Election Results!!

Hello All,

The election results from Monday's election have been certified by the Election Commission, released to the Chronicle and again verified by the Attorney General. They are as follows:

For the four referendum questions:

Reform of the Judiciary: Passed, 93.75% voting in favor
Incorporation of DUSDAC: Passed, 95.87% voting in favor
Removing the Vice President of the ICC: Passed, 84.56% voting in favor
Creating a Gender Neural Constitution: Passes, 80.77% voting in favor

Freshman Senate Winners (2013)
o Academic Affairs: Ari Ruffer and Kenneth Gould
o Athletics and Campus Services: Cameron Oswalt and Douglas Hanna
o Durham and Regional Affairs: Chris Brown and Gordon Wilson
o Student Affairs: Molly Superfine and Gurdane Bhutani
Junior Senate Winners (2011)
o Academic Affairs: Dmitri Jean and Matt Stansky
o Athletics and Campus Services: Ben Bergmann and Kendyl Tash
o Durham and Regional Affairs: Lauren Kottis and Danielle Starks
Senior Senate Winners (2010)
o Academic Affairs: Daniel Lewin and Kristen Yang
o Student Affairs: Steven McAlpine
Special Secretary for the ICC
o Amanda Turner (757 to 628)

Turnout was 27%

Thanks for participating in your democracy!

- Gregory

Elections Tomorrow

Hello Everyone,

Fall elections are tomorrow! Poll will be open from 7am until 8pm. On the ballot will be the following important items:

8 Freshman Senate Seats, 8 Junior Senate Seats, and 5 Senior Senate Seats.

Additionally we'll vote for a SPECIAL SECRETARY TO THE YOUNG TRUSTEE PROCESS. This position will make recommendations to the Senate on how the reform the Young Trustee Process; making it MORE TRANSPARENT.

Finally, FOUR Referendums are on the ballot:

1. REFORMING THE JUDICIARY, making it independent and creating separation of powers.

2. BRINGING DUSDAC INTO DSG, to guarantee that their dining recommendations will have the weight of the student body behind them in the future.

3. DISSOLVING THE OFFICE OF VICE PRESIDENT FOR THE ICC, so that the ICC (a council of student organization presidents) can be an independent voice on campus.
Both ICC and DSG support this move.

4. MAKING THE CONSTITUTION GENDER-NEUTRAL, to make the student body's governing document more inclusive.

Please vote. We need 25% of the student body to vote for the referendums to be valid. Please read the oped written by Exec that ran this past Friday: http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/09/11/Columns/Guest.Commentary.A.Yes.Vote.Is.Key.To.A.Better.Dsg-3768784.shtml

Thanks everyone!

GO VOTE! GO VOTE! GO VOTE!

Vice President Brown Resigns

Hello All,

On Monday, June 29, Andrew Brown, Trinity '11, resigned his position as Vice President for the Inter-Community Council, effective immediately.

His email to DSG exec is as follows:

Everyone,
I am writing to formally resign as Vice President for the Inter-Community Council. I have decided to attend Duke in New York: Financial Markets and Institutions Program in the Spring of 2010. Since I will be in New York this Spring, I will not be able to carry out the responsibilities of my position. I have thought about this decision for quite awhile now, and I do not take it lightly. However, this is the best decision for me personally at the moment. I was not aware of the Duke in New York program before being elected, otherwise I would not have run. I regret that I will not get to be a part of this year's exciting Executive Board, and I wish you all the best of luck.

Sincerely,
Andrew Brown

We'll keep you posted about any developemnts regarding Andrew's replacement.

- Gregory, Executive Vice President

New By-Laws

Interested in how DSG works? Awesome.

We just passed new Senate and Executive By-Laws to bring the By-Laws up to date with the recently passed constitution. They replace the former Legislative and Cabinet By-Laws. They make significant improvements and are available on the DSG website if you'd like to read them.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at gregory.morrison@duke.edu and I'll do my best to answer you!

Two Important Individuals...

At the last meeting of the Senate, we elected two INCREDIBLY important individuals:

1) The Chief Justice - Matt Straus (matt.straus@duke.edu). If you would like the judiciary to look into any DSG action, please let Matt know.

