Signs of student support for Barack Obama or John McCain have been a fixture on the West Campus Quadrangle this Fall. But this time last presidential election cycle, a student demonstrating for either candidate would have seemed curiously out of place.
Four years ago, the Palestine Solidarity Movement-a group that calls for an end to U.S. aid to and university divestment from Israel-arrived on campus for its fourth annual conference, sparking a firestorm of controversy and discussion.
Administrators were inundated with letters of protest from across the country after the announcement of PSM-a conference many deem pro-terrorist and anti-Semitic.
The University was braced for a large volume of protestors, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said. But the conference took place without incident, buffered by a series of discussions hosted by the Freeman Center for Jewish Life.
Four years later, the date marking the conference on campus has passed quietly-administrators have no angry letters or e-mails to report. But Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek did not need to be reminded of the anniversary.
"I think about that conference almost once a week. I don't know why, but I do," she said. "At the time, it felt like the most controversial and significant event that the University had engaged in in quite some time. I think about it today and I don't have a good sense as to its lasting impact on our students and on the institution."
As the child of two Holocaust survivors, Moneta said that at times, he felt uneasy hosting PSM. But he noted that his misgivings were won over by a commitment to intellectual freedom, a conviction that administrators said enabled them to plan the conference even as objections mounted.
"When the planning for something like this starts and you begin to realize what an undertaking it is, you have some thoughts about whether it is the right thing to do," Wasiolek said. "But frankly, we never wavered. Duke's response was, 'If we can't discuss controversial and difficult issues on campus, then when can we have those discussions?'"
Moneta said he was approached by many Jewish students who were hurt by Duke's decision to host PSM. David Gastwirth, a public policy associate for research, acknowledged that the weeks preceding the conference were a difficult time for many Jews on campus, but he added that the voices of some students who welcomed the opportunity to discuss Israeli-Palestinian relations were muffled by the uproar.
"Jewish students have very diverse opinions about [PSM]," he said. "What made the conference difficult was that it was expected that all Jewish students would fit a specific mold."
When Duke's decision to host PSM was catapulted to the national spotlight, the commentary of bloggers and social activists detracted from bonds that were already being forged between Jewish and Muslim students, Gastwirth added.
Many alumni and members of the Jewish community vowed to discontinue their financial support of the University, but the 2004 donation total was the third-highest in Duke history at the time. Wasiolek explained that some who initially opposed the University's decision experienced a change of heart once they understood the rationale.
"People certainly remember [PSM], and there are some individuals who will never change their mind that Duke should not have hosted the conference," she said. "That being said, there were a great number of what I'll call 'converts,' individuals who attended the conference and acknowledged after it was over that it was the right thing for Duke to do."
Wasiolek said the public outcry enabled Duke to display its commitment to freedom of expression on a national stage.
"I think many of our peers looked at what we were doing as being somewhat courageous," she said. "I think many of them questioned whether their own institution would have agreed to host the conference."
Harvard professor J. Lorand Matory, who will join Duke as chair of the African and African American Studies department next Fall, has written opinion pieces in The Harvard Crimson criticizing the institution's reluctance to acknowledge the Palestinian point of view. Although he was unaware that Duke hosted PSM when he decided to leave Harvard, Matory said Duke's actions in 2004 confirm his feelings that the University is more open to discussion than its Ivy League peers.
"I'm proud of Duke for [hosting PSM]," he said. "The University has to be a safe place for the discussion of a broad range of ideas.... [Duke is] a big change, but everything that I've seen makes it a very inviting change, including the University's openness to multiple points of view on controversial topics."
As the controversy surrounding PSM subsided, on-campus support for members of both ethnic groups in question has broadened. The Freeman Center now has a full-time rabbi, kosher dining options have been expanded and Abdullah Antepli was hired as Duke's first full-time Muslim chaplain in June.
Moneta did not attribute the developments to PSM, but he emphasized that administrators leveraged the controversy to shed light on challenges faced by Jewish and Muslim communities on campus.
"[PSM] created an urgency for further examining campus life for both Jewish and Muslim students," he said. "I think that we've created very positive progress on both fronts."
For better or worse, administrators said they were surprised by how quickly Israeli-Palestinian discussions faded after PSM. And this Fall, posters for political campaigns abound-but signs for neither Israel nor Palestine are to be found.
"The reality was that students went back to their semesters after [PSM]," Gastwirth said. "Everyone took a deep breath and moved on. We started a new day. It was not something that had long term reverberations."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.