Duke Disorientation Guide 2018 by dukedisorientationguide

Welcome (back) to Duke! This disorientation guide you’re reading is meant to give you a glimpse into what Duke and life as a Duke student is really like beyond the glossy brochures and carefully curated booklets. The manufactured image of Duke sold to you, your parents, and everyone else will likely clash with your actual experiences and realities. You may be disappointed, discouraged, and demoralized. You may be disoriented. But you should not despair. If you’re looking for a starting point to understand the contradictions and conflicts in Duke’s apparent commitments to diversity but the ongoing racism, ableism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, sexism that students and workers endure; in the university’s initiatives on Durham but its active gentrification and exploitation; in striving to be student activists on this Duke Plantation built on the backs of Black and brown folks, then this guide is a good place to start. However, it’s just a place to start. By no means is our disorientation guide comprehensive. Unfortunately, we are missing voices that address topics such as Islamophobia, a history of Duke student activism, and undocumented students and workers, just to name a few. There’s so much more that we wish we could have included because the narratives not in this guide are as valid, as important, and as needed as the ones in the guide. None of us are free until all of us are free. We hope that by reading this, you will be encouraged to think and engage critically with Duke. This is a place built on stolen indigenous land, profiting off the underpaid, underappreciated labor of mostly Black and brown workers, and designed to groom the elite to maintain the status quos of oppression. As Duke students, we are heirs to and often perpetrators of Duke’s legacy of institutional and structural violence. But we can also become part of the legacy of brave student activists here at Duke—from the Black students who took over the Allen Building in 1969 to the coalition of students who disrupted President Price’s speech in 2018. And we can also become part of the Durham community with its vibrant past and present of activism—from toppling a Confederate statue to banning police exchanges with Israel. There’s a reason why they say to Do It Like Durham. The struggle to learn and unlearn and to fight against injustice seems daunting. But you are not alone. The contributors to this guide are just a few of the many people who you can find community, solidarity, and strength with. And we cannot wait to meet you and work with you!

Love, Duke Disorientation Guide

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Anonymous Anti-Blackness, Institutional Inaction Is Duke Southern? Labor, Power, and Gentrification in and Around Duke University A Brief History of Labor at Duke University Know Who Funds and Manages Duke University Mental Health in the Academy My Own Space Advice from an Anxious Non-Athlete Independent East Campus White Sexual and Gender Diversity at Duke Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s State of the University Are We Men, Women, or Family? Oh, White Feminism Socialization A Visa Application Love Letter to Black Duke Have You Eaten? Tithe Sexual Assault A Forgotten Pride: Navajo Identity My Answer Was Patience Fact Check: Dukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Climate Action Plan Disability and Accessibility Duke Students for Justice in Palestine Common Ground AAS at Duke CAPS Demystified Course Recs

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Anonymous Anti-Blackness and Institutional Inaction Mumbi M. Kanyogo

Like every other institution of higher education in the US, Duke is a place where Black people exist in a state of constant upheaval. There is never any respite. The fall of my first year at Duke (Fall ‘15) was a period during which Black people were reeling from the everyday trauma of living and being on a campus that was home to a student that hung a noose, a symbol of Black torture and murder, and an administration that feigned powerlessness in the wake of that racist assault on Black people’s psyches. Both the action and the institutional inaction in the wake of that violence were underpinned by a fundamental belief that Black lives are disposable—the idea that Black lives are worthy of racist threat and unworthy of institutional protection. Blackness seems to always exist at the dangerous in-between of racism and non-racism. Both lead to pain, trauma and more. None lead to the revolution that anti-racism promises. However, that moment and the trail of trauma that would be created in its wake, would constitute the theme of my time at Duke as a Black queer woman: Anonymous anti-black[Image description: Duke students rallying and holding posters after ness and institutional a noose was discoveed on campus. The posters say “DEAR DUKE: inaction. Your halfassed attempts to please the black community have failed. Do better.”, “Don’t use the cover of night to hide”, and “NOT your strange Don’t rinse fruit”] But repeat We would see this particular type of anonymous racism again when a poster advertising a lecture that Black Lives Matter co-founder, Patrisse Cullors would be giving at Duke, was defaced. What read “Black Lives Matter” now read “White Lives Matter, No Niggers.” Here the racist threat posed was targeted at Black lives and also a movement that had been created to resist the threats posed to

Black life. That corporeal act of non-Black fingers crossing out the word “Black” and instead writing “White…No Niggers” was to throw away blackness, to violently disremember blackness and any resistance organized to protect it. And on a campus where whiteness is virulent, it served to remind us all of the hegemony of whiteness and the Black upheaval that always emerges in its wake. The existence of whiteness as a construct is founded upon black demise. Whiteness exists to cross out blackness. Following that racist incident, Student Affairs Vice President Larry Moneta sent an email to students attempting to reassure them that “we’ll do everything we can to instill confidence that we genuinely care, that we won’t tolerate harm to others and that we are a campus where love trumps hate.” Here, the “we” was nondescript, purposed to anonymize parties, such as Duke’s administration, that should have taken responsibility for preventing racism on campus. Instead this statement worked to redirect responsibility to the entire Duke community. The result was to burden Black students with protecting themselves from anti-blackness and flatten administrative power to write anti-racist policies that deter racist violence. The result was anonymous anti-blackness and institutional inaction. At the end of the spring semester of my Junior Year (Spring ‘18) where a racist wrote “Nigger Lover” on an Asian-American woman’s apartment door. She had many Black friends. This time there was no formal institutional reaction—just a personal tweet from Dr. Moneta directed at those that called for the institution to prohibit hate speech. The tweet read “To those who believe that colleges and universities should prohibit hate speech, I encourage you to read this: [Link to “Free Speech on Campus” by Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gilman] Freedom of expression protects the oppressed far more than the oppressors.” Here the institution via Dr. Moneta, sought to justify its lack of action with academic writing that imagines hate speech as “free inquiry”; centrist work that wants us to believe that racism is an “expression of ideas.” Here, Black students are gaslit into believing that their brutalization and dehumanization are essential parts of academic pedagogy. In the context of Duke, an elite institution, anti-blackness and institutional inaction were not only normalized but exceptionalized as constitutive of an elite college experience. And right now, as I sit here writing this, on the first day of my senior year (Fall ‘18), a racist crossed out “Black” in a sign that read “The Mary Lou Center for

Black Culture” and replaced it with “Nigger”. It now reads “The Mary Lou Center for Nigger Culture”—hard R. This was a racist defacement of a sign that notified people that they were stepping into a place where black joy, hope, pain and love are experienced—The Lou. It was the disruption of the only space on campus that is supposed to be for all Black students—the only space on campus where blackness never feels scarce. In an email to the Duke community following the incident, President Price wrote, “WE can’t undo or unsee this painful assault on OUR right to live and study” as if the violence evoked by the word “nigger” is experienced by those on this campus who are not black. What might have read as a sense of collectivity in the words “we” and “our” was actually yet another tactic deployed to flatten and understate administrative power to curtail these frequent racist acts, and imagine that we all have equal responsibility and power to prevent racism. Additionally, “we” and “our” served to erase the specificity of Black pain—to imagine that the lethal sharpness of the word “nigger” pierces through non-black bodies as it does through black bodies. In that email President Price did not say the words “Black” or “Racism” even once and he made no mention of any efforts to investigate the incident. Despite a history of anonymous anti-blackness and institutional inaction—a thread I have attempted to trace here—President Price still presented this incident with the same reticent incredulity that allows one to convince themselves that indeed “such a cowardly and hateful act has absolutely no place in our community”, even though these acts are central to any Black person’s experience on this campus. In an essay that was part of the Boston Review’s political Forum, “Black Study, Black Struggle,” American History Professor, Robin D.G. Kelley argues that the university is fundamentally a racist institution. For him, the racial capital upon which the modern university is built cannot simply be exorcised by “adding darker faces, safer spaces, better training, and a curriculum that acknowledges historical and contemporary oppressions.” Here, he maintains that the university can never be an enlightened space “free of bias and prejudice”; he reminds us that given its entanglement with institutional racism, capitalism, imperialism and militarism, it is always already unable to disrupt the reproduction of oppression. Instead whilst referencing Fred Moten (Former Duke professor of literature) and Stefano Harney’s The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study, Kelley proposes that we treat the university as a space of refuge but never a place of enlightenment (a space that disrupts systems of oppression); a space where we work towards the reform that we need to survive, but

never a place that can ever love or value our existences. Quoting Moten and Harney, Kelley tells us that “one can only sneak into the university and steal what one can,” for the purposes of political education and activism that is necessarily positioned away from the university. As queer Kenyan literary scholar, K’eguro Macharia always reminds us, in these spaces of un-freedom we must always thief sugar. At Patrisse Cullors’ lecture, someone in the audience asked, “How do we get rid of racism at Duke?” In response, Cullors said that in order for Duke to get rid of racism, it would have to be burned to the ground and built again. Cullors sought to assert the innate nature of racism on Duke’s campus and other campuses like it—the fact that racism is weaved in and out of its cobblestone structures and always already mixed into the foundation of any building that has been built or will be built on its grounds. She told us that we stood on stolen, blood stained ground and the university balked at the possibility that its existence and the safety and wellbeing of Black people were diametrically opposed. As I embark on my last year at this university I have participated in and observed many efforts to improve the conditions for Black students at this university and every time we have come up short. Every time we protest, negotiate, fight, go through formal policy channels, we come up short. No matter how many pieces of ourselves we lose in these battles, there is always a stone left unturned. Anti-blackness and institutional inaction are constitutive of the university’s fundamental disposition. Unfortunately these things are not atypical failures, but instead evidence of the university choosing to stay true to its racist roots.This is not to say that Black student efforts to improve our conditions on this campus are useless and futile. We know that our existence on this campus, and our ability to learn about our communities are as a result of radical student organizing by our forebears and ourselves. As African-American Studies Professor, Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor states “rarely has there been revolution without reform.” Instead I say this to remind us all that even as we are in the university we can never be of the university; I say this to assert that even as we work towards improving our conditions on this campus through reformative efforts, we must always link our struggles to the radical abolitionist revolution that is being fought for outside this university. That is a revolution that promises safety and wellbeing in the face of anti-blackness, never inaction.

Is Duke Southern? Zachary Faircloth

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To low-income students from the South: Welcome to what you have by now been convinced—or at least told ad nauseum— is the South’s premier academic institution. You’ll spend the next couple years intermittently being subjected to a debate surrounding Duke’s relationship to the South, a debate I presume Duke students, professors, and administrators have been having amongst themselves (and without people from Durham or its surrounding areas) for years. It’s a cute icebreaker that you’ll be prompted at the beginning of semesters, and you may even be lucky enough to hear some ineffectual administrator like Larry Moneta give his two cents on the issue whenever something forces him into paying pithy lip service to Duke’s southern heritage. This debate will mean one thing to him and another to you. For most people at Duke, it’s a cute thought experiment: Is a school southern if it’s in North Carolina? Is a school southern if it serves sweet tea and occasionally makes its kitchen staff heat up canned collard greens? These questions, while riveting to tons of kids from Massachusetts and California, won’t keep them up at night. For you, it will play a role in defining your relationship to this school. You’ve chosen to attend university in the South, whether for that reason or as a result of other considerations. You may be expecting a sense of familiarity and comfort in this place. You may be expecting to enter into a place that will one day become like a second home to you. While I don’t claim to speak for every poor southern kid who walks around on Duke’s campus, I’ll tell you that I believe it’s very difficult for a working class southern kid to feel “at home” in Duke’s brand of saccharine Southern cosplay. I’m from a small town in South Carolina, and there’s an old man in my community that responds to every “how are you?” with “pretty good for a two cent stump-digger.” He says this every time, with no sense of irony or comic insertion. He doesn’t think much of it and wouldn’t care to explain it if you asked; for him, it’s a fact of life, not worthy of much academic doodallying. He is a two cent stump digger, he works clearing lots, which here consists of running a bushhog or bulldozer over pine stump after pine stump, and then he goes

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home. When I moved to Durham to attend Duke, I moved from the world of stump-diggers to the world of people who pay people to come dig stumps up on the properties they own. Every summer during my time at home I work a landscaping job where I shovel shit and dig ditches and plant flowers and pitch mulch into the yards of the sort of houses kids at Duke vacation in. I work this job in North Myrtle Beach, I work it all summer, and during beach week I occasionally have to shovel vomit-covered mulch out of the flowers we plant outside of the Spanish Galleon. It is never so apparent that Duke isn’t “home” as it is when you’re in the passenger seat of a work truck driving down the boulevard watching other Duke students walk to the beach, or when you’re shoveling the vomit of another Duke student from the night before. That’ll make you feel like a stump-digger and make you hate the world of those that look down on stump-diggers. A lot of you are going to come from stump-digger families, were raised by stump-diggers, and have many stump-diggers you love. This place wasn’t made for you. This place was made for kids with money. You’ll watch service workers be treated poorly by students, you’ll see kids make a mess with no regard for the fact (or perhaps no concept of the idea) that someone has to clean up after them. I’ve heard kids tell bus drivers that the bus drivers are paid because of students like them. Those students won’t care about the mostly Southern, mostly Black workers who mop their vomit, or drive the bus, or both on Saturday and Wednesday nights. You’ll see this, and you’ll remember that your parents are working people, and that these kids would just as quickly treat those you love that way simply because that is the way of the world. Kids that go to Duke are not required to give a shit about inconveniencing some Black woman from Durham. Kids that go to Duke are allowed to demand that Duke’s workers stay up later, work longer hours, and spend less time at home with their families so that Duke students can order from the loop at 2 AM on Christmas Eve. Duke’s administrators are allowed to throw a fit and demand that workers at a campus coffee shop be canned for inconveniencing them by playing music Black people listen to. And that is what Duke is. Duke is not unlike the old Southern planter class: it exists because of value extracted from the labor of poor, mostly Black and Brown people; it exerts time, power, and money attempting to block union-

ization efforts; it actively works against the accessibility of its institutions by marginalized people; it makes life harder for poor people; and it insulates itself from legitimate criticisms from laypeople while feigning concern and solidarity (Duke will hold forums on its relationship to Durham until the end of time). So in this way, Duke is Southern. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s your answer. More importantly, you are not part of that South. Do not aspire to be. Aspire to be the part of the south that knows that workers have worth as human beings beyond their immediate instrumentality in your life. Aspire to be one who knows that the real South can be working people forming community and doing right by each other, not shrimp and grits at the Washington Duke. Duke will attempt to convince you that itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the Carolina Cup and stopping at South of the Border on the way to Myrtle Beach and yelling at Black workers and hot weather make an institution southern. You know better. Zachary Faircloth

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Labor, Power, and Gentrification in and Around Duke University Aamir Azhar

Durham is a prime example of the post-industrial university town, comparable to the classic case of New Haven and Yale. Though there are many resources to learn about the social and political structures that create such an unnatural imbalance in the land and labor markets (I recommend Gordon Lafer’s piece1), this paper will focus on their general trends and Duke’s specific history. More specifically, given recent transformations in the political economy and social geography of these post-industrial cities, we see two overarching trends: that of labor monopoly, and that of private development in the surrounding land. The labor monopoly seems to be more subtle than other monopolies, given that it is covered up by private practices and the image of an institution of learning. Given decades of “white flight, deindustrialization, and [turn of the century] capitalism”,2 urban universities have inherited immense portions of the labor market, often becoming the largest, or even only, economic engines in their host cities. Because of this solid control of the labor market, universities become centralized factories, bringing in local labor while also attempting to close themselves off from the surrounding communities suffering from urban decay and disinvestment. One may think that given the control of labor, universities would be partial to explicit land ownership and geographical expansion in the surrounding areas. On the contrary, universities often embrace neoliberal market strategies, opting to invest in private development rather than explicit land seizure.3 While seizure of land may attract bad press and criticism, smart private development can avoid visibility while still remaining incredibly effective.

