A political science professor advised the Duke Student Government legislature how to best serve as campus leaders in a meeting Wednesday.
Associate professor of political science William Bianco said that politicians must constantly be aware of how their opinions differ from their constituents' opinions.
"When deciding if you're going to do what you think is best, or what your constituents believe is best, you must figure out which possible actions you take are justifiable," Bianco said. "You don't need to explain policies to people as much as you need to explain your motivation behind voting for or against a policy."
Such a decision is often complicated because legislators are often more informed about issues than the people they represent, he said.
"Essentially, you're asking [your constituents] to trust you. When people vote, they decide in advance that they'll believe in you."
Bianco recommended that legislators vote according to their personal beliefs rather than on public opinion.
"Politics is about whose vision of what's good prevails. If you want to sleep well at night, do what's right, collect your own data and ignore what your dissenters say."
Trinity freshman and North Campus representative Blair Greber-Raines said that some DSG legislators grow frustrated with their jobs due to pressures from the media.
"Sometimes all people worry about is how something's going to look the next day in The Chronicle," Greber-Raines said.
Bianco advised against deliberating over media attention.
"Worrying about how something will look in the paper is the same as just doing what other people tell you they want you to do," he said. "It's a waste of time."
Trinity sophomore and East Campus representative Randy Fink, who arranged for Bianco to address DSG, said he did so because this year legislators are dealing with complicated issues, like residential policy, and politically-minded issues, such as the proposed California table grapes boycott, that are heavily linked to student opinion.
"I don't think a lot of us were sure how to balance our own opinions with how our constituents felt," Fink said. "I think we were concerned because we do know more about issues and we sometimes think that student opinion is wrong. But tonight was reassuring."
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