The Emory Wheel Since 1919
Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 106, Issue 15
From ‘Lady Fleming’ to ‘Sox,’ Oxford’s stray cats to be relocated By Eileen Zhu Staff Writer Spotted resting under cars, eating leftover food on the Oxford College Quadrangle and pacing around Melizer Circle, stray cats roam all over Oxford College’s campus. According to an email on Nov. 12 from Oxford Associate Dean and Director of Residential Education and Services (RES) Timothy Leyson to the Oxford Student Government Association (OxSGA), the college aims to relocate the cats that live on Oxford’s campus to a local no-kill shelter by the end of the fall semester. Amelia Green (27Ox) and two other students run an Instagram page for “Lady Fleming,” one of the cats on campus. Green said relocating the cats may damage morale on campus since many Oxford students have bonded with the animals. “It’s a bad thing that they don’t want the cats on campus, because I think it’s a big resource for students just to enjoy the company of little creatures,” Green said. “It’s a shame.” Leyson, who is working with the Facilities Management Office on this project, praised students’ passion for the stray animals in his email to OxSGA, but also said Oxford’s campus is not “equipped to provide” care for the cats. In a statement to The Emory
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Wheel, the Facilities Management Office described the University’s process of setting traps for stray cats to “humanely” control their presence on Emory campuses. “Once a stray cat is discovered, live traps are set for a two-week period,” the office wrote. “During that time, traps are opened
Olivia Piri/Staff Illustrator
and set each afternoon and checked the following morning. If the trap remains clear, the trap is closed until the afternoon, so cats are not kept in the cage throughout the day.” The University brings captured cats to the LifeLine Animal Project, a nonprofit animal shelter located in both Fulton and DeKalb counties, according to the Facilities Management Office. “Emory has a history of utilizing Trap-Neuter-Return, a program to humanely manage feral cat populations,” the office wrote. “This involves spaying or neutering cats and then
releasing them back into their environment. Emory also works with our pest control contractors to assist with humanely trapping.” As of press time, the Facilities Management Office has not confirmed whether they have removed any cats from Oxford’s campus. Newton County, where Oxford College is located, operates Newton County Animal Services, which does not have a no-kill policy and holds stray animals for three business days, according to their website. In Leyson’s email to OxSGA, he asked students to “refrain from feeding, sheltering, or attempting to care for the stray cats directly.” He noted that students may unintentionally harm the health and safety of both the cats and the Oxford community by providing the animals with food or shelter. Despite this guidance, many students have expressed concern and taken action to care for the cats. According to OxSGA Speaker of the Senate and Chair of Student Living Aidan O’Sullivan (26Ox), the colder weather in recent months has caused concerns for some in the student body, and a few have attempted to help the animals in different ways. While several stray cats have traversed the campus over the years —
See OXFORD, Page 3
Oxford’s early graduation rate decreases to 21.1% By Eileen Zhu Staff Writer After hitting an all-time high of 33.7% last year, Oxford College’s early graduation rate dropped this year after previously steadily increasing for six consecutive years. Of the 432 current Oxford sophomores, 91 students, or 21.1% of the class, will matriculate early to the Atlanta campus after the Fall 2025 semester, according to data from Associate Director of University Communications Rachel Smith. Last fall, Oxford announced and enacted a new credit policy, after which many students expressed worries that the policy would make it more challenging to graduate early. Under the new policy, students are limited to transferring up to eight credits earned through Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate or college credit toward Oxford graduation requirements. Before the policy was implemented, Oxford allowed students to transfer up to 18 credits. According to Oxford Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Valerie Molyneaux, the college implemented this change “in the interest of equity and to ensure that the quality and rigor of outside coursework meets university standards.” Priyanka Mohanraj (26Ox) shared that while she initially wanted to graduate from Oxford early, she was one credit short from doing so. “Last summer, when I found out I couldn’t graduate early, it was very
