April 27, 2010

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

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 141

www.dukechronicle.com

SOFC shifts Duke’s dynamic drug scene largely muted event funding Marijuana, cocaine use contrast dominant alcohol culture to rolling basis

by Ciaran O’Connor and Rachna Reddy

Change aims to increase transparency, fairness

by Paul Horak THE CHRONICLE

THE CHRONICLE

Whether it is shotgunned in the Blue Zone before a football game or mixed with soda at a section party, alcohol appears to be a dietary staple for most of the student body.

For some students, however, partying hard entails far more than liquid intoxication. At Duke, illicit drug users constitute an active minority that operates largely unnoticed.

Approximately 68 percent of Duke undergraduates reported drinking in the 30 days before they completed last Spring’s National College Health Assessment Survey. Just less than 10 percent said they had used marijuana in that time period.

Students interviewed described the hard drug scene at Duke as secretive but dynamic, with cocaine use especially prevalent.

Tom Szigethy, associate dean and director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Center, estimated that 1 to 3 percent of students recreationally use drugs other than alcohol and marijuana.

Next Fall, the Student Organization Finance Committee will introduce several changes to the way it allocates its funds.

In an effort to increase transparency and accountability, SOFC Chair Max Tabachnik, a junior, has spearheaded multiple revisions. The most notable among them is news a substantial increase in the committee’s proanalysis gramming fund, which provides money for events held by student organizations. Emphasis will be shifted from annual budgets of individual student groups to SOFC’s programming fund, which will increase from $125,000 to $384,000. Student groups can then, in turn, apply to receive additional funding from the programming fund instead of being allocated a larger budget at the beginning of the year.

“The biggest reason for doing this is clarity,” Tabachnik said, noting that there had been some discrepancy among student organizations about where they could request funds.

Under the new system, the organizations most likely to see decreases in funding are those that relied heavily on campus annual budgets and those that hold many events, Tabachnik said. He added that every organization could still apply for event funding, and that the new system would be an improvement from the former.

“We expect to have a huge volume of requests, much bigger than last year,” Tabachnik said. “Right now, the organizations that demonstrate a greater financial need for capital costs—theater groups needing costumes or dance groups needing equipment—seem to benefit the most.”

He noted, however, that the new changes will ultimately benefit all student groups.

Tabachnik said the guesswork involved in the old system limited the funds the committee could allocate to organizations. By allocating funds too far in advance­—up to six or seven months in some cases—there was always the fear that the committee would run out of funds sometime down the road, making SOFC very stingy, he said.

With the new rolling funding system in place, student groups will be expected to draw up concrete budget plans to receive funding, Tabachnik added. Although they will still have

Friends and family gathered Monday in memory of Billy Dwight, a senior who passed away unexpectedly Wednesday.

Dwight studied psychology at Duke and was a 2005 graduate of North Forsyth High School in Winston-Salem, N.C. Those close to him remembered not just his brilliant intellect, but also his compassion and ability to make others laugh.

“Billy was, as they described him today, a great leader, a great friend,” said Mary Dwight, Billy’s mother. “He didn’t have an enemy in the world.”

Mary Dwight said today’s ceremony was a “full house” with only standing room available. Six of Billy’s close friends spoke at the funeral, she said, including a childhood friend who called eulogizing Billy the toughest thing he had ever done.

Billy’s father, Dan, said his son had a distinctive confidence about him without a trace of arrogance. When applying to colleges, Billy decided to apply only to Duke and Wake Forest University. When his father tried to encourage him to apply to

See sofc on page 6

See dwight on page 7

Dillo to improve outdoor patio, Page 3

See drugs on page 5 Photo illustration by libby busdicker/The Chronicle

Friends speak to Dwight’s sense of humor, intellect at funeral service

by Taylor Doherty THE CHRONICLE

Column: Going Pro Columnist Stephen Allan is retiring from journalism to pursue his poker dream, PAGE 9

courtesy of dan dwight/special to The Chronicle

Senior Billy Dwight (right), seen here with (from left to right) his mother Mary, his best friend Cory Luper and his father Dan, passed away unexpectedly last Wednesday. A funeral service for Billy was held Monday.

ONTHERECORD

“The simple dichotomy is that science seeks to understand what is, and engineering seeks to create what never was.”

­—Professor Henry Petroski on engineering innovation. See story page 3

2 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle

worldandnation

TODAY:

6653

WEDNESDAY:

6942

British ambassador escapes assasination attempt

High court may allow ban BPA ban proposal opposed of violent video games WASHINGTON, D.C. — The food industry and major business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, are threatening to withdraw support for a long-pending bill to improve food safety, saying they are upset by a proposed amendment that would ban bisphenol A, a controversial chemical, from food and beverage containers.

The bill is the Senate version of legislation passed overwhelmingly by the House last year. It is designed to give the Food and Drug Administration new regulatory authority over food production and place greater responsibility on manufacturers and farmers to produce food free from contamination. It had broad bipartisan support and backing from the White House, and it was expected to come to the Senate floor before the Memorial Day recess.

“

”

I have learned that to be with those I like is enough.

— Walt Whitman

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Just after deciding one major free-speech challenge last week, the Supreme Court said Monday that it will take up another: whether states may forbid the sale of violent video games to minors.

California said the high court’s 1968 decision that states may restrict the sale of sexually explicit materials to minors should be extended to the violent images in video games such as Grand Theft Auto. Other states have passed similar laws, but all have been shot down by federal courts that say the Supreme Court has never authorized such an expansion.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit said the same thing about California’s law. The state “is asking us to boldly go where no court has gone before,” Judge Consuelo Callahan wrote for a unanimous three-member panel.

TODAY IN HISTORY 1937: First US Social Security payment made.

NAIROBI, Kenya — The British ambassador to Yemen narrowly escaped an assassination attempt by a suicide bomber Monday, an assault that Yemeni officials said had the hallmarks of an attack by al Qaeda.

A convoy carrying Ambassador Timothy Torlot was headed to Britain’s embassy in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, Monday morning when the assailant detonated his explosive-laden vest. The assailant died, but no one else was killed in the attack. Torlot was not harmed.

There was no assertion of responsibility, but the involvement of al Qaeda would indicate that the group has retained the ability to carry out high-impact assaults on Western targets, despite attempts by American and Yemeni counterterrorism officials to ratchet up pressure on extremists in Yemen.

U.S. and Yemeni officials have increased their cooperation since al Qaeda’s Yemen

branch, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, asserted responsibility for the failed bombing attempt on a Detroit-bound airliner Christmas Day. According to 26Sep.net, a Web site linked to Yemen’s military and security service, the suicide bomber in Monday’s attack was identified as Othman Ali alSelwi, a 22-year-old student from the southern city of Taiz.

The British Embassy closed Monday, and both British and U.S. citizens were urged to remain vigilant and keep a low profile. It was unclear whether the British Embassy would reopen Tuesday, said Chantel Mortimer, an embassy spokesperson.

A statement by the Yemeni Embassy in Washington suggested that the attack may have been in retaliation to a Yemeni operation that killed two suspected alQaida operatives in the western city of Hodeida on April 18.

