‘My biggest takeaway has been always ending every day with a sense of gratitude.’
But I think throughout my time at Duke, I’ve also realized that there were a lot of people that I hadn’t gotten to know as well as I would have liked to … At Duke, you’re always learning academically, but you can also learn from your peers and from your friendships that you make here.
Alfonso-DeSouza: I think my biggest takeaway has been always ending every day with a sense of gratitude. I know that sounds really cliche, but when I came to Duke for the first time, it was during O-week, and I remember being on the C-1 seeing the Chapel for the first time. It was really just surreal moment for me to be, like, holy cow, yeah, I’m here, and this is my life now. I made a promise to myself that I would never kind of grow numb or naive to what a blessing it is to be a student here … And so, every day, whether it’s not a great day or a super awesome day, just being able to center yourself and remember that you’re living the life that you dreamt that you would.
Montes: Take advantage of how unique Duke is, and how unique every single person is, and all the stories that they bring with them, just because you never know what you’re going to find in common with somebody … [Make] sure that you take the time to meet as many people as possible and learn about their experiences and be able to form those long term connections. Because, ultimately, [those connections] are going to be with you for the rest of your life. So being very intentional about meeting all of those new people … and forming those friendships is something that is definitely one of the highlights. It’s something I’m 100% going to take from my four years here into my next school’s adventure.
Guide to upcoming commencement events
By Ananya Pinnamaneni University News Editor
Duke will award degrees to around 6,900 undergraduate, graduate and professional students at its commencement ceremony Sunday.
The commencement will begin at 9 a.m. in Wallace Wade Stadium. President Vincent Price will preside over the ceremony and former Duke men’s basketball player Grant Hill will deliver the commencement address. The event will also feature remarks from Trinity senior Danica Bajaj and Master of International Development Policy candidate Lucas Vaughan. The commencement is scheduled to conclude at 11 a.m. and will be followed by departmental gatherings and ceremonies.
In addition to honoring this year’s graduates, the ceremony marks the 100th anniversary of Duke’s first graduating class and the conclusion of Duke’s Centennial celebration.
The University will host two baccalaureate services at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Friday in the Duke Chapel. Guests can view the services on the large video screen in Page Auditorium and on the live stream through the Commencement website or the Duke Chapel YouTube channel. These multi-faith ceremonies will include prayers, music and readings from various religions. The ceremonies will also feature speeches from President Price, Dean of the Chapel Luke A. Powery, graduating students and faith leaders.
The Divinity School will hold a worship service, a hooding ceremony and a reception at 6:30 p.m. Saturday in the Duke Chapel. Overflow seating will be available in the 00 Westbrook Rooms in the Divinity School. This ceremony will include a sermon by a Divinity faculty member and a service of investiture where students receive their academic hoods.
The Fuqua School of Business will hold a certificate ceremony and reception for its Health Sector Management Certificate graduates from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Friday in the JB Duke Hotel. The commencement ceremony for the Master of Management Studies graduates will take place from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Cameron In-
door Stadium. Fuqua will also hold a commencement ceremony for its Global Executive Master of Business Administration, Weekend Executive MBA and Master of Quantitative Management graduates from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Fuqua will hold a commencement ceremony for its Daytime MBA graduates from 1 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the same location.
The Nicholas School will host a graduate program recognition ceremony and reception at 10 a.m. Friday in the B wing of the Love Auditorium and Hall of Science in the Levine Science Research Center. This will be followed by a professional programs recognition ceremony and reception at 4 p.m. in Wilson Recreation Center and Wilson Lawn. International Master of Environmental Policy graduates will join a celebration and reception from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday in Field Auditorium and Grainger Hall.
The Nicholas School will also hold an undergraduate recognition ceremony at 9 a.m. Saturday in Wilson Recreation Center and Wilson Lawn for students graduating with degrees in Environmental Sciences, Environmental Sciences & Policy, Earth and Ocean Sciences, Earth & Climates Sciences and Marine Science and Conservation.
The Pratt School of Engineering will host a diploma ceremony for undergraduate students at 2:45 p.m. Sunday in Cameron Indoor Stadium. The ceremony for doctoral graduates and luncheon will take place at 11 a.m. Friday in Schiciano Auditorium and the Ground Floor Atrium of Fitzpatrick Center.
The Sanford School of Public Policy will hold a hooding ceremony for master’s and doctoral graduates and a recognition ceremony for undergraduate Public Policy graduates Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
The School of Law’s convocation ceremony will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
By Staff Reports
2021-2022 First Year
The Class of 2025’s first year saw a near return to normalcy, sweeping changes to the housing system and an unforgettable basketball season.
The first day of classes was filled with excitement and anticipation as a fully-populated student body flooded quads and lecture halls for the first time in two years. This was short-lived — in response to over 300 undergraduates testing positive for COVID-19 in late August, Duke allowed professors to move classes back online for two weeks.
Student groups did their best to adjust to new safety protocols but found it difficult to plan recruitment. Non-Greek selective living groups were not given any new fall rush guidelines, while Duke Interfraternity Council recruitment was a hybrid of inperson and virtual events.
In mid-September, Duke announced QuadEx, a new residential system that links East and West Campus quads, to begin fall 2022. The goal of QuadEx is to emphasize a longer period of time for incoming students to build connections within their residential communities, but students had mixed opinions about this housing change.
The Class of 2020 reunited on campus for a weekend to celebrate a belated commencement, with Sabrina Maciariello, Trinity ‘20, as the student commencement speaker and Ken Jeong, Trinity ‘90, as the guest commencement speaker. The alumni received closure from the abrupt end to their college career two years ago.
And in early October, North Carolina held its primary elections, in which only 10.18% of registered voters in Durham County cast ballots in the primaries. Elaine O’Neal was elected as the first Black female Durham mayor in November, and in April, she delivered her first State of the City Address.
Duke Athletics saw major transitions in leadership in the summer and fall. In a surprise June announcement that rocked the sports world, now-former head coach Mike Krzyzewski revealed his plans to retire after the 2021-2022 season, with Jon Scheyer named head coach-in-waiting. Nina King took over for Kevin White as athletic director at the start of September, while longtime football head coach David Cutcliffe departed at the season’s end, making way for new head coach Mike Elko to
come to Durham.
Duke Athletics wasn’t the only area of the University to see changes in employment. In December, students and faculty protested against the changes to the Thompson Writing Program, in which renewable contracts will replace non-renewable lecturing fellowships as they expire. In February, the Duke University Press Workers Union won its election to unionize.
New faculty, programs and centers were also announced, with the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences concluding a cluster hire in Native American and Indigenous Studies in August. The Arts and Sciences Council approved the Asian American and Diaspora Studies minor in February. Duke announced in April that it would establish the Center for Gender Violence Prevention and Intervention in fall 2022.
The University saw some positive trends with Duke’s finances. Duke’s endowment returned nearly 56% in fiscal year 2021. Duke received an $11 million donation from an anonymous alumni family, the majority of the gift going towards the Sanford School of Public Policy. Duke also announced that it will be raising the minimum wage to $17 per hour for all eligible employees, with work-study positions rising to a minimum wage of $15 per hour.
Still, the year was not without unfavorable incidents, especially in dorms. Students reported theft and vandalism in Kilgo Quad laundry rooms, and Few Quad residents dealt with broken exit signs and multiple fires.
Duke also had its fair share of controversies. In January, former Duke doctoral student Matthew Harris sent a video referencing a mass shooting and an 800-page manifesto threatening members of the philosophy department at the University of California, Los Angeles. Duke was also one of 16 universities sued for alleged antitrust violations regarding unfairly limiting financial aid.
The Duke community mourned the losses of some of its members this year. Michael Ward, professor emeritus of political science, died in July. Sally McIntosh Ziegler, Trinity ‘56 and the first female editor-in-chief of The Chronicle, died in September. Professor of History Elizabeth Clark also died in September.
Sophomore Bryan Lopez died in December. Paul Farmer, Trinity ‘82, died in February.
In November, a person unaffiliated with Duke was found dead in a wooded area near Penn Pavilion.
In March, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian and Russian students reflected on how the war was affecting their lives in Durham and their families in their home countries.
Two Duke administrators announced their leave this year. Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh will retire this September and will be the National Basketball Association’s new President of Administration. Trinity College Dean Valerie Ashby will leave Duke in June and will begin her role as president of University of Maryland, Baltimore County in August.
And back to Duke Athletics — women’s basketball fell to Miami in the ACC tournament and ultimately missed out on the NCAA tournament in Head Coach Kara Lawson’s first full year, but Shayeann Day-Wilson won ACC Freshman of the Year. While women’s golf could not defend their ACC title, Phoebe Brinker and Erica Shepherd took first and second place in the championship individually. For the first time in a decade, Duke women’s tennis won the ACC Championship.
But of course, Duke men’s basketball was at the center of the college basketball universe this year. The Cameron Crazies were back in the stands and tenting in Krzyzewskiville.
The team won its first ACC regular-season championship since 2010 but could not fend off Carolina in Coach K’s last home game. The Blue Devils had a magical run in San Francisco, winning the West regional tournament, but lost again to Carolina in the Final Four in New Orleans, officially ending Krzyzewski’s career.
After an electric basketball season came the end of the semester, which was filled with festivities.
In the year’s student elections, undergraduate students chose junior Lana Gesinsky to be the next DSG president, replacing senior Christina Wang. Senior Kacia Anderson was elected to serve as undergraduate Young Trustee. And on the first in-person last day of classes in two years, students celebrated with a live concert featuring A$AP Ferg, Daya and Peach Tree Rascals.
Duke announces new QuadEx residential system
By Leah Boyd and Nadia Bey September 15, 2021
Duke will be rolling out a plan for a transition to a residential college system to begin fall 2022 over the next few days.
The plan is built around “a strong affiliation for students’ first-year homes and their sophomore year quad, with recruitment for Greek life and other selective living groups continuing in the fall of prospective recruits’ sophomore year,” according to an email obtained by The Chronicle from Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president of student affairs, Shruti Desai, associate vice president of student affairs for campus life and Chris Rossi, assistant vice president of student affairs.
The email states that the 2022-23 academic year will be the last year that selective living groups will have a dedicated residential section in campus housing.
