With her background as co-Chief of Staff of College Council and implementing measures to enhance accessibility across campus, Jannat Khan (25C) is the best candidate for College Council president. The Editorial Board is pleased to endorse Khan, and students should feel confident voting for her in this uncontested race.
One of the core pillars of Khan’s campaign is accessibility, a passion she developed during her freshman year at Emory. Khan came into college with a spine injury that left her in a wheelchair. She needed forms of assistance that she felt Emory did not adequately provide. Since then, much of Khan’s work has been driven by the mission to prevent others from having similar experiences to what she has had with Emory’s accessibility services. For example, her contribution to the “One-Time Declaration System,” a joint project between College Council and the Department of Accessibility Services, has helped students with testing accommodations better communicate their needs to their professors and the administration. She also founded Emory’s first chapter of DREAM, an organization for students with physical and mental health conditions that addresses accessibility concerns on campus in areas such as dining, academics and transportation.
Khan is also attuned to the issues faced by international students and cultural organizations at Emory. She founded Mehfil, an intercultural and interfaith organization that promotes Qawwali music, which hails from multiple regions throughout South Asia. Khan’s campaign states, “This music knows no borders, and has roots stemming from various religions, cultures, and ethnic groups.” Through Mehfil, Khan organizes concerts that include displays of multiple religious backgrounds and important interfaith dialogue. The Board believes that Khan’s proven ability to foster interfaith and intercultural conversations will be invaluable to her success as College Council president
Through her extracurricular experiences, Khan has made many valuable connections on campus that will help her efficiently implement change while taking into account the needs of diverse groups of students. If elected College Council president, Khan wants to spearhead a political affairs committee within College Council. This committee would increase transparency about Emory’s Undergraduate Code of Conduct and how to organize and support fundraisers and protests. She believes that having a group of students educated on how to handle student well-being in response to political events will help uplift student voices while also maintaining student safety, especially given the recent political tumult on campus.
The Board believes Khan’s background in fostering dialogue and inclusion among diverse groups and advocating for those who are too often unseen on Emory’s campus makes her the ideal candidate for College Council president. While she is running uncontested, the Board is confident that Khan is the best person to lead College Council. She is authentically passionate about all of her work, and the Board is excited to see how this may extend to her tenure as College Council president.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Marc Goedemans, Sophia Hoar, Carson Kindred, Justin Leach, Eliana Liporace, Lola McGuire, Saanvi Nayar, Sara Peréz, Jaanaki Radhakrishnan and Ilka Tona.
