Letter to the Editor

As the President of the Graduate and Professional Student Council, I would like to clarify my statements concerning diversity training for graduate and professional students at Duke University. To begin, in my interactions with President Brodhead, he has expressed support for graduate and professional student diversity training. I can therefore assert that President Brodhead is not “uninterested in developing a training program for incoming graduate and professional students.” These opinions presented by Colleen McClean on my behalf at the Duke Tomorrow Discussion misrepresented conversations concerning the execution of such a training program.

In my meetings with the Diversity Committee, the General Assembly and the Executive Committee, I expressed the sentiment that mandatory and identical training across all nine graduate and professional schools was not the form of training being considered by the administration. I did not indicate that graduate and professional student diversity training was off the table for consideration. Unfortunately, Ms. McClean misinterpreted my statements about the details of this training and generalized them to the creation of any and all training programs.

In a meeting with President Brodhead today, he and I agreed that diversity training is critical to the University and that this training should be tailored to each of the nine graduate and professional schools. The students at these nine schools are educated to fit their professional needs and diversity training should follow suit. I am pleased to hear President Brodhead reaffirm his support for training that will promote a positive and educational experience for all students at Duke University. Now GPSC and the administration should turn their attention to ensuring that these programs are executed at the graduate and professional schools.

I look forward to continuing my work with President Brodhead and the administrators and students of Duke University as the President of the Graduate and Professional Student Council. Every single General Assembly Meeting is open to all graduate and professional students to express any concerns they may have. Our next meeting is December 1^st, 2015, at 6:30 p.m. in the Trent Semens Center for Health Education in the Learning Hall (room 2050).

Abigail LaBella

President of the Graduate and Professional Student Council