Dylan Cawley, the sole Duke Student Government executive vice president candidate, aims to streamline DSG’s communication with students, increase programming opportunities to expand outside engagement and reimagine inefficient internal accountability systems in the senate by-laws.
A native of Long Valley, New Jersey, Cawley is a junior majoring in public policy and environmental science. At Duke, he is an Air Force ROTC cadet, Hart Leadership Program fellow and director of finance and operations for Duke Partnership for Service.
Cawley was first elected to DSG as a first-year senator for services and sustainability and now serves as the speaker of the senate. He noted that this is the first year that DSG has had a “definite speaker of the senate role,” clarifying that the role now combines the responsibilities of the pro-tempore position and the project management responsibility that fell to last academic year’s EVP.
In addition to taking on these revised responsibilities, as speaker of the senate, Cawley is responsible for leading DSG senate meetings, fielding updates from vice presidents, attending executive meetings, engaging with individual senators and working with DSG Adviser Juwan Jacobs.
Cawley stated that the biggest challenge facing DSG is the disconnect between the work it does and its impact on the student body. He aims to “address and meet [this challenge] head-on” as EVP to provide his peers with a clearer idea of the organization’s work.
The EVP candidate also aims to address a problem with DSG’s current internal accountability systems, which he said currently do not hold student representatives accountable. Since students volunteer their time to the governing body, Cawley noted that the body’s work will often “come to a halt” during exam weeks across the academic year.
“I want to find the balance between really supporting … high-quality student work … [while] also making sure that [the representatives] actually uphold their end of the bargain,” he said. “I think that that is something that really needs to improve within the current student government.”
Additionally, Cawley pointed to improving the efficiency of senate meetings as being a defining marker informing DSG’s culture next academic year.
Ultimately, he said his goal is to create projects that have an enduring impact on Duke’s campus, while ensuring that DSG upholds its role as a liaison between the student body and University administrators.
Senior Yadira Paz-Martinez, DSG’s vice president of equity and outreach, was Cawley’s Project Citizen orientation leader and initially encouraged him to run for senator as a first-year.
Paz-Martinez discussed Cawley’s dedication to environmental work, highlighting his effort to recycle tents after tenting season in Krzyzewskiville.
She also described his “extremely supportive” nature and his “great capacity [for] mentoring younger students” across DSG.
“I've never seen a senate speaker truly, truly get to know freshmen, get to know VPs, get to know the bylaws, the constitutions, the way DSG actually functions. That internal knowledge is … one of the most important factors in being EVP,” Paz-Martinez said. “I think he is perfectly suited for that position.”
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Bhavika Verma is a Trinity first-year and a staff reporter for the news department.