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ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 9
Black admitted students less likely to matriculate By Nadia Bey University News Editor
The number of Black undergraduates at Duke has risen over the years, yet even today Black students are less likely than their white peers to choose to attend after being accepted. At Duke’s Living While Black symposium in June, Provost Sally Kornbluth said that 39% of Black students admitted to the Class of 2024 matriculated to the University, compared to 68% of white students admitted. This statistic points to a need to create a more welcoming environment for Black students, she said. “We need to have an experience so that when Black students come to visit Duke and when they think about matriculating at Duke, it’s a place they want to be,” Kornbluth said. Asked about factors that impacted matriculation for the past three admissions cycles, Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag wrote in a Sept. 21 email that “there were myriad factors that affect student yield, individually and in the aggregate.” “We have a fairly well developed sense of what they are, and are studying where there are opportunities to make changes in our practices,” Guttentag wrote. “But unfortunately there’s no specific data on the various factors and how they interact that I’m able to share with you right now.” The number of Black applicants and matriculants at Duke has increased slowly over the years since the University admitted its first Black undergraduates in 1963—making it one of the last major universities to desegregate. In 1979, Trinity College had 275 Black students, according to a 1980 report, which was roughly 5% of the undergraduate population. In the past, the number of Black students at the University was “comparable” with peer institutions in the Northeast and “considerably higher than Vanderbilt or Emory, schools whose past experience is most similar to Duke’s,” former Chancellor A. Kenneth Pye wrote in the report. According to The Daily Princetonian, 107 Black students matriculated to Princeton in 1981, and 90 matriculated in 1982, which gave rise to an approximately 42% yield rate. Pye also wrote that Duke’s admission rates for Black students compared favorably to other schools. A 1980 Chronicle article stated that 182 out of 400 Black applicants, or 45.5%, were admitted during the 1979-1980 cycle, while The Daily Princetonian reported that 220 Black students had been admitted out of an unspecified number of applicants during the same year. The same Chronicle article mentioned a decline in the number of Black applicants from the previous year, when 244 out of 460 Black applicants—53%—were admitted during the 1978-1979 admissions cycle. Then-Director of Undergraduate Admissions Edward Lingenheld attributed the decline to the growing cost of private universities and a change in Duke’s application. The application had to be filled out in two parts, and “over 100 Black applicants simply failed to complete the second part of the application form” according to Lingenheld. Today, Black students comprise about 11% of the undergraduate population. The class of 2021 has 233 Black students, making it the largest class of Black students in University history, according to the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture. Chandra Guinn, director of the Mary Lou Williams Center, wrote in an email that multiple factors contribute to college decisions, which complicates speculation about general trends among Black students. These factors include financial aid, mental health, culturally enriching environments, academic options, resources and a sense of community support. She referenced national reporting about increased enrollment at historically Black colleges and universities and attributed this to the Black Lives Matter movement encouraging students to prioritize their well-being in their college decision-making. “I will tell you that it can be challenging to try to live your best life in an environment that you believe or perceive to be See MATRICULATE on Page 2
Henry Haggart | Associate Photography Editor
More than 100 protesters marched in Durham on Wednesday after a grand jury decided not to indict any of the three police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor for causing her death. (One officer was charged with “wanton endangerment” for firing into a neighboring apartment.) At least 13 instances of vandalism were reported at Wednesday’s protest, which Mayor Steve Schewel said at a Thursday news conference were inflicted by white people. He called the incidents “an attempt to co-opt a racial justice movement” and “not something that we can accept.” The photo shows a police officer clearing an electric scooter blocking the road, left behind by protesters Wednesday night.
DeJoy’s family foundation is large Duke donor By Chris Kuo Features Managing Editor
James Gao Contributing Reporter
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has faced national scrutiny as an election approaches in which a record number of Americans can vote by mail. Meanwhile, his family’s foundation is a familiar name on Duke’s donor list. According to the Louis DeJoy and Aldona Z. Wos Family Foundation website, the foundation has donated to Duke since 2007. Donations to Cameron Indoor Stadium alone amounted to a total of $3,078,814 between 2007 and 2018, according to the foundation’s Form 990-PFs, public tax documents that private foundations are required to file. Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, and Art Chase, senior associate director of athletics, declined to comment on the donations. The foundation did not respond to multiple requests for comment. According to the website, the foundation’s contributions funded the creation of the Blue Devil Tower, a 110,000-squarefoot facility that contains the DeJoy Family Club, which includes premium patron seating and a training table for Duke student athletes. Beginning in June 2018, the family made a five-year pledge to support Duke’s School of Law, according to the website. The site also lists support to the Iron Dukes
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Annual Fund, a network of giving societies. Beginning this year, they entered into a three-year pledge to support the American Grand Strategy Program, a political science program that hosts experts in American foreign policy. Andrew Park, executive director of communications and events for the School of Law, and AGS Program Coordinator Melanie Benson directed The Chronicle to Schoenfeld. In 2014, tax filings show that the foundation contributed See DEJOY on Page 3
INSIDE Soc-Psych renamed Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, one of the first Black undergraduates, is the first Black woman to have a campus building bear her name. PAGE 2
Calling all pulp fans The podcast Freshly Squeezed Pulp, created by Duke undergraduates, parodies pulp novels. PAGE 6
CEB: IFC and Panhel’s time is up The Community Editorial Board argues for a Duke we have never seen before, with a system of residential colleges similar to schools like Yale and Dartmouth. PAGE 11
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Duke renames Soc-Psych building after one of first Black students By Matthew Griffin Editor-in-Chief
A building at the heart of West Campus is now named for Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, one of the first five Black undergraduates at Duke and a distinguished academic. The Board of Trustees voted unanimously on Saturday to rename the SociologyPsychology Building after Reuben-Cooke, who died last October. Reuben-Cooke is the first Black woman to have a campus building named after her, according to a news release announcing the renaming. “This iconic building—which predates our campus’s integration by three decades— has stood on Davison Quad as our university has evolved to more fully realize its inclusive values, thanks in no small part to the efforts of Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke and her classmates,” President Vincent Price wrote in an email to the community announcing the renaming. The renaming of the Reuben-Cooke Building followed the recommendations of the President’s Advisory Committee on Institutional History, according to the release, which identifies “members of the Duke community who have made extraordinary contributions worthy of permanent recognition.” Reuben-Cooke, Women’s College ‘67, came to Duke in 1963 as the University desegregated. During her time at Duke she
was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and chair of the Freshman Advisory Council, and she participated in civil rights protests in Durham and Chapel Hill. After her time at Duke, Reuben-Cooke worked as an attorney and was a law professor at Syracuse University and the University of the District of Columbia. She also served as UDC’s provost. She remained connected to Duke, becoming a trustee of both the University and The Duke Endowment. In 2011 she received the Duke University Distinguished Alumni Award, and in 2013 a $1 million scholarship fund was announced in honor of her and the other four first Black undergraduates. After Reuben-Cooke’s death, Chandra Guinn, director of the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, called her “the standard-bearer and a model” for students who feel challenged at Duke, citing her role as one of the students who desegregated the University and how she found ways to contribute in different fields throughout her life. “I am delighted that with this decision, my classmate Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke will have a permanent legacy on Duke’s campus,” Board of Trustees Chair Jack Bovender said in the news release. “There are few people who have given so much to the university—and those of us who knew Courtesy of Duke University her were so grateful to call her a colleague, The former Sociology-Psychology Building is now the Reuben-Cooke Building, after one of Duke’s friend and adviser over the years.” first Black undergraduates.