Gordon Lafer, “Land and Labor in the Post-Industrial University Town: Remaking Social Geography,” Political Geography 22 (2003) 89-117. 2 Bennett Carpenter, Laura Goldblatt, and Lenora Hanson, “The University Must Be Defended! Safe Spaces, Campus Policing, and University-Driven Gentrification,” English Language Notes 54 (2016) 192-193. 3 Gordon Lafer, “Land and Labor in the Post-Industrial University Town: Remaking Social Geography,” Political Geography 22 (2003) 89-117. 1

Duke University is a perfect example of this post-industrial urban university. As evident from the remnants of American Tobacco, Durham’s large manufacturing infrastructure once offset Duke’s power in Durham. Durham’s manufacturing industry would also oppose Duke in its labor practices. Unlike many industries in the South, Durham’s textile and tobacco mills were heavily unionized,4 while Duke consistently contained any unionization attempts and stubbornly held onto its scrap wages.5 These differences resulted in Durham’s manufacturing creating a renowned Black business class, while Duke became nicknamed ‘the plantation.’ Ironically, these practices became more evident after the closure of Durham’s textile and tobacco mills in the ‘80s. This led Duke to become the largest employer in Durham by a factor of six, and the largest private landowner by a factor of four. Duke inherited an unprecedented level of control and influence over the city’s economy while local communities sharply declined, resulting in Duke becoming a symbol of immense wealth surrounded by poverty. All the while, “university administration had resisted repeated requests from city officials for voluntary payments in lieu of taxes (PILOTs) to compensate for the university’s property and sales tax exemptions, which together represented an estimated $14 million in lost city revenue annually.”6 It seems that Duke wanted Durham, its businesses, and its government to be well-off, it just didn’t want to do its part in ensuring that. Duke’s strategy for investing in its city ended up being very different than Yale’s for New Haven. Instead of exploiting record low prices of surrounding land to buy up the entirety of the city, Duke resolved to rely on market strategies to reverse the effects of white flight and deindustrialization and attract investors, businesses, and people to give Durham a chance. It started to work with the local government to reinvest capital through tax, zoning, or other incentives. This Leslie Brown, Upbuilding Black Durham: Gender, Class and Black Community Development in the Jim Crow South (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2008), and Robert Korstad, Civil Right Unionism: Tobacco Workers and the Struggle for Democracy in the Mid-Twentieth-Century South (Chapel Hill: UNC Press, 2003). 5 Erik Ludwig, “Closing in on the Plantation: Coalition Building and the Role of Black Women’s Grievances in Duke University Labor Disputes, 1965-1968,” Feminist Studies 25.1 (Spring 1999), and Karen Brodkin, Caring by the Hour: Women, Work and Organizing at Duke Medical Center (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1988). 6 “Durham questions Duke’s tax record,” The Chronicle, June 1, 2000 4

strategy manifested itself in two distinct steps: A triangular partnership with the city government and private developers to redevelop former tobacco warehouses, and another partnership with city government and local non-profits to stabilize local neighborhoods.7 In downtown Durham, Duke primarily focused on the American Tobacco and Liggett Myers factories, which had closed down in the late ‘80s and ‘90s. However, instead of buying up these properties directly, Duke worked heavily with the private industry, offering to pay up to 50% of rent and providing financial backing for credit with their triple-A credit rating. This allowed Duke to facilitate downtown development and a more marketable college town without having its fingerprints on the evidence. Associate president of capital assets and real estate Scott Selig, in a Durham Magazine interview in an article titled “How Duke Helped Save Downtown”, revealed this intention of Duke to ‘develop’ Durham without it being pegged as “Downtown Duke.” He pushes Duke’s emphasis on private development, explaining that “the private sector redevelops more efficiently than an institution would.”8 Around the same time period as Duke’s development plan came the DukeDurham Neighborhood Partnership (DDNP), a more explicitly philanthropic organization that worked with the local Self-Help Credit Union, Durham’s city government, and nonprofits in an effort to redevelop and refurbish twelve historically Black neighborhoods around Duke, specifically East Campus. The strategy developed included Duke lending money to Self-Help, who would buy and renovate decaying properties in the neighborhood. After being developed, the homes would be sold to low-income families, with a preference for Duke employees. Both of these initiatives, though well-intentioned (the latter even being designed as philanthropic), resulted in mass displacement. In downtown Durham, black and brown owned businesses were consistently priced out, as surrounding neighborhoods saw an increase in home prices of up to 400% over just the last Bennett Carpenter, Laura Goldblatt, and Lenora Hanson, “The University Must Be Defended! Safe Spaces, Campus Policing, and University-Driven Gentrification,” English Language Notes 54 (2016) 192-193. 8 “Meet Scott Selig, the Man Behind the Plan,” unabridged interview for an April 2011 Durham Magazine article titled “How Duke Helped Save Downtown.” Interview transcript provided by Durham Magazine. 7

10 years, resulting in displacement and rapid gentrification.9 In the historically Black Walltown next to East Campus, where Self-Help’s strategy was first implemented, in 1995, rehabilitated units were sold to low-income buyers for a reasonable $75,000. But then, the average price of a home rose to $107,000 by 2005 and a whopping $230,000 by 2015, as its Black population fell by 25%. A largely minority, low-income Walltown slowly gave way to more wealthy renters and homeowners, many of which were Duke faculty and graduate students who were attracted to its proximity to East Campus. However, private development did not mean Duke didn’t want to intervene in the market. By acting through institutions and avoiding direct ownership, Duke managed to maintain enormous (financial) influence over the city center of Durham, guiding its development as a high-end hub of consumption and production, which led to the pricing out of local minority owned businesses. In addition, while Duke invested in businesses that priced out local businesses in Durham, it also invested in policing that protected (and enforced) those interests. While not surprising that an increase in policing follows an influx of wealthy businessmen and homeowners, the university did not hold back in its implementation. In Walltown, concern for the ‘safety’ of off-campus students and faculty resulted in an expansion in Duke Police, all of which culminated in an $80 million police mega-complex conveniently placed between “the rapidly-gentrifying downtown” and the “transitional” neighborhood of East Durham.10 In conclusion, Duke has been vital in developing the identity of the post-industrial college town of Durham. While some of its projects undoubtedly had (partially) good intentions, the overall impact Duke has had on Durham has been controversial at best and catastrophic at worst. Through its monopoly on the labor market, a series of timely investments into downtown Durham and Walltown, and an increase in policing and spatial segregation, Duke has managed to increase its stronghold on the city as well as market Durham to prospective students and rich businessmen, all while managing to paradoxically remain inEric Tullis, “Does Black Wall Street need to be blacker?” IndyWeek, October 28, 2015. Lisa Sorg, “Take 5: Durham’s gentrification challenge,” News & Observer, November 3. 2015. 10 Virginia Bridges, “New Durham police headquarters could top $80M,” News & Observer, August 20, 2015. 9

visible in the process by avoiding direct ownership or credit. These developing efforts of Durham, while increasing its product and pull, also misplaced many Durham residents, especially black and brown business owners and workers. To many, Duke’s relationship to Durham seems to be pretty complicated. While its presence in the city certainly is complicated, even “complicated” may be too basic of a word for this situation.

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[Image description: Duke students, faculty, and community members advocating for a boycott against the Mount Olive Pickle Company]

[Image description: No-regular rank faculty members and their friends and family in front of the Duke Chapel with colorful signs, celebrating becomng eligible to unionize]

17 [Image description: Nine Duke students occupy the Allen Building. They stand with their fists raised in front of a banner that says â&#x20AC;&#x153;OCCUPIED NO JUSTICE NO PEACEâ&#x20AC;?]

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18 [Image description: Students from Duke People’s State of the University disrupt President Price’s speech, standing on stage and holding signs]

Know who Funds and Manages Duke University Caroline Waring

The Board of Trustees acts as the “governing body of Duke University” (trustees.duke.edu) and oversees the Health System and (most importantly) the university’s investment company, DUMAC, Inc. Though private universities like George Washington and UPenn encourage public attendance at their board meetings, Duke’s meetings are entirely closed and opaque. Recently, the Board of Trustees enacted a rule which allows the Board to excuse all student and faculty representation (voting members) and hold closed-session meetings. Moreover, neither the public nor the full Board has access to information on where the university invests its money—instead, it is restricted to only the ten-member Board of Directors for DUMAC. Without the necessary public accountability on its investments, DUMAC has broad authority over the university’s finances. That said, here’s a brief rundown on who runs, manages, and finances this institution that we attend. Note the concentration of the exorbitantly rich and the representation from the financial sector. And remember, especially given the new rules on closed-session meetings, not all members are equal.

Jack O. Bovender, Jr., Chair

Lisa M. Borders

Retired Chairman and CEO, Hospital Corpora- President, Women’s National Basketball Assocition of America. After a federal probe into the ation. She was also the Vice President of Global company’s “questionable billing practices to Medi- Community Affairs at the Coca-Cola Company care,” the government received over $2 billion in and the CEO of a consulting company. criminal fines and civil penalties for “systematically defrauding federal health care programs” (justice.gov).

Tim Cook

Ralph Eads III

CEO, Apple, Inc. The new Apple campus coming to the Research Triangle Park marks a new era of gentrification, displacement, and rent increases for Durham residents. After hoarding money overseas, Apple avoided paying $50 billion in American taxes this past January. Apple is also responsible for numerous labor and human rights violations.

Vice Chairman, Jefferies, LLC. An American multinational investment bank. Sued for institutional bias against women.

Gerald L. Hassell Retired Chairman and CEO, BNY Mellon. BNY Mellon “safeguards” $28.5 trillion in assets for companies, money managers, and clients. It also actrs as an investment manager of $1.7 trillion.

Janet Hill Principal, Hill Family Advisors. She’s also on the board of directors for the Carlyle Group (see below).

Betsy D. Holden Senior Advisor, McKinsey & Company. Worldwide management consulting firm. McKinsey has a culture of corruption scandals. As Enron’s consulting firm, for example, McKinsey endorsed Enron’s accounting fraud in 2001. According to the Independent, McKinsey facilitated the Enron blow-up and the 2008 credit meltdown. A former CEO, Rajat Gupta, was convicted for insider trading in 2012.

Peter J. Kahn Attorney-Partner, Williams & Connolly LLP. Law firm, represented Israeli citizens, demonstrating a vested interest in protecting specifically wealthy and influential Israeli citizens with interests in the US. He’s represented the Israeli government in the Jonathon Pollard case (Pollard was an undercover Mossad agent working in the US; Kahn worked on his behalf). He’s also protected the interests of wealthy and influential Zionists like the family of PM Rabin. Kahn has also defended corporations and individuals charged with tax evasion, breaking anti-trust laws, and fraud; one of his specialties is white collar crime.1

Michael Marsicano President and CEO, Foundation For The Carolinas. Between 2006 and 2015, FFTC contributed $16.8 million to anti-immigration causes. Because FFTC is donor-advised, Fred Stanback Jr., one of its biggest donors, uses it to promote his racist views, including the sterilization of non-white women and barring immigrants to the U.S. based on race, according to plotagainstdaca.com. Stanback also funded an internship program with Duke’s Nicholas School, placing students with conservative, anti-immigration organizations like FAIR, CIS, and NumbersUSA, until IndyWeek reported on it.

Stephen G. Pagliuca Co-Chairman, Bain Capital. Mitt Romney co-founded the private equity firm Bain in 1984. Private equity firms have been criticized for their practice of “leveraged buyouts,” in which they make profit via acquiring a business, cutting its costs and making it profitable in the short-term, and then selling it at a profit, to the long-term detriment of the business and its (laid-off, underpaid) workers.

Description changed from Kahn “represented Israelis, including the former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin” to provide further context. 1

Adam Silver Commissioner, National Basketball Association. Many controversies surround the NBA over racism and employment discrimination.

L. Frederick Sutherland Retired Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, ARAMARK Corporation. A corporation that aggressively acquires businesses focused on food service. A client for Boeing and at many sports facilities, Aramark has moved into servicing food in prisons. Subject of nearly penalties since 2000, ranging from OSHA violations at $5,000 for lack of workplace safety/health, to a $4 million lawsuit for wage/hour violations. Their poor-quality, low-cost food allegedly incited a prison riot in Kentucky and the ACLU has sued them for mistreatment of inmates.

And let’s not forget our university’s major donors and founders: David M. Rubenstein. (See: Rubenstein Library, Rubenstein Arts Center, Rubenstein Scholarship Program.) Co-founder and co-executive chairman of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm. The Carlyle Group acquires underperforming defense contractors, installs its own management, and then revitalizes the companies through landing contracts with the Pentagon. They then sell these contractors to other investors. Overall, between 1998 and 2003, the Pentagon granted over $9.3 billion in contracts to over a dozen companies that Carlyle had controlling interest in. According to The Center for Public Integrity, “The group cashed out many of its investments when the stock of defense companies rose dramatically in the aftermath of September 11 and the buildups to the Afghanistan and Iraq wars,” netting the firm billions of dollars. Carlyle’s executives have included former secretary of defense and CIA deputy director Frank Carlucci, former secretary of state James Baker III, former president George H.W. Bush, and other major political figures. According to the Wall Street Journal, Bush even convinced the Bin Laden family to personally invest millions of dollars in the

group until the firm cut ties in 2001. To find out more, read The Iron Triangle: Inside the Secret World of the Carlyle Group or the Center for Public Integrity’s article on “Investing in War.” Edmund T. Pratt Jr, former chief executive of pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Inc. In 2010, Pfizer spent over $25 million to lobby health care reform in its interest. According to WikiLeaks, Pfizer “lobbied against New Zealand getting a free trade agreement with the United States because it objected to New Zealand’s drug buying rules.” Pfizer also settled in a $23.85 million lawsuit to resolve allegations that it provided kickbacks to Medicare patients.

George Washington Duke, American tobacco industrialist and slaveowner. He enlisted in the Confederate Army and Navy. Julian Carr, industrialist and white supremacist. Carr was elected a trustee of Trinity college in 1883 and gifted 62 acres of land for the founding of Duke University. Infamously, he supported the KKK and celebrated lynching. He was also the Commander-in-Chief of North Carolina’s United Confederate Veterans. An addendum: the university functions as a corporate entity. Its ever-increasing tuition costs pay for the expansion of its athletic teams, its tenured faculty, and its administration (according to a study published in the LA Times back in 2010). Administrators manage the “business” side of the university—bureaucrats who manage public relations and “student life,” paid to manage Duke’s finances and increase its reputation. An administrative bloat is occurring nationally—according to the Chronicle of Higher Education, “The number of fulltime faculty and staff members per professional or managerial administrator has declined 40 percent, to around 2.5 to 1.”

That’s to say, the university is not meant as a refuge of enlightened education; it’s an active participant in capitalism, just as any other corporate entity. (Think, too, of Duke’s rampant culture of professionalization and all the recruiters that visit here.) Its position is inextricably linked to investments in Wall Street—and thus, in weapons manufacturing, white supremacy, and the perpetuation of global wealth inequality. This list of the board of trustees’ membership and their social positions is perhaps one of the most apparent ways that Duke contributes to global exploitation, but really, we’re in it. Deeply and structurally. So, obviously, the university can do more to increase accessibility to its resources (let’s, say, abolish tuition?) and pay its workers’ fair wages (what about the same salary as administrators?). But when you’re doing activism, it’s imperative to recognize that reforming the university—while important—will always just be that: reforming a fundamentally broken system. Never forget the work outside this institution—the work of politically educating both Duke students and community members, the work of Durham grassroots activism, and the work of community solidarity.

Mental Health in the Academy Annie Yang

You’ve likely heard about the “mental health crisis” sweeping college campuses. Since you’re coming to Duke, you might have also heard of a culture of “effortless perfection”.1 Explanations abound for this troubling phenomenon—stress, competition, too much work, too little sleep, and stigma surrounding mental illnesses. All of these are compelling reasons, but rarely do people identify the underlying factor driving a concerning percentage of college students to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, and alcohol abuse.2 I’m talking about, of course, capitalism. What does the mental health of college students have to do with capitalism? A whole lot actually. This is not to say that capitalism is the cause of mental health issues because it isn’t. Mental illnesses can and do exist independently of capitalism, but capitalism creates many of the conditions and circumstances that facilitate and exacerbate mental illness because it’s a system that relies on the exploitation of people’s labor and reducing humans to profit, returns, and productivity.3 The key is to look at the university as an academic-capitalist institution. What does that mean? We live in a capitalist society, and the academy (as in the institution of higher education) is one of the wheels that keep this capitalist machine running. The university has long been an engine of maintaining class inequality.4 The elite send their children off to college so that they can mingle with other upper-class children, go off to become doctors, lawyers, bankers,

1 Originally coined by female Duke undergraduates to describe the pressure to maintain perfect grades, perfect bodies, perfect social lives, etc. http://universitywomen.stanford.edu/reports/WomensInitiativeReport.pdf 2 http://www.apa.org/monitor/2017/09/numbers.aspx 3 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4609238/, https://medium.com/the-establishment/if-not-for-capitalism-would-i-still-have-been-abused-73e9f4860d6d as just two starters 4 And college is really just the end of a long line of class-based inequality in education. How much your parents make determines what zip code you can afford to live in and how well-funded the public schools are. The stability granted by a good income also enables better-off students to stay in school longer rather than leave to provide for their families. The more money your parents have, the more extra resources they can devote to you to further your chances of admission into an elite university—whether that’s more books to read, SAT/ACT prep, soccer practice, music lessons, etc. A good introduction to this topic is John Kozol’s Savage Inequalities.

CEOs, and maintain their wealth and status. The academy itself is a capitalist space. Think, for example, of the academic papers hidden behind paywalls. But, more importantly, the exploited labor of graduate students, contract (or non-tenure track) faculty, and non-academic staff ensure the everyday functioning of the university. No graduate students means significantly fewer papers graded, office hours held, courses taught. No contract faculty, and Dukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Writing 101 program, which is mandatory for all first years and staffed by many contract faculty, might as well collapse. No janitors, housekeepers, bus drivers, or other workers who are taken for granted and whose labor is underrecognized and underpaid, and Duke would grind to a halt. Under capitalism, sickness is defined as the inability to work.5 Therefore, health is defined as the ability to work. In the university, your health, physical as well as mental, is tied to your productivity as a student. In an academic-capitalist institution, your value as an individual is not who you are but what you do.

[Image description: Black and white sketch of two eyes that are looking into slightly different directions]

This translates to things like grades, internships, awards, leadership positions, research positions, and jobs. The better your grades are, the more organizations you can be on exec board for, the more prestigious internships you can land, the more respect you gain from everyone else and the more accomplished, even fulfilled, you feel. Working yourself to the bone is like a badge of honorâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;whoever can stay in Perkins the longest or whoever can pull the most all-nighters is rewarded with a perverse kind of prestige. Effortless perfection valorizes the student who can do all this and more without breaking a sweat. Also, fundamentally, your very existence as a student at Duke is predicated on your ability to achieve a certain standard. You can be involuntarily withdrawn 5 Spaces of Hope, David Harley, page 106; also first encountered this quote in GSF 275: Food, Farming, and Feminism.

for academic reasons.6 If you don’t do well enough in school, you can’t be a student here anymore. At the end of the day, Duke the institution doesn’t really care about you as a holistic being but instead as a summation of numbers and an accumulation of resume experiences. After you graduate and become an alumni, you’ll become either a source of donations or of good publicity (to get more people to invest in Duke), and maybe both. The organization and structure of the academic-capitalist institution can be brutal and unforgiving. Deadlines on top of deadlines on top of deadlines, plus all these other aforementioned things that people just expect you to have and do—not even to be exceptional, but just average. If you fall behind just a little bit, it can be difficult to catch up. Who thought it was a good idea to condense all the knowledge of a college course into just 15 weeks? We run on a capitalist timescale, and the academy mimics the capitalist model of work because it is a capitalist institution.7 It’s impossible to be the effortlessly perfect student. When you can’t live up to the impossible expectations, your mental health suffers. Your inability to work is interpreted as sickness. For many of the high achieving students who go to Duke, self-worth is often tied up almost inextricably with these capitalist definitions of success—grades, research, internships, awards, jobs. Despite all these mental and emotional pressures on students who are expected to achieve the impossible, mental health is not taken nearly as seriously as physical health at Duke. Lots of people STINF as a way of taking desperately-needed breaks and self-care days, but official STINF policy only covers temporarily incapacitating physical illnesses. The wording discourages anything else, so is mental illness a legitimate excuse? Will a depression so severe that it keeps you in bed all day get you in trouble with the academic deans? Reported to the Office of Student Conduct? My personal understanding of how Duke as a academic-capitalist institution bears down on mental well-being really crystalized during a particularly difficult semester in which I tried to get an extension for a paper. My professor

6 https://trinity.duke.edu/undergraduate/academic-policies/withdrawal-dismissal 7 The capitalist model of work tries its very best to render flesh into machine and tries to turn people into robots who never need breaks or make mistakes. It focuses on efficiency, productivity, and profit regardless of the physical and mental stress on the people within the machine. Schools themselves were (and to an extent still are) designed to make good factory workers.

didn’t allow extensions except for extenuating circumstances.8 This was a semester in which I regularly pulled all-nighters multiple times a week and had literally hundreds of pages of reading to do every week. I was getting very little sleep and eating very little too. Several people were worried about me. Wasn’t my imminent collapse good enough of an extenuating circumstance? I went to my academic dean, who said he couldn’t do anything besides offer to meet with me to talk about my courseload next semester so it could be more manageable than the current one. I went to CAPS because I thought this situation might be in their domain and that they would, at the very least, be sympathetic. They told me that CAPS can only intervene in extreme situations and when the student has an extensive relationship with their counselor and CAPS. I could understand their reasoning and why they would make strict requirements to prevent students from abusing this.9 But at the same time, this was incredibly frustrating. The only way I could get something as minor and innocuous as a paper extension was to have an extensive and documented history of mental illness? Personally, and as is the case for some Duke students, being able to maintain my grades up and keep up with school is a major crutch for my mental health. As long as I was able to meet all the deadlines, as long as I could continue to be a productive student—even if I was constantly on the brink of collapse—things would be sort of okay. I didn’t go to CAPS that often because I was barely able to keep my life together by focusing on school. It felt as though I was being punished for being able to jump through those flaming hoops. Evidence that I could survive and be sane, work and work well felt like it was being used against me. According to the academic-capitalist institution, I was “healthy” when I knew that not to be the truth. In order to survive Duke, I had to be a productive student and worker, whatever cost that was to my mental health, and the moment I needed help it seems like I needed to have a complete breakdown. Mental illness needs to become bad enough that it affects your ability to work and achieve results before it will be taken seriously. 8 For the record, most professors are usually generous about giving extensions, especially if you ask in advance. They were undergraduates, once, too. 9 The idea of students “abusing” things like STINFs or “cheating the system” perhaps can be recontextualized as ways for students to survive the impossible demands of the university.

