FEATURE

A 4.0 standard: Duke sees continued rise in GPA cutoffs for Latin honors, Dean’s List recognitions amid grade inflation

By Abby Spiller | February 3, 2025

Throughout the past two decades, Duke students have seen a rise in grade point average cutoffs to earn Latin honors and Dean’s List/Dean’s List with Distinction. These increases show a rising threshold to reach top marks, requiring students to earn essentially all As throughout their time at Duke in order to be ranked within the top echelon of their peers.

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NEWS | HEALTH & SCIENCE

Duke professor-led biotech company raises $175 million to advance epigenome editing therapy clinical trials

By Srilakshmi Venkatesan | January 31, 2025

The company will use the funding to advance clinical trials for Tune-401, the epigenetic silencing drug for treating chronic Hepatitis B — a viral infection that damages the liver and affects millions globally.

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CHRONQUIRY

Chronquiry: What is A-Team and how do they prepare for Duke’s bench burning tradition?

By Karen Xu | January 31, 2025

Bench burning: it's the coveted tradition Blue Devils know and love, with dreams of reliving it year after year. But who works behind the scenes to prepare for the big, blazing moment?

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FEATURE

Slim Reaping, Neal or No Neal and Sheffield of Dreams: A walk through the 2025 Duke men's basketball tenting season

By Rebecca Fan and Sarah Diaz | January 31, 2025

The Chronicle visited K-Ville to hear the stories of this year’s tenters, both seasoned veterans and first-time Crazies, on their strategies for surviving and thriving this tenting season.

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FEATURE

‘Take the path less traveled’: Behind the scenes of Program II, Duke’s self-designed major

By Madera Longstreet-Lipson | January 30, 2025

Duke offers 63 majors, 61 minors and 23 certificates, and undergraduates have the option to pursue up to three of these courses of study during their time at Duke. This results in over 430,000 possible academic combinations for undergraduate students. For some Duke students, however, 430,000 is not enough.

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

Faculty committee on academic freedom hears student, faculty perspectives at town hall

By Naomi Yaeger | January 30, 2025

The event centered mainly on attendees’ experiences with free speech and self-censorship, with additional time spent on institutional neutrality and concerns around the University’s Pickets, Protests and Demonstrations (PPD) policy.

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

DSG meets for first time since Nov. 20, approves $16,000 in SOFC funding

By Jeremiah Fang | January 30, 2025

Duke Student Government senators approved Student Organization Funding Committee funding as well as new election bylaws, rules and procedures and heard a closed-session presentation during its Wednesday meeting — its first since Nov. 20.

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

The race must go on: Students compete for white, flex tenting spots despite icy conditions

By Madera Longstreet-Lipson | January 29, 2025

While some students embraced the challenge, continuing snowfall made the race more difficult for others to navigate campus. The Chronicle confirmed at least one on-campus car crash resulting in a student suffering a concussion.

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NEWS | LOCAL & NATIONAL

Duke responds to federal funding freeze, NC joins 22 states to sue Trump administration

By Kate Haver | January 29, 2025

The order, announced in an Office of Management and Budget memo Monday evening, directed federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all federal financial assistance.”

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NEWS | HEALTH & SCIENCE

Duke Health, UNC Health to partner on new $2 billion children’s hospital in the Triangle

By Zoe Kolenovsky | January 28, 2025

The facility, called “N.C. Children’s,” was characterized as a “decade-long goal” for both institutions and is expected to lessen the strain on other regional facilities amid increased demand for care.

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

Teaching students to think ‘like programmers’: A look into Pratt’s revamped computing course, EGR 105L

By Michael Austin | January 27, 2025

In the Pratt School of Engineering’s revamped introductory computing course EGR 105L, Computing for Engineers, students are focusing less on the “what” and more on the “how” of programming.

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FEATURE

Mary Lou Williams: Duke’s own ‘First Lady of Jazz’

By Ella Moore | January 27, 2025

When Mary Lou Williams arrived at Duke in 1977 as the University’s first artist-in-residence, she was already an icon in the jazz world, having earned monikers like “The First Lady of Jazz” and “The Lady Who Swings the Band.”

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NEWS | HEALTH & SCIENCE

Duke biology pauses gateway course Biology 203 amid heavy course load, accessibility concerns

By Rebecca Fan | January 27, 2025

Students with a score of four or five on the AP Biology exam could bypass the department’s introductory courses and fulfill the gateway requirement for the biology major with just one class, giving them the flexibility to begin taking electives of their choice earlier.

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FEATURE

The man behind the bells: Chapel Carillonneur Sam Hammond’s campus legacy

By Mia Taubenblat | January 26, 2025

For 50 years, J. Samuel “Sam” Hammond served as the University’s carillonneur, playing the carillon, a pitched percussion instrument, in the Duke Chapel every evening to serenade students with the familiar sound of 50 ringing bells.

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

‘Crisis in journalism’: Leading journalists discuss second Trump term, changing media landscape at 2025 Zeidman Colloquium

By Zoe Kolenovsky and Mia Taubenblat | January 26, 2025

Prominent political journalists convened Saturday in Penn Pavilion to discuss the implications of a second Trump administration and changing political and media landscapes at the 2025 Zeidman Colloquium on Politics and the Press.

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NEWS | LOCAL & NATIONAL

President Donald Trump floats ‘getting rid of FEMA’ during NC visit

By Zoe Kolenovsky | January 26, 2025

At a briefing in the Asheville area, the president suggested he may sign an executive order to “begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA — or maybe getting rid of FEMA.”

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

DFD extinguishes fire in Blue Zone, 4 cars affected

By Zoe Kolenovsky | January 24, 2025

The blaze was first reported in the B5 lot at 12:44 p.m. and was contained by 1:15 p.m. Several fire trucks and police cars were seen responding to the incident. No community members were injured.

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FEATURE

‘We hope you don’t need us’: Behind the scenes of the marriage pacts playing cupid for Duke students

By Michelle Voicu and Lucas Lin | January 24, 2025

The marriage pact is an age-old custom: If two friends can’t find love years into the future, they agree to be one another’s “Plan B.” Today, some Duke students are embracing this strategy in search of their lifelong partner, just in case traditional dating doesn’t pan out.

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

5 individuals, 4 teams receive 2024-25 Presidential Awards

By Lucas Lin | January 24, 2025

The Presidential Award is one of Duke’s highest honors for staff and faculty, recognizing those who “demonstrate the values that define and shape Duke as an institution.”

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NEWS | UNIVERSITY

ACIR’s response to Duke Divestment Coalition’s proposal, explained

By Aviv Stabinsky | January 24, 2025

The Chronicle broke down some of the biggest questions surrounding ACIR’s response to Duke Divestment Coalition's divestment proposal, including what it says and why it matters.