This year has been a tumultuous and trying time for Emory University. From the SAT admission scandal in the summer, to the departmental cuts in the fall, to President James W. Wagner's column on the Three-Fifths Compromise last week, this school has had more than its fair share of controversy.
Just recently, the New York Times published an article about Emory's many problems. The article debuted on the front page of its website on Saturday. We at the Wheel would like to stress that while this school faces many concrete issues, we should be hesitant to oversimplify these obstacles and exaggerate the state of our community.
No doubt there is great complexity in the problems at hand. Race and cultural insensitivity are not the only issues on campus. We are also faced with the question of transparency – or lack thereof – and communication on the part of the administration. Comparatively speaking, we believe that the University was far more forthcoming about the SAT scandal than it was with the department changes announced last fall. School-wide emails sent over the summer were honest, and efforts to amend the situation were swift.
While shocked and saddened, we believe that the administration's openness prevented the issue from being worse than it could have been. Had administrators exercised that same degree of transparency in announcing the closing of several departments and programs, perhaps we, as a community, would have been more optimistic about the upcoming changes instead of focused on an irresponsible process.
National headlines would suggest that Emory is drowning in a sea of scandals, but we should be cautious to generalize and amplify. The recent New York Times article takes a broad look at Emory's problems and lumps together an assortment of controversies that took place over the last 10 years, including an anthropology professor's racial epithet and a confederate flag hung by a fraternity. While the piece does point out a number of concrete issues on our campus, we believe it also pigeonholes the way the entire student body and administration looks at race as a whole. This article, we believe, does not fully or fairly represent the entirety of our school and the good that this community also sponsors.
Let us also not forget that despite all of the controversy, there are still good things at Emory. We, as an editorial board, are proud of the student body and faculty members for being active participants in the conversations that affect this campus the most.
There is often the sentiment that Emory students are apathetic or lack school spirit, but recent events suggest otherwise. We also admire the African American studies and history departments' joint letter, which shows the great concern many faculty members hold over Wagner's comments on compromise.
Within the administration, we applaud those who have acted in the best interests of the students. Dean Ajay Nair recently sent out a letter to students describing the formation of an ad-hoc committee sparked by student concerns on issues regarding "race, gender, privilege, sexual violence and oppression on campus." The committee is made up of faculty, administrators from Campus Life and student leaders.
Nair also praises the efforts of the "Rally Against Racism" and Student Government Association President Ashish Gandhi's letter to the students, as both show the positive dialogue among members of the community. It is administrators like Nair in whom we should find inspiration and encouragement, and it is in these positive movements that we should find hope that together we are working towards a better Emory.
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