Finding ways to maintain campus security, spur the creative arts and alleviate the housing crunch--with 200 more engineering students at the doorstep--topped the list of questions for Provost Peter Lange and Executive Vice President Tallman Trask at their semi-annual joint meeting before the Graduate and Professional Student Council and the Duke Student Government Tuesday night.
With the cost of building new living space on West Campus 50 percent more expensive than on Central Campus, Lange said he remains reluctant to jam more students into converted study spaces and commons rooms on West.
"The difficulty is that the demand exceeds the supply for West," Lange said, adding that while a slight surplus of housing typically exists in the fall students returning from abroad cause a shortage in the spring. "We know more students are moving off campus, and the long-term solution could be Central."
Lange and Trask both denied claims that the administration may be trying to shut down fraternities and selective living groups--Trask adding that he was the only "frat boy" in the administration, a fact which Lange corrected with the revelation that he belonged to a fraternity in high school.
"I have absolutely no interest in getting rid of selective groups," said Trask, the former adviser for now-defunct Kappa Sigma. "They got out of control... but they're not a target of my agenda.... I think where we are now is fine."
Outlining further measures to increase police visibility after an armed robbery in December, Trask explained that some unusual measures--such as having officers patrol the campus on Segways and others wear distinctly colored vests--are in operation.
Trask pointed to a dramatically lower number of reported crimes in the last two weeks of December as evidence that the policies are working.
"We are going to increase the visibility of police until someone tells me to stop," Trask said. "The reason is to protect the students, not to harass them."
To address the lackluster state of fine arts on campus, the administration has committed to investing $1.8 million in converting the Smith Warehouse on Buchanan Ave. into studio spaces, consolidating and upgrading the Institute for Arts into a Center for Performances which will offer subsidized tickets, and improving the capacity of the Arts Council for making sound policy recommendations.
Lange announced, meanwhile, that his office is sponsoring a competition to devise the best strategy for improving mentorship capacities between graduate and undergraduate students. He then cited a trip to the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, where graduate students worked with undergraduates to examine data from a professor's research, as the model for mentorship.
"If we could replicate that 100 times over, we'd be in terrific shape," Lange said. "Why is Duke different from a college? The epitome of that [distinction] is the ability to do that kind of work. It's the kind of experience you can only get at a research university."
Lange also said the administration is creating a Baldwin Scholars program for a small group of undergraduate women and will shortly launch a women's commission to examine pertinent issues.
"I don't see anything that would lead to a slackening of our efforts," Lange said. "I have no doubt that president-elect Brodhead has the same level of commitment on those [women's] issues."
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