<p>I'm Jewish and, after a week in VA Boy's State, I began to have concerns about Duke. How religious are the students and teachers? How religious is the college town? How big is the Jewish community at Duke? Thank you..</p>
<p>i dont think ur gonna have any problems regarding religion at Duke - its a big, liberal research institution with multi-faceted students/faculty. Theres a lot of diversity, not only racially, but also in terms of religion, interests, socioeconomics, etc... I can't comment on Durham itself though, but the research triangle area is suppose to have the most PH.D.'s per capita or something, so I'm guessing its a pretty liberal area in general. Regarding the Jewish population, I think its pretty sizeable as well, considering that most top tier schools have a high percentage of Jewish students, though some may not be very religious.</p>
<p>There is also a Center for Jewish Life on campus. Don't know too much about it... maybe someone who has visited it can shed some light, or you can look it up on the Duke website (I think it's the Freemen center for Jewish Life, but I'm not 100% sure).</p>
<p>yeah there is such a center, even tho Ive never seem/visited there. Its on central campus if I'm not mistaken.</p>
<p>My nephew graduated from Duke last year, with no apparent damage to his comitment to Judaism. His family came to our home for Seder just before finals and he led many post seder songs like Chad Gad Ya that my kids wouldn't have consented to sit through much less sing if he hadn't been there. His Mom is a college admissions advisor in MD and I doubt whether his parents would have allowed or encouraged him to attend if they were concerned.</p>
<p>My D who just graduated from a Solomon Schechter High School, went last Spring to one of those semi/quasi honorary programs on Law in Washington DC where she met students her age who had never met or seen a Jew (and lived not in North Carolina or Mississippi but Pennsylvannia!). She was amazed at the stereotypes and misconceptions that good natured but religiously isolated kids had. It openned her eyes. </p>
<p>(BTW, it also openned her eyes about herself when she meet students from the South who she would have stereotypically disdained before but learned that they were intelligent, thoughtful and well spoken as well as had totally different political views)</p>
<p>She will be going to Colgate next month, not exactly a Hillel Hotbed. I'm not worried and especially if you grew up in a community with a large Jewish community, I actually think it 's a good thing to be exposed to what the rest of the country is like. The worst that could happen: being in a situation perhaps for the first time which is different or challenging, will make you appreciate and value your own background it ways you might not have before when it was taken for granted.</p>
<p>Most of my friends at Duke (like home in NY) are Jewish, but at Duke, I've also met kids who have never really met Jewish people-- but aren't prejudice or anti-Semites or anything. It's just a religion they've never been exposed to, so they're curious. I mean, there's FCJL and you can be as involved as you want to be, or just go to the High Holy Day ceremonies. There's really kids of all religions at Duke-- I took a religion class and it was my first time really meeting people like Southern Baptists or Mennonites (the TA). I don't think the Jewish population is as big as some comparable northern schools (Penn, Yale, Cornell) but it's certainly not as itty bitty as in some other southern schools, and the campus/local climate is very accepting of Jews.</p>
<p>I know this is a Duke forum, but I thought that I should add this for Mhc38.</p>
<p>Colgate actually has a rather large Jewish community on campus. It probably had the largest Jewish population, by percentage, of any school that I looked at (I'm not Jewish though). They also have a Jewish center there.</p>
<p>I don't think Duke has an overall religous alignment. Isn't there no religious affiliation?
There's a pretty big Jewish community, but a little smaller than other comparable schools. There's a Jewish center and stuff. A few big Jewish groups on campus too, including newspapers and journals I think. Same with Asians and other minorities.</p>
<p>Duke University has a Religious affiliation- Methodist (I think)</p>
<p>Yeah, Duke has an historical affiliation with the Methodists but it's meaningless today (unless you're in the Divinity School). The university is officially non-denominational.</p>
<p>Duke officially doesnt have a religious affiliation anymore. It was Methodist up until a few years ago.</p>
<p>idk ?... I got that off US News and World Report..also I think collegeboard.com says that too</p>
<p>A lot of sites and books still have it as Methodist but its not anymore. Its probably not a fact that they think changes so they just leave it as is without questioning it. I wish I could find the Chronicle article on its change.</p>