Duke cannot allow itself to grow complacent if it wishes to compete with its peers, David Rubenstein, chair of the Board of Trustees, told the Academic Council Thursday.
Thursday marked just the second time that a Board Chair has addressed the Council—the first coming in 2012, when Richard Wagoner spoke. Rubenstein, Trinity '70, discussed his own vision for Duke before fielding questions from the faculty on a variety of subjects, including Duke's diversity and global presence.
"If people just sit back and say, 'Well, we're a pretty good university, we're great, we've got good students, got good faculty, got good athletes, got a good physical plan,' and don't try hard—then we're going to be condemned to mediocrity," Rubenstein said.
Rubenstein was elected to the Board in 2005 and appointed Chair in 2013. The co-founder and co-CEO of private equity firm The Carlyle Group, he is a prominent philanthropist—with tens of millions of dollars donated to Duke, as well as to numerous other institutions and causes.
His desire to chair the Board stems from a wish to give back, Rubenstein told the Council. Attending Duke was instrumental to his own success, and as Chair, he hopes to spread Duke's impact.
"If schools like Duke can become better, I think it's good for our country, as well as the students and faculty," he said.
Rubenstein noted that Duke does not have the same resources as Harvard, Yale, Princeton or Stanford Universities—but by capitalizing on its existing strengths, Duke can continue to be competitive.
"In the next five or ten years, it's not realistic that we're going to top them in many different ways," Rubenstein said. "However, we have something that we can do that's better than everybody else. And what we have at Duke in my view, which we can improve on still, is a unique situation—we have a very good, first-class academic institution with a good athletic organization as well."
Some faculty members questioned the manner in which Duke balances academics and athletics, however—asking Rubenstein for his opinion on how a major athletic program affects the University's intellectual climate and its finances. Rubenstein maintained that strong athletics are part of Duke's fabric, and the balance of scholarship and sports can allow the University to serve as a role model for others.
"It plays to our strengths to say we are providing a balanced university that provides athletics and academics," Rubenstein said.
Several faculty members asked Rubenstein for his thoughts on Duke's academic competitiveness, particularly in regard to the fields of science and engineering. Alexander Rosenberg, R. Taylor Cole professor of philosophy, noted that it has been three years since the University produced a Rhodes Scholar and inquired how the Board viewed this as a measure of academic demography.
"I am not happy about it," Rubenstein said. "I think we should do more.... I'm prepared, as I've said to some people, to put resources into it if that would be helpful."
Questions also pointed towards Duke's social environment, including campus diversity and the culture around sexual assault. Rubenstein noted that the Board exhibits greater diversity than either the student body or the faculty, adding that significantly changing the composition of the faculty is difficult given the tenure system.
The Board will hold its second meeting of the academic year this weekend.
In other business:
The Council approved proposals for two new master's degrees, one in biomedical science and one in quantitative financial economics.
Both proposals were presented at the November meeting, with some faculty debate on the need for the new programs—and whether or not the proliferation of master's degrees is positive for the University. The economics proposal was initially introduced as a degree in quantitative finance, but faculty from the Fuqua School of Business presented a statement before Thursday's vote recommending the name change so as to better distinguish the degree from Fuqua's own finance program.
The biomedical sciences degree passed by a vote of 48 to 13, with four abstentions. The economics degree passed 38 to 20, with seven abstentions.
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