Reconsider late classes

When the chapel bells ring at 5 p.m. each day, the clanging melodies used to signal to many students the end of the school day. In college movies, students wander toward dining halls and dorm rooms to deconstruct the day with friends and start complaining about homework. But for an increasing number of students, the bell ringing is starting to sound more like a call to work.

A glance through the ACES schedule for Fall 2006 reveals more late-night classes than ever before. Upper-level seminars in many disciplines do not start before 6 p.m. Some classes stretch well beyond evening, ending as late as 10 p.m.

Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College and vice provost for undergraduate education, said there are more evening classes than usual. With the new course schedule, which was implemented this year, the University had tried to schedule long, once-a-week classes at times when they will not conflict with other courses.

Although this is a logical rationale, the increase in late-night classes seems to be negatively affecting the community at Duke.

Many of these classes are aimed at older students—the same students who live off campus. At night, parking is readily available and it is convenient to pull into the Allen Building lot, attend class and dash back home. This, however, does not encourage students to spend time on Duke’s campus. If the University is going to create the residential campus it strives for, then seniors and juniors have to participate. Courses are often the primary means of attracting off-campus students to the Gothic Wonderland. It is a shame that the schedule makes it easy for them simply parachute in for school.

What’s more, evening classes cut into all students’ ability to eat together. Duke’s brand of multiple eateries means that students are still able to get food if they get out of class at night, but late classes still make it more difficult for students to socialize over food.

In American culture, dinner is often thought of as the “family meal” when people linger over food and share stories and thoughts. By dinnertime, people have usually done something active with their day, and they have something to talk about. Many people have read or seen the news and run into friends. Discussions can flow from current events to coursework to gossip. This is the heart of what college ought to be about. Although this kind of conversation can occur at any time, there is a certain kind of community sharing a meal together fosters. Duke should certainly not make moves to prevent that.

Moreover, the evening hours in college have long been the domain of extra-curricular activities. Meetings are frequently scheduled at night, and major speakers and performances are too.