Following the release of the Campus Culture Initiative report last month, administrators are now busy gauging student opinion before moving to address its suggestions.
During the past few weeks, Provost Peter Lange has led discussions with leaders from various student organizations including Duke Student Government, InterCommunity Council, Campus Council, Duke University Union and the four greek governing bodies.
Lange-who was appointed by President Richard Brodhead to spearhead campus conversation about the CCI and establish a timetable for responding to its findings and recommendations-compared the sessions to "seminars" that offered students an overview of the report and allowed them to provide input on its specific components.
"They were informative, we learned a lot," Lange said. "I thought the students were very engaged."
Campus Council President Jay Ganatra, a senior, praised Lange and other administrators for remaining open to student ideas.
"They asked some really good questions, and I think they got a better sense of who these recommendations would impact," Ganatra said.
Lange said he has planned similar sessions to take place throughout the remainder of the semester with smaller groups such as the Black Student Alliance and Asian Student Association as well as specific fraternities, sororities and selective living groups.
He added, however, that the next round of conversations is unlikely to be more topic-specific and that particular changes would not be in place until the fall semester at the earliest.
Lange noted that although he does not intend to create new committees to address the report's recommendations, certain aspects of the CCI will be addressed by committees that already exist at the University and others will require broader campus input. An advisory council may be created in the fall, and issues that can go through existing committees may be implemented sooner, he said.
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, said it was important to collect student input before rushing into action.
"None of us were looking for any immediate implementation of any of the recommendations-any effort to do so would diminish the value of the dialogue," said Moneta, who was vice chair of the CCI's drafting committee. "Most students have said to me that there's an acknowledgement of the validity of the issues. I'm not sure we got the recommendations right just yet."
Sophomore Jordan Giordano, DSG vice president for community interaction and president of ICC, said students are likely to continue providing valuable input.
"[Lange's] motto was that nothing was off the table," Giordano said. "This is the opportunity when we can improve Duke."
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