‘Complicated relationship’ Professors discuss Duke Hospital’s history of segregation By Grace Sorensen Contributing Reporter
Segregation in the 20th century contributed to a still-strained relationship between Durham and the Duke Hospital, two Duke professors told a virtual audience at a Tuesday event. Damon Tweedy, author of “Black Man in a White Coat: A Doctor’s Reflections on Race and Medicine” and an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and Jeffrey Baker, director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine and professor of pediatrics and history, discussed Duke Hospital’s history with race and racism and the lessons Duke can take from this moving forward. The event was hosted by the Duke School of Medicine Office for Faculty and the Trent Center. Tweedy began by reflecting on his own experience applying to medical school at Duke. “One of the very first things I was told by people is that Duke is ‘the plantation,’” he said. “Why would you go to a school that’s basically built on tobacco money, plantation money?” He said that Duke’s complex racial history as a university in the South played a role in this perception, but acknowledged that “it’s more complicated than how it was distilled to me back then.” Baker explained that the Duke family— which has links to slavery and likely enslaved at least one person directly—built up most of their wealth in the tobacco industry after the Civil War. Baker noted that Duke’s founding vision, especially in comparison to the rest of the South, was progressive for that time. “The people who decided to found Duke Hospital in the 1920’s were people who considered themselves racially progressive,” he said. “They were Republicans, they were industrialists, and they established this endowment with the purpose of improving education and healthcare of people in North Carolina. That’s a pretty progressive
standpoint.” The Duke Hospital—founded in 1930— was originally envisioned as a hospital to take care of both white and Black patients, with a focus on primary care. However, this founding vision didn’t necessarily translate into reality, as Baker pointed out two central barriers to racial equality during this time: Jim Crow and economics. The hospital itself remained segregated from the 1930s to the 1960s, with separate wards for each race. Baker explained that Black and white patients had very different experiences with Duke Hospital at that time—because only white patients could be seen before noon, wait times were hours longer for Black patients. The quality of care could decrease by the time they were seen, and often Black patients would be asked to come back the next day. Financial issues during the Great Depression also led the Duke Hospital to open a private clinic in the 1930s, with better waiting areas, appointment availability— and mostly white patients. Baker explained that the difference in patient care also became greater over time. “When you look at the number of beds for white and Black patients in 1932, they’re the same. As you get into the 40s and 50s, as the hospital expands, it’s going to be weighted disproportionately toward insured patients as well as the private patients,” Baker said. “As that happens, there’s not as many beds for African Americans.” These policies manifested themselves in harm to Black patients, including Maltheus Avery, a Black student at North Carolina A&T, who was involved in a serious car accident in 1950. After Duke Hospital turned him away because their Black beds were full, he was instead taken to the smaller African American hospital in Durham, where he later died. In 1963, the Duke Hospital entered a new era when desegregation began. As Baker explained, however, “it wasn’t so much that racial segregation stopped.” “It was sort of transformed. The Black and white wards evolved into public and private
clinics,” Baker said. “In the late 60s, even into the early 70s the clinics were really different.” As late as 1978, Baker pointed to the example of an African American physician who chose not to come to Duke for his fellowship because he was so shocked by the unacknowledged system of segregation effectively put in place by these public and private clinics. It was also during this time period that the Duke Hospital had other difficulty recruiting Black faculty. Faculty housing remained segregated into the 1960s, and Black physicians were not able to eat in the cafeteria or to treat certain patients into the 1970s. This history has contributed to a complex relationship with the Durham community, including both positive outreach and the legacy of Duke Hospital’s history. “Duke has always had kind of a complicated relationship with the community,” Baker said. Contributing to the problem of finding Duke’s role in the community, Tweedy said that “in science and medicine we’ve seen ourselves as being kind of above the fray, and not realizing the different biases that we bring to the table.” Baker echoed this point, saying that he thinks that “we have to understand that we have come out of certain stories and backgrounds and we’re seeing patients who have come out of their own stories.” With Duke specifically, he emphasized that “institutionally, I do think Duke is really trying to learn from this past,” but that Duke needs to look to strong community partnerships and listen to individuals to repair its relationship with Durham.
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possibly hostile to you,” Guinn wrote. Guinn also stated that current students play a significant role in recruiting prospective students by introducing them to the existing Black community at Duke. “People have to see themselves in you and want to be in community with you, which is why
we work hard to make [Black Student Alliance Invitational weekend] and the spring preview opportunities meaningful and magical,” she wrote. The Black Student Alliance Invitational began in 1971 as the Black Student Weekend, an effort by the admissions office and the Afro-American Society to increase the number of Black students that matriculated to the University. Rice University sophomore Malaika Bergner and Harvard University sophomore Mubeen Momodu both attended BSAI 2019, and they celebrated the community that they found at Duke. “[BSAI] was awesome. I loved it,” Bergner said. “I met some cool students across the country. I loved the cultural showcase, the fraternities and sororities and the clubs and dancing.” Momodu said that Duke was one of the best campuses he visited, citing the warm weather and athletics. “I met a lot of friends that I still talk to today from BSAI,” he said. Both Bergner and Momodu said they were searching for schools that were supportive of Black students in terms of resources and the community. “I was told by a family member, ‘When you’re looking at colleges, make sure they have a Black house or some sort of cultural center, because that means they care about you,’” Bergner said. Ultimately, financial aid was the deciding factor in Bergner’s choice to attend Rice over Duke. While she would have needed to do work-study and take out loans to attend Duke, she said Rice gave her a full scholarship through The Rice Investment. “I was kind of sad because Duke definitely would have been my next choice if it wasn’t for that financial aid part, but over time I felt better about my decision,” Bergner said. She said that she felt students who grew up in her income bracket “don’t really get to go to Duke unless they get a big merit scholarship.” Her financial situation might have made her feel out of place if she had matriculated to the University, she said. In contrast, Momodu said that his decision to not attend Duke was partially influenced by the people he met while visiting. “A lot of the people I met [at BSAI] that I could see being my lifelong friends also got into Harvard,” he said. “Once one of us decided that we were going to go to Harvard, it turned the tide for a lot of us.” Both Bergner and Momodu also mentioned feeling more at home in Houston and Boston, respectively.
