'Don't roll up in sweatpants': DSG loosens dress code for Senate meetings

Senators of Duke Student Government looked into the mirror before their meeting Wednesday night and decided business casual clothes may not be so important after all. 

In a unanimous voice vote, the Senate passed an amendment to the House Rules to alter the Code of Dress for Senate meetings and the rules concerning excused absences, among other changes. 

Prior to the change, the dress code for DSG Senate meetings was business casual. The amended rules, presented by junior Avery Boltwood, president pro tempore, state that “the Code of Dress must allow Senators to dress comfortably, and must permit attire that is less formal than ‘business casual.’”

There are still some restrictions on what senators can wear. The modified rules continue, “the Code of Dress may only discourage the wearing of loungewear or similar attire." 

“Don’t roll up in sweatpants or in a swimsuit, I guess,” Boltwood clarified. 

The amended rules also contain modifications to the list of excusable reasons for which Senators may miss meetings. Senators who are absent because of scholarship dinners and Duke Focus dinners will now be given excused absences. 

The amendment also formally codifies motions for unmoderated caucuses, which are breaks in debate during which senators may freely discuss issues with each other. The inspiration for unmoderated caucuses was drawn from Model United Nations, Boltwood said.

The fourth and final change, described by Boltwood as “the most pedantic one,” makes a minor logistical tweak regarding the president pro tempore’s placement of statutes and budgetary measures on the agenda. 

The Senate also discussed the results of its Student-First Initiative, which consisted of a survey sent to Duke students in September. The survey asked students’ opinions on DSG's performances and to rate the importance of projects on which the Senate and the Executive Board are currently working. It also allowed students to suggest their own projects for the government.

“A lot of times, we hear that DSG is just ‘credentializing’ their resumes and doing individual projects for themselves, that they don’t know what the students really want,” junior Jake Hoberg, executive vice president, said. “This year we wanted to get a survey out there that asks the students what projects they think are important.” 

Respondents rated DSG as “average” at listening to student concerns and “somewhat above average” at doing impactful work and working with student groups. 

In addition, respondents ranked reforming the first-year food point system, expanding gender violence education, supporting undocumented students and creating a shared syllabus bank as “critically important” among DSG’s current projects. The most commonly-suggested projects were the creation of an American Sign Language program, the inclusion of color printing in the printing stipend and the removal of loans from the financial aid that Duke offers. 

In Other Business

The Senate chartered the Pakistani Students Association and recognized Women in Politics and the Duke Data Analytics Consulting Club. 

Boltwood, after a discussion of the selective nature of the Consulting Club’s admissions process, referred to the heated debate over the “selective social group” Hyde House at the meeting last week.

“Does anyone have any questions about the recognition of this organization? Whether it’s going to ask for housing?” Boltwood quipped. 

The Senate also approved more than $15,000 in SOFC funding. 

That allotment included $6,750 for HackDuke for meals, $1,575 for Students for Justice in Palestine, $1,730 for a Phi Beta Sigma alumni panel event, $3,695 for TEDxDuke’s event regarding voting rights and $1522.61 for Zeta Phi Beta’s bowling event and transportation.

Finally, the Senate unanimously confirmed senior Adam Bullock to the position of senator for equity and outreach in what was described as an "emergency confirmation" in the agenda. First-year Senator Shrey Majmudar was also confirmed to the Information Technology Advisory Council.


Matthew Griffin

Matthew Griffin was editor-in-chief of The Chronicle's 116th volume.

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