AASP Stands in Solidarity with Biostatistics Students, and Against Entrenched Structural Racism at Duke

The Asian American Studies Program at Duke University stands in solidarity with all students, faculty, and staff who have faced and are continuing to face discrimination based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or place of origin. We deeply regret that Duke has witnessed an increased number of discriminatory incidents including hateful and biased expressions against various minority communities. The latest case in the School of Medicine targeting Chinese international students for speaking their native language in public spaces stands in a long line of similarly discriminatory episodes on our campus. What is especially troubling is that many of these incidents such as the most recent one originated from the top administrative and educational leaders of our university. Some of these cases are a manifestation of underlying ignorance and fear, but they also arise from structural problems with deep historical legacies in the fabric of our institution. As educators, we will harness these unfortunate incidents as teaching moments to move our community forward, into a more just and equal future. We will stand with allied communities and with Duke and community leaders to work actively together toward implementing structural change. We urge the Duke community to come together in dialogue on short- and long-term plans to address these ongoing structural problems and to implement a zero-tolerance policy on discrimination and bias on our campus. 
 

In Solidarity,
Duke Asian American Studies Program

Please join us for a series of events this week as a starting point for ongoing conversations: