Skip to main content

Duke Student Government President Selected As Student Commencement Speaker

Mike Lefevre will speak about togetherness and Duke's team spirit in May 15 address

lefevre_CMS.jpg
Mike Lefevre, the Duke Student Government president, has been selected as the student speaker for the 2011 commencement ceremony.

Since
first arriving on Duke's campus nearly four years ago, Mike Lefevre has
been the ultimate student advocate. In his first year at Duke, the
Philadelphia native served as freshman senator on the Athletics and
Campus Services Committee. Now, in his final year, he is president of
the Duke Student Government.

On Sunday, May 15, Lefevre will add
another title to his undergraduate resume -- student commencement
speaker. The ceremony begins at 10 a.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium. Cisco
CEO John Chambers
will deliver the main commencement address.

Student speakers are chosen by a committee that asks finalists to submit and deliver a prepared seven-minute speech.

"We had a large number of submissions
this year and it was a difficult decision," said Sterly Wilder, the
associate vice president of Alumni Affairs and a member of the selection
committee. "Mike's speech had broad appeal and we believe that his
remarks will resonate with the audience of graduates, family members,
faculty and staff."

The subject of the speech came easily
to Lefevre who, as head of the student government, spends a lot of time
thinking critically about Duke and the best aspects of student life on
campus.

"My speech is about getting Duke
students to come together, to always be attracted to spaces where there
are other Duke students," said Lefevre, who notes this togetherness is
evident in things big (students' social awareness) and small (how
students pack inside campus buses).

"There is a fondness for the
collective at Duke. The first question we ask when interviewing for jobs
is, 'Are there any other Duke students here?' We care about each other
and I hope the class reflects that when we are in the real world,"
Lefevre said.

Lefevre intends to highlight Duke's
team spirit, which he sees as a fundamental aspect of the university's
undergraduate experience. He promises a humorous, short speech, and
will, as always, bolster the student perspective.

"I've tried to define my time here by
advocating for student services, trying to give students as much
representation as possible," he said. "When I see the representation is
less than adequate, I try to put a student in a meeting or put a student
on a committee. I am always looking out for opportunities to get
students involved."

For example, he worked to guarantee
students a place on the appellate board of the Office of Student
Conduct; planned the creation of Le Marche, an outdoor cafe on East
Campus that will be built this summer; and has worked with
administrators to improve the campus dining program.

One of the accomplishments he is most
proud of is streamlining student government by eliminating the Campus
Council, a residential student group. He merged the policy arm of the
Campus Council into the larger Duke Student Government and its
programming arm into the Duke University Union, which oversees major
events programming.

"We basically centralized who is speaking to the administration," Lefevre said. "They can't divide and conquer us."

Upon graduation, Lefevre, a public
policy studies major with a certificate in energy and the environment,
plans to pursue a career in the railroad or marine transportation
industries.