Issue date: 4/21/08 Section: Letters
Last update: 4/21/08 at 7:51 AM EST

On April 15, the Duke Chinese Students and Scholars Association published an open letter to the Duke community that attempted to exonerate itself of all culpability with regards to the threatened student. As the organizers of a coalition representing a large segment of the Duke community, we can say that many students are appalled by the way DCSSA has tried to wash their hands of this matter without apologizing or appealing to compassion once.

While it may be correct that the threatened student's information was first posted on DCSSA's mailing list, we have documented evidence that this information was also posted on DCSSA's official site. This has been verified by an independent source-The Chronicle. This is certainly more than enough evidence to warrant an investigation. While the original source of the post may lie within DCSSA's mailing list, it is also important to point out the negligence with which the DCSSA has run their listserv.

Furthermore, the president of DCSSA, Zhizhong Li, was quoted in The Chronicle April 14 as saying he wanted to discuss the issue with the organizations calling to disband DCSSA, but we have not as of yet received even an e-mail from Li, causing us to question if he really intends to discuss the issue or if he just wants to say whatever the organizational interests of the DCSSA mandate. Mr. Li, if you really want to discuss the issue with us, please contact Daniel Cordero to set up a time. The coalition, represented by the signatories below, reiterates its call for an investigation into DCSSA and hopes that the Duke administration will brief us on the investigation's progress before LDOC.


Daniel Cordero, Trinity '09; vice chair, College Republicans

Vikram Srinivasan, Trinity '10; chair, College Republicans

Samuel Tasher, Trinity '09; executive director, College Republicans

David Bitner, Trinity '10; president, Duke Conservative Union

James Deal, Trinity '08; executive director, Duke Conservative Union

Sarah Parker, Trinity '08; president, Students for Academic Freedom

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------