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Given the challenges that the Emory community will face in the coming months, it is imperative, more so now than ever, for Emory’s Student Government Association (SGA) to run efficiently and cohesively. The SGA executive vice president requires a conscientious leader capable of cutting through the bureaucracy and welding SGA into a functional, impactful whole. The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board, in light of that necessity, endorses Mikko Biana (21C) in his campaign to become SGA’s next executive vice president.
Biana, who is running on a joint ballot with SGA presidential candidate Lori Steffel (21B), is somewhat of an outsider — that much is inescapable. He has been involved in campus-wide student government for only one year as SGA’s chief of staff in SGA President Ben Palmer’s (18Ox, 20C) administration. That short tenure concerns us, as Emory students rightly deserve leaders with a demonstrated commitment to ensuring their welfare and concrete experience in the context of student government. One cannot gain institutional knowledge overnight. Moreover, the fact that students have never elected him — SGA chief of staff is an appointed position — is troubling. Biana is not campaigning alone in this election. If he wins, the second most powerful person in Emory’s student government will have never faced the student body’s judgment.
The Editorial Board did not take Biana’s electoral inexperience lightly; however, we believe unique background and intense yet broad community involvement more than compensates for experiential shortcomings. Biana’s role as a resident advisor in Woodruff Residential Center reflects his commitment to connecting with individual students and listening to their feedback. Even more valuable are his experiences as a diversity fellow in the Office of Undergraduate Admission and, in that capacity, his coordination of two fly-in programs for prospective (Cultural Overnight Recruitment Experience) and admitted students (Essence of Emory). In both capacities, Biana has prioritized diverse voices and understands how to effectively include them in community conversations. We feel comfortable that he will translate these experiences and continue to champion these voices in the role of executive vice president.
Emory’s student government should function as a representative democracy. To that end, campus leaders must be representative of the constituents whom they serve so that their actions are as closely aligned with all students’ needs as possible. Biana’s background as a student of color college student and child of a working-class, immigrant family will help him ensure that Emory’s student government lives up to that expectation. In fact, Lori Steffel (21B) cited those qualities in an interview with the Wheel when asked why she had chosen to declare a joint candidacy with Biana, stating that “he brings a lot that [she] can’t offer.” We agree, and we admire their willingness to give a voice to students who may not otherwise be represented in student government.
SGA’s president and executive vice president must be a cohesive, complete team, and Biana will be an ideal complement to Steffel. Given their different backgrounds and Biana’s lack of Steffel’s institutional knowledge and direct experience, his outsider status means that he has not been subject to the bubble of student government nearly as long as Steffel has. We are confident that their partnership will be an effective one.
With his short yet intensive experience overseeing SGA’s executive branch as chief of staff, Biana will also be able to assist Steffel, who has served as speaker of the legislature and executive vice president, with maintaining the cohesion between the executive and legislative branches.
But SGA’s executive vice president does not merely serve as the president’s right hand — the position necessitates significant advocacy in its own right. In his interview, Biana cited taking the initiative to do so as an important responsibility to which he looks forward, stating that while he will coordinate closely with Steffel, he intends to be as independently active in conversations with administrators as possible. The likely direction of his independent advocacy, as revealed in his interview, encourages us as well — he expressed willingness to personally prioritize expanding equity by including more students’ input on important issues for SGA and by coordinating with student organizations of all kinds. Biana attended Oxford College SGA’s meeting on March 4 to source ideas from them and take the pulse of the Oxford student body, and he professed to us a desire to continue doing so in the future. His plans to expand the Diversity and Equity Committee, designate students on that committee as liaisons to identity clubs and create two vice presidential roles in SGA to oversee programming for students of lower socioeconomic status, if carried out, will make diversity the priority it deserves to be on our campus.
Although Biana’s relative inexperience gives us pause, his record outside of student government, demonstrated ability to connect with students, deep desire to fight for equity and inclusion, and belief in peer advocacy convince us that he will serve Emory students as an able steward.
In his interview, Biana justified his candidacy on the grounds that he has dedicated his time at Emory working with others to make it a better place for all and that he would use his new position to continue doing so. We trust that he will. Accordingly, we recommend that all Emory students cast their votes for Biana as the next executive vice president of SGA.
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