The independent news organization of Duke University
In graffiti and group messages, social media and online petitions, many students have expressed anger with fraternities and their members.
Students reflect on a week of on-campus isolation.
Amid the many changes on Duke’s campus necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, one old sight reliably persists: a smiling canine face and her familiar owner. The beloved dog-owner duo—Keith Upchurch, Trinity ‘72, and Nugget, his 10-year-old golden retriever—have promenaded through Duke’s campus since 2012. Since Upchurch retired from the Durham Herald-Sun in 2016, they have visited the University almost every day.
Junior Ysanne Spence hopes to bring intentionality, strong connections and a compassionate spirit to her role as president of Duke University Union.
As we near the one-year anniversary of Duke’s March 10, 2020, announcement that classes would move online, we’re stepping back and considering how much our campus and community have changed.
The COVID-19 pandemic upended Duke students' college experience. As part of our one-year retrospective, we spoke to students about how the last year has affected them.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, discrimination and violence against Asians and Asian Americans in the United States have increased, fueled by rhetoric like “Chinese virus” or “Wuhan virus” that taps into centuries-long tropes of Asians as disease carriers and invaders. Some students shared concerns about the safety of parents and family at home, and many reflected on the ways that stereotypes about Asians have affected their experiences as Blue Devils.
Professors describe exhaustion, issues with personal connection during virtual learning.
Traditionally excluded from Duke’s predominantly white fraternities and sororities, it wasn’t until 11 years after being admitted on campus that Black students could find social outlets in the University’s Greek life scene. Now, 46 years later, Duke's NPHC is currently in a transition period.
Two Duke Kunshan University and two Duke students formed one of two winning teams in this year’s U.S.-China Student Challenge, a policy competition sponsored by the Georgetown University Initiative for U.S.-China Dialogue on Global Issues.
Similar to Duke’s, policies at North Carolina Central University, a historically Black university in Durham, include a large reduction in the number of in-person classes and restrictions on capacity at all campus facilities. Students are also tested for COVID-19 twice upon arrival to campus and on a rolling basis throughout the semester. Temperature checks are conducted at entrances of various buildings.
After the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the cancellation of in-person campus tours and events, the Karsh building could no longer fulfill its intended purpose. But devoid of students and alumni, Karsh gained a new role, becoming a multifunctional empty space. In the past few months, the building has morphed from an early voting center in the 2020 election to a vaccination site for the Durham community.
For students coming back to Duke this spring after spending the fall away from campus, the return has been a moment of joyous relief, but also of ambivalence and adjustment.
I walk on, my eyes and fingers tracing the walls, which feel warm compared to the frozen sky, my mind wandering and wondering what I will see next, but certainly not anticipating this image that reminds me of mangled flesh—a jagged, convulsing mural of New York Times pages.
Against the odds of the COVID-19 pandemic, labor shortages and extreme weather, the 22 buildings of the second phase of Duke Kunshan’s campus have steadily risen out of an empty field.
While many students hope to work for national corporations during summer internships or after graduation, a few have the opportunity to learn new skills and build their resumes by representing big-name brands all year round. Duke’s campus brand ambassadors have a variety of duties, from creating social media posts and hosting events to partnering with student organizations.
Much has changed in the East Campus dining hall. Indoor seating is closed for students. Most tables and chairs are wrapped in caution tape. Stickers line the floor, indicating the direction students should travel and the six-foot distance they should keep while standing in line. Workers praised Duke's overall efforts to keep the virus spreading, but said they have been tested infrequently and questioned the decision to put a testing location in the same building.
Service-learning classes in which students interact directly with community members have changed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Still, even through a screen, the courses continue to connect Duke and Durham.
Facing a radically different semester in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Duke students chose to take a gap semester last fall.
Whether we acknowledge it or not, we all implicitly understand the clout involved with a big-name higher-education institution's degree.
