THE PLAZA: SPECIAL EDITION
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Yet Duke was not the most inviting campus. At the time of the students’ enrollment, the University had no black faculty, administrators or trustees, and the students came to find segregated bathrooms and designated “colored” signs throughout campus. “We did not expect violence, but we were confronted,” Reuben-Cooke says. Despite coming from a segregated school system, Reuben-Cooke asserts that she did not feel out of place in an academic setting with white students. She noted that her high school had an integrated faculty and that she had taken a class in New York in which she was the only black student. At Duke, she recognized that she and the other black undergraduates would likely be the first blacks—or “negroes,” as she notes was the term used at the time— that many of her fellow students would interact with on a peer level. “I grew a lot at Duke. I was engaged in many activities, met people and was involved in campus life,” ReubenCooke reflects. “I did not just sit around in my room.” Her many activities included the
16 | TOWERVIEW
Young Women’s Christian Association and the then-named Freshman Advisory Council, which she would later lead. She believes that the structure of the Woman’s College was probably more supportive of its students since the dormitory system meant that female students usually lived in the same dorm all four years, thereby fostering a strong community. Reuben-Cooke went on to be elected May Queen, which required that she receive the most write-in votes of any female student in her class. Back on campus at events like the recent Career Conference, Reuben-Cooke has been active in observing her alma mater commemorate a half-century of integration—in many ways marking her arrival at Duke. She says that her opinion of the celebration depends on the motives of the University. “If it is simply to say we opened our doors, then that’s not much,” she remarks.
Duke should use this opportunity to examine what it means to be inclusive and to look at how the University has grown from diversity, she says. “Because of [Duke’s] Southern roots, it cannot escape discrimination,” she notes. “But the expectation is that Duke confronts these problems.” Reuben-Cooke, who went on to serve two terms as a member of the Board of Trustees, says that continued controversies concerning race do not faze her, but are indications that the University has room for progress. “It’s a sign that there is still work to be done in making Duke a community for all,” she comments. Her advice to all students, including students of color, is simple yet profound: “Claim the University as your own: You belong here and make the most of it. Build networks. See Duke as an opportunity to build yourselves and to serve others.” n