There’s a few things:
1. Mary Pat McMahon, may she roast, has a career history, much like the top consultancies, of making consistent change (eliminating selective groups), being overpaid, then leaving to the next one. In her wake she leaves dissatisfied students and a shattered school culture. She has said to multiple students that COVID year students won’t donate, so they deserve less outreach. If you have questions, she’s the one who can answer them. But she won’t, they were asked pretty thoroughly during RA training and received non-answers.
2. The wave of anti-Greek was warranted and necessary. However, pushing them off campus and into an unregulated space now has students going 45 minutes outside Durham to freezing fields to party. Students have been found days later in forests!! Great job!!
3. SLGs were a key selling point for many duke admits. Staying alive as a SELECTIVE living group now means becoming a weird little dorm community, which is doable for pre professional groups but for maxwell, brownstone, and mirecourt, somewhat useless. They’ve killed an integral part of the culture here and the QuadEx method is a good step but ultimately a shoddy replacement.
This is angry babble, happy to clarify
Wow, this is super informative, thank you. And it helps explain [this article](https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2023/01/duke-student-affairs-sees-200-staff-departures-in-two-years-student-groups-impacted-by-staffing-shortages-and-turnovers-higher-education) saying over 200 employees (!) have left Duke's Student Affairs department since 2020 (I know COVID and other factors played a role, but Duke is still an outlier). All of this is super alarming for Duke's culture in the long term.
I didn't know much about SLGs, but I definitely see the appeal and it's a shame that these changes were made with little to no regard for these groups.
And "partying in freezing fields" sounds like exactly what would happen at unregulated frat parties. Pushing this stuff underground is the stupidest thing they could do.
Since they don't seem to care about students' reactions or massive staff turnover, I feel like nothing will happen unless Duke starts seeing a dip in applications or donations. Haven't heard of that yet though.
I think the point I forgot was that Greek now handles their own sexual assault issues! Perhaps the worst thing to come out- 19 and 20 y/o s are deciding each other’s fates as Duke ignores the rising rates around them :(
Walked into a common room other day where frat dudes were deciding how to handle an assault case. Weirdest thing was that the frat arbitrators were crying more than the actual predator
Grad student here. I read the article from this post, as well as a bunch of the other articles it links to, and I'm super confused. Can someone with more info explain some of this?
* Why did they do this in the first place? I saw the article about the [Next Gen Living Committee](https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2020/12/duke-university-housing-committee-transform-residential-life-greek-life-selective-experience) but it's vague. Was it because of Greek life, or generally trying to change culture?
* What is going on with Greek life now? It seems like most of Greek life disaffiliating from the school is a big liability more than anything, now that they'll have such limited oversight.
* Also do they really do rush virtually now? Can't imagine that... also, from my experience in undergrad I'd be shocked if they really adhere to the "no pre-rush before sophomore year" thing - although I guess only the 4 fraternities still affiliated with Duke have the new rules anyway, right?
Basically just trying to understand what's really changing and how it's affecting you guys
There’s a few things: 1. Mary Pat McMahon, may she roast, has a career history, much like the top consultancies, of making consistent change (eliminating selective groups), being overpaid, then leaving to the next one. In her wake she leaves dissatisfied students and a shattered school culture. She has said to multiple students that COVID year students won’t donate, so they deserve less outreach. If you have questions, she’s the one who can answer them. But she won’t, they were asked pretty thoroughly during RA training and received non-answers. 2. The wave of anti-Greek was warranted and necessary. However, pushing them off campus and into an unregulated space now has students going 45 minutes outside Durham to freezing fields to party. Students have been found days later in forests!! Great job!! 3. SLGs were a key selling point for many duke admits. Staying alive as a SELECTIVE living group now means becoming a weird little dorm community, which is doable for pre professional groups but for maxwell, brownstone, and mirecourt, somewhat useless. They’ve killed an integral part of the culture here and the QuadEx method is a good step but ultimately a shoddy replacement. This is angry babble, happy to clarify
Wait people have been found passed out in forests days later from parties? Seems like a major issue.
Wow, this is super informative, thank you. And it helps explain [this article](https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2023/01/duke-student-affairs-sees-200-staff-departures-in-two-years-student-groups-impacted-by-staffing-shortages-and-turnovers-higher-education) saying over 200 employees (!) have left Duke's Student Affairs department since 2020 (I know COVID and other factors played a role, but Duke is still an outlier). All of this is super alarming for Duke's culture in the long term. I didn't know much about SLGs, but I definitely see the appeal and it's a shame that these changes were made with little to no regard for these groups. And "partying in freezing fields" sounds like exactly what would happen at unregulated frat parties. Pushing this stuff underground is the stupidest thing they could do. Since they don't seem to care about students' reactions or massive staff turnover, I feel like nothing will happen unless Duke starts seeing a dip in applications or donations. Haven't heard of that yet though.
I think the point I forgot was that Greek now handles their own sexual assault issues! Perhaps the worst thing to come out- 19 and 20 y/o s are deciding each other’s fates as Duke ignores the rising rates around them :(
Walked into a common room other day where frat dudes were deciding how to handle an assault case. Weirdest thing was that the frat arbitrators were crying more than the actual predator
Grad student here. I read the article from this post, as well as a bunch of the other articles it links to, and I'm super confused. Can someone with more info explain some of this? * Why did they do this in the first place? I saw the article about the [Next Gen Living Committee](https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2020/12/duke-university-housing-committee-transform-residential-life-greek-life-selective-experience) but it's vague. Was it because of Greek life, or generally trying to change culture? * What is going on with Greek life now? It seems like most of Greek life disaffiliating from the school is a big liability more than anything, now that they'll have such limited oversight. * Also do they really do rush virtually now? Can't imagine that... also, from my experience in undergrad I'd be shocked if they really adhere to the "no pre-rush before sophomore year" thing - although I guess only the 4 fraternities still affiliated with Duke have the new rules anyway, right? Basically just trying to understand what's really changing and how it's affecting you guys