 email to Ortiz, the Board of Elections stated that she was ineligible to run due to her status of not being a full-time enrolled student. In a March 20 email to Kesavan and his former SGA vice presidential candidate running mate Ben Arnoldsen Crawford (24C), the Elections Board noted their disqualification for sharing “unapproved posts that included profanity and obscene language.”

As current SGA Speaker, Alyssa Stegall (21Ox, 23C) intends to focus on a variety of long-neglected initiatives on mental health, diversity, sustainability and the arts. Stegall pushed for a reframe of the writing process for bills and resolutions. 

“By establishing a university-wide listserv, we can keep administration accountable while facilitating discussion and conversation,” Stegall said.

Stegall also hopes to alleviate transparency in SGA and OxSGA through bolstering Oxford-Atlanta liaisons, while acknowledging that the Oxford campus has a separate, unique structure. 

“Oxford students don’t really know what goes on here,” Stegall said. “There is no Oxford student in this room right now.” 

Ortiz, who dropped out of the SGA presidential race on March 21, focused on the overlooked and underserved students at Emory University. 

During her first year at Emory, Ortiz faced homelessness, food insecurity and inadequate health insurance that led her to create the mutual aid organization Students For Students. In advocating for more equitable services for low income and minority students, the organization has raised thousands of dollars for funds.

“I am running because I did not fall through the cracks created by the large failings of the University,” Ortiz said. 

Students For Students served as a foundation for the primary building blocks of Ortiz’s platform, such as the recent initiative to advocate for a $15 minimum wage for federal work study students as well as to doll out stipends for student leaders in clubs like SGA. 

“46% of this campus receives financial aid, so including more voices, especially marginalized ones, the ones that are affected by these platforms, is a very important first step,” Ortiz said. In fact, 46% of first-year students, not all students, receive need-based financial aid in 2019. 

Even though Ortiz did not attend Oxford College, she proposed initiatives to better integrate the Oxford community, such as a transportation model that would make the Oxford-Atlanta commute easier. In addition to increased shuttle services, Ortiz hopes to connect Oxford students to Atlanta-based opportunities while also producing events at Oxford for Atlanta students to attend.

Having served as the SGA president of Oxford last year, Eleanor Liu (21Ox, 23B) made a straightforward address. 

“I kept my platform fairly simple, and I kept it simple for a reason,” Liu said. “I don’t want to make promises I can’t keep.” 

By creating support that walks students through the resolution process and collaborating with resolution authors, Liu wants to turn the written words on such resolutions into reality. 

From cultivating more flexible pass/fail guidelines and widespread menstrual products on the Oxford campus, Liu is adept in driving ideas to fruition.

As the current Vice President of Finance for SGA, Liu has had experience in holding clubs financially accountable.

In regards to holding elections for the Student Programming Council (SPC) president, Liu condemns this proposal due to its lack of scope and applicability toward all student-run organizations. SPC is one of six executive agencies, which are responsible for serving the Emory community at large, rather than specific divisions of the school. 

“It’s not about targeting  SPC, but how we can create a policy that applies to everyone,” Liu said. 

Along the same lines, Stegall remarked that hosting a university-wide election for a role that requires detailed specialization and rapport amongst the organization could potentially harm the core mission of the club in the long run. 

“At the end of the day, before we get SPC specific, we need a specific doc regarding [executive agency] guidelines, because those don’t exist right now,” Stegall said. 

If elected, Liu affirms that her website will stay updated on new initiatives and highlights.

“In my campaign, I promised that I want to hold open forums, specifically a campus wide event to gather student input similar to what the Residence Hall Association (RHA) does,” Liu said. 

By implementing these checks of power, Liu hopes to honor her commitment to radical transparency and authenticity, clarifying her campaign to clear-cut, actionable steps.

Kesevan said he wants to address systemic issues “beyond just funding and events.”

“If we want to make change, it can’t be just the 100 people of SGA, we need to advocate change to the entire campus,” Kesavan said.

Criticizing the fractured system of Oxford continuees as they move onto the Atlanta campus, Kesavan pointedly indicated that current Emory College underclassmen have few chances to meet Oxford first and second years, despite being in similar grade levels. 

“How are we supposed to build a community that fosters integration between the campuses if nobody is communicating, meeting and talking with each other?” he said. 

To close off their portion of the night, the candidates answered an audience question about the concern of rises in antisemitism. All candidates agreed to work towards an unambiguous, working definition of hate crimes.

SGA vice presidential debates

During the SGA vice presidential debates, SGA Vice President Candidate Noah Marchuck (24C) spoke, while his former opponent Crawford was absent. Marchuck is running on a joint ticket with Stegall.

“I am running with Alyssa because I can’t imagine doing it with anyone else,” Marchuck said. “But that being said, I think collaboration is also important to running an effective student government. Anyone who is running obviously has a passion and I would be happy to work with them.” 

Marchuck was a first-year during the 2020-21 academic year, when few upperclassmen were on campus. He said this helped him recognize what the Emory community means to him. 

“I really am inspired to run to take back some of the autonomy that I lost being home for so long,” Marchuck said.

With two years of legislative experience under his belt, Marchuck has worked alongside many administrators and faculty. During his initial semesters serving on SGA, Marchuck initiated diversity programs such as the Race and Difference Colloquium Series with Sexual Assault Peer Advocates. 

