Duke Student Government senators met Wednesday to hear a presentation about the Cultural Engagement Fund, give updates on committee progress and confirm several new members.
Lauren Denton, associate director of the Center for Multicultural Affairs, gave a presentation to DSG on the Cultural Engagement Fund and its uses. The fund is designed to primarily help undergraduate student groups fund programs and events regarding the arts, cross-cultural collaboration, multiculturalism and social justice.
Applications for the fund will be open from Nov. 6 to Nov. 17 and will be accessible via DukeGroups. More information on the fund can be found here.
Committee progress updates
The academic affairs committee announced that it will be hosting a town hall on Nov. 6 at the Landing in the Bryan Center from 4:30 p.m to 6 p.m to hear students’ suggestions and advice for Trinity College’s 2030 curriculum update. The committee's newly launched Blue Devil Bridges program has seen over 1,000 students and roughly 1,100 alumni sign up.
The equity and outreach committee has continued its work with Duke LIFE to renovate the group's study space in Perkins and will send a form for Duke LIFE students to provide input on how best to refurbish the space. The committee has also continued work on their initiative to include laundry fees in tuition through discussions with Duke administration and looking at how peer institutions manage laundry fees.
The services and sustainability committee has continued work on their projects, including napping pods on campus, vegetarian guides for the dining halls, health services on East Campus and price tags in the Lobby Shop.
The campus life committee has spoken with the director of parking and transportation to help secure funding for a late-night Lyft program and discuss plans to not require parked cars to move for games in the upcoming basketball season.
The Durham and community affairs committee met with the Office of New Student and Family Programs to ensure that incoming first-year students will learn about Durham and Duke over email and in the Blue Book. The committee has also continued its work in strengthening the University’s ties with various community partners in Durham.
In other business
DSG senators confirmed several nominations for various roles in DSG. Sophomore Cihan Cayli and first-years Thomas Henry, Claire Ryu, Ben Trokenheim, Jeslyn Gao and Jade Decker were all confirmed as SOFC analysts, and junior Katie Kotler was confirmed as senate judiciary committee chair.
DSG senators allocated $6,550 to the Hindu Students Association to cover the costs of catering, Mehendi artists and supplies for its Diwali event on Nov. 17, $3,900 to Mi Gente to cover catering costs for its joint formal with the Asian Students Association on Nov. 9, $5,050 to United in Praise to pay for band members at its joint concert with Something Borrowed Something Blue on Nov. 5 and $4,996.75 to Devils en Pointe for space rentals at its two showings of The Nutcracker on Dec. 1 and Dec. 2.
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Jeremiah Fang is a Trinity junior and a staff reporter for the news department.