Academic Council Meeting
December 5, 2019
3:30 – 5:00 PM
0012 Westbrook Building (Divinity School)

1. Welcome / Remarks from the Chair

2. Approval of minutes from the November 21, 2019 meeting will be handled at the January 16, 2020 meeting as the Thanksgiving holidays did not allow sufficient time for transcribing

3. A Conversation with Kimberly Hewitt, Duke’s new Vice President for the Office of Institutional Equity

4. Two anonymous questions submitted to the Administration regarding the following:

   ● Parking:

Are there circumstances in which faculty and staff must relinquish the right to access the parking lots/garages for which they have paid to park? If so, what are these circumstances, and why is this allowed? Faculty and staff sometimes use their parking spaces for evening classes, meetings, weekend academic events, or just to work in their office. Why are athletic events and athletic boosters ever more of a priority for these spaces than faculty and staff?

Response provided by Kyle Cavanaugh, Vice President, Administration:

The highest priority related to parking is insuring that faculty have access to carry out their work.  The parking team consistently represents this position to our colleagues in Athletics and other constituents who hold events on campus.

On occasion, Duke hosts large university events and activities such as conferences and athletic contests for our student athletes.  Faculty always have access to campus, however, on approximately six Saturdays in the fall, several lots are made available to Athletics in support of the Duke Football program.  A smaller number of lots are also used during men’s home basketball games.  Any faculty member who is parked in one of these lots is not required to move their vehicle during these events, but access may be limited coming into the lot during these times to manage the ingress and egress of heavy traffic.  When that occurs, the closest proximate parking is made available.  For example, when the Chemistry lot is repurposed, the Circuit lot is made available.  This has been the process for the past 12 years.

The goal is certainly to consistently support the academic mission, while also attempting to support our colleagues in Athletics, and providing a safe and workable solution to the staff in parking.

Given the concerns that have been expressed, we will take a comprehensive review of game day parking to explore additional options that reduce any impact upon faculty.

   ● Location of proposed graduate student housing:

Duke has proposed to build graduate student apartments on presently undeveloped land near the corner of Erwin and Towerview Roads. What studies were conducted to identify the need for on-campus housing for graduate students? Can you please provide a summary of the data that were collected? How was the site selected, especially in light of the availability of an abundance of already cleared and presently unused land on Central Campus?

5. [EXECUTIVE SESSION]: Duke Kunshan University Update: President Vince Price and Provost Sally Kornbluth