Student groups consider seniority

Resolutions recommending seniority in the housing lottery system will be considered at tonight's Duke Student Government and Thursday's Campus Council meetings.

The proposals--which call for rising senior independents to receive priority over rising junior independents for singles, doubles and triples on West Campus--indicate student dissatisfaction with the residential plan, as well as a further escalation of the mounting power struggle between the two governing bodies.

"It does not make sense what the administration is trying to do," said Mike Lynch, a sophomore and author of the DSG resolution. "It's unfair for rising seniors who are expecting seniority to not have that privilege. And it's important for DSG to take on the issue, because we are the voice of the students."

Vik Devisetty, president of Campus Council, said he believes the administration will place greater significance on his organization's recommendation.

Several DSG officials said that in recent correspondence with Devisetty, the Campus Council president claimed that Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta said Campus Council will have final say over the issue.

Moneta, however, said he will consider recommendations from both bodies.

"It is more accurate to say that all the student voices will be heard," Moneta said. "I have asked the Campus Council to take up the issue at Thursday's meeting, and I am thrilled that DSG is doing so as well."

Devisetty said although Moneta told Campus Council to voice its opinion on the issue, he does not believe Moneta will disregard DSG's resolution.

Moneta said the final plan must be finished by the end of the week.

The debate over influence on the residential life plan is the latest in an escalating struggle between the two groups, in which DSG officials have called into question the Council's openness to student input and its student mandate.

"We feel that our statement is better representative of the student body, and we've made greater strides to get input from students," said DSG Executive Vice President Drew Ensign, a senior.

In a letter to the editor in Friday's Chronicle, Devisetty and three other Council officials defended Campus Council's mandate and its role in deciding residential life initiatives.

"Campus Council is the voice of the residential student body. This is clearly written in our constitution and gives us authority over any policy and programming issues related to residential life," the letter read.

DSG residential life liaison Sean Young, who advised Lynch on the resolution, said the two groups have different mandates.

"DSG has a clear mandate from the student body to represent them on policy matters," Young said. "Campus Council is responsible for programming."

Devisetty said Moneta sees Campus Council as the body that will represent the residential concerns of students--either on programming or on policy-making--and that the group has made policy initiatives in the past.

Devisetty also said Campus Council has made efforts to procure student opinion.

"The way our publicity works is through the quad system. Information is trickled down through quad councils," he said.

DSG officials have invited concerned students to speak in the public forum period of tonight's meeting or to send in written comments.

Campus Council's resolution will be both debated and written at Thursday night's meeting. Campus Council meets in the Griffith Board Room in the Bryan Center at 7 p.m. DSG meets at 7 p.m. tonight in 116 Old Chemistry.