“We are not ‘abolishing’ Greek life and have no plans to do so; we are, however, going to continue to emphasize a longer period of time in which incoming students focus on broadening their connections and affirmations within their residential communities,” the email reads.
The residential model will be centered around residential quads with their “own identity, traditions and social events,” similar to other private universities. “Initial implementation of some elements” is underway this semester, and the system will be fully operational in fall 2022.
First-years will continue to live on East, and beginning with the Class of 2025, one to two East Campus houses will be assigned to one of seven quads on West Campus. Students cannot pick their quads. This is similar to the automated linking system that was established
in spring 2020, but linking is now mandatory. The University will announce further details about linking this semester, according to the QuadEx FAQ.
Current first-years will learn their assigned quad in spring 2022, and the Class of 2026 and following classes will learn their assigned East Campus and West Campus residences prior to move-in.
Students will still be able to rush selective living groups and Greek organizations, but selective housing will be phased out after the 202223 academic year.
Senior Christina Wang, president of Duke Student Government, wrote that QuadEx “plans to preserve and foster the experience of LLCs, FOCUS groups, and academic-related groups.”
“Quads will offer belonging, friendship, and continuity in the transition from East to West Campus, throughout their time at Duke, and well after graduation,” the website reads.
Students are allowed to select their roommates and request to block with friends, but all members of a block must be in the same Quad.
Students will live in their assigned quad in sophomore year but will still “retain affiliation with their quads” if they choose to live elsewhere after their sophomore year. Approximately 125 beds will be reserved for upperclass students in each quad.
Juniors may live in their assigned quad or other upperclass housing on West, including Hollows Quad and 300 Swift. Seniors may live in any of these locations or off campus.
Wang wrote that the reason that Hollows isn’t part of the quad system is “a result of its different housing style (suite-style living).”
“Additionally, the goal of the Quad program is to build community in shared spaces such as the Gothics and more closely grouped
Quads, making the Hollows less ideal as a community-building space for sophomores/juniors,” Wang added.
Beginning in fall 2022, first-years will partake in a quad-based house course called “Duke-Durham 101,” which aims to prepare students for “good citizenship” at the University and in the surrounding community. Sophomores will participate in “Sophomore Spark,” which will provide academic and career programming and alumni networking opportunities.
Quads will also be assigned Faculty Affiliates, who will provide mentorship and support quad traditions without the residential component.
The planning for QuadEx began in 2018 with the launch of the Next Generation Living and Learning Experience task force, according to its FAQ page. Recommendations made by the second iteration of the committee shaped the current model, which will be rolled out at a later date as the University works out some of the logistics.
McMahon told The Chronicle Tuesday that Duke is still working through more logistics of QuadEx. She estimates that they will formally roll out the full plan the last week of September.
Why the change?
Senior Ysanne Spence, president of Duke University Union, wrote that Duke has been a “near-explosion of selectivity, gate-keeping and imposter syndrome” in her experience. To Spence, QuadEx is an opportunity to “take the guess work” out of the social scene at Duke.
“Coupled with the fact that students just got accepted into an institution with a 4% acceptance rate, students are then thrusted into applications and gate-keeping of social and professional events and developments,” she wrote.
By Jake Piazza
February 1, 2022
‘Community is unparalleled’
Students move into K-Ville for first tenting season since before pandemic
Droves of Duke fans shuffle to Cameron Indoor Stadium on a recent Tuesday night to watch their Blue Devils take on Clemson.
Everything is nearly identical to all the other home games from this season. Line monitors’ bull horns ring, students show off their homemade signs to friends and the pregame line gradually grows as everyone scurries toward the walkway alongside the Wilson Recreation Center.
But something gives Krzyzewskiville a different look. Probably the 200+ tents filling up every square foot of grass.
Normally students hang out on the grassy quads prior to the games doing everything from painting faces to making hype videos on the Duke University Students’ Instagram page. But there wasn’t much space to do that starting Jan. 23, when the annual tradition of tenting returned after the pandemic forced its cancelation in the 2020-21 season.
Students were ready for it to be back.
“Tenting is just very special. You’ll meet so many new people. The community is unparalleled,” said senior Nitin Subramanian, who also tented his freshman and sophomore years. “Last night, I hung out with 10 people I’ve never met before at Duke.”
The return of Krzyzewskiville
It did not always look like tenting would get to make its return during the 2021-22 season. Over Duke’s winter break Dec. 23, the University canceled the normal Black tenting period (the longest one) due to concerns over the Omicron variant, with plans for students to set up camp for Blue tenting (the shorter phase with less required people in tents) starting Jan. 16. Weeks later, the University pushed back the tenting start date again as it decided to also hold classes online until Jan. 18. After much anticipation, the University gave tenting the go-ahead Jan. 13, with the plan for the infamous entry test to be Jan. 19 and Blue tenting to begin Jan. 23.
“I was pretty upset when we got the first email about Black tenting being canceled and then when it got pushed back again that also wasn’t great,” junior Elizabeth Wise said. “We were worried that it wasn’t gonna happen or something but I was like: ‘Stop saying that, we need to make it happen, don’t jinx it.’”
Wise’s group and 169 others had their wish granted. Roughly one-third of the undergraduate student body huddled in Cameron Indoor Stadium to take the test, and the 70 top scores emerged victorious — with real estate in Krzyzewskiville as their reward. Additionally, the setup process was different this year to adjust for the Omicron surge. Instead of each group having one large tent with all the members sleeping in it, there is a rule of two people per tent. That makes living arrangements a little difficult with the six-person nightly requirement in Krzyzewskiville
during Blue tenting, but Duke Athletics provided two additional tents to each group.
“I think it’s definitely more of a hassle just because it’s more setup, more tarps, more stakes you got to put down but I think it’s definitely more comfortable in terms of the living situation,” Subramanian said.
After a full day of hammering stakes, laying out pallets and propping up tents, Krzyzewskiville was back to its former glory by nightfall of Jan. 23.
‘This is actually my school’
For the hundreds of students braving the cold until the March 5 North Carolina game, it’s all worth it, especially after a year of being “Cameron-deprived” as senior Sunrita Gupta called it.
Gupta values the skills that she’s learned from tenting. Negotiating pallet prices with local businesses, setting up a tent and collaborating with teammates are all things she’s picked up.
“This has taught me a lot more than a lot of other extracurriculars I’ve been in,” Gupta said. “I think that this is a super worthwhile experience as long as you’re good about the time management and are willing to sacrifice some other things for it.”
For others, tenting was just written in their future since birth.
“There’s photos of me wearing Duke gear at like three months old so it was always gonna happen,” sophomore Thomsen Hoops said. “I’ve loved Duke basketball since I was a little kid.”
Hoops’ tenting teammate, sophomore Skylar Brogan, knew she wanted to tent after she watched a documentary on the Cameron Crazies and the rivalry while she was applying to colleges. She knew she had to be one of the fans in the stands painted blue.
“When I was interviewing [during the college application process], I was like: ‘I want to go to Duke because I want to paint myself blue.’”
Regardless of what people’s biggest takeaway from tenting is, many students circled back to the feeling of community that tenting in Krzyzewskiville creates.
Wise is the proud team captain of “Keels Kave” and she’s enjoyed being in a tent with her friends from various social groups. Gupta is a part-time student this semester and being in “K-Watch” (like the 2017 remake of Baywatch) has kept her connected to campus.
“It’s so cool to walk around campus, see the players around, actually be friends with some of them and be like: ‘Oh this is actually my school,’” freshman Amy Fulton said. “I feel such a sense of commitment to the team now, I gotta be there. I gotta support my boys.”
As much time and effort as tenting in Krzyzewskiville takes, the students know how to have fun while doing it.
Fulton and her group hung inflatable fish, crabs and strings of fish lights across their tent’s entryway to go along with its “Margaritaville” name. Wise and her friend adopted Mardell the stuffed dinosaur, a name the two of them made up because Wise’s favorite player is Mark Williams and her friend’s favorite is Wendell Moore Jr. Looking across Krzyzewskiville, a lot of the students in the tents weren’t even on campus the last time tenting took place. This season is different than any other with the raised stakes that Coach K’s last year puts on it. Only four of the players on this team’s roster had even known what it was like to play in a packed Cameron Indoor Stadium before this year.
But that defining characteristic of the students who pack Cameron Indoor Stadium is the same as it always was.
“We’re still crazy,” Wise said.
The story of a bittersweet first day of classes
By Alison Korn, Milla Surjadi and Katie Tan
August 14, 2021
Abele Quad, 7:30 a.m.
Abele Quad was empty on Monday morning, but within the dorms, thousands of students were waking up and preparing for their first day of class, ready to breathe life into a campus that had been under strict pandemic restrictions for almost two years.
A door in Craven Quad swung open, revealing several residential assistants carrying foldable tables, boxes of food and crates of juice to set up breakfast for their residents. Students gradually formed a line to get their share of Bojangles biscuits and Krispy Kreme donuts.
Sophomore Luis Graterol grabbed a biscuit on his way to his first class of the day, a differential equations course. He was grateful that Duke is hosting in-person events like the breakfast.
“Last year was kind of like a half year in terms of the amount of stuff we could do,” Graterol said. “So seeing all these people outside and having a good time is a different experience.”
Graterol took a bite out of his biscuit. “Wait, I thought I got egg and cheese! Why is there bacon?” he said. Confused, he checked the label. “Oh, well, I just can’t read. This semester is going to go great,” he joked.
But in all seriousness, Graterol said he’s ready for this semester. “I’m ready to go into whatever’s happening,” he said.
Brodhead Center, 12:30 p.m.
Lines of hungry students packed the Brodhead Center as the building hummed with the sounds of chattering students and
clinking silverware. Aside from people wearing masks, this lunchtime scene felt close to normal.
Upstairs on the second floor, several Duke Kunshan University juniors sat around fluffy gray couches, enjoying their meal. Junior Aryaman Babber said he feels more like a first-year at Duke than a junior.
“We don’t know where anything is!” he said.
Junior Jingcheng Wu nodded.
“I was looking for my classroom yesterday, and I actually ran into a bunch of [first-years]. They also thought I was a [first-year] because I was looking for the class,” Wu said.
