January 13, 2010 issue

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

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 73

www.dukechronicle.com

Duke sees record-high applications

Students robbed on Central

2000-2009: A Decade in Review

by Carmen Augustine

by Zachary Tracer

As students start second semester, 24,682 regular decision applicants are waiting to hear whether they will be able to join them at Duke in the Fall.

Duke received applications from 26,694 high school students this year, 2,795 more than last year—an 11 percent increase, according to figures provided by Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag.

The jump in the number of applicants is smaller than last year’s 17 percent increase, but the Office of Undergraduate Admissions still saw substantial growth in both the early and regular application pools. The University also received 2,012 early applicants—about a 33 percent increase from last year.

“I can only have one theory—it reflects the perception that this is a great place to get an education,” President Richard Brodhead said.

Administrators cite heightened interest in Duke’s unique programs like DukeEngage, better recruiting in some states and the University’s effort to be affordable as possible reasons for the increase.

Two students were robbed at gunpoint Monday night in two separate incidents on Central Campus.

The students were not hurt in the attacks and two suspects were taken into custody by both Duke and Durham police officers.

The first student, 21, was robbed at approximately 11 p.m. in a parking lot at 209 Alexander Ave. The second student, also 21, was robbed soon after in a parking lot at 1901 Erwin Rd. The attackers took cash, cell phones and other property from the students.

Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said his staff has been in contact with both students.

“We’ll surround them with whatever they need to help them,” he said.

Moneta attempted to send an e-mail about the robberies to all students at 6 a.m.

Tuesday, but undergraduates did not receive it until after 4 p.m. because of a technical problem.

“We are fortunate that our crime rates are very low in this area and especially on campus, but I remind you to always be aware of your surroundings and don’t hesitate to contact Duke Police if you feel

The chronicle

The chronicle

Photo illustration by Michael naclerio/The Chronicle

Look inside and online at www.chronicleblogs.com for The Chronicle Blog’s Top 10 News Stories of the Decade, as well as the Top 10 Duke Sports Stories of the Decade. See DECADE IN REVIEW, PAGE 4.

See robbery on page 9

See admissions on page 8

New section Winter Forum adopts green outlook menu coming Thursday

by Paul Horak The chronicle

In the two days before classes began, the residential group assessment committee was hard at work.

RGAC members and a several campus leaders have created a new menu of sections for selective living groups to choose from. Committee members also revised the rubric that will be used to evaluate selective living groups in the future. The new section menu will be released Thursday.

“You will see similarities but very substantive changes as well,” said Campus Council President Stephen Temple, a junior.

Leaders from Campus Council, the Interfraternity Council and Selective House Council along with Jen Frank, assistant director of accommodations for Residence Life and Housing Services, holding a meeting

Junior Pauline Lim asked for a $1.25 billion loan this week, but her peers at the Winter Forum rejected her proposal.

Lim was representing India in a mock committee on climate change at this week’s Winter Forum, a new annual event sponsored by the Office of Undergraduate Education. This year’s forum, “Making the Green Economy Work,” was hosted by the Nicholas Institute of Environmental Policy Solutions.

Although students representing developed nations rejected her loan, Lim said the forum effectively taught her about implementing a green economy.

“I did not expect the group to get along so well,” Lim wrote in an e-mail. “That was really the best part about it.

Everyone was very actively engaged in the different team exercises and that was what made this forum so fruitful and so much fun.”

An award ceremony at the Hart House Wednesday night was the finale of three days of debate among 70 students at the Winter Forum. In addition to competing in a green startup competition, students also participated in a simulation of the December 2009 Copenhagen Climate Conference

See rgac on page 9

See forum on page 9

by Nicole Kyle The chronicle

ONTHERECORD

“There will not be a large-scale layoff program.” ­—Executive Vice President Tallman Trask on cost-cutting measures. See story page 3

melissa yeo/The Chronicle

Seniors Shawheen James presents the winning project in a student competition to come up with a green-tech business at the Winter Forum Tuesday.

Bring the banner on page 14 to the game tonight in Cameron Indoor Stadium at 7 p.m.

Duke hosts Boston College after loss to GT, Page 17

2 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

worldandnation

TODAY:

4525

THURSDAY:

5631

U.S. looks to avoid conflict over Japanese island

Federal Reserve approves Phones blamed for crashes tighter credit card rules WASHINGTON, D.C. — At least 28 percent of U.S. traffic crashes are caused by drivers using handheld communication devices such as mobile phones, a safety group said.

About 1.6 million crashes a year are caused by drivers on the phone or texting, Janet Froetscher, chief executive officer of the National Safety Council, said Tuesday at a press conference at the Transportation Department.

The group’s call to ban all mobile phone use while driving has support from Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who said it would be up to Congress and states whether to require such a ban.

“We’re on a rampage about this,” said LaHood. He said last year that curbing distracted driving is among his priorities.

LaHood, who toured the North American International Auto Show Monday, criticized automakers for adding technology to cars that may distract drivers.

“

Little by little, one travels far.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Consumers will have to divulge more personal information to apply for store credit cards—possibly putting the brakes on so-called instant credit—under sweeping industry reforms made final Tuesday by the Federal Reserve.

The measure, which takes effect February 22, requires all credit card issuers to consider shoppers’ income and ability to pay before granting approval for a card.

The rule aims to tighten the lax lending standards that helped fuel the financial crisis. Retailers say the new measure could disrupt popular promotions that motivate shoppers, such as discounts for opening a credit card.

Typically, retailers quickly approve new accounts based on customers’ credit scores. The new regulations require that they also consider shoppers’ income and assets.

TODAY IN HISTORY

”

1930: Mickey mouse comic strip first appears

HONOLULU — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Tuesday that the Obama administration would not allow a squabble over the fate of a Marine air base in Okinawa to shake the foundations of the United States’ alliance with Japan.

Her comments, after a meeting with her Japanese counterpart, Katsuya Okada, underscored a shift in tone for the administration, which had been pressing the new Japanese government to drop its opposition to a proposed realignment of bases and move the Futenma Marine base to another part of the island.

Instead, Clinton said she was “respectful” of Japan’s recent decision to wait until May to decide the facility’s fate.

“This is an issue that we view as very

important,” Clinton said at a news briefing. “But we are also working on so many other aspects of the global challenges that we face, and we are going to continue to do that.”

Many Okinawa residents object to the presence of U.S. forces on the island, and Japan’s new government ran on a platform that included opposition to the realignment plan.

Both sides are seeking to play down the fight over Futenma and emphasize the positive aspects of their relationship. In an interview Monday night, Okada issued the clearest declaration of the importance of the alliance by a senior Democratic Party of Japan official since the DPJ swept to power in August, ending more than five decades of almost uninterrupted rule by the Liberal Democratic Party.

pete souza/white house photo

President Barack Obama and Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser for strategic communications, work on a speech the president delivered last month at West Point, N.Y., on Afghanistan policy.

Among other speeches, Rhodes has also been responsible for the president’s eulogy given to the soldiers killed at Fort Hood and for his Nobel Peace prize acceptance speech.

Spring 2010 Undergraduate Literature Courses Space Still Available!

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The course will consist of an examination of the evolving and changing conceptualization of Marx’s idea of history through a reading of various texts. Special attention will be paid to Marx’s theorization of a distinct historical temporality and its relationship to capitalism’s conceptual organization of time and time accountancy. The course will be based on weekly discussions on the readings and the writing of a paper.

LIT 20S.01.................Human Question...............................................................W/F 8:30-9:45am LIT 20S.03.................Brand New China.............................................................M/F 8:30-9:45am LIT 20S.04.................American Gothic..............................................................W/F 8:30-9:45am LIT 101.01.................Introduction to the Art of Reading...................................Tu 1:15-3:45pm LIT 114AS.01............Media Theory...................................................................W 3:05-5:35pm LIT 124S.01...............Bad Mothers.....................................................................W/F 11:40am-12:55pm LIT 132S.01...............Imagining Wars.................................................................Tu/Th 2:50-4:05pm LIT 162AS.01............Social Facts & Narrative Representations........................M/W 10:05-11:20am LIT 162ZS.01.............National Cultures..............................................................M/W 4:25-5:40pm LIT 162ZS.02.............The Philosophy of Human Rights....................................M/W 1:15-2:30pm LIT 185S.01...............Ordinary Language Philosophy........................................M/W 2:50-4:05pm LIT 255.02.................Nietzsche & Poststructuralism.........................................Tu/Th 10:05-11:20am LIT 255S.03...............Terror, Trauma & Mystery................................................M 4:25-6:55pm LIT 294S.01...............The Image in Walter Benjamin.........................................W 1:15-3:45pm

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBSITE (http://literature.aas.duke.edu/undergrad/)

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the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 3

Retirement packages see high yield

Marine lab evacuated after spill

by Christina Peña

The Duke University Marine Lab was evacuated Tuesday after explosives were accidentally spilled at the nearby Morehead City port.

Dorm residents at the lab have been evacuated to homes in Beaufort, N.C., according to a Duke news release. Undergraduates were taken to Marine Lab Director Cindy Van Dover’s Beaufort home, and may have spent Tuesday night at the homes of faculty members. Graduate students were taken to other homes in Beaufort.

Following the early morning spill of the explosive chemical PETN, officials closed the port and recommended that people living in the downtown area of Morehead City evacuate. The evacuation order was lifted Tuesday night.

No one was injured in the spill, which occurred when a forklift punctured some barrels containing the explosive as they were being put on a truck. The chemical was being shipped legally into the United States from Spain.

PETN was one of the ingredients in an explosive device a Nigerian man allegedly tried to detonate on a Detroit-bound flight Christmas Day. It can also be used in many other types of explosives.

Emergency responders have been cleaning up the spill, and the port, one of the deepest on the East Coast, is scheduled to reopen at 8 a.m. today.

—From staff reports

The chronicle

The final count is in for the second retirement incentive, and the yield was much larger than expected.

As of Dec. 15, 89 of 198 employees who were mailed individual retirement incentive packages in mid-October decided to retire.

Only one employee who accepted the offer Dec. 8 decided to pull out during the seven-day withdrawal window.

Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said in October that he “would be surprised” if 50 employees accepted the latest incentive, since the first incentive had an acceptance rate of about 35 percent.

The first round of retirement incentives were offered to all bi-weekly employees who have worked at Duke for at least 10 years and are at least 50 years old. Bi-weekly employees include housekeepers, custodians and police officers. The second round was offered to a hand-picked group of salaried employees.

The yield for this round was about 45 percent, which Vice President for Human Resources Kyle Cavanaugh considers a “very positive return.”