2) The Chair of the Student Organization Finance Committee - David Hu (david.hu@duke.edu). David is your go to man for all questions relating to money or budgeting. He's more than happy to help you if you have questions.

Board of Trustee Reps

Hey All,
Here are the new BoT student reps to committees for the 2009-2010 school year. Feel free to email any of them with your concerns!


* Representatives:
o Facilities and Environment Committee:
+ Eric Kaufman, Trinity '10, eric.kaufman@duke.edu
o Institutional Advancement Committee:
+ Zachary Perret, Trinity' 10, gap@duke.edu
o Undergraduate Affairs Committee:
+ Gregory Morrison, Trinity' 11, gsm8@duke.edu
o Business and Finance Committee:
+ Gabriela Borges, Trinity '10, gabriela.borges@duke.edu


* Alternates:
o Facilities and Environment Committee:
+ Michael Lefevre, Trinity '11, michael.lefevre@duke.edu
o Institutional Advancement Committee:
+ Megan Foran, Trinity '10, megan.foran@duke.edu
o Undergraduate Affairs Committee:
+ Bethany Hill, Trinity '10, beh10@duke.edu
o Business and Finance Committee:
+ Bennet Grill, Trinity '10, bennet.grill@duke.edu

Seven Days Notice

Hey All,
The referendum on the new constitution will take place at the same time as the DSG Exec elections on March 31st. You will receive an email from DSG with a link to the election site. From there you just sign in with your net ID and vote.

If you haven't already done so, please read the proposed document. It is available on the DSG website: http://student.groups.duke.edu/Duke_Student_Government

There is a link to the word document under the governance section.

This post serves as a public notification given before the referendum as required by the current constitution.

Thanks so much!
-Gregory

Premajor Advising and One-Year Master's

Hey all,

I hope you all are having a great week and excited for spring break (I know that I am!). I wanted to let you know about two things that the Academic Affairs Committee has been working on:

1. Premajor advising: Dean McLendon has agreed to make premajor advising count as the equivalent to an independent study for the faculty accelerated leave policy. In non-administrator talk, this means that faculty have more of an incentive to become premajor advisors. Now, it's our turn. I encourage you to email your favorite professor and ask them to be a premajor advisor next year. It's not a huge time commitment, and it will really make a difference for the class of 2013 (oh man, I'm old) and beyond. We'll be putting together a letter, so email me (cpg5@duke.edu) if you're interested.

2. Master's in Management Studies: The one year master's program in Fuqua has been passed by the Faculty, Graduate, and Professional School Affairs Committee to the Board of Trustees. The Chronicle wrote on it today: http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/03/03/News/1Yr-Business.Degree.Gains.Momentum-3656938.shtml. Tell ALL your senior friends and email me with any questions (again, cpg5@duke.edu).

Thanks for all your feedback,

Chelsea

Read the Constitution

Hey folks!
The new draft Constitution has been posted online on the DSG website. You can download the document and read it for yourself now!

The link is "Proposed New Constitution" under the "Governance" section on the main page.

Enjoy!

-Gregory

New Draft Constitution

Hey everyone,
Wednesday was a big day in the Senate. We passed a draft a new DSG Constitution. I've been working with the Rules Committee on preparing this document to completely replace the current constitution for about two months.

The draft new Constitution will soon be on the DSG website for you to read and review. The student body must pass it in referendum for it to come into force. It will appear on the Exec election ballot on March 31st.

These are some of the major changes from the present Constitution:

VP titles
The name of the Senate
The allocation of representation
The distinction between DSG and the student body
The budgetary process/SOFC
The signing of legislation
Separation of the "Joint Statement of Rights and Freedoms of Students"
Reduction in mandatory Cabinet members
Reduction in ex-officio Senators
Clarification of recess/vacancy appointments
Referendum requirements

If you have any questions please don't hesitate to send me an email (gsm8@duke.edu)

The other members of the drafting committee were:
Senator Ryan Clark (ACS '12)
Senator Ben Getson (AA '11)
Senator Alex Levy (AA '11)
Senator Andrew Schreiber (AA '11)
Former Attorney General Will Passo ('11)

I'll keep you updated as we move through the process. Thanks!

