Duke Student Government discussed senate procedure, tenting and its ongoing projects at its meeting Tuesday night.
Senators passed a budget allocating funds for prizes rewarding random participants in the first DSG survey, which will be sent to 2,076 members of the student body Friday. Certain participants will win one of 3 Amazon Kindles or one of 11 $50 gift cards.
“The survey is on undergraduate life at Duke—athletics, curriculum policies, basically a way for us to gauge student reaction to administrative policies to help us determine our lobbying for the students this year,” said Vice President for Student Affairs Gurdane Bhutani, a sophomore.
Additionally, senior Will Passo, a student affairs senator, questioned whether write-in candidates for the Young Trustee race undermine the work of the Young Trustee Nominating Committee, which selects semi-finalists and finalists for the position.
Some members dispelled his concerns, however.
“I don’t think it undermines the process because the [YTNC] has also previously approved these candidates in the semifinalist process,” said Executive Vice President Pete Schork. “Additionally, they’ll be heavily [disadvantaged] in the election process.”
Schork, a junior, nonetheless recommended that the process be re-examined.
Additionally, seven nominees for the DSG Board of Elections were confirmed unanimously: freshmen Precious Lockhart and Andrew Legarreta; sophomores Sarah Philips and Cherry Tran; and juniors Pierce Pandolph, Margrette Kuhrt and Ari Bar-Mashiah.
Senators discussed the successes of Krzyzewskiville programming during tenting, which ended Feb. 6. This year, K-ville hosted a concert featuring Chiddy Bang, screened movies and served food to tenters. Sophomore Chris Brown, vice president for athletics and campus services, said the increased programming in K-ville helped to create a sense of community.
K-ville personal checks also appeared to be safer this year, Brown noted. Compared to an estimated eight calls to Emergency Medical Services last year, there were two calls to medical personnel this year, he said.
The majority of the meeting’s business was dedicated to amending two bylaws. Attendance and voting protocols were changed as well as membership requirements for the Inferno, the student club of Duke athletics.
Durham and Regional Affairs Senator Ari Ruffer, a sophomore, commented on the way in which the meeting was structured.
“We spend so much time on each meeting—at least 30 minutes—debating internal matters that The Chronicle finds it hard to actually cover what’s important.”
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