Sign on minority labor at Duke removed from statue

A sign posted on the quadrangle in front of the Chapel addressing Duke’s dependence on the labor of people of color was removed Wednesday night.

The sign—which read “Duke stands on the backs of black and brown labor”—was first noticed on the James B. Duke statue in front of the Chapel Wednesday morning. The creator of the sign and the exact time it was posted are unknown. Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, said Wednesday that the administration supports free speech on campus, but that the sign would be taken down overnight—the typical protocol for posters placed in areas where signs are not typically permitted.

“Duke has a strong commitment to free speech and expression,” Schoenfeld said. “That’s why we have allowed the sign to stay up today.”

Schoenfeld’s statement, however, came after Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said that the sign would be allowed to stay in its place.

“It’s a message that someone wants to share and we support their right to share it,” Moneta said. “There is no rush to remove it.”

He added that the poster might come down at some point due to conditions such as weather or cleaning processes, but not due to the message itself.

Moneta wrote in an email Thursday that the sign was likely removed following the the protocol that Schoenfeld indicated it would be.

The sign comes in the wake of several events that have drawn attention to race relations at the University—most notably, a noose hung by an undergraduate near the Bryan Center last week.

Several students said that they believed the poster’s statement was accurate.

“I think it’s the truth,” said sophomore Henry Washington Jr., current vice president and president-elect of the Black Student Alliance. “It’s very easy for us to forget about the fundamentally problematic culture that we build around issues of race, class and gender.”

Washington said he recalled noticing as a freshman that the majority of the Marketplace employees were people of color, and thinking the lack of respect for them was infuriating and astounding.

Sophomore Zoe Willingham said that she also thought the poster’s message correctly described Duke’s campus.

“We have a University catering to the privileged minority of Americans, largely run by workers of color,” she said. “I feel they are undervalued.”

Willingham is the president of Duke United Students Against Sweatshops, a group lobbying for increased minimum wages for Durham workers. The group will be taking part in an event at Shaw University in Raleigh next week to advocate for higher living wages.

Junior Madhu Ganesh said she felt the sign’s statement—although hard for Duke students to wrap their heads around—was true. She noted that the administration should take actionable steps to address the problem instead of asserting that Duke is a safe space for everyone.

Students also voiced opinions about the sign’s quick removal, particularly on the first day of Blue Devil Days, the University's annual series of events for admitted high school students.

Washington said that visitors should not be shielded from campus events, noting that not explicitly conveying the experience of being a black student at Duke would be a disservice to prospective black students.

“Because Duke is such a prestigious institution, often we get presentational,” he said. “We care more about the brand of school instead of the student experience.”

Sophomore Tara Fan added that incoming freshmen should see that there is currently a controversy on campus and that people are still upset over recent events.

Schoenfeld noted that many forms of protests like the sign posted Wednesday have occurred in the past.

“It’s all part of the ongoing educational process,” he said.

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