Amid a challenging and tumultuous pandemic, Emory students need leaders committed to strengthening traditions, campus unity and equity. College Council’s (CC) next president must be both dedicated to and capable of improving all students’ experiences, and one candidate is better qualified in that regard than any other. For these reasons, The Emory Wheel’s Editorial Board endorses Megan Yang (22C) in her bid to become the next CC president.
One of the key components of Yang’s platform is ensuring that arts students feel included in Emory’s strongly pre-professional culture, which she believes will help create a more welcoming and hospitable campus. As a former chair of the Oxford Student Government Association’s Arts and Academics committee and a film and media studies major, she stated in an interview with the Wheel that she recognized the need for “student artists and creatives” to be supported. However, many of them are looking elsewhere “instead of their institution.” She plans to remedy this by working with arts groups like Emory Pulse, Emory Arts Underground, altKEY and the Emory Art Club to request a physical space for students to produce and store artwork.
Moreover, her experience as an Oxford continuee will help her to identify and remedy the disconnect between students from Emory’s two campuses. Specifically, she plans to encourage more close-knit Oxford-Atlanta relations by holding joint general body meetings with Oxford’s Student Government Association and all-campus events such as reviving the College Council’s CultureShock and the Around the World International Food Festival. She also explained that she will strengthen this bond through an Oxford Affinity Ceremony to “show that Oxford students still have their heritage even after leaving campus.” After talking with Tammy Camfield, the director of Alumni Advancement and an alumna of both Emory and Oxford, Yang cited Camfield’s pride toward her former peers and classmates as a positive way to “recognize and remember the [Oxford] community.”
As an international student, Yang understands the difficulties of juggling multiple time zones and exam deadlines that students abroad have faced this past year. She plans to advocate for University-wide policies, such as improving the flexibility of assignment deadlines and publicizing school events through international communication platforms like WeChat to mitigate that inequity. Her willingness to talk to administrators, such as Associate Director at the Office of Undergraduate Education Frank Gaertner, to better understand the feasibility of her plans from an administrative perspective not only testifies to her communication skills and commitment to the job, but will also help her maintain channels of communication with administrators when it comes time to implement her plans.
That said, her diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are somewhat underdeveloped and broad, in contrast with her platform’s overall focus on Oxford, liberal arts and international students. “Typically international, Oxford, BIPOC and non-BIPOC students have not been recognized,” Yang said in her interview. “I want to make sure student leaders are trained in ways to create safe spaces and better communicate with these communities at our school.” Through hosting intercultural events, social justice training and leadership workshops, Yang hopes to encourage greater campus unity and awareness. However, the breadth and ambiguity of these plans make their efficacy difficult to predict in the short term.
Given that Yang has only served as a sophomore senator on the Oxford SGA for one semester, whether she has enough experience to see her plans through is also worth questioning. She lacks experience in student government and leadership positions, especially in contrast with her opponent, current Residence Hall Association President Akash Kurupassery (22C).
Though Yang’s plans are tailored toward certain student groups more than others, her existing plans are highly feasible. Her extensive plans to create a more integrated student body and her willingness to work with administrators while developing and implementing them demonstrate that she would be a flexible and proactive president. She is the candidate, the advocate and the leader that Emory College needs. For these reasons, we encourage students to vote Yang for their next CC president.
The above editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel’s Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is composed of Sahar Al-Gazzali, Viviana Barreto, Rachel Broun, Jake Busch, Sara Khan, Martin Shane Li, Sophia Ling, Demetrios Mammas, Meredith McKelvey, Sara Perez, Leah Woldai, Lynnea Zhang and Yun Zhu.
The Editorial Board is the official voice of the Emory Wheel and is editorially separate from the Wheel's board of editors.
