The Chronicle spoke with Ken Jeong, originally announced as this year's commencement speaker, about basketball, his time at Duke and his advice for graduating seniors.
Commencement has been postponed, but seniors will be able to celebrate online while they wait for the real deal.
Commencement might be postponed, but some seniors got the chance to take graduation photos before saying goodbye to campus—and some who couldn't get to campus mocked something up anyway.
In the end, senior year may be remembered for the last two months. Still, before the pandemic, before Zoom classes and empty quads and a postponed commencement, the year saw student activism, construction and basketball games for the ages.
Junior year saw the renaming of an infamous building, an array of controversies and a star-studded basketball season.
Sophomore year witnessed new aspects of campus life—from the welcoming of a new University president to the softball team playing its inaugural season—and a number of high-profile guests visiting campus.
The Class of 2020's first year at Duke featured participation in local and national elections, the announcement of a new University president and an ACC tournament championship for the men’s basketball team.
When Duke students learned that classes were moving online, many were on spring break trips with friends or lounging in their childhood homes. But senior Peter Sun was spending nine-hour days working on the largest volunteer-run COVID-19 case tracker in the United States.
FIR and their families live in first-year residence halls to encourage interaction between students and faculty outside the classroom. They host events to bring residents together, something increasingly difficult to achieve in the wake of Duke’s coronavirus response as all students have moved out of East Campus residence halls.
Winston, a pug belonging to a Chapel Hill family participating in a Duke research study, tested positive for COVID-19. He may be the first dog in the United States to test positive.
The CARES Act, intended to address the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, allocated around $14 billion directly to higher education. Duke joined several other top private universities in rejecting the $6.7 million it would have received.
Blue Devils will be studying, conducting research and more throughout the world next year, with a little help from the State Department.
The Duke Student Government Judiciary ruled on five cases related to Spring 2020's student elections. A Judiciary report notes that the branch saw the highest number of petitions of any election cycle since it was founded in 2009.
A Duke Student Government Judiciary report harshly criticized DSG for a variety of perceived failings in the spring's student elections. The investigation that produced the report found that DSG officials “repeatedly neglected” to follow DSG’s Constitution and bylaws during the elections.
After initially announcing that student belongings would either be stored for the summer or shipped home, Duke is now giving students the option to come back to campus and clear out their rooms in June.
The Chronicle compiled some of the resources that Duke offers to support first-generation and low-income students on campus.
International undergraduate students in the Class of 2024 who can’t enter the United States because of travel restrictions have the option of spending the Fall semester at Duke Kunshan University.
No letter grades? No problem.
As with many aspects of life at Duke, wealth disparities play a role in shaping students’ experiences in the arts and humanities.
Duke has expanded financial aid in recent years, and faculty and students continue to work to make the University more accessible. But some students say institutional barriers, including bureaucracy and a lack of public spaces for dialogue, make that work difficult.
