Several students recently mentioned to me that they didn't understand "where we're going". They were aware of the many changes under way in housing, student governance and elsewhere but didn't have a sense of how these all fit together. Let me respond and try to explain where we're hoping to go in the coming months and years.
It's been 18 months since I joined the Duke community as vice president for student affairs. When I arrived, several reforms were well under way including the construction of the West-Edens Link and plans to house all sophomores on West Campus and to relocate selective houses off the west main corridor. These changes were motivated by a desire to extend to the sophomore class the same quality of community that first-year students already experienced on East Campus. Duke's leadership also wanted the west "main corridor" to serve as open space for the community, and to provide sufficient bed space on West Campus for most students who wanted to live there.
These reforms set the stage for improving the residential experience, particularly on West Campus. Creating a community model based on quads and adding a live-in professional staff brought together residents with advisors and student leaders with mentors. It also offered a reasonable balance between accommodating students by sub-groups (fraternities and selectives) and by broader interests. We were able to institute all of these changes over the past summer so they were in place for the fall semester, in part by modifying our renovation plans for the main west campus residences.
We hope that the quads, which Duke created as intermediate-sized residential centers, will evolve into real communities. We want them to become places that foster intellectual engagement as well as their traditionally robust social life. We've only begun this transformation with new academic support activities and with systems to empower student self-governance, such as through campus and quad councils. Our new residential model also features decentralized student services for counseling, career guidance, health care and the like. Already, we've seen significant changes, thanks in large part to the leadership exercised by the Campus Council. For instance, there are Sunday night dinners and other programs in the quads and an array of intellectually stimulating activities.
We've also begun focusing intensively on how we can enhance life for students living on Central Campus, with new apartments, a transformed physical environment and other changes. We'll have more to share about this in the coming year as ideas and plans are developed. I suspect that few will be disappointed by our decision to close Trent Hall as a residence hall. Eddie Hull recently joined Duke as the head of our Residence Life and Housing Services, and he's already finding new ways to accelerate the delivery of high-quality residential facilities and programs across the Duke community.
Students spend most of their waking hours outside their residences, which is why we're also turning our attention to key adjacent facilities such as the West Union, the Bryan Center, and the Page and Flowers Buildings, all of which we've begun referring to as "The Village." Taken as a whole, these buildings and the spaces within them, aren't providing Duke students, particularly those living nearby on West, with what they need. In the past year, we've made some progress with the opening of the Multi-Cultural Center and of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, but have much more to do. We hope to create a new center for students and the Duke community, one that offers appropriate gathering spaces, lots of food, better student offices and a full set of amenities to support students as well as faculty, staff and others who live, work, study and play here. An expanded Mary Lou Williams Center and a new Center for LGBT Life will be critical parts of the new "Village".
During this new spring semester, therefore, we're going to develop an ambitious plan to renovate and add to these buildings. We're already thinking of ways to provide contemporary dining and gathering spaces and to support the office and storage needs of student groups-and to do all this in a way that links these building visually and aesthetically with something more attractive and functional then the concrete bridge that connects the Bryan Center with West Union. Needless to say, this is going to be an important undertaking for Duke, so please watch for invitations to voice your opinion about what "The Village" should become.
Physical alterations alone, though, won't be enough to address the student community experience at Duke. As every undergraduate knows, the social scene here is changing. West campus section parties that were once heralded as the cornerstone of the Duke experience no longer serve that role. Increasingly, students are seeking a wider variety of activities, a welcome change that reflects the growing maturity and sophistication of the student body.
Through the solid work of the Duke University Union, we've seen attendance grow substantially at the Saturday night BC/'Dillo band series, at the regular DUI productions in the Hideaway and through ticket sales to "Broadway at Duke" and the many other arts offerings on and near campus. Duke students can be found at the repertory theater in Chapel Hill as well as at the bars and clubs on and near Franklin Street. The most significant growth we've seen in recent years has been with student attendance at the numerous cultural and ethnic events offered by BSA, Diya, Mi Gente, ASA and others. I was particularly pleased to see the broad diversity of students in attendance at last fall's step show.
Even as the social culture shifts, we must address residual behaviors that continue to bring harm to students. Excessive use of alcohol and other substances still result in more than 50 hospitalizations annually. Hazing rituals dishonor the good work of fraternities and sororities and the all too frequent occurrence of sexual assaults is a disgrace that should embarrass and outrage us all. I challenge all Duke students to rise to the occasion and exhibit the leadership that brought you here to learn and to interact. I assure you-there is no assault on fun! The Duke social experience can be both fun and responsible, without the need for isolation from institutional recognition.
I also want to acknowledge that for some, notably our juniors and seniors, these changes suggest a different Duke than the one expected or experienced. I truly believe that the path we're on preserves the best of the past with the promise of an even brighter future; a future with stronger and more interactive communities, better facilities and resources and enhanced intellectual and social engagement.
We think that all of these changes, even those that carry new consequences for those who act inappropriately, are overwhelmingly positive for students and the Duke community as a whole. We hope that all of you will take advantage of these new opportunities for on-campus programming and interaction with faculty and staff. We will continue to work closely with students and others to provide the facilities, advising, resources and other support needed to ensure that Duke University is truly among the most vibrant, intellectually engaging and fun institutions in the country.
I hope I've offered some clarity about our intentions and I welcome your comments, reactions and fresh ideas. We've got an ambitious agenda-but that's why we're all at Duke. Best wishes for the spring semester and the new year!
Larry Moneta is Duke University's vice president for student affairs.
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