Trinity Heights talks yielding positive change

I was pleased with the Sept. 15 editorial, “A beautiful day in the neighborhood?”, and I’d like to share a few more thoughts about relations between students and long-term residents in Trinity Heights.

First of all, I’d like to thank Duke Student Government representatives, particularly Will Passo and Andrew Brown, for initiating contact between students and neighbors that led to a student being elected to our Neighborhood Association board. Brown organized students to attend our neighborhood meeting last spring, and Passo did quite a bit of outreach work this fall to connect students and neighbors.  Beyond bringing students to our meetings, DSG is developing ideas for projects, such as community gardens, that will enable students and neighbors to work more closely together.

As the editorial pointed out, these efforts have had positive results, and my neighbors and I have really enjoyed getting to know Joe Meyerowitz, David Hershey and other students who moved to Trinity Heights this fall. I would like to say, however, that Trinity Heights residents have always enjoyed good relationships with most student residents, and we constantly emphasized this fact when we worked this past year with Duke administrators to address party house problems. Far from painting all students with the same brush, we told Duke administrators that the problem seems to occur with a minority of student households that operate de facto fraternity houses in our neighborhood and have frequent, very large and loud parties that are inappropriate for quiet residential streets. One reason we addressed this problem to Duke administrators, rather than students themselves, is that Duke seems to have made a policy decision not to provide a fraternity row where these parties could happen in an appropriate space that would not disturb neighborhoods.  

We are glad that the neighborhood is quieter this year, and credit the efforts of our task force, Duke Student Government and students themselves for the change. And we would like students to know that they are most welcome in Trinity Heights—just recognize that it is a place for quiet, residential life, not large parties. And finally, I would urge the student body to ask Duke administrators to create a fraternity row on campus, where you can have large parties that won’t conflict with neighborhood life. We look forward to seeing you in the neighborhood. Christine Westfall President, Trinity Heights Neighborhood Association