Duke Student Government addressed three of the most common sources of student complaint-transportation, health care and dining-Wednesday night.
During a general body meeting, the organization passed three resolutions intended to make student life easier. DSG members also heard a presentation from Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst and Kemel Dawkins, vice president of campus services, about upcoming changes to the University's dining management.
After representatives from the Athletics and Campus Services Committee presented results of a recent transportation survey of 250 students, the organization passed two resolutions designed to improve the University's busing system.
The first resolution will institute a new route with buses stopping at apartment complexes and popular night venues off campus, as well as at East and West Campus. The transit will run Thursday through Saturday nights from 10 p.m. to 2:30 a.m, and will start at the beginning of the next academic year.
Several senators opposed the bill, focusing on the system's price, which representatives said would amount to about $76,000 a year. Senator Kathleen Greene, a senior, said security-minded administrators indicated that they would be willing to bear the brunt of the cost.
"The impact on student safety and well-being is so much greater than the monetary value," she said.
Senior Ajay Kori, director of the Student Services Committee, added that administrators were so eager to initiate the project that using the student activities fees to fund it would likely be unnecessary.
The next transportation-based resolution focused on improvements to the University's current busing system.
In addition to several smaller changes, the resolution would dramatically alter the weekend C-2 bus route, a commonly referenced woe of many students, particularly freshmen, senators said.
Currently, two C-2 buses run between East and West Campuses on weekends-detouring through Central Campus and arriving at stops every fifteen minutes. The resolution dictates that one of the buses must follow the C-1 route directly between East and West. The resolution will send only the second bus from West to Central and back.
Senator Josh Solera, a senior who presented the resolution, emphasized the difficulties the current system places on freshmen and added that a bus route between Central and East campuses would not be necessary on weekends because students rarely commute between the two locations.
The resolution passed despite objections by some representatives.
Addressing student healthcare in addition to transportation, the body passed a third resolution to establish a "Fast-Track" program within the Medical Center. The program will grant students faster access to medical specialists.
Under current regulations, patients must visit Student Health before receiving referrals to specialists in the Medical Center. Senator Kristin Pfeiffer, a sophomore who presented the resolution, said most students must wait about two weeks before they are able to see the specialists. She added that the time span often forces students to search for alternate care in the Durham community or even return home.
The Fast-Track program will also give Duke students in need of appointments priority as cancellations occur in the Medical Center.
Pfeiffer said the program will allow students to see specialists within seven days and will be implemented first in the dermatology and gastroenterology clinics-the departments officials told her were most frequently visited by students.
Solera opposed the resolution, and said it would give students an unfair advantage over other members of the community.
Pfeiffer refuted his claim, explaining that students would be contacted upon appointment cancellations, but all patients in need of medical care would receive necessary attention.
"I'm not kicking out someone from Durham from their spot," she said. "If I have a stomach pain, and somebody else has a stomach pain, we're both going to get in there."
DSG representatives also addressed dining services by questioning Dawkins and Wulforst about plans to replace campus food provider ARAMARK, Corp.
ARAMARK recently announced that it has declined the opportunity to rebid on its contract with the University.
Dawkins and Wulforst emphasized their plans to work with students in selecting a new firm to manage dining services.
"We want them to be able to adjust to whatever the demand is on campus," Dawkins said.
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