Amidst heated debate, the Duke Student Government legislators approved nominees for undergraduate representatives on a number of key University committees in their last meeting of the academic year.
Prior to the April 20 meeting, some legislators had raised questions about the nominee selection process for seats on the standing committees of the Board of Trustees and on two influential committees which advise the president. Those overseeing the selection process may have violated DSG bylaws by not advertising the committee openings far enough in advance.
Legislators also questioned the validity of Trinity junior Peter Rahbar's nomination to the President's Advisory Council on Resources, one of the most important University committees. As DSG administrative secretary, Rahbar oversees the selection process. Rahbar interviewed for the PACOR nomination while overseeing the process, however, risking a conflict of interest.
Paul Hudson, Trinity `94 and immediate-past president of DSG, said that the bylaws should be open to loose interpretation because they are left over from the bylaws of the Associated Students of Duke University, the undergraduate student government that was replaced by DSG in April 1993.
Student government leaders rewrote most of the ASDU bylaws last summer but, short on time, left some ASDU rules in place to evaluate the first year of DSG before making further changes.
"We left the text the same but it was adaptable. We wanted to evaluate more and more how to use the student legislature on University committees. The spirit of the bylaws is what's important," Hudson said.
Rahbar said the concerns about the selection process were not represented fairly. Although advertisements for applications for committee positions did not run in The Chronicle until a few days before the deadline, an announcement ran on the DSG electronic sign board in the Bryan Center 14 days before the deadline.
However, some DSG legislators said that an announcement on the sign board is not within the spirit of the by-laws.
"Everyone knows that the only way to officially advertise something is to put an ad in The Chronicle," said Trinity sophomore Brian Wise. "Nobody is going to see a message on that sign board."
While some legislators argued that the nominations should be passed so that undergraduates would not lose representation at the Board of Trustees meetings in September, others said that the image of DSG is more important than the trustee meetings.
"We're sacrificing credibility for the sake of expediency," Wise said.
Most legislators said that the selection process should be redone in the fall.
"If the process worked once, it will work again. These things are too important," said Trinity sophomore Danielle Turnipseed.
"We don't question the credentials of the candidates, we question the ability of DSG to represent the interest of students," said Trinity sophomore Viva Chu.
After about an hour and a half of debate, the legislature was forced to cut discussion short and hold a vote because of the swearing-in ceremony of Trinity senior John Tolsma, DSG president.
After the ceremony, legislators continued to discuss the nominations, and Trinity senior Scott Keane, immediate-past executive vice-president of DSG, decided to hold an emergency session Thursday so the legislature could hold a revote. However, at the Thursday meeting legislators realized that, according to DSG bylaws, their terms ended the last day of classes, so the initial vote stood.
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