The Emory Wheel Since 1919
Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 104, Issue 4
Emory hosts first Georgia Filipino Student Association summit By Sandy Ge Oxford Campus Desk Emory University hosted the first Georgia Filipino Student Association (FSA) Leadership Summit in the Emory Student Center on Feb. 26. FSA student leaders from five universities across Georgia — Emory, the University of Georgia, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Kennesaw State University (Ga.) and Mercer University (Ga.) — gathered to celebrate their community, Emory FSA President Danielle Mangabat (23C) said. According to Mangabat, the overarching theme of the summit was Bayanihan, a Filipino custom derived from the word “bayan," meaning nation, town or community. The term means “being in a bayan,” referring to the spirit of communal unity and cooperation to achieve a goal. During the summit, students sat at tables with students from each of the five universities and participated in team building activities to build the best bayan. Mangabat noted that she wanted to have the summit so that FSA leaders from different campuses can “really create a legacy together” and make sure “that the club stays running as a cultural hub and safe space for our Filipino American students.” Leaders across the universities shared stories of what FSA means to each of them, Mangabat wrote. They also participated in workshops, such as Georgia Tech’s “Bulaklakan Dance Workshop,” and educational sessions facilitated by Filipino associations, including the Malaya Movement
See FILIPINO, Page 4
Printed every other wednesday
Wednesday, March 1, 2023
Graduate students fight for unionization amid upcoming stipend increase By Madi Olivier News Editor Elijah Ullman’s (25G) mom has stage four cancer. She lives in Colorado, leaving over a thousand miles between her and her son, who is a Ph.D. candidate at Laney Graduate School. Living on a graduate worker’s check, Ullman explained that he can barely scrape enough money together to visit his mom. He said that out of his monthly stipend from Emory University — which totals around $2,300 after taxes — about half goes to housing, followed by food and medical bills. He then has to pay for the phone in his pocket and the gas in his car. This pushed Ullman to help reignite the movement to recognize EmoryUnite!, a graduate worker union based out of Laney, as a majority union under the National Labor Relations Board on Aug. 25, 2022. A majority union includes over half of the employees in a workplace. Though EmoryUnite! has yet to form a majority union, the organization has helped create recent change, EmoryUnite! organizer Isaac Horwedel (17T, 23G) said. After continued pressure from students, the University announced on Feb. 13 that most Laney doctoral students’ stipends will increase by 6% starting in fall 2023. The stipends averaged to $34,595.63 during the 2022-23 academic year. With the increase, that average will rise to $36,637.53. Additionally, business program stipends will increase by about 8%, from $37,000 to $40,000. Students in the biomedical engineering program, which is affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology, will continue to receive $34,500 without an increase. “Increasing the stipend is a key
Soph Guerieri/Staff Photographer
EmoryUnite! members gather on the Quad to collect signatures on their card drive and celebrate their progress on Feb. 20. priority for LGS and we continue to maximize our ability to support our students every way we can,” Assistant Vice President of University Communications and Marketing Laura Diamond wrote in an email to the Wheel. “We appreciate the dedication, commitment, and excellence demonstrated by our graduate students across programs at Emory.” Ullman explained that although the increased stipend is beneficial, it still falls about $3,000 short of the living wage in Atlanta — which is about $39,375 for one adult without children — leaving Emory lagging behind some other institutions. For example, Washington University in St. Louis will offer graduate students
a $37,000 stipend, falling above the city’s $33,571.20 living wage for one adult without children. Additionally, the University of Pennsylvania’s stipend also covers Philadelphia’s living wage. “It's going to be harder for them to bite the financial bullet of coming here,” Ullman said. “They're still meeting a failing grade in that regard.” However, some of Emory’s peer institutions also fail to pay Ph.D. students above living wage, including Vanderbilt University (Tenn.) and the University of Chicago. EmoryUnite! goals EmoryUnite! Organizer M Wu (27G) said that unionizing is the only
route to truly impacting graduate students’ stipends. “There's only so much you can do working within the department that you're a part of,” Wu said. EmoryUnite! is currently gathering signatures from Laney students who support unionization through their card drive. Once 30% of Laney students sign the card, EmoryUnite! can file a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board, which would decide if the group qualifies for an election day. If more than 50% of voters express support for unionization in the election, EmoryUnite! would become a recognized majority union, requiring
See GRADUATE, Page 4
Club Involvement Poll aims to promote belonging, involvement in campus clubs By Ashley Zhu Assistant News Editor College Council presented their findings from a Club Involvement Poll on Feb. 17 to Provost Ravi Bellamokonda and the Undergraduate Council, which consists of members from across the Emory University undergraduate community. The survey, which began on Feb. 3, is the beginning of College Council’s efforts toward improving “belonging efforts, promoting involvement and expanding access,” according to an email from College Council. Incoming College Council President Neha Murthy (24C) is leading the initiative to improve club culture at Emory along with other College Council representatives, including outgoing Fourth Year Legislator Rhea Gupta (23C), incoming Third Year Legislator Corinne Phillips (25C), outgoing Third Year Legislator Harry Kou (24C), current Vice President of Organization Management Hridansh Saraogi (24C), incoming Second Year Legislator Rachel Alpert-Wisnia (26C) and outgoing Oxford Continuee
Legislator Arden Chan (22Ox, 24C). Murthy said she is worried that Emory clubs reject students too frequently. “Hearing from actual students of being rejected from like 13 clubs, or trying to get into the same club over two or three years, and then facing the rejection multiple times — it’s really disheartening, because we’re trying to create a college environment, and it’s an experience you should be able to enjoy, be involved and learn,” Murthy said. “We also see a lot of burnout, so I think that people being in a lot of leadership positions also causes that decrease or decline in mental health.” According to Murthy, Student Involvement, Leadership and Transitions (SILT) invited College Council to share their data with the full SILT staff in order to “make some tangible changes from there.” One of the largest concerns that College Council is bringing to the dean and provost’s attention is that students are not getting the experience from campus clubs that they worked hard for, she said. Murthy said that when students
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Incoming College Council President Neha Murthy is leading the initiative to improve club culture at Emory. attempt to get involved in campus life, the application and interview processes — which she said are unnecessary at times — add a high barrier to entry. She also noted a large gap between the role of general body members and executive board positions, where the executive members do most of the work and have internal bonding events. The interview process also often
favors extroverted people, Murthy noted, even if introverted candidates are able to do the work better than their extroverted peers. According to the poll, the greatest number of students felt excluded by pre-professional business clubs, followed by cultural and academic organizations, then political, service and ideological organizations.
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Students from all racial and ethnic groups besides Hispanic felt it was hard to get involved in the community and students from all racial groups besides Middle Eastern felt strongly that the same people “availed too many positions.” On average, each Emory student is involved in 3.32 clubs and has been rejected from 2.86 clubs. Students also interview for 3.7 clubs on average, while only holding 1.47 executive board positions. “Another thing that I have on my mind is that we have a large divide of people who are extremely involved, hold multiple board positions,” Murthy said. “And then there’s the opposite extreme and then a lot of people are in the middle. But it’s a lot on the extremes — not involved or very highly involved.” Engaging with community and developing a sense of belonging are essential components of student flourishing for the Emory student experience, according to SILT Associate Director of Student Organizations and Governance Dion Webb-Figueroa. “In SILT, we are working to enhance
See MURTHY, Page 3
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