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wednesday, september 29, 2010
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 25
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Study gives FEMA admin discusses emergency response analysis of grad schools by Alex Bloedel THE CHRONICLE
by Maggie Love THE CHRONICLE
The National Research Council publicized its extensive Data-Based Assessment of Research Doctorate Programs Tuesday. Duke is among the 212 U.S. universities included in the study. Thirty-nine Duke graduate programs were included in the report. The departments will use the data to compare Duke programs with those of other universities, Graduate School Dean Jo Rae Wright wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. “My top priority is to discuss the data with our departments,” Wright said. “We will help them look through the data and understand how the information can be used to think about ways to strengthen our programs even further.” Rather than a definitive list, the report provides ranges of the middle 90th percentile ratings that rely on characteristics faculty in specific fields deemed important. The report provides data on schools based on ranges, which were created to be more accurate than clear-cut rankings, according to the report’s methodology guide. Because schools have yet to review the data extensively, Wright declined See graduate schools on page 12
irina danescu/The Chronicle
Jason McNamara, chief of staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, spoke Tuesday on the benefits of a more holistic, less bureaucratic approach to national emergency management.
In emergency situations, bureaucracy and inefficiency hamper traditional relief efforts, FEMA Chief of Staff Jason McNamara said Tuesday night. The Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator spoke about the organization’s “whole community approach to emergency management.” The approach is an alternative to traditional topdown command, which he said he sees as too generalized of an approach. The speech was the first event of this year’s Provost’s Lecture Series, which is titled “Natural Disasters and Human Responses.” “A lot of times, we look at emergency management as a generic approach,” said McNamara, who has more than 15 years of emergency management experience. “[We need to get] out of the mind set of an overly centralized, bureaucratic kind of one-size-fits-all approach to recovery.” His proposed “whole community approach” alternative is a more decentralized method that better fits a community’s specific needs. He added that FEMA began to integrate it during the past six to eight months. The philosophy focuses on fostering partnerships between local institutions and communities, governmental organizations and private sector groups. The approach accounts for issues sometimes overlooked by federal
See mcnamara on page 12
Spiral staircase to connect third and Jimmy Carter fourth floors in McClendon Tower falls ill, cancels Regulator visit by Dana Kraushar THE CHRONICLE
david chou/the Chronicle
Residence Life and Housing Services refurbished McClendon Tower over the summer and will add a spiral staircase this year.
Renovations to McClendon Tower aim to connect the third and fourth floors in a more intimate way. Residence Life and Housing Services announced plans to add a spiral staircase to connect the floors to create an open space conducive to individual and small group study. Since its opening in 2003, the third floor of the tower has housed a game room while the fourth floor is occupied by Bella Union. Although the coffee shop is a popular venue for students to work, requests from undergraduates for more study space led RLHS to consider options to increase utilization of the third floor, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residence life. Renovations over the summer and the addition of new furniture aimed to convert the area to a more comfortable study space. “We installed some additional outlets for computer use as well as painted the room,” Deb LoBiondo,
Former President Jimmy Carter canceled his scheduled book signing at Durham’s Regulator Bookshop Tuesday after spending much of the day in the hospital with a stomach ache. Carter, who was to appear at the Ninth Street bookstore to sign copies of his new book, “White House Diary,” reportedly fell ill during a flight to Cleveland Tuesday morning. Upon his arrival, the former president was taken to MetroHealth Hospital for observation, CNN reported. As part of his national book tour, Carter was scheduled to do a signing in suburban Cleveland Tuesday afternoon before coming to the Regulator, where 1,000 people were expected to attend the 7 p.m. event, according to WRAL.
See mcclendon on page 6
See carter on page 6
ONTHERECORD
“According to the DUU constitution, if you miss two meetings... and you can lose your position.”
—DUU President Yi Zhang, a senior, on DUU attendance. See story page 4
Durham chosen to take part in national health study, Page 3
from Staff Reports the chronicle
New plant will turn hog waste into energy, Page 3
2 | WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 the chronicle
worldandnation onschedule...
Help For Biblical Exegesis DivinitySchoolLibrary,12:30-1:15p.m. This workshop is an introduction to which library tools can help you in biblical exegesis. Register online at buzz.duke.edu.
on the
Concert and Eco Reception LSRC SOE Courtyard, 6-7p.m. The Giving Tree Band will be putting on a performance promoting renewable energy. Food and drinks will be provided.
7368
THURSDAY:
7560
Muslim Culture Film Series Griffith Film Theater, 8-9:30p.m. Enjoy a free, rare, subtitled 35mm screening of a film that has not been distributed in the U.S. and is not currently available on video.
web
“Former Duke guard and team captain Jon Scheyer will attend training camp with the Los Angeles Clippers. Scheyer played on the Miami Heat’s NBA summer league team back in July after going undrafted, but he suffered a lacerated eyelid in only his second game and was sent home for treatment. He has since made a full recovery and received clearance to play baskeball and lift weights.” — From The Chronicle’s Sports Blog sports.chronicleblogs.com
Matthew Staver/Bloomberg NEws
Howard Cohen’s home in Tukwila, Washington is under foreclosure proceedings. Even though Cohen’s loan on the house is overdue by twelve months, he may get to keep his house because of delays in foreclosure proceedings. Due to faulty mortgage processing by an employee, Ally Financial Inc.’s GMAC Mortgage unit has suspended foreclosure evictions in 23 states.
