If you can't find a place to park and the campus seems a little busier than usual this weekend, it's probably due to the more than 3,000 alumni in attendance for the Duke Alumni Reunion Weekend.
Eleven classes, spanning from 1939 to 1994, are on campus for the biggest reunion the Duke Alumni Association has ever held. This year marks the first time all reunions will be combined; previously, they were held during three consecutive weekends in the fall.
Events planned for the weekend include a luncheon with President Nan Keohane in Cameron Indoor Stadium, a discussion with author Tom Wolfe, a fireworks display and a Saturday night procession of more 1,000 alumni from Page Auditorium to Cameron.
"We are very excited at the amount of alumni attending; it is a number vastly larger than we've anticipated," said Lisa Dilts, assistant director of Alumni Affairs.
This weekend's activities-including tents, extra security, and student guides-cost more than $500,000. Thirteen tents have been set up on campus: one for each class, one for registration and one football field-sized tent near Cameron for Saturday's Big Dance.
Due to the large number of tents, many had to be set up ahead of time, which bothered several students.
"We have had such amazing weather, but nobody could play frisbee or enjoy the sun because there was this huge tent in the middle of the quad," said Trinity freshman Rebecca Meyer.
Along with the tents, Alumni Affairs has employed 40 extra student interns for the past three weeks to supplement its five full-time planners. An outside security team, Show-pros, has also been contracted for crowd and traffic control.
The half-million-dollar price tag for the event far exceeds Alumni Affairs' annual reunion budget of $300,000. Therefore, half the cost will be paid by royalties the University receives by selling the names of alumni to insurance, credit card and career service companies.
"It's a win-win situation for both the companies and our alumni. They get new customers and our alumni receive benefits and services at a reduced price," said Associate Vice President Laney Funderburk, director of Alumni Affairs. "We use the money for reunions, the Duke alumni magazine and alumni gatherings for accepted students."
Planners hope alumni and undergraduates will mingle during the weekend. "Both the students and the alumni would benefit from such interaction," Dilts said.
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