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Hey, we’re proud of that. It’s the best state! Unfortunately, word is getting out, and everyone moving down here. The Raleigh metro area (including Durham) is the fastest growing metro area in the entire country. St. Louis, on the other hand, has been stagnant since 1950.</p>
<p>Let’s try to stick with what we know. To put this into context for you, I would imagine that people emphasizing that the majority of Brandeis students are Jewish (true), white (true), and not recipients of financial aid grants (also true) would make you uncomfortable, and the suggestion that one should avoid it at all costs unless one is a white upper class Jew would undoubtedly perturb you. Let’s not, therefore, go flinging around stereotypes at other institutions. Need I remind you, as a history lesson, that Missouri was also a slave state? Or remind you of [certain</a> racist incidents](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064126104-post9.html]certain”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/1064126104-post9.html) at universities NOT in the South? </p>
<p>Duke is smack dab in the middle of the Research Triangle, the highest collection of PhDs per capita in the US. The area is exceedingly diverse, and the city of Durham has roughly equal populations of white and black residents (45% each). The Durham city council recently passed a resolution in favor of same-sex marriage, and neighboring Carrboro and Chapel Hill were some of the first cities in the country to have openly gay mayors. In terms of liberal-leaning tendencies, Duke and the Triangle knock St. Louis out of the park. I’ve wandered off campus many times to local shops, professors’ houses for dinner, etc., and people will often stop working in their yards as I pass to wave and shout hello as I walk by. That level of friendliness simply isn’t often found anywhere outside of the South, and I absolutely love it. </p>
<p>Of course, that’s not to say that everything in the South is hunky-dory, or that everyone holds hands and sings Kum Ba Yah. I’ve been in Memphis for the past year, and racial divisions are much more prevalent than anything I have ever seen in North Carolina. This also holds true for the large parts of Arkansas, northern Mississippi, and southern Missouri I’ve seen. </p>
<p>That does not hold true for Durham or the Triangle, however, and I would encourage you to visit. I suspect you would be pleasantly surprised.</p>