Numbers were the story of last night's Duke Student Government meeting, resulting first in Executive Vice President Drew Ensign casting a tie-breaking vote that supported the University decision to privatize its dining facilities. The narrow margin of victory, however, prompted President Jordan Bazinsky to issue an executive veto of the resolution.
Numbers again played an important role in a 13-to-12 vote against a resolution that denounced The Chronicle's decision to run a controversial advertisement about reparations for slavery.
DSG's support of the ARAMARK resolution was essential to the company's takeover of several campus eateries, said junior Jason Freedman, the resolution's co-author. Freedman said Duke administrators have agreed to follow DSG's recommendation on the company's management of the Great Hall, Oak Room, Marketplace and Chick-fil-A. With Bazinsky's veto, the issue will return to the DSG forum for further debate.
"This issue should be revisited following another round of dialogue stimulated by student input and additional information," Bazinsky wrote in his veto. "The decision about the future of dining at Duke University is a critical and far-reaching one, and one that must be made with convincing support of all those affected."
Opponents of the proposition cited examples of "declining food quality and poor working conditions" at other schools. During the public forum period, several students gave examples of negative experiences with the company at their high schools, former colleges and summer camps.
Freshman Brock Pearson, who said he went to a high school with facilities managed by ARAMARK, spoke out in opposition to the resolution.
"They can promise cheaper prices because they offer a lower quality of food," he said.
However, proponents said several safeguards existed to prevent any decline in services. Freedman argued that the ARAMARK contract with Dining Services would stipulate that the University have the ultimate authority in all decisions. Furthermore, Freedman said, the market-oriented system of dining services would create competition for student dollars and, thus, better food.
Members of the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee also said additional safeguards included a nine-month trial period, during which ARAMARK would provide food and employee training without investing in infrastructural changes. Ensign cited these provisions, which came out during the debate, as the primary reasons for his tie-breaking vote.
After the ARAMARK vote, the remainder of the meeting lent itself to more division with debate concerning The Chronicle's decision to run David Horowitz's political advertisement "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea-and Racist Too."
Eight members of DSG, including President-elect C.J. Walsh, submitted a two-part resolution, which called for challenging The Chronicle's decision to run the ad and encouraging the independent student newspaper to adopt a policy banning editorialized advertisements from publication.
"We're seeing a dangerous trend that allows any organization to pay for placing an inaccurate and offensive argument," said junior Jimmy Carter, DSG chief of staff. "There are places where opinion pieces like this one can run where it is not circumventing the editorial process."
At one point, senior Jason Bergsman, vice president for academic affairs, asked Carter if banning editorialized advertisements would include ads like those bought by DSG during the last month's election controversy. Other DSG members questioned the appropriateness of the resolution.
"This resolution is ill-timed and obviously in response to the Horowitz issue," junior Henry Ho said. "My point is that sometimes it is good to hear criticisms on a particular issue, and sometimes it is beneficial for political groups to present an idea through paid advertising. You should respond to it in another paid advertisement or in a letter to the editor."
IN OTHER BUSINESS: Provost Peter Lange presented the part of the University's long-range plan discussing the goal of creating "an information-rich, technology-based environment." The plan includes requiring all undergraduates to have computers and all incoming 2002 freshmen to have laptops.
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