The Emory Wheel Since 1919
Emory University’s Independent Student Newspaper
Volume 106, Issue 3
Printed every other Wednesday
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
College Council stipend bills fail t0 advance Community protests state of
public health outside CDC
By Aarush Kumar SGA Desk Before announcing his bid to become the next president of Emory University’s Student Government Association (SGA), Second-year SGA Legislator Seth Weinfield (27C) proposed College Council legislation to create stipends for College Council legislators. The bill, which Weinfield proposed last month, aimed to provide financial compensation to future legislators who satisfy specific objectives, such as maintaining a high general body meeting attendance record and introducing legislation. College Council ultimately tabled the bill unanimously, according to College Council President Jannat Khan (25C). Weinfield’s effort to compensate College Council legislators came after College Council passed a bill to pay the council’s executive branch — the president, vice president, vice president of finance and speaker — on Dec. 5, 2024. Khan wrote in an email to The Emory Wheel that the plan to pay the executive branch was halted because Emory Human Resources and University administration reevaluated the compensation method. According to Khan, College Council is working with the administration to find a “more equitable stipend scheme” that holds paid individuals accountable and considers the number of hours worked in payment amounts. Assistant Director of University Communications Rachel Smith echoed a similar sentiment to Khan in an email to the Wheel, writing that the University will consult with College Council regarding the bill. “The recently passed resolution
By Jacob Muscolino Asst. News Editor
Ivana Chen/A sst. Visual & Web Editor
from College Council calls for a broader discussion with many university entities, including student governance, to ensure alignment with monetary codes, student leadership principles, HR policies, and other relevant processes to support proper stewardship of Student Activity Funds,” Smith wrote. Both bills follow SGA’s lead, whose members in the same positions began receiving $2,500 stipends in 2023. Some of the stipend money came from the SGA’s operational budget, which includes the Student Activity Fee (SAF). The SAF is a $118 fee that all Emory students must pay each semester to fund undergraduate student organizations. Jannat wrote in an email to the Wheel that the College Council executive branch stipends, if enacted next year, would also come from the SAF. Similarly, Weinfield told the Wheel that he planned for his proposed stipend to draw from the
SAF in addition to the organization’s discretionary fund. Weinfield emphasized that he intended his proposal to pay College Council legislators to open a conversation about compensating leaders in student government. “I just wanted to get a conversation going to make the College Council as [much] of an equitable place as possible,” Weinfield said. Weinfield said his primary motivation for the proposed bill was to make College Council and student government more inclusive to low-income students and believed stipends could help accomplish this. “We need to make student government a place [where] those who may be a bit more socio-economically disadvantaged can have a place where they can provide for their community,” Weinfield said. Weinfield said he expects backlash
See SGA, Page 3
Almost 200 people gathered to support the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) across four street corners in front of the agency’s headquarters on Feb. 18. Cars honked in support of the CDC as they drove down Clifton Road, and protestors’ chants and cheers were deafening. The protest comes after U.S. President Donald Trump has begun operations to cut 10% of the CDC’s workforce and limit National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding for “indirect costs” to 15% of grants. Previously, the government has capped indirect costs between 27% and 60%. Indirect costs are costs not directly related to research, such as staff salaries and utilities. Emory University could be especially affected by NIH changes, as the University ranked among the top receivers of federal funding in 2023, obtaining over $485 million from the NIH. Federal funding encompassed almost half of the University’s total external research funding of $1.1 billion that year. Protestors denounced the Trump administration with signs such as “Our democracy is under attack.” The scene was eerily familiar to one earlier this month, when protestors gathered in front of the CDC to oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which has since been confirmed. Julia Greenfield (25PH) said it
