The Chronicle T h e i n d e p e n d e n t d a i ly at D u k e U n i v e r s i t y
friday, october 29, 2010
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 45
www.dukechronicle.com
Early votes Nat’l Poet Merwin gives reading ‘alarmingly’ low for Duke by Julia Love THE CHRONICLE
by Ciaran O’Connor THE CHRONICLE
This year’s election season has so far proven a stark contrast to that of 2008, when masses of Dukies turned to the polls as part of an unprecedented youth turnout that propelled President Barack Obama to a narrow victory in North Carolina. With just five days until Election Day, less than 1 percent of Duke students have cast their ballots for the N.C. midterm elections, compared with a 91 percent Duke voter turnout two years ago, said Gunther Peck, Fred W. Shaffer associate professor of history and public policy. Early polls have been open since Oct. 14. As of Thursday, the Durham Board of Elections had counted just 68 votes cast by Duke students that live on campus, 40 of whom live on Central Campus. The board’s director, Mike Ashe, said just nine East Campus voters and 17 West Campus voters took to the polls, but noted that the statistics could be slightly depressed because they do not include those students that register and vote on the same day. Although it is normal for voter turnout to be lower in a midterm election than in a presidential one, Peck said the numbers See voting on page 6
chelsea pieroni/The Chronicle
National Poet Laureate W.S. Merwin, William Blackburn Visiting Poet, read from his works to a full audience in the Gothic Reading Room Thursday evening after teaching a master class that afternoon.
When W.S. Merwin walked into room 328 of the Allen Building to teach a master class Thursday afternoon, he found each one of his pupils sitting before an illuminated screen, poised to take notes. The national poet laureate responded in kind, retrieving a worn green notebook bound with a rubber band from his breast pocket. “This is my work,” he said. When Merwin gave a reading before a packed Gothic Reading Room Thursday evening, the poems were dressed up, bound in sleek volumes and printed on glossy paper. But it was in the worn green notebook that they found their form and in daily life that they were inspired, the poet explained. “It may have been a phrase that seemed completely familiar, nothing out of the ordinary... and then suddenly you realize that the train is moving and you’re on it,” he said. When Merwin, the William Blackburn Visiting Poet at Duke, was named the national poet laureate in July, it was the latest in a long list of accolades. The poet has twice been honored with the Pulitzer Prize, along with the National Book Award, the Tanning Prize, the Bollingen Prize and the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, among others. “I remember feeling that you were the exemplar of the kind of formal elegance that I aspired to but could not reach,” Professor Emeritus of English James Applewhite, a distinguished poet himself, told See Merwin on page 6
Grad student Juniors denied housing exemptions arrested for burglary Sun. by Gracie Willert THE CHRONICLE
A Duke graduate student was arrested Sunday for firstdegree burglary, The Herald-Sun reported Tuesday. Sam Payton, a former Duke lacrosse player pursuing a master of business administration at the Fuqua School of Business, was arrested early Sunday morning after the Durham Police Department responded to a 4:10 a.m. call in the 2400 block of West Campus Boulevard. The residents of the home said they did not know Payton when police arrived, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael told The Herald Sun. Payton was released later that day from the Durham County Jail on a $30,000 secured bond. Payton’s lawyer, Bob Ekstrand, said in a statement that his client’s the arrest was a misunderstanding.
Administrators want Central Campus to be home to juniors returning from abroad next semester—but those feelings are not necessarily mutual. This year, 220 students applied to live off campus for the second half of their junior years, but just 66 were granted permission by the University, Linda Moiseenko, manager for Duke community housing, wrote in an e-mail. Although many juniors returning from Fall study abroad programs apply each year to live off campus in the Spring, Residence Life and Housing Services requires all students to live on campus for three years unless they receive an exemption. But some juniors have said they were informally assured that they would be able to live off campus in the Spring by RLHS and put money down for apartments before leaving the country. When official decisions were released in mid-October, many students were surprised that they had not been granted an exemption. But RLHS officials said students should not assume they will be granted exemptions until they are officially notified, even if last year few students were denied permission to
See arrest on page 8
See housing on page 7
from Staff Reports THE CHRONICLE
Campus Council brainstorms house model ideas, Page 3
Chronicle file photo
The University approved just 66 of 220 requests among juniors returning from abroad to live off campus for the Spring semester.
ONTHERECORD
“John contributed his unique insights, enthusiasm and determination, and it was my good fortune to work with him.”
—Prof. Emeritus Henry Grabowski on late friend John Vernon. See story page 3
Hunting groups are set loose in Duke Forest, Page 5