One Duke, united

Over the next few months, prospective freshmen will invade and inspect the Duke campus to decide where they want to spend the next four years. But a select group of them will be separated from the rest because of their race. While their peers intermingle and witness the diversity of Duke University in all its vibrancy, black and Latino prospective freshmen will be attending separate recruitment events.

Although the Black Student Alliance Invitational and Latino Student Recruitment Weekend were no doubt well-intentioned at their creation, we believe they have outlasted their usefulness. It is true that the admit weekends were once valuable to attract students who were historically discriminated against in the admissions process. But today, in an America led by a black president, what remains of those malicious forces is not best confronted with tools as blunt as BSAI and LSRW. Instead of showcasing a unified campus or striving to achieve that goal, the programs highlight racial division.

To start, race-based recruitment weekends presume-in our belief, falsely-that admitted freshmen identify themselves primarily along racial lines. Students are admitted to this school for their qualifications, passions and achievements, but their initial visits emphasize the color of their skin.

It is bizarre for a top university filled with so many remarkably talented undergraduates to instinctually emphasize race in fostering prospective students' first interactions. Moreover, race-based recruitment contradicts the University's professed commitment to diversity. Encouraging diverse interactions means recognizing students for the complexity of their identities. Race-based recruitment reflects a commitment to diversity of form, rather than diversity "in function."

Not least, a strong case can be made that LSRW and BSAI do not accurately represent Duke life. They imply a prominence of race on campus that simply does not cohere with reality. Although ethnic self-segregation is a phenomenon on campus, it is certainly not so dominant that it merits a heavily race-centered recruitment weekend.

Some claim that BSAI and LSRW are necessary to convince minority students to come to Duke. Count us unconvinced. Just as students may come to Duke because of the weekends, students also elect not to. We have met several p-frosh during BSAI and LSRW who chose not to come to Duke specifically because of what they saw as excessive race-consciousness. One must wonder whether the alternative-allowing black and Latino students to be welcomed by the student body as a whole-would prevent those students from coming here. Black and Latino targeted outreach even could be integrated into the Blue Devil Days admissions programs.

People often talk about ethnic divisions in campus life, pointing to the fact that some minorities tend to affiliate more closely with members of their own minority groups. One must wonder, however, whether this might not be influenced by the heavy emphasis placed on race-based identification when students are first introduced and acclimated to campus. After all, the first relationships many students build here turn out to be among their strongest.

But change can start now. From conversations with undergraduates of all cultural, political and ethnic backgrounds, we believe that there is broad and deep support for phasing out race-based admissions recruitment weekends. Hopefully, this column can prompt a productive dialogue among school administrators, student leaders, minority organizations and the student body at large over the efficacy of continuing BSAI and LSRW.