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church in Greensboro. ON DUKECHRONICLE.COM Prior to 2014, the foundation had contributed relatively small sums to the University’s Cameron Indoor Stadium: $26,084 in Endowment falls slightly to $8.5 billion $737,823 to Cameron Indoor Stadium. In November of that 2012, for instance, and $60,523 in 2013. year, then-first-year Andrew DeJoy—DeJoy’s son—walked But starting with the $737,823 donation in 2014, the on to the men’s tennis team, as reported by the Associated foundation began contributing hundreds of thousands to BY MATTHEW GRIFFIN| 09/28/2020 Duke’s endowment fell slightly after reaching a record high last Press. the stadium. Andrew DeJoy spoke about joining the team in an interview In 2015, they donated $462,823. In 2016, it was $573,546. In year, in a year that saw stock market volatility due to the effects published in 2015 on a Duke Athletics website. 2017, the foundation contributed $560,323, and in 2018, they of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I have had an interesting road here,” Andrew DeJoy said in donated $508,123. The most recent Form 990-PF provided on Undergraduate enrollment dips 6%, leaves of an interview published in 2015. “I wasn’t on the team for the ProPublica is from 2018. first two months of school, and all of a sudden I was in it at DeJoy’s donations come to light as the recently appointed absence and deferrals spike for fall semester essentially 100 percent.” postmaster general faces public scrutiny over his tenure, From 2014 to 2018, the donation to Duke’s Cameron both in private industry and as the head of the United States BY MATTHEW GRIFFIN| 09/24/2020 As a unique semester moves forward, fewer students are along Indoor Stadium was the largest contribution listed on Postal Service. the Form 990-PF, copies of which were posted online by Shortly after taking office, DeJoy changed several policies for the ride compared to last year. ProPublica. In 2014, the donation to the stadium was within the organization, including removing employee more than three times as large as the foundation’s next overtime and removing mail-sorting machines from Republicans defended the move as a necessary cost-cutting largest contribution, which was to St. Pius X Catholic offices across the country. While DeJoy and congressional measure for an agency facing major budget shortfalls, the new policies were blamed for delays and mail backlogs. The moves also generated nationwide concern as millions of Americans cast their votes by mail. Under pressure, DeJoy postponed some changes to the USPS until after the election. He testified before the Senate Aug. 21, where Democrats pressed DeJoy, a major donor to President Donald Trump, on whether his policies upheld Trump’s attacks on mail-in voting. In his testimony, DeJoy emphasized that he was “not engaged in sabotaging the election” and would ensure ballots were delivered on time, while criticizing what he called a “false narrative” Democrats promoted about his policies and intentions. Dejoy faced renewed scrutiny after The Washington Post reported that former employees alleged that during his tenure as CEO of the North Carolina-based New Breed Logistics, he and his aides had pressured employees to donate to Republican candidates, including current North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Thillis, before reimbursing them with company expenses. According to the Post, reimbursing employees for political contributions violates North Carolina and federal election laws. Additionally, DeJoy’s direct stakes in logistics companies Evelyn Shi | Contributing Graphic Artist. that would profit from the USPS’s privatization have led to Donations to Cameron Indoor Stadium by the Louis DeJoy and Aldona Z. Wos Family Foundation. calls for his resignation. FROM PAGE 1
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Comments sought for regular review of Tracy Futhey, Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer The performance of senior officers at Duke is reviewed at regular intervals by a broad-based committee of colleagues. Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Tracy Futhey, who has served since 2002 is being reviewed this fall, and we welcome the input of the Duke community in the review. The committee invites members of the Duke community to provide comments on Futhey’s leadership effectiveness as vice president for information technology and chief information officer, as well as assessments of her and her office’s ability to address future opportunities and challenges. Your thoughts should be sent to admin-review@duke.edu and will be subsequently communicated to the committee. Information provided to the committee will be held in confidence but may be reported without attribution as part of the committee’s report that will be submitted to Executive Vice President Tallman Trask III. Please send comments by October 9, 2020 to admin-review@duke.edu. Members of the review committee are:
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recess
freshly squeezed Duke podcasters parody pulp fiction novels, page 5
traveling is overrated
Culture editor Skyler Graham reflects on late night drives, page 6
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recess Happy...
Sarah Derris .................retirement
Stephen Atkinson ........... birthday
Sydny Long .......................... pride
Skyler Graham ..................camper
Kerry Rork ............................ days
Jonathan Pertile ................... meal
Tessa Delgo .....................monday
Derek Chen ...........................xmas
on the cover: “Birds of Passage” dir. by Ciro Guerra & Cristina Gallego. Courtesy of NC Latin American Film Festival
staff note Contrary to popular opinion, traveling is not that great: Airports are slow and crowded; Hotels are stiff and plastic; Museums — even for a history nerd — tend to be boring; and souvenirs are overpriced and easily lost and the pictures never turn out quite how you expect them to.
Exploring, however, is exhilarating: Unexpectedly finding new places and uncovering the stories hidden in them is an experience incomparable to the monotony of vacation itineraries. Even if the place is in a familiar area, its discovery is always an adventure. It could be a community garden tucked behind a local neighborhood, an abandoned car in the woods or any place that makes you question where you want to go and
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why you really want to escape. I visited Germany for two weeks in summer 2019: two weeks of catching the right train and getting off at the right stop, rushing through museums, deciphering a foreign language, forgetting about baggage liquid restrictions, losing said airport-rummaged luggage for a week and discovering that I fit into my little brother’s clothes. At least at the time. Don’t get me wrong — I enjoyed the trip. I ate with friendly and funny locals, spontaneously explored semi-hidden antique shops and admired the heartbreaking beauty of the Berlin Wall. I mentally noted little cultural differences between German and American crosswalks, cars, recycling habits and the contentious question of whether to put ice or not in beverages. I danced with people young and old from Germany, Tanzania, the United States and Cambodia. But each of these moments were born without intention — they were purely serendipitous explorations of culture and humanity. Exploration within travel. When I came back from Germany, the first thing I did was cruise along the wide open highways surrounding Charlotte. And honestly, I’m scared of driving — I make risky left turns and brake too quickly and still depend on a stranger’s “go ahead” wave at four-way stops. But the freedom of roaming the roads alone with no determined destination, no concerns over missing an exit or barely making the yellow light taught me the difference between solitude and independence, traveling and exploring — a freedom from worry.
