Duke Student Government elected a new senate president pro-tempore, discussed support for non-tenure track faculty and prepared for upcoming annual budget meetings during its Wednesday meeting.
Here are some of the key takeaways from the session.
Pro-tempore election:
The Senate elected its new senate president pro-tempore for the upcoming school year. Sophomore Jackson Dellinger, senator for Durham and regional affairs, won the position in an internal blind vote.
He and sophomore Will Hardee, vice president for services, were nominated for the position.
Dellinger had previously run for interim president pro-tempore after senior John Turanchik resigned from the position earlier last month. He lost the vote to current interim president pro-tempore Kristina Smith, a sophomore senator for services.
Dellinger said he was excited for his new role.
“You probably shouldn’t be excited about wanting to meticulously dig through spreadsheets for hours and hours on end, but that’s my favorite Friday night,” Dellinger said. “So, I’m feeling pretty good.”
Non-tenure track faculty:
The Senate heard the first reading of a resolution supporting non-tenure track faculty.
Jennifer Ansley, a lecturing fellow in the Thompson Writing Program, spoke to the Senate during public forum. Ansley emphasized that many non-tenured faculty do the same work as tenured faculty, but receive a fraction of the compensation.
Non-tenure track faculty voted to unionize last March, and they are currently in negotiations with the University. The resolution says that DSG has the responsibility to help ensure "that Duke’s non-tenure track professors are granted the necessary economic safeguards and resources as well as access to the tools required to teach and mentor effectively."
The Senate will debate and vote on the resolution at its next meeting.
Annual budget:
Alexa Soren, a senior and chair of the Student Organization Funding Committee, advised the Senate about upcoming annual budget meetings. SOFC-chartered groups apply for funding for the upcoming school year through the annual budget process.
However, SOFC receives two to three times more than the number of requests that they can grant, Soren noted.
Executive Vice President Ilana Weisman, a senior, said that student groups will be receiving the preliminary decisions regarding their annual budget requests soon.
“Students are always welcome to engage with [Financial Oversight and Appeals Committee], which is the advisory and oversight committee, if they don’t agree with the allocation that SOFC recommends," she said. "But other than that, the process is pretty much done on the students’ side."
At that point, DSG votes on the budget. This process will take place during the next three DSG meetings.
Soren noted that she hopes that the annual budget will be less expensive than in prior years so that DSG can have more money in the programming fund for programming requests.
“I hope students know that they don’t have to just engage SOFC and DSG during annual budget. Chartered groups can also apply for programming through the year," Weisman said. "They can apply for programming for this year for events coming up this year. And we always love to see student groups throwing programs for the entire student body.”
Duke Student Government Research Unit:
The Senate heard a first-reading of a proposed by-law regarding the Duke Student Government Research Unit. The by-law provisions included an advisory board that is composed of the DSGRU founder, former DSGRU directors and co-directors as well as current DSGRU co-directors.
Current DSGRU Director Chloe Warnberg, a senior, noted that one of the main purposes of these by-laws is to preserve the work done by the research body.
The Senate will debate and vote on the by-law at its next meeting.
Budgetary statutes:
The Senate passed SOFC budgetary statues for Roots and Shoots, Delta Gamma and Duke East Asian Nexus. A FOAC-recommended statute for Sangeet, a South Asian classical music group, was also passed.
Sangeet had previously requested funding for an event to be held at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, but senators voted down the allocation. FOAC chose to recommend the statute after Sangeet moved the event to Duke’s campus.
The Senate voted to fund statutes for the Duke Line Monitors and a bookbagging event to help students interact with faculty when selecting courses for the upcoming semester.
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