Staff Editorial: Dorm intellectual life lacking

At many top-tier colleges throughout the nation, dorms and residence halls serve as centers of intellectual life for students. Dorms are an extension of the classroom, in which students engage in lively discussions with one another and oftentimes with professors. Unfortunately, these debates and interactions in living spaces are far less common at Duke. However, quad residence coordinators and officials from Residential Life and Student Services have begun planning and implementing programs designed to increase intellectual interaction in residence halls. Students should be patient as these programs evolve, and make the effort to participate in them. Duke's unofficial motto may be "work hard, play hard"--but learning should not stop as soon as students leave the classroom.

The lack of a stimulating intellectual culture in dorm life at Duke is largely attributable to structure of the residential system itself. At peer institutions like Yale, students live with the same students in the same "residential college" for years. This facilitates interaction and students become comfortable enough with one another to freely debate and exchange ideas. Every Sunday at Yale, professors and distinguished speakers visit the residential colleges for discussion and a meal. At Princeton, students join "eating clubs," in which they socialize and take their meals. These eating clubs are a source of much academic conversation. Obviously, a residential system like Yale's or a dining system akin to Princeton's would be infeasible at Duke. Individual dorms are not equipped with dining facilities. Further, Duke's residential system lacks continuity, as independent students move all over campus at the start of each school year. It is rare that students will live near the same neighbors from year to year. This limits the development of intellectual interaction.

In light of these obstacles, residenence coordinators have designed academic and social events to bring students together with other individuals in their residential quads. One example is a "Survivor"-themed competition framed around academic events, with one competitor selected from each West Campus quad and from Central Campus.

While ideas like "quad-Survivor" are a step in the right direction, there are several factors that RCs should consider when planning their programs. Events should allow as many students as possible to participate. The obvious restrictions non-withstanding, RCs should look to the successful models at our peer institutions. In particular, Duke should look to emulate Yale's professor-student interaction program. Many Duke students will never come into contact with distinguished professors outside of their major or minor fields. Having these professors sit down with students in commons rooms over a meal and discuss their interests would be a cheap, practical and effective way to foster discussion in the residence halls, and broaden the students' and professors' experiences. Also, student "crossfire" debates and forums should be considered.

RC residential programming has tremendous potential. Intellectually-oriented programs will provide a useful supplement to student-run parties, barbeques and shows. We are not Yale or Princeton, nor should we attempt to radically alter the residential system that makes Duke unique. RC programming provides a practical alternative route to academic growth outside the classroom.