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Monday, October 17, 2005
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DUKE TO DURHAM: CULTURAL COMPETENCY CUTS BOTH WAYS In a move seen as possibly setting a precedent for universities across the nation, Duke University today mandated cultural competency training for all landlords and neighbors of their students in Durham. “Diversity in this great nation cuts both ways,” explained Duke’s provost in a press conference hastily called this afternoon in response to the latest arrest of a group of undergraduates. “We all know we need to demonstrate the ability to deal with disadvantaged people, and people of different ethnicities, and so forth. But the offspring of America’s affluent represent every bit as legitimate a culture as, say, the Hmong, or the Amish. It’s time for the shopkeepers and homeowners of Durham to demonstrate that they understand the cultural backgrounds and sensitivities of our student population, and to behave accordingly.” To that end, he continued, Duke has decided to mandate two-week summer diversity training sessions for citizens who interact on a regular basis with Duke students. Asked to be more precise about what he had in mind, the provost said: “Well, let me give you some examples. Last September, there was a pool party at some luxury apartments near campus. Police described it as ‘a chaotic scene of profanity and drunkenness.’ Those are words designed to hurt. They stereotype an entire group. Now, as the police rounded up the students, one of the students said, ‘Hey, everyone, as soon as you get out of high school, you can become a Durham police officer.’ The police apparently found this statement offensive. A little sensitivity training will help them understand that in these students’ world, vicious comments directed at people who are not rich are a rite of passage.” To underline how cohesive the culture of the children of the affluent is, the provost cited a strikingly similar case in Cambridge, Massachusetts last year, as reported in the Boston Herald: When police tried to break up the party of 50 people, three residents and a guest allegedly became 'belligerent' and refused to cooperate. ``(Expletive) you,'' Mark D. Lees, 25, of Allston allegedly yelled at the officers. Lees told officers the party was full of Harvard fans celebrating the Crimson's win over Yale and that the officers 'had no idea who they were messing with.'" “’No idea who they were messing with.’ It’s the same culturally-inscribed locutional act, intended to alert people who are not rich to the fact that they are of no account and subject to the retaliatory power of the wealthy. You see it again and again in this cohort, and you need to be ready for it.” Very much not ready for it was one resident of Durham, about whom the provost complained sharply. “Here’s someone knowingly living next door to a group of our students, people whose money, and whose parents’ influence, make them virtually untouchable by a woman like her. Yet foolishly, during a party at their house, she confronted them.” He quoted from a newspaper account: "I was like, 'Hey, why are you throwing trash in my yard? Pick it up,'" [the woman] said. "They were very belligerent. A lot of the guys were yelling at me, saying I had gotten them kicked out of their house last year. I don't know if that's why they were peeing on my house, but it wasn't me who got them kicked out. I've only been here a year." “This woman got so many things wrong in her attempt to interact competently with our students that I don’t know where to begin,” the provost remarked. “Let’s just say that she’s already been enrolled in our inaugural summer session.” ********** UPDATE: Very proud to say that this post has been picked up by the editors of the latest Carnival of Education. |