Duke Graduate and Professional Student Government passed a resolution Tuesday calling on University administration to aid in the federal investigation of racist text messages recently received by several students and to impose consequences on any Duke-affiliated persons found in connection to the messages.
The senate also heard a presentation on housing options for students living off-campus.
Anti-harassment resolution
The senate overwhelmingly passed its first resolution of the academic year, which called for Duke’s administration to engage in a number of anti-harassment efforts in the wake of a spam text campaign targeting minority students at Duke.
In the immediate aftermath of the 2024 presidential election, several Black students at Duke received messages as part of a nationwide spam text campaign telling them that they were “selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation.” Many Latino and LGBTQ+ students received similarly offensive messages a week later, which mentioned “deportation” and “reeducation camps,” respectively.
Many of the text messages were sent anonymously, though some were signed by “a Trump supporter.” The Trump campaign denied any connection to the messages.
The text campaign is currently under investigation by the FBI, which is “evaluating all reported incidents and engaging with the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division,” per a Nov. 15 statement. The FBI had not received reports of “violent acts” resulting from the messages at the time of the statement.
Student Affairs notified the Duke community about the messages in a Nov. 7 email, condemning the “racist effort” as “presumably designed to stoke fear and alienation among members of our Black and African American community” and encouraging students who received such texts to report the incident via a DukeReach Report Form.
According to the GPSG resolution, titled the “Anti-Harassment and Threat Response Act,” the University’s response to the incident was “inadequate and failed to provide information regarding its plans for investigating complaints, its collaboration with state and federal law enforcement agencies and punishment for culprits affiliated with Duke University.”
The resolution calls upon the University to maintain records of all complaints it receives from students, faculty and staff in connection to the campaign and to “allocate sufficient resources” to investigating the complaints, including providing “prompt and adequate assistance” to federal and state agencies investigating the incident.
The resolution demands Duke “immediately revoke its contract with and cease payment and benefits to any contract worker,” “immediately terminate and cease payment and benefits to any employee,” “immediately expel, with cost, any student” and “immediately ban from all Duke University planned, sponsored or partnered events any alum it finds a culprit or accomplice in the planning, creation, implementation, funding or distribution” of the messages.
It also asks the University to “promptly assist all student, faculty or staff victims in pursuing legal action against the contract worker.”
“Duke University owes its students, faculty and staff an environment free from offensive, threatening and harassing electronic messages, as well as threats that may cause severe emotional distress, financial and physical harm,” the resolution reads.
Senators decided not to refer the resolution back to the diversity, equity and inclusion committee for additional debate on account of how “urgent” the matter was, with several noting that many of their peers were “extremely shocked” by the incident and found administrative response lacking.
“Institutions of higher education in particular are really important on this issue, and it’s important that Duke put out something that not only supports the students but [is] very symbolic nationwide, since this is clearly something that occurred targeting university students and college-age people in general across the country,” said Kyle Beck, a senator representing the Law School.
University administration did not respond to The Chronicle’s request for comment about GPSG’s demands or whether such practices had already been implemented in time for publication.
Housing presentation
Senators heard a presentation from Elinor Landess, assistant dean of students and director of off campus and community life, on student housing.
Landess explained the primary goals of the recently established Duke Office of Off Campus and Community Life as aiding students in their transition to Durham and generally supporting them during their time at Duke. The office also aims to help students connect with the Durham community.
“I believe that universities have a responsibility to do right by the communities that host them,” she said. “… I think Duke has a large impact, obviously, on the Durham community, and our students are the most visible piece of that impact. So we can’t be a responsible, good neighbor to the city of Durham if our students aren’t doing right by us or aren’t integrating into the city — as much as that’s possible.”
According to Landess, Duke has around 800 undergraduate students living off campus and over 10,000 off-campus graduate students. She noted that Duke is “unique” among its peer institutions in the high number of graduate students it enrolls, contributing to the University’s inability to provide on-campus housing for all students.
Around 330 live in Duke’s Lancaster Commons, which is reserved for graduate and professional students, and others have apartments at 301 Swift and The Blue Light Living complex, both of which are University-owned. The remaining graduate students live off campus.
“I feel certain that it will always be a mix of private housing and University-provided housing,” Landess said of Duke’s graduate student housing landscape.
She maintained that the University recognizes it “need[s] to be doing more to support [students’] experiences living in Durham.”
She acknowledged the recent increases in Durham’s cost of living, gaps in transportation infrastructure and several instances of crime near bus stops on the LaSalle Loop as issues currently affecting Duke’s off-campus students.
Landess promoted a survey conducted by the office every other year, which gauges off-campus students’ feelings on aspects of housing like rent, safety and transportation. The survey’s next installment is slated to roll out in January.
She also shared that Duke has plans in the works for a new housing project that would prioritize affordability and proximity to campus, a Duke bus line and other amenities. The project would likely not be completed for several years.
“The University is highly, highly committed to making sure it provides grad housing in addition to the support that I provide for students just living in the Durham community,” Landess said.
In response to questions from the senate, Landess shared information on a number of housing resources Duke provides to off-campus students.
She noted that the University cannot formally assist students in rent negotiations because it has no authority over private businesses and because of North Carolina’s laws against rent control. However, she did offer her services for informal advice in approaching those conversations and promoted GPSG’s Lawyer Assistance Program — a free attorney service that provides students with legal counsel.
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Zoe Kolenovsky is a Trinity junior and news editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.