Trask said with wages and benefits, the projected savings from the retirement of monthly salaried employees will total about $7.5 million.

This is the last large centralized cost-cutting

sabrina rubakovic/The Chronicle

Remains of rockets fired from the Gaza strip can be found scattered throughout Israel. The Chronicle’s Sabrina Rubakovic saw the above remnants in Sderot, a town close to the border with Gaza.

Documenting Israel

The Chronicle’s Sabrina Rubakovic was part of a week-long trip to Israel with Project Interchange, an institute of the American Jewish Committee. She was one of many representatives from American campus newspapers visiting the Middle Eastern country to broaden perspectives of the region and explore Israeli-American relations. Rubakovic blogged daily about her experience.

I began 2010 in a pretty unique way— riding a camel in a Bedouin camp.

I was in Israel for New Year’s, participating in a week-long journalism seminar hosted by Project Interchange, an institute of the American Jewish Committee. The program was aimed at providing a first-hand experience of Israeli life and culture, Israel’s role in contemporary politics and the differ-

ing viewpoints on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. For one amazing week, I traveled around Israel as part of a group of 17 college journalists looking to do something different for winter break and learn a few things along the way.

We spoke with government officials, academics, religious leaders, civilians, See israel on page 12

See retirement on page 9

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4 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

The Decade in Review These are the issues and events that made headlines for weeks at a time over the last 10 years, those that sparked the most debate on campus and beyond, and the ones that we believe will continue to shape our coverage in the years to come.

The Chronicle’s News Blog presents The Top 10 News Stories of the Decade on the following pages. For the unabridged version, check out news.chronicleblogs.com.

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BRING TODAY’S CHRONICLE TO THE GAME TONIGHT The banner in the center of your Chronicle will throw off Boston College during free throws—so don’t forget it tonight!

Photo b

We love bridal parties, anniversaries, galas, class reunions, birthday parties and holiday parties.

GO DUKE! Look for the sports banner at 4 other home games!

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 5

decadeindukesports The Chronicle’s Sports Blog presents Andy Moore’s Top 10 Sports Stories of the Decade. Read the complete entries online at http://www.tinyurl.com/decadetop10 and http://www. tinyurl.com/decadetop10b.

10. Jason Williams’ Crash—The All-American basketball player and No. 1 pick of the Chicago Bulls played just a single NBA season before a debilitating motorcycle accident ended his professional career.

9. Kevin White’s hire—Former Director of Athletics Joe Alleva hired David Cutcliffe, but White has made a name for himself as a wellrespected teacher and administrator in under two years on the job.

8. The Allegations—In 2005, two former Duke baseball players told The Chronicle that they had used steroids while playing for the Blue Devils, and the scandal sent shockwaves through the program, leading to head coach Bill Hillier’s firing.

7. The “Undefeated” Season—Under head coach Gail Goestenkors, the Blue Devils’ women’s basketball team rivaled its men’s squad in success. The team’s best year was 2006-2007, when Duke went undefeated in the regular season, only to be upset by Rutgers in the NCAA Tournament.

6. Football’s Losing Streak—The well-documented futility of Duke Football in the 1990s and 2000s culminated in a 22-game losing streak between 2005 and 2007 that ultimately led to Ted Roof’s firing.

5. Coach Cutcliffe—In Roof’s wake, the experienced David Cutcliffe was hired, and he has already turned the program around in two seasons at the helm.

4. The Redeeem Team—Coach K changed the culture of the Olympic team, transforming a group of exceedingly well-paid alpha males into a cohesive group of unselfish team-oriented players and brought the gold medal back to the U.S. 3. The Powerhouse—Duke women’s golf doesn’t get the attention of some of the University’s other programs, but this Blue Devil team won four national titles this decade, more than any other.

2. The Win—2001 NCAA National Championship. Need we say more?

1. The Case—The Duke Lacrosse case and its local and national fallout was one of the biggest stories in the country, let alone on campus, in the last 10 years.

Music is calling!

Resolve to answer in 2010

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Audition for piano or voice lessons (0.25 or 0.5 credit) Piano Lesson Auditions Wednesday, Jan. 13 4:30-5:30 pm 085 Biddle Music Building Voice Lesson Auditions Thursday, Jan. 14 1:30-3:30 pm Friday, Jan. 15 1-3 pm 075 Biddle Music Building Sign-up sheets will be posted outside the audition rooms.

Questions? Visit www.music.duke.edu or email duke-music@duke.edu

Want to sing in an opera in April?

Duke Opera Workshop will be presenting opera scenes and excerpts in English For more info, contact: Prof. Susan Dunn (opera@duke.edu, 660-3323)

6 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

The Top 10 Stories of the Decade No. 10 — North Carolina swings blue in 2008 In a state where former president George W. Bush trounced Sen. John Kerry by 12 percentage points earlier in the decade, few predicted that North Carolina would be transformed into an electoral toss-up in the 2008 elections.

Indeed, no Democratic presidential candidate had won the Tar Heel State since former President Jimmy Carter in 1976.

After then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama was able to wrest the North Carolina democratic primary from thenNew York Senator Hillary Clinton, speculation began that the changing demographic landscape of the state—driven by an influx of new minority and young voters—as well as dissatisfaction with the economy might give Obama a fighting chance against Republican Sen. John McCain.

Both candidates, realizing the importance of the newly crowned swing state, crisscrossed North Carolina until the 11th hour to persuade last-minute swing voters.

Dukies—as part of the much touted youth vote—canvassed and phone-banked for their preferred candidates and were able to take advantage of the newly installed early voting station in the Old Trinity room.

On election day, Democrats swept all of North Carolina’s major races. Obama easily crossed the 360 electoral vote threshold to clinch his historic bid for the White House.

Newcomer Kay Hagan, D-N.C. stole the Senate race from seasoned vet Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C. while then-Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue became North Carolina’s first woman governor.

North Carolinians, however, had to wait to hear of the fate of their own state. As of Nov. 5, election officials declared

the race too close to call. But with 13,000 votes separating Obama from McCain and not enough provisional ballots to make up the difference, the Associated Press called North Carolina’s 15 electoral votes for Obama Nov. 6.

No. 9 — Building, building, building A football center, an art museum, a dormitory and a science center. And another science center, another dormitory, a plaza and a school of nursing.

In the past ten years, Duke has added more than $375 million worth of structures to every part of campus.

The largest, most expensive projects—intended to accommodate Duke’s scientists and engineers—were the $107 million Fitzpatrick Center for Interdisciplinary Engineering, Medicine and Applied Sciences in 2004 and the $115 million French Family Science Center in 2006. Just down Science Drive, Duke doubled the size of the Sanford Institute of Public Policy with the addition of Rubenstein Hall in 2005.

Duke also built new dormitories on East and West Campuses, at a cost of $53 million. To give students a new place to hang out on campus, administrators constructed a $10 million, 40,000 square-foot plaza connecting the Bryan Center to the Flowers building and Main West Quadrangle.

Other hot hangout spots added in the 2000s include Von der Heyden Pavilion and the Link, both added as part of renovations to Perkins Library.

But those looking for a locale a bit more upscale than the Plaza’s Panda Express tend to frequent the upgraded Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club or the Nasher Museum of Art,

which opened in 2005 after years of planning and $23 million in spending.

Athletics, too, reaped its share of the building bounty.

The $23 million Yoh Football Center was completed in 2002 with an eye to drawing talented football recruits, while the Coach K Center for Academic Excellence was built, in part, to keep Krzyzewski at Duke.

In the coming decade, look for Duke to build on Central Campus and abroad—that is, if it can shake the financial crisis.

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Duke University Hospital came under fire in 2003 for transplanting organs of the wrong blood type into 17-year-old Jesica Santillan.

No. 8 — The murders of Abhijit Mahato and Eve Carson Murder hit close to home in 2008—1.6 miles from West Campus, to be exact. Engineering graduate student Abhijit Mahato, 29, was found shot dead in his Anderson Street apartment Jan. 18. Several miles down the road, Eve Carson, 22 years old and student body president of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was found dead with multiple gunshot wounds less than two months later on March 5. Police have charged Durham residents Stephen Oates and Laurence Lovette with the murder of Mahato. Lovette, along with Durham resident Demario Atwater, was charged in Carson’s death. All three suspects had previous criminal records.

Carson’s death received national media attention, though Mahato’s death was only covered locally before its possible connection with Carson’s murder was reported. Community response was also markedly greater in reaction to Carson’s death than Mahato’s. Local media, Duke students and faculty discussed the disparity, many suspecting it to be in part a result of the victims’ race and sex. But more than discussion, the murders prompted statewide probation reform. Gov. Bev Perdue signed the reform into law July 30, 2009, allowing probation officers access to offenders’ juvenile records and providing for warrantless searches of probationers.

See top 10 on page 7

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 7

Top 10 from page 6 Atwater, Lovette and Oates are awaiting trial. If found guilty, Atwater, who recently requested his trial be moved out of North Carolina, could face the death penalty. Lovette could face life in prison if convicted.

No. 7 — Problems for the Duke University Health System Duke University Medical Center was ranked 10th on the U.S. News and World Report’s 2009-2010 America’s Best Hospitals. But it has not been immune to serious mistakes this decade.

Surgeons at Duke University Hospital transplanted the heart and lungs of the wrong blood type into 17-year-old Jesica Santillan Feb. 7, 2003.

Hospital officials took full responsibility for the error. Santillan’s body rejected the organs, and on Feb. 20, she received a rare and controversial second transplant. She suffered complications, however, and was pronounced brain dead Feb. 22.

Santillan’s situation received national media attention. Santillan’s family filed suit against the Hospital and settled for an undisclosed amount in June 2004. The errors surrounding the mismatch prompted Duke and the United Network for Organ Sharing to change their transplant procedures, requiring more separate checks for compatibility.

Then in late 2004, DUHS was back in the media when Duke physicians used surgical instruments that had been mistakenly cleaned in elevator hydraulic fluid. The instruments were used in November and December 2004 during procedures on 3,648 patients at Durham Regional Hospital and Duke Health Raleigh Hospital—both run by the Duke University Health System.

During an elevator inspection at the DUHS Raleigh hospital, a mechanic had

drained hydraulic fluid into empty detergent barrels and did not relabel them. The barrels were sent back to the detergent supplier, which shipped them to four local hospitals. Only the barrels at Durham Regional and the Raleigh hospitals were used. The hydraulic fluid, found to contain several carcinogens, was used in one part of the multi-step cleaning process of the tools. Multiple studies indicated the sterilization process was not compromised and exposed patients did not suffer resulting health problems. Still, at least two groups of patients filed suit against DUHS, one suit was settled out of court in June 2008 for an undisclosed sum.

