At its meeting last night, the Duke Student Government Legislature voted to support University efforts to find a long-term campus space for religious groups that now lack permanent places to worship.
The resolution particularly addresses the needs of Muslim students who are required to pray five times a day in locations with clean, open, carpeted floor space, according to the statement submitted by Vice President of Facilities and Athletics Emily Grey.
"It's always been an issue, but this is the first time it has come to a front," Grey, a sophomore, said. "This is not a social space issue; it is about a need in the way of life of many students."
Senior Hoda Yousef, president of the Muslim Students Association, spoke to DSG to express students' desire for a "centrally located room on West" in which students can pray while between classes and other activities. Grey said administrators-including Executive Vice President Tallman Trask, Director of the Residential Program Review Judith White and Associate Vice President for Auxiliary Services Joe Pietrantoni-support the initiative and are already thinking about an undisclosed room on West Campus.
Continuing in the spirit of accommodating a range of cultures, DSG voted to acknowledge Race Perspectives, a series of forums held today and tomorrow, as a positive effort to expand the dialogue on race.
The resolution's author, DSG Vice President for Community Interaction Sean Young, said the event was scheduled long before the controversy surrounding The Chronicle's publication of an advertisement about slavery reparations.
"The timing is actually a big coincidence," said Young, a junior. "But the [David] Horowitz ad showed us there is a need to talk about this."
Young said the DSG resolution served as symbolic support for the event. As for Race Perspectives itself, Young has two hopes: "My goal is to show the campus that there are many different ways to talk about race," he said. "We also hope to draw a larger, more diverse crowd."
Addressing an issue more internal to DSG, freshman legislator Alex Barna and sophomore legislator Lyndsay Beal proposed a drastic cut in the number of DSG legislators, from 50 to 30.
The legislative act, which went through a first reading last night and which could be voted on as early as the next meeting, aims to increase the accountability of the members in the organization.
"The biggest catalyst is that we continue to hear about DSG's ineffectiveness, and the obvious way to fix [this problem] is to reduce the size of the legislature and make the members that are left more accountable," Beal said.
Other members raised questions about whether a smaller legislature would effectively represent the student body.
"It's a question of making it easier for us or making [DSG] the organization we are suppose to be... a representative body," said junior Meggan Wurzburg, DSG director of student services.
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