QuadEx

Extending the best to all

• Neighborhood based residential model centered around seven West Campus Quads, that will support students for their entire four years at Duke.
• East Campus Houses will be permanently connected to associated West Campus Quads, with each Quad developing its own identity, traditions and events.
• Enhanced Quad-based social and intellectual opportunities, that will extend the best of Duke’s living and learning experiences to all students. Students will have opportunities to contribute to shaping the identity and traditions of their Quad, as well as the direction of its social and intellectual life.
• First-year students will continue to live on East Campus but will have automatic membership into their affiliated Quad on West Campus. Sophomores will live in their connected West Campus Quad. Juniors will reside in their West Campus Quad or in Hollows or 300 Swift. Seniors will live in their Quad, 300 Swift, the Hollows, or off-campus, and will retain affiliation with their Quad regardless of where they live.

To become world ready

• Integral to delivering the promise of a transformative undergraduate education.
• Enhance social and intellectual opportunities for all that are centered on campus.
• Grounded in the values and spirit of Duke.
• Duke campus must foster feelings of belonging and inclusion for all.
• We owe it to our students to graduate young adults who are world-ready. This is a different Duke in the service of society.
• Informed, not bound, by our history.

While Duke has situated its West Campus housing around quads in the past (including creating connection options with East Campus residence halls), QuadEx includes intentional and significant investment in programming, resources, and support for all Quads that will help the system to flourish. In the new model, each Quad will serve as the foundation through which students will connect to one another and to Duke’s many resources throughout their four years. 

QuadEx recognizes that buildings alone cannot forge community or provide the opportunities that students have been asking for and deserve. Each Quad will develop its own identity, traditions, and events, which will be student-driven, supported by university resources, and available to all members of the Quad. 

Additionally, QuadEx extends the concept of community from before a student’s first day on campus throughout their time as an alum. Here’s how that works: with QuadEx, each East Campus Residence Hall will connect to a West Campus Quad, which means that from their first day, every undergraduate student will be part of a West Campus Quad community. Quads will offer belonging, friendship, and continuity in the transition from East to West Campus, throughout their time at Duke, and well after graduation. 

There will be more and better on-campus social events, intellectual experiences, increased mentoring opportunities, and student-centered governance for all undergraduates. These will define the new QuadEx program. To start, this will include Quad traditions and social events (and the resources/funding to support them), a new non-residential Faculty Affiliates program for West Campus, and first-year and second-year specific co-curricular and career purpose programs (e.g. Duke-Durham 101 Quad Course and Sophomore Spark). The QuadEx experience will also continue to grow and evolve over time with the student body.

Duke-Durham 101 and Sophomore Spark are pilot co-curricular programs, tied to the Quad experience, that will support the developmental needs of first-years and sophomores, respectively.

Duke-Durham 101 will be quad-based house courses, or “Quad courses,” with the goal of introducing first years to Duke and Durham and preparing them for good citizenship in both.

Sophomore Spark will provide academic and career purpose programming and alumni networking opportunities as a kick-off to the start of their second year.

Forming strong relationships with faculty is central to the Duke undergraduate experience. The Faculty Affiliates program provides students with opportunities to benefit from faculty relationships outside of the classroom and to enrich the intellectual environment of the Quads. Faculty Affiliates will be paired with individual Quads, providing mentorship and supporting the traditions of their communities. These faculty members will not be living in the West Campus buildings, but they are eager to share meals, conversations, and interests with their Quad residents.

With university resources and support, QuadEx will make it easier for your Quad to host celebrations, parties, performances, and other social and intellectual events on campus. Quad councils will have access to programming budgets and staff support that will help Quads host big events or smaller parties, without having to reinvent the wheel every time. Of course, a benefit of living in a strong community is that sometimes social events will just happen - without much planning at all.

No.

Students will be assigned to Quads prior to the first day of their first year at Duke because every East Campus House will be connected to one of the West Campus Quads.

First year students will live in their East Campus residence hall as non-resident members of their Quad, and will live “in Quad” for their sophomore year.

Juniors will live in their Quad or in Hollows/300 Swift.

Seniors may choose to live in their Quad, Hollows/300 Swift, or off campus.

Juniors and seniors will retain Quad affiliation regardless of where they choose to live and will keep that affiliation even after they graduate.

The connection between each East Campus residence hall and its affiliated Quad will remain the same year after year.

Yes. While there is no way to ensure the buildings of each Quad are identical, the goal is to distribute resources and support equitably among Quads.

Yes.

Sophomores will be able to select a sophomore roommate and request to block with friends from their same Quad Connection and same class year.

Juniors and Seniors will be able to select their roommate and request to block with friends from their same quad connections (if they want to live in their affiliated Quad). They can be other juniors and seniors, but no sophomores.

Duke students are still required to live on-campus for three years.

First-year students will live in their assigned East Campus residence hall.

Sophomores will be required to live on-campus in their assigned Quad.

Juniors will also be required to live on-campus in their assigned Quad or in Hollows/300 Swift.

Seniors have the ability to live off campus, in their Quad, or in upperclass housing (Hollows/300 Swift).

Juniors and Seniors will still retain affiliation with their Quads, regardless of where they live.

Depending on Quad size, 1-2 East Campus Houses will connect to each West Campus Quad.

Each East Campus House hosts around 100-250 students, which means a community of 200-400 first-years will transition into each Quad for their sophomore year.

Around 125 beds or so will be reserved in each Quad for upperclass students.

Students will continue to have the opportunity to rush and join Greek and non-Greek SLGs during their sophomore year. However, the university will no longer provide housing for SLGs or Greek groups after the 2022-2023 school year.

QuadEx seeks to create a welcoming environment that supports all students. Hyper-selectivity in interest-based student organizations on campus runs counter to that goal.

Therefore, as part of QuadEx, Duke is working with student organizations on new funding models, participation norms and other policy enhancements that will create a more open and inclusive campus beyond the residential system.

QuadEx believes that students, who have already demonstrated the talent and dedication necessary to be admitted to Duke, should not have to compete to meet friends, explore interests and get involved.

We have years of history and evidence of the negative impacts on community, belonging, academics, and physical and mental health that accompany first-year rush. QuadEx is not preventing students from affiliating with these groups.

Instead, the goal is for students to take the time to explore the broader Duke community, to get their academic and social bearings and to get to know their Quad community before joining selective groups.

Students have always driven social life at Duke and will do so within QuadEx. The goal is to provide social outlets and social spaces on campus for all, irrespective of specific group membership.

Student organizations will continue to be an important part of the social fabric of Duke, as these organizations offer options for affinity that a student may choose to pursue while also benefiting from their broader community within the Quad.