Duke Student Government discussed plans to increase awareness of the peer advising system and recruit peer advisers at its weekly Senate meeting Wednesday night.
Junior Sunny Kantha, vice president for athletics and campus services, also announced that the validation system will be indefinitely suspended due to high student attendance at the men's basketball games against Virginia Tech and Clemson -during which the validation system was temporarily suspended.
Aaron Todd, assistant dean for pre major advising, attended the meeting to advocate for the peer advising system.
Acknowledging that some students do not have the best advising experience, Todd said he hopes peer advisers will fill the void in the system and answer the questions that faculty advisers cannot.
"You are the best advisers to each other because you've been there," Todd said.
He encouraged senators to apply and to push their friends to apply for positions as peer advisers.
"I really want you to be my disciples for peer advising," Todd said. "Students are looking for information beyond what the academic adviser can provide them."
Senators encouraged the Academic Advising Center to look into promoting interaction between advisers and incoming freshmen during the summer and also to add a link on ACES to the peer advising program. Todd said the program would have a larger presence in print publications.
Additionally, Todd said he has personal plans to make students aware of the program.
"I plan on riding the bus and harassing students to talk to me about it," he said.
Senior Gina Ireland, vice president for academic affairs, proposed an amendment to changes in the Intercommunity Council bylaws. Her amendment forbids ICC to have representatives on the ad hoc committees that select students for the presidential and Board of Trustee committees. She said members of the ICC rarely have committee experience and are not representative of the student body.
"The ICC is an ad hoc creation of a certain situation," Ireland said. "It is not systematically representative of Duke."
The conversation was tabled and will be discussed further in two meetings.
In other business:
Kristen Manderscheid, a sophomore, responded to student suggestions to improve opportunities to speak with high-profile deans on campus. After meeting with administrators last semester, Manderscheid said several prominent administrators-including President Richard Brodhead, Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins, Dean of Undergraduate Education Steve Nowicki and Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta-will hold office hours open to students interested in voicing what they think about Duke.
Kantha also announced the proposal of a glass awning over the new East Campus outdoor dining location, Le Marche, to protect the spot from inclement weather. He said the awning would cost approximately $40,000.
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