Campus Council members reviewed and edited their constitution at the group's general body meeting Thursday night.
In addition, Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residence life, announced that move-in day for the spring semester has been moved from Jan. 7 to Jan. 6.
The change, Gonzalez said, was made to accommodate students who may be returning early to attend the men's basketball game against Virginia Tech Saturday, Jan. 6.
Council President Jay Ganatra, a senior, presented a new clause clarifying the process of replacing at-large representatives.
"At-large members represent the general student body, which is a relatively recent concept," Ganatra said. "We've never had a way to keep them accountable or a method to replace them."
The new clause-drafted by the executive board-states that in the event an at-large representative resigns or is forced to vacate his or her position, the next highest at-large "vote-getter" from the last election will be offered the spot.
If none of the previous candidates are available, then each Council member will nominate a candidate for the position. The executive board will then narrow the pool to three candidates, each of whom will be interviewed and voted on by the general body.
The clause was approved unanimously.
Campus Council members also changed the policy regarding absences for East Campus Council representatives and Central Campus representatives.
Under the old policy, the three East Campus Council representatives were collectively allowed five absences per year-the same as the number of absences shared by the two Central Campus representatives.
Each West Campus quadrangle has one representative, who is allowed three absences per year.
The new policy allows six absences collectively for the three East Campus Council representatives. The absence policy remains unchanged for West and Central.
If representatives fail to attend general body meetings regularly, their respective council's funds can be frozen as a punishment, Ganatra said.
It did not seem fair for the three members of the East Campus Council to have the same number of absences as two members from Central, said junior Hasnain Zaidi, facilities and services chair.
Sophomore Dan Piech, an at-large representative, proposed changing the absence policy to allowing each member three absences per year.
"What if it's just one representative who's getting all the absences?" he asked. "It doesn't seem fair to punish the whole council."
Zaidi explained the reasoning behind the discrepancies between the campuses.
"When the quad representative is missing, that quad has no voice [at that week's meeting]," he said.
Zaidi noted that because there are multiple representatives from Central and East, their absence will not have same effect.
Ganatra cited another reason for not implementing individual absences for those representatives.
"If only individuals are punished, there is no impact on their council," he said.
In other business:
Campus Council has agreed to give $1,860 to the expanding devilDVD program, matching the fund allocation from Duke Student Government, Zaidi said.
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