The leadership gap

Kate Hansen is a little frazzled, and rightly so. The sophomore rubs her eyes as she explains that her major, public policy studies, recently underwent changes in its requirements and she just received an e-mail about them.

Hansen is the classic do-it-all Duke student every parent dreams of. She served on East Campus Council her freshman year and is now serving as an ad hoc member of Campus Council, along with being Campus Council student liaison to Duke Student Government's Student Organization Finance Committee. She also teaches Hebrew school two days a week and is spearheading a non-profit organization called Domestic Violence Victims Support, affiliated with the Durham Crisis Center. And like so many other Duke sophomores, Hansen is planning to study abroad in the fall of her junior year.

Hansen is optimistic that the new changes in her major will not affect her decision to study abroad or interfere with extracurricular activities.

"I'm taking five classes now, the fifth being Hebrew--only because I want to learn the language, not for credit requirements. I'm also taking two sessions of summer school this year," Hansen says. "I had always kind of assumed I was going abroad. I didn't really plan for it, but taking five classes and summer school will help me get ahead with major and minor requirements."

Hansen's story echoes that of many sophomores who face the difficult decision of how to spend their junior year. They must choose between studying abroad or continuing on a leadership course for their Duke-related activities.

Before she can pack her bags, Hansen must choose successors for her various extracurricular activities.

"The [Durham Crisis] Center has known that I'm going abroad, and they know that a lot of undergrads go abroad in the fall, but they have the staff and there's interest so I know it will continue," Hansen says. "At Hebrew school, I'm also looking for a replacement. I'm trying to find someone who will want to be as committed as I am to these kids; it's going to be hard."

Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta expresses concerns over the large number of students who leave campus to study abroad every fall.

Assistant Dean for Study Abroad Margaret Riley sees different issues affecting students' decisions.

"Compared to our peer institutions, we are way ahead in the numbers of students who go abroad--that's incredible," Riley says. In fall 2002, for example, 415 students studied abroad compared with 120 this spring and 232 last summer. These numbers have remained relatively steady over the past decade.

Riley stresses that every student should have the opportunity to go abroad. She says students often cite finances, language barriers and curriculum concerns as reasons not to go abroad. While conflicts may arise, Riley insisted there are ways around them.

"As for Curriculum 2000, the jury is still out on that," she says. "Dean Thompson has been doing some extensive research, and the majority of students are well on their way to filling out C2K, regardless if they went abroad or not.... If one plans properly, there's no reason they can't do it."

While for many students at Duke, studying abroad is an assumed part of their learning experience, some students never even consider it. Senior Abena Antwi, president of the Black Student Alliance, offers a different perspective on the choice.

"Black students at Duke are in a unique situation. I think that almost half of Duke students study abroad. For African Americans, the percentage is much lower, maybe around 20 percent. I am not sure, but I am under the impression that most African Americans who study abroad do summer sessions.... I did!" Antwi writes in an e-mail.

Even though many students choose to study abroad in the spring and summer, a significant part of the junior class is missing every fall. Rooms are left vacant on West Campus, classes are a little bit smaller, and student groups lose some of their most valuable players.

Both Thompson and Moneta say basketball season unhappily coincides with spring programs for many students, allowing fall programs to become more popular.

Riley says matter-of-factly, "'Basketball is in the spring' is the most popular answer we get when we ask students why they want to study in the fall. Second is that all their friends go abroad in the fall."

So what does she think initially started the trend? "That's like asking which comes first, the chicken or the egg?" Riley says with a laugh. But her tone quickly changes when talking about how to even out the numbers to assuage the problems occurring within student groups and housing.

"We would encourage a more balanced approach," she says. "We didn't want to be in a position to say there's a limit to the number of students that can go abroad.... I wish we could convince students that spring has just as many benefits as the fall, but this vacuum of junior leaders is created by the students, not the administration."

Thompson also mentioned several factors that contribute to the void that occurs in the fall, including basketball season, sorority or fraternity rush, friends and jobs.

"Sometimes the European calendar contributes," Thompson says. "Duke ends earlier so as to create more summer opportunities. If students go abroad in the spring, they might miss out on summer options.... Really, students will choose to go in the fall because they will be disconnected from fewer things."

Assistant Dean of Student Activities Melinda Roper wants Duke students to be able to have both leadership and abroad experience.

