Slight improvements

Toward the end of my nine hour drive down to Duke a few weeks ago, while trying to find a North Carolina radio station that wasn't playing that godforsaken Metro Station song, the traffic on I-85 slowed practically to a crawl. Apparently construction on I-85 North had forced opposing traffic to take up one of the lanes on my side, leaving just one lane for me and my fellow southbound travelers. Having already traversed the New Jersey Turnpike and the Beltway, I was in no mood for another traffic jam-Man, I appreciate North Carolina's commitment to long-term improvements, I thought, but this is really annoying. I'd almost rather be listening to "Shake It."

Even now, though, I can't shake the feeling that I'm caught up in some long-term project that isn't quite finished. Walking around the campus the last few weeks, it's hard not to notice changes to things that did not even appear to need changing. The University Textbook Store reoriented the cash registers horizontally so the lines no longer extend down the aisles. The Lobby Shop also moved the check-out line and made the lanes wider. I wholeheartedly endorse both of these changes, but I can't say I really noticed much of an outcry for either of them.

It's certainly nice that Duke is responding to problems that the students haven't identified (or even experienced) yet, but it can sometimes make you wonder about the decision-making process at this university. Some of the changes seem to come more out of a desire for change than as a response to any perceived need. The much-loathed new ACES is one fairly obvious example, but perhaps the most unavoidable instance is the construction zone that is Few Quad. Walk through Crowell or Craven on a hot day and try to explain why Few needed to be renovated.

None of this is new. We seniors can remember when we had to walk past the Chapel or down Science Drive whenever we wanted to go to the Bryan Center freshmen year. The end-result, the Plaza, was obviously an improvement, but there are still plenty of people who reminisce about the old BC Walkway the way Duke basketball fans reminisce about Christian Laettner.

Every new year seems to bring a new unveiling for Duke, whether it's Bell Tower, Bostock, the Plaza (complete with mist!), The Link, the French Family Science Center or David Cutcliffe and his new football uniforms. Some of the changes are of course great, and seem like just the things that make a university nationally renowned (DukeEngage), some of them are simply mild enrichments of daily life (swings on the Plaza), and some of them are just perplexing (replacing Rick's with Tommy's, and why was my mailbox moved, again?). Duke, for better or worse, has internalized the concept of long-term improvements.

This is by no means a negative quality, in and of itself, but it is symptomatic of a university without an identity. In fact, the University practically admits as much in its discussion New Campus, its most ambitious and long-term plan (slated to take at least fifty years, according to Dean Steve Nowicki's outline) that will eventually phase out Central Campus. Terms like "West Campus" and "Central"-almost as fundamental to Duke as the Chapel or Cameron-are going to be replaced with terms like the "West Union District" and the "New Edens Neighborhood." The plan itself is well-designed and cause for optimism, but how about making Central a nicer place for students living there now?

Duke often seems like it's awaiting some grand opening. As a result, it often feels like the students are not so much community-members, but test-dummies experimenting with a Beta version of Duke. I'm more than willing to walk around construction zones for a few months if the end-result is a better school (even if I've long since graduated), but it's not always clear that the changes are responding to anything but the desire for something new.

Only when Duke faculty, administrators and students are all on the same page with where we want the University to be-both now and in the future-can we actually band together... and finally fix the toaster oven at Subway.