Although Duke students often hold strong opinions on international, national and state issues, the Duke Conservative Union thinks Duke Student Government should stay away from them.
To assure next year's DSG executive officers do not use their office to advance their personal views on issues beyond Duke, DCU is asking each executive candidate to sign a pledge.
The pledge reads, "DSG is not, nor should it be, a soapbox for me to wax prolific on international, national and/or state issues." A DCU press release said signing the pledge is the primary factor in DCU's endorsement of candidates.
DCU President Martin Green, a senior, said he wants to ensure the student government does not behave as an activist group. The pledge was written as a response to DSG's actions in the past, he said.
"We did not agree with Jordan Bazinsky acting on the same-sex unions issue, despite having no elected mandate to do so," Green said. "We also found the condemning of Wen Ho Lee absurd."
Bazinsky, Trinity '01, who served as DSG president last year, led a resolution asking Duke Chapel to allow same-sex unions. In addition, the Legislature passed a resolution last year condemning the United States' treatment of alleged spy Wen Ho Lee. And in spring 2000, DSG attempted to pass a resolution to coordinate support for students who wanted to heed an National Association for the Advancement of Colored People boycott of South Carolina in response to the state's flying of the Confederate flag above its capital building.
Last year, the DCU sent a similar pledge to the DSG presidential candidates. Green said the pledge was successful, prompting DCU this year to send it to all executive candidates.
DSG President C.J. Walsh, a senior, said he agrees that his organization is not a political body. "I signed the pledge because I agreed with it, not because I had to," Walsh said. "I think it is an important and valuable reminder to student government so they remember what their job is."
Presidential candidate Ari Medoff, a junior, said he agrees with the pledge in principle. However, he noted that international, national and state issues can become campus concerns if enough students are affected.
Junior Josh Weiner, also a presidential candidate, said he was hesitant, but did sign the pledge in the end. "There's a trick, because few issues are only campus issues," he said. "If the campus is concerned, it becomes a DSG issue. For example, I myself am not going to initiate action on the Free Tibet movement, but it could become a campus issue if enough students are concerned."
Jason Joannou, who recently dropped out as a candidate for executive vice-president, was the only candidate who did not sign the pledge.
"While I have complete respect for the ideas of DCU, I do not believe in pledging to different groups," said Joannou, a junior. "If a national issue has an effect on student life, DSG can tackle it. But we are not trying to redefine American ethos."
Bazinsky said he would not have signed the pledge.
"I would have [also] spoken out against this type of self-centric policy," Bazinsky wrote in an e-mail. "To suggest that our leaders, student or otherwise, can somehow ignore the issues of the day and still provide exemplary leadership is an oxymoron."
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