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Robertson Scholars: Building Bridges in Krzyzewskiville

UNC students move to Duke campus to build good will, enhance university collaboration

When you are a UNC-Chapel Hill student dropped right into the middle of campus at Duke University for a semester, there are some things you're just not going to give up.

"I cheered for Duke against UVA," said Melissa Anderson, one of 15 Robertson Scholars from UNC living at Duke this semester. "But I tented for the Duke-UNC game, and I definitely cheered for UNC."

The student exchange is one of the unusual aspects of a unique program. The Robertson Scholarship, initiated with this year's sophomore class, was founded by Julian Robertson and his wife, Josie. Robertson, a Salisbury native, Carolina alum, and Wall Street investor, is the father of both a Duke grad and a Chapel Hill grad.

The program serves two primary goals equally, said Eric Mlyn, the program director.

"Our first goal is to attract outstanding and unusual undergraduates to these universities, and the second is to build a collaboration between Duke and UNC," he said. "This is not a simple merit scholarship. We want these students to be ambassadors for collaboration."

The program has been the source of a number of joint activities that are attracting interest, from grants funding groups working on both campuses to the Robertson Bus, which shuttles daily between the two campuses. The student exchange started this semester and is the newest initiative.

In the classroom, there has been little adjustment to make, the UNC students say. The two schools feel similar academically, said Anderson and Brittain Peck, a from UNC. While certain classes are offered at only one of the universities, such as the film animation course he is currently taking at Duke, Peck said he has not noticed a difference between the workloads at Duke and Carolina.

The primary academic difference lies in student attitudes, he said. Duke students are more scholastically focused than their counterparts down the road, said Anderson, citing the constancy of frisbees on the Chapel Hill quad and students on Franklin Street.

Social life is a different matter, they said. The difference in the schools' populations makes for very different student bodies. At about 7,000 undergrads, Duke is relatively tiny compared to its rival with an undergraduate population of 14,000.

"UNC has a lot more people, but I feel like it is easier to interact and communicate with each other (there)," said Peck. "UNC has more of an outspoken, loudspeaker tone and buzz."

This may be due to the campus layout, or to the inherent commonalities found in a population comprised largely of people from the same state, he said, or simply because the UNC Robertsons arrived mid-year.

The ways in which students interact reflects a major difference between the students, Anderson added. Carolina students seem to be constantly meeting new people, she said. Heavier involvement in non-Greek organizations helps the networking there, she said. Dorm blocks, selective houses and fraternity sections often determine friendships at Duke, she said.

On the other hand, geographic diversity among dormmates is a real advantage at Duke, said Peck. The five-person hall he lives on now is much varied than his eight-person freshman year suite.

Greek life stands out more at Duke than at UNC, the Robertsons said. Lodging frats in dorms rather than houses, as is done at Carolina, increases their proximity to many students, and thereby increases their influence over Duke's social scene, said Peck. Non-Greeks at Chapel Hill find it much easier to distance themselves from frats, said Sarah Pickle, another Robertson sophomore living at Duke this semester.

Another point of comparison is student space, Peck said. The Pit, a major Tar Heel gathering place, provides a venue where thoughts and organizations are publicized, he said. The excitement of this crossroads, which he compared to the Bryan Center walkway but with more "energy," helps information spread on the Chapel Hill campus better than at the Duke campus. Paintings on the Campus Drive tunnel and cluttered flyer poles give communication at Duke a "read if interested" vibe that feels less personal and makes it harder to get involved, he said.

On the other hand, Peck has been impressed with some of the intellectual and cultural opportunities at Duke, citing slam poet Saul Williams and jazz musician Maceo Parker.

In general, the UNC students said they've been made to feel very welcome at Duke. The exception is that some noted encountering a feeling that students from state universities are inferior to those at Duke.

"I feel like I need to constantly defend myself because, maybe, some people don't believe I belong here," one UNC student said in an e-mail. "I'm not saying that all Duke students feel this way, but'with this kind of an attitude, Carolina students won't really be taken seriously."

Others note that the Robertson program may help end such attitudes. All of the UNC scholars have immersed themselves in campus activities; Anderson said the students have made inroads into the Duke population. One of the least expected places for this bridging of cultures has been at Krzyzewskiville while tenting for men's basketball games.

"My tentmates stood up for me even when the Duke fans got a little vicious during the [Duke-UNC] game," Anderson said.

"I am very thankful for the opportunity to live here at Duke and get to know people here and now," Peck said.

 

Duke junior Katherine Porter wrote this story.

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