January 20, 2015 by Duke Chronicle

Three named undergraduate Young Trustee finalists Doytchinov, Knight and Robertson selected from pool of eight semifinalists | Page 2

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Duke’s adhan decisionsparks dialogue

ONE HUNDRED AND TENTH YEAR, ISSUE 65

ONE WIN FROM HISTORY

National media attention—both complimentary and critical— follow the University’s decision Emma Baccellieri News Editor Duke’s decision to relocate last week’s Muslim call-to-prayer has put the University at the center of a national conversation—garnering a range of reactions from across political and religious spectrums. The University’s initial announcement that the weekly call-to-prayer would be led from the Chapel bell tower earned national attention. Although many people praised Duke for its commitment to religious plurality, others— including some conservative and Christian leaders—criticized the University, saying that playing the call-to-prayer aloud from the Chapel went against the school’s Methodist roots. When Duke reversed the decision two days later, the media attention quickly intensified. Much of the conversation—particularly in Internet comment sections— quickly became vitriolic and drew on negative stereotypes. “In situations like this where there’s a lot of heat and not a whole lot of light, you can’t expect to have reasoned and thoughtful dialogue,” said Michael See Prayer on Page 5

Elysia Su | The Chronicle Freshman center Tyus Jones scored 22 points—12 of which came on 3-pointers—and added four assists as the Blue Devil guards broke out of a prolonged shooting slump Monday. Jones guided Duke past Pittsburgh 79-65 at Cameron Indoor Stadium. (See story on Page 6.)

With merit aid, Uni. stands alone among peers Jenna Zhang Local & National Editor

Elysia Su | The Chronicle Supporters of the University’s Muslim community gathered at the call-to-prayer on the quadrangle in front of the Chapel Friday.

PITTSBURGH 65

79 NO. 5 DUKE

As another year of regular decision admissions approaches, Duke will look for something most of its peer schools do not— which candidates should be considered for full-ride merit scholarships. Duke is the only university to offer fullride merit scholarships among those ranked in the top 10 by U.S. News and World Report. Though some critics of merit aid programs say the scholarships can take resources away from students who need financial help most, University administrators say this is not the case for Duke. The University maintains eight merit scholarship programs while also growing the amount that is given to students with financial need, according to Melissa Maouf, director of the Office of Undergraduate Scholars & Fellows. “Our merit communities are a mixed

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bag, economically all over the place,” Malouf, wrote in an email Wednesday. “All students to apply to Duke may be considered for a merit scholarship—rich or poor or in between.” Three of the eight scholarship programs Duke offers—the Angier B. Duke Scholarship, the Benjamin N. Duke Scholarship and the Robertson Scholarship—solely take merit into account. The remaining five scholarship programs consider a mixture of merit and need. Financial resources for merit scholarships Funding for the scholarships comes almost exclusively from the Duke Endowment and private donors, Malouf wrote. The Robertson Scholars Program, for example, is privately funded by the Robertson foundation. Allen Chan, the program’s executive director, noted that the program is a “special case,” as it does not use University financial resources, which may otherwise be

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allocated to need-based financial aid. This contrasts with the situation at several schools which have ended merit aid in recent years in favor of using the funding to expand need-based aid packages, such as Franklin & Marshall College and Hamilton College. Duke’s need-based financial aid scholarships are actually currently expanding— without detracting from funding for the merit programs, Malouf said. The University currently ranks behind several of its peers in terms of need-based financial grants. Of the U.S News and World Report top 10 schools that provided information to the 2013-14 Common Data Survey, Duke presented the lowest percentage of students receiving need-based financial grants. According to the survey, 38 percent of Duke students receive need-based financial

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Three named Duke undergraduate Young Trustee finalists “The group as a whole was extremely impressive,” says YTNC chair Jay Sullivan Emma Baccellieri and Tim Bai News Editor and Associate Editor Seniors Nikolai Doytchinov, Anna Knight and David Robertson have been named finalists for undergraduate Young Trustee. The three were selected from a pool of eight semifinalists by the Young Trustee Nominating Committee. The student body will select the Young Trustee in a Feb. 7 election. “The group as a whole was extremely impressive,” said junior Jay Sullivan, chair of the YTNC. “It was a difficult process.” The YTNC chose the finalists after conducting interviews with all eight semifinalists this weekend. The committee’s bylaws dictate that two to five finalists must be chosen. All eight of this year’s semifinalists are seniors. For the first time since 2011, the YTNC cut applicants from the pool before nam-

ing the semifinalists. Bylaws require a minimum of eight semifinalists with no maximum, and in recent years, all applicants were named semifinalists. Each of the finalists expressed a feeling of excitement over their selection. Doytchinov, who served as Duke Student Government executive vice president as a junior, said he was particularly honored to be selected as a finalist because all of the candidates this year had been so well-qualified. “It’s a huge honor to be part of process, and I look forward to sharing my experience and vision with students in the upcoming weeks. I am very humbled and excited,” Doytchinov said. Knight, who serves as the president of Engineering Student Government, said, although she was a little nervous for the process to come, she was excited to have been selected as a finalist. “The Young Trustee position has had an absolutely incredible pool of applicants, and I’m very honored to have been among this very qualified competition. I’m excited to talk about my opinions to all of Duke and bring a new undergraduate student perspective to the Board of Trustees,” Knight said.

Sketching in the Galleries

Izzi Clarke | The Chronicle The Nasher Museum of Art hosted a free sketching lesson open to members of the Duke and Durham community Saturday morning.

Mousa Alshanteer | The Chronicle

Robertson, who serves as the DSG vice president for Durham and regional affairs, said that—given the qualifications of the semifinalists—he felt humbled to have been selected as a finalist.

“I’m thrilled to hopefully represent or campaign to represent some of the people I’ve been involved with on campus and be able to make as many voices heard as possible,” Robertson said.