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There’s something therapeutic about driving alone with nowhere to go. It provides an opportunity to explore areas of my mind, gardens, buildings, rustic neighborhoods and gas stations I just never noticed before. There are no hotels, no itineraries or museums or disappointing pictures — just exploring. And especially when it’s virtually impossible to travel in the traditional sense, a brief mental vacation, an aimless cruise around our hometowns may be all the escape we need. I’ve always loved late-night drives through the city. I ride alone with the windows rolled down and nostalgia roaring from the speakers. I break free from my typically cautious self and get to speed a little, as there are hardly any other cars on the road. The cars that are there, however, always draw my attention: who are you? Why are you out here? It’s 3 a.m. on a Tuesday night — are you leaving your almost-boyfriend’s house? A mid-week rager? Are you on a road trip? Or is it something less obvious?: maybe you’ve been working all night and needed to run to the gas station for a Red Bull; maybe your friends got hungry and now you’re in charge of picking up McDonald’s; maybe your baby has a fever and won’t stop crying so you rush him to the hospital. Or maybe you’re just doing what I’m doing. Just driving. Just exploring. There are very few times when you get to ride alone with the windows rolled down and nostalgia blaring. It’s a flat landscape, the city, filled with round characters all daring to speed just a little. —Skyler Graham, culture editor
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campus arts
Duke podcast Freshly Squeezed Pulp parodies pulp novels By Meredith Cohen Contributing Writer
If your next C1 bus ride seems to be dragging on forever, you might consider tuning into “Freshly Squeezed Pulp,” (FSP) one of Duke’s many student-run podcasts. The podcast, cofounded by senior and treasurer of FSP Brock Foreman, who uses they/them pronouns, and rising senior and writer for their Tarzan series Daniel Egitto, focuses on revamping the familiar stories from the pulp fiction genre for a twenty-first century audience. Their podcast includes various different series and offers some comedy and escape from everyday life — a characteristic of pulp fiction. For example, one of their series chronicles the adventures of “Tar-Zaan,” which parodies Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original “Tarzan”. They are also currently in the process of writing and producing a series which will parody Homer’s “The Odyssey.” “It’s fiction that historically was dimestore paperback novels, things that you could pick up really fast and just disappear into while you were working,” said senior and cofounder of FSP, as well as former president and current writer for the group, Madeleine “Mac” Gagné. Students can become completely immersed in the fantastic worlds that Freshly Squeezed Pulp brings to life, perfect for a bus ride across campus or a long walk to class. “When you put your earbuds in and you listen to one of these pieces, you really dissolve into this fictional world that has so many different components,” said Gagné. Freshly Squeezed Pulp also has the full support of a well-loved Duke faculty member, Dean Blackshear, Dean of Students and Associate Vice President of Student Affairs.
“Dean Blackshear has been a really wonderful supporter of the podcast, and he was actually on one of our episodes for Tarzan,” Gagné said. “When he listened to that episode, he told us, ‘It’s like I put my earbuds in and I disappeared into a completely different world.’” These episodes are not only meant for entertainment and escape, however. FSP wrestles with modern social and political issues by altering the original pulp fiction stories and creating meaningful discussion about issues such as gender equity and female empowerment, in the case of Tarzan. “One thing that I found really valuable is combining these familiar — in certain ways, nostalgic — stories that everybody kind of knows… to put a spin on it where it’s not just to modernize the plot or the story so that it’s more relatable to a twenty-first century audience, but it’s actually to add another layer of depth to it where we discuss modern themes,” said sophomore and Freshly Squeezed Pulp president Victoria Wang. Particularly important to FSP’s mission of modernizing these traditional stories is diversification of traditional pulp fiction characters so that a diverse audience can relate to and enjoy the podcast. “We take those narratives, but also diversify the different self-insert characters … so that everyone can find a character in their narrative that they can identify with individually and then get to escape and feel that fiction come alive around them,” Gagné said. To adequately represent these diverse characters and narratives, Freshly Squeezed Pulp has reserved space in their writer’s rooms specifically for writers who identify Courtesy of Freshly Squeezed Pulp as BIPOC as well as spaces for writers who One of FSP’s series “Tar-Zaan” parodies Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original novel “Tarzan.” identify as queer.
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“We have seventy-five percent people of color writing in that Odyssey project. Our upcoming series on the Adventures of the Forget-Me-Nots… we’re exclusively making that writer’s room available for queer voices. We’re really trying to let storytellers tell it in a very accessible medium for both listener and writer, but also we’re trying to make these spaces where specific voices can be heard,” said senior, Managerial Director and Executive Producer of The Odyssey Nicole Lindbergh. FSP can be for anybody and everybody, both in terms of its members and its audience. “You can enjoy some fun and thoughtful, but kind of zany adventures with casts you know very well and characters you know in a new and exciting way,” said Lindbergh. On joining the podcast, Lindbergh mentioned that “There is no barrier for entry, you don’t have to have any experience.” While this has been a deep-dive into Freshly Squeezed Pulp, Duke offers a wide
variety of student-run podcasts, which span every topic you could imagine. Hear at Duke is a great place to find the podcast which speaks the most to you. Other podcasts to explore include, but are not limited to, The Political Student, LAUNCHcast, and Chronocast. The breadth of podcasts created by Duke students speaks to a general rise in popularity of podcasts over the last few years. Part of this may be due to the convenience of the medium, especially for students and workers on the go. Gagné noted that “A podcast is cool because, like a television show, students can listen to it whenever they want to, and they can listen to it on their own time.” So, during your next free moment or ride on the C1, consider plugging yourself into the world of podcasts at Duke. To get involved with FSP, or if you have any questions, you can reach out to nicole.lindbergh@duke.edu or freshlysqueezedpulppodcast@gmail.com.
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COURTESY OF THE ACC
PICKED APART FOOTBALL: EMBARRASSED AT VIRGINIA COLUMN: OPEN UP THE QB COMPETITION
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FOOTBALL
Running game struggles in blowout loss to Virginia By Jake C. Piazza Blue Zone Editor
Only 1.5 yards per carry. At that pace, Duke’s offense would need seven plays to gain enough yards for a first down. The Blue Devils’ seven turnovers are easy to blame for the team’s 38-20 loss at Virginia Saturday, and rightfully so, but the lack of a run game is DUKE 20 equally at fault. 38 “The easiest way to play offense is to UVA run the ball well, so we will be evaluating how we’re doing it, what we’re doing, what’s going right and what’s going wrong,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “And there’s nothing else you can do.” Out of the cohort of quarterbacks the Blue Devils used, their net total of rushing yards was -35. Chase Brice is not known as a dual-threat quarterback, but when he finishes with -23 rushing yards on the day, a red flag goes up. Running backs Deon Jackson and Mataeo Durant both struggled Saturday as well, each having to fight hard for the yards they did get. Jackson and Durant averaged 3.5 and 4.0 yards per carry, respectively, numbers inflated by a pair of long gains. On one third-quarter drive, Durant sprinted off of the left tackle behind a pulling Devery Hamilton for a 17-yard pickup, and a couple plays later Jackson exploited a crease and broke a couple tackles for 24 yards of his own. Excluding these two outliers, the Blue Devils’ onetwo punch would have only contributed 40 yards on 20 combined carries. However, those two third-quarter runs do show that all Jackson and Durant need is a little space. The speed of Durant and the power of Jackson make a good combo, but without some daylight to run through, their potential will continue to be bottled up. Saturday’s contest was a perfect example of how a run game is crucial for a new quarterback, too.
