From behind the counter of the Bryan Center McDonald's, then-sophomore Josh Weiner listened to his manager utter what Weiner thinks encompasses his Duke Student Government presidential platform.
"I was working at McDonald's when [my manager] asked, OWhy are things the way they are?'" Weiner recalled. "In his little corner of the University, he couldn't see more than 20 tables, but from that space, he understood that this University is not a community."
If he becomes DSG president, Weiner said his primary goal would be to use DSG to forge a community between cultural groups, independents and greeks.
He believes open discussion is the key to change. To increase dialogue, he plans to add a fifth vice president to facilitate relations between the three groups and to institutionalize Student Engagement through Experiential Learning (SEEL) and fishbowls.
SEEL would be a semester-long, half-credit house course in which participants would confront issues such as safety, sexual assault, eating disorders, race relations and their relationship with the University. Weiner plans to entice greeks and other selective groups by giving them credit in the annual review process as well as giving them credit for conversing over pertinent campus issues.
"Cultural groups are ready--traditionally, they have been at the table waiting for us," said Weiner, a member of Sigma Nu fraternity. "We have a collective challenge next year. This year is unique in that we have a lot of different groups willing to confront that."
The public policy major hopes to use his experience as his fraternity's former annual review chair, executive board member of Fundraising Initiatives and Enterprising Leadership for Durham Sports (FIELDS), a member of the Progressive Alliance and a DSG legislator who focused on women's issues.
"He would be a great president because he brings a lot to the table in terms of his background experience," said senior Adam Grossman, founder of FIELDS. "He's been involved in so many different organizations and he can take that experience with greek life and other things and use it to benefit the campus."
As a first-year legislator, Weiner worked to institute fishbowls through the annual review process, the sexual assault report and eating disorder discussions.
Senior Carrie Johnson, Community Interaction Committee chair, on which Weiner worked, said she considers women's issues an important topic for DSG and that his interest in them is encouraging. She also said independents would benefit from a Weiner presidency.
"I think Josh wants to be an issue-oriented president and create dialogue around campus," Johnson said. "He has a really good skill of bringing people into conversation who normally wouldn't be interested."
Weiner said his concept of what DSG should be is completely different from the current DSG. "We need a fundamental shift in thinking--the perspective that student groups need DSG," Weiner said. "We need student groups. Student groups don't need us."
The California native said he wants more accountability for DSG legislators. This year, he wrote follow-up reports for his DSG achievements, said Johnson. He also asked The Chronicle earlier this year to publish weekly updates informing students of DSG actions.
"DSG is going to have to fundamentally rethink their roles, not as bureaucrats, but as leaders for a change. It's not good enough to throw barbecues," Weiner said. "Fifty years from now, I would want them to say this is the administration that kicked off the change from University to community."
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