Although DUHS is still considered a premier health care provider, these incidents greatly affected the hospital’s and the University’s image at the time.

No. 6 — September 11th and the Wars on Terror The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 shook Americans across the nation including those within the Gothic walls of Duke. To date, Duke has lost eight alumni to the 9/11 attacks and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Students and faculty have responded in many ways to the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent conflict in Afghanistan, launched Oct. 7, 2001, and the Iraq War, which began March 20, 2003. After the 2001 terrorist attacks, professors adjusted courses to include current events and background on areas newly spotlighted by the attacks. In the last eight years, many speakers have come to Duke discussing the fight against terror including Brig. Gen. H.R. McMaster, Stephen Hadley, who was national security adviser from 2005 to 2009, Meghan O’Sullivan, the former deputy national security adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan and perhaps most controversially, Karl Rove, the former deputy White House chief of staff.

Think Outside the Bookbag.

maya robinson/Chronicle file photo

In the five years since President Richard Brodhead’s arrival at Duke in the summer of 2004, the former Yale dean spearheaded a number of initiatives, including DukeEngage and the $300 million financial aid fundraising project.

In fact, Duke has seen its fair share of war-related protests. Before the War in Iraq began, about 20 students camped on the Chapel Quadrangle in protest. About 400 people protested the start of the Iraq war with a walk-out, and in 2005 a protest march ended with a rally on East Campus. In addition, students and faculty have participated in multiple peace rallies and efforts to support the troops as well as marked the 9/11 attacks with an annual memorial.

President Barack Obama has announced new strategies for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. On campus, Duke continues to discuss the wars and their effects, and to remember those who have served in them. The University rededicated its war memorial Oct. 23, 2009 and added the names of 54 fallen

soldiers. U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki, Grad ’76 and a retired fourstar general who is a Vietnam War veteran, delivered the keynote address.

No. 5 — New rules for living and learning Duke students got a new curriculum and a brand new housing model in the first years of the decade, altering academic and social life on campus.

Curriculum 2000—introduced in 2000, of course—was implemented to add breadth to Duke students’ knowledge. It set up a complex matrix of graduation requirements—more complicated than the current system—forcing all students in Trinity to See top 10 on page 22

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8 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

admissions from page 1 “I think part of it is related to the idea that when the economy is not so great... a number of families are going to consider an education at a place like Duke an investment in their child’s future and something that will pay off, not just economically, but in lots of ways,” Guttentag said. “It will pay off for their children down the line.”

The total number of applicants also reflects a larger international pool drawn

by Duke’s growing visibility abroad, Guttentag said. There were 3,570 international applicants this year, 25.3 percent more than last year. This marks the largest swell in international applicants since the Class of 2009.

Because there are so many more applicants than in past years, admittances will

be more selective, Guttentag added. There are only 1,100 spots left in the class after a record-breaking 602 early-decision applicants were admitted in December—50 more than last year.

“We just have to make very difficult decisions among many, many qualified and compelling candidates,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.

Whether this increase in applicants is a nationwide trend or something Duke-specific is still unclear.

“When we saw what had happened at other schools, we knew that our [early decision] numbers were specifically higher,” Provost Peter Lange said. “We’ll have to see if that’s true for regular decision as well.”

Brown University and the University of Chicago also experienced a dramatic in-

crease in early applicants, while other universities saw smaller changes.

Of Duke’s applicants, 18.2 percent applied to the Pratt School of Engineering— approximately a 16.7 percent increase in applicants to Pratt from last year, and the largest proportion of Pratt applicants in the past seven years.

Although an increased number of applications is good news for Duke, deferred early applicants may feel otherwise.

In a pool of 2,012 early decision applicants, the 602 admits represent a 30 percent acceptance rate, which is 4 percent lower than last year. Of the remaining 1,410 applicants, 713 were deferred and 609 were denied admission. It is unclear whether the deferred early applicants will be affected by

the large number of regular decision applicants, Guttentag said.

Typically, about 10 percent of deferred applicants are admitted regular decision.

“We always admit some students that we’ve deferred, and we like doing that,” Guttentag said. “I think that it’s not so much the size of the applicant pool as it is the quality of the regular decision applicant pool that may affect the students who were deferred.”

Overall, Duke saw slightly more female applicants than male, a trend that has been consistent for a few years. The states most represented were California, North Carolina, New York and Florida, and the top 11 most represented states have remained consistent for several years, Guttentag said.

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Special Topics in the Study of Religion REL 121.01 “Roman Catholic Tradition” Thursday: 7:15–9:30 pm Gray Building, Room 220 Contact Kate Moran: katharine.moran@duke.edu or phone 613-6340 REL 185.03 “Christian Biographies” Tuesday: 7:15–9:45 pm Gray Building, Room 228 Contact Hans Hillerbrand: hjh@duke.edu or phone: 660-3511 REL 185S.03 “Violence in the Middle Ages” Wednesday and Friday: 11:40–12:55 pm Gray Building, Room 319 Contact Katharine Dubois: katharine.dubois@duke.edu or phone: 684-2307 REL 196S.02 “Gandhi: Image & Reflection” Tuesday and Thursday: 4:25–5:40 pm Gray Building, Room 228 Contact Leela Prasad: leela@duke.edu or phone: 660-3533 REL 196S.02 “Zen Masters, Soldiers & Artists” Tuesday and Thursday: 2:50–4:05 pm West Duke Building, Room 108A Contact Hwansoo Kim: hk98@duke.edu or phone: 660-3579

Source: Office of Undergraduate Admissions

graphic by hon lung chu/The Chronicle

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 9

RGAC from page 1

forum from page 1

Monday to revise the original RGAC menu. The decision to revise was the result of concern from IFC and SHC. “Our solution sticks to the thought process behind the original menu but also addresses concerns of specific groups,” said Campus Council Vice President Alex Reese, a junior.

Some of these concerns included a lack of common rooms and the placement of SLGs on third and fourth floors.

Temple declined to release the new menu Tuesday, but members said the changes allow groups more flexibility and provide more options for groups.

“A group picking last shouldn’t be pigeonholed into the last available section,” said [SHC] President Kait Nagi, a senior. “Now, there are multiple options.”

Contrary to students’ demands and administrators’ promises of more open RGAC forums, both Monday and Tuesday’s meetings were closed.

Tuesday’s meeting was closed “strictly for feasibility,” Temple said.

The new menu takes into account the concerns of independents.

“We didn’t want to have pockets of isolated independents—also referred to as “orphan residents”— and we didn’t want to load quads with groups and skew the percentages of affiliated versus unaffiliated,” Reese said.

Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residential life was also at the Tuesday meeting, which produced a proposal that will eventually be evaluated by the greater Duke community, he said.

Before winter break, groups like IFC and SHC expressed concerns about unclear expectations and inconsistent scoring practices in the RGAC process.

Revisions made Tuesday focused on the rubric, but scoring practices will be addressed at future meetings, Reese said.

“Some things are similar, like damages and cleaning charges, but some things are different,” said Campus Council Representative Alyssa Dack, a senior. “The new rubric will lay guidelines, reduce subjectivity, and students on the [RGAC] panel will know the standards.”

The new rubric will reduce limitations on groups and encourage more quality programming.

“The rubric has clear score ranges and really details what is expected. I don’t see how anyone could get confused,” Nagi said.

To narrow the communication gap, RGAC plans to publish a handbook about the process.

Sororities were not represented at the Monday and Tuesday meetings. The prospect of sorority involvement will be on the agenda at upcoming Campus Council meetings, Temple said.

and an interdisciplinary faculty panel that addressed the challenges facing an effective green economy.

“There were a lot of unknowns going into the conference, and we were all surprised by how well things went,” said Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions and a senior associate dean.

Profeta opened the conference Sunday, setting the stage for a panel discussion with participants Chad Holliday, former chairman and chief executive officer of DuPont, Allen Joines, mayor of Winston Salem, N.C, and Davd Orr, Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College. The three discussed the necessity for collaboration among businesses, governments and academics in creating a successful green economy.

Students tried their hands at policymaking when they

robbery from page 1 threatened in any way,” Moneta wrote.

The attacks are the second and third armed robberies on campus this academic year, but they do not appear to be connected to previous incidents.

The student who was robbed first called 911 at 11:03 p.m. Monday, and all seven Duke University Police Department officers on patrol responded, DUPD Chief John Dailey said.

Nine Durham Police Department officers also responded to the robberies, said DPD Public Information Officer Kammie Michael. One of those officers, L.E. Mazziotto, spotted two men on Anderson Street who matched descriptions of the suspects provided by the victims. Mazziotto and two Duke officers arrested the men, Dantae Trequan Anderson, 17, and Keith Jennings, 21, at approximately 11:25 p.m., Dailey said.

“It’s good for the community,” Dailey said of the arrests.

“And it’s great that the students had the presence of mind to call us quickly. If something like this has to happen, it’s great when the systems all work.”

He said police found a .32-caliber revolver in Anderson’s possession and a knife on Jennings. They also found items that were stolen from the students.

Anderson and Jennings are both jailed on $500,000 bond. Both men are charged with armed robbery, and Anderson is also charged with possessing a weapon on educational property.

Dailey said that on average, there are around three to six robberies throughout the entire campus each year.

He added that he hopes the two robberies do not contribute to the impression that Central Campus is unsafe.

“For some reason, there already seems to be a little bit of a perception that Central Campus is not safe,” he said.

“People may not feel safe there, but it’s not because there is more crime there.”

Before Monday, there had been two robberies on Central Campus in the past five years, Dailey noted.

retirement from page 3 measure the University will implement as it works to cut its budget by $125 million over three years. Administrators continue to say that there will be no large-scale layoffs.

“I think we’re past the need for a systemic institutional layoff—even though individual units may have to—there will not be a large-scale layoff program,” Trask said.

simulated the Copenhagen Climate Conference. Students sat on committees representing the world’s many nations in attempting to reach a compromise on climate change.

Brian Murray, director for economic analysis at the Nicholas Institute, who attended the Copenhagen Conference last month with Profeta, noted how close the simulation was to the real thing. The rift between the developed and developing worlds proved too difficult to overcome in Lim’s situation, as it was in Europe weeks ago.

But the forum had real results, too. A student competition pitted eight teams against each other with the task of drawing up a green-tech business that would see high capital returns without expelling greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And the forum ended with President Richard Brodhead awarding $2,000 to the winning team.

“This is what Duke is about,” Brodhead said. “I think that this is an example of bringing intelligent people together, putting them in an environment where everyone becomes smarter and is encouraged to dream up great ideas.”

