Conversations about race and justice have unfolded across Duke’s campus over the past two weeks, with the graduate and professional schools among those active in reaffirming the university’s values after a noose was found hanging near the Bryan Center on April 1, sparking a large demonstration outside Duke Chapel where more than 1,000 people expressed their outrage.
This past Thursday, about 175 Duke Law students, faculty and staff members gathered to discuss race relations and the April 1 incident, for which a Duke student admitted responsibility the next day. Seven student groups organized the hour-long “Speak-Out,” and the organizers presented an open letter written by a coalition of students. The letter called for "a movement, not a moment," with Duke Law setting “an example to the other schools on our campus and throughout the country that people of different races can thrive alongside one another, not just coexist.”
At the Sanford School of Public Policy,Dean Kelly Brownell sent an email message to the community last week, and about 80 students, faculty and staff attended a town-hall style meeting on Tuesday. Participants broke into smaller groups to discuss issues involving identity and how the school can be as welcoming and inclusive as possible. The school's diversity committee collected the responses and will make recommendations.
Dean Marion E. Broome of the Duke School of Nursing held a town hall last week where faculty, staff and students discussed how to affirm the school’s commitments to a respectful, inclusive and caring environment. The school also began an ongoing project in which community members will contribute handprints decorated with personal messages (see above), all to be displayed in the school’s atrium.
At the Graduate School, Alan Kendrick, assistant dean for graduate student development, met with student leaders from several organizations to develop a statement condemning hate speech and urging people who witness acts of intimidation to come forward and help hold perpetrators responsible. The Graduate and Professional Student Council released the statement last week and will hold an open forum on Tuesday to discuss how it can increase diversity initiatives and foster an inclusive community.
The Fuqua School of Business marked this past Thursday as a "Day of Solidarity Against Hate,” calling on its students to “Stand Together as a Community Against Racial Bias." Many Fuqua students wore Duke blue that day to show solidarity, and the school organized a forum that focused on the significance of the noose and "Why Does Race Matter?" Those attending discussed the experience of race around the world, sharing their own experiences with bias and asking what collective diversity means to the Fuqua community.
Similar conversations are continuing at Duke’s other schools and across the university. Among the examples: An April 27 forum on race at the School of Medicine, to be hosted by Dean Dr. Nancy Andrews, Vice President Ben Reese and Judy Seidenstein, the school’s chief diversity officer.
Below: A photo from the Fuqua School forum. Photo by Nick Faber.