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TODAY:
Music is the only sensual pleasure without vice. — Samuel Johnson
”
TODAY IN HISTORY
1187: Saladin’s army marches into Jerusalem.
Obama gives speech to Ireland and Portugal suffer excite college-age voters Greek-like economic woes MADISON, Wis. — President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned argument to young voters Tuesday night, declaring that the changes he promised in 2008 are underway and that “now is not the time to give up.” Trying to recapture the enthusiasm that catapulted him into office, Obama returned to the proven format of a large college campus to launch a pre-election push for fellow Democrats. Speaking to what was once one of his most fervent fan bases—students— he unleashed a string of dire warnings about Republican control, arguing that his opponents are banking on Democratic indifference to return to power. “The biggest mistake we could make is to let disappointment or frustration lead to apathy,” Obama said.“If the other side does win, they will spend the next two years fighting for the very same policies that led to this recession in the first place.”
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LONDON — Fears that Europe could see another Greek-like debt crisis unfold in Ireland or Portugal escalated this week, with investors selling off their bonds and analysts warning that both nations might be heading into critical periods that could trigger bids for bailouts. The mounting problems in two of Europe’s smallest economies are emerging as the biggest threat to an otherwise robust recovery underway in the major economies of the region, including Germany and Britain. Deteriorating conditions in Ireland and Portugal have already pushed the euro off a five-month high against the dollar, causing fresh jitters in stock markets across the region and beyond. A sharp turn for the worst, analysts say, could spark a new round of financial turbulence in global markets from New York to Hong Kong.
US steps up drone strikes in Pakistan
The Sanford School of Public Policy and the Center for Documentary Studies present: “The Geography of Marriage” by Anne Weber Exhibit Opening and Panel Discussion Thursday, Sept. 30, 6 pm Rubenstein Hall, Room 153
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This photography exhibit shows 30 couples in Boston and Raleigh who have married in civil ceremonies. The panel discussion “The Role of Marriage in the 21st Century” explores changing practices and public policy affecting marriage. Panel moderator: Sanford Assistant Professor Christina Gibson-Davis
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Panelists: Anne Weber, photographer and 2010 Lewis Hines Documentary Fellow
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Anne Jones, principal investigator for the Strong Couples, Strong Children program Catherine Smith, Family Life Educator for Essential Life Skills for Military Families
Free and open to the public.
Paid parking in the Science Drive Visitors’ Lot or in the Bryan Center.
For details, please contact Karen Kemp, kkemp@duke.edu or call 613-7394
the chronicle
WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 | 3
Durham kids to take part in national study
Pilot system to turn hog waste to fuel
Deep cuts
by Maggie Spini
from Staff Reports
About 1,000 Durham families are expected to participate in a national health study that monitors children between their birth and 21st birthdays. Durham County was randomly selected earlier this month as one of 105 locations nationwide to participate in the National Children’s Study, which will track 100,000 children across the country to investigate the relationship between environment and health and development. The study aims to inform research concerning birth defects, injuries, asthma, obesity, diabetes, behavior, learning and mental health disorders, according to the study’s website. Researchers from Duke, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Battelle Memorial Institute will lead the study in the county. The team is seeking pregnant mothers and hopes to enroll 250 children per year for the next four years. “This is an incredible study of environment and children’s health,” said Barbara Entwisle, principle investigator for the North Carolina Study Center and Kenan Distinguished Professor of sociology professor and interim vice chancellor for research and economic development at UNC. “It’s really important to take a broad
With the start of a new Duke project, one hog’s waste is a university’s treasure. After two years of development, the University, in collaboration with Duke Energy, broke ground Monday on a pilot system to manage hog waste in a way that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollutants and provide a source of renewable energy, according to a Duke news release Monday. The waste-management prototype—expected to be completed and fully running by February 2011—is being built at Loyd Ray Farms, about 115 miles west of Raleigh in Boonville, N.C. The farm, which was originally used for tobacco and beans, has 9,000 hogs. The prototype in Boonville will act as a model for other farms when implementing renewable energy structures. “Duke Energy is excited to learn more about using hog waste as a renewable fuel,” Emily Felt, director of Renewable Strategy and Compliance at the North Carolinabased utility, said in the release. “Building a better understanding of this technology allows us to determine how we can bring this type of renewable energy to our customers in a cost-effective way and meet our requirements under North Carolina’s renewable energy portfolio standard.”
THE CHRONICLE
THE CHRONICLE
Audrey Adu-Appiah/The Chronicle
Economics professor Lori Leachman debates whether former President George W. Bush’s tax cuts should be extended in a discussion hosted by Duke Political Union and the Roosevelt Institute Tuesday.