After I got the email from CAPS that said unfortunately, you’re on your own, I cried a little bit in my 4th floor Perkins cubicle, the one I had been sitting in all night. But after a few minutes, I wiped my face on my sleeves and went back to work. Had another deadline to meet, after all. For many students at elite universities from middle to upper class back grounds, part of our exposure to the negative impacts of capitalism—whether we realize it or not—comes from the stresses on mental health. This makes it easy for us to focus on stressed and depressed college students—a legitimate concern—and to forget that capitalism induces mental illness as a byproduct of exploitation, namely of the poor and working class. It is dehumanizing to be reduced to what you do (grades, internships, research) instead of who you are. But we must recognize that this dehumanization process is part of making somebody an expendable worker whose body and labor can be easily exploited. And this is how capitalism functions. Choosing between food and rent, not being able to afford basic necessities despite working until exhaustion, just trying to literally survive capitalism is an incredible burden economically and mentally. To end the suffering—physical, emotional, mental—created by capitalism, we need to target capitalism itself. In the university, it is first-generation, low-income students, many of whom are students of color,10 and non-academic staff, many of whom are people of color, who face the brunt of capitalism. I offer an illuminating quote that many Duke students, like the 69% of students who come from the top 20% families in America,11 can learn from: “...The cultural-artistic critiques of capitalism (by students, against the alienating and dehumanizing aspects of capitalism) won out over the social critiques (by workers, against the exploitation of capitalism). Some of those same protestors later took up government posts and corporate jobs, transforming wage labor into a more personal, humane, and anti-authoritarian experience without challenging the capitalist mode of production itself. Instead of dismantling capitalist relations of production, they bargained for a more palatable form, and with it, left behind the language of ‘exploitation’ and ‘inequality’ for

10 The poor and working class are disproportionately people of color. How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America is an excellent place to get started on how class in America is raced. Also on the syllabus of SOCIOL 215: Sociology of Racism in America, another great class! 11 https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/college-mobility/duke-university

‘exclusion’.”12 Many Duke students are interested in social good, social change, and social justice. They want to see an end to exploitation, inequality, and exclusion. Many of these same students go on to take up government posts and corporate jobs or work in the nonprofit industry. They become “an elite, bourgeois group of doctors, activists, and donors help the poor out of moral sentiment, refusing or erasing their own class responsibility in what Marx rightly called out as ‘conservative, or bourgeois, socialism.’”13 This is not to say that anyone who takes these jobs is bad but to encourage a critical questioning of whether or not the work that you take on is truly helping the people you want to help and actually challenging the systems that keep them down. We need to keep our eyes on the prize—the elimination of capitalism. We cannot want to help the poor and working class and not realize that many of us, like the 69% of Duke students, are part of the problem. We need to be committed to the reform and revolution necessary to end class-based inequality, exploitation, and suffering. Wait, how am I supposed to do that, you might ask. I just graduated high school, and I’m, like, 18! Perhaps start by thinking critically about what you’ve been taught to believe about capitalism and communism. If this piece left you with a lot of questions and a desire to learn more, then read up!14 Learn about social justice, anti-racism, anti-capitalism, and more. Educate yourself about the capitalist abuses of governments, corporations, and the ultra-rich. Begin the lifelong practice of detaching your sense of self-worth and identity from capitalist measures of success and value like your GPA and which colleges accepted you. Start reevaluating the way you understand the world and begin seeing it through anti-capitalist lenses. Support your local unions like AFSCME Local 77, the Duke Graduate Students Union, and Duke Faculty Union. 12 http://samdubal.blogspot.com/2012/05/renouncing-paul-farmer-desperate-plea.html Excellent read on a very different topic but which also happens to cover an organization that one of the members of our Board of Trustees runs. Also potentially very enlightening if you’re premed and want to do humanitarian work at Duke and in the future. 13 Ibid. 14 Check out the stuff linked in the footnotes for articles, books, and class recommendations! Search up topics like abusive labor practices at Amazon, the World Bank manipulating statistics to make poverty seem less severe, how capitalism is fueling climate change and blaming you personally for not recycling, overthrows of democratically elected socialist and communist leaders of other nations by the US government., just to start you off.

Treat people not as workers but as humans.

My Own Space Jasmine Lu

Yes, what you’ve heard is true—your college experience will allow you to figure out who you are and how you want to exist in this world. This is a time rich with self—discovery and exploration, a time for understanding how you are unique and what special force you’ll bring to the world. What they didn’t tell you is how it’s not easy—you’ll have to search in the crevices of Duke’s campus culture and tear away from Duke’s mainstream notions of who you ought to be and how you should occupy your space on campus to figure that out for yourself. This is such an exciting point of your life. You’ll have autonomy and are away from anyone you knew in your past—complete freedom to be whoever you want to be. It’s exciting but also scary, and you likely won’t know what to do. You might wonder—what are the steps I need to take to succeed in social, personal, and professional life? There will be so many answers (both explicit and implicit) offering you scripts for living out your Duke career. I hope that these scripts will be helpful, but ultimately you should write your own. The Duke environment will inevitably impose upon how you go about writing your own. You will have to carve out your own space to do the growing and figuring out that you so desire. In order to write your own script, these are a few things about being a student at Duke that are helpful to consider/things I feel have helped me: 1. Duke student culture is sometimes overwhelmingly homogenous. The idea of having a common Duke student experience may be great for forming a sense of community with your fellow peers, but it also makes for a lot of the same kind of kid across campus. You don’t have to follow the script of whatever the next person says is essential to “the Duke experience” or, in other words, “you do you” 2. Success and productivity are things that Duke students like to exude. Social media is likely to reinforce the idea that everyone is going through things in a much better way than you are. Success and productivity aren’t everything, and also your peers’ definition of what is success and what is productive will likely be products of their immediate Duke environment. For example, if you don’t

get into the exclusive social organization you wanted, your social life won’t be a failure. If you don’t get the internship that everyone else wants to, your summer isn’t botched. If you take some time off to just do nothing, you’re not a worthless human being. Though easy to say and hard to do, try to avoid comparisons to your peers as metrics for your self-worth. 3. Your personal, academic, professional, and social life will all intersect at Duke. You’re going to want to be performing at your best 24/7 all the time because there will always be someone watching (peers, professors, roommates,etc.), but you are human . . . give yourself a break. Try to carve out space for these things separately because they are all very worth exploring. Don’t just exist as “Duke” tells you to do.

[Image description: drawing of a woman sitting in the fetal position and boxed in. The woman is surrounding by text saying “blue devils, “‘the duke difference’”, “institituion, homogeneity, productivity”, “student culture”, “follow these steps”, “DUUUUUUUKE...” “SLGS”, “Greek” and by drawings of the Duke Chapel, basketballs, and a tent.]

Advice from an Anxious Non-Athlete Independent Anonymous

I came to Duke very, very, VERY, naïve. I came to Duke without ever experiencing being drunk. I came to Duke to be a double major with a minor and a certificate (impossible, pick three). I came to Duke with a lot of baggage on my shoulders. I came to Duke believing I was going to make a ton of friends. I came to Duke thinking I was going to being in so many clubs and activities. I came to Duke believing that I may end up in Greek life. I came to Duke thinking I was going to study biology and receive a Bachelor’s of Science. I came to Duke believing that I was good at math. I came to Duke thinking that I was ready for college. If any of these “I came to Duke” statements relate to you, please continue reading. I came to Duke with many presuppositions and beliefs. Nevertheless, I have endured and witnessed many things during my Duke career. Would I go back and change a few choices that I made? Maybe. Do I have regrets? Yes, and no. However, I wish to emphasize that I have had a memorable college experience to which I believe I can bestow knowledge onto hopeful applicants and starry-eyed prospective freshmen of Duke University. Trust that I know how exciting it was to receive the acceptance letter from Duke, to walk on campus, and to start your First Day of Class (FDOC). I also know what it is like to fail, to lose friends, to be rejected, and to be overstressed to the point of medical attention. These instances are not inevitable, but they are possible. This is due to the fact that there exists an uncertainty in your Duke Blue Devil experience, both academic and social. However, this is not going to entirely depend on how you construct and cultivate it. There are so many underlying factors on this campus that can impact your Duke experience, positively and negatively. Here, I only wish to provide you with cautions or warnings that are based on my lived experience at Duke. Keep in mind that I too, have external factors outside of Duke that have influenced my performance in this amazing university. Factors I wish I could control better, but not everyone possesses the

gift of balance. I digress, but I wanted to note this for those of you who worry about your personal external challenges, or even internal challenges and how they may affect your Duke experience. Here is some advice and some warnings that I believe should be mentioned before you enter onto this campus. If you wish for some elaboration on some of these warnings, please reach out to the publishers of the Duke Disorientation Guide, and they will put me in touch with you because the warnings I am about to provide can be controversial and may harm my social identity (what is left of it LOL):

Take (many) intro-level classes Do not jump up one level or two because you think you are amazing in them. Find courses and topics that intrigue you and enter into them slowly rather than diving head first. This can hurt your track if you are not careful with the order in which you take classes. Unless you have excellent AP or SAT scores in those subjects, do not jump ahead (e.g. ECON 101, CULANTH 101, CHEM 99D/101DL, BIO 201DL, PUBPOL155D, ANY MATH COURSE etc.). For example, Duke math will try to play with you. It is a VERY hard class at Duke for those who are not above and beyond amazing at math when they come in. Choose your courses wisely because you will not have advising on them until you enter Duke or unless you reach out to people currently on campus. Do not jump into Greek life quickly. PLEASE. Do not. Greek Life is NOT essential to be involved socially. In fact, it can harm you socially if you are not careful. In Panhellenic Council and NPHC, even Selective Living Groups (SLGS), both arenas you must tread water carefully. One wrong move, and the whole organization, fraternity or sorority, will exile you. They will try to recruit you and make you believe that you are special to them and that you could be one of them. Do not let that attract you toward their organization unless you wanted to join them in the first place after researching the organization. HAZING IS ILLEGAL. HAZING IS ILLEGAL. DONâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;T DO TIME UNTIL YOU HAVE SIGNED THAT DOTTED LINE. UNDERGROUND IS ILLEGAL. YOUR ACADEMIC CAREER IS MORE IMPORTANT. A NETWORK CAN BE DEVELOPED BY YOU. YOU DO NOT NEED THEIR HELP!! Sorry, I just needed to put that in all caps for the people in the back.

Do not seek popularity. Sometimes it will feel like social life is defined by the Greek people you know and the organizations you are in. Do not let this mindset consume you. Please. Be your own person, you can have friends in any organization but do not think you need to be a part of something to have an identity. Join what you want, there are over 400 clubs on campus to choose from, find your fit. ☺ Treat others the way you would like to be treated, or you may face the consequences. Prejudice and discrimination exists on this campus. Therefore, it is a very sensitive topic. Jokes of any nature will not be tolerated by the student body, especially if they are expressed on social media or publicly. You will be exposed. It is important to be educated and respectful. In this guide, I am certain there are people who can explain the issue of racism on this campus better than me. Also, there will be people on this campus that you may not get along with, I had an incident where I was personally targeted and made fun of on social media and gossiped about. There is a harassment report you can file, however, those people never got in trouble and I did not get any justice because “it could not be proven” that I was targeted, and yet the messages were there. From my experience, Duke will not take care of you unless you undergo a sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other more serious case (understandable but this harassment/ bullying affected my academic courses). They say they do not tolerate bullying or hate crimes, but their policies are non-existent or not well structured whatsoever. Unfortunately, for those who are more sensitive, you are forced to be to build up a resilience. STUDY ABROAD. Get out of Duke. Get out of the Duke bubble because it is toxic for your personal and professional character if you do not learn about the world beyond the classroom walls. I do not care whether you are pre-med or engineering or not, you need to experience the outside world. There is more than just Duke, there is more than just Durham, there is the planet on which we live. The most memorable experiences can happen abroad and on campus. Opportunities to study or go abroad can be found through the Global Education Office, DukeEngage, and the Duke Marine Lab. Do not be afraid to seek help and ask questions. There is an effortless perfection façade that exists on this campus. Always has

and always will. Because we are Duke students, some of the â&#x20AC;&#x153;best and brightestâ&#x20AC;? minds in the country. There are many resources for you to have if you have mental health issues or physical health issues. You can receive accommodations for your challenges, just contact SDAO. You can also receive support from CAPS, DukeReach, DukeWellness, etc.

Do not walk around in dimly-lit places on campus at night by yourself. I am not sure if this will apply to the students in future years due to Central being closed, but especially do not walk around on Central Campus alone at night. On main campus, West Campus, there have been incidents of strange people walking around. Be mindful. At night, do not just hold the door open for anyone, use your best judgment, even if that means asking them whether they live in the dorm or who are they looking for. If you stay in your room all the time, you will miss out on campus life. There are so many activities happening on campus during the year. You can get free food or meet great people at these events and maybe even learn something new. I remember I went to a sushi roll making event once that was so much fun and I was able to reunite with one girl who had lived in my hall in my dorm building on East Campus my freshmen year. I really wish I went to more events on campus but I traveled a lot and when I was on campus, I was up to my eyeballs in schoolwork and the job I needed to maintain for my Work-Study. However, it is important to note that too much socializing can be detrimental to your productivity with your class work. Therefore, it is important that you learn to balance wisely. Take care of yourself and your responsibilities because Duke is not here to take care of you. Duke has many resources for mental health and physical health, but if you do not speak up or take advantage of those opportunities, Duke will consume you. This warning can even be adjusted for the people who may also come from a bit wealthier households, PICK UP YOUR SHIT. The Duke Cleaning and Facilities Staff are not your maids. They are real people who are employed to keep the buildings clean for our physical health, taking out the trash to the larger dumpsters, etc. The least you can do is pick up your trash, throw it in a trash can or clean up your mess if you make one because they are not sitting there waiting to clean up after you. Have some respect for them and for the people who live near you.

Avoid drugs and if you drink, drink responsibly. I cannot emphasize this enough for you. Drugs are not helpful for your body. That line of cocaine your friends are peer pressuring you to do is not worth it. That Adderall pill your friend is offering you to help you study for that physics exam that is tomorrow is not going to help you in the long run. This may just be my opinion and people may say that “oh drugs are not that bad, just try it for the experience”. Please just do not. Be responsible at Duke. You can have a good time without alcohol, you can have a good time with alcohol. But be responsible because once EMS (Emergency Medical Services) shows up, you are not going to want that $4k bill sitting in your mailbox. Many bad choices can be made once you consume alcohol or take drugs, I know, I have experienced some of the worst moments (For the record, I have not taken drugs but I know people who have and I have seen what it does to them). Please take my advice and just learn your limits and enjoy in a way that does not sacrifice your personal safety nor someone else’s. Be wise with your food points. No one is perfect when it comes to managing their food points normally. I have been pretty smart with mine but it is hard when dinner dates or brunches or lunch dates add up on your card. As a freshman, you will have less food points (I believe, unless they change it) and will have to eat at Marketplace using your swipes. Swipes are limited, so learn the system. Once you are a sophomore and older, you will eat using food points, and you can spend them at any eatery on campus, however, Marketplace will no longer be swipes for you, they will be around $16 food points. Do not be discouraged by the affluence on this campus if you come from a lower-income household. I was a victim of this. I was so discouraged by the affluence and feeling like I would never get clout (definition: immense attention and hype shown toward an individual, someone who possesses a high popularity in the community) from my community or the people I knew because I did not have nice clothes, I was not incredibly beautiful with/without make-up, I was not an athlete, nor could I afford to maintain a luxurious lifestyle or pay to be in certain organizations. If you are from a low-income family and you do not have a stunning wardrobe, WHO EFFIN’ CARES. You have a style; it is your own. You need to own your style, be confident in it. Do not long for those Instagram hype comments because honestly, they are just on a screen. Sent in one second, and can

be gone in the next. I hype up my friends, sure, but when I send a comment, I mean it genuinely. Some are just a side effect of clout. Do not get it twisted.

