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The independent news organization at Duke University
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2021
ONLINE DAILY AT DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 17
‘A BLESSING AND A CURSE’ Students reflect on hybrid and online learning
Some students come to campus for first time By Jamael Smith Contributing Reporter
By Carsten Pran Contributing Reporter
With a full semester of hybrid and virtual learning under their belts, students have found both challenges and silver linings in adapting to new course formats. Many Duke courses used hybrid or virtual learning models this fall in response to the need for distance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some students have enjoyed the extra flexibility that new course formats have offered, while others have struggled with paying attention and having meaningful interactions in online courses. For some students, pre-recorded lectures allowed them to learn at their own pace and return to lessons for clarification and test preparation. “I find it very helpful content-wise to be able to pause lectures,” said junior Bennett David. “I am a slower learner like that, so it helps me rewind and engage with the content more.” See LEARNING on Page 3
Some members of the Class of 2023 are living on campus for the first time this spring. Duke allowed all first-years and sophomores to come to campus in the fall semester. However, according to Asha Artis, Housing and Residence Life staff specialist, around 100 first-year students decided to take classes virtually from home. These students are now expected to live on campus for the first time in the spring. Parham wrote in an email to The Chronicle that these new first-year students have been assigned housing randomly, with the majority of them placed on East Campus and approximately 20 placed on West Campus. But amid these changes, concerns about acclimating to campus life weigh on many of these students’ minds. First-year Arianna Dwomoh, who will live in Keohane dorm on West Campus, expressed nervousness and concerns about being able to make friends. First-year Jeffrey Hwang, who will live in Southgate dorm on East Campus, echoed Dwomoh’s concerns about making friends, mentioning that many other students are See CAMPUS on Page 12
OPINION
Racist letter reveals Duke’s hypocrisy By Lily Levin Columnist
On June 17, 2020, President Vincent Price published a statement addressed to the Duke community regarding anti-racist initiatives, claiming that the University would “resolutely turn our attention toward the mission of anti-racism.” In its December issue, the Duke Alumni Magazine published “It’s Not All Racism,” a letter to the editor that gaslighted anti-Black oppression, shamed BIPOC for their marginalization, and demonstrated overt racism. The author of this letter, Charles Clutts, Trinity, ‘61, argued that “some of it [the plight of minority victims] falls on the victims themselves.” The two messages espoused by Duke appear contradictory— how, even, could they exist within the breadth of a single institution? Kamryn Washington, a Black junior at Duke who tweeted about the incident, “wasn’t really surprised about the article being written by someone who graduated Duke before Black students were allowed to attend.” Clutts notes that he graduated from an “all-white Duke” and did not understand until later that he benefited from “what is now called ‘white privilege,’” an acknowledgment of ignorance which is, ironically, devoid of self-awareness. However, despite any lack of surprise, the letter generated rightful outrage because of its explicit racism. And the question I posed earlier appears
insignificant, rhetorical. June Eric-Udorie, a Black senior at Duke and author of the viral tweet which exposed this letter online, says that the most astounding aspect of the letter was “the fact that Duke decided to publish this with no regard about how this would make them [Black students] feel.” Perhaps, then, I should not be asking, “How was this piece published?” but rather, why? The answer is damning: Duke, alongside other elite institutions, exists within— and reproduces—a brand of vicious white hypocrisy. Duke’s racist roots, the racist incidents that occur frequently on campus today, and the unexamined white privilege that its students experience allow opinions like Clutts’ to be published. Duke’s legacy grants these opinions legitimacy. President Price’s statement regarding antiracism was professed in the midst of the Black Lives Matter movement, when sales of “White Fragility” and other similarly themed books jumped over 2000%, when anti-racism became a catchphrase, a black-square Instagram post, a new street sign. But Price’s statement provided little substantive reflection about Duke’s history; not once did it mention the role of slavery cemented within the foundations of Duke or the young girl enslaved by the Duke family. And not once did the statement mention the tireless work of the Duke Black Coalition Against Policing or any commitment to defunding or abolishing
Lauren Cao | Staff Photographer After studying remotely last fall, some students are now coming to campus for the first time.
Courtesy of Duke University The alumni magazine’s December 2020 issue.
police on campus. Eric-Udorie offers a fundamental question in response to these hollow professions of anti-racism: “How much are you [Duke administration] paying staff members who are Black and Brown, and do all the work to keep Duke running on a daily basis? Do they have access to the same benefits as white professionals, part of the ivory tower?”
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INSIDE Remembering Michael Mutersbaugh Friends and family recall the doctoral student’s generosity and optimism. PAGE 2
A TikTok musical, reviewed “Ratatouille: The TikTok musical” is a surprise hit, Tessa Delgo writes. PAGE 6
New inequality studies minor The leaders of the new program explain why they established the minor and why studying inequality is important. PAGE 11 @thedukechronicle | ©2021 The Chronicle