Duke College Republicans are pleased to announce their endorsement of Patrick Oathout in this year’s election for DSG president. Patrick would bring a wide range of relevant experiences to the job, including three years of effective service in DSG and a record of achieving positive results for Duke’s student body. His proposals are highly detailed and realistic. In his meeting with us, he expressed his belief that DSG cannot and should not be the solution to any and all problems on our campus. Instead, DSG should guide and assist students and campus organizations to ensure that they have the resources they need. Throughout his time in DSG, he has demonstrated fiscal responsibility with DSG’s funds and has always served with utmost integrity.
His opponent in this race, Stefani Jones, is also a highly qualified candidate who would surely serve our student body well. However, we also have some misgivings about her vision of DSG and some of her proposals. She seems to believe DSG should be ubiquitous in campus life. Some of her proposals are not within the realm of what DSG’s function should be, including creating an ideological litmus test for political science and public policy professors. While it is a noble idea to think that professors should represent a variety of viewpoints, it is certainly not within the scope of DSG’s responsibilities to require ideological diversity among the faculty. We are skeptical of a proposal that would grant DSG so much power over academic departments that should be free to hire the best professors, regardless of their political ideology.
We endorse Patrick for president because he is a capable advocate for students’ interests. He is motivated by a desire to serve us and to improve the Duke experience for current and future students. We are confident he will lead DSG with a calm and steady hand.
Taylor Imperiale, Trinity ‘14
Chair, Duke College Republicans
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