Duke Student Government senators announced a pilot of the Late Night Lyft Van Program and held the second half of their town hall at their Wednesday meeting.
Senator Chase Barclay, a junior, announced the start of the Lyft Pilot Program. At last week’s meeting, senators approved allocating $10,000 to a Late Night Lyft Van program. From 2-3 a.m. on Monday through Sunday, students can receive $10 off Lyft rides between the West Campus bus stop, Richard White Lecture Hall on East Campus, and 300 Swift apartments. The program will run from March 23 to April 19.
Following announcements, DSG cabinet directors gave updates on their projects.
Cabinet Chair Amber Miranda, a junior, provided updates on efforts to institute need-blind financial aid for international students, create a LGBTQIA+ mental health support group, increase faculty diversity and inclusivity training, and monitor progress on the Climate Commitment.
First-year Grace Davis, director of gender equity and violence prevention, shared an update on work with the Center for Gender Violence Prevention and Intervention and the LiveSafe app. When confirmed, Davis had planned to “implement an app on campus that will allow students to access resources.”
“As of yesterday, there is now a card on the homepage of the app that offers GVPI resources,” Davis said.
Junior Brandon Hersh, director of varsity student athlete affairs, shared plans to start an Atlantic Coast Conference Sustainable Athletics Group to collect and repurpose old gear. He also encouraged senators to join the upcoming “climate games.”
“For every mile or whatever it may be — swimming or lap — there’s an organization that is going to donate a certain sum of money to reduce CO2 emissions and other projects,” Hersh said.
Sophomore Grace Williams, co-director of racial and multicultural diversity and outreach, spoke on advocacy for Black male representation in therapy and GVPI training for affinity groups. Senior Arsha Sharma, director of religious outreach and affairs, reported on talks with the Duke Chapel Media team on diversifying its coverage of non-Christian religious groups.
Senior Swetha Rajagopal, the vice president of Durham and Community Affairs Committee, and junior Ashley Bae, vice president of Services and Sustainability, led updates for their respective committees. Since the last round of updates in November, the senators have hosted Duke-Durham School Days, established the Duke-Durham 101 House Course and collected Krzyzewskiville tenting supplies to donate or recycle.
In other business
DSG senate entered an “executive session to hold a working session for some internal projects,” according to a message from Chief of Staff Hana Hendi, during which The Chronicle was asked to leave. According to the DSG constitution, the Senate is closed “to the Duke Community” during such sessions.
During this segment of the meeting, senators considered and discussed potential reforms to the DSG Constitution, according to a slideshow attached to their public meeting agenda. Some recommended reforms included removing the cabinet chair position, making cabinet directors non-voting members of the executive branch, establishing a DEI chair on the executive board, and adding the Senate President Pro-Tempore on the executive board.
These reforms are not finalized. Senators will continue discussing these proposed reforms until March 29, according to the slideshow. Between April 5 and 26, DSG will have “committee and senate open floors to discuss any proposals senators have and see how to implement them with or without constitutional changes,” according to the slideshow.
The senators allocated $5270.35 for Duke Catholic Center, $2000 for Duke Conservation Tech, $4720 for Duke Persian Students Association, $4305.58 for Embodiment Contemporary Dance, $1625 for Shave and Buzz, $3150 for Students Supporting Israel, $2265 for Student Advisory Board at the Duke Human Rights Center and $7650 for Statistical Science Majors Union.
DSG chartered Root Causes Undergraduate Coalition, funded $200 for the Duke University Information Technology Advisory Council’s Undergraduate Information Technology Survey and approved revised election rules for the upcoming vice president elections.
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Senou Kounouho is a Pratt sophomore and a university news editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.