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‘We still ought to be worried,’ state NAACP leader says Rev. Dr. William Barber II spoke about social change in N.C. in his Sunday address Sarah Kerman The Chronicle “We still ought to be worried about North Carolina,” Rev. Dr. William Barber II said Sunday in a ceremony honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and historian John Hope Franklin. Barber, president of the North Carolina chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, spoke about contemporary civil rights activism as the keynote speaker in Duke’s 2015 Service of Celebration. The service is held annually in the Duke Chapel. His talk was entitled “Dignity through Dissent: Demanding Civil Rights in a Modern World.” In the talk, Barber—who is the leader of the Moral Monday protests against actions by the NC state legislature—discussed the use of grassroots organizing to pursue goals such as education reform, Medicaid expansion, incarceration reform, voting rights and reproductive rights. “Truth telling is critical—don’t be afraid of losing funders,” Barber said, calling for political leaders to work together to tell the truth in order to create social change. Barber drew on biblical references to create a call to action in the first part of his speech. He then shifted towards drawing attention to contemporary civil rights issues. Barber placed significant emphasis

Lesley Chen-Young | The Chronicle Members of the Duke and Durham community attended Rev. Dr. William Barber’s address at the Chapel as part of a ceremony honoring Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and historian John Hope Franklin.

on the duty to alleviate poverty. “In the richest nation on earth we have the greatest gaps between the rich and the poor since we started collecting data five decades ago,” Barber said. He called for a more humane approach to poverty, urging minimum wage increases and expansion of Medicaid in North Carolina. “There is a better way we can address the realities of poverty if we see the poor as our neighbor,” Barber said. Bruce Puckett, the director of community ministry for the Chapel, participated in the selection process that chose Bar-

NOTHING

BETTER COSMIC LUNCH

ber as the keynote speaker. This year the selection was a local choice. Barber has close ties to Durham and North Carolina social issues—he received degrees from North Carolina Central University and Duke Divinity School. “Each year we meet and discuss who potential speakers might be. We chose Reverend Barber because we knew what he’s been doing in North Carolina with the Moral Monday protests,” Puckett said. Other speakers at the commemoration included Durham Mayor Bill Bell who praised the University for its recent appointment of Eugene Washington as

Duke’s next Chancellor for Health Affairs. President Richard Brodhead presented a call to action in his words about commemorating Franklin and King. “Inspired by their memory it is now our work to advance their work from where we are to where we could be,” he said. Barber concluded with an assessment of the current state social activism in America. “I believe we are in the embryotic stages of the third reconstruction of America.” Barber said.

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MERIT

continued from page 1 grants, compared to 60 percent at Princeton University and 49 percent at the University of Pennsylvania. In 2013, Duke provided merit scholarships averaging about $56,000 per year to 67 students, nearly 4 percent of the class, according to the 2013-14 CDS survey. Merit aid and socioeconomic diversity Many students on merit aid apply and qualify for needbased financial aid before they receive merit scholarships, Malouf said. Duke’s need-blind financial aid policies allows the B.N. Duke Scholarship Program to offer aid to students based on more specific criteria, wrote Charles Thompson, director of the program, in an email last Tuesday. The scholarship emphasizes leadership based in the Carolinas—only selecting students who live in North or South Carolina. “We believe that if any student can qualify for admission to Duke that the University will provide a way for them to study here,” Thompson wrote. “That frees us to select students based on their broader commitments to social change.” Although the B.N. Scholarship Program does not take into account financial need, scholars in the program nonetheless come from a diverse array of socioeconomic backgrounds, Thompson wrote. “I won’t go into particulars about individuals, but suffice it to say that we have had a number of first generation college students whose families have recently immigrated here from very poor countries,” he wrote. “They were not selected because of need, but because of their incredible commitments to being excellent scholars while serving broader publics.”

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Social Entrepreneurship & the Business of Civic Engagement

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GUESTS INCLUDE* Bill Wetzel, Director, Clinton Global Initiative University Marina Kim, Director, Ashoka U

MacKenzie Moritz, Associate Director for Strategic Partnerships, Franklin Project Dr. David Scobey, former Executive Dean, New School for Public Engagement *Full list of panelists available on RSVP website

A Competitive Edge Merit aid has made it possible for junior Kari Barclay, an A.B. Duke Scholarship recipient, to attend Duke. Without the scholarship, the financial package offered by the University would not have been enough, he said. “The opportunity to graduate debt free from college is something that I couldn’t have without my scholarship at Duke,” Barclay said. “In that way, the A.B. Duke Scholarship has opened up a whole new set of possibilities for me postgraduation, especially going into a field as volatile and underfunded as the arts.” Barclay noted that wealthier students offered the scholarship, for whom financial need is less of a deciding factor, are more likely to refuse it in favor of attending Ivy League universities. Finances were a “pretty big” factor in sophomore Grace Li’s decision to attend Duke, she said. Li—also an A.B. Duke Scholar—added that though she did not disbelieve that the University met 100 percent of demonstrated financial need, college can nonetheless be financially difficult for students from middle-class families. “I received Duke’s financial aid package before I was offered a scholarship,” she said. “Other colleges had a bit more generous financial aid policies.” Li—who considered Harvard University, Yale University and the Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars Program before choosing Duke with the A.B. Duke Scholarship—noted that some students might choose more established Ivy League schools over Duke were it not for its merit scholarships. Many students who are considered for merit scholarships often have been admitted to other comparable schools, Thompson wrote. The B.N. Scholarship encourages students from North Carolina, who might otherwise attend other institutions, to continue contributing to positive change in the state.

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PRAYER

continued from page 1 Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. Last Tuesday, the University announced that members of the Muslim Students Association would begin leading the weekly call-to-prayer—known as the adhan—from the Chapel bell tower. Criticism from Christian leaders outside the University followed, and Duke reversed its decision on Thursday, later citing “serious and credible safety concerns.” Friday’s adhan was instead held on the lawn in front of the Chapel, drawing hundreds of community members. Some members of the community questioned whether or not safety was truly the University’s top reason behind the decision to move the adhan—with several suggesting that Duke had instead been motivated to move the call-to-prayer in response to alumni and potential donors who had been upset by the original announcement. “We can’t stop speculation,” Schoenfeld said. “What we do is provide as much information as we can, try to provide the appropriate context for that and keep repeating it both through our own channels—websites and social media—and also by engaging with the news media.” Any action surrounding questions of interfaith engagement will attract attention in today’s media climate, Schoenfeld noted, particularly on a campus as prominent as Duke’s. He added that the University could have refined its approach behind the initial announcement that the adhan would be held in the Chapel. “With the powerful, powerful role that the Chapel plays as a symbol of the University, it’s going to spark a lot of conversation,” Schoenfeld said. “Any time we do something... we have to be very thoughtful, engage with all the stakeholders—we have to be deliberate, and that didn’t happen this time.... In the process that led to the initial announcement, we should have engaged more broadly with interested stakeholders within the University and beyond.” All media except for satellite trucks were permitted at Friday’s adhan, Schoenfeld said. National organizations including NBC, CNN and Fox News came to campus for the prayer ceremony in front of the Chapel, along with several local outlets. The situation was even played for humor on this week’s Saturday Night Live. “After receiving complaints from Christian leaders, Duke University has canceled plans for Muslim students to use the school’s iconic Chapel tower for sounding the traditional Islamic call-to-prayer. But apparently, Christian leaders are totally cool that Duke’s mascot is the devil,” comedian Michael Che quipped on the show’s Weekend Update.

Elysia Su | The Chronicle Community members gather at Friday’s call-to-prayer in front of the Chapel.