Daniel acker/Bloomberg News

The Boeing Dreamliner 787 will be released by the end of the year, increasing the aircraft supplier’s stock drastically. The plane is the first of its kind to use composite materials for most of its construction, and is more environmentally and economically savvy, burning 20 percent less fuel than competitors.

the chronicle

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 | 3

Petroski: Engineering essential for innovation

by Caitlin Guenther THE CHRONICLE

caroline rodriguez/The Chronicle

DUSDAC members sample sushi from Chef’s Deal, a proposed eatery with an Asian fusion menu, at their meeting Monday. Members also heard a presentation from Armadillo Grill at the meeting.

DUSDAC

Dillo looks to revamp outdoor patio space

by Sanette Tanaka THE CHRONICLE

During its final meeting of the semester, the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee offered feedback to managers at Armadillo Grill, who presented to DUSDAC for the first time this year.

Armadillo Grill General Manager Erika Garris said the eatery strives to be a “home away from home” on campus since it opened in 1999.

“We make a conscious effort to get to know as many people, as many faces, as many names as possible,” Garris said.

This year, the eatery has focused on accommodating students’ dietary needs as well as providing students with a hangout space, she said.

Along with updating the alcohol options in the downstairs bar, Garris said she plans to redecorate the patio area to accommodate larger groups.

“Right now, the outdoor space is neglected,” she said. “But when weather [permits], we try to use it as much as possible.”

Garris added that Armadillo Grill has See DUSDAC on page 4

In his latest book, Henry Petroski aims to show how engineering fuels innovation.

Petroski, Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering, stresses the importance of engineering in the development of new technologies in, “The Essential Engineer: Why Science Alone Will Not Solve Our Global Problems.” He said the linked fields of science and engineering serve distinct purposes, with separate aims and obHenry Petroski jectives.

“There is a difference between science and engineering,” Petroski said. “The simple dichotomy is that science seeks to understand what is, and engineering seeks to create what never was.”

Petroski said the book—which will be published in February—attempts to impress upon policymakers how engineering is important to society. The distinction is particularly important in today’s political and economic environment, he added.

“There has been a lot of talk in Washington about trying to get the country back to being more innovative,” Petroski said. “Very often, innovation is linked with science. When I hear that, I say, ‘But wait, you’re leaving out an important link in the chain between science and innovation, and

special to the Chronicle

In his new book, professor of civil engineering Henry Petroski stresses engineering’s role as the link between science and new technologies. that’s engineering.’”

Petroski’s book cites flight and the development of the steam engine as examples of how science and engineering have interacted to produce results. He said he uses history to illustrate how the conventional wisdom—which dictates that purely scientific research leads to innovation—is not always true.

“The linear theory of research and See engineers on page 4

4 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle

engineers from page 3 development says that you have scientists doing research and producing scientific results, and then that leads to inventions and innovations and engineering products,” Petroski explained.

“It really doesn’t work that way.

Very few innovations came from pure scientific ideas.”

Tom Katsouleas, dean of the Pratt School of Engineering, said he believes the University is lucky to have Petroski, who teaches several courses at the University.

“We are very fortunate in the Duke community to have a national treasure like Henry Petroski in our own backyard,” Katsouleas said. “What Henry helps us see is that there is an artistry and a human side to engineering. It is something that both engineers and non-engineers alike can relate to, and that is a unique ability.”

Aiman Kuzmar, one of Petroski’s former doctoral students, said Petroski’s ideas have made an impact in classrooms at other universities across the nation.

“The book elegantly explains why scientists and engineers compliment each other to serve the society,” Kuzmar wrote in an email. “The relationship between science and engineering is very complex, to say the least, but this book explains this interaction between science and engineering in a very practical way.”

Spring awakening

libby busdicker/duke fashion quarterly

Student models close out a runway show at the Duke Fashion Quarterly launch party Monday. The event, held at the Doris Duke Center in the Duke Gardens, coincided with the release of the magazine’s second issue and featured a trunk show with clothing from the Durham boutique Uniquities.

DUSDAC from page 3 increased its yearly sales by 6 percent, which is greater than the average nationwide increase of 3 percent in the food industry. The number of customers has also increased, though food prices have remained about the same, she said.

“We are not trying to nickel-and-dime anybody,” Garris said. “We want you to spend your food points wisely. We’re trying to make you full for less.”

In other business: Mario Vidic, general manager of Chef’s Deal—a proposed eatery concept featuring Asian food—said the dining options at Duke lacked a comprehensive Asian fusion menu, including fresh sushi.

“From my five years at [George’s Ga-

rage], I know there is a need for this menu on campus,” Vidic said. “Our goal is to create a concept that you have never had before. We offer something original.”

The eatery includes a Korean rice dish called “bibimbap,” a hot pot option and à la carte selections.

Vidic said he wants to open a standing restaurant on campus, as well as deliver on food points. “[Chef’s Deal] is a creative product, and I think Duke students would like it, but they need to change their business model for it to succeed on campus,” said DUSDAC coChair Jason Taylor, a senior. “It needs to be simpler.”

Still, Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst said at the end of the meeting that new vendors will most likely not open in the upcoming academic year because of budget constraints.

the chronicle

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 | 5

drugs from page 1 “In my over 11 years at Duke, I can only think of a handful of times when we have actually found a student in possession of cocaine,” Stephen Bryan, associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Conduct, wrote in an e-mail.

Nevertheless, Bryan is aware that just because administrators rarely catch students using or dealing drugs does not necessarily mean that some are not doing so.

Drug culture at Duke is discreet and diverse. Members of the community range from the casual weed smoker to the enterprising student who deals 8-balls—about 3.5 grams of cocaine—out of his dorm room.

For drug dealers at the University, business is cyclical, waxing and waning throughout the semester. Felix, a junior and former drug dealer whose name has been changed for his protection, said demand for his products was high during the drop/add period and dipped during finals week. In a typical week, he would sell 1.5 pounds of marijuana and roughly 3 ounces of cocaine. He earned an estimated $6,000 profit from weekly sales—$4,000 from marijuana and $2,000 from cocaine.

“My place had a revolving door on it,” he said. “All hours, people would be knocking on my door [and] calling me.”

Who uses?

Men tend to play a greater role than women in Duke’s drug scene. They are typically the primary purchasers and are more often caught in possession.

This year, the Office of Student Conduct has received 41 reports of suspected drug use­­­­and 14 students have been found in violation of the University’s drug policy, Bryan said. All offenders were male.

Indeed, the NCHA survey showed that men use marijuana about 50 percent more often than do women—at a rate of 12.8 percent versus 8.3 percent, respectively.

“I haven’t come across many female potheads in my lifetime,” said Alec, a recent graduate who distributed marijuana, cocaine, psilocybin mushrooms and mephedrone at Duke, among other drugs. His name has also been changed for privacy purposes.

Felix’s clients were usually men. With cocaine, though, he felt guys typically made the purchase and then gave half or more of it to girls for free.

“There’s definitely a fair amount of glorified prostitution,” he said, “But I guess that’s just indigenous to the drug.”

Student dealers said they obtained their products through a variety of sources, both in Durham and outside the state, to capitalize on a social structure that permits drugs to flow to those who seek them.

All students who said they distributed drugs acknowledged providing them to fraternity-affiliated clients.

“The [greek] system definitely facilitates sales,” Felix said. “It makes it really easy to get the word out.”

