Center for Race Relations started twelve years ago as a student effort to improve race relations on-campus.
CRR started as a student project in Tony Brown’s social entrepreneurship class in Spring 2002. The goal of CRR was to help Duke become a place where everyone could bring their full identities and learn to engage effectively across lines of difference, said Amy Lazarus, Trinity '05, co-founder of CRR.
"College is a time for people to come together and interact with others who have different backgrounds," Lazarus said. "Some didn't know how and others didn't know why, so we found a need for [CRR]."
Kesav Mohan, Trinity '04 and co-founder of CRR, said that CRR created safe avenues for students, staff and administrators to talk about and explore race.
"Before CRR, many people were afraid to talk about racial issues, because they didn't want to offend anyone," Mohan wrote in an email Wednesday.
One of the objectives of CRR was getting people who would not typically be involved to be involved. In order to accomplish this, CRR worked with different groups on campus and pushed for all elements of diversity when recruiting leadership for the organization, Lazarus said.
"We wanted people to see why [being able to engage in differences] could benefit everyone and help them become more effective in professional and civic life," Lazarus said.
Both Lazarus and Mohan said that the University was highly supportive, both financially and politically, to the founding of CRR.
More on Common Ground
Common Ground, one of CRR's signature projects, was a student project that began in Fall 2002—the semester following the founding of CRR, said Tony Brown, professor of the practice of public policy and sociology.
This four-day alternative Fall and Spring Break excursion fosters discussion of race and identity-related topics, said senior Lexia Chadwick, the current president of CRR.
"It’s easy to quote statistics but Common Ground forces students to look personally—how have you and your classmates been affected by these identity issues," Chadwick said.
Common Ground was originally inspired by the New York-based National Conference for Community and Justice, a similar program for high school students, Brown said.
The first Common Ground retreat hosted thirty-five students, said Lazarus, who also co-founded Common Ground. The number of students applying to attend Common Ground has grown significantly since then, she added.
The co-founders of Common Ground have continued to spread its values and influence, Lazarus said. She and Christopher Scoville, Trinity '05 and a co-founder of Common Ground, are now involved with PULSE—a retreat program where Common Ground alumni are hired for the summer to train teams of students and advisors from 15 universities on how to start retreats and enhance dialogues on campus.
The evolution of CRR and Common Ground
In the past twelve years, CRR has seen changes in some of its programming, Lazarus said. For example, Students To Unite Duke—which aims to bring students together through social events—was originally a separate initiative but has since been incorporated into CRR.
Chadwick said CRR has also worked to play more of an activist role over the years.
"We are known to be neutral amongst race relations, but we also want to make sure that we have a stand on the things that we feel strongly about," Chadwick said.
Both CRR and Common Ground have now expanded their purview from primarily race to now include gender, sexuality and socioeconomic status, Chadwick said.
"We want to always be aware of the social-political aspects of Duke's campus and the American community," Chadwick said. "We will continue to evolve, continue to grow and continue to engage students in a personal, social and academic way."
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