This year's Duke Student Government tenting policy boasts a new focus on populism and accommodation in Krzyzewskiville, and it seems, in the spirit of populism, most everyone has an opinion on it.
While some hardcore tenters now say the new regulations make tenting too easy, those with a more moderate stance on tenting favor the leniency and freedom it fosters, but overall, students seem to appreciate the policy's friendly tone.
"When writing the policy, I had both hard-core and moderate tenters in mind," said senior Norm Bradley, DSG's head line monitor. "It needs to be a fair process, and no student should be left out."
Surprisingly, one of the more controversial changes is designed to make tenting fairer-the policy requires monitors to awaken those students who are present, but asleep, during tent checks.
"The most difficult part of the tenting process was making sure that everyone woke up for the checks at night because everyone was so tired...," said sophomore Erik Norquest, a member of Tent One last year. "[Now] they make an effort to wake you... and you don't just get bumped to the back of the line-it's more fair."
But others worried that trying to wake tenters might infringe on their privacy. "It's a good idea to wake people, but it also raises a privacy issue," said junior Greg Siracusa. "Who knows what people are doing in those tents?"
Sophomore Hazim El-Haddad also disliked this element of the plan because he thinks getting yourself up for the checks is part of the challenge of surviving the camp-out. "I don't know if waking people up is the best idea," said El-Haddad, who tented last year. "It would make it too easy. The fact that it is kind of hard is part of the thrill."
On the other hand, tenters from all factions of K-ville seem to be satisfied about a different change aimed at the same ends. Bradley, also associate sports editor of The Chronicle, decided to increase the capacity of each tent in response to student complaints.
"Last year it was really tough because people would have to study for their tests in the freezing tent and some people got sick.... It would throw off the rotation," El-Haddad said.
The policy, Bradley said, is heavily influenced by student opinion, and he said he has heard mostly positive feedback since the policy's weekend release.
"Last year I sent out an e-mail to line monitors, tent captains and non-captains to solicit their feedback," Bradley said. "I kept it in mind when I was writing the new policy and tried to make it a hybrid of everything I heard."
And, no matter what they think about individual elements of the plan, most students appreciate its focus on inclusivity. "The new policy is good because it rewards the most die-hard fans by giving them the best seats, but still accommodates the more mediocre fans by still letting them see the game," Siracusa said.
Sophomore Robert Chen agreed: "The hard-core tenters might not want things to be easier, but... there will still be room for those who want the experience after those who are really serious about it."
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