Beginning Fall 2013, students living off campus will experience a less intrusive, less intimidating welcome to their new community, said sophomore Derek Rhodes, Duke Student Government vice president for Durham and regional affairs.
At the DSG Senate meeting Wednesday night, Rhodes introduced reforms for the Fall semester’s Knock and Talks program. In April, students planning to live off campus will be offered an informational meeting and a meet-and-greet to interact with the Durham law enforcement and members of the local community. He added that additional measures will be taken in the Fall to ensure no students are specifically targeted by the program, which was created in the 1980s to help students acclimate to living off campus.
“We hope that the new program helps to create an environment in which students won’t feel targeted when deans and police show up at their door,” Rhodes said.
He noted that in the past, deans only had the addresses of students that had been registered with the Office of Student Conduct. Under this system, Rhodes added, administrators were targeting houses that had previously received complaints from neighbors or police, assuming that they will be a problem in the future.
Rhodes said beginning this year, Knock and Talks will work with Housing, Dining and Residence Life to incorporate all students living off campus. Early each Fall, administrators and Duke University Police Department will visit student homes to discuss housing policies and neighborhood regulations.
As part of the reforms, Duke police will handle the door-to-door portion of Knock and Talks, due to the fact that Durham police do not want to “intimidate” students. In addition to the informational meeting in April, Rhodes said the dates of Knock and Talks will be announced and advertised at the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year.
He noted that administrators have been very supportive of changes to the program.
In other business
Rhodes responded to an article published Tuesday in The Daily Tar Heel, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s student newspaper, which suggested that a significant portion of crime in Chapel Hill was committed by Durham residents. He called the article “one of the worst pieces of journalism” he has ever seen, adding that the city of Durham’s Office of Information established that the article was misleading and wanted to work with the city of Chapel Hill to improve relations.
Although the Duke Dance Marathon requested $25,000 to fund their upcoming dance event, the Senate voted to grant $11,000 to the event.
Sophomore Fedner Lauture, senator for social culture, said the event was a good cause for the Duke Children’s Hospital.
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