<p>“Catch up,” why would Duke want to?</p>
<p>As an older alumnus who has served on several senior Duke volunteer leadership Boards and Executive Committees during the last two decades, I believe this entire thread is somewhat ill-founded.</p>
<p>Duke aspires to be the best Duke possible, not to replicate any other university’s approaches. This certainly includes superior academics and research – undergraduate, postgraduate and professional schools, alike – on the same level as HYP’s, but it goes MUCH further.</p>
<p>It also embraces pervasive scholarly integration and collaboration, which is not always common at other “elite” universities. In addition, it incorporates continuously enhancing a shared Duke spirit, affinity and cohesion that – again – may not be universal at peer institutions (to illustrate, Duke’s Vice Provost for undergraduate STEM plays in the undergraduate pep band at every home basketball game . . . I wonder if things of that nature are common at, for example, Harvard?). Moreover, it strongly emphasizes an agility to adapt and to innovate that is unusual among our peers . . . and governance, leadership and finances to support this vision. </p>
<p>Terry Sanford, our president throughout much of the 1970s and 1980s, personified this Duke-uniqueness; he deeply understood that our successes were best measured by how well we served our constituencies and society within our own model, NOT by adopting other universities’ paradigms. His wisdom and his legacy remains our beacon.</p>