The winds of change: a year in review

Our University is a place of many changes. Physically, socially and academically, the Duke our seniors will bid farewell to shows no intention of preserving itself in amber for future visits. Our Duke is more dynamic than that as a point of pride. The Duke that will greet a new freshman horde in August will give them a pat on the back and hearty push forward into our vibrant community and smorgasbord of opportunities. The literal rise and fall of our buildings, ongoing curriculum revisions and social justice and cultural advocacy of our student body this year are symptoms of the winds of change reaching every corner of our campus. But before we get swept away in the commotion, we would do well to mull over this year’s events and find questions in the challenges we face in moving forward as a student body and institution.

Between this year’s scandals and the fronts of change in our curriculum, housing model and physical campus, many questions arise, including ones about the current state of critical campus dialogue, the educational philosophy will Duke adopt in its new curriculum and what should students seek from Duke.

None of these questions are easy to answer, but in the course of a year, our campus has made great strides through thousands of words, images and memories. Between Yik Yak and national news coverage, we can see that increased scrutiny on our campus this year has been a blessing and a curse when we turn to the so-called “scandals” of the year. These include last semester’s computer science investigation and since dispelled UVA rape story but of course move quickly into Spring with the Charlie Hebdo shooting, call to prayer controversy, basketball dismissal of Rasheed Sulaimon, alleged SAE chant on East Campus, BSA advocacy campaign and Bryan Center noose incident among others.

These issues have each forced our student body to turn its critical lens inwards and scrutinize our peers and Duke’s administration. In March, we gave a harsh rebuke of the “court of public opinions” that often puts the cart ahead of the horse and made clear that the administrative response to these controversies is very important. But on the whole, campus awareness of controversial issues and how we should take stances on them has never been higher, and ignitable forums for expression are better than no forums at all even as there are improvements to be made in how we live as activists for our views.

But this year has had more dimensions than scandal. There are sweeping ideological changes coming to academics and calls for more institutional traditions. Our curriculum overhaul is set against the very interesting backdrop of concerns for an overly pre-professional student body that sometimes neglects the importance of the humanities. Only time will tell what a Duke education will look like in five or ten years, let alone what kind of student body we will attract or what kinds of administrators will steer the ship with the departure of figures like Trinity Dean Laurie Patton and the major shifts in Duke Kunshan University’s leadership.

From August until now, Duke has weathered a truly intense year from the lowest of many lows to the highest of many highs—and an honorable mention of course to our victory in men’s basketball. Remember that we still have lots of room to grow as a university and that each of us has so much to learn about maturing intellectually and personally at such a wonderful institution.