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(02/25/15 10:28am)
Duke’s Center for Child and Family Policy recently released a study finding that low-income teenage boys engaged in more anti-social and aggressive behaviors when coming from economically mixed neighborhoods. Though the study does not examine college-aged students, its core findings about the asymmetrical experiences influenced by socioeconomic backgrounds raise questions about the state of socioeconomic diversity at Duke and its effects on campus life.
(02/24/15 10:08am)
Discussions of mental health reverberate across campus as February spotlights Duke’s first ever Mental Health Awareness Month. A partnership between Duke Student Government, Counseling and Psychological Services and Duke Student Wellness, the program seeks to raise awareness about, and offer a more nuanced way of understanding, issues of mental health. The month’s programs include workshops about stress, opportunities to learn about resources to help yourself and others and a student-faculty panel that grapples with these issues. We commend and stand behind the goal of the month to reduce stigma surrounding mental health and illness on campus. However, raising awareness and starting the discussion are only the first steps to changing a campus culture that avoids such issues.
(02/23/15 10:21am)
Last month, a group of Stanford students publicized a discovery that FERPA rights can be invoked by students to gain access to their admissions files, complete with comments and evaluation. As students in colleges across the nation increasingly begin issuing demands to view their files, the question of whether this tendency is doing more harm than good becomes especially poignant. We cannot prevent students from taking advantage of their rights as provided by FERPA. However, we discourage accessing admissions files and recommend that those who choose to view their files do so in a responsible manner. While seemingly constructive on the surface, it is necessary to be conscious of the negative effects this new movement could have.
(02/20/15 12:27pm)
Between tenting and rush, the beginning of the semester can be just as busy as the academic crescendo at the end of it. Yet among the chilly, sleep-deprived tenters and party-goers, some unusually well-dressed classmates stand out, marking the beginning of a different season altogether: recruiting. Many upperclassmen students are spending these first months hastily trying to organize summer and post-graduation plans. These two are increasingly linked, as students headed to finance, consulting and other corporate careers feel pressure, institutional or otherwise, to turn a summer internship into a permanent job.
(02/19/15 1:31pm)
The deadline for sophomores to declare their majors looms as March 6 draws nearer, raising questions like “Is this major enough?” or “Should I declare something else?” The programs you declare lay the foundations for your academic journey at Duke, and, so, today we reflect on how students choose their majors, minors and certificates and explore what is important in ensuring the combinations therein are intellectually beneficial to students.
(02/18/15 10:18am)
As peer institutions reinvent their alcohol policy, Duke continues to stand by its rules restricting the undergraduate drinking culture. Although the policies are well intended and seek to promote safe, responsible drinking, they are ambiguous to students and ineffective at targeting the demographic most vulnerable to the ill effects of alcohol and poor alcohol policy: freshmen. Ultimately, the purpose of the alcohol policy is to promote safety, yet the current policies are rife with unintended consequences that often perpetuate unsafe drinking behavior.
(02/17/15 9:48am)
This past Wednesday morning, with the air frigid, the clouds bleak and the wind rough, we woke to a heart-rending tragedy. We were told the lives of Deah Barakat, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha were taken from us far too soon. Barakat, a second-year student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Dentistry, his newlywed wife, Yusor Abu-Salha, who planned on attending the UNC School of Dentistry in the Fall, and Razan Abu-Salha, a sophomore at North Carolina State University, were murdered on Tuesday in Chapel Hill, only a few miles from the UNC campus. Described as “generous, outstanding…exceptional… intelligent… [and] dedicated,” Barakat and Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha found great joy in giving back to their community. It was only a few weeks ago when Barakat delivered food and dental supplies to the homeless. It was only a year ago when Yusor and Razan Abu-Salha ventured off to Turkey in the summer to deliver dental care to students there. Similarly, Barakat planned on traveling to Turkey this upcoming summer on behalf of the project “Refugee Smiles” that aims to provide dental relief to Syrian refugee students at primary and secondary schools. They will surely be missed by all those they have crossed paths with.
(02/16/15 11:54am)
Until last Thursday, students were required to take 17 Duke courses out of their 34 total courses for graduation. That requirement will be increased to 24 in a new measure approved by the Arts and Sciences Council.
(02/13/15 11:19am)
After a series of setbacks and delays, Duke’s global venture at Duke Kunshan University is at last beginning to plant its roots. It will do so, however, without key leaders that helped shape the vision and direction of the initiative. Last week, The Chronicle reported that Mary Brown Bullock, executive vice chancellor of DKU since 2012, will retire this summer. Her announced departure follows closely behind that of Nora Bynum, vice provost for DKU and China initiatives, who will leave to direct the Science Action Center at Chicago’s Field Museum. We wish the best for both leaders as they move forward beyond Duke. However, we remain concerned by the implications of their concurrent departures at a time so crucial for DKU.
