Duke rethinking dorms that divide By Eric Ferreri, McClatchy Newspapers

DURHAM, N.C…. Duke rethinking dorms that divide By Eric Ferreri, McClatchy Newspapers

DURHAM, N.C. – In the Wayne Manor section of Duke’s Wannamaker dorm, garbage cans are stuffed with empty cases of Busch Light beer. Rooms with lofted beds, couches and flat-screen televisions burst with people when the residents throw a bash.

Just a short walk away in a quiet section of Edens dorm, each resident’s name and hometown is posted on the door, summer-camp style. The strains of one of the three pianos often waft about, and a commons room is festooned with multi-colored streamers, balloons and Christmas lights.

The 42 residents of Wayne Manor – an all-male social group similar to a fraternity – appear to have little in common with the nine students in Edens’ Arts Theme House, which is smaller, co-ed and less likely to host an all-campus party. But these groups – and 22 others recognized by Duke – have a common cause: Their ways of life are targeted for extinction.

The “selective living groups” consist of students with similar interests who, with the university’s help, establish communities by living together in blocks of dorm rooms. These groups have certain perks. They can rent a grill from the university for a cookout, for example, or get a couple hundred dollars for a group activity.

Most important, according to the recently released Campus Culture Initiative report, they dictate the campus social scene by virtue of the turf they inhabit.

“Access to real estate means setting the rules of social engagement, and the university must face the fact that residential space, and control of it, continues to be experienced as gendered and alternative unfriendly because of the ways it favors certain groups,” the report states.

Other universities have special-interest housing – North Carolina State’s Arts Village is one example – but Duke’s system is unusual for its scope and the number of organizations involved. It has been spurred by Duke’s lack of on- or off-campus housing for fraternities or sororities.

Work on the culture report began soon after three Duke lacrosse players were charged in March 2006 with sexually assaulting a woman hired to dance at a team party. Those accusations led to a broader look at drinking and other behavioral excess.

The report recommends that these groups no longer receive preferential housing treatment. On Duke’s West Campus – where more than half of Duke’s undergraduates live – about 30 percent of beds are assigned to selective living groups. These students are overwhelmingly male – 77 percent – and many are in fraternities. The result is inequitable room assignment that fosters exclusivity and cliques, the report concludes.

PSU mulls tougher smoking rules By Adam Smeltz, McClatchy Newspapers

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – A broad ban on public smoking indoors may be revolutionary for the borough of State College.

Several borough council members are looking to make the town the fifth Pennsylvania municipality to outlaw smoking in enclosed public places, including bars.

But on the adjacent Penn State campus, it’s already life as usual.

In fact, more than a decade since Penn State snuffed out smoking in classroom buildings, at least two regional campuses have taken their tobacco rules to a new level.

Since January, the College of Medicine in Hershey, Pa., has prohibited smoking anywhere on the grounds – including in private vehicles and outdoor sidewalks. An exception applies to student housing.

At the Lehigh Valley campus, smoking is confined to parking lots. That policy, enacted last semester, won support from nearly 75 percent of the student body there, according to a campus survey.

Brian Mauro, the student-affairs director at Lehigh, said he’s hopeful that Penn State administrators will adopt similar measures university wide.

“However, we’re realists,” Mauro said this week. He expects opposition from people who see the policies as infringements on smokers’ rights, he said.

Still, the 20-member Commission for Substance Abuse Prevention, a university-wide group, is lobbying for tougher rules.

The commission, of which Mauro is a leader, suggested last fall that Penn State set specific guidelines for outdoor smoking. Among them: Smokers should need to maintain a minimum distance from buildings before lighting up.

Already, a university-wide rule tries to steer smokers away from building entrances.

John C. Becker, a professor of agricultural economics and law, said the minimum-distance idea could confuse people. He leads a separate review group that advises the central administration on smoking policies.

“It would be simpler to eliminate smoking entirely,” Becker said. “But there are many more implications to that.”

Critics dispute Schwarzenegger’s status as environmental champion By Kevin Yamamura, McClatchy Newspapers

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In the latest issue of Outside magazine, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wears an untucked green shirt and jeans, posing as a champion of the environment. He sits on a rock surrounded by a squirrel and rabbit and other creatures of the forest.

All while wearing his trademark boots made of dead animal skins.

Schwarzenegger has suddenly become an international global warming hero, albeit one with a penchant for Hummers and alligator boots.

California environmentalists still aren’t entirely sure what to make of him.

They praise Schwarzenegger for getting the public to focus on greenhouse gas emissions and using his political celebrity to shift national debate in a greenward direction. They say the governor has scored major accomplishments by signing a bill to reduce emissions 25 percent by 2020 and pursuing new alternative fuel requirements.

But they have misgivings about the governor’s past opposition to top environmental priorities. They say the governor has focused on long-term plans that may not require real sacrifices for years. Yet he has opposed more immediate environmental solutions as too costly to businesses.