He added that fraternities typically cater toward freshmen who want to experiment with drugs.

Freshman Michael Hoyle said the fraternities he rushed provided mostly alcohol and sometimes offered marijuana in more private settings.

“It definitely wouldn’t surprise me to hear some fraternities used [harder] drugs during rush,” Hoyle said. “I guess it just depends on the kind of people they’re trying to attract.”

Echoing this notion, Szigethy said drug activity depends on the specific organization, with some placing a greater emphasis on partying than others.

A line between use and abuse Students deeply immersed in the drug environment may find themselves more consumed by the substances than they had originally intended.

Felix said he eventually stopped handling

Chronicle file photo illustration

Marijuana and hard drug use at Duke remains an uncommon occurrence, as less than 10 percent of Duke undergraduates that they had used marijuana within 30 days before completing last Spring’s National College Health Assessment Survey. Officials estimate only 1 to 3 percent recreationally use drugs other than marijuana and alcohol. cocaine because his customers became too intrusive and he grew concerned about his friends’ relationships with the drug.

“I would like to see them not destroy their lives,” he said, adding that while selling cocaine, the line between making easy money and running an exploitative criminal enterprise sometimes blurred. Felix noted that he refused cocaine to friends who appeared dependent.

Alec, who stressed that he never earned profit on the drugs he transferred, said he never cut anyone off from his supplies.

“There have been a lot of people that I’ve introduced a certain substance to and I’ve watched them abuse the s— out of it, and that makes me a little sad sometimes,” he said. “But at the same time, life is all about personal choice.”

checklist of tasks he must complete that day. When they are done, he can smoke.

“There are a lot of really functional, recreational drug users at this school,” Felix said. “That could be anything from smoking weed after a test to going to the bathroom and laying a line out on a bathroom pull-down [during a test].”

Szigethy said, however, that those who use drugs should think about the quality of their lives, even if they are able to complete coursework on time.

“If people really feel they’re getting the full experience of their lives and they’re doing drugs, why are they doing the drugs?” he asked.

Christine Pesetski, assistant dean for offcampus and mediation services, said student drug users may face dropping grades and low

“If people really feel they’re getting the full experience of their lives and they’re doing drugs, why are they doing the drugs?”

— Tom Szigethy, director of the Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention Center Alec quit using cocaine months ago for health reasons but said he struggled with the drug late in his undergraduate years.

“It was really difficult to get out of it mainly because the majority of my friends were also in it,” Alec said, adding that he would use cocaine to study, party and “numb emotional pain.”

Students often get high to mask pain or deal with stress, Szigethy said, noting that the impetus to use drugs is often a deeper problem than the substance itself.

Some students, however, feel they can use drugs recreationally without compromising other aspects of their lives.

As a frequent pot smoker, Oscar—a sophomore whose name has also been changed—said he has a code of conduct for himself. Each morning he makes a

class attendance in addition to addiction.

“I don’t know anybody who used drugs the way I used that was successful at school,” said Jason Rice, Trinity ’98.

For Rice, who was arrested in a Durham crack house in the Spring of 1996, being a functioning substance user was impossible.

“I had so much opportunity and potential and I basically said, ‘You know what, that’s good stuff, but I would much rather just get high,’” he recounted. “And I never really got anything out of it, other than just getting high and maybe some temporary relief from some emotional pain. And eventually what I ended up with was a lot of guilt, shame and remorse.”

Rice acknowledged, however, that not everyone shares his propensity for addic-

tion. He has been sober for 12 years.

A tight-lipped institution The drug scene usually plays out behind closed doors. Students said Duke’s campus provides ample privacy for getting high and making transactions, rendering extreme precautions unnecessary.

“They’re not going to try to figure out a bunch of kids are dealing coke out of their dorms,” Felix said. “Doing drugs on this campus is not difficult. Even if the cops do come to your dorm room, you can just wait them out, and if you’re quiet for an hour, they’ll just leave.”

Bryan said searches of students’ residences without consent are rare and added that they are only conducted if there is probable cause to believe illegal substances are present. Usually, residences are not searched unless criminal search warrants are issued by the Duke University Police Department.

DUPD Chief John Dailey wrote in an e-mail that the police department most often receives calls from housing staff and students reporting the smell of marijuana. At a minimum, those caught are referred to Student Conduct— some may also face criminal charges.

Still, Duke’s hard drug culture remain unseen for most students.

“You don’t really see it... unless you’re actively searching for it,” sophomore Mike Sullivan said.

Bryan said he hopes those students who do seek out illegal substances will consider the consequences.

“How much have they shortchanged themselves because of the impediments presented through their drug use?” he asked.

Alec, though, perceives his drug use differently.

“I think it increased my social life by leaps and bounds,” he said. “I’m in an environment that sucks... and the only escape slash fun side of it on the weekend is to binge drink or do drugs.”

6 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle

Do you remember... when these were free?

christina peña/The Chronicle

Members of the LDOC Committee distribute T-shirts to students on Clocktower Quadangle Monday. Students are being charged $5 cash or FLEX for the shirts, which have been free in previous years. The move helps make up for the event’s lower budget this year. The shirts will also be available for purchase on the quad today.

sofc from page 1 the option to request funds months in advance if event dates are set, there will be a two-week restriction for these organizations to provide SOFC with their specific needs.

Although this may make greater funding for events possible, sophomore Nana Asante, newly elected president of the Black Student Alliance, expressed her concerns for the SOFC changes.

“We as the executive board understand why these changes needed to be made, but the funding we used to have­—but now have to apply for—gave us a sense of security. We don’t have the insurance that we used to,” Asante said.

According to the SOFC budget for the 2010-2011 academic year, funding for BSA activities will drop 72.4 percent from $10,855 to $3,000 because of the changes made to the programming fund.

Other event-heavy student groups such as the Asian Student Association, Hindu Student Association and International As-

sociation will all see similar decreases.

“We, like a lot of others, are on the fence about this,” Asante said. “Although we understand the reasons behind it, we have worries about how dependable we can be when we are unsure if we can get funds for events.”

Event quality may suffer if no funds or insufficient funds come in from SOFC, Asante noted. Some of this doubt, however, could be cast aside if funds were secured from other sources, she added.

Still, Tabachnik says SOFC will not stop being the first place that students come to for funds. Giving SOFC greater responsibility through a larger programming fund will simply mean that there are more requests for funding, he said.

Another change that Tabchnik will oversee is increasing the size and quality of the finance committee so that it can handle the greater number of requests and hold organizations more accountable.

“SOFC has come a long way in improving itself over the past few years —you can expect that to continue,” he said.

the chronicle

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 | 7

Two sides of immigration debate both blame Washington

by Peter Slevin

The Washington Post

PHOENIX — On the grounds of the capitol, in a state that only days earlier had adopted the nation’s strictest anti-immigration law, the two sides of an angry debate are united on one thing: They blame Washington.

Years of congressional inaction and paralysis on immigration created a vacuum that either forced the Arizona legislature to step in or allowed overzealous legislators to trump federal authority, depending on whom you ask.

The law is injecting new life into the election-year debate over an issue felt strongly in the states, particularly along the Mexican border, even as Congress appears to be at an impasse over whether to consider a complex immigration bill before facing voters this fall.

