​The underpinnings of Duke culture

Last week, a student and the community of which he is a part were explicitly and violently threatened. We find ourselves yet again issuing perfunctory apologies, gathering on symbolic steps and pledging to stand up against hate, only to have another wall defaced, another threat sent to a minority student, another Halloween party where blackface and ethnic identities are paraded as costumes. This rinse and repeat is draining. After yesterday’s editorial passionately laid out solutions for the administration, Student Government and students in today’s toxic environment, we turn now to correcting the student and administrative cultures at Duke.

The very notion of the University is based in education, and education is simply not optional for any of us. Many students are part of a broad middle; they are neither of the subset that is completely apathetic and resistant to change nor the groups who actively fight and organize for these issues. When asked for positions, they will agree with the right causes. When presented with a Chapel gathering, they will stop and stay for a part of their day. But when given the opportunity to attend a panel event, push an idea on their DSG friend or create new ideas to fuel movements, they will pass.

Now we understand that Duke students have obligations, and “It’s not my job.” In fact, students are right to point out that there are people whose jobs it is to handle these things. We know exactly who has taken it upon themselves through leadership positions in our Student Government and in their actual careers in the Allen building to tend to these issues. It is their job to represent us and to do work that outlasts our four years on campus. It is your job to remind them of that.

It is imperative that we push for action. On the one hand, we can never be sure of the conversations in administrative offices, but we can be sure that administrators have no basis for pretending these issues are brand new in the span of their tenures. Those who have been here five, 10, 20 years simply have to go beyond horrendously noncommittal emails and condolences. Anything less is deceptive. Constant, visible contact with our Student Government representatives is a must. Both organizations absolutely must either show progress on proposals and action items that have been directly addressed to them or explain the rejection.

In terms of education, we have a concentration in Social Entrepreneurship at Fuqua that engages students with intense case studies, doing something other than churning out workers. Making social justice and the realities of all those who struggle part of our education is not as radical an idea as we watch world and national events. Due consideration of these issues prepares better global citizens, workers, leaders, parents, you name it, and to deny that is to put on blinders to a shifting American culture. Especially, for those who disagree, this is part of the process of an education: to engage rather than to co-habitate.

Ultimately, it is imperative we introduce institutional culture changes. We have to realize that what we cannot alone do as students can still be pushed for as with the administration-side changes in the curriculum and disciplinary guidelines. Even as we create safer spaces and attend rallies, we have to remember our power to engage student leaders and administrators through collective pressure. Universities are for learning and unlearning. Growth requires change, and we cannot afford to continue with our blasé attitudes towards the thought of an education that would really push us in these ways. As a community, we either reform, or perish.