After years of battling noise, litter and other alcohol-related problems, distressed residents around East Campus have decided it is time to develop new responses to the ongoing disruptions.
Members of Trinity Park, Trinity Heights and other local communities met at Asbury Methodist Church March 31 to suggest the creation of a new organization, Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health, that would focus on solving problems created by disruptive Duke students. Using the strength of a more organized coalition, MATCH’s aims are more ambitious than the neighbors’ previous solutions and include pushing for legislative change at the city level and using media advocacy to win support for their cause.
“We have the right to live in a safe and healthy environment—the same as everyone else,” said Trinity Park resident Christina Headrick, who helped coordinate some of her community’s recent proposals.
One of the overall goals of MATCH will be “to minimize dangerous behavior,” said Christopher McLaughlin, assistant dean for student affairs at the School of Law and a Trinity Heights resident.
Headrick said the group would function partially as a Durham-based counterpart to BlueSPARC, a campus-community coalition established at Duke earlier this academic year to address similar issues.
Claire Feldman-Riordan, BlueSPARC’s director, explained the group was created to address alcohol-related issues. It encompasses topics such as on- and off-campus social life and relationships with the Durham community.
“I’m certain that BlueSPARC and MATCH will be able to benefit and learn from one another,” she said.
Josh Parker, a resident of Gregson Street, also emphasized this need for cooperation and understanding.
“The students want social options and the residents want a relatively quiet neighborhood. I think we can get to both of those but we must work together and the Duke administration is going to have to play a key role.”
Headrick and other residents proposed a variety of legislative initiatives at the meeting, ranging from changes in house rental licensing laws to mechanisms for holding keg purchasers responsible when they distribute alcohol to minors. Residents showed the most support, however, for a plan that advocated alterations in Durham’s “noisy assembly” laws, largely because they saw it as the most viable option currently.
“Based on the discussion at the first meeting, the city noise ordinance could be strengthened by increasing enforcement, raising fines or changing the terms of the ordinance altogether,” Feldman-Riordan said.
Senior Pasha Majdi, outgoing Duke Student Government president, sophomore Joel Kliksberg, outgoing DSG vice president of community interaction and junior Logan Leinster, Kliksberg’s successor, represented students at the meeting.
Kliksberg, along with a handful of residents, remained skeptical about the noise ordinance proposal.
“I think the neighbors seem to be pursuing some options that are excellent, however, I was disappointed by those suggested at the meeting,” he said. “To raise fines on noise violations... not only would it be ineffective but it is not a positive way of addressing the actual problem.”
Kliksberg added that such a broad approach is premature for an incident isolated to only “about six” houses—referring to the residences, many of them occupied by members of fraternities, that police and neighbors have pinpointed as problem.
In response, many of the residents still emphasize this option is being approached because so many others have failed.
“Calling it premature ignores the fact that these same problems have existed for decades,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve seen the same type of behavior and same kind of problems. They're not unique to this generation of college students.... I’m not sure what more we need to wait for.”
McLaughlin also added that the neighborhoods near East Campus are shifting from student houses to family residences.
“I think the changing nature of these neighborhoods makes these efforts more important, and quite frankly, more likely to succeed,” he said.
Despite the continuing tensions, residents and students alike have noted some recent improvement.
“Over the past couple of months that I’ve been involved with the issue, I’ve seen some amazing, very friendly attempts from neighbors to work with Duke students,” Kliksberg said.
If nothing else, several residents said, the communication that has slowly begun to develop between the University, its students and the surrounding Durham communities is progress.
“If we foster that [communication] and use it as a tool to solve problems, we might find solutions that are not only mutually beneficial, but actually solve the problem,” Parker said.
While both Duke and the community pledge continuing dedication to addressing the issue, they acknowledge that a solution will not come quickly.
“We are not going to see results over any short period of time,” Headrick said. “It will probably take an effort over several years to create a safer environment in our neighborhoods.”
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