History of Duke University’s Housing Policies as Seen Through Town and Gown Relations

Town-gown relations define political and social taglines in today’s communities. The multifaceted dynamics of such a relationship involving two entities with (oftentimes) differing priorities and loyalties cannot be understood nor investigated in isolation and in the exclusivity of economics. One area that provides definition to the relationship between a town and an educational institution located within it involves the students at the school as well as policies governing the living affairs of the students. Of consideration in this paper is the history of campus housing policies as seen through the textured relationship between Duke University and the Durham, North Carolina community.