President Barack Obama came to office promising a broad overhaul of laws governing border security and how illegal immigrants are treated after they arrive in the states. But he must decide how far to push the issue in the face of a legislative calendar crowded with a pending Supreme Court nomination and fights over financial regulation and the sweeping energy reform policy known as cap and trade. Democrats and Republicans are torn, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., urging action ahead of his difficult re-election fight but others unmoved.

Three days after Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill, the parched grass surrounding the capitol remained a political staging ground for both sides. A young woman in a “Legalize Arizona” T-shirt vied for attention with a man carrying a sign that read “You are an Illigal Immigrant in my Country.”

The law gives local police broad authority to stop and request documents from anyone they reasonably suspect is an illegal immigrant. It calls for aggressive prosecution of illegal immigrants, and officers can be sued if they do not enforce the law.

Opponents are vowing a federal lawsuit, and some Democrats are calling for an economic boycott of the state, drawing a rebuke from Republicans. Phoenix Democratic Mayor Phil Gordon said: “This is dividing our city and our state. It’s tearing us apart.”

A vigil kept by opponents of the new law stretched into

dwight from page 1 safety schools, his son did not yield, confident it would work out.

And it did. As Billy settled into Duke’s campus, he quickly became enchanted by it. The University was a place that he truly came to love, his father said.

Cory Luper became a friend of Billy’s in the seventh grade when the two got to know each other playing the saxophone at Northwest Middle School in Winston-Salem.

Although their college choices sparked a friendly rivalry— Luper graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2009—the two remained best friends.

“He reached out to a lot of people and affected a lot of people even though he was only here for 23 years,” Luper said. “He was just a funny, goofy guy. He’s just brilliant beyond belief and could make a joke about anything with bigger words than I’ve ever heard.”

Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek attended yesterday’s service and said that though she did not know Dwight while he was a student at the University, the way the speakers talked about him made her wish she had.

Wasiolek added that on display at the ceremony was a letter addressed to Dwight’s parents from the University that said Billy will be posthumously awarded a degree at graduation this May. Paired with the framed letter on display was a cap and gown.

Mary Dwight said her son eventually wanted to go on to get his Ph.D. after working for a few years in a job related to psychology.

A number of Billy’s closest friends noted his passion for basketball—both playing pickup games and watching the Blue Devils—and his cooking prowess. Billy’s former roommate James Razick, Pratt ’09, said his friend’s homefries and garlic potatoes were just one of the benefits of living with him.

Razick said Billy was loyal and selfless, once driving 30 miles to the site of a retreat that Razick was hosting immediately after hearing that his friend desperately needed a music cable.

“He always had a smile on his face,” Razick said. “He was a great friend and always there for you. He’ll be missed by a lot of people.”

another night, while former congressman J.D. Hayworth, a border security hawk, used the domed capitol as a backdrop to file his formal primary challenge against Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

“Stop the hate,” read a handmade sign carried by a Mexican-born U.S. citizen.

“Silent no more,” said a sign carried by a transplant from Chicago who said he is fed up with Mexican immigrants.

Brewer, who signed the bill Friday, said the legislature had no choice but to assert itself in the absence of federal legislation addressing the tide sweeping across her state.

The long border with Mexico remains porous despite significant increases in patrols, and Arizona is home to about 450,000 illegal immigrants.

“We in Arizona have been more than patient waiting for Washington to act,” Brewer said. “But decades of federal inaction and misguided policy have created a dangerous and unacceptable situation.”

Obama used strong words to criticize the Arizona law and said he would ask the Justice Department to study it for potential civil rights violations. Yet he, too, acknowledged the past failure to grapple with the issue effectively, predicting “misguided efforts” in other states “if we continue to fail to act at the federal level.”

Even if Congress were to take up reform, it remains hard to discern which path would satisfy the opposing activists who gathered in the 90-degree heat.

“The culture is being destroyed. You call anywhere, it’s ‘Push one for English, two for Spanish.’ All it does is make it easier for people to live here once they sneak into the country” said Gary Arbitter, who supports the new law and carried the “Silent no more” sign.

Dentist Blaine Brimley agreed. He said there has been too much fear-mongering and too little understanding of the new law, which will go into effect in fewer than 90 days if no court blocks it.

8 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle

Sports

>> W. GOLF

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TUESDAY April 27, 2010

Duke earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA East Region in Greenville, N.C. Laura Keeley went to Alton, Va. to check out GRAND-AM racing—and McDreamy, too

www.dukechroniclesports.com

Chasing the dream

Time to hang ‘em up

Last summer, I sat in the chilly offices of the (Raleigh) News & Observer, listening to former Duke women’s soccer player Christie McDonald tell me about her life plans.

Specifically, that since overcoming a brain tumor—the same type of tumor that killed one of her childhood friends—McDonald was defying the expectations of a Duke degree and going to try to make it as a professional actress.

McDonald’s story has been covered before in The Chronicle, but her impact on others since her recovery has not. At Stephen least for me, after listening to her, I knew I couldn’t just be an office-man for the next 40 years of my life. When I went home and wrote out a list of expectations for the next 10 years, one of the items was, “I am probably destined for an unconventional life. What that means remains to be seen.”

I finally know what that means, and I hope when you read this and look up McDonald’s story, that you too will find the side of you that does whatever you really want to do, whether it conforms to the norms of your degree or is completely unrelated to anything Duke has to offer.

To cut right to the point, I’m moving to Las Vegas this summer to be a professional poker player.

I’m not completely dependent on poker yet, as I’ll definitely be getting at least a part-time job to have some supplemental income. But at this point, the real goal is to become one of the best poker players in the world and I figure the best place to do that is where the best players are. I love the psychology and math of the game, how no two situations are alike and how anyone can beat anyone on any day. Skill ultimately decides who wins, not luck, and I’m confident that I can develop that skill to someday play in the highest-stakes games in the world.

I know half of you are going, “Dude, that’s awesome!” and the other half are saying, “Are you out of your mind?” To both crowds, here’s why I’m ultimately playing a game of cards for a living.

First, I am graduating debt-free, for which I owe my family a huge thank you— obviously, this would probably not be possible without their contributions. Second, I just haven’t found another career passion in my life. Journalism was too much of a high-work, low-payout job for me, and philosophically speaking, I would rather be the news (for the right reasons, ideally), not writing it. But really, it just boils down to the fact that I love the game of poker and could play it for 80 hours a week without getting burned out.

With that in mind, I’ve just got to go and pursue my passions, no matter how utterly

When I was at a medical school interview last fall, my first interviewer asked me why I like sports.

Why do I like sports? That’s like asking why I like eating. Or walking. Or breathing.

It’s something that is so ingrained, so natural, that I had never really thought about it. Was it the competition? The excitement?

Watching athletes do things that I could never do myself?

A short time after that question, my second interviewer asked me if I had ever written anything controversial for The Joe Chronicle.

Written? No, but I once asked Coach K about Kyle Singler settling for too many 3-pointers in a 2008 loss to Michigan, I said.

Eight months later, I finally have two good answers.

For the latter, I now have both an easy response and a more complicated one.

The easy answer: Yes. The complicated one?

