Letter to the editor: DCU weighs in on "demands"

The Duke Conservative Union did not take a stand on the Sigma Chi "Viva Mexico" party or involve itself with the debates that followed. There were two reasons for this.

First, we did not see it as a partisan issue that needed a specifically conservative point of view represented. Second, many DCU members found some aspects of the party to indeed be in poor taste and understood why some were offended.

Numerous members of DCU are, however, adamantly opposed to the "demands" that students submitted to President Nan Keohane Oct. 1 in response to the Sept. 13 party and the supposed "history of racially insensitive incidents that have preceded" it. We think we speak for the vast majority of students when we say that many of the demands are overly reactive, unreasonable and in some cases threatening to the free exchange of ideas.

Further, we strenuously object to the caricature underlying these demands: that Duke is a haven for the intolerant and ignorant. The Duke community is among the most highly educated, creative and tolerant in America and we believe it no coincidence that it continually attracts some of the best minds in the country. To argue that we are stuck in a medieval mindset of racism and prejudice is to insult all the hardworking students, instructors and administrators at Duke who take pride in the community to which they contribute.

And 21 other members.