December 12, 2016

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016

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ONE HUNDRED AND TWELFTH YEAR, ISSUE 43

New health New curriculum could nix language requirement center gears up for Jan. opening Lexi Kadis The Chronicle Feeling sick but don’t want to make the trek all the way to Student Health? Next semester, it won’t be nearly as difficult.

The new Student Health and Wellness Center—which is scheduled to open Jan. 9—will combine all health resources on campus into a 72,000 square-foot space, consisting of three stories with a one-story annex, said Sue Wasiolek, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students. The first floor will be home to the Student Wellness Center, DukeReach, nutrition services and a pharmacy, and the second floor will house Student Health. In addition, the third floor will be the office for the Counseling and Psychological Services and a physical therapy suite. The center also See HEALTH CENTER on Page 3

Neal Vaidya | The Chronicle The new center will consist of three stories with a one-story annex.

Jeremy Chen | The Chronicle

Bre Bradham The Chronicle The February meeting of the Arts and Sciences Council could potentially bring a notable curriculum change—the removal of the foreign language requirement.

Requiring foreign language courses has been a hotly-debated topic since its reinstatement in the current curriculum approved in 1999, and the proposal to remove it has been met with mixed responses from faculty and students.

The lack of information about how the proposal will be implemented has made discussion of its consequences murky, and some worry that it will shrink enrollments in certain departments.

In the current curriculum, all students in Trinity College are required to take foreign language courses—with the number corresponding to their proficiency in that language. Advanced students have to take one, and many beginning and intermediate students have to take at least three in order to fulfill a mode of inquiry requirement.

In the current draft of the new

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curriculum, students are required to take one course each in five different categories of the “signature core,” one of which is a “Languages and Cultures” requirement.

Although languages would be one way to fulfill this requirement, students would no longer be required to explicitly take a foreign language course. Suzanne Shanahan—associate research professor of sociology and chair of the Imagining the Duke Curriculum committee, which was charged with drafting the new curriculum— confirmed this at the November meeting of the Arts and Sciences council.

The draft of the curriculum will be voted on by faculty in February after further deliberation and discussion, with the Class of 2022 potentially being the first class that the curriculum would be in place for.

Opportunity costs?

Proponents of the shift called into question the flexibility of the current requirement, the opportunity costs of having three required classes and, more broadly, the validity of using language requirements as motivators. Ingeborg Walther, a professor of the practice of Germanic languages

and literature and a member of the IDC committee, added that many students already speak multiple languages.

“We are getting students coming to Duke now who are more diverse than ever. We have more international students, students from various backgrounds and minority students,” said Walther at December’s Arts and Sciences Council meeting. “We are trying to take into account designing structures for students to meet them where they are when they come in.”

Shruti Rao, a junior Program II major and columnist for The Chronicle who has previously written against the requirement, said that she takes issue with the implications of the requirement even though she has found her Italian course enjoyable.

“I don’t really understand where three semesters comes from, because you only have 34 classes here at Duke. For me, I take every single one of those classes as a serious learning opportunity,” she said. “I understand having a language requirement, but I think ours detracts from other interests the students want to pursue. My objection is not to learning See LANGUAGE on Page 3

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Taiwanese-American students How does the University figure react to Trump’s phone call out the academic calendar?

Diane Hu The Chronicle President-elect Donald Trump broke a nearly four decades-old precedent last week when he fielded a call from Taiwan’s president, sparking considerable diplomatic uncertainty.

Taiwan and the United States broke off formal diplomatic ties in 1979 with the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act, and no American president or president-elect since then has directly spoken with a Taiwanese president.

Trump’s recent phone call with Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen, therefore, came as an unprecedented move, said Joseph Grieco, a professor of political science.

“I think the U.S. government tries to keep U.S.-Taiwanese relations on an informal lowkey basis,” he said. “The fact that this was publicized as it was suggests that both the U.S. side and the Taiwanese side wanted to send a signal to the Chinese government that this contact occurred.”

Taiwanese-American junior Alex Tseng agreed that the call was aimed at China, but did

Jack Dolgin | Chronicle File Photo Trump spoke with Taiwan’s president last week, the first time a U.S. president had done so since the U.S. broke off formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979.

not think it foreshadowed any actual changes in Taiwan policy.

“I believe Trump is just using the call to remind China that the U.S. is a powerful country,” Tseng said. “He wants to prove to his supporters that he is against China, but he won’t actually make changes in future U.S. policy toward Taiwan.”

Of concern to many is how China will react, and the leading officials have already taken offense. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi labeled the call a “petty move” in an interview with The Washington Post, adding it would not change China’s strategic importance in global politics. Yi also noted that China did not want to disrupt the “One China” principle, which he called “the foundation for healthy development of Sino-U.S. relations.”

Ing-wen’s election represents the return to power of the pro-Taiwanese independence Democratic Progressive Party, which has led several commentators to speculate about how the call might affect future diplomacy.

Although the call by itself might not change too much, Grieco said there is a “quite high probability of some sort of militarized incident” in the future.

Taiwanese-American junior Thomas Lai said the relationship between Beijing and Taipei “hasn’t turned that bad compared to [former Taiwanese President Ma Yingjeou’s] administration.” He also argued that Republicans have historically been friendlier to Taiwan than Democrats have been.

But Tseng disagreed with Lai’s assessment, suggesting Ing-wen’s leadership was worse for the Taiwanese people. By supporting Taiwanese independence, he argued, Taiwan was inviting potential Chinese retaliation.

“Since China can’t do anything over the U.S., China will target Taiwan,” Tseng said.

Ing-wen told the New York Times that she does not foresee a major policy shift— ”because we all see the value of stability in the region.” However, Grieco said relationships were not going to improve.

“Things will certainly not get better,” he said. “They are going to deteriorate further, not solely because of Taiwan but because of a whole host of issues.”

Deepti Agnihotri The Chronicle Ever wonder how the University decides when Winter Break begins and classes end?

This year, Winter Break lasts only 23 days—eight fewer days than last year and two fewer than the year before. The opposite scenario happened next year, when five extra days of Winter Break were awarded to students. But although it may seem that the semester was purposefully made longer, calendar fluctuations are the real culprit, said University Registrar Frank Blalark.

The University Schedule Committee reviews the academic calendar for the University, submitting a final proposal to the provost for approval. This year, classes began Aug. 29., slightly later than they have the past two years. Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek, a non-voting member of the committee, explained that the semester must be long enough for classes to satisfy certain requirements.

“There are a certain number of class days

and class hours,” Wasiolek said. “Every class has a set number of hours that it has to meet.”

Spring classes start on a Wednesday but still follow a Monday schedule, for example, to account for no classes on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. When making the academic calendar, the committee—which includes members of Duke Student Government as well as graduate students—also considers the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s academic calendar.

Wasiolek added this was not a significant driving factor, but the calendars have to line up to a certain degree so that the campus-connecting Robertson buses can operate.

After the committee deliberates and has a calendar, it is sent to Provost Sally Kornbluth, who then gives final approval.

