Duke Student Government passed several resolutions that attempt to streamline the process student groups go through to reserve space for events at its meeting Wednesday night.
The primary resolution, created by the Student Affairs Committee, was in the form of a three-phase plan.
Phase one encourages collaboration between the Office of Student Affairs and Facilities and Residence Life and Housing Services about event planning and creates an online room reservation system that aims to simplify the process for student groups.
The site will also include photographs and descriptions of available spaces as well as lists of equipment for rent.
Sophomore Daron Gunn, a member of the student affairs technology subcommittee, presented an example of what the actual online form would look like. It includes sections for every aspect of the event, including catering, alternate locations and budgeting.
He emphasized that moving forms to the Internet will allow quicker updates as well as long-term continuity, as groups can look back at the forms for information about past events.
When questioned about previous attempts to ease the room-reservation process, junior Brandon Goodwin, vice president of student affairs, said a similar initiative occurred last year but was not successful because OSAF and RLHS disagreed.
“[DSG] tried last year but was not successful because the two parties could not agree,” Goodwin said. “They’re putting their differences aside this time.”
Melinda Roper, assistant dean of student programming, said OSAF is concerned with improving communication with RLHS.
“There are a lot of technical details that if we could take care of with the web-based system it would be a lot easier,” she said after the meeting. “OSAF is excited about collaborating and supportive of the project.”
The new registration system will allow advisors to spend more time with students who are seeking extra support, as well as on larger events, Roper said.
Currently, groups must approach several different divisions of the University to schedule an event, which has resulted in an inefficient system that often leads to double-booking of rooms due to miscommunication.
“Consistently rooms become overbooked,” Goodwin said. “The impetus behind this project is to systematically approach and solve this concern by making the process more approachable to student groups.”
He also emphasized the importance of phase one, adding that DSG’s goal is to implement it by next semester.
Phase two of the plan builds on the first phase, adding an interactive calendar to the site that will show room availability for easier future planning.
Although the implementation of the calendar was first estimated to take four to five years, Gunn said it would be closer to 18 months and described the reasons for the time delay.
“There isn’t any [program] out there that can meet what we have—we’re so fragmented,” he said, adding that outside technology companies told him: “If we can solve Duke’s problems, we can solve everyone’s problems because Duke is the worst.”
The final phase involves the creation of a fully integrated event registration site. The reservation form would become even more comprehensive, including options to order catering, DukeCard mobile scanners and barbecue pits at the same time the space is reserved.
“It’s a one stop shop for all of your event planning needs,” said junior Paige Sparkman, a member of the Student Affairs Committee.
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