Duke University

Administration has dramatically shifted the social atmosphere by creating a new housing model that models the Ivy system. The traditional Greek life patriarchy of social activity characteristic of Duke has been handed to the student body through the institution of multiple houses, as opposed to traditional frat "districts" or quads, dispersing class years across each campus. This allows for Independents, the nonGreek students, and Greeks to throw parties, and host social events. This social aspect, coupled with the stricter "no hazing" policies have been severely weakening to Greek groups, and only slightly empowering to Independents. In turn, parties are still frequent, but more numerous, dispersing the once consistently large groups across campuses, and pushing for more massive gatherings at local clubs, such as Shooters 2. Outside of the nightlife, there are still a multitude of organizational opportunities to get involved with in and out of class, along with athletics and the Kville tradition of sleeping out. On a typical weekend, you may go to a hosted party, a semiformal, study in the library, play hoops in the gyms, run on the trails between campuses, and grab a late night snack from one of the 24 hour restaurants on campus.

Duke was a ton of fun in the late 80s. I'm not sure what it's like now, but in the late 80s/early 90s, we played as hard as we worked. Fraternities, which had on-campus housing (the sororities do not), were at the center of on-campus socializing, with parties happening every night of the week except Sunday. We didn't go off-campus too much until our later years in school. Duke basketball, obviously, is an amazing feature of the school. With the students getting the best seats in the house (Cameron Indoor Stadium) they feel very involved and "integral" in the fate of the team. Other athletics don't get quite as much attention as basketball, though we did regularly go to football games as well.