Duke Student Government's online referendum to increase the student activities fee failed by majority vote Monday. The results were announced in a blast e-mail to students sent by DSG Attorney General Will Passo, a sophomore, at around 10 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Of the 1,700 votes cast, 743 were in favor of the proposal and 920 were against-43.71 percent to 54.12 percent. Thirty-seven freshmen who cast ballots for freshman elections abstained from voting in the referendum.
Additionally, freshmen and upperclassmen voted on different ballots, with large discrepancies in the results: 341 upperclassmen voted in favor of the referendum and 659 voted against, but 402 freshmen voted in favor and 261 voted against.
Polls closed at 8 p.m. Monday and votes were confirmed by approximately 9:30 p.m., said Ryan O'Connell, program coordinator for the Office of Student Activities and Facilities. The results of the referendum were tabulated by Passo, O'Connell, DSG President Jordan Giordano and Executive Vice President Sunny Kantha, Vice President for Durham and Regional Affairs Andrew Brown and Senator Gregory Morrison, a sophomore and Chronicle columnist.
Passo declined to comment on whether Giordano told the six privy to the results not to divulge them. But Passo said he had absolute power to reveal the information and chose not to.
"I wanted the students to know from the primary source," he said. "You saw the e-mail-there was no commentary, just pure figures-I wanted the students to be able to digest the information for what it was. That was the goal."
Passo agreed before polls closed Monday to an interview with The Chronicle when results were made available. He and DSG executive members, including Giordano and Kantha, however, were unavailable or declined to comment after polls closed until a 4 a.m. press deadline.
The proposal, if passed, would have increased the student activities fee by $60 over two years, funding student groups and a Student Legal Services initiative. The Monday referendum was revised from the original proposal to increase the fee by $100 over two years, to finance a campus-wide car rental service and bus tracking system in addition to legal services.
"In the past, Duke Student Government has relied on other means of communication that do not communicate directly to the students, but we believe direct communication is best," Giordano, a senior, wrote in an e-mail.
Still, Duke University Union President Chamindra Goonewardene, a senior, said although student leaders would not have been informed of the referendum results prior to Tuesday morning, he was surprised results were not released to The Chronicle earlier.
DSG Vice President for Athletics and Campus Services Mike Lefevre, a sophomore, said DSG's method of correspondence with the student body was nonetheless effective.
"I didn't know exactly what was going on-I was just as out of the loop as anyone else," he said. "I think it's not a bad thing for DSG to e-mail everyone directly with a blast e-mail, but I wish it were more clear that that's what they were going to do."
Lefevre added that he had been unable to contact Giordano Monday night despite numerous phone calls.
Passo said he continued to examine the results until 1 a.m. to ensure there were no voting irregularities. O'Connell confirmed that the results are accurate and that there were no system failures.
"I don't think anyone voted 'no' because they wanted to see student groups suffer," Lefevre said. "They wanted Plan B. Hopefully Plan B will be as effective and all groups will survive-no groups will disappear because of this."
DSG Vice President for Academic Affairs Chelsea Goldstein, a junior, said the results are unfortunate but will allow DSG to evaluate what led to them, adding that contingency plans for securing funding and launching the initiatives are already in place for the future.
Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said his budget would not have enough funding to support the amount DSG is asking for.
"I don't know where new money is going to come from without students choosing to fund their new initiatives," he said. "I don't see my office or any other University office as a source of funds for funding mainstream activities."
Lefevre, however, said he has already met in the past week with Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask, both of whom showed interest in funding DSG initiatives, including ZipCars and the bus tracking system.
"Tallman has the capability, attitude and heart to fund projects he personally deems worthwhile," Lefevre said. "Whenever an administrator says the University doesn't have the money to do this, it's not on their budget and [they] aren't willing to pay for it."
DSG is also looking to restructure funding and the way student groups are categorized, he added.
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