“To any present member of this community, it's almost inconceivable that Duke ever could have maintained a policy of racial exclusion. The school we see around us is so manifestly and exuberantly diverse, and the interaction of talent from all backgrounds is so clearly the precondition for the stimulation we experience here every day, that it's hard to fathom that Duke ever could have been otherwise, let alone that it could have been wished otherwise... From that day to this, this university has had a commitment to making Duke a place of access, opportunity and mutual respect for all.”​

President Richard Brodhead, 2012

 

On March 8, 1961, the Duke University Board of Trustees voted to desegregate the graduate and professional schools, taking a historic step towards the university becoming what it is today. And in August of 1963, the first five black undergraduate students—Mary Mitchell Harris, Gene Kendall, Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke, Cassandra Smith Rush, and Nathaniel White, Jr.—began their undergraduate careers at Duke. Despite being admitted, the first black students at Duke encountered a university that was still in the throes of racism and segregation, and they had to struggle in order to earn their degrees with the same sense of dignity and respect given to all students.

 

In the life of our university, integration was a historic moment that brought Duke forward into the national spotlight and allowed us to become the internationally prominent research university that we are today. Through choosing to give African American students access to a Duke education, the Board of Trustees and the university took a significant and unforgettable step towards achieving our mission of promoting, “a deep appreciation for the range of human difference and potential.”

 

As we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Duke’s integration this past year, we were jubilant in our commemoration of the first five black undergraduates. In hindsight, it has become so obvious to us that the decision to desegregate our university was a judicious and prescient decision to make, despite the difficulty with which it was made at the time. As President Brodhead put it in his 2012 Faculty Address, it is “inconceivable” to many of us today that Duke could have ever maintained a policy that systematically denied educational access to a group of marginalized people.

 

While the 50th anniversary was a time for exuberance and laudation, it also calls upon us to critically reflect on our university’s future and to think imaginatively about how we can recommit ourselves to “making Duke a place of access, opportunity and mutual respect for all.” As a university, who do we continue to exclude from our local community? Who do we deny the opportunity to realistically achieve higher education? Who do we deem “unfit” to walk these hallowed halls?

 

Over the past year, a new answer to these questions has begun to emerge: by and large, Duke continues to exclude undocumented students. While we may have a handful of undocumented students currently in attendance, Duke has remained reticent to publicly and unequivocally state that undocumented students are welcome on our campus. Furthermore, by treating undocumented students as international applicants for the purposes of financial aid, Duke effectively denies undocumented students the opportunity to attend by admitting undocumented students only on a need-aware basis. While the same standard is applied to international students, international students are at least afforded the opportunity to attend universities in their country of origin. For undocumented students, most of whom do not have access to universities in their country of origin, exclusion from higher education is absolute. Through Duke’s refusal to openly admit undocumented students, we are complicit in a structure that systematically denies undocumented students access to higher education.

 

Perhaps more importantly, concern for undocumented students is nothing new to Duke. In 2010, President Brodhead authored an open letter to US Senator Kay Hagan urging her to support the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act. In his letter, Brodhead stated that undocumented students face “unique barriers that are not of their doing. Many were brought to this country as infants and only realized the extent of the limitations on their education and employment opportunities once they arrived at the collegiate level. It is evident that passing the DREAM Act is a step in the right direction to help these students over this barrier. It is good policy, and simply put, it is the right thing to do.” Nearly four years later, Congress has made very few moves towards improved immigration policy or relief for undocumented students. Given congressional inaction, the onus for action now falls on Duke. We must change our policy towards undocumented students because, simply put, it is the right thing to do.

 

Accordingly, it is in the spirit of the 50th Anniversary of black students at Duke that we present this proposal for consideration by the University and by the Board of Trustees. Furthermore, we urge the University to learn from Duke’s experience with integration. During the 1960s, Duke was one of the last universities in the country to integrate its campus. In many ways, we lacked the moral leadership to open our doors to an increasingly diverse and equal world. It is our hope that Duke will not make the same mistake twice; rather, through providing undocumented students equal consideration in admissions and unfettered access to a Duke education, we will be able to stand firmly on the right side of history.