Duke University Center for Race Relations:

A Student-Based Model Program for Intergroup Relations and Campus Life

The Duke Center for Race Relations (CRR), establish in 2004, is a student managed intervention program dedicated to improving the quality of campus life at Duke University. Through a set of dynamic experiential learning processes, participants develop and strengthen their own personal sense of identity, become more culturally competent, and learn how to manage and assess the path of their own personal growth.  Spawned by students in an “Enterprising Leadership” Public Policy course and situated in Duke University’s Center for Multicultural Affairs, the CRR is comprised of one overarching peer training program and four proactive, interrelated diversity units: Dialogues on Race Relations (peer-facilitated discussion groups); Common Ground (experiential immersion retreat);  House Courses (student-taught classes); and Students to Unite Duke (cross-cultural social interaction).

At the heart of the CRR is a student-led, developmental Peer Education Training (PET) program that prepares students for work in the Center’s four major program areas.  All P.E.T. programs consist of three thematic sessions, progressing from self-assessment and self-awareness, to curriculum development and understanding, to practical peer-facilitation skills.  Each skill-based training session is supported by a curriculum that is tailored to fit the unique needs of each program.  The training program itself is grounded in a model that combines a thoughtful human relations curriculum with a series of experiential learning exercises.  PET program co-cordinators are fully trained in both areas.

The cornerstone of the CRR is Common Ground, an experiential-learning immersion retreat held during the fall and spring break periods of each academic year.  The goal of Common Ground is to create a more inclusive campus community by teaching participants how to actively and thoughtfully promote respect and understanding of others within their respective communities.  Seventy-Five Duke students from diverse backgrounds take part in each free four-day leadership retreat designed to expose them to a full-range of human relations topics in workshops led by students and professors.  Developing a strong group bond over the four-day period, participants return to campus inspired and motivated to fully engage in the work of the CRR.

Engaging disparate student communities in dynamic conversations on intergroup relations is the work of the Dialogues on Race Relations (DORR) component of the CRR.  Intragroup dialogues on sensitive and rarely-discussed topics are organized and facilitated throughout the academic year for a wide variety of student organizations and between divergent groups. Building community and enhancing the residential living experience by establishing sustained cross-cultural dialogues in each dorm and/or residential quad area is also a primary focus.  In its innagural year, DORR conducted 70 dialogues for an estimated total of 1,400 participants.

In any given year, as many as seven half-credit, student-taught, faculty-supervised House Courses bring sustained dialogues on race and intercultural relations into the resident halls.  Students from diverse backgrounds interact with each other and with guest faculty in small classroom settings on topics drawn from selected readings and/or multimedia presentations.  Qulified student instructors must have participated in the PET program, and  have either attended Common Ground or completed one of the CRR house courses.

Students to Unite Duke (STUD), the social programming unit of the CRR, is dedicated to making Duke an inclusive campus by challenging existing social barriers.  STUD attempts to accomplish this by providing a comfortable, fun and welcoming social atmosphere for Duke students of all backgrounds.  Former participants of the CRR’s intercultural dialogues come together with fellow students in fun and spirited ways though STUD’s carefully planned social events.

After five years, there are few students on campus who are unaware of the CRR and its work and many who have in some way or another been touched by its extensive reach.