RESEARCH & LEARN

@ DUKE MARINE LAB TAKE CARE OF CORE REQUIREMENTS WITH SMALL CLASS SIZES IN A ONE-ON-ONE ENVIRONMENT SUMMER 2015 Session I: May 11 – June 12 • Session II: July 6 – Aug. 7 FALL 2015 Research Independent Study and more! Go online to see what courses are offered.

FREE lunch in Durham, Wed., Feb. 4 Join Marine Lab staff to learn about studying at the Marine Lab.

RSVP sarah.anne.phillips@duke.edu with any questions. dukemarinelab.net

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Howard Hughes Research Fellows Program

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Program Dates: June 1 – July 24, 2015

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For First-Year Students The Program The Howard Hughes Research Fellows Program is an 8-week campus-based summer research program specifically intended for first-year students with developing interests in research careers in the biological sciences. More than 400 Duke students have participated in this program since 1991.

Examples of Recent Projects • The effects of varying pulse frequencies in spinal cord stimulation

The focus of the Research Fellows Program is an individual research experience. Students are placed in laboratories on the Duke campus according to their interests and work on projects defined by faculty mentors. They attend seminars and workshops designed to support a developing career in science and present their results in a poster session at the end of the program.

• Abl kinases in breast cancer tumor initiating cells (TICs)

Eligibility Applications will be accepted from first-year students in Trinity College and the Pratt School who matriculated at Duke in fall 2014 and who have completed or are enrolled in at least one Duke course in the biological or chemical sciences. A laboratory course is recommended. We especially welcome applications from women and members of minority groups traditionally underrepresented in science careers.

• Is flowering locus C (FLC) involved in accelerating germination in water-limited environments?

Stipend, Housing, Travel All students completing the program will receive a $4,000 stipend. The program will provide housing for participants on Central Campus during the 8 weeks. Participants receiving need based financial aid may apply for up to $200 reimbursement for travel to and from the program.

• The role of pancreatic stellate cell-secreted CYR61 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

• Creating a molecular toolkit for interrogating cellular health and viability • Fate of engineered nanoparticles in wastewater treatment plants

• Maintenance of neurocognitive functions in immunodeficient mice via voluntary running • Creating an epigenetic bistable switch and oscillator in Escherichia coli using repressiondriven feedback and protein sequestration

• B10K Project: a plan to sequence the genomes of nearly all 10,000 bird species and development of a database for interrogating trait evolution • Developmental and functional modularity in mantis shrimp

• Computational methods for predicting transcription factor occupancy using DNase data

Application deadline: Monday, February 9, 2015 undergraduateresearch.duke.edu/programs/hh-research-fellows The Research Fellows Program is funded by grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Trinity College and administered by the Office of Undergraduate Research Support

Sports 6 | TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015

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THE BLUE ZONE

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015

Men’s Basketball

Column

DUKE POUNCES ON PITT Is that your

final answer?

Nick Martin Sports Editor Heading into Monday’s contest, the Blue Devils averaged around seven 3-pointers per game. Duke had that by the time the first half was finished. The No. 5 Blue Devils defeated Pittsburgh 79-65 at Cameron Indoor Stadium to cap a hec65 tic four-game, eightPITT day stretch. The win DUKE 79 is head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s 999th career victory, and he will go for No. 1,000 Sunday at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s. “Our guys, I’m proud of how they responded from the last six days after two losses and even how they responded after Louisville, because it’s such a big win for us,” Krzyzewski said. “[Getting win No. 999] means we’re 16-2. That’s exactly what that means. And hopefully we can be 17-2 after the next game we play.” After defense was the story of Saturday’s 63-52 victory at then-No. 6 Louisville, Monday’s win came largely on the other end of the court, namely from behind the arc. Led by Rasheed Sulaimon’s four 3-pointers, the Blue Devils (16-2, 4-2 in the ACC) shot the lights out against Pittsburgh, knocking down 7-of-14 treys in the first 20 minutes. Duke finished the game with 11 triples. Duke’s long ball helped extend its lead seemingly every time Pittsburgh made a run, stifling any notions of a comeback by the Panthers (13-6, 3-3). With 17:48 left in the game, Pittsburgh had whittled the Blue Devil lead down to 44-34. Three minutes, three treys,

since Dec. 29, followed up a 10-point, eight assist performance against Louisville with a 22-point outburst Monday. Jones contributed to Duke’s long-range success with four 3-pointers of his own and added four assists. “I was just taking shots with confidence,” Jones said. “My teammates believed in me, told me to keep shooting even if shots weren’t falling like they weren’t in previous games. They told me to just keep shooting, and that’s

Athletes are the ultimate creatures of habit, which makes sense, considering their physical skills are solidified through muscle memory and constant repetition. Since the beginning of professional sports, athletes have had countless on-field quirks that separated them from the rest—from a recognizable stance in the batter’s box to a unique ritual before shooting a free-throw. As the lines became blurred between athletes and celebrities, these idiosyncrasies have become more grandiose, more theatrical. In today’s sports world, having a unique signature is essential because branding has more revenue-generating potential than on-field performance. Ten years ago, LeBron James was throwing chalk in the air before games. It was tolerable—he was the game’s youngest star and had the skills to back it up. Now everyone follows suit in search of their own signature—their own trademark—because in the age of the 24hour news cycle and social media, these things have a knack for going viral. Now we have everything from Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton signaling for a first down every time he runs to New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz’s salsa dance. Los Angeles Lakers

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Daniel Carp

Samantha Schafrank | The Chronicle Junior Rasheed Sulaimon hit four of Duke’s 11 triples Monday against Pittsburgh, the first time since Nov. 26 that the Blue Devils had made more than 10 3-pointers in a game.

three free throws and three layups later, Duke owned a 62-42 lead and never looked back. “‘Sheed came in and gave us a huge lift. And we saw the ball go in today. We saw it go in. It’s the first game in the ACC where we shot well,” Krzyzewski said. “Seeing it go in leads to winning. Just being positive with them—just keep shooting.” But 3-pointers were far from the only reason the Blue Devils managed to stay on top of the Panthers. Freshman guard Tyus Jones, who had reached double-digits just once

