Author: zkidd

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Fall for Emory in Autumn

As the spookiest time of the year comes to a close, the month of October gives way to November, and with it, the season of autumn firmly implants itself at Emory University. Growing up, autumn always had a special place in my heart. For me, it meant crisp fresh air, trees filled with vibrant plumage, and of course the sound of crunching leaves as I left Starbucks with my Pumpkin Spice Latte. In my opinion, the month of November just doesn’t get enough credit. It’s stuck right between the crown jewels of capitalist exploitation; Halloween and Christmas. The poor month never stood a chance. Don’t get me wrong, November has its core group of fans, but when compared to the amount of cash flow from pumpkins and pine trees, turkeys just don’t measure up. The argument for November as the best month of the year could be won solely due to the fact that my mom was born on November 5th (shout out to Mamma Kidd), but here are my top five reasons why November is so great at Emory.

  1. Emory Athletics                                                                                                                    November marks the beginning of championship season for many Emory sports including Volleyball, Men’s and Women’s Cross Country, and
    Emory Volleyball

    Women’s Basketball. Volleyball will compete at home in the UAA Championships on Friday, November 3. For a full schedule of the regular season and championship games for all varsity sports visit the Emory Athletics website.

  2. Emory Theater                                                                                                                        Emory’s theater department puts on
    The Anointing of Dracula

    four performances throughout the year.Its 2017-2018 fall show is entitled The Anointing of Dracula: A Grand Guignol, which will run until November 5th. General admission tickets are $22 per person, however, all freshmen received an Emory Arts Pass which they can use to receive free admission to the show. If you come in costume to the 11:00pm showings on either October 31st or November 4th you can get in for free. For a complete list of show dates and specialty ticket prices visit here.

  3. Emory Dance                                                                                                                           The Emory Dance Company’s Fall Concert will take place during November as well. The concert runs from Thursday, November 16th through Saturday, November 18th. All performances will be held at the Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. Regular admission tickets are $15, but once again, freshmen are able to use their Emory Arts Pass. For a complete list of performance, times visit the Emory Dance and Movement Studies Program events page.
  4. Emory Film                                                                                                                                     The Emory Film Department conducts multiple film series throughout the year and during the month of November, the department will continue with this trend. Shakespear on Film will conclude with a screening of Titus (1999) on Friday, November 4th. The Emory Cinematheque will continue in November with The Tin Drum (1979) on Wednesday, November 1st and will screen a total of four films. A full list of showtimes, dates, and locations can be found here.
  5. Emory Celebrations                                                                                                                 While many students are looking forward to Thanksgiving Break, which begins on Wednesday, November 22, it is important to celebrate other holidays as well.
    Fiesta Día de Muertos

    The Spanish and Portuguese Department in collaboration with Casa Émory presents Fiesta Día de Muertos. The event will take place on Wednesday, November 1st at Casa Émory and will celebrate the Mexican holiday of Día de Los Muertos.

Although not as flashy as October or December, the month of November still has a lot to offer. At Emory in particular, it brings with it classic traditions such as Emory Dance Company’s fall concert and it ushers in the beginning of championship season for the school’s varsity sports. No matter your interest, Emory offers a plethora of activities and events for its students to enjoy. The Emory University events calendar for November can be found here. I encourage everyone who reads this article to not only attend events you’re interested in but to also explore events that you normally wouldn’t go to.

 

 

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Emory Graduate Students Fight to Unionize

Emory University is located in Atlanta, GA and has a created a reputation for itself of being a top tier progressive institution. Sometimes referred to as the ivy league of the South, it often draws a comparison to the Ivy Leagues or other top universities such as Duke or Georgetown. Current students of The Laney Graduate School at Emory, however, have taken it upon themselves to draw those comparisons themselves in the past year. According to an article by The Nation, graduate students across the country are experiencing “plummeting wages, meager health care benefits and overwhelming workloads,” and as a result have launched campaigns to unionize.

Laney Graduate School

I recently sat in on a meeting for the Emory Graduate Union Organizing Committee. I was both shocked and puzzled listening in on their interactions.

 

As I walked into the meeting, I was drenched in sweat from my track practice just minutes beforehand, and met with eight graduate students staring at me; the situation was intimidating, to say the least. The meeting began to unfold and I slowly was introduced to their strategies for unionizing and their (many) grievances with the University. They explained that their ultimate goal was to improve the situation for all graduate students and felt as though creating a union was the only logical course of action, pointing to Yale and Duke as examples of success. One graduate student even said that it was only fair that they are allowed to unionize since all the other employees at Emory have one. This is not true, however, as only the shuttle service drivers have successfully unionized at Emory. As the conversation moved more toward the logistics of unionization, they began to discuss how Emory hired a multi million legal unions busting law firm, which one student described as “cynical” and “hypocritical” since the University rather pays for that than giving the graduate students better healthcare. When speaking about their social media presence it was honestly tragic to listen to, because it was virtually nonexistent. The group of students in their mid-twenties and early thirties only had a Facebook page to promote their movement and none of them knew how to use Twitter, revealing to me their understanding of social media was Rudimental at best.

Emory Shuttle Services

 

 

The grievances expressed by this group of eight are entirely valid; if they feel as though Emory has mistreated them in any way, then they have the right to voice those grievances and work towards a solution. The fact is though, this is a group of eight who wish to speak on behalf of all graduate students. Towards the end of the meeting they held a vote to decide the name of the unionization movement, but by that time three people had already left, leaving only five people to vote. According to the Laney Graduate School site, there were 1,758 degree-seeking students during the 2016 fall semester, which means that 0.004% of the graduate student population was speaking for the entirety of it. In my humble opinion that is insane. After the end of the meeting I inquired whether these meetings were open to all graduate students, and they told me the meetings were. Could this mean that creating a union is not a top priority to a large number of students? Unionizing is a tricky process of back and forth negotiations, and some students may not wish to bite to start waves with the University.