DSG passes resolution in support of recent student demands

As conversation on campus about recent racist and homophobic incidents continues, Duke Student Government passed a resolution in response to student demands and in support of inclusivity and diversity.

The resolution passed 45-9 with two abstentions. As a result, DSG pledged to fund a diversity education module for the presidents of student groups and supported the addition of a “diversity requirement” in upcoming revisions to the academic curriculum. Junior Ilana Weisman, vice president for equity and outreach, presented the resolution, which also included demands from groups such as Concerned Students 1969, Asian American Alliance, Mi Gente and Blue Devils United. Weisman noted that the resolution supports but does not endorse specific demands.

“We want to toe the middle ground between not yelling at the administration while supporting students,” Weisman said. “As a whole, we supported the demands listed, but not necessarily the mechanisms used to accomplish these goals.”

The resolution offered support for a number of student demands from the Demands of Black Voices, including the renaming of West Union to Abele Union, revisions to orientation week programming and measures to increase socioeconomic diversity on campus.

The resolution did not include support for the optional reporting of standardized test scores or “living wages and rights for staff and adjunct faculty.” Although DSG supported greater emphasis on mental health, the creation of a separate STINF for mental health reasons was not supported because they thought it might further stigmatize mental illness.

“There is a reason we are not unilaterally supporting all of the demands on the table, and that’s because we don’t think they are the best fit for the student body,” Weisman said.

Despite the passage of the resolution, senior Bryan Dinner, vice president of social culture, advocated for maintaining free speech and noted that more must be done to solve these issues.

“It takes action, not empty rhetoric like [this resolution], to realize that hate is wrong,” Dinner said.

Some of the initiatives supported by DSG included ones already in progress, such as the conversion of single occupancy bathrooms to gender neutrality and allowing gender and pronoun self-identification in University records.

Although the vote was ultimately cast by roll call, senators discussed voting by secret ballot due to the sensitive nature of the resolution. In response, DSG president Keizra Mecklai, a senior, noted that conversations about these campus issues are intended to produce feelings of discomfort.

“If we don’t have the confidence to vote on something that is of this much importance to the students with our names on the line, then we are not doing our job correctly,” Mecklai said.

This resolution is the second recent piece of legislation passed by DSG in response to heightened campus tensions. Following the racially charged incidents last spring, DSG passed a resolution and statute funding a Social Justice Fellowship, which is designed to fund student projects that create spaces for discussion and community engagement. In October, Weisman said the fellowship would be ready to fund project submissions at the end of the Fall semester.

In other business:

The Residential Group Assessment Committee program was approved. The reinstated program will have the power to approve prospective living groups, review existing groups, put groups on probation, revoke a section’s housing and make changes to a group’s space and housing circumstances. The committee will only apply to selective living groups and not independent housing.

The cabinet also presented projects that each member had worked on throughout the semester. Some of these initiatives included pre-orientation programs for engineers and queer students and the creation of an interfaith prayer space in Keohane 4B.