I can touch on criticizing a 350-yard game by Thaddeus Lewis, expecting a backlash and getting nothing. I can talk about how I bashed white tenting, and predictably, sparked a discussion. And I can bring up a midseason Singler column that I thought would generate some minor buzz, but instead went viral. Coach K criticized it. Sports Illustrated’s Luke Winn linked to it. Readers responded by saying things like I should be benched, I hadn’t thought before writing and—my personal favorite—I just wanted to make a name for myself.

I’ve learned that, aside from tenting, it is hard to anticipate what will excite

Allan

See ALLAN on page 10

Drews

ian soileau/the Chronicle

Senior Jeremy Gould and the Blue Devils look to break out of an offensive funk Tuesday against the Aggies.

Duke comes home to battle in-state foe After dropping two out of three games to ACC bottom-dweller Wake Forest over the weekend, the Blue Devils will look to rebound when they take on North Carolina A&T at 6 p.m. tonight at Jack Coombs Field.

The series with the Demon Deacons— who have the worst record in the conference—gave Duke a prime opportunity N.C. to rack up some A&T much-needed ACC vs. wins. The top eight teams in the league Duke receive berths to the ACC tournaTUESDAY, 6 p.m. ment, and the Jack Coombs Field Blue Devils are currently 10th in the standings with three more series against league teams remaining.

Although Duke couldn’t take advantage of the favorable matchup with Wake Forest, tonight’s game against the Aggies gives the team a chance to get back on track. The Blue Devils are 16-4 against competition outside of the ACC this season, and they have won 15 of their last 16 games against nonconference opponents.

But North Carolina A&T may not be a pushover. The Aggies have racked up seven victories in their last eight games, scoring double-digit runs in five of those

contests. They boast six starters batting over .300, and senior Nick Rogers leads the team with a .378 batting average and 11 home runs.

The Blue Devils will counter these big bats with southpaw Eric Pfisterer, who has a 3-4 record on the year. The sophomore has been solid since switching to the midweek rotation, holding Liberty to just three hits and one run in his last outing April 20.

At the plate, Duke is hoping to heat up after mustering a combined four runs in two losses to the Demon Deacons. Sophomore Will Piwnica-Worms was one of the lone bright spots for the offense over the weekend, as he hit home runs in both of the Blue Devils’ losses. Piwnica-Worms is batting .307 on the season, third-best on the team, and he leads the squad in runs. Senior Jeremy Gould, who has a team-high 52 hits and 14 doubles, will also be eager to turn things around against North Carolina A&T after he went 3-for-14 during the Wake Forest series.

Tonight’s game marks the first time the Blue Devils will play a home contest at Jack Coombs Field this season. Previous home matchups that were scheduled to be played at Duke’s on-campus field were moved to USA National Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C. —from staff reports

See drews on page 10

faith robertson/Chronicle file photo

Witnessing Duke’s finest moments firsthand has been one of the thrills of being a journalist for Joe Drews.

10 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle

DREWS from page 9 people. (Note to future columnists: If you want to get people at Duke fired up, write something about tenting.

Anything.) I’ve learned that some of you will now make the leap that I have something against Singler because two of my examples of controversies involve him. I can assure you I don’t—there are only so many ways to ask about a team that goes 7-for-33 beyond the arc but 24for-32 inside it, and one of them is to pick the player who best embodies that trend—but most of all, I’ve learned not to care if you don’t believe me.

In a strange way, the outcry to that Singler column represented several of the things that I said I liked about sports at my interview last August: the passion they evoke

and the fact that you don’t know what is going to happen, either within a game or over the course of a season.

Now, though, I can better articulate why I like sports.

I like them because, more than maybe anything else in the world, they can cause you to be a part of something bigger than yourself. They can make me strongly dislike—hate is too strong—Duke as a middle schooler yet love it as an undergrad.

They have the power to unite an entire community in anticipation or disappointment, as I witnessed firsthand as a visiting high school senior. I first knew I liked Duke when I saw the pregame excitement, and later, the unbelievable depression on campus after the 2006 home loss to North Carolina. Any university that was that invested in a basketball game was my kind of school.

In a more indirect and twisted way, sports caused me

michael naclerio/Chronicle file photo

Columnist Joe Drews is willing to give up being a journalist if it means being a fan again, especially if he can partake in celebrations like this one.

allan from page 9 absurd or outlandish they may seem. But like any other outlandish plan, it’s doomed to fail if it is not properly prepared for.

Poker is inherently a game of skill, but as anyone who’s played more than two weeks can tell you, it’s a game full of variance and swings. I figure two years out on the Strip is more than enough time to figure out if I can handle it or not. If I’m consistently turning a profit and playing higher stakes, I will have found a new home. If not, I can go home with a Duke degree in my back pocket, plenty of years in front of me to accomplish all the “adult” stuff and have one hell of a story to tell.

The question I get asked the most besides “When do you actually move out?” (which is hopefully in time for the Main Event) is how nervous I am about this.

The answer is I’m terrified. Anyone who does something like this and tells you oth-

erwise is full of it. McDonald told me she was scared of moving to Los Angeles, and while other athletes will tell you they aren’t nervous before championship games, their initial performance suggests otherwise.

But how do you respond to that fear?

That’s another big reason I’m doing this—I find it to be a huge test of my guts and how well I can overcome fear. Duke Basketball did just that this month, finding a way to gut out a tough victory over Butler for head coach Mike Krzyzewski’s fourth national title. Our standards of success will differ—even the world’s unquestioned best poker player, Phil Ivey, doesn’t own a world championship yet— but the test of wills and determination remains the same.

You can follow me in a few weeks on the website www.chasingourdreams.com. Zach Lloyd—who is pursuing a career as a professional guitarist—and I created this website in the hopes that other people who want to do something insane but are told

to stand behind Duke as I was making my college decision. Just ask any senior how many times he or she had the following exchange, word-for-word, in April 2006. High school senior: “I got into Duke.” Clever conversation partner: “Do you play lacrosse?”

Four years later, sports galvanized us in a different way.

Thousands of fans hung on every possession of the national championship game, making Cameron Indoor Stadium as loud as I’ve ever heard it. When that final, fateful Gordon Hayward shot clanged off the front iron and fell harmlessly to the Lucas Oil Stadium floor, we rushed to the Main Quad to join thousands more in the largest celebration I have ever seen. As people who had nothing to do with the win—a safe claim, I think, considering we were over 600 miles from Indianapolis—hugged each other, it hit me: This is why sports are great.

In the four years in between, The Chronicle let me see a side of sports I never would have experienced otherwise. I wrote about a dancing soccer player and a football-playing lacrosse player. I went to UNC to cover rivalry games in three different sports. I talked to a double-overtime goal scorer and a walk-off hero. I witnessed crushing, seasonending losses. I sat on press row in arguably the most famous college basketball stadium in America, as well as at the NCAA Tournament.

That’s what had been making this goodbye so hard.

Writing for The Chronicle has been the defining experience of my college career, and I have enjoyed it more than I can possibly express. Asking Jon Scheyer how it felt to lose to Boston College wasn’t fun, but the game was thrilling. Waiting for a cab in Madison, Wis., at 2:30 a.m. in early December was anything but pleasant, yet the atmosphere in the Kohl Center was unforgettable.

After this column, I return to being just another sports fan. No more front row seats. No more postgame questions to discover why a coach made a certain decision or to see firsthand a player’s joy after winning a game for his team.