The lack of yards on the ground put even more pressure on Brice, who was already struggling to find his own groove. On the other end, sophomore Brennan Armstrong was making his first career start as the Cavaliers’ signal caller, and his inexperience showed early on. Armstrong threw for 101 yards in the first half, consistently making erratic throws to his receivers. The saving grace for Virginia? The legs of Armstrong and junior running back Wayne Taulapapa. The Cavaliers rode Taulapapa and Armstrong’s rushing prowess all the way until the fourth quarter, when Armstrong finally settled in and began tossing darts all over the field.
Whether or not Brice will get to start next weekend remains to be seen, but regardless of which of the three quarterbacks Cutcliffe chooses, the run game could be the difference in whether or not this team changes its season. Productivity on the ground is so often the foundation of potent offenses, affecting how the entire offensive unit operates. “Running the ball would solve some of our ball security issues as well,” Cutcliffe said after Saturday’s loss. Ball security and running the football: two things that can make or break a team’s success. Duke’s 2.7 yards per carry and 14 turnovers in three games thus far need to be fixed this week if the Blue Devils want to have a chance against Virginia Tech next Saturday.
Courtesy of the ACC
Senior running back Deon Jackson led Duke with 49 rushing yards Saturday, 24 of them coming from one run.
FOOTBALL
Column: It’s time to reopen the QB competition I’m not going to lie—I had high expectations for Duke’s offense under quarterback Chase Brice in 2020. The Clemson transfer seemed primed to bring in a new era of offense for the Blue Devils, one that stretches the field and leaves behind the painful days of screen passes in Wallace Wade Stadium. Three games in, however, it’s the same old song and dance. Saturday’s embarrassing loss to Virginia is just proving the inevitable for Duke—it’s time to try something new at the quarterback position. Despite throwing his first two scores as a Shane Smith Blue Devil, Brice completed less than 50 percent of his passes and tossed four interceptions. Duke has scored just two red zone touchdowns this year as the offense routinely fails to finish drives and hold onto the football. Head coach David Cutcliffe benched Brice with six minutes to play in the contest, but this meant more than just putting in the second string for garbage time. This offense clearly isn’t clicking under the Georgia native, and there simply isn’t a big enough talent disparity in the QB room to keep from trying other options going forward. Redshirt sophomore Gunnar Holmberg and redshirt junior Chris Katrenick both got a crack at fixing Duke’s troubles late in the loss, though it wasn’t anything to write home about. Holmberg showed his willingness to use his legs as an added threat, but fumbled on a fourth-and-one in Blue Devil territory. Katrenick threw two nice passes for first downs on his series, but the offense eventually stalled and gave the ball up on downs. Neither earned a starting job with their performance against Virginia, but they deserve a chance that isn’t a garbage time drive in a spur of the moment decision. There have certainly been attempts to make Brice into more of a mobile quarterback to start the season, though it’s becoming evident that he simply doesn’t fit in with that play style. The 6-foot-3, 235-pounder was brought in to throw the ball accurately down the field for Duke, and he simply hasn’t made those throws. Maybe it’s just a matter of chemistry with the receiving corps,
Courtesy of the ACC
Redshirt junior quarterback Chase Brice tossed four interceptions Saturday and now has six interceptions on the year. but if Brice isn’t even capitalizing on his strengths, then perhaps try the option that presents a real dual-threat running and throwing the ball or the option with four years in the Duke program and system under his belt. It isn’t a guarantee that another option is better for the Blue Devils. Holmberg has yet to attempt a pass in a Duke uniform, while Katrenick has completed just 35.7 percent of his passes over three seasons. To be fair, Brice has yet to get a week of preparation with current game film on the Blue Devils’ opponent, but as the competition has gotten easier over the course of three weeks, his play is becoming sloppier. It’s just time to see what Cutcliffe’s other weapons can do. This quarterback controversy has passed the point of just salvaging this season. Brice and Katrenick both have a year of eligibility remaining after 2020, while Holmberg has two.
Whoever ultimately rides out this season as Duke’s signal caller will be leading the team for the near future, and the program can’t afford to make a mistake on that decision. We’ve seen what Brice brings to the table—now let Holmberg or Katrenick prepare for a whole week as the starter and watch what they can do for four quarters. If Cutcliffe doesn’t like what he sees? Give the other guy a shot. Duke fans only get to see the final product for three hours on Saturdays, and only those in the program know how the quarterback situation plays out Sunday through Friday. Brice has definitely earned his starting job through practice, but ultimately, it is those three hours on Saturdays that mean everything. At 0-3, there isn’t a reason not to, for now, go in another direction under center.
