Letter: Student housing policy ignores students' interests

Have there been any attempts by the Duke Student Government to curtail the new policies prohibiting students from living off campus until their senior year?If not, why not? If so, how can I help?

I just got off the phone with Bill Burig who rattled off a half-hour dose of complete nonsense stating why it is so important for students to stay on campus.

I particularly liked his comments about how the underlying reason behind all this was to improve the Duke student's experience. I fail to see how reducing a student's freedom to make his own living decisions improves the Duke experience.

Nor does it make sense to me that a student being literally forced to pay more for lower quality housing also improves his experience.

Burig did his best to cover up the real reason behind all of it, but when all other arguments failed, the truth came out. What is really behind the new housing policy any four year-old could have deduced: Duke needs more money!

Maybe if Duke treated students with respect and sincerity, students would become more involved in campus activities. Or maybe if Duke provided a social atmosphere that didn't resemble a minimum security prison, alumni would be more willing to contribute donations to Duke so that it wouldn't have to use practices of extortion on unwitting students.

However, as it stands now Duke students must be satisfied that they are all treated equally by the rules on Duke's campus, and that Duke will continue to look out for what is in the "best interests" of its students. Funny, I thought that one of the goals of higher learning was to produce individuals capable of looking out for their own best interests.