We, concerned black students at Duke University, are calling out the university

administration, Duke Student Affairs, and all students on this campus for their
willful ignorance and complicity in the annual abuse of black students on this
campus. National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC) organizations at Duke have had
a long history of using mental, physical, and emotional abuse as part of their
pledging processes. Not only is this abuse illegal, it infringes on prohibitions on
hazing set to protect all students at this university and contradicts everything
we hold dear as an institution.

In the past, the abuse black students have undergone has been a badly kept
secret within our community. It is spoken in hushed tones to maintain the high-
esteem in which these organizations are held not only at this campus but
nationally. Most of these organizations were founded at the beginning of the 20th
century, at a time when black men and women were excluded from many
academic and professional spaces. These organizations and their members have
been critical to the efforts around desegregation, integration, inclusion, and have
promoted the narratives of black excellence, that have benefitted us all. Whilst
their contributions have been invaluable, the existence of these organizations on
this campus should not come at the expense of black students health and
wellbeing.

We encourage other students, staff, faculty, and administration to condemn the

recruitment tactics of these organizations. This response has been long overdue
and the university has consistently brushed these issues under the rug and we
feel that it is necessary to say that black lives are not expendable.

We are also conscious of the fact that Pan Hellenic and IFC organizations are
just as complicit in hazing, but the abuse black students endure is often ignored,
and therefore must be called out specifically.

We, concerned black students at Duke University, are shining a light on the
physical, mental, and emotional abuse of these pledging practices. What we have
previously excused as secrecy we are now calling lethal silence, and what we
continue to call hazing, we are now calling violence. Our peers are suffering. Our
community is suffering. Our university is suffering and we are all complicit.

If action is not taken, we are prepared to bring forth specific information on the
practices of these organizations and the methods in which the university
attempts to cover it up. We urge the Duke Administration to further investigate
this matter seriously and intentionally. We ask them to sanction chapters that
defer to these violent methods of initiation.

As a reference: Level I violations of hazing include marching in a line, periods of

silence, standing for a length of time, and personal servitude. Level II violations
of hazing include restrictions on eating, acts that disrupt academic instruction or
the learning of others, and interruption or interference of academic
commitments. Level III violations include paddling in any form. The universitys
Hazing Hotline is 919-684-5766.