Classical music and a home-cooked meal coaxed approximately 20 students into casual conversation with each other and members of the Alumni Association midday Thursday at the Alumni House.
The occasion-one of several lunches the Alumni Association organizes every year-is just one of the annual events that is open exclusively to children with legacy status.
Although there is an opportunity for prospective students to indicate whether family members attended the University-a factor which is considered in the admissions process-their identification as a legacy student does not end when they submit their application.
Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag, who is currently on a leave of absence, wrote in an e-mail to Provost Peter Lange in June 2007 that the University had set records in the number of applicants to Trinity College of Arts and Sciences in many categories-one notably being applicants who are children of alumni.
Guttentag said the Class of 2011 would contain approximately 230 legacy students, the highest yield in that category in Duke's admissions history.
Kim Hanauer, Trinity '02 and director of young alumni and student programs, said the Alumni Association tries to connect students with other alumni and act as their advocate beginning the day they enter Duke and continuing long after they graduate.
"We want kids thinking from the first day that they get on campus that this is a lifelong relationship," Hanauer said.
She invites children of alumni to optional events like Thursday's lunch via e-mail, offering a few dates to accommodate all legacy students, said sophomore Katie Stiner, whose father Allan Stiner, Trinity '77, attended Duke.
Although attendees of the lunches engage in casual conversation, the events are typically themed and directed toward a specific topic for discussion.
"No lunch is ever really free-we like to use you guys as somewhat of a focus group," Hanauer said, encouraging students to respond to the Alumni Association's concern that it is not involved enough in students' lives. Attendees said they were interested in improvements that would benefit all students.
Sterly Wilder, Trinity '83 and executive director of Alumni Affairs, said she was interested in how the Alumni Association could improve the yearly events for which they are responsible. She wanted to focus on the orientation event for freshmen at which they are presented with their class directories.
The Alumni Association will also host an exam study break for the group Dec. 9 in the Old Trinity Room, but Stiner said that the association hosts few exclusive events.
"They really don't do much legacy programming," Stiner said. "It's more beneficial to them than to us individually. They're given the opportunity of getting some student feedback."
Some current legacy students said they feel that their family's relationship with Duke has strengthened their personal connection with the school.
"I've grown up coming here," freshman Lauren Haigler said. "Feeling like I've grown up coming here and now going here makes it a little more special."
But not all students agree that their legacy status strengthens their connection with Duke. Stiner said she did not think her connection to Duke was stronger than that of a non-legacy student.
"There was very little pressure in my household to go to Duke," Stiner said. "I ended up visiting and loving the school. I had a personal connection that had nothing to do with my dad. While it is certainly something that we share and is special, especially because my dad lived in Kilgo [Quadrangle] and now I'm living in Kilgo, it really was a personal decision."
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