This is the fifth story in a five-part series examining the races for Duke Student Government executive positions.
It's no surprise that the Duke Student Government race to watch this year will be the bid for the influential vice president for student affairs seat.
Sophomores Elizabeth Dixon and Mimi Wachendorf represent two different tracks of ascension within Duke's student bureaucracy. Dixon began her DSG career this year as director of student services in President Joshua Jean-Baptiste's cabinet, while Wachendorf took a more conventional route, serving as a legislator on the Student Affairs Committee during her freshman and sophomore years.
"I think both of them have a different perspective and have held different roles in the organization," said senior Troy Clair, current vice president for student affairs.
Despite their varied leadership paths within DSG, the candidates articulated similar visions for next year's student affairs agenda.
Wachendorf plans to concentrate on her "Three-Fold Platform:" policy issues such as the annual review process; student services such as the health center and Counseling and Psychological Services and the "small battles" that will arise during the course of next year.
Dixon cited the same problem areas, especially in student services, and added that communication between students and DSG needs to be expanded.
"I found a great deficit of interest in student communication and student contact," Dixon said. "I almost felt that DSG routinely neglected its obligation to students."
To address this deficit, Dixon said she would schedule regular meetings with student leaders - especially of cultural groups and greek organizations - as a means of prioritizing student opinion.
The two candidates diverged, however, on the role of alcohol in student life. Wachendorf said she does not plan on pursuing changes to the alcohol policy because the administration has already said it will not entertain changes until the recently-amended policy has been adequately reviewed.
"I don't want to waste my time on something that they're going to put up roadblocks on, because ultimately, the administration has the final say," Wachendorf said.
Dixon said that the administration needs to focus more on changing social trends on campus - especially the dangerous off-campus party trend that she thinks is putting students at risk of drunk-driving incidents.
"The administration needs to be shown that since the trend will not move away from alcohol, they need to be more concerned with students who do choose to drink, instead of just pushing them off campus," Dixon said.
Clair stressed the need for next year's officer to work closely with Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta at gauging student opinions of his evolving "student village" plan.
The candidates agreed that the village will be a primary responsibility for the committee next year.
"It's a great concept, [but] I wonder how it will be implemented," Wachendorf said.
Moneta would not offer opinions on the two challengers because he has not worked with either of them, but said he looks forward to working closely with the winner.
"I think the role [of DSG vice president for student affairs] should be to shadow the responsibilities of my office and provide perspective on all issues related to student affairs," Moneta said.
He added that the candidates for the position must have an intimate knowledge of the way things work at Duke, including the competing interests that dictate decision-making on campus.
"It doesn't help to just sort of throw things out pie-in-the-sky," Moneta said. "They need to have grounding in how Duke operates, and know about [Duke's] complex systems."
Junior Stephanie Crissy withdrew from the race earlier this week. She declined to comment on her reasons for exiting the election.
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