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(09/28/15 5:18am)
Last week, a new publication launched on Duke’s campus. The Tab, a news site started at the University of Cambridge in 2009 by students, put its first articles up on its Duke site last Tuesday. In the days following, controversy amassed on Facebook in the All Duke group with lengthy commentary condemning the site as a “superficial glamorisation of privileged lifestyles.” Although there is merit to this view based on the launch articles chosen by the Tab, we believe several valid positions were obscured by the social media frenzy in defense of the publication.
(09/25/15 4:13am)
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Nasher Museum of Art’s opening at its current location. Since the museum’s founding as the Duke University Museum of Art in 1969, it has sought to “promote engagement with the visual arts” in the Duke community and broader Triangle region. Exposure of students to the arts at Duke starts for most with the Night at the Nasher event of Orientation Week. Although the growth of the arts at Duke has been noticeable in recent years, many students remain to be reached by art programs after that first-year evening celebration.
(09/24/15 5:04am)
Last Tuesday, Duke School of Medicine cardiologist and lead clinical researcher Dr. Robert Califf, Trinity ‘73 and Medicine ‘78, was nominated to become the Food and Drug Administration’s commissioner. Califf is widely respected in his field for his research in cardiology and as the founding director of the Duke Clinical Research Institute. While his nomination was applauded by organizations like the American Heart Association and warmly received by his colleagues and admirers, questions have been raised about his vetting, ties to the pharmaceutical industry and relative lack of a public health background.
(09/23/15 4:39pm)
Earlier this month, the Department of Education released a new College Scorecard website designed to centralize statistics ranging from a school’s most popular programs to the financial details of typical costs and earnings after graduation. But the data also revealed a more nefarious earnings gap between male and female graduates at Duke and peer institutions, valued at almost $30,000 for Duke graduates 10 years after graduation. At 24.3 percent, this gap just tops the national gap of 22 percent.
(09/22/15 4:26pm)
In yesterday’s editorial, we touched on several different spaces for mental health issues on campus, emphasizing the importance of peer support and institutional readiness to assist. Today, we turn to a more general exploration of how students come into their own in their University careers.
(09/21/15 4:06pm)
On September 10, a group of students gathered in front of the Chapel to increase awareness of World Suicide Prevention Day and mental health issues. An organizer of the gathering has also been involved in starting Duke’s chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Over the past several years, campaigns to encourage discussion of mental health and illness have worked through Mental Health Awareness Month and groups like Peer For You. They hope to remove stigma from conversations about mental health and to provide resources and support for students.
(09/18/15 4:01am)
With students just about at their limits with the same Au Bon Pain sandwiches and almost regular orders of Merchants-on-Points vendors, last Friday’s announcement of the West Union vendors came as a pleasant reminder to students that another of many construction changes on campus is nearing its end. Starting in the spring and opening fully in the fall, the West Union will soon benefit the entire Duke community in more ways than one. We look optimistically on the ways the West Union will enrich our social and campus experiences on the Plaza, lift our hearts as we finally can walk right from main quad to Panda Express and fill our stomachs with new offerings.
(09/17/15 2:53pm)
The Duke Student Government Research Unit was established by DSG last September with ambitions to help Senate representatives tackle persistent, large-scale campus problems. The vision for the unit was to infuse DSG-led initiatives with more data by creating a home within DSG for quantitatively inclined students to investigate methodically pressing campus issues.
(09/16/15 7:39am)
Despite the massive amount of effort and resources dedicated to college admissions, the procedures used are still a mystery to most, and the Duke admissions process is no different. With a 9.4 percent acceptance rate for the Class of 2019, Duke’s high selectivity merits even closer scrutiny to see how it turns down those applicants who are promising but simply without space in the class. From test scores and GPA to less concrete and more controversial metrics like background and legacy status, the process indeed has complex considerations. However complex it may be, we must aim for a fair process that looks to benefits both individual students and the communities and University at large that they join. Today we question whether legacy relations should affect a prospective student’s value to admissions.
(09/15/15 5:26am)
Last week’s update to U.S. News and World Report’s National University rankings placed Duke in the number eight spot for the second year in a row. This and other rankings are not perfect, but they serve to establish a start for further comparisons between universities. But beyond this focus and even beyond the other universities on the ranking, there is an entire category of higher education institutions that go undervalued: community colleges. Duke’s participation in promoting the academic success of those who start in community college is laudable and responsive to the shift we identify towards seeing a bigger role of community colleges in higher education and the economy.
