Duke leader: Few are boorish

Duke leader: Few are boorish

Duke University President Richard Brodhead acknowledged Tuesday that some students at the elite school have displayed boorish, drunken behavior in neighborhoods near the campus.

But the entire student population, he quickly added, should not be tarred by the rude behavior of a few who have urinated on others' property and taunted neighbors who try to reason with them.

"I regret boorish behavior by any Duke student," Brodhead said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "I wouldn't put up with it if I were their neighbor."

Since the start of the semester, police have broken up house parties off campus and issued numerous citations to Duke students for underage possession of alcohol, open-container violations, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Some of the students have hurled demeaning comments at neighbors and police.

The problems, Brodhead said, are linked to binge drinking, a vexing issue for most colleges and universities.

Brodhead, who has been at the helm of Duke for nearly 15 months, was a guest Tuesday on "The State of Things," a local public radio program produced by WUNC. He touched on a broad range of issues -- from the strife between town and gown to the mental thrill he gets from teaching.

During the radio interview, Brodhead said he thought some of the trouble in near-campus neighborhoods could be curbed if the legal drinking age were lowered to 18. He said many other university and college presidents had similar views.

By lowering the legal age, he reasoned, universities would not have to force drinking off campus. That might mean fewer students would drive drunk, and it would give universities an opportunity to teach students how to drink sociably and responsibly.

But Brodhead said he was not on a crusade to lower the legal drinking age.

"I was answering a question when I mentioned that," he said later in a telephone interview.

He said he is aware that many consider the higher legal drinking age a lifesaver, cutting down on fatal car crashes related to driving under the influence of alcohol.

"I understand the complexities of it," Brodhead said. "As long as the drinking age is where it is, the schools have the legal obligation to be against drinking that they know will happen anyway."