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OIE To Hold Open Campus Forum On Race In Aftermath Of National Shootings

In the aftermath of shootings across the country last week, Duke’s Office of Institutional Equity will hold an open forum for the university community to discuss issues of racial equity and community policing.

The forum will be held from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday, July 15, in “The Garage,” the Ahmadieh Lecture Hall in the Smith Warehouse Bay 4.  Interested people are asked to RSVP to laurel.matthes@duke.edu.

“This is one of those critical moments in our community and country,” said Benjamin Reese, vice president for institutional equity. “It’s a moment where issues of violence, racial equity and policing are at the forefront. People have strong feelings on these issues, and the forum will be an opportunity to express and discuss these.”

But Reese added that he was aware that “conversations aren’t a substitute for action. However, we think conversations are a critical complement to the kinds of actions that individuals and departments and communities should be engaged in.”

“Our hope is people will take this opportunity for authentic and open sharing of ideas across the lines and divisions that are occurring.”

The forum is open to students, faculty, staff and others in the Duke community, but the facility holds only 70 people. Reese said OIE will explore holding additional forums at larger venues if there is interest.

“We know there aren’t a lot of students around, but we certainly want to make them welcome. I hope they attend,” Reese said.

The 2015-16 academic year included a series of events that increased racial tension on campus. Two Page Auditorium dialogues gave students an opportunity to express feelings of marginalization and tell stories of confronting what they said was institutionalized racism.

That led to formation of a task force on bias and hate issues, which released its report in May. Many schools, including Law and the School of Medicine, have also started school-wide discussions related to race.

However, Reese said there is also interest on campus to discuss national issues of race that go beyond the university. A week of tension brought about by police shootings of African-Americans in successive days and by the targeted killings of five police officers in Dallas has merely heightened that need, he said.

“Our hope is that a fruitful conversation here will serve as model that people can have and should have about these important issues in their own department and schools and even in their own homes.”