​Give The Tab time

Last week, a new publication launched on Duke’s campus. The Tab, a news site started at the University of Cambridge in 2009 by students, put its first articles up on its Duke site last Tuesday. In the days following, controversy amassed on Facebook in the All Duke group with lengthy commentary condemning the site as a “superficial glamorisation of privileged lifestyles.” Although there is merit to this view based on the launch articles chosen by the Tab, we believe several valid positions were obscured by the social media frenzy in defense of the publication.

Beyond the first introductory article posted to the site, the four articles released in The Tab’s first two days covered an interview with Brian Grasso of this year’s "Fun Home" controversy, a British first-year’s take on his first American day party, an interview of a “Kurdish heir by day, Duke frat boy by night” and a meeting with senior Serena Kerrigan. The responses by students were a combination of disbelief and disgust, with the initial post receiving a few hundred likes on Facebook. They felt the articles reflected poorly on Duke and elevated very privileged lifestyles on campus. Charitable defenses from other students noted that perhaps The Tab was brought to Duke because it knew an audience existed for such coverage and that criticism should be tempered because only a few articles from a handful of writers had been published. Even simpler responses said it was much too early to cast judgment on The Tab and that it could still emulate versions at other universities that report more on typical student issues.

The criticism we would level, however, at those who initially disparaged The Tab is that they overshadowed, or at worse failed to see entirely, the merits of some of the articles. The role of the Editorial Board is very different from The Tab, and even as we generally disagree with his views, we appreciate that an interview was held with Brian Grasso to ask him about Fun Home, Christianity and his take on campus discourse around him. We also found the article on international student, Arya Deniz, and the interaction of his wealthy and traditional Kurdish background with his life at Duke to be insightful into his experience without excessively glorifying his wealth or position.

Students involved with The Tab were commendably quick to respond to students, sincerely apologizing and affirming their intentions to become dynamic, inclusive and representative of undergraduate life. Student backlash spoke volumes to how students are willing to hold each other accountable for their statements and also that students are further willing to fairly engage each other in controversy. We believe the community across the board was right to hold The Tab accountable to its self-proclaimed goals of “honest, inclusive student news, topical features and entertaining interviews.”

One hope we have is that the coverage choices made by The Tab in the future will look to represent the entire range of Duke students and their experiences because its first articles struck a nerve for being spotlights of privileged lives. Those representing The Tab made clear their intent to change, and we encourage  its writers who have yet to publish their first articles to demonstrate this commitment. Changes in The Tab’s direction, tone and culture will result in a more meaningful contribution to Duke’s publications, filling a niche for unusual news stories and interviews not being filled by any of the other publications on campus like Duke Political Review, The Standard, Form or Medley (formerly Resound Magazine) as examples.

Update: This editorial was updated Tuesday to reflect that Resound Magazine has changed its name to Medley since last year.