OPINION | CAMPUS VOICES
Duke’s ‘White Lotus’ blunder: Sometimes less is more
By Alex Berkman | YesterdayBy choosing to release a statement, Duke has now drawn more attention than it could have desired.
By choosing to release a statement, Duke has now drawn more attention than it could have desired.
Spoiler alert: Studying abroad has not been the fairy tale I was told my whole life. Instead of instant connections, I’ve found myself wandering Madrid alone. Yet, in my solitude, I’ve found clarity, and in unmet expectations, I’ve discovered more about myself. And perhaps, that’s the real magic of this experience.
I reflect on my decision to stay at Duke while many of my peers went abroad — a choice that felt unpopular but deeply personal. While I’ve always dreamed of exploring the world, I always dreamed of coming to Duke and recognize that not all students have the privilege to take time away. Instead, I used this time to dive deeper into what brought me to Duke in the first place: clinical exposure, research, academics and meaningful relationships with patients and mentors. This experience reminded me that growth doesn’t always come from leaving — it can also come from staying.
Placing fraternity houses next to essential workers and families with children has worsened our relations with the Durham community, exposed Duke students to possible criminal charges and weakened oversight of the Greek life system.
Are you listening, or just waiting to speak? What if your superpower isn't your voice, but your ears?
North Carolina’ Senate has passed Senate Bill 50, allowing permitless concealed carry for individuals over 18. This legislation eliminates background checks and training requirements, a shift that data suggests will lead to increased gun violence. Drawing on my personal experiences from Michigan, a state that has endured fatal school shootings, I reflect on the broader implications of policy that prioritizes deregulation over public safety.
Administrators held an emergency meeting, and a brand new initiative was born. Now, the incoming freshmen will be used as labor to build their future campus. To ease freshmen into this unprecedented position, the president abolished all orientation programs, even the existing P-Build, to start a fresh program: P-Construction.
When a majority-white institution, such as a student living group (SLG), organizes a cultural event (as Wayne made explicit through their Holi banner) that is primarily celebrated by people of color, they incur the risk of diminishing the event’s cultural significance.
The Ivy League and other premier institutions are making their commitments to empower students regardless of financial status, but the silence from Duke is deafening.
As college students, writing is a tool we use everyday. But how can we use writing as a form of expression to improve the intentionality and clarity of our own lives?
For a little more than ten years, Duke Chapel has held a Jazz Vespers worship service once a semester. This service — a collaboration between Duke Chapel and the Duke Jazz Program — combines the ancient form of evening vespers with the musical improvisation of jazz.
There’s this unspoken hierarchy at schools like Duke. Some paths are easier to explain to your parents, your peers, to strangers at a dinner table. Certain majors command respect the moment you name them and seem to carry more weight. Others require a follow-up explanation, a second sentence, a little smile to suggest you’re self-aware.
I know how you think of yourself — an unbendable soldier. But you don’t always have to prove yourself. Once the toast hits the floor — jam-side-down — you can start lending yourself some grace.
The conservative hijacking of free speech is as much a political failure of the left as a con job of the right. Over the last few years, liberals in America have turned away from their rich historical tradition of defending free speech, which up until recently had been a cornerstone of classical liberal thought and progressive movements for centuries.
I can think of nothing greater than surviving some of the hardest working conditions, escaping, and somehow, against all odds, building a life for yourself and your family. That is courage. That is perseverance. That is a kind of success no résumé bullet point will ever capture.
This piece explores how a recent transition in style was a deeper reflection of adjustment to the competitive pre-professional culture at Duke. Parting with a particular fashion choice can feel as though you are losing part of your identity, but can also be a symbol of acceptance and maturity.
Duke is an elite university, and all that prestige means that Duke should be more resilient to the Trump administration’s threats to higher education. But it’s not.
Russia’s war against Ukraine, the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the COVID-19 pandemic and the escalating climate issues and biodiversity losses — we live in a world of interconnected crises: a polycrisis.
In an increasingly digital world, our interactions with our physical surroundings still have a profound impact on who we are.
The Chronicle will be accepting endorsement letters for the 2025 Duke Student Government presidential and executive vice presidential elections. Submissions will be reviewed from March 21 to March 29. All accepted endorsements will be published by March 30 at 11:59 p.m.