For College Council (CC) vice president, the Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board strongly endorses Neha Murthy (24C). We believe Murthy has the drive and concrete leadership skills that will allow her to foster a greater sense of community and unity that Emory is currently lacking.
Muthy has displayed great commitment to the Emory community with her past experience and determination. Currently serving as Vice President of Organizational Management on CC, Murthy has succeeded in establishing a relationship with administration alongside other campus offices and thoroughly comprehending the club chartering and financial process. Unphased by the fact that others have quit in the past year, Murthy still persisted in this difficult role. She has proven her grit and commitment to take on hard roles and make necessary changes, which will be beneficial because her vision to unite the Emory community requires the perseverance she has continuously displayed in the past.
Throughout her platform and campaign video, Murthy expressed frustration with the club chartering process. This, alongside a desire to get involved, were the primary motivators for her to join College Council where she claims to have been able to improve the onboarding process for new clubs, allowing students to have better access to campus resources and clubs and catalyzing a sense of involvement. Further, a main pillar of Murthy’s campaign is improving the Hub, a centralized resource for all club organizations. However, the Hub is rarely used because of its inaccessibility and poorly designed user interface. Murthy’s ideas for improvements, such as a module in ECS that would spell out how to navigate the Hub, would .
In an interview with the Wheel, Murthy expressed disappointment with Emory’s lack of school spirit, acknowledging that without a football team, Emory has nothing to rally around and lacks an integral part of the typical American college experience. Murthy’s dedication to school spirit within the Emory community and desire to improve cohesion will be beneficial to not only the student body, but will also help student mental health. Studies have repeatedly proven that community is critical for humans to be healthier by feeling connected with one another.
When asked about other ways in which the Emory community could feel cohesive, Murthy mentioned a broader and more abstract sense of disconnectedness, but also highlighted specific action items such as asking that there should be improved channels of communication for resources. For example, Murthy suggests that orientation leaders should be better equipped with resources like a list of student organizations and new modules in PACE 101 and ESC 101 for incoming freshmen to spread the burden more evenly among those meant to be primary contact points for first year students such as RAs. Murthy’ multifaceted approach uniquely recognizes that ameliorating mental health must come from all aspects of the student experience. Further, it reaffirms her dedication to the community. She wants students to feel connected and informed from the second they arrive on campus and knows exactly how to achieve it.
In an interview with the Wheel, Murthy described her character as a leader as one that pulls from the strengths of every member on the board. This style of leadership is especially valuable when you have a group as large and complex as the College Council where there is so much diversity and a wide range of creative thought. As Murthy puts it, “Working with legislators is part of the job for a reason.” Murthy recognizes this is a substantive element to further the ideas of all legislators and students rather than just her own, making her the ideal candidate to collaborate and push forward legislation beneficial to as many people as possible.
Murthy is realistic, passionate and capable of following through on projects. However, Murthy’s challenge lies in being innovative. Her platform has concrete steps for addressing issues related to communicating resources to students and improving training for club treasurers and fostering healthier relationships in CC, but leaves more to be desired in terms of proposing new projects to pioneer. While specificity is reliable and commendable, Murthy’s other challenge will be venturing beyond the scope of her previous role to develop a more comprehensive approach to the vice presidency so that she is not pigeonholed into one specific area.
Along with CC Presidential candidate Akshat Toshniwal (23C), his and Murthy’s successful history working together in the past will lead to a promising future together should they both win their respective positions. Both are dedicated to putting the community first and holding themselves accountable, so during elections, we urge the student body to put the community first and vote Murthy for CC vice president.
Editorial Board Editor Demetrios Mammas (23C) serves as a chief of staff for the College Council and Editorial Board Chair Ben Thomas (23C) serves as chief justice of the Constitutional Council. Both recused themselves and none were involved in writing or editing this editorial.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board and Opinion Editor Sophia Peyser. The Editorial Board is composed of Rachel Broun, Jake Busch, Kyle Chan-Shue, Demetrios Mammas, Daniela Parra del Riego Valencia, Sara Perez, Ben Thomas, Chaya Tong and Leah Woldai.