See health study on page 6
See energy on page 12
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4 | WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 the chronicle
duke university union
Group discusses attendance policy, upcoming events by Robert Dunlap THE CHRONICLE
Tuesday’s Duke University Union meeting addressed several topics including member attendance, Joe College Day and other upcoming events. At the start of the meeting, DUU President Yi Zhang, a senior, brought up the issue of member attendance, which has been inconsistent. Zhang asked members at the meeting for their opinions on implementing harsher consequences for frequent absence, as stated in the DUU constitution. “According to the DUU constitution, if you miss two meetings, we are allowed to put you on [a] panel, and you can lose your position,” Zhang said. Members, however, opposed the idea of losing one’s position in accordance with the laws of the constitution. Instead, members agreed that Zhang should use her own discretion in dealing with absences. DUU committee chairs went on to discuss upcoming plans and events. Joe College Day Chair Nathan Nye, a sophomore, provided updates on the status of the event. He said that everything was ordered and that the committee would be tiedying bandanas Thursday on the Bryan Center Plaza. Major Attractions Committee Director Karen Chen, a senior, said the group is planning a show next week. The show, which will take place on Oct. 8 in Page Auditorium, will feature the Charlotte-based “folk international” band Kenny Carr and the Tigers. Chen added that the committee is finalizing its fall schedule. Innovations Committee Chair Dustin Gamza, a senior, said his committee is planning a Duke Laser Tag tournament for Oct. 30. Equipment has already been ordered, including laser grenades, laser pistols and laser targets, he said, adding that prizes will be distributed. Gamza noted that later in the semester, the committee will also be sponsoring a black light olympics, which will take place in a rented gym with black lights illuminating the venue and all the sporting equipment painted white. Free white T-shirts will be given out, he added. Junior Brendon Pierson, president of Small Town Re-
cords, said he is working on the label’s website. “We are trying to have a non-creepy version of Craigslist’s classified sections,” Pierson said, noting that he plans on creating a place where musicians can contact other musicians and form a band. In addition, DUU plans to host a “Twilight weekend,” with films from the series showing throughout this upcoming weekend. In other business: DUU members spoke of establishing a DUU Internship
Program for prospective freshman members. Two options were considered—a full internship program, where freshmen would be assigned to their own group to plan their own events, as well as a freshman improvement program, which would introduce freshmen to DUU and immediately assign them to pre-existing committees. Members also considered a mentorship program, in which freshmen would eat lunch with and get to know current DUU members. In the end, members decided to place freshmen into their own group for the Fall semester and incorporate them into specific committees in the Spring. The mentorship program was also viewed favorably.
eliza bray/The Chronicle
At its Tuesday meeting, Duke University Union members discussed disciplinary measures for members with continual absences from meetings. Committees also talked over their plans for upcoming events and projects, including Joe College Day and a black light olympics.
Information from the
CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF AGING AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT The George L. Maddox, Jr., Ph.D. Lecture Thursday, September 30, 2010 5:00-6:00 p.m. (Reception will follow) Lecture Hall, Searle Center, Lower Level, Medical Center Library
Robert Clark, PhD Professor, Economics North Carolina State University Professor of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship
“Evolution of Retirement Plans in the Twenty First Century: Pensions and Retiree Health Plans” Robert Clark is Professor of Economics and Professor of Management, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship, North Carolina State University. Professor Clark has conducted research examining retirement decisions, the choice between defined benefit and defined contribution plans, the impact of pension conversions to defined contribution and cash balance plans, the role of information and communications on 401(k) contributions, government regulation of pensions, and Social Security. He is currently the principal investigator on a project examining the influence of employer-provided pre-retirement planning programs on financial literacy and retirement decisions. Clark has recently completed books examining the development of state and local retirement plans in the twentieth century and retiree health plans for public sector employees. He has examined the economic responses to population aging in developed countries and has written widely on international retirement plans, especially the Social Security and employer pension systems in Japan. Professor Clark has also been engaged in a variety of projects assessing the key issues in the economics of higher education and the future of higher education in North Carolina. Professor Clark is a Member of the Pension Research Council, Fellow of the Employee Benefit Research Institute, Fellow of the TIAA-CREF Institute, and a member of the American Economic Association, the Gerontological Society of America, International Union for the Scientific Study of Population, and t he National Academy of Social Insurance. In 2003, he chaired the Technical Panel on Assumptions and Methods that was appointed by the U.S. Social Security Administration to review and evaluation the annual projects of the Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance program. Professor Clark earned a B.A. from Millsaps College and a M.A. and Ph.D. from Duke University.
