Lieu for VP for ASE

The coming academic year will bring many challenges for the Duke Student Government committee on athletics, services and the environment. The group will need to lobby fiercely to make student voices heard on Tailgate, to protect access to services during the renovation of the West Union Building and to make Duke’s transportation system convenient and sustainable. The student body needs a vice president for ASE who can successfully navigate these challenges.

Both junior Christina Lieu and sophomore Harry Liberman have poise, knowledge and impressively substantive platforms. But Lieu’s experience and optimism proves she can meet these challenges head on.

Lieu is a two-year veteran of DSG and it shows. Her understanding of the scope of the ASE position is pitch-perfect. She plans to focus on athletics and services but also intends to expand the committee’s environmental program by promoting collaboration among existing campus environmental groups. Lieu is an old hand at environmental issues. She serves on the Campus Sustainability Committee, and her experiences make her well suited to lead this effort.

Regarding Tailgate, Lieu’s vision for reform points to an oft-forgotten fact—students themselves do not agree on what Tailgate should be. For the student voice to have force in the Tailgate discussion, it must be coherent. Lieu recognizes that building consensus among students is essential to successful lobbying and to student satisfaction.

And Lieu’s proposals are underwritten with optimism about what she can do for students. She aims to fight for space for club athletes, for extended gym hours and more. These are lofty goals, but this optimism is necessary if the VP for ASE is to do more than react to administrators.

Lieu does come up short on some key details. Her Tailgate plan barely alludes to the potential for deep student-administrative conflicts that could spring from reform. And, while her concern for keeping the West Union renovations up to environmental snuff is admirable, she should focus more on fighting for student services during the construction phase. Still, Lieu’s experience and brio make her the clear choice for VP for ASE.

Liberman’s proposals make clear his impressive command of University issues and his realpolitik pragmatism. He aims to keep administrators in check during the reform of Tailgate. He vows to protect student access to services during the construction on West Union. And he hopes to improve transportation by running smaller buses during off-peak hours and by improving the bike infrastructure on campus.

But Liberman seems unduly focused on what constraints he would face as VP for ASE. He resignedly pointed out DSG’s impotence to effect changes in Wallace Wade Stadium, to get more space for club athletes and to improve attendance at Tailgate and football games. Realism is important in politics, but so is optimism and ambition—neither of these can be in short supply if the ASE committee is to meet next year’s challenges successfully. Liberman’s impressive knowledge and poise will make him an excellent senator—the kind Lieu would be wise to consult.