Campus Council members expressed faith in the maturity of their fellow Duke students Thursday night, as the organization unanimously passed a noise policy promoting conflict resolution between students.
The new guidelines, which will be presented to Residence Life and Housing Services, were crafted in response to concerns that the current rules do not allow for a natural college environment. The student legislators advocated cautious support for the idea of quiet and noisy hours, but would ideally prefer a system based on mutual respect and responsible discretion.
Communications Coordinator and Junior Pasha Majdi said, "You've got to be a nice, respectful, reasonable person at all times. We wanted to emphasize that students should talk to other students first.
Implicitly, we are saying we shouldn't be calling the cops. Let's be mature."
What they propose will allow higher noise levels from 6 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday nights and from 1 p.m. to 3 a.m. Saturdays. These rules differ only slightly from the current codes of conduct, which restrict higher noise levels to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. The change was suggested in order to promote a less abrupt end to on-campus social gatherings.
Majdi said Duke students should hold to the Durham law, which prohibits playing loud music past 2 a.m., but said he is troubled by Duke University Police officers shutting down parties exactly at 2 a.m. By extending noisy hours to 3 a.m., he said, the new rule, if passed, would allow students to comfortably wind down their social gatherings. The current University policy allows for higher noise levels from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, but the members decided not to incorporate weekday noisy hours into their policy. They instead opted to let students use their own discretion during the weekdays.
"Not having [noisy hours between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.] lets people work things out in their own group," Majdi said. "When you have a block of time, that implies that some time is noise time, while other time is quiet time."
Members understand that students need quiet hours, but do not want students to lose their appreciation for the novelty of college life. Campus Council Treasurer Chris Kallmeyer said, "This policy does a good job of balancing students being able to study in their rooms and people being loud. If it were quiet, it wouldn't be college, and this gives a balance between the two."
Also included in the council's resolution was a suggestion for change in the Central Campus noise policy, which does not allow for any noise at any time. Members assert that the change is necessary because the demographic of Central Campus has changed considerably. Council members cited that when the current Central Campus noise policy was crafted, not as many male juniors resided there.
"It's really not the quiet alternative to West [Campus] it used to be," said Majdi in reference to Central Campus. "To accommodate the different social climate, we need to allow more noise."
Campus Council President Anthony Vitarelli reported that the Graduate and Professional Student Council is also interested in altering the current rules to allow for more noise.
"They think the 24/7 level quiet hours is unacceptable, and the 2 a.m. policy is something they will consider," Vitarelli said.
IN OTHER BUSINESS:
Campus Council decided to fully fund the Chinese America Collegiate Conference, a respected event, which will soon take place on Duke's campus.
Advisor and Assistant Dean of Residential Life Deb LoBiondo reported that classes canceled by inclement weather earlier this week will be rescheduled at the discretion of faculty members. Council members also decided to write letters of thanks to Residence Life and Housing Services and Dining employees for their consistent service earlier this week.
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