Although they failed to maintain quorum throughout their Tuesday night meeting, the Graduate and Professional Student Council General Assembly elected two Executive Council positions.
Allison Roder, a second-year Ph.D. candidate in molecular genetics and microbiology was elected director of university affairs. Andrew George, a third-year Ph.D. candidate in biology was elected director of advocacy. Candidates for director of student life presented their platforms before it was realized that the council was short of 56 member quorum by six members, and therefore could not continue the election.
The meeting began with a presentation by members of several student organization, including Roketa Sloan and Zolene Hill, co-presidents of the Black Graduate and Professional Student Association, about recent instances of racism on Duke’s campus.
The group asked GPSC to release the following statement of support:
“The Graduate and Professional Student Council (GPSC) was shocked to hear of the multiple racial attacks Duke students have endured recently. It is incredibly upsetting that this happens even at our beloved Duke and we stand with others in condemning those acts. While we do not know if the racist attacks were made by graduate and professional students, we are not immune from being perpetrators of hate speech. We strongly urge anyone who witnesses any form of intimidation to come forward so the perpetrators can be held responsible. Hate speech towards any group has no place at Duke. GPSC celebrates the diversity of our graduate and professional students and will continue to advocate to make sure no student feels marginalized. As all graduate and professional students are members of GPSC, let us work together to support zero tolerance for discrimination against any group.”
Support for the statement was approved by the General Assembly.
The group then set forth four points that they hope to resolve on April 14, at a special presidential meeting held for the purpose of discussing GPSC’s role in anti-discrimination. These include approving a resolution acknowledging that there are issues with racial acceptance at Duke, amending the by-laws so that GPSC can release statements in less than a week, creating a Diversity Caucus that includes members of marginalized student groups and designating $10,000 to fund Diversity Inclusion workouts.
BGPSA stated in their letter to the General Assembly that the $10,000 comes from the amount of money currently used to fund the annual Campout for basketball tickets, writing that changing the racial culture of Duke should receive priority.
“Last week's incidents were one of many that we’ve been dealing with this entire year,” Sloan said.
The group also raised concern about the election process, noting that according to GPSC by-laws the executive secretary is to receive nominations, but during this election process, then-vice-president Abigail LaBella received nominations. The conversation quickly moved to discussion about the possibility of recalling the four positions elected at their last meeting, including that of Malcolm Bonner, who was elected director of finance.
“I don’t feel comfortable with the way that I was elected,” Bonner said.
The Judicial Committee, who received complaint about the previous meeting’s election, ruled that the elections should progress as they have been.
Currently there is no by-law in place that would allow the Council to nullify the March 25 elections, but the General Assembly could pass an amendment to the by-laws that would allow for the re-election of positions given the concerns over election procedure.
Attorney General Paul Escajadillo expressed concern about the possibility of an amendment allowing for a recall vote.
“I understand there’s pain and anger right now, but you have to understand the far-reaching consequences of candidates who lose an election, and would want to challenge these things,” Escajadillo said.
An advisory vote to assess support for a bylaw that would give the General Assembly the power to recall the previous votes received 36 votes in favor, nine opposed and three abstentions.
“There is a real bias in our organization, and a precedence for corruption,” said Colleen McClean, director of university affairs.
McClean said that although there is often a discussion of the candidates following the speeches, there is not a by-law to support or deny this action.
Liz Doran, the current representative on the Board of Trustees Standing Committee for Facilities and Environment, said that the reputation of GPSC has been improving in the community, and she expressed concern that these amendments might compromise that trend.
Following this, a motion was passed to continue with the agenda items, beginning with the confirmation of the basketball co-chairs, during which several members of the Council walked out of the meeting, endangering quorum, which was met exactly at 56 for the vote to confirm the basketball co-chairs.
Nayef Alkhawaldeh, a graduate student of Public Policy who earlier this year resigned from the Young Trustee Selection Committee because of concern over conflicts of interest, encouraged those who had concerns about the election process to walk out.
Although the agenda stated that executive elections would be first, LaBella said that the order of the agenda items could be changed.
“It is more pressing in the eyes of the Board to have our standing committee elected instead of our executive board elected,” LaBella said.
Following the realization that Article III of the by-laws states that the executive committee elections must take place first, Escajadillo proceeded with the executive elections.
Because LaBella had solicited the nominations instead of the executive secretary, the General Assembly voted that each candidate must re-nominate himself or herself before running, and the nominations previously received would hold for those who were not present at the meeting.
In her speech, Roder said that the position of director of university affairs necessitates an organized goal-oriented person. Roder said that she gained leadership experience as the president of her sorority as well as the president of Rochester University Club Sports.
Roder said she had many ideas for the position, including an online forum where Graduate Students could submit petitions to increase participation. She said that it might also bring publicity to the GPSC website.
George said that a large duty of the director of advocacy is to participate in Legislative Action Days, during which the National Association of Graduate and Professional Students gathers to discuss major issues and advocate to their representatives in Washington, D.C.
George has participated in two Legislative Action days and said he hopes to increase participation with other universities for the event.
George said he wanted to increase the position’s level of interaction with students, and proposed a director of advocacy twitter account, as well as increased collaboration with the communications chair and social caucus.
Candidates for the two positions of directors of social life stated their positions before a call for quorum was initiated, which revealed that the General Assembly was five short of quorum. It was then decided that a special presidential meeting will be held after the Presidential Meeting to deal with GPSC’s role in anti-discrimination.
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