From: "Michelle Hughes" <mhughes10 at mindspring.com> Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2001 18:34:09 -0500
Pretty good... CK
DUKE STUDENT MOVEMENT
A little over one week ago, the Chronicle carried an ad that amounted to a wholesale attack on the character of African Americans, an ad which suggested that slavery was beneficial for African Americans. This is an insult to us, to our forebearers and everyone who detests injustice. Numerous members of the campus community have come together to re-affirm their right to be part of the Duke community. As to what the Chronicle did, we have no quarrel whatsoever with the fact that the ad was printed. Our objections are:
* that the Chronicle failed to acknowledge the article's offensive nature. Papers on other campuses ran the ad but with statements distancing themselves from the opinions expressed in it, thus showing some respect for all members of their community;
* that by accepting payment for the ad, the Chronicle puts itself in the position of profiting from hate speech;
* that by claiming the ad conforms to current Chronicle policy the paper is in effect endorsing the content of the ad as accurate. For many of us, the central issue is Duke's failure to create a climate where the voices of minority people are valued and supported.
A university is supposed to foster personal, intellectual and community development. Instead, Duke creates an atmosphere that alienates us, an atmosphere that makes Black students in particular feel they have to continually defend their right to be here. We are determined to see that Duke University fulfills its responsibilities and lives up to its obligations to create an inclusive, supportive climate on this campus. We have decided that the following will be real steps toward that objective:
* That a Task Force, headed by the Office of Institutional Equity, be charged with publishing a yearly progress report detailing the efforts to improve the treatment of minority students at Duke. Part of this Task Force will be comprised of minority faculty, adminstrators and students.
* That the University vigorously recruits minority faculty and adminstrators through methods similar to the Black Faculty Initiative, and will provide yearly reports on their progress.
* That the University provide a permanent, space-appropriate, visible center for African-American cultural, academic and social programming.
* That the University act on its previous commitments to establish a stable, well- supported African and African-American Studies program and produces a written plan for doing this.
* That the University formulates a plan to increase funding for minority events and organizations, and that this plan be made public.
* That the Chronicle will publish a clarification of its policy governing the placement of advertisements and how that policy was applied in the Horowitz case.
It is our sincere hope that the administration and the general student body will join us in working towards producing a university atmosphere sensitive to the needs of its multiracial, multiethnic and otherwise diverse population. Duke has done a good job of articulating an ideal of diversity; it is past time to make that ideal a part of actual institutional realities.