Duke Student Government met Wednesday to approve over $93,000 in Student Organization Finance Committee and Operation and Capital Fund requests and hear two special presentations.
Special presentations, committee updates
Senators heard a special presentation from Jillian Martin, associate director of the Student Affairs Office of Assessment, who fielded questions from senators about effective data collection, avoiding biases in surveys and ensuring that senators get relevant feedback regarding their projects.
Senators also listened to a special presentation regarding the results of a demographics survey, which was held in a closed session.
During committee updates, junior Tara Singh, vice president of campus life, announced a first-year town hall will take place Feb. 11. Sophomore Yash Sharma, vice president of Durham and community affairs, affirmed that his committee is coordinating with Duke Partnership for Service to organize next week’s “Service Week.”
SOFC, OCF funding requests
In addition to SOFC funding, senators also discussed funding requests from the OCF, which “assists student organizations with any basic operating or upfront expenses critical to the viability of their group at Duke,” according to SOFC guidelines. OCF funding requests are reviewed once per semester.
Multiple students inquired into the food cost allocation policy, with one senator asking why food costs were not covered for certain events but allocations in line with SOFC’s per-person catering policy were made for other events.
One SOFC representative replied that the organization “look[s] at the event as a whole to make sure that … the catering was essential for the event to happen.” Another SOFC representative added that extra food costs were occasionally subsidized for events where members deemed it “necessary” to ensure SOFC is being “as equitable as possible with the limited amount of funding we have.”
Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc.: $4,350 funded in full to cover new member dues for four first-generation, low-income students.
Duke American Society of Civil Engineers: $1,937 funded in full to cover lodging costs for the ASCE Carolinas Conference.
Duke Sports Analytics Club: $1,625.49 funded in full to cover travel, lodging and registration costs for three students to attend the annual MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.
Amnesty International Duke Chapter: $3,570 out of its requested $4,395 to cover travel, lodging and registration costs for its executive team to attend Amnesty International USA’s Annual General Meeting, with travel and lodging allocations reduced to meet SOFC policy.
Duke Deewana: $6,792 out of its requested $12,880 to cover travel, registration and lodging costs to participate in the Buckeye Laya competition at The Ohio State University.
Duke Climbing Club: $2,290 funded in full to cover access costs to the Triangle Rock Club Durham location for weekly practices.
Duke Arab Students Organization: $4,212 out of its requested $9,307 to cover travel, lodging and registrations costs to attend the Arab Conference at Harvard University, eliminating the requested $900 in catering costs. $1,850 out of its requested $2,549.31 to cover costs for a separate bowling event, adjusting food and drink costs according to SOFC policy.
Black Women's Union: $3,735 out of its requested $4,500.50 to cover travel and space rental costs for its Crown and Clarity retreat, with food costs cut.
Pureun: $2,750 funded in full to cover space rental costs for the dance team’s weekly practices.
Duke Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers: $5,160 out of its requested $7,000 to cover lodging and travel costs to attend the IEEE SoutheastCon 2025.
J Street: $1,820 out of its requested $2,100 to cover travel and lodging costs to attend a yearly conference in Washington, D.C., cutting catering costs.
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Duke Rhydhun: $9,308 out of its requested $11,574 to cover travel, lodging and registration costs for its competition in Los Angeles.
Ballet and Books: $1,665 funded in full to cover merch and material costs for volunteering purposes.
Duke Investment Club: $7,018.30 out of its requested $11,371.18 to cover travel and lodging costs for conferences.
Duke MotorSports: $15,351.70 out of its requested $16,202.40 to cover general body meeting and numerous material costs.
Duke Naval ROTC: $3,920 out of its requested $7,770 for numerous reusable items, including new drill gear.
Brazilian Student’s Association: $6,675 out of its requested $12,680 to cover travel, lodging and registration costs to attend the Brazil Conference hosted at Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, cutting food costs.
Duke Remote Area Medical: $1,957 funded in full to cover travel and lodging costs for students volunteering at three rural health clinics.
Kappa Alpha Psi: $5,500 out of its requested $9,447.25 to cover catering and space rental costs for its Feb. 14 Kupid Ball.
Duke Association for Business Oriented Women: $4,128 out of its requested $6,961.21 to cover speaker travel and lodging, as well as catering costs for its spring business conference, cutting breakfast costs.
Senators also voted to approve a budgetary statute to grant $100 to the Information Technology Advisory Council to fund gift card prizes for their upcoming survey, as well as a budgetary statute to grant $250 to the campus life committee to fund catering for their first-year town hall Tuesday.
Jeremiah Fang is a Trinity junior and a staff reporter for the news department.