December 5, 2018 by Duke Chronicle

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Men’s basketball set to face Hartford Page 11

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 5, 2018 DUKECHRONICLE.COM

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 29

Student advocacy ‘important factor’ in health care reversal By Julianna Rennie Staff Reporter

Last month, President Vincent Price announced in a letter to the editor in The Chronicle that there would be no changes to University’s financial aid programs for current undergraduates. His letter quieted some questions from students and families in the face of changes to student health insurance, as well as concerns about possible impending changes to summer program aid and work study. The health care policy changes had been communicated early in the semester through email, letters to families and the website for the Karsh Office of Financial Aid. In the days after The Chronicle published the proposed cuts to student health insurance, students met with Duke administrators to voice their concerns. “Student reaction to the proposed health insurance change was an important factor in the reversal of the policy,” wrote Michael Schoenfeld, vice president of public affairs and government relations, in an email to The Chronicle. Senior Kristina Smith, Duke Student Government president, and senior Adam Bullock, a DSG senator, met with Gary Bennett, vice provost for undergraduate education. The two seniors suggested that only future students should be affected by the new insurance policies, and that students should be included in future conversations about financial aid. Later, when the University Priorities Committee—a presidential advisory committee that deals with the University’s budget—convened to discuss the future of financial aid, Smith continued to advocate for those ideas. “As the only student in that room and as a student who is on aid, I walked into that meeting attempting to advocate as best I could for the Duke experience because I think that everything financial aid gives us allows this to be an equitable university,” Smith said. Meanwhile, representatives for People’s State of the University—a student activist group on campus—addressed the financial aid changes with administration groups. Senior Sydney Roberts, one of the student organizers and co-chair of The Chronicle’s independent editorial board, said the group was already hearing from students about how the new policy would affect their families’ ability to afford Duke. Students were dismayed by the way the University “half-announced” the changes, Roberts said. The group had planned a demonstration at which students would have discussed how the financial aid changes would affect them. They also encouraged students to voice their concerns to administrators. However, the group cancelled the event after Price wrote to The Chronicle and affirmed Duke’s commitment to supporting students financially. Roberts said See HEALTH CARE on Page 2

By Nathan Luzum Senior Editor

A look inside Duke’s underground labyrinth of more than a mile of tunnels

Every day, students in the hustle and bustle of class life crisscross campus. But beneath their feet lies a labyrinth of tunnels—Duke’s very own underworld. More than a mile of winding passageways in total, the tunnel networks run below both campuses to provide maintenance infrastructure for buildings. The East and West tunnels—built in the mid-1920s and early 1930s, respectively—have had a storied existence, from serving as potential fallout shelters during the Cold War to now serving as an unofficial graduation requirement. However, students looking to explore the tunnels have to bend the rules to do so, as the Duke Community Standard prohibits student access to the underground labyrinth. “There really is no big secret down there,” said Mike Snyder, safety manager in the facilities management department. “The bottom line is that there is infrastructure in the tunnel that is dangerous, and we don’t want anyone to get hurt because they go down there exploring or to check off a ‘rite of passage’ block.” Sue Wasiolek, dean of students and associate vice president for student affairs, knows campus traditions well after the roughly 45 years she has spent at Duke as an administrator and student. And during her time at the University, she has heard the curiosity surrounding the tunnels wax and wane. “There’s a mystique about them, there’s a folklore about them, Duke alums still talk about them,” she said. “I think it’s just natural to want to explore something that is forbidden.” Stories from those who tunneled and survived Junior Cade McCurdy is a tunneling veteran, as his expeditions have taken him to the passageways under both East and West Campuses. He has explored the maintenance rooms underneath West more extensively and found a number of random items strewn around the passages, McCurdy wrote in an email to The Chronicle. In several rooms underneath the dorms, he recounted finding a treasure trove of items presumably left behind

Photo: Courtesy of Mike Snyder Design: Jeremy Chen. Graphic Design Editor

by Duke students who have long since graduated. “There’s a ton of clothing in bins, old composites (or whatever those big fraternity photo things are called), pong tables and other assorted junk just lying around,” McCurdy wrote. “I actually have a friend who took a sweatshirt from one of these rooms and wore it around semi-regularly before they graduated.” Once, McCurdy said he and his friends were exploring the passageways underneath Crowell and Wannamaker after a night out. The group accidentally stumbled upon an entry to the maintenance area that was angled downward and too cramped to fully stand up, so they crawled around 1,000 feet down the narrowly sloped tunnel. At the end, they found a small room, elevator and another narrow tunnel. When exploring the narrow tunnel resulted in a dead end, the group decided to turn around and head for the exits—but not before one of McCurdy’s friends caught his pants on a pipe. Attempting to free himself, McCurdy’s friend ripped his pants and was forced to crawl the back up the narrow tunnel wearing only his underwear. He had to shower for nearly 30 minutes to get the grime and dirt of the tunnels off his legs. One Duke senior, who spoke to The Chronicle under the condition of anonymity due to the illicit nature of tunneling, has made several trips to the East Campus tunnels. He explained that the environment of the tunnels differs based on the time of year. “It depends on when you go down—in the winter, [it’s] incredibly hot, humid, just kind of miserable,” the senior said. He also described the labyrinth as claustrophobic, noting that people more than five feet tall have to duck in most spaces to navigate the tunnels comfortably. One night, he and a group of friends returned from a night out and decided to explore the tunnels beneath East Campus, but they had trouble remembering which window they came in. After wandering through the passageways from around 2:30 to 4:00 a.m., the senior estimated, the group finally managed to get out. However, some students make less subtle exits. The senior described how a group of friends from his dorm once burst out the emergency exit door of the tunnels, triggering an alarm. Despite the noisy exit, he said that the screeching stopped once the door shut. Exploration for some, maintenance for others The tunnels on East Campus run from the steam plant near

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