Due to concerns regarding costs and a loss of bed spaces, the faculty-in-residence program on West Campus may be delayed to a later date, said Campus Council President Jay Ganatra, a senior, at the Council's general body meeting Thursday night.
The installation of faculty apartments in each of the five quadrangles on West would result in a loss of approximately 30 to 36 student bed spaces at a cost of $3.5 million.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, has agreed to consider a trial period for the program in which only one of the five proposed apartments would be built in the summer, Ganatra said, adding that the construction of the remaining apartments will depend on the success of the trial period.
Moneta has asked for student input from Campus Council regarding preferences to which quad's apartment should be built first, Ganatra said.
No decisions, however, will be made until early March, he added.
At the meeting, members also revised the residence coordinator survey to be released online in the upcoming week.
Campus Council launched the survey last spring as a way to evaluate residents' relationships with their respective RCs.
"RCs can find out what their residents enjoy about them and we can see how they are getting along with the quad council and other groups," Ganatra said. "It's a really difficult job, they're basically on-call 24/7."
Junior Hasnain Zaidi, facilities and services chair, said the responses would act as a form of positive criticism of the program and its success.
"It's a tool for us to judge how we can improve the relationship," Zaidi said.
Campus Council Vice President Chris Hopper, a junior, expressed concerns about the number of questions in the survey pertaining only to residents of selective living groups.
"We've had very little response from independents in the past," Hopper said. "It's important to weight independents and [selective house members] equally."
Sophomore Molly Bierman, a Kilgo Quadrangle representative, said the lack of responses from independents is not a "bad thing" but reflects the amount of interaction they have with their RCs.
"[Selective living groups] are doing more stuff [in the quads], so there's more interaction," Bierman said.
Senior Shaunte Henry, a Central Campus representative, said independents may find themselves interacting more with their Residence Assistant than with their RC.
"There's like a hierarchy; if something is going on the RC will tell the RA to tell the resident," Henry said.
Ganatra noted that there is a "selection bias" with the survey responses.
"They're either from people who really like their RC or really don't like them," he said. "We're missing the people in the middle."
To encourage participation by more students, laptops will be set up at the next Fridays on the Plaza event Jan. 26. Students can fill out the survey as they observe the annual Campus Council hot dog-eating contest.
In other business:
Campus Council has agreed to allocate $1,000 toward Duke Student Government's pilot bus program.
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