What the merger means for Duke

Just when I began to appreciate and value what my experience here at Duke University stands for, the true colors of the University and the system that governs it became all too clear.

I think it is time that someone places accountability where it is due for both the prospective and already applied changes to minority issues, such as the criticism of the Black Student Alliance Invitational and Latino Student Recruitment Weekend and the recent merger of the International House with the Multicultural Center. As humans, we are often inclined to justify and rationalize our decisions and behaviors, no matter how unreasonable they are. It is these mental processes that allow the Duke administration, and groups such as One Duke United, to move forward with carrying out their misguided plans in the “best interest” of Duke.

It was one thing for One Duke United to voice its opinions on a matter that does not negatively affect them or other members of the Duke community. One Duke United is comprised largely of members who have no stake in the goals for BSAI weekend, which is in place to recruit prospective students of black descent through a weekend that exposes them to both the general student life and black culture here at Duke. It was quite another thing for members of this group to assert that BSAI and LSRW, among other minority recruitment weekends, be eliminated based on their misrepresentation of the unity of Duke and the notion that they have outlasted their usefulness. Just as one cannot expect a person from a high socioeconomic background to truly understand and internalize the needs of a person who lives in poverty, the arguments of people who are mostly not active or even participants within the black community cannot be considered in making tangible decisions about such issues.

More importantly, Duke’s administration has incessantly failed those concerned with BSAI and LSRW by not advocating on our behalf or taking the reasonable stance against ideas that strive to create a false sense of cultural and racial unity, such as those of One Duke United and numerous other affiliated students. For the administration to remain indifferent toward this issue is disgraceful.

It speaks to the fact that Duke’s desire to foster a diverse community needs to be labeled as what it is: a pretentious façade. Now that Duke seems to be comfortable with its numbers pertaining to minority representation among the student population, is it time to get rid of events that strive to foster a true sense of economic diversity? It has become all too clear that this false dedication to promoting diversity is superficial and simply follows the status quo.

If this was not the case, why has the University not taken a stance in support of minority recruitment weekends such as BSAI? These events have had an evident and positive impact on the official numbers for minority recruitment here at Duke, and more importantly, a strong and positive impact on the students who decide to matriculate at Duke. So, because Yale University was successful in canceling its Minority Scholars Weekend during President Richard Brodhead’s time there, that legacy should continue here? I think not. These misguided politics that govern Duke University and its administration are distasteful.

The recent merger of the Multicultural Center and the International House in conjunction with the ongoing debate surrounding BSAI begs many other questions, among them, what is Duke really trying to do with the minority population here at Duke? Why is it that Duke seems to expect such establishments to compromise the essence of its existence? The merger implies that mutually exclusive minority groups can be consolidated. This pervades a certain level of carelessness and indifference.

This desire and determination to consolidate or eliminate minority affinity organizations is shameless. If a primary concern surrounding such issues is a financial commitment that Duke can no longer afford, the University may want to think twice about a significant source of its financial contributions—alumni. If the administration thinks making such irrational decisions fosters strong and genuine relationships between the University and its minority alumni, it is mistaken.