I would ask that you to take a moment to consider the comments posted online in response to The Chronicle's headline story Jan. 22, "Crime wave sweeps Durham:"
Durham is variously referred to as being "dysfunctional," being a "cesspool" and containing a "criminal element."
A respondent identifying herself as "Ellen Rock" writes: "Durham is and has been infested with rampant violent crime on an ongoing and daily basis. NOW is the time for Duke to shelve the Durham-knows-best, butt-kissing PC attitude and get involved."
A "Duke parent" refers to the Durham Police Department as "corrupt."
"tom inman" writes: "The problem seems to be that some of the 'Durham authorities' are part of the criminal element."
A student writes: "This city is rotting from the inside out, not excluding the Durhole Police Department."
After looking at the above quotations, convince me (as well as yourselves) that there is not a considerable problem with the way members of the Duke community view the city of Durham.
It appears to me that many of these comments arise from misgivings about the University's being located in an urban environment. As someone who attended a university in the middle of New York City as an undergraduate, I am familiar with the responsibilities of maintaining one's personal safety while going to school in an urban center. Perhaps Duke needs to make it more clear to incoming students that they will be attending a university that resides in a city; moreover, perhaps the University would be wise to include among its mandatory orientation activities an educational workshop that discusses what it means to attend a university located in a city.
Economic and class disparities often become most sharply defined in urban areas, as people with vastly different financial means will frequently interact during their daily routines within public spaces-Durham seems to be no exception to this general tendency. Perhaps students arriving at Duke would benefit from a discussion about the city of Durham-not merely a warning about its crime rates, but an introduction to its history, its achievements, its failures, its current conditions and plans for the future.
Make no mistake: I do not condone criminal activity. I do, however, acknowledge its existence as a fact of life-especially in urban areas. Many students at my undergraduate institution viewed their living in New York City as a legitimate part of their college education-a crucial part that took place outside of university buildings, and at times "off campus." Though Durham is a far smaller city than New York, could not Duke try to promote a similar line of thinking amongst its own students? Will Duke inform its students on how to be safer on and around campus, while promoting a culture of inquisitiveness and mutual understanding? Or will the University erect walls-be they physical or metaphoric-around itself to ward off the apparent "dangers" of the city that surrounds it? How does one define the distinction between "university" and "citadel"?
Matthew Somoroff
Graduate student
Department of Music '12
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