This poem by Kimberly Gaubault appears in the Duke Magazine Special Issue 2021, in which all the stories focus on freedom. Gaubault (McCrae) graduated from Duke in 2000 and is an intentional lover of people and advocates for defining one's personal freedom.

Anthem For You

In 2020, as the Black Lives Matter protests gathered strength in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Duke President Vince Price released a statement committing the university to “take transformative action now toward eliminating … systems of racism and inequality.” He listed expected steps: diversity in hiring and admissions, additional aid, salary equity, Juneteenth as a Duke paid holiday. More, he pledged to “incorporate anti-racism into our curricula … across the university.”

One of the first places that led was to UNIV 101: The Invention and Consequences of Race, a new universitywide course addressing the very concept of race, and how it was created and what it has wrought. That 14-week course was the first time Duke had addressed a topic like this in a universitywide course.

When it was time to create the UNIV 101: The Invention and Consequences of Race, professor Kerry Haynie had an issue. The course came about as part of Duke’s antiracism effort, and Haynie’s central concern was simple: “I don’t know what people mean by antiracist,” he said. “I mean, I think I have an idea of what they think they mean.


“But I don’t know how to do that. That is not what I do as an academic.”  

It was a heavy lift. How do you create a course with a goal like that? How do you make sure you're teaching, not proselytizing? It's a complicated issue, so the Devils' Share attended that course to document. How'd it go? Did the students like it? Did they learn things? How'd the professors feel it went? What was it like to create such a course? What worked and what didn't? And, of course, what did everybody learn about race?

So take a listen to "The Race Course," as The Devils' Share documents a university taking steps towards antiracism -- whatever that turns out to mean.

Here's episode 1.

The Race Course: Episode 1, FIrst Steps

Duke's UNIV 101 course, The Invention and Consequences of Race, gathers momentum. We learn about the sociology of race and "immigrant whiteness," and how whiteness isn't a color, it's a social status that can be aspired to. Different groups, for example, both become and stop being white. How whiteness has a lot more to do with politics than skin color. And how the professors and the students feel the class is going, and how they chose to discuss or not discuss things.

Race Course: Episode 2, How to Become White

In 2020, as the Black Lives Matter protests gathered strength in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd, Duke President Vince Price released a statement committing the university to “take transformative action now toward eliminating … systems of racism and inequality.” He listed expected steps: diversity in hiring and admissions, additional aid, salary equity, Juneteenth as a Duke paid holiday. More, he pledged to “incorporate anti-racism into our curricula … across the university.”

One of the first places that led was to UNIV 101: The Invention and Consequences of Race, a new universitywide course addressing the very concept of race, and how it was created and what it has wrought. That 14-week course was the first time Duke had addressed a topic like this in a universitywide course.

When it was time to create the UNIV 101: The Invention and Consequences of Race, professor Kerry Haynie had an issue. The course came about as part of Duke’s antiracism effort, and Haynie’s central concern was simple: “I don’t know what people mean by antiracist,” he said. “I mean, I think I have an idea of what they think they mean.

“But I don’t know how to do that. That is not what I do as an academic.”

It was a heavy lift. How do you create a course with a goal like that? How do you make sure you're teaching, not proselytizing? It's a complicated issue, so the Devils' Share attended that course to document. How'd it go? Did the students like it? Did they learn things? How'd the professors feel it went? What was it like to create such a course? What worked and what didn't? And, of course, what did everybody learn about race?

So take a listen to "The Race Course," as The Devils' Share documents a university taking steps towards antiracism -- whatever that turns out to mean.

The Race Course: Trailer

A special compilation of the trailer and the first two episodes of The Race Course, to support its entry for a CASE Circle of Excellence Award,

The Race Course: Compilation

This month Devils and Details meets with David Ntim, a sophomore studying biomedical engineering and computer science, who was chosen as this year’s Duke Chapel Student Preacher. Ntim speaks with us about faith and hope (and finals). Here’s a link to the entire service where he delivered his sermon. 

To learn about alumni events we meet with Lisa Weistart ’92 to learn about Details of the Devil: The History of Duke’s Mascot, a new documentary about the history of the Duke Blue Devil. The Duke Alumni regional teams have taken the documentary to several regional events and plan to take it to more; Lisa tells us about that, and Ann-Louise Aguiar tells us about upcoming events in Philadelphi and Boston, including one at the Philadelphia Free Library, designed by Julian Abele, who also designed Duke’s West Campus. And David Lindquist ’86, Duke Alumni Association assistant vice president, tells us about an upcoming event in Shanghai.

In our Everybody Comes to Duke segment we visit with Emmy-winning television writer and producer Michael Schur, who visited Duke to discuss his recent book, How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question.

Devils and Details, episode 1

This is part three of a three-part series. In February 1969, African American students at Duke seized the Allen Building, the university's main administration building. A daylong standoff ended with the students leaving the building at the same moment that police in riot gear stormed the building. Police subsequently engaged crowds of students in its main quad, using clubs and tear gas. The protest and its results has left a long shadow at Duke. In 2019 celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the takeover brought original protesters back on campus for panel discussions, storytelling, and reconnection with old friends and places. Using those discussions, interviews, and archival tape, Pivot Point tells the story of the occupation and its aftermath. This is part three of a three-part series.

Pivot Point Part III: Aftermath. The Allen Building Takeover at Duke, Fifty Years Later

A podcast sharing the voices of Duke alumni. Presented by Duke Magazine.

Pivot Point Part III: Aftermath. The Allen Building Takeover at Duke, Fifty Years Later

The Devils' Share: The Podcast of Duke Magazine

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