Give house model room to grow

This headline appeared in the Nov. 2 issue of The Chronicle: “Independents lack sense of community in Duke house model.” We recognize the article for what it was: A much-needed mid-semester check-up on Duke’s new house model. But we fear that students may mistake the article for a death notice.

While one might infer from the article that the house model is failing, we cannot make such strong judgments yet. The house model is barely three months old—not nearly enough time for any strong sense of camaraderie to be fostered among an entire house. The transition into the house model will take years, not months. Community identity cannot materialize overnight. Right now, we find ourselves still in the trial phase.

But the trial phase is the most important phase. Actions that students take now will shape the house model for generations of Duke students to come. Instead of prematurely proclaiming the house model’s failure, students should be actively contributing to its success. The house model is founded on the belief that the right of return and student-run programming will lead to unique residential communities. In the first few years of implementation, it is crucial that houses set a good precedent for house leadership and social life.

The key to success for the house model will be student involvement. Just as Duke’s many thriving selective living groups started as grassroots projects, so must the house model residential communities be borne out of student initiative.

Two things must happen for this grassroots growth to occur.

First, the administration must place control of the houses with unaffiliated students—not the graduate residents or residential assistants. For any lasting community to develop, unaffiliated houses must be accountable for social programming, house governance and disciplinary issues in the same way affiliated houses are. Otherwise, unaffiliated houses will never feel the same sense of autonomy as affiliated houses. It is imperative that houses begin to control their own policies for students to have any incentive to buy into the process.

Second, unaffiliated houses must become viable social bodies. The most typical programming in the house model right now—typically innocent “get to know each other” events like s’mores nights—won’t give most unaffiliated students the robust social experience they desire. Consider looking to selective living groups for successful programming models. Social opportunities within the house model must be appealing enough to grab and hold the interest of unaffiliated students. If unaffiliated students always feel the need to look outside their house to find fulfilling social opportunities, the house model will never work.

To that end, the administration must reexamine how it polices on-campus gatherings, be it in terms of alcohol, noise or number of gatherers. If this year’s draconian crackdown continues, it will push more and more socialization off-campus, stifling the ability of these brand new houses to create viable social spaces for their residents.