confusing,” Mohanraj said. “The credit policy, it inhibited a lot of people that initially came in with the goal of graduating early.” Mohanraj mentioned she wanted access to more of the research opportunities on the Atlanta campus. “If I were able to graduate early, in terms of pre-professional goals, it would put me more ahead,” Mohanraj said. “I know with research, when I was reaching out to Atlanta professors, they very much preferred people that are on the Atlanta campus.” Mohanraj highlighted that the new credit policy, which began for her class, affected her four-year plan. “I already prepared a lot of my classes before I came into Emory,” Mohanraj said. “With the transfer policy and especially with my credits, a lot of them didn’t really transfer smoothly. It made me take a lot of classes I took in high school, like stats or econ. It put me a little behind in that sense.” Shraddha Vanaparthy (25Ox), who plans to graduate early from Oxford this fall, said she wanted to graduate early as part of her plan to graduate from Emory University a semester early. “With the gap semester, especially as I’m on the pre-med track, I thought it’d be cool to have that time, so I could, for example, study for the MCAT, or if I wanted to work a full-time job, I could pursue that within that semester, instead of hav-
See EARLY, Page 2
SGA releases new financial data to improve transparency By Tori Mooney SGA Desk Seeking to increase financial transparency, Emory University’s Student Government Association’s (SGA) Vice President of Finance Grant Lichtman (26B) delivered a financial report on SGA’s yearly funding, accounts and spending during their Nov. 17 legislative session. The report publicized much of SGA’s financial data for the first time in recent years. This release follows SGA’s Nov. 10 legislative session, during which legislators asked the organization’s executive branch for more information about SGA’s funding and accounts, seeking to increase transparency with the student body. According to the SGA Finance Code, upon the legislature’s request, the vice president of finance must deliver a biannual public report. The Nov. 17 financial report publicized the amount of money in SGA’s Contingency Account, which funds University-wide programs and events through the SGA supplemental funding process or with SGA legislative approval. As of the report’s publication, SGA anticipates having $546,349.70 in the account for Spring 2026. Each year, unspent Student Activity Fee (SAF) funds are
added to the account balance, which carries over from one SGA administration to the next. Much of SGA’s funding comes from the SAF, a mandatory, semesterly fee that every student pays to help fund SGA and student groups. Currently, students pay $133 semesterly into the SAF. According to SGA Chief of Staff Elijah Robuck (26C), in recent years, SGA kept the amount of money in the Contingency Account private from students due to “contract negotiations,” but Robuck did not expand. However, the SGA Constitution states that the organization’s papers are public record. SGA President Tyler Martinez (26C) said the decision to publicize the amount of money in SGA accounts was part of the current administration’s larger initiative to build transparency with the student body. “We definitely want to make sure that every process within student government is equitable, and it holds every organization that we contribute to accountable,” Martinez said. Lichtman said this administration is emphasizing transparency in order to increase the student government’s accountability in financial decisions. “This year, we’re trying to be a lot more transparent and equitable with
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the money we have and the money we give out,” Lichtman said. “We want to make sure that all of our decisions are data-driven and that we’re not really just doing anything arbitrary.” Each semester, the Student Accounts and Billing Office collects the SAF from students’ tuition, and SGA then disperses SAF funds to divisional councils and executive agencies, which are responsible for overseeing undergraduate-wide programs and clubs (EAs). Some of SGA’s other accounts include the Executive Account and Legislative Account, which provide administrative funding to run programs and events. Another SGA account is the Fee Interest Account, which collects interest on SGA accounts and funds permanent programs that benefit every undergraduate student, such as stipends to reduce printing costs and continue managing the Hub. SGA also allocates funding to the four divisional councils based on enrollment numbers at each college, including the College Council, the Bachelor of Business Administration Council, Oxford Student Government Association and the Emory Student Nurses Association. The SAF split determines the percentage allocated to the division for each student and to SGA.
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Spencer Friedland/Editor-in-Chief
Student Government Association President Tyler Martinez discusses referendums at the University Senate on Nov. 18. Additionally, SGA also provides funding to EAs, which include Service Council, Belonging and Community Council, Club Sports, Outdoor Emory and Student Programming Council, among others, based on the annual EA review process. Lichtman said that during the EA review process, each EA presents on past and future initiatives, which the Finance Committee uses to determine how much money they need for the fol-
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lowing year. Martinez highlighted future changes that his administration hopes to make to the EA review process. “We don’t think that that’s been the most useful way of determining an allocated budget for executive agencies specifically, and we’re looking to enhance that process so that it’s more equitable and just more
See LEADERS, Page 3
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