Happy 20-days-until-Halloween! We’re seven weeks into the semester, and while the Sunday scaries might be year-round, some things only happen in September. Duke formally announced its Climate Commitment while a tropical storm bore down on campus. Our football team snagged a three-win streak before falling to Kansas. Durham Pride made a comeback on East Campus and Fandango de Durham made its debut.
There’s a lot to keep track of, and some stories drew more attention than others. Here are the five articles you spent the most time reading in September — in TikTok and written form.
1. Why is North Carolina ranked as the worst state to work in?
North Carolina placed last on Oxfam’s 2022 list of Best and Worst States to Work in America, ranking No. 52 below all other states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. A Sanford professor says N.C.’s ranking is because of the state’s minimum wage, right-to-work laws and lack of paid leave.
In the first installment of her column “the rage room,” Duke Kunshan University junior and opinion managing editor Ooha Reddy makes a plea to continue her education in Durham. DKU decided not to offer the major she applied to the school for, and she says she will not be able to graduate if she’s forced to return to Kunshan. The column was widely shared on social media.
3. Banned fan not found to have directed racial slurs at Duke-BYU volleyball match, BYU says
After a racial incident was reported at the Aug. 26 volleyball match between Duke and BYU, BYU announced that it had reversed its ban on a fan that Duke identified as shouting racial slurs at Duke’s only Black starter. BYU later said they found no evidence to corroborate the claims of racism. Athletic Director Nina King released a statement, saying that she stood by the volleyball team “especially when their character is called into question.” The student has since been subjected to targeted online harassment.
4. Duke falls to 10 in U.S. News and World Report national ranking, ties with Northwestern
We’re number one…with a zero at the end. In the 2022-2023 edition of U.S. News and World Report’s Best National University rankings, Duke fell from ninth to 10th. Some of the major factors used to compute the rankings include graduation and retention rates, social mobility, graduation rate performance, undergraduate academic reputation as determined by peer assessment, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources per student, alumni giving and graduate indebtedness.
Sports managing editor Sasha Richie introduced us to sophomore quarterback Riley Leonard as he prepared to lead Duke football into its season.
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Nadia Bey, Trinity '23, was managing editor for The Chronicle's 117th volume and digital strategy director for Volume 118.