This is the final installment in a five-part series featuring community outreach efforts between Duke and Durham. Each installment is comprised of two articles: The first focuses on Duke's efforts and the second analyzes the benefits experienced by the community.
If two years ago someone had asked the residents of Trinity Park neighborhood near East Campus for their opinions about the University students living in the area, they might have given a rather unflattering response.
Students often moved off campus with the misconception that they would be able to party regularly without any repercussions, said engineering senior Saam Azar, co-director of the Community Service Center. Parties occurred seven days a week at all hours of the day. The different lifestyles of the Trinity Park residents and the student tenants clashed, and their relationship was strained.
"The [Trinity Park Association] tried to crack down on student parties. They tried to target students who had more than three residents in each house. The police were called regularly," Azar said.
To ameliorate the situation, the association-the neighborhood governing board-created two positions for University students at the request of then-Duke Student Government President Takcus Nesbit, Trinity '97, and then-DSG Vice President for Community Interaction and Trinity senior Trang Nguyen.
Since that time, two students-the DSG vice president for community interaction and one Trinity Park resident-have been members of the neighborhood board. This year, Azar and Nguyen fill these positions.
The lines of communication between student tenants and residents have been opened and the board meetings, which take place the first Wednesday of every month, serve as the forum in which both groups can voice their concerns.
Nguyen, who is serving her second year as a board member, said the purpose of having students in the Trinity Park Association is so they can serve as liaisons between the association and both off-campus and on-campus students. That way, Nguyen said, the association's meetings can allow both sides to resolve their differences.
Their roles are also to help those off-campus students to become acclimated to their being part of a neighborhood outside of the University community.
"Basically, we're working to be the sounding board between students, DSG and the Trinity Park Association," Nguyen explained. "We're even working on planning an off-campus workshop to address the needs of people who currently live in the neighborhood and those looking to live there so they know their responsibilities as tenants."
This year, Trinity junior Maya Corey, DSG vice president for community interaction, said that Nguyen is occupying her spot on the board in order to maintain membership consistency. She recognized the importance, however, of having Trinity Park students be an active participant in their surrounding neighborhood.
"It's showing that students are interested in being a part of the community, not simply living in their community, but also being a part of Durham," she noted. "This way they have more of an understanding of where the issues are coming from."
Nevertheless, there remains some concern that having Nguyen and Azar on the board is like "preaching to the choir" because, as Corey noted, the student board members are already familiar with common concerns among residents, while the bulk of student tenants may not be fully informed about the association.
"I don't know where and when the board meets, what it decides and what ramifications it has upon me," said Trinity senior and Trinity Park resident Jon Jaffe. "If it is helping my relations with other tenants then I am unaware of it. But it's nice to hear."
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