Duke Graduate and Professional Student Government discussed its proposed 2026-27 budget, debated bylaws changes and heard a presentation from Duke Community Affairs in its first meeting of the academic year Monday.
Proposed GPSG 2026-27 budget
The executive branch introduced a tentative 2026-27 GPSG budget, with a current topline of $277,000. GPSG Treasurer Anvita Kulshrestha noted that the final budget will likely be larger once additional student fees come in next semester.
Notably, the senate allocated $14,000 for “Student Engagement” this year, a decrease from $30,000 in 2025-26 and $65,000 in 2024-25. Previously, the student engagement funding was managed by a diversity, equity, inclusion and justice director, who used a large amount of the money to provide microgrants for students and student groups to organize DEI-related programming.
This year, GPSG elected to eliminate the microgrant program and instead allow student groups to apply for the funding directly. With the elimination of the microgrants, this year’s $14,000 will tentatively go towards each graduate school’s student engagement initiatives…