Duke Grad Student living in his van on campus

[Seattledukie]

Gotta love this guy's willingness to give up everything to be at Duke:


http://salon.com/life/pinched/story/...iving_in_a_van

[YourLandlord]

Because I was so paranoid about campus security finding out about my experiment, I kept myself apart from other students. Whenever I did talk with a fellow classmate, I found myself souring the conversation with preposterous lies -- lies I'd tell to protect myself. Whenever someone asked me where I lived, I'd say "off campus," or I'd make up an address before changing the subject. I found it easier to avoid people altogether.

sweet life buddy.

okay, now that i finished the article, at least he realizes he's being silly.

[hc5duke]

The part i loved the most was how the commenters got very anti-Duke very fast.

If what you want is to live off the land and be "adventurous" then why bother with a useless MA from an expensive (but not top-flight) school? Are you planning on being the next Jack London?

—mariancontrarian

don't go to Duke. Seriously. I was sympathetic until I realized that you chose to go to a ridiculously expensive school (one who's academic reputation is certainly better than mediocre, but not better than it's [sic] basketball).

—jbarnett

"Fortuitously." What a [expletive] word to use. You could have gotten just as good an education eight miles up US 15-501 at UNC and had money left over to pay for an apartment.

overall i kinda sorta agree with mariancontrarian's comment

[weezie]

Van Guy will have the last laugh when his story is made into a movie. screen writing credits, too, pay pretty well.
Whatever, he must have decided Duke was his best fit. Comments from hole fans are hot, smelly air.

[Farlan]

Now that this has appeared in the N&O the univeristy will problably give him a RA job in a dorm.

[Thurber Whyte]

When Richard Nixon was a law student at Duke, he ran short of money. He found a disused maintenance shed somewhere near the athletic fields and squatted there over the winter.

[phaedrus]

My girlfriend and I read this story while in a coffee shop on 9th St., then immediately drove by that exact, unmistakable van sitting in the parking lot outside George's Garage.

[brevity]

When Richard Nixon was a law student at Duke, he ran short of money. He found a disused maintenance shed somewhere near the athletic fields and squatted there over the winter.

And they've already made a couple of movies about that guy.

[Indoor66]

When Richard Nixon was a law student at Duke, he ran short of money. He found a disused maintenance shed somewhere near the athletic fields and squatted there over the winter.

I was told by some of his classmates that he had an old car and to make extra money took orders and made runs to Virginia to buy booze for others.

[zingit]

overall i kinda sorta agree with mariancontrarian's comment

Me too. I like Duke as much as anyone else on this board, but if living frugally and not going into debt is so gosh-darn important to him, why go to Duke in the first place? At the very least, go to a less expensive school. And does he realize that there are kitchens in the dorms, and tons of events with free food?

Hey, it's his life and he can do whatever he wants with it, but the self-congratulations for living in squalor sort of bugged me. He seemed a little too impressed with his stinky self.

[Fish80]

I can't help but remember an SNL skit where Chris Farley was a motivational speaker and "lived in a van, down by the river". Hilarious.

This van guy brings another element of diversity to the university. IMHO, that diversity enhances the university experience.

And I don't think we need to worry about everybody doing it.

[Pacer]

I can't help but remember an SNL skit where Chris Farley was a motivational speaker and "lived in a van, down by the river".

He mentions that in the article.

[Channing]

I think the real social experiment is to take a limited resource, offer it up to a population on a first come-first serve basis, and see what lengths they go to to get hold of that resource. It would be interesting to see if the population is willing to forego some of their existing comforts to pur themselves in a better place to get their piece of that resource.

My hypothesis is that a certain population will do whatever it takes, including camping out in subfreezing temperatures for several weeks. Occasionally, some people might be inclined to camp out and then try and sell their access to third party, so a governing body will probably have to put in power to make sure chaos doesnt break loose.

[hc5duke]

I think the real social experiment is to take a limited resource, offer it up to a population on a first come-first serve basis, and see what lengths they go to to get hold of that resource. It would be interesting to see if the population is willing to forego some of their existing comforts to pur themselves in a better place to get their piece of that resource.

My hypothesis is that a certain population will do whatever it takes, including camping out in subfreezing temperatures for several weeks. Occasionally, some people might be inclined to camp out and then try and sell their access to third party, so a governing body will probably have to put in power to make sure chaos doesnt break loose.

and those who have already obtained these resources in years past will complain about how their method was better than those who are currently trying to get it, through an online medium of some sort - maybe ebay?