Report Recommends New Multicultural Space

A strongly worded task force report calls for creating a sizable multicultural center, greatly expanding the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture and enhancing the Office of Intercultural Affairs to help end "an institutional culture of selectivity and exclusivity dominated by Caucasian males."

"The physical structure of Duke University is historically one that legitimizes the unspoken social and political dominance of Anglo-Americans," states the report written by the 15-member task force on cultural space. "... Duke has evolved legacies of space creation and design based in the interests and activities of that population."

The report, released May 15 by Duke President Nannerl O. Keohane, acknowledges that Duke has come a long way since beginning racial desegregation in 1961. In the past two decades, minority student enrollment has more than tripled - from 8.5 percent of the freshman class in 1984 to 26.5 percent of this year's entering class. The presence and activism of new cultural organizations, such as the Asian Student Association, Diya and Mi Gente, also have flourished during that time.

But minority students, staff and faculty continue to raise concerns about campus visibility, university support, institutional affirmation and "ownership" of residence halls and cultural space, the report continues.

"[A]s we stand at the threshold of a new century and a new Duke, we believe it is time for the university to assume its share of responsibility for making Duke a more truly inclusive and nurturing home for all of its students," the task force members write.

The cramped quarters, reliance on student volunteers and "woefully inadequate resources" for diversity programming "are unacceptable to achieve the goals that many of the cultural groups set for themselves," the report continues. What the university needs to right this imbalance, the report says, is to offer "highly visible places" dedicated to African-American, Asian-Pacific-American, South-Asian-American, Latino and Latina, Native-American and other ethnic cultures.

"We do not seek simply to add more spaces 'for' cultural groups that will set them apart from each other and from other students," the report states. "Our goal is to increase and expand spaces that improve the support for Duke's diverse population while enhancing the learning experiences for every student."

To achieve that goal, the report recommends:

Expanding the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Studies' 2,700-square-foot space in the West Union building to a proposed 21,700 square feet, including a library, two seminar rooms, two classrooms, a 2,000-square-foot performance space, two studios, a gallery, a lounge, a 100-person lecture hall and control over the scheduling of cultural events in the renovated Great Hall (possibly to be renamed "Julian Abele Hall");

Creating a 21,000- to 23,000-square-foot multicultural center within the Bryan Center, complete with 4,000 square feet of office and administrative space, three seminar rooms, a 75-person multimedia room, performance/lecture space, a 3,000-square-foot multipurpose room, lounge space, a cafea gallery, a resource library, a computer cluster, a reading room and a minimum of six 1,000-square-foot ethnic-community-specific commons rooms;

Moving a significantly enhanced Office of Intercultural Affairs from the West Union to the Bryan Center as a central component of the new multicultural center.

The task force report stresses that both the Mary Lou Williams Center and a multicultural center would serve "unique" roles on campus. The Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture, established in 1983, is a "structured space for academic and artistic exploration, as well as critical thinking, about African-American culture and its relation to society," the report said. The multicultural center -- with the Office of Intercultural Affairs -- would provide needed infrastructure to support cultural organizations and promote informal interactions among different cultures.

"Students of color now comprise nearly one-third of Duke's total undergraduate population," the task force report sais. "It is now up to the university to ensure that they receive the same extent and quality of institutional recognition as their majority counterparts."

In a letter to the task force dated May 15, Keohane stated that she was "persuaded" by the report's arguments that the university should "recognize and affirm the distinct missions" of the Mary Lou Williams Center and the proposed multicultural center.

The concept for a multicultural center in a renovated Bryan Center "makes a great deal of sense," she added. "This is a timely recommendation since we hope to proceed soon with a major renovation of the Bryan Center. I am in full agreement with your view that a successful realization of your vision will create 'a lively community center for Duke's many cultures and constituencies.'"

The university's next step will be to determine the architectural and financial implications of these proposals, the president wrote. Such research is scheduled for this summer, with a report on the administration's response and possible next steps proposed for this fall.

"I cannot assure you that everything that you have asked for will prove feasible," Keohane stated, "but we will certainly look carefully at your requests and see how many of them might be accommodated within an expanded center."

The task force, chaired by Assistant Vice President Judith White, included Julian Sanchez, director of the Office of Intercultural Affairs; Leon Dunkley, director of the Mary Lou Williams Center; Anita-Yvonne Bryant, coordinator of multicultural services for Counseling and Psychological Services at Duke; faculty members Stanley Abe and Peter Wood, and nine students.