A couple of big prize-winners this spring in Nadia Murad and Nyle DiMarco are coming to speak on campus.
The Duke Student Government Senate approved $21,519 in Student Organization Finance Committee funding and $715.97 from the legislative discretionary fund at its Wednesday meeting. The Senate also heard from the Office for Institutional Equity on upcoming changes to how it operates.
Murad, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize recipient, is speaking on campus as part of S.H.A.P.E. week, a DSG initiative on sexual assault awareness.
Senator Eden Schumer, a sophomore, discussed the weeklong push for advertising S.H.A.P.E. week, for which the Senate allocated $640.97 from its discretionary fund. The Senate amended the budgetary statute before passing it because of a miscommunication over money already allocated by the SOFC.
The Senate also approved $2,000 for Duke American Sign Language to host a semester-long lesson series and $2,000 for an event with deaf and queer activist Nyle DiMarco, who won America's Next Top Model in 2015.
The Senate also unanimously funded $1,629 for Duke EMS to host an informal CPR training on Jan. 21, which is expected to draw 400 undergraduates. The Duke Singapore Students Association received $4,490 to host its Lunar New Year Festival. For the Spring 2020 Lunar New Year Showcase, the Duke Asian Students Association was awarded $5,150. Duke MSA also received $6,250 to host a speaker event on East Campus.
Senator Shrey Majmudar, a sophomore, delivered a presentation about Duke's IT Advisory Committee and sought one nomination from the Senate to the committee. The Senate nominated Senator Catherine McMillan, a sophomore, to the ITAC position.
The Senate also unanimously passed a budgetary statute allocating $75 for ITAC to distribute gift cards as an incentive to respond to its annual survey.
OIE Changes
Kimberly Hewitt, vice president for institutional equity and chief diversity officer, updated the Senate on work done by the Office for Institutional Equity. Hewitt was named to her position in June 2019.
"One of our real challenges is helping everyone at the University understand what we do, and if you have a concern that we would address what happens and where you would go," she said.
Hewitt also explained the structure of OIE, which has branches focusing on education and outreach, investigation and complaint handling and compliance issues. She noted that OIE's scope has narrowed over the past year to bring it more in line with other schools.
Hewitt discussed the roles that Title IX investigators in OIE play in Office of Student Conduct investigations, particularly in sexual misconduct cases. Among other issues, OIE wants to continue to work to resolve cases in a timely manner and expand the cases that OIE looks at.
"One of our ongoing goals is to think about how we help departments address issues that doesn't necessarily rise to level of a violation," Hewitt said.
Hewitt told the Senate that OIE will consolidate their misconduct policies—there are currently two, one of which is specific to students—into one policy starting Fall 2020. The policy will include a streamlined definition about mandatory reporters—also called responsible employees—that will clarify on-campus employee roles that will be required to report possible misconduct to OIE.
Hewitt did clarify that most cases reported by mandatory reporters are not automatically investigated by Duke. Instead, OIE usually follows up with the student to explain possible next steps.
OIE, along with Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost/vice president for student affairs, is also working on a task force to cut down on misconduct before it occurs.
Editor's Note: This article and its headline has been updated to clarify that the money for S.H.A.P.E. week is going toward advertising the week and not funding Murad's talk.
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