Men’s Tennis

Blue Devils come back on Wildcats Amrith Ramkumar Sports Blog Editor If anyone knows the meaning of resilience, it’s Chris Mengel. The redshirt senior was a major contributor in his first three seasons for head coach Ramsey Smith’s team and named an All-ACC performer his sophoDUKE 5 more year. Last season was supposed Kentucky 2 to be a strong senior campaign for the Pittsburgh native, but it was quickly derailed by multiple injuries. That’s why it was fitting Monday when Mengel was the one who closed out No. 12 Duke’s 5-2 road dual victory against No. 18 Kentucky at the Hillary J. Boone Tennis Complex in Lexington, Ky. The Blue Devils faced their fair share of adversity throughout singles and doubles but used a dramatic comeback to clinch the doubles point then took three con-

secutive singles matches to cap a resilient victory against a top-20 opponent. “It’s huge, this early in the season to kind of set the tone,” Smith said. “Kentucky is a very good team and we’ve had some very tough matches with them over the years. We showed a lot of composure, a lot of fight and handled some very tough situations well today.” Mengel was the one that closed out the Wildcats (2-2), but he was also a big reason why Duke (2-0) got off to a strong start on the road. He teamed with junior Bruno Semenzato to dominate Kentucky’s Trey Yates and Jake Stefanik 6-0 to set up a dramatic battle for the doubles point. The Blue Devils’ top doubles team of Nicolas Alvarez and Raphael Hemmeler fell behind 3-2 to Beck Pennington and Kevin Lai, and Duke’s duo of Jason Tahir and Josh Levine struggled to find its footing against Jerry Lopez and William Bushamuka. Needing to win one of the

two matches to earn the all-important doubles point, the Blue Devils’ top tandem stepped up. Alvarez and Hemmeler started playing more aggressively and attacking earlier in points, taking four of the last six games to prevail 6-4 and give their team early momentum. “We were struggling a bit on [court number] two,” Smith said. “The key was that Rafa and Nico were able to turn things around, just an incredible job of changing momentum because they were getting crushed at the beginning. They hung in there and started playing some great tennis. That was obviously big to win the doubles point on the road.” Singles followed an almost identical script, but with a major twist. The Wildcat tennis complex only has four courts, so rather than playing all six matches at once, the top four players for each team took the See M. Tennis on Page 8

Khloe Kim | The Chronicle Redshirt senior Chris Mengel clinched the match for Duke as he continues to work his way back from injury.

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Men’s Basketball

Tyus Jones: A made-for-TV star Bobby Colton Beat Writer In what head coach Mike Krzyzewski called the biggest game of the season, it was the smallest player on the roster who rose to the occasion, leading No. 5 Duke to a 79-65 win against Pittsburgh at Cameron Indoor Stadium Monday night. “Tyus, really, these last two games, he’s really led our team,” Krzyzewski said. “He’s taken on a more commanding personality.” Yes, it was point guard Tyus Jones who made things happen for the Blue Devils. The Midseason Wooden Award Finalist—who was shooting a paltry 25.0 percent for the month of January entering Monday’s game— changed the offensive dynamic with his prolific scoring. Jones finished the night matching his career high with 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. With Jones doing the swishing, Jahlil Okafor was doing the dishing, handing out a teamhigh five assists. And with Okafor passing, it was guard Quinn Cook who was crashing the boards, hauling in a career-high 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. It isn’t really a surprise that Jones would choose a game like this to flip Duke’s play on its head. After all, it was nationally televised. Whether it’s a coincidence or not, the Tyus Jones who wows on ESPN is not the same Tyus Jones who finds himself stuck in the shadows without a big audience watching.

That’s not just the eye-test talking. The numbers back up Jones’ wizardry in the spotlight. In eight nationally televised games, Jones is averaging 14.6 points per game. If you exclude the N.C. State and Miami games, in which the entire roster slumped, Jones averaged 17.8 points in nationally televised games. In the 10 other games? Just 6.5 points. This stark difference also isn’t due to just volume shooting from Jones. His field goal percentage on national TV is 49.2 percent. When the cameras are off, he’s shooting 34.0 percent. The splits are just as drastic from beyond the arc and the charity stripe, where he goes from 41.4 percent to 30.4 percent and from 91.8 percent to 78.8 percent, respectively. Even though the numbers suggest that there might be a difference in preparation or mindset for these big-time games, it appears the Apple Valley, Minn., native doesn’t consciously change his routine. “He’s just cool under pressure,” said Okafor, a long-time friend of Jones and former teammate with USA Basketball. “I know that he didn’t shoot as well as he wanted to these last couple of games [before Pittsburgh], so he’s just been in the gym, taking shots and trying to refocus himself.” Cool, calm and collected is what the Blue Devils needed from Jones to quell the Panther comeback bid on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. After all, it was Jones who was finally able to arouse the slumbering Duke offense. The Blue Devils went without a field goal for

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a full seven minutes and 10 seconds—a span during which Pittsburgh cut its deficit from 20 to 12—until, with the shot clock winding down, Jones knocked down a deep, contested 3-pointer to bring Club Cameron back to life. It seems impossible for Jones to keep playing to this significant of a split for the rest of the season—but Duke fans should be hoping such is the case. Thanks to a loaded ACC, Jones’ next game not covered by ESPN, ESPN2, CBS or FOX isn’t until March 4, when Wake Forest pays a visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium. If Jones can continue the trend he’s fol-

lowed this season, then he may end up unseating Okafor as the nation’s top freshman. He’s already positioned himself to dethrone his old friend as ACC Freshman of the Week, a feat accomplished just once this season—by Jones himself, after he set his career-high of 22 points for the first time against Wisconsin on December 3. Regardless of what the rest of the season has in store for the Blue Devils, there should be one thing on the mind of every Duke fan after seeing Jones’ stat splits: Please don’t put our NCAA Tournament games on TruTV.

Georgia Parke | The Chronicle Freshman point guard Tyus Jones scored a career-high-tying 22 points Monday against Pittsburgh, a game that was televised on ESPN.

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M. BASKETBALL continued from page 6

what I did. So I credit them a lot.” Krzyzewski implemented a 2-3 zone against the Cardinals and Duke stuck with that approach once again against the Panthers. Duke jumped out to a 7-0 lead before allowing a Jamel Artis layup with 17:28 left in the half to put the Panthers on the board. Pittsburgh shot just 37 percent in the first half but made a small push early in the second half with an 8-3 run out of the locker room. Artis kept things close for the Panthers, scoring a team-high 21 points. The Blue Devils would not stick with the zone the entire game, switching back to man-to-man throughout the contest. Pittsburgh was able to eventually find a weakness in the Duke defense, as the Panthers owned a 36-18 advantage in points scored in the paint. With freshman center Jahlil Okafor in foul trouble and facing double-teams on the other end for

most of the night, the Blue Devils were not able to command the interior despite boasting a taller front line. “Zone is new to us—we’re trying to figure it out,” Okafor said. “It’s definitely been different. We’ve been watching film— we watched film of the Louisville game and tried to make improvements and we’re going to do the same with this also.” Duke was stretched thin when Marshall Plumlee picked up his fourth foul with 10:03 left, forcing Okafor to re-enter the game and play cautiously with three fouls. Despite the foul issues, Okafor still finished with 14 points and a game-high five assists. “Jah can pass, he can pass well. I really thought in the first half, he and Amile didn’t go through contact like they have— we missed around four shots at the bucket,” Krzyzewski said. “For [Okafor], maybe a couple days off is good for him, too. You get beat up and beat on all the time. He’s a big guy, he needs some rest too. His passing was brilliant today.” The Blue Devils will get a six-day rest before taking the court again in New York against the Red Storm.