(02/12/15 10:12am)
North Carolina governor Pat McCrory recently took to the press to lambast the humanities and liberal arts education. According to McCrory, the liberal arts should be contained solely in the realm of private institutions and big “flagship” public schools like the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Other public schools within the University of North Carolina system, like the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, should be more concerned with “workforce management” to produce “more productive citizens.” Earlier this week, we discussed the role of the University in asking fundamentally important questions concerning the human condition. Today, we answer McCrory’s critique and weigh in on the value of the humanities.
(02/11/15 11:35am)
According to a recent study reported on by The New York Times, male professors are more likely to be perceived as “brilliant,” whereas their female counterparts are cast negatively. The authors of the study used a new interactive website to examine 14 million reviews posted on Rate My Professors and to explore the difference between how male and female professors are reviewed. Although reviews on Rate My Professors may not constitute the best objective measure of students’ opinions of professors, the asymmetrical student response to professors correlated with gender is deeply troubling. Albeit an issue caused by myriad contributing factors, we focus today on one potential cause: the dearth of female professors at Duke.
(02/10/15 12:40pm)
Durham neighborhood associations are urging Duke administrators and city officials to actively investigate several student-occupied houses near campus. The Durham Neighborhood Alliance is one of these increasingly vocal organizations advocating for the removal of “illegal” fraternity houses. Their allegations cite local occupancy codes that limit the number of non-related people living together and require special event permits for large gatherings. Fraught relations between Duke students and Durham residents have long existed in the University’s history but, as Duke becomes more established in the community, it is imperative to improve relations to coexist harmoniously.
(02/09/15 10:32am)
The Wisconsin state government’s recent discussion about removing “the search for truth” from the mission statement of its state university system is deeply misguided but not surprising. In most post-modern secular universities, studies are typically limited to the material order of reality. Questions about the transcendent order of reality—the existence of God, the good, objective truth, justice and moral order, and an externally derived meaning of the human person—have been largely excluded from the contemporary curriculum and relegated to the sphere of private judgment and personal opinion.
(02/05/15 2:57pm)
The refrain “Me Too” will echo not just across Duke’s campus this weekend, but also college campuses nationwide. The Me Too Monologues production—performed monologues selected from anonymous submissions that draw from individuals’ experiences with matters of identity and belonging on campus—will spread its provoking model to schools like Columbia and Princeton. We are enthusiastic about the expansion of so powerful a production, but we pause here to reflect on the evolution of the monologues and its impact on Duke’s campus.
(02/04/15 11:07am)
It is Young Trustee season again, which also means it is endorsement season. Although this year’s batch of finalists for the Young Trustee position are all promising in diverse ways, each also had their unique weaknesses. Thus, our final endorsement decision was a narrow and contentious one.
(02/03/15 10:38am)
Last Tuesday, the administration rejected Divest Duke’s proposal to remove investments from the top 200 publicly traded fossil fuel companies. A student-led campaign established in Fall 2012, Divest Duke is concerned with the contradiction between the University’s goals to combat climate change and its investment in various fossil fuel industries. Although Duke’s energy initiatives are laudable steps in the right direction, the University should commit on all fronts and increase transparency in its investment processes.
(02/02/15 10:05am)
Beginning in July, the minimum wage for regular employees of the University will increase from $10.91 to $12.00, boosting the hourly wage of roughly 400 regular employees. The benefits of setting and increasing a minimum wage for employees at Duke are numerous. On one hand, regulating a minimum pay ensures that workers are not exploited by their employers with low wages in tight employment markets. Furthermore, it works towards a livable salary that allows for a higher standard of living for those integral to campus’ flourishing. To this end, we applaud the increase in the minimum wage at Duke as a step toward a fair pay approach to employment. However, there remain several gulfs to bridge.
(01/30/15 10:43am)
Opting into a selective living group might mean you can never leave. Beginning in Fall 2015, all selective living groups—including greek housing—must meet a resident quota of 30 percent upperclassmen, at least 10 percent of whom must be seniors. Under this system, failure to meet the guidelines could result in consequences as severe as probation or revoked housing. While the spirit behind the new policy may be well intentioned, its restrictive implementation risks entrenching the very problems it seeks to address.
(01/29/15 2:40pm)
Business suits and interview folios descend upon campus as the most recent interview season begins—this one largely for summer consulting and finance positions. A glimpse into last week’s Career Fair yields a room crowded with well-dressed students eagerly networking with resumes in hand. To obtain a prestigious summer internship is the first step on the path toward post-graduation success. The scene is not an unfamiliar one, but it raises questions about prevailing notions of “success” and its converse: failure.
(01/27/15 12:51pm)
Last week, Duke Student Government introduced four proposals that could alter the landscape of its elections and internal organization. We applaud DSG’s efforts to continue evaluating its efficacy and today evaluate the efficacy of DSG and its election model.