And yet, now that I know exactly why I like sports, I am strangely excited about leaving all that behind. It is incredibly easy to be a part of a larger community as a fan. It is almost impossible as a journalist.

So in career story No. 125, I am finally ready to hang ‘em up. I have taken my Chronicle career day by day for four years, bringing my ‘A’ game as often as I could. Now, I’m ready to go out on top.

Oh, and did I mention that I won’t miss the clichés?

otherwise by society would find the courage to follow our example and do what they really want to do.

Look, if what you really want is to be a doctor, a CEO of a Fortune 500 company or a tenured professor, go all-out for it. It’s what you will love doing and

it’s how you will make the best impact on the world.

For people like Lloyd, McDonald and me, though, conventional isn’t enough.

And if it’s not for you, either, then join us and follow your own ambitions.

I’m all-in. Are you?

Can’t get enough of Duke athletics?

Visit The Chronicle’s Sports Blog at dukechroniclesports.com. plutor/creative commons

Columnist Stephen Allan is foregoing the 40-hour workweek to make it as a professional poker player.

the chronicle TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 | 11

Probe, suit force Goldman to defend actions in crisis

by Zachary Goldfarb The Washington Post

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Most big Wall Street firms sold investments that contributed to the financial crisis.

And most suffered in the markets, with some forced out of business.

But it’s Goldman Sachs, the bank that not only survived but prospered from the crisis, whose executives are being called before a congressional firing line Tuesday over accusations that the firm bet against the American homeowner, betrayed its clients and helped fuel the financial meltdown.

Chief executive Lloyd Blankfein and several current and former deputies will answer questions from the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigation, which has concluded an 18-month probe of Goldman’s activities.

Like most other investment banks, the committee charges, Goldman turned high-risk loans into investments, then sold them to customers around the world.

Unlike most others, however, Goldman also profited by betting against the housing market as it began to falter and unloaded bad investments to other parties, according to the committee.

Goldman says its strategy was guided mainly by a desire to hedge risks and avoid the costly fallout that hit other banks.

The Senate panel’s findings—as well as a recent suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission against Goldman for allegedly defrauding its clients—raise the question of whether Goldman’s actions moderated or magnified the financial crisis.

Although it is no doubt true that Goldman’s actions protected the firm, the Senate’s findings suggest it did so at the cost of others in the market. The panel is not charging that Goldman did anything illegal, but is looking to blame the firm for its role in the meltdown.

“Goldman Sachs was slicing, dicing and selling toxic mortgage-related securities on Wall Street... but its executives continue to downplay the firm’s role in the financial engineering that blew up the financial markets,” said Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chair of the subcommittee. “Goldman Sachs made billions of dollars from betting against the housing market, and it placed those bets in some cases at the same time it was selling mortgage-related securities to its clients. They have a lot to answer for.”

In his prepared testimony, Blankfein said the company was trying reduce its overall risk in the mortgage market.

He calls the filing of the SEC suit “one of the worst days in my professional life.”

Blankfein said the firm never “consistently or significantly net ‘short the market’ in residential mortgage-related products.”

Internal e-mails, however, suggest that the company’s actions to short, or bet against, the housing market yielded it considerable profit.

A 2007 presentation by the chief risk officer, Craig Broderick, says that “starting early in ’07 our mortgage trading desk started putting on big short positions... and did so in enough quantity that we’re netshort, and made money (substantial $$ in the 3rd quarter) as the subprime market weakened.”

A summary of a Goldman board of directors meeting says that “although broader weakness in the mortgage market resulted in significant losses in cash positions, we were overall net short the mortgage market and thus had very strong results.”

An e-mail from a mortgage trader named Fabrice Tourre urges his colleagues not to approach “sophisticated” hedge funds about selling them mortgage investments because “they know exactly how things work.”

Rather, Tourre suggested that Goldman approach “buyand-hold ratings-based buyers” who might not do as much research into the investment.

Clients did not take well to Goldman’s suggestions.

The Chronicle will not publish this Thursday or Friday. Look for the exam break issue on newsstands May 3.

An e-mail from an unnamed Goldman employee to Daniel Sparks, head of the mortgage unit, says there is a “real bad feeling across European sales about some of the trades we did with clients. The damage this has done to our franchise is very significant.”

The recent allegations facing Goldman are twofold.

The SEC alleges that Goldman broke the law when it sold a specific mortgage-related investment to clients because it did not disclose key information about the investment to the clients. Goldman disputes this.

The second allegation is that Goldman participated in activity that, although unregulated and legal, spread risk throughout the system and may have only been in the interests of the Goldman executives earning fees.

“Where does the right to engage in profitable projects cross the line?” said Joe Mason, a banking professor at Louisiana State University. “And what are the legal and ethical and moral responsibilities of the underwriter?”

The recent focus on Goldman has been on whether it mistreated its clients by taking out positions against investments it had sold them. But some analysts say that misses the point.

“In political terms, shorting the housing market makes Mom and Dad out there in Middle America very unhappy, and the politicians are responding to this,” said Christopher Whelan, an analyst at Institutional Risk Analytics. “It was really Wall Street’s creation of deceptive, opaque, impossible to value securities that was the problem.”

Financial analyst Janet Tavakoli said Goldman’s defense that it was trying to hedge risks falls flat.

“But what they were hedging they had reason to know shouldn’t have been created in the first place,” she said.

And she points out that in the process of hedging, Goldman put at risk other big financial firms, such as American International Group, which was on the other side of many of Goldman’s bets against the housing market.

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14 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle commentaries

Rethink the DSG Judiciary Reforms implemented should not have a broad, last Fall increased the catch-all purview that enscope of the Duke Student ables it to wield its influence Government Judiciary, giv- in areas over which it holds ing it the unno authority or precedented relevant knowleditorial power to enedge. This is gage in judicial review and especially problematic when adjudicate any dispute that a majority of the justices are came before it. underclassmen with limited Unfortunately, under the experience at the University. leadership of Chief Justice In theory, it sounds atMatt Straus, a sophomore, tractive to create an indethe Judiciary has proven all pendent, student-run body too willing to use this power to serve as a final arbiter to actively assert itself in stu- over any arguments that dent politics, from the Feb- arise within DSG or any othruary dispute over the Young er student organization. But Trustee campaign bylaws to on an undergraduate camlast week’s ruling on discrimi- pus with only 6,000 students, nation within the Duke Col- the level of independence lege Republicans. necessary to legitimize a This is dangerous and ir- judicial body is virtually imresponsible. The Judiciary possible to achieve. There

“

onlinecomment

And then there is the matter of the food itself. If customers/ students are expressing dissatisfaction with (expensive) Duke food, then The Chronicle should let readers know what actions dining will take to improve food quality.

”

—“Chronicle Reader” commenting on the story “Students give Dining mixed comments.”

See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

Letters Policy The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identification, phone number and local address.

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

The Chronicle will not publish anonymous or form letters or letters that are promotional in nature. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, clarity and style and the right to withhold letters based on the discretion of the editorial page editor.

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Direct submissions to: E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.edu Editorial Page Department The Chronicle Box 90858, Durham, NC 27708 Phone: (919) 684-2663 Fax: (919) 684-4696

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T

will always be conflicts of interest and bias within the Judiciary itself.

