The Chronicle

Issue date: 7/25/07 Section: News
Last update: 7/25/07 at 7:11 PM EST

Media Credit: SARA GUERRERO The Faculty Commons, on the second floor of the West Union Building, will be open to students starting this fall.

In response to recommendations put forth in the Campus Culture Initiative report, Duke Dining Services will develop facilities that will foster conversation and community among students during meals.

Provost Peter Lange said he supports the dining-related suggestions in the report and will push for changes to be made as soon as students return to campus.

"We intend to take steps toward implementation of this idea as the Fall semester begins," he wrote in an e-mail. "[The CCI report] was so widespread and so compelling that we felt we could begin to implement it immediately."

Lange said the decision to open the Faculty Commons to students starting this Fall-with food by former Nasher Cafe caterers Sage and Swift-will give students an additional option that is, as the CCI report articulates, "conducive to fostering community."

"We expect students to use this 'restaurant' extensively, hopefully often with faculty and others as well," Lange said.

Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said the CCI report has spurred plans to renovate the West Union Building and create a more inviting dining environment.

"I think it's a very real initiative," he said. "I think the West Union Building is going to be blown up in the next few years. I think it's going to be a very open place, and I think that's a good thing."

Wulforst said new designs aim to produce an open space that can include designated areas but will not be split up into different rooms.

"The key is to take cavernous space and fix it up with floating partitions," he said.

The University has begun to examine the possibilities for the West Union space, but Wulforst says a completed renovation is still "two to three years out."

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