Students attending their first day of classes Wednesday may have noticed a variety of different posters pasted around campus entitled "Kick Mike Reedy Out of Duke."
The posters were triggered by a dismissive e-mail sent by cell biology professor Michael Reedy to three Pakistani students who inquired about lab technician positions at Duke Hospital. In the e-mail, Reedy wrote, "It is not worth our trouble to determine if you are a well-disguised terrorist or a real learning-motivated medical student."
The posters, pasted around campus over parking signs and on walls and doors, showed images of Reedy possibly taken from the cell biology faculty website. Associate Dean for Judicial Affairs Kathleen Wallace said her office is investigating two students for vandalism of University property but declined to release their names.
Two students pasting the posters behind Crowell Building on East Campus were identified Wednesday morning by a Duke University Police Department officer, said police spokesperson Maj. Robert Dean. The students were asked to show their student identification cards, but were not detained by the officer.
Reedy criticized the posters on several levels--including the authors' grammar and spelling, as well as the photo, which he said was altered. "They've given me a five o'clock shadow. They've taken the twinkle out of my eye," he said. In one poster, a masked and hooded figure is shown kicking a photo of Reedy.
The poster publishers criticize what they call the bureaucratic institutions of Duke University. According to the posters, such institutions include Duke Student Government, The Chronicle, President Nan Keohane and the Duke administration.
The poster continues by saying, "Get together with your friends and take collective action against Reedy so we can oust him from our community and make it safer and less hostile for everyone. There should be no debate over tactics--all are appropriate." At the bottom, the poster reads, "Be creative, have fun, stay safe and let's kick this f--ker off our campus."
Another poster shows Reedy's doctored likeness holding a Ku Klux Klan robe, saying "As long as Nan continues to employ this white supremist [sic], we'll just have to cope."
A third poster shows a school of small fish ganging up to attack a larger fish. The poster reads, "Treason to whiteness is loyalty to humanity."
Reedy said the posters imply violence as a next step and he feared for his personal safety when he first heard about them.
"I'd like to call attention to their statement, OThere should be no debate over tactics--all are appropriate.' It should be considered a direct threat," Reedy said. "Violence of any intensity is something that they feel is justified. It's September 11 all over again."
Reedy said he is sympathetic to the pain he caused members of the University community, but not with the call for violence suggested by the posters.
"I've become a cause by which they can advance a Ovictim-think solidarity' that they're trying to achieve," Reedy said. "They left me with a better sense of how painful and frightening verbal violence can be."
Wallace said her office is investigating vandalism charges on the students. "We're not considering it judicial because of the content, but they attached it with permanent glue, so you can't get them off. It's actually more of a damage issue," she said. "We're looking into it, and we'll decide what the charges are.
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