College Council (CC) recently appointed five new legislators to vacant positions, according to CC Vice President Hemal Prasad (19C).
The positions were vacant because no one had run for them or the students who were elected to those roles had transferred schools or were appointed to CC executive position, the Wheel reported on Sept. 5.
Emily Maccabee (19C) and Wenxin Lu (19C) were appointed senior legislators; Rishika Jikaria (20C) and Jasmine Cui (20C) were selected as junior legislators; and Isabella Neblett (21C) will serve as a sophomore legislator.
In lieu of traditional election campaigns, candidates submitted written applications, and Prasad and CC President Radhika Kadakia (20C) selected the legislators.
“Especially at the time we were establishing our legislature, there was no Elections Board to oversee another round of elections,” Prasad wrote in a Sept. 24 email to the Wheel. “Therefore, the best option at our disposal is appointing legislators, and vetting them beforehand.”
Becca Lee (22C), Jane Wang (22C), Kimia Tabatabaei (22C), Brad Bennett (22C) and Chandler Smith (22C) were elected as freshman legislators on Sept. 12.
Wang now serves as both a CC freshman legislator and as an associate justice on the Constitutional Council. Student Government Association (SGA) Attorney General Kaia Ordal (17Ox, 19C) approved Wang serving in both roles.
“I cross-referenced the SGA constitution, SGA code and CC constitution,” Ordal wrote in a Sept. 24 email to the Wheel. “I saw no conflict of interest in [Wang being] involved in both organizations. It would, however, have been a conflict of interest had she wanted to be on the constitutional council of SGA and also ran for SGA legislator.”
Last year, the Constitutional Council convened after two CC legislators challenged the candidacy of Radhika Kadakia (20C), who was running for CC president, the Wheel reported in March.
“If anything should come up I will gladly recuse myself,” Wang wrote in a Sept. 24 email to the Wheel. “I really just wanted to get involved with Emory’s student government in order to make a positive impact on this campus.”
Wang said she initially applied to CC while under the impression that her Constitutional Council application had been rejected.
Editor’s note: Smith is a contributing writer for the Wheel. He was not involved in the composition of this article.
Correction (9/26/18 at 12:16 p.m.): Two CC legislators challenged the candidacy of Radhika Kadakia (20C), not Sania Chandrani (19B), in March.
Correction (11/13/18 at 12:14 p.m.): Jasmine Cui is 20C, not 22C.
nicole.sadek@emory.edu
Nicole Sadek (20C) is from Charleston, S.C., majoring in English and creative writing and international studies. Sadek previously served as editor-in-chief, social media editor, copy chief, managing editor, editor-at-large and editor-in-chief.
