Opinion | Student Voices

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

A Black student's thoughts on affirmative action

By Sonia Green | 3 days ago

Some things are truly just out of our hands and fighting to end a policy that strives to even the playing field is not the way to regain control.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

The pitfalls of belonging

By Luke A. Powery | 5 days ago

The challenge we have as Dukies—or really as human beings—is how to belong but not divide.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Duke prides itself on its commitment to “interdisciplinarity,” but often its approach to doing so can be narrow-minded, and still operates on the mindset of using art to “humanize” or “popularize” STEM endeavors.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

A column about arches: how QuadEx has failed upperclassmen

By Heidi Smith | December 14, 2022

Here’s the funny thing, though: the housing changes brought about by QuadEx prevented me from continuing to live with this same group of friends I made as a freshman two years ago.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Do not be afraid

By Luke A. Powery | December 12, 2022

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, consider the example of Charlie Brown’s wise friend Linus.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Separate the art from the artist — a reflection of the ‘cancel culture’

By Sophie Ju | December 9, 2022

Cancel culture is concerned more with how we should disregard the artists and write them off when they make mistakes than on how those mistakes can be used by the artists to create art that is inclusive.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

A crying shame: conceal, don't feel

By Advikaa Anand | December 8, 2022

Instead of perceiving crying as a weapon against our ego, we must conceptualize it as a vehicle of vulnerability, one that allows us to form stronger connections with others by revealing an emblem of our shared humanity.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Let freedom ring from a fishbowl.

By Linda Cao | December 7, 2022

When people are dying, no longer from the virus but by the hands of their government, riots and mutiny are inevitable.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Goodbyes are hard, but they are the trade-off of life

By Chi Nghiem | December 5, 2022

It’s sad that people make acquaintances with goodbyes and have to proudly call it maturity.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

I can’t forget the Sandy Hook shooting

By Viktoria Wulff-Andersen | December 2, 2022

They worried that our school would be next.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Deciphering another code

By Valerie Tan | December 1, 2022

There are times when I worry that my genuine interest in a language that is so inextricably intertwined with popular culture might be disdained and misconstrued as the fanatical obsession of a “Koreaboo”, so much so that I shy away from opportunities to practice it with others.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Expecting the unexpected

By Luke A. Powery | November 29, 2022

Unmet expectations are a part of life no matter how old you are.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

No man is an island.

By Heidi Smith | November 29, 2022

It makes sense to make personally beneficial choices but moving through life without considering others not only harms others but will also come back to bite us in the butt when others don’t feel the need to be accountable to us.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

White lies

By Chloe Decker | November 28, 2022

We would all face immeasurable loss if the ivory gates of elite universities–like the one we ourselves attend–are once again distanced from students who have historically been barred from reaping their benefits.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

How low can you go before your head will blow?

By Monika Narain | November 28, 2022

This condition, coined by Duke researcher Peter B. Bennett, is called high pressure nervous syndrome (HPNS), and it’s a serious threat to recreational and professional divers.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Small town holiday: undoing prevailing myths about small town America

By Advikaa Anand | November 28, 2022

Our conceptions of small towns ooze through filters percolating for idealism, signaling a place so untouched by external corruption that we always wish to return.

OPINION | STUDENT VOICES COLUMNS

Create a personal ecology this finals season

By Pilar Kelly | November 22, 2022

The change we will make in the future is too important for us to be burnt out at 21.