Ibrahim Butt 

he/him 
Class of 2020 
 
Q1: Why would you like to serve as Young Trustee? (400 words or less) 
 
As an international student from the United Kingdom, I had never heard of Duke until a few months before the 
deadline to apply. Being born to first-generation immigrant parents, education has fore-mostly been seen as a 
means of economic and social mobility. I grew up in a town with the highest rate of poverty in the UK, making 
Duke feel like the complete opposite of the places and spaces where I spent the first 18 years of my life. Applying 
to Duke as a first-generation low-income student, as well as an international student, was difficult enough, but 
holding this identity at Duke has been the real test. While there have been incredible highs and lows during my 
time at Duke, I am eternally grateful that I have had the opportunity to learn and grow at this university.  
Within this passion and dedication to Duke, is the reason why I would jump at the opportunity to serve as the 
next Young Trustee. The role allows one student to serve as a steward of our university, helping to set the 
strategic direction of our university and shape actions that impact thousands of people. Duke is one of the 
largest employers in North Carolina and its alumni reach extends across the world. The academic, financial and 
organizational decisions made by the Board of Trustees impact all of our stakeholders and I would like to serve 
as Young Trustee to ensure that when decisions are being made, we are always thinking about the human cost of 
our actions. Serving on the Board of Trustees requires strength, experience and the desire to enact change. The 
possibility of inspiring change and ensuring Duke always strives for excellence is a fundamental part of why I 
would like to serve as Young Trustee.  
Our university has an intense capacity for good. I have never been surrounded by as many people who 
are intent on using their education and skill set to enact positive change in the world. The Young Trustee 
ensures that this same optimism is translated into decisions that the Board of Trustees makes. I will be 
unrelenting in my desire to ensure that I serve as an effective and prepared fiduciary of the university but also 
one that is committed to improving Duke so it will continue to be a home for all who are associated with it.  
 
Q2: What attributes and qualities make for an effective member of the Board of Trustees? Additionally, what 
makes for an effective Young Trustee operating in a formal boardroom setting? (300 words or less) 
 
A crucial skill of a young Trustee is the ability to take initiative and work resourcefully to achieve goals that you 
believe are beneficial to the strategic mission of the university. Taking initiative is an important 
self-management skill that ensures you are a present and active individual in Board meetings, but also that you 
recognize potential problems that are missing from the discussion and have the confidence to put them on the 
agenda. As a member of the Undergraduate Education Committee, I have a variety of responsibilities such as 
scheduling calls with the Chair, digesting hundreds of pages of documents and recommending additional 
agenda items and perspectives that the Board should consider. Having to manage this responsibility alongside 
my academic and co-curricular interests has allowed me to effectively prepare for meetings and ensure that I am 
an active and informed member of the Board. 
One key quality that an effective Board member requires is to have a strong passion for the goals and 
actions of the university, but the ability to remain objective and critical when the university does not meet the 
needs of its various stakeholders. In my three years, I have remained committed to improving Duke and I have 
taken this same mantra with me to the Undergraduate Education Committee where I have raised concerns 
regarding our handling of a wide variety of issues from the wellbeing resources available for minority 
communities to the potential restructuring of housing and residence life on West Campus. An effective Young 
Trustee is one who can preemptively see the problems that our university may face in the future and diligently 
works towards creating effective solutions that are for the betterment of all stakeholders.  
 
Q3: To which communities do you belong, and what have you learned from your experiences? How have you 
expanded beyond these communities to gain a broad perspective on campus life? (500 words or less) 
 
