History shows that change can never happen without conflict. By the year 2050 the majority of the U.S. demographics will be black and brown and if we don’t change with the times, the times will force us to change.
Less then a month into last school year, there were reports of an alleged hate crime in the residence halls.
The previous academic year saw the introduction of the five-year Diversity Plan and the resignation of the Vice President and Provost John Moseley. During the summer, changes were made to the plan while the majority of the student body was away. The fall began with a degree of tension between faculty and students; everyone was anxious for the final results.
We are in the year of diversity.
In the first weeks of the fall term, several close friends of mine received racially-motivated verbal threats. I thought these were all rare incidents, until I started to ask around. One woman of color was attacked multiple times in locations around campus. She sought help, but the incidents kept occurring. Her story is a reminder that the University has a long way to go in its promotion of cross-cultural understanding on campus.
Through an informal survey of black and mixed students last spring, I uncovered some shocking results. I asked the participants to describe any racial incidents in which they’d been involved on 2 by 5 inch cards. I found that nearly every one if them had been a victim of racial harassment in the previous two months. The incidents were wide-ranging; everything from being called a “n—-r”, to attacks by groups of white men and drive-by verbal assaults. Some are still under investigation. Nationally, incidents like these are documented in the Black Social Justice Newsletter and Bias Response.
Last year in North Carolina, Duke received the most racially-oriented campus publicity with a scandal surrounding the alleged rape of a black woman by several of the school’s lacrosse players at a party hosted by the their team. Groups like the New Black Panthers party are convinced that this was not an isolated incident and that the young black woman is telling the truth. Footage of the Lacrosse player declaring his innocence has aired on nearly every major media outlet. We are still awaiting the results of the investigation. It’s a good example of an elite institution receiving media coverage for an incident of alleged racial violence. It’s also causing a comprehensive restructuring of the Athletics and Student administrations at Duke.
Student protesters organized the action that demanded the creation of the Diversity Plan in 1998. Protesters were arrested when they shut down Johnson hall. It was a meaningful clash with police that brought about change.
Now the University’s Diversity Plan is has been finalized on paper after more than ten years of deliberation. The architects laid out reasonable strategies for how to reduce bigotry and conflict using their few available resources. For students, the Diversity Plan is not going to make your life more difficult and it will not steal much needed resources from other areas.
The Diversity plan created conflict in the years of its deliberation, but only because people were talking through the issues. These issues have always been present between staff, faculty and students. But now that the verbal conflicts are escalating into forms of racial violence, I look to our student leaders to address the causes of these new sparks.
When the Diversity plan was still hot off the press, there were several major media blitzes by faculty who opposed the plan. Large-scale media criticism of University initiatives can only mean trouble for this institution. A better method would be for these faculty members to consult the administrators responsible for overseeing the results of the Diversity plan and communicate their concerns about the plan. A wide broadcast of frustrations is a potentially destructive method.
The Diversity plan will not fix everything, but it should be another step in the right direction. Although it has caused a long, drawn-out conflict between interest groups on campus, it has also facilitated an overdue conversation about the University’s diversity needs.
My heart goes out to the young students who have experienced racial hostility in recent months. Remember to stay close to friends and to never walk alone. Know that you are not alone. There is support for you at Oregon Hall, DPS and Johnson hall. I think the chant we used at the spring-time rally sums it up best, “Holla back, I got yo back.”
And remember, all big changes are preceded by big conflicts. Get ready for a change y’all.
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