In a Duke Student Government meeting Wednesday night, Fix My Campus requested status as an affiliate, the Senate passed a resolution to change Duke’s pass/fail policy and the DSG judiciary proposed a student advocate program.
With the granting of affiliate status, FMC—a student organization which handles complaints and suggestions about improving Duke facilities—would report to DSG and have access to DSG resources and personnel. The pass/fail policy resolution proposes change which will allow students to take two pass/fail courses counting towards requirements. The judiciary's student advocate program will train student lawyers to represent other students facing the DSG student court.
FMC committee members senior Cameron Tripp, junior JP Lucaci and sophomore Betty Chen presented their case for the organization's inclusion into DSG’s affiliate bylaw. They explained that although FMC is doing a lot for Duke students by itself, access to DSG resources, connections and personnel would help it increase its scope and effectiveness.
As an independent group, FMC has to go through lots of red tape to complete many of its larger projects, they added. With DSG's help, many more of these projects would be possible and the group would become more streamlined and better equipped to handle student suggestions.
Lucaci explained that some of the projects FMC is working on, including a charger loaning program in Perkins Library and expansion of bike racks around campus, would be made simpler once the group is officially affiliated with DSG.
Although Lucaci and Tripp are already members of DSG, other members of DSG would also gain a role in FMC if affiliation is confirmed. The amendment to the affiliation bylaw would allow the President of the Services Committee to appoint a senator to the FMC committee. Lucaci noted, however, that this is mostly just a "technicality" to ensure that DSG and FMC are communicating.
Due to a process requiring any changes to Senate bylaw to be tabled for a week, the proposal to modify said bylaw will be debated and voted on next week.
Senator of Academic Affairs Annie Adair, a sophomore, proposed a resolution to change Duke’s pass/fail policy, which currently allows students to take four of their required 34 credits pass/fail as long as they are not Trinity requirements, Pratt social science or humanities requirements or major, minor and certificate requirements.
Adair’s changes propose that students be allowed to take two of their four allotted pass/fail courses to fulfill Trinity and Pratt social science and humanities requirements. This will encourage students to take challenging yet intriguing classes, she said.
To ensure effectiveness, Adair proposed that the new policy be limited to 200-level or higher classes and that students be required to show demonstrated interest in order to enroll. She maintained that these two pass/fail classes would not count towards majors, minors, or certificates.
The resolution was passed unanimously, with an amendment to remove the 200-level requirement in favor of allowing courses of any level to be taken pass/fail.
Associate Justice Nikolai Doytchinov, a senior, proposed the creation of a Student Advocate Program, which would train students to serve as advocates and representatives for other students who appear in a case before the DSG judiciary.
Those who want to serve as student advocates will be instructed on the DSG constitution and legal process and previous cases which may be related to future cases. Students who finish the training will take a bar examination to make sure they are fit to face a court as a representative of another party.
In other business:
Executive Vice President Abhi Sanka, a junior, explained that DSG will soon create a committee to select a nomination committee for the Young Trustee selection process. In the coming weeks, students will select nominees for Young Trustee, who serves a three-year term on the Duke Board of Trustees. The nomination committee will narrow the initial nominees down to several finalists.
This article has been updated to clarify the roles of Fix My Campus's Cameron Tripp, JP Lucaci and Betty Chen.
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