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
The Chronicle
MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2012
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 126
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
Students Rate of violent crime rises in Durham Total crime down 1 percent in 2011 perceive low risk for HIV by Danielle Muoio THE CHRONICLE
Know Your Status—a student organization at Duke that conducts free, rapid HIV tests—has found disparities between students’ perceived risk of acquiring HIV and their actual, objective risk. In an unpublished, three-year study conducted by KYS on 1,000 Duke students tested for HIV, researchers found that 55.4 percent of students exhibit “risky behavior.” Risky behavior is defined as students who reported having unprotected sex or sharing needles, had two or more sexual partners in the past year or were men having sex with men. This statistic draws concern because 90.7 percent of these students viewed themselves as having a “nonexistent” or “very low” risk for acquiring HIV, said Dr. Mehri McKellar, an author of the study and principle investigator for KYS . “The big issue is this mismatch,” McKellar said. “Once [students] leave Duke, they could potentially move into areas where there are higher prevalency rates [of HIV], and if they engage in these [risky] behaviors, that is obviously an issue.” Since the organization was established in 2005, KYS has only diagnosed one person with HIV at Duke, McKellar said. Although this indicates a low rate of HIV on campus, SEE HIV ON PAGE 5
by Jack Mercola THE CHRONICLE
Violent crime rates spiked in the Bull City, despite a downward trend in the city’s total crime from 2010 to 2011. According to the Durham Police Department’s annual report, total crime diminished from 2010 to 2011 by more than 1 percent.
Property crime, which includes burglary, larceny and vehicle theft, dropped by 2 percent to 11,263 incidents, while violent crime, which consists of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, jumped by nearly 5 percent to 1,712 incidents. The total crime rate marks the lowest rate Durham has seen in a
decade, said DPD Chief Jose Lopez. Over the past decade, Durham’s violent crime rate per 100,000 people decreased by 25 percent, and the property crime rate dropped by 31 percent. Last year’s total crime figures are in line with this trajectory, Lopez added. SEE CRIME ON PAGE 10
CHRONICLE GRAPHIC BY CHRIS DALL AND MELISSA YEO
Duke community embracing Twitter
TEDxDuke speakers encourage innovation by Gloria Lloyd
by Margot Tuchler THE CHRONICLE
Duke professors are trending on Twitter. Members of the Duke community are increasingly relying on Twitter to communicate information about Duke and to promote and share their personal scholarship and research. Use of the site by Duke community members has risen noticeably in recent months, faculty and administrators said. Mark Anthony Neal, professor of African and African American studies, opened an account at the insistence of former students. His account now has more than 11,000 followers. He operates on Twitter in a professional context, often as an extension of his work
in the classroom, Neal said. “Twitter is not for everyone, but for those folk who are interested in making their work accessible to a broader audience and to catch the attention of the many news producers who are seeking newsworthy stories on Twitter, it is a great platform,” Neal wrote in an email Thursday. “Folk in the academy are catching up to our students and others, who are way ahead of the digital curve, particularly as users.” Karla Holloway, James B. Duke professor of English and professor of law, started using Twitter last May. Some of the first tweets she experienced as a user were those regarding Osama bin Laden’s SEE TWITTER ON PAGE 4
THE CHRONICLE
To initiate meaningful reform, leaders must be willing to fundamentally change their approach to solving a problem, experts said this weekend. About 100 people attended the second annual TEDxDuke event held Saturday on East Campus. Twelve speakers, including four students, from a variety of disciplines offered insights related to the theme “Losing Your Way.” Jimmy Soni, Trinity ’07, managing editor at the Huffington Post and a former columnist for The Chronicle, returned to campus to argue for more innovative methods of understanding history. “How do you make history human again? How do you make it real for peo-
ple in their daily lives?” Soni said. “Start simple. How do you know your own history? Talk to your grandparents. ” TEDx is an offshoot of TED—Technology, Entertainment and Design—a program, which sponsors video lectures and performances to spread ideas and generate discussion. The independently organized TEDx events are designed on this model but instead draw from local experts, at universities or elsewhere. Junior Lekha Ragavendran, who coordinated the event, said the broadness of the “Losing Your Way” theme of TEDxDuke allowed speakers to relate their stories effectively. “Some people talked about losing your way as a good thing and relaxing SEE TEDX ON PAGE 5
ONTHERECORD
Stroman stars in weekend series, SW 5
“All great evil plots start small—hardly noticeable—then grow from there.” —The Devil in “The infestation.” See column page 8
Blue Devils power past Georgia Tech, SW 5