After five decades: Duke in hindsight
(04/18/14 7:15am)
When students learn that I have been at Duke since 1966, they sometimes ask if Dukies have changed much over the years.
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When students learn that I have been at Duke since 1966, they sometimes ask if Dukies have changed much over the years.
There’s been a glum feeling around campus these days, a mood that clashes with the exhilaration surrounding us in the natural world.
As I approach my 80th year, it occurs to me that I have co-existed with one third of my country’s history. Perhaps those eight decades have given me some grounds for judgment concerning the Maximum Leaders I remember. Herewith a few lines about each of the 13 Presidents I have lived under.
My students often call me “Professor,” presumably as a mark of respect. It always makes me uncomfortable, because I don’t feel like a professor; I feel like a musician.
A year or two ago, The Chronicle ran several columns by students recommending the end of faculty tenure. I beg to differ. The following commentary on literary criticism demonstrates why faculty tenure is still necessary:
Some 20 years ago, Duke University opened, with some fanfare, the Center for Teaching and Learning.
When three white lacrosse players were found innocent of raping a black woman seven years ago, I estimated that they each received about three million dollars from Duke University in recompense for the mental anguish the episode inflicted upon them and their families. Perhaps they deserved this payout, though I think it seems unreasonably large considering that these young men spent not five minutes behind bars, while innocent men who have spent 15 to 20 or more years actually in prison have received less than a million.
I’d like to begin this series by discussing the performance of music. That is what I do as cellist of the Ciompi Quartet, and it’s what I teach at Duke. Not surprisingly, I have a high regard for the activity.