Ceremony Marks Start of New Bus Route

Ramses and the Duke Blue Devil hammed it up on the Robertson Scholars bus as they joined Chancellor James Moeser, Duke President Nan Keohane and the inaugural class of freshmen scholars to take part in the launch of the express bus service between the two campuses.

The bus service is available to all students, faculty and staff of both universities with valid identification and is part of the Robertson Scholars Program, which annually awards full scholarships to 15 UNC students and 15 Duke students.

The program, which is in its first year, aims to boost interaction between the two universities by allowing the scholars to take classes at both campuses.

Clusters of intertwined Carolina blue and Duke blue balloons fastened to the Graham Memorial terrace greeted the riders Friday as they filed off the two buses.

The 10.7-mile bus ride to UNC's campus came after a ribbon-cutting ceremony in front of Duke Chapel.

"I am immensely impressed with how traffic moved out of the way for the Robertson Scholars bus," Moeser said as he addressed the crowd of scholars and administrators gathered on the terrace overlooking the Morehead Planetarium parking lot.

"I'm proud to be affiliated with Duke and this great program."

Keohane also said she was impressed with the smooth bus ride and how it gave her a chance to engage in casual conversation with Moeser.

"I hope the bus offers the same opportunity for lots of colleagues," Keohane said.

The bus ride also gave the scholars a chance to catch up with each other. Many had not seen each other since the scholarship selection process in April.

"I was sitting next to a UNC scholar, and we just talked about school stuff like we were in the same school," said freshman Pauline Wong, a scholar from Duke. "It's been great between the UNC and Duke scholars. There really hasn't been any separation."

Wyndham Robertson said she was grateful that the bus ride gave her the opportunity to meet the scholars. She is the sister of Julian Robertson, who provided a $24 million endowment gift for the program.

"I loved being on the bus ride," said Robertson, who is a member of the program's external advisory board.

Robertson said the two universities share a great athletic rivalry, but she hopes the scholarship program will extend the existing cooperation beyond the administrative level.

"I buy my brother's school of thought that there needs to be something that pulls undergraduates together."

The University Editor can be reached at udesk@unc.edu.