Just outside the Brodhead Center, Duke Student Government President Christina Wang and Duke University Union President Ysanne Spence, both seniors, chatted with first-years they had befriended through Project BUILD.
Wang called this FDOC “bittersweet.”
“It’s their first, our last,” she said. “It’s nice seeing everyone back on campus. It feels almost like a normal FDOC.”
East Campus, 12:30 p.m.
Over at East Union, students trickled in and out for COVID-19 tests. In the lobby, a photo booth for the first day of classes featured a blue backdrop embellished with Duke logos. Props lined a black table — glitter fedora hats, pom poms and a foam sign.
Downstairs in Trinity Cafe, employee Renata Spain-Steele agreed with Wellman’s assessment of the first-years.
“They seem to be a little more at ease [than the Class of 2024 was] with most of the restrictions lifted,” she said.
For Spain-Steele, the day was busy, but she didn’t mind. After a slow summer, she welcomed the fast pace and new faces.
Taking care of first-years means explaining to them how equivalency works, telling them, politely, that there can only be four people at a table and offering them her support.
“Some [first-years] have told me that they cried when their parents left, and I try to reassure them that everyone here is nice and if they have any problems or questions, just come to us,” she said.
Bryan Center Plaza, 2:15 p.m
In the humidity of the afternoon, the Bryan Center Plaza was packed with students doing work and eating a late lunch.
Seniors Kaela Basmajian and Jonathan Suna sat at a green table laughing with each other and enjoying Tandoor and Sazón between their classes. But getting their food had not been easy.
“[The Brodhead Center] was just a disaster,” Suna said. “I’ve never seen a line that long in my entire life. I made friends in line, the line was so long. But it was fun.”
Basmajian and Suna were people watching from their spot on the plaza. Basmajian said that they’ve seen a lot of friends so far, including a group of guys in black graduation robes walking around while making noise.
“We think it might have been a secret society,” Suna said. “They were doing weird arm things.”
“They didn’t talk to us, they just screamed randomly,” Basmajian said. “We didn’t really know what was going on, we just enjoyed the show.”
Editor’s note: This story has been edited and condensed for print.
Aaron Zhao
Revisiting student perceptions of QuadEx, one year later
By Alison Korn and Madeleine Berger April 21, 2023
As QuadEx’s inaugural year comes to an end, The Chronicle returned to the students who shared their initial reactions to the new residential living system with us in 2021.
The articles, titled “‘We haven’t gotten the chance to develop a so-called Duke norm’: Students talk new QuadEx system,” and “‘People should have a choice of the identity that they want to create here’: How first-year students feel about QuadEx,” were published days after The Chronicle reported that Duke would be rolling out QuadEx. At the time, many first-years felt overwhelmed about being thrown into a new system. Upperclassmen pointed out its restricting features and questioned the draw of quad events, but identified QuadEx’s potential to build a more inclusive Duke community.
This year, though students’ thoughts on QuadEx as a system varied, they still tended to agree on the fact that it was restricting specific groups, such as non-Greek selective living groups, from finding community on campus. They also pointed out a lack of tangible change in students’ social habits despite the increased presence of quad-related events.
Sophomore Vibhav Nandagiri expressed uncertainty about QuadEx last year.
“It’s definitely a lot of pressure to be the first class to get these quad communities going. Whether we will embrace that challenge or not is yet to be seen,” Nandagiri said in 2021. “People should have a choice of the identity that they want to create here. It seems like those choices are disappearing.”
Now, as Nandagiri reflects on his first two years at Duke, he has valued joining the selective living group Roundtable in addition to forming close friendships within his Keohane Quad, for which he serves on Quad Council.
“I’m very close with the people in my block, and I generally like them, so I guess in a way, if it weren’t for QuadEx, we wouldn’t have
‘I just don’t think there is enough momentum to really foster that sense of belonging to a dorm just yet.’
been together,” Nandagiri said. “So I think it’s fortunate, but I know that my case is definitely not in the majority.”
The Classes of 2023 and 2024 experienced the University’s transition to QuadEx more indirectly, as their first-year dorms were not tied to their sophomore-year living arrangements. However, sophomores last year still spoke about their opinions on QuadEx.
Last year, junior Jack Dugoni, who did not live on East Campus as a first-year due to COVID-19 policies, said, “My first question would be, who did they talk to about this, and where did it come from? … I think that the idea of sticking you with people that you’re pretty much randomly assigned to seems slightly problematic.”
He still feels that the first-year experience varies greatly from person to person, making it difficult to argue that QuadEx would be universally beneficial.
“I think it’ll definitely vary across campus in terms of people that are really satisfied with what they end up with and who they live with. But I think there’s also gonna be a good healthy chunk of people that are not,” Dugoni said recently. “I think it’s a little bit tricky to assume that people are just going to buy into it, that it’s going to work well for everyone.”
As a member of the selective living group Wayne Manor, Dugoni last year said, “I think SLGs should definitely be able to have blocks on campus. That’s kind of what makes them ‘SLGs’ instead of just ‘SGs.’”
He still stands by that, noting that he dislikes the way QuadEx has pushed back on the existence of SLGs, and hopes that two systems can co-exist.
“It’s tricky to justify how SLGs could continue to exist at the same time as QuadEx is taking shape. So I wish that would change. I wish they could somehow do both. But if you can’t provide a living space, at least support their existence because it’s not like you could just wipe SLGs away,” Dugoni said.
Junior Amanda He, who rushed Maxwell House as a sophomore, said in the 2021 article that she was “curious if Duke is trying to slowly do away with SLGs, and Greek life as a byproduct.” However, she did not think they would ever be phased out due to the fact that “Greek life is a big enough community … that it’ll still be here for years and years as long as Duke is allowing it to persist.”
Now, however, she has a slightly more “disheartening” view of the future of SLGs specifically, predicting that in a few years, SLGs will be “completely wiped” and Greek Life will continue to persist.
She agrees with her statement in the 2021 article that Greek life will continue to thrive due to both its current existence as a large community and the fact that students who would have rushed for SLGs will now look to sororities and fraternities for community. However, she foresees a few dangers that might come with restricting SLGs on campus.
“It’s even more harmful to people with specific identities, like those who are LGBTQ+. Those communities will definitely be affected because some of the SLGs on campus have particularly made efforts to welcome those identities,” he said.
DUKE LIFTS CLASSROOM MASK MANDATE
By Milla Surjadi, Kathryn Thomas and Adway Wadekar September 16, 2022
After two years of requiring masks in classrooms, Duke announced that the classroom mask mandate will be lifted next Thursday, Sept. 22. Unvaccinated individuals will also no longer be required to wear masks indoors.
By then, Durham’s community level will have been below the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s high-risk category for two consecutive weeks, allowing Duke to “take this next step towards more normalcy on campus and in classrooms,” according to a Friday email sent to the Duke community from Provost Sally Kornbluth and Russell Thompson, interim vice president of operations and emergency coordinator.
Faculty members will be allowed to request that students continue to wear masks in their individual classrooms and “should clearly communicate those expectations to the class” if they wish to do so, the email read.
“Medical experts caution that we are not out of this pandemic yet, and we can expect ongoing variants to emerge that may prove more elusive to vaccines and antibodies and could lead to increases in severe illness and hospitalizations,” the Friday email read. “If so, we must be ready to embrace a return to familiar restrictions and requirements, including indoor masking, that have proven effective in safeguarding our community.”
Professors and students react
Although masks are no longer required in classrooms, some professors are still requiring students to wear them, citing health risks due to their age, while others are taking a middle ground.
Berndt Mueller, James B. Duke distinguished professor of physics, is still requiring masks in Physics 142L, General Physics II. A major consideration for him is that he, along with another instructor teaching the class alongside him, are over the age of 65.
“We [are in] the vulnerable age bracket and although we are vaccinated and boosted, we feel it’s an unnecessary risk because quite a few students in our class have come down with COVID,” Mueller said. “So the best thing we can do under these circumstances is that everybody wears masks.”
Campbell Harvey, J. Paul Sticht distinguished professor of international business in the Fuqua School of Business, has been outspoken in the past about the University’s policies regarding COVID-19. In September’s Academic Council meeting, Harvey expressed concern about the accuracy of Duke’s COVID-19 testing data. He has previously advocated for the use of higher-quality KN95 masks in classrooms and long-term solutions like upgrading air filtration systems in classrooms.
But now that Durham is no longer in the high-risk category, Harvey said that he would choose not to mandate masks in class if he were teaching this semester because it makes in-class communication and forming connections with students a lot easier.
Harvey said that he was recently at a conference where a former student approached him. He didn’t recognize who the student was because it was the first time he saw the student without a mask.
“It is very hard to have that kind of personal interaction when you’re looking at eyes,” Harvey said. “I much prefer teaching when people can actually see me rather than just my eyes.”
In Computer Science 230, Discrete Math for Computer Science, Bruce Donald, James B. Duke distinguished professor of computer science, is taking a middle ground. His policy balances the in-class experience of students with health and safety concerns.
Although students must still wear a mask in class, they are welcome to remove it when asking a question because it’s easier to see and hear them, according to Donald. He also allows his
students to remove their masks to eat or drink in class.
Donald wrote in an email to The Chronicle that he will “generally remove [his] mask to make it easier for [students] to see and understand [him] while lecturing.”
“Personally, this is the first time I have taught without a mask in nearly two years so I do find that invigorating,” he wrote.
Harvey said that he understood that “different faculty [members] are in different positions” with their masking policies, due to their age and risk for COVID-19. If Durham were to return to the high-risk category, he would also require students to wear a high-quality mask in classrooms if the policy doesn’t shift back.
He also added that given the six-week length of courses at the Fuqua School of Business where he teaches, it makes sense that professors want to mitigate their risk of missing class due to isolating from COVID-19.
“At the business school, our courses are six weeks long. So if you’re out for a week, or a week and a half, that’s a huge chunk of the course gone,” he said.
Mueller felt similarly about his class, which has both a lecture and a discussion component.
“In a physics class of that type, if you miss two lectures, and maybe one discussion session, you are seriously behind,” he said.
