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May 1, 2015

Dear Duke Administrators,

The past semester has been excruciatingly difficult for myself, and many other black

students on this campus The macro!aggressi"e and micro!aggressi"e realities of racism and

 pre#udice that characteri$e my daily experience as a student along %ith the countless nationalinstances of "iolence against black bodies throughout the &nited 'tates ha"e left me %ondering

 #ust ho% far our national racial politic has progressed 'ystemic racism dictates that nooses are

still being hung on the (ryan )enter pla$a in the year 2015, and that * must still march, rally, and protest simply to remind the %orld that my life and the li"es of my peers matter

As a result of yet another administrati"e disappointment, my thinking about Duke+s

conclusions on the noose in"estigation o"er the course of today has been characteri$ed by three

distinct sentiments furiousness, disdain for the timing, and di$$iness -hen * initially read The)hronicle+s online headline, an update on the noose incident in"estigation %hich stated that the

Duke administration had concluded that the hanging of the noose .%as caused by a lack of

cultural a%areness and %as not a statement related to racism,/ * %as furious As * began to thinkabout the particular historical context of lynching that frames the hanging of a noose, * %as

reminded that the significance of the act is the same regardless of the responsible student+s

intentionality 'econdly, * began to think about the timing of this announcement and letter asincredibly poor, gi"en %hat is happening in (altimore as "iolence, racism, and systemic

oppression burgeon local and national frustration %ith the current state of America+s

sociopolitical structures around race inally, as * continued to sit %ith and reflect on the

responsible student+s letter and the uni"ersity+s announcement, * became di$$ied 'e"eraladministrators ha"e made promises to students that they %ould %ork to impro"e the culture of

race relations on campus, citing their a"ersion to the .co%ardly act of hatred!!/ the hanging of

the noose Thus, * %as gi"en the impression that administration identified %ith the anger and

frustration of many students about the collecti"e, problematic culture of race relations that isculti"ated on Duke+s campus resident (rodhead, ro"ost ornbluth, and 3ice resident

Moneta, did you change your mind4 Did a student+s proclamation of their cultural incompetencyser"e to render %hat you had pre"iously thought to be a co%ardly act of hatred to be a simple

lapse in #udgement4 urthermore, does your promise to make Duke a more inclusi"e space for

racial and ethnic minorities still hold true4 r does your concern focus, instead, on the potential

damage yet another nationally publici$ed racial catastrophe could ha"e on 6our+ brand4

This administrati"e announcement and this astonishingly lax sanction for a student,%hose apology letter clearly re!articulated his or her lack of understanding for the significance of 

the act, are three additional .slaps/ in the faces of black students and their allies * am profoundly

disappointed in %hat appears to be the uni"ersity+s decision to release an announcementdeclaring that racism %as not in"ol"ed in the hanging of the noose alongside such an ill!

considered, audacious, and problematic .apology/ -ith such a presentation, you may ha"e

delegitimi$ed the claims of our outcries *t may appear that you ha"e actually disregarded black

students+ concerns As it stands, you are setting a precedent that any act of racism or pre#udiceenacted against a minority student at Duke, no matter ho% serious, may be excused as long as

that student+s supposed intention %as rooted in a lack of proper #udgement and not in racism Do

you %ish to re"oke the assessment that you brought forth in the past fe% %eeks!!that the current

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state of race relations at Duke is unacceptable4 7i"en the une8ui"ocal responses released by

other collegiate administrations in response to the racial aggressions they ha"e addressed on their 

campuses, * urge you to reconsider the decision you ha"e made on ho% to punish the actions ofthe student %ho hung the noose and ho% you choose to frame the noose hanging in archi"al

history As a community, %e need you to decide that black li"es matter, and to do so

expeditiously, unreser"edly, and permanently, for %e still cannot breathe

A tired, tired, black student,9enry : -ashington, ;r