Rob Leonard relishes the chance to become the first Community Service Center leader in recent memory to switch to Duke Student Government.
Although he has never had any official DSG experience, the Trinity junior sees his time with the CSC as an bonus rather than a blemish on his record in the race for vice president for community interaction.
As student co-director of the CSC, Leonard has had ample opportunity to familiarize himself with the Durham community. Not many other students can say they've gone to Trinity Park Association board meetings, nor could they rattle off the list of the top issues facing Durham today.
He sees the vice president for community interaction as a mediator between Duke and Durham. "I think you need to have someone that can bring those two communities together, because on weekends especially, they're going to be interacting whether you like it or not," said Leonard. "We need to make that connection as positive as possible."
With his connection to both communities, Leonard believes he can foster sound relations between students who live off campus and their Durham neighbors. He recommends implementing more widespread use of the off-campus housing e-mail list to keep students abreast of concerns raised in the TPA board meetings.
Among his other agenda items, Leonard would like to use administrative assistants to help implement InterCommunity Council initiatives. Jeremy Huff, this year's vice president for community interaction, said the committee is difficult to direct. "The frustration for me has been you can only do so much with it," he said. "It takes an extremely strong leader to make something happen with ICC."
Leonard discussed the other two communities he feels fall under the auspices of community interaction: Duke-DSG relations and student-student relations. "DSG is constantly challenged to maintain close relations to its constituents. If people don't feel that DSG knows or cares about their concerns it's not doing a good job," he said.
As far as student relations go, Leonard said the residential plan will undoubtedly prove a challenge in the upcoming year. He said he is concerned that there are minority groups without Main West Campus housing. "It is a problem that needs to be solved," Leonard said. "This is just one plan that has to cover a lot of different groups' interests."
Trinity senior Maranda Whitener, Leonard's CSC co-director said she was enthusiastic about Leonard's potential. "One of [Rob's] unofficial goals has been to connect various groups on campus, and I think he's done a great job," she said. "He is good at following through and he gets things done."
Huff, a Trinity senior, was also a DSG outsider and said Leonard is equipped to handle the transition. "[Rob] has enough experience on campus and in general that I don't think it will be a huge transition to make...," he said. "He is one of the most committed and dedicated people I know."
Richard Rubin contributed to this story.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.