Services & Sustainability
The committee for Services & Sustainability focuses on supporting the student experience by working on areas such as dining, transportation, wellness, libraries, and technology. We also collaborate with environmentally focused organizations at Duke and utilize the Climate Commitment to advocate for sustainable practices in all of Duke’s activities. In past years, Services and Sustainability members have worked on reinstating reusable mug discounts, designing the FROSH101 House Course, collaborating with Duke Athletics to create sustainable game-day experiences, and creating an LGBTQ+ support group. SAS is proud to spearhead the Blue Devil Market every year, in collaboration with DUU, as our recurring programmatic event.
Committee Projects
Leadership
Nikhil Sethi – Vice President
As VP for SAS, Nikhil is responsible for leading his committee and assisting with projects, managing the DSG policy agenda, and serving as the chief advocate and administrative contact for his committee.
Raahim Hashmi – Assistant Vice President
Raahim is a sophomore from Piscataway, NJ majoring in Public Policy and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies and completing the Philosophy, Politics, and Economics certificate. Last year, Raahim served as a senator of SAS, leading two major projects targeting food waste, food insecurity, and accessibility. This year, Raahim aims to expand and institutionalize the Food Recovery Network beyond Marketplace and continue to address food insecurity and other pressing issues impacting Duke students.
Senators
Ameer Haidary
Ameer is a junior majoring in Economics & Public Policy. He is a two-time DSG Senator who has worked on projects such as Blue Devil Bags, Equitable Duke Dinning, and the Campus Scooter/Bicycle Project. He hopes to continue work on sustainability including making K-ville safer, cleaner, and more eco-friendly. He also hopes to work on water projects around campus including water testing, safety, and accessibility.
Chloe Joy Chang
Chloe Joy is a junior from Hong Kong and Boston majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Marine Science & Conservation. She has previously served as a senator of SAS expanding on student health and wellness on campus, while making sustainable practices (ie. water conservation or food waste) easier for students to get involved with!
Major Richmond
Major is a sophomore from Doylestown, PA majoring in Environmental Sciences and serving as a Laidlaw Scholar. Major is continuing his career as a SAS senator from last year, when he helped lead the Sustainable K-Ville project. Major’s main goal for this year is to influence more students to take on easier, greener lifestyle changes.
Ryan Jankelowitz
Ryan is a sophomore from Deerfield, IL planning on majoring in Public Policy with a minor in Economics. He has previously spearheaded the revitalization of the Duke Food Recovery Network, piloted a web tool to assist students with the meal plan selection process, and secured first-year access to Marketplace after dining hours to expand late-night study space options on East Campus. This year, he is focusing on launching the meal plan selection assistant tool, pursuing additional light meal options at the Brodhead Center to prevent food waste, and assisting with initiatives related to dorm sustainability.
Karina Lu
Karina is a senior from Seattle, Washington majoring in History with a minor in French Studies and a certificate in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics (PPE). She has previously served as a Senator for SAS, working on napping pods and little libraries. Karina has also served on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Board of Elections, and is a student representative on the Presidential Advisory Committee on Institutional History. She hopes to continue engaging with student demands this year, bringing projects that serve the broader community. Specifically, she am interested in new projects, such as making mental health care more accessible, and helping continue existing projects, such as the Blue Devil Market.
Siddarth Rama
Siddarth is a sophomore from Ft. Lauderdale, FL, majoring in Economics and Public Policy. He has previously served as a Senator in Services and Sustainability. He hopes to create more outdoor study space environments for students on East and West Campus! Areas like BC Plaza are incredibly popular for students to frequent, and he wants to make places like BC Plaza more accessible. On East Campus, massive construction prevents students from being able to study outdoors, so he wants to create designated spaces for freshman to be able to productively immerse themselves in nature. Another impact is to reduce water waste in residential halls. Old, leaky equipment leads to significant amount of drip, hurting our water resources. He wants to push for infrastructure renovation and educational resources for students to be more proactive
Luke Gumbert
Luke is junior from Memphis, TN majoring in Economics and Public Policy. Luke has previously served as a Senator for the SAS committee, co-leading the Sustainable KVille Project, which included facilitating the distribution of 500+ individual wellness bags to tenters and the collection and donation of 200+ tenting supplies to two Durham-based community partners. Luke’s main goal for this year is to continue working on making Duke as sustainable a campus and community as possible.
