The Wednesday night meeting of the Duke Student Government was marked by heated discussion over a proposed bylaw amendment to change the funding regulations for The Chanticleer, the University's annual student-run yearbook.
The amendment, which will be voted on next week, would remove a special exemption for The Chanticleer from the bylaws of the Student Organization Funding Committee, which currently allows for the publication to be fully funded by DSG. The Chanticleer presently receives 100 percent of its requested funding; however, SOFC's bylaws require that it fund only 75 percent of the budgets submitted by student organizations. These groups are then required to fundraise for the remaining 25 percent of their budget.
Most of the discussion came during presentations by the editor of The Chanticleer Danielle Behr and chair of the Publications Board Hannah Rogers.
Behr argued that a reduction in funding would severely damper the publication, which produces 4,600 copies annually. In 2003 SOFC allocated $126,580 to the publication, which has a three-year contract with Jostens Publishing Company at a guaranteed price of $115,000 yearly.
"The yearbook is now in its 92nd year and many of us probably take it for granted that we have this service," Behr said. "[If DSG reduced funding], we would have to take away pages from students and charge them for this yearbook."
Rogers explained about the Publication Board's various volumes and responded to questions about the cost of publishing. They discussed the cost of publishing The Archive, the second oldest literary magazine in the country, whose current issue costs approximately $6 each.
"In past years [issues] have been as much as $10 or as little as $3," said The Archive's Editor Benjamin Morris. "There are a variety of factors which affect publishing costs such as size and paper quality."
The legislators who presented the bill argued that it was simply to make the playing field fair.
"We're trying to make [SOFC funding] an equitable process," said Senator Avery Capone, one of the amendment's proponents. "[We are] asking why The Chanticleer has this exemption."
Senator Ryan Kennedy, who presented the rule change, said its goals were not intended to harm the publication.
"We're not trying to hurt The Chanticleer," he said. "We just need to find [it] an alternate funding model."
DSG will vote on the amendment next week, following further debate on the issue, along with a vote of confidence about ARAMARK's dining services, whose administrators appeared before the group Wednesday.
Resident District Manager of ARAMARK David Randolph made a presentation following an introduction by Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst. He outlined the company's successes on campus and its plans for future improvement of dining services.
Randolph said the company arrived in July 2001 to a campus already anxious over employee outsourcing and union negotiation, hindering its change and progress during its first year. He then cited numerous areas of improvement in dining services in the past two years, including multiple formats of employee training, improved customer service, management and safety procedures and communication changes.
"Pretty much every location [on campus] has seen some changes," Randolph said, discussing a new "Dinner on the Run" program scheduled to debut at the Marketplace after spring break and plans to turn the Great Hall's cold wrap station into a panini bar.
The general body also heard presentations about Perkins Library's renovations and the University portal.
Vice Provost David Ferriero, Director of Perkins' Public Services Tom Wall, Chair of the Perkins Renovation Project Committee Robert Byrd and Expansion and Renovation Project Manager Ashley Jackson updated DSG about the renovations' progress.
"The good news is that most of loud noise is done," Byrd said of the rock removal from the construction area. The first part of the multiphase six--year project--building a five-story addition, complete with three large reading rooms and over 460 studying seats, behind Perkins with connectors to both the main library building and the Languages Building--is expected to be completed in late summer 2005.
Ginny Cake, director of customer support at the Office of Information Technology, alongside DSG President Matt Slovik and Vice President for Student Affairs Elizabeth Dixon explained the features of the new University student portal, DukePass. The website, currently in its pilot stage, offers integrated access to email, news and links to campus services as well as DevilTalk, a community bulletin board.
Cake urged students to report feedback about the website, which is available at www.dukepass.duke.edu. "We need to know what you want," she said.
IN OTHER BUSINESS:
DSG voted to approve two resolutions--proposing the Office of Student Affairs make the student facebook available online and suggesting to faculty members placement of the Duke Community Standard in course syllabi. Four SOFC budgetary funding statutes were also approved.
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