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 | 9
WEEKLY RECAP
Recapping this week in Duke Athletics By Staff Reports Football There’s not much to celebrate right now with the performance of the football team. After a promising start in a competitive loss at Notre Dame two weeks ago, Duke’s homeopening blowout to Boston College and its embarrassing defeat at Virginia this past Saturday casted a dark cloud over any positive things the Blue Devils (0-3, 0-3 in the ACC) had going for them. Most notably, quarterback Chase Brice threw four interceptions Saturday to contribute to the Blue Devils’ seven turnovers on the day. At this point, it is unclear if the quarterback position is up for grabs again, but whoever does start is going to have a tall task against Virginia Tech this coming Saturday. -Jake C. Piazza
Men’s soccer Men’s soccer (1-1, 1-0 in the ACC) opened up its season Sept. 21 in Lexington, Ky. Despite the 4-2 loss, Duke received impressive showings by some of the team’s key players, notably goals from senior Daniel Wright and graduate student Jack Doran, a member of the ACC Preseason Watch List who missed all of last year due to injury. The highlight of the week, though, was the Blue Devils’ double-overtime 1-0 victory Saturday against N.C. State, in which freshman Nick Pariano knocked in the gamewinner with less than a minute remaining in the second overtime and senior Will Pulisic held the Wolfpack scoreless for all 110 minutes. Duke’s next match comes against North Carolina this Friday. -Alex Jackson
indicating a bright future for this young Blue Devil squad. This Sunday, Duke will get an even tougher test at home against powerhouse North Carolina, winners of the last two NCAA championships. -Evan Kolin
Women’s soccer The seventh-ranked Blue Devil women’s soccer team played top-ranked North Carolina at home Sunday, a weeklong layoff since their last match. Duke (1-1-2, 0-1-2 in the ACC) came into the weekend searching for its first conference win after two straight ties and left continuing that search, losing 2-0 to the Tar Heels. However, the Blue Devils have reason to be hopeful going forward, generating multiple great opportunities that they weren’t quite able to capitalize on against North Carolina, but will likely capitalize on in the future. They’ll have a week to work on those opportunities, not playing again until Sunday when they’ll face No. 3 Clemson at home. -Jonathan Browning
Cross country Duke’s men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their season with the Virginia Tech Invitational last Friday and performed about as well as one would expect, with the men and women both finishing decidedly behind powerhouse N.C. State, but defeating Virginia Tech in the three-team meet. With the ACC Championships Oct. 30 being the sole determinant of conference
Field hockey Field hockey struggled to begin the 2020 season, dropping both of its opening matches to Louisville, with one counting as an ACC contest. Nevertheless, Duke (0-2, 0-1 in the ACC) showed great improvement following the first defeat last Friday, particularly in Courtesy of Virginia Tech Athletics its offensive aggression. Several newcomers The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation Senior Amanda Beach impressed inAvenue, cross New 620 Eighth York, N.Y. stepped up 10018 in big ways after the team lost For Information Call:numerous 1-800-972-3550 country’s opening meet. key upperclassmen to graduation, For Release Wednesday, March 25, 2020
Crossword ACROSS 1 Drop a line? 5 Verb conjugated suis, es, est, etc. 9 Third-place finisher in 1992 14 Language group of southern Africa 15 Neighbor of Cambodia 16 Jelly option 17 Reduces to bits 18 One competing with Uber 20 Iron alloy that includes a bit of tungsten and chromium 22 People in go-karts 23 Mast 24 Picture from a parlor, informally 25 When repeated, a hip-hop dance 26 Add (up) 28 Volunteer for another tour 31 Not yet out of the running
33 Physics 101 subject 35 Tchotchkes 40 Fountain choices 42 Verbal tussle 43 Response to a computer crash 44 Incompetent figure of old slapstick 47 ___ pony 48 Tennis champ Mandlikova 49 Just gets (by) 51 Pony ___ 52 T.S.A. requests 55 Grammy category 56 Something of little interest, a homeowner hopes 58 Himalayan language 60 Reject romantically … or a hint to the starts of the answers to 18and 35-Across, phonetically
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36 Wedding reception staple 37 Embarrassing thing to have one’s hand caught in 38 Member of the cabbage family 39 Kiss amorously 41 Like an overcast night 45 Studio sign 46 ___ walk 50 Harry Potter’s Quidditch position
52 Alaska or Hawaii, often 53 ___ flask (thermos) 54 Steeple topper 57 Herbivore’s diet 59 24-Down and others 60 Capt.’s inferiors 61 Legislature V.I.P. 62 Tiny, informally 63 It’s unavoidable 64 Ring result, for short 66 :15 number
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Courtesy of Duke Athletics
Men’s soccer won a thriller against N.C. State in its home-opener.
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Volleyball Volleyball started off its 2020 season on a strong note. Duke (2-0, 2-0 in the ACC) swept N.C. State in its opening two matches this past week, playing a much more composed and intelligent brand of volleyball than last year. Already a quarter of the way through the shortened season, every single match is going to count much more than usual, so it’s crucial that Duke comes out strong in its next two road matches at Virginia. -Christian Olsen
results, this race was more of a warm-up than anything else, though some impressive performances last Friday indicate this could be one of the stronger seasons for the program in recent memory. The Blue Devils will travel to Cary, N.C., for the N.C. State Invitational Wednesday. -Kolin
Crossword ACROSS 1 Cantina 4 Two-time Time magazine Person of the Year 9 Say maybe, maybe 13 “The Americans” K.G.B. officer ___ Burov 15 Robert Galbraith, to J. K. Rowling 16 Summer cooler 17 Awake during the wee hours, say 18 Gut feeling 19 “That was a close one!” 20 Journalism 23 Showed sudden interest 24 They close at 9 p.m. in New York 27 Smith of punk rock 31 “Excuse me!” 32 Nail site
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25 Actress Lindsay of “Mean Girls” 26 Is nosy 28 “We can’t joke about that yet?”
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55 Blyton who wrote “The Enchanted Wood” 56 Stuffing ingredient 57 For whom Wednesday is named 58 Tricks
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10 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2020
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opinion dukechronicle.com
The Chronicle
Islands unto ourselves
s we grow within ourselves and navigate our internal and external worlds, we come to a greater awareness of the multitudinous, if not infinite productions of the term
baby!” There are the relationships we have at college—with that professor we make sure to FLUNCH each semester, the classmate we can always rely on to answer, “What the heck are we doing?” and that other
kinds of relationships, but that would take, well, forever. We will engage in relationships having wildly different needs, expectations and codes of behavior for the entirety of our lives, be they familial, platonic, academic,
someone else, it is rewarding, too, to offer up information about ourselves, to be known in the same way. Honest communication also ensures that expectations of time, commitment, and emotional labor are aligned.
