Troy Clair: A Fast Pace through Four Years of Activism

The student protests of 2000, Troy Clair's sophomore year, couldn't have come at a worse time. Smack in the middle of the protests, which were sparked by a deeply offensive editorial advertisement in The Chronicle, fell Black Student Recruitment Weekend. Many black students boycotted the social activities scheduled to welcome the recruits to Duke.

"We were worried about scaring them off," said Clair, one of this year's winners of the William J. Griffith University Service Award. "We wanted to encourage them to come here, but we wanted them to understand that Duke needed to make some changes to be a better community for everyone."

During that passionate period, Clair emerged as a leader, focusing students' energy on constructive dialogue and setting up a task force that effectively lobbied for change. The following year, Clair was elected president of the Black Student Alliance, one of a string of increasingly responsible offices he has held since he was first elected a senator at his junior high school in Brooklyn, N.Y. This year, Clair has served as Duke Student Government's vice president for student affairs.

"If you see something you don't like, then the way to change things is to get involved," Clair said. "I've always taken that philosophy."

Graduating this month with a major in political science and a minor in history, Clair considers getting people involved in BSA to be his greatest accomplishment while at Duke. His leadership strategy developed into the BSA's slogan "Strengthening the tradition of excellence." The ill-timed recruitment weekend turned out to be a boon, according to the feedback from students who enrolled the following fall.

"They were proud of the work that the people in the student movement were doing," Clair said. "They wanted to be a part of a community where people stood up for what they thought was right."

Clair's mother drilled into him and his seven siblings to share what they had with others, a hard lesson to learn as a kid, but one that stuck. Clair is aware of the sacrifices his family and others in his circle made to send him from public school in Brooklyn to private school and on to Duke. He plans to surprise his mother by bringing her to the breakfast at which he will receive the Griffith Award.

"I've always seen my education as something to use to help others," he said. "If I keep it to myself, what's the point of having a family and community to support you at Duke and beyond?"

That's one reason Clair has made tutoring in Durham public schools through the America Reads program a priority over the past year and a half, and why he's also squeezed in volunteer work with the Durham Affordable Housing Coalition. On campus this year, he serves as the Duke Student Government's vice president for student affairs. He's made the Dean's List five out of seven semesters so far. In previous years, he has been a mentor and board member for the African American Mentoring Program, dorm president and resident adviser, and served four years on the President's Council on Black Affairs.

Over the years, he has been named a Harry S Truman Scholar and a Goldman Sachs Scholar, and won the Duke NAACP 2002 Image Award.

"I wouldn't have stuck with all this just to build a resume," Clair said. "There are times I think I don't have to do this; I could go back to sleep. But when you see someone who has benefited from what you've done and they thank you for it, that's encouraging."

Clair's pace does not slow when the school year ends. The summer before he left New York for Duke, he worked as an office assistant for then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Later, he interned for Congressman Ed Towns in Washington, D.C., and worked on Durham Mayor Bill Bell's campaign. During President Clinton's last summer in office, when Al Gore was running for president and Hillary Rodham Clinton was campaigning for senator in New York, Clair interned at the White House Press Office.

After graduation, Clair will manage internship programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in Washington, D.C. And at some point in the future, he may enter politics as a candidate.

"When I got the Truman scholarship, I said I was going to run for mayor of New York, so maybe down the road I'll do that," Clair said.

Clair hopes those who follow will continue to further dialogue between the administration and various interest groups. He'd also like to see an increase in academic and leadership mentoring. And he is concerned that at present too much emphasis is placed on strategic planning, with little regard for the experience of students. He cites the need to expand the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, something he has been pushing for throughout his time at Duke.

"It may happen in five or 10 years, but so many students are going to miss out until then," he said.

Clair believes he will always feel the pull of helping Duke improve.

"For anyone who wants to get involved in Duke leadership," he said, "I'm available. I'm definitely there."

Written by Nancy Oates.