Fraternities and selective living groups on Main West Campus may no longer be forced to vacate their sections during upcoming dormitory renovations, as administrators consider completing the work during the summer. The University has also announced the order of dorms to be renovated and a decision to install air conditioning.
Although administrators initially planned to complete the renovations year round, they will decide within the next two weeks whether to restrict the modifications to summer and winter breaks.
"We're pushing hard with the contractor to see if we can get it into the summer and winter breaks," said Tallman Trask, executive vice president. "We're still not certain about whether we can do them all over the summer."
Kilgo Quadrangle will undergo renovations first, followed in a counterclockwise manner by the rest of Main West. The whole project would take approximately four years if done year round, but Trask said it could probably be completed in two summers.
He also said the University has decided to install air conditioning in the dormitories, but that little else in the initial renovation plans has been altered. The original designs still include moving social spaces to lower floors and replacing old plumbing and electrical work. The total budget for the project remains at about $38 million.
Final decisions on how Main West renovations will progress are the next step in what administrators hope will be a transformation of upper-class residential life. Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, said that once plans are released, he hopes to spend much of October gathering student input.
"I think in the next few weeks, we're going to suggest some new ways of using the residence halls. We're going to be talking with [Duke Student Government], Campus Council and other student groups," he said.
Next year, Duke will move fraternities and other selective houses off Main West Quadrangle to make way for an "independent corridor."
The creation of optional upper-class houses linked to freshman dormitories will also take effect next year.
Administrators will also soon decide whether to enforce the three-year on-campus living requirement and to mandate that all sophomores live on West Campus.
Moneta said those decisions will have to wait until the University creates the final renovation schedule. Whether renovations take place during breaks or year-round, the schedule will determine how many on-campus beds will be available next year.
"It's an enormous puzzle to put together that we'd like to roll out to the students all at once," Moneta said. "What's preferred is getting as much scope as we can get done at the lowest possible cost while displacing the fewest number of people."
Renovating year-round would likely require Duke to house many more students in a swing space like Trent Drive Hall. The scenario would involve a separate debate on which living groups and independents would live there, but working just during the summer would sidestep the issue.
"If they could pull it off that'd be great. We wouldn't have to use Trent as a swing space, and it would be better for everyone involved," said Michael Wick, president of the Interfraternity Council, one of several groups involved in the discussions.
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