Find some time to read. You may find it hard to read at Duke, but try to get a book in or two during the semester. You need to rest from the work sometimes and transcend the Duke bubble and be down to earth. Read some bestsellers or the NYT newspaper, or something. Try to remove yourself from Duke for at least Â˝ an hour a day (not via social media). Learn important building names, Duke acronyms and walk around both campuses before you start your classes. This is really important once you finally become a freshman because you will need to navigate the campus in order to get to classes, events, and other activities. Walking around campus during O-week and on weekends is actually really helpful and allows you to become more familiar with Duke as a whole. There are many, many shortcuts to buildings and bus stops that are much faster than the commonly taken way. I encourage you to seek these out, because they will be very important in the future. Do not be discouraged by failure nor rejection. At Duke there are many opportunities, and with those opportunities can involve several rounds of selection processes or some can be basic entry. I applied for many things my freshman and sophomore year; I was involved in many activities my freshman year, trying to find my fit. I was rejected by some of the most amazing opportunities that I really wanted, and was denied others. I failed a class my sophomore year, due to so many external and internal factors. Do not let this discourage you. Please. The journey is worth it when you reach the end because you learn so much along the way. I do wish sometimes that I was able to have these opportunities, but I know there is a reason why I did not get them. It was not for me. You must remain positive during your Duke experience because it will try to deter you from seeing the benefits and focus you on the cons. It really pulls you into the darkness, but you need to fight for the light. The advice I have shared along with my warnings are not meant to dissuade you from Duke, but more so alert you of what is possibly to come. I want every prospective freshman to be aware of the possibilities and the problems that exist because once they experience these challenges it can be hard to push

through them. Duke can only support you so much, and this is something I must leave you with. Once you enter any college, even Duke, you must become more self-sufficient, more independent, and more resilient. As cliché as it sounds, you are moving on to the next stage of your life once you begin your college experience, your Duke experience. Therefore, Duke University is not just a place where you will spend four years (or more) of your life, it will be a home that you will always want to come back to. A home where you may meet your life-long best friends. A home where you will learn your greatest life lessons. A home where you will have a unique college experience. A home that will love you, but will challenge you. A home that will stress you, but will cultivate you. A home that you cannot take for granted because your time within its Gothic architectural walls will fly by, in just a blink of an eye. A home that will show you its “Duke difference”, and will send you off into the world knowing that you will always be Forever Duke.

East Campus Lucy Zheng

I discover early on that freshman year is young people fucking themselves over for the “experience,” and/or huddling over their beacon beams of loneliness in rooms lacking insulation, where the warmth of each stifled space never permeates through to another. “Yeah, it’s really weird actually, but the thermal detection camera is showing us that the walls between the dorms on East Campus lose like, all heat. Really inefficient.” In my voluntary cell I pretend not to care. (i haven’t seen my roommate’s face in a week.) I came to meet people as advertised in the generic perfection of an admissions brochure but the meeting happened before it even began, cursory, like chatting pleasantly for hours about mathematics in April, then holding their hair back a couple months later, when it’s the second day after move in and it’s 4 AM and the aroma of alcohol-infused vomit mixes with your sleep deprivation. You never expected this out of them, but now you’re here. Here. Here in paradise where the diversity manifests as conflict, as people saying things you never realized you hoped you’d never hear. Here where we apparently have to be taught not to fling around racial slurs, not by the administration, but by enraged students that I can’t help but be a part of,

be proud of. Here where the main entrance of the University Hospital is flanked by a set of steep stairs– and no ramp. oh the irony. There’s duality to every facet, another side to every gothic arch; you don’t know Duke until you realize we don’t bleed blue, we bleed grey. Grey, amorphous, indeterminate like the tones of the structures that surround us, elegant and formidable at a distance, yet moss-stained and crumbling up close. Welcome to Duke. (i would tell you not to get too comfortable, but i don’t think that will be a problem.)

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White

Sanjidah Ahmed

White The color of first snow Angels Of marble Martyrs Mar Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus I am from— Where am I from? I am from Really from (no)where Worse for the wear I am weary Worry lines embroider my mother’s face I don’t remember placing them there I didn’t even know I knew how to stitch I thought stitches Were fixing-things Even the fixers are in flux So where does that leave me? Home Of the free I am free To melt my flesh into liquid Melt my liquid into air And then I’ll be free By another degree First, second, third degree burns That’s what freedom looks like Right?

Left isn’t right They tried to suck the venom Out of my blood But there’s too much left over I had a dream where my father threw away the leftovers My mother protested It was wasteful Sacrilege in the face of sacrifice Sacred tongues Have left my mouth dry Speared between a crucifix and a scimitar All that’s left of my soul is skim milk The color of first snow angels of marble martyred to mar Me

Sexual and Gender Diversity at Duke Manish Kumar (he/him/his)

Since the formation of the Duke Gay Alliance in 1972, LGBTQIA+ student life has changed significantly on campus. To learn more about LGBTQIA+ history at Duke, check out some highlights in the programming space of the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity, created by Janelle Taylor ’19. a. General Resources for LGBTQIA+ students i. The Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSGD): 1. The CSGD is located on the first floor of the Bryan Center, and serves to “We strive to achieve an inclusive campus cli mate for students, staff, faculty, and alumni with margin alized sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender ex pressions through education, advocacy, support, mentoring, academic engagement, and providing space.” 2. The Center has four professional staff, five student staffers, and one graduate student assistant. Although they do not en compass every identity group, staff are friendly and always have an open door. 3. The CSGD is involved with several programs and events throughout the year, such as: Durham Pride, Coming Out Day on Campus, World AIDS Day, Transgender Day of Re membrance, and Lavender Graduation, in addition to host ing different speakers, leading trainings, and having weekly Kickbacks. 4. The center also hosts several “In Group Spaces” for identity groups within the LGBTQIA+ community. They are: a. First year Kickstart: for first years from all different SOGIEs (sexual orientation, gender identity, and gen der expression) b. Fluid: for bisexual, pansexual, sexually fluid, or ques tioning students c. Gothic Queers Men’s Group: For male-identifying stu dents attracted to men d. Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC): For the LGBTQIA+ people of color at Duke e. Queer Queens: For female-identifying LGBTQIA+

people at Duke f. The Ace Space: for students identifying along the asex uality spectrum g. Trangout: an in group space for transgender, non-bina ry and gender nonconforming students 5. Note: The CSGD has a secret door that can be used to enter the center. It can be accessed through the Student Affairs office located next to the CSGD. ii. Blue Devils United (BDU) 1. BDU is one of the undergraduate student organizations for LGBTQIA+ identifying students and allies. BDU has occ sional general body meetings and hosts several social events throughout the year for undergrads. More information can be found here. BDU’s president for the 2018-2019 school year is Max Bernell. iii. Athlete Ally 1. Athlete Ally is an undergraduate organization the serves to respect Duke Athletes that are part of the LGBTQIA+ co munity. Their Facebook page can be found here. iv. APIQ (Asian American Pacific Islander Queers) 1. From: Theo Cai (he/him/his) a. “APIQ (Asian Pacific Islander Queers) is a safe space for Asians/Asian Americans and Pacific Islander LGBTQ+ individuals on Duke’s campus. We seek to be a support group as well as an organization that holds events that advocate and raise awareness for the Duke APIQ community. If you are interested in keeping up to date with our events and meetings, fill out this form so you can be added to the confidential listserve!” v. OUTDUKE 1. The OUTDUKE List provides a list of staff and faculty that can be reached out to as informal resources for LGBQTIA+ students on campus. It includes both members of the queer community and allies, and can be found here. b. Resources for Transgender Students i. The CSGD has compiled a list of resources for transgender stu dents that can be found here.

c. Gender Inclusive Bathrooms on Campus i. A map of Gender Inclusive single occupancy restrooms can be found here. Perspectives of an LGBTQIA+ student DISLCLAIMER: The LGBTQIA+ community is incredibly diverse, and each person is likely to have had different experiences. This simply notifies some of my experiences at Duke and some of my observations. As a cis-male, I still carry many privileges, and my experience is definitely not reflective of everyone’s. Two years ago, while walking across the Bryan Center (BC), I would make cursory glances at the door to the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity (CSGD), too afraid to enter, but too interested to just look away. These glances would become routine over the next several weeks, though for the longest time, I could not gather the strength to enter. I came out to my sister and closest friend just before coming to Duke, and despite wanting to start classes completely out to everyone, I found myself boxed in. What if my parents found out? What if my friends didn’t accept me? Growing up in a relatively conservative Asian American household and having heard plenty of homophobic comments from peers, I found it hard to get myself to say those two words. Just a year prior, a homophobic slur had been written on the wall of an East Campus dorm, was Duke even safe? After keeping to myself for the first couple weeks, I came out to my first friend on a night after Shooters, while we ate popcorn and watched the Wizard of Oz. Contrary to what I expected, it wasn’t a very liberating experience. I still felt caged in, as if I had nowhere to go to find others that share my story, others I would be able to relate to. At a university that had promised such a friendly community, I didn’t understand why I still felt like I didn’t fit in. As I soon came to find out, although many Duke students and staff (though I have heard horrible experiences from peers) didn’t seem to carry explicit biases against the queer community, there were problems with the queer community itself. At Duke, the queer community is still a very white dominated space, manifesting both explicitly and implicitly. When I entered queer spaces, I often felt myself shut out from sharing my experiences, or feeling too out of place

to share them. As I would find out, this was a common concern among other QPOC (queer people of color) that I met on campus. Duke has become complacent with its so called “diversity.” In grouping all POC into one identity, I found the university has shut out spaces to celebrate the many individual experiences of people of color, highlighted within queer spaces. I never found, and still have not found a place on campus I can be both Indian American and queer, without feeling like I have to compromise on one part of my identity. Entering my junior year, I have become much more comfortable accepting my sexual orientation. I now work at the CSGD (please stop by and say hi!). Last year, I helped with Greek Ally Week. And this year, I’m getting excited for my first Pride. However, those pains still remain. A couple of days ago, someone told me: “Why don’t you come out to your parents, my friend (a white male) did it, and I’m sure yours would be fine with it too. Times have changed.” Have they really? Until Duke takes more time to acknowledge the INDIVIDUAL experiences and pains of POC, especially within the queer community, I doubt they will.

Are We Men, Women, or Family? Nikki Santos

As members of the Latinx community, we defend our culture and our heritage with pride, allowing no one to insult our lifestyles. Yet this does not make us incapable of seeing the flaws that exist within our beloved community. Among these is the overwhelming need to conform to gender roles. A sense of machismo overwhelms us, flooding into the expectations that members of our society hold for us, bleeding into the words sweetly whispered by our abuelitas, and molding us to become subservient women and hyper-masculine males. While there is no doubt gender roles restrict every individualâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behavior, machismo has been a part of the Latinx community for so long it has penetrated our culture to the extent that it can feel like you are turning your back on your family, friends, and community if you choose to denounce gender roles. It has poisoned the best parts of our culture for far too long. This feeling of betrayal is oftentimes worse amongst members of the LGBT+ community. Homosexual males and females are criticized for who they love, what they wear, and any decisions they make that do not align with what would be traditionally expected of their gender. Any other members of the LGBT+ spectrum are rarely acknowledged amongst the most strictly traditional Latinx communities. Non-binary individuals are in a position where their identity, as well as their lifestyle, is at risk. Even the name of the community they identify with is typically gendered: Latina/Latino. As we near November 20th, Transgender Day of Remembrance, it is important to realize how the identities of queer Latinx brothers, sisters, and others, are victimized by their communities. Their stories should not be forgotten. Their identities will not be erased. We must acknowledge their existence and destroy the gender roles that prohibit them from expressing their true selves. On this day, and every other day, we must remember the Transgender individuals who have lost their lives, Latin or otherwise, due to suicide from a lack of acceptance or homicide due to bigotry. They are humans and they belong to this community as much as any binary individual. Machismo aside, we are a family and, as any member of the Latinx community agrees, family comes first. The CSGD (Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity) on Duke Universityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s campus raises awareness about the social issues which plague members of this

community and offer Trans 101 presentations. These events help non-Trans individuals understand their struggles and explain how to be practical allies in terms of support and active fighters against discrimination. They also offer support and a safe place on campus for Trans students regardless of the other communities to which they belong. For more information on this, please contact csgd@studentaffairs.duke.edu.

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Oh, White Feminism Kristina Smith

Oh, to be a white feminist. To be a white feminist who, contrary to what one might think, is not necessarily white nor a woman. To be a white feminist who upholds the abhorrent truth that mainstream feminism is cognizant of white women first and white women only. To be a white feminist who walks the same campus as me, who walks in the Women’s March next to me, and who walks the fight against injustice alongside me. Yet our paths diverge. Our paths diverge because yours is one of selectivity. Your feminism, even if you refuse to acknowledge it, is rooted in hierarchy that does not support universal gender equality. Rather, your hierarchy places white people, white women, at the forefront of a movement that is meant to be undivided. Your (white) feminism is incomplete. I was once asked if I would rather a person be a white feminist than not a feminist at all. My answer, nearly immediately, was not one at all. Nearly all of our struggles over gender equality have been white. When one recalls women’s suffrage, we do so without much thought about which women gained the right to vote in 1920. We place little thought on the monolithic race of those women. Today is not much different. We speak of a gendered pay gap without racial distinction. We can actively recall “77 cents to a man’s dollar” because if we are going to speak about how much women earn in comparison to men, we will speak about how much white women earn in comparison to men.

Feminism without acknowledgment of the variation in treatment or outcome among women does a disservice to the majority of women. If fact, I would argue that any kind of feminism that places the disparities of some women over others actively destroys any semblance of hope for gender equality. To speak of womanhood, to even dare call yourself a feminist, without sustained discussion of race, sexuality, socioeconomic status, and many more intersectional identities, is to speak incomplete feminism. It is to support a select group of women, which works against the need for feminism in the first place. We women have a difficult time supporting one another. For so long our opinions of ourselves have been embedded in menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s opinions of us. Our opinions of one another often reflect our own insecurities or the ways that we fear another woman may better live up to societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s arbitrary standards. For this reason, we need feminism. We need the unconditional and factual belief that people of all genders are equal and are deserving of treatment that reflects that equality. We desperately need women who believe that other women are worthy of better treatment. We deserve women who understand that all women warrant rights, language, and action that is no longer stifling or limiting. Yet your white feminism, or should I say your selective feminism, is perhaps just as much of a detriment to our society as the patriarchy. It is often difficult for me to describe where I see white feminism or white feminists. There isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t normally a badge worn or a flashing neon sign that points out who among us places white women above the rest. Often it is just an absence of intersectional conversation. Yet this absence is felt like a crushing weight on my body. I can see it in classrooms when womanhood is spoken of like a uniform experience. I can see it on retreats where white women have little to say about race but everything to say about gender. I can see it in social groups that claim to support women but do not reflect the diversity of women surrounding them.

White feminism is detrimental because to support few women is not to support women. You don’t know, nor do you seem to care. Your vision is so tunneled, so white, that all you see in front of you is justice for the women who you see around you. Whether those women are those you see at parties or in the media, they all have whiteness to them. The oppression of their womanhood lacks many other dimensions of oppression. This, however, is not to say that white women do not face oppression. It is only to say that their oppression does not have as many points of attack. I just recently read about the successes that women had in film this past year with Blockbusters like Superwoman and Star Wars. Yet what was most poignant about the piece was that it acknowledged that we admire the triumphs of white women but do little to discuss the obstacles for the rest. While we should admire the successes of these women, because that indeed is what feminism is, we should also examine why praising these particular women might come easy to us. We should stop ourselves from believing too quickly that the success of a few white women is telling of the ability to succeed for all women. We should remember that recognizing that it is a white woman who has triumphed does not take away from her success, nor it does not make her less of a role model. It does, however, acknowledge the ease of those accomplishments relative to others, while also being mindful that the presence of a more diverse array of triumphant woman can provide role models for many rather than just a few. While I ardently believe that your white feminism is overtly and irrefutably wrong, it is crucial to understand that white feminism is not stagnant. As I said before, just because you are a white woman who believes herself to be a feminist doesn’t mean you’re a white feminist. That’s not what white feminism is. Rather, it is a symptom of our society’s racism coupled with sexism and anyone can fall victim to it.

Our society chooses white feminism because racism is at the core of our social and political institutions. If one is forced to choose between people of color and women, whiteness always seems to win. Yet the longer we allow this to happen, the longer we allow men to hold the power, rights, and justice that should be distributed amongst us all. The longer we allow the person next to us in class to gloss over the historical exclusion of women with other marginalized identities, the longer we sustain the power divide. The longer we allow the white woman marching next to us to speak about sexism on a college campus as if the opportunities for college are the same for all women, the longer we prevent equitable change. The longer we see ourselves as true feminists without critical analysis of our inclusionary efforts, the longer our feminism does minimal work. At a time on our campus when women are joining organizations to celebrate womanhood and personhood, we must remember that female empowerment depends on intersectionality. Without it, your claims of feminism do not stand. Be honest and critical of your own feminism. Perhaps the reality right now is that youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not an intersectional feminist, but everyone has the ability to be. Remember, your white feminism is not feminism. It is a misconception that feminism can be exclusive, or can be anything other than inclusive. That is not a feminism I believe, nor is one I want to be a part of. Oh, to be a white feminist. To not be a real feminist at all.

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Socialization Mia Monae

Y’all ever been doing some self-reflection, trying to focus internally, and on that random-walk happen across a tiny outpost of neo-colonialist thought just lurking in some obscure part of yourself? I ran, full-force into one I didn’t know I still had last weekend. I tried writing this then, but I had to step a way for a while. I wasn’t ready to eternalize my inability to love myself fully by writing about it just yet. I was going to a friend’s 21st birthday party. It was on a part of campus I’d never been to. The white sorority section of Central campus. Y’all know that feeling when you’re in a neighborhood where nobody looks like you, and you can almost feel everyone locking their car doors as you pull up? That’s how I felt. I walked over from the familiarity of Anderson St. with my Australian friend. She’s brilliant, all legs, and recently very blonde. I trailed behind her excited to celebrate our friends’ special day. We passed a group of white guys, potentially affiliated with a greek organization, and instantly found myself stumbling back into the nightmare that was middle and high school. Each of them checked my friend out in turn, slowly, methodically. There was a hunger and an appreciation. They passed me next. I felt the indifferent graze of their gaze as they looked through me. Reminiscent of the many times boys at my predominantly white middle school would rather not dance, than dance with me, I found my fiercely proud and apparently fragile self-esteem shrink quickly back as I was awash in old insecurity and self-critique. Arriving at the party made things no easier. I was surrounded by white women. Of all varying shapes and sizes, yet still cloaked in the same basal self-assurance of being subconsciously affirmed in the media, on campus, and in pop culture. For a long time, I was the only non-white woman in the room. Wearing all black, with big hair, and bright red lipstick, my fashion choice only augmented the differentiation that my skin initiated. I faded between the present and middle school me. I could almost smell the burnt hair from all the time and energy spent straightening my hair to try to blend in more.