Cavanaugh said the results of the retirement incentives place the University in an “optimistic place” in comparison to six months ago.

“Duke has been systematic and thoughtful in how it has been navigating these increasingly unprecedented times in higher education,” Cavanaugh said. “There are still challenges that we will face. We remain optimistic about how the University has managed this past year and how it will handle 2010 and beyond.”

Rewriting the Script: Teaching Literacy in Working Poor America

chill with your friends

Patterson Place 15-501 & Mt. Moriah

In Home Depot & Kohl’s Shopping Center

Bagels, Breads and Pastries!

Have you ever had the dream of making a difference in the lives of children and young people growing up in poverty? A Spring Semester tutorial and new DukeEngage summer teaching opportunity in Appalachia will help Duke students explore how education can become a tool for social justice.

Rewriting the Script (EDUC 162T.02 or 172T.02), a new half credit class offered in the Program in Education, will explore how literacy education can be an especially powerful tool for teachers and other social change agents. The class will meet on Moday/Wednesday from 6:00-7:15 p.m., and students from all programs and departments are welcome to contact the instructor for information or to request a permission number by January 27th.

Freshly Tossed Salads!

Breakfast Sandwiches!

Delicious Soups!

Espresso Drinks!

Hearty Sandwiches!

Mon-Sat: 6:30am-9:00pm Sun: 7:30am-9:00pm Phone: 419-6300 | Fax: 419-6334

The Spring Creek Literacy Project (www.springcreekliteracyproject.com) is an exciting new DukeEngage opportunity in rural Appalachia. DukeEngage students will teach in an old stone school building located in beautiful Madison County, North Carolina, in the heart of the Appalachian and Blue Ridge mountains. This will be the first year of a long term project focused on girls growing up in one of America’s most economically distressed regions. The mission of the Spring Creek Literacy Project is to promote literacy education, social equity, and opportunity for Appalachian girls and young women. The deadline for DukeEngage applications is January 14th.

For more information, contact Deborah Hicks dhicks@duke.edu

Wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling, everything—including wines, cheeses, chocolates, coffee & tea...

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Starts Saturday, January 2 • 201 S. Estes Dr • Chapel Hill • 919.929.7133 • Mon-Thurs 10-7 • Fri 10-9 • Sat 10-7 • Sun 11-6 Available in our Chapel Hill Store only. Not available by phone or online. Not valid on previous purchases. Cannot be combined with other promotional offers. While supplies last.

10 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

Places of

Worship u

Trinity

United Methodist Church In the heart of Downtown Durham Between Mangum and Roxboro Streets

215 N. Church Street

Sunday Early Worship: 8:45 a.m.

Sunday School: 9:45 a.m.

Sunday Worship: 11:00 a.m.

Rev. Duke Lackey, Senior Pastor Duke Lutherans is a campus ministry group for undergraduate, graduate, and professional students who hold the Gospel at the center of our lives. We gather weekly in worship, fellowship, prayer, study, and service. All of these activities equip us to grow as individuals and as the body of Christ, enabling us to reach out into the communities in which we live while keeping us grounded in faith.

E-mail: church@trinitydurham.org Web Site: www.trinitydurham.org

Come as you are–leave different!

McMannen Church

Drop by the Lutheran Lounge (Room 033, Chapel Basement) to find out more about our spring retreat, service projects, and other activities. Or join us for worship and dinner on Sundays. Worship at Duke begins at 5:00 pm, either in the Memorial Chapel in the Duke Chapel or in the Centenary Room of the Divinity School (meet in front of the chapel at 4:45 pm for help finding the room – rides from East to West available). Dinner follows at 6:00 pm in the Chapel Basement Kitchen.

invites you to:

You are welcome to join us for worship at our parent congregation, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, located at 1200 W Cornwallis Road, Durham, at 8:30 & 11:00 am with Sunday School in between at 9:45 am (before September 1, services are at 8:30 & 10:00 am). Rides are available upon request. For more information, visit www.stpauls-lutheran.com or call 919-489-3214.

We look forward to meeting you.

To find out more about Duke Lutherans please visit our website, www.dukelutherans.org or contact William Dahl, DM, Lutheran Campus Minister at 919-599-2638 or william.dahl@duke.edu

Phone: (919) 683-1386

Fellowship in Christ

Service in our community

Missions around the world

Worship times:

just minutes from Duke

Outstanding youth and children’s ministries

A new preschool program

Enjoy singing? Join our choir

8:45 am 10:55 am Sunday School: 9:55 am

A United Methodist Congregation 4102 Neal Road, Durham, NC 27705 919.383.1263 www.mcmannenumc.org

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 11

We Welcome You! Community Prayer Bible Study

International, multi-cultural, friendly!

Serving

Students always welcome.

Call for a ride or directions.

4124 Farrington Road Durham, NC 27707

Social Justice

Grace Lutheran Church

Eating Together

824 N. Buchanan Blvd.

Durham, NC 27701 • 682-6030 ...one block from East Campus

Watts Street Baptist Church 800 Watts Street, one block from East Campus

489-7777 or 697-5666 fiveoakschurch.net

www.wattsstreet.org

Beth El Synagogue 1004 Watts St., Durham

Lifting high the cross, to proclaim the love of Christ!

(click on “College Student and Young Adult Ministry”) 919.688.1366

Saturdays: Bible Study 9:45 Worship Service 11:00

919-682-1238

Durham’s First Synagogue Since 1887

Worship with Holy Communion 8:30 & 11:00 am each Sunday

www.gracelutheranchurch.net

Duke Catholic Center...

We’re How to be Catholic at Duke!

One block from Duke East Campus A Project Reconnect Congregation

Traditional Conservative Egalitarian congregation offering an Orthodox Kehillah Rabbi Steven G. Sager

All are welcome Sunday Mass Schedule

Saturday morning Shabbat Services: Orthodox: 9:00am / Conservative: 9:45am Visit www.betheldurham.org for more information

11am

Richard White Lecture Hall, East Campus

9pm

Duke Chapel

Daily Mass Schedule

Students are welcome at all Shabbat and Holiday Services www.projectreconnect.org

Monday

5:15pm Goodson Chapel, Duke Divinity School

Tuesday

12 noon Duke Hospital Chapel (6th Floor)

Wednesday 5:15pm Duke Chapel Crypt

The Pentecostals of Durham Invite You to Worship with Us Sunday School Morning Worship Evangelistic Tuesday (Word & Worship)

Thursday 11:30am Yoh Football Center, Team Meeting Room Friday

5pm

Fuqua School of Business, Seminar B

10:00 AM 10:50 AM 6:30 PM 7:30 PM

Free Transportation • call 477-6555 Call for information about our Spanish services

Special Music & Singing in Each Service

First Pentecostal Church 2008 W. Carver Street • Durham Johnny Godair, Pastor “Home of Old Time Religion”

catholic.duke.edu

(919) 684-8959

037 Duke Chapel Basement (office) & 402 N. Buchanan Blvd.

12 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

israel from page 3

sabrina rubakovic/The Chronicle

The Chronicle’s Sabrina Rubakovic visited the Efrat settlement (pictured) in Israel as a part of Project Interchange during winter break.

army soldiers and university students just like us about topics ranging from religious freedom in Israel to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict to nightlife in Tel Aviv. We met with conservatives, liberals, Israelis and Palestinians.

And the consensus on the issues was? Nada.

Almost every individual provided us with different information and different perspectives than the last.

But I think that hearing so many viewpoints about different issues gave me a broader perspective on Middle Eastern affairs. I left home on El Al flight 001 feeling as if I had a better grasp of concepts that I had only faintly understood from reading newspaper articles.

The seminar used a “real-time” approach: we were able to talk about important issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as they were going on.

We saw the remains of hundreds of rockets fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel that were salvaged by the security office in Sderot, a town close to the border with Gaza.

We had lunch at the home of Bob Lang, an Israeli settler living in the West Bank, a little more than a month after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a temporary freeze on some settlement construction. Lang pointed out the hilltops across from his house that could not be developed because of this freeze. From the window of his dining room, we saw an Arab town across from the settlement, providing a visual of the conflict that has encompassed Israeli and Palestinian life.

Actually, I take that back.

One of the points emphasized by many during the seminar was the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the huge part of life that it is often made out to be. A student at Tel Aviv University noted that many foreigners think that Israel is a war-torn desert full of refugees and soldiers.

Whatever similar pictures we had of Israel were quickly dismantled as we learned that Israeli life was startlingly normal. Tel Aviv is known as the New York City of Israel, a youth capital home to a bustling nightlife. One of Israel’s most popular shows is “Survivor,” a speaker noted, and a hotel we stayed in featured MTV shows like “My Super Sweet 16” and “Made” on its TVs (hopefully Israelis won’t see these as examples of normal American life).

On an academic level, Professor Yossi Shain of Tel Aviv University and Georgetown University told us that Israelis are unique in seeking normality in the midst of abnormality. Throughout an intense conflict, Shain said, Israelis looked to the future and contemplated how they can live a normal life.

In fact, a lot of Israel seemed just like any other country, aside from the subtle reminders of a deeply set conflict.

Driving through the town of Sderot, children played in a park that seemed like any other except that it contained a bomb shelter painted like a caterpillar. On the horizon, a bomb alert tower was visible.

The Tel Aviv University students seemed more passionate about their cause—finding peace—than activist college students in America. The military service required for most men and women prior to attending university lent a greater sense of maturity to many college students.

Just outside the West Bank, a highway in the town of Tzur Hadassah had a wall built into the side to shield passing cars from incoming gunshots.

And among this evidence of conflict and violence, Israelis carry a strong sense of national pride. This is largely embodied in Israel’s enormous immigrant population that is still growing rapidly every year. People of Jewish heritage from all around the world file into Israel to reconnect with their Jewish roots and make aliyah, or ascension upward, into their homeland.

That was certainly one of the many reasons young adults from all around the world came to Kvutzat Yavne, a kibbutz in central Israel. In this socialist-style living community, I met three teenagers from the United States, England and France. They were studying Hebrew intensely through the “5-5-5 approach”—five months, five days a week, five hours a day.

As American college journalists, maybe we will never understand why those three teenagers left their lives back home to live in a kibbutz. Or why people are drawn to settle in the West Bank even if such settlement is causing enormous violence and conflict. Or even why so many civilians continue to live in Sderot even though it’s frequently subject to rocket fire from Gaza.

For how can a group of westernized foreigners comprehend religious ties and territorial claims that have spanned millennia? What we can do is open our eyes to cultures and viewpoints different from ours and experience them firsthand.

Read more about Sabrina’s trip to Israel online at bigblog. dukechronicle.com.

