Financial aid chief to retire
(01/15/08 5:00am)
After 32 years as the University's Director of Financial Aid, James Belvin will retire this summer, President Richard Brodhead announced Monday.
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After 32 years as the University's Director of Financial Aid, James Belvin will retire this summer, President Richard Brodhead announced Monday.
Another gossip queen has made her entrance.
Off-campus eateries have two new competitors.
Twenty-three juniors boarded flights last Wednesday to spend Thanksgiving together-in Prague.
Duke University Union members approved a proposal that will grant the Last Day of Classes Committee $25,000 of Union funds Tuesday evening.
CHAPEL HILL - Multiple Soulja Boys escorted scantily clad Playboy Bunnies up and down a flooded Franklin Street as inebriated sumo wrestlers thrust their chests in the air above the numerous cowgirls at their feet.
The Robertson Scholars Program will implement a range of curricular and extracurricular changes.
University of North Carolina system colleges may soon be making their way off high school seniors' lists of safety schools.
Another student-run Web site has made its way into the Duke cyberspace community to help students navigate the Web from a centralized location.
Students now have a new mechanism for approaching their professors outside of the classroom-other than sending them the awkward late-night e-mails.
It turns out that Duke isn't really the party school everyone seems to think. According to the American College Health Association National College Health Assessment, Duke students believe that the use of drugs and alcohol on campus is more prevalent than it actually is. The study-which is conducted at Duke every two years-was last reported in Fall 2006. The results revealed fairly large discrepancies between what students perceive and what students actually do. At Duke, 15.5 percent of students reported never drinking alcohol, though students predicted that only 2.3 percent of the student body were nondrinkers. Although the perceived percentage of alcohol use, at 70.8 percent, is on par with what is actually consumed, 74.6 percent, the perceived prevalence of starting heavy drinking upon coming to Duke is not accurate. The perceived use of tobacco and marijuana greatly exceeds actual use as well. The study shows that Duke students believe 67.2 percent of their peers smoke cigarettes at least once a month, but only 10.4 percent of students actually smoke with this frequency. Marijuana showed a similar discrepancy, with 7.3 percent of students reporting using the drug at least once a month, although responders estimated that 63.4 percent of their peers smoke with that frequency. The prominence of greek life at Duke may have an effect on students' perceptions, said Jean Hanson, administrative director of the Student Health Center. At the Student Health Center's table during Blue Devil Days, Hanson said they often get questions from parents asking if there really is "all that partying," noting that tour guides sometimes hype the party scene. Hanson said, however, that greater frequency may not be the case-but greater availability could be the issue. "My perception from talking to students is that if you want something, you can find it on campus," she said. "There are some students that flaunt the drugs or alcohol that they have, but they certainly are not the majority." Those who do party hard, however, will brag about how drunk or high they are, Hanson said, often seeing it as a means of fitting in or competing against one another, even if they don't drink or do drugs or do so only in moderation. Freshman Jeremy Steinman said such a difference in numbers could be attributed to former experience. Cigarette and marijuana usage rates were high in high school, he said, leading him to believe it would be more prevalent in college. Hanson added that she believes some students are just bringing their habits from home. "One favorite story is several years ago I went to the ABC store on Friday of Parent's Weekend and found myself in line behind about 20 parents with students," Hanson said. "I commented on this to the cashier, who said it's their busiest weekend of the year-beats New Year's Eve. 'They're all stocking their kids' bars.'" For Steinman, his Saturday evenings stay dry in his dorm room watching movies, playing video games or making use of the often-empty gym to play basketball. He said the range between actual substance use and what is perceived does not surprise him, even with the reported 0.2 percent of daily use of alcohol as opposed to students predicting that 26.9 percent of their peers use it daily. In terms of inflated numbers, Steinman said his views are based on what he sees while sitting in the halls of his dorm Saturday nights: people returning from a night of drinking, whereas those who are not out partying are behind closed doors studying. "I can say for freshmen, for a lot of us-maybe 90 to 95 percent-it's the first time we're living without limits away from our parents, so it's kind of a luxury to do things unrestricted," Steinman said. "Some people would think that we would go overboard, whereas in reality we're Duke students and we're not that stupid."
Buried in the depths of cyberspace, a site created by two Duke graduate students is a resource on everything Duke for students living in China.