You are cordially invited to attend a reception immediately following the lecture. This lecture is supported by the George L. Maddox Lectureship Endowment of the Duke Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development in honor of the distinguished career of George L. Maddox, Jr., Ph.D. or additional information, please contact the Duke Aging Center at 919-660-7502 or email mini.jolly@duke.edu. Parking is available between 4:00-7:00 pm in the Bryan Research Building parking garage, 421 Research Drive.
the chronicle
WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 | 5
Medvedev ousts longtime Putin supporter crimebriefs by Kathy Lally
THE Washington Post
MOSCOW — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stepped out of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s shadow long enough Tuesday to fire Moscow’s larger-than-life mayor, rattling a political establishment that until now has accepted Putin as the nation’s undisputed authority. The mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has ruled Russia’s biggest and wealthiest city since 1992 with an authority that would have been the envy of Chicago’s legendary Richard J. Daley. He built grand cathedrals, circled the city with two beltways, erected glass skyscrapers and made sure Moscow retirees received free transportation and pensions that averaged $350 a month, while other Russian citizens made do on $280. His construction-magnate wife became a billionaire. And he always delivered votes to Putin. Then a few weeks ago, Luzhkov, who has been a steadfast Putin backer, made a mistake. He broke the unspoken rule that requires absolute political harmony in public and openly sniped at Medvedev. Speaking to a government newspaper, Luzhkov criticized the president for stopping construction of a project that the mayor favored, a St. Petersburg-Moscow highway through an ancient oak forest. That gave Medvedev the opportunity to fire Luzhkov, offering Russia-watchers a feast after months of parsing crumbs: Is Medvedev his own man after all and not a Putin puppet? “It means,” said Boris Nemtsov, a member of the democratic opposition, “that Medvedev has a chance to be a real president.” Officially, of course, Medvedev is president. He won the office in 2008 because Pu-
tin had served the then-limit of two terms and couldn’t run again. So Putin became Medvedev’s prime minister and continued running the country. Medvedev’s camp was more progressive, political pundits said, while Putin’s was more authoritarian. The only question: Which one did Medvedev truly belong to? “Who is Medvedev?” Dmitri Oreshkin, a well-known political analyst here, asked Tuesday. “In 2008, it was clear he occu-
“Today he made the decision he had to make so he would be more than a decoration.” — Dmitri Oreshkin, political analyst pied his position temporarily, and he was junior in the tandem. Today he made the decision he had to make so he would be more than a decoration.” Over the past year, Medvedev has been solidifying loyalties, preparing for the 2012 presidential elections—but on his own behalf or Putin’s? The prime minister has played coy about running for the presidency again in two years, suggesting that it could be him or Medvedev. But the assumption has always been that whatever Putin wanted was his. Tuesday’s dismissal was one of the most provocative political developments here since 2003, when Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the wealthy head of Yukos oil, dared to encroach on the Putin political landscape and was arrested on charges of corruption. He remains in prison.
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“When Khodorkovsky was arrested, the message was you can exist here only if you play by Putin’s rules,” Oreshkin said. “Now Medvedev is saying you have to play by Medvedev’s rules, too.” On Tuesday, the political establishment piled on, siding with Medvedev. The president issued his decree while on a state visit to China, saying he had lost confidence in Luzhkov, who would be immediately but temporarily replaced by a deputy mayor. In the parliament, only a single member, Josef Kobzon, offered the once-untouchable mayor any support. United Russia, the dominant political party, which Luzhkov helped create, abandoned him. Putin, visiting the distant city of Syktyvkar for a timber conference, responded coldly. “It is perfectly obvious that the Moscow mayor had a conflict with the president, and in the meantime the mayor reports to the president, not vice versa. For that reason, the necessary steps should have been taken in a timely manner to normalize the situation,” Putin told reporters. Stocks fell, along with the ruble, and some Muscovites shared the pessimism. “He has done a lot, especially for us pensioners,” said Zinaida Gorshkova, a 70-yearold doctor. “I am afraid of changes.” Luzhkov, 74, was elected in the heady and turbulent post-Soviet years. Though rumors of unsavory connections swirled around him, they had little effect in a nation of ambitious and widespread corruption. “He is accused of corruption,” Ivan Prokhorov, a 20-year-old student, said Tuesday, “but there are no facts to confirm it.” Even if he were corrupt, Prokhorov said, he wasn’t as corrupt as he could have been. “Yuri Luzhkov was doing a lot for his city.”
Ridin’ dirty Police charged someone with unauthorized use of a motor vehicle and damage to property on West Campus Sunday morning. Caddy shacked A golf cart was found vandalized Saturday in Parking Garage 4.
Dazed and confewzed A law enforcement officer was assaulted in Few Quadrangle early Friday morning. Childish behavior Toys and books were allegedly stolen from Duke North Hospital on Friday night. A vicious cycle A bike was stolen from the bike rack outside of Basset and Baldwin Wednesday afternoon. Rebel without a cause Someone attempted to steal a laptop from Perkins/Bostock Library Wednesday morning, but the theft was prevented.
