Duke Student Government presidential candidate Katelyn Cai looks to increase DSG’s transparency, advocate for student voices and solve campus problems in her campaign to “leave Duke better than we found it.”
A junior from Scottsdale, Arizona, Cai is a Program II major studying “Social and Public Trust in the Digital Age.” She is a Robertson Scholar, Duke Presidential Ambassador, dancer for Duke’s multicultural dance group Defining Movement, reporter for the 9th Street Journal and executive board member of experiential orientation Project BUILD.
To Cai, the president of DSG must be able to work across different groups — a skill she believes she’s developed by engaging with a wide range of campus communities.
Cai became involved with DSG during her first semester at Duke. She has previously served as vice president of the Durham and community affairs committee and a member of the senate judiciary committee, in addition to other external committees. In the fall, Cai was chair of Democracy Day, which entailed convening organizations from across the University and managing a $10,000 budget.
Drawing from her experiences in DSG, Cai’s presidential campaign centers on three main components: transparency, advocacy and practicality. By capitalizing on these areas, she hopes to “help other students have the best college experience possible,” adding that this is the primary motivation behind her decision to run for student government.
Cai noted that many students do not know what DSG does or “why DSG matters.” As president, she hopes to serve as “communicator-in-chief” and plans to explain “what’s happening behind the scenes” through a biweekly newsletter or column.
She hopes to further enhance transparency by publishing a schedule of her meetings with administrators and their agendas, as well as creating a Calendly for students to schedule meetings with her to discuss concerns.
Cai believes she is equipped to advocate for the student body as president due to her extensive work in journalism and prior track record in DSG.
“In my committee appointments so far, I've pushed back on administrators when I think they've had ideas that aren't good for the student body,” she said, highlighting that she knows “when to ask hard questions.”
Cai believes in the value of partnering with Duke administration while also promoting student needs. For instance, she hopes to “bring student groups into the room when conversations are being held about social life on campus.”
The issue of social life also plays a key role in Cai’s third pillar of practicality. Here, she advocates for continued social events on Central Campus — a venue she helped introduce during her time in DSG — in addition to supporting disaffiliated Greek life and selective living groups.
Cai also hopes to cut “unnecessary costs” to students “wherever possible.” Her plan entails “asking for cost breakdowns, working on cross-department coordination to pool funds, empowering the Karsh Financial Aid Council and directly fundraising with alumni.”
Sophomore Aarav Dagar worked closely with Cai while planning for Democracy Day. He described her as “energetic” and “very organized,” crediting her with keeping the team together throughout the event planning process.
Dagar also described Cai as “people-focused.” Rather than focusing on “optics,” he said Cai cared most about enabling students to engage meaningfully with an event.
Senior Meredith Sims serves alongside Cai as a Duke Presidential Ambassador. She described Cai as “determined, deeply caring [and] innovative,” as well as “down-to-earth” despite her accomplishments and “a breath of fresh air on Duke's campus.”
“She's a leader who's in touch with those around her,” Sims said. “… She can just take something and run with it and make it so successful.”
To Sims, Cai’s “ability to manage and execute things and her proven track record is exactly what you need for a DSG president.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Sign up for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.
Ananya Pinnamaneni is a Trinity first-year and a staff reporter for the news department.