DSG approves sweeping YT reform

DSG Executive Vice President Gregory Morrison, a junior, leads the discussion on the Young Trustee reform bill, which was passed by the DSG senate Wednesday night. The bill opens the final Young Trustee selection process to the entire studen
DSG Executive Vice President Gregory Morrison, a junior, leads the discussion on the Young Trustee reform bill, which was passed by the DSG senate Wednesday night. The bill opens the final Young Trustee selection process to the entire studen

In what is perhaps Duke Student Government’s most significant move of the year, Senators approved a Young Trustee bylaw that will open the final selection of the Young Trustee to the undergraduate student body.

Although DSG approved an amendment that would regulate the composition of the Young Trustee Nominating Committee, it voted down measures to address potential conflicts of interest in the committee.

Sophomore Pete Schork, vice president for athletics and campus services and a co-author of the bill calling for an election, said Wednesday night’s decision was “one of [DSG’s] most important reforms.”  

“This is the most important student representative at this University, and we’ve designed a process that will be more transparent,” Schork said after the meeting.

The vote will differ from typical student body elections, however. The Young Trustee finalists will not be allowed to campaign or promote themselves using tactics “other than word of mouth and recognized endorsement meetings,” according to the bylaw. Candidates will also not be allowed to use posters or social networking tools to campaign.

But junior Mike Lefevre, DSG chief of staff, said after the meeting that the amendment to make a popular vote determine the final selection only appears to be reducing DSG’s influence. He said an election that does not allow for campaigning will make students vote based on name recognition.

“The irony is what we are doing seems to be the most populous-based system, but I think it will have the opposite effect,” Lefevre said.

He added that not being able to campaign will dissuade potentially strong but unknown candidates from applying to be Young Trustee.

“Basically, I’m worried that what this does is guarantee that the DSG president or other senior members of DSG become the Young Trustee, and I would put money on that for the next couple of years,” Lefevre said.

The DSG Senate passed the bylaw with the necessary two-thirds approval, but DSG President Awa Nur, a senior, can veto the bylaw. Schork and co-author Will Passo, vice president for Durham and regional affairs and a junior, said it is unlikely that Nur will veto the bill.

“That would be a rejection of the student body’s authority to determine the most important student representative on campus,” Passo said after the meeting.

But the vote to open the final selection to a student body referendum was not unanimous. Senior Danny Lewin, a former Chronicle columnist, said he thinks DSG should select the Young Trustee, noting that in the past three years only one DSG president has been elected Young Trustee.

“I think there was not enough debate on that topic, especially given that the amendment was sent to the Senate less than 48 hours ago,” Lewin, an academic affairs senator, said after the meeting. “DSG is not only better equipped but is popularly elected for these reasons.”

Senators also approved an amendment that requires the YTNC to be composed of six DSG members elected by the Senate, six non-DSG at-large members selected by the DSG Judiciary through an application process and six heads of various campus organizations. The nominating committee will now be allowed to select two to four finalists as opposed to strictly three.

Senators voted down an amendment that would exclude members of campus organizations from sitting on the committee if their club leaders were applying to become a Young Trustee. They also rejected an amendment that would require any co-presidents or vice-presidents to remove themselves from the committee if a leader becomes one of the eight semi-finalists.

“You have to rely on the committee members not to be biased,” sophomore Liz Jones, an athletics and campus services senator, said during the meeting.

During the hour-and-a-half debate about the bylaw, several senators motioned to overrule Chair Gregory Morrison, executive vice president and a junior. Some senators wished to return to a previously discussed amendment regarding the composition of the YTNC, but ultimately the Senate did not revisit the amendment at that time.

In other business:

After hearing from 10 candidates for the position of associate justice to the DSG Judiciary, senators elected six students to officially fill the roles. Senior Chastity Threadcraft, juniors Carissa Mueller and Martin Njoroge, sophomores Yingyi Shen and David Wang and freshman Gavin Forrest were selected.

Senators also voted to officially recognize the Active Minds at Duke and the National Society of Leadership and Success clubs.

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