At its meeting Monday night, the Inter-Community Council discussed ways to foster dialogue and understanding at the University following the prolonged and often bitter disputes over the Palestine Solidarity Movement conference and Philip Kurian’s Oct. 18 column in The Chronicle. ICC agreed to draft and release a letter recognizing the right of The Chronicle to publish as it sees fit and empathizing with anyone offended by what The Chronicle had printed. The letter will urge the community to move on from a battle waged in the newspaper’s editorial pages to a more open-ended colloquium.
The letter, which will be submitted for approval via e-mail Tuesday, was referred to by ICC members as a “statement of support” for academic freedom and a “letter of empathy” for those who were hurt by anything recently published. The stated goal for many ICC members was to encourage discussion of issues like anti-Semitism and racism, and several said a letter was a step in this direction. Many members agreed that the current climate of the Duke community’s discourse was closer to a rancorous argument than a productive discussion.
“We should find a way to dial down these tensions... so that we can have dialogue,” said senior Kevin Parker, president of the Duke University Union. “The introduction is yes, we respect academic freedom and we empathize with you guys and we understand that you’re hurt, and you’re okay to feel that way.”
Several ICC members, who are drawn from the leaders of many of the University’s cultural, extracurricular and government groups, said they intend the letter to be a statement from individuals, not from the constituencies they represent.
“Because we’re leaders... we can state this is what we as leaders feel,” said Heather Dean, president of the Graduate and Professional Students Council. “We want to encourage dialogue.”
Several members expressed qualms about the letter. Senior Rachael Solomon, student president of the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, worried that an overly strong endorsement of The Chronicle’s right to publish as it sees fit may hurt the feelings of those who were offended, while senior Anthony Vitarelli, president of Campus Council, said the letter might not be strong enough.
“I’m wondering how impactful a letter is going to be,” he said. “It’s a Band-Aid and that’s good.”
ICC also discussed plans for a campus-wide event aimed at diversity education and cited the faculty as a resource that could educate students about the history of anti-Semitism and the rhetoric employed in recent arguments. Parker suggested that events addressing anti-Semitism in particular and intolerance in general be added to Martin Luther King, Jr., Day programming. Plans for MLK Day, however, have already been scheduled. Other suggestions included a summer group project aimed at fostering diversity or increasing the funding for Common Ground, the Fall Break diversity retreat.
Provost Peter Lange noted that the University could plan as it liked, but that student participation was essential to the success of any discussion.
“You student groups, you need to go back to your groups and say, ‘You need to get involved in this,’” he said. “If you don’t go... then we’ve failed.... These are great ideas, and the administration will facilitate them, but it has to come from the student body.”
Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs, urged ICC members to go back to their groups, “suspend your agendas and have this conversation” in order to spread the discussion ICC hopes to engender.
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