Students gathering at a forum Wednesday night might have been surprised when the panel discussion drifted from the notion of gender and notions of "ideals" to the state of Duke's intellectual climate during the question-and-answer period.
About 40 people--mostly undergraduate students--attended the forum, sponsored by Duke Inquiries on Gender, the student arm of the University gender initiative that President Nan Keohane announced last spring. The eight-member panel included conservatives and liberals, students, administrators and faculty.
"It's certainly true that most Duke students are used to excelling without having to try terribly hard," said Lawrence Evans, professor emeritus of physics. "They get up here and realize not everybody makes it into the top half and that comes as a shock."
Panelist Mary Adkins said that academic and social pressure forces students to create ideals by which they gauge their success. "[Students] find some way to stand out," she said. "Too often, there are institutions in place that encourage sorts of behavior that are unhealthy and make people unhappy." Adkins, a junior and Chronicle columnist, said those tendencies disproportionately impact women.
Franca Alphin, student health services dietitian, agreed, noting that students who feel intense pressures to fulfill their goals may develop unhealthy eating habits in an attempt to gain a sense of control. "[Disordered eating] is not about attracting the opposite sexâ_"it is about not feeling like you have control over your life."
Other panelists suggested that other issues influence disordered eating. "Eating diseases seem to be a fundamentally 'rich' disease," said panelist Bill English, a senior and Chronicle columnist. English argued that women who fall into a higher economic bracket have a much higher frequency of disordered eating.
John Staddon, James B. Duke professor of psychology and brain sciences, harshly criticized what he perceived as a lack of intellectually engaging activity on campus. "Duke seems to me incredibly impoverished," he said. "I have never been under the illusion that this is an intellectual university."
Students commented on campus social climate as well.
"If I try and bring up issues of homophobia or anti-racism in a social conversation, I get shot down," said senior Kelly Quirk. "When it comes down to the two hours a day when you aren't doing work, people don't want to talk about this stuff."
Audience members disagreed whether the blame for unhealthy gender images lies with the greek-centric social order. One sophomore pointed to the rush process as evidence of a student tendency to judge people based on physical attributes.
For all of the frustration expressed with social climate, participants agreed that change would have to come not from administrators, but from students. "As an administrator I can only fail," said Leon Dunkley, director of the Mary Lou Williams Center.
"Solutions aren't going to come from the Flowers and Allen Buildings," said English, who opined that administrative engineering exacerbates problems. "I don't think this committee should try and force discussions where there aren't any."
DIG student organizer Emily Grey expressed mild disappointment with the conversation's shifting focus. "The reason the conversation drifted from gender is because people are uncomfortable talking about it," said Grey, a senior. "[But] some dialogue is better than nothing."
DIG has organized focus groups to discuss gender-related issues this semester and will follow Wednesday's forum by hosting a Nov. 7 performance by comedian Chris Kilmartin entitled "Crimes Against Nature," offering perspective on the accepted notions of masculinity.
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