Letter: Walsh calls on Jean-Baptiste to resign from DSG

I left Duke last May in the midst of three campus initiatives: Enhanced campus security, accentuated student leadership and an increased level of responsibility by individuals for their actions. Recent events involving my successor as president of Duke Student Government have led me to ask - what happened?

Joshua Jean-Baptiste, the pre-eminent undergraduate student leader, and others have been accused of assaulting a campus visitor on a residential quadrangle. Jean-Baptiste has not resigned as DSG President in light of the charges against him and has remained invisible over the last three weeks. Jean-Baptiste will speak before the Board of Trustees on May 10 as the undergraduate student representative without having taken any responsibility regarding his alleged involvement in a senseless use of raw violence against another human being.

I have serious concerns with the messages that this chain of events sends to the Duke community.

First, when has it ever been appropriate to whup the tar out of another human being, especially given one's involvement with creating campus initiatives regarding making Duke a safer place?

Second, student leadership involves setting an example for one's peers and taking one's behavior to the next level. Jean-Baptiste has violated this code, regardless of his guilt, on account of even the accusation of his involvement in such an event.

Finally, Duke undergraduates have always clamored for increased access to the Board of Trustees. Is this, given the circumstances, the best person to represent the undergraduate student body to the guiding hand of the University?

Having worked with Jean-Baptiste for a year as well as having held the position that he holds for a few more hours, I understand the responsibility that the University has placed on his shoulders.

With that fact in mind, I simply ask Jean-Baptiste to step aside from his only remaining duty, his presentation to the Trustees, in light of the damage that he has done to that organization that gives so much positive energy to the Duke community.