The 47th legislature of the Student Government Association (SGA) unanimously appointed committee chairs, a new executive member and a new Associate Justice to the Constitutional Council yesterday.
College sophomore David Bailey was appointed as associate vice president for alumni relations. The position is a two-year appointment – during the first year Bailey will assist the current vice president for alumni relations and assume the position himself during the second year.
College junior Shaunesse Jacobs was appointed chair of the SGA student life committee. The committee addresses issues of community life, academic life, admissions and financial aid, according to the bill.
Levi Lyman-Barner, an Oxford sophomore who will attend Emory this fall, was appointed chair of the SGA governance committee. The committee reviews legislation pertaining appointments, organizational structure, governing documents, impeachments and apportionment evaluation, according to the bill.
College senior Winston Hanks was appointed as chair of the SGA campus services committee. He will be in charge of overseeing campus planning, information technology, parking and transportation, sustainability and food services, according to the bill.
Finally, College senior Daniel Lemaitre was appointed associate justice for the Constitution Council. Justices decide questions of constitutionality and oversee hearings. In this case, the council needed three justices to hear a case, but they only had two, which is why SGA needed to appoint another justice.
The Office of Sustainability gave a presentation to the legislature about its long-term goals and ways in which Emory can be efficient to achieve them.
Currently, the office manages energy and water conservation, waste reduction and green buildings and space. Some of the office's long-term goals include reducing total consumption by 25 per cent by 2015 from 2005 levels, which is achievable, according to the Office of Sustainability's Programs Coordinator Emily Cumbie-Drake.
Emory has not been as successful in reducing waste. The goal is to divert 65 percent of overall waste from landfills by 2015, and it is currently diverting 35 percent.
Cumbie-Drake encouraged SGA to create committees to guide the University's sustainability goals.
Finally, the Emory Bubble, a student-run web portal, wanted SGA's support in its vision to replace LearnLink as an avenue for students to discuss academics. Currently, the website is a media platform that pools information about activities beyond the classroom, including campus organizations, sports, dining, concerts and nightlife.
Emory is phasing out LearnLink over a three-year process, this being the second academic year, according to the representative.
Members of the legislature said that they no longer used LearnLink or had very little use for it. The representative from the Emory Bubble, however, explained that he frequently used LearnLink as a freshman, and the reason the web-portal was created was for students to use it in a similar fashion.
The website allows students to pose questions, similar to the way the class comments section of LearnLink operates, and provides a forum for discussion.
Beta testers will begin using this new component of the web-portal starting May 1.
– Contact Rupsha Basu at
rupsha.basu@emory.edu
