This is the last story in a three-part series in conjunction with Diversity Week programming.
The president of the University declared it a top priority. Offices have been created and administrators hired to tackle it, yet many students and staff think that turning Duke's numerical diversity into functional diversity is still one of the biggest challenges on campus.
"The racial climate on this campus is definitely shaky," said Trinity sophomore Bianca Williams, who is black. "Though there are students of many cultures here, the level of interaction between the races is poor, to put it nicely."
Increasing the diversity of people on campus is the first step to improving the campus environment, said President Nan Keohane.
"Having more students of different backgrounds on campus creates a critical mass of different people who feel comfortable with their like groups, ethnically or in other ways... and then also feel comfortable reaching out because they don't think of themselves as a small, beleaguered minority anymore," she said. "So numbers do help, although they are not the whole answer."
Julian Sanchez, director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs, has what he says are lofty but attainable goals for the University. "I would like to see a dynamic, interactive campus across cultures," he said. "We are moving ever so gradually towards that."
The University reports that 28 percent of students are members of racial minorities, and
administrators said the next step is to get different groups to interact. One student organization trying to facilitate interaction is Students to Unite Duke, which hosted a successful multi-race party last weekend.
Williams, who is a member of STUD, said trying to force people out of their comfort zones can be difficult. "I do think that there is a desire in the student body for a higher level of interaction," she said. "But cross-cultural interaction is not a major student priority."
Keohane agreed, saying that this segregation has led to student apathy. "Sometimes there is more separation than we would like, but that leads to coolness or indifference rather than hostility or tension," she said.
Diversity in and out of higher education has emerged as an issue on the national agenda as well. Two years ago, President Bill Clinton appointed James B. Duke Professor Emeritus of History John Hope Franklin to chair a high-profile advisory panel on race.
Last year, Clinton urged universities around the country to dedicate a week of dialogue to diversity issues. In response to these initiatives, Duke is holding its second annual week of dialogue, featuring a variety of programming aimed at increasing awareness and spurring conversation among students and staff.
Ben Reese, assistant vice president for cross-cultural relations, helped to develop the week's activities. This year's week, entitled "What Difference does Difference Make?" was designed to tackle the issue of equality as well as diversity on campus.
"If the week is successful," Keohane said, "many people will be engaged in this dialogue and find reason to rethink some of their assumptions and stereotypes and then reorder their behavior accordingly."
Sanchez said this week's discussions can only benefit the University. "Every little bit that we do helps," he said. "We need to continue doing this type of work until we don't have to anymore."
Reese said he believes the University is headed in the right direction. "I've seen some real hopeful signs in terms of Duke's racial climate," he said. "The dialogue is more authentic, open and honest. There is more of a focus on strategy and ways to fix the problems."
However, many students said the University has not even reached that point. Williams said she has heard many complaints of students receiving unfair treatment from professors and peers.
Trinity freshman William Melendez got a taste of this racism very early in his Duke career. During an orientation activity in the Bryan Center, Melendez said a woman approached him and his family and asked where they were originally from. When he replied "Puerto Rico," Melendez said the woman whispered in her son's ear, "affirmative action."
"That made me think that when people see a minority on campus they automatically assume affirmative action," he said.
Williams said such comments are a common cause for angst. "What these students and faculty fail to realize is that everyone at this university got in because they are capable of doing work," she said. "I do not think that because I am black, my intelligence should be questioned."
Despite these problems, administrators and students agree it is imperative for Duke to become more diverse. "I hope that in 10 years Duke will have an even more diverse student body, faculty and staff, and that we will be a campus noted for our genuine variety of backgrounds and cultural and ethnic difference," Keohane said.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.