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(04/15/16 4:47am)
Demands made, revised, rejected, reiterated and (in some cases) retracted have been in the spotlight recently—on our campus and on countless others. In fact, WeTheProtesters—a protest coordinating group that originated in Ferguson, Missouri—has compiled demands from 77 universities on thedemands.org. “Across the nation,” the site declares, “students have risen up to demand an end to systemic and structural racism on campus. Here are their demands.”
(03/25/16 4:34am)
“I fear that this will not be the last time I write to you with such a tragic message …” These were the words of Larry Moneta, Vice President for Student Affairs, in his email to the Duke community on Tuesday morning. News of the ISIS attacks in Brussels had just reached campus, rekindling familiar fears of terrorism and introducing a new one: the fear (which Moneta alluded to) that these atrocities are becoming the new normal.
(03/04/16 6:37am)
There are many things that cannot be achieved by simply re-naming something. Commemoration of a prominent and deserving figure in the history of a university is not one of them. Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees’ recent decision to rename Main Quad in honor of Julian Abele does not accomplish that most fundamental objective. I never wanted the Board to approach honoring Julian Abele in hopes of remedying racial tensions on campus. Re-naming a building or road cannot accomplish such a task and should not be expected to. All I wanted was for the Board’s decision to give Abele a prominent, permanent place in the institutional memory of this University.
(02/19/16 5:37am)
As applause from the previous monologue died down, the next actor took center stage. He clapped his hands together and began confidently, commanding the attention of every single person. “Black is…”
(02/05/16 8:13am)
This Sunday, some 189 million Americans will watch the Super Bowl. Very, very few of those people will pause their snacking and drinking and cheering to ponder how an iconic cultural spectacle ended up with such a ridiculous-sounding name.
(01/22/16 8:51am)
Most of the time, we speak and write without fully considering the motivation for our speech or the origins of our words. This is just as well; if I stopped at every juncture to consider why I chose “speak” instead of “talk” or past tense instead of present, I’d get even less on paper than I already do. Also, no one would ever want to talk to me.
(12/07/15 5:29am)
I’ve spent the last year studying oppressive language. My honors thesis in Public Policy (which I submitted on Friday!) explored how the language surrounding racial profiling, stop-and-frisk and use of force in the New York Police Department offers strategic policymaking insight. That is, what does studying the way we debate these problems tell us about the best way to go about fixing them? It just so happened that, as I was feverishly documenting the linguistic power struggle in New York City, a similar tug-of-war was unfolding on campus.
(11/24/15 6:11am)
As the Nov. article on Friday’s forum noted, the forum began with a prepared statement recounting fifty years of unanswered minority demands—a fitting reminder of the many brave people who have fought institutional oppression. It also put students’ anger in context and pressured the University to expiate for past failures by acting swiftly in the present.
(10/15/15 5:56am)
To any Duke student, the Oct. 8th article about excessive fire alarm activations seemed incredibly predictable because it has happened to everyone at least once. But that is exactly why it was both appropriate and important to print on the front page: because it brings attention to a real on-campus condition that people need to think more about.
(05/02/15 9:02pm)
We are far from a post-racial society. This is okay. In fact, this is good. Racial differences are part of the reason we enjoy a wonderfully vibrant array of cultures, making the world more beautiful, interesting, and joyous.
(03/07/14 10:22am)
Rence Nemeh’s Duke Student Government presidential campaign was funny and raised a legitimate concern about how narrow social constructs of leadership stifle individuality. Placing leaders on pedestals indeed glorifies an ideal of infallibility and rejects inconsistencies as weaknesses. Though given his critique of candidates’ hiding things to remain legitimate, there’s irony in Nemeh’s hiding the most significant element of his campaign—his non-candidacy—for that reason.