The University does offer a Winter term with extremely limited course offerings.

There is also a Winter Forum held before the Spring begins, during which students and faculty explore and discuss a major global issue without any academic expectations.

See CALENDAR on Page 3

Ben Yang | The Chronicle

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HEALTH CENTER from page 1 will have a meditation garden for student use.

Wasiolek noted that each floor will have an atrium for students to hang out and relax.

“What I’m most excited about in the building is when you walk in at any level, you will not encounter a medical or clinical environment,” she said. “[The atrium is] going to be space that we hope will be extremely inviting, very comfortable and will also be such that students feel it is space they want to return to.”

The structure of the building represents wellness itself through its style and decor, explained Thomas Szigethy, associate dean and director of the Student Wellness Center.

“There’s a lot of natural elements that are being brought into the building, stone and woodwork, so that the building becomes an example of environmental wellness for students,” he said.

Although the center seems very large, Wasiolek noted that the original design was actually bigger than the current building.

Danielle Oakley, director of CAPS, said that the building has only enough space for the center’s occupants. CAPS, which is currently located in three different sections of Page building, will now be together in one location, allowing for “better collaboration” between their offices and with other departments, she added.

For the first time in Duke history, all student health and wellness services will be located under the same roof, allowing the agencies to practice a “comprehensive, integrative and wholistic” approach to student well-being, Wasiolek said.

Szigethy noted that it is advantageous to have the Student Wellness Center, DukeReach, Student Health and CAPS within the same building because it will be easy to guide students back and forth between the

resources without the inconvenience of traveling across campus.

Oakley also highlighted the location and easy accessibility as benefits of the new building. Although the current CAPS offices are only accessible by stairs, the new center will have an elevator so that all students will be able to visit the facilities.

The new center is meant to encourage students to make health and wellness a lifestyle choice, Szigethy explained.

“The building was built for students. It was built so that students could clearly see that the University was committed to their health and wellness,” Wasiolek said. “Our hope is that the students themselves would embrace the importance of their own health and wellness.”

starting to take the training wheels off,” he said. “The kind of way of thinking, of thinking about the world and the habits of mind that you acquire as you learn languages are rewards that are kind of slow in coming, but beautiful when you get there.”

Sosin explained that the classical studies department, which teaches Latin and ancient Greek, has kept track of its enrollment numbers since the early 1990s. The reintroduction of the language requirement with the current curriculum, he said, caused a sharp uptick in their enrollment numbers.

One concern is that the change will reduce enrollments and ultimately faculty employment in foreign language areas.

Matteo Gilebbi, a lecturing fellow in the romance studies department and a member of the Duke Teaching First adjunct faculty union, wrote that he wanted more information about from page 1 the proposal.

“We feel that we really don’t have enough languages, but to the opportunity costs.” information about how the curriculum would Trinity College does not have an option work in practice and impact our working to place out of its language requirement conditions and our students’ educational through tests. Of several peer institutions, the experience to make a meaningful statement at University of Pennsylvania and Yale University this time,” he wrote in an email Sunday. do not exempt students from the language requirement through a placement test.

Will students experiment?

Harvard University and Stanford University do One student who used Latin as a gateway allow students to opt out, however. course is junior Gabi Stewart, who is the only At Duke, the Pratt School of Engineering classical languages major in her year. does not require foreign language classes, but “The reason why I picked the major is does list them as one means of fulfilling a five- because the requirement forced me to take a course social science requirement. language class, and I didn’t really know what Opponents of the proposed change cited to do,” she said. “I was terrified of speaking a a link between language and culture that language. So I picked Latin, and I ended up cannot be experienced in an English-speaking just falling in love with the language. After classroom, as well as the intellectual tools a year of Latin, I decided to see if I liked developed through language-learning.

Greek. Then I ended up deciding to major Joshua Sosin, an associate professor of in the languages.” classical studies, said he believes the current Some faculty expressed concern that three-semester requirement is actually too low. the removal of the requirement would “For many languages, the third semester inhibit students from stumbling upon is when you are just starting to get going, just areas of interest.

LANGUAGE

Something for Everyone

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016 | 3

Martin Eisner, an associate professor of Italian studies and the director of graduate studies for the romance studies department, said he was worried students might not take language classes without the requirement.

“It worries me, but I don’t want to be apocalyptic,” he said. “One thing that might happen is that students might be less willing to experiment, which is what the whole curriculum is supposed to be about. If you could satisfy a language in an easy way, that students will take the easy way.”

Esther Gabara, E. Blake Byrne associate professor of romance studies and co-director of the Global Brazil Lab, said she is less worried about required languages and was more interested in fostering an appreciation of multilingualism among students.

Faculty also stressed the importance of language as a gateway to understanding other cultures.

“Learning a different language definitely helps you be empathetic,” said Letizia Montroni, a visiting lecturing fellow in the romance studies department and a Ph.D. candidate. “It’s challenging and uncomfortable, for most people, because you are left without the power of word. You have this urge to express yourself.”

CALENDAR from page 2 The upcoming forum will focus on energy inequality and clean energy solutions.

When asked how students can make the most of their Winter Break, Wasiolek recommended that students focus on relaxing activities. “[Students should] reflect on what’s best for them and focus on activities that are most restorative,” she said. “Whether it’s sleeping or reading or traveling, whatever maximizes their ability to disconnect from their normal Duke routine.”

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EXAM BREAK

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End of Semester Survival Guide brought to you by Duke University Libraries

STUDY, STUDY, STUDY! Quiet spaces (snacks permitted): Nicholas Reading Room (Bostock 2) or the fourth floors of Perkins or Bostock.

Food-free places to concentrate: Thomas Room in Lilly Library, Carpenter Reading Room in Bostock Library, Gothic Reading Room in Rubenstein Library.

Make any space in the library quieter—ask for a free pair of ear plugs at the Perkins, Lilly or Music Service Desks.

GROUP STUDY AND PROJECT SPACES

Bostock 039, Bostock 042, and Bostock 225 are open for students on a first-come, first-accommodated basis from 5 p.m. to 8 a.m. from Fri, Dec. 9 through Mon, Dec. 19.

Head to The Edge to find space to work on a final team project or presentation.

Don’t forget the group study room and seminar room in the Music Library on the first floor of the Biddle Music Building.

Reserve group study rooms for 3 hours at a time at library.duke.edu/roomreservations/.

HELP WITH PAPERS AND PROJECTS

Subject specialists can help you get started—check out library.duke.edu/ research/guides, or schedule a one-on-one consultation.

First-year students: Your Residence Hall Librarian is available to help.

Chat with a librarian from 9 a.m. until midnight during the week (and on weekends, too!).

Need help citing sources? Check out library.duke.edu/research/citing/index. html.

Schedule an appointment with a tutor at the Writing Studio (locations in Perkins and Lilly), or have a drop-in session at the Long Night Against Procrastination in The Edge (12/6, 7-11 p.m.).