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 13

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16 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

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Sports

WOMEN’S TENNIS

The Chronicle

It’s time to bench Singler

Duke needs to prove it can win on the road—and soon.

In losing to No. 20 Georgia Tech Saturday, the Blue Devils dropped their second true road game of the season. Ordinarily, that would not be much cause for concern, especially with the other loss coming at the hands of Wisconsin in the hostile Kohl Center. But Duke’s four wins away from Cameron Indoor Stadium have all come at neutral sites.

There are many possible explanations for the team’s road struggles, but I am Joe going to advocate the simplest explanation: The Blue Devils’ stars haven’t played well in the same game.

Against the Badgers, Kyle Singler kept Duke in the game but got little help until late in the second half. Jon Scheyer scored 25 points in Atlanta Saturday afternoon, but he was the only starter in double figures.

It hasn’t just been a problem on the road, either. There have only been a handful of games all season in which Scheyer, Singler and Nolan Smith have played well.

That may not matter in Cameron or Madison Square Garden, but it gets exposed in a hostile environment.

And in most games, the trio has not played to its full potential because Singler is not having the season he was expected to have.

Pegged as a preseason All-American, the junior forward has seen his numbers

ONLINE

WEDNESDAY January 13, 2010

The national champion Blue Devils visited the White House Tuesday.

Is Duke associate head coach Chris Collins a candidate for the head job at DePaul?

www.dukechroniclesports.com

Men’s Basketball

Drews

See drews on page 19

chase olivieri/Chronicle file photo

Kyle Singler has excelled at times this year, but his move to the perimeter has not always been a smooth one.

xavier watson/Chronicle file photo

Jon Scheyer has emerged as Duke’s go-to scorer and best ballhandler, and the Chicago native exploded for 31 points last week against Iowa State at the United Center.

Classes resume with ACC tests

by Will Flaherty The chronicle

After a winter break where No. 7 Duke turned in a series of strong performances, an unexpected January slipup in Atlanta was a rude awakening to the Blue Devils that their vacation is over as ACC play gears up this month.

By and large, Duke’s peformance in its seven games over winter break indicated that they are among the top handful BC of teams in the vs. nation. OutscorNo. 7 ing their oppoDuke nents by over 28 points per game WEDNESDAY, 7 p.m.

Cameron Indoor Stadium en route to a 6-1 record over break, the Blue Devils showed that they could win in a variety of ways, producing victories out of both offensive onslaughts—like they one they applied to a hapless Penn squad in a 59-point victory on New Year’s Eve— and airtight defensive efforts.

With guards Nolan Smith and Jon Scheyer leading the way, Duke (13-2, 1-1 in the ACC) has surged to a lofty position in a wide variety of scoring rankings. The Blue Devils are currently ranked eighth nationally in points per game, and Scheyer’s individual play of late has drawn some analysts to advocate the 6-foot-5 point guard as a candidate for ACC and National Player of the Year honors. Scheyer started off the winter

break slate of games Dec. 15 with a careerbest 36 points against Gardner-Webb and turned in another 30-plus point performance in a Chicago homecoming game against Iowa State Jan. 6. Heading into the Gardner-Webb game, Scheyer averaged 15.3 points per game, but over the seven winter break games the senior guard has posted a stout 25-point average. Scheyer’s scoring emergence has buoyed a squad that entered the season with a thin guard unit, and how he fares against tougher ACC defenses will significantly impact his team’s performance heading into March.

Defense has also has been a key attribute to Duke’s success over the past month.

The team has been able to both neutralize top opposing scorers like Iowa State’s Craig Brackins (12 points) and Gonzaga’s floppy-haired sharpshooter Matt Bouldin (4 points), and also play effective team defense. Gonzaga was held to 1-of-10 shooting from three-point range and a woeful 28.7 percent field goal percentage in Duke’s 7641 rout of the then-No. 15 Bulldogs Dec. 19 But an even more impressive feat was Duke’s early defensive effort against No. 21 Clemson Jan. 3 in the teams’ ACC opener at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Due to a double-overtime game between Wake Forest and Xavier, the FSN broadcast of the game was preempted for nearly the entire first half, depriving a national audience of one of the sharpest defensive halves played all year in college basketball.

The visiting Tigers were held to a measly 12 first-half points on 5-of-30 shooting and turned the ball over nine times, providing

Duke with a comfortable 30-12 halftime lead that it mainained en route to a 74-53 win. Duke isn’t the first team this season to hold an opponent to 12 points or less— Florida State, Pitt, Texas A&M and Kansas are just a few of the teams this year to replicate or best that defensive feat—but none of those efforts came against ranked opponents or in a conference game.

But the defensive blueprint that fueled those two wins didn’t translate to See m. bball on page 20

caroline rodriguez/Chronicle file photo

Duke’s outstanding defensive effort limited Clemson to just 53 points in the Blue Devils’ 21-point win Jan. 3.

18 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

The Chronicle’s Winter Break Wrapup Although most Duke students took the last month off, Blue Devil athletes continued making news over the holidays, and The Chronicle was there to keep up with their achievements. Below are a series of excerpts from the Sports Blog, www.dukechroniclesports.com, between the end of final exams and the beginning of the new semester.

on to coach the defensive backs at Temple. He went to Mississippi to serve as an assistant under Cutcliffe, then became an assistant under Bill Parcells for the Cowboys from 2003 until 2006 an an assistant for the Jets in 2007.

—by Vignesh Nathan

Dec. 16: MacIntyre named San Diego State head coach Duke defensive coordinator Mike MacIntyre, the AFCA’s 2009 Assistant Coach of the Year, was announced as San Jose State’s head coach today. MacIntyre served two seasons under head coach David Cutcliffe, whom he also worked with at Ole Miss.

MacIntyre has an impressive resume. He began his career as the defensive coordinator at Tennessee-Martin before moving

Dec. 20: Paulus to pursue NFL career Former Duke point guard Greg Paulus has exhausted his football eligibility after a season playing for Syracuse, but the New York Daily News reports that the quarterback will make an attempt to play in the NFL. Paulus is working out at Syracuse in preparation for the school’s March 4 pro day. Paulus, who had a workout with the Packers in April, said, “there has been some contact” regarding the NFL draft.

“I had a great time at Duke. I had a lot of fun there,” Paulus said. “But if there’s more time to play and I can keep playing this game, I would love to do that and keep learning and keep growing with it because I had so much fun this year and playing it again. There’s nothing like playing football.”

Paulus had one year of NCAA eligibility for football as a result of a rule that allows a fifth year of collegiate athletics for players who graduate from one school but play a second sport. His NCAA career ended Nov. 28, however, after a 56-31 loss to Connecticut.

On the season, Paulus completed 67.7 percent of his 285 pass attempts and threw for 2025 yards, 13 touchdowns and 14 interceptions. The Orange finished the season 4-8.

—by Taylor Doherty

Chronicle file photo

Former Duke guard Greg Paulus will attempt a professional football career in the NFL after finishing his only college season at Syracuse.

Dec. 30: Czyz considering Nevada, ASU Duke sophomore Olek Czyz, who decided to transfer nearly two weeks ago, is reportedly considering attending Nevada or Arizona State.

According to the Reno Gazette-Journal, Czyz was present at Nevada’s 78-69 win over Portland Monday, Dec. 28.

The forward is currently trying to schedule a visit at Arizona State. He will likely decide between the two schools in the next two weeks so that he can enroll in the spring and be eligible to play college hoops again during the second

Are you wondering . . .

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One of Olek Czyz’s potential destinations is his hometown school, Nevada. semester of the 2010-2011 season.

Czyz cited a lack of playing time as a Blue Devil as his chief reason for seeking a transfer. In his freshman campaign, the forward averaged just 3.9 minutes per game. That average picked up somewhat early this season—especially in the absence of Nolan Smith for the team’s first two games—but Czyz still only saw just over ten minutes on the floor per game.

“If I look back I don’t regret it, what I’ve been through there,” Czyz said. “Obviously I am going to miss the program, but I just felt I’ve got to get out there on the floor.”

—by Taylor Doherty See sports blog on page 21

the chronicle

drews from page 17 drop across the board, including field goal percentage (41.0 percent), 3-point percentage (34.7 percent), points (15.4 per game) and rebounds (6.9 per game).

It may be due to his move to the perimeter, the increased expectations coming into the season or the pressure of a possible NBA career next year. Or none of those.

Honestly, I have no idea. But I think it’s time to consider the once-unthinkable.

It’s time to bench Kyle Singler.

Now, I’m not suggesting he sit out the next several contests, nor am I saying he should come off the bench for the remainder of the season. And this isn’t punishment for a poor performance against Georgia Tech—if that were the case, Singler would be joined on the bench by everyone but Scheyer and Mason Plumlee.

Rather, it is an acknowledgement that something is wrong with Singler. He does not look comfortable, even though playing the perimeter should be more natural for him than banging in the post. He seems to be forcing shots in an effort to spark his offense, but that has only led to a lower shooting percentage. Singler shot just 2-of-13 from the field against the Yellow Jackets, and while head coach Mike Krzyzewski did not blame Singler for the loss, he acknowledged that his star forward did not play up to his usual standards.

“We obviously didn’t have the game that we need from Singler. I thought he had some really open looks that were there, and sometimes you don’t hit,” Krzyzewski said. “Kyle just didn’t have the game that we would like him to have. He had the game that Georgia Tech would like him to have.”

If the Blue Devils are going to make a deep NCAA Tournament run in March,

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 19

they will have to rely on Singler. For that reason, he should come off the bench tonight against Boston College, and maybe Sunday against Wake Forest as well. And I’m not talking about a change in name only—he should be limited to about 20 minutes.

I realize that tonight’s contest is fairly important, with Duke coming off a loss, the Cameron Crazies back in the stands and conference play about to begin in earnest. But that is precisely why Singler needs to spend half the game watching.

He needs to see that his teammates are fine without him. (Obviously, this plan is contingent on his teammates actually being OK without him, but they should be.

If Maine can topple the Eagles in Chestnut Hill, then Duke can certainly beat them in Cameron.) Singler must realize that he does not have to go out of his way to carry the team, but can simply take whatever defenses give him. If he does that, it’s only a matter of time before he starts to look like the Kyle Singler of old.

He’s too good of a shooter to stay in a slump forever.

Benching Singler would also free up playing time for Mason Plumlee, who had his best game as a Blue Devil Saturday, and Andre Dawkins, who has logged less than 10 minutes in four of the past five contests after playing double-digit minutes in every game before that.

