Academic Affairs
Duke Student Government's Academic Affairs Committee represents the interests of the Duke Student body to the faculty and administration of the school. The Academic Affairs Committee attacks viable issues using the two-pronged approach of government legislation, and frequent faculty and administrative interaction. Members of the committee meet weekly with faculty who chair departments and/or sit on the Arts and Sciences Council. Further, each member leads a semester long project and maintains ultimate responsibility for the success of the project.
The changes affected by the Academic Affairs Committee are substantial and long-term, though they often come only after significant investments in time and energy.
Vice President: Chase Johnson
Members:
- Christopher Chin
- David Cardenas
- Derensky Cooper
- Joe Fore
- Jonathan Agudelo
- Matt Hoekstra
- Ricky Chen
- Wei Li
- Will Cooper
- Kasey Lundquist: Secretary
Mission:
The Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) strives to utilize careful thought processes, and frequent faculty and administrative interactions, to shape Duke University's academic structure for the benefit current and future student bodies. The issues covered by the AAC will cover the breadth of the administrative agenda, so that no decision is made without student input, as well as pushing for other student demands in the academic realm.
Structure:
The members of the AAC will be elected, or selected at large, from all classes. AAC meetings will be held weekly, 7PM on Tuesday evenings, in 201 flowers. All members of the ACC are expected to attend each Tuesday meeting as well as Duke Student Government.s General Body Meetings, held every Wednesday.
Responsibility:
The AAC recognizes that DSG legislation does not offer maximum leverage for change. Legislation offers an important avenue for presenting committee views, but fails to engage administrators and faculty members effectively. This stated, each member of the AAC strives to communicate with at least one faculty and/or administrators on a weekly basis. The purpose of this process is to understand non-student perspective on campus issues, as well as to test the fertility of AAC ideas. The first half of AAC meetings will be spent in a roundtable discussion about conversations from the previous week and their applicability to academic progress.
Each member of the AAC will head a semester long project of their choice. This member is not solely responsible for every facet of the project but maintains ultimate discretion for implementation and organization. A fraction of each meeting will also be devoted to discussing progress on individual projects.
Issues (tentative, unsorted): Issues (tentative, unsorted):
- Academic Advising
--How to restructure with professors and/or hired professionals to increase the productivity and intimacy of the structure
- Professor Evaluation
--Change current .opt-in. policy to mandatory or .opt-out.
- Mandatory non-major pass/fail requirement for all students.
--Hopes to prompt intellectual breadth by removing the universal yoke of grade-point concerns.
- American Studies Program
--Umbrella organization encompassing various areas of academic study. Special attention should be paid to determining demand and researching the structures of other universities and colleges.
- Academic Access
--24-hour access to classrooms for study purposes. - Intellectual forums
--How can we foster open conversation and energy of academic arguments and policies? - Publicizing pre-existing academic policies.
--Duke is saturated with unique intellectual possibilities and publicity their principle downfall. - Examine the issue of academic bias due to ethnic, religious, or political discrimination.
--Determine extent and depth of issue and suggest solution.
Academic Affairs Committee 2004-2005 Personal Responsibility Contract
As a member of Duke Student Government.s Academic Affairs committee, I pledge to uphold a strong work ethic with the unwavering goal of bettering the academic environment of Duke University for my peers, and those who follow me.
1. I will miss no more than two Academic Affairs meetings during the semester, unless I notify the committee of serious and unavoidable conflicts, far in advance of their arrival.
2. I will meet bi-monthly with at least one professor who either sits on the Arts and Sciences Council, or chairs a department. After this meeting I will give a concise and thoughtful summary to the AAC at the weekly meeting.
3. I will select an aspect of academic life at Duke University that intrigues me, and will, to the best of my abilities, foster viable change in that area. Responsibility for the success of this project will be mine, and when I need assistance I will seek it comfortably from my peers on the AAC. At each AAC meeting I will briefly present the changes that have occurred in the past-week and outline my plans for the next.
4. I will do my best to place my peers on the AAC in a position to succeed in their endeavors recognizing that our success is a collective.