On Monday, students will choose between sophomore Stefani Jones and junior Ayan Salah for the position of Duke Student Government vice president of equity and outreach. In this race, Jones is the clear choice.
The Equity and Outreach Committee was created when DSG restructured the Senate last month. The corresponding vice presidential position is ripe for definition, and Jones has both the comprehensive vision and impressive advocacy background to make this position’s first year successful.
Jones, current senator for athletics, services and the environment, has broadly conceived of the role of the new committee as a liaison between DSG and relevant campus groups—a catalyst for collaboration and an advocate for issues like gender, socioeconomic diversity, harassment and the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. We think Jones has hit the nail on the head—advocacy efforts from the equity and outreach committee will help shore up current advocacy efforts on issues like gender-neutral housing.
Despite the vagueness of some of her platform points—communication, collaboration and advocacy—Jones has a firm grasp of the facts. In our meeting, she cited key points from the Socioeconomic Diversity Initiative report, like concerns regarding the freshmen meal plan. Her strong advocacy background—founding the Coalition for a Conflict-Free Duke—will serve her well in bringing issues to the attention of Duke’s senior most administrators.
Salah has some insightful specific ideas, but her understanding of the new position is myopic. For instance, she correctly highlighted internship funding as an important issue for financial aid students. But this is the only issue she cited from the Socioeconomic Diversity Initiative report, and she failed to connect it to the broader goals of the position.
The Chronicle’s independent Editorial Board endorses Stefani Jones for vice president of equity and outreach.
Precious Lockhart recused herself from this editorial due to affiliation with Coalition for a Conflict Free Duke
Sophomore Neil Kondamuri is the only candidate for DSG vice president of social culture, another new position created after last month’s DSG restructuring. Kondamuri has a refreshingly optimistic take on the usually fraught issue of Duke’s social culture. But we hope his laid back approach does not dodge Duke’s myriad social issues.
Kondamuri wants to encourage Duke students to understand the “art of doing nothing,” along with jump-starting Duke’s intellectual climate and encouraging more service. Kondamuri is right about the lack of down time—Duke’s work hard, play hard culture does not leave much time for relaxing hard. And his plan to create new, appealing social traditions—like a Guinness World Record-breaking silent rave in front of the Duke Chapel—is a good response to Duke’s tradition-barren social scene.
Kondamuri is well-aware that Duke students dislike social planning, and he wants to avoid this problem with appealing events. But we worry that these plans might be trivial in the face of real social problems that exist at Duke, like divisions between greeks and non-greeks. We hope
Kondamuri will tackle issues such as equity, gender and privilege as they manifest in Duke social life.
The Chronicle’s independent Editorial Board endorses Neil Kondamuri for vice president of social culture.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.