COMMENTARIES - Duke should consider Durham's demands

Durham, North Carolina. How we love thee so. The Duke/Durham relationship is viewed differently by many. Some see it as a rich symbiotic relationship, like the reciprocal harmony that exists between those tiny birds who gain protection from rhinoceroses by cleaning dirt and stuff from their fur--at least I think its like that, I'm not a Bio major. Others see the relationship similar to an ugly leach sucking the blood out of a large fully grown mammal. Those among Durham residents who see the latter aren't the biggest Duke fans.

So when I read in the Durham Herald-Sun last week that Mayor Bill Bell and the City Council were suggesting Duke University should chip in more money to ease Durhamites' tax burdens, my initial reaction was, "Hell no, I don't want my tuition going up so we can pump more money into this town."

Durham's argument goes as so: Under North Carolina law, Duke as an educational institution is tax-exempt and thus gets away with not paying the city a substantial amount of property taxes and other payments. Duke also benefits from many city services like road maintenance and recreation facilities that many Duke students use. Duke currently pays $300,000 to the city a year for fire protection and an $815,000 impact fee for the new campus construction. Durham officials are insisting Duke pay more for the services Duke gets for free to ease the burden on residents who pay higher property taxes because of Duke's presence.

"Town-gown" spats are not unique to Durham and Duke. Many Ivy League institutions face them every year in similar small towns such as Providence and New Haven. That one certain school in Cambridge, Massachusetts that we all love so dearly chose to take a cooperative stance in lieu of taxes. In 2003 Harvard gave Cambridge $1.8 million in addition to a $480 million payment over fifty-two years to Watertown, Massachusetts for property taxes. After thinking about it, this may be one instance where Duke should try and follow Harvard's lead.

Duke also contributes to the Durham area with Duke forest and the Duke police department. The school has also gone to great lengths to repair Durham-Duke relations that The Princeton Review cited as one of the worst "town-college" relationships in the nation. For example, administrators launched the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership Initiative to build a stronger community bond.

Still, Vice-President Trask refrained from considering specific payments in lieu of taxes. He was after all quoted in the Herald-Sun as saying, "In general, we think we should be paying nothing or less." This is a course the school should reconsider. Councilman Thomas Stith admits while Duke is pivotal to a thriving Durham, more can be done to help that relationship because of the tax exemption.

A thriving Durham means a thriving Duke. Helping alleviate the tax burden of Durham residents and businesses will promote city growth and help the city grow in terms of reputation and status.

Despite the presence of the Research Triangle, one of the things that keeps us from attaining the reputation of say Harvard is that Durham seems less attractive than certain New England localities. A better developed Durham makes the University more attractive as an institution to prospective faculty and college applicants.

Certainly this is a very debatable topic and something that has not been heavily discussed among the recent forums on academic diversity and the dining plans. It is also not an easy problem, considering students would like to see their now increased tuition money going to Duke, not Durham. But it is still a debate worth having.

Despite what course is taken, school administrators should remember Duke University is not a separate entity from Durham but as much of a part of it as the Durham Bulls. To renege from that idea would be horribly erroneous.

Jonathan Pattillo is a Trinity sophomore. His column appears every other Friday.