"The most striking thing is the struggle that many students seem to have over pursuing leadership positions on campus versus going abroad junior year," Roper writes in an e-mail. "Both options present wonderful opportunities for learning and development. Wouldn't it be great if they could do it all?

"That said, regardless of the decision they ultimately make, I've never heard any regrets from either side," she adds.

Moneta, who works with many student leaders, sees study abroad as a double-edged sword.

"There is a disproportionate number of leaders that go abroad because they are the students who want to round out their Duke experience. I assume that they are heavily represented within the number of students who go abroad," he says.

"I've dealt with problems with The Chronicle, the [Duke University] Union, DSG.... I've noticed a real interruption in the leadership track--that interruption creates a fair barrier for some students."

Thompson also notes that study abroad can offer valuable experience for leaders.

"You hear the term 'globalization' thrown around all the time--to know other cultures and political systems will help our students in the international market, which can certainly assist them in future leadership roles."

For students, there is a delicate balance between retaining their status within their organization and giving in to the lure of studying abroad.

"It was difficult to decide whether or not to go abroad," says senior Jesse Panuccio, president of the Union.

"But I talked to [professor of the practice of public policy studies] Tony Brown over dinner, and he told me that if I could have a great first semester at Duke my junior year, then stay at Duke," Panuccio continues. "But if I needed to go elsewhere to make my junior year count, then I should go to New York. So I went to New York."

Yet, before he decided to spend a semester in New York, Panuccio ran for executive vice president of the Union. After he was elected to a year-long term, he ran into issues when he decided to leave for a semester.

"My one stipulation was to be honest--I ran for executive vice president without knowing if I was going abroad or not.... I wasn't going to commit to leaving without knowing they had found a replacement for me," he says.

Antwi, like Panuccio, had to find a compromise between her summer experience in Ghana and presiding as BSA president for 2003.

"My intentions to [go abroad for the summer] were disclosed when I ran for the position," she says. "Though there is a good amount of work that has to be done over the summer, I had to do a lot of it via e-mail. While it would have been better if I were in the States, it worked out, and my job was done. Things have flowed relatively smoothly since then."

Ambitious students have found ways to experience both aspects of Duke, enjoying time abroad and leadership roles, and organizations have adapted to compensate for the gap left by juniors studying abroad.

Some groups re-elect officers midway through the term in order to replace lost juniors. Especially with fraternities and sororities, the deficit of juniors is obvious.

"Both of my organizations, Alpha Delta Pi and Panhellenic [Council], circumvent this problem of lack of leadership in several ways," says junior Whitney Evans, newly elected Panhellenic executive vice president. "For the major leadership positions, if the candidate will be abroad for part of the term, she is simply not eligible. Another option is often running as a team--when two women are going abroad during different semesters and they each agree to take on the position while they are at Duke."

Antwi describes a similar method that BSA uses to combat the difficulty.

"Generally, problems that arise are disclosed before voting is held so we know what kind of situation we are in," she says. "We often appoint co-chairs so that leadership roles are not left completely vacant should someone have to leave.

"This is allowed by our organization but is discouraged, especially if the person is not sharing the office with another person who will be able to carry on the committee's activities should [he or she] leave," she continues.

Senior Jeremy Morgan, president of the Interfraternity Council, cites new regulations within IFC as cause for problems regarding the leadership structure within fraternities and brothers who want to study abroad.

"For one, all presidents must live in section. Secondly, they must serve a full year term," Morgan says. "Because a lot of seniors live off campus and don't want to live in section, most fraternities choose a junior for their president. But since so many juniors go abroad, there is a smaller applicant pool to choose from."

Evans says it is not as easy as it seems for the returning juniors to pick up where they left off.

"Juniors often feel alienated from the organization," she says. "I believe that this disinterest is often a direct result of the disconnect created on their side when they leave Duke for a semester."

Moneta stresses the importance of students planning ahead both in their academic careers and their groups' future leadership structure.

"What I find is that more often than not, those who currently hold power don't think or don't want to think about who will succeed them. I try to convey to students that planning for a successor is part of the responsibility of being a leader," he says.

Roper sees the marks of the so-called gap in student leadership on the groups she works with.

"I think the two main effects involve a loss of continuity and experience, plus the loss of potential leadership. When students go abroad their junior year, their organization experience and sense of group history goes with them, often leaving younger group members behind to reinvent the wheel," she says.

Through her experience with study abroad, Riley does not see such drastic effects.

"Students who want to be leaders will find a way to lead; I would not think that study abroad would be an impediment to that objective."