DSG leaders prepare for busy, exciting year

Developing the Student Village, a restructured pre-major advising system and access to gated parking lots are just some of the goals that Duke Student Government vice presidents are working to accomplish this year.

The vice-presidential team of four seeks not only to ensure students have a productive year, but also hopes to make changes to be felt by students not yet arrived at the University.

A preview of what to expect this year:

Student Affairs
Vice President for Student Affairs Elizabeth Dixon knows that social life is a selling point for students considering attending Duke. As such, she is committed to ensuring that information about social events and happenings on campus is widely distributed and students are aware of all their social options.
Dixon hopes to help students find easily accessible campus calendar information by developing a student website in conjunction with the Office of Information Technology to serve as "one stop shopping for living and playing at Duke."
She also hopes to use her position to calculate and alleviate the costs for selective living group parties on campus. "We want to look to see what we can do about opening up venues on campus, providing vendors for alcohol and the costs associated with University bartenders," Dixon said.
Better communication and crime-prevention awareness among students are also focal points. Dixon's committee also hopes to bolster sexual assault awareness programs and find methods for improved dissemination of crime information from the Duke University Police Department.
"I want to help students better utilize the Women's Center, Counseling and Psychological Services and the Career Center," Dixon said.

Academic Affairs
Earlier this month, University officials opened up access to a few undergraduate classrooms for studying but Vice President of Academic Affairs Avery Reeves wants to continue the trend by opening up access to more classrooms as well as to graduate- and professional-school facilities.
As part of a year-long plan that includes assisting with a new dean's excuse policy, participating in a review of Curriculum 2000 and revamping the pre-major advising system, Reeves aims to implement an Academic Access Initiative to provide access for all students to various studying locations across campus.
The real focal point of Reeves' goals for the year, however, is an overhaul of the pre-major advising system.
"Hopefully it will be a drastic change in pre-major advising on campus," Reeves said, suggesting a possible solution such as having more advisors to raise the advisor/advisee ratio in hopes of encouraging mentoring relationships. "We should also look at how advisors are trained, their knowledge of Curriculum 2000 and even possibly making better incentives for younger faculty to become involved."

Community Interaction
There are many student organizations on campus whose primary mission is to serve students and enhance undergraduate life, but few students are aware of how to use these resources.
"I really want to work on community communication," said Vice President for Community Interaction Andrew Wisnewski.
By serving as a liaison between student organizations and DSG, Wisnewski and his committee hope to hold student groups accountable to the needs of students. He also hopes to better relationships on campus between graduate and professional students and undergraduates, possibly through a residential life program.
Addressing the needs of the Primate Center is also a concern. "The primate center is a resource not only for Duke, but for the greater community," he said.
Wisnewski listed a potential commercial revitalization of the surrounding Durham area as well as partnerships with the local community to promote Durham advocacy as two objectives for the year.
In addition, Wisnewski wants to expand the target audience for participation in Martin Luther King, Jr. Day festivities as well as the Allen Building lock-in.

Facilities and Athletics
Vice President for Facilities and Athletics Alex Niejelow knows what he hopes to accomplish this year--improving safety, transportation and buildings for students--and has plans in place to achieve his goals. Niejelow hopes to develop guidelines to safety-certify buildings, holding them accountable to certain standards. Additionally, Niejelow seeks to work with University Vice President of Campus Services Kemel Dawkins to clarify issues of security on and off campus.
Safety also figures into another one of Niejelow's goals for the year--providing students who live on East, Central or off-campus access to gated lots after 5 p.m. on weekdays and all day on weekends. "The point of it is to give access to students who come onto West Campus, but don't live there, the opportunity for parking," Niejelow said.
Additional transportation issues he seeks to address include evaluating the Safe Ride program, working to ensure proper road maintenance around campus and analyzing the Taxi on Flex program.
The breadth of Niejelow's focus is on the renovation and development of the Student Village and the Perkins Library renovations. He hopes to work with administrators to ensure that each space provides students with the best living and working conditions.