Racism at Duke?

To the Editors of The Crimson:

It is a shame that John Larew was disappointed by his visit to my alma mater, Duke University--if he was indeed disappointed. He apparently had hoped that the addition of hundreds of bright youngsters from New York and the rest of the Northeast would provide a pocket of tolerance in the "cultural desert of central North Carolina." Instead, he found white and Black students not living together or associating much with each other, and heard some bigoted remarks from members of (evidently only one) fraternity. The outraged Mr. Larew then wrote an article in The Crimson explaining why he is glad he chose to attend Harvard, where "intolerance is intolerable," rather than Duke, where it is "encouraged."

So Harvard good, Duke bad. Is that fair? Let's suppose that I, having only been at Harvard a few days, walked into a common room of one of these university's grand houses and overheard some male students referring to a woman as a girl, or making racial slurs, or even claiming that another region of the country has no culture. (I think we can all agree that this is not an inconceivable scenario.) Let's further suppose that I already knew some things about Harvard--say, that this University still has money invested in South Africa, while Duke divested back in 1986. Would I be justified in sending to the Duke Chronicle a screed on what an intolerable place Harvard is?

No, I would not. Because in doing, so I would be displaying prejudice--that is, a premature judgment. I have in fact been at Harvard seven months, and still wouldn't presume to write a piece for publication on tolerance here.

Duke certainly has enormous problems with racism and sexism. Perhaps reforming the housing system, which allows students freedom in deciding with whom they will live, would help. But, as Mr. Larew himself implies, surely segregation causes bigotry by fostering ignorance. Ironically, Mr. Larew has done what college students all over the country do all the time: he has made a judgment based on ignorance. In so doing, he and The Crimson, despite his protestations to the contrary, have tarred Duke University. This may be common and expedient journalism, but it's bad journalism. John Owen (Duke '85)