person studying in Perkins at 3:00 am, with whom you sit in the silent, inexplicable comfort that you aren’t alone, that your sleeplessness is shared. I could certainly go on about the different
professional, romantic, sexual, or the relationship with our very self. To be a healthy, happy, productive version of ourselves in each can be…overwhelming, to say the least. Here’s a secret though: all relationships, in their best form, stand on one, common base—effective communication. As we recognize National Suicide Prevention Awareness Month, this column will reflect upon the centrality of communication and ultimately, how we can begin to really show up for ourselves and for others within our lives. We go to Duke, and the pressure to perform is tangible. For some, the building of generational wealth starts with this degree. For others, attendance at Duke was a given, this degree simply one more float in a long parade of suffocating practicality that wasn’t necessarily wanted. There are many reasons that bring us here and regardless of their exact nature, we come laden with expectation, some imposed by others, some conjured by ourselves. We take classes, participate in extracurriculars, frantically try to perform the college student having the “best four years of our life,” even though these four years are decidedly not that for many–particularly for people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, for students from families of low socioeconomic status, and honestly, anyone who doesn’t exist at the nucleus of Duke’s white and wealthy hegemony. Being a Duke student is akin to being a hamster on a wheel spinning into perpetuity—feeling that to stumble or rest for even one second means that the wheel will spin on without you. In an environment like this, it begins to make sense that our interactions with one another are grossly superficial; few have the time or emotional energy for much beyond a “Hey!” or the occasional solidarity of a drunken night out. Where does that leave us? Well, lonely. And stunted in our ability to know, and I mean truly know, the individuals around us. This isn’t a sealed fate, though. Even as our reality as college students attempts to rob us of authentic connection, this very connection can be seized back with active, intentional communication. So, what does communication do for us? In essence, it’s a guide to how another wishes to be regarded, spoken to, cared for, maybe loved. It’s a learning that never ceases. We learn what forces have produced the individual standing in front of us, the barriers they have overcome, the source of their greatest happiness and their greatest vulnerability. We learn their pronouns, how they identify, their strengths, their passions. We learn things that place their actions in context, producing us as more empathetic friends, neighbors, lovers and classmates. Another person, in all their depth, can be the greatest muse our own creativity ever knows. And just as it is rewarding to know
Such communication is not the cureall to every hurt; hurt is and always will be a constant of life. However, congruency in expectation may alleviate or prevent unnecessary hurt, allowing for avenues of peace and mutual respect even in the dissolution of a relationship. I’ve done a lot of writing about the importance of communication, but not so much about exactly how to communicate. Effective communication starts at the site of the self, and empathy and care for others is preceded by empathy and care for the self. Yet, we each afford ourselves so little space to be imperfect that we don’t entertain our own, compelling, narratives of mitigation. These traits, for many of us, yielded the academic success that got us into Duke, all while our health and happiness continued to decay. At some point, there will be nothing left of ourselves to sacrifice in the name of success. Before that happens, we must learn to forgive ourselves for the imperfect, messy beings we are, and what’s more, to love ourselves. So, sit in constant conversation with yourself. Where do your feelings come from? Explore their origins. I’ve heard once that “every feeling is a need trying to be met.” What do you need? Accept whatever you are feeling, without guilt, without shame. Know that it is ok to feel uncomfortable, to feel anxious, scared, depressed or alone. Know that these emotions are not indicative of any personal failing and that even in a place where you see no light, you are and continue to be worthy of love, support and friendship. Once you’ve identified what you’re feeling and what you need, ask for it. Lean on others for support, and know that this condition is a temporary one. I can promise it will pass, and I promise that there is no “always” to pain. It cannot possibly last forever because nothing ever does. The other secret to effective communication is asking questions and waiting for an answer. How often do we ask to simply listen to another speak without interruption? How often do we ask follow-up questions rather than rushing to relate? And when someone asks us of ourselves, are we so desperate to share, so starved to be heard, that we forget to reciprocate and provide this same space for another to share what exists within themselves? My charge to you, my peers, is to ask honest, meaningful questions of one another. Even in the simple, passing, “How are you?” make space for answers other than “Good, and you?” Maybe, you will encounter someone who is considering leaving this Earth. And maybe, you will help teach this someone that to stay here with us is not a worse fate than death.
PASH LET’S TALK ABOUT ‘IT’ “relationship.” There are the relationships we have with family—with our parents, siblings, and that one great aunt who insists, “You have to remember me! I held you when you were a
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take of the week
“No one in Gen Z is ok. All we know is climate anxiety, political anxiety, white claws, regular anxiety, and 100 gecs.”
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—Staff, 301 Flowers, on September 25, 2020
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PASH is a student-run organization providing resources for sexual health and relationship-building. Their column, “Let’s talk about ‘it,’” runs on alternate Mondays. This column was written by Carly Jones, a Trinity junior and vice president of PASH.
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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2020 | 11
Morning people are not a hoax
“Y
ou don’t know if they exist… it could be a coordinated prank,” my friend Henry responded when I asked him what his thoughts were on the concept of morning people.
what I’m saying right now? Omg you are!” He facepalms, then comments on the rain outside. He asks if I am writing down everything he’s doing. “What do I have to say about my lifestyle? I think that it’s not actually that important
feel like I maximize my time, and waking up early lets me feel like that…It’s not a hoax, it just definitely takes training.” When I requested a training regimen, she offered a variety of answers: “My mom is a morning person too, so I learned
to me. Like, I don’t have to consistently wake up at 6 a.m. to feel fulfilled. But socially, people seem to think you are more perfect than I am. Like I could stay up till midnight if I wanted to one day. I could wake up at 8 if I wanted to. There’s just this image of morning people being hyper-productive and on top of it, but honestly that couldn’t be further from the truth. Like, I don’t know why I wake up so early. I don’t really do anything. I watch YouTube; sometimes I stretch.” Speaks gibberish. Comments on the weather outside. “It’s just a force of habit, you know. I’ve always gone to bed early, always gotten up early. It’s just my life.” My main takeaway from our conversation: the fact that Henry considers going to bed at midnight “staying up” and waking at 8 a.m. “sleeping in” highly suggests that I cannot learn much from him. Henry is a different breed entirely. The next morning-person/otherworldly-being I spoke with was Mackenzie Warren. She is used to waking early after getting up at 5:30 a.m. in high school every day. She gets up between 6 or 6:30 a.m., stops working around 6 or 7 p.m. and is usually in bed by 11 p.m., depending on her variety of club activities. From our conversation, I realized that she is exactly that “image of a morning person” Henry had claimed did not exist. “[Waking up early] makes me feel productive, and nothing about going to bed at a late time appeals to me,” Mackenzie explains. “I want to
by example.” “Understand that it does take time for your body to develop that system.” “Have a mantra to repeat to yourself in the moment [when you get up]: ‘Hey, you know what? You get up and make this momentary sacrifice.’ Think about that short term pain for long term gain.”She ends with the encouraging quote: “It’s a mental battle.” Sufficiently intimidated yet simultaneously inspired, I thanked Mackenzie for her time and subsequently took a nap to avoid “maximizing my time.” (In my defense, I had slept at 4 a.m. the night before, and called her at 10:30 a.m.). Lastly, I spoke with Katherine Wright about her morning-person habits. Her responses landed her on the middle of the Henry-Mackenzie scale. She rises every day at 7:40 a.m. by alarm, and usually sleeps before midnight. She eats breakfast sometimes (a bottle of Bolthouse Farms vanilla chai tea) and runs errands. When asked why she makes the conscious decision every day to wake up early, she replied, “I like to operate in accordance with the sun. You know, in “Frozen,” when Anna goes ‘the sky’s awake so I’m awake!’... I think about that a lot.” Her initial response gave me hope, since it appeared that becoming a morning person is, in fact, a choice made by the sleeper. Yet the more we talked, the more it became clear that Katherine is also built different like Henry and Mackenzie. “I cannot do work past eleven or twelve,” she tells me, “so I can’t be one of those
Jocelyn Chin COLUMN
I am currently conducting a self experiment to answer the question: can I become a morning person? This is partially out of necessity, since some weekdays I start work at 7:30 a.m. However, I also just find the concept of waking up before 8 a.m. and functioning as a proper human appealing. One of the ways I force myself to get up is by leaving assignments till the morning, specifically assignments due that morning, which then absolutely forces me to sit up, pull out my laptop and finish the assignment. This worked on three mornings last week, where I rose between 6 to 6:30 a.m., and stayed awake the rest of the day. Problem was, my afternoon classes were fifty times more brutal, and I still couldn’t sleep well at night. To gain some advice, I interviewed three of my morning-people friends. Henry Park once randomly brought up the fact he consistently sleeps from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. I began our interview by asking, “As a self-proclaimed morning-person, what do you have to say about your lifestyle?” This is my type-up of his response, which he requested that I use because it represents him well: Looking out the window. “Sorry I just got distracted by the rain… what do I have to say about my lifestyle? Are you writing down
I
n the age of couch-based Instagram activism, our campus conversation about the future of the University’s social scene has reached a fever pitch.