Dana Tan
Dana is a freshman from Singapore planning on majoring in Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Finance. Dana hopes to work on making dorm life and dining more sustainable through reducing food waste and increasing sorting/composting efforts. She also hopes to improve student wellness through creating more intentional outdoor spaces and activities for students to hangout and relax. Overall, she hopes to encourage students to live greener, and create a campus environment that facilitates that transition.
Jack Stapleton
Jack is a freshman from Greenville, SC planning on double-majoring in Public Policy and electrical and computer engineering. This year in Duke Student Government, Jack hopes to achieve two main goals. First, he hopes to collaborate with his new DSG colleagues to advance water and energy conservation in dorms by implementing easy yet effective student-friendly initiatives. Second, he hopes to make sustainable living more accessible for every student, and to help them easily incorporate sustainable habits into their daily routines. Through these efforts, he hopes to raise awareness of Duke’s environmental footprint and empower the community to take actions that collectively create a greener campus in Bull City.
Katie Eilers
Katie is a freshman from Charlotte, NC planning on majoring in Chemistry with a minor in Spanish. This year she hopes to decrease food waste and amplify student voices.
Cayden Hart
Cayden is a sophomore from Aiken, South Carolina majoring in Environmental Sciences and Policy with a declared certificate in Energy and Environment. Cayden has previously served as a Public Relations Senator and the Co-Chair of the Sustainability Committee while attending Wake Forest University. He hopes to put forth a framework for incentivizing clubs across campus to make their operations more sustainable. He is also keen on pushing for more student-facing DSG events. In terms of impact, he wants to work alongside his committee to assist other student organizations in making their operations more sustainable in tangible, quantifiable ways.
Zoya Hasan
Zoya is a freshman from Minneapolis, MN, planning on majoring in Global Cultural Studies on a Pre-Med Track with a possible Minor in Global Health. Through her position in DSG, she hopes to promote environmental practices on campus, specifically by expanding the composting and waste management system for food. She also wants to organize swap events for students to encourage the reuse of materials and keep waste out of landfills. Overall, she hopes to spread climate awareness and work towards a greener Duke. She wants to contribute to sustainable policies that leave a lasting impact, benefitting both current and future Blue Devils.
Ahana Srivastava
Ahana is a freshman from Public Policy and Environmental Sciences & Policy from Cary, NC. Two goals she has for this year are (1) increase outdoor study spaces around campus and; (2) add more sustainable meal options to Duke dining halls.
Kabir Chaudry
Kabir is a freshman from Pittsburgh, PA, planning on majoring in Economics. First, he wants to improve waste management systems at Duke through expanded composting programs, better trash disposal education, and more efficient bin placement across campus. He also hopes to improve the student dining experience adding reusable to-go container options that if students use they get a rebate and continuing on working on other efforts to reduce food waste. Overall, he hopes to contribute to lowering Duke’s environmental footprint while also enhancing the student experience.
Lujain Ahmed
Lujain is a sophomore from Houston, TX, planning on majoring in Mechanical Engineering with a minor Financial Economics. This is her first time in DSG, and two goals that she hopes to achieve in DSG are to work towards a donation pilot project so that leftover dorm supplies that students throw away or don’t use at the end of each year are recycled and used by other students. She also plans on working towards providing at least one water bottle filling station in all dorms. The impact that she hopes to have on the Duke Community is to integrate sustainability into Duke’s culture so that being sustainable is a part of being at Duke.
Veronica Guo
Veronica is a sophomore from Hong Kong majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Statistics/Economics. This year, she hopes to make Duke a more sustainable campus by expanding food recovery efforts and reducing waste during dorm move-in and move-out. By developing a digital platform to redirect leftover food from club events and streamlining systems for donating reusable items, she aims to create concrete structures that promote mindful use of resources across the Duke community.
Not pictured: Pranav Hooda