Duke must get production from those freshmen as the season progresses. Plumlee may be the Blue Devils’ best interior scoring threat, and Dawkins has the purest shot of anybody on the team. Duke needs him to stretch defenses and relieve some of the backcourt burden from Scheyer and Smith. This would be the perfect opportunity to ease him back up to 15 to 20 minutes per game.

In the process, Singler could get some rest in a season in which he is playing the

eric mansfield/The Chronicle

Junior Kyle Singler struggled against Georgia Tech’s pressure defense in Duke’s upset loss last Saturday. most minutes of his Duke career.

It would be a stark change for Singler, who has started all but one game since coming to Durham, a 2008 contest against UNC-Asheville in which every starter watched the opening tip from the bench.

In the month following that game, Singler averaged more points, more rebounds, a higher shooting percentage and a higher 3-point percentage than he did in the

month before it. There is no guarantee that that would happen again, but it is encouraging that it was successful once.

In all likelihood, we will not get to see if it will work again. When the starting lineups are announced tonight, Kyle Singler will probably hear his name called for the 86th time in his Blue Devil career. In the long run, though, it might be better for him—and his team—if he doesn’t.

20 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 the chronicle

eric mansfield/The Chronicle

Georgia Tech’s post players controlled the glass against Duke in the Yellow Jackets’ big win Saturday.

m. bball from page 17 the Blue Devils’ first foray on the road in conference, as Georgia Tech outworked Duke in the second half and sealed a stunning 71-67 upset in Atlanta Saturday.

It didn’t help that Duke’s red-hot scoring trio of Smith, Scheyer and Kyle Singler turned colder than the ice that blanketed Atlanta’s streets last weekend, but nonetheless the game remained within reach for Duke throughout all 40 minutes. The crucial failing for the Blue Devils was their inability to contain Georgia Tech’s

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Gani Lawal, who along with his teammates dominated the glass and the paint in the second half. The Yellow Jackets effectively willed their way to a win over a Duke team that looked fatigued and played accordingly.

The challenge of shutting down skilled big men won’t let up this week, as Duke hosts Boston College’s Joe Trapani tonight and four days later Wake Forest’s AlFarouq Aminu. The Blue Devils may have failed their first test of the spring semester Saturday, but they’ll have a pair of retakes this week.

the chronicle

sports blog from page 18 Jan. 5: Two Blue Devils invited to Combine Duke quarterback Thaddeus Lewis and defensive tackle Vince Oghobaase are among the 300 college football players invited to attend the NFL Scouting Combine, which will be held between Feb. 24 and Mar. 2 at the Indianapolis Colts’ Lucas Oil Stadium. The NFL calls the event an “intense, four-day job interview” and “a vital step” for players whose dream it is to play in the NFL. An invitation to the event is a good indicator that a player is expected by the league to be drafted. In recent years, the NFL has invited between 14 and 25 quarterbacks to the event and between 42 and 61 defensive linemen.

—by Taylor Doherty

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 21

Jan. 9: Recruit Smith selects UConn Roscoe Smith,the No. 31 recruit in the nation according to scout.com, has verbally committed to Connecticut. Over the past couple of weeks, Smith had been deciding between UConn, Georgetown and Duke.

The 6-foot-7 small forward visited Duke in October and was seriously considering joining the Blue Devils’ 20102011 squad, but instead opted for Jim Calhoun’s Huskies. Smith became a more serious target for Duke after Harrison Barnes, an Iowa native and the top recruit in the country, opted to sign with North Carolina.

Duke’s 2010 recruiting class is full of talent and already includes Kyrie Irving, Tyler Thornton and Joshua Hairston.

—by Danny Vinik

michael naclerio/Chronicle file photo

Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis was one of two Blue Devils invited to the NFL Scouting Combine next month.

“IRAN IN CRISIS” Religion and Politics in Post-Revolutionary Iran REL 185.02 Tuesday and Thursday: 2.40–4.05 pm Gray Building, Room 228 Contact Professor Mohsen Kadivar: mailto:mk153@duke.edu or phone: 681–7447 Do you want to study a hot topic concerning religion and politics in the Middle East? Are you thinking of a career in international business, politics, security studies, or religion? If so, you cannot ignore learning about the ongoing crisis in Iran. We are fortunate that this semester at Duke, one of the leading Iranian public intellectuals and leaders of the opposition movement, Professor Mohsen Kadivar will be teaching a course concerning “‘d2Iran in Crisis.”’d3 Prof. Kadivar not only witnessed the birth of the Islamic Republic in 1979 but has also participated in the subsequent unfolding of events in his country. Professor Kadivar has spent the last decade as a critic of the theocratic regime, including an eighteen month prison term as punishment for his vocal opposition to the regime’s policies.

In this course Prof Kadivar will focus on contemporary developments in Iran and how these relate to the larger religious and political context. Students will examine the underlying legal and religious structures that underpin the political system. How do these theological assumptions impede or enhance the prospects for democracy? Students will study all the major institutions related to politics in Iran and the fundamentals of Shi`i political thought. Students will get an opportunity to take a very close look at the Green Movement, a major opposition movement that has swept the country since the June 2009 elections. This class is a must for anyone interested in one of the most important global political developments in recent times.

NEW COURSE OPPORTUNITY FOR UNDERGRADUATES!

Spring 2010

LIT 255S.03 RS 200S.03

The Literature of Terror, Trauma and Mystery Prof. Ariel Dorfman Mondays 4.25-6.55 p.m.

Franklin Center 130

A limited number of undergraduate students can now enroll in this course with permission from Professor Dorfman.

How do writers react to collective terror? Can literature be a form of healing for a traumatized or wounded community? What tensions exist between the politics of memory and justice and the need to tell complex stories that may undermine the certainty of one incontrovertible form of the truth? These are some of the questions we will be exploring in this course, through authors from Latin America, South Africa and the post 9/11 writings of Michael Ondaatje, Ian McEwan and Toni Morrison. Some reading knowledge of Spanish helpful but not required. To enroll, contact adorfman@duke.edu

22 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

the chronicle

top 10 from page 7

Duke is still struggling to make the best of housing on campus, shuffling fraternities, considering a new dorm and dreaming of a far off New Campus while working to make Central a bit more appealing.

take foreign language courses for the first time and creating Writing 20.

But the curriculum’s requirements were confusing and onerous and prevented students from double majoring.

In 2004, Duke changed things up again. It lightened the modes of inquiry and areas of knowledge requirements, but added a math requirement (under the original plan, students could replace the single required math course with a natural science).

Just as the class of 2004 was the guinea pig for Curriculum 2000, it also got to be the first to experience the decade’s new housing system, featuring the Quad Model.

With the arrival of Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta, Duke required all sophomores to live on West Campus and worked to create communities within the quads. Residence coordinators were hired to help, and in 2002 Duke started linking freshman dorms on East with quads on West, a system that was later dismantled.

No. 4 ­— The Brodhead Era “Do I, Richard, take you, Duke, to be my chosen life?”

Richard Brodhead asked himself when he became Duke’s ninth University President in the summer of 2004. “I do.”

The former dean of Yale College and English professor was chosen after a months-long, nationwide search to succeed popular former president Nan Keohane in December 2003. At Yale, where Brodhead spent forty years as a student, professor and administrator, the 19th century literature scholar built a legacy on his approach specifically to undergraduate education.

During his five years at Duke, Brodhead has prioritized fundraising for financial aid ($300 million to be exact) and integrating civic engagement and service into the academic experience, both with the University’s most recent strategic plan “Making a Difference” and the launch of DukeEngage.

presents a new film series on

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January 19 // Tongzhi in Love Gay men in modern China struggle to reconcile family tradition with personal freedom. Discussion led by Duke faculty members David Wong, Guo-Juin Hong, and Ara Wilson.

February 23 // The Yes Men Fix the World Political activists expose corporate hypocrisy through high-profile parody. Discussion led by Duke faculty member Suzanne Shanahan and Jennifer Jenkins from the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke Law School.

March 23 // Dhamma Brothers A rigorous meditation program transforms violent inmates in an Alabama prison. Discussion led by the treatment director at the Alabama Dept. of Corrections, the film’s writer and producer, and the Donaldson Correctional Facility’s warden.

April 13 // The Mosque in Morgantown One woman’s battle against male-dominated practices at the local mosque in her West Virginia hometown. Discussion led by Director Brittany Huckabee.

Visit dukeethics.org for info

Cosponsored by the the Arts of the Moving Image Program and the Center for Documentary Studies

Brodhead’s tenure at Duke, however, has been anything but smooth sailing. From the beginning, the President has had to confront a series of crises. In 2004, head basketball coach Mike Kryzewski almost left the University to take over as head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. Just months later, Brodhead and the University drew fire for allowing the Palestinian Solidarity Movement to host its annual conference on campus. Then of course, there was lacrosse and the new financial reality created by the recession, but that’s a whole other story.

No. 3 — Duke goes global Durham has become too small for a Duke that increasingly has its eyes set on the international horizon. This decade has been marked by Duke’s desire to expand its global reach and its growing presence abroad—but the University’s hunger for international footing is unlikely to be satisfied even in the next decade.

When President Richard Brodhead arrived at Duke in 2003, he had international goals in mind, which were reflected in the University’s strategic plan, “Making a Difference.” The central administration gave globalization efforts another big push in its Quality Enhancement Plan, part of the University’s reaccreditation process. Approved in 2009, the QEP, titled “Global Duke: Enhancing Students’ Capacity for World Citizenship,” introduced the Global Semester Abroad, the Winter Forum and the Global Advising Program.

The Fuqua School of Business has led the expansion effort from the beginning, initiating a cross-continent MBA program in 1999 that was greatly scaled back in 2002 due to financial losses. But in 2008 the school launched a new CrossContinent MBA program with partners in St. Petersburg, London, Shanghai, Dubai and New Delhi. Duke also partnered to open the Duke-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School in July 2006, and its new home was officially in use Sept. 2009.

Several Duke programs may soon have a home in China.

The Board of Trustees considered and approved the first phase of Duke’s involvement in China this past December.

The first phase is a partnership between Fuqua, the government of Kunshan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which would include free land and construction that could break ground as early as Jan. 2010 and be ready for occupation in 2011.

In addition, in February 2007, Duke launched DukeEngage, an unprecedented civic engagement initiative that fully funds students on domestic and international service trips.

The world is coming home to Durham, too. In the last 10 years, Duke has brought more international students to campus. Although international students are not admitted on a need-blind basis, some additional aid was created by the $300 million financial aid initiative. The Class of 2012 is nearly 10 percent international and saw a record number of foreign applicants. International applications were up 33 percent in the early decision pool for the Class of 2013.