Jocelyn Chin is a Trinity first-year. Her column usually runs on alternate Wednesdays.
Greek life’s time is up question that this obligation extends to the heavilybrochured “community building” and social life. In these respects, it is obvious that administrators are falling short: many students’ contentment
on this front over just three years. In the past, particularly under Larry Moneta, the university’s flaccid tone on Greek-life related controversies was anything but assuring for meaningful change. Yet,
Community Editorial Board COLUMN
In recent months, concerned students have retold harrowing stories and raised serious, credible objections to Duke’s social climate, whether through this paper or the Abolish Duke IFC & Panhel Instagram page. In turn, others have passed off usual platitudes of “this is just the way it is” or disingenuous attempts at whataboutism to avoid long-overdue introspection about how their organizations reinforce a generally toxic campus environment. It’s time to confront the issue head on: IFC and Panhel’s time is up. The campus-wide debate over Greek Life remains paralyzed, failing to capture the hearts and minds of anyone with the power to change things institutionally. While some organizations have disbanded, and a few sorority and fraternity members have dropped, no real change can be seen. As long as IFC and Panhel have a presence on campus, the issues associated with Greek life will prevail. The toxic social hierarchy will continue to haunt our campus, along with the structures that encourage and tolerate racism, sexism, and homophobia. Duke’s Multicultural Greek Council and National Pan-Hellenic Council serve as places of refuge for minority students on this campus. IFC, Panhel, and selective living groups, conversely, are silos of exclusivity. As presumably more level-headed adults, our university administrators have a duty to support the optimal growth of Duke students. It is without
people who stays up to two, three or four. I’m not built that way.” She then referenced the weekend she walked back to her dorm past 2 a.m. and went to bed at 3:30. “I still woke up at 8:30 the next morning. It’s how my body is programmed. I often wish I could go back to sleep, but I simply cannot... I can’t really help people. I can’t seriously nap. If I nap, I’m constantly thinking about waking up and doing other things.” Daunted by my own ability to “work past eleven or twelve” and “seriously nap,” I began to fear that my goal of achieving morning-person status is truly a Sisyphean task. With the help of Katherine, I consulted the internet and learned a fact that confirmed my fear: our chronotype is mostly biological; up to 47% of our internal clock is inherited from our parents. As I sat in my seat, wishing I knew this before I tried to force myself to wake up every morning at six, I realized that though Henry, Mackenzie and Katherine are blessed with morning-person genes, they still wake up early simply out of habit. There’s still at least 53% of my internal clock that I can alter with, in Mackenzie’s words, “momentary sacrifice.” Henry may be less aware of his own productivity, and Katherine may be a bit less consistent with her sleep schedule, but all three of these students are peers that I look up to immensely, who show me that being a morning person is truly not a hoax. It’s an idealized lifestyle of which I genuinely want to partake. So, let us end with a bit of inspiration. You may know the quote, often misattributed to Aristotle, that reads, “Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Taking Mackenzie’s advice, I’ve created myself a mantra: “Becoming a morning-person, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Wish me luck.
with university life falls off a cliff after the highly acclaimed East Campus experience. Further, the debate on abolition illustrates a depressingly large unhappiness that exists within the student body towards the social scene. There is clearly a problem with a system that, in many cases, decides one’s entire college social experience in less than three weeks during one’s first year. It’s become increasingly clear to our administrators and large proportions of the student body that this reality is untenable in our modern cultural climate. We should take a step back and examine the heart of the debate on IFC and Panhel Greek Life—Duke students’ frustration with the harmful social hierarchy that promotes classism, racism, and toxic masculinity. Most students share the sentiment that our social lives would suffer if we did not join Greek life or non-Greek selective living groups, which inevitably brings back the immature notion of the “in-crowd” from our high school days. However, would simply banning Greek life/SLGs solve the problem of feeling left out of certain groups or feeling socially inferior to particular friend groups? We don’t think so. Undoubtedly, the same social hierarchies would arise with or without the presence of Greek life. Rather than expecting the abolition of Greek life to solve all of our social life issues, we should focus on what the Duke administration can do to facilitate a stronger sense of community on West Campus. Perhaps surprisingly, we have seen progress
under a new administration, the school created trustee-level task forces to consider the future of Duke’s housing; razed Central Campus, bringing a swift end to the Wild West of Greek life; and ended self-selective and overwhelming like-minded firstyear living arrangements. The more bold approach of Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president for student affairs, on the issue of social life is welcome and overdue. With a reenergized mandate from the student body, administration should accelerate housing and social policies that are rooted in inclusive community building rather than institutionalized Othering. The COVID-19 era presents the perfect window for hastened change. As this moment calls us to reimagine the cultural and political structures we take for granted, we must further reimagine how things should be done around here. We would not be the first to try and, hopefully, succeed. Residential college systems, for example, whether longstanding, like at Harvard and Yale, or newly established, like at Dartmouth, have been demonstrative as a workable and well-received model that builds more inclusive, sustainable communities and largely eliminates the desire to join Greek organizations. Although Yale’s model leaves space for both groups, most students are satisfied enough with the school’s residential system that the pressure to join a Greek-affiliated system is virtually non-existent. Rather than leaving community building to the
discretion of our RAs, the Duke administration should implement a residential college system that puts genuine effort into creating events and programming that students would actually want to participate in. Currently, most students do not even know the other students on their hall (excluding those they blocked with), much less those in the rest of the dorm or outside of their own friend group. If we share a bathroom, we should at least know each other’s names. The key to ensuring the success of the residential college system is to invest effort into culturally-literate, inclusive programming that directly appeals to students . Without the pressure to join Greek life or SLGs just to be a part of something, the residential college system would provide a non-hierarchical affiliation that helps students gain the sense of belonging they seek (but often don’t receive) from Greek life and SLGs. Implementing the residential college system also lessens the pressure for students to subject themselves to degrading rush processes only to be followed by the sting of rejection. The rush processes of the current social groups on campus have been documented to be physically and psychologically damaging. It is quite barbaric to continue to allow students to present themselves to a group of strangers in the hopes of gaining their approval based on the most superficial aspects of their existence, especially considering the highly racialized, gendered, and class-based nature of the system that disproportionately harms students of color and low-income students. To abolish Greek life, the University must first give students a strong sense of belonging and community without subjecting themselves to stressful rush processes. This must happen for our current toxic social hierarchies to crumble. The Community Editorial Board is independent from the editorial staff of the Chronicle. Their column runs on alternate Mondays.
12 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2020
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