Who remembers what the viewbook for their Duke application looked like? I can't speak for the other classes, but for my fellow sophomores, the cover had the obvious "DUKE" in big letters along with pictures of a tent and a lemur, and most importantly, a single Latin phrase--'sui generis.' I'm no Latin expert, so I asked someone who is--it means "of its own kind," or "unique in its characteristics," a wonderful way to describe Duke. A friend of mine who is applying to Duke this year asked me to pick up an application for her. It took one look at the cover of the new viewbook to see that she's applying to a much different school than I did.
What hits you first about this year's application is not the word "Duke," (which is actually shadowed in the background) or a tent, or a lemur or any Latin phrase. The most prominent word on the cover is "fearless," which is in huge bold letters at the top. Below that is a quote from Nan about the type of students Duke is looking for, in which the word "daring" is larger than the rest of the sentence. That's it.Daring and fearless. Apparently those are the attributes we're going for now. This audacious theme continues through the rest of the viewbook, which is full of a sensory overload worth of colors, shapes and fonts.
I never really believed much of the talk about the administration trying to make Duke into the Harvard of the South-- that is, until now. The first few pages elaborate specifically on the "fearless and daring" campaign, with a letter from Christoph Guttentag asking, "Are you fearless?" and a question and answer page featuring letters that are almost condescending, in response to fictional people like "Comfy in Kansas City" and "Needy in Nashua," among others. Basketball has been bumped from page one to page 14 and instead of the Krzyzewskiville centerfold that I loved, they've added a discussion with an anthropologist about the phenomenon of being a fan. "Work hard, play hard," one of my other personal favorites, is also nowhere to be found. One of the early pages has a graphic about spending Saturday nights "getting inspired" at the library. Apparently, the Gothic Reading Room is supposed to become the replacement for the Hideaway.
At some point since the Class of 2006 filled out their applications, somebody (or some committee, or some blue-ribbon panel) decided that Duke needed to change the way it presented itself to high school seniors. It wasn't good enough to be a top-level academic school where students had the opportunity to do amazing things in and out of the classroom and watch college sports be played on the biggest stage. It wasn't enough to be the fun and relaxed university, where students were Cameron Crazy, not grade crazy. It wasn't enough to be Duke, sui generis.
What drew me (and many other people I know) to Duke over any other school out there was a combination of things: world-class academics, an awesome campus, a relaxed atmosphere, a diverse student body and yes, basketball. We have things that the unholy trinity of Princeton, Harvard and Yale do not, and now, it appears, we are not using them to our advantage. In fact, we're trying to play their game right now, and I'm not sure that this battle of recruitment is one we want to win.
Back to "fearless and daring."
Some other adjectives used to describe people that are "fearless and daring" could easily consist of the following: overconfident, arrogant, proud, self-centered and egotistical. High school seniors that are fearless have clearly lived a very sheltered life. As far as I'm concerned, we should let those people go off to Cambridge and New Haven. I want us to look for people who are innovative, enthusiastic and eager to contribute to the academic and social climate around them. These are the people who can best take advantage of Duke's uniqueness.
If I were a high school senior, I would probably be a little intimidated by what Duke was asking from me in this viewbook. I may also start to wonder what made Duke any different from any of the Ivies. My brother, a high school teacher in Arizona, told me that when a group from Duke came to make a presentation at his school, several of his students came back "disappointed." They were top-notch students academically and told him that they loved what they had already heard from other sources about Duke's atmosphere and campus. If that was the case, something was wrong with the way the University presented itself, and this is a serious problem.
The Class of 2006 was hailed upon their arrival as "Duke's best class yet." Yes, we should continue trying to improve each year, but the University must have been doing something right two years ago. Why the extensive changes since then? We cannot and should not act like the Harvard of the South. We are Duke. We are sui generis--unique. Some administrators and the admissions office may not be proud of who and what we are right now, but I am.
Jonathan Ross is a Trinity sophomore. His column appears every other Wednesday.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.