College Council President Akshat Toshniwal (23C). Photo courtesy of Akshat Toshniwal
Upon concluding the duties of Emory University’s 66th College Council, outgoing President Akash Kurupassery (22C) and Vice President Riya Mehta (22C) expressed their heartfelt gratitude toward the legislature’s numerous initiatives this year during the April 20 Transition Ceremony in Convocation Hall.
“It’s been a wild ride,” Kurupassery said. “There was a lot to deal with this year, especially coming from COVID-19, trying new initiatives and trying to fix College Council as a whole, all at once. It was a lot of work, but I think it was really meaningful.”
The ceremony also included an awards component. Vice President of Programming Alisha Patel (22C) and Senior Legislator Sabrina Jin (20Ox, 22C) were named Executive and Legislative Member of the Year, respectively. Following the brief awards presentations, Emory College of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael Elliott led the swearing in of incoming President Akshat Toshniwal (23C), Vice President Neha Murthy (24C) and the rest of the 67th legislature.
Toshniwal, who joined College Council on a whim his freshman year as Assistant Vice President of Audits, spoke on his tireless work with the 66th legislature and the many changes over the past academic year.
“During my interview, they asked me what audits were, and I gave the most vague explanation,” Toshniwal added. “They decided to take a chance on me, and here we are.”
College Council Vice President Neha Murthy. Photo courtesy of Neha Murthy
Murthy’s journey started when she went through a frustrating club chartering process for her club SWARA, an Indian classical music club. She ultimately joined College Council in an attempt to reform the process to make club chartering easier for students and to prevent others from having that same experience.
“I’m super excited to work with Neha as well as the rest of the fantastic College Council team,” Toshniwal told the Wheel. “We want to work towards providing a platform for all legislators and executive members to accomplish their missions, which we were fortunate to learn about during the interview cycle.”
He added that, more importantly, he is looking forward to building a sense of community within College Council and the Emory student body, as well as fostering more inclusive collaboration.
Ashley Zhu (she/her) (25C) is from Dallas, Texas, majoring in biology and minoring in sociology. She is the vice president of recruitment for the Residence Hall Association, a sophomore advisor for Raoul Hall and a staff writer for the Emory Undergraduate Medical Review. She is involved in cell biology research at the Pallas Lab and is a BIOL 141 Learning Assistant. Zhu enjoys FaceTiming her dog, stalking people's Spotify playlists and listening to classical music in her free time.
