University
Recess
DSG ELECTS NEW JUSTICES
LOCAL CRAFT START-UP OPENS ON GEER STREET
PAGE 3
RECESS PAGE 3
the Chronicle T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
XXXXXDAY, FEBRUARY THURSDAY, MMMM XX,27, 2013 2014
Arts and Sciences Council rethinks representation
ONE ONE HUNDRED HUNDRED AND AND EIGHTH NINTHYEAR, YEAR,ISSUE ISSUEXXX 92
Flavor of Love
Independents look to enhance community
by Yiyun Zhu
by Kali Shulklapper
The Arts and Sciences Council plans to reconsider how each department is represented proportionally. The bylaws currently allow for one representative and one alternate member for every program in the arts and sciences that has at least one regular-rank faculty member with their primary appointment in that program. This has raised concerns from some faculty due to the unequal number of faculty in each academic unit. For instance, the Department of Biology and the International Comparative Studies program each have one representative—but the former has dozens of regularrank faculty members, and the latter has only one regular-rank professor with a primary appointment in ICS. This will likely be a topic of further discussion at the council’s March meeting. “For some faculty, that can be some kind of issue,” said council chair Thomas Robisheaux, Fred W. Schaffer professor of history. “It could be a problem if voting and representation work in a way that don’t accurately reflect the majority sentiment of the faculty.... And we want to fully represent the faculty and units that house majors but [are] not defined in traditional ways.” The definition of what constitutes an academic unit needs to be decided, said Makeba Wilbourn, assistant professor of psychology and neuroscience and council representative. She noted that neuroscience as a major does not have separate representation because it is not its own department. “What is problematic is that certain majors and institutes on campus that are impacted by council decisions don’t have representation, such as the neuroscience major,” Wilbourn
Independent houses are attempting to enhance their own sense of community under the new Duke housing model. Dean of Residential Life Joe Gonzalez noted that indepedent houses have had differing levels of success in terms of fostering community. Housing, Dining and Residential Life and Duke Student Government are considering a number of ways to improve the situation, such as new programming and discussing block sizes. “It is a young model,” Gonzalez said. “We have independent houses that are thriving and others that don’t have a lot going on just yet. But our hope is that the number of strong houses grows each year.” Gonzalez said the current model is more equitable than the previous one, adding that one of its core tenets is giving independent houses the same opportunities as selective living groups. In 2012, the University instituted a new housing model on West and Central Campus that formalized independent sections and retained selective living groups. The new housing model increased the number of residential houses and gave all nine sororities housing on Central. Additionally, five fraternities were moved to Central as part of the new housing model. Gonzalez noted one particular adjustment that enforces this concept—the extension of the “right of return” policy to all students living on campus. This policy allows students who joined a house the previous year to stay in that house following their semester studying abroad. Under the previous model, the policy was granted to SLGs but excluded independents.
THE CHRONICLE
See ARTS AND SCIENCES, page 10
THE CHRONICLE
VICTOR YE/THE CHRONICLE
Flavor of Love, presented by Duke University Union Innovations, allowed students to show off knowledge of significant others or friends in a competition based on popular game shows.
See HOUSING, page 10
Sunder endeavors to foster student involvement with campus affairs by Patricia Spears THE CHRONICLE
SHANEN GANAPATHEE/THE CHRONICLE
Sunder hopes to increase student involvement if elected DSG president.
Sophomore Lavanya Sunder plans to encourage student involvement on-campus by promoting student-driven projects. As the current Duke Student Government vice president for services, Sunder is running for DSG president with the goal of increasing student engagement with campus life. Sunder has been involved in a number of extracurricular experiences including Common Ground, Awaaz, Duke Debate, Women’s Center Programming and the Think Before You Talk campaign. Her experience and success in the DSG senate separate her from other can-
didates, she said. “There are a lot of great student ideas, but there’s a lack of great communication between students and administration,” Sunder said. Sunder emphasized her work with Fix My Campus, noting that as the program’s director, she has a good handle on student opinions. The Facebook page—monitored and addressed by DSG members—allows students to post problems on a variety of issues and has become one of Sunder’s biggest initiatives. Sunder noted that she has made studentsponsored projects a priority in her time here. “I’ve only really pursued projects that came
from students,” Sunder said. She is especially proud of her work restarting the bike-sharing program, an initiative begun after she received several Facebook messages from concerned students. “Students were passionate about it, so I became passionate about it,” Sunder said. Working on this program meant interacting with many different committees as well as important faculty members, such as Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta and Vice President of Administration Kyle Cavanaugh. See SUNDER, page 4