DSG responsive, responsible

The rally that took place in the late hours of Wednesday night's Duke Student Government meeting was neither a platform shift nor a dramatic change of course. It was, quite simply, a budget adjustment. Nonetheless, it represents the culmination of a beautiful episode in student government history.

DSG first proposed the increase in the student activities fee in order to bail out student groups and bring great new initiatives onto campus. These projects remain some of the most noble and worthwhile undertakings the student body could invest in for itself. A while back, the University made it clear that it would not fund them for us; responding to their unwillingness to help students, your classmates on student government decided to take action on everyone's behalf.

But an initiative is only as strong as the voices behind it, and by Wednesday's meeting it became clear that the full fee increase, with aid to student groups and three new projects, was impractical.

Strapped for cash, DSG line-edited the new budget and cut two of the three programs. Student groups had to get more funding-that much was clear. The senate reasoned that of the three projects, student legal services was the most pressing and most popular.

What has taken place over the past three weeks-culminating at Wednesday's senate meeting-is a dramatic improvement in the student body's understanding of its student government.

Whether or not The Chronicle witnessed it, DSG mobilized its newly created outreach chairs and sent representatives, from vice presidents and senators to the president himself, to just about every student group on campus. I personally met with the Muslim Student Association, two fraternities, representatives from the Baldwin Scholars and Mi Gente, and the Inter-Greek Council. Across the campus, members of DSG have been pitching the fee increase and soliciting feedback for three weeks. Never in the history of DSG has there been such a coordinated and widespread outreach effort.

The modified fee increase is the product of hundreds of voices speaking from every corner of campus. And when the referendum passes on Sept. 15, we will all benefit from the new precedent for responsible student government.

Mike Lefevre