Returning books? Return all of your books to any of Duke’s libraries.

Returning CDs and DVDs? Return DVDs and CDs you check out at Lilly or Music to Perkins!

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Lilly and Perkins are open 24/7 from Sat, Dec. 10 at 9 a.m. through Mon, Dec. 19 at 6 p.m.

Von der Heyden Pavilion is available 24/7 year-round—use your Duke ID to swipe in to the outside entrance after hours.

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Stop by the Lilly or Music Service Desk or the Link Help Desk in Perkins to check out a phone or laptop charger.

Get a jump start on projects and papers at this semester’s Long Night Against Procrastination: Tues, Dec. 6 from 7-11 p.m. in The Edge.

Enjoy snacks at Lilly Library on Monday, Dec. 12 at 8 p.m.

Check out the relaxation station in Lilly Library from Tues, Dec. 13 to Mon, Dec. 19—de-stress with games, puzzles, arts & crafts, and snacks.

Pet Puppies in Perkins on Wed, Dec. 14 from 12-3 p.m. in Perkins 217.

Make use of the Prayer and Meditation Room on the second floor of Perkins (open on a first-come, firstaccommodated basis).

Pick up a free pair of headphones, courtesy of DSG, at the Lilly or Perkins Service Desk or the Link Help Desk.

Earn $1000 for your research paper by submitting it for the Aptman Prize (awarded to undergraduates for outstanding research), Middlesworth Award (for excellent use of the Libraries’ primary sources or rare items), Holsti Prize (for exceptional use of primary sources for political science or public policy), or Rudolph William Rosati Creative Writing Award. Find more at library.duke. edu/research/awards/.

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Literature professor examines Duke’s role in globalization Adam Beyer The Chronicle Walter Mignolo, William H. Wannamaker professor of literature, has been the director of the Duke Center for Global Studies and the Humanities since 2000. Mignolo, who has appointments in both the cultural anthropology and romance studies departments, has an honorary degree from the National University of Buenos Aires, in addition to his Ph.D. from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes in Paris. The Chronicle’s Adam Beyer talked with Mignolo to talk about the globalization of American universities and American politics.

What are your thoughts on how the University should engage the world, particularly in light of the approval of the undergraduate program at the Kunshan campus?

I have been engaged in conversation and writing

about the American-style university at large. Duke in Kunshan is part of this new trend, Harvard in Singapore, Northwestern in Doha, etc. And this was part of my honorary degree lecture.

This is a sort of cyclical return to the 16th century when Spain and Portugal were the imperial countries transplanting universities. Duke in Kunshan is part of this movement.

What I think about the approval of the undergraduate program? It is what it is. The U.S. through their universities intends to provide other nations with U.S. style education.

The other nations have their own interests and in the same way that the U.S. “uses” the university to promote Western knowledge, China, Singapore or the Middle East “uses” the U.S. style university to advance their own national interests. The difference with the 16th and 17th century, when the university was only transplanted to the Americas, is that indigenous populations were dismantled

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and marginalized, and enslaved Africans had no chance to participate in education.

So the transplant was in the hands of people of European descent (Spanish, Portuguese, British, French and Dutch in the Caribbean). Now the situation is different. In the Middle East, China and Southeast Asia, there are memories and knowledge that go further back than the European Middle Age. So, now the question is to re-vamp ancestral knowledge and memories and to appropriate Western knowledge to their purposes and needs. We cannot know what would be the outcome of Duke in Kunshan 20, 30 or 50 years from now. But we do know that while Duke would like to leave its mark in China, China (and Chinese students) would like to take advantage of Duke efforts to provide Chinese students with a component of Western education. And what we could be almost sure about is that Western education would not and cannot erase 3,000 years of memories, knowledge and ways of being in the world.

Furthermore, we should think about the fact that while the U.S. is transplanting its higher education style, there are no countries transplanting their higher education style to the U.S. It should happen in the future if the aim is to live in a multi-polar world order and to have a pluri-versity higher education.

Although this conversation is not the place to introduce the reorganization of the undergraduate curriculum at Duke, I would like to flag one issue in relation to Kunshan.

Among the many problematic issues discussed, one stands out that, curiously enough, was not discussed—that one-year long courses under the heading of “the Duke Experience” shall be taught by “the best professors.” This criterion is detrimental: it creates a “professional discrimination” and instills among the undergraduate population the sense that the rest of professors at Duke are “second-class professors.”

Professional discrimination undermines the potential of pluri-versality as it continues to maintain pyramidal structures and the privileges of individuals in the administration and in the faculty body. The consequences for the faculty body and for the undergraduate population are tremendous—it instills “a Duke experience discrimination” in the middle of a conversation about “diversity at Duke.” How this would impinge in Kunshan? We will see if the best professor or the second class professor would be sent to Kunshan. That is, if Kunshan would be a reward or a punishment for faculty.

What do you think will be the implications of the Trump presidency?

Well, this is a complex question to answer in a few words.

It is difficult to read every thing that is written in the U.S. and around the world since Donald Trump was elected president. But I outline a few points I was conversing in my undergraduate seminar last night. One, that the nationstate institution has two faces, domestic and international (e.g. the inter-state system). Domestically, Trump already ignited racial conflicts and undermined diversity. On the other hand, it was the advance of the politics of diversity coupled with globalism and out-sourcing, that revamped white nationalism. President Brodhead’s letter is reassuring of the politics that Duke, and hopefully all universities in the country, will stand for. The unanimous vote to make of Duke a sanctuary campus should also help to make foreign students feel safe.

Because of the United States’ leading role, what happens here impinges on the rest of the world. And here there are two major issues. On the one hand, there are the reactions from other parts of the world. A common line manifested in op-eds and blogs from Venezuela to the Middle East, was a) we do not vote but we are affected and b) this is why we are pleased that Clinton lost. Neither of them endorsed Trump.

They expressed their concern with the foreign policy of Bush-Obama and expected to be continued by Clinton. This is the politico-military aspect of Trump’s presidency. What would be Trump’s foreign policy in the Middle East and what will be the economic consequences?

The other is economic. Trump framed his campaign “Americanism vs. Globalism,” and took advantage of the blind consequences of globalism. The question now, and we have to wait at least for the first year of his presidency, is whether “Americanism” could correct the damages of “Globalism.”

All in all, with Hillary Clinton mostly everyone knew what to expect; with Trump mostly everyone is wondering what to expect. Paradoxically, promising changes (Americanism).

Changes are not good or bad by themselves. It depends on what side of the “change” you line up with. Clinton would have continued many aspects already set up by neo-liberal globalism. So, conservatism-like change could be good or bad, depending on with whom you side up with.

This interview has been condensed for print. The full version can be found online.

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Research maps countries that will be impacted by coral reef loss Vir Patel The Chronicle New evidence from Duke environmental researchers points to the devastation coral reefs could face in the next few decades—which would affect human populations around the world.

