Members of the Graduate and Professional Student Council encouraged Campus Council Initiative leaders to broaden their considerations beyond the undergraduate community at GPSC's meeting Tuesday night.
CCI Chair Robert Thompson, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and vice provost for undergraduate education, said the 25-member committee was formed last April in response to controversy surrounding rape allegations against three members of the men's lacrosse team.
Although the primary focus of the initiative's analysis is undergraduate culture, the committee is made up of faculty, staff and both undergraduate and graduate and professional students, he said.
"Given how hard it is just to focus on undergraduates, if we do this well, I'm going to be happy with that," Thompson said. "At the same time, there are other areas that need attention that our committee can't do-but we have to call attention to them."
He said graduate and professional student bodies and Duke's interaction with the Durham community are two such considerations.
"It's a matter of scope and time, not a matter of not being important," Thompson said.
GPSC President Audrey Ellerbee, a fifth-year biomedical engineering student who sits on the CCI committee, said she had to petition Thompson to include graduate and professional students in the steering process.
"It's a continual oversight," she said. "This committee, like several others, has been slow to recognize that graduate and professional students are an important part of campus culture."
The group worked through the summer to identify and understand campus culture problems. Subcommittees focused thematically on athletics, gender and sexuality, race and alcohol, Thompson said.
He said despite increased diversity on campus, findings illuminated the divisions underlying the community.
"The reactions to the events were filtered, perceived and responded to through a lens of difference," Thompson said.
In addition, a pervasive sense of conformity makes alternative members of the community feel less welcomed, he said.
"What we really need to do is create space for more of an affirmation and embracing of difference, such that it's not possible just to reside in one's comfort level," Thompson said.
He added that students should learn diversity appreciation as part of their four-year education at Duke along with analytical and social skills.
"I represent diversity, and unfortunately I agree that Duke is not working so well for me," said Shannon Hickey, a doctoral student in religion. Hickey encouraged the CCI to consider religious diversity in addition to other categories.
The committee plans to make its recommendations in a public report to President Richard Brodhead by the end of the academic year, Thompson said.
The committee's initiatives have also led to more immediate changes, such as an undergraduate leadership group to facilitate communication between academic and staff parties, as well as modifications to freshman orientation and to residential life on West Campus, said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs.
In other business:
Working with Associate Athletics Director Mitch Moser, GPSC altered the seating arrangements in the graduate and professional student section of Cameron Indoor Stadium to solve the visibility problem.
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