A letter to the editor concerning affirmative action has incited a polarized response online and around campus.
The letter “Rethink affirmative action,” by freshman Jed Bradshaw, was published in The Chronicle Thursday and criticized the use of affirmative action practices in college admissions and the University’s recent support of said practices. The letter sparked heated discussion among students on social media outlets and in their dorms.
“What’s going on is good,” said freshman Alex Bernard, who noted that he personally opposes affirmative action. “It’s creating a greater awareness about this issue.... More of Duke’s students will be encouraged to discuss it with administrators, faculty members and their fellow students.”
Duke students should engage in a more meaningful discourse about affirmative action that takes into account both personal opinions and historical data, said Black Student Alliance president Marcus Benning, a junior.
“Very often, we engage in sensationalized rhetoric about affirmative action being good or bad when there could be a more nuanced conversation about it,” he said.
BSA is encouraging students to wear “Young, Black and Talented” T-shirts on a day yet to be announced, Benning added.
In the wake of the controversy, Bradshaw posted a public apology on the Official Duke University Class of 2016 Facebook page, noting that even though he stands by his views, he regrets the wording he used to explain them.
“There are two legitimate sides to the issue, and they represent fundamentally different mindsets,” he said about the apology in an interview. “I regret that the debate has been centered around me personally, and I regret that it wasn’t as civil a conversation as I expected it to be. What I have gotten out of this is the chance to think about and explain my side of things.”
He added that he is glad he was able to personally speak with peers about critiques of his approach and sentiments. He said he understands the legitimacy of the negative feedback, though he does not necessarily agree with it.
Some comments on Bradshaw’s Facebook post declined to accept his apology, calling it illegitimate. Other comments debated about Bradshaw’s First Amendment rights, and his right to his own opinions.
“Jed Bradshaw should not have backed down—in fact, he did not go far enough [in defending himself],” said freshman Max Schreiber, associate justice for the Duke Student Government Judiciary. “Affirmative action, which is a policy based on the design of one’s body and not the content of their character, is the type of policy Martin Luther King would have marched against 40 years ago. The negative attacks on Mr. Bradshaw is yet another example of people trying to marginalize the opinions of anyone with whom they disagree.”
Some people mischaracterize affirmative action as Duke admissions giving black students handouts, Benning said.
“We could be anywhere, but we decided to come here,” he said. “There is something special about Duke and something special about us.”
The backlash to the letter escalated rapidly over the weekend as increasingly charged comments by users on The Chronicle’s website accused Bradshaw of racial insensitivity. Other commenters and students supported Bradshaw. A link to the letter was then posted on a message board for white supremacists. Some commenters took the dialogue to an inflammatory level, prompting The Chronicle to remove and disable comments on the letter.
Some of the comments that were originally posted on the letter on The Chronicle’s website were hateful in nature, said junior Jessica Adimora, vice president of DukeAFRICA. She made flyers intended to further discussion on the issue and posted them throughout Randolph dormitory. The flyers included one of the comments, reading “face it, there is a totem pole of average intelligence among races, and descendants of Africa are at the bottom of this totem pole.”
The flyers were not posted with the intent to facilitate hatred, Adimore wrote in an email to Randolph residents, encouraging students to have active conversations about race.
Randolph’s House Council president, freshman Katie Fernelius, said she removed all of the flyers.
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