Do Humanities Still Have a Place in Education? Evaluating the Role fo the Humanities in Modern Society

Two years ago, seven undergraduate students created Duke Dance Council in response to a drastic reduction in rehearsal space. In an effort to increase group fitness classes, the Recreation and Physical Education program reclaimed all the rehearsal space previously provided to dance groups.  The students approached Vice President of Student Affairs Larry Moneta who told them that if they could demonstrate the need, he would provide the space. Dance Council has since evolved into duArts, an umbrella organization for 50 visual and performing arts groups on campus. After a successful year of petitioning, Student Affairs responded to the need for space and opened the Arts Annex. Since its unveiling, the Arts Annex’s dance floors have been consistently booked and its visual arts studio ran out of supplies at twice the rate it was expecting.

The popularity of the Arts Annex and the quick growth of duArts prove there exists a burgeoning non-academic arts community at Duke. However this community, composed of art majors and non-art majors alike, still lacks university-wide acknowledgement and support. There are three initial concerns of the community. First, the Office of Undergraduate Scholars and Fellows does not reward artistic merit in potential students. Second, visual artists are unable to display their work. There are 11 gallery spaces across campus, but only 4 of those are available to students. Third, musicians lack adequate practice rooms. The Mary Duke Biddle Music Building has over a dozen practice rooms, but is not easily accessible. There are four practice rooms on West Campus – three of which require keyed entry, and not a single room on Central Campus.