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6 | WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 the chronicle
mcclendon from page 1 assistant dean for residence life, wrote in an e-mail. “We refurbished tables we already had in our warehouse and ordered new chairs.” Gonzalez said even though the staircase has not yet been installed, student responses to the new furniture have been positive. “We see profound potential in McClendon Tower,” he said. “Already we’ve seen several small pockets of students studying and getting work done.” The McClendon Tower construction project represents RLHS’s efforts to meet perceived demand for more study space, especially in relatively remote areas on West Campus like Keohane and Edens Quadrangles. Students are generally optimistic about the possibilities that McClendon Tower offers in terms of study space. “It’s a pity that people don’t really use [the third floor],” sophomore Jeanette Cheng said. “There’s a
lot of potential for greater use, especially as a study area for people far from The Loop or the Great Hall.” For students who do use the third floor of the tower, however, the construction may invite unwanted new visitors and noise. “Right now the third floor is quiet—like a library. Adding a staircase would make the space more open, so that the third floor could lose some of its quietness,” said sophomore Allison Khoo, an Edens resident. “I’m not sure how I feel about this plan.” Although administrators said they could not give specific estimates for the project’s cost and completion date, LoBiondo said costs for the third floor renovations have been “minimal.” Gonzalez said he believes the renovations will be finished fairly quickly so that students can use the new space. “We are encouraged by what we’ve seen so far by how the students are using this area,” Gonzalez said. “We believe the staircase will improve these trends.”
health studyfrom page 3 approach to understanding the environment in health.” The locations across the country were selected to reflect the range of situations in which American children grow up. The strength of such a diverse subject pool is that the data will represent the country at large, said Anna Maria SiegaRiz, a member of the research team and an associate chair of the department of epidemiology at UNC. In Durham, researchers will recruit participants through medical care providers’ offices. Durham is “uniquely poised” because it has a connected medical community and the ability to take advantage of local university resources, said Dr. Emmanuel Walter, principal site investigator for Durham County and associate director of the Primary Care Research Consortium at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. He added that the study is unique because it will consider a very wide range of factors that affect development. “Environment is defined very broadly for this study: the places that kids play, the homes they grow up in... media influences, dietary intakes,” Walter said. The consideration of the many factors that affect childhood development will allow researches to conduct an “integrated study,” Entwisle said. “For example, if you look at all of the work that’s been done on poverty in children’s health, it’s rare in that literature to see people also taking into account pollution,” Entwisle added. “And, likewise, if you look at the literature on say, pollution and children’s health, it’s rare to see them take into account poverty. To really understand this, we need to look at all those aspects of the environment simultaneously.” Although the National Children’s Study requires a long-term commitment from participants, Siega-Riz said she thinks parents will be motivated by an altruistic desire to help the country better understand how to improve children’s health. Analyses for conditions that occurred during pregnancy or right at the time of birth will be available long before the study is finished, she said. “We might be able to understand some of the determinants of, for instance, gestational diabetes or pregnancyinduced hypertension,” Siega-Riz said.
special to The Chronicle
Former President Jimmy Carter was hospitalized Tuesday, forcing him to cancel a scheduled book signing at the Regulator Bookshop.
carter from page 1 Although it was originally reported that Carter—who will be 86 Friday—would be hospitalized overnight, his grandson, Georgia state Sen. Jason Carter, told WRAL that the former president was out of the hospital and “resting comfortably.” Tom Campbell, who owns The Regulator, said Carter’s representatives canceled the appearance at about 3 p.m., the news organization reported. “Things happen—a lot worse than this could happen, and hopefully it’s just a little stomach bug for him,” Campbell said. “It’s not the end of the world—a stomach bug and a postponed book signing.” Campbell told WRAL that the book signing will be rescheduled, but he is not sure for when. “White House Diary,” is an edited and annotated collection of Carter’s diary entries from his presidency.
Sports
>> SPORTS BLOG
The Chronicle
WEDNESDAY
SPORTS BLOG
September 29, 2010
John Calipari said Kentucky wanted to play Duke so badly it overlooked West Virginia in its Elite Eight game Also, highlights from Cutcliffe’s press conference Tuesday
www.dukechroniclesports.com
men’s soccer
Hampered by own goal, Duke ties Elon by Bo Triplett THE CHRONICLE
Last night against Elon, Duke put up 22 shots. The one that would matter most, though, came on the defensive end. The Blue Devils scored an own goal in the 74th minute, squandering a chance for a win against the Phoenix and finishing with a 1-1 tie. Before the own goal, the No. 9 Blue Devils (4-1-3) put together a promising offensive display in the away match against Elon (3-2-3). The matchup was an opportunity for Duke to prove its abilities as one of the top DUKE 1 ten teams in the country, especially playing away from home. ELON 1 Ryan Finley continued to show why he is one of the most dangerous front men in the ACC, as he put three shots on goal. In the 56th minute Finley fired a shot that forced a deflection off of an Elon defender. The ball fell at the feet of junior midfielder Chris Tweed-Kent, who showed great poise as he calmly slipped the ball to senior Cole Grossman. With no hesitation, Grossman coolly slotted the ball into the right side netting, marking his second goal of the season. Even though the Blue Devils continued to put forth an offensive assault, goals were difficult to come by. “Sometimes in a game like that you want to make sure that you gain a second goal to make sure that you have a little bit of a margin of error,” head coach John Kerr said. This statement would hold true, as Duke never put the irina danescu/Chronicle file photo
After collecting a pass from Chris Tweed-Kent, Cole Grossman tapped Duke’s only goal into the right corner of the net for his second goal of the year.
