Residential civic engagement for Dukies

I will be honest and fess up now. I am a radical when it comes to residential life and civic engagement on campus.

Consider this the second manifesto for why we, as Duke students, should care about the community we find ourselves in for the foreseeable future. The house model is an opportunity not simply to form friendships, but more importantly to develop our future civic leadership skills.

Many discussions have been conducted in Duke Student Government settings on the house model and why we care about independent community. Now, dear reader, I will share my perspective.

I started to care about West Campus houses last year as a freshman not involved with DSG at all, but rather as an eager student leader. I met with administrators and DSG representatives—who, like me, served on house councils in various capacities—and discussed ways we could look to foster community building for upper-class students.

Residence coordinators, senior RAs and members of DSG continue to refer to students who live in a house as “independents” forming an “independent community.” Similarly, there is talk about the house model and whether or not it works as a whole unit. While discussions of effectiveness have their merit, we should consider changing the way we think about residential life and the community of Duke’s campus.

Frankly, I feel as if residential life has become a structured lab for administrators and the same, active students to test out programs as part of the model. I, as a major proponent and advocate of these programs, am certainly not exempt from this description of house model development. But it brings a larger point forward about us, as citizens of Duke, taking initiative to shape our community. A model can only go so far because community is an organic, amorphous concept. If we want to change the perceptions of our new residential system, we should change the way we talk about it and act to improve it.

Therefore, I will first propose a name change. Independent community is a paradox in itself. How can one be both independent in mindset and simultaneously part of a thriving community? Students should not be considered independent or unaffiliated; rather, those in houses should simply be considered as house residents broadly and as members of their particular houses specifically.

Current independent students do have affiliations to their house, whether it be Stark Tower, The Shire or Far Quad. Identifying as a member of a house rather than as an independent student fundamentally changes the conversation. Everyone has the ability to get involved and is now a part of a community. It is time we start acting as if that is the case.

These changes in vernacular may seem small, but they signify how residential life can become the crux of the Duke experience. The grand vision I see for residential life and this house system is that it can—and I would argue should—be the intersection of all aspects of the student life.

The residential space is one in which students from various academic and social backgrounds can gather to discuss with esteemed faculty the pharmacology of alcohol consumption, serve together on a Habitat for Humanity build, attend a DPAC performance with a faculty member through the Finvite program, form strong interpersonal relationships and even watch a Duke basketball or football game in between.

The house model provides a diverse community with a myriad of options for development and engagement. A house can integrate the many aspects and perspectives of Duke in one place, where spheres of interest collide in exciting and organic ways.

But this can only be the case if we, the students and members of Duke, assume the ownership we surely have over our community. Systematically, not just with issues related to the house model, Duke is our current “real world.”

This place is the community we call home, and not fully participating in the civic side of student life is a disservice to the future leaders we aspire to be in our towns and cities. Just as sitting on a school board or city council represents civic engagement, so it goes that representing your peers on a house council is a service to this society.

We should care about what is happening in student government and in the administration because it eerily resembles the decisions made on a daily basis in the “real world” of which we purportedly think Duke is not a part.

Duke is an exercise for what I believe many of us hope is our becoming civic leaders and citizens of the future. Ownership of the issues that impact the student experience now is just as important as national debates on healthcare and tax legislation, because Duke is the reality we find ourselves in.

This is a radical position, but as concerned citizens we must say, “I care about this community, and I will do something about it.”

Jay Sullivan is a Trinity sophomore and DSG senator for residential life. His column is the thirteenth installment in a semester-long series of weekly columns written by members of Duke Student Government. Send Jay an email at js493@duke.edu or a message on Twitter @DukeStudentGov.