Despite rumors that social life at Duke is dwindling, student leaders who gathered Saturday to discuss the social scene found that is not the case.
At a social life summit--organized by the Duke Student Government student affairs committee--students from DSG and about 15 cultural, religious and unaffiliated organizations discussed the current state of social life and how to create an ideal social scene at Duke.
"Some people say that social life has died, but... once we got those people around the table, we saw that there really are a lot of social options," said senior Troy Clair, DSG vice president for student affairs. "We're dealing with the perception that there's not a lot of things to do but... people maybe aren't aware that there are [other] things to do."
For senior Richard Rivera, Mi Gente president, the meeting made him realize that the social life at Duke is changing. "Most of us were upperclassmen, and I think we had the same stereotypes that everyone goes to parties and gets drunk on the weekends... but when we really spoke about the different options on campus... I've realized Duke is in a transition period right now."
Students discussed, among other topics, the difficulties of finding facilities and publicizing events, high technical fees, increased collaboration among groups, the alcohol policy and a lack of social space on East Campus.
Participants also found that collaboration among different groups, advertising, providing food and a central location all contributed to well-attended events.
"More people will go to an event if people from a broad spectrum feel that they have ownership in that event," Clair said.
Increasing social space was also a concern, and students mentioned the Bryan Center, Gilbert Addoms Dormitory and the West-Edens Link's McClendon Tower as possible spaces. Duke Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta is currently planning a renovation of the Bryan Center and surrounding buildings to create more social space in a "student village."
"There needs to be space on campus, and we're going to need to find the space before the student village is finished, space where you can go with a diverse group of friends and know that other people will be there," Clair said.
Jesse Panuccio, president of the Duke University Union and a senior, said he was concerned that many students "seem to think that there's nothing to do on campus," pointing to recent weekend events, including Awaaz, multiple bands and movies, as examples of "how much there is to do on campus if people would just go out there and look for it."
Jeremy Morgan, president of the Interfraternity Council and a senior, agreed. "Whenever people think of fraternities, I think they often think of them as providing the social scene on campus," Morgan said. "I don't think that it should be the fraternity system's responsibility to provide a social scene for the entire student body."
To increase awareness of social options on campus, students discussed having a freshman orientation to social life to "orient people to the possibilities of what they can do on weekends," Clair said.
Many people blamed the administration for diminishing social life on campus, said senior Andrew Nurkin, Campus Council president. "That's probably true, but I think the major problems are that people are less willing to take charge of their social lives and want to have parties. Someone actually has to host those parties," he said.
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