Letter to the Editor

Dear Max and Wills,

The realized mission of the Black Student Alliance, first and foremost, is to promote equality by working to improve the experiences of marginalized peoples—on campus, in Durham and throughout the nation and world. The work is both a privilege and a responsibility, as we feel accountable to the experiences of systematically oppressed students in a way organizations that represent the whole student body do not. When we make decisions as a Black Student Alliance executive board, we put our personal opinions aside as much as we possibly can, understanding our responsibility to black students and the integrity that that responsibility necessitates. Our personal opinions are not analogous to decisions we make on behalf of black students.

As a board, we often offer assessments and endorsements of candidates in student elections as a way to offer our general body insights on which candidates we feel are most qualified and who demonstrate a commitment to representing the student body’s wide range of diversity. For at least the past five years, the previous Young Trustee official endorsement guidelines have stipulated that official endorsements could not be made by organizations that had professional ties to any candidate. Thus, we knew (and presumed that the two of you knew as well) that we would not be allowed to officially endorse a candidate before the statement of refusal was released, since Jamal is a former president of BSA. Because we were excluded from participating in the official endorsement process, we also knew that we were not obligated to adhere to the guidelines of that process. Finally, we knew that any kind of endorsement statement released from us would have to be released unofficially, probably as a memo to our general body. Thus, BSA’s desire to meet with all of the Young Trustee candidates was not really about deciding on a candidate to endorse. It was about our responsibility to black students—we wanted to begin dialogues with the Young Trustee candidates about our representation. We wanted to gauge the willingness of each of the candidates to represent all students effectively, regardless of whether or not those students looked like them. One need only consider the national movement of student activism in the U.S. and across the world amid culminating tensions on college campuses about race and identity to understand why meeting with the Young Trustee candidates was important to us.

Regardless of whether or not we could endorse a candidate officially or who any individual BSA executive board member personally felt was the most qualified candidate for the position of Young Trustee, as a board we have a vested interest in trying to make sure that whoever is elected to represent the student body understands that our black lives matter. Given this context, I find it perplexing that the two of you refused to meet with the oldest black organization at Duke, which is recognized as the foremost political advocate for black students, seemingly just because you felt that you could not win our votes. Though in the statement you boasted a refusal to meet with the IFC board on supposed claims of ethical high ground, you have certainly still made sure to meet with the IFC fraternities individually, many of which have voting members who have expressed support for each of you through posts on social media. To me, this seems to be the same “conflict of interest” of which we are being accused. Just as with IFC, we could not have made an official endorsement anyway, and as candidates, you should know that. I can only conjecture, then, that you actually refused to meet not because of an ethical premise but simply because you did not want to. I am petrified of what this move can mean as a precedent. Certainly we do not imagine as ethical the notion that candidates in a Young Trustee election may ignore or silence certain students’ voices simply because they are unwilling to actually listen to how those students feel they need to be represented.

This will be my only public response to this matter, which I mostly wrote a few days ago but have not been sure I would release, and only felt compelled to because I experienced your statement as an inaccurate and inappropriate indictment upon my executive board’s character. I do not wish to engage the drama of a back-and-forth, as that would be time better used conversing about actual issues of representation and diversity in the Young Trustee election. Given the remarkable coincidence of an email I received from you (Max) the night before the publication of this letter, this dream my board has of meeting to discuss the representation of black students with the Young Trustee candidates may actually come true. Wills, if you too would suddenly like to meet with BSA to discuss your candidacy further, take a nod from Max’s email. Reaching out to me or another person on my executive board is a far more direct and effective means of communicating your sentiments to us than publishing them publicly in The Chronicle. I sometimes neglect to read it.

Sincerely,

Henry

Junior Henry Washington is the president of the Black Student Alliance.