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THE MELLON MAYS UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM AT DUKE IS CURRENTLY RECRUITING SOPHOMORES AND A SELECT NUMBER OF JUNIORS WHO ARE PLANNING TO MAJOR IN AND ATTEND A PhD PROGRAM FOLLOWING GRADUATION IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING DISCIPLINES: Anthropology and Archeology History Area/Cultural/Ethnic/ Linguistics Literature Gender Studies Art History Mathematics Classics Oceanographic/Marine/ Computer Science Atmospheric/Planetary Science Geography and Population Studies Performance Studies (theoretical focus) Philosophy Earth/Environmental/ Geological Science and Ecology English Physics and Astronomy Film, Cinema and Media Studies (theoretical focus) Religion and Theology Musicology and Ethnomusicology Sociology Theater (non-performance focus) Foreign Languages and Literature The goal of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, is to increase the number of underrepresented minority students (African American, Hispanic/Latino-a American and Native American) and others with a demonstrated commitment to eradicating racial disparities who will pursue PhDs in core fields in the arts and sciences. Mellon Mays fellows recruited as sophomores receive two years of support, an annual stipend of $7,500 ($3,900 for the summer and $1,800 each semester), a $750 summer housing allowance, and an annual research travel budget of $600. Those fellows recruited as juniors receive one summer + one academic year of support. Additionally, each senior fellow receives a $400 research budget to cover project-related expenses and a $600 allocation for a GRE prep course. Each mentor receives a yearly award of $800.

Application Deadline: Friday, March 6, 2015 For further information and application materials, visit our website: http://undergraduateresearch.duke.edu/programs/mmuf

Questions? Contact: Dr. Kerry Haynie, 660-4366 (klhaynie@duke.edu) Ms. Deborah Wahl, 684-6066 (deborah.wahl@duke.edu)

Elysia Su | The Chronicle With Monday’s 79-65 win, head coach Mike Krzyzewski sits one win shy of 1,000 for his career. His first opportunity to reach the milestone comes Sunday against St. John’s in New

M. TENNIS

continued from page 6 court while Nos. 5 and 6 waited for their opportunity. Mengel and Levine were put in the difficult position of having to watch their teammates play knowing that they would likely have to come up big to pull out a win. Three of the first four singles matches were decided in straight sets, with Tahir and Semenzato struggling against Pennington and Bushamuka, respectively, and Hemmeler cruising against Lai. The crucial fourth match was between Alvarez and Lopez and the No. 18 player in the nation made it a turning point for his team. A true freshman, Alvarez did not panic after dropping an opening set tiebreaker, settling down to dominate the final two sets 6-2 and 6-4 and give his team the overall lead back 3-2. The Lima, Peru, native is now 18-3 on the season. “He just regrouped and changed his game plan a little bit and got off to a great start in the second set,” Smith said. “He’s shown incredible composure and maturity for a freshman.” And knowing his team needed just one more point to earn an enormous road win early in the spring season, the veteran Mengel used his experience to seal the win. Although he is still getting used to playing again because of his numerous injuries, Mengel overpowered the freshman Yates 6-3, 6-4 to earn his 96th career victory. “I’m still kind of getting my feet wet and remembering how I like to do things,” Mengel said. “It’s becoming a little bit more natural each match.” For good measure, Levine took a 10-7 super tiebreaker to best Stefanik after the two split the first two sets 6-4 to reach the final 5-2 margin. After showing the toughness it will need to handle a grueling schedule Tuesday, the Blue Devils will have little time to rest. Duke will host the ITA Kick-Off Weekend and will face another top-20 foe, Wake Forest, Friday before taking on either No. 23 Memphis or No. 24 Clemson Saturday. Mengel and company may just be getting back in a rhythm early in the spring, but having his top six players active makes Smith like his team’s chances moving forward. “We have some specific things for each of the guys to work on,” Smith said. “[But the important thing] is that we’re healthy and the guys are playing well and feeling good.” Ryan Hoerger contributed reporting.

The Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com www.dukechronicle.com

Elysia Su | The Chronicle Despite their disappointment, Blue Devil captains Amile Jefferson and Quinn Cook answered questions thoughtfully after Duke’s 16-point loss to Miami Jan. 13.

INTERVIEWS

Just like LeBron’s on-court theatrics, players across the sports world are starting to follow suit. After posting a monster triple-double of 17 points, 15 rebounds and 17 assists Friday, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook answered every question by attributing his successes to “good execution.” Over the weekend, clips of his interview racked up millions of views on YouTube. When asked if he was upset with something, Westbrook responded, “I just don’t like you.” Contrary to what coaches, players and many of our readers believe, members of the sports media aren’t complete idiots—we understand that talking to us is rarely the favorite part of any athlete’s day. In the last four years, I’ve interviewed hundreds of college and professional athletes and coaches. Sometimes my interviews were conducted while my subjects were butt-naked at their locker. Others lasted fleeting moments in an elevator at a charity event—that is to say, it probably wasn’t always convenient for them.

continued from page 6

guard Nick Young even has his own viral alter-ego—the always-entertaining Swaggy P. Recently, Seattle Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch has gained attention for a ritual he performs off the field. In an effort to avoid talking to the media after games, Lynch gives the same one-word answer to every question. He’s been resorting to these tactics for the better part of the last two seasons. The first time he did it, it took the sports media completely by surprise. Transcripts of Lynch’s “interviews” became stories themselves. The NFL tried to step in, levying two fines totaling $100,000 against Lynch for violating the league’s media policy. He didn’t even make himself available to the media after Seattle’s overtime win against the Green Bay Packers in sudoku_457B Sunday’s NFC championship game.

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Nevertheless, being a professional athlete is an occupation and talking to the media is part of the job description. Even the best jobs in the world have tasks that are hardly enviable. For media members, it is the arduous task of transcribing interviews—maybe for athletes, it is giving them. A week ago, I walked into what may have been one of the most depressing locker rooms I’ve seen during my time in journalism. Duke had just gotten blown out by Miami at home— the Blue Devils’ second consecutive conference loss. The game had ended late and we knew that after a loss that bad there would only be a few minutes for questions—typically when a team’s spirits are this low, freshmen shy away from the cameras and let their captains do the talking.

