Junior Metty Fisseha and sophomore Yingyi Shen will join the race for the position of Duke Student Government vice president for athletics and campus services.
The addition of Fisseha and Shen to the ballot comes after a last-minute DSG Judiciary ruling Tuesday evening that extended the deadline for submitting campaign applications. Fisseha, a Chronicle columnist, is a Duke University Union representative, and Shen is a member of the DSG Judiciary. The two join the athletics and campus services race alongside freshman Chris Brown, a Durham and regional affairs senator who was profiled by The Chronicle Tuesday, before the Judiciary validated the campaigns of Fisseha and Shen.
Fisseha said because her candidacy officially began Tuesday night, her platform is still “in the making.” But Tailgate, Duke busing and transportation and dining would all be essential areas of her work, if elected. Fisseha noted that although she could not feasibly reach out to every student on campus, she said she can serve as an effective intermediary between the administration and students.
Fisseha cited her involvement at the University as a considerable advantage to her candidacy and called herself the “realistic candidate.” She noted that her relationships with administrators like Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst give her an advantage over the other candidates.
“One thing that I want to emphasize is I’m going on my fourth year at Duke,” she said. “There is something to be said for having been on campus and having experienced on a daily basis a lot of the things that I would be addressing if I were elected.”
Fisseha is a political science major and serves as a consultant for the University Consulting Group—a DUU committee that helps campus organizations coordinate events. She also serves as a marketing assistant for the newly founded Duke Department of Campus Recreation.
“I’ve been very extracurricularly active,” Fisseha said of her time at Duke. “I’ve always had this in me, the desire to run for DSG... [and] I am the candidate that would be able to bring about the most change.”
UCG Vice President of External Affairs Will Benesh, a junior who has worked with Fisseha on a number of initiatives this semester, cited her dependability and ability to contribute as major strengths.
“She’s always followed through on her commitments,” Benesh said. “She’s easy to get in contact with, she’s dependable.... She’s been a really good contributor to my committee.”
Shen, a current member of the Judiciary, hopes to represent all students on campus next year.
“Even though I’m not a political science major, I’m not a politician, but I can still do something to make students’ lives more awesome as a regular student,” Shen said. “I don’t think DSG should be for just DSG students, it should be for all students... they all deserve to have their voices heard.”
Shen said she hopes to achieve “practical” and “easy to realize” initiatives, including adding ePrints to the laundry buildings on Central Campus, adding more healthy late-night dining options to campus and starting a peer-tutoring program for informal physical education classes.
Although Shen has not been a member of the Senate either, she said she has ample knowledge of the Constitution and the bylaws from her almost two years as an associate justice on the Judiciary.
“I have improved myself [on the Judiciary]... sometimes I feel so bad about the party we ruled against, but we have to do it anyways,” Shen said. “All this unhappy stuff actually gives us a chance to go through all the bylaws by DSG—I think the best way to test a rule or test a law is by practice.”
Junior Yiwen Zhu has worked with Shen for two years on the Duke University Math Union. Zhu said Shen has been approachable and dedicated as secretary for the union this year.
“She’s extremely committed to anything that she does, she puts 110 to 120 percent in—she definitely goes beyond what is expected,” Zhu said.
Shen recused herself from the two most recent cases heard by the Judiciary because they directly affected her campaign. She initiated a complaint against the Judiciary’s April 9 ruling, which invalidated her campaign, and said she contacted the 12 other disqualified candidates to join her as complaintants. At least eight did, including Fisseha herself.
Shen said she filed a complaint for the candidates because she thought the Judiciary’s April 9 ruling—which deemed an election deadline extension unconstitutional—was incorrect.
“I was in the Judiciary, so I have the election bylaw and I saw their reasoning and thought that was not good,” Shen said. “I may win or may lose... but if I cannot defend my own lawful right, who will trust me?”
Brown, who was profiled in Tuesday’s Chronicle because he was the only candidate for the position, said that although the situation could have been avoided, he approved of the Judiciary’s ruling.
He also noted that allowing more candidates to compete increases student participation in DSG and voter turnout.
“It’s something that will be corrected in the future—we learn from our mistakes,” Brown said. “I’m running a campaign now, so it’s more of a competition now, but I signed up for office to run a campaign so it’s part of the job.”
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