For the past two weeks, the Durham Herald-Sun has been filled with articles and angry letters from community members, many blaming the Duke student body for their appalling, dangerous, racist behavior. Residents have called on the city to do a better job protecting its citizens from Duke students.
I don't blame the people of Durham for being upset; the allegations of rape are very serious. However, I am disappointed and angry at the way Durham residents have been so quick to sensationalize the story and criminalize the entire student body.
Even if every single member of the team was complicit in a rape that night, the team is still just 46 men. There are more than 6,000 undergraduates at Duke. Somehow in the uproar following the party, the 46 lacrosse players have become the face of the University. This is wrong, and it is time for the Durham community to stop claiming we are all to blame.
I wish I had a whole newspaper to tell the stories of the many Duke organizations that make a difference in this community. Instead, I am just going to offer a few special snapshots.
Hundreds of young people throughout the city are touched by the work of Duke students tutoring, mentoring, playing and teaching. Just a few blocks from campus, students help Spanish-speaking students at E.K. Powe Elementary learn English and adjust to their new environments.
At the Carter School, Duke students actually teach, developing and planning the curriculum for a number of subjects. Eighth-graders at the Durham Nativity School are discovering community service in a hands-on way, renovating a women's shelter and learning about civic responsibility in a class taught by two Duke sophomores. Last Thursday's Herald-Sun featured three Duke students working tirelessly to bring a chapter of Breakthrough Collaborative, a summer nationwide tutoring and mentoring program, to Durham next year.
The Duke-Durham Tennis Project teaches tennis to underprivileged Durham youngsters. The WOODS organization goes to community centers around Durham each week to teach ecology and environmental science to elementary and middle-schoolers.
"The Remix" is an all-girls multicultural dance class at the West End Community Center in which ten inner-city adolescents learn about diversity and foreign cultures while dancing the afternoon away. "Step into the WILD" brings nature to Hillsdale High School as Duke students lead high school wilderness expeditions. The all-Duke volunteer Starworks Children's Community Theatre performs in local hospitals and libraries. Mentally and physically handicapped children have a whole new world in the new fully accessible playground Engineers Without Borders and From the Ground Up, Inc.-student organzations-are constructing.
It isn't just the children who benefit from the work of Duke students. The Durham Literacy Center is filled with student volunteers who work with residents of all ages to learn reading and writing. New immigrants can take ESL classes twice a week from 45 committed volunteers through the student-run and organized GANO. Dorms, groups and individuals volunteer at the Urban Ministries, serving food and smiles to hungry local residents. One student working at the Durham Food Bank is creating a program to address the cultural needs of new immigrants and reach a wider community. Hispanic residents can take CPR and First Aid classes in Spanish through the Duke Red Cross.
Even elderly residents and abandoned pets benefit from Duke volunteers.
The Adopt-a-Grandparent Club partners students with seniors in a nursing home near campus to provide love and companionship each week.
Pet-I-Care students take care of homeless pets and help keep the Animal Protection Society of Durham running.
I couldn't begin to list the amazing work everyone is doing, and countless students volunteer without an organization. They care about Durham, see a need in the community and simply help-no recognition necessary. These organizations I've described are conceived, staffed and sustained by student initiative.
This is the face of Duke University-and I could not be prouder to call it my school.
David Fiocco is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Tuesday.
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