Duke Student Government heard a proposal about changes to the DSG Judiciary bylaw in order to encourage more participation at its meeting Thursday night.
Changes include shortening the chief justice’s term from two years to one year to allow associate justices to apply for the position their junior year after already serving on the judiciary for two years. Six associate judiciaries and the chief justice serve two-year terms, but no member can reapply for the same position at the end of their term, so the judiciary is primarily comprised of new members each year.
Under the current bylaw, the judiciary has the potential to lose a lot of talented people, said DSG Executive Vice President Gurdane Bhutani, a junior.
“I’m lucky to have been here for four years,” said Chief Justice Matt Straus, a senior. “But the chief justice is usually someone who’s never explicitly worked with justice before, and it would be nice if we could add some experience to the position.”
When the judiciary is composed of primarily younger, inexperienced students, DSG members have found that they are not as prepared to handle the judicial sessions, which can last up to five hours, Straus added.
The judiciary rules on impeachments, considers cases involving individual students and groups on campus and determines whether DSG decisions are constitutionally sound.
In other business:
The Senate approved constitutional amendments, including a change to Article 1 concerning membership. The change strikes several organizations from a list of affiliated groups within DSG. Through the changes, DSG sought to allow for more flexibility as groups on campus evolve, so that an amendment is not required with every change in campus groups.
DSG also selected a Young Trustee Review Committee to examine the process after elections are completed this year. A Young Trustee semifinalist filed a complaint in late January, contending that the Young Trustee Nominating Committee violated the Young Trustee bylaw. The judiciary ruled that the YTNC had not properly followed the bylaw, however, the judiciary wrote that the candidate selection process was fair.
DSG approved funding for an event titled Coffeehouse, a religious art exhibition sponsored by IMPACT Christian Ministry. The organization invited YouTube sensation Jefferson Bethke as the speaker for the event.
DSG also approved $1,940 of funding for Israeli Apartheid Week sponsored by Duke Students for Justice in Palestine to help raise awareness about policies of the Israeli government.
The Senate will begin discussing the future of Tailgate and begin forming the Tailgate committee to include student voices in the process at the next DSG meeting.
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