Investigators mapped where rising sea temperatures and growing ocean acidification are contributing to coral bleaching and the decline of coral reefs. They also mapped which countries were the most dependent on coral reefs for the “ecosystem services” they provide—services such as feeding local communities, employing fishermen, protecting coasts from erosion and offering materials used in new medicine. According to the study, areas of Southeast Asia, Central and South America, Oceania and Eastern Africa are the most dependent on coral reefs and Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons the most vulnerable to the ecosystems’ decline.

The study used ocean acidification and temperature data to predict the areas that would be impacted the most by coral loss.

Going forward, scientists and policy makers will need to ensure that coastal regions are aware of the Are you thinking about getting a PhD? growing issues and can successfully adapt, explained Linwood Pendleton, a senior scholar in the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and first author of the study. ”Some scientists have held out hope that there would be reef areas that could escape the harm of climate IS CURRENTLY RECRUITING SOPHOMORES AND A SELECT NUMBER OF JUNIORS change, but we find that most reefs will be affected by either warmer seas or more acidic oceans,” Pendleton WHO ARE PLANNING TO MAJOR IN AND ATTEND A PhD PROGRAM FOLLOWING GRADUATION said in a Duke Today release. “2016 has been one of IN ONE OF THE FOLLOWING DISCIPLINES: the worst years in memory for coral bleaching. This Anthropology and Archeology Film, Cinema and Media Studies Literature fact is demonstrated by this year’s bleaching event that Area/Cultural/Ethnic/Gender Studies (theoretical focus) Performance Studies (theoretical focus) affected nearly all of the Great Barrier Reef.”

Art History Musicology and Ethnomusicology Philosophy Pendleton noted that previous research had long Classics Foreign Languages and Literature Religion and Theology established that rising carbon dioxide levels across Geography and Population Studies History Sociology the globe could contribute to ocean acidification English Linguistics Theater (theoretical focus) and elevated sea temperatures, thus leading to the loss of coral. Until now, however, researchers had not mapped the true impact of coral reef decline on the The fundamental objective of MMUF is to address, over time, the problem of underrepresentation in the academy at the level of college and university communities dependent on them. faculties. This goal can be achieved both by increasing the number of students from underrepresented minority groups who pursue PhDs and by supporting the pursuit of PhDs by students who may not come from traditional minority groups but have otherwise demonstrated a commitment to the goals of Using ocean acidification and temperature data, the MMUF. The MMUF program is designed to encourage fellows to enter PhD programs that prepare students for professorial careers; it is not intended to group predicted where these environmental changes support students who intend to go on to medical school, law school or other professional schools. All students are welcome to apply for MMUF, though could contribute most significantly to coral loss. In the applications are particularly encouraged from African-Americans, Latinos and Latinas, Native Americans, and other under-represented minorities. future, Pendleton and his colleagues said they hope to gather more localized data to confirm their findings 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 + and develop stronger models, he said. one academic year of support. Additionally, each senior fellow receives a $400 research budget to cover project-related expenses and a $600 allocation The study included representatives from policy for a GRE prep course. Each mentor receives a yearly award of $800. groups and other universities, displaying their aggregated results in an online visualization.

For further information and application materials, visit our website: According to the study, countries in Oceania and http://undergraduateresearch.duke.edu/urs-programs/mellon-mays-undergraduate-fellowship-program Southeast Asia will be among the earliest to face the impact of these changes.

Questions?

Pendleton added that ultimately, the loss of coral Contact: Dr. Kerry Haynie, 660-4366 (klhaynie@duke.edu) / Ms. Deborah Wahl, 684-6066 (deborah.wahl@duke.edu) reefs could be devastating on a global scale because coastal regions depend heavily on coral reefs for fishing revenue and environmental protection.

Pendleton noted that even people living far inland may have a cause for concern, since many popular tourist destinations across the globe depend on coral reefs. Beyond tourism, he said, the decline of coral reefs can also be considered a humanitarian issue, because their loss will have widespread economic and health consequences on the populations that depend on them.

Although other factors can contribute to coral reef loss, ocean acidification and rising temperatures are two consistent predictors of coral reef bleaching.

Focusing on these two factors allowed the study’s message to become clearer, an important goal in today’s world of fake news stories and climate change denial, Pendleton explained.

“One of the challenges with our study was to try and make this as complicated as needed to do good science, but no more complicated than that because we didn’t want to lose the message about these two key environmental threats,” he said.

In light of the recent presidential election and shifting electoral demographics in Europe, Pendleton noted that environmental policy may have to take a more defensive tone rather than a preventative one.

“I think what we might see is a little bit of a pivot toward more science aimed at how you adapt and live with climate change,” he said. “So in all the work I’ve done with ocean acidification, everyone wants to say the first and best approach is to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But when you live in a world where one election can change the course of climate policy, you really have to make sure you’re understanding what we need to do to adapt and live in a warmer and higher carbon dioxide world.”

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sportswrap TRACK AND FIELD: SPRINTER SYDNEI MURPHY DOUBLES AS A BLUE DEVIL CHEERLEADER

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MEN’S BASKETBALL

Allen’s career day energizes Duke in rout of UNLV Amrith Ramkumar The Chronicle LAS VEGAS—With the Blue Devils already up 14-3 in five minutes, Jayson Tatum came up with one of Duke’s six first-half steals.

The freshman fed Matt Jones streaking up the left side of the floor as the Blue Devils looked to add to their early double-digit lead.

But rather than slowing it down to run a set, Jones found a better option.

The senior fed a cutting Grayson Allen for an emphatic right-handed dunk that was a resounding sign that Allen’s toe was feeling better Saturday afternoon. No. 5 Duke started the game on a 20-3 run thanks to 12 early points from its junior All-American, turning that early advantage into an easy 94-45 win against UNLV in the first college basketball game at the new T-Mobile Arena.

The win was the Blue Devils’ most lopsided victory this season—they shot 70.0 percent in the second half.

“We’re sharing the ball really well and getting so much better at that, especially getting Jayson [Tatum] out there,” Allen said.

“We’ve done such a better job as the season has gone on of sharing the ball, finding the open guy. It’s really hard to guard when we do that.”

Sanjeev Dasgupta | The Chronicle Grayson Allen had a career-high 34 points on 12-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range. He made all seven of his shots in the second half.

After struggling from the field in his last two games and sitting out against Maine due to turf toe, Allen looked much more explosive driving to the bucket and elevating on his jump shot, finishing with a career-high 34 points on 12-of-16 shooting, including 6-of-9 from 3-point range.

Blue Devil head coach Mike Krzyzewski said the Jacksonville, Fla., native practiced for the first time in several weeks Friday, and

it showed in one of the best performances of his career. Friday was the first time Duke practiced with its full complement of players all season.

“I think he’s going to grow from this, and I think personally he should have shot the ball more,” sophomore Luke Kennard said. “I got on him some because he didn’t, but he’s been himself. That’s what we need. It’s really, really exciting to see him be the way that he’s going

to be for the rest of the season.”

