The Chronicle The independent news organization at Duke University
FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2021 ONLINE DAILY AT DUKECHRONICLE.COM
See Inside A look back at AD Kevin White’s tenure Page 3 ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 2
THE FIRST STEP OF A NEW BEGINNING By Matthew Griffin Staff Reporter
Matthew Griffin | Contributing Photographer First-year advisory counselors move students’ belongings into Giles dorm on Tuesday, move-in day for the Class of 2025. The air was filled with pop music, cheers from FACs and nervous excitement.
Soon Adar Schwarzbach’s college experience will begin. Right now, he’s waiting in a car. It’s Tuesday: move-in day for the Class of 2025. A line of cars snakes its way around the East Campus quad, from Giles dorm to Baldwin Auditorium and almost back to the Washington Duke statue. Schwarzbach, a first-year from Palo Alto, Calif., is waiting to move in to Giles. He’s on the wrestling team, and he plans to major in computer science. More than anything, though, he’s looking forward to meeting new people after a senior year of high school that took place online. He didn’t visit, so this is his first time at Duke. As he and his family wait in the line of cars, he says he’s almost overwhelmed with “how awesome everything seems.” “It’s almost, like, too much for me to have any emotion,” he says. Across the quad at the front door of Giles, first-year advisory counselors in pastel shirts pull boxes, bags and suitcases from cars and take them inside. A speaker blasts music: “Peaches” by Justin Bieber, “Can’t Hold Us”
by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. It’s a muggy afternoon, and partly full plastic water bottles litter the ground. FACs Abigail Ullendorff and Jack Fallon, both sophomores, have been working since 8 a.m. But they’re both having fun. “We’re very tired, but we’re powering through,” Fallon says. While Ullendorff came to Duke in 2019 and took last year off, Tuesday is Fallon’s first time experiencing a normal move-in day. Last year, first-year move-in was staggered across four days due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were few people around when Fallon got to campus, and he felt almost lonely. Campus isn’t entirely back to normal. A sign outside Giles makes that clear, reminding the reader that masks are required in campus buildings. But Duke has rolled back many of its pandemic safety measures, and this year’s move-in day has the traditional celebratory feel. “It’s a very welcoming experience,” Fallon says. “And as a FAC, I’m really glad I’m able to do this because I’m able to almost See MOVE-IN on Page 6
Breakdown of tenured professors ‘KEEP ME UPLIFTED’ shows disparities in race, gender Beloved Pitchfork’s cashier not rehired for fall By Gautam Sirdeshmukh
professors in 2017 and 2018 were tenured.
Health and Science News Editor
In light of national discussions surrounding the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s decision to originally not offer tenure status to Pulitzer Prizewinning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones, The Chronicle analyzed the demographic makeup of Duke’s faculty to see how the University compares to peer institutions. Here are the results of the analysis, which comes from data collected by the United States Department of Education in 2019.
Tenure as a whole
Of the 4,059 full-time faculty members working at Duke in 2019, 1,353 were tenured, making up one-third of the University’s teaching staff. This figure is comparable to that of other private institutions: 27% of faculty members at Columbia University are tenured, while the University of Chicago sits at 34%. The percentage of tenured professors at Duke remained steady during the past few academic years prior to 2019. In 2017, 1,300 of 3,869 (34%) faculty members were tenured (34%) and 1,326 of 3,958 (34%) were tenured in 2018.
Tenure by gender
Of the 2,394 full-time male faculty members at Duke in 2019, 999 were tenured, or about 41%. Of the 1,665 female professors, however, just 354 were tenured, or 21%. These figures have also held form over time, as 42% of male professors and 22% of female
By Leah Boyd Editor-in-Chief
Tenure by race
Racial disparities are also evident in the demographics of Duke’s tenured professors. Just 48 of the 197 (24%) Black and African American faculty members in 2019 were tenured, compared to 1,075 of Duke’s 3,022 (36%) white faculty members. Just 29% of Black male professors and 20% of Black female professors were tenured, compared to 44% of white male professors and 22% of white female professors. In 2019, nearly 36% of Asian male professors and 19% of Asian female professors were tenured, along with 34% of Hispanic male professors and 18% of Hispanic female professors. These figures are all lower than the tenure rates of the faculty members’ white counterparts and are very similar to the rates in the years prior to 2019. Duke is not alone in these stark differences in tenure numbers between men and women and white and Black professors—the Department of Education’s data show that similar breakdowns exist at many other private research institutions around the nation. For example, in 2019, 65% of white male professors at Harvard University were tenured, compared to 45% of Black male professors. A disparity of a similar magnitude occurred at Johns Hopkins University, where 44% of white male faculty members were on tenure in 2019, in comparison to 20% of Black male faculty members. See TENURE on Page 7
All summer, Micheala Lee, the iconic Pitchfork’s cashier known at Duke for her joy and positivity, was expecting an exciting phone call from her manager about how things would run in the fall. They had told her in early May that circumstances at Pitchfork’s “would be okay through the summer, but during the fall, things may change,” according to Lee. When she finally got the phone call last week, the news was far from what she had imagined. “They told me they have to downsize, and with that, they’ll have to change their hours of operation as well,” Lee said. “And they just don’t have a spot for me anymore.” Her manager told her there was no hidden reason behind her being let go. “It was a really hard blow, especially when I was expecting a phone call with some very exciting news. It was really, really devastating,” Lee said. Lee posted on her Instagram story last Wednesday to announce the news. “To all my dear friends at Duke.. I regret to inform you that I was not elected to return to Pitchfork’s for the next semester … it really breaks my heart as I write this but I truly appreciate the love you all gave to me. Please keep in touch!”
‘This door was closed for a reason’
Lee said that she loved working at Duke so much because it gave her the chance to meet plenty of new people. “I love to have the chance to be able to
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make a difference in someone’s life, even if it’s with a smile to brighten your day,” Lee said. “I was given a multitude of opportunities to do that for you guys and I really do appreciate the love that you reciprocated.” Lee added that the outpouring of support and love she received while at Duke was unexpected and even “a bit overwhelming” at times. “I really don’t know what to do with all the love you guys pour out to me because I’m not used to so much being given back. I’m used to being the giver all the time and everything, so to actually get it back has been amazing.” When Lee first received the phone call from her manager, she described feeling unwanted, but the outpouring of support from students “really turned around that experience” for her. See MICHEALA on Page 7
INSIDE Meet the new trustees Varied in experience, age and University ties, seven new members have been named to Duke’s Board of Trustees. PAGE 5
Bus drivers denied benefits “It makes no sense. It was an error that Duke made that caused this in the first place.” PAGE 3
From the farmers’ market Missed the Durham Farmers’ Market this summer? We’ve got you covered with photos from the day. PAGE 6 @thedukechronicle | ©2021 The Chronicle