Duke even has a vice provost for international affairs and a senior advisor for international strategy--Gilbert Merkx.

It’s clear internationalization is far from over, so look out world—here comes Duke.

No. 2 — The Lacrosse Case It started with a Spring Break party hosted by the lacrosse players at 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. March 13, 2006 and burgeoned into one of the most difficult crises the University has ever had to confront.

Crystal Gail Mangum, one of two exotic dancers hired to perform at the lacrosse party, falsely accused three members of the 2005-2006 men’s lacrosse team of rape.

Even as the team’s captains “unequivocally” denied the allegations, their season was canceled, head lacrosse coach Mike Pressler was forced to resign and the case garnered national media attention.

Adding fuel to the fire, a group of 88 Duke professors printed an ad in The Chronicle in the midst of the allegations, asking, “What does a social disaster sound like?”—an act that continues to attract the ire of observers.

Meanwhile, state investigators found that no lacrosse team members’ DNA matched biological evidence taken from Mangum. Nevertheless, then-Durham district attorney Mike Nifong told the media he was “convinced that there was a rape” and proceeded with his investigation, charging sophomores Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann with first degree forcible rape, first degree sexual offense and first degree kidnapping April 18. A month later, David Evans, Trinity ’06, was also indicted.

Despite the continued lack of evidence and dubiousness of Mangum’s claims, Nifong pushed on with the charges, winning his bid for re-election in November 2006. It was not until Mangum said she could no longer confidently testify that she was penetrated that Nifong dropped the rape charges against See top 10 on page 23

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 23

top 10 from page 22 Seligmann, Finnerty and Evans in late December. At the same time, the North Carolina State Bar launched an inquiry into possible ethics violations on Nifong’s part. The DA recused himself from the case days later, handing the investigation over to N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.

On April 11, 2007, after a four-month review of the case, Cooper dropped the remaining charges at a nationally televised press conference and took the unusual step of proclaiming the three indicted players “innocent” as well as condemning Nifong’s conduct.

Chronicle file photo

Former Duke lacrosse players Collin Finnerty (pictured), along with Reade Seligmann and David Evans, were indicted in 2006, but were later declared innocent in April 2007.

In June, Duke announced a settlement with Finnerty, Evans and Seligmann and their families for an undisclosed amount of money. Days later, Nifong resigned from the office of Durham district attorney as the State Bar moved to disbar him. In late August, the already disgraced ex-prosecutor was convicted of criminal contempt for knowingly making false statements during the case and ordered to spend a single day in jail. In September, President Richard Brodhead, speaking at a Law School conference apologized to the 2005-2006 lacrosse players and their families for the University’s lack of support “in this time of extraordinary peril.” Since then, the lacrosse scandal has spawned a campus culture report, numerous lawsuits, several books and even talks of a HBO movie. And several lessons learned about the imperfect nature of the justice system.

No. 1 — Making a smaller Duke November 10 was the day the economic turmoil of the past year and a half hit home for many Duke undergraduates.

That Tuesday, students found out that the University was planning to lay off the director of the Multicultural Center and another well-liked staff member.

Nearly 300 employees—mostly secretaries, housekeepers and other lower-paid workers—had already accepted retirement packages, and another 200 were being offered incentives to leave. Departments—from academics to athletics—were cutting spending. The threat of further layoffs was in the air (and remains in the air: 57 percent of the University’s spending goes to salaries and benefits, after all), and the University was searching for still more ways to cut its budget, working to close a $125 million hole left by a falling endowment and empty-pocketed donors.

Until the last years, it had been a decade of growth on every front for Duke. Today, construction plans have been put on hold, professor hiring is down and athletic spending stands to be scrutinized.

Blue Devils, from the top of the administration to jobhunting alumni and undergraduates, have been forced to dream smaller.

Read the full entries of these stories online at www.chronicleblogs.com

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24 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

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ty and Duke University Health System are committed to sustaining learning and work environments free from harassment and prohibited discrimination. Harassment of any kind is unacceptable. Discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, gender or age is prohibited. The Office for Institutional Equity (OIE) administers the Duke Harassment Policy and other policies related to prohibited discrimination. If you have questions or concerns related to harassment or discrimination, you are encouraged to seek prompt assistance from your supervisor, department chair, dean, manager or Duke Human Resources Staff and Labor Relations. You may also contact OIE directly at (919) 684-8222. Additional information, as well as the full text of the harassment policy, may be found at www.duke/edu/web/equity.

FREE TUTORING AVAILABLE

The Peer Tutoring Program offers free tutoring for Duke undergraduate students in the following introductory courses: Biology 25L, Chemistry 31L, 151L, 152L, Computer Science 6L, Economics 51D, 55D, Engineering 53L, 75L, Math 25L, 26L, 31L, 32L, 103, Physics 53L, 54L, 61L, Foreign Languages through level 76. Tutoring applications are online at: www. duke.edu/arc 919-684-8832

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Coaching Opportunity Durham Academy is looking to hire a junior high girls lacrosse coach for the spring 2010 season. Season runs from late Feb. thru early May. Playing/ coaching experience prefered. Fair hourly wage, daily afternoon practices. Valid driver’s license required. Contact AD Steve Engebretsen at steve.engebretsen@da.org 919-489-6569

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Meetings Duke in Brazil summer info mtg Duke in Brazil Summer Pro-

gram 2010 May 17 to July 1, 2010 This exciting program offers 6-weeks, 2-cc in Conversational Brazilian Portuguese and Citizenship, Culture and Participation.

Meet Brazil program director Prof.

Leslie Damasceno at an information meeting. Don’t have Portuguese Yet? Take Portuguese 53 this spring and be prepared!

Information Meeting for Duke in Brazil When: Wednesday, January 13 at 5:30pm in Allen 318.

To apply online for full hybrid program, go to individual websites of both Duke Global Education Office (http://global.duke.edu/geo) and Duke Engage (http://dukeengage.duke.edu/immersion).

Questions? Email Prof. Damasceno at ljhd@duke.edu. Application deadline for hybrid program is Thursday, January 14th.

For 6-week study abroad program only: Rolling admissions application deadline is Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 with applications considered on a space available basis thereafter

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 25

Diversions Shoe Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

Dilbert Scott Adams

Doonesbury Garry Trudeau

The Chronicle Our top stories of the decade: chinese gymnasts--are they 11?: ���������������������������������������hon, clee like, totally being elected! ;): ������������������������������������������������������will semite shenanigans: ������������������������������������������������������������������� LDu the defiling of charlotte simmons: ���������������������������� shuchi, austin figure skating controversies galore: ����������������� gabe, will, stephen the time we wrote a photo essay: ������������������������������������� naclerio Y2K: ��������������������������������������������������������������� klein, christine, ashley when duke played at UT-Plano: ����������������������������������������������� noko Barb Starbuck has moved on to the ‘10s: �������������������������������� Barb

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The Independent Daily at Duke University

The Chronicle

26 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

“

A crisis with minimal pain A semester ago, Duke was ative thinking and a plethora in dire straits. The global fi- of ideas. Through identifying nancial crisis wreaked havoc inefficiencies, cutting departon the University’s endow- ment budgets, crafting early ment, producing a $125 retirement schemes and remillion budget shortfall that sorting to layoffs, administraloomed as a tors have cut constant chalnearly half of editorial lenge on the the $125 milhorizon. lion budget hole.

Although the University is These measures have had by no means out of the woods significant consequences. yet, the budgetary initiatives Many administrative positions implemented by administra- have been eliminated, leaving tors so far have enabled Duke fewer bodies to perform more to weather the financial storm work and removing hardwithout a significant impact working employees from the on the student experience or University’s payroll. the core academic mission of But by trimming excess the University. Compared to and cutting bloat, the Uniother universities, life at Duke versity has managed to preis surprisingly normal after a serve Duke’s academic and semester of cuts. student experience while Undoubtedly, taking the emerging leaner and more University’s budget out of the efficient in the process. red has required careful, creAcademic departments

”

My daughter and the other kids refused entry are not “turkeys.”

—“Stu Daddy” commenting on the story “Duke admits 602 early decision applicants .”

See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

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have shouldered a significant burden in cutting costs.

All Trinity departments cut 5 percent of non-salary costs in the Spring and another 10 percent of their total budget in the Fall. In addition, professors making over $50,000 have had their salaries frozen.

Cuts have eliminated unnecessary perks such as catered food at faculty meetings, but they have also reduced research budgets.

Still, professors continue to teach small classes of undergrads and enjoy relatively steady access to the resources they need to participate in the creation of knowledge. The research mission of the University is alive and well.

Similarly, although the dip in the endowment indefinitely pushed back plans for New

Campus, cutbacks in areas of student life have left it relatively unchanged.

While there is talk about a “directed choice” dining plan in which students would be obliged to spend money at certain vendors, such a change seems paltry in light of the removal of hot breakfast altogether at Harvard.

Housing, aside from the elimination—and eventual restoration—of Saturday cleaning, has not seen a major overhaul.

And in the realm of student activities, practically nothing has been changed.

Even the merger of the International House and Multicultural Center was delayed after the plan encountered significant opposition.

Aside from fewer free Tshirts, students would be hard

pressed to identify how the budget crisis is affecting their lives.

The University has made significant progress to rein in spending, and much work remains. Moving forward, however, administrators should ensure that future planning efforts are characterized by a greater degree of transparency and inclusivity. When making cuts that touch student life and before making layoffs that drastically affect the lives of employees, those directly affected should be brought into the conversation.

Today, at the beginning of the Spring semester, the administration should be commended for preserving the core of the Duke experience in light of financial hardship.

Come May, we hope we can say the same.

Give the monkey a raise

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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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I

t seems as though the first column one writes for the semester should have a bright, energetic, optimistic tone—especially when one is also writing one of the first columns of the new year.

Sounds like hokey bullshit, I know.

The goal might rather be to add a few steaming lumps to the garbage heap of self-important affected cynicism and gleeful pessimism that we see all around us.

Today, so-called “pessimism porn,” particularly of the economic variety, is commonplace not connor southard only in all forms of dead poet media, but around the kitchen table.

“Mark my words,” some grizzled relative might have snarled at you over your Christmas goose, “Things will get bad before they get worse. Recession becomes depression. Nuclear war. Zombies.

Unemployed zombies.”

So, it would be easy to write a column that, even if it didn’t predict an uprising by the disenfranchised undead, would still ring ominous.

A column from a student at some other institution, published somewhere online at the end of last spring, comes to mind. In the agitated little article, a graduating senior punctuated his piece by urging all of us students to learn Mandarin, and fast. Not for fun, but because it was absolutely frickin’ necessary to our future well being that we do so.