The Blue Devils (10-1) jumped on the Runnin’ Rebels from the opening tip, turning aggressive defense into transition opportunities and easy baskets. UNLV (5-4) committed 13 first-half turnovers, allowing Allen and Kennard to find a rhythm in the open court.

Kennard had 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting as Duke made sure not to give the struggling Runnin’ Rebels any life in front of a capacity crowd of 19,107. Although UNLV went on a few spurts in the first half to cut into the Blue Devil lead, it could never cut it to single digits because of Duke’s offensive efficiency.

The Blue Devils outscored the Runnin’ Rebels 50-16 in the paint, attacking a small UNLV frontline from the opening tip.

“We did a great job of attacking, so it wasn’t only the bigs scoring inside. It was our guards getting into the lane, getting easy baskets,” graduate student Amile Jefferson said. “And then when they did convert, kicking it out to guys like Luke, Grayson, Frank [Jackson] and hitting 3-pointers—we have a lot of pieces to play off of all of those things…. It makes us really deadly.”

Duke took a 42-26 halftime lead and started See M. BASKETBALL on Page 13

TRACK AND FIELD

Sprinter Murphy doubles as cheerleader in offseason Hank Tucker The Chronicle

Juan Bermudez | The Chronicle Sophomore Sydnei Murphy is expected to be one of Duke’s top track and field athletes in the spring and has also been a cheerleader this fall.

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Sydnei Murphy was happy right where she was at Cameron Indoor Stadium, with a wide smile and boundless energy emanating from her athletic frame.

In her black cheerleader uniform, the sophomore stepped onto the floor and soared through the air in a smooth backflip, sticking the landing near the visitors’ bench before she bounded back to her teammates stretching on the baseline. Duke was preparing to face William & Mary in men’s basketball the day before Thanksgiving, and Murphy was in her element, tumbling and performing for the crowd.

“I’m always the happy, bubbly, positive, jumping around the room, energetic type,” Murphy said. “I ooze spirit.”

She is happy being a cheerleader, but it

WHAT’S YOUR

is not the primary reason she came to Duke.

The Apex, N.C., native was recruited to run fast, jump far and win championships for the track and field team, arriving last year with lofty expectations for her career.

Track was Murphy’s first love, and it became clear early on that she excelled in that area. She won seven North Carolina state championships at Apex High School in the long jump, triple jump and indoor 55-meter dash and was named the Raleigh News & Observer’s high school female athlete of the year after her senior year in 2014-15.

“I’m competitive to a fault,” Murphy said.

“I love being in the heat of the moment in an adrenaline rush, which is why I love racing, I love having somebody next to me.”

Although she redshirted most of her freshman year at Duke when a stomach illness kept her from training for much of

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M. BASKETBALL from page 12 MURPHY from page 12 the second half with the same intensity, using an 11-4 spurt to stay in complete control. An 18-0 run to make it 71-32 capped by 3-pointers

by Kennard and Tatum took whatever drama was left out of the equation.

Tatum and Jefferson joined Allen and Kennard in double figures, combining for 23 points.

“We were passionate about playing today,” Krzyzewski said. “We [said in the] second half, ‘Let’s execute. Let’s try to execute each time down the court.’ And we did. We had great execution and it translated…. Our defense in the second half was great.”

Following an eight-day break for exams, the Blue Devils will return to the court Dec. 19 against Tennessee State.

Duke is starting to get healthy and have the practices it hoped for entering the season—a scary thought for a team that is still integrating Allen, Tatum and freshmen Marques Bolden and Harry Giles into its day-to-day activities.

Like Tatum, Bolden played his third game Saturday, posting six points in 13 minutes.

Giles has yet to play, but adding the No. 1 recruit to a team that has now won eight games in a row could make the Blue Devils the frightening team many envisioned entering the season.

That potential was on display again Saturday.

“Everybody’s doing a great job in practice. It’s just a joy to see everybody practicing,” Jefferson said. “That gives our team a huge verve and a good feeling to not be practicing with six guys or five guys and not be able to have a real practice.

Now we can. Everybody’s getting healthy, everybody’s getting back. I’m really excited to see who we’ve become.”

the winter, she will enter this season in the running to be one of the Blue Devils’ best sprinters ever.

“I think that she will break the school record in all of the short sprints,” associate head coach Shawn Wilbourn said. “Longterm, the triple jump I think is her best event. I think she could be a potential NCAA champion in the triple jump by her senior year, if she commits to it.”

But Murphy has never been one to commit all her time to one sport.

She grew up playing soccer and basketball in addition to running track, but soccer season moved from the fall to the spring in high school, leaving her with nothing to do in the fall.

Murphy initially wanted to join the volleyball team, but tryouts were at the same time as nationals for track during the summer. The next best option was cheerleading, which she wound up doing for all of high school.

“My family was actually very against it. They were like, ‘What are you doing? We do sports.

We’re athletic. Go be an athlete,’” Murphy said. “Now, they’re all very on board.”

Although Murphy put her pompoms away for her first year at Duke, she remained the self-proclaimed cheerleader of the track team.

She even wore a cheerleader costume to the team’s Halloween practice last year. So when a friend who was a cheerleader in her dance class texted her the day of tryouts in April, she decided to go on a whim.

Most cheerleaders at Duke start on the White squad for a year, performing at women’s basketball games and home football games as they learn the songs and

choreography. Then, they may move up another basketball game Saturday night. to the Blue squad, which handles home She admits she does not get as much sleep and neutral site men’s basketball games, all as her track coaches would like and gets by football games and postseason games for with the help of a lot of coffee, but Murphy both sports. is never lacking energy and enthusiasm at Head cheerleading coach Alayne cheerleading or track practice, even though Rusnak—who arrived at Duke in 2007—said most are in the evening after long days of class that before Murphy came along, only two and before long nights of homework. women had bypassed the White squad and “She’s one of the bubbliest people I’ve went straight to the Blue squad during her ever met,” junior sprinter Maddy Price said. tenure. Murphy was so impressive with her “For her to be able to do two things that she athleticism and tumbling skills in tryouts that absolutely loves at a high-level, elite school she became the third. is just such a huge accomplishment and so “She adds a spark to the program,” amazing for her.”

Rusnak said. “She’s bright-eyed and excited Murphy’s time as a cheerleader is winding to learn and you can just tell she’s genuinely down for this year, though, and there is no very happy to be there.” guarantee she will be back on the sidelines Juggling the two commitments has been next fall. overwhelming at times.

The start of the spring semester in Murphy has just one day off and 20 hours January ushers in the start of indoor track of track practice per week in addition to season, when she will have to put her cheerleading practice Tuesday, Wednesday budding cheerleading career on hold for and Thursday nights. There is also the rest of basketball season and focus cheerleading practice for about two hours exclusively on track. before every game.

