Duke Diya endorses Oathout for DSG president

As Duke Diya’s executive board interviewed the candidates for DSG president, we found that each candidate brought a unique perspective. Stefani Jones emphasized the importance of diversity on campus and strengthening the inclusive nature of the Duke community. Stefani’s track record also indicates that she has tackled many issues on campus by working with, and often times, challenging the Duke administration, when necessary.

Patrick Oathout, however, distinguished himself by describing his wide range of experiences both within DSG and outside of DSG, and by articulating his concrete ideas and plan of action to better support organizations like Diya and the students that Diya represents. For example, he highlighted the importance of having campus eateries cater to specific diets such as halaal, vegan and vegetarian restrictions. Understanding the difficulties that such students have in finding an adequate variety of foods, Patrick has a plan to reform the dining options. Patrick also understood the challenges that student groups face when applying for funding from SOFC and gaining funding from other sources, and said that he hopes to create a system in which student groups can easily access information about all available sources of funding. He also presented a plan for getting student organizations to collaborate on philanthropic activities by creating a student philanthropy drive. His understanding of the charitable work of organizations such as Diya, whose annual Awaaz cultural show seeks to highlight and donate proceeds to organizations working on issues of both local and global importance, and the prospect of making an even bigger impact through campus collaboration was especially impressive. Overall, it seemed that Patrick had the leadership and organizational experience to understand how to maneuver through the power structure of both DSG and the University, while implementing constructive change.

Thus, Diya is happy to announce its endorsement of Patrick Oathout for DSG president. We encourage all students to vote, wish all the candidates the best of luck and look forward to the election’s results.

Komal Patel, Trinity ’13

Co-president of internal affairs, Duke Diya