Spring Break
Chinese Trustee carries too much baggage
pro bono publico
By: Kristin Butler and Ed Rickards
Issue date: 9/1/08 Section: Columns
Last update: 9/1/08 at 8:16 AM EST
Last update: 9/1/08 at 8:16 AM EST
|
Straight: the Dean of Undergraduate Men defined his job by declaring "there are two things we cannot have around here: homosexuals and thieves."
White: One Trustee publicly assured parents that their daughters would never sit in a classroom with a Negro. Another stunned the Provost by warning him that even limited integration must not occur, because one drop of ink discolors an entire glass of water. And when Divinity students became the first to ask that Negroes study beside them in Bible classes, they were careful to note that they envisioned blacks eating in a separate room in the Union and living off-campus.
Oh yes, male privilege: the editor of the 44th volume of The Chronicle, free like all male undergraduates to stay out as late as he wanted, was thrown out of school for habitually bringing his girlfriend back to her dorm after the 10:45 p.m. female curfew.
Step by step, slowly over two generations, Duke moved to fulfill its promise as an educational institution where "race, color, religion, national origin, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, sex or age" does not matter.
Two years ago, the Alumni Association elected a gay man as its president and ex officio Trustee. No closet here, Tom Clark '69 stood with his partner of 30 years at official events.
The same year the Trustees elected Dan Blue, Law '73, as their first black officer, a breakthrough which curiously has never been publicized. We found out by badgering the University Secretary.
And now, the self-perpetuating Trustees have selected their first Asian member (who is not a Young Trustee). Xi-Qing Gao of Beijing, China, who held the Richard Nixon Scholarship in the law school and graduated in 1986.
Gao is a ranking official of the authoritarian Chinese regime, the president of the new China Investment Corp. This is a "sovereign wealth fund," controlling some of the $1.7 trillion in surplus that China holds outside its borders.
Ultimately Gao and his staff will select about 50 enterprises around the world for investment; he started by promptly giving a $5 billion cash transfusion to Morgan Stanley, snaring 9.9 percent of the investment bank in return. There was a strong Duke tie in that move: Morgan Stanley's chair is John Mack '68, the Trustee who wielded great power under President Nan Keohane. Its executive vice president and general counsel is Gary Lynch, Law '75, famed at the Securities and Exchange Commission for pursuing Ivan Boesky, Michael Milken and other Wall Street criminals.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 13
dukezy8
posted 9/01/08 @ 1:49 PM EST
Gao actually stand for the students at tiananmen in 1989,though the definition of the movement is still controversial, given the current economic and political development in China, he disappear for a while after the crackdown. (Continued…)
mj24
posted 9/01/08 @ 3:10 PM EST
"...Greater Asian presence in the leadership of Duke is welcome. But at what price?"
...because all Asians are commies? Leadership takes many forms, undergraduate and graduate as well as trustees, administrators, etc. (Continued…)
Repost
posted 9/01/08 @ 5:29 PM EST
I really appreciate Butler's and Rickard's efforts to bring up areas of Duke's activities that the Admin folks and others don't seem to want to discuss. (Continued…)
David
posted 9/01/08 @ 5:40 PM EST
I think a bigger issue about Board appointments is that the Trustees are 95% white while the student body is only 50% white.
Godless Chinese Commie
posted 9/01/08 @ 6:31 PM EST
So Duke is pure good, and the Chinese are pure evil?
Give me a break!
Student
posted 9/01/08 @ 6:50 PM EST
So what you are saying is that gays, blacks, and women in positions of power in the Duke Administration should be praised as an achievement of looking pass homophobia, stereotypical American racism, and sexism, but if we put an Asian-American person in the same position, we should be outraged because they must be a Communist-Agenda pushing spy whose only goal is to convert Duke into a dictatorship and proclaim Chinese power over our University? Right. (Continued…)
Chinese student
posted 9/01/08 @ 9:40 PM EST
Please be advised that Mr. Gao is a Chinese native. He is not Asian-American.
Read his story here,
http://www.law.duke.edu/magazine/2005fall/profiles/prcgaoxiqing. (Continued…)
90s era alum
posted 9/01/08 @ 9:43 PM EST
Ms. Butler has been an exemplary columnist in her expose of the administration and local political corruption in Durham. I respectfully disagree with this column. (Continued…)
Duke Parent
posted 9/01/08 @ 11:20 PM EST
I agree with the way in which President Brodhead has struck the balance on this matter, and I sure am glad that Ed and Kristin are not running Duke.
scott savitt
posted 9/02/08 @ 5:15 AM EST
Butler and Rickards' statement: "Gao... is the president of the new China Investment Corp. This is a 'sovereign wealth fund,' controlling some of the $1. (Continued…)
Post a Comment