If she doesn’t deliver the desired results During a particularly hectic week, she woke on the track, her coaches may decide to up Thursday, Nov. 10, went to Duke Hospital intervene next year. to do research in the Tisch Brain Tumor “If it looks like she was able to manage Center at 8:30 a.m.—Murphy is a pre-med it and still perform at the high level that student majoring in cultural anthropology in we recruited her for, then we’ll allow her to her spare time—then had two classes, went to do it again,” Wilbourn said. “It’s kind of an an afternoon track practice and then had to experiment this year. We’ll see how she does get ready for the football game against North in track.”

Carolina that night.

For now, Murphy is enjoying her busy Murphy left Wallace Wade Stadium at schedule. She can channel the fun-loving, freemidnight and was back on the track eight spirit side of her personality as a cheerleader hours later for a Friday morning practice, then in the fall, and she will get the adrenaline rush had three straight classes before track practice of racing and competing against athletes from again in the afternoon. She quickly changed across the nation in the spring. into her cheerleading uniform for the season’s “I am not in any position to complain first men’sThe basketball game thatSyndication night, wentSales about a late night, because this is literally New York Times Corporation 620 Eighth Avenue, York, N.Y. to sleep late again, woke up for a New Saturday what10018 I dreamed of,” Murphy said. “I never, For Information 1-800-972-3550 morning track practice and then Call: cheered at ever regret doing both.”

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Crossword ACROSS

32 Player most likely 58 West African to shoot a threecountry whose pointer name is usually rendered in 5 Facing the pitcher 34 Lengthy narrative French 10 Fashion 61 Actress Polo magazine 36 Genetic code of “Meet the founded in carrier Parents” France 37 What Ramadan 62 Next-to-last 14 When doubled, a is an annual element Hawaiian fish feature of alphabetically 15 Relative of a 41 Sign before Virgo 63 Santa ___ cello (California racetrack) 16 Who asked “Am 42 Overly curious I my brother’s 64 Circle segments keeper?”

43 Something 65 Fringe thrown by a 17 Milky gemstone 66 Green gemstone cowboy 18 What might make 67 “Aha!” … or a 44 Painting an adult jump in hint to 18-, 23-, exhibition a pile of leaves 37-, 48- and 58-Across 20 Rocker Bon Jovi 47 Not yielding, as a mattress 21 Defensive spray DOWN 48 Obsolescent 22 Greek vowels 1 Symbol like place to go 23 Home office item “prayer hands” online that’s surprisingly or “heart eyes” expensive to 53 Stuffed to the 2 Strike lightly replace gills 3 “Much 27 Tokyo-based appreciated” electronics giant 56 Life of Riley 4 Suffer 57 Carrier to Seoul, 28 Lose an 5 Monkey house : opportunity for short monkeys :: ___ : birds ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE 6 Hint of color 7 Screw-up S H O P L I F T S L I M S 8 India pale ___ M A N U A L L Y S P I N E T 9 Black goo O V E R P L A N M E N A G E C A S S E T T E I C E C A P 10 Repeats word for word K N E E L E R S T K I T T S S A C S L A T T E T I R O 11 Café au ___ A L T A R D E V O N 12 ___ Kedrova, Oscar-winning S M U S H E K E O M E N S actress for C O L T S B E E C H “Zorba the Greek” A N T A T O N T O P E S T B R E R F O X S H A L L W E 13 Wraps up B O R D E N A M E N A M E N 19 Marlboros, e.g., for short A V I A T E M A R I N E R S R I O T E D P R E S E R V E 21 Candy item with plain and peanut D A R E S S T R E S S E D varieties 1 Jazzy James

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PUZZLE BY BRUCE HAIGHT

24 “Downton Abbey” 34 Put points on the countess board 35 Coolers, briefly 25 Coming-out phrase 38 Participating 26 “Don’t touch that 39 Privileged few ___!”

40 Many a police officer on “The 29 Bookies Wire” 30 Some, in Spain 45 Ferocious 31 Poi source 46 Artist Warhol 47 Celebratory 32 ___ monster (desert lizard) 49 Put on TV again 33 Marketing 50 Mean, mean, target mean

51 Many a Monty Python skit 52 Beethoven honoree 53 XL or XXL 54 Enthusiastic 55 Half of a fireplace tool 59 Taxi 60 Word repeated in “It takes ___ to know ___” 61 Mai ___

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/studentcrosswords.

www.dukechronicle.com commentary

14 | MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016

Less procrastination, more collaboration

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

“

F

inal papers season has arrived, and for many of us, the grueling writing process it brings with it can be dread-inducing as we slog through piles of articles, open soul-crushing numbers of browser tabs and agonizingly inch toward required page counts. Consequently, we fall into a vicious cycle of procrastination, where the prospect of starting to write becomes increasingly daunting as time passes, until we are left with no choice but to pull frantic all-nighters before the deadline.

Research on student writing habits find that this fear and anxiety many students feel about writing is far from uncommon. One study found that 80 percent of students interviewed procrastinated on more than 80 percent of their course-related research assignments, and that more than 85 percent of all students across the disciplines experience writing difficulties at some point during their university career.

Writing does not always have to be accompanied by such an anxiety-inducing haze, however. Initiatives at universities across the world are pushing to help students overcome procrastination and experience writing as a joyful rather than stressful process. Long Night Against Procrastination is one such event held by university writing centers around the world,

including Duke’s, where students can obtain latenight writing and research help, while participating in stress-relieving activities. These events aim to help familiarize students with the resources that libraries and writing centers can provide, improve research and writing habits and allow students to experience writing as a collaborative, enjoyable process.

Long Night Against Procrastination has been successful on a number of campuses because it tackles some of the root causes of procrastination on

Editorial writing. Many students associate writing with lonely suffering, linking the act of writing with negativity.

Far from being a solitary activity, though, writing is most effective when undertaken collaboratively.

Talking through ideas with peers, professors or writing consultants can spark inspiration and help students articulate their thoughts more effectively.

Rather than using the Writing Studio as a “fix-it” shop where our research paper ills can be cured with the flick of a red pen, students should use it as a chance to talk through their ideas, structure and

style. Currently, only two in ten first-year students utilize the Writing Studio, but the resources of the studio are available for far more students to derive inspiration from consultants. Actively seeking out support throughout the writing process can not only ward off the urge to procrastinate, but also help jumpstart and hone our ideas through constructive conversations.

The pressure brought by a graded assignment and the belief that writing is not relevant to our academic paths also contributes to the feeling that writing assignments are merely unpleasant tasks we must suffer through. Viewing writing as a long-haul growth process rather than short-term obstacles is an important shift in perspective. Writing helps us develop a powerful toolbox of communication skills across a variety of genres, whether in science, math or literature. The small victories of being able to convincingly express an important idea, create beauty in words and develop a unique voice are some of the intrinsic joys of the writing process.

While the process of growth requires time, for students dreading the thought of hunkering down in Perkins to start that final paper, tap into your writing support system and find joy in the journey.

Who needs fact anyway

onlinecomment “Whatever the original purpose of the electoral college, we can rejoice that the president is not selected by the voters of a few big states. Do you want to get rid of the senate? Clearly a lot of states do not want to be ruled by the “wisdom” of New York and California..”