Premajor Advising

We're thinking about it: http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2009/02/26/Columns/Fixing.Premajor.Advising-3650181.shtml

Check out this column and tell us what you think.

one-year master's program

This just in:

Subject to approval by the FGPSA Committee of the Board of Trustees and the Academic Council,

THERE WILL BE A ONE-YEAR MASTER'S PROGRAM IN MANAGERIAL SCIENCE NEXT YEAR FROM FUQUA.

And it will have financial aid available.

Thoughts? Comments? Exclamation points? Please let me know.

!!!!!
Chelsea

pass/fail update and other fantastic projects

hey all,

i hope that midterm season is going well for everyone. overloading this semester has made me especially sensitive for the need for change in some academic policies :-/ luckily, the new pass/fail policy proposal is in committee, and in general AA is working on some pretty exciting projects.

-PASS/FAIL: the proposed pass/fail policy went to committee last Thursday, and it seems that it will definitely be subject to heated debate. as i've said before, i think that it is essential to change the pass/fail policy--in its current state, it acts as more of a veil for seniors who don't want to take a rigorous schedule rather than as an opportunity for all students to try new classes and take risks without the chance of long-term damage to their GPAs. the proposed policy would, among other things, (1) allow premajor students to take courses pass/fail, (2) extend the deadline by which classes have to be declared pass/fail to the withdrawal date, (3) remove the blanket ban on Pass/Fail grading for prerequisites and seminars, and (4) go to a Pass/D/Fail grading system. what do you all think? would you take more challenging classes outside of your discipline if the new policy was in place? is there anything that you would add? please give feedback!

-MAJORS' UNIONS: the majors' union round table is this MONDAY and we are really excited about it. majors' unions are a unique chance to give students a forum to discuss their subject and their needs within the major with faculty in a collective position. this also can be a forum for students to bring in speakers and hold events. we want to inspire each major to start and upkeep a union. cynthia and i will keep you updated on the results.

-HALF-CREDIT CLASSES: Price and Harrison have been working to try to get more half-credit classes for students who want to try out another discipline, but don't have the prereqs or the time for full-credit classes. What subjects would you be interested in pursuing? We're thinking potentially a Current Events Class, where top public policy professors and political scientists could teach all students about the world. Modelling and project based engineering classes for those of us that usually would not touch Pratt with a 12 foot pole (not that I don't respect you all immensely, but...). Art history courses minus the papers. You get the drift. Any interest, let us know! Cpg5@duke.edu.

On top of these three projects, we're also working on opportunities for students to have greater access to evaluations through a new site and access to comments that you have written in class. What would you like to see in an evaluations website just for students?

I'm off, but please comment or contact me with any questions.

AA love,

Chelsea

Majors' Union Round Table

Hey yall,

This is Cynthia Chen, a senator on the Academic Affairs Committee (we like posting). Just wanted to let yall know what I'm up to this semester.

AA has been working hard this year to jumpstart Majors' Unions around campus; we wanted to create some kind of uniformity between the majors, since some majors have them, some don't, some used to, etc. Among many other things, we think Majors' Unions have the potential to be invaluable resources for students to receive mentorship from other students in their majors, to network, to voice curricular concerns to administration, and just to interact with other students studying the same things they are.

Along with Michael and Price, two other AA senators, my project this semester (originally Chelsea's) is to organize a Majors' Union Round Table in late February (probably Feb. 23rd - more details to come) where all the student leadership of existing and newly-forming Majors' Unions come together with administrators to discuss common issues. What are Majors' Unions supposed to do? How do they work? Where do they get funding? It'll be really interesting, I think, for students who have run Majors' Unions to talk about their challenges and their experiences, for students who are trying to start them to learn how to do so and how to structure their organizations, and for administrators to give us an idea from their side of things what they want Majors' Unions to do and accomplish.

Michael, Price, and I will finalize the details of the meeting soon and start contacting students. If you're reading this and you've ever considered starting a Majors' Union or would like to start one, email me!! cgc8 at duke.edu. I just went through the process for the English Majors' Union and I'd love to help you out; it'd also be great to get as many interested students as possible at the Round Table.

That's about it for now. peace

Cynthia

UNDERLOAD

UNDERLOAD PASSED! a copy of the proposal will be posted later.

also, check out this sweet chron edit about AA.

more soon,

chelsea