Last Wednesday, students received an e-mail from President Richard Brodhead about the "issue that is troubling our community." It listed five wide-reaching (and so far well-received) steps that the University is taking to address the snowballing lacrosse scandal.
One of the five steps outlined is a "Campus Culture Initiative" meant to "take a hard look at our institutional practices to assess the extent to which they do, or do not, promote the values we expect students to live by."
In introducing the initiative, the original letter sent to "everyone@duke.edu" on the night of April 5 stated:
"I have asked Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Trinity College Robert Thompson to direct a Campus Culture Initiative involving faculty, students, and staff."
Just to set the record straight, the "letter to the Duke community" posted on the Duke News website dated April 5 now states:
"I have asked Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education and Dean of Trinity College Robert Thompson to direct a Campus Culture Initiative involving faculty, students, and staff."
What's the difference? L-Mo.
And it seems perfectly reasonable to have our vice president for student affairs take an active role in this initiative. As the vice president for student affairs, he is ultimately responsible for building community among students and generating and enforcing disciplinary policy. Who better to lead a "Campus Culture Initiative" than the one man with the single greatest power over campus culture?
Indeed, since his arrival, Moneta's initiatives have involved new buildings, staff and offices, in addition to a slew of restrictive policies surrounding alcohol and event registration-all designed to bring about, as Moneta wrote in a 2003 Chronicle column, "stronger and more interactive communities, better facilities and resources and enhanced intellectual and social engagement." Sounds like "Campus Culture" to me.
Unfortunately, however, the last thing Duke needs to do is to continue in the direction that Moneta has taken us.
He should not be part of this initiative and arguably bears as much responsibility for whatever happened on the night of March 13 as Mike Pressler, the former lacrosse coach who "resigned" last week. If the behavior of the lacrosse team and other students off campus is any indication, Student Affairs has spectacularly failed in whatever it was trying to accomplish, and it's time to go in new direction.
Eugene Brown, a Trinity Park resident who sits on the Durham City Council, said it's "almost a fact and not an opinion" that "after Duke instigated their 'get tough' policy against alcohol, there certainly has been an increase in parties and underage drinking in rental houses primarily in Trinity Park."
Other community members have expressed similar sentiments and continually bemoan Duke's insistence on forcing inevitable underage drinking off campus. Student Affairs has responded mainly by reminding everyone that underage students aren't supposed to drink and taking futile steps to prevent them from doing so.
Not surprisingly, senior Duke officials intervened and took the radical step of simply buying up properties occupied by students in Trinity Park (including 610 N. Buchanan) and announcing they would be evicted.
Student Affairs was not involved in the decision, and Moneta continues to galavant around the United States seeking about $4 million to finish the West Campus Plaza-just as the administration spent almost exactly that much evicting students from Trinity Park and cleaning up the mess that Student Affairs couldn't.
What's the solution? Do a 180; loosen policies and enforcement in order to bring drinking back out into the open and back on campus. Let Thompson, a psychologist and well-respected professor, take the lead on the "Campus Culture Initiative" and implement meaningful reforms-not just continue to tighten enforcement as Student Affairs has done year after year.
Durham residents seem to agree. Kelly Jarrett, a Durham resident and Duke employee, asked in a posting to a community email list: "am I the only one who is dismayed to learn that President Brodhead has appointed Larry Moneta to co-chair the Campus Culture Initiative committee?"
Nope.
Elliott Wolf is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every Tuesday.
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