—”Farmer Don” responding to “We still need the Electoral College,” published December 8, 2016

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Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns.

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The Chronicle

Inc. 1993

CLAIRE BALLENTINE, Editor

B

uckle your seatbelts folks because we’re about to take a wild, four-year ride through the land of historical revisionism, across the swamp of despair, to the fairy princess castle (the Brothers Grimm sort, not Disney) where the orange child hast crowned himself king.

I’m not quite sure where to start. The fact that multiple intelligence agencies have accused Russia of interfering in our elections—something Senators McCain and Graham, such obvious Obama chums, want to investigate—and the President-elect responds with, “I don’t believe it?” Or perhaps the ridiculous Pizzagate nonsense that General Michael Flynn, Trump’s pick for National Security Advisor, and his son negligently promoted on social media, culminating in a deranged man shooting up the accused D.C. pizza shop? Or maybe Trump’s choice for Secretary of State, who also happens to be the CEO of Exxon. Oil and gas obviously qualifies someone to handle delicate international agreements and affairs, such as preventing climate change.

Or maybe the fact that the so-called “alt-right” (read: neo-Nazis) is undertaking the revisionist project of fashioning their white supremacist ideals into bite-sized

Dana Raphael

well. It’s one of the reasons why so many of us were shocked that Donald Trump became president.

Though conservatives are generally more likely to do so, liberals can also fall for fake news. My favorite that recently circulated was “With a Stroke of His Pen President Obama Permanently Protects Planned Parenthood,” written by the clearly reliable source “Rmuse.” Digging in even remotely revealed that while Obama did indeed sign an executive order proposing a rule change, there is nothing that can permanently protect Planned Parenthood, despite my wishes to the contrary. Moral of the story? Liberals aren’t immune to the scourge of fake news and historical revisionism that often comes with it.

What happens when we lose all semblance of fact?

What kind of era are we entering when people are more likely to read—and believe—stories published by Politicus USA or InfoWars than by the New York Times or Wall Street Journal?

If we can’t rely on the news to give us accurate accounts of reality, we have little means of holding public figures accountable. If more people read and share fake stories about how Hillary Clinton endorsed Donald

PROBLEMATIC PEOPLE DOING PROBLEMATIC THINGS

AMRITH RAMKUMAR, Sports Editor ABBY XIE, News Editor NEELESH MOORTHY, Managing Editor ADAM BEYER, Digital Content Director HAN KANG, Photography Editor JACKSON PRINCE, Editorial Page Editor SURABHI BERIWAL, Editorial Board Chair ASA ROYAL, Editorial Board Chair

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morsels meant for the mainstream. And like an overzealous American shopping the Twinkie aisle at WalMart, the media is eating it up.

Worry not friends. According to our President-elect, “I’m, like, a smart person.”

When I drive home to D.C. from Durham, I generally listen to the radio. There’s a 50-mile stretch on I-85 though North Carolina and Virginia where one’s choices are Christian rock, country or Hannity.

Hannity, the Prince of historical revisionism, likes to weave a tale about how Islam is taking over America and terrorists lurk around every block. Don’t try telling him that you’re more likely to be fatally crushed by furniture than die at the hands of “radical Islamic terror.” Hannity and his FOX friends don’t espouse factually verifiable claims; they preach a “Handmaid’s Tale” version of America meant to make people vote with fear instead of reasoned analysis.

Conservatives are obviously not the only people to fall for distorted visions of reality; liberal sources can pedal their own version of truth to the masses as

Trump for president than real stories about Trump’s billion-dollar loss on his tax returns, we are driving good journalism and reporting into oblivion. I don’t want to live in a world where the story with the most bombastic headline, despite being packed with distortions and falsehoods, is the one most read.

In the era of Trump, where racists and sexists feel new empowerment to spread their revisionist message (e.g. Tomi Lahren, “What did the KKK do?”), we need to rely on good journalism now more than ever to get a clear picture of what constitutes verifiable fact and reality. Liberals can help set the tone by rooting out the fake and distorted news circulating on popular sites like the Huffington Post. We can only hope that Republicans in Congress and other positions of authority will do their part to rein in their own president’s distortions.

Dana Raphael is a Trinity senior. Her column, “problematic people doing problematic things,” runs on alternate Mondays.

JULIE MOORE, Creative Director 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.

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Response to ‘Learn Spain, not Spanish’

T

he Chronicle’s Editorial Board recently addressed the Trinity Language Requirement in a piece titled “Learn Spain, not Spanish.” To move quickly past the absurd presumption that one can even come close to “learning Spain” without learning Spanish, the primary and national language of that country, I’ll focus on the main points that this editorial makes.

First, they endeavor to refute the claim that the language requirement fosters personal growth, citing the idea that most students do not make it to bilingualism and therefore don’t receive any of the neurological benefits that linguists and educators tout.

I’d like to challenge the implicit definition of bilingualism used here, which the author seems to think is “fluency” (a problematic term in its own right) in both languages. I would argue that if you can even use another language to some extent (beyond simply

vocabulary and grammatical constructions used in the language, structures that define the way speakers of that language view and interact with the world. You can learn what a culture values by looking at the words that it uses (as per the above example), and you can learn how people think by looking at their grammatical structures. Consider, for example, the incredibly different formats of writing in Spanish and writing in English.

They address the third point of “professional growth” in a manner not dissimilar to the previous two, stating that being able to converse “in English about Gauguin’s contributions to postimpressionism” is more significant in terms of cultural interaction than “being able to order off a menu in Spain” or knowing “40 French verb conjugations” in one of the past tenses (considering that there is no “preterit” in French). Consider a scenario, for a moment. You are sitting in a meeting

M

MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016 | 15

My second time

iss me yet? As I’m sure my most devout fans have noticed (@Mom and @ Dad), I’ve taken a bit of a hiatus since the release of my last gift to campus recycling bins: seven Halloween costume suggestions to land you more than treats this year. I trust that your Mondays have become exceedingly duller since then, as I’m sure you deeply regret the lost opportunity to read some of my masterpieces in progress.

There was “Orange marries the new black,” a twisted fantasy about how I, a biracial Democrat, feign a relationship with President-elect Trump in a lastditch effort to take back the White House. I’d even been toying with “Safety pins and stuffing,” a must-read guide for all social justice warriors out there who wish to protest the idea of Thanksgiving, but have their dry turkey leg and eat it too. You even missed out on “All I want for Christmas is you… to stop asking me what I’m doing after graduation.”

Ben Brissette

McCall Wells

GUEST COLUMN

MONDAYS WITH MILLENNIALS

possessing a hodgepodge of vocabulary that you can’t formulate into thoughts), then you are bilingual (or multilingual, depending on your repertoire), and you have received neurological benefit. If you’re curious, Dr. Edna Andrews at Duke does research on language acquisition (not just achieved fluency).

And I think that the other point they make, that foreign language study doesn’t cause a reexamination of identity because classes, especially in the introductory and intermediate levels where most Duke students fulfill their language requirements and don’t spend much time discussing identity, shows a lack of understanding regarding that identity reexamination.

