As members of the Duke community and residents of Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro and the broader Triangle region, we call upon you to sign a cooperative agreement with GoTriangle and support the Durham-Orange Light Rail Transit Project.

Failure to sign a cooperative agreement with GoTriangle threatens to set our region back and irreparably harm the the community's trust in Duke University. For decades, the Durham, Chapel Hill and Carrboro communities have worked to develop this transformative transit project that will bring jobs, affordable housing, economic development and low-carbon transit to our region. Residents of Durham and Orange counties voted for it. Our elected officials fought tirelessly for it. Now Duke's inaction has jeopardized the future of this vital initiative—harming local communities, undermining democracy and stagnating our region.​

The reality is that light rail will, in fact, benefit the Duke community. Students and faculty will benefit from better access to UNC Chapel Hill and NC Central, allowing for increased collaboration between these institutions. Staff members, hospital patients and campus visitors will benefit from an affordable mass transit option that provides an alternative to jammed roads and onerous parking fees. And light rail will advance the University's stated goal of achieving carbon neutrality, reducing the impact of employee commuting, which currently accounts for 16% of Duke's total emissions (and has in fact increased 41% over the past ten years).

The transit project has important implications for racial, social, economic and environmental equity and is vital to the future of our region. As a wealthy, private university, Duke has a moral obligation to respect the democratic will of the community and, in the word's of President Price', “forge purposeful partnerships with our neighbors.” We call upon Duke to fulfill that promise and negotiate a cooperative agreement with GoTriangle.