The letters section in the Duke Chronicle is full today of people reacting to a letter yesterday from one Paul Musselwhite (also on the link, further down: see “Stop segregation? End affirmative action”). Musselwhite was reacting to recent editorials in the Chronicle denouncing various student factions and Duke students in general for self-segregation; i.e., racism. Musselwhite suggests their concern over race consciousness on the part of students ignores “the elephant in the room” ? namely, institutionalized race consciousness on the part of the university via “affirmative action” racial preferences.
So how do the top scholars at Duke react to this letter? With personal attacks, of course. In today’s letters, Duke students reason that Musselwhite:
? is “ignorant” (two out of three letter writers agree)
? has a “veiled desire [that] Duke must accept fewer minority ? specifically black ? applicants” (not so veiled that this intellect didn’t detect it!)
? aims to “wip[e] out any traces of minority presence on this campus”
? is afflicted with “xenophobia”
? has “issues with race, more specifically African Americans”
? is himself responsible for the self-segregation at Duke, because “the tactless expression of opinions such as his have impacted Duke’s racial climate,” and therefore, “in order to avoid contact with individuals who are equally as ignorant and uninformed as Musselwhite, some blacks just choose to align themselves with those like them.”
Duke should be proud!
