New Latinx, Asian American and Native American programming spaces will occupy the bottom floor of the Bryan Center starting next Fall.
The Latinx space will occupy the space currently being used by the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and the Asian American space will replace the Center for Leadership Development and Social Action, which is part of the University Center Activities and Events. The new locations for those two offices remain undecided, but Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, noted that staff members have been involved in discussions. In an email to the student body, Moneta wrote that the new spaces will be housed within the Center for Multicultural Affairs.
“Both of these spaces and the new staff will be part of the expanding Center for Multicultural Affairs, and are a major step toward meeting the needs of our increasingly diverse Duke community,” Moneta wrote.
In a statement released jointly by representatives of several student cultural organizations, the creation of the spaces was praised as “not only a logistical victory, but also a deeply emotional and symbolic one as well.”
The organizations represented were Mi Gente, Duke’s Latinx undergraduate organization; the Asian American Alliance; the Asian Student Association; Diya, Duke’s South Asian student organization; and the Native American Student Alliance.
“Many students within our communities do not feel that they have a place to be safe on campus, or a place to call home,” the statement reads. “These new spaces are an incredible step towards making campus a more inclusive and equitable place.”
Program coordinators will be hired to lead the Latinx and Asian American centers, and a graduate student staff member will be hired for the Native American space. A national search will be conducted to find the new coordinators.
Sophomore Elizabeth Barahona, vice president of Mi Gente, noted that although Mi Gente is pleased with the center, the organization may need to expand into a larger space in the future.
“Eventually, we’ll want to move into a bigger center,” Barahona said.
Senior Stanley Yuan, president of the Asian American Alliance, also wrote in an email that the Asian American center may need to expand in the future to accommodate the variety of Asian American cultures at Duke.
The cultural center comes several weeks after the publication of a Jan. 25 list of demands written by Mi Gente. In a general body meeting of the group, Barahona provided an update on progress that had been made toward meeting those demands.
In addition to establishing the cultural center, the administration has agreed to fully fund Latino Student Recruitment Weekend, allowing Mi Gente to use its general funds elsewhere. As a result, Mi Gente will end its boycott of LSRW, but will no longer participate in organizing the weekend.
The administration has also agreed to hold monthly meetings between representatives from Mi Gente and administrators including Moneta and Valerie Ashby, dean of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences. Other demands will be discussed at these meetings, including wage increases for laborers, need-blind admission for undocumented immigrants and connections with local Latinx populations.
With regard to the formation of a Latino studies department, Barahona said that the administration told Mi Gente it was not possible due to a lack of funding.
Yuan also wrote that one of the priorities of the Asian American Alliance was to advocate for an Asian American studies department.
“Administration made it clear that they do not have the funds for any new departments,” Barahona said. “They still said that this was a priority, but it was a low priority.”
Senior Antonio Lopez, Mi Gente general body member and president of La Unidad Latina, a Latino fraternity, said at the general body meeting that, of the 10 demands, the request for a public apology from the administration for “the routine negligence of Latinx issues on this campus” was the least likely to be met. Barahona noted, however, that administrators had expressed apologies to students in private meetings.
“To get an apology publicly would be very difficult because of the kind of reputation that Duke wants to have,” Lopez said. “They’re going to be hard-pressed to admit it.”
The demands issued by Mi Gente were the latest in a series of student demands this year, including the November demands from the group Concerned Students 1969.
“The ever-changing population on Duke’s campus comes with both great benefits for a deeper understanding of an increasingly diverse community, and inevitable strains as these changes push at the boundaries of our existing spaces,” Moneta wrote in his email.
Correction: This article was updated to note that Yuan meant that the Asian American center might need to expand in the future, not the Asian American Alliance.
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