Students hoping to interact with professors outside of the classroom can now do so on the University's dollar.
At Wednesday night's meeting, Duke Student Government discussed a new program, "Flunches," in which students can invite their teachers to lunch on campus.
"Previously the faculty had funds to take students out to lunch," said senior Gina Ireland, vice president for academic affairs, "[The new program] came from John Simon, vice provost for academic affairs, as a way for students to invite faculty to lunch themselves and establish relationships."
President Paul Slattery, a senior, said he hopes the program, whose name combines the words "faculty" and "lunches," will function as a social lubricant between students and faculty.
Flunches-presented with the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Education-has a current budget of $30,000. Individual meals are not capped, but Slattery said applications for funding are reviewed before and after meals.
"If someone is exploiting the program, they will be called out on it," he said.
To take a faculty member out to lunch, students must sign onto the Flunches Web site and fill out a form, which then will be submitted to the Office of Student Activities and Facilities for approval.
Students may take as many as five friends in addition to the invited professor to any of 12 on-campus dining locations. Students are required to hand the vendor a print-out from the Web site and present their DukeCard. The DukeCard will not be charged but acts as a form of identification.
In other business:
Junior Sunny Kantha, vice president for athletics and campus services, announced preliminary discussions for a Web site that would track the locations of Duke buses using a global positioning system.
The Web site would be created by TransLoc Inc., a transportation-tracking company, and would allow students to follow the changing locations of buses on their laptops or cell phones. The Web page would updated every two seconds.
Though Kantha said he supports the program, he added that he has some concern over the partnership.
"My problem with this is the potential cost, because TransLoc is unwilling to disclose it up front," Kantha said.
Senators were enthusiastic about the program and suggested placing display stations at the West Campus bus stop.
A similar bus-tracking proposal was suggested by a student organization in the past but was rejected by Parking and Transportation Services, which said the organization did not represent the student body, Kantha said.
He also mentioned plans to introduce a resolution next meeting to extend breakfast to 10:15 a.m.
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