Duke Panhellenic Association endorses Sunder for DSG President, opposes the 40 Percent Plan

The Panhellenic Association is proud to announce our endorsement of Lavanya Sunder for DSG president.

While all three candidates have unique, passionate perspectives on the position and are fantastic candidates, our organization unanimously believes that Lavanya has the most experience in DSG and works with issues that we hold close to heart. Her tangible involvement in improving students’ lives over the past two years, through Fix My Campus and her work with Duke Dining, shows a passion and dedication for working for the Duke student body. Additionally, Lavanya’s vast experience with the administration, most notably working to add a more effective bike program for campus, makes her most qualified to lead DSG. Finally, Lavanya’s platform points, including increasing women mentorship programs, improving connections amongst the diverse student body and adding pre-professional courses to our academics, show a host of well-rounded ideas and involvements that make her the best candidate to tackle the array of campus issues as DSG president.

We enthusiastically support Lavanya Sunder in the upcoming DSG presidential election and encourage all members to cast a vote on March 4.

The Panhellenic Association also urges students to vote against The 40 Percent Plan as it will fundamentally change the nature of our campus community. We believe that while SOFC has some improvements to make, The 40 Percent Plan will result in a reduction of the many specialized organizations on campus by requiring groups to lobby for funding rather than allowing SOFC to allocate according to organizations’ needs. Our student activity fee goes towards funding a vibrant and diverse community, and not merely the organizations that the most students are involved in. Additionally, while we do support increasing students’ involvement in funding decisions, The 40 Percent Plan asks for an experiment that is too costly in both time and resources.

The Panhellenic Association opposes The 40 Percent Plan and asks our members to vote against it in order to preserve the wide range of experiences that we are privy to as Duke students.

Emily Steemers, Trinity ’15
Executive Vice President, Panhellenic Association