A recently formed student government with representatives from across West Campus' Edens quad may serve as a model for similar councils to be formed under President Nan Keohane's new residential life plan.
The system calls for each West Campus quad to house a variety of upperclass living groups -- fraternities, lottery dorms and selective dorms -- that would maintain individual identities while falling under the self-governance of a quad council, which would mainly sponsor collaborative programming.
The Edens Quad Council was formed in October after ground was broken within the Quad to build a Duke Student Government-sponsored volleyball court. None of the dormitories in Edens Quad were notified about plans to build the court.
The council met a few times last semester and "hasn't done anything substantive yet," according to engineering senior Jaysen Gillespie, president of the Arts Dormitory.
Council members hope to sponsor quad speakers, cookouts, bands on the quad and movie nights as the year progresses, said Trinity junior Richard Boykin, the Phi Delta Theta representative to the Edens council.
"Co-sponsored events are incredibly easier to plan," Boykin said. "You have access to more money, more dorms to advertise in, more manpower. It would seem to me that planning something like Reggae Jam [an annual party sponsored by Delta Sigma Theta fraternity] would be a logistical nightmare for just one living group."
In addition to programming, some students say they hope the councils can work as a lobbying body. The Edens council successively fought the volleyball court in October and may act to fight housing reshuffling in the coming year.
"Everyone down here [in Edens Quad] likes it here and wants to stay," Gillespie said. "We hope that if we show how well we work together as a quad that we can stay where we are."
Many council and DSG members said quad councils fill a gap in the hierarchy between house councils and the campus-wide student government.
"This form of government follows the same thinking that led us to change the representation on DSG [from house to campus]," said Trinity senior John Tolsma, DSG president. "We're discovering that more things get done when there's a collective mindset."
Yet some people caution that other quads will probably be reluctant to forsake autonomy for solidarity in the future.
"Some of the authority, as well as some of the house funds, has to be sacrificed," Gillepsie said.
Some other dorm presidents are wary of the effectiveness of quad councils for other reasons.
"In [the Upperclass Housing Association], we get a consensus on various issues, but we still don't have much say on what happens with those issues," said Trinity sophomore Drema Crist, president of York and a member of UHA.
Boykin said he thinks quad councils will ultimately serve to unite different living groups in a positive environment.
"[The Edens Council] has been used to resolve problems between dorms, like noise complaints," Boykin said. "I think it has resulted in a better quad spirit. It's no longer the attitude of, `Yeah, those are the jerks that live next to us.' We [Phi Delta Theta] even found out that the Arts Dorm likes Star Wars as much as we do."
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