Duke Student Government senators convened Wednesday to approve funds in hopes of making Personal Checks, an annual Krzyzewskiville tenting party, safer for students.
P-Checks precautions
DSG approved $5,850 in funding for personal pizzas and hot chocolate to be available to all K-Ville tenters on the evening of P-Checks in order to minimize the risks of heavy drinking among students.
Personal Checks, frequently called P-Checks, is an annual night in K-Ville where all members of tent groups must be present for three separate attendance checks. During typical evenings, only a portion of each tent group is required to be present during line monitor checks.
To make the requirement for K-Ville residents more bearable, the night of P-Checks includes a large celebration with food trucks and a concert.
“Students tend to drink a lot at this event,” said senior Sophie Smith, vice president of campus life. “This is a huge safety concern for students [from] a risk management perspective,”
Smith explained that the event can often be cold and long in duration.
Head line monitors were already granted $2,500 from DSG for food and safety measures. The additional funding brought the budget for P-Checks to $8,350.
Committee updates
The academic affairs committee announced an upcoming meeting with members of the Trinity Curriculum Development Committee, the body responsible for creating the new Trinity College curriculum launching in fall 2025. The committee has reviewed the proposal and will offer student feedback to the TCDC.
Members of the campus life committee, in collaboration with Duke Parking & Transportation and Debbie Heida, interim associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students, will soon implement a survey to collect feedback on Duke’s parking and transportation services, including buses and student parking.
The committee is also working with the Duke University Police Department to organize a student working group for student safety on campus. Other projects include putting “healthcare vending machines” on East Campus, creating a student advisory committee for parking and transportation and increasing seating options around campus.
The Durham and community affairs committee announced that it is working on a support group for students from rural communities. Additionally, the committee is planning a tabling workshop for Democracy Day, an event that aims to increase voter turnout among Duke students. The committee is also partnering with the Office of Durham and Community Affairs to launch Fireside Chats, a series of conversations between leaders in the Durham community and Duke students.
The equity and outreach committee conveyed optimism about its free laundry initiative, which aims to include laundry costs in students’ tuition and fees, making it eligible to be covered by financial aid. The committee also announced an ongoing initiative to improve affinity spaces for cultural groups on campus.
The services and sustainability committee announced that it has been working on initiatives to improve napping spaces for students on campus. Additionally, the committee is considering the possibility of placing price stickers on a greater selection of items in the Lobby Shop.
In other business
Senators allocated $8,326.55 for a spring speaker event held by the Duke Association for Business Oriented Women. They also approved two funding requests from the Duke Muslim Students Association, allocating $2,550 towards catering for a speaker event called “Life of the Final Prophet” and $2,500 to continue hosting Quran classes. Senators also approved a request from United Black Athletes for $1,726.19 towards catering at a Black faculty, staff and athlete mixer.
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Holly Keegan is a Trinity junior and a senior editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.