With an executive board staffed primarily by seniors, Duke University Union will turn to freshmen to fill its ranks.
At their meeting Tuesday night, DUU members discussed ways to recruit more students to the board in order to sustain its operations beyond the next few years.
“To me, [recruitment] is a huge problem,” said DUU President Yi Zhang, a senior. “Yes, it’s great that we’re all talented, that we’re all knowledgeable about Duke. But next year, what’s going to happen?”
Zhang proposed reinstating DUU’s Freshmen Intern Program in order to attract new students. The Intern Program, which ran in the 2008-2009 academic year, recruited approximately 20 freshmen to take an active role in DUU programming.
During the first half of the program in the Fall, freshmen would sit in on committee meetings and engage in discussions, said Special Projects Dustin Gamza, a senior. In the Spring, the interns would be responsible for planning two freshmen-only events.
“The idea behind this is to get freshmen involved early on,” Gamza said. “From day one, they see the union as we see it and not just as one committee. Another advantage [of the program] is to have DUU representatives for the freshmen class... so there are specific people thinking about freshmen on the union.”
Two years ago, freshmen-led events included a “Duke Iron Chef” competition in the Marketplace and a water park day on the East Campus Quadrangle. Gamza said the “Duke Iron Chef” event was particularly successful.
Many members, however, objected to having a formal application process for students interested in joining DUU.
“It makes DUU seem like it’s something it’s not,” said sophomore Alex Shapanka, chair of the Speakers and Stage committee. “[DUU] is creative, it’s free. The Freshmen Intern Program is very regimented.”
Senior Karen Chen, Major Attractions committee chair, suggested holding a general body meeting for all DUU committee members. This way, Chen said, students would have a better understanding of how the committees function together under one umbrella.
But senior Will Benesh, executive vice president for external affairs, objected to the proposal, referencing last year’s meeting when only members of the executive board attended.
At the end of the meeting Zhang postponed the decision for recruitment.
In other business:
Duke Student Broadcasting may partner with GoDuke.com to provide online sports coverage. Although discussions are still in the works, DSB President Maddie Burke, a senior, said DSB will most likely finalize the decision this week.
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