The ad, written and paid for by bestselling author David Horowitz, listed "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Slavery is a Bad Idea -- and Racist Too."
The Chronicle, a newspaper independent of the university but run by students, published the ad on Monday and followed it two days later with two articles written by Duke President Nannerl Keohane and The Chronicle editor Greg Pessin stating why the ad should prompt an "intellectual interchange" on campus.
More than 100 students packed a lounge for an opportunity to air complaints to The Chronicle staff and campus administrators regarding Horowitz's ad.
"The most valuable thing is that we're having real, constructive dialogue," Duke student Polentzi Narvarte said. "But I can't be thankful to racists who say stupid things."
"We need to keep in mind that racism doesn't just come from whites to blacks," English major Peju Okanlami said. "I've been around black friends who are equally racists against whites. This is a full circle argument."
But Shanal Smothers, an engineering student, said that "through many words and pretty phrases, (Keohane) told me the education of many is worth the pain of few."
There were many suggestions on how to protest the ad and the newspaper, but after a few hours, the students still had no clear plan of action. "We can't be angry black students with no purpose," said freshman Ben Pennington, aiming to push the protesters toward a resolution.
"It's sad that not only do people not listen, they're telling us our feelings aren't valid," said religion major Natia Speach. "It's important that we don't become complacent and stagnant."
Keohane brought up the question of whether the protesters could use moral persuasion to bring about an apology from the paper and a change in its advertising decisions. Pessin said ads are evaluated on a case-by-case basis and the main criteria for evaluation is whether they "present libelist accusations."
