Price reappointed to second term as Duke president

At their quarterly meeting, the Board of Trustees reappointed President Vincent Price to a second five-year term, according to a Saturday news release.

Price took office in 2017 and is now in his fourth academic year as Duke’s president. His second term will begin July 1, 2022.

“I’m excited to continue my work,” Price told The Chronicle in a Sunday interview. “I’ve found these past four years at Duke just invigorating and energizing, notwithstanding the challenges that we faced this past year with the pandemic—but I’m proud of the way the community has navigated through the pandemic, and I think post-COVID we’re positioned for enormous success.”

A committee chaired by Trustee Allyson Duncan carried out a comprehensive review of Price’s leadership before the board reappointed him. Duncan said in the news release that it was clear to the committee that Price has “strong support from stakeholders across the Duke community and is eager to embrace and learn from the feedback.”

In the past year, Price has led the University through the COVID-19 pandemic and announced expansive new anti-racism measures. In an extensive interview with The Chronicle last November, he said being in his role during a pandemic had given him “tremendous pride” in the community.

‘This comes from students, from faculty and staff,” he said at the time. “People have been creative and adaptive in figuring out how to work around the challenges presented by the coronavirus. And I've been very impressed by the flexibility and responsibility of our students as well.”

One of Price’s first acts as president was to remove the Duke Chapel’s statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee after it was vandalized. Duke has also renamed buildings during Price’s tenure due to their owners’ racist histories.

In Price’s second academic year as president, Duke received backlash after declining to sign on to a cooperation agreement that would have allowed the now-defunct Durham-Orange Light Rail project to go ahead. At the time, Price said accusations of Duke killing the project were inaccurate because the University was not the only stakeholder that did not sign the agreement, and he said Duke had an unwavering commitment to partnering with the Durham community.

Price said on Sunday that the Duke administration has been keeping the trustees informed in the wake of fraternities’ decision to disaffiliate from Duke’s Interfraternity Council, which he said was an “unfortunate” decision.