I enjoyed Issa Hanna's Oct. 27 article about the Durham Food Co-Op being on points for Duke students who participate in Dining Plan V, but I would like to add an addendum to the article. The Co-Op would almost certainly not be on points now were it not for the efforts of Duke alum and Perkins librarian Jessica Tomkovick. Folks at Dining Services and at the DukeCard office are certainly worthy of commendation, but it seems to me that Jessica did the advocacy and footwork that ultimately brought the project into fruition. So, on behalf of myself and others, a thankful shout-out to Jessica.
The Co-Op is a great place to shop for a lot of reasons. Fresh fruit and produce (some of which is locally grown) and items one doesn't usually find at Uncle Harry's come to mind. Perhaps most importantly, though, the Co-Op, founded by Duke students some years ago and taking on the moniker of the People's Intergalactic Food Conspiracy for a while, is locally owned and operated. Indeed, the Co-Op forms a more integral part of the Durham community than the local chain groceries by virtue of its aesthetic uniqueness alone. Whole Foods stores may come and go, but there is only one Durham Food Co-Op.
Recently, some friends and I were discussing the fact that West Campus is not as "closed-off" as it seems. That is, despite being bounded in by the Medical Center, Central Campus and some sports complexes, West is actually accessible to the general environs of the Co-Op. Some of us discover as upperclassmen that escape from the Gothic Wonderland on foot is possible without hopping over the East Campus wall, and one can come back from the journey with arms full of fresh groceries.
Going to the Co-Op, of course, is only a small way of "busting out" into Durham, but it can be refreshing nevertheless. There seems to be something undesirable, unnatural even, about having one's needs provided for entirely within the tiny confines of our cell-phones-and-Duke-stone campus, but such intensification of the "Duke bubble" is precisely what is called for by one of the proposals set forth in the still-in-the-planning-stages West Campus Student Center concept. Specifically, there seem to be plans afoot to make retail a big part of the Student Center.
In survey forms, students have been asked their feelings about retail in the Student Center. In a more "hard-sell" approach, focus groups of students have been asked what stores or shops they would like to see on-campus, or what retail needs they have that are not currently provided on campus. Towerview Magazine recently reported that Larry Moneta has been asking students what their favorite clothing stores are.
I am concerned that retail in the Student Center, something like a "Duke shopping mall," would increase the already-present pressure of students to stay on-campus and away from Durham. The flight of some living groups (and not a little bit of social life) to off-campus areas could actually strengthen town-gown relations once some of the kinks are worked out, but a retail area in the Student Center would work to keep Duke students, and their money, away from Durham. One of the great things about the Co-Op on Points program is that it enables Duke students to contribute to a community-based institution: the Co-Op is not-for-profit, and money spent there for the most part helps keep the place running (i.e. financially solvent).
Durham, or at least some parts of it, undoubtedly benefits from the patronage of students at local stores and other establishments. Why cut off some of this exchange? I understand that Duke has a smaller endowment than what we regard as its "peer institutions," but is the siphoning off of more money from students worth the cost of keeping students away from Durham? I am sure many of us here would be happy if Duke had an endowment the size of Yale's, but do we want to purchase that kind of endowment at the price of the kind of town-gown relations that characterize Yale and New Haven?
Not too long ago, Yale bought up some retail space in New Haven that led to a Barnes and Noble bookstore pushing a 100 year-old institution of a bookstore off the block (and ultimately out of business), and probably hurting locally-owned businesses. Does the university-as-corporation have to have such an antagonistic relationship to the community it finds itself in?
Proposals for the Student Center still seem to be in the incipient stages, perhaps with more surveys and focus groups to come. So, I offer my voice as one among the crowd: by all means, the Center should strengthen Duke as a community, but not at the cost of students refraining from making Durham part of their Duke experience.
Derek Gantt is a Trinity junior. His column appears every third Monday.
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