MEMORANDUM 3/31/2015

From: Black Student Alliance Subject: Onward with #WhatWeNeedFromDuke

Over the course of this year, Duke, along with many other college campuses across the nation have experienced the gravity of race relations and incidences that compromised its commitment to stimulating diverse and inclusive spaces. Racial and ethnic minorities experience threats on their identities in communities nationally, but this does not qualify racial prejudice, and/or, incidents of bias that exists on Dukes campus. The racist chant targeting a black student that was reported on Sunday March 22nd is no isolated event. Black students at Duke have historically experienced racial discrimination, microaggressions, and incidents of bias.

The universitys response, while late in its outreach to students and staff, was important in reaffirming its commitment to improving race relations on campus. While the Black Student Alliance does not dream of a colorblind nation as stated in the letter from the President and Provost, we do share the mission of moving Duke forward in fostering an open, safe and inclusive community that embraces diversity. In order to aid in the universitys responsibility and accountability of communicating its values and commitment to this vision, the Black Student Alliance felt it was imperative to engage members of the black community and beyond around their concerns for the institution.

#WhatWeNeedFromDuke is a platform for the voices of the minority student sentiment at Duke. Still displayed on the windows of Dukes Black Student Alliance office, it is a literal collection of student suggestions for Duke administration on improving the experience of racial and ethnic minorities on campus. It is the first step of what we hope will become a consistent, active line of communication between our administration and the black student perspective and experience. Rather than imagining a colorblind campus or nation, which threatens to mitigate the importance of celebrating diversity and implementing universal social recognition, the university culture we imagine is one in which minority student experiences are carefully tilled and cultivated, rather than just managed in response to publicized catastrophe. The engagement provided by #WhatWeNeedFromDuke yielded some suggestions for powerful, attainable, student-centered initiatives in the service of that goal. From those suggestions, we have compiled a list of essential action items for administrative consideration. They are as follows:

1. Create an orientation program for all incoming students that specifically and meaningfully addresses the gravity of race, gender, sexuality, class and religion. It is critical for students to begin to address bias and identify allies when matriculating.

2. Establish a pre-orientation for black students (especially those who did not attend BSAI) to prepare them for their time on campus and to help identify resources for their utilization.

3. Make public the incident reports that concern community safety, incidents of bias, culture, and identity of current students to the Duke community protected by user ID information (similar to the police log that may be published after a weekend). The nature of this request is related to the need for greater transparency.

4. Create a Social Justice Fellowship for student proposals aimed at the creation of safe spaces for discussion, enlightenment, and active engagement. These proposals should address forms of prejudice, bias, inequality, and injustice-- empowering students to imagine a better Duke. This was initiated at the University of Virginia in response to the concern for campus experiences in connection to greater issues regarding race in America.

While there are several long-term goals that we seek to address, these short-term items are tangible and specific actions that we request immediate response to recent events.