Photo of Student in Blackface Appeared on Duke’s Athletics Department Official Website

A white student on the women’s lacrosse team at Duke University wore blackface to a team party. Photos of the students in blackface were posted on the official athletic department webpage of the university.

The party was held at the house of the team’s coach. Students were told to dress up as characters from “The Little Rascals.” One dressed up as Buckwheat and painted her face black.

The photograph was removed from the website and an apology was issued by the team’s coach which read, “Some of our costume choices were insensitive and entirely inappropriate. No offense was intended, but that does not matter because we should have realized how these choices would be viewed by those outside of our program. We should have been much more sensitive to the implications of our actions.”

Related Articles

1 COMMENT

  1. Sounds like you need to educate everyone on race, class and gender! Get with the program Duke. There is no excuse for stupidity and ignorance.

Leave a Reply

Get the JBHE Weekly Bulletin

Receive our weekly email newsletter delivered to your inbox

Latest News

Higher Education Gifts or Grants of Interest to African Americans

Here is this week’s news of grants or gifts to historically Black colleges and universities or for programs of particular interest to African Americans in higher education.

University at Buffalo Acquires Archival Collection From Historic Black Church

Founded in 1861, St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Buffalo, New York, is one of the country's oldest Black Episcopal congregations. Recently, the University at Buffalo has acquired a collection of materials documenting the church's history and impact on the Black community in Buffalo.

In Memoriam: Clifton Wharton, Jr., 1926-2024

Dr. Wharton was the first Black president of Michigan State University, the first Black chancellor of the State University of New York, and the first Black CEO of a Fortune 500 company.

Huge Surge in American Students Studying Abroad in Sub-Saharan Africa

According to the latest Open Doors report from the Institute on International Education, there were 9,163 Americans studying in sub-Saharan Africa in the 2022-23 academic year, up 98.6 percent from the previous year. Nearly 39 percent of these students attended universities in the Republic of South Africa.

Featured Jobs