Profiles
Faculty : Paula D. McClain | Staff : Phail Wynn | Undergraduate : Osueke/Adams | Graduate/Professional : Jessi Bardill | Alumni/ae : Phil Rubio | Trustee : Janet Hill
Albert Osueke & Ben Adams
Common ground.
That's what students with Duke's Center for Race Relations hope to create on campus by bringing together undergraduates who might otherwise never meet to party, talk and maybe learn to understand each other a little better.
The center organizes weekend immersion retreats, large- and small-group "dialogues" and social events, as well as training its own student facilitators to lead half-credit courses on topics ranging from Latinos in Durham to the popular "Dating and Mating at Duke."
"We're an active agent in facilitating an intermingling that might not happen of its own accord," says Albert Osueke, who served as the center's co-president in 2006-07 and graduated from Duke in December 2007. "We're a catalyst for that process."Key to the center's efforts is Common Ground, a weekend immersion retreat program started five years ago. Based on increasing demand - 140 applications were submitted for 56 spots this fall - the center will offer its first spring retreat in 2008.
In the program, participants from a variety of backgrounds work one on one and in small groups with Duke professors and center facilitators to discuss issues such as race, religion and gender. In the process, Osueke says, amazing bonds can form between "people who probably wouldn't encounter each other on campus - but once they get talking, they realize all they have in common."
The group also works to establish itself as an ally to those who feel marginalized, though it doesn't represent any particular cultural group, says Ben Adams, a 2007 graduate who served as co-president with Osueke. The center's goal: to create a safe, open space for people to discuss sensitive issues.
"We're not going to hold hands all the time and agree, but at least we can let people have their opinions and beliefs out there on table," Adams says.
Many undergraduates come to Duke from predominantly white high schools, and the center's programs offer different ways for them to experience the diversity of cultures on campus, Adams says. By organizing parties for groups that otherwise wouldn't socialize together, for instance, the center aims to built an atmosphere of inclusion and respect.
"We're not trying to force people to interact with each other or to become best friends," Adams says. "But when you get to understand another culture, you can appreciate them more. Social barriers fall by the wayside."Working with the center has taught him to better appreciate the broad spectrum of perspectives represented at Duke, Adams says:
"I don't agree with everything that's said... but I appreciate a difference of opinion. It might not be what I agree with, but it brings so much to the conversation."Most important, both Adams and Osueke agree, is that students learn to see each other as individuals rather than demographics.
"We're all human. We all have commonalities, regardless of our differences. We’re all in this struggle together," Osueke says. "It's all about people and understanding where they come from rather than making a judgment solely by looking at them."