Mueller added that while what students do outside of the classroom is outside of his control, his goal is to “deliver the best and safest service to the students.”
Senior Zach Furie took a contrary view and said that he wasn’t sure how effective the classroom mask requirement was in mitigating the spread of COVID-19 among students, but also understood why professors may choose to implement a policy to protect themselves.
“It seems a little silly to force people to wear masks in lectures while everyone knows that people are going to go to different parties later that night, while we’re all triply vaccinated,” senior Senior Ronan Tegerdine wrote in a message to The Chronicle.
Katie Tan
Non-Greek selective living groups held a non-recruitment open house Sept 4 after administrators banned SLG recruitment events.
By Staff Reports
2023-2024 Junior Year
The Class of 2025’s junior year saw Duke celebrating its 100th year, demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war and the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision to strike affirmative action in higher-education.
Duke rose to No. 7 in the U.S. News and World Report’s Best National Colleges Ranking, the highest in the University’s history. During the admissions cycle, Duke saw a 28% increase in Early Decision applicants and accepted a record low 12.9%. In the Regular Decision round, Duke admitted another record low 4.1% of applicants, resulting in an overall acceptance rate of 5.1% for the Class of 2028.
In January, Duke kicked off its centennial celebrations in Cameron Indoor Stadium, hosting student dance groups, former men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and actor Ken Jeong, Trinity ‘90. The University also received a $100 million award from the Duke Endowment, which will be used to provide financial aid for students from the Carolinas and underrepresented backgrounds; to increase student support, community engagement and experiential learning initiatives; and to remodel the Reuben-Cooke building. The award is the single largest in Duke’s history.
Following the Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel, protests erupted on college campuses across the country. At Duke, pro-Israel vigils honored the victims of the attacks and demanded a return of the hostages. Meanwhile, pro-Palestinian protesters also demanded that Duke call for a cease-fire and that it divest from its holdings in Israel. In an effort to encourage civil discourse, Provost Alec Gallimore launched the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East, a year-long initiative hosting an array of experts to discuss the conflict in the region.
In November, Durham County hosted its municipal general election, which decided Durham’s mayor, Leonardo Williams, and three new City Council members: Javiera Caballero, Nate Baker and Carl Rist. Williams gave his inaugural State of City address in April, emphasizing the importance of investing in education in Durham. In the March 5 primary election, Durham voters set up a gubernatorial race between Democrat Josh Stein and Republican Mark Robinson. Former president Donald Trump came out victorious over Nikki Haley after both candidates campaigned in North Carolina ahead of Super Tuesday.
Duke made national headlines in September after a New York Times Magazine article named Duke among the ‘least economically diverse’ of the elite colleges. In response to the article, President Vincent Price characterized the article as portraying the University
“in a rather harsh light.” However, students resoundingly agreed with the article’s findings.
The University received national backlash again after it announced plans to close its herbarium after over 100 years of operations. According to Duke biology professors, the decision holds serious implications for research in climate change and biodiversity.
Following the Supreme Court’s June 2023 ruling ending racebased affirmative action, the University announced the end of the Reginaldo Howard Memorial Scholarship Program, a fullride scholarship for select Black students. The scholarship will be replaced with the Reginaldo Howard Leadership Program and will be open to all undergraduate students, regardless of race.
The University also faced a number of lawsuits, ranging from allegations that the Alice M. Baldwin Scholars program engaged in “reverse discrimination” to a class-action lawsuit charging the University with practicing need-aware admissions, which it settled by paying $24 million.
Duke Football had a whirlwind of a season this year. Students rushed the field in excitement after the team upset No. 9 Clemson during its season opener at Wade Wallace Stadium, the squad rose to an all-time high No. 16 in the AP Poll and College Gameday came to Duke’s matchup against Notre Dame where students watched the beginning of the end of the Elko Era. After an end-of-game injury for junior quarterback Riley Leonard, the season hit a downward spiral, as a number of players entered the transfer portal following coach Mike Elko’s surprise departure to Texas A&M. Incoming coach Manny Diaz marks a new era of Duke football.
Duke men’s basketball had a season of ups and downs, dropping from its No. 2 preseason ranking after an early loss to the No. 12 Arizona Wildcats. The team eventually found its groove, yet still fell to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill during both match-ups at the Dean E. Smith Center and Cameron Indoor Stadium. Throughout the season, freshman guard Jared McCain dominated both on the court with his stellar 3-point shooting performance and off the court with his TikTok dances — most notably to “2 Days Into College” by Aimee Carty. With the top-ranked recruiting class, the team also experienced a transfer craze, with only two starters remaining on next year’s roster.
The Cameron Crazies experienced changes to tenting in Krzyzewskiville this year with the implementation of a Wellness Week and a decision to raise the “grace” temperature from 25 F to 32 F. The policy changes were made in response to complaints from last year’s tenters that tenting was “too mentally and physically overwhelming.”
Duke women’s basketball also experienced an electric season,
dancing its way past No. 7 Ohio State in the Elite Eight to earn a spot in the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2018. Duke softball also had itself a season, climbing to No. 1 for the first time in program history in April. Duke field hockey found its way to the Final Four in its Cinderella season, falling in a heartbreaker to Northwestern.
Divestment was a hot topic on campus this year. Climateconscious students built on a decade-long campaign to get the University to divest from fossil fuels, holding multiple demonstrations and publishing a report about fossil fuel-funded research at Duke. The Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility published a report in February recommending Price and the Board of Trustees against divestment.
The Duke community also mourned the loss of some of its this year. Angela Risi, a second-year master of fine arts student, died in October. Hans Joris Van Miegroet, professor of art and art history, died in February. Joseph Izatt, chair of the department of biomedical engineering and Michael J. Fitzpatrick professor of engineering, died in April.
After plans to revise the Trinity curriculum beginning in February 2022, the Arts & Sciences Council approved a new curriculum in April to take effect in fall 2025. The new curriculum places a greater emphasis on the humanities amidst declines in humanities enrollment nationwide.
The Mary Lou Center for Black Culture reopened in March following a nearly 18-month closure after a burst chilled pipe in the Flowers Building forced the center to relocate to the Bryan Center. The reopening was originally slated to occur in fall 2023, yet was delayed to spring 2024 due to delays in constructions.
Duke continued its construction efforts, announcing plans to begin a two-year renovation of Lilly Library. Renovations were initially slated to start in 2020, but were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Another one of Duke’s East Campus facilities was also shut down indefinitely, this time due to lead dust being detected in various parts of the Brodie Recreation Center. The University notified 2,800 people who had entered the facility when the lead dust was exposed.
In this year’s student elections, junior Heather Raslan pulled out victorious in a field of three candidates vying for Duke Student Government president, replacing senior Isaiah Hamilton. Senior Drew Greene was selected as the undergraduate Young Trustee.
On the last day of classes, students celebrated their achievements with a live concert headlined by Swae Lee and performances by Weston Estate and Elley Duhé.
Arts & Sciences Council passes new Trinity curriculum
By Rebecca Fan April 4, 2023
Arts & Sciences Council passed a new Trinity curriculum in its Thursday meeting, meaning it will come into effect for incoming students starting fall 2025.
The curriculum, which passed in a 32-1 vote, creates new general education requirements for Trinity students at Duke that incorporate a greater focus on the humanities and a new first-year program that links together three courses by topic.
“I’m really excited that this new curriculum is going to double down on the arts and humanities,” Dean of Trinity College Gary Bennett said. “I’m pretty confident that that’s the ball our students need right now.”
The current Trinity undergraduate curriculum was created in 2000, with minor changes made in 2004. Duke’s last attempt at a curriculum update in 2017 failed to reach a consensus.
The current push to revise the curriculum began in February 2022 with the creation of the Trinity Curriculum Development Committee after then-Provost Sally Kornbluth and then-Dean of Trinity College Valerie Ashby charged the Council with renewing the curriculum.
The TCDC first proposed the new curriculum in January 2024. After council members provided feedback, a new proposal was presented in March.
The new curriculum will replace the current six Modes of Inquiry and five Areas of Knowledge requirements with six new categories, including Creating and Engaging with Art (CE), Humanistic Inquiry (HI), Interpreting Institutions, Justice and Power (IJ), Investigating the Natural World (NW), Quantitative and Computational Reasoning (QC) and Social and Behavioral Analysis (SB). Students will complete two courses in each of the six categories to fulfill their graduation requirements.
The new categories will place a greater emphasis on the arts and humanities in the Trinity undergraduate curriculum, as the current Arts, Literature & Performance requirement is split into CE and HE. The other new categories closely resemble the current other four Areas of Knowledge requirements.
According to the 2024 Curriculum Proposal, the current Trinity model invites “gamification,” with “students naturally seek[ing] out courses that count toward more curricular codes, and faculty are incentivized to request as many codes as possible for their courses.”
The new proposal seeks to mitigate this problem by scrapping the Modes of Inquiry and creating “century courses” that allow Trinity students to fulfill two required courses with a single century course for up to two of the six general education categories. These courses are intended to incentivize students to take high-quality and engaging
courses instead of hunting for classes that fulfill the highest number of graduation requirements.
“Really what [the students] need is slow learning. They need reflection, they need consideration,” Bennett said. “They need deliberation, they need to be confronted by the notion that the greatest ideas of our time have been wrestled by some of the greatest minds of our time for centuries, without resolution.”
The first-year experience and course requirements will also be impacted by the introduction of “Constellations,” a set of three interconnected courses that explore a topic from multiple perspectives. The courses include one first-year writing course and two other courses. At least one of the non-writing courses must be taken in the first semester, and at least one must involve small-group learning.
The new Constellation courses focus on the importance of building connections, encouraging curiosity and promoting epistemic humility. The program will encourage the formation of “cohorts” during the first-year experience to help ease students’ transition into college.
The new curriculum also requires all students to take at least two foreign language courses, doing away with students’ current ability to take one 300-level or higher language course to fulfill the requirement. Such drastic changes to the Trinity curriculum will require
DUKE KICKS OFF CENTENNIAL CELEBRATIONS
By Jazper Lu and Mia Penner January 9, 2024
Thousands of Duke community members packed into Cameron Indoor Stadium Tuesday for Duke’s centennial celebration, commemorating 100 years since Trinity College became Duke University.
