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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
THURSDAY, JANUARY 9, 2020
DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 32
Duke barely vets companies that recruit on-campus
Special to The Chronicle (top and right)
It doesn’t want to start with Palantir By Mona Tong Local and National News Editor
Should Duke reevaluate its process of deciding which companies can recruit on campus? Administrators and students have clashed over this question since controversy ensued about the revelation that Palantir Technologies—a data analytics company that recruited at Duke’s fall TechConnect career fair—holds a $42 million contract with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Duke Student Government passed a resolution in December urging the University to cease its relationship with Palantir. However, administrators have struck a different tone. Mary Pat McMahon, vice provost and vice president for student affairs, wrote in
an email that it is “core to Duke’s values to strongly encourage critical thinking and open discussion” around the ways that companies and their policies impact people and other issues. “Toward this end, we should not limit how students wish to raise critical questions with a prospective employer,” she wrote. “Some students may want to work for change from within a company, others may steer away from the same organization altogether. Others might want to learn more from a recruiter before deciding, and some may want to catalyze change from outside the process.” McMahon said that she does not foresee the recent DSG resolution changing the administration’s decision. Sophomore Jeremy Carballo wrote in a message to The Chronicle that permitting
a company such as Palantir—“regardless of their other good work”—to recruit on campus is helping “a rogue federal agency take part in their acts of fear and oppression.” This, he argued, does not align with Duke’s value statement. Among the listed values in the statement are that Duke “avoid[s] activities, pursuits or financial interests that are not compatible, in reality or perception, with our responsibilities” and that Duke “encourage[s] questions and challenges, holding individuals and organizations accountable for their actions and decisions.”
Duke’s process for recruiting companies See RECRUIT on Page 4
Bus route shakeup adds more 300 Swift service By Nathan Luzum Managing Editor
One semester into Duke boasting the new Swift Avenue Shuttle and C1: East-West Express, the University is tweaking the routes. For the first time since Duke purchased the apartments at 300 Swift, the Swift Avenue bus route will provide continual weekday service and occasional weekend service from 300 Swift to the West Campus bus stop throughout the day. In previous semesters, the Swift Avenue Shuttle stopped running from 2-6 p.m. before resuming in the evening. On weekends, the C1: East-West will detour See BUS on Page 4
Bre Bradham | Associate Photography Editor Duke is switching up the bus route system (yes, The Chronicle knows there are no more CCX’s).
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Not the best asbestos on Central By Matthew Griffin University News Editor
Demolishing some Central Campus apartments took longer due to an unsuspected obstacle—asbestos. The apartments on Central Campus had “some amount of asbestos-containing material in pipe wrap, ceilings, floor tiles and exterior boards,” Director of Project Management Paul Manning wrote in an email. The removal process took five months and was carried out by contractor Enpuricon Inc., costing $2.7 million. The removal took longer than initially expected because carpet glue containing asbestos had adhered to concrete in the floor of the apartments, Manning wrote. The asbestos is “all gone, but it took longer and it cost more money” because of the glue, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask told The Chronicle. He noted that the Central Campus apartments were built “on the cheap and not very well, which is part of the reason why [Duke is] getting rid of them.” Manning wrote that an independent expert inspected the buildings and determined that the asbestos did not pose a health risk to occupants. Asbestos is a known carcinogen but only dangerous when airborne, said John Dement, professor emeritus in community and family medicine who has researched environmental carcinogens. It is common practice to leave asbestos-containing material in place and monitor its condition until it can be removed during a major renovation or demolition, Dement said. “Materials that are intact and in place, not damaged, not crumbling and causing issues, are typically not a problem,” Dement said. Trask said the University was aware that there was asbestos in the buildings, but it did not pose a health risk because it was under the carpet. “There’s always a risk as you expose and hit asbestos,” Trask said. “But that only happened when we pulled the carpet out.” Dement said that “it would have been common practice” to use asbestos-containing materials in the 1970s, when Duke built the Central Campus apartments. According to a document published by the University’s Occupational and Environmental Safety Office, there are asbestos-containing materials in “many of the buildings at Duke,” and the most common use is in “pipe insulation… floor tile, and acoustical plaster.” The document urges residents who find damaged materials that may contain asbestos to contact Housing and Residence Life. The apartments originally housed graduate students but eventually transitioned to undergraduates. Students lived in them for the last time during the 2018–19 academic year, and their demolition began in August 2019. The University has not yet established a long-term plan for the use of most of the land. Trask told The Chronicle in October 2019 that he would like it to become a premier research park. @thedukechronicle | © 2020 The Chronicle