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(02/24/14 10:31am)
The past quarter of a century has seen the price of attending college skyrocket. At Duke, what used to cost students around $10,000 now costs them six times as much. The rising cost of tuition is making it harder and harder for many people, even those who are academically qualified, to see an elite college as a viable option. Of course, options like financial aid and student loans exist, but, at the end of the day, $60,000 is still an astonishing figure for most students. That is why it may come as a shock to many Duke students to hear that, according to Executive Vice Provost of Finance and Administration Jim Roberts, the $60,000 price tag on a Duke education is actually a discount—In a recent article from National Public Radio, administrators at Duke claimed that the University actually invests $90,000 in the education of each student.
(02/21/14 1:12pm)
Since a fair number of students already choose to skip regularly scheduled lectures, there is little reason to expect many students to attend these make-up sessions. Many of the larger classes are already recorded and posted online, and, as a result, there is often little reason to wake up on time and sit through these classes in person. Those who do attend often drift into the comforting arms of the internet’s many distractions. In light of this, asking students to turn up on a Saturday—a day that remains sacred to exhausted young adults—is a tall order. Classes scheduled post-LDOC, in particular, appear downright unreasonable.
(02/20/14 10:36am)
The male locker room can promote hyper-masculine attitudes towards sex and sexuality, and it remains unclear how openly gay athletes would fit into that environment. Several of the NFL executives quoted in the Sports Illustrated article expressed concern that the presence of openly gay players might cause sexual tension and unsolicited attraction, interfering with team dynamics. Although sexuality is a complex phenomenon and it is difficult to determine precisely why some straight athletes might feel uneasy about gay teammates—the fact that some players remain uncomfortable with the sexuality of others illustrates the importance of greater integration and understanding.
(02/19/14 9:44am)
For Kristof, the problem with academic research is that academics study arcane subjects and obscure useful ideas with turgid language. To support the first claim, Kristof notes that the number of policy-oriented articles published in The American Political Science Review has decreased from 20 to 0.3 percent since the 1930s. Many fields, he argues, are specializing in this way.
(02/18/14 8:46am)
Many of Duke’s staff members stuck around campus to oversee the University’s essential functions, and we would like to take this opportunity to extend our thanks to University staff and administrators. Duke’s employees—especially those who worked during the snow days—are integral members of the Duke community and, without them, the University would not be able to carry out most of its day-to-day functions. And yet, as students at a University that focuses primarily on excelling in research and teaching, we often take the contributions of Duke’s staff for granted.
(02/17/14 10:39am)
When it comes to female sexuality, the elite university is an embittered battleground, and discussions about Lauren*—a first-year porn actress—have extracted salacious and sexist commentary from members of Duke's student community. The controversy contains some novel elements: revelations about a voluntary sex worker in our midst and the role Twitter and CollegiateACB played in propagating the story. But, for the most part, Lauren’s story sheds light on the degradation of a young woman’s sexuality. Duke culture’s history of slut shaming, entitlement to female bodies and the threat of sexual violence continues. Lauren, regardless of her profession, should never have been subjected to such vilification.
(02/14/14 10:20am)
Critical thinking used to be considered the paragon of intelligence, but proponents of creativity courses argue that students ought to swap analytical skills for those that are less formulaic and more marketable. What we need, supporters suggest, is coursework that involves creative tasks—like building structures with Popsicle sticks—and assignments that break cultural norms, like doing cartwheels in the library (both are activities performed by students in a first-year creativity seminar at Penn State).
(02/13/14 9:29am)
We think trademarking Me Too Monologues would be a positive development both for Duke and for the show’s student actors and producers. Students involved in the production of Me Too Monologues approached the administration and initiated the effort to trademark the event, hoping to secure a legal base from which to launch similar productions at other schools. We commend the student-driven approach to institutionalizing Me Too Monologues and see its expansion to other campuses as a net benefit for students and the school.
(02/12/14 11:23am)
Adding a bike-sharing program to Duke’s campus is commendable. Not only is biking a good source of physical activity and an enjoyable way to travel between campuses, but it is also already popular among students. Racks across campus are regularly full, and a study conducted last fall indicated that 68 percent of students who currently drive between campuses would consider switching to bikes if a bike-sharing program were implemented. Increasing access to high quality, easily rentable bikes will likely induce even more students to participate. Indeed, Duke’s sustainability goals are an additional beneficiary of the program. Bringing bike sharing to Duke is a no-brainer.
