One week after the Interim Report on the Undergraduate Experience at Duke University was made public, Academic Council members discussed the relationship between academics, athletics and the overall campus culture at its meeting Thursday in a packed Divinity School lecture hall.
During the council's first meeting of the academic year, President Richard Brodhead proposed a new mission statement for University athletics. Provost Peter Lange also presented the recommendations set forth in the recently-released interim report and his response to the Campus Culture Initiative Steering Committee Report.
Council members unanimously endorsed Brodhead's draft of the mission statement.
Brodhead said drafting a new mission statement for athletics would help to unite Duke's athletic and academic realms.
"It was a fairly obvious question," Brodhead said. "Couldn't we devise a new athletic council that was more open to the rest of the University?"
Brodhead said despite his leadership role at the University, he had never seen the previous athletic mission statement prior to addressing the state of athletics within the University.
This, Brodhead noted, is exactly why a new mission statement is necessary.
"A mission statement that no one is familiar with corresponds to a mission that no one understands," he said.
Brodhead said the primary objective of the proposed mission statement is to address athletics as a part of the University rather than a separate entity.
"It tries to say not what athletics should or should not be in terms of athletic terms but rather in University terms," he said.
Brodhead added that the mission statement articulates the level of athletic and academic performance demanded of student athletes.
Lange said the interim report was intended to address athletics and other "hot-button" issues on campus, including selective living, alcohol use, gender relations and diversity.
He added that the success of the report is contingent upon how space is designated and used by different campus organizations.
"Our facilities must be aligned with our principles," Lange said.
In other business:
At the end of the meeting, Benjamin Ward, associate professor of philosophy and chair of the Faculty Scholar Award committee, announced the selections for the award: seniors Sarah Ellis, Claire Lauterbach and Paul Slattery-. All three students were approved and congratulated by the council.
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