Work hard, play hard." It seems that everywhere you go, Duke students pride themselves on their ability to manage the academic rigors of a prestigious university and still maintain a social life that rivals that of their peers at state schools. We can pull off a 10-page paper in one night, juggle all our reading assignments and participate in a numerous campus activities. But when the weekend comes, we sure know how to have a good time.
In the minds of many Duke students, this attitude is what sets us apart from our peer institutions. We can put away the books and let loose; students at Harvard, Stanford, Yale-take your pick of any Top 10 school-simply don't come close in this department.
This "work hard, play hard" sentiment was echoed in a recent Chronicle editorial about the Campus Culture Initiative's recommendations concerning the admissions process. The editorial board writes, "Many students and alumni love Duke because it is thought of as on par with the Ivy League academically but on a whole other level when it comes to athletics and social life." The perspective offered here-a perspective found throughout the campus-boasts that Duke has the best of both worlds. We do it right.
This self-perception got me thinking: If Duke views itself as somehow more well-rounded than its academic rivals, how do these other schools perceive us? I turned to student-run newspapers at other institutions for help in answering this question. By chance, a simple search of "Duke" on The Harvard Crimson's website turned up an article titled "Blue Devil Blues," written in 1989 by former Harvard student John L. Larew.
Larew painted a very bleak picture of Duke. Upon returning from visiting a friend at Duke, he opined that Duke's sunny weather and beautiful Gothic campus were "marred by a nasty undercurrent of illiberalism." He described his interactions with nearly all-white fraternities, which led him to question the physical segregation of black fraternities to Central Campus. Larew also observed the inequalities inherent in male-female interactions. "In four days at Duke I witnessed more incidents of overt racism, sexism and homophobia than in two years at Harvard."
Personally, I do not agree with all of Larew's conclusions, specifically that greek life is the solitary source of many of these problems. But the fact remains that in four short days, he was able to recognize that Duke culture-whether it is better or worse than Harvard's-is imperfect. In fact, his observations strikingly resonate with the problems identified in the recent CCI report issued some 18 years later. The problems that plagued Duke in 1989 still plague us today in 2007.
I am not sure that a perfect-or near-perfect-culture can ever be attained on any college campus. Still, Duke culture, in some aspects, has been broken for many, many years and will continue to be broken unless someone does something.
When I visited Duke last year before I applied, I was constantly told by admissions officers, tour guides and students alike that Duke is an old enough institution to have a tradition of excellence, but one that is also young enough to question itself and reformulate its ways of doing things.
If this is true-if we are to live up the very ideals that we profess-it's time to act and question our very culture.
Even though I have only been on campus for roughly six months, I can tell that this is a crucial moment in Duke's history. We, the student body, have the opportunity to influence the future of our school and address problems that have been inherent in our culture for far too long. Read the CCI Report. Talk about it-with your friends, your hallmates, your professors and your administrators.
A solution to our collective problems hasn't been found in the past 18 years; we can't let another 18 go by without engaging in critical self-reflection to address the needs of our campus.
In the coming weeks and months, let's remember the ideals we value as students of Duke University. Let's acknowledge our talents, our differences and most importantly, our mutual desire to make our school a better place.
Michael Blake is a Trinity freshman.
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