Trinity sophomore Chris Lam

Trinity sophomore Chris Lam says he wants to make the position of DSG vice president for student affairs "a true advocate for students" and one that serves as "the main liaison between students and Duke Student Government and the administration."

One problem with the system, Lam said, is that students do not feel they are being represented by DSG.

"I would try to actively involve the student body and find out what issues students are facing. DSG has the potential to be an advocate for students, but not living up to it," he said. "I have the leadership ability to seek out student input."

In addition to forming "focus groups" across all four undergraduate classes that deal with specific student issues at the University, Lam said he would like to set up an e-mail group where students can address their concerns.

Lam, who is currently vice president of the Independent Students Association, said that the changing social scene at the University has forced people to become more creative with their social life. "We must come up with quality, alternative social programming," he said.

He added that he hopes to integrate this DSG position with his past experience working on a quad council to combine the resources and organizational structure necessary to provide quality programming at the University. While the quad councils have financial resources for programming but little organizational structure, DSG has the decision-making framework, but inadequate funding. "I want it make it a more collaborative effort between the quad council and DSG," he said.

Space for both student organizations and sororities is also an important issue, Lam said. In order to facilitate interaction among students, the University can subsidize the rent that student groups pay to use Von Canon, he said. In addition, he suggested that the University could utilize other buildings like the Levine Science Research Center and the Searle Center as meeting places for student groups.

Lam said he is also interested in improving safety and transportation at the University. He would like to restart the Safe Walks program by establishing a group of on-call volunteers who would be responsible for certain time shifts.