Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Student activism educates prestigious university members: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."

Duke University is one of the United State's top universities.  Earlier this Spring, Kappa Sigma held an event called "International Relations. A celebration of all cultures and the diversity of Duke."  Some deemed the event to be a racist rager.  What do you think of images associated with the event? 

https://www.google.com/search?q=duke+university+kappa+sigma&rls=com.microsoft:en-us:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7DNUS_en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=R3V_Ua6ZFMnjigKYiIH4Dg&ved=0CG8QsAQ&biw=1280&bih=723

Unfortunately, Duke Greek student organizations are not new to hosting racist events. 

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/duke-racist-rager-141248540.html

Even more unfortunately is that Duke University's administration did nothing to condemn the matter.  This is essentially a message that the university condones or tolerates such behaviors:  "At the moment, we're not aware of any overt violations," Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs, told NBC News. "Acting boorish and foolish is not in and of itself a violation."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/06/16871238-duke-students-rally-against-anti-asian-frat-party

Fortunately, Kappa Sigma's parent organization took the matter seriously. 

http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/07/duke-university-fraternity-suspended-over-asian-themed-racist-rager/

"In a message to Kappa Sigma members nationwide, Christian Nascimento, the fraternity's "worthy grand master," wrote Thursday:


The Kappa Sigma Fraternity is a diverse group of men, with members from all walks of life. We celebrate this diversity, as it is one of the things that makes our Order so strong. The actions taken in association with the event in question are inconsistent with our values. I personally condemn that type of behavior."

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/07/16889249-national-fraternity-suspends-duke-chapter-behind-anti-asian-racist-rager-party?lite

It seems that student activism has turned this into a learning opportunity.  “No longer can the social norms of this university be determined by a small group of people,” senior Ting-Ting Zhou, president of the Asian Students Association, said at the protest. “The dominant definition of ‘fun’ has poisoned this community for the past few years, and we must re-establish fairness and equality on this campus.”


http://www.dukechronicle.com/articles/2013/02/07/duke-student-protestors-demand-apology-action

Others not affiliated with Duke have taken notice of this event as well:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/06/duke-kappa-sigma-party_n_2630598.html
http://blog.angryasianman.com/2013/02/you-were-not-invited-to-kappa-sigmas.html

What do you think?  What might be genuine ways of truly celebrating all the cultures and diversity of Duke?