The last Duke Student Government meeting of the school year ended with a bang of the gavel, but the decisions made will resonate throughout campus life in the coming academic year.
The group approved the annual Student Organization Finance Committee budget, and discussion of the budget took up the majority of the Wednesday meeting. SOFC and DSG worked together with University officials earlier this year to adjust the funding model in order to streamline the allocation process and curb excess spending. Outgoing SOFC Chair Sam Halls, a junior, answered questions from DSG members about the budget.
The group debated at length its recent decision to refuse additional funding for The Chanticleer. Last summer, DSG cut $25,000 in funding from the yearbook, the student group receiving the most money from SOFC. Academic Affairs Senator Alex Levy, a sophomore, proposed cutting another $50,000 from The Chanticleer over the course of the next two years. His amendment also included a provision that The Chanticleer either would charge each student $2 to receive a yearbook or it would have an additional $9,000 cut from its budget.
Levy's proposal, however, was met by a hostile amendment from senior Lauren Maisel, vice president for student affairs. Maisel's amendment proposed only that DSG cut The Chanticleer's funding by $50,000 over the next two years.
Neither amendment was approved by the voting members.
A public forum was also held, during which representatives from Duke Democrats and Hoof 'n' Horn were present.
Duke Democrats President Ben Bergmann, a sophomore, spoke on behalf of both Duke Democrats and Duke College Republicans. He criticized the timing of the budget, and noted that the review and approval process by DSG should start earlier in the semester so the Senate can have more time to consider the budget and communicate with student groups.
"I think the meeting [tonight] really demonstrated how broken the process was," Bergmann said in an interview after the meeting. "They were going over group's budgets and asking questions that could've only been answered properly by members of the groups themselves.... There was no one there to defend [the] groups."
Sophomore David Hu, SOFC's program fund chair and incoming SOFC chair, said the committee usually waits until the end of the year to give student groups more time to evaluate their monetary needs for the coming year.
Bergmann also questioned the rationale behind the budget allocations for different student groups.
"The budget doesn't reflect the reality on campus," he said. "We should look to other models, I think there should be a metric for evaluating the impact of the groups.... Not all groups are created equal."
Hoof 'n' Horn representatives requested funding for an additional wireless microphone, which was granted through an amendment proposed by junior Chelsea Goldstein, vice president of academic affairs.
DSG members also passed a resolution against the passage of the Loud or Unruly Gatherings Accountability Ordinance by Durham City Council. The resolution was presented by sophomore Andrew Brown, vice president for Durham and regional affairs. If the ordinance is approved by City Council, the measure would make hosting loud and unruly gatherings an infraction.
"[Duke students] can have a significant amount of impact in the politics of Durham... I think City Council needs to be made aware of this," Brown said.
In his closing remarks, DSG President Jordan Giordano, a senior, also recommended that DSG members take action against the ordinance.
"I urge you all to fight this as much as possible," he said. "Make sure the ordinance doesn't pass, because it will be one of the worst things Duke students have ever seen."
The meeting ended with the swearing in of executive board members for the 2009-2010 academic year.
In other business:
Maisel and Goldstein gave end-of-the-year reports for their respective committees. Both discussed their committees' accomplishments, ongoing proposals and future plans.
The Senate also heard speeches from candidates for chief justice of the DSG Judiciary and SOFC. Freshman Matt Straus was elected and sworn in as next year's DSG chief justice, and six new members were elected to SOFC.
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