As the University considers a policy to charge students for damages to their residence halls, students are thinking about whether membership in selective living groups should be a factor in their accountability.
Eddie Hull, director of Residence Life and Housing Services, announced last week that the University is re-examining its residential damage policy, in part because independent students are not held financially responsible for damage to their residence halls, whereas students in selective living groups are.
Students recognized the double standard, but most--whether affiliated with a selective living group or not--said two sets of practices are merited.
"Since the selective students choose to live together, they have some sort of structure so they can influence each other," said sophomore Marvin Wickware, who lives in Crowell Quadrangle. "But I don't have any influence over people I don't know."
Wickware noted that there is a window near his room that has been broken several times this semester, but that he does not know who is responsible for the repeated damage. He said it would be "completely ridiculous" to charge him and the other members of his hall to replace the window.
Senior Ben Peterson, a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity, agreed that members of living groups have a greater responsibility for their surroundings than unaffiliated students because they all know each other and have greater influence over each other's behavior.
"How do you fine somebody just because he lives next door to the damage?" Peterson asked, adding that in selective groups students know their hallmates.
Most students did not believe that increasing accountability would add to a sense of community in quads by inspiring students to discourage destructive behavior.
Sophomore Reed Shaffner, president of Crowell Quad, said he did not think charging residents for damage would encourage anyone to turn in students who inflict damage. In fact, he said, it might create division among a hall if a student were to report someone.
The issue of whether independent students should be communally charged for damage to their residential halls is part of a larger question about the different sets of responsibilities and privileges that different groups of students have in on-campus housing.
At present, only student groups officially chartered by Duke Student Government may register events, which are described in student organization advising resources as a "party, concert or other social gathering." Any event that is publicized or has decorations or a theme must be registered.
Since independent students who live together are rarely formally organized, this has the de facto effect of limiting their ability to throw parties, students said. Most students would like to allow unaffiliated students to register parties and then hold the organizers equally responsible for any damage that occurs during those events.
"It's easier for selective houses to be responsible for cleanup right now," said Vigdis Bronder, a senior in Maxwell House. She said that Maxwell is regularly called upon to clean up trash and damage that occurs near its living area, even when no one affiliated with the group was responsible for the mess.
However, she said this obligation was part of the trade-off for access to common room space and the other benefits of affiliation with a selective living group. "Until independents are given the same social rights to hold organized social events, they shouldn't be held responsible," Bronder said.
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