One of my most important involvements at Duke has been acting as a leader and advocate for the 
low-income/first-generation (LIFE) community. I have been able to represent the 1G/LI community as the 
Chair of Internal Logistics for the inaugural Duke LIFE conference and have followed this up by serving as the 
co-President of Duke LIFE. As co-President, I have been plugged into numerous difficult conversations 
regarding equal access to all of Duke's opportunities for all students regardless of financial need. From 
conversations on reducing barriers associated with the initial cost of applying to Duke, to ensuring that students 
on financial aid have appropriate provisions in place for needs such as healthcare and study abroad, being 
co-President has allowed me to learn about the various costs associated with being a Duke student. In particular, 
it has shown me that even across the 1G/LI community, the intersection of other identities such as race, gender 
and nationality status impact how each and every Duke student is able to thrive at our university. The role has 
expanded beyond being simply a co-President of an organization, but has meant creating partnerships with 
other student groups such as BSA, Mi Gente & NAACP, advocating for increased services such as space on 
campus for 1G/LI students, and even representing the often overlooked 1G/LI concerns on the Duke Board of 
Trustees Undergraduate Education Committee. 
 
At Duke, I have also been an active member of the Community Empowerment Fund, an organization 
dedicated to uplifting low income Durham residents as they strive towards employment, housing and financial 
freedom. I have served as an advocate for CEF for three years and have had the privilege of coaching a diverse 
body of Durham residents. Service has been an integral part of my Duke experience and from it I have gained a 
comprehensive perspective on the issues impacting our Durham community. I have accompanied my service 
work at CEF with volunteering at the Duke-Durham school days where over 150 high school students have the 
opportunity to experience Duke for a day and have also served on the Executive Board of the Duke Partnership 
in Service (DPS). Serving on the Executive Board of DPS allowed me to witness the myriad of issues that Duke 
students are committed to improving and allowed me to help create further opportunities for our students to 
use their education for the betterment of society. Serving with CEF has given me an insight into the issues that 
are facing our home of Durham, and how we as a community are complicit in the marginalization and exclusion 
of members of the Durham community. Being able to have a comprehensive perspective on the various service 
opportunities available at Duke has allowed me to engage with an incredible amount of Duke stakeholders who 
have diverse thoughts on how our university can improve and ensure everyone is reaping the rewards from our 
university's successes. 
 
 
Q4: Provide one decision made by the administration or the board that you felt was in the best interest of Duke 
University and one that was not. Explain why you feel this way for both responses. (750 words or less) 
 
One decision the administration made that was not in the interests of the university was the establishment of 
Duke Kunshan as an undergraduate degree conferring campus. For reasons including the financial cost, the 
stretching of human resources, and the external threats placed on centers of higher education in China, the 
establishment of DKU within Duke University’s current state of operations was not the most effective use of 
resources and capabilities.  
Establishing an undergraduate curriculum at DKU was a unique step that reflects Duke’s global reach and its 
desire to be a leader in international higher education. Duke is one of the first universities to create an 
undergraduate campus in China, and many universities now look at the Chinese-USA Higher Education model 
set up by Duke as a successful way of engaging in the burgeoning higher education market in China. While I 
firmly agree with the need to increase Duke’s global reputation and engage in higher education abroad, the 
inception of Duke Kunshan has been rushed and has the potential to cause disruption to the learning 
environments on both campuses. DKU constrains Duke’s human, capital and academic resources at a time 
when the university aims to improve these.  
There will always be constraints to Duke’s capacity as an institution. We have already witnessed the crowding 
of West Campus with the closing of Central, and the continuous pressures placed on academic class enrolment. 
While these day-to-day issues can be resolved with thorough planning, Duke is not prepared for the arrival of 
DKU students next year. DKU students pursue different majors than their Duke counterparts and many 
Directors of Undergraduate Studies for various majors have expressed concern about their ability to adjust to 
the new academic standard required of them. Additionally, we face an increasing housing shortage at Duke and 
DKU students will face a remarkably different residential community and co-curricular opportunities. I have 
learned from administrators responsible for DKU students transition to Duke that there has been a lack of 
formal preparation for these students arrival with many Duke students unaware that in a semester they will be 
joined by their DKU peers.  
Rushing into the creation of Duke Kunshan has left our university unprepared for the challenges that will 
come. While there are concrete logistical issues with DKU students arriving at Duke, there are also issues with 
DKU now serving as an undergraduate center of learning. Academic freedom in China is increasingly under 
threat. By signing a co-operative agreement with the Chinese government, Duke has established a formal 
relationship with a government that continuously threatens some of the core values we hold deeply as an 
institution.  
One decision that the Board of Trustees did that was in the best interest of the university, was the removal of 
the Robert E. Lee statue from the steps of Duke Chapel. As part of the national conversation on how to 
memorialize aspects of shared history, Duke has had to face some difficult decisions about who we give space 
and recognition to. The statue entered the spotlight in 2017, when it was vandalized and the university had to 
decide whether it should remain at the entrance of one of our most iconic campus buildings or should be 
removed. President Price, in his first few weeks, in conversation with the Board of Trustees, took decisive action 
to remove the statue from Duke Chapel. He also created a set of programming that investigated our universities 
relationship with our troubled history and increased student awareness of Duke’s institutional history through 
exhibitions and forums. Part of this programming also included creating a Committee on Institutional History, 
where students and faculty investigate how Duke can re-evaluate its relationship with its fraught institutional 
history and recommend concrete changes that will hopefully be evaluated by the Board of Trustees and 
President Price. Serving on the Board of Trustees requires the ability to synthesize varying perspectives on one 
issue and reach a consensus on what is the best decision that serves the future interests of our university. The 
Board, alongside President Price, recognized that this was a symbolic time in Duke’s history where we are able to 
effectively confront the problems of our past and create new opportunities for learning and engagement. 
Serving as a Young Trustee, I will ensure that these conversations on how we as a university consider our past 
history does not end here and while remaining cognizant of our own mistakes, we create new programs and 
structures that address what our university should look like in the future.  
 
