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
FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2010
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 75
www.dukechronicle.com
Disaster in Haiti resonates across campus Cutcliffe in serious talks with Tenn. by Julius Jones The chronicle
Duke administrators, faculty and students are rallying to provide support and aid to victims of a violent earthquake in Haiti. The quake, which measured 7.0 on the Richter Scale, shook the capital city of Portau-Prince and the surrounding area Tuesday at approximately 4:53 p.m. local time, leaving almost the entire city in ruins and the city’s nearly 2 million residents without access to food, water or shelter. “The international response to this disaster has been encouraging and inspiring, as has the immediate action on the part of the Duke community,” President Richard Brodhead and Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs and president and chief executive officer of the Duke University Health System, wrote in an e-mail to the Duke community Thursday evening. “Now we ask you to support the people of Haiti as they rebuild their country and to look for ways in which Duke can make a difference in the lives of people who have lost so much.” Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said the University is forming a steering committee comprised of major stakeholders, including Duke University Medical Center, the Office of Student Affairs, the Center for Civic Engagement and cultural organizations representing students from the affected regions. A similar response procedure was put in place after the Indonesian tsunami in 2005 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. See Haiti on page 8
by Gabe Starosta and Taylor Doherty The chronicle
Carol Guzy/The washington post
Haitians work to rescue a man trapped in the rubble after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Port-auPrince, Haiti Tuesday afternoon. “The international response to this disaster has been encouraging and inspiring,” President Richard Brodhead wrote in an e-mail sent to the Duke community Thursday.
Campus council
RGAC reveals revised menu Panhel, two fraternities may get space on Central by Christine Chen The chronicle
Selective living groups and fraternities will have more choices as they vie for new sections this semester. A new menu of on-campus sections available to living groups was released at a meeting of Campus Council Thursday night. Last semester, some living groups protested that the original menu of places to live was unpalatable. Many of the sections include common rooms and more of them are on first floors—features that leaders of student living groups requested last Fall. A chart showing the new menu for sections is available on The Chronicle’s Web site. The revised menu was created this week by members of See RGAC on page 7
Read juniors’ thoughts on their Welcome Back Party, Page 4
Duke Football head coach David Cutcliffe’s name increasingly became linked with the vacant head coaching position at the University of Tennessee Thursday, and there has been contact between Cutcliffe and Tennessee representatives, several sources told The Chronicle Thursday. The Knoxville News Sentinel additionally reported that Tennessee was still in the interviewing phase of the search process, and that Tennessee athletic director Mike Hamilton wrote in a text David Cutcliffe message that no offer had been made to any coaching candidate. Duke sports information director Art Chase told The Chronicle Thursday evening that although Hamilton’s office has not been in direct contact with Cutcliffe, the Duke head coach has been in touch with people associated with the Tennessee football program about possibly bringing Cutcliffe to Knoxville, Tenn. Chase added that Cutcliffe was in Durham Thursday and See cutcliffe on page 14
Major initiatives mark Sanchez’s tenure Jan. 11 was last day for former MCC director, staff specialist by Joanna Lichter The chronicle
Last semester, two staff positions were eliminated as part of the proposed merger of the International House and the Center for Multicultural Affairs. The merger is on hold this semester to allow for student input, but Jan. 11 marked the last day at Duke for Multicultural Center Staff Specialist Juanita Johnson and Julian Sanchez, formerly Julian Sanchez the center’s director. “I am very lucky to have had the best job on campus working on the most important agenda with outstanding groups of progressive students, and a devoted cadre of staff and faculty colleagues,” Sanchez wrote in an e-mail. Sanchez was recruited to Duke in 1993 by Janet Smith-Dickerson, former vice president for student affairs. DickJuanita Johnson erson hoped Sanchez’s prior experience would provide support to a wider range of minority
groups on campus. Sanchez spent 10 years as the Director of Minority Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He declined to be interviewed by phone for this story. Johnson, a Durham native, had been working at Duke since 1981. Although she relocated briefly to Virginia, she returned to Duke in 2003. “I’m one of those people that accepts change,” Johnson said in a November interview. “The part I had a problem with is the way it was all handled.” Johnson said she and Sanchez were dismissed the morning of Nov. 9. Later that day, Zoila Airall, assistant vice president for student affairs, announced the merger to the Council of Cultural Groups Presidents. “It’s a sad thing to... get a call at 8:45 a.m. and they tell you you are going to be in a meeting at 10 a.m. with no information on the meeting,” Johnson said. “I don’t see how my meager salary made a difference or a dent in the reduction of costs.” Johnson could not be reached for comment this month.
ONTHERECORD
“I didn’t think anyone would do it because I don’t think people really care.”
—Junior Will Passo on the Young Trustee Nominating Committee. See story page 3
See sanchez on page 4
Duke pulls away from ‘Canes late, Page 13