Updated April 2, 9:45 a.m.
Duke Student Government unanimously approved a resolution against Amendment One at its meeting Wednesday.
The resolution—submitted by senior Daren Miller, a senator for student life; sophomore Jacob Tobia, director of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer policy and affairs, and President Pete Schork, a senior who was absent at the meeting—affirmed DSG’s support for the LGBT community and served to represent the student body’s opposition to the amendment. The North Carolina primary election and referendum is May 8, and early voting is from April 19 to May 5.
“I am immensely proud of Duke Student Government for taking a stand for families of countless North Carolinians and for the rights of LGBT people across the state,” Tobia said in an interview. “It speaks volumes about our institution and our student body... but this is just the beginning of a long campaign to mobilize voters against the amendment.”
Tobia said that he and Miller have been working with Duke Together Against Constitutional Discrimination over the past three months, and they identified the need for a DSG resolution, believing that it would kick off a campus-wide campaign to raise support for voting against the amendment.
“This is our way of expressing our sentiments about the resolution,” Miller said. “This is something extremely pertinent to the state. We are citizens while we’re here, and it’s important for us to engage in the political process.... We hope students will feel engaged and fired up to go out and express their opposition to Amendment One.”
Tobia noted that nine other colleges have already officially denounced the amendment, including North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Many politicians have also expressed their disapproval of the amendment, including President Barack Obama, all Democratic gubernatorial candidates in North Carolina, leaders of the John Locke Foundation—an independent think-tank based in Raleigh—as well as some conservatives.
Junior Stratten Waldt, senator for residential life and dining, also announced to the Senate that he plans to pursue candidacy for the position of DSG president.
In other business:
DSG voted to approve seven new members for a judiciary selection committee, charged with the task of selecting the members of the DSG Judiciary.
The Senate also approved a proposal to create a Fix My Campus committee, which would evaluate suggestions received through the program and delegate them to pertinent organizations on campus or offer advice to those who submit suggestions.
Additionally, the Senate approved a charter for Neurogenesis, an undergraduate neuroscience journal, and for Dance Council. Duke Co-Sign, a neurology group, was denied their charter request but received approval to be renamed Synapse. The Senate also voted to recognize Antic Shakespeare Company as an official student group—the only Shakespeare centered group on campus.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated to reflect that junior Stratten Waldt also announced at this meeting of the Senate that he plans to run for DSG president .The Chronicle regrets the error.
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