Q5: Over the next five years, what do you envision will be significant issues discussed by the Board of Trustees 
and why? (500 words or less) 
 
 
Going into the new decade, Duke faces incredible challenges on numerous fronts. One of these challenges 
remains the need to reaffirm our commitment to our neighbors in Durham by ensuring that we uplift the needs 
and concerns of Durham residents. Duke’s relationship with Durham has been in tatters over the past few years, 
with decisions such as the Light Rail causing schisms between the Duke & Durham community. Duke’s 
foremost priority should be to repair this relationship with Durham and seek out opportunities through 
Stelfanie Williams, VP of Durham Affairs, to create new partnerships with the Durham community in areas 
such as affordable housing, K-12 & workforce education, and economic development in the Durham/RTP 
area. Duke’s success as an institution is reliant on Durham being a more innovative, equitable and 
forward-thinking city. Our past actions have actively broken the trust between Duke & Durham. During my 
time at Duke, I have served as an advocate for Community Empowerment Fund and have seen first hand the 
displacement and suffering that our universities actions both indirectly and directly can have. Serving as a 
Young Trustee means acknowledging the role that universities have in wider society and with my past 
involvement in the Durham community, I am in a great position to help spearhead this much needed 
conversation on how to improve our partnerships with the Durham community.  
Another critical issue over the next 5 years will be the financial solvency of the university and in particular the 
intense pressures being placed on financial aid. Central to Duke’s mission of providing educational excellence is 
its emphasis on being a “need blind,” institution, allowing all students regardless of their financial background 
an equal shot of attending our university. As an international student whose admission is “need aware,” I 
understand the inequality that comes with having your admissions decision weighed up against your 
international counterparts who potentially have a better shot of admission by virtue of their greater financial 
resources. Duke must not lose sight of the fact that it should diversify the socio-economic status of its students. 
Our reserves for awarding financial aid are nowhere near the amount they need to be to give every student who 
needs support an adequate financial package. With an increasing trend among peer institutions to expand 
financial aid access for international students and provide increased coverage, Duke will ultimately struggle to 
find the money to commit to its financial aid costs. The Trustees will be responsible for creating bold and 
innovative solutions to the financial aid gap however, Duke’s previous attempts of cost-cutting which 
threatened student healthcare were rightfully categorized as elitist as they punished low/middle income 
students. My day-to-day experiences at Duke have been impacted by the Boards policies on financial aid and as 
Young Trustee, I will be able to provide a unique personal perspective on how the increasing threats to financial 
aid adversely impact and limit who can access the incredible opportunities we have at Duke.