Duke Senior taking questions

singersmom
Wed, 16 Sep 2009 18:39:13 +0000

As a parent I personally have found Duke personnel to be very arrogant, rude and condescending and not very helpful at all. Residential Housing is unorganized which is surprising since they should have decades of experience doing the same things every year. In a recent encounter with a Duke alumni who graduated over 10 years ago I was told housing was just as unorganized then and the alumni had hoped things would be better today.

The food service availability especially on weekends is ridiculous considering most students sleep in and are not up until later. Brunch services should be available. Compared to other universities the selection of food is not healthy and and is not even organic. An international student told me that they found it extemely difficult to select healthly foods. And yes, I have sent articles about other universities that have their own organic gardens; have gotten rid of insititutional foods, etc. and never even received a single response.

Don’t get me started on safety. I truly dislike the cavalier way Duke dismisses any crime around the school saying the students need to be more careful. I live in a metropolitan area with at least half a dozen universities. Any time there is an incident around a university in which a college student has been robbed the city immediately responds with more patrols and urges businesses and homes in the area to leave the lights on. It also make the TV news and there is much consternation about the event. Unlike Durham where it is ho um whenever a student is robbed or attacked or even murdered like the graduate student from India.

Yes, students can change advisors - but they have a lot going on - adjusting to a new environment, classes, etc. and may not even realize they have a bad advisor until they have time to meet and talk with other students. Most freshmen trust their advisor to advise them - one usually doesn’t know one has a bad advisor until bad things happen like being told to stay in a class that one is failing!

I wish that Duke put as much effort and focus on their students as they do on their employees. Duke was recently named one of the best universities to work for. They treat their employees extremely well - I just wish they treated the students and parents as well as they treat their employees. But, oh, wait for it - students graduate in 4 years so why bother. The majority of communication I have received from Duke is for $$$$ - $$$$ for tuition and $$$$ for fundraising. Their parent communication is very poor compared to many other universities. They need a parent ombudsman.