For this reason, the Judiciary as we know it is in need of serious reform to scale back its power and ensure a limited yet effective purview.

The DSG Judiciary should operate more as a “rules committee” than a formal judicial body. Since its members are appointed by the Senate, it should only rule on disputes against DSG itself, including the Senate, Cabinet and Election Commission.

Under this new model, the power of the Judiciary should be duly restrained.

Instead of an open-ended mandate and vague language that allows for unwarranted judicial activism, the Senate

should explicitly enumerate what the Judiciary can and cannot rule on.

A specific mandate should be coupled with specific procedural guidelines.

In recent weeks, students that lodged complaints with the Judiciary did so only by writing an informal e-mail message to Chief Justice Straus. Moreover, each hearing lacked consistency and transparency.

Any complaint brought before the Judiciary should be submitted following a standardized written format that requires detailed information about specific grievances and specific bylaw violations. It should also immediately be released as a public document. That way,

the accused will know the exact charges that have been filed, and the Judiciary cannot extend its review beyond what is brought before it.

The process for hearing evidence and questioning witnesses must also be codified. Opposing parties must have the right to see the evidence brought against them, and they must have the opportunity to cross-examine witnesses. And unless there are extremely compelling privacy concerns, all hearings should take place in public.

Next year’s DSG Senate must act to restrain the power of the Judiciary. Another year of activist rulings is to the benefit of no one and the detriment of all.

Great expectations

hey tell us that college is all about com- times they don’t make sense until they end. munity—here specifically, the Duke There is value in pursuing a variety of activiCommunity. ties, social groups and academic interests. None But we don’t stop at just being a part of the of us are homogenous. OK, some of us are, but Duke Community, an everyone’sit’s so much more fun not to be. It’s invited-so-where’s-the-charm-in-it hard to predict how you will find kind of concept. After all, Duke is your passion. If I hadn’t decided to basically just a place, and when you write a story for The Chronicle, degraduate, it’s not even yours to call spite having no prior experience, home anymore.

I may not have thought about goInstead, you seek something at ing to law school. Each experience a more micro level, more tangible and interaction can shape us in a and rewarding. You look for comdifferent, often unforeseen way. shuchi parikh munity from a group of friends, a As my Duke experience slowly senior column fraternity or sorority, a living group, morphed into this unstructured a student group, an ethnic group lifestyle, I admit it made me quesand so on. Some of us are part of one community; tion myself at times, but in the end it has also some of us are members of several. The people made me better. We often hear that Duke is funand activities to which we dedicate our time ulti- damentally a place of contrasts—not only does it mately define us, and we find that social groups have world-famous academics, but also champiand extracurricular activities often overlap. onship-winning athletics, a leading medical cenIn a senior column you’re supposed to give ad- ter, vibrant religious life and unrivaled research vice. Here’s something I’ve learned at this place: facilities, with an art museum at the center of it It’s OK to dabble in different circles, even if that all. Duke teaches us this underlying dynamic of means you’re not completely defined by any of contrasts, and we should strive to embody it. them. My four years here haven’t been marked by By no means is my experience a perfect exone group of friends or one activity that took the ample; really, it’s more of an accident than anycake of all the amazing experiences I could have thing. Ironically, one of my biggest fears is behad (to my friends laughing sarcastically right ing unprepared, and I hate surprises as a rule. now: The Chronicle was time consuming, yes, but But after working in a newsroom and feeling my that’s not the same as singularly defining). arm hair rise whenever a story breaks, I’ve come Sometimes we lament that Duke appears to acknowledge that some of the best things are fragmented. I don’t think this quality is unique unexpected. to Duke, but an attribute of most liberal arts colSo, this is to all the memories and friendships leges, where students are encouraged to pursue that I could never have expected back in August their unique interests and choose from a million of 2006: Weasel’s Place, Bhangra Blowout, V. 104, different extracurricular and social options.

Russian lit, Global Health Focus, Loop dinners, But when your freshman-year hall mates mi- Jamaica, Awaaz, 2008 elections, Plaza concerts, grate to this or that same group by the second editor elections, four-year friendships, two insane semester, some of you may wonder with a discon- months in Pune, Durham dining and, of course, certing feeling which one group at Duke will give watching in Cameron as we won the national meaning to your next three years. It would be silly championship. to limit oneself because of this pressure.

Everyone who has been a part of these moSure, you miss having the group you can al- ments has contributed to my sense of community ways hang out with, whom you can turn to for fun here. I can only hope I returned the favor even and advice. In high school I had a very tight-knit the tiniest bit. group of friends, who shared the same kinds of values and interests. It wasn’t easy for me to come Shuchi Parikh is a Trinity senior. She is the editoto terms with this erratic way of going through rial page editor of The Chronicle, former news edicollege, and I definitely didn’t expect it. But I like tor and former university editor. She wants to thank to believe there’s a reason things happen the way Chelsea, Eugene and Ben for an unforgettable year they do (call it self-preservation), and that some- during V. 104.

www.dukechronicle.com

the chronicle

Most important meal of the day

A

few days ago, I met up with an old friend in the long, between-classes line in Von der Heyden Pavilion. It was lunchtime, and I was deciding between a wrap and a cookie. (The bagels, the best on campus, were long sold out.) As a rule, I’m not only a picky eater, but I’m also fairly conventional—trying new things is for the bold and the brave—and as the cashier swiped my DukeCard for another turkey pesto wrap, my friend asked me what kinds of food I actually enjoyed. ben cohen “Breakfast, mostly,” I said, before senior column explaining that if I could, I would eat breakfast foods for every meal.

We made plans for brunch for the next weekend.

Growing up, every Saturday that I can remember, my family went to the local greasy spoon, where we all ordered pretty much the same thing for almost 20 years. A waitress would mosey over to our table and confirm that we wanted the usual before writing it up, dutifully, behind the counter.

A few minutes later, four plates arrived, heaping with classic breakfast food. In front of me, the waitress placed an order of two scrambled eggs, three strips of bacon, four pieces of rye toast with butter and too many homefries, crispy and seasoned with homemade paprika. (In local parlance: “Two scrambled with bacon and rye with butter.”) Later, I would add a cup of coffee, or remove the bacon, or switch the rye toast with wheat, but with the exception of a rebellious pancake period—let’s not talk about it—my order hasn’t strayed too far. We were regulars. We stuck with what we knew.

The first time I saw Duke, therefore, my parents and I woke up early, before the morning tour, and found a place to eat. We sat outside at Mad Hatter’s. And while the eggs tasted different than they did at Seymour’s and we munched on biscuits instead of toast, it still felt like the right start to a fateful day.

Moving onto East Campus two years later probably should have challenged my weekend breakfast tradition. I had feared that no one else would share my family’s habit—and maybe they didn’t—but, as it turned out, brunch proved to be the vital start of any Saturday or Sunday. The Marketplace stood, in all its gluttonous glory, just a lazy walk across the quad. Other freshmen staggered into brunch, and almost immediately, in our plates of hit-or-miss eggs and bowls of sugary cereal, we found a sense of camaraderie. The only hurdle was organization: settling on a specific time to leave, rounding up hall mates before noon, securing one of the big, round tables, with excess room for seconds.

