$8.5 billion should not just represent some abstract measurement of institutional worth for us in the Duke community. More than just an arbitrary mathematical variable in the many college rankings Duke is a part of, our endowment has the ability to directly improve our quality of education and life as students and community members at a major research university.
While this foundation certainly isn’t the only entity weaponizing their money for political and monetary ends, this recent news item highlights the ways in which college campuses are increasingly mutating into ideological battlegrounds with wars bankrolled by wealthy, outside institutions.
Ultimately, while the core issue facing us is not the box itself, but rather the racist prison industrial complex, this change is one part of a blueprint towards justice.
At an institution that will inevitably produce men and women in similarly powerful positions, we must ask ourselves: How are we keeping our Kavanaughs accountable?
This lack of empathy—especially for the individuals that work in our temporary homes—stands in stark contrast to our university-wide desire to be in service to society.
No college admissions policy can be perfect.
The Great Recession represents to our generation one of the most important events of the last twenty years, altering the political, economic, and social landscapes upon which we currently inhabit.
When posting hurricane-related memes, and engaging in other light-hearted activities during the storm, remember that for many in and around this campus, this is a period of extreme terror and uncertainty
The true solutions to the problems of representation and inclusion exist in a place beyond the ultimately fruitless, unbridled idealism that is embodied by UCLA’s new policy and the cynicism associated with calls to abandon a dream of racial diversity and equity in higher education.
For those who stand for egalitarian voting practices in a state that continues to discourage certain peoples from voting, we must come together at the ballot this upcoming November.
The subject of Kaepernick’s protest is well-understood, but with the intrusion of Nike’s marketing machine, it stands to examine the role of corporations in shaping political discourse.
The historical legacies of efforts to chip away at the prominent injustices that mar Duke haven’t been in vain and we owe it to the agitators and activists that paved way for us to reside here, to continue it. Even if Duke may never stray from the discriminative intentions it was created with, the ubiquitous struggle to make it at least survivable is honorable, to say the least.
Instead, in the age of MeToo, we should seek to reorganize the ancient power structure of the ivory tower toward a more a healthy, equitable mentor-ship structure where faculty mentors are held accountable for their actions, and where prestige and power do not absolve predators of their abuses.
However, it would be a disservice to the multifaceted nature of Larry Moneta’s story to cast him solely as a collection of mistakes and triumphs. He remains a complicated and enigmatic figure in part because his position at Duke doomed him to that role.
Now more than ever, Duke must seize this opportunity to go forward in the removal of these odes to racist violence in a critical and intentional way.
Chiefly, this incident represents an opportunity for us as a new campus community to explore the implications of racially-motivated acts at an institution that continues to struggle with strained race relations.
Ultimately, the 2017-2018 academic year has ended similarly to many before it: with small victories made, lessons learned and with considerable obstacles remaining on the horizon.
While the LDOC committee members scramble to get another act together last second, Editorial Board has taken it upon ourselves to suggest a number of possible substitutions that would surely win over the student body.
Whether a student is religious or secular, the Duke experience should be one in which every student feels comfortable practicing their system of belief proudly.
If Duke truly wants to make a meaningful impact on the troubling campus culture that breeds sexual misconduct, it needs a lot more than a simple policy change
