Aycock Dormitory racked up another “green” triumph today as victor of this year’s East Campus Eco-Olympics. In the month-long contest sponsored by the student-run Environmental Alliance, freshmen competed to see which residence hall could recycle the most, generate the least trash, consume the least amount of energy and attend the most EA-backed programming. The win marked Aycock’s second in the event’s three-year history.
As winners, the dorm will receive a free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream social and organic cotton T-shirts. Other prizes given out over the month for various individual competitions included a mountain bike, an “Ultimate K-Ville” tent, brunch at the Washington Duke Inn and an environmentally-friendly flat-screen television.
Although Sam Hummel, environmental sustainability coordinator, touted this year’s event as a “huge success,” glitches may have kept participation lower than expected. “There were actually a lot of things that didn’t happen right—data last year was updated every day online, but a few things happened that prevented that,” Hummel said. “It really was not within our control.”
Students around East Campus referred to a lack of enthusiasm and exposure as reasons why overall involvement was low. “There was no support among the [residential advisers]—it wasn’t publicized as something that would impact me in any meaningful way,” Gilbert-Addoms resident Nick Bammer-Whitaker said. “I do recycle and everything, but I wasn’t exactly encouraged by others to have faith in the rest of my dorm.”
Others thought the University encourages environmental consciousness and so participation should have been higher. “Duke makes it so easy for us to recycle, with bins around campus and in all the dorms, there really isn’t an excuse not to,” said freshman Kelly Ennis, who lives in Epworth.
Overall, consensus was that smaller dorms seemed to foster the competitive spirit more easily. “It’s really split. Half the students are trying very hard and the other half are generally apathetic,” said Ennis, a resident of East’s smallest dorm. “I thought it was well-publicized—I got several e-mails and I know that many students put up signs.”
The Eco-Olympics raised awareness of campus environmental issues, students said. “I’d like to note how ironic it was that during one week of this event, the Marketplace was using paper plates and non-reusable utensils,” Gilbert-Addoms resident Grant Smith said.
Marketplace employees cited dishwashing equipment failure as the reason for the switch.
As for improving the program in upcoming years, Hummel and EA student coordinators hope to streamline the online “scorecard” to allow participants to gauge their progress more easily. “We’ll have to work more closely with facilities and management to come up with a big final analysis,” Hummel said.
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