Dean to faculty: "Recognize and respect the complex and different ways our students are seeking to comprehend"

Dear Colleagues,

The events surrounding the behavior of the men's lacrosse team, both acknowledged and alleged, have been traumatic for our community. I am writing because of concerns about the impact on our students inside as well as outside the classroom.

The events of the last two weeks have activated profound feelings associated with issues of race and gender, class and privilege, town and gown, difference and respect that have been of concern on this campus, and in our larger society, for many years. Students are simultaneously members of multiple groups and frequently are confronted with managing conflicting feelings and allegiances. For some students, the challenge is to reconcile outrage about the inhumanity of sexual assault and sadness that the accused are friends, especially when the most serious specific charges are not established but the more general issues are so grave.  Furthermore, fear and distrust are exacerbated when the alleged perpetrators are fellow members of the Duke community.

In responding to this situation, it is essential that we hold ourselves accountable for acting in accordance with our core institutional values of reason and discernment; and at the same time we must communicate that we recognize and respect the complex and different ways our students are seeking to comprehend and respond to what they are experiencing. Throughout the week, I have learned about the tensions that some students are experiencing in the classroom.  For example, some women and Black students have reported feeling stressed when they are expected to speak for or defend the perspective of women and/or the Black community and some athletes report feeling harassed by their peers and professors. I have also learned that some students have found discussion of these issues to be helpful and affirming.  It is a time of extraordinary challenge.

Certainly, the appropriate response is not to avoid engagement with these issues in the classroom. In fact, quite the opposite, to the extent that this can be done in a constructive way that leads our students to greater insight and understanding rather than to defensiveness, hostility, or anxiety. There are, obviously, no prescriptions for how best to constructively manage these discussions and the tensions they may reflect. We can, however, be aware of the range and depth of opinions and feelings that have been activated and provide our students with a classroom climate characterized by the respect and sensitivity necessary to foster their understanding and growth.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be helpful to you or to your students in any way.

Robert J. Thompson, Jr.

Dean of Trinity College and Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education