Occupy Together

Occupy Duke stands in explicit solidarity with Occupy Durham. The occupation site on Duke’s campus serves as an extension of the Occupy Together Movement and Occupy Durham. We support the stances of Occupy Durham while focusing on issues on Duke’s campus. Revolution is necessary in every space; occupy everything.

The Chronicle’s Nov. 3 article, “Occupy Duke one of few collegiate demonstrations,” grossly misrepresents Occupy Duke and its relation to Durham. Several of published quotes were unethically taken out of context. Regardless of the error’s origin—poor reporting and writing or the blatant attempt to misrepresent the group—Occupy Duke finds this framing shameful and unrepresentative of The Chronicle as a whole.

In The Chronicle’s Oct. 24 article, “Occupy Duke camps indefinitely, calls for campus dialogue”—which is rife with clumsy reporting, often dismissive of our protest—one line notes our independence from Occupy Durham. This, in the larger context of the article, was interpreted as the simple recognition of the two physical occupations located in Durham alone. To assume that the two groups are not closely aligned appears too ignorant for a simple mistake. Members of Occupy Duke have been working with Occupy Durham since Occupy Durham’s first general assembly meeting. As a group, we voted to begin a second occupation site but have never distanced ourselves from Durham. We ask that The Chronicle’s editor review this particular misreporting and reporter bias. Again, let it be clear—Durham and Duke are inseparable; Occupy will never claim differentiation or hierarchy in structure or statement.

In Solidarity,

Occupy Duke Communications Committee
Maria Arias, Trinity ’14
Ran Bar-On, Lecturer, Mathematics Department
Josh Brewer, Trinity ’11, columnist, The Chronicle
Manny Hidalgo, Trinity ’12
Anastasia Karklina, Trinity ’14
Shreyan Sen, Trinity ’12
Vysak Venkateswaran, Trinity ’12
Casey Williams, Trinity ’14, member, The Chronicle’s editorial board, Trinity ’12