Oct. 19, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

Page 1

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

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2012

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 40

WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Duke students make final election push

FOOTBALL

Bowl berth take two for Duke

Cast away

by Ryan Zhang

by Daniel Carp

THE CHRONICLE

THE CHRONICLE

In a swing state like North Carolina, student volunteers serve as the vanguard for the presidential campaigns. The campaigns of President Barack Obama and Republican candidate Mitt Romney have each sought the youth vote. Given that college students are often apathetic in elections, it falls to the work of recruiting offices and dedicated volunteers to get students to the polls, said Tori Bragg, director for the North Carolina Young Americans for Romney. Both Duke Democrats and Duke College Republicans have, nonetheless, secured a steady number of volunteers to increase election awareness. “In North Carolina, the volunteer hours go a long way,” said sophomore David Winegar, president of Duke Democrats. “The race is still really close—every single vote counts.” The upcoming election is a critical one for young adults due to the issues at stake, said Charly Norton, spokesperson for Obama for America. She cited health

Hoping to rebound from a horrific collapse against Virginia Tech last weekend, Duke will need to take down a familiar foe to seal its bowl eligibility. But to make history vs. this weekend, the Blue Devils will first have to break a longstanding drought with their ToSaturday 7:00 p.m. bacco Road rivals. Wallace Wade Duke will square off with North Carolina Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium at 7 p.m. in the annual battle for the Victory Bell. The team’s mantra—back to business. “Obviously, [the loss] was like a slap in the face. Just to get us back grounded, I think we were getting into the clouds a little bit with all the success we were having,” defensive end Kenny Anunike said. “We’re definitely back to where we need to be. We’re still 5-2. That’s a great record right now especially in the state, in the conference and in the nation. A lot of

CAROLINE RODRIGUEZ/THE CHRONICLE

Members of the Duke community line up to cast their ballots on the first day of on-campus early voting. Early voting will take place in the Old Trinity Room through Nov. 3.

SEE VOLUNTEER ON PAGE 5

SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 16

On college rankings: Q&A with Robert Morse Robert Morse, director of data research at U.S. News and World Report, has led the magazine’s signature education rankings soon after their inception in 1983. He now manages the entire higher education rankings, including those for national universities, liberal arts colleges and graduate and professional schools. The Chronicle’s Yeshwanth Kandimalla spoke with Morse about his work, the importance of the rankings today and Duke’s place over the years. The Chronicle: How did the rankings originate, and how did you become involved in developing and compiling them? Robert Morse: They origi-

nated in the early 1980s from a simplistic survey. I didn’t work on them for the very first year or two years. Doing them originally was not my idea. When we were a newsweekly magazine, we thought of doing a small feature, using a very simplistic methodology. From the first year in 1983, it evolved from a simplistic methodology to becoming the more sophisticated one we have right now. It has taken a life of its own way what we originally envisioned. TC: If you were a senior applying to college, how would you use the rankings? RM: If I were a senior, I would

use them depending on how much I achieved in high school and my academic profile.... Let’s assume that I wasn’t a top performing student with only passing interest in the rankings... The scope of where I go may be limited to regional universities, and it would be smart to look at the data and get some conception. But I probably wouldn’t be that focused on the rankings. If I had really top credentials, I’d probably care about the rankings. But I’d want them to be just one factor. Hopefully I wouldn’t make my decisions just based on the rankings.

cant shortcoming in the rankings methodology? RM: The most significant shortcoming is that what we can’t measure is important. Duke is a very complex institution. The rankings can only measure a few things. They simplify a school into one number. Those variables are what’s available. That it simplifies complex institutions into a number is certainly the biggest shortcoming. I don’t think the public understands false precision because schools that are close in their rankings aren’t that different. TC: Have the rankings contributed to increased application

TC: What is the most signifiSEE MORSE ON PAGE 4

CAROLINE RODRIGUEZ/THE CHRONICLE

Robert Morse, the man behind the U.S. News & World Report rankings, spoke with The Chronicle about the publication.

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