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Many players had already made their way to the showers by the time the locker room door opened, but even after one of the worst losses of their Duke careers, Quinn Cook and Amile Jefferson were waiting to take our questions. I could still see the tears in their eyes as they spoke, and even though they were still struggling to put their loss into words, they gave full and honest answers. As journalists, we know that every team is going to have its talkers and others are less comfortable speaking to the media. We don’t resent players for giving bad quotes because we know they are at least trying their best to do their jobs so we can do ours. When players decide that they are too important to answer a few minutes of questions, they give athletes a bad name.

CLASSIFIEDS

SPORTS

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 | 9

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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

“

Duke’s perogative Last week, Duke announced and then reversed a decision to allow the Muslim Students’ Association to hold a weekly adhan, or call to prayer, amplified from the top of the Chapel. The decisions have generated lively debate and have catapulted Duke once more to the limelight of national media. As a private institution, Duke has the prerogative to organize or prohibit student activities somewhat independently of legal considerations. Although the University has no actual obligation to enforce them, the freedoms of speech and religion are values

Editorial that are cherished at Duke. Supporters of the initial decision may argue that the space of a secular university can be used to support any religion—just like we grant space to Christian missionaries, we can grant space and stereo equipment to Muslims. Opponents may say that specifically lending the Chapel tower and its amplification system constitutes an especially great degree of support that prioritizes

one religion above others, thus threatening Duke’s secular nature and religious plurality. We agree that allowing use of the iconic Chapel tower to loudly project a religious message is a much more public form of endorsement than simply granting permission and space. Such support for Islam, then, seems to go beyond what Duke has done in the past for most religions. However, we still disagree with the reversal. The Muslim voices at Duke deserve prerogative that is proportional to their presence and impact. There are about 700 Muslim students at Duke, which is a substantial number. But we believe that endorsements by Duke should not only reflect the numerical presence of a certain community, but also the larger cultural and social context of the University. Affirming the freedom of Muslims to express themselves in traditionally integral ways, even in mediums of great gravity, is a useful message in the face of current Islamophobia. Even if Duke’s principles of pluralism and freedom do not compel it to allow the amplification of the adhan, choosing to allow it would give Duke the moral high ground in the reality of current events.

onlinecomment

LETTERS POLICY The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identification, phone number and local address. Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns. The Chronicle will not publish anonymous or form letters or letters that are promotional in nature. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, clarity and style and the right to withhold letters based on the discretion of the editorial page editor.

” edit pages

—“JB Radcliffe” commenting on Frank Holleman’s Letter to the Editor

Direct submissions to: E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.edu Editorial Page Department The Chronicle Box 90858, Durham, NC 27708 Phone: (919) 684-2663 Fax: (919) 684-4696

The Chronicle

Inc. 1993

CARLEIGH STIEHM, Editor MOUSA ALSHANTEER, Managing Editor EMMA BACCELLIERI, News Editor GEORGIA PARKE, Executive Digital Editor NICK MARTIN, Sports Editor DARBI GRIFFITH, Photography Editor MICHELLE MENCHACA, Editorial Page Editor TIFFANY LIEU, Editorial Board Chair MICHAEL LAI, Director of Online Development TYLER NISONOFF, Director of Online Operations CHRISSY BECK, General Manager RACHEL CHASON, University Editor ALEENA KAREDIYA, Local & National Editor GAUTAM HATHI, Health & Science Editor EMMA LOEWE, News Photography Editor KATIE FERNELIUS, Recess Editor IZZY CLARK, Recess Photography Editor KYLE HARVEY, Editorial Page Managing Editor DANIEL CARP, Towerview Editor ELYSIA SU, Towerview Photography Editor MARGOT TUCHLER, Social Media Editor PATTON CALLAWAY, Senior Editor RAISA CHOWDHURY, News Blog Editor SHANEN GANAPATHEE, Multimedia Editor SOPHIA DURAND, Recruitment Chair MEGAN HAVEN, Advertising Director BARBARA STARBUCK, Creative Director

Furthermore, we must acknowledge Duke’s institutional emphasis on Judeo-Christian thought. Even the presence of a monumental Christian chapel as the symbol of the University, as well as a significant Judeo-Christian plurality on campus, can make Muslim students feel marginalized and uncomfortable. The causes of this discomfort doubtless vary greatly between individuals, making the forces of marginalization seem intangible when in fact they are quite strong on the aggregate. Duke should use its private prerogative to take steps in correcting this marginalization, even if it involves granting a disproportionately strong platform to a community that traditionally only had a weak one. Since both sides of the debate claim Duke’s founding principles to stand by their side, we cannot make a strict moral call. We consider the question to be one of contextual prerogative rather than universally “right” action. We therefore suggest that, if similar situations arise in the future, Duke should consider each on an individual basis, in line with their bearing on the social context of Duke and the global context of current events.

Getting reacquainted

I want Muslims to have the right to worship on campus, in the chapel, and to speak openly about their faith. I don’t want them commandeering the chapel once a week...where people walking by have no choice but to listen.

Est. 1905

The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com commentary

10 | TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015

KALI SHULKLAPPER, University Editor JENNA ZHANG, Local & National Editor GRACE WANG, Health & Science Editor BRIANNA SIRACUSE, Sports Photography Editor GARY HOFFMAN, Recess Managing Editor YUYI LI, Online Photo Editor RYAN HOERGER, Sports Managing Editor DANIELLE MUOIO, Towerview Editor ELIZA STRONG, Towerview Creative Director RYAN ZHANG, Special Projects Editor RITA LO, Executive Print Layout Editor IMANI MOISE, News Blog Editor KRISTIE KIM, Multimedia Editor ANDREW LUO, Recruitment Chair MEGAN MCGINITY, Digital Sales Manager MARY WEAVER, Operations Manager

The Chronicle is published by the Duke Student Publishing Company, Inc., a non-profit corporation independent of Duke University. The opinions expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of Duke University, its students, faculty, staff, administration or trustees. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors. To reach the Editorial Office at 301 Flowers Building, call 684-2663 or fax 684-4696. To reach the Business Office at 2022 Campus Drive call 684-3811. To reach the Advertising Office at 2022 Campus Drive call 684-3811 @ 2014 Duke Student Publishing Company

ince returning to the United States just more than a month ago, I’ve been preparing for my role new role on campus as a washed-up junior. I spent an embarrassingly large proportion of the final weeks of my stint abroad fretting with my Duke-in-Madrid compatriots about our return to Duke-in-Durham. The general consensus was that returning to an English-speaking country whose citizens emphasize competence and efficiency over joie de vivre would make for a joyous homecoming, but returning to Duke and its “effortless perfection” and cutthroat academics would not. “It’ll be okay, though,” we told each other over glasses of sangria in obscure Spanish bars. “Everyone feels this way after coming back from study abroad.” Those words echoed in my ears as I moved into

bed. Perhaps all the personal growth I had experienced had been merely ephemeral, and perhaps I really did just need to spend my nights bitterly counting down the days until graduation. Then I snapped out of it. While I still occasionally dream of changing my major to Spanish and gallivanting back to some hispanophone country for the semester, my two weeks back on campus have generally improved my outlook on the next fifteen weeks. Being away from Duke may have given me some much-needed breathing room, but it also let me create a grotesque caricature of what this university actually is. I may see as many BMWs in the Blue Zone as I did in all of Madrid, and my first statistics quiz made me yearn for last semester’s midterms, but

