Central Campus Renovations to Begin
Work will improve undergraduate residences, student life
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Durham, NC -- Duke is working on plans to upgrade Central Campus and create a greater sense of community by adding a student eatery and communal space and encouraging more social interaction.
“Eventually New Campus will provide undergraduate residences that replace those on Central, but this will take time, and we have to begin improving the residential experience now,” said Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost for undergraduate education. “This is an important investment for us to make.”
Initial plans include moving and renovating Uncle Harry’s store, creating a student dining facility with indoor and outdoor seating in the current Uncle Harry’s space and renovating a cluster of historic mill houses to provide a workout room and study and meeting spaces.
“We will start this summer,” Nowicki said. “We won’t finish before school starts, but by the time students return, they will be able to see significant progress.”
The cost, including upgrading apartments starting in summer 2010, is estimated at between $12 to $15 million. The money will come from housing funds.
Proposed changes are being developed in accordance with a more comprehensive analysis of Duke’s housing model, derived from more than a year of conversations with students, Nowicki said.
During the school year, about 800 undergraduates and 200 graduate students live on Central Campus off of Erwin and Anderson Roads.
Students say they like independent living but complain that Central’s two-story apartments, which were completed in the early 1970s, lack a social scene where residents can informally interact. After having lived on East or West, students say they miss central gathering spaces and that the campus often feels remote and unsafe, said Nowicki, who has worked with Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, to address the concerns.
“Central is just not up to par for Duke,” said Andy Smith a rising sophomore and Durham native who is living on Central this summer.“I have a lot of friends at other schools around North Carolina that have much nicer apartments.”
Nowicki and Moneta agree that leaving Central as it is until New Campus housing can be created could put Duke in an unfavorable position with peer institutions.
“For many, it’s just a bedroom community,” Nowicki said. “We don’t want to just improve the space but to encourage a livelier social scene.”
The addition on Central this fall of the new student-initiated Ubuntu House, which has a common focus of community service, and SHARE (Student Housing for Academic and Residential Experimentation) should help, Nowicki said. He also would like to see two fraternities voluntarily move to Central next year.
Administrators will add more lighting and reconfigure parking lots to foster a greater sense of safety, said Nowicki, who has toured the area with students at night. “Central has an undeserved reputation but is actually very safe, as we know from the low number of incidents. Perception matters, though, and we want our students to feel safe as well as be safe.”
Nowicki and Moneta would also like to alter bike paths and bus routes to make travel among campuses more direct and efficient.
“We continually work to improve housing quality and housing options across campus,” Moneta said. “This project will significantly improve Central Campus options for eligible students interested in apartment style living.”
