This is the final installment in a five-part series looking at race dynamics among undergraduates.
When Trinity senior Darren Jer walks into meetings of the Board of Trustees' Institutional Advancement Committee, he is confronted by a sea of intimidating--and mostly white--faces.
Jer, former president of the Asian Students Association, says he is acutely aware of being the only Asian American in a room full of predominantly affluent, older white men.
"That tier of leadership has been untouched by demographic changes at Duke and in our nation," Jer said. "If I don't speak up about an Asian-American issue, there's no one else. I'm the only one, and that adds to the intimidation."
Jer's experience is somewhat emblematic of the plight of many other students of color, many of whom say they are constantly faced with the reality that the University has a dearth of minority administrators.
"We're not being validated," said Trinity senior Circe Bermudez, co-founder of Mi Gente, regarding minority students. "There's no place for us to go, there [are] no outlets."
While undergraduates express a wide range of feelings, most agree that there is a profound lack of minority leadership. The statistics bear out this assessment. As of October 1994, minorities comprised 9.5 percent of University-wide administrators from the assistant director level and above, according to statistics provided by Dolores Burke, special adviser to the executive vice president for administration. A level 14 salary, or what Burke called the equivalent of an assistant directorship, averages between $35,000 and $52,000.
"I think it would have a positive effect if we had a more diverse group of administrators that different students could look up to... a more representative group," said Julian Sanchez, director of intercultural affairs. Sanchez, among others, spoke of the need for role models as well as the need among students to identify with administrators of similar backgrounds to their own.
"There is good evidence that the role model argument is quite valid," said President Nan Keohane, "whether it's women, African Americans or Asian Americans, if you never see anybody doing anything like what you want to do--whether it's being a surgeon or a university president or a student affairs officer--it's going to be harder for you to imagine yourself doing it. Now that's a limited problem because most people don't just identify with people who just look like themselves."
These ideas surfaced in a recent conversation Keohane had with Asian-American leaders on campus, who voiced concern about the absence of Asian-American administrators.
"What we're interested in is more administrative support and someone who can work more closely with ASA and Asian students," said engineering senior Charles Choi, outgoing president of ASA.
Also, as Janet Dickerson, vice president for student affairs, pointed out, "If you grow up without the experience of dealing with all types of people, it becomes easier to stereotype."
Trinity junior April Preyar, the incoming president of the Black Student Alliance, expressed similar concerns. "Because [students] don't see minorities in power, they think that that's the way things are, that's the way things should be," she said.
Although Choi expressed confidence in administrative recruitment efforts to combat such problems, others questioned how committed the Keohane administration is to their concerns.
"As an Asian American, the lack of an Asian American in the administration signifies the lack of presence that we have," Jer said. While he acknowledged the constraints of a small candidate pool, he added, "I don't believe the administration has tried hard enough to recruit."
Said Bermudez of Keohane: "Her priorities are nowhere in the recruitment of people of color."
Many administrators disagree. "There's always a sensitivity to minorities and women in general," said Toby Kahr, associate vice president for human resources. Nevertheless, all administrators interviewed said that recruiting a strong applicant pool is an initial priority, after which differentiation from the mainstream is looked upon favorably.
"[A diverse background] is valuable, but it isn't dominant," Keohane said. "It's something that is good to take into account but it certainly shouldn't dominate other things."
But some people have raised the concern that perhaps hiring more administrators of color should be placed higher on the priority list, as the current situation leads some students to raise such questions as "Where are we on the priority list? Are we even a priority at Duke University?" said Trinity sophomore Tracy Bullard, a member of the Native American Student Coalition.
The loneliness that results is not lost on top-level minority administrators either. "Being an only one is a problem when you need to have someone who you can... let your hair down with, so to speak," said University Vice President and Vice Provost Leonard Beckum, who when he accepted his job in 1988, was the only minority administrator with a vice-presidential post. "You don't have that level of comfort that I perceive among white administrators," he said.
Some students, while acknowledging the lack of comfort that results from not having enough administrators to identify with, say that the situation has not posed many problems. "It hasn't really had an effect on us at all," said Trinity senior Twanna McGill, president of the University's chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. "Everything has been fine in the projects we've done."
Still others say that the current situation should empower students to do more to make their voices heard and play a larger role in campus politics.
"If we do feel there is an underrepresantion of minority viewpoints in the administration, it makes it that much more important for students to lobby and be active with these issues," said Trinity sophomore Husein Cumber, a member of Duke Student Government's Student Organizations Finance Committee. "That feeling should serve as an impetus... to develop a line of communication so [students] know where to go [with administrative concerns]."
But some members of cultural groups say that they are already overworked, in that they are forced to help the administration in consulting roles and provide the resources that the University should be providing itself. "It gets to the point where you feel like there is no help," said Trinity sophomore Inhi Cho, a DSG legislator and a member of the Women of Color Advisory Board (see related story, p. 1).
Administrators assure students that they are working to solve the problem. "The challenge," Sanchez said, "is to find others on campus who can assist us in making a comfortable environment for students."
Said Dickerson: "I would love it if we could get a representation [of administrators] that was reflective of the population of students at Duke. But we're not anywhere close to that yet."
Though Dickerson expressed confidence in the University's efforts in recent years to fill positions with minorities, she added, "On the other hand, you can't just hire people because they are minorities. It is an issue we are aware of."
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