Though I really was convinced that straighter hair, a narrower nose, and lighter eyes were things I no longer desired, or coveted, I did find myself nervous in that room full of what I had been socialized to believe was normative beauty. At one point, I shut myself in the bathroom and forced down tears. I choked back years of looking at movies, magazines, TV shows, and books that showed me that beautiful would never be attainable for me. I forcefully tucked my hair behind my ear and reminded myself of how far I had come. I wore my hair big because it was a part of my personality. I drew attention to my big lips and the shape of my nose because they were a part of me. In that party, between toasts and wishing people happy birthday, I confronted an old me. A Ghost of Insecurities Past. I confronted those old desires, and forgave myself for having ever pursued them. I contemplated the system of white-washing and socialization that I continuously find myself ensnared in, and comforted myself with the fact that I recognized the source, and chose not to entertain it. I took deep breaths and reminded myself of the many people who helped inspire and nurture my self-love. My boyfriend and I have talked several times about this experience. I have told him how I felt in that moment. I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t told him how much he has helped me move past it. Obviously in the moment, when I was having a small break down, his texts were reassuring and affirming. But Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m talking about the everyday affirmation that occurred before the birthday party, during the birthday party, and continues today. I mean the many different ways he carves out space and time for me to be myself and learn to love myself. The more in love I fall with him, the more I also love myself. He pushes me and moves me to be introspective, to challenge myself, and to stand up for myself. I was able to recognize those old desires and fears, and rebuke them because I have a stronger sense of who I am today than I did then. I teared up for these old desires and was frustrated by how they could still give me such a sense of discomfort. Yet, I was also able to refute any claims my insecurity mightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made swiftly and instantly. My sense of self-awareness and self-love ushered me safely past that danger zone.

This February, during this hallmark holiday that starts with a V, I’m celebrating a couple of things. I’m celebrating my ability to recognize and accept that I am a product of the society we live in. I’m forgiving myself to having some socialized misconceptions that I still have yet to root out. I’m jumping for joy that I have such a beautiful person to share that journey with. And I’m glad to reminisce on every step of that journey we’ve already taken which inspires me to fall more and more in love with him, but also with myself.

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A Visa Application Mumbi Kanyogo

Name: Mūmbi. Mūmbi is my grandmother’s name, passed down to me through Kikuyu naming traditions and the remainder of my father’s childhood. So, when my father says my name he calls his mother and his great granddaughter too — he summons present and past and a future that the rest of us do not know. So much is gained in that naming. And yet, so much is lost between childhood desires that never manifested into memories and fathering, birthed from a desire to spite absence and the weight of fatherlessness in a culture that looks for names in the blood of present men. Where did our parents find names when so many of their fathers were ghosts? Where will our children find names when so many of our men want to make us ghosts? Mūmbi — also the name of the first woman in my tribe. Birthed a whole tribe yet still named mūtumia — “one whose lips are sealed”.

To be mūtumia, to be woman is to be undervalued and misnamed, again and again and again. Family name: Kanyogo, origin unknown. Meaning unknown to me. A name passed onto me through my father, and his mother before. It is a name I will keep, always. Permanent Address: Somewhere before the imaginary line where Nairobi becomes Kiambu, along a narrow, straight section of a road that is intent on bending like it has studied rivers — lies the small dirt path that leads to my Guka’s home in Lower Kabete. This home is a two-story stone building, with a dark garage-turned-storage room that perpetually smells of dirt and rat poison. It is roofed by flat, red bricks that crying, black crows make a resting place of just before sunset. It is a home that has always been a construction site. Someone, my grandfather or his children, has always dreamed up new reasons to bring its old bumpy walls down, new ways to make it more like home.

There has always been an old crack, an old leak or a new struggle to fix. And so someone has always found a way to remind us of the volatility of the material, the body — how things collapse and are rebuilt again and again. Yet somehow we still managed to weave silence into each new wall that was built — to silence pain. On most nights, we live in a place where so much is possible — where, love can blossom into 58 years, and three great-grandchildren. I’ve seen it in my grandmother’s living room. We also live in a country where mothers lose children to big men whose birth rights are pillaging and a traumatized people; people who breed silence, as if the earth below them is not already saturated with decades of spilt blood — as if it has not been hemorrhaging to a point of collapse with each new poor, black body left to rot in its streets. These days the land is leaking, betraying its own worst kept secrets. Date of Birth: 21/06/96. I was born two years after my parents married each other in September 1994. There was genocide and liberation that very same year on our continent. 1994, I imagine it tasted sweet on their lips — that it left a bitter after taste on their tongues leaving them unable to rid their bodies of what remains between personal joy and collective suffering — all that is not said. 23 years later and my father still sings embarrassing Kikuyu songs about my mother’s middle name, Mūrugi. 23 years later and my mother still finds safety in their bedroom. Occupation: Student. A place in limbo, where happiness can come to die or simply change its source. Here, I spend too much time trying to hold myself together and not enough time dreaming beyond the mundane pressure that squanders passion and will. Here, I spend too much time counting the days till Friday. Objective of visit: Education. Over 40 years ago my grandfather filled out a similar application to pursue further education in Canada. I wonder what he was thinking about when he filled out each section: the life, the family he was leaving behind or the opportunities that lay at the end of that process?

I wonder whether he thought he would like Ontario a little too much, enough to want to stay. I wonder whether he thought about coming back home, foreign. I think about transience — how I am forming memories and relationships in a place that makes me feel impermanent; like an addendum. A place, that in about a year and a half, after graduation, will be looking to oversee an elaborate exchange: one degree for my subsequent (assumed) absence and four years of laughter, tears, twangs, successes, sinking feelings in my chest, shivers, transnational ghosts, fear, opportunities, failure, deep pain, reflection, and memories of places and people that will be difficult to see. When they were drafting these visas, I wonder: did they remember that beyond our occupations, beyond their own attachments to these imperial boundaries of a country that is determined to keep those that it steals from out — did they imagine that these visas would serve people, so much like their own people? People who are tired of justifying their own existences — people, who love places they were never supposed to love; people who dare to hold onto people who will be difficult to keep. Did they imagine that these applications would be filled out by people?

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Love Letter to Black Duke Trey Walk

This is an open love letter to Black Duke- the students, faculty, staff, workers, and administrators of African descent. This letter is specifically meant for firstyear students in response to the act of anti-black violence that was directed at our community the beginning of this semester when the Mary Lou Williams Center was vandalized. I wrote and I am reading this letter to loudly and publicly affirm you, your brilliance, and your belonging at this university. In the spring of 2015, a noose was found hanging on Duke’s campus at the Bryan Center Plaza. The student body erupted in outrage, national news flocked to campus, and the next state over in South Carolina, I followed along anxiously on the internet. I was a senior in high school who had recently chosen to come to Duke. When I visited campus during Blue Devil Days a few weeks later, I asked a Black student the question I have been asked by many of you. “Does this type of thing happen often at Duke?” A simple question that expresses many fears. It is a question which asks how you should prepare yourself for the seemingly inevitable next act of violence. It is a question to express doubts about your safety here. It is a question about Duke’s identity-- does the university actually care about Black students and Black lives? The short answer to the question “Does this happen often at Duke” is yes. But in this letter, I hope to say a bit more. Over the next four years, you will have moments when a sense will creep over you and whisper to you that this place was not meant for us. It might happen when you find yourself the only Black student in a classroom where your classmates discuss racial inequality with detachment and abstraction. It might be when you walk past the Carr building and remember that your education was made possible by the money of a white supremacist who wouldn’t have wanted you here. For me, it happened when I noticed during my four years and over 20 classes at Duke, I have only had one professor who looked like me. I felt it when I saw two senior administrators commit acts of violence against black workers and no

accountability was to be expected. You might, like I have, come to know deep down that these things are all connected. And I want to say--I know that This is not limited to Black students. Latinx, Muslim, Asian American, Native peoples face unique but similar challenges. And not even all of us experience the harms in the same way. The harm of these systems is felt more by women, my brothers and sisters in the queer community, and those from low-income backgrounds. Those of us who might have different ability statuses. What is unifying, is that we will all feel in different ways that this place was not meant for us. I want you to know that creeping sense of dis-belonging is wrong. It is a lie. I believe, without reservation, that this university- and the world for that matter- can and will be better. I’ll fight every day until it is so. I recognize that the university is not… it cannot be... the ultimate site of Black liberation, but I do think that this place and the education and opportunities it offers can be transformative for individuals. It is a place which at its best, can represent progress for individual Black people, our families, and our home communities. During your time here, you will also have the chance to relish in black joy, success, and brilliance. You will feel it when you walk into the Mary Lou Williams Center and are always greeted by Nate’s smile. You’ll feel it when your friends produce groundbreaking research, win academic awards, and receive impressive internship offers. Maybe when you find a local barbershop you like and you’ll joke with your friend about his lineup. One thing I want to offer to you is the path I’ve chosen. You might choose to join in the work of making Duke better, of building the future we know to be possible. These systems of white supremacy are big and powerful and won’t come down if we sit on the sidelines. “Reality needs us to speak out with fire in our blood, lightning pouring out of our mouths.” One of my personal heroes, Reverend William Barber II once said that, “we should strive to say to history that with our few short breaths we chose not to be silent. We chose to cry out loudly to say something that mattered.” This takes many forms and for you it might be joining a social justice advocacy group (like People’s State of the University), it might be sending an email to an

administrator about a problem you are having on campus, it might be showing up to a teach-in, it might even be creating programming and self-care space for people in your community. But l know it is hard. It is okay if you don’t. Sometimes the battle is too much. It is okay to feel exhaustion; know that you can rest. In the meantime, until we reach a place where this place looks and feels like a community rooted in love and justice, know that you belong here. You are more than enough. You now belong to the stunning legacy of over 50 classes of Black students at Duke. You are in the legacy of civil rights organizer and creator of Duke’s Black Student Union, Joyce Johnson. Of the activist and freedom fighter and city councilwoman, Jillian Johnson. Of Reginaldo Howard. Of Raymond Gavins and other Black faculty who brought students alive in classrooms. Of countless workers whose names we might not ever know. Of faculty who brought students alive in classrooms. You join the long legacy of Black folks who make this place better by their being here. Black students-- look here-- we belong here. We were forged in a fire of resistance, birthed into a history of joy and victory. We inherited a struggle for justice and freedom from some of the world’s most tenacious and loving warriors. There is currently an army of people here rooting for you. Know this and find comfort in it. Use this history and your Black boy joy, your Black girl magic, your melanated genius to banish white supremacy from every space you enter. It doesn’t matter if the systems or incidents try to tell us otherwise-- you belong here. Your life matters. Black lives matter.

Have You Eaten? Helen Yang

妈: Hello Helen ！海伦: Hi mom ！妈: 我昨天给你打了电话… 海伦: 我知道。Sorry。今天一天都很忙，在开会啊，没有时间给你回电话。妈: 什么会啊？吃了吗？海伦:我就是四点钟有… 妈: 四点一直开到现在？海伦: Yeah，我四点钟有一个，五点钟有一个，六点钟有一个，中间吃了一碗汤… 妈: 啊，天啊！海伦: And then，八点半还有一个。妈: 四个会。然后哪？现在结束了吗今天的？后边还有吗？海伦:现在我在看我下个学期要选什么课。我明天早上要注册了。妈: 然后呢？海伦:然后我还有作业啊！妈: 作业多不多啊？海伦: 挺多的，我星期二有考试。但是这个星期没有那么多别的东西，就有好多活动。妈: OK…那…Are you okay ？海伦: I'm OK 。妈: 学期都快结束了？你回来是开车还是飞机？海伦:开车。妈: You sure ？要不要我明天看多少钱？不贵我就帮你买把。海伦:没关系，开车还是挺方便，也不是那么远。我已经开了那么多次啊。妈: 你干嘛要开回来啊？你要带东西回来吗？海伦:我要带东西回来，也要买点儿东西待会杜克。我觉得方便。妈: 那是。唯一的那个车好处就是可以带吃的回去。飞机带不了。海伦:是啊！妈: 等到你会来可以做你最喜欢吃的饭吧。鸡蛋西红柿？包饺子？土豆炒豆角？海伦: 好啊，我肯定会喜欢！妈: 你这几天吃的好吗？海伦: 挺好的，昨天晚上去朋友的家吃饭，吃的挺满意的。妈: 什么样的菜？海伦: 中餐，肯定。妈: 中餐还是挺好吃的。海伦: Of course！妈: 我觉得你等到你什么都不想吃的时候，然后吃一点儿粥还是挺好吃的 … 行了，没有什么事情，我就看看你怎么样。那…你那个…差不多点儿多睡觉，OK？海伦: OK。 [Image description: Black and 妈: 你没有什么事儿我就挂了。 white drawing of a telephone 海伦: 好，明天再给你打电话吧。 with a looping wire.] 妈: Alright, take care Helen。海伦: Bye, love you！

Mom: Hello Helen! Helen: Hi mom! Mom: I called you yesterday … Helen: I know. Sorry. It’s been a really busy day, full of meetings, I haven’t had time to return your call. Mom: What meetings? Have you eaten? Helen: I had one at four o’clock … Mom: Four o’clock until now? Helen: Yeah, I had one at 4, one at 5, one at 6, and then in the middle I ate a bowl of soup … Mom: Goodness! Helen: And then, I had another one at 8:30. Mom: Four meetings. And then? Are you done for today? Anything else? Helen: Right now I’m looking at what classes I want to take next semester. I register tomorrow morning. Mom: And then? Helen: And then I have homework! Mom: Do you have a lot of homework? Helen: Quite a lot. I have an exam on Tuesday. But this week isn’t that busy, I just have a lot of events. Mom: Okay … then … are you okay? Helen: I’m okay. Mom: The semester is almost over. Are you driving home or flying? Helen: Driving. Mom: You sure? How about I look at the flight prices? If it’s not expensive I can help you buy it. Helen: It’s no problem, driving is convenient, and it’s not too far. I’ve driven so many times already. Mom: Why don’t you want to fly? Are you planning on bringing stuff back? Helen: I want to bring things back and also bring things back to Duke. It’s convenient. Mom: Yeah. The one good benefit of a car is that you can bring food back. You can’t do that on a plane. Helen: Yeah! Mom: When you get home I can cook your favorite dishes. Eggs and tomatoes? We can make dumplings? Potatoes and green beans? Helen: Yeah, I always like those! Mom: Have you been eating alright these days? Helen: Pretty alright. I went to a friend’s house to eat last night, ate pretty well. Mom: What kind of food? Helen: Chinese food, of course. Mom: Chinese food is pretty good. Helen: Of course! Mom: When you don’t want to eat anything else, a bowl of porridge can be pretty good … Alright, there’s not much else. Just wanted to see how you were. Then …get some sleep, okay? Helen: Okay. Mom: If you don’t have anything, then I’ll hang up. Helen: Okay, I’ll call you tomorrow. 66 Mom: Alright, take care Helen. Helen: Bye, love you!

1. an inquiry about whether an individual has consumed food recently, oftentimes used to determine whether the speaker will be available for a shared meal in the near future:

“Hey, have you eaten?” “Not Yet! Did you want to get lunch?” 2. a passive aggressive statement meant to dissuade daughters from eating more; subtle commentary on someone else’s weight as a way to guilt and manipulate them into eating less:

You cook my favorite dishes, trails of their spices linger under my door like a friendly ghost. Like lavender incense or citrus-scented candles, this is a kind of aromatherapy. Am I comforted by the smell of MSG or the warmth of heritage? I inhale. I open my door, and from downstairs, you hear my exhale. The pan sizzles. You sprinkle in more peppercorns because you know I like the numbing spice. Is it because I’ve found solace in returning to something familiar, despite knowing that it will hurt? Where did that come from? The pan sizzles. I stand at the top of the staircase and ask how much longer until dinner. You say soon, so I turn around to walk back into my room. Right when I place my hand on the door handle, you yell. I run downstairs. You burned your hand. The pan sizzles. You wash your hands and take the bag of ice I prepare for you. I help finish cooking and set the table. You’re not looking. You walk to your room. I eat some of the food while setting the table. I take my chopsticks and re-plate the food so it doesn’t look like I made a dent. I smile to myself, knowing that nobody will ever know. You walk back in. You know. You say nothing. I say nothing. I call Dad to the kitchen. I call Ethan to the kitchen. We eat. It’s been ten minutes, and the plates are almost empty. There are stains on the table from where we’ve all dropped food and drizzled soup. I look at the clock. It’s been an hour. I like the noise my chopsticks make when rapidly swooping into the crevices of my bowl. I like that we bring the bowls up to our faces when we eat. I like the noise that the bowls make when we clink them down in satisfaction. I sit and listen to Dad talk about Chinese politics I sit and listen to Dad talk about American politics. It’s been two hours. I ask if there is still rice in the pot. You pause. I pause. Dad does not. “Have you eaten?” you ask. You look at the food on the table. You look at my empty bowl. You look at the few pieces of rice that have escaped and found a home on the table. You look at me. I look away. I look down. I look at my legs. My stretch marks stare back with ferocity. They do not blink. Instead, they whisper to me, write me reminders on the canvas that is my thigh. It’s been two months since I have been to the gym. The first thing 奶奶 said to me when she came to America was that I grew fatter. She laughed. I did not. She gave me a hug. I smiled until I walked upstairs. I cried. I went up a pants size. I tell myself it is because the store I shop at uses European sizes.

[Image description: Handdrawn words that say “Have You Eaten??”]

