Stefani Jones, candidate for Duke Student Government president, is a junior from Arizona. She is a political science major, also pursuing a certificate in journalism and media studies. Currently, Jones serves as the DSG vice president for equity and outreach, president of the Coalition for a Conflict-Free Duke, a member of Duke Debate and a council member for the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy. The Chronicle’s Carleigh Stiehm sat down with her to discuss her platform for the March 7 election.
The Chronicle: What qualities define you as a leader?
Stefani Jones: The quality that most defines me as a leader is the way that I help to empower others to do great work. If you talk to any senator on my committee, the way that I work as a vice president—and the way that I would want to function as a president—is not as someone who micromanages but as someone who really gets other people excited about the work that they are doing and the fact that they can have an impact on campus. I think the most important thing is to take a critical look at the records of the candidates who you are voting for because no matter what the ideas are, you are not going to be able to get any of those things done unless you have someone with experience in advocacy and tools for actually changing big policies on campus.
TC: Why are you qualified for this position?
SJ: I am most qualified for the position because I have the most experience with advocacy, with working with administrators and faculty and doing the things that are most important for a DSG president. You really have to be the voice in the room representing students in any conversation on campus, and I have the most experience in making sure that students’ needs and views are represented to administrators, to faculty, with other student groups and with just about everyone on campus. My experience on DSG is incredibly broad—I served last year on the Athletics, Service and the Environment Committee, and I’ve worked on issues as diverse as alcohol policy, financial aid and athletics. I also think that my track record really shows how I work as a leader in terms of collaborating with students and making sure that I get every opinion possible. I really try and seek results and not just changes to internal DSG rules that don’t actually really affect students.
TC: How do you define the role of DSG on campus?
SJ: DSG has a bad reputation on campus for only focusing on policies that are internal and not those that are really reaching out and helping the student body. I think the role of DSG can be something that really helps to work on policies that are improving student life on a daily basis, and I think where DSG fails a lot of the time is in only working on things—like passing meaningless resolutions or obsessing over bylaws—that in no way reach out to students.
TC: Do you think DSG is an effective force for change on campus? How do you think it can improve?
SJ: DSG can definitely be an effective force for change on campus. We are unique in that we are one of the only organizations that has a seat at the table in any discussion with the administration or on any important issue on campus. You can see that where we are most effective is in things like changing the statute of limitations on the sexual misconduct policy on campus. That is an effort that I led this Fall that affects everybody on campus and anyone who has faced harassment or sexual assault. You can see that where we are most effective is in large-scale lobbying efforts, like pushing for changes to the house model, helping student centers like the [Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Life] acquire more space and in protecting the rights of students. That’s where DSG can succeed, and that’s where my expertise is.
TC: What is your proudest accomplishment as a leader on campus and why?
SJ: My proudest accomplishment on DSG was the effort that I led last semester to eliminate the statute of limitations on the sexual misconduct policy. I worked with over 20 schools to research their policies over the summer and came back to campus to work with administrators. We wrote memos to a lot of different administrators as well as got together a coalition of student groups to really rally behind the issue. When we felt a little bit of push back from the administration, we really organized a strategy to gain campus support including writing op-eds in places like The Huffington Post and trying to make sure that everyone understood the gravity of the issue.
Eventually, we were successful, and the statue was repealed completely, and that is a huge victory for not only victims of sexual assault but even victims of harassment in general because the policy applies to students in both situations. That definitely highlights a little bit of my leadership style and the way I address problems on campus in the way that I get groups together in order to tackle big issues, and I don’t just want to work on them myself without others’ input.
TC: What is your top priority for next year if you win?
SJ: There are a few of them, but two of the largest ones are going to be addressing impacts of West Union [Building] construction—where I think dining is going to be a huge issue on campus. With so many food vendors closing, there is going to be a huge dining shortage on West Campus. I want to have a critical role in increasing our access to dining through increased food trucks, increasing the merchants on points program and trying to bring in new vendors, like grocery stores, on to that plan so that students can have extra access to dining.
We’ll also need to take a critical look at our University alcohol policy next year, and I’m uniquely equipped to do so. I’ve been working with student leaders for over a year now on the issue, and the key is that we need to work for a policy that is inclusive and reflects the dangers associated with pushing drinking culture off campus. Any policy the University proposes will have unintended consequences, and looking at those are just as important as looking at the reasons we’re regulating parties to begin with.
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