Duke Student Government postponed the election date of the DSG executive board by one day to avoid conflicting with the NCAA basketball championship. The election will now occur April 6.
The election had been previously scheduled for April 5, the day after the April 4 championship game, which could potentially present a problem if Duke fans are traveling back from Houston, Texas.
“I don’t think we should have elections on days when probably 600 of [the students] who are very passionate about our school [cannot participate in the election],” said junior Isaac Mizrahi, a residential life and dining at-large senator, who proposed the statute.
Mizrahi said attending last year’s championship game against Butler University in Indianapolis, Ind. was “one of the most amazing experiences of [his] Duke career.” He added that students running for DSG president, executive vice president or for one of the vice president positions would be unable to attend this year’s championship game if the measure did not pass. After approving the statute, members knocked on wood as a symbol of good luck for the men’s basketball team.
In other business:
The Senate confirmed two at-large senators—sophomore Rohan Taneja and freshman Katherine Zhang—for the new Residential Life and Dining Committee. Eight other at-large senators were confirmed for the committee at DSG’s meeting March 3. The committee was formed after students approved the merger between Campus Council and DSG.
Additionally, DSG President Mike Lefevre, a senior, said he represented the University on a trip to Russia during Spring Break. The excursion was funded by the Russian government and brought 15 student government presidents from universities across the United States to meet Russian government officials and businessmen.
“I knew very little about the country, and now I [can] speak three words about it,” Lefevre said with a chuckle.
Certain members of DSG’s Executive Board also revealed their future plans for their roles within the organization. Executive Vice President Pete Schork, a junior, announced that he is planning to run for DSG president and sophomore Gurdane Bhutani, current vice president for student affairs, said he will run for executive vice president. Both sophomore Chris Brown, vice president for athletics and campus services, and junior Ubong Akpaninyie, vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said they hope to gain a cabinet position next year.
The Senate tabled a statute to allocate $2,600 from the Surplus Account Trustee Fund for massage therapists during reading period in April. Although freshman Frank Lee, an athletics and campus services senator, highlighted the “proven medicinal benefits” of massage therapy in his statute, the Senate tabled it by a vote of 25-21.
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