My memory is a little hazy on this point, but I think that he began by gently telling all of us young whippersnappers to give up on doing anything interesting during our time as students. We should instead focus on clawing after a job with all the intensity of feral badgers. Because, you know, feral badgers land all the spots at Goldman.

But back to the Mandarin bit. Not that there’s anything wrong with learning or speaking Mandarin, but we’re all familiar with that sort of knowing, crackpot-globalist rhetoric. It’s the kind of discourse that goes something like: I know things, and one of the things I know is China, and I know that we will all become vassals of China very soon, in “the future.” In order to get a job, you will have to speak Chinese. I don’t mean that speaking Chinese will give you a slight edge. I mean that you will starve, slowly, if you do not speak Chinese.

Don’t interrupt me! I know this because I am clever.

And because I have read Thomas Friedman. Or, pos-

sibly, because I am Thomas Friedman.

Wow, can you get a degree in thinking and talking like that? Because I am hooked!

That stray column from last year was probably written with the best of intentions, and it was a harmless little piece. But it reflects a common impulse, and a pernicious one at that. That is to say, that depressingly narrow-minded advice-dispensing relies on a vision of “the future” in which lockstep pessimism in the here and now is the only way to prepare for the turgidly pessimistic future that so many prognosticators, both amateur and professional, are working to dream up.

In this imagined future, we will continue to pessimistically gird ourselves for a continuum of nasty things. After all, it would be naive to believe that anything less than our worst fears could come true. No matter how bright, hard-working or creative we might be, we poor Duke students will soon be scrounging through the wreckage of major cities, looking for employment as either Morlocks or Mad Max. Be afraid.

Actually, screw it. Don’t be afraid. Be happy!

It’s basketball season.

Worry away—it’s a good way to remember that one has left the stove on. But isn’t it a little silly to pass off every stray anxiety and worry as an intellectual thesis? Do you want your snarling, dyspeptic relative to seize the tone of every conversation (and op-ed, news piece…) and run with it, radioactive zombies and all?

It’s a new year, it’s a new semester, the Coach K Experience featuring Jon Scheyer was ranked seventh last I checked and I have yet to see any zombies milling about West Campus. OK, so Perkins around 4 a.m. can be a little iffy, but let no flesh-eating Orgo student dissuade you from embracing your own brand of optimism. If you can’t reason yourself into a decent vision of the future, you might want to re-examine and rework the slice of the world you inhabit at present.

Oh, and for those of you who think I’m being stupidly cheery: you’re probably right. But on the radio today, a famous finance dude said that following the investment selections of “a monkey with a highlighter and a copy of the The Wall Street Journal” is as surefire a way as any to make quick money. In other words, think twice before you knock an eternal optimist, even if that optimist screeches a lot and smells questionable.

Connor Southard is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every Wednesday.

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All together now

I

n James Cameron’s “Avatar,” a force He and co-author James Fowler have called Eywa runs through every liv- found that we are not only linked by ing thing on Pangaea, the futuristic six degrees of separation, but our lives planet home to the Na’vi, an advanced are impacted by three degrees of influhumanoid race that has learned how to ence. They found that a wide range of tap into wisdom of their planet and lives attitudes and feelings, such as political in harmony with their surroundings. views and happiness, and behaviors, Recently surpassing $1 billion in including smoking, drinking and overglobal ticket sales, the movie itself has eating, are influenced not only by one’s spoken to how widely medirect circle of friends, dia can be disseminated, but by one’s friends’ how quickly information friends’ friends. can travel and how the We see this pheworld at large can be won nomenon take place over by a single film in toat Duke. From Friday day’s society. By now, how night when West Cammany of us haven’t seen pus is bustling until the winter blockbuster 2 a.m. to Saturday at sue li with the glow-in-the-dark noon when the line for forests, helicopter-sized philosopher’s stone Alpine Bagels never dragons and slightly unends to Sunday night comfortable alien love scenes? To think when the libraries are packed, ours is a that both you and some stranger in community so closely knit that we seem China have been exposed to the same to move in unison. cultural phenomenon attests to the Are our failures to maintain our fact that all of us can share something New Year’s resolutions to stop proin common with someone whose life crastinating, lose weight or get better we may never understand. grades a result of our lack of resolve or Looking back on this past decade, the power of collective habits? Rather it is incredible how quickly technology than believing that we are powerless to has advanced and how the populariza- the sway of our peers and the influence tion of social media has transformed of external factors, we can instead, turn our lives. Instead of interacting only this concept on its head. Because we with our nuclear family and close circle are inevitably tangled in these webs, we of friends, Google, Facebook, Twitter also have the power to fundamentally and other networking tools have al- shape our environments, for better or lowed us to communicate with anyone for worse. Realizing that one’s decision in the world, making us all much more to forego that 3 a.m. McDonald’s run interconnected than we would have could influence another’s life style, thought 10 years ago. this sobering reality should activate In “Avatar,” military officers dis- our sense of accountability rather than missed the researchers, who saw vari- release us from it. ous living organisms literally commuSo often we get caught up in even nicating with each other through some smaller spheres within the Duke bubmysterious network, as New Age nuts. ble, factioning into greeks and nonCould it be that James Cameron an- greeks, selective living groups and culticipated that in the future, we would tural organizations, for example, that have scientific evidence to prove what we forget we are all part of the greatest we don’t yet understand? Is this all just social network of all—humanity. The some Hollywood hocus pocus, or are decisions we make regarding our acawe all really connected? demics, social lives, personal lives and Although social media has only professional choices can have effects recently made these connections ap- on Duke students, faculty, administraparent and accessible, this concept of tion, alumni and beyond that we may connectedness among all living things, never even be aware of. is not new but has been around for ages. In Buddhism, for example, like Sue Li is a Trinity senior. Her column Eywa but without the anthropomor- runs every other Wednesday. phic characteristics, a fundamental law called dharma, a rhythm of life and the universe, pervades everything in the world. Particularly, Nichiren Buddhism emphasizes that you and your environment are one. As a result, every cause you make has an effect in the world.

This “butterfly effect” of every individual’s thought, speech and action has far reaching consequences.

Recent social science research has made the existence of this mysterious medium in which networks operate seem less far-fetched. For example, professor Nicholas Christakis at Harvard University, co-author of “Connected,” said in a September interview on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation: “And in a way we think of networks as a kind of—as a kind of matrix in which we’re all embedded, or if you will, like the Force in ‘Star Wars,’ you know, it surrounds us, it affects us all, it’s there everywhere. And, you know, most people nowadays are accustomed to talking about networks and they think about online networks that they can see but what they may not realize is that they’re actually embedded in these living, breathing networks that surround us all, all the time, and have always done so.”

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 | 27

commentaries

Traditionalism and its discontents

“T

raditionalism signifies a tenden- als” (which I will define generously here as cy to cling to vegetative patterns, anyone at Duke) and the University as an to old ways of life…. Traditional- institution must play in society. We must ism is not therefore necessarily bound up, move away from traditional ideas, such as even today, with political or other sorts of the ones described above, which continue conservatism. ‘Progressive’ people… may to hold intellectual sway by virtue of their often act ‘traditionalistihollowed associations. cally.’” —Karl Mannheim, All traditional ideas should not be rejected “Conservative Thought” The eminent sociologist out of hand; this would Karl Mannheim’s assertion be nothing but a reaction that traditionalism often that likely would be worse transcends political boundthan the rejected ideas aries has remained a truism themselves. Rather, we of 20th century politics. Indaniel bessner must attempt to abandon dividuals from all political ideology that is powerful mutatis mutandis because it is ideology. persuasions, from Barack Obama to Michael Steele, This may very well be continue to defend old ideas that years an impossible task. As historians well know, ago became tropes of American political academics have rejected the idea that an discourse. intellectual can be “socially unattached” One sees such traditionalism in Presi- since at least the 1968 student movements. dent Obama’s abandonment of “progres- But this rejection has contributed, in part, sive” principles with his repeated unwilling- to the hyper-specialization—or what interness to reform the morally and financially national relations scholar Stephen Walt has wasteful “War on Drugs.” This so-called referred to as the “cult of irrelevance”— “war” has led to the rise of a prison com- that presently defines (or some might say plex that protects no one and serves only plagues) parts of modern academia. to destroy communities. Traditionalism is By correctly recognizing that intellectualso evident in Republican National Com- als themselves often represent particular mittee Chairman Michael Steele’s deser- segments of society, by speaking truth to tion of “conservative,” anti-statist philoso- power, scholars have abandoned unwittingly phy with his continued unwillingness to the constructive role intellectuals can play in endorse gay marriage. society. One may see this in how the image What often matters in American poli- of the “ivory tower” dominates the non-unitics is not what is logically beneficial to versity public’s perception of academia. It is individuals or groups (although this may the (probably utopian) goal of this column never have mattered), and not even what to prod everyone here at Duke whom one conforms to ideological principles. Rather, may define as being in their “formative” inwhat counts is that politicians stick to par- tellectual years—from first-years to graduate ticular, traditional scripts hollowed by their students about to defend their Ph.D. thelongstanding existence. ses—to reconsider the existential question It is the goal of my column to, at the of what it means to be intellectuals. very least, attempt to breach the traditionI want to stress that there is no goal to alism that unfortunately informs so much reach or end in mind, but that rather the of our public discourse. It is my firm be- discussion or process is the goal itself. For lief that traditionalism in any guise is not this reason, I hungrily anticipate your reaconly vacuous but also actively deleterious tions, positive and negative, to my columns. to the creation of a civil, intelligent and So on that prosaic note—Happy New Year, ultimately useful discourse through which and welcome back to Duke! our common society, in which we all have a stake, can address seemingly insurmountDaniel Bessner is a third-year Ph.D. candidate able problems. in European history. His column runs every other I believe this is the role that “intellectu- Wednesday

28 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010

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WHERE DO WE GO

FROM HERE? If democracy is to have breadth of meaning, it is necessary to adjust this inequity.

It is not only moral, but it is also intelligent. ... The curse of poverty has no justification in our age.” - DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Dolores Huerta Keynote Speaker

Labor leader, activist and co-founder with Cesar Chávez of the United Farm Workers Introduction by author, human rights activist and Duke professor Ariel Dorfman

3 p.m., Sunday, January 17 Duke Chapel

Orlando Bagwell Filmmaker

“Citizen King” and “Eyes on the Prize” Ford Foundation

6 p.m., Friday, January 15 Richard White Lecture Hall

African Children’s Choir 2 p.m., Monday, January 18 Page Auditorium

Free and Open to the Public For more information: 919/684-8030 or mlk.duke.edu

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