Marchuck is also advocating for mental health awareness by petitioning for an increase in staffing at  Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS). In light of the recent increase in annual tuition, he said he hopes the administration can allocate the additional finances toward hiring more therapists. 

Marchuck also discussed the “really big gender equity gap in athletics,” pointing to the lack of full uniforms and apparel for the women’s soccer team, as well as the absence of tailgates for women’s varsity sports. 

BBA Council presidential debate

As a current junior representative on the BBA Council, Natalie Spitzer (23B) is running for BBA Council president based on a platform of scholarship, respect and community. 

In order to foster a concise line of communication and advertisement toward underclassmen on both campuses, international students and transfer students, Spitzer said she aims to introduce a vice president of outreach for all-encompassing purposes. 

Building off of her executive involvement at Goizueta Investment Management Group, she hopes to promote education for all regardless of background. 

“I’ve seen the benefit of it first hand, and if done correctly, it’s really an amazing experience for all BBAs,” Spitzer said.

Spitzer also wants to create a vice president of academics role to offer holistic support that the BBA staff may fail to address

By creating an environment that values attentive listening and connection to the administration, Spitzer wants to create a business-themed spinoff of Emory College’s EPASS tutoring to better prepare students for the transition from their undergraduate college to Goizueta.

“I hope to spearhead initiatives to make sure that all students can pursue academic excellence to the best of their ability,” Spitzer said. 

Spitzer’s opponent, BBA Council presidential candidate Dani Nakash (23B), said she will be “as much a listener as [she] will be a leader.” She emphasized her ability to be down-to-earth and adaptable to student concerns of academics, social life and diversity while maintaining bi-directional transparency. 

“I want people to feel comfortable approaching me with issues and for me to talk about issues that the BBA Council is facing as well,” Nakash said. 

By prioritizing synchronization and collaboration among the different councils, Nakash hopes to market business school events, such as company information sessions and professional panel speakers, to all undergraduate students at Emory. 

This year marked the first time Goizueta accepted transfer students straight into its school, and Nakash hopes to give them a voice as well. 

“It’s too hard to guess what the needs of a transfer student are,” Nakash said. “I believe the best way to address their underserved needs is by implementing a transfer student representative.” 

While the business school environment can be dismissed as hostile and competitive, Nakash believes that a cultural shift of the business school is imperative to foster relationships with fellow peers. 

“The grading bell-curve is an integral part of the business school,” Nakash said. “So I want to continue programming and making sure people can hang out with each other outside of classes in a more social setting.” 

College Council president debate

As the sole candidate for College Council president, Akshat Toshniwal (23C) endorses a platform of advocacy, connectivity and accountability. With extensive financial policy experience in the audits and budgets wing of College Council, Toshniwal said he hopes to drive forward a more concrete and resound fiscal structure. 

By reinstituting a bill and resolutions framework, consistently updating the College Council digital media and working with administration, Toshniwal hopes to redefine the student involvement experience. 

“I want to start building on what we’ve already been working on for the past three years,” Toshniwal said. 

Having faced obstacles through navigating supplemental funding and outdated database systems in managing his own club, Dhoom Emory, Toshniwal understands the weaknesses of the current College Council system.

“Something that has not been extremely prominent within the College Council is remaining accountable to the student body,” Toshniwal said. 

He noted that one of the most productive meetings that College Council has hosted this year was with members of SGS and SILT. They left the meeting with actionable steps that can be implemented on a timeline. 

“We need to start working with administration to make change, besides just liaising between the student body,” Toshniwal said. 

Particularly in regards to student-wide critiques of Emory’s mental health and counseling services, Toshniwal hopes to turn CAPS around. Specifically, Toshniwal points to providing more accessibility during non-business hours, integrating mental health training into CC’s internal structure, and coordinating a robust first-year orientation program that destigmatizes the conversation surrounding mental health. 

“These are the resources that should be available as soon as they enter the university,” he said

College Council vice presidential debate

Running for vice president of College Council, Neha Murthy (24C) spent her entire first year at home. Due to her desire to find community, Murthy founded her own student organization called SWARA, an Indian classical music club for vocalists, instrumentalists and music enthusiasts. She experienced first hand how disjointed the club chartering process was and how difficult it was to join exclusive organizations. 

Having served on the College Council as the vice president of organizational management, Murthy aims to simplify club resources and fiscal policy to streamline the process of student involvement. 

“One of the things I want to do is see if I can advocate to have the school club fair outside of the school day and start hosting more events on the quad to foster that community,” Murthy said.

Several College students thought that the debates were informative and polite. 

“I thought the questions were really interesting and geared towards certain people, everyone did a really great job being polite and it was really informative,” Eliza Oren (25C) said. 

Amongst the SGA presidential candidates, all four were students of color with intersectional identities.

“I believe there was good direction and pointed questions and reasonable diversity,” Sruti Kumar (22C) said. “I love that three of the candidates were women, that was really cool to see that representation.” 

Nathan Yang (22C) said that while he previously refrained from tuning into election season, he  has recently made an effort to be more informed of student government politics. 

“I’m hoping that people will actually make a difference this time around,” he said.

Correction (3/23/2022 at 9:14 p.m.): A previous version of the article stated that Natalie Spitzer (23B) is a pre-BBA coach. In fact, she is not a pre-BBA coach.