February seems to be a good month for Dukies. Aside from beating UNC and finding out the LDOC lineup, fifteen years ago, a special guest visited the University.
According to front page article of The Chronicle from Feb. 4, 1988, President Ronald Reagan visited Duke exclusively to speak at a conference about substance abuse. The conference, “Substance Abuse in the Workplace: Strategies for the 1990s,” was sponsored by Duke and the office of former North Carolina Governor Jim Martin. Reagan was invited to the event by former University President Keith Brodie and Governor Martin.
On the day of the conference, the President landed in Durham along with his five-helicopter entourage on the lacrosse field at the corner of N.C. Highway 751, and made a brief statement to students, faculty and staff before proceeding to Cameron Stadium for his speech.
According to the article, Reagan also held a closed meeting at Cameron with several community leaders affiliated with the substance abuse issue to get a “hands on feel for the issue.”Preparations for Reagan’s speech began five weeks prior, and the conference also featured a keynote address by former U.S. Secretary of Labor Ann McLaughlin and a panel discussion moderated by Malcolm Gillis, former dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for academic affairs.
In another article published on Feb. 9 1987, a resident advisor dropped charges against a freshman because he felt pressured by University officials to let the Undergraduate Judicial Board handle the case. Trinity freshman Peter Guthrie had allegedly kicked Aycock RA Kenneth Page in the leg and groin, and Page pressed charges. According to an anonymous source, Leslie Marsicano, former assistant dean for residential life who supervises RAs, encouraged Page to drop charges against Guthrie. Marsicano led Page to believe that University officials wanted to handle to case in the UJBB and not he district court, where a conviction would have gone on the student’s permanent criminal record. Following discourse, Guthrie was expected to receive a full suspension and required him to serve hours of community service.
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