Use the fields below to perform an advanced search of The Chronicle's archives. This will return articles, images, and multimedia relevant to your query. You can also try a Basic search
40 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
There are certain hallmarks of campus life which when encountered serve as sudden reminders that spring semester is in full swing. The chaotic but lively swarm of tents in K-ville, the destructive sweep of the flu and of course, the Young Trustee election. Signs of the election are everywhere with student groups releasing endorsements, flyers flying all over campus and campaign materials flooding social media newsfeeds.
In the midst of the everyday stress that exams, papers and classes bring us, it can be hard to appreciate everything that is happening on our campus. The week leading up to spring break quickly turned from a short sprint to an endless marathon as assignments piled up and exams brutally multiplied. At the end of the week before Spring Break, I was exhausted. I wanted to go home, lay on my bed and shamelessly watch three seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. Instead, I had to get on 15-hour long series of planes and taxis that would wind up taking me to Lima, Peru to do research with Duke’s Bass Connections program.
Have you ever had one of those moments that snaps you out of the mundane day-to-day issues that typically bother you? I find that in my normal routine I have lots of little regrets like missing lunch with a friend, not getting enough sleep, or procrastinating on homework. But last week I gained some fresh insight.
Everyone has heard of the freshman fifteen—the inescapable fifteen pounds that creep on during the first stressful semester of college (although studies show that the freshman fifteen is really more like the freshman three). While students try to resist the traditionally “unhealthy” foods at Marketplace at the pizza and burger stations, research shows that greasy and high-fat foods aren’t the only contributors to weight gain. In recent years, scientists have put the spotlight on sugar, showing that it can be a primary driver of weight gain; this is something we college students may want to give our attention.
On Nov. 9, I woke up in a haze hoping that the evening before was a terrible, bizarre nightmare. I grabbed my phone, checked the news and realized that the presidential election was in fact real and that Hillary Clinton wouldn’t be the next president. Our campus was eerily quiet, almost as if we were in collective mourning. The world felt tired, and the gloomy clouds and the rain seemed to embody our sadness.
It’s Wednesday and that means that this controversial, never-ending painful election season is finally over. This campaign season has been all-consuming, almost to the extent that I can’t remember what life was like without it constantly playing out in the background. I think it has been weeks, probably months, since I went a day without mentioning or thinking about the presidential election.
It’s October of 2016 and the United States is starting to feel the revolutionary ripples that technology is sending into our society. Our political system is reeling from the fallout of what many perceive to be the failures of politicians and policy to protect the American dream. Political candidates, eager to show their solidarity with the idealized, blue-collar American, have rolled up their sleeves and headed deep into coal country, old steel mills and the automobile industry strongholds to win votes.
“It is a sad day for America.”
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re likely well-aware that the presidential election is in full swing. Political pundits and the 24/7 news media have never had more dramatic campaign coverage, which seems to be closer to Kardashian-esque reality television than true political news coverage.
One of my closest friends turned 21 last Saturday and as expected, we had an absolute ball. As one of our first friends to become legal—we decided to go all out. We blew up balloons, broke out the streamers, silly string and glow sticks—basically whatever Party City had in stock. After a classy dinner, obnoxious belting of “Happy Birthday” and of course, Shooters, I’d say it was a pretty successful birthday celebration. Later, when I was going through our polaroid photos the next day, I remembered how our dinner conversation was all about turning 21 and how incredibly old that seemed. I’ve been thinking about it since and I wonder, why is 21 such a big deal?
The American presidential election of 2016 has been absolutely unprecedented. Rather than the usual stump speeches and political rallies that rely heavily on community organizers, we are seeing a new type of campaign: the Twitter-fueled, Trump train with rotating campaign leaders and invisible tax returns.
As spring semester comes to a close, every class at Duke undergoes a certain set of realizations. The seniors realize that graduation is no longer a hypothetical goal, the juniors realize that they’re a year away from graduation, the sophomores realize that Duke is half-way over and the freshmen must deal with the fact that they’re not freshmen anymore.
You know that amazing song titled “Let It Go” from the Disney animated children’s movie Frozen? Well, I’ve decided that Elsa was really onto something.
As the election cycle crescendos into a full-blown wave of political drama, the country is becoming increasingly obsessed with its minority populations. Political pundits and newscasters almost comically group minorities into singular clusters referring to Hillary’s domination of “the black vote” or puzzling over Trump’s failure to capture the “Latino vote.” My biggest beef as I’ve listened to these constant references to minority voting blocks happened when I realized that one minority has been missing in these conversations: Asian Americans.
Early last week I woke up to this text from my little sister. “Mom and Dad are taking me to DC for the weekend! I wish you could come!” Groggy from just waking up and lacking the judgment of a fully awake human being I replied, “I am coming!”
Every four years, Americans have the opportunity to elect a new leader into the most powerful seat of government. This election, as with many elections, has made Americans once again believe that the world is crumbling around us. Rallying cries to recreate America to what it once was and to go back to the glory days of American hegemony are ubiquitous, with candidates calling on voters’ sense of nostalgia. The presidential election cycle elicits an incredible surge in political media activity, sending the entire country into political overdrive.
With seniors on the verge of graduation and freshman finally easing into Duke life, it is safe to say that second semester is upon us. As graduation comes eerily closer, I’ve been forced to think about something I’ve actively refused thus far: graduation requirements. As a faithful student of the liberal arts, I’ve made strides at getting those ethical inquiry and quantitative studies requirements. However, I have made absolutely zero progress on the dreaded foreign language requirement. So, is this a column about a whiny student who doesn’t want to deal with taking a foreign language to graduate? Partially. But it is also a challenge at what the foreign language requirement adds to student’s academic lives.
It was the night before Thanksgiving break. Taxis and Ubers were all over campus, and Dukies could be seen dragging their luggage out of dorms throughout the day. I had just pulled through a heavy week of exams, papers and limited hours of sleep, so I had barely even realized that our break was impending.
There has been a great deal of discourse and dialogue on campus lately. Between President Brodhead’s forum, the defacement of the Black Lives Matter poster, racial events unfolding on campuses across the United States, the death threat towards a LGBTQ+ student and the painting of “Black Lives Matter” on the James B. Duke statue, it feels as though race relations are very much on everyone’s mind. These incidents have occurred against the backdrop of several racially charged incidents across the country causing a storm of discussions about race at Duke and beyond. As parties launch into extensive discussions about their feelings and opinions, I have watched closely, hoping to see if this rise in dialogue about race will work towards creating greater progress.
I’ve recently been thinking quite a bit about whether or not a Duke education really is worth the quarter-million-dollar price tag. What truly is the value of a college education? Would I be better off saving that money and doing something else with my time? Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and famous entrepreneur, wrote an opinion piece in the New York Times in 2011, “College Doesn’t Create Success,” where he argued that the economic value of a college education for most Americans was vastly lower than the escalating cost of a college degree. Thiel earned a college degree from Stanford University, but he now promotes his fervent belief in the limitation of college through his Thiel Foundation. The foundation sponsors “Thiel Fellows” who are each provided with $100,000 to launch their own startup as long as they forgo or drop out of college.
