Council hears impact of K4 work on students

Students living in Edens and Keohane Quadrangles may begin to experience sleepless siestas in coming weeks.

At Campus Council’s Thursday night meeting, Associate Dean for Residence Life Joe Gonzalez presented K4 floor plans, projected construction schedule and the expected disruption to Edens and Keohane residents. Edens will be affected significantly with four two-week utility projects occurring in the surrounding area, and through three weeks while classes are in session. Gonzalez said construction crews will work seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. but noted that administrators have negotiated quiet hours during finals week.

“There’s no way to make this happen unless [construction is] on full throttle,” Gonzalez said. “I ask that students be patient. We can’t make all the progress we want to just by working over the summer.”

Gonzalez said K4 is a progression of housing models at Duke. The House-style residence hall will have four floors, with House 1 as levels one and two, and House 2 composed of floors three and four. 

There will be a mix of university space and space designated for residents only, and 40 percent of the rooms in K4 will be single rooms as opposed to Keohane’s 20 percent. The rooms themselves will be similar to those in Keohane, though the floor layout will differ from those in current Gothic residence halls.  

Common rooms, termed “Great Rooms,” will be strategically placed at entrances, exits and stairwells as well as in more central locations. 

The hope is to bring residents together and encourage a sense of community more commonly found on East Campus, Gonzalez said.

“One of the advantages of East Campus is you cross paths with other residents haphazardly,” he said. “We want to have something similar in K4—to bring people together.”

Two of the three Young Trustee candidates each had an opportunity to address the council at Thursday’s meeting. Seniors John Harpham and Zach Perret spoke for 10 minutes about their qualifications and plans for being the Young Trustee. The third candidate, senior Chelsea Goldstein, former Duke Student Government vice-president for academic affairs, was not at the meeting.

 Both Harpham, former chair of The Chronicle’s independent Editorial Board, and Perret, Duke University Union president, expressed excitement about the K4 project and their enthusiasm for working toward improving residential life.

“Residential life has to be on-par with academic life and research,” Harpham said.

Perret also commented on the transition from quadrangle format to K4, House-style layout.

“I appreciate the value of quality programming space,” he said. 

Campus Council did not opt to endorse a candidate, but the candidates were invited to Thursday’s meeting to converse about the relationship between residence life and the position of Young Trustee, Temple said. 

“We want to foster a relationship between the Young Trustee and Campus Council,” Temple said. “My hope is that the Young Trustee will use Campus Council as a resource.”