(09/14/15 6:31am)
Sometimes the best editorial writers are those with that devil-may-care attitude that lets them write exactly what they think and feel, bringing to the table those spitting ideas that prod and provoke. Other times, the very best editorial writers are those who are carefully introspective. They consider all the angles and elegantly explore new and sometimes surprising ideas to encourage progress through reflection. In either case—and all the cases in between—a quality editorial writer makes it their duty to make discoveries in spaces for discussion, whether that means creatively trying their hand at age-old questions or breaking entirely new ground with an appraising eye. These people want to leave their intentional mark, however fleeting, on their communities to offer what they believe to be true and valuable opinions.
(09/11/15 5:24am)
Earlier this week, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis was released from jail where she was being held for contempt of court by refusing to license same-sex marriages. Davis previously refused to authorize her office to issue licenses with her name on it to same-sex couples as an act against her conscience and religious convictions. The debate around her choice and its legal ramifications centers on the question of if your sincerely held beliefs can excuse you from doing your job, particularly as a public servant. Although society largely disagrees with Davis’ view on same-sex marriage, we must recognize that the fundamental right to the free exercise of religion be respected by the law and citizens.
(09/10/15 6:02am)
In the pursuit of an improved advising system, Duke has decided this year to revamp the Trinity academic dean model. Starting with the Class of 2019, students will have one academic dean who stays with them for all four years. This replaces the old system where a pre-major dean would pass their students off after major declarations. This four-year model is a step in the right direction, though broader efforts are needed to improve academic advising and students’ academic four-year experiences.
(09/09/15 3:37pm)
As football season approaches, much-deserved enthusiasm is mounting on campus for what our new and improved Blue Devils squad has to offer. In past seasons, Duke football often found itself at the bottom of the Atlantic Coastal Conference, but over the past few years, the team has fought hard to better records with greater victories. Their energy on the field and in practice demands a matching energy on campus from students. With opportunities for participating in the men’s basketball experience every way you turn, the stage is set for students to take part in Duke Student Government’s most recently approved project: DevilsGate Tailgate. At football schools across the country, college tailgates are a pre-football game celebration that gets student fans hyped for games with food, drink, games and entertainment.
(09/08/15 4:40am)
In recent months, presidential candidate Donald Trump has overwhelmed political discourse, drawing many reactions: contempt, celebrity fanfare, ironic dismissal and embrace among others. But no matter your angle of approach, his reception on the whole has been cacophonous and is a prime example of media coverage bordering on ludicrous, but the attention to him is hardly without cause. Rather it seems a direct consequence of the culture the New Yorker recently called “anti-politics.” It is a culture our generation is hardly immune from; in fact, it is a culture we help to enshrine.
(09/07/15 5:04am)
Two weeks down, and many more to go this semester. While the number of weeks ahead tells us just how much academic work is left in the semester, the number of Wednesdays and weekends ahead tells many of us about the plethora of social opportunities that remain before Spring semester, particularly for Greek-affiliated students. There are theme parties galore this semester, but unbeknownst to many, National Panhellenic Conference sororities on campus find themselves left out of much of the party planning. As highlighted in a recent Chronicle opinion column, the NPC and many national chapter organizations encourage or require their sororities to maintain certain bans. For most that means dry houses and a prohibition on hosting open parties.
(09/04/15 4:02am)
At the VMAs this past week, we found out that Kanye is running for president in 2020. But that wasn’t all that happened. Taylor Swift released her new music video for “Wildest Dreams,” a simplistic depiction that has been described as “romanticizing white colonialism;” Wilson Rebel made an inappropriate joke about police brutality; and Miley Cyrus added by choosing to use the sometimes derogatory “mammy” and wear her hair in dreadlocks. These acts are oft criticized for taking a cultural element and divorcing it from its cultures, countries and peoples.
(09/03/15 3:34pm)
With construction noises and smells still popping up around campus this week, ongoing work is still rightfully viewed by many students as burdensome, but the completion of some projects is starting to change that annoyance to wonder as we see the benefits of projects. We were able to meet this week with Duke Student Government Vice President of Facilities and Environment Michael Norwalk to discuss the smorgasbord of projects and their reception by and impact on students.
(09/02/15 7:43am)
Last Friday, Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education, joined other administrators to reemphasize Duke’s focus on increasing socioeconomic diversity in its student body. While administrators often mention that 45 percent of students receive financial aid and the merits of no-cost initiatives like DukeEngage and 1G programs, it is important to discuss a large contributor to socioeconomic homogeneity at Duke: financial aid and loan policies that lag behind those of some of our peer institutions.
(09/01/15 4:50am)
At the end of last semester, the Interfraternity Council announced a student-led taskforce that will investigate the role of Greek life in sexual assault on campus with the goal of making recommendations to prevent and address such misconduct. This comes just before last month’s revisions to our sexual misconduct policy that worked to clarify confusing sections, including some of last year’s more substantive update. Although these changes better our sexual misconduct policy, some previously raised issues with the policy have not been addressed and there is still more to be done by students to make our campus safe.
