Faculty access key to Rhodes

Congratulations to Chas Salmen, Felicia Walton and to Duke!

This month's selection of Duke's newest Rhodes and Marshall scholars continues to exemplify the success that Duke students have in the post-graduate scholarship process. Since 2000, Duke has been home to nine Truman, 25 Goldwater, 140 Fulbright and now 16 Rhodes/Marshall Scholars.

These awards are certainly meant to recognize the student and not the school, but clearly Duke is doing something right. Some have suggested that the University cultivates a preselected class of scholarship students. Others believe that students begin scheming and planning for recommendations and resume-building activities as freshmen. But the real reason is Duke's intense focus on its undergraduates: providing students with the access to faculty and resources to help them pursue whatever interests them.

Not to sound too reminiscent, but my most meaningful college experiences were the result of a professor going out of his or her way to help. I, like many Duke students, found a professor willing to offer me research opportunities my freshman year-well before students at our elite Ivy counterparts could get the same type of attention. On the non-academic side, I had the chance to play violin/piano duets with Ben Ward, who amazingly squeezed rehearsals in between helping students as a member of the Pitchforks and as faculty-in-residence of the Arts Theme House. We have all witnessed and benefited from similar acts of kindness, and the relationships that develop between students and faculty are some of the highlights of Duke. And when students have access to resources and people, they can stretch the limits of a typical undergraduate experience. Whether its starting an international non-profit organization, like Billy Hwang, or publishing in leading academic journals, like Chas and Felicia.

This makes some of the opinions expressed in the Oct. 27 Towerview article, "The Rhodes Race," extremely troubling. The article implied that students spend their Duke careers plotting to win future prizes. The assistant director of the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows was quoted as saying that your application for the Rhodes begins "on Day One of College" when you begin "recruiting [for] recommendations." Even worse, a University scholar went on to describe how it could be difficult to have "meaningful conversations about art, literature or politics" with his "non-scholar friends"-a highly elitist and appalling view of the Duke community.

While these opinions do exist at Duke, they're held by a small and shrinking group. Most importantly, they're absolutely wrong. Successful applicants develop meaningful relationships with faculty because they are intellectually curious and passionate, not because they're strategizing for a future recommendation. They're involved with academic and extracurricular activities throughout the Duke community instead of isolating themselves within an elitist scholarship group. They didn't set out from day one to win a scholarship. They set out to explore and enjoy Duke.

On the other hand, students who use Duke's resources with the goal of winning a future scholarship will instantly be detected and screened out by scholarship committees. While congratulating Chas and Felicia on their upcoming journeys to Oxford and Cambridge, I strongly urge any freshmen and sophomores to put off thoughts of post-graduate plans until much later and instead, to genuinely make the most of what Duke has to offer.

Rahul Satija, Trinity '06, was selected as a Rhodes Scholar last year. He is currently studying at Oxford.