Home to Duke’s first-year students since 1995, East Campus’ newest crop of residents have lived for the past seven months alongside renovations designed to upgrade infrastructure and aesthetics for future students.
The construction has found its way into Duke lingo, with some first-year students jokingly speculating that the project’s true purpose is to create a lazy river wrapping around East Campus Quad. In reality, Duke is in the process of repairing and retrofitting aspects of the main quad like lighting, sidewalks and stormwater drains, while simultaneously significantly expanding Lilly Library.
Amid the upheaval, The Chronicle spoke to first-year students to understand how the construction has affected their day-to-day residential and social lives.
Upon returning after spring break, first-year Fiona Xiao discovered that the work had shifted to block the path between her dorm and Marketplace, forcing her to take a detour around the loop to access the campus’s only dining hall.
“Just about anywhere that I want to go, I have to take a longer route,” Xiao said.
First-year Andrew Albright explained that many of his friends living in dorms on the east end of the quad — where the bulk of construction has taken place — have had to adjust their routes.
Pedestrian traffic was not the only disruption students experienced. Xiao, who lives near the renovations, described coping with noise distractions during early mornings and study time.
“It's just not the best environment to wake up to. It's obviously very loud and … disruptive when I'm trying to study,” she said.
Albright added that the construction has made connecting with fellow first-years somewhat difficult.
“I think it has definitely limited people wanting to spend time or hang out in whatever capacity,” Albright said. “… I remember at the start of the school year, sometimes people would play soccer or volleyball out there. And now that the renovations have taken over a lot of the green [space] and destroyed a lot of the grass, it's definitely a [much] less physically appealing place to spend time.”
First-year Alexis Fox shared concerns with Albright, similarly describing how inconveniences caused by the construction have impacted the campus’s social scene, making it more difficult for first-years to bond with one another.
Campus aesthetics have played a significant role in shaping the college experience for some first-year students. Reflecting on his decision to come to Duke, Albright asserted that campus architecture and landscape “[mattered] to him.” With the ongoing construction, however, he said campus aesthetics have been “thrown out the window.”
“I feel like Duke definitely likes to share its West Campus aesthetic — Duke Chapel and the Gothic architecture,” Albright said. “Coming to East Campus for the first time, [it] was definitely sort of a shock that not all of Duke looks like [that].”
Although Xiao acknowledged that aesthetics come secondary to functionality, the construction has still impacted her experience, with construction vehicles constantly blocking her view of the quad.
“[It] would be nice to see the other side, or just be able to take a scenic walk and not have to pivot a hundred times to walk around the construction,” she said.
First-years also have not found much use in Lilly Library’s temporary alternative: Bishop’s House.
Xiao pointed out that the facility’s limited service hours compared to other popular study spots like the Duke Coffeehouse have made it less convenient for students studying late. She also noted the lack of studying spaces at the temporary location.
“Everybody's scrambling for studying spaces during finals season or midterms season, and we really only have Trinity Cafe … so we often migrate, and most of us end up studying in our dorms.”
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Still, students remained optimistic about the long-term benefits of the renovation projects in spite of their short-term inconveniences.
“I'm excited for the freshmen that will be able to use it because I saw the blueprints, and it does seem really nice,” Xiao said.