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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2004
THE INDEPENDENTDAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
ONE HUNDREDTH YEAR, ISSUE 13
Recent graduates Coffeehouse changes hands protest for holiday by
Elizabeth Floyd THE CHRONICLE
by
Emily Rotberg THE CHRONICLE
While thousands of Americans took advantage ofLabor Day as a last gasp of summer, several alumni braved the gloomy morning on their day off to take a stand against classes on federal holidays at their alma mater. Through wind, rain and crowds of students who went to class anyway, recent Duke
Alex Ford and Paige Katzfey call for petition signers Sunday night.
alumni
Alex Ford,
The East Campus Coffeehouse lies dark and silent this fall, awaiting the completion of a stalled renovation project that physically mimics the administrative renovation taking place within. Run since its inception by residential group SHARE, this year the Coffeehouse will have new management; the Duke University Union. The Office of Student Activities and Facilities received complaints from various students and student groups involved with the venue regarding management of the Coffeehouse and decided in late Spring 2004 to restructure its leadership. The changes left the Coffeehouse’s prior management feeling bypassed and excluded. According to an e-mail from Gregg Heinselman, director of student activities and facilities, Coffeehouse management was asked last spring to give an account of its operations and a plan for self-improvement. ‘The Office of Student Activities a'nd Facilities was receiving complaints regarding the operation of the Coffeehouse space by individual students and student organizations... ranging from poor promotion of programmed
David
Laughlin, Ryan Shelton, Paige Katzfey and Emily Ballard returned
to
campus Mon-
day morning to protest the injustice of holding classes on Labor Day and other federal holidays. The small contingent collected 401 signatures for a petition with a simplystated message; No school on Labor Day! “I went to school on a lot of federal holidays when I was at Duke, and I don’t think that’s right,” Ford said. With their message scrawled across the cover of a hot-pink notebook, the protesters approached students and professors on their way to class and people leaving services in the Chapel. Ford described most students—and bus drivers—as receptive to the petition. “I just signed it because I saw a poster,” junior Katelin Sensibaugh said. “It’s tough for me talking to friends who go to different universities who have this day off, and SEE LABOR DAY ON PAGE 6
Senior Sarah Ogburn had been named manager of the East Campus Coffeehouse before a change in management was announced thathanded control over to the Union.
SEE COFFEEHOUSE ON PAGE 8
Students, administrators hunger for community by '
Tiffany Webber THE CHRONICLE
Community at Duke springs up in dorm rooms, across seminar tables and on the
playing fields. Although social ties form in these settings naturally, administrators and student programmers are working to establish dining halls as a keystone ofDuke’s community-building efforts. Senior Kevin Parker, president of Duke University Union, said plans are in the works
to
hold programs at both the Mar-
ketplace and the Great Hall this semester. “We’re not confirming anything right now,” Parker said. “Everything has been in conversation and [the Union] is waiting to finalize details.”
Jim Wulforst, director of Dining Services, said he understands the need for places like the Marketplace and the Great Hall to foster interaction among students. “It’s a good initiative to have community,” he said. “We need a place where students can have a safe haven and get good food.” Wulforst also noted that the community administrators have conceived for the Marketplace and the Great Hall has yet to develop. The current freshman board plan,
New programs aim to
bring students together around the table which the University implemented in 1995, was created for the express purpose of promoting a sense community. Despite the fact that freshmen have only been here for a little more than two weeks, some already see the value in building a community at the Marketplace, even though it may at times seem overwhelming to the new students. ‘The Marketplace is pretty good,” freshman Taylor Colson said. ‘Just about every freshman goes there for dinner. I meet a lot of new people there, but I usually don’t remember them.” Although the East Campus eatery serves between 600 and 800 students each night, it is still far from becoming an ideal community focal point. Some freshmen claim that upperclassmen who make dis-
paraging remarks about the food quality are to blame for the Marketplace’s lack of appeal to freshmen. “[The Marketplace] already has such a bad [reputation], you don’t really stay to hang out,” freshman Omar Cameron said. Colson maintained, however, that holding certain events at the Marketplace would be a welcome change. “Dinner and a movie would be great, or
[hosting] a debate,” he said. “I don’t really go to the Marketplace to meet people, though—just to eat,” he quickly noted.
Wulforst said he would love for that sentiment to change. “I think a lot more needs to be done as far as programming,” he said. Parker noted that plans for programming will combine the efforts of DUU, Dining Services and Residential Life and Housing Services. Senior Linh Le, chair of the Union’s all-campus entertainment committee, said that although plans for programming at both eating venues are not yet final, they have great potential. SEE DINING ON PAGE
6
After a long day of classes, freshmen gather at the Marketplace for dinnerMonday night.