Not long after the Marketplace’s initial thrill—or, at least, one year later, when freshmen became upperclassmen—the freshman cafeteria grew stale. So I familiarized myself with new greaseries and coffee shops: Alpine for its convenience and the Refectory for its quaintness, Elmo’s for the scene and NOSH for the outdoor seating, Foster’s for the rustic charm and Guglhupf for the patio. Then, in downtown Durham: the Piedmont for the class, Toast for the hipness, Rue Cler for the bread. I heard about juniors on Central and seniors off campus making their own brunches and inviting long-lost friends to mingle with new roomies. I can only imagine that they drank cheap mimosas with mugs of lukewarm coffee.

Soon, it became even more apparent that these weekend breakfasts and brunches were about more than just the food, scrumptious as it was. I can swear by my usual at Seymour’s, or the NOSH rocket breakfast or a Dunkin’ Donuts iced coffee, but for the most part, an omelette is an omelette; all pancakes taste alike. (Homefries are a delicacy, but don’t get me started.) Anyone can throw a piece of bread in the toaster, and a machine will brew the same cup of coffee that tasted so perfect at a diner.

After all, breakfast foods appeal to me because they’re so plain and simple and still so filling. There’s not much room for improvement.

And while breakfast foods are the same, everywhere, breakfasts aren’t the same, anywhere. There are always new topics to discuss, something that happened last night or something that might happen that day. There are new groups of pals and new places to try, new academic grievances and new reasons for celebration, new relationship problems and new opportunities for life outside of Duke. Breakfast and brunch with your closest buddies are old traditions, yet they never grow old.

So on Sunday, I met my old friend for brunch at Elmo’s for what might be one of the last meals we have together at Duke.

We had eggs and biscuits and coffee, and we finished around 1 p.m. We still had the whole day in front of us.

Ben Cohen is a Trinity senior. He is co-editor of Towerview magazine and former sports editor of The Chronicle.

TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 | 15

commentaries

A toast to college

I

f you know the show well enough, you can compare any situation in life to something that happened on “Seinfeld.” Have you had an overbearing boss? Have you had relationship problems?

Have you accidentally picked out toxic envelopes for your wedding invitations that ended up killing your fiancé? Aside from the last one, you gabe starosta can probably relate senior column to everything happening on screen.

Except for this one exchange. In the episode called “The Calzone,” George is talking about his job with the Yankees and he says to Jerry, “You know how these inter-office politics work.”

Jerry cheerfully responds, “No, I don’t. I never had a job.”

These days—after nearly a year of trying unsuccessfully to find any kind of job—there’s nothing I wouldn’t give to be able to say, “I never had a job” and not feel bad about myself.

Looking for work senior year sucks. You just want to enjoy your last few weeks and months in college, but there’s this giant weight on your shoulders that hangs over everything you do, and there’s no guarantee there’s something on the horizon. When you come to Duke, you’re led to believe there is something certain out there after graduation for everyone, but the fact is, it hasn’t mattered that I’ll graduate from Duke with excellent grades and a strong resumé. My parents paid this University hundreds of thousands of dollars for me not to get a job.

Don’t tell them that, though. I love Duke, and even though there’s a lot I would change about this place—like the fact that in order to work for Duke Parking and Transportation Services, you have to forget all social norms associated with respect and decency—much of what this University offers is unforgettable.

The highlights, stream-of-consciousness style: sprinting from Bell Tower to Brodie Gym to play basketball in the winter freshman year, then trudging to Cosmic later in the night. Living in section. Watching my friends Blaze the Stage. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That first game in Cameron. Really, any game in Cameron. Tail-

gate. Busch Light. Brass Monkeys (that’s when you drink a 40 down to the label, then fill it up to the top with OJ). Erwin 54. Grandma’s Pizzas from Cinelli’s. Chasing pretty girls in white dresses around the Homecoming ball.

Learning how to spell Krzyzewski, Oghobaase and Zslinszka. Purposefully spelling “Plantation Pancakes” as “Pantation Plancakes.” The Pelicans, By the Sea Motel, Derriere and everything else associated with Myrtle Beach. Road trips— notably those to see Jay-Z, NASCAR, the Miami Hurricanes football team, the Duke basketball team, Smith Mountain Lake, Washington, D.C., Nipple Mountain, the city of Atlanta via MARTA only, Blowing Rock and more.

The list goes on, of course. We all have our own unique memories about what Duke has meant to us, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that academics in no way cracked the list above.

Maybe that’s because of what a fake student I’ve become this year—The Chronicle long ago replaced classes as my main intellectual outlet, to the point that I’ve had roughly 12 academic meetings this entire semester—but Duke isn’t about what goes on in Perkins or BioSci. For me, it became about what was going on in the common room in section, the first lot in the Blue Zone (on certain Fall mornings) or in 301 Flowers.

That’s not to say that I ever forget about the bigger picture. On the cruise I went on with my fraternity brothers over spring break, we were frequently drinking, and so we frequently gave impromptu toasts. This one member of the group would toast to the most outlandish things, but the toasts would always end the same way: “….And to being in college,” he would conclude.

So before I exit, a toast: To my brothers in AEPi, to my friends at The Chronicle and all over campus and to my loving girlfriend; to the beauty that is Duke’s campus on a warm day in the spring; to the 2010 national champion men’s basketball team; and to the hope that the friendships I’ve made here in fact become life-long friendships, the way old people always say they do. But more than anything, I’d like to make a toast to five little words that I’ll always remember: to have been in college.

Gabe Starosta is a Trinity senior. He is the outgoing sports editor of The Chronicle.

lettertotheeditor OnlyBurger philosophy Last weekend, my friend and I devised a brilliant solution to Duke Dining’s deficit. You can thank us later.

It’s simple: Sell all merchandise from a truck that sporadically appears at random locations around campus. The harder each vendor is to find, the more valuable the food becomes! Students would rush to purchase Sitar, Sushi Nara, those $8 gluten-free dinners…. OK, so maybe some items will never be appealing. And yes, we might have overlooked (read: completely ignored) the logistics of this proposal.

Still, isn’t it true that we value something more if it isn’t permanent? A sunset wouldn’t be the same if it lasted all day. An NCAA championship wouldn’t be quite so epic if it was guaranteed to happen. Even OnlyBurger wouldn’t be as sweet and juicy if it was there whenever you wanted it.

With graduation fast approaching, it’s all too clear that college doesn’t last either. Once all the diplomas are passed out and all the good-

byes are said, there’s no telling when, or if, we’ll see each other again. All relationships, for that matter, are eventually going to end. Faced with this painful truth, we can either wallow in selfpity or adopt what the two of us like to call the OnlyBurger philosophy.

In the chaos of everyday life, it’s easy to look at other people the way many of us look at campus eateries. (Think metaphor, not cannibalism.) Too often, we take them for granted.

However, if we look at others like we look at the OnlyBurger truck, aware that they could disappear at any time, we realize how important it is to savor every second.

Second semester senior year is a time to relish every last moment we have together. But it is by no means the only time. Whether we’re seniors or freshmen, why not live as if today was our final day together? After all, for all we know, it could be.

Rachel Willcutts Trinity ’11

Look for our exam break issue:

Next Monday.

16 | TUESDAY, APRIL 27, 2010 the chronicle