Football midweek notebook
Duke’s players try not to dwell on past by Vigneth Nathan THE CHRONICLE
Duke’s season has taken a recent turn for the worse, falling short of its preseason expectations. The Blue Devils have dropped their last three games. Their defense has struggled mightily, allowing an average of 44.5 points per game this season. An offense that began the season prolifically, sporting one of the nation’s best collegiate receivers, has begun to plateau, and maybe even MORE decline. A football program that ONLINE once firmly believed in its revival is again having doubts. More coverage from Nonetheless, the players are determined not to dwell on the head coach David past. Their performance to beCutcliffe’s press gin the season has been disapconference: dukechroniclesports. pointing, no doubt. But Tuesday, Duke and its coach put on com a brave face and said they were moving ahead. “Everything we do, we do like winners. You’re only a loser if you let yourself be a loser,” head coach David Cutcliffe said. “We will continue to carry ourselves like winners because that’s what’s expected. And if we continue to work like winners, that’s how [we will] work [our] way out of [our slump]. That’s why I am not in a bad state of mind, because I know we will not give into being losers.” Cutcliffe has reason to believe that his team has the See midweek on page 8
See m. soccer on page 8
Withhold judgement on Renfree Ok. I’m willing to admit it. Just two short weeks ago, as I was drifting off to sleep and mulling over possible topics for future columns, I thought I had settled on something. I was going to write a piece that made a statistical comparison between Sean Renfree’s numbers in his first handful of starts under head coach David Cutcliffe and those of other Cutcliffe protégés such as Peyton and Eli Manning, Heath Shuler and Tee Martin in their early days under the coach’s watch. After just two collegiate starts, Renfree had thrown for over 700 yards and six touchdowns and ranked Jason fourth nationally in passing yardage, and it seemed appropriate to mention him in On Football the same breath as his coach’s NFL quarterback brotherhood. However, after he barely completed 50 percent of his passes and threw more interceptions than touchdowns combined in his two most recent starts—both Duke losses—it is much harder to justify putting him in that company. Such drastic, quick-changing views of players is the nature of big-time college football, especially when the player in discussion is a quarterback with just four starts and 200 career passing attempts under his belt. And as Cutcliffe reminded us at his weekly news conference, the reality is that it is way too early to pass judgement on Renfree. I would have been mistaken comparing him already to those quarterbacks with long and storied careers. Instead, we should get accustomed to the exciting ups being accompanied by deflating downs as Renfree develops as a signal caller. “Sean started his fourth game of his career, and there is a learning curve,” Cutcliffe said. “Some of those experiences that you go through are pretty harsh teachers.”
Palmatary
margie truwit/Chronicle file photo
Jason Palmatary writes that judgement should be withheld on Sean Renfree, despite his less than stellar numbers over the past two games. For example, on his first interception in the loss against Army, Renfree made the correct pre-snap read. However, when one of the linebackers that he initially identified as See palmatary on page 8
8 | WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 the chronicle
palmatary from page 7 a blitzer fell into coverage, he failed to make the necessary adjustment, and his pass was picked off. “Had he gone outside with that ball, we might all be celebrating a victory,” Cutcliffe said. “It is that simple sometimes.” As Cutcliffe pointed out, it is not about the plays that you make, but the mistakes that you avoid. As was the case in the Army game, three or four bad plays that resulted in turnovers completely overshadowed an otherwise solid performance. In Renfree’s case, instead of forcing a ball into traffic on first down, he should have thrown the ball away and lived to play another down. Learning to eliminate mental mistakes is crucial for him going forward. “I am trying to forget as much as I can about the last two games,” Renfree said. “But there are some thing that I need to remember. I am constantly thinking about the things that I have been doing poorly and focusing on them in practice.”