The event was hosted by actor and comedian Ken Jeong, Trinity ‘90, Lisa Borders, former president of the Women’s National Basketball Association and Trinity ‘79, and former men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski. It also featured performances from student dance groups and appearances by select Duke community members.
With giant video screens displaying “1924” and “2024” in the background, the show kicked off with short performances from On Tap, Nakisai, Dhamaka, Street Med, Duke Chinese Dance and Devils en Pointe. A succession of videos and speakers followed, highlighting various stories that celebrated many of Duke’s achievements.
Jeong took the stage first, crediting Duke with his decision to become an actor after taking an introductory acting course in his sophomore year.
“Being at Duke gives you opportunities you never thought you’d have,” he said. “It honestly made me who I am. Duke is home.”
Jeong joked that another “Ken-tennial” celebration would be held next week, earning laughter from the crowd. After a short introductory video showing shots of Duke throughout its history, including a segment showing the office of The Chronicle, Borders reminded the crowd that “we are all part of Duke’s future.”
“Duke is a place where each of us has the opportunity to make our own mark to be ourselves and to make an impact,” she said. “ ... Making an impact doesn’t always mean making a splash, like a lot of impacts, it starts out small.”
Borders proceeded to show a short video highlighting the stories of senior Isaiah Hamilton, president of Duke Student Government, and Keanu Valibia, a master’s student studying public policy and environmental management. Hamilton and Valibia then shared the stage with Borders.
‘Being at Duke gives you opportunities you never thought you’d have. It honestly made me who I am. Duke is home.’
Hamilton spoke about his and his classmates’ experiences navigating the uncertainty of the pandemic.
“It was the ability that we had to learn to embrace that unknown and persevere through those tough times that I think is going to be surmounting any other lesson,” he said.
A second video featured Anna Gassman-Pines, director of graduate studies in the Sanford School of Public Policy and professor of psychology and neuroscience, along with Felipe De Brigard, Fuchsberg-Levine Family associate professor of philosophy. After they both joined Borders on the stage, Gassman-Pines and Brigard spoke about how Duke’s fostering of interdisciplinary scholarship helped further their research.
“I’m a philosophy professor that works in the psychology and the clunky neuroscience of memory and forgiveness with a research project that has potential feedback for public policy,” Brigard said. “I need a place like Duke because I need a place that values and fosters both the philosophy and the science.”
The next video subject and stage guest was Shree Bose, School of Medicine ‘23. While she is currently pursuing her medical residency at the University of Chicago, Bose claimed that Duke remains a large part of her identity.
“Duke is where you grow up,” she said. “It’s where you find your best friends. It’s where you find your mentors. It’s where you figure out what matters to you, what really makes you who you are.”
Another video then recounted the journey of director of residential dining Barbara Stokes, who first came to Duke as an undergraduate student and held a work-study job as an egg cook. Stokes spoke to the crowd about developing her employees personally and professionally by listening to and understanding their “concerns and needs.”
The final video featured the Sinnamon Family, whose twoyear-old son Easton was the first person to receive a combination heart transplant and allogeneic processed thymus tissue implantation. The video chronicled how Joseph Turek, chief of pediatric cardiac surgery and Mary Louise Markert, professor emeritus of pediatrics, collaborated to pioneer the historic operation at Duke University Hospital.
Following a brief choir and dance performance, the Sinnamon family was brought out to a standing ovation. Jeong then brought out President Vincent Price, who said he was “incredibly moved” by the speakers before him.
“Our Centennial is a gift to us,” he said. “It’s a chance to pause and reflect on our past. It’s an opportunity to appreciate the present and to plan for the future.”
Krzyzewski, the final speaker, spoke about the values that embody Duke, telling a story about a play made by former Duke men’s basketball player Grayson Allen in the 2015 men’s basketball championship game. Krzyzewski described how, despite being the eighth player on the roster, Allen had the courage to dive for a loose ball and draw a foul in front of millions of people. Allen then screamed “Let’s go!”, which shifted the momentum to favor Duke and helped secure the team’s most recent national championship.
“No one knew that we were going to be as good as we were,” Krzyzewski said. “The thing is, they have no clue about how much better we’re going to be.”
As the event came to a close, the featured performers and speakers returned to the court, accompanied by the cheerleading team and the
‘Wealth is ubiquitous’
Students react to NYT article naming Duke as among ‘least economically diverse’ elite colleges
By Abby Spiller
September 14, 2023
Following a Sept. 7 article in the New York Times Magazine that described Duke as falling substantially behind peer universities in socioeconomic diversity, several students resoundingly agreed with the article’s findings but remained uncertain on whether it will push the University to increase socioeconomic diversity in future student bodies.
The article, which described Duke as the “exception to the exception” among top-ranked universities, cited a July research study published by Opportunity Insights, a nonprofit organization run by Harvard economist Raj Chetty, which stated that only 12% of Duke students in “recent years” were Pell Grant eligible.
President Vincent Price wrote in a message responding to the article that 17% of the Class of 2027 is Pell Grant-eligible, and that the University remains “firmly committed to building on our recent recruitment efforts.”
However, sophomore Caroline Joo said that although Duke promotes racial and ethnic diversity, she has yet to meet many students who are on financial aid. Even among students she knows who are on financial aid, Joo does not believe that she has met anyone in the bottom 50th percentile of household income.
“I definitely agree with the sentiment that wealth is ubiquitous on Duke’s campus,” sophomore Carly Pyles said. “As a student and child of a faculty member at a private high school in Brooklyn, I thought I had already been exposed to the highest levels of affluence. In my opinion, Duke is at a whole new level.”
Beyond the numbers, some students believe the socioeconomic divide is most evident in the social scene.
For junior Anjali Kapadia, socioeconomic disparities on campus are most apparent across dominant extracurricular activities, including Greek Life, club sports and other selective groups where students are required to pay dues to participate. These barriers to entry, she said, emphasize the lack of accessibility on campus for low-income students.
Junior Victoria Ely, a first-generation student, pointed out a dilemma many first-generation students at Duke feel upon joining the campus community.
“You want to be involved, and you want to feel like a normal Duke student, but there are just so many obstacles to doing so,” she said. “Yes, I got in. But what happens after?”
In navigating her time at Duke, Ely said that the Duke Low-Income First-Generation Engagement office has helped positively shape her experience. Older Duke LIFE students gave Ely and other incoming Duke LIFE students tips on how to navigate Duke’s expensive social life, which they would have otherwise not known.
Kapadia and Joo said, aside from Duke LIFE, they are unaware of the resources available for low-income students at Duke.
“Even just the very small things that happen, I just feel that, not necessarily personal attacks to low-income students, but you’re really just trying to make it so much harder,” Ely said. She added that the replacement of Panda Express, which students viewed as one of the
few affordable on-campus dining options, further limits food choices for low-income students.
Despite a desire to see change, Kapadia and Joo emphasized the concept of Duke as a “business” that seeks to maximize its profits. They are unsure of whether the administration is both willing and able to truly increase socioeconomic diversity.
“One thing the Times article said is how if [Duke] increased to 25% of Pell Grant recipients, [Duke] would end up losing around $10 million per year in tuition money,” Kapadia said.
Despite optimism from University administration, Kapadia said she is not surprised that progress continues to be stagnant. Students must make persistent efforts to ensure that the administration actually keeps their word, she added.
Ely noted that after the release of the New York Times Magazine’s article, she felt like the focus shifted to the “optics of admitting more lower-class students.” However, she notes that there “also has to be a focus on what you do [to help] those students.”
“We are at the worst of the elite, but in [the] aggregate, everyone needs to be better … I think what Duke could take this as is a chance to be the best,” Kapadia said. “I think we will all look back as a university and be like, ‘Wow, we should be proud that we took this step that was needed long ago, but at least we were the ones to be at the forefront of change.’”
Holly Keegan contributed reporting.
Jerry Zou
Pro-Israel groups display Israeli flags commemorating Oct. 7 deaths, pro-Palestinian students stage protest
By Abby Spiller March 4, 2024
A pro-Israel coalition of Duke students and other supporters organized a display Monday, setting up 1,200 Israeli flags on Abele Quad to memorialize the lives lost in the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. Several pro-Palestinian students quickly mobilized a protest, decrying what they termed “Israel’s genocide.”
The demonstration marks the first simultaneous protest by pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian students on Duke’s campus since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war.
Duke Students Supporting Israel, End Jew Hatred and Passages organized the display of Israeli flags. Over 100 students stood on the quad at the demonstration’s peak, with some taking a stand on their respective issues and engaging in arguments across ideological lines while others observed from afar or walked by.
Organizers began installing the memorial early Monday morning, 150 days since the initial Oct. 7 attack.
SSI Co-President Alanna Peykar, a senior, maintained that the demonstration was about raising awareness of the Oct. 7 attack.
“We think it’s important to keep reminding people that these are lives lost, and every single person in Israel is affected by it, every single Jewish person around the world has been affected by it,” Peykar said. “At the end of the day, this is a fight for Jewish survival.”
According to junior Alexandra Ahdoot, co-president of Duke SSI who helped lead the organizing effort, the display hoped to raise awareness of the Israelis who were killed by Hamas on Oct. 7.
“While a lot of the conversation around Israel and the current war that’s going on has become highly politicized, the massacre of 1,200 civilians on Oct. 7 is absolutely not political whatsoever,” she said. “It’s a total humanitarian crisis, and this is all we’re trying to emphasize today.”
Ahdoot added that they chose Abele Quad given its central location and visibility on campus.
In a debate with Ahdoot, senior Benjamin Koch argued that “genocide should not be countered by nicety.” Koch later added in an email to The Chronicle that “events like these, which are argued to be apolitical by the students which organize them, are used as a space to justify an ongoing genocide and should also not be countered by niceties.”
Gaza health officials estimate that Israeli strikes have killed at least 30,000 people in the region, although this is likely an incomplete estimate due to the number of people who are still unaccounted for.
Pro-Palestinian students began mobilizing on the quad at around 10:45 a.m., bringing signs to promote their opposition to “Israel’s genocide” throughout the past five months.
