Duke rethinking dorms that divide

Some call residence assignments for selective living groups unfair

DURHAM -- In the Wayne Manor section of Duke's Wannamaker dorm, garbage cans are stuffed with empty cases of Busch Light beer. Rooms with lofted beds, couches and flat-screen TVs burst with people when the residents throw a bash.

Just a short walk away in a quiet section of Edens dorm, each resident's name and hometown is posted on the door, summer-camp style. The strains of one of the three pianos often waft about, and a commons room is festooned with multicolored streamers, balloons and Christmas lights.

The 42 residents of Wayne Manor -- an all-male social group similar to a fraternity -- appear to have little in common with the nine students in Eden's Arts Theme House, which is smaller, co-ed and less likely to host an all-campus party. But these groups -- and 22 others recognized by Duke -- have a common cause: Their ways of life are targeted for extinction.

The "selective living groups" are students with similar interests who, with the university's help, establish communities by living together in blocks of dorm rooms. These groups have certain perks. They can rent a grill from the university for a cookout, for example, or get a couple hundred dollars for a group activity.

Most important, according to the recently released Campus Culture Initiative report, they dictate the campus social scene by virtue of the turf they inhabit.

"Access to real estate means setting the rules of social engagement, and the university must face the fact that residential space, and control of it, continues to be experienced as gendered and alternative unfriendly because of the ways it favors certain groups," the report states.

Other universities have special-interest housing -- N.C. State's Arts Village is one example -- but Duke's system is unusual for its scope and the number of organizations involved. It has been spurred by Duke's lack of on- or off-campus housing for fraternities or sororities.

Work on the culture report began soon after three Duke lacrosse players were charged in March 2006 with sexually assaulting a woman hired to dance at a team party. Those accusations led to a broader look at drinking and other behavioral excess.

The report recommends that these groups no longer receive preferential housing treatment. On Duke's West Campus -- where more than half of Duke's undergraduates live -- about 30 percent of beds are assigned to selective living groups. These students are overwhelmingly male -- 77 percent -- and many are in fraternities. The result is inequitable room assignment that fosters exclusivity and cliques, the report concludes.

Debating change

Such conclusions have many members on edge.

Tom Adelman, a junior with Wayne Manor, acknowledges that selective living groups can breed a form of exclusivity. But, he argues, isn't that the point? Wayne Manor -- a reference to the home of Bruce Wayne, Batman's alter ego -- hosts parties, collects dues and sends members to tutor at an elementary school. It doesn't put the same emphasis on pledging that Greek fraternities do. While most members are white, they bring a range of ideologies, and the group keeps its dues low to foster socio-economic diversity, Adelman said.

To Adelman and many other members of these groups, there is value in living among friends.

"I can walk down the hallway and my friends are going to be there and we can go to the gym and play basketball," Adelman said. "There's always somebody willing to do something with you."

At the Arts Theme House, Katherine Almquist agrees. A senior from Atlanta, Almquist is the president of the group of students who chose this dorm to be with like-minded lovers of music, art and self-expression.