Oct. 26, 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 26, 2012

ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 45

WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Nursing School space to open 2014 DUHS loses $8M

owed by company from Staff Reports THE CHRONICLE

SELIAT DAIRO/THE CHRONICLE

Administrators, including President Richard Brodhead and School of Nursing Dean Catherine Gillis (third and fourth from left, respectively) broke ground on the Nursing School’s 45,000 sq-ft. expansion Thursday afternoon. by Danielle Muoio THE CHRONICLE

The Duke University School of Nursing officially announced its 45,000 sq.-ft. addition to the Christine Siegler Pearson Building in a groundbreaking ceremony Thursday.

The new $20.2 million space arises out of a desire to better address the needs of an expanding faculty and student body. The new portion will house academic office space and research facilities, as well as new learning technologies—such as interactive

Duke ranks among top ‘college pirates’ by Raisa Chowdhury THE CHRONICLE

Eleven years after the unraveling of peer-to-peer music downloading service Napster, Duke is a nationally ranked host to online piracy, according to a recent report. The report, titled “College Pirates,” placed Duke at the 48th spot in its list of the top 50 American universities in P2P network usage. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the list with 2,315 hits on P2P program BitTorrent, fol-

classrooms, simulation labs and an audio and video recording studio. Construction is expected to be completed by February 2014. “The contribution and promise of academic nursing can SEE DUSON ON PAGE 3

MDI Holdings Inc. owes the Duke University Health System more than $8 million but has no money to honor that debt. MDI, a Florida-based company, contracts health care for small businesses and government agencies but has recently suffered financial issues and gone into receivership, leaving the assets, by court order, in the custody of a consulting company. The order came after Wells Fargo filed a $30 million lawsuit. Because the company owes Wells Fargo a considerably larger sum of money than it owes DUHS, Duke has not received repayment for the approximate $8.3 million debt, Conor Brockett, associate general counsel with the North Carolina Medical Society, told The Raleigh News and Observer. DUHS doctors were subcontracted through MDI to administer health care for some of the 5,000 inmates at Butner Federal Correctional Complex, a prison 45 minutes northeast of Durham that houses white-collar criminals including Bernie Madoff. These doctors provided treatment to inmates

at Durham Regional Hospital and the Duke Ambulatory Surgical Center. MDI’s multimillion dollar debt to DUHS was one reason Wells Fargo sued the contracting company to take control from CEO Richard Willich. The bank feared that the Butner prison would decide not to renew its contract with MDI, which accounted for 35 percent of MDI’s income, according to Wells Fargo’s complaint. Wells Fargo lent MDI $37.5 million over a number of years, and won $30 million from MDI in the lawsuit, forcing the company into receivership. MDI does not have sufficient funds to recoup the $30 million to Wells Fargo, so the bank will be awarded any money MDI still has, Brockett said. Because all of MDI’s remaining funds will be funneled to Wells Fargo, Duke and any other creditors will not receive any money from MDI, as they are unsecured creditors, he added. The North Carolina Medical Society has started to investigate whether the Federal Bureau of Prisons must honor SEE DUHS ON PAGE 4

Student petitions for bus to Duke Lemur Center

lowed by Rutgers University at 1,809. North Carolina Central University ranks 17th with 450 hits while Duke recorded 298 hits on its network. The report was conducted by TorrentFreak, a website dedicated to news focusing on copyright infringement issues, and draws on data from all American universities beginning Nov. 2011. The report notes that not all files available on BitTorrent are shared illegally, but the platform

by Amanda Egan THE CHRONICLE

Duke’s 233 lemurs may be easier to reach, depending on the success of a student petition. Two months into her freshman year, Audra Bass is circulating a petition directed at Duke Parking and Transportation, asking for more transportation options to the Duke Lemur Center. The center is the world’s largest sanctuary for rare and endangered prosimian primates and is home to the largest PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS DALL

SEE PIRATES ON PAGE 16

Freshman Audra Bass is petitioning for a bus to travel between West Campus and the Duke Lemur Center, located off of Cameron Boulevard and U.S. Route 15-501.

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SEE LEMURS ON PAGE 4


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Oct. 26, 2012 issue of The Chronicle by Duke Chronicle - Issuu