Several student leaders said they are optimistic that the University's dramatic re-imagining of Central Campus will enhance student life.
They just hope their memories of college are still vivid when the dust from construction finally settles.
"It's an open question whether I will be alive when Central Campus breaks ground," joked Duke Student Government President Paul Slattery, a senior.
Although the reinvention is expected to take place during a period of 50 to 75 years, the first stage of construction is slated for completion in early 2011.
Dean of Undergraduate Education Steve Nowicki penned "Uniting Old and New," a document explaining how the first phase will improve housing, dining, academic and social offerings for students, and after reviewing the 20-page proposal, top student leaders said they think the plan is promising.
But they said the sweeping plan is vague in places, and smaller decisions yet to be made will determine how beneficial the new campus is to students.
"The devil is in the details and how space actually gets allocated for things students actually use," Slattery said. "There's a way to do this that creates a student utopia, and there's a way to do this that creates a lot more office space."
Senior Ryan Todd, president of Campus Council and a newly elected Young Trustee, predicted the allocation of space to selective living groups on West Campus as detailed by the plan could raise the eyebrows of some unaffiliated students. The plan reserves only 40 percent of beds for independents, but Todd added that the programming of theme houses-which are allocated 20 percent of beds-could benefit nonmembers as well.
"There's a lot of emphasis being put on empowering the independents," he said. "These theme houses will have a lot of overflow programming that will benefit the independent community instead of marginalizing and secluding [it]."
Nowicki said the new plan promotes cross-generational interaction, a development Slattery said could be ideal for freshmen emerging from isolated living on East Campus.
"You want people to be sharing information as opposed to every class reinventing the wheel on its own accord," he said.
But Duke University Union President Katelyn Donnelly, a senior, said shared spaces on West might not be enough to motivate students to forge friendships outside their class.
"They're going to have to put in place a big incentive to get cross-generational interaction," she said. "That goes beyond just the housing model."
Regardless of implications for campus culture, some said they are just happy plans are finally moving forward.
"I've been to Central a couple of times, and I think that renovations are long overdue," sophomore Kimberly Dixon said. "As much money as we're paying to live here, we shouldn't have to live in these conditions."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.