Faculty heard a little about why students are so upset with the new housing plan at Thursday's Academic Council meeting.
Trinity junior Peggy Cross, Duke Student Government president-elect, addressed the council and compared the current residential chaos to a trip to the dentist's for a root canal.
Citing a history of frustration with aspects of the current residential system, Cross compared earlier attempts to reconcile the situation to taking aspirin and hoping the pain will go away. With the new residential plan passed by the Board of Trustees in December, Cross elaborated, the University moved toward a comprehensive solution to long-standing concerns.
But like a root canal, Cross said, "when you wake up, you feel as though you have made a terrible mistake.... As a result of all the digging the dentist did, your tooth hurts more than ever."
Much of the problem, Cross said, revolves around the fact that students remain opposed to North Campus housing.
"If anything, the negative reactions students have had to this semester's changes stress the importance of following through with the rest of the residential plan," Cross said, stressing that the University must commit itself to closing North and building a new dorm on West Campus as soon as possible.
President Nan Keohane, who spoke after Cross, said she understood that students were concerned about living on North Campus, but she added that the $22 million price tag for new dorms could be prohibitive, at least in the short-term future."Our first strategy is to make Trent as attractive and livable as possible," Keohane said.
Peter Burian, associate professor of classics, questioned whether selective groups would be housed on North in the future. Although the board's plan called for placing larger selective groups and elective theme dorms on North, larger groups slimmed down to meet the size requirement for West, and no students came forward to create new theme dorms.
"I regard it as highly unsatisfactory to have a fairly significant portion of the sophomore class isolated simply because of an unwillingness to put selective groups on North," Burian said, urging administrators to consider housing selective groups on North in future years.
Keohane said housing selective groups on North might be one alternative strategy for enhancing North Campus.
IN OTHER BUSINESS: John Burness, senior vice president for public affairs, spoke to the council about how the new Congress' budget-cutting efforts could impact higher education.
The University receives $429 million, or 30 percent, of its $1.35 billion budget from the federal government.
Several programs could be coming under the budget axe this spring, Burness said, and potential changes could lead to a $30 million shortfall in federal funding for Duke alone.
For faculty, Burness said, one of the biggest concerns could be cuts to research funding that does not bear directly on health research.
Although a recent survey by a group of universities reported that most Americans support funding health-care research, fewer are enthusiastic about investigations in other areas. As a result, Burness said, while every federal program will get a haircut, "the risk we run is that we may get a mohawk."
Also at the meeting, Keohane announced that committees would be conducting routine five-year reviews of Janet Dickerson, vice president for student affairs, and Burness. Both vice presidents arrived at the University in 1991.
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