Don't forget G&P students

The school year has not yet started and The Chronicle seems to have already forgotten that the largest number of students on campus are the graduate and professional students. I have spent the past few weeks welcoming the largest class of G&P students yet to Duke, a vibrant and diverse group of students who will define this University for years to come—not just in our research and teaching, but also through our involvement in campus life events (and not just from September to April). I was dismayed to see that this largest group of Cameron Crazies is practically invisible in the first two issues of The Chronicle this year. While a full page spread announces the DSG student leadership for orientation (Aug. 23), not a single mention of the Graduate & Professional Student Council, let alone the other large professional student governments, can be found in the entire issue. While in the same issue we hear that the a “record class will strain East dorms,” we don’t hear that this class has pushed incoming international graduate students off campus entirely; we learn that the University moved up in U.S. News ratings and that “Duke is tied for ninth place in the updated list of national universities offering doctoral degrees,” but there is no mention of those programs that define the category. And, though we hear President “Brodhead welcome[d] the largest class ever” (Aug. 26) on Wednesday morning, The Chronicle completely neglects the fact that he and Dean Jo Rae Wright, vice provost and dean of the graduate school, also welcomed graduate and professional students that same afternoon with moving and exciting speeches. G&P students are here on campus, participating in student activities, using your housing guide and writing excellent columns in your student daily (Liz Bloomhardt’s “Green Devil,” for example). In sum, I would like to present a friendly reminder from the G&P population to the Chronicle staff and undergraduate student population: Don’t forget about us! We are bigger than you, and many of us grade your papers.

Daniel Griffin

Graduate and Professional Student Council President

Duke Classical Studies Ph.D. Candidate