Tom Vosburgh THE STRUGGLE my apartment on a gloomy January afternoon. Central Campus was a ghost town, and the refrigerator held nothing but a moldy frozen pizza. Before I even successfully found time to hang the tricolored flag of the Second Spanish Republic on my wall, though, classes had started and I felt the malaise that had plagued me throughout my sophomore year—the pestilence that had driven me to take a sabbatical from Duke studying abroad in the first place—slowly re-establishing itself in my mind. The Housing office claims that my apartment is asbestos-free, but it felt like something nasty was in the air, and it wasn’t the cigarette smoke of a hundred Spaniards. I experienced minimal culture shock during my first few days back in the U.S., but my first week back in the Gothic Wonderland more than made up for it. After three months in a country where GPAs are not listed on students’ curricula vitae—even those sent to prestigious American firms—and wine is enjoyed slowly over the course a lengthy dinner, I should have known to brace myself for a rocky transition. Suddenly I was back in a world where people with ‘B+’ averages fret about being below companies’ 3.5 GPA cutoffs and jäger bombs are guzzled in the seven minutes between when an Über is ordered and when the driver arrives to transport everyone to Shooters. During the first rush event I attended, I looked at myself in horror, disappointed that the maturity I felt I had acquired over the course of the past seven months evaporated before my eyes as I chugged a can of lukewarm Keystone Light. Angst-ridden, I slouched back to my apartment and climbed into

the Duke experience consists of more than status symbols and double integrals. My classes are engaging and intellectually stimulating. Exasperated SnapChats of the Duke Crane and the mud path to Perkins bring together people from all walks of life during our trudges across campus. Even the first-year students to whom my friends who did not study abroad have introduced me to have been brilliant, kind-hearted people. Upon coming to these realizations, I finally remembered why I chose to attend Duke in the first place, and it’s been a bit of a return to the honeymoon phase ever since. My re-adoption of the Duke lifestyle has been a process rife with intentionality, however. Spending time with people from such radically different parts of the world has made me realize just how much of what we put ourselves through is unnecessary, if not downright harmful. For instance, I’ve begun to worry more about my stress levels than “doing it all”, and I fear my inevitable return to Shooters will leave me underwhelmed. In spite of this sense of worldliness and world-weariness I claim to have acquired in 2014, I will do my best this semester to defy my own prophecy of becoming a washed-up junior. Duke may be consistently challenging and occasionally cruel, but the least I can do is ensure that it is a little less so for my fellow students. After all, perhaps the best antidote to the cynicism of junior year is the optimism seen in our younger counterparts. Tom Vosburgh is a Trinity junior. This is his first column of the semester.

The Chronicle

www.dukechronicle.com commentary

Quit talkin’ Yak

ticks and stones may break your bones, but words will… anonymously assault you? Sorry if that sounds harsh, but I’ve been scrolling through Yik-Yak a lot lately. Popularly emerging as the successor to CollegiateACB, Yik-Yak now stands as the hub of anonymous college gossip. As an increasingly mobile way for students to sound off about anything, Yik-Yak represents a localized Twitter without the handle. The anonymity granted has been optimistically portrayed as, “allow[ing] everyone to let their guard down and have a blank slate,” by co-founder Brooks Buffington. It’s a nice premise, the only problem being that those slates do not remain blank for the accused. At the behest of my friend, I downloaded Yik-Yak after returning from abroad. My

anonymous comment board, but it’s the latest iteration in what is becoming a long line of socially degrading technology. Anonymity has always held somewhat of a duplicitous position amongst journalists and communicators. Theoretically, it should be granted to protect a person who would be otherwise harmed by releasing the information. More frequently, Adam Schefter uses it to pander rumors about Jim Harbaugh. At its best, anonymity gives us Watergate. Its worst, TMZ. The increasing opportunity to assert your opinion should come with an increasing responsibility to make that opinion measured, factual and preferably funny. Recklessly accusing your peers of drug use, misconduct or any sort of social inferiority fails miserably in these criteria.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015 | 11

Quiz me (no, really)

ere’s something I never thought I’d say—I wish I was tested more. Like I wish that there had been more instances where I sat down in a classroom chair, pencil in my sweaty, I’m-going-to-fail palm and felt my heart rate quicken at the sight of a piece of paper. This desire is strange from a number of perspectives. I’m not a masochist—I hate this experience just as much as you do. And even from a broad societal perspective, I’d argue that a great deal of what’s wrong with our K-12 classrooms is an increased focus on standardized testing. But still, in my last year of college, the desire is there. Specifically, I wish I had been quizzed on all of the reading I did—and, if we’re being honest, often didn’t do—in college. I wish it had happened in almost every single one of my classes, every week or something close to it. Here’s why. I have a severe inferiority complex about studying the humanities and social sciences. Anyone who studies them has been on the receiving end of teasing remarks about how relatively easy they are. And I defend my majors, but I feel a little disingenuous doing so. I’m almost positive that, if I planned well, I could 4.0 an English major without ever cracking open an actual book. How many times have I sat in a classroom in which the discussion is so obviously motivated by people trying to disguise the fact that they haven’t done the reading?

