In preparing to share our frustrations with the prevailing campus mindset, we cringe when we think about the backlash that will follow. The often deplorable and baseless-and often anonymous-comments made against specific Duke faculty are tokens of shame for our community and our institution. It is with hope for better possibilities that we challenge all Duke community members to join us in thinking critically about this moment and working toward positive change.
What are the roles of colleges and universities? Universities do far more than funnel students into future job opportunities. Universities have a responsibility-to students, to communities, to societies-to ask difficult questions about the social world and our role in it. The ability to question, to continue to question and then question some more, is not something to be afraid, but can be a tool to embrace.
A myriad of social forces, historical legacies and enduring inequalities-only some of which were implicated in the "Lacrosse Party"-helped make the ground ripe for a "social disaster." If we, as a community, refuse to engage in critical self-examination-if we work to silence the uncomfortable questions and if we force all debate into a "with us or against us" mentality-we help propagate "human disasters" from this social disaster. It is a human disaster when professors' lives are threatened. It is a human disaster when women are objectified and taunted with racial epithets. It is a human disaster when members of our community are made to feel uncomfortable on campus. It is a human disaster when an institution so full of talented minds and resources remains silent and fails to ask the "tough" questions.
We can turn these "disasters" into possibilities. Every one of us has a responsibility to be challenged, to leave our comfort zone and offer thoughtful answers to the tough questions. It is a privilege to ignore. We have a responsibility to help our institution and community grow.
Michelle Christian
Katelin Isaacs
Nathan Martin
Jillian Powers
Serena Sebring
Julius Wilder
Graduate Students in the Department of Sociology
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