DuJuan Smith was elected Student Association president last spring and this semester his brother Dion Smith will serve alongside him as Campus Activities Board president. However, brotherly love does not conflict with any CAB bylaws.

This is not the first time a conflict of interest has presented itself to the brothers. When Dion applied for director of student life, the SA executives sat in on the interview so DuJuan’s vote wouldn’t swing one way or the other.

“Instead of really looking at it from the standpoint of ‘this is a good thing,’ everyone’s gonna expect that this is a bad thing or it’s gonna be negative, or it’s gonna be favoritism,” DuJuan said. “For the most part, I say the things I have done on this campus have been built on consistency and accuracy and honesty.”

DuJuan said he is aware he is serving the students and not his brother.

“I mean, if my mother was working for me and my mother was not doing her job, I would fire my mother, and everyone knows that I’m like that,” DuJuan said.

Dion’s election as president is backed up by service to a variety of groups on campus. He has served as an SA senator, treasurer for the Black Student Union and, in fall 2005, he was Director of Student Life for the SA. He currently serves on the Holmes Student Center Board and Convocation Center Board.

Through his experience on the SA, Dion said he learned about the structure of government. As treasurer for the Black Student Union he learned about budgetary processes and finance policies.

Dion also served on the presidential commission for the status of the financial aid office when it had an external review to renovate.

“[Students] say it’s dull, it’s a long line, it’s caged up,” Dion said.

Serving on the commission was his way of representing the students, he said.

Dion became aware of the open position when he read in the Northern Star that John Acardo was stepping down.

“I asked John, ‘Is this true, you’re actually..?’ I had always been interested in the position,” he said.

In order to become CAB president, Dion had to undergo a formal interview process.

The CAB executives, Adam Novotney, vice president of finance; Keynice Dixon, vice president of administration; John Acardo, former CAB president; Margreth Celestino, CAB vice president; and Excell Lewis III, the CAB adviser, served as the election board.

The CAB president is usually elected in the spring during the SA elections. Dion’s term as CAB president went into effect Jan. 13.

“I really do hope that in the midst of everything that goes on we can keep focus of what’s important, which is the student’s interests, getting things accomplished for the betterment of the student body,” DuJuan said. “I always tell people I want to be a counselor and a motivational speaker; I’m really not a politician. In terms of my brother, we’re just two people who want to see a change in NIU.”