About 70 students invaded administrators' offices Thursday to protest residential life and the fraternity system.
Students and members of the newly-formed Students Acting for Residential Change gathered on the Chapel steps before meeting with administrators. SARC members also met with President Brodie earlier in the day to discuss the presence and implications of fraternity sections on campus.
The group was formed to "raise awareness that there's a problem on this campus. We're not trying to provide exact solutions," said Trinity sophomore Kathryn Andrews, co-founder of SARC.
The group proposes to end campus housing for fraternities and replace both fraternities and selective houses with integrated, co-ed dormitories assigned by lottery.
"We don't want to make individual charges against fraternity members. However, we feel that the structure of the fraternity system is inherently conducive to racism, sexism and a hierarchical class structure on campus," said Trinity senior Mike Johnson, co-founder of SARC.
"You cannot blame a certain group for such widespread problems," said Interfraternity Council president Chetan Ghai. "We are being blamed for all these problems simply because we are a very dynamic, organized and visible organization."
IFC treasurer Tom Williams said the greek population on West Campus is representative of the student body. "Forty percent of all males are greek, but fraternity housing only accounts for 23 percent of housing on West, so I don't see how fraternities are dominating the campus," Williams said.
Johnson, however, stressed the University's role in "subsidizing the fraternity system when they have no inherent right to that space."
Students and administrators also addressed the anti-intellectualism sentiment on campus as well as the lack of social options.
"Students haven't been intellectually challenged, and the high support of fraternity parties is both a symptom and a result of that," said Karen Steinour, dean of residential life.
Students suggested a residential college system similar to Yale University and Princeton University to help foster a more intellectual campus environment. These systems, however, would require an eating facility in every residence hall and also require students to live in the same residence hall for all four years, Steinour said.
"This is supposed to be an academic community, and the administration must be committed to that. The fact that these fraternities are allowed to continue to exist without question shows that the administration supports them and their activities," said Trinity junior Claire Holroyd.
Many students appreciated East Campus' alternative atmosphere and opposed proposals to turn East Campus into an all-freshman campus.
"It provides an alternative atmosphere that students from all years find to be a home away from home," said Trinity senior Jeff Lippman. "However, I think more freshmen should be housed on East so they can see what a great campus it is," he said.
Students also voiced concerns about the atmosphere of fraternity parties. "The overwhelming majority of students who support and attend these parties are the fraternity members themselves and first-year women, which automatically creates a dangerous atmosphere," said Trinity senior Lisa Howe.
"I think we need to combat the middle school behavior that seems to be the outgrowth of male fraternity houses," said Janet Dickerson, vice president for student affairs. "We need to ask ourselves if we are fostering our students into the type of responsible adults we claim to be."
"The University's social problems won't go away just because fraternities do," Ghai said. "I agree that there is a lack of a strong social, Duke community, but removing fraternities will only take away a big part of what little close-knit communities there are here," Ghai said.
"Fraternities provide an internal community for those that live there, and their primary purpose is to build friendships within themselves. People are looking to fraternities too much for all the solutions," said Trinity junior and DSG president-elect Paul Hudson.
There is not enough information available to know if eliminating fraternities is the best way to relieve some of the University's problems, Steinour said.
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