notebook from page 7 potential to be “winners.” While his team’s win-loss record may not be up to standards, its performance has not been completely disappointing. Consider the running game, which has seen sure signs of improvement from last season, when Duke’s ground attack was absent. The addition of talented freshmen and the improvement of the veteran running backs have transformed the running game into a legitimate offensive threat. The Blue Devils now have a wide array of talented backs to choose from: sophomore Desmond Scott, freshman Josh Snead and fellow freshman Juwan Thompson. The trio has combined for 474 yards this season, including 146 yards against No. 1 Alabama’s defense. “Last year, being last in the country [in rushing yards] was something we weren’t proud of,” offensive guard David Harding said. “We knew we could do better. It’s been really nice to
m. soccer from page 7 match to rest. The tables turned in the 74th minute, though, as a shot fired by the Phoenix’s Denzel Ogunyase ricocheted off the foot of a Duke defender into the back of the net. With the momentum from the late goal, Elon continued pressing the Blue Devil defense. Sophomore goalkeeper James Belshaw came up big for Duke in the final stretch, making a critical save to keep his team in the game. Belshaw’s superb goalkeeping lit a spark among his teammates. They fought hard in the final five minutes of regulation, gaining three cor-
True, Renfree has made his share of mistakes in his first few games, but it would be foolish for impatient football fans to jump to any hasty conclusions about the quarterback’s future. Looking back to last season’s Army game, Thaddeus Lewis struggled before leaving with an injury. Then, Renfree came in and played the hero’s role off the bench by leading the Blue Devils to a come-from-behind victory. The Duke faithful begin to grumble that the senior Lewis should be benched in favor of the redshirt freshman. Clearly, those opinions were a little premature as Lewis went on to lead the Blue Devils to five wins and ended up in second place on the ACC’s all-time passing yardage list. A quick look at Renfree’s stats––he is tied for the national lead in interceptions with seven, but also 11th overall in passing yardage––indicate both his immense talent but also his early struggles. With a mentor like Cutcliffe, though, in three years time, we may see Renfree becoming the next Cutcliffe tutee to join the NFL brotherhood.
see some running game, and we hope to add onto that.” Although the running game has improved, many point to Sean Renfree’s recent struggles as a cause for concern. In his last two games, he has thrown four interceptions, and his completion percentage has dropped considerably from his first two starts of the season. But consider Renfree’s experience, and what can truly be expected from him. He has barely been the team’s starting quarterback for four weeks. As Cutcliffe explains, any drawbacks in performance shouldn’t necessarily be attributed to his inadequacies as a signal caller; rather, it’s proof that he is experiencing the “learning curve” that all quarterbacks go through. “Some people say [Renfree] played bad [against Army],” Cutcliffe said. “But Sean Renfree is right on track. I am so encouraged about his first four starts. There is no reason for him to hang his head.” Neither should the Duke faithful. ner kicks and a swerving free kick from Grossman which bent around the Elon defensive wall, nearly finding its way into the net. As the game entered the first half of extra time both teams battled to control possession. Freshman Jonathan Aguirre came close to grabbing the game-winner, firing a 22-yard shot that forced Elon keeper Clint Irwin into making a desperate save, pushing the ball over the crossbar. The second half of extra time lacked creativity, as both teams failed to find their offensive flows. Duke will attempt to move past this stalemate as it takes on No. 8 Maryland at home Friday.
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MFA a step forward for the arts Starting next Fall, Duke The interdisciplinary, twowill offer its first terminal de- year MFA program should gree in the fine arts, a Master serve to build off of that moof Fine Arts in Experimental mentum by training talented and Documentary Arts. The art practitioners and allowing strength of the University’s them to hone their skills toexisting facgether. By mergulty, facilities ing two forms of editorial and resources artistic activity— make this program a logical the documentary approach next step toward enhancing and experimental production the arts scene at Duke. in analog, digital and compuDuke has admittedly tational media—this Master “struggled to create an envi- of Fine Arts is in line with the ronment where the arts are strengths of our existing faculty. central to the University,” By carving out a niche, the proaccording to its 2006 strate- gram’s founders have created gic plan. Fortunately, recent an MFA that should differentidevelopments including the ate itself from other programs opening of the Nasher Mu- and attract top talent. seum of Art in 2005 and the Extensive collaboration strength of Duke Performanc- and the joint faculty shared es under new director Aaron among the Arts of the MovGreenwald have started to ing Image program, Center change that perception. for Documentary Studies,
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Art History department and Visual Studies department should lead to a smooth start for the MFA. Moreover, the University already has the facilities to accommodate such a program. The MFA will be based out of a 4,000 sq.-ft. Carpentry Shop and will also draw on existing facilities, such as Smith Warehouse and the Bridges House. A strong graduate program in the arts could also bode well for undergraduates. MFA students will provide a fresh pool of talent to draw from as teaching assistants and mentors. In addition, a strong graduate school in the arts could carry prestige over to related undergraduate programs. This degree will help fill a void in the Southeast, a re-
“B
gion with a strong art and literary tradition but relatively few MFA opportunities. The notion of using Durham as a gallery for art is also compelling. Center for Documentary Studies Director Tom Rankin envisions students creating murals across the city or projecting films onto sides of buildings. A chance to work in the community should appeal to students interested in working outside the traditional confines of a studio. Some key considerations going forward include ensuring that top faculty in each department commit to teaching MFA classes without compromising the quality of similar undergraduate courses. Maintaining fiscal responsibility and monitoring growth of the
program will also play a major role in establishing a reputable MFA. The current target of 15 students a year appears to be an appropriate starting point that will offer an intimate experience for students and professors. In order to win the respect of the greater art community, Duke must offer a rigorous curriculum. This program’s emphasis on producing a tangible project after the first year appears to accomplish this. The creation of a Masters in Fine Arts is another exciting development for the University’s arts scene. By building the degree off of our distinctive strengths, the program’s founders have laid the foundation to continue the upward trajectory of the arts at Duke.
