Entering Duke Student Government executive elections on three strikingly different platforms, freshmen Anthony Collins and Joel Kliksberg and junior Kirstin Hopkins are vying this year for the position of DSG vice president for community interaction.
The current holder of that office, junior Andrew Wisnewski, said he supported all three. "They're all qualified--they all have energy, enthusiasm and scope," he said. "All three have experience--Joel with [Inter-Community Council], Kirstin is on DSG and Anthony is on DSG on my committee."
Collins, a University Scholar from Dallas, said he would like to redefine the term "community" by forging greater ties with Durham, citing a strong social conscience as his distinguishing characteristic. A freshman senator for DSG and member of the Honor Council, Project CHILD and Durham CAN, Collins also pointed to his youth as an unexpected asset.
"I'm still young and possibly idealistic about certain things," Collins said. "I'm glad about that, because I don't know if I could deal with many more years of inefficiency in DSG."
Other goals include increasing multiculturalism and reducing self-segregation through face-to-face meetings rather than dead-end dialogue--an effort to, as he puns it, make Duke a "tighter" campus.
"Basically, I think... there's a lot of complaining that goes on, debate about [how to solve] multiculturalism, self-segregation," he said. "But I don't think that dialogue is going to get us anywhere.... We have to actually hammer something out."
Hopkins, the lone upperclassman on the ballot, pointed to her experience on DSG as her greatest advantage over the other candidates. Along with bringing some of Wisnewski's unaccomplished goals to fruition, Hopkins--a member of DSG since sophomore year and currently the organization's director of public relations--hopes to enhance the committee's effectiveness by having senators represent specific student issues, and improving an online database to enhance relationships among alumni, graduates and undergraduates.
"One of the main things is that the relationships [among groups] range from the very good to the nonexistent," Hopkins said. "There are often conflicting visions in different areas. "
She stressed, meanwhile, the attainability of her goals.
"I don't have 50 pet projects, because these are the two things I want to do," Hopkins said. "If it gets done, DSG will get to be a much more effective organization."
Hailing from Providence, R.I., Hopkins, a political science major, is also a member of Delta Gamma sorority, the Duke Equestrian Team, the First-Year Advisory Counselor program and the 2005 Commencement Planning Committee.
Kliksberg, chair of East Campus Council and a member of the Young Trustee Selection Committee, said he supports the creation of online referendums for major DSG decisions, increased participation at monthly town hall meetings and public forums and revival of the ICC, which boasts the University's major student group leaders as members. He said his active role in campus politics on the ECC has helped him stand out from the other candidates.
"I think that the vice president of community interaction should be a leader from the Duke community, not the DSG community," Kliksberg said. "I wasn't just a representative [this year], I was the representative of the freshman class.... I'm a student leader from an outside organization with a proven record."
Kliksberg, a Rockville, Md., native, who sits on the Mi Gente Council, the ICC and the West Campus Center and Plaza Advisory Committee, also proposed sending student representatives to Durham City Council, Durham Neighborhood Council and Durham School Board meetings.
"I'm hoping to take more time to focus on students and student issues and to revive a lot of the tools that DSG has at its disposal but is currently not using," he added, referring to previous sparsely attended town hall meetings and public forums.
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