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The Chronicle 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, APRIL 14 2016
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 105
Judge removes DSG VP voter turnout rises 9 percent Duke from Trask lawsuit Neelesh Moorthy The Chronicle Superior Court Judge Henry Hight removed Duke as a defendant in the lawsuit filed by contract employee Shelvia Underwood against Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and the University, Underwood’s attorney Donald Huggins confirmed Wednesday. Hight heard arguments from Huggins and attorneys representing Duke Tuesday before issuing the decision, which was not accompanied by any explanation of Hight’s reasoning. “The decision speaks for itself,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. Schoenfeld declined further comment. The original lawsuit included two counts against the University, alleging that Trask and Duke engaged in a civil conspiracy to protect Duke’s financial interests and reputation, and that they obstructed justice for failing to investigate the 2014 incident in which Trask hit Underwood with his car and allegedly used a racial slur as he drove off. Two other counts were directed solely at Trask—one for battery and one for negligence. Huggins explained that the lawsuit See LAWSUIT on Page 4
Graphic by Yuhkai Lin | The Chronicle
Likhitha Butchireddygari The Chronicle In an election with significantly higher voter turnout than last year’s, undergraduates selected next year’s class council presidents and vice presidents and Duke Student Government committee vice presidents and senators when polls closed Wednesday at noon. A total of 2,083 students—32 percent of the student body—voted in the election, a 9 percent increase from last year’s voter turnout but less than the 36 percent voter
turnout for the March 2 elections for president, executive vice president, and Student Organization Funding Committee chair. For the vice president of academic affairs and vice president of services races, instant runoff voting—in which candidates are ranked and those with the fewest votes are eliminated so that those votes can be reallocated to remaining candidates based on how candidates are ranked—had to be used because no candidate had a clear majority. In the vice president of academic affairs race, freshman Kushal Kadakia received 49.4 percent of the vote initially,
but freshman Sean Bissell won the instant runoff with 50.5 percent of the vote, noted Attorney General Annie Adair, a junior. Freshman Will Hardee was elected vice president of services after an instant runoff vote. President-elect Tara Bansal, a junior, noted she was pleased with the higher turnout. “I think the reason that we saw a considerable increase this year is because we had a lot more contested races and a lot more candidates running, so clearly there See ELECTIONS on Page 4
Professor Srinivas Aravamudan dies Wednesday Staff Reports The Chronicle
Special to The Chronicle Srinivas Aravamudan was a professor of English and former dean of the humanities.
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Srinivas Aravamudan, a professor of English and former dean of humanities, died Wednesday. Aravamudan was recognized for championing the humanities, including directing both the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute and the Humanities Writ Large Initiative as well as serving as dean of the humanities until 2014. Duke announced in a release that the University has lowered its flags in respect. He was 54. “We are very sad to have lost
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a greatly esteemed colleague, a delightful, playful and witty friend, and a leader of vision and compassion,” Sarah Beckwith, chair of the English department, said in the release. Beckwith also offered condolences to Aravamudan’s wife, Ranjana Khanna, a professor of English, women’s studies and literature. Aravamudan was a scholar of British, French and postcolonial literature. In 2000—the year he joined Duke’s faculty—he won an outstanding first book prize from the Modern Language Association, and he has published several other books. His work at Duke with the
Serving the University since 1905
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Humanities Writ Large sought to boost undergraduate engagement in humanities scholarship. Aravamudan was the president of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes, which is comprised of 207 organizations worldwide and based out of the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University and taught at the University of Utah and the University of Washington prior to joining Duke’s faculty. “He brought his great intellectual gifts and his leadership skills together to unusual and marked effect,” Beckwith said.
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