By Justin Robinette

The International House and Multicultural Center merger has done more than spark debate.  In some students and student groups the issue has unleashed deep-seated anger at an administration seen as unresponsive or un-engaging of student concerns.

This concern arose primarily as a result of what was viewed by the student body this past November as administrative indifference, and decision-making made behind closed doors regarding minority students’ campus resources.

The virtual termination of the Multicultural Center (MCC) by merging it with the International House (I-House) should be a topic for student concern, and as the campus’s Republican Party president, I was approached numerous times with suggestions on how I can best support the administration and speak out about such a necessary budget cut.

After all, we would be Republicans In Name Only (a designation feared by many conservatives these days) if we were not foremost smart-money conservatives with our finances, and unafraid to cut programs that do not work.  But when it comes to minority student resources on campus, such as the Multicultural Center, the notion of cutting funding is particularly delicate.

It appears to me that the administration would be remiss if it cut a resource such as the Multicultural Center.  It must be said that this merger appears to be a termination of the MCC, merely disguised as a merger, and merged with a highly technical and in reality unrelated organization in the International House.  The MCC seems the most logical, when comparing these two groups alone, to cut.  Therefore, it is not unrealistic to assume that a merger with the I-House would leave us not with an I-House/MCC, but with an I-House.

It is not my belief that dire financial circumstances have led the administration to think of ways to cut back in this economic downturn.  Dr. Airall spoke against this as the notion behind it in her forum held on the subject November 16th.

The Duke Endowment as a protective net for the university is certainly dwindling.  DUMAC’s website cites that the endowment has reduced to $4 billion at the December 2008 mark, going in to fiscal year 2009.  This, from around $6 billion earlier in the year, wherein “endowment and investment declines and a projected slowing of other revenue streams, Duke officials are working to close an estimated $125 million budget shortfall over three years.”

But 4 million in our endowment coffers is nothing to scoff at—in fact, if it can be easily liquidated, this should adequately shield my graduating class from any severe downturn if it were to occur, and the same for many more graduating classes down the line.

The endowment may not be doing what it is intended to do—namely, grow exponentially—but it is still there in good form and promising status in case of future emergency.  Building moratoriums established this past year are small assurances that our endowment is entrusted to individuals seeking to maximize its return.

But what will the firing of two high-profile MCC employees, of whom I only hear positive things from cultural student group leaders and minority students on campus alike, bring?  What does the “merger” as a whole seek to accomplish, if not budget cutting?  It does not appear to my young and simplistic accountant’s mind that this merger is an advantageous money-saving technique in the least.

The only other answer to the “why” question, then, must be related to the “Global Cultures Initiative” alluded to by Dr. Airall which appears, at least in my mind, to be a curious idea. The vision for this new “Global Cultures Center,” an umbrella for the newly merged IH and MCC, is designed, The Chronicle reported in November, to “fit more cohesively into the University’s vision of an international education, bringing together domestic students from multicultural backgrounds and international students.”

But, I do not believe this to be very cutting-edge.  The implication that international students and domestic minorities have the same needs, grievances or mission seems not just a little silly.  While I believe organizations that teach differentiation by minority group are unwarranted, especially in a nation which can admiringly boast of an elected black President, our first declaration in favor of such cultural unity should not be that all non-whites are culturally related to all foreign transfer students, both answerable to a single “Global Center.”

At any other time, I would argue that differentiating minorities by group perpetuates the racial profiling and stereotyping they seek, at the same time, to abate, but merging the interests of minorities with internationals is a wrong way of going about such unity as a first step.

For now, it does not appear to me to be a totally ridiculous move to have cultural groups and multicultural centers on campus, and where we can cut back, I propose that we do.  But, I am content in my non-involvement with multicultural centers and yet, with respect enough for their existence, I understand when a needless termination is taking place.

The administration asked for this response when they tried to force out the MCC under students’ noses, and should have expected nothing other than pushback at a place like Duke.

Financial expert Suze Orman, alongside serving her tenure as a longtime idol of my mother, sometimes says some very true things.  At the close of every show, she reminds viewers: “People first, then money, then things.”  As conservatives, we should use our heads and realize which cuts are worth making, and which fights are not worth fighting.