(02/11/14 7:26am)
Former NCAA president Walter Byers coined the term “student-athlete” in the 1950’s in order to shield the organization from an obligation to pay injured athletes worker’s compensation. According to Byer's definition, student-athletes are not employees and, for this reason, some argue, should not be able to unionize. Others disagree, arguing not only that workers generate revenue but also that the power dynamics that define collegiate athletics – hierarchical relationships between administrators, coaches and players – closely resemble the relationships and structures that characterize lawful employment.
(02/10/14 9:22am)
Second, eliminating cigarette sales on campus may help alleviate negative externalities associated with tobacco use. Many find cigarette smoke unpleasant or irritating, and second-hand smoke is linked to heart disease and cancer in non-smokers. Treating conditions like lung cancer can be extremely costly, and smokers impose enormous long-term costs on the country’s health system. Limiting the availability of cigarettes promises to reduce both the immediate and long-term social consequences of smoking.
(02/07/14 8:56am)
Over the past few years, and in its first weekend this semester, the show has drawn massive crowds—many wait in line for hours to attend. We attribute the show’s popularity to a number of factors. The hype, both on campus and online, undoubtedly plays a role. But students are also drawn to the monologues themselves – stories that can vary from genuinely compelling and heart-wrenching to laugh-out-loud funny. These stories humanize the students and make real and immediate the problems of personal identity so often deliberated in our hallowed halls. These problems are brought to life through the talent of the performers. The veil of anonymity behind which students submit their stories gives many the courage to describe what they otherwise could not—reminding us that, every day, people wrestle with problems that often go undiscussed.
(02/06/14 10:54am)
The switch to the new platform has a number of clear, if modest, benefits. The platform improves search functionality, allowing users to easily find journals and books written by a certain author or about a particular topic. Housing both e-books and journals in a single place also lets users conduct preliminary research more efficiently.
(02/05/14 7:53am)
Founded in 2013, TMC offers Divinity students the option of pursuing a certificate program and medical students the opportunity to attain a dual degree. Ray Barfield, the program’s director, stresses TMC’s role in promoting holistic medicine, noting that, “medicine is failing, and one of the main reasons is because the only language it has access to is the incredibly efficient and devastatingly limited language of biology.”
(02/04/14 8:23am)
Most discussions about diversity on campus revolve around the need to maintain a broad spectrum of identities—including wide-ranging gender, racial, sexual and socioeconomic identities—in the undergraduate student body. Faculty diversity rarely gets the attention it deserves. The underrepresentation of Latino faculty reminds us that diversity should be a priority at all levels of the University.
(02/03/14 12:31pm)
Training in medicine requires high-quality instruction and access to specific, often expensive, facilities and resources. But, even if the value of medical school matches its price-tag, doctors do not always scrape up enough money to quickly and comfortably pay back their loans. As Dr. Westby Fisher, a cardiologist and medical blogger, notes, the image of the wealthy physician, flush with cash, no longer corresponds to the experiences of many doctors.
(01/31/14 11:25am)
We support these new initiatives. Accepting students from a broad range of class backgrounds not only helps financially disadvantaged students gain access to a high quality education, but it also adds richness and depth to the Duke community. Both inside and outside the classroom, students from varying financial backgrounds provide invaluable perspectives and promote awareness of class differences.
(01/30/14 8:17am)
Extending gender-neutral housing to East Campus is, without a doubt, a progressive and commendable move. The Editorial Board has long endorsed policies that offer students the option of gender-neutral housing, citing the importance for Duke to remain inclusive and tolerant of all types of students and living preferences. Gender neutrality continues to vex some, but such an attitude is tired, antiquated and unrepresentative of Duke’s increasingly diverse student body. Expanding gender-neutral housing to East Campus is a laudable step that reaffirms Duke’s commitment to inclusivity.
(01/29/14 6:40am)
The announcement of this year’s commencement speaker offers an opportunity to reflect on the qualities that make an exceptional speaker and the responsibilities he or she has when addressing the graduating class.
(01/28/14 10:29am)
Undoubtedly, at the heart of the rising early graduation rate lie financial considerations. Duke is not cheap and has not gotten any cheaper over the last few years. Many find it hard to justify the hefty price tag prima facie, and that justification becomes more difficult when students have the option of finishing early. Although money likely accounts for most of the early graduation trend, it is also likely that many students choose to graduate early because they no longer see college as the place for learning. Instead, they may feel that their education would be better continued outside Duke's hallowed neo-gothic walls. Early graduates like these hail from all disciplines—they might be entrepreneurs eager to test out their business skills and innovation in the so-called real world, or the lifelong student of the humanities who sees the world as her classrooms and is keen to explore. Others may have promising jobs awaiting post-graduation or are simply burnt out from almost two decades of school.
