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
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2012
ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 19
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
New Chapel Weed, alcohol mix hurts learning dean takes the pulpit by Danielle Muoio THE CHRONICLE
by Elizabeth Djinis THE CHRONICLE
For a reverend who seems at his happiest preaching sermons to the congregation, Luke Powery, the new dean of Duke Chapel, still gets the jitters each time he takes the podium. “You’re always going to have butterflies, but the key is to have the butterflies fly in formation,” Powery said. “The butterflies are there for you to control. When you are in the moment, you’re focusing on what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.” Powery’s nerves are understandable given the quick transition he made this Fall. Powery became the first black dean of the Chapel in July following an international search for someone to fill the role. His predecessor, Sam Wells, served as dean of the Chapel for seven years before moving to St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London this summer. Powery was nominated anonymously —to this day, he does not know who it was that nominated him. In June, he was brought down to preach at the Chapel and to tour the University. As Powery describes his selection process, the transition was nearly instantaneous. SEE POWERY ON PAGE 6
Senior Nick Swartzwelder decided to study the effects of drugs and alcohol when he was sitting in the passenger seat of his father’s car. It began with a discussion about “crossfading”—using marijuana and alcohol at the same time—and its regularity on Duke’s campus. This was an unfamiliar term to his father, but Nick told him that knowing people who have cross-faded led him to question its effects on the adolescent mind. This conversation led to a study on rats, published in Neuroscience Letters Aug. 29, that found that combining alcohol and THC—the chemical active in marijuana—affects adults and adolescents differently. It caused adults to have problems learning and remembering new objects, whereas it made adolescents more disposed toward familiar objects. At the time, both Nick and his father— Scott Swartzwelder, professor of psychology and neuroscience—knew of studies that looked at each drug’s effects on the minds of adolescents and adults, which typically showed some form of memory loss and learning impairment in adolescents more than adults. Few studies, however, actually looked at the combined drugs’ effects on the mind, and the few that did contained errors. “Nick said, ‘Here’s a drug combination that is used frequently during adolescence, and we know each drug affects learning more in adolescents than in adults, but is there a different effect in
CHESLEA PIERONI & PHOEBE LONG/THE CHRONICLE
Researchers at Duke recently studied “crossfading”—using marijuana and alcohol at the same time—and found that the practice did not reduce memory in adolescents, contrary to the researchers’ expectations. adolescents than adults when you put them together?’” Scott said. “My reaction to that was, ‘Well, why don’t you do it?’” Nick took his father’s advice and transformed his question into an undergraduate research project. In 2010, he began conducting a study that looked at
the effects of marijuana and alcohol combined on rats, which were chosen because of their natural tendency to interact with unfamiliar stimuli. Because of lab rats’ nearly unwavering inclination to explore SEE CROSSFADING ON PAGE 6
Uni. approves Nowicki UNC Chancellor Thorp for second five-year term to step down in June from Staff Reports THE CHRONICLE
Stephen Nowicki, dean and vice provost of undergraduate education, has been appointed to a second five-year term, the University announced Thursday. Nowicki was reviewed by a faculty committee as part of the standard procedure of reviewing Steve Nowicki deans and senior administrators every five years. “Steve is the first dean in this new position and has done an excellent job of fulfilling our desire to have someone responsible for leading and coordinating all facets of undergraduate academic and student life,” Lange said in a press release. “He has made
Nicholas School launches entrepreneurship certificate, Page 3
headway in creating greater synergy among the many curricular, co-curricular and social components of our undergraduate experience.” His position was created in 2007 in the hopes of more effectively integrating academic and student life aspects of the undergraduate experience. Nowicki is also professor of biology, psychology and neuroscience in the Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of neurobiology in the medical school. Nowicki has worked with Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta to develop the new house model. He has also been a key innovator of new forms of teaching, such as DukeImmerse, a semester-long program that combines classroom learning SEE NOWICKI ON PAGE 6
from Staff Reports THE CHRONICLE
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will be under new leadership in the next academic year. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp will step down, effective June 30, 2013, according to a Monday Holden Thorp press release from the university. He said he is vacating the position because it is best for the future of the university. Since Thorp took the chancellor position in 2008, the university has faced several high-profile athletic scandals related to the football program and cheating in-
ONTHERECORD
“If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, then any given Duke football fan... is dangerously insane.” —Jordan Deloatch in ‘Call me insane.’ See column page 11
volving student athletes. Thorp has decided to return to the chemistry department where he became a professor in 1993 and the department chair in 2005. “I will always do what is best for this University,” Thorp said in the relsease. “This wasn’t an easy decision personally. But when I thought about the University and how important it’s been to me, to North Carolinians and to hundreds of thousands of alumni, my answer became clear.” Thorp informed Tom Ross, president of the UNC system, of his decision Sunday and said he would be willing to work beyond June 30 in order to make the change in leadership seamless. “Chancellor Thorp’s love of and devotion to UNC-Chapel Hill are beyond SEE THORP ON PAGE 6
Duke basketball should play more high-profile home opponents, Page 7