A broader conception of service

WASHINGTON - Four months ago, Duke's Kenan Institute for Ethics held an afternoon conference addressing "Knowledge In The Service of Society." I covered the event for my work-study job, and it was pretty much everything you'd expect: blue ribbon panels, malfunctioning microphones and several tons of gourmet cheese. (I try to get a dinner's worth of hors d'ouvres out of these things.)

During her opening comments, Professor Ruth Grant made what I thought was the best point of the day. According to my brie-stained notes, she explained that our idea of "community service" has been colored by progressive biases against the political establishment. Grant elaborated: "I have asked myself for a long time why it's considered 'service' when students work for local nonprofits, but when people work for Capitol Hill it's called an 'internship.'"

The rest of the conference is lost in a caloric haze, but Grant's statement has stuck with me. The more I think about it, the more I realize that Duke and Durham have suffered from our under-inclusive conception of service as limited to "selfless" activities such as washing dishes at a soup kitchen or tutoring schoolchildren. For instance, some commentators last fall criticized the political advocacy of Duke Students for an Ethical Durham. They said the group's work wasn't "constructive," and argued that it was inferior to traditional campus causes such as lobbying Duke to pay its employees higher wages.

I couldn't disagree more. For too long, Duke has walked on eggshells to avoid offending Durham's establishment. We owe Durham more than the paychecks we offer employees, the money we funnel through the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership and the hours we spend teaching ESL classes. From President Brodhead down to undergraduates, we need to supplement our charitable and volunteer work in Durham by engaging with the city on a more hard-nosed level. We cannot tolerate the Durham Police Department's mistreatment of Duke students, not only for our own self-interest, but also for the sake of the rest of Durham. If police brazenly harass people who are privileged and well-connected, can you imagine how they treat those who aren't? Few of our fellow Durhamites enjoy the luxuries we have: free time, an extraordinary education and built-in organizational networks. If we can arrange a tent city with hundreds of residents and absurdly complicated rules, we're capable of organizing to demand good governance.

Some people hope we don't realize this, but Duke students are a legitimate interest group and we should organize accordingly. This week I'm in Washington lobbying North Carolina's legislators to create a new national scenic area. The trip has proven the primacy of interest group politics. When we tell an aide about the scenic value of the area we want preserved, their eyes glaze over. Their political antennae only perk up again once we mention the businesses and homeowners who will benefit from the NSA designation. John Schelp and the Old West Durham Neighborhood Association have thrown a wrench in the wheels of Central Campus planning-hurting students as much as anyone-because they are a disciplined, well-organized interest group. Come election time, our votes and dollars are worth as much as the OWDNA's. Let's be as effective as they have been at coordinating our message and political power.

Duke navigates a minefield when it engages politically with Durham. We loathe being seen as rich, privileged Northerners who buy our way to power. That's certainly the narrative demagogues like Mike Nifong or Grant Farred will tell to distract from their own meager characters. But this is what makes fighting for good government particularly noble: it's really hard to do. No one is going to criticize you if you cut onions at a retirement home or pick up trash in Eno River State Park, and if you're so inclined you should certainly do those things. But frankly, Cub Scouts can do that work. It took a lot more courage to go to a polling station last November and have Nifong supporters harass you for standing up for three innocent people.

Jared Mueller is a Trinity junior and former city and state editor and editorial page managing editor of The Chronicle. His column runs every other Thursday during the summer.