The University recently made public the first half of the Campus Life and Learning report-a major study of undergraduate student life at Duke.
The findings shed light on many facets of the undergraduate environment-ranging in topic from questions of racial discrimination in the classroom to the prevalence of alcohol consumption on campus.
Led by a team of faculty members, the project examined the Classes of 2005 and 2006 across their undergraduate careers in order to ascertain how and why various groups of students experience their undergraduate education differently.
Researchers have only finished combing through the first two years of data, but the findings thus far paint a "mixed picture" of student life, said Kenneth Spenner, professor of sociology and one of the principal investigators in the study.
"In quite a few areas, it shows that things are in quite reasonable shape," Spenner said. But he added that several areas, including racial interaction, were worthy of concern.
Initially, the project's goal was largely focused on the experiences of minority students, but the scope was expanded to include other variables, such as economic level, gender, race and greek life, among others.
"From the beginning, we didn't want this to just be a study on race," said Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. The project-initiated in 1999 by Thompson and former Vice President for Student Affairs Janet Smith Dickerson-was modeled after a larger national study of elite institutions.
In the recently released report, researchers analyzed data sampled from students in the period before their freshman year to the end of their sophomore year. The second report, which will examine the last two years of students' time at Duke, will likely be released in the fall, officials said.
In the transition from high school to life at Duke, researchers said the variations in reported self-esteem were "striking." Both male and female students reported lower self-esteem after coming to Duke in their first year, and although it rebounded in students' second year, self-esteem remained below the level reported in pre-college surveys.
Spenner said one of the report's most "highly problematic" findings regarded classroom climate. The report found that 15 and 18 percent of black students, for first and second years respectively, reported an instance of racial or ethnic discrimination from instructors-compared to less than 3 percent of white students and between 5 and 9 percent of Latino students.
Despite this concern, there was also good news, Spenner said.
"We don't find a large number of students telling us that their professors are prejudiced," Spenner said. "Duke students' biggest complaint about classroom climate is the size of classes, but even that's a modest-sized group. It's not anywhere near majority."
The project's findings confirmed the prevalence of self-segregation on campus, but also found that the characteristics of a student's college "social network" very closely resemble a student's high school social network, particularly in terms of ethnic and racial background.
"In as little as four months... people tend to replicate some of their high school social network," Spenner said.
The report also cast light on how students use their time during their first two years; researchers concluded that time spent socializing with friends and partying exceeded time spent studying outside the classroom.
"The 'Play Hard' part of the 'Work Hard/Play Hard' motto is clearly confirmed; we are still trying to understand the 'work hard' portion of the motto," the report stated.
In its comparison of greek and non-greek life, the project reported that greek students, as compared to non-greeks, spend "significantly more time" socializing with friends and partying and found alcohol to be "more important" to students' enjoyment of campus life.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, however, said this finding comes as no surprise."I think it's nationally known that the greek communities have a bigger problem with alcohol use and abuse," Moneta said.
Although the report found that overall students rated alcohol to be of only moderate importance to their social lives, it found that alcohol became more important in the second year. Additionally, students said alcohol was frequently at all types of social events, and this trend was fairly consistent across all demographics.
Spenner noted that, on a whole, the data mirrored similar studies completed on a national level of elite institutions-typically those considered "top-20" or "top-50" universities.
Administrators have said the report will be used at an administrative level in both formal and informal ways, although specific measures have not yet been drafted.
"We don't have immediate interventions planned," Moneta said. "We aren't using this report as a quick fix."
Spenner said the most immediate use of the report will be in the Campus Culture Initiative, which will take the information into consideration as it meets in upcoming months.
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