was “absolutely heartbreaking” to see Trump’s cuts at the CDC. She discussed the importance of infectious disease-related research conducted at the CDC and the agency’s importance internationally. Even in the midst of political change, Greenfield said that events like this protest have given her a newfound sense of validation in her passion for public health advocacy. “Today we’re seeing a lot of validation that we haven’t had in a while,” Greenfield said. “After the election, I felt a bit outnumbered because it’s just really heartbreaking to have the field that you’re so passionate about be devalued and defunded.” Haley Cionfolo (25PH) shared a similar sentiment, stating that the recent turmoil has been a “burden.” She added that it has been “hard to watch” the government constantly attack her passion and field in recent months. Former CDC Senior Public Affairs Specialist Ryan Sloane was one of the over 1000 CDC employees who was laid off in the past few weeks. He said his termination paper indicated that he was fired for “poor performance” but Sloane questioned whether his termination was legal. Sloane believes that firing researchers and scientists is not making the government more efficient and is instead causing “chaos and fear.” “I’m fighting for this job,” Sloane said. “I’m not giving it up without a fight. But they can’t fire me twice.” Sloane acknowledged that he only
See PROTESTORS, Page 3
Purpose Project hosts retreat to help students connect, reflect By Irene John Oxford News Chair Instead of going to Miami or Mexico this upcoming spring break, a select group of first-year and secondyear students will go on a five-day retreat to Highlands, N.C. The trip, dubbed “Emory Advance,” will offer students a chance to connect with peers and explore their identities and the futures they hope to shape for themselves. The Emory Purpose Project and Unlikely Collaborators, a nonprofit that helps people resolve internal conflicts, organized the retreat. Emory University founded the Purpose Project in 2023 as part of the Student Flourishing Initiative, which seeks to create a unique, purposeful college experience for each student by helping them lead a “fulfilling and meaningful life.” Unlikely Collaborators recognized a shared mission with Emory University after learning of the Purpose Project and proposed a grant to fund the majority of Emory Advance, according to Purpose Project Executive Director Ira Bedzow (14G). Emory hopes to promote the mis-
sion of the Purpose Project through experiences and programs in which students discover and implement the goals they find meaningful. To be eligible to participate in Emory Advance, students must complete a form detailing why they feel the retreat would be a good fit for them and how they can give back to the Emory Advance community, according to Purpose Project Senior Program Coordinator Angela Sudu. Applicants will be entered into a lottery, and 20 to 25 students will be selected for participation by Feb. 24. Selected students will travel to The Mountain Retreat & Learning Center in North Carolina for the retreat. Each day, students will participate in two “purpose activities” that will support their personal growth, according to Bedzow. These lessons will encourage students to reframe what they see and want as well as use the art of storytelling to articulate their values. One of these activities invites students to enter a room filled with knick knacks, where they can select items they find meaningful and share the reasoning behind their choices, according to Bedzow. “It’s just a really good way of ice
breaking,” Bedzow said. “Both other people are getting to know you, but also, you’re thinking about what are the objects you have in your life and why you hold on to them.” Bedzow added that students will also have free time to partake in a variety of recreational activities, such as hiking, bonfires and karaoke. Last semester, Brielle Natenzon (22Ox, 25C) took Bedzow’s “Fundamentals Moral Leadership” class, which follows a curriculum that teaches similar values as the Purpose Project. She explained that the Purpose Project’s events, such as their series “Tough Topics, Free Food and Civil Conversation,” will allow students to “engage with the community” and discover new interests. Natenzon added that the Purpose Project will help unburden students from some of the stresses of college. “Coming to college is very stressful,” Natenzon said. “There’s a lot that you have to think about. The fact [that] there’s a team and this whole project — there’s people already worrying about this for you pretty much … It just goes to show that Emory cares about their students.” Sam Chao (26C) has worked with the Purpose Project, inviting mem-
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bers of the team to discuss their ideas with his own club, TableTalk. He reiterated that experiences like Emory Advance will help students step back from focusing solely on academics. “It’s connecting the things that people care about,” Chao said. “Their studies but also things in life that also matter outside of the workplace, outside school.” Chao added that the retreat is a “great opportunity” for students to “get away from the busyness that comes with being a college student.” As Emory Advance approaches, the Purpose Project team is hopeful that the retreat will offer students a chance to take time away from their academic and professional lives to reflect on their personal lives instead. “We thought that one of the exciting ways we can do that is through a transformational experience, where people go away for a number of days, get out of their old habits, get out of their comfortable environments and really build community together to explore not only themselves individually but explore what it means to live purposefully,” Bedzow said.
— Contact Irene John at irene.john@emory.edu
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