For me, the identity reexamination that comes with learning a foreign language is directly tied to the concepts of failure and humility. When you start learning a new language, it is hard and can be incredibly frustrating for well-educated individuals.

They possess complicated thoughts that all of a sudden they can no longer express, struggling instead to say “The dog ran fast” at the beginning of their study of the language. The identity reexamination is not guided, as such, but prompted at an individual level. The ideal is that individuals realize that their perceived ability is directly tied to their language, even though their intelligence may not be. Hopefully this prompts them to question the perceived abilities of other people, asking if they stem from intelligence or language. And maybe they’ll even begin to understand that there are levels of competency regarding “native languages,” as well, and that just because two individuals may both claim English as their “native language,” it does not mean they can understand and communicate at the same level in that language.

The paragraph they dedicate to “global understanding,” arguing that cultural competency courses would serve this purpose better than language courses, also misses the point. To cite a popular example, I want to make reference to the popular saying that the Inuit language has around 50 different words for snow.

Learning another language doesn’t lead to “global understanding” necessarily because the student advances to the level at which they are able to pursue cultural studies in that language, but because they learn the

with a prospective business partner, at a local restaurant in a smaller town in France, hoping to convince them to join your business venture. The waiter arrives and you try to tell them, in English, what you want, while they look at you blankly and your companion begins to flush. Finally, you either ask your companion to translate for you, or, frustrated, you simply point at an item on the menu and leave it at that.

Confident in your abilities, you turn to regale your companion with your knowledge of Gauguin after having humiliated them in a local establishment, thus unequivocally indicating that you only care about what YOU think is important in terms of French culture and that you are unwilling to invest any serious effort into anything else. Seeing your unwillingness to invest in them and their culture, your companion suffers through the meal with you and later offers the inexplicable response that they will not be joining your business venture, for some reason unwilling to invest their effort in you. Long story short, the Editorial Board needs to reevaluate the merits of humility in “professional growth.”

Besides this scenario, the proposed “cultural competency requirement” which would only include one pure language course would be significantly more likely to leave someone with no more knowledge of a language than 40 verb conjugations, while the current requirement of 3 semesters or an advanced (300) level course, whichever comes first, is much more likely to carry students to a conversational ability with the language they choose, even if it remains uncomfortable.

With increasing globalization and Duke’s own growing global presence, it is even more critical that we reaffirm our commitment to building relationships across cultures that are founded on humility and our desire to reach out on equal terms instead of imposing structures of knowledge and ignorance on our interactions with them. In terms of our language requirement, supposedly seen as a burden, the answer is not to replace it, but to re-emphasize the importance of a liberal arts education in the creation of a well-rounded individual and to be more aware of why languages are important.

Ben Brissette is a Trinity senior.

The truth is that I’ve been pretty busy, and not busy in the Duke “I’ve got five internships to apply for, four off-campus dinners, three meetings for organizations I’m semi-involved in, two papers due by the end of the week and a partridge in a pear tree” sense.

I mean the other kind of busy. You know, the kind of busy that happens behind closed doors. The type we only talk about in hushed tones. If you haven’t guessed it by now, I’m talking about the sort of busy that has you getting down and potentially dirty— depending on your general concern for hygiene.

I’ll be honest in saying that this wasn’t my first time. Let’s just say my sophomore year was pretty eventful too. While I had some idea of what to expect, I knew that this time would be different. That second time, I walked hesitantly into the stuffy entryway and waited for him to appear, call my name and lead me to his room, pretending all the while to text when the last message I got was a Chase Bank balance reminder.

After what felt like half a century, he finally appeared.

Before I knew it, I was sitting anxiously on his couch, wondering how this time would be any different. Then it happened. He looked me straight in the eye and asked me the question I had been waiting for, “So what brings you to CAPS today?”

That’s right, you hormonal semiadults, this isn’t “50 Shades of Duke Blue.” I’ve been busy all right, but get your minds out of the gutter, because my busy schedule involves battling the sort of anxiety than would make the obnoxiously responsive girl at the front of the lecture hall look like a stoned Drew Barrymore. After giving it my all with deep breathing and stress balls, I found myself back in the CAPS waiting room playing a rousing game of eye contact avoidance with everyone else who knows the Duke difference as the rapid decline in mental stability since stepping foot on this campus.

Since my first time, I’ve tried a number of different coping strategies.

I done the whole starvation thing, but, as you might have presumed, that didn’t really work out all too well. I dabbled in excessive exercising but that too gets old, and who has time for all that laundry? I’ve dyed my hair blonde a time or two hoping to have more fun as the old adage suggests.

I don’t know the difference between linear regression and linear algebra, but I’m pretty sure the correlation isn’t direct. My latest and greatest technique? I think my therapist would agree that satire has proven the safest and most sustainable option.

Before I reveal my identity to all of 10 undergraduates and perhaps an alum or two reading this, I’d like to thank all 11 to 12 of you for allowing me to use my column as a budget-friendly form of therapy this semester. In making fun of Duke culture, a strange phenomenon that has been responsible for both my utmost joy and deepest despair, I’ve learned to take life’s daily stressors with a grain of salt—often followed by a shot of tequila and a bit of lime. Every day is still a challenge, I’m still unemployed and my roots are still darker than the rest of my hair, but I firmly believe that laughter (in addition to a good SSRI) is the best medicine.

As we tumble headfirst into the most difficult week of the semester, I hope we can continue to just keep laughing.

In the end, those grades won’t do much to reduce the stench and loneliness of our future retirement homes.

My name is McCall Wells, and it’s been a pleasure laughing at you.

McCall Wells is Monday Monday. Who will be next? Will it be you? Apply today on The Chronicle’s website.

Have something to say?

Submit a letter to the editor to cfb24@duke.edu.

Interested in contributing to campus dialogue?

Submit a guest column to jackson.prince@duke.edu.

16 | MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016

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A Fracked Gas Power Plant at Duke University?

The accelerating climate crisis requires leadership – not an expansion of fossil fuels.

• The proposed Duke Energy power plant would increase campus greenhouse emissions by 61%.

• It would increase local air pollution, barely improve campus power reliability and perpetuate the climate-destructive fracking boom.

• Methane leaking and venting from US natural gas operations is making the climate crisis rapidly worse. It’s likely a key factor in the record-breaking, three-year global heat wave.

• A large excess of regional power means the plant would unnecessarily boost rates for all Duke Energy customers.

• The University has many clean energy options, including huge solar power potential at prices lower than it’s now paying for electricity.

See NC WARN’s report on an alternate path for Duke University: bit.ly/2eSvrbV.

Building People Power for Climate & Energy Justice

Take Action!

Urge Duke University President Richard Brodhead to reject Duke Energy’s expansion of climate-wrecking fracked gas on campuses. Tell him to join Stanford and others using climate-protective energy solutions: President@duke.edu.

President Brodhead, we need your leadership to help avert runaway climate chaos.

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