EDllORrnThomas FlemingrnMANAGING EDITORrnTheodore PappasrnSENIOR EDITOR, BOOKSrnChilton Williamson, jr.rnASSISTANT EDITORrnChristine I lay nesrnART DIRECTORrnAnna Mycek-WodeckirnCONTRIBUTING EDIl ORSrnJohn W. Aldndge, Harold O.J.rnBrown, Katherine Dalton, SamuelrnFrancis, Ceorge Garrett,rnE. Christian Kopff, Clyde WilsonrnCORRESPONDING EDITORSrn]anet Scott Barlow, Bill Kauffman,rn]ohn Shelton Reed, Momcilo Selic,rnDavid R. SlavittrnEDITORIAL SECRETARYrnLeann DobbsrnPUBLISHERrnAllan C. CarlsonrnPUBLICATION DIRECTORrnGuy C. ReffettrnCOMPOSITION MANAGERrnAnita FedorarnGIRGLILATION MANAGERrnRochelle FrankrnA publication of The Ruckford Institute.rnEditorial and Advertising Offices:rn9^4 North Main Street, Rockford, IL 61103.rnEditorial Phone: (815)964-5054.rnAdvertising Phone: (815) 964-5811.rnSubscription Department; P.O. Box 800,rnMount Morris, IL 61054. Gall 1-800-877-5459.rnFor information on advcrti.sing in Chronicles,rnplease call Rochelle Frank at (815) 964-5811.rnU.S.A. Newsstand Distribution bv Eastern NewsrnDistributors, Inc., 1 BO Cleveland Road,rnSandu.skv,OII 44870.rnCopyright © 1994 by The Rockford Institute.rnAll rights reserved.rnChmmcles (ISSN 0887-5731) is publishedrnmonthly for S28 per year by The RockfordrnInstitute, 934 North Main Street, Rockford,rnIL 61103-7061. Second-class postage paidrnat Rockford, IL and additional mailing ofhces.rnPOSTMASTER: Send address changes tornChronicles, P.O. Box 800, Mount Morris,rnIL 61054.rnThe views expressed in Chronicles are thernauthors’ alone and do not necessarily reflectrnthe V lews of The Rockford Institute or of itsrndirectors. Unsolicited manuscripts cannot bernreturned unless accompanied by a self-addressedrnstamped envelope.rnChroniclesrnVol. 18. ND, 2 Fcbmarv 199-4rnI’rintca 111 tlif United Shiles ot AiiienuirnCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSrnT H E BOY C H O I R of Duke Universityrnhas been done away with, apparentlyrnat the behest of one of the campusrnministers, a woman who had never evenrnattended any of the service.s at whichrnthe choir performed but who complainedrnthat the group was one of thern”subtle and not so subtle vestiges of malernprivilege” that she has a vocation to extirpate.rnIt is refreshing to sec a moderndayrncleric promoting orthodoxy of anyrnsort, but some of us could suggest morernobvious places to start a heresv hunt.rnDuke University is in Durham, NorthrnCarolina, a funky old New South townrnwhose chief contributions to Americanrnlife probably lie in the areas of piedmontrnblues music and the mass production ofrncigarettes. Like any Southern town thatrnhas been around for a while, Durhamrnhas its odd features. A writer for thernCharlotte Observer reported recently, forrninstance, that four of the seven Americansrnknown to have swallowed theirrntoothbrushes were from the Bull Citv.rnEven odder than that, in some wavs, isrnthe fact that this wholesome blue-collarrntown is home to Duke. Yet there it lies,rnits mock-Gothic campus nestled incongruouslvrnamong the abandoned cigaretternfactories and the Carolina pines, an institutionrnonce best known for basketball,rnthe rice diet, psychic research, and turningrndown the papers of its most distinguishedrnalumnus, Richard M. Nixon. Arnwhile back a physician named H.L. Newboldrnspeculated in the British journalrnMedical Hypotheses that tobacco baronrnJames Duke founded the place becausernof neurological damage and depressionrnresulting from pernicious anemia—andrnthat certainly does explain a lot.rnNow if someone could just explainrnthe peculiar behavior of some of Duke’srnliterature professors. As you’ve probablyrnseen, their high jinks have been gettingrna lot of bad press lately from DineshrnD’Souza and his friends.rnI often find inyself defending thernplace. After all, mv wife, her brothers,rniny godson, and several of my cousinsrnare Duke graduates, my uncle taughtrnthere for many years, and several of inyrnfriends still do. So I always try to pointrnout that Duke is not only a trendinistarnstronghold but also something of a bastionrnof the counterrevolution, the homernof some fine reactionarv scholars andrnpublications, and the only campus inrnthe country with its own chapter of thernNational Association of Scholars. It isrnnot beyond salvation.rnLook, I yield to no one in my concernrnfor women’s rights. I care a whole lotrnmore about my daughter’s opportunitiesrnthan about the prerogatives of therncouple of billion earthlings who happenrnto be male, most of whom I do not evenrnknow. But this assault on the boy choirrnis just silly.rnSoine splendid music has been writtenrnfor women’s voices, and no onernwould complain if Duke nurtured a girls’rnchoir of distinction equal to that ofrnits now-late boy choir. But it’s simply arnfact that the unchanged voices of bovsrnsound different from those of gids, or ofrna mixed-sex choir, and many masterworksrnof church music were composed for preciselyrnthat sound. Moreoer, the Dukernchapel may well be the only space betweenrnWashington and Atlanta truly suitedrnfor the performance of such music: itrnis the nearest thing this wodd offers to arnMethodist cathedral, from the Duke family’srnheroic tombs to sculpted images byrnthe doorway, including those of JohnrnWesley, Savonarola, and Robert E. Lee.rnChoral evensong is one of the gloriesrnof the English university tradition thatrnDuke apes in a great inany less attractivernways. But a boy choir by definition is notrn”inclusive,” so it has to go. If nothingrnelse, this bizarre decision reveals the hollownessrnof the “diversity” scam, whichrncelebrates the alleged contributions ofrnahnost every imaginable culture, nornmatter how squalid or insignificant, exceptrnthe historic European one that gavernus, among other things, Duke University.rn”Within the context of Duke Universityrnand its goals, values, and mission,”rnthe dean of the chapel says, havingrna choir open only to boys is “unfair.”rnBull puckv. Last I heard, the Dukernbasketball team was still all-male. YournDukies want to get serious?rn—]ohn Shelton ReedrnJACK KEMP, an unemployed bureaucratrnwho’s never run so much as a lemonadernstand, recently started an expensivernnewsletter to tell other people how to runrntheir businesses. “Let’s Make AmericarnProsper Again . . . Starting With YOU!”rnhe says in a flyer for his jack Kemp’s AmericanrnEntrepreneur. Send just $45 andrn4/CHRONICLESrnrnrn