Letter: Administration did not pressure FOCUS faculty

A front-page article in the Feb. 15 Chronicle and a Feb. 16 editorial seem to me to be trying to turn what was at worst a minor gaffe into a major scandal. As a FOCUS director, I was invited to the development meetings, but did not attend because none was compatible with my schedule. Nevertheless, I can assure you that, contrary to the headline "Duke pressures FOCUS faculty to fundraise," there was no pressure and faculty were not asked to do fundraising. It does not seem unreasonable to ask professors on a strictly voluntary basis to provide their sense of which students seemed to have benefited most from the program and responded to it in the most positive ways.

This controversy should not obscure the fact that faculty have a stake in development activity. A program like FOCUS is the creation of faculty, and we know both how badly it needs funds for enrichment and what those funds can best be used for. We need to be vigilant in seeing that the University's fundraising efforts are directed toward projects that will benefit its educational mission, and we have every reason to be strong advocates for our programs with development, with the administration and with potential donors.

Peter Burian

Professor, Classical Studies

The writer is chair of the Academic Council.