Some DSG members are taking heed from Fix My Campus suggestions, working with administrators to implement students’ ideas.
Since Duke Student Government’s Fix My Campus initiative began taking suggestions via text, email, Twitter and website submissions in early January, more than 80 ideas for campus improvement have been submitted—between four and five each week, said freshman Lavanya Sunder, chair of the Fix My Campus committee and DSG senator for services. The ideas range from laundry monitor services to encouraging local club Shooters II to accept FLEX points. The committee is in the process of seeking approval from administrators before implementing some of the ideas. Sunder said the administration has been receptive to some of the ideas suggested to Fix My Campus.
One such project is installing TransLoc bus monitors in various locations around campus, said sophomore Cameron Tripp, committee member and DSG senator for facilities and environment.
“While the project is only in the conceptual phase, I am optimistic,” Tripp said.
Tripp added that another idea under consideration is implementing LaundryView, which would allow students to check which washing machines and dryers are available in any given campus laundry room through an online application. A program like this already exists on Central Campus, but Tripp said he is pushing for a campus-wide version.
“If successful, gone may be the days of trudging to the laundry room only to be dismayed to find that it was all for naught,” Tripp said.
Sunder also said the committee is working on forming a better lost-and-found on campus, improving lighting at night on East Campus and installing a foot-washing station at the Arts Annex for dancers after a work out.
“Another good suggestion we’re working on is a phone and computer charging station in Perkins [Library],” said junior Lyndsay Kerwin, Fix My Campus marketing director. “One of our favorites was singing valentines to send to other people.”
Students are also able to submit suggestions through Facebook. Sunder added that Fix My Campus’ Facebook group has more than 500 members and is growing steadily. When students submit suggestions via text message, a computer program sorts and organizes them into a spreadsheet, Sunder said. The Fix My Campus committee has not yet begun to sort through the Facebook suggestions.
“Committee members then look at the spreadsheet and decide which suggestions they would like to work on,” she said. “All of them are definitely not dealt with. The committee decides together what we feel is feasible and what the student body would like the most.”
Among the many serious ideas, there have been several odd suggestions, Sunder said, including requests to build a tall fence around East Campus, relocating Armadillo Grill to Gilbert-Addoms Down Under and implementing campus-wide dessert delivery.
Kerwin said she is enjoying working with Fix My Campus and helping to improve the University by making sure every student’s ideas are heard.
“Being a non-DSG member, it’s so cool to see how every single suggestion we get is considered,” Kerwin said. “There are a lot more ‘yes’ than ‘no.’ Some great things are going to come of this.”
Although the Fix My Campus system was initially launched Spring 2012 by junior Patrick Oathout, DSG executive vice president and a columnist for The Chronicle, Sunder took over the project, forming an eight-person committee at the beginning of this semester. The program has exceeded expectations, Oathout noted in an email Monday.
Students can text their suggestions to 919-914-0697 or join the Facebook group called Fix My Campus, which is open to users within the Duke University network.
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