I look back at you. I break eye contact. I don’t know where to look. “Yeah, you’re right,” I respond softly. I pick up my bowl and my chopsticks and walk towards the sink. I turn the faucet on to soak the leftover bits of food. I begin to wash the oil off the pan. The pan sizzles. I look back at you. I break eye contact. I don’t know where to look. “Yeah, you’re right,” I respond softly. I pick up my bowl and my chopsticks and walk towards the sink. I turn the faucet on to soak the leftover bits of food. I begin to wash the oil off the pan. The pan sizzles. 3. an interrogative used to convey compassion and worry towards loved ones when it is too uncomfortable to express such sentiments in explicit means:

I start going to therapy. Seeing someone every week makes me feel safer. I tell you how my therapist has a soft voice and a soft smile. You worry, thinking that I have secrets to shed like the skin of a snake; you worry, thinking that my secrets will poison me, fill my veins with anti-depressants and undiagnosed schizophrenia. I don’t take medication. I just talk. Sometimes I cry. You call me every day with nothing real to say. You think that every minute you talk to me on the phone is another minute I won’t be indulging in my melancholy. You talk about the office usually, or Dad and your walks around the lake. You want to ask about therapy but do not know how to, like an aphasia coated in a language lost in translation. Some days I say the word “therapy” over and over again so you can become desensitized, but I can feel you wince even over the phone, so sometimes I don’t. You ask about my classes, and I say they’re fine. You don’t ever say it out loud, but you question how I can be so sad if I can still do well academically. I want to tell you it’s because I have to, otherwise your sacrifices for me will be in vain, your migration will be for naught.

68 [Image description: Black and white drawing of a bowl with chopsticks and the text “吃了吃了吗吗”, which translates to “have you eaten?”]】】

69 [Image description: Hand-drawn doodle of a mouth saying the word “capable”]

This is a conversation about shame. Shame is sister to anger but twin to disappointment. Shame is realizing that my American nightmare is breaking your American dream.

We talk about sleeping and how little of it I get nowadays. I’ve stopped exercising during my midday breaks and started taking little naps instead. I tell you I’ve gained weight so that you can’t tell me first. I finally understand the power in agency. You tell me to get more sleep at night. I tell you I miss you. “Have you eaten?” You ask. I say no. There is no comfort in the food here. I think about jidan xihongshi, a classic Chinese concoction of stir-fry eggs and tomatoes. Soft, fully eggs scrambled in juicy tomato sauce, a quintessential home style dish that reminds me of home even when I do not know where home exactly is. Is home a place? Is home a person? Is home a feeling? I tell you I miss you. You tell me you’ll cook for me when I come home because you know there is nothing you can do right now. You ask me what I want to eat. You feel powerless. You know part of the reason I am sad is because of you, because your trauma is generational, because you perpetuated my free-fall in between two cultures. You want to reconcile that, but your apology becomes a tongue twister too difficult to say. You want to tell me that I am loved, but your words are like mistranslated subtitles caught on a loop. “I love you,” you think. “Jidan xihongshi?” you ask. synonyms: You need to sleep earlier, Where have you been?, How are your grades?, Why are you always like this?, You need to grow up, You can’t keep going on like this, I am proud of you synonyms (Chinese): 早点睡觉吧，小心妹妹，你要快点长大了，你的课怎么样，你现在不懂，你的外套在哪儿，你要保护身体啊，你怎么还没有找工作呢，你需要听话 also see: Eat more, Eat less

Ingredients: Serves 2-3 6 eggs 3 medium-sized tomatoes 1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon white pepper ¼ teaspoon sugar 2 scallions ¼ teaspoon sesame oil 4 tablespoons cooking oil Steamed rice, for serving Directions: 1. In a small bowl, beat the eggs well with salt, white pepper, and sesame oil. Whisk until the mixture becomes slightly whiter. 2. Cut the tomatoes into halves, core them, and proceed to cut into 1/2-inch wide wedges. 3. Chop scallions into thin slices. 4. On high heat, add three tablespoons of cooking oil to a wide non-stick skillet. Wait until oil starts to smoothly coat the bottom of the skillet, or when a droplet of water would sizzle, pour in the eggs and cook until a thin, runny layer forms on the bottom, about 30 to 45 seconds. Using a spatula, scramble the eggs until they are light and fluffy, right before they set. Transfer to a plate and set aside. 5. Reheat the skillet and add last tablespoon of cooking oil. When shimmering, add the scallions and then mix in the tomatoes and salt to taste and stir-fry until the flesh softens and juices begin to form, about 2 to 3 minutes. Sprinkle sugar over tomatoes. 6. Reduce heat to low. Add the previously cooked eggs into the skillet, stirring until fully cooked and mixed, about 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a serving dish and add fresh scallion greens on top if wanted. Serve immediately, with steamed rice.

[Image description: Photograph of stirfried tomatoes and scrambled eggs]

72 [Image description: Photograph of a bowl of rice]

Tithe

Sanjidah Ahmed

We live in a shinier, brighter world Gone are the cruelties of days past We are Just Humane Dare I say it Liberal We are architects of a new era The diviners of our supercalifragilisticexpialidocious futures Demand not flesh They are not savages, you know They only ask for a bit of soul That little potentially fictional breath of air Puffed into us by the Almighty Herself They promise plastic in exchange for salvation What a deal What a steal All I have to do Is breathe in and out of a sarcophagus for the rest of my life My lungs bleed black They keep telling me it’s blue I tell them I don’t give a single fuck whether it’s black or blue A woman with black hair and blue eyes No- blue hair and black eyes No- blonde hair and blue eyes Smiles sadly at me and shakes her head “Why can’t you just be grateful?” she asks She uncaps a pen with bright blue ink Lifts up my shirt from behind And begins to write on my back The pen moves in loops across my skin As the inks slides down to my final vertebra, My nerves prickle with recognition

A signature My signature “What did you write,” I ask My voice teeters out in bits of broken glass No answer I close my eyes And reach for a prayer Knowing I would find none Six heartbeats pass Time enough for the universe to give birth I open my eyes and ask again This time my voice is solid Sedimented in layers of fear-borne fury Slowly, she replies Flashing a smile that bares every single one of her styrofoam teeth “I didn’t write anything” I look down and see my fingers stained With bright blue ink

Sexual Assault Miriam Levitin

Trigger Warning — contains discussion of sexual assault, rape (Survivors deserve to have autonomy over being exposed to something that may cause them to relive their trauma) Written-Out Introduction and Institutional History Timeline • Period from O-Week until Thanksgiving break is the “Red Zone” for sexual assault • Statistics (40% of undergrad female-identifying and 10% of undergrad male-identifying reported being sexually assaulted since enrolling at Duke • Not enough talk, and discussions we do have focus mainly on survivors with privilege • Summary of institutional reports Official Definitions and Policy • https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/conduct/z-policies/student-sexual-misconduct-policy-dukes-commitment-title-ix • With exception of 5 confidential resources (see: resources at bottom), all employees of Duke (including those in peer advisor roles such as RAs and FACs) are required to report • Title IX: U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights enforced Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance; in the 90s the Supreme Court clarified that Title IX requires schools to respond appropriately to reports of sexual harassment and sexual violence against students; The Dear Colleague Letter issues in 2011 states that sexual harassment and violence interferes with students’ right to receive an education free from discrimination and, in the case of sexual violence, is a crime • Student Sexual Misconduct Policy applies when: any Duke student (undergrad, grad, student enrolled in Duke program) is alleged to have perpetrated against anyone, anywhere, at any time; disciplinary process available as long as respondent is a student at Duke • Alleged victim is referred to as “complainant” and alleged violator of policy is “respondent” -- terminology used is purposefully divergent from the legal language used in court

• What is prohibited? (a) Sex/Gender-Based Harassment: unwelcome verbal/physical conduct based on sex that, due to severity, persistence, and/or pervasiveness, creates a hostile environment by interfering significantly with individual’s work, education, or living conditions; student’s abuse of position of authority to make unwelcome sexual advances, request sexual favors, or other sexual misconduct (b) Sexual Violence: particularly severe form of harassment defined as any physical act of a sexual nature based on sex and perpetrated against an individual without consent/when an individual is unable to freely give consent (c) Sexual Exploitation: taking sexual advantage of another without consent for one’s benefit or the benefit of another party (d) Relationship Violence: act of violence or pattern of abusive behavior in an intimate relationship that is used by one partner to gain/maintain power and control over another partner; can be physical, sexual, emotional, economic, psychological; includes domestic/dating violence (e) Sex/Gender-Based Stalking: course of conduct (including cyberstalking) directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to fear for safety or suffer substantial emotional distress (f) Retaliation: words or acts taken in response to a good-faith reporting of sexual misconduct or participation in Duke’s complaint process; protection applies to parties and all witnesses • Consent: an affirmative decision to engage in mutually acceptable sexual activity freely given by clear actions and/or words; if confusion or ambiguity arises anytime during a sexual interaction, each participant must stop and clarify verbally a willingness to continue; cannot be inferred from silence or passivity; previous relationship can not constitute consent; consent to some sexual activity is not consent to all sexual activity; unable to be freely given when incapacitated or coerced

— Perspective of a reasonable person is basis for determining whether a respondent knew or reasonably should have known

— Being intoxicated or incapacitated yourself is not an excuse for sexual misconduct • When the Office of Student Conduct receives a report, if it was not from a complainant directly they typically reach out to the alleged complainant offering resources. The complainant does not have to respond and the process will typically not continue without their participation. • A complainant can meet with the Office of Student Conduct and discuss options, such as interim measures and the hearing process, and then decide what to do. • Examples of interim measures: “no contact” directives (similar to a restraining order), class reassignment, housing reassignment • Hearing process: —Consider seeking legal advice -- Legal Momentum is a free resource (hotline 212-925-6635 ext. 650) and there are many others

—“Sexual misconduct” is a violation of Duke’s policy -- the complainant serves as a witness to policy violation; in the investigation process, Duke is not deter mining whether the respondent has committed a crime, rather whether they are a threat to the Duke community

—Beyond a reasonable doubt usually used for criminal cases; preponderance of evidence -- the violation is more likely to have occured than not -- used to protect Duke community

• Amnesty: disciplinary action for violation of alcohol policy not taken against students for whom medical assistance is sought or against those who seek medical assistance for themselves or others Consent • It can be helpful to get to know yourself and your boundaries, although this can be difficult due to the shame and stigma surrounding sex and pleasure • Consent is not sexy, it is mandatory. There is no such thing as “nonconsensual sex” — there is sex, and there is rape. • Consent is willfully given, sober, enthusiastic, revocable. • How to obtain consent: (a) Verbally ask (b) Look for non-verbal signs that your partner isn’t enjoying (c) Check in if your partner seems quiet/unsure/hesitant/scared (d) Ask for consent at each step

(e) Don’t assume, don’t pressure, don’t use substances in order to gain consent, don’t assume that you have consent because your partner gave you consent previously (f) Examples: “do you like this?”, “do you want to stop?”, “how does this feel?”, “how far do you want to go?”, “would you like to ___?” • Ongoing process! Not a one-time permission • Location should not change consent — if you wouldn’t walk up to a stranger in Perkins and touch their body, don’t do it at Shooters. • Language is important because everyone has different definitions — for example, Person A asks Person B to “Netflix and Chill” and Person B says yes. Person A thinks that this is consenting to sexual activity, but Person B just wants to watch Netflix. Healthy Sex • The student group Peer Advocacy for Sexual Health (PASH) provides safer sex supplies for free, examples of sexual pleasure products, books to read, resources, and peer advising https://dukepash.weebly.com/ • Condoms are also free in CMA, CSGD, Mary Lou, Athletics, DuWell, Oasis East, Oasis West, Student Health, Women’s Center • 40 cents for 4 condoms in vending machines in residence halls • Also can request safer sex supplies here: https://duke.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/ SV_aY1RDUfPuSb52mN • Student Health: STI testing and treatment, contraceptive counseling, HIV testing and counseling regarding PrEP, pregnancy detection/counseling — Ask them about insurance/if you want the tests to be ambiguously named on your record i.e. if it would be a problem for your parents to see • Student group Know Your Status provides free, confidential HIV tests in the Student Wellness Center every Tuesday 10am-4pm • Duke Medical Center — Ryan Family Planning Clinic offers reproductive healthcare as well as abortions (Durham Planned Parenthood doesn’t do abortions but Chapel Hill Planned Parenthood does)

Ten Rape Prevention Tips 1. Don’t put drugs in women’s drinks. 2. When you see a woman walking by herself, leave her alone. 3. If you pull over to help a woman whose car has broken down, remember not to rape her. 4. If you are in an elevator and a woman gets in, don’t rape her. 5. When you encounter a woman who is asleep, the safest course of action is to not rape her. 6. Never creep into a woman’s home through an unlocked door or window, or spring out at her from between parked cars, or rape her. 7. Remember, people go to the laundry room to do their laundry. Do not attempt to molest someone who is alone in a laundry room. 8. Use the Buddy System! If it is inconvenient for you to stop yourself from raping women, ask a trusted friend to accompany you at all times. 9. Carry a rape whistle. If you find that you are about to rape someone, blow the whistle until someone comes to stop you. 10. Don’t forget: Honesty is the best policy. When asking a woman out on a date, don’t pretend that you are interested in her as a person; tell her straight up that you expect to be raping her later. If you don’t communicate your intentions, the woman may take it as a sign that you do not plan to rape her.

Rape Culture • 5 root causes: power, violence, notions of masculinity, notions of femininity, silence • Rape is about power and control, not sexual gratification • Disproving misconceptions: Many survivors “freeze” during an assault and are physically unable to fight back, only 2-8% of rapes are falsely reported (same as for other felonies), nearly 1 in 10 women have been raped by an intimate partner, 55% of rapes occur at or near the victim’s home and another 12% are at or near the home of a friend/relative/acquaintance, everyone responds differently to trauma • Victim-blaming: sexual assault has nothing to do with the victim’s behavior or clothing choices — Examples: “if you didn’t want to have sex, why did you back to their room?”, “you shouldn’t have gotten so drunk”, “what were you wearing?” — When someone confides in you about being assaulted, always listen, believe them, tell them it’s not their fault, keep the conversation private, offer support and resources but don’t tell them what to do, respect their decisions and recovery process • Oversexualization and dehumanization of women and also POC, GNC/ trans/queer, etc. -- sexual violence is intersectional • Toxic masculinity: socially-constructed attitudes that men are expected to be violence, unemotional, sexually aggressive, etc. It’s harmful to all genders. • Beliefs: • Men can never truly understand women • Men and women can never just be friends • Real men are strong and showing emotion is weakness (unless it’s anger) • Men can never be victims of abuse • Real men always want sex and are ready for it at any time • Real men solve problems through violence • Men should be dominant in relationships and not be very involved in child-raising • Interest in stereotypically feminine activities is emasculating • “Boys will be boys” — normalization of violence • Gendered privilege on campus — fraternities (cismale spaces) host the parties thus have control bc their space and their alcohol

“Drunk Sex” and Hookup Culture • If you have any doubt in your mind about whether your partner is able to consent/has freely given consent, then DON’T. DO. IT. you can call them tomorrow and the sex will be better anyway :) • Yes, there are people who want to get drunk in order to have sex (they may want to rethink whether they are ready to be having sex if they don’t feel comfortable having sex sober). There are people who will not feel taken advantage of despite finding out they had sex and don’t remember. Still, you can not consent when incapacitated by alcohol. • Engaging in sexual activity with someone you don’t know is all the MORE reason to take extra care to communicate effectively and be positive that it is consensual! Bystander Intervention • Bystanders often have the opportunity to prevent sexaul assault from taking place • Ways to intervene: • Distract: interrupt the situation — ask the person you are concerned about to go to the bathroom with you, bring food out to everyone, start an activity • Direct: ask directly if the person you are concerned about is alright or if they need help; confront the person who is being predatory • Delegate: ask a friend for help, tell a bouncer or bartender what’s going on, or put together a group to intervene altogether • Delay: check in after an incident has occurred and ask if you can do anything to help • Silence = accepting the behavior — even if the behavior is words. If we allow perpetrators to make misogynistic jokes, they learn that their behavior is ok in this environment and perceive a “green light” to commit further harm. • Attend the Women’s Center P.A.C.T. (Prevent. Act. Challenge. Teach.) training to learn more! Campus Activism Resources • Duke Students Against Gender Violence (DSAGV) • We Are Here Duke • Duke Men’s Project • HeForShe@Duke

• Team One Love at Duke • Blue Devils United Resources http://www.assaultservicesknowledge.org/uaskduke Or download UAsk app on your phone!

