Yesterday, President Brodhead was insightful, witty, engaging and a delight. The poor attempt by a student group to hijack the president’s stage was disrespectful to him and showed deficient foresight towards delivering the group’s message.
I will not mention or discuss the merits of the group who flopped in their stunt, because they unfairly attempted to steal President Brodhead’s well-deserved stage time, and they have not earned mentioning in this letter. Enough ink will be spent on their merits, but I am writing to urge a more appropriate course of action for student groups.
The president has only once dared to address the undergrad community for a discussion on “Student Life and the Duke Experience.” And thus far, he has once been disrespected to his face in front of an eager audience by a group addressing a topic not fit for the discussion at hand. If the president of the university asks you politely to ask whatever question you would like when he is accepting questions and to let him have his stage when he is speaking, I would say it is quite disrespectful to tell him to “go ahead and speak but [you are] not moving” your banner off stage.
A much more appropriate and productive approach would have combined the pamphlets which the group passed out with a thoughtful question for the president on the issue at hand. The stunt [Tuesday] night was not even followed by a true question. I hope that in the future, student groups address our president through dialogue, not disrespect. I also hope that the President takes the time to come out again, as I thoroughly enjoyed his thoughts on Duke.
Craig Bohn
Trinity ’06
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