Caleb Ellis

Ellie Schaack

MORE OR LESS

BRAVE NEW WORLD

arrival coincided with a particularly eventful week—some combination of Duke’s loss to Miami, Greek and SLG rush and the adhan debacle left students in a flurry. While the loss in Cameron produced Yaks that could best be described as a witty melodrama, the conversation—if you want to call it that— regarding rush and adhan was distinctly disturbing. There was nothing humorous or informative in the barrage of attacks between fraternities, sororities or SLG’s, and the discussion revolving the adhan reversal reeked of bigotry. Few students would contend that the overwhelming majority of the Yik-Yak feed is petty and often malicious gossip. The joke, opinion and occasional news Yaks that remain are interspersed in the web of textual assaults. Due to the prohibition of using names in a defamatory context, explicitly personal attacks are often removed in minutes. However, this does not preclude many social groups, organizations and otherwise labeled entities from unidentifiable vitriol. I am a big fan of self-deprecating humor. Like my grandma preaches, if you can’t laugh at yourself, you’ll have a tough as hell time laughing at everyone else. The same thing generally goes for crude humor which, for nearly everyone not named the ACLU, makes us a laugh a little bit harder. However, the line between satire and a diatribe should be relatively recognizable. Baseless accusations and insults that more closely represent hate speech aren’t funny. The subsequent lack of accountability is downright depressing. Giving people the opportunity to shed ownership over their words clearly encourages them to throw punches in the dark, replacing channels of discussion with venom. Yik-Yak isn’t the inventor of the

Among the darker corridors of the Internet lie the comment boards of YouTube. They are notorious not only for the maliciousness of their contents, but also for their unwavering commitment to anonymity. I don’t know anyone who spends time down there, but briefly scrolling through reveals the posters to comprise the criminally ignorant portion of society. It’s one of the worst examples of anonymous comment boards, and one that has even catalyzed some change. ESPN, the most trafficked sports news website in the world, hosted comment boards of similarly unsavory, albeit sports based, anonymous discussion. After nearly five years of hosting anonymous comment boards, ESPN decided last July to link user profiles to their Facebook, giving faces and names to its participants. This motion to civilize was described by website editorin-chief Patrick Stiegman as, “want[ing] people to be candid -- actively engage in strong and thorough debate, but do it in a way without anonymity,” The move tempered ESPN’s comments, and other major websites have followed suit. It also seemed to prove that a quality discussion, if that is indeed what you seek to promote, is best achieved without anonymity. I’m not taking Yik-Yak at anything more than face value. Its popularity clearly manifests itself in its loose-lipped and uncensored content. However, it’s worth recognizing that it appeals to our worse nature, and remains fueled by the students on this campus. Just because the app doesn’t hold you responsible for what you write does not mean you didn’t write it, and if you are going to Yak, Yak responsibly.

edit pages

Caleb Ellis is a Trinity junior. This is his first column of the semester.

Letter to the Editor Response to ‘Duke reverses decision to hold Muslim call-to-prayer from Chapel bell tower’ I read earlier today with a great deal of delight that the University had decided to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the University Chapel once a week. I noticed in the article that the Associate Dean of the Chapel commented about “Duke’s mission” and how such a decision to broadcast the Muslim call to prayer from the Chapel fit within that mission. I was sadden to see that within a very short time of said announcement, the “Vice President for public affairs and government rela-

Or been a part of discussions in which two or three people converse about the topic and the rest conveniently look down at their notes right when the professor starts cold calling? How can I claim to have had a rigorous academic experience if, whenever the going got a little tough—or the socializing got a little fun—I could get out of hours upon hours of reading with my only penalty mildly inhibited classroom participation? When I ran this idea past people who study the same subjects I do, I generally got one of two responses. Either people said “Yes! My favorite classes all had reading quizzes!” or “But there’s no possible way I could actually complete the reading I’m assigned each week.” I agree with both of these comments. In some cases, a class has so much reading there’s no way to truly read every word. But what happens in this scenario is so strange I think the Psychology department would do well to look into it. Several times, I’ve entered into curious arrangements in which the reading load is so comically heavy that both the professors and the students know that no one is doing it, but no one has anything to gain by acknowledging the problem. So we all become complicit in this terribly awkward ruse. It’s really very weird. Having reading quizzes would force these professors to be more intelligent about their syllabi. What do we really need to read for full understanding? What would be better to skim? These are difficult questions that I think many professors would rather avoid—in an ideal world, we’d read everything they list and more. But when professors don’t spend time making these hard choices, they disrespect the time of the diligent ones trying to complete the reading, and they incentivize and assist in others’ negligence. It’s time for these professors to get smarter about their syllabi, and then we’ll respect their effort by adhering to them more closely. A third most popular response I received when I pitched this idea was for people to claim that the people who didn’t do the reading were only hurting themselves. Those who were truly intellectually curious or valued their education, they argued, would simply do the reading. But those diligent people are hurt by the general negligence in two ways—first, it’s often those who do not read who get the high grades because it’s easy to write a good essay without completing the reading, and, second, the quality of the discussion in a generally negligent class diminishes severely. With reading quizzes, those who already read will get a grade boost, and, even better, study after study shows that the simple existence of a quiz improves recall. Others responded that quizzing shifts the focus from critical thinking to regurgitation, lowering the sophistication of the analysis. But reading quizzes are not a replacement for essays and discussion grades—they are a supplement to them. The better the foundation upon which the critical thinking is built, the better that highlevel thinking will be. And if the worry is that quizzes take too much class time, maybe it’s time to lengthen these classes a little. I know—I’m just making this idea more and more palatable. But seriously—it’s time to reflect a little on the fact that math and hard sciences often have recitations, long labs and lectures. The argument for the less time spent in the classroom for social sciences and humanities is that they require extra time spent reading. But if that is the case, then we better make sure that the students who excel are actually doing it. I care about the subjects I study. I want them given proper rigor. I want them to be as difficult as they truly are to master, both for me and everyone else. When I sat down to write this column, I remembered a conversation I had when I was thirteen years old with the headmaster of the boarding school I wound up attending. “At Fountain Valley,” he said, “not everybody is a genius. But the students care. The question is no longer ‘Did you do your homework?’ It’s ‘How well did you do your homework?’” He was right, and the four years I spent there were the most intellectually stimulating years of my life. We attend one of the top universities in the United States. How are we still stuck on that first question?

tions” announced that was not going to happen. Initially, upon hearing the first announcement from the Associate Dean of the Chapel, I had thought how proud I was to be a Duke Alumnae. Upon hearing the second from a mouthpiece of the university, I was struck not only by the two different offices of the announcements, but by the lack of backbone in the University’s leadership in this time of adversity in our world. Come on Duke. No wonder your basketball team is floundering. You are, too! Michael Cash Div ‘75

Ellie Schaack is a Trinity senior. This is her first column of the semester.

12 | TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2015

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Attention PUBPOL and other Undergraduate Majors! Study Away at University of Glasgow in Fall 2015 Apply for Study Away in Glasgow, Scotland Application Deadline: March 1, 2015 Information Meeting: Thursday, January 22, 2015 5:00 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 6:00pm Room 242 Rubenstein Hall You are strongly encouraged to attend this meeting if you are interested in studying away at the University of Glasgow during the Fall 2015 semester. Students who have participated in the Glasgow program in the past will also be present to answer questions and share their experiences. Refreshments will be served. The Duke In Glasgow program page and application can be found at the Duke Global Education website: http://globaled.duke.edu/Programs/Semester/Duke_in_Glasgow. Contact Meghann.Lail@duke.edu for additional information.