CONFIDENTIAL: • Duke Women’s Center • Graduate and undergraduate students of any gender • Call 919-684-3897 or email WCHelp@duke.edu or walk into location in Crowell Building on East Campus; after hours call 919-970-2108 • Student Health Services • 919-681-9355; after hours 919-966-3820 • Duke Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) • Graduate and undergraduate students • Call 919-660-1000 or walk into location in Student Wellness Center on West Campus Duke Religious Life and Clergy • http://chapel.duke.edu/religiouslife or email dukechapel@duke.edu • Ombudsperson • Neutral, confidential environment for undergrads and grads to discuss any concern and identify options • Call Ada Gregory at 919-684-6334 • Durham Crisis Response Center • All services are free • 919-403-6562 is 24-hr crisis line; 919-519-3735 24-hr Español crisis line; email crisisline@durhamcrisisresponse.org • National Sexual Assault Hotline (RAINN) • 1-800-656-4673 24-hr hotline; https://ohl.rainn.org/online/chat online POLICE: • Duke University Campus Police 919-684-2444 • Durham Police Department Victim Services 919-560-4322 REPORTING: • Crime report: http://police.duke.edu/reportcrime/silentwitness.php

• Student conduct report: https://studentaffairs.duke.edu/conduct/report-incident or email conduct@duke.edu • Anonymous DukeReach report: https://duke-advocate.symplicity.com/care_ report/index.php/pid045584? • Office for Institutional Equity: https://oie.duke.edu/

A Forgotten Pride: Navajo Identity Shandiin Herrera

I am the little girl at the end of a dirt road seldom traveled on. The curious mind who watched her grandmother weave rugs for 8 hours straight, never tiring. The young soul who never understood the land she walked on was crying for help. I walked aimlessly alongside my best friend, whose white paws left soft tracks in the red sand. We ventured to the cliffs where I stared at the giant monuments, and listened to the soft breeze of the wind. I was free. In mind, body, and spirit. I was happy. Perhaps it was because I had my grandmotherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s house to watch the sunrise from. Or because my best friend was always waiting for me, prepared for another adventure. Maybe it was because I could breathe. This of course, was before the storm had begun. It started every morning at 4:30 a.m. when I woke up to catch the bus to school 30 miles away. In classrooms full of other Navajo students, we embarked on our educational journey together. As we moved onto the next levels, our class sizes grew smaller, until we reached the end and only a handful of us continued onto college. This was normal. I understood that I was an anomaly, though at times I did not want to be. I too stood in the same lines to receive food at the monthly food banks and clothes from our tribe. I saw the same alcoholics on the corners of our grocery stores asking to dig into our empty pockets. Still, I understood them, as they tilted their heads and wondered how I managed to escape our cycle. These were my brothers, my uncles, and my friends. I never judged them because I understood why they were there. I acknowledged that one wrong turn and it could have been me. Still, it would take 100 right turns for them to stand alongside me. I knew that. It became harder to breathe. A lost breath for every one of my friends who went home to intoxicated parents. A lost breath for the miscommunication with our elders, because our Navajo language is slowly dying. A lost breath for the beauty of every Native American woman and the rage in her heart. This was the dark creeping its way across our nation, a dark shadow I spent hours in the library trying to run away from. I spent most of my time on the reservation figuring out ways I could leave and never look back. I was tired of observing all the beautiful people destroying themselves. Tired of being so angry all of the time, and pretending I could be the leader that everyone thought they saw in me. The truth is, I really never knew who I was because I never wanted to accept

the real me. I did not want to accept the truth. The truth is I only cared about school because my mother was taken from her home at 7 years old and sent to a boarding school where she was punished for speaking Navajo, and forced into Christianity. So, how could I ever do poorly in my education when my mother endured literal torture for hers? The truth is, I was so angry at what life had become for Navajo people. We used to be self-sufficient, innovative, and strong. Yet, all I saw on our reservation was the effects of intergenerational trauma. It was hard for me to be home because I spent most of my time dreaming about what life could be if I leave the reservation. I was not at all careful about what I wished for. It became a little easier to breathe when I was accepted to Duke, when my reality began to resemble my dreams. Duke had always been my dream school and I had jumped over so many obstacles to hold onto this hope. But of course dreams are always more kind than reality is. For starters, it was hard waking up every day thinking the University made a mistake by accepting me. But existing as a minority of the minority on the campus was something I was not prepared for. My entire life had been on the Navajo reservation, and now I was talking to people who did not even know my tribe still existed. How crazy is that? Talking to someone and their response to your identity is, “Wait, Natives are still around?” or “I think I’m 1/16th Native too, I don’t know what tribe though”. I do not know what confused me more, people who have somehow ignored complete Native Nations for 20 years, or those who pretended to know what being Native American feels like. This was my welcome to Duke memory. In some odd way, that is exactly what I needed to change my perspective of myself. Instead of feeling scared that the trauma of my people would eventually catch up to me, for once in my life I felt proud of who I am. I was not as ignorant as the rest of these smart Duke students. I knew a history many of them did not know, a culture they would never understand, and a relationship with this earth that they have lost. It no longer mattered to me that it had become harder to breathe, because there were over 300,000 Navajos still breathing with me. I cannot look back through my family’s history and the history of the Indigenous people of this country without the feeling of disgust, hatred, and devastation. But, then I look in the mirror and I see the result of my ancestors’ resilience, and the strength of my tribe. For the first time in my life, I was happy with who I saw looking back at me.

I am the prayer my grandparents whispered at the break of dawn, the hope my mother kept in her eyes, and the faith my tribe holds onto. My identity as a Navajo woman at Duke is my step on my ladder to a better life. Chief Manuelito, was the leader of our Navajo people in 1868, the year our treaty was signed with United States government, allowing us to return to our homelands, concluding The Long Walk. From a young age he has been my hero as I had been told countless stories of his altruistic ways of leading. He was born for the Bitahnii clan and so is my mother. It’s no surprise she is a leader by nature, and now the blood of our leader flows through me. He was the first to tell our people the truth, which was, “education is the ladder, tell our people to take it”. On my toughest days, I hear these words and tell myself if I climb the ladder now, my children will be born at the top, into a life far removed from our trauma and poverty. The culture I love, and the people who inhabit the beautiful nation our ancestors protected is the only thing I would die protecting. After incidents like Standing Rock, I have become more vigilant about where Native Americans stand in relation to the Federal government. It would be naïve of me to say I strive for justice and equality for my people. However, my presence in Duke classrooms, across campus, and in North Carolina is allowing me to meet more people, and educate them on Native American resilience in America. This is an opportunity for me to reach them, network, and resist the neglect often felt by tribes. My approach to activism is out of necessity. If I do not be the voice, silence will continue to creep across my reservation. I have made peace with who I am and clarified my purpose as a Navajo student. I am able to breathe again. I never imagined that I would be living in a world where respecting and protecting Mother earth becomes activism. I thought it was human nature to look at the land and be grateful and honor what the creator has provided for us. Instead, people see land as dispensable and care only about what the land can do for them. I suppose this is why my identity is unique. Even though I have grown to see the ugly truth, I hold the beauty of life in my heart. The moments of liberation as I watched my grandmother weave are always with me. Her patience and beauty exist in me today. And the feeling of amazement and resilience as I captured the views from my backyard cliffs, remain my motivation to keep climbing. I’ve grown from the little girl who learned to wake up every morning at 4:30 a.m., the lost teenager who straddled

the line between culture and chaos, to the young adult who has reached acceptance, and regained the pride I was born with.

My Answer Was Patience Shandiin Herrera

My answer was patience. Tiring is the adjective I use to describe my college experience as a Native person. Countless times I have bitten my tongue during class as I listened to my professor lecture on American history without mentioning the genocide of its first inhabitants. I have had discussions with policy professionals who spoke as if over 500 treaties with Native Nations have not been broken. I quietly sat in rage as I read another health report that completely ignored my demographic in their research. I have struggled in the “easy” classes at Duke. I have emailed professors notifying them I would not make it to class because I was “feeling sick”, when really I just didn’t want to sit in my own silence. Silence is lonely. Silence is reminding. Silence begins to embody your identity. That is what it feels like when I am reduced to the enemy, the historical figure – the other. Diné nishłį́. Asdzą́ą́ nishłį́. I am a Duke student. My struggles in the classroom stem from my education in a reservation school system. Unlike my peers, my high school offered two AP level courses, not ten. I do not speak three languages because I am still struggling to relearn my mother’s. I may be seen as the “token” student in all my settings, but I have earned my place here. I work twice as hard to sit next to students whose attendance was inherited. My legacy is perseverance. As a confused, often overwhelmed college student, I looked to my resources. Unfortunately, but not to my surprise, Duke doesn’t employ any Native American faculty. There are no Native professors or advisors on my campus. I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my financial, academic, and overall Native struggles with a White person sitting across a desk trying to understand me. They judged the community I come from, admired my resilience, but only advised me to “work a little harder” – or worse, “take some time off”. But again, even in the office of a supposed advisor, I sat in my own silence. Mis-

understood time and time again. I always contemplated my three options: transfer, quit, or prove everybody wrong. Every day I chose the latter. Partly my own fault I suppose. How could I expect someone who has never even set foot on a reservation to understand my descriptions of it? Someone who could not possibly understand the intergenerational trauma I learn to suppress every day sat across me advising me to just “work a little harder”. Needless to say, I became my own advisor. “Oh, but life isn’t so hard Shandiin, you go to Duke University. You are a role model to so many Native children seeking higher education” While I am honored to be labeled a role model. For those who look up to me for any sense of direction or guidance, I must be honest. College is hard. Not only in the expected long papers, sleepless nights of studying, cultural shock kind of way, but for us - in the, “wow, I really don’t belong here kind of way”. My eyes have been opened to the institutional systems designed to keep people who look like me in the margins. The very result of this can be seen in the education we are receiving. Last semester, I sat silently through weeks of learning about American History. In the state of North Carolina, home to a large Native American population, we managed to make it through weeks without mentioning the prevailed existence of Native people. It was the dated “Beacon on a hill, kill the ‘savages’, live happily ever after” story you have heard all your life. Except, I seemed to be the only one who contested the notion that these lands were open for settlement. In fact, America had been inhabited long before the quest for westward expansion. I thought of my ancestors who were tormented by the federal government, genocides that were deemed wars, and truthful stories finding life only in the sounds of the wind. My silence was broken by the image of a “redskin” staring back at me from the sweater of a classmate. In that moment I realized that this is where history has led me. In a classroom full of students who wholeheartedly believed that Native people were “extinct”, as one classmate told me. These students have never heard of the American Indian Movement nor could they fathom that their presidents ordered the murders of thousands of women and children. Today, they proudly wear the images of our dead men on their backs.

When I wrote a response on the legacy and perception of Abraham Lincoln, I included his order for the execution of thirty-eight Dakota men on December26, 1862, shortly before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. He was not a hero to me. My heros lie in unmarked graves, covered by generations of omission. I received a comment on my response paper stating, “Interesting comment Shandiin. Exactly what evidence do you know of that Lincoln carried out these acts you mentioned?” This comment came from a historian. I received a B on the paper. Here’s my thing - why would I cite sources that have the pages of my own history, our history ripped from their presence? And then the stories, often oral, in our way of recording, don’t fall under the same category of “evidence”. In a policy class, I focused my semester’s memos on the Bears Ears National Monument controversy, advocating for the designation of the National Monument. It was then that I realized very few people understand and respect the value of cultural significance. My arguments did not appeal to the majority opinion, which was to free up the “open space” as a classmate put it, for the economic development of local residents. I worked tirelessly to prove that my homelands were sacred, and vulnerable lands will lead to and have led to, looting, defacing, and complete destruction. Not to mention, my tribe and the others who have joined the Inter-Tribal coalition still live off the land – we still depend on her, therefore we must protect her. Yet, if there was not a dollar sign attached to my argument, it failed. I received a B. However, when I was instructed to write the Op-ed in support of President Trump’s legislation to rescind the monument, I received an A. I don’t know what hurt more, the fact that I was practicing protecting my homelands and failed, or that joining the other side meant success. . . Patience. I read old journal entries from my freshman year. I was excited, proud to be at this university. The more time I spent here, the longer my entries became. Filled with frustration and confusion. Why didn’t I say anything to the professor who did a disservice to our class by not accurately portraying my people? Why did I lie to my mom when she called to ask how I was doing? Why did I try so hard to fit into the mold of the “typical Duke student”? Why didn’t I fight harder to

advocate for my people? I felt like a ghost. I walked across campus dreading every step to class because I couldn’t focus on studying when I saw videos of men and women sprayed with mace at Standing Rock, images of dog attacks, and the fear of witnessing history repeat itself. I began to care less and less about school when I saw another post on Facebook of an Indigenous women missing. When President Trump announced his proclamation to reduce our Bear’s Ears National Monument I felt defeated. When Standing Rock remained in the news – no comment. When Indigenous women went missing – no comment. When another young Native person took their life – no comment. So, I am sorry if I am a little too distracted to raise my hand in class today. Is it really worth losing myself in order to conform to these systems? If receiving an A in a class meant surrendering my tenets as a Native woman then no, it is not worth it, and I will not conform. I decided I do not need the A everyone loses their opinion for. I just wanted validity. I thought an A signified my belonging at Duke. In reality, an A only indicated my conformance to their rules. One day I woke up angry. I promised myself not to bite my tongue anymore, not to just listen to someone speak untruthful stories, and not to quietly be left out of the conversation. I reanalyzed my position as a representative and as the sole Native voice in many of the spaces I occupied. I was directly harming myself by allowing others to talk over me. I approached that history professor after class and asked why he chose to leave so many important moments in our history out. As a professional in history, I assumed he must have had at least a basic knowledge of Native people. Yet, he did not talk about the mobilization of Native people with AIM, he did not inform the class that the last group to achieve citizenship did so under the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 – but most importantly he talked about Native people retrospectively. We are still here. I am here. I challenged opinions, wrote pieces that were important to me, I found ways to make Duke more welcoming for myself. After all, I knew that if I did not take

action over my education and well-being, nobody would. I received an email from a professor in the Environmental Policy department asking if I could speak to her class - I was recommended by the History professor. I agreed and I presented on the effects of Uranium on my homelands and the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990. I returned to that History class at the end of the semester, where I presented on American History from a Native person’s perspective. I was granted the freedom to talk about anything I wanted, anything I thought this class of 100 or so Duke students should know. I am thankful for that moment and for that professor who allowed me an opportunity to let me speak for myself. I found my voice. Though I have created more work for myself by giving guest lectures and presentations, I am grateful for these opportunities. I appreciate the professors who have allowed me to educate their students. And to the greater Duke community who have opened their minds and hearts to me. College is about adding moments to your story. For my first two years at Duke my narrative had been on mute. I accepted the silence- I made it my home. I am often asked what the turning point for me was, and honestly I just want the next Navajo student who attends Duke or any institution to understand that their positions are important. Our struggles are important. Our opinions matter. We matter. It is hard to succeed. We juggle the life of a scholar with our cultural teachings, and sometimes the two collide. If I have learned anything, it is that it is possible to remain whole. It is possible to piece ourselves back together when the world continues to take pieces of our identity. Still, Diné nishłį́. Asdzą́ą́ nishłį́. I am a Duke student. The question I was asked was, “what do you pray for?” My answer was patience.

FACT-CHECK: Duke’s Climate Action Plan Duke University has committed to carbon neutrality by 2024. But what does that really mean? Carbon neutrality does NOT mean zero emissions. Duke will continue emitting greenhouse gasses beyond 2024, but it will purchase carbon offsets to make it look like zero emissions on the books. Offsets may be an interim solution, but they cannot come at the expense of actual emissions reductions.

Carbon neutrality does NOT include the Duke Health System, which accounts for 1/4 of total emissions and over 2/3 of future building growth (which feeds emissions growth). Duke needs to include the Health System and Duke Hospital into its sustainability commitments.

Carbon neutrality does NOT mean renewable energy. Duke has failed to meet its goal to install 4 megawatts of solar on campus by 2012 and lacks significant renewable energy targets. Duke can and should do more to grow its campus renewable energy installations, as well as to engage in policy change to support clean energy in North Carolina.

Carbon neutrality does NOT include the climate impact of Duke’s investments. Duke has maintained investments in fossil fuel companies, which indirectly promotes carbon emissions and climate misinformation by the fossil fuel industry. Duke should listen to student and community voices calling for it decarbonize its financial holdings and divest from dirty corporations.

Duke University recently proposed to build a new natural gas plant on campus — at a time when we need to be ending fossil fuel use 

No students, faculty, or community members had been consulted about the plant and no opportunities to provide input on the plant were offered until students and community members pushed back.

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The plant would have run for 35 years on fracked natural gas, locking in fossil fuel infrastructure beyond the middle of the century – yet Duke initially claimed that this plant would help meet its climate goals.

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Student and community advocates succeeded in indefinitely suspending the plant after a 2-year campaign.

Duke University now has the chance to help solve a racist pollution problem — or make it worse 

Duke plans to biogas instead of natural gas to meet its campus energy needs and climate goals. This biogas would be sourced from North Carolina’s swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), which have plagued primarily low-income and Black communities with pollution for decades.

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Duke should only procure biogas if it can ensure cleanup and protections for surrounding communities. It should conduct a full and fair stakeholder process before it moves forward with biogas procurement. Failure to proactively and transparently engage communities could simply lock in CAFOs and make pollution problems worse.

Help us make Duke a real climate leader.

facebook.com/DukeClimateCoalition

Disability and Accessbility Duke Disability Alliance (DDA)

DDA’s mission is to make Duke more inclusive and accessible by fostering conversations about disability issues, expanding accessibility on campus and in the community, encouraging positive perceptions and full appreciations of people with disabilities, and promoting their legal rights. We strive to engage the entire Duke community to make Duke a better place for those with and without disabilities. To learn more about or join DDA, please email the DDA exec at dukedisabilityalliance@duke.edu. Over the past year, awareness on disability issues has increased significantly. From gaining greater recognition and representation in Duke Student Government to hosting artists from across the country at the Nasher to explore the intersectionality of disability and art, DDA has come a long way in helping create a more accessible and inclusive Duke. But there is still a lot of work to be done. Accessibility and Campus Culture: Duke, despite its claims to be all-accepting and accommodating, is nowhere near as inclusive and accessible as it can be, even though it has every ability to make it so. The truth is that Duke often favors “aesthetics” and “convenience” over true accessibility. This means that students must go through a monthslong process to request accommodations from the Student Disability Access Office (SDAO), accessible entrances to buildings are not well marked and are hidden far from the main entrances, and some areas of campus are entirely inaccessible. Multiple floors of many buildings are inaccessible, while the Languages Building is entirely inaccessible. The majority of bathrooms on campus are inaccessible due to lack of automatic door openers. The campus also includes some seemingly unexplainable half-hearted attempts at accessibility, like automatically-opening doors leading only to a stairwell (West Union) or to inaccessible doors (LSRC). If students require accommodations or services from SDAO, they will find it to be understaffed and in itself, relatively inaccessible due to it being located in Central Campus rather than West Campus or East Campus. Duke student campus culture oozes with perfectionism and this only makes it harder to speak about disability issues. It’s important to remember that not all

disabilities are visible and just because an issue is not talked about that often, it does not mean it’s not there. And that’s what DDA hopes to address in this coming school year: raise awareness and create more dialogue on campus so Duke becomes less ableist and more inclusive. Here is what some students had to say about the campus culture at Duke in a 2018 DDA accessibility survey: • “The competitive nature of Duke often obscures students from understanding or empathizing with the troubles and limitations placed on others.” • “The campus culture is superficial. Everyone tries to act like they are ok.” • “Duke is not conducive to positive and healthy wellbeing.” • “It’s competitive. It makes me feel like a failure and decreases my willingness to try.” • “It is disastrous to my mental health.” • To learn more about disability and accessibility on campus, please view the student activism projects and browse the content on the Disability Pride Week 2018 website: https://sites.duke.edu/disabilitypride2018/. Activism Goals 2018-2019: • Work to remove access barriers and implement accommodations to make facilities and learning environments on campus fully accessible and inclusive. • Fight the pervasive social stigma against people with disabilities to foster a more inclusive campus culture. • Promote the creation of a community space for students with disabilities to foster healing conversations about their experiences.

