Duke has abandoned the academic quadrangle's mulch pathway leading to Perkins in favor of a new gravel path.
The mulch pathway was first laid to maintain the water collection of the quad’s 80-year-old oak trees, but has faced drainage problems in recent weeks. After weeks of complaints from students on social media—including Yik Yak and Facebook's Fix My Campus—the temporary pathway has been changed to gravel.
Few students will miss the mulch.
“Especially after the rain, I find it ridiculous to have to trudge through these mud paths to get to class,” freshman Adriana Santomero said.
The path was laid to allow better navigation of the quad while construction continues on Rubenstein and Perkins Libraries. With Rubenstein closed completely and the main entrance to Perkins closed, the only entrances to the library are now at the end of the quad—through Von der Heyden Pavilion and across from Bostock Library. `But although the path creates a more direct route to Perkins, the logistics of navigating it were not always easy.
Senior Nick Albertson said he recalled a time when he saw a female student attempt to trudge her way through the wet mulch. After finding herself in mud up to her ankles, the student removed her shoes and continued her walk barefoot.
Some students speculated that the mulch was chosen for aesthetic reasons rather than functional ones—noting that even if that were the case, the mulch did not do much to make the quad more visually appealing.
“I would say that the quad aesthetics are pretty disrupted by the construction and the blue fence,” Albertson said. “Also, the mulch they picked smells really bad. When it gets wet it smells like manure.”
Paul Manning, director of the Office of Project Management, said aesthetics were not a concern when the mulch path was first made, instead citing the need for a substance that would allow the trees to absorb water.
Junior Will Gallagher, a member of Fix My Campus, said when he brought his concerns to the administration, they immediately went to check out the area.
“I got an email from [Sarah Burdick, director of administration and special projects] around two weeks ago, and she couldn’t believe how muddy it was,” he said.
Manning said student concerns brought the issue to his attention. After an attempt to raise the path with a foundation of crushed gravel failed to solve the drainage problem, the switch had to be made to a completely-gravel path.
Many students noted that they would like to see a permanent solution for the quad until the construction concludes in Fall 2015. Anything would be preferable to the current mulch, Albertson said—asphalt, wooden planks or even a different kind of mulch.
Junior Lauren Feilich said she disagreed.
“Why would we need a more permanent solution?” Feilich said. “That’s a waste of valuable paved-path resources.”
Even if the new path has problems, Albertson said, he has learned one thing from the path-to-Perkins ordeal.
“It’s amazing the lengths students will go to to save five seconds on their commute,” he said.
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