Although both are history and public policy double majors, junior Bethany Hill and sophomore Gregory Morrison bring different backgrounds to the position of executive vice president of Duke Student Government.
Hill has been a DSG senator for the past three years, a member of the student affairs committee for two years and a member of the Durham and regional affairs committee for a semester. Morrison is a second-year senator on the academic affairs committee and also serves as DSG's president pro tempore.
Hill said she is running her campaign with plans to improve the accountability of DSG and to increase the collaboration among student groups on campus. She said she would like to increase the engagement of the Senate by expanding new senator and executive orientation programs and introducing a freshmen mentorship program.
"When I was a freshman senator I did not have sufficient guidance for my first project," she said. "I feel that this need has yet to be addressed in DSG. My programs would allow new senators to gain connections with the administration and learn the ropes of DSG."
Hill said she has done work to effect change, helping to coordinate the Duke Excellence Team and serving on the Election Commission and Young Trustee Nominating Committee. Last Spring, as a sophomore, Hill received the Graydon John Forrer Award, an award typically reserved for seniors that is given to the senator displaying the highest integrity that year.
In her plans for collaboration among student groups, Hill said she would like to expand the influence of the position of vice president of the Intercommunity Council. She hopes that next year there will be an increase in the use of the Collaborative Events Fund so that various student groups on campus will use this fund to hold events together, as she said it is currently under-utilized and in danger of being cut.
Hill spent the past Fall semester abroad in Glasgow, Scotland, which she said has helped contextualize her outlook on a collegiate atmosphere. Prior to attending the Duke-designed public policy program in Scotland, Hill spent the summer on a DukeEngage program in Hyderabad, India.
"My experiences in Glasgow and India have given me an international perspective," Hill said. "Additionally, enrolling as a full-time student at University of Glasgow has allowed me to compare and contrast the Duke experience to the experience of a student at another college."
Morrison also had a summer experience that influenced his decision to run for the position.
"I worked on Capitol Hill this summer in a Senate and Congressional office," Morrison said. "When I came back to Duke it was really obvious to me the difference between a serious legislature of the people and our current government. There is a major difference between their practices and what goes on in the Duke Student Government."
Bringing his D.C. experience back to Durham, Morrison wrote legislation, which he has since termed "transparency legislation," aimed at making DSG voting records and attendance records public. This legislation was passed in September.
Morrison was elected this Fall as president pro tempore and worked with a committee to rewrite DSG's constitution. He also inherited the chairmanship of a new committee named "the rules committee." The student body will vote on the changes in a referendum that will be included in the election of the executive board.
Morrison's agenda includes additional plans to make DSG more transparent, accountable and efficient. He plans to open up a process to improve the DSG Judiciary, so that students are not afraid of telling DSG when they have done something wrong.
He would also like to give the position of attorney general a more independent voice. Morrison said he believes forbidding the attorney general from running for office in the year he or she is appointed would achieve that end.
Morrison added that he would like to change the Young Trustee process, making the final vote public-a policy he feels is appropriate for DSG in general.
"The final vote is kept secret, and I think that is damaging," he said. "I don't think any vote taken in the Senate should be kept private because it's an open government elected by the students and so they should see how their own representatives are voting."
Morrison would also like to address the issue of diversity in the Senate; he said the Senate is lacking engineers, people of color and international students.
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