Junior Lina Leyhausen was the first pro-Palestinian protester to arrive at the scene, as she stood among the Israeli flags holding a sign that read, “30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel. How can we stand by and watch a genocide?”
“I am horrified that Duke is letting these people celebrate Israel’s murder, genocide of 30,000 people,” she said. “… I understand that they are saying this is a peaceful, non-political demonstration, but at the end of the day, this is incredibly political.”
Ahdoot and Sebastián Parra, a director of specialized trips from Passages, approached Leyhausen to request that she not stand amidst the display of flags, but she refused to move.
A Durham police officer came to the scene and spoke with Parra, before calling Duke security to address the situation at the quad.
‘I feel like Duke should have the platform to be able to engage in this dialogue. I hope one day that we do ... I think we’re on the path to do it, but it’s not as effective as it could be.’
Leyhausen and other protesters were allowed to continue peacefully demonstrating on the quad as long as they did not remove any of the flags or cover the lawn sign put up by SSI.
Although Leyhousen said that she appreciates SSI’s intentions to commemorate the Israeli lives lost, she believes that they should have put up another sign saying that they “do not endorse the murder of Palestinians by Israel.”
The crowd on the quad grew at around 11:30 a.m., as students from both sides contended with each other’s stances. Most of the pro-Palestinian students moved to face the field of Israeli flags and unfurled a long list with the names of many of the Palestinians killed by Israeli Defense Forces since the initial Oct. 7 attack.
Amidst calls for a ceasefire by pro-Palestinian students, Peykar pointed to the fact that Israel has called for cease-fires, but that Hamas has denied those requests. Israel has also rejected multiple cease-fire proposals.
Senior Zella Hanson, a Jewish student, stood alongside proPalestinian protesters with a sign reading “Jews for a Free Palestine.”
“My faith and my heritage and my culture are all important to me, but I don’t think that that’s synonymous with supporting a colonial project that is responsible for the brutal occupation and wrongful death of many, many thousands of people,” Hanson said. “A blatant genocide is not something that I think aligns with [Judaism] in any way, shape or form.”
Ahdoot and a group of students in Chabad traveled to Israel last week to observe the impact of the war so far.
“We visited and witnessed firsthand some of the kibbutzim, which are the communities that were the most heavily impacted on October 7,” Ahdoot said. “Keeping that impact going on campus is a really powerful thing.”
Ahdoot clarified that the display of flags was created to represent the Israeli civilians who were “massacred” on Oct. 7, not to discredit the Palestinian civilians who are dying.
The Israeli flags were removed by 4:43 p.m., but proPalestinian protesters remained on the quad. Some students in support of the display remained at the scene off to the side as Hanson and another pro-Palestinian student led their supporters in chants.
“Israel, Israel, what do you say? How many kids did you kill today?” students chanted. “Gaza, Gaza, don’t you cry — the whole world is on your side.”
Many of the chants directly addressed members of the Duke community, charging them with complicity through inaction.
“SSI, you can’t hide — you’re supporting genocide,” students chanted. They followed up with similar statements targeted at “President Price” and “Duke University.”
The pro-Palestinian students concluded their demonstration 5:27 p.m., though many stayed on the quad conversing with each other until 6 p.m.
Sophomore Erel Amit said that he is disappointed that people turned the memorial into a protest.
“I think you can respect murdered civilians and let different groups have their place and have their moment without disrupting their grief,” he said.
Amit also spoke about how the action of helping to set up all 1,200 flags for the display prompted him to reflect on the gravity of the war’s impact and the weight of each individual casualty.
“Every time I was trying to hammer a flag down, I was thinking, ‘This is a human life — an innocent man, woman, child, infant, Holocaust survivor — who was murdered in their home in the early hours of the morning’ … It’s really sobering,” Amit said.
Hanson spoke to the tension she experiences as an anti-Zionist Jewish student and her frustration with Israel and its supporters.
“I guess it makes me really upset because I think that they don’t understand Judaism, and they think I don’t understand Judaism,” Hanson said. “I think what they’re doing is antisemitic. I think they’re bringing stain and ruin upon the Jewish faith.”
In a later message to The Chronicle, Hanson clarified that she does not think that Zionists are acting in accordance with Jewish principles. She added that she thinks it feeds antisemitism to weaponize Jewish memory and trauma to justify the genocide, as it stains Judaism as a tradition, shared culture, faith and ethnicity.
“I feel like Duke should have the platform to be able to engage in this dialogue,” Peykar said. “I hope one day that we do … I think we’re on the path to do it, but it’s not as effective as it could be.”
Claire Cranford, Samanyu Gangappa and Zoe Kolenovsky contributed reporting.
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and
reduction in force as outlined in the employee handbook.
The administrators also said that Duke’s employee benefits program is under review for possible cost cuts. Ennis said the children’s tuition grant program — which covers tuition expenses at any accredited college or university for the children of eligible employees — will not be affected, but the retirement program may see changes.
However, Ennis and Lofton both stressed that administrators understand the importance of “protecting the [benefits] program’s competitiveness” to ensure Duke continues to “recruit and retain top talent.”
Ennis contextualized the announcements with the broader landscape of recent threats to higher education.
“Our institution is facing a threat to our essence, our core values. And it’s deeply troubling,” he said, pointing to institutional autonomy, academic freedom and traditions of shared governance. He asserted that the best way to maintain them is — “sadly” — by “ensuring the greatest financial flexibility.”
Ennis said that the University’s finances are most significantly impacted by widespread reductions in awarded federal research grants, which he noted have “dramatically slowed” compared to previous years, to the tune of 40% to 50% fewer awards. This
lost funding presents a significant challenge for maintaining employment levels, as Ennis explained that tenure commitments to faculty create high fixed costs “that don’t adjust easily against a dramatically different level of sponsored funding.”
“What that means is our pipeline — our ability to support our research mission, to fund the facilities and administrative costs associated with that mission — are going to be dramatically reduced,” Ennis said.
When asked why Duke cannot draw extra funds from its endowment to support operational expenses, Ennis explained that the endowment is bound by strict legal regulations around how funds are used. They must be spent in pursuit of a particular goal identified by the donor, and only a small fraction of the total endowment can be spent each year to ensure the fund continues to appreciate, remaining available for future generations. Ennis said Duke’s annual endowment spending rate rests around 4% to 6%.
“There’s no part of our mission, there’s no part of our enterprise that would not be impacted by what we have forecasted as potential loss in funding support,” Ennis said.
CASTLE ON THE HILL, BEATING CHAPEL HILL
Scenes from Founders’ Day, Homecoming celebrations
By Samanyu Gangappa and Lucas Lin September 29, 2024
From Ed Sheeran’s Friday night performance in Wallace Wade Stadium where he called for a Duke football victory, to a nail-biting final minute win against North Carolina Saturday, the University community had a lot to celebrate this past weekend.
Whether it was braving the rain during the concert, rushing the field after Duke’s historic comeback or attending the Chapel service, the Duke community rejoiced in a celebration of the University — past, present and future — during the Founders’ Day and Homecoming Weekend events. Take a look at some of the scenes from the festivities.
Founders’ Day concert
Thousands of students and alumni streamed into a packed Wallace Wade Stadium at 6 p.m. ahead of Sheeran’s highlyanticipated performance. Long lines of eager students formed as animated chatter arose from the stadium.
First-year Bomin Kim was surprised to see Sheeran at Duke. With midterms approaching, he felt the concert was a muchneeded “stress-reliever.”
“It shows that [the University] really care[s] about the students, and that they’re willing to put so much for the students here,” he said of the concert.
The event was hosted by stand-up comedian and actress Retta, Trinity ’92, and was opened with a performance by 9th Wonder, hip-hop producer and lecturing fellow in the department of African & African American studies, and producer Give Em Soul. The DJ set was accompanied by a video slideshow highlighting pivotal moments and figures from Duke’s past 100 years.
Retta then introduced President Vincent Price, who defined the Centennial as celebrating the “small moments, iconic moments, the Duke moments.” A short video followed, similarly revisiting the University’s most iconic moments, from its founding to Nobel Prize achievements and NCAA victories.
“That is what this Centennial celebration is all about. We look back to honor the successes from the past. We identify ways to grow. We unite around a sense of deeply held purpose, and we act in service to each other, to our campus, to our city and to the entire world,” Price said. “What a journey the last 100 years have been, and what a story the next 100 years will be.”
The night sky was then illuminated by a drone show displaying “Let’s Go Duke,” “Forever Duke” as well as images of the Blue Devil and the Duke Chapel in shining lights.
‘A Once-in-a-Century Musical Performance’
Branded as “A Once-in-a-Century Musical Performance,” the much-anticipated event peaked with a high-energy performance by Sheeran.
However, not everyone got to see the singer up close. Many students and employees with teal tickets were seated behind the stage, only able to watch the night’s performance through the stadium’s video board. The stage was built on the sidelines to preserve the field ahead of the following day’s homecoming football matchup.
Sophomores Jennifer Wang and Vickie Kim were turned away
at the gate to the student section in front of the stage because their tickets were teal instead of pink or purple. They described themselves as “spectators to the spectators,” only able to view the performance on the stadium’s video board from the remote side of the stage.
“It’s very FOMO-y to see everyone having such a fun time with the lights flashing, and then all you see is the side of the stage,” Kim said.
Sheeran performed as a one-man band, sampling sounds and syncing beats using loop stations on the spot. Wallace Wade stadium lit up with thousands of cell phone lights during the chorus of “Perfect.” The 90-minute set closed with an encore performance of “Bad Habits,” which was met with applause from all corners of the stadium.
Despite brief showers of rain, the charged atmosphere showed no signs of waning. According to first-year Bernard Liang, the weather only made the live experience better.
“The rain came during a sad song with perfect timing and the rain just made it so much more fun,” he said.
For junior Angelli Garibaldi, the experience was a dream come true, which she said was “like [her] whole childhood coming to life.”
For others, it was the sense of nostalgia and the company of friends that defined the night. Despite not securing the best seats, junior Catherine Pyne believed that being closer to the stage would not have made the experience the same if it meant sitting without her friends.
