In a show of support for their black colleagues, 250 non-minority faculty members and employees submitted a letter Wednesday afternoon to President Nan Keohane urging that she move from rhetoric about improving race relations into decisive action.
The letter, which its three co-authors have been circulating since July to garner signatures from faculty members and staff at the two undergraduate schools and the Medical Center, supported an initial letter drafted in May and co-signed by 20 black faculty members calling for the University to eradicate racism on campus. That initial letter, addressed to Keohane, expressed particular outrage about the mistaken arrest and detainment of a black undergraduate student by two white Duke University Police Department officers last April.
Keohane could not be reached for comment but issued a statement in response to the letter from the 250 faculty members and employees, reassuring the University community of her commitment to the challenge.
Racism is not only a minority problem but a "Duke problem," maintained the three authors of Wednesday's letter: John Barrow, clinical assistant professor of counseling and psychological services; William O'Barr, professor of cultural anthropology; and William Reichert, associate professor of biomedical engineering.
"The legacy of [the mistaken arrest] incident should fall nothing short of the wake-up call that finally forces Duke's rhetoric and actions on race to converge, thus becoming a place where all of us are treated with dignity and feel welcomed to study, work and learn," the letter stated.
Indeed, the concern about racism, along with a strong sense of solidarity, compelled the 250 signatories to put pen to paper.
"One of the major missing links [in fighting racism] was a statement by the faculty that we are indeed colleagues," Reichert said in an interview with The Chronicle.
This most recent initiative has drawn praise from several of the 20 black faculty members who first raised the issue in their letter four months ago.
"I really did imagine it a couple of times that it would happen this way," said Pierre Ndilikilikesha, assistant research professor at the Fuqua School of Business. "I'm surprised that it has happened, and especially so early in the year. It makes me feel good about my colleagues at the University."
Leonard Beckum, a professor of public policy and another of the 20 signatories, said Wednesday's letter demonstrates a faculty solidarity across racial lines that should serve as a model of sorts for campus relations.
"What the signatures on this [second] letter indicate is that Duke is not as bad as people might imply," he explained, "because if it were, we wouldn't have these faculty members saying, 'Let's do something about the problem."
And in order to effect action from rhetoric, the letter's signatories explained, they aimed the letter directly at Keohane, the University's most influential figure.
"She has the bully pulpit," said Richard MacPhail, associate professor of chemistry and one of the 250 signatories. "One of the messages that came through [in the first letter] is that this isn't a simple issue but boils down to the Golden Rule... The question is, 'How do you transmit that message?'"
In her statement, Keohane welcomed the input from the signatories in tackling the formidable task that lays ahead.
"It is heartening to know that so many other members of the faculty and staff share this dedication, including both those who have signed your letter and others who have spoken to me about this issue over the past few months," Keohane wrote. "I assure you that I will call upon you for your partnership in this endeavor."
Despite all the demands for administrative action, however, even the co-authors of Wednesday's letter-who are still circulating the document and collecting signatures-admit they do not yet have concrete suggestions for Keohane.
"We need to be making this as important as some of the things we do here," O'Barr said in an interview with The Chronicle. "We didn't want to tell her how to do her job-it can't just be a single answer, either. She just has to do what she's been promising to do.... President Keohane is in the position to say, 'We'll put our money where our mouth is.'"
Peter Klopfer, professor of zoology and one of the 250 signatories, said he maintains a firm yet tempered optimism that Keohane and the University can effectively combat racism on campus.
"My motivation [for signing the letter] was based on the discovery that my black colleagues felt left in the lurch by the white community," he said. "Basically, the letter is crying out to the president for guidance.... I am confident that she will take the initiative."
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