In the hype
e careful what you do. It just might less than service as an essential element of democrachange you.” cy. They began to contend that the poor had as much Even now, I can feel the peaking responsibility to live productively and independently suspense bubbling up in the packed as to demand “political rights, highauditorium. er wages, improved housing, and Those closing statements by Eric better schools for their children.” Mlyn at this past summer’s DukeEnBut this newfound obligation gage orientation session still ring in was met with some resistance. A my head. volunteer in the program, Szittya, But the suspense has reached reported her frustration with the new heights. According to a Sept. 23 political system: “We must rememChronicle article, “DukeEngage directhat we were employees (in efbrandon maffei ber tor Mlyn to lead through 2016,” Dufect) of the City of Durham, and giving back keEngage has now become the most under the city’s thumb. We are cited reason for why students wish to here to serve as requested, not to come to Duke University. That’s right, the stereo- change the requests. In short, we are here to be typical basketball rationale has become a little out- uncreative, and not to fight poverty, but to play dated (too bad we won a national championship). the city’s conservative ball game.” Forty-five years ago, a North Carolina program When the summer program ended that Aucomparable to DukeEngage generated a similar gust, the Fund decided to disband its volunteer level of hype. Robert Korstad and James Leloudis program for financial and safety reasons. It inin their 2010 work “To Right These Wrongs” de- stead started to focus its resources on indepenscribe the story of this initiative during a time dent “poor people” movements (Leloudis’s and when poverty issues were at the forefront of North Korstad’s words) and training “Community Action Carolina politics. Over the summers of 1964 and Technicians” who could live and work full time in 1965, more than 300 college students spread out places they served. Of course, those efforts were across North Carolina in an effort to “defeat pov- met with further confrontation; some opponents erty” and “uplift the poor.” In the first application of the Fund purported that the empowerment phase, more than 500 students vied for the coveted of the poor did not promise so much economic initial 100 slots. Those finalists would become the development as social chaos and disorder. Add to “foot soldiers” of the North Carolina Fund, a lead- that a developing conservative stronghold, and ing antipoverty program during the 1960s. the Fund was finally disbanded in 1968. Governor Terry Sanford, also a former Duke Forty-two years later, we still face some of the president, established the Fund in 1963. This was issues of poverty that plagued Terry Sanford and in response to the debilitating poverty statistics other North Carolinian legislatures of that time. that surfaced around the time Sanford took of- Given the rather recent past, it seems understandfice. Factory workers earned some of the lowest able that current community service would want industrial wages in the nation; 37 percent of resi- to stay clear of the political drama. Yet, has Duke dents had incomes below the federal poverty line; community work lost its fiery edge? And with Duhalf of all students dropped out before finishing keEngage initiatives now spanning the globe, have high school; one-fourth of adults 25 years of age students effectively displaced that hype and generand older had less than a sixth-grade education ated the passion for local engagement of the 60s? and were illiterate. At the very least, this story should highlight The volunteer program was one of the first sanc- the importance of the historical relevance of our tioned projects by the Fund to fight the nemesis of current community work. We would do a disserpoverty. Although they brought a mix of motivations vice (no pun intended) to ourselves to forget the to their work, volunteers emphasized a conception profound roles students realized in their own of citizenship fitting President John F. Kennedy’s communities. call for “patriotic self-sacrifice.” The volunteers felt As the future prospect of DukeEngage lingers a responsibility to uphold American ideals, espe- for those caught up in the hype, look to the past cially with the threat of communism abroad and as a reminder of what it means to fully engage and social conflict at home. One wrote, “Because I am challenge your community status quo. If the work a concerned American, I think to be able to help they did changed them, the work you do might others is more than an opportunity.” change you. Just “be careful what you do.” And yet as these students took to the field, they experienced a fundamental change in their underBrandon Maffei is a Trinity sophomore. His column standing of citizenship. Activism was embraced no runs every other Wednesday.
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Where the wild things are
T
he powers that be allowed me out of the 2. A plastic sandwich bag will adequately prohospital and into the wild this Saturday. tect an iPhone from an unexpected (beer) shower. With something like 38 hours free of This advice may only come in handy for my classclinical responsibilities—in a row! mates going into obstetrics. On a weekend!—I decided to make 3. Never let it be said that this the most of it. I went to Tailgate. new-fangled generation of youngAs a medical student, I don’t just sters played too many video games do things; I learn about things while and forgot to learn perseverance. I doing them. saw one guy wearing a wizard hat and For instance, I would never just ada cape with a whole bunch of beer mit a patient with pneumonia to the cans taped together to make himhospital; instead, I admit him to the self a wizarding staff. As I watched, alex fanaroff hospital while learning about pneuhe walked over to the bushes, put farewell tour monia. Likewise, I would never just down his staff and proceeded to kill a mouse in the laboratory; rather, vomit maybe three or four times