Duke Students for Justice in Palestine Students for Justice in Palestine

[Image description: Two young adults sitting on a camel, smiling at the camera]

Ever wondered what it would be like to explore the sacred land of your ancestors, where you can bask in the beauty of the very olive trees your grandparents farmed, visit the sacred holy sights of your culture, and be weightless, floating in the Dead Sea? Lucky for you, if you’re a Duke student who happens to be between the ages of 18 and 26 and Jewish, this could be your reality—an all-expenses paid trip to Israel on behalf of Duke. [Image description: A photograph of the destruction of Palestinian settlements. In the foreground, a woman lifts her arms to the sky while another woman carefully walks through the rubble]

Unfortunately, if you’re a Palestinian living in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip today, none of these amenities are available to you. What you do have, however, is an apartheid wall and strict checkpoints manned by heavily armed Israeli soldiers which restrict your day-to-day movement, the constant worry of illegal land seizures by the Israeli government for the erection of more colonial settlements, a severe lack of basic resources (particularly in Gaza where 97% of your water is contaminated!), and a better-than-average chance of being incarcerated and/or maimed. In continuing practices such as the “birthright” trips to Israel and the Jewish Agency Israel Fellowship, which brings former members of the Israeli military to campus for two years at a time, Duke is brazenly displaying support

[Image description: A graph of Israel-Palestine conflict deaths per month. There are significantly more Palestinians killed in comparison to Israelis. There is a significant spike in December 2012 when the death count exceeded 800 Palestinians killed]

for the ongoing occupation-induced genocide of the Palestinian people by encouraging cultural and academic exchanges with an apartheid regime. Duke students for Justice in Palestine is an organization committed to ending the oppression of the Palestinian people first and foremost by educating Duke students and the Durham community about the grave atrocities daily done unto the Palestinians in hopes of galvanizing Dukeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s immensely powerful social capital to make a point that marginalizationâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;of any kindâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;will not be tolerated by the university, its students, alumni, and the community at large. By advocating for a cultural, academic, and fiscal boycott of and divestment from the state of Israel, SJP hopes to not only change minds but save lives. SJP stands in solidarity with all marginalized groups affected by systemic injustices such as colonialism, white supremacy, the patriarchy, capitalism, and myriad other forms of discrimination as we firmly believe that all struggles for justice are intertwined. We are enjoined by similarities: from Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons to Latinx migrants separated from their families, from the murders of unarmed protestors in Gaza to the slayings of unarmed black men across the United States, and from the mass incarceration of the Palestinians to that of black and brown Americans. But we are also united in our differences as we choose to respect and cherish all, even when the powers at be tell us to do otherwise.

97 [Image description: Activists from Demilitarize Durham 2 Palestine celebrate after Durham becomes the first city in the United States to ban police exchanges with the Israeli military.]

Already Duke’s SJP has found intersectional success through our work, alongside various aligned Durham community groups as part of the Durham 2 Palestine campaign, to pass landmark legislation in the city council expressly ending Durham’s practice of training police officers alongside the Israeli military, which both encourages a demilitarization of Durham’s police and raises awareness of the military occupation of Palestine. In the words of Nelson Mandela, “our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”

[Image description: A child waves the Palestinian flag in front of a row of five armed soldiers.]

98 [Image description: Closed green, red, black fist with ‘Students for Justice in Palestine’ written underneath in black, green, and red text.]

COMMON GROUND Common Ground is a five day student-led retreat that explores personal identity and how it affects our daily experiences. By recognizing, examining, and reclaiming the differences that exist among us, we hope to challenge each other to think about who we are, both individually and collectively, at Duke and beyond. ***While Common Ground is a formative experience for many, it is by no means an easy one. Conversations about personal identity are never easy, and for some can be extremely difficult. While we at Common Ground would like all Duke students to apply, we also recognize that Common Ground can bring up experiences that are difficult to relive. We hope that in your consideration to apply you think critically upon what you can handle and make the best decision for you.*** The retreat is sponsored by the Center for Multicultural Affairs and takes place about an hour away from campus. Over five days, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll use a series of structured activities to discuss socioeconomic status, race, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. Common Ground is a unique opportunity to meet people from all walks of Duke. Want to get involved? Email dukecommonground@duke.edu! 99

Asian American Studies at Duke Asian American Studies Working Group

When did Duke University get Asian American Studies? More than a decade has passed since the beginning of the movement for Asian American Studies (AAS) on this campus, and more than two decades since the idea was first seriously discussed. In all the years of student and faculty activism, of working groups and task forces, of new courses and new campaigns, of countless meetings and emails: when did the fighters for Asian American Studies know it was here? The Asian American Studies Program (AASP) at Duke launched on April 27, 2018 with—of all things—a website. No physical center or space, nor a major, minor, or certificate to speak of, yet still there was cause to celebrate because the .edu website represented the difference between a homegrown movement and an official sanction, between institutionalization and derelict. The history recorded here is the history, at least in part, of the fight for AAS at Duke. The record is important because the memory of the students is finite and the memory of the university is selective: the passing down of memories in this way helps to resolve both. Roughly, there has been two major pushes for AAS on this campus: the first from 2002-2004 and the second from 2013 to the present. It should be noted, however, that this struggle has roots that reach far earlier as well; to the first Asian American-related house courses organized by students in the 1980s; to the legacy and resolve of Black students who occupied the Allen building in 1969 and demanded a Afro-African Studies department, laying the groundwork for those to come. And the struggle will continue for a long time from now—if we have structured this movement right—until students can access an education engaged with communities of color and their dynamics, until the study of difference and power is regarded as essential and not threatening, until the narratives and histories of marginalized Americans are legitimated and institutionalized at this university. Why AAS? A litmus test: Can you name five historical Asian American figures? Five Asian American authors? Five Asian American activists? Were you ever taught about them in class? If knowledge is power—which schools love to preach—then what does it mean for the narratives, perspectives, and experiences of white European Americans to dominate mainstream curricula? More often than not, the study of American history is the study of white Euro-American history. American people of color are brought into the picture, but only as

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they exist in relation to white Americans: students only hear about slavery and Civil Rights, Japanese internment, the Trail of Tears, Texas annexation, and so on. Otherwise, the perspectives of non-white Americans are either forgotten, silenced, or sanitized. Rarely are they taught as having dignity as Americans in their own right. Ethnic studies, like Asian American studies, are necessary to fill gaps in perspective, in history, but also literature, politics, gender studies, and more. Ethnic studies, like Asian American studies, are necessary to redefine the notion of Americanness, both politically and personally. When students are not taught about significant Asian American figures, policies, or events, the presumption is that they do not exist. Most do not realize that Asian people have been in the Americas since the sixteenth century and have been with the United States since its inception. In other words, in the realm of all things Asian American, there is a lot to study. How has immigration and naturalization policy shaped Asian America? How do writers, poets, and artists both reflect and create the Asian American experience? How do Asian American women and queer Asian Americans navigate their respective spaces? Scholars cannot pretend that a full understanding of the United States is possible without AAS, just as how it is not possible without the inclusion of Black or Latinx or native narratives, or any other identities of race, gender and sexuality, class, or religion for that matter. Thus, AAS should be relevant to all those interested in studying America, not just for Asian American students. AAS is a means to contextualizing the Asian American community today, as a group that has been, just this summer, entangled in discussions of income inequality, affirmative action, and refugee and undocumented migration. As celebrated activist Yuri Kochiyama said: “Unless we know ourselves and our history, and other people and their history, there is really no way that we can really have [the] positive kind of interaction where there is real understanding.” Today, colleges and universities around the country are struggling for AAS, either to have it or to keep it. At Duke, AASP has a website—the first university in the American South with an AAS program—but until there is more, the question stands: When will Duke get Asian American Studies? Current goals include establishing a major, minor, or certificate curricular track, hiring dedicated faculty, creating core courses, promoting student engagement and public outreach, and obtaining a physical AAS space for students and faculty. As mem-

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bers of the Duke community, learn this history. Try an AAS class. Engage with Asian American issues. Talk to friends. Get involved with the Asian American Studies Working Group (AASWG). Don’t let this movement die, because this program is so important and its successes so hard-won. Pass the torch. Keep the ball rolling. The Path to AASP at Duke: 2002-2018 1. 1985: Janet Chiang ‘86 wins course grant. Though formal efforts for AAS at Duke did not begin until 2002, a rising interest in coursework with an Asian American focus can be seen as early as 1982, marked by the start of a series of House courses about “Asians in America.” In 1985, Chiang ‘86 won a federal grant to develop a course titled “Asian American Women: Unbound Feet,” motivated by a desire to make visible the issues and causes of the Asian American community, especially of women. 2. 2002: AAS Teach-In begins first push for AAS at Duke. Students formed the Asian American Studies Undergraduate Working Group (AASUWG), a multiracial coalition with support from students, faculty, and organizations like the Black Student Alliance and the Freeman Center. Student and faculty speakers at the teach-in held in West Union emphasized the critical importance of AAS as a tool for social change. A proposal for an AAS department was submitted with more than 1,000 signatures to University administrators on April 10, 2002. The University supported many of their measures, though only superficially. The initiative ultimately stalled because no dedicated faculty hires were approved. 3. 2013: Kappa Sigma’s ‘Asia Prime’ party sparks outrage. In February, students dressed as sexualized geishas and coolies to a themed party hosted by Duke fraternity Kappa Sigma. Invitation emails contained racially insensitive language like “Herro Nice Duke Peopre!!” and an image of the Kim Jong-Il character from the movie “Team America: World Police.” In response, students posted flyers across campus (pictured) calling out the “#RacistRager” and led a protest at the West Campus bus stop. ‘Asia Prime’ represented a revitalization of the AAS movement. Members of Asian American Alliance presented three demands to administrators in the party’s aftermath, including a demand for Duke to hire three full-time AAS faculty. These demands were reiterated, alongside

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the “Demands of Black Voices” and Mi Gente demands, to President Brodhead in an open forum convened in 2015 after a series of several on-campus hate incidents.

[Image description: Seven students stand together at the West Campus bus stop holding a large sign saying ‘RACE IS NOT A PARTY’]

4. 2016: Creation of a new working group formalizes a second push for AAS. Student and faculty activism and forward momentum coalesced into the current Asian American Studies Working Group (AASWG), officially established in September 2016 and made up of student and faculty members. The group launched a petition to support AAS at Duke, which received more than 500 signatures in the first two days and nearly 1,700 signatures in total. In October, AASWG organized a showcase, “Envisioning AAS at Duke,” to highlight student research in Asian American studies and discuss the path forward. Dr. Sylvia Chong from University of Virginia visited campus to perform an external review of the state of AAS at Duke and to provide the University recommendations, noting that, if successful, Duke would become the first university in the American South to have an AAS program. 5. 2017: ‘Duke Doesn’t Teach Me’ photo project becomes the face of a new campaign. Structured after known models of social action and activism, the latest efforts for AAS continued on the momentum gathered earlier in the year, which took on a multi-pronged approach to mobilize campus. Students attend-

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ed the open office hours of Dean of Trinity College Valerie Ashby, communicated their demands, and developed a five-year plan for AAS to demonstrate viability. AASWG faculty reached out to colleagues to raise awareness of the cause, and students penned op-eds for The Chronicle, disputing arguments from all sides of campus that AAS was either unnecessary or unfeasible. The ‘Duke Doesn’t Teach Me’ photo campaign aimed to bring wider awareness of AAS to the student population. Cognizant of placation strategies often utilized by the University (e.g. giving small concessions and then waiting for the activists to graduate out), AASWG sought sustainability for the long-term, considering the fizzling out of the 2002 movement. At the end of the 2017-2018 school year, the working group had organized an AAS research symposium, and two new faculty hires had been made official. 6. 2018: The Asian American Studies Program launches at Duke University. The Asian American Studies Program (AASP) at Duke debuted on April 27, 2018, directed by Dr. Aimee Nayoung Kwon of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. Though the creation of AASP is an exciting and tangible step forward, there is still much to do: establishing a major, minor, or certificate curricular track, hiring dedicated faculty, creating core courses, promoting student engagement and public outreach, and obtaining a physical AAS space for students and faculty. Today, AASP owes its success to all those who worked and fought for AAS before and to all those who continue to strive for AAS at this university, forging the path ahead.

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Course Recommendations • Mass Incarceration - Wahneema Lubiano • Work level: Easy/Medium • Some reflection submissions • Final: paper, 8-10 pages • Comments: Lubiano is amazing and she sounds like an academic reading when she talks. Truly a genius and the loml and a wise n kind human. • She is also really kind as a professor and met with me to discuss my papers and shape the direction of them. I know that for other people, she has also been very understanding about personal life conflicts and given extensions accordingly. • Moral Panics - Wahneema Lubiano • Work level: Easy/Medium • Some reflection submissions • Final: paper, 8-10 pages • Comments: The best class I took at Duke; fall 2018 course!!! • Chinatowns: A Cultural History - Eileen Chow • Work level: Easy/Medium • Weekly reflection submissions • Final: paper, 8-10 pages • Comments: Chow will ramble sometimes, but she’s amazing; usually in the spring • Life Within Capitalism - Dirk Philipsen • Work level: Hard • Reflection submissions for almost all readings (1-3 per class) • Midterm: class debate (split up into three groups, 4-8 people per group) • Final: short ep-ed and presentation • Comments: You need to talk a lot in this class. Lots of white pubpol/ econ ppl also. But dirk is great and truly wants you to think critically about the material/capitalism and how it impacts your life; usually in the spring • First professor to give me the tools and vocabulary to talk about why capitalism sucks. • Sociology of Racism in America - Eduardo Bonilla-Silva (TBP [the best professor]) • Work level: Medium/Hard • Primarily based on class participation and tests although you can im-

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prove your participation grade by taking notes on the readings. EBS is the funniest and best professor and genuinely cares about his students and their education. • There is a lot of readings--to do well in class participation, you either have to have pretty good memory or take decent notes to participate and answer his questions. But once you go to class, you’ll get a feel for what he might focus on within the readings and streamline your reading on that. I’d say the readings are manageable if you don’t do all the readings in one night; I’d say doing two chapters per day made it better. Taking notes also can only help you for the exams because you can bring your notes to class, highlight whatever he goes through (in the beginning, he hinted at what he would test you on later), and use that as review material. Beyond that, he’s a very caring and funny professor. • Comments: on leave during 2018-2019 • Writing 101 - Mike Dimpfl • Work level: Medium/Easy • He is teaching a new Writing 101 this year and changing the assignments, so work level might not be the same as the Writing 101 I took with him. That said, he swapping the final research paper for a 1000 word paper, so the workload actually looks easier than previous course. • Comments: Mike is two years into his five year appointment, and we will all be sad when he leaves because this man’s courses are amazing and his rants are impeccable. I wish I could return to first year so I could take his new Writing 101—The End(s) of Work. Amazing choice of expletives, still uses an iPhone 4, and won’t hesitate to call you out on your shit. Mike taught me how to write a research paper. • GSF 275: Food Farming and Feminism • Work level: Medium/Hard • Comments: You’ll be doing a lot of reading in this class: about 5 books on top of regular weekly articles and papers. Many of the readings are really interesting and intellectually challenging although a couple veer into the zone of almost inscrutable. The class covers topics from feminism to neoliberalism to Foucault to capitalism, so it’s definitely worth taking. Grades are based on essays and a take-home final. They’re relatively tough graders on the essays, but you will be given a study guide for the final, which is already take-home, and that should help you out. • ICS 195: Comparative Approaches to Global Issues • Work level: Medium

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• Comments: There is quite a bit of reading & writing in this class that felt overwhelming as a first semester freshman but may feel familiar to upperclassmen. Introduced me to a lot of important writers / thinkers (Frantz Fanon, Immanuel Wallerstein, Marx, Said) that introduced to me - a critical lens on capitalism, ideology, neoliberalism, etc. The course also sharpened the clarity of my writing. My semester also included some tough graders, but I think the professor changes most semesters. The midterm and final exams were straightforward and there is a collaborative final paper toward the end on any topic you’d like. I’m grateful I took it my first semester! GSF 366: Nature, Culture, Gender - Nicole Elizabeth Barnes, History AMES 142: History of Chinese Medicine - Nicole Elizabeth Barnes • Work level: Medium • Format: Reading based discussions, culminating research paper - tedious but extremely rewarding • Comments: Though many a premed comes to this class looking to round out their transcripts in prep for their Western medical training, this class is all about understanding Chinese medicine in its own right and beyond the narrow scope of how it can appropriated to complement Western biomedicine. A non-western-centric look at medicine and “science” as it relates to politics within China + East Asia, with the theme of cultural imperialism consistent throughout. • Barnes is a white lady studying Asia, but truly quite thoughtful and cares SO MUCH about her students and their wellbeing. She starts every class with meditation and is very understanding of personal conflicts. SOCIO 339: Marxism and Society - Michael Hardt • Work level: Easy/Medium • Format: three written exams, for which you’re given study guides to prepare with • Comments: Michael is really nice dude, though he tends to ramble. The class format makes it easy to fall behind on readings but not actually miss that much. He’ll help you establish a theoretical foundation to reference when engaging with related discourse like black liberation or feminism. HIST 202: Gender and Socialism - Anna Krylova • Work level: Easy/Medium, can be quite particular with your writing. Will assign unrealistic amounts of reading without actually holding you accountable for most of it.

• Format: reading based presentations, three 3-5 page papers, take-home final • Comments: Wouldn’t actually recommend this class because it was not well structured enough. But intersection of feminist and marxist thought is something that Hardt isn’t able to touch on too deeply. Professor Recommendations • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Wahneema Lubiano Antonio Viego Claudia Milian Laurie McIntosh Diane Nelson Esther Gabara Charmaine Royal Frances Hasso Mike Dimpfl Omid Safi Reeve Huston Adriane Lentz-Smith Anne Allison Bob Korstad Eli Meyerhoff Bill Chafe Nancy MacLean Gunther Peck Nick Carnes David Malone Charlie Piot Adam Hollowell Thavolia Glymph Thomas Ferraro Tsitsi Jaji Jarvis McInnis Martin Smith Joseph Winters Mark Anthony Neal Jedediah Purdy

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Sandy Darity Eduardo Bonilla-Silva Michael Hardt Jecca Namakkal Jen Ansley Roberto Dainotto Mark Hansen Negar Mottahedeh Anna Krylova Anne-Maria Makhulu Saskia Cornes

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