With its consistently high national rankings, winners of major undergraduate fellowships and internationally recognized faculty, Duke is clearly fulfilling the spirit of the first half of its motto, "Eruditio et Religio."
Students and campus leaders say that the second half, although dwarfed by the first, is playing an increasingly large role in campus life.
Duke has had its motto, meaning "knowledge and religion," since 1859, when it was Trinity College and affiliated with the Methodist church. Since then, religion has been at the center of campus life, both figuratively and literally.
When James B. Duke described his vision of West Campus, he famously proclaimed, "I want the central building to be a church, a great towering church which will dominate all of the surrounding buildings, because such an edifice would be bound to have a profound influence on the spiritual life of the young men and women who come here."
Trinity freshman Caroline Young may not have been influenced by the Chapel, but she said that Duke has helped her in her spiritual life. "I've definitely grown in my faith since I've gotten here," she said.
"I was really surprised by how big religion is here," Young continued. "Right away when I came to Duke, [religious groups] had picnics on campus."
Young has been very pleased since joining the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship but added that her friends at other schools have not had as much luck in their religious lives. "It's been a lot harder for them to find a fellowship," she said.
Jennifer Copeland, United Methodist campus minister, believes that the prevalence of religion at Duke stems from the desire of students struggling with hectic social and academic lives to grasp onto something that seems eternal and unchanging. Still, she is not sure she is comfortable with that. "Life is so complicated that we want easy answers to our faith questions, but our faith questions should be the most complicated questions we can concoct," she said.
Cheryl Bissette, a Presbyterian chaplain, agrees that religion provides students with an escape from the daily grind. "I think [religious organizations] are the subversive culture on campus," she said. "I see a lot of students come to Westminster [the Presbyterian USA/United Church of Christ fellowship] to get a break."
In five years, Bissette has seen Westminster grow from about eight members to 45.
For other religious groups on campus, interest in services has been driven by more than just increased stress. When the Freeman Center for Jewish Life officially opened its doors last fall, it ushered in a new era for Jewish students at Duke.
Mike Smolow, a Trinity sophomore who is involved in religious services at the Freeman Center, said the new building helps to promote community among Jewish students. "The center has encouraged more students to stop by and check," he said.
Another campus religious group that has experienced huge gains in membership is the Muslim Student Association. Ayisha Karim, a Trinity senior and president of the MSA, said that the group, which did not even exist 10 years ago, now boasts a membership of around 30 students.
Karim said that the presence of the MSA helped her become more religious in her four years at Duke.
"The friendships that I started with some of the Muslims here had a great effect on my religious growth," she said. "I felt a responsibility to be a better Muslim."
Karim said she thinks that Duke's recent focus on diversity will help groups like her own. "I can see they're trying to prove that they want religious diversity," she said.
The result, said Karim, is a religious community where all groups support each other. As evidence, she pointed to a recent Muslim event held in the Freeman Center that was sponsored by several Christian organizations.
Bissette, the Presbyterian chaplain, acknowledged that Duke students are attracted to programs that promote diversity and inclusiveness. "Something non-denominational is more appealing to students," she said.
Bissette observed that the role of campus religious groups has changed in the last few decades. "In the '60s, there was a lot of student activism, and the parents disliked that and cut off funding [for campus fellowships]," she said.
Young, the freshman, believes that the current generation of students focuses more on faith than previous ones did. "I think religion in the generation before ours is more family tradition, a ritual, than actual faith," she said.
Bissette offered a possibility to explain why current students are less rebellious against religion than previous students were. "They have a different relationship with their parents. Most of my students like their parents," she said, with a hint of surprise in her voice. "There doesn't seem to be such a need to separate from their parents so radically."
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