DSG to vote on restructuring

The Duke Student Government will tackle restructuring and election reform issues at its meeting tonight, voting on changes that, if passed, will alter the organization's constitution more radically than any other set of amendments since the body's inception in 1993.

"We have had hours upon hours of discussions," said Cliff Davison, DSG executive vice president. "I can't even begin to count up the amount of time that we've talked about... these major changes."

DSG senators will first vote on possible additions to the executive election ballot. If the statute is passed, students will be able to vote on whether to change the name of DSG's Facilities and Athletics committee to the Athletics and Campus Services Committee, whether to base the legislative voting structure on class year instead of residence location and whether the constitution itself may be amended by a majority of support.

Senators will also vote on changes to DSG's bylaws. The vote was originally expected to include a bill proposing that the president and executive vice president run on a ticket. This concept was dropped, however, after the first reading of the legislation.

Although similar legislation failed last year--based on the argument that ideological similarities between the president and executive vice president were not essential to DSG's success--Davison said current members of the restructuring committee "came to the conclusion that it may be necessary to institute the ticket policy."

In years past, elections have been held the week before spring break, meaning that potential run-offs between candidates have been delayed until students returned to campus. Davison said the postponed timetable could alleviate stress on potential candidates, who will be guaranteed a quicker run-off process, should one occur.