“I’ve met some of my greatest friends here. I know I’m going to keep in touch with them for the rest of my life,” she said.
A tailgate to remember
Ahead of kickoff against North Carolina, the Blue Devil community rallied for a tailgate in K-Ville, featuring a big screen monitor, a DJ, free food from Quad Councils and tents with games.
“It’s pretty hype. It looks like everyone’s having a great time, and it’s just getting started,” said first-year Raahim Hashmi. Although it wasn’t his first football game and tailgate,
he expected “a whole different level of energy.”
Eric Savage, Trinity ’92, flew from India to attend the concert, meet old friends and cheer on the Blue Devils.
“As a student, you’re there with all your friends and you’re pre-gaming, and it’s very social,” Savage said. “As an alumni, it’s just a bit different, but still great.”
Duke parents also joined the festivities alongside their children. For Dan Savitt, a Pennsylvania State University alumnus, he was excited to see football head coach Manny Diaz in his new position at Duke.
Sweet victory
Students rushed the field and fireworks erupted at Wallace Wade after the Blue Devils snatched a 21-20 victory in a suspenseful second half comeback. While UNC fans left Wallace Wade dejected, Duke fans left in shouts of victory.
“First it was nauseating,” said senior Eliza Moore of the beginning of the game. “I was a little scared at the half, I won’t lie, but our team really pulled it together.”
Her friend, senior Kennedy Rouser, agreed, saying she “knew we would make a comeback.”
They recounted how they stormed the field, speedwalking with other students from Devils Deck to the field at the 2-minute mark. They expressed gratitude that what may have been their last time storming the field was memorable and energetic.
“I’ve never felt more connected to the rest of Duke than storming that field,” Rouser said.
Chapel services
The University hosted a service of worship at the Duke Chapel on Sunday morning, featuring speeches by Price and sermons from religious leaders on campus.
The event started at 11 a.m. and included prayers delivered in Hindi, Spanish, Mandarin and Korean, as well as a selection of hymns.
“I love that they talked about how in the Pentecostal day, they heard God in many different languages,” Karla Pena Guerra, a doctoral candidate, said of the service. She said that hearing part of the service in Spanish made her feel “more connected.”
For alumni, the event brought back poignant memories from decades past.
“I saw Terry Sanford, right there in front of the James B. Duke statue, talk and negotiate with student strikers who had closed the library in [19]69,” James Johnson, Graduate School ’74 said, pointing with his walking stick to the statue. “He walked out there by himself with a bullhorn, nobody else, no security, no anything. Spent two hours talking with them.”
Johnson said the service brought back old memories, including of friends being married in the Chapel, seeing former UNC basketball head coach Dean Smith attend services, watching theater troupes deliver performances and listening to various preachers over the years.
Anabel Howery
will conduct this
Amy Zhang
‘Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day’
Duke, Durham react to the 2024 election results
By Sarah Diaz
November 10, 2024
For Zander Pitrus, a junior and president of Duke College Republicans, President-elect Donald Trump’s victory marked a moment forcing Democrats to recognize the “elitism” that runs through their party.
“Working-class people are so tired of the establishment and the elitism, they want somebody who’s going to stand up for their rights, for their ability to provide for themselves,” he said.
The conclusion of the 2024 presidential election marked the end of a heated campaign cycle defined by the unusual rise of Vice President Kamala Harris to the top of the Democratic ticket, a surge in political violence and a slew of legal cases facing the Republican candidate.
With the electoral votes fully distributed, Trump secured 312 in comparison to Harris’ 226 — capturing all seven swing states. As of 11 p.m. Sunday, he also led the popular vote 50.4% to 48%.
However, in contrast to Pitrus’ excitement, Trump’s decisive victory was not viewed with the same energy by many other Duke students and Durham residents — several of whom expressed worries for their rights under a MAGA presidency.
First-year Christopher Tarro, while nervous about Trump winning the election, recognized that the results would likely not substantially alter his daily life. He explained how he felt “blessed” that his “rights aren’t going to be abridged as a man, no matter who wins this election.” Still, he acknowledged that many women at the University might not feel that same sense of security.
“I’m glad that I didn’t have to experience it, but I felt terrible for those who were feeling this anxiety about the election, about a lot of questions about their own bodily autonomy,” Tarro said.
He also noted that he was particularly concerned about Republicans having control of all three branches of the federal government. Although not all U.S. House of Representatives races have been called, as of 11 p.m. Sunday, the GOP led with 214 seats to the Democrats’ 203 with just 18 more races left undecided.
“We have a Republican Congress and now a Republican second-term president, which, historically speaking, secondterm presidents are also more willing to take actions that are more politically polarized because they have no reason to appeal to moderate voters because they don’t have to get reelected,” Tarro said. “So I’m worried that that might push some more uber conservative measures.”
However, he still expressed his hope that a Republicancontrolled country will “strive for what the collective thinks is best.”
Britt, a member of the Socialist Alternative party, explained that they had voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein because of the Biden-Harris administration’s record on the war in Gaza. Still, Britt stated that Trump would be “worse” than Harris on many issues.
“Trump is going to be worse for not just Americans who want abortion access, Americans who are trans or immigrants, but he’s going to be worse for the international community,” they said.
Allie Jackson, an attendee of the Wednesday “Rally for Gaza” in downtown Durham, also shared that she voted for Jill Stein despite knowing that, as a transgender woman, she might be negatively impacted.
“I’m a trans woman, and I have skin in this game too,” she said. “I just had a baby with my partner, and it was difficult, and we are potentially planning on trying to bring another human into the world in the future, so the abortion stuff directly affects me and my partner.”
Jessica, a Raleigh-Durham Lyft driver, described the range of emotions she has experienced since the election was called.
“I’m disappointed. I have spent today kind of just gathering my own thoughts about what the next four years could look like,” she said. “Up until this point, I hadn’t really considered it, actually, because I thought [Harris] was going to win, and it’s actually quite scary to think about what could happen. So that’s kind of where I’m at right now. I haven’t really processed all of it. It’s been a crazy and pretty awful election cycle.”
In contrast to Jessica, Tarro predicted that Trump would win the election but was surprised by his overwhelming victory in both the Electoral College and popular vote, as well as Republicans’ performance in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate.
Like Tarro, Pitrus also predicted Trump would win the presidential election. He expressed the view that this election marks a moment where Duke will be forced to recognize conservative students on campus.
“To have a Republican president who wants to challenge the establishment also sends a big message for free speech on campus and to all these elitist institutions that, ‘sorry, your prevailing opinion is no longer prevailing, and you need to accept the fact that Republicans do exist,’” he said. “You need to be able to converse with them and engage in civil discourse and constructive disagreement.”
Following the election results, Pitrus noted that he felt more comfortable expressing his support for the GOP, choosing to wear his Make America Great Again hat for two days after the election. He said he was met with a few unpleasant stares, but he thought it was important for students to recognize that he wasn’t an anomaly, since Trump was “elected by over 50% of the American population.”
Trump was elected by over 50% of American voters, approximately 74.8 million as of Sunday at 11 p.m. The U.S. population is roughly 337.4 million, according to the U.S. Census.
Despite the results not swaying in the direction she had hoped, Jessica expressed the importance of having productive discussions and staying positive.
“[Although] a lot of people were disappointed and upset with the conclusion, there [were] a fair number of people, at least locals, who were really excited about the governor’s race and were really excited about the flip with
the Republican majority,” she said. “There was a little hope out there.”
Democrats won key elections in North Carolina, most notably Josh Stein in the gubernatorial race, and broke the Republican supermajority in the state House of Representatives.
Tarro emphasized the importance of elections, asserting that they “matter” and that “people [who] say they don’t are wrong.”
However, he shared his hope in humanity and for the country to make it through the next four years.
“No matter if you’re celebrating a victory or mourning a defeat, we’ll make it through, and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day,” he said.
‘First time I’ve ever seen snow’
Scenes from a wintry weekend at Duke
By Michael Austin
January 11, 2025
“Work hard, play hard” has long been a mantra of the Duke student body. But this weekend, during Durham’s first measurable snow in over 1,000 days, it was all play.
Though Friday’s blanket didn’t quite amount to the anticipated three inches, it was the first time many Blue Devils saw their Gothic campus dressed in white.
“It’s somehow prettier in the snow,” said sophomore Oscar Twining.
East Campus, Friday 6 p.m.
Dozens of students filed out of Brodie Recreation Center, which had been shuttered early in anticipation of the winter weather. Students skipped on the sidewalks adorned in thin white dust, their subtle imprints soon hidden by the falling snow.
Any moods dampened by a truncated workout were lifted by the crystals swirling through the air.
Hundreds of footprints had already been left behind by passerby Blue Devils. Muddy paths lead up to fat spheres of snow, where undergraduates have begun to build a student body of snowmen.
Those who weren’t sprawled out making snow angels or chucking snowballs posed before Duke’s iconic stone architecture.
“I really like the way that it looks on the rooftops,” said sophomore Alexis Ashley of the snow. Abele Quad, 8:30 p.m.
Dozens of students were scattered across Abele Quad, most wearing thick winter coats. As a snowball fight broke out in front of Kilgo Quad, many students were pelted — some happier about it than others.
Sophomore Sahil Patel watched from nearby, so far spared from the icy projectiles. He’s from Wilmington and said he
hasn’t seen snow in North Carolina since he was young. Patel remained a bystander, but admitted that there would likely be some snowball-chucking in his future.
Across the frozen quad, two friends were crouched down packing snow. It was seniors Hanna Lavi and Liel Ezroni, who, keeping busy with their gloves in the snow, described campus as “a winter wonderland.”
Minutes later, their creation was complete: a “snowwoman,” they called it.
Duke Gardens, 8:30 p.m.
By 8:30 p.m., Ashley, who hails from Florida, had been walking around outside for hours.
“This is the first time I’ve ever seen snow,” she said. “… It’s really gorgeous. I was not expecting it to actually stick today at all, so I’m really happy that it did.”
She was snapping photos and building snowmen, she said, when her friends “ambushed” her with snowballs. In her fifth hour in the snow, Ashley and her friends said they planned to go sledding.
Meanwhile, Twining took in the sights of campus around him and the community brought together by the snowfall.
“I love how everyone is outside and together,” he said. “… I’m really enjoying it.”
Twining also spent his evening sledding. His toboggan of choice? Large cardboard boxes found behind Perkins Library.
Kilgo Quad, Saturday 10:30 a.m.
The snow began to melt quickly. It was as sunny as could be, but it looked like it was raining. Kilgo’s magnolia trees —
Ethan Cho
Thomas Han
Amy Zhang
its blossoms the likeness of the Kilgo Quad arch — dripped icy residue. Together, the falling icicles sounded like a chime.
Duke Gardens, 11 a.m.
The sledding festivities continued. Countless grassy tracks cut through the ice-caked hill in the gardens. Most were straight, but some veered to the side — likely wipe-outs.
Junior Shivam Jain and his friends seemed to have mastered the slopes, wielding a plastic sled, complete with handles and a paint finish.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to have this snow day here in Durham,” he said. “We built a lot of snowmen and we [had] a lot of snowball fights, [which] was a lot of fun.
They planned to head to Cameron Indoor Stadium to catch the men’s basketball game against the University of Notre Dame. There, much of the remaining snow would melt while red-hot Cooper Flagg set the ACC freshman scoring record.
Ana Despa contributed reporting.
Duke community members protest in support of higher education, free speech on national ‘Day of Action’
By Annie Eilers and Aviv Stabinsky
April 18, 2025
Duke community members rallied on Abele Quad Thursday afternoon to defend higher education amid federal funding cuts and threats to international students and free speech under the Trump administration.
The roughly 100 demonstrators presented a list of five main demands for Duke: take action for academic freedom and public education; protect and support international students, workers and scholars; guarantee fair labor practices and compensation equity; protect the right to protest and abolish the Pickets, Protests and Demonstrations policy; and take a stand for academic freedom. The final demand included a call to “publicly support and sign onto the Harvard-initiated lawsuit advancing legal protections for scholars and students.”
“The demands, in a way, are asking Duke to respond to the ways that the University is under attack,” said Professor of Literature Michael Hardt, adding that such a response should be made “energetically and publicly.”
The demonstration was part of a larger network of events organized for the American Association of University Professors’ national Day of Action for Higher Ed.
After opening remarks in front of the Duke Chapel, protesters made their way between Davidson Quad and Abele Quad, holding signs and chanting “the people united will never be defeated,” “Duke, Duke, choose a side, fascism or DEI,” “say it loud, say it clear, international students are welcome here” and “people power” as they walked. Speeches resumed after a live performance of several songs, including Bella Ciao, an Italian folk song that represents anti-fascist resistance.
Duke’s controversial PPD policy came under fire during the rally. The crowd repeated “we need speech to be free,
ADDITIONAL PHOTOS
FROM PAGE 3
Duke, end your PPD,” and one protester held a sign that read “abolish PPD.”
The PPD policy, last revised in September, currently states that “disruptive picketing, protesting or demonstrating on Duke University property or at any place in use for an authorized University purpose is prohibited.” It also requires community members to register any pickets, protests or demonstrations in advance on Duke Groups.
Attendees of Thursday’s rally asserted that “pickets, protests and demonstrations are not threats but vital components of democratic processes.” They asserted that “noise and disruption” are forms of free speech, not antithetical to it; that “temporal urgency” can make the PPD policy’s pre-registration requirement “impossible” in some cases; that the pre-registration requirement undermines student independence and that the policy is plagued by unclear compliance and enforcement standards.
“I think our numbers are, in fact, smaller today because many felt fear about coming out to protest, and that’s in part due to the University’s own policies,” Hardt said in a speech during the demonstration. He reiterated the value of student advocacy in a later interview with The Chronicle, explaining that “protesting can push the administration to be better.”
“We support our community’s right to peaceful assembly, which is why we coordinated with event organizers to ensure the event could take place safely and without disruption to classes and other campus operations,” University administrators wrote in a Thursday evening email to The Chronicle. “We are continuing to meet with policymakers about the value of Duke’s work and our impact on the communities we serve, and supporting policies and practices that reflect Duke’s priorities and mission.”
The demonstrators raised other issues related to the changing federal landscape, including Duke’s protection of international students.
“Duke has refused to protect international workers. These graduate workers come to work every day after seeing video after video of [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] legally abducting legal residents. After hearing about six of their classmates having visas revoked — they still come to work,” said one speaker affiliated with the Duke Graduate Students Union, who identified himself only as Dillon.
Erika Weiberg, assistant professor of classical studies, listed the names of immigrant students at other schools who were recently detained by ICE, noting that the State Department had thus far revoked more than a thousand student visas “without explanation.” As of Thursday, Duke had publicly confirmed the termination of three community members’ visas.
Several protesters also called on Duke to follow Harvard University’s example in acting against the Trump administration. On Monday, Harvard rejected a proposal by the Trump administration to make drastic policy changes — including surrendering control over aspects of its curriculum and changing its admission and hiring policies — in order to continue to receive federal funding.
“Duke should sign in support of Harvard’s lawsuit, advancing legal protections for students and scholars,” said one undergraduate student, also a representative of Duke Respect Durham who identified herself as Felicia. Other speakers echoed the sentiment.
“You do not need a Ph.D. in history to remember the basic lesson from your high school history textbooks: that appeasement never works,” said one Duke history professor. “… If Duke and other prominent institutions of higher education do not stand up to this bullying now, it will only get worse.”
Karen Xu
Courtesy of Meredith Sims
Courtesy of Lilyana Ziemba
Courtesy of Ava Wellener
QUADEX
FROM PAGE 5
Wang agreed, citing a “need for more inclusive spaces and community-building opportunities for all students, especially those who choose not to join selective social organizations (and even for those who do choose to join selective social organizations).”
Wang wrote that “administrators’ intentions are not to restrict the student experience, but rather to expand it.”
CLIMATE PROTEST
FROM PAGE 10
exact amounts of each investment within the real assets are not outlined in the report.
According to the DSG referendum, the endowment is not managed by the Duke University Board of Trustees but is overseen by the Duke University Management Company’s board of trustees. DUMAC’s investments are advised by the Advisory Committee for Investment Responsibility.
In 2019, the committee advised that DUMAC not divest completely from fossil fuels, the referendum stated. That same year, the committee also rejected a 40 page long report written by the DCC that summarized the financial case for divestment.
DCC held a divestment protest in April and filed a legal complaint with the North Carolina attorney general.
“[The complaint] outlines how the University has violated North Carolina nonprofit laws by refusing to divest from fossil fuels,” McDonald said. “We’re hoping that this action will result in an investigation of Duke administration’s investment policies and hold the administration accountable.”
QUADEX RETURN
FROM PAGE 8
Junior Joy Bao-Dai said in the 2021 article that when it comes to QuadEx, “the one word I immediately think of that describes it is restriction.” At the time, she said that she felt Duke was building more walls between students because “one of the exciting things about entering into sophomore year is that the divide between [first-year] quads is really brought down.”
However, now at the end of her junior year, she noted that her description of “restrictive” may have been a reflection of the pandemic.
“Where you live doesn’t determine who your friends are,” she continued. “A lot of it has to do with your interests, like maybe sports clubs or pre-professional interests. Those are what really determine who you’re friends with. And so, a lot of times it doesn’t have to do with where you even live.”
Bao-Dai shares similar sentiments to Dugoni and He on how “Duke has forced these previously established communities to really break apart” in what she says was a harsh and sudden change with a lot of disregard towards communities people have worked so hard to establish.
“If Duke were to redo QuadEx over again, I wouldn’t be like ‘No, don’t do QuadEx.’ I would be like, ‘Ok, can you implement it in a way that’s more considerate towards the upperclassmen who’ve allowed their entire Duke experience to be shaped by these SLGs?’” Bao-Dai said.
A year later, Bao-Dai has not seen an increase in student engagement with QuadEx despite the events they have been hosting, citing Crowell Quad’s Halloween celebration last October.
Bao-Dai said she was disappointed because the Quad Council had put in a lot of effort, but students stuck to the norm and still showed up to their SLG and Greek life events.
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She also has noticed that while Crowell Quad Council has done a great job of using their large budget to plan events and provide free food and merch to the students, she knows of people in other quads who have complained about their Quad Council’s lack of action.
For these specific quads, Bao-Dai said that “QuadEx has essentially not only restricted their communities but also not given them any benefits that QuadEx promised to give.”
“And I feel like largely that falls on the people who are in charge of the funds and in charge of coming up with fun things to do,” she said.
While He believes there is hope for the next Class of 2027 to continue the momentum of forming traditions and fostering inclusion, she thinks “it’s really hard to say right now that there was a change.”
“I just don’t think there is enough momentum to really foster that sense of belonging to a dorm just yet,” she said.
Editor’s note: This story has been edited and condensed for print.
CENTENNIAL
FROM PAGE 10
Dancing Devils. Blue and white balloons fell from overhead as the audience members danced and sang along to “Everytime We Touch.”
Duke will be hosting a variety of centennial events throughout the year, the next being a commemoration of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The event, hosted by the Office of Institutional Equity, will take place on Jan. 14 at 4 p.m. in the Duke Chapel.
A&S COUNCIL
FROM PAGE 9
significant efforts in the coming months, and the Council expressed their commitment to providing adequate resources for its implementation.
Bennett acknowledged that the Council “see[s] the need for funds for new course development” and has already secured $1 million. Bennett added that the council will continue to raise funds to aid in the curriculum’s implementation and establish a new office to aid in the transformation of the first-year experience.
“We’re dedicated to the task of helping to support colleagues as they both develop the courses and also as they are instructing them,” Bennett said.
GUIDE
FROM PAGE 4
The School of Medicine will host a Hippocratic Oath ceremony and reception at 7 p.m. Friday in the Duke Chapel for its Doctor of Medicine graduates. Master of Biomedical Sciences graduates will have their reception and diploma distribution at 10 a.m. Saturday in Reynolds Industries Theater at the Bryan Center. This is followed by the hooding ceremony for Doctor of Physical Therapy graduates at 6 p.m. in the Washington Duke Inn.
The School of Nursing will hold a hooding and recognition ceremony at 6 p.m. Sunday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
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