This was not the way C.J. Walsh wanted to start off the school year.
An avid saltwater fisher, the new Duke Student Government president was standing on a sunken rock jetty on Harker's Island, N.C., last week, when he saw a group of dolphins chasing mullets off the shore. Caught up in the sight, Walsh slipped on the rocks below him and fell down onto the oyster-covered coast, resulting in scrapes and bruises and five stitches in his knee.
"It was on the day before I had to come back to Duke, and basically my last day of freedom," Walsh quipped. "It was something right out of a movie. It was bad."
Notwithstanding the accident, Walsh--a former CEO of Devil's Delivery Service and co-chair of 2001's Last Day of Classes--is excited that the academic year has begun.
Though he had never served in DSG, Walsh made the decision last year to run for the top executive office after he and several friends got into a discussion about the alcohol policy, and he realized he wanted to effect change.
The intervening months since Walsh's March election have served as a proving ground for him to those both inside and outside of DSG.
"Toward the beginning of the summer, I didn't know how C.J. would handle the job," said Jimmy Carter, financial aid chair of DSG and an opponent of Walsh's in the election. "But I can honestly say that he has done a great job this summer, really getting out there and learning about the University and the issues that matter to students. I'd say he is definitely the right person for the job."
Walsh oriented himself to his new position through DSG's annual summer forums, in which the organization invites students and administrators to openly discuss pressing issues of the University, such as race relations, social life and sexual assault.
"It was a success for me in that it opened my horizons," said Walsh, a member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. "My Duke experience has been a fairly monocultural one: My friends are mostly Caucasian upper-middle class. I've learned that there are a lot of other cool people at this school, and a lot of them have become my friends, which I love."
Walsh also used the summer to gear up for what he calls an "implementation year" in DSG and at the University.
"So much has been talked about and talked about over the past few years," Walsh said. "It is time to do something."
Issues Walsh hopes to act on include alcohol policy; parking; dining; race, gender, and socioeconomic diversity; Curriculum 2000 advising; and financial aid.
Alcohol policy was one of the cornerstones of Walsh's campaign, and though he was disappointed with the revised policy released last April, he said students must learn to live with it for now.
"I think at this point, we have to sit it out and see how it works. We need to give the policy a semester," he said. In the meantime, however, Walsh said he hopes to help students better understand aspects of the policy, including party monitors, the amnesty clause and the availability of alternative event space on campus.
"I want students that feel they have been left out to get involved with DSG," Walsh said, looking towards the Sept. 5 legislative elections as the first major step toward increasing DSG's presence at the University.
To be more accessible to students, Walsh said that he will hold about half of his 10 weekly office hours in eateries across campus.
For now, Walsh is readying for the long haul of the academic year, one free of fishing accidents.
"If come May, I can walk out and say that I put my heart and soul into DSG this year, that will be good for me."
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