Two predominantly black and two predominantly white greek organizations helped sponsor a dance party Friday night that many students in attendance said was a landmark symbol of campus interaction.
The party, which was held at Devil's Den, was sponsored by the Community Service Center and Outreach, a community service organization within the Black Student Alliance. Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and Alpha Delta Pi sorority-which are predominantly white-and Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity and Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority-which are predominately black-also helped sponsor the event. Proceeds from the party will go toward purchasing books for children who live in Namibia, a country in South Africa.
Engineering junior Saam Azar, who co-coordinated the party with Trinity sophomore Brynne Stevens, said he thinks about 350 students-half of whom were white and half of whom were black-attended the event.
"It was beautiful seeing both white and black people on the same dance floor," Azar said.
The level of interaction at the party was particularly noteworthy because of the University's reputation of having a segregated social environment. Trinity junior Erin Connolly, president of ADPi, said she felt the event was important because it demonstrates that University students really do want to interact, and would do so more frequently if provided with the appropriate forum.
"We're usually pretty segregated," she said. "It was awesome to be able to expand-that doesn't happen here very often." She noted that her sorority would enjoy participating in similar projects in the future. In addition, Trinity junior Jaramogi Adams, vice president of APA, said his fraternity plans to schedule more interactive activities.
Trinity junior Simone Porter, a member of Outreach, acknowledged that although students of different cultural backgrounds were dancing side by side on the dance floor and the party was the most integrated of those she has attended at the University, actual person-to-person interaction was relatively low. Students tended to socialize with those whom they already knew-which usually meant students of the same race-rather than meet new people of different backgrounds, she said.
"Duke is a microcosm of the United States in that aspect," she said. "People feel most comfortable with people they know and can relate to."
Even the primary activities of the students at the party differed, she said, making interaction more challenging. While black students appeared to be more interested in dancing, she observed, white students tended to drink more. "When both groups have different agendas," she said, "it's difficult."
Trinity senior Danielle Turnipseed, social chair for AKA and president of the Class of 1997, said one reason the event was so successful was because the time and music were suitable for both groups. "Few social gatherings really attract both crowds," she said.
Still, the party presented students with an opportunity to experience something they would not normally, and the event could turn out to be a first step toward more diverse and integrated social activities on campus, the event's sponsors said.
Despite this weekend's success, however, students concur that more must be done. "I definitely think this could show a trend," Connolly said. "We just have to go out of our way to plan things like this."
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