New DSG senators sworn in

New senators were officially sworn in at DSG's meeting Wednesday evening, where they were introduced to the legislative process and campus issues.
New senators were officially sworn in at DSG's meeting Wednesday evening, where they were introduced to the legislative process and campus issues.
  • Freshmen and at-large senators were introduced to DSG functions and campus issues by DSG leaders and Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta.
  • Preliminary questions have been drafted for the DSG Research Unit, which will soon have a director.
  • DUSDAC co-chairs and SOFC members were confirmed.

New senators were sworn in to the Duke Student Government Senate Wednesday evening and brought up to speed on legislative processes and campus issues.

As soon as the meeting began, Chief Justice Will Giles, a senior, swore in the new senators, including recently elected freshmen and at-large senators. Executive Vice President Abhi Sanka, a junior, outlined how DSG functions on a weekly basis, the framework of a typical DSG meeting and how legislation is passed.

Senators with prior experiences also shared their knowledge and encouraged senators to not get frustrated when it takes time for change to be enacted by DSG and the University as a whole.

In an interview after the meeting, freshman senator of academic affairs Antoniu Chirnoaga explained that through his first several weeks of classes he had already been inspired to join DSG. Chirnoaga wants to work on an initiative to keep track of how meaningful classes are to students and alumni years after a course is complete.

“The course evaluations are full of people saying that they have wonderful professors and wonderful courses, and I’d like to introduce a new criteria in the evaluations—maybe two or three years after they had taken the course, how much the course impacted them and how much it inspired them,” Chirnoaga said.

Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta also addressed the new senators and spoke about all of the construction taking place around campus. He explained that a new student health building and a new plaza entrance to the Bryan Center will break ground soon, and the steel structure of the new West Campus Union will begin to go up later this year.

He also explained the work that the Office of Student Affairs and Duke students are doing in various areas around campus, such as at the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, duARTS and Counseling and Psychological Services. He encouraged the Senate to “disturb the comfortable” and push boundaries.

At the meeting Sanka also talked about the new Duke Student Government Research Unit, which is wrapping up its search for a director this week. He also discussed the need for “investigators” to be members of the research unit and help create questionnaires and organize the infrastructure of how the research will be conducted.

Sanka also presented ideas for the first study, including questions about the efficiency of dining at Duke, equity in residential spaces and the effect of living groups on students' success. He said that in two weeks the Senate would debate and decide on the final questions to be considered for the first study.

In other business:

Nominees for Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee co-chairs and Student Organization Finance Committee members were confirmed unanimously. DUSDAC is the student group that helps form dining policy at Duke and can bring new restaurants to campus, and SOFC helps distribute funds to student groups at Duke.

SOFC proposed legislation for the funding of the Asian American Theater’s production of "Ching Chong Chinaman." The motion passed unanimously.

An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a quote to Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta. The article has been updated to reflect the proper attributions. The Chronicle regrets the error.

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