- $900 was given to the new tailgating format, DevilsGate, to accommodate growing student interest.
- $160 was allocated towards on-campus drop boxes for voter registration forms.
- The search for a director for the DSG Research Unit is underway.
The Duke Student Government Senate used its last meeting before first-year senator elections to appropriate more funding to DevilsGate and to set up student voting registration options.
A budgetary statute requested approximately $900 dollars for the purchase of three more tents and sandbag sets for DevilsGate, the tailgate that precedes each home football game. The increase in the number of tents from twelve to fifteen is meant to accommodate more student interest in DevilsGate as the football season and conference play heats up, said Tucker Albert, a junior and vice president for social culture. The statute was passed without any opposition, and the new purchases will draw funds from the legislative discretionary account and will be bought from the Duke University Store.
Another budgetary statute requested the purchase of five on-campus boxes for students to drop off their voter registration forms, which will allow them to register to vote for regional candidates as well as national representatives and senators without setting foot off campus.
The drop boxes will be located in five central locations around campus: Wilson Gym, the Bryan Center, Perkins Library, the East Campus Union and Twinnies Cafe on the Engineering Quadrangle.
Changes to North Carolina voter registration law make it more difficult for students to register, explained David Robertson, a senior and vice president of Durham and regional affairs, when he proposed the statute. Delivering the voter registration form to a voter registrar is difficult for many students, who may lack adequate transportation while living on campus. The registration forms from the drop boxes will be delivered en masse to a registrar.
The drop boxes will cost $160 total and the funds for their purchase will be drawn from the DSG legislative discretionary account.
By the end of the meeting, the Senate had withdrawn approximately $1,100 from the account.
In other business:
The Senate created an interview committee for the Student Organization Finance Committee, which controls the distribution of funds to various student groups around campus, including DSG. The committee comprised of new members will be formed in the next several weeks, and the Senate committee will oversee their applications and the interview process.
Executive Vice President Abhi Sanka, a junior, announced that the search for a director for the DSG Research Unit is underway.
Sanka also emphasized that attendance policy at Senate meetings would continue to be enforced, and encouraged tardy senators to make sure they checked in so they would not be counted as absent.
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