Phew, we made it through September. As the COVID-19 pandemic forced students, faculty and staff to adjust in unprecedented ways, The Chronicle was there to cover the issues that mattered this month.
If you can’t remember what day of the week it is, much less what all happened at Duke in September, you’re reading the right article. From Greek life to life in quarantine, here are the most read Chronicle stories from September.
1. National councils reject Zeta, ADPi’s attempts to decharter at Duke, according to chapters
Two sororities voted to disband because of pervasive issues with Greek life at Duke. The votes followed months of online anti-Greek life sentiment in the wake of nationwide Black Lives Matter protests and critical reckoning on race relations. Zeta voted 69-16 to disband; ADPi voted 62-19.
But the sororities’ national councils refused to let them decharter.
2. Duke falls to 12 in national ranking, jumps in undergraduate teaching
For the students—and faculty and administrators—whose entire sense of self-worth derived from being at a top-10 university… Sept. 14 was a bad day. After the U.S. News and World Report had Duke sitting pretty at 10 last year, it dropped Duke all the way down to 12. However, the Wall Street Journal ranked Duke in the top 10, with Duke bagging overall 2nd place for Student Outcomes and 5th place in the “Top Ten” category.
3. A hotel with free food, a 'creepy' dorm: Students describe quarantine and isolation
This article describes life for students in “creepy” Jarvis dorm who test positive for COVID-19, and others in the “quite nice” Lodge at Duke Medical Center hotel for precautionary quarantine.
From the article: “If you took a stroll on East Campus at the beginning of the semester and happened to find yourself standing in front of Jarvis dorm, you might have noticed the colorful poster hanging from one of the dorm’s second-story windows: ‘We are bored. Yell up to say hi.’”
Louis DeJoy’s name was in the news a lot this month. As U.S. postmaster general, he’s orchestrated moves seemingly designed to weaken the Post Office ahead of the U.S. election on Nov. 3. He also happens to be a big Duke donor whose son walked onto the tennis team in 2014.
5. 'It’s bigger than us': Abolish Duke IFC & Panhel fights to get rid of two dozen Greek organizations
You’ve heard of reforming an organization from the inside—how about abolishing it from the inside? A group of former fraternity and sorority members have banded together to end IFC and Panhel at Duke. So far, they’ve created a website, written an open letter and encouraged Duke students to drop their frats and srats.
Sept. 7: The most eventful day of the month for The Chronicle
Two stories from the day before drew lots of readers: sororities' attempt to disband and the University's announcement of 29 “more flagrant” COVID-19 rule infractions. The story about students in isolation was published. And after reading Reiss Becker’s column, “Abolishing Greek life means abolishing Duke,” Monday Monday agreed that we should actually abolish Duke.
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Jake Satisky is a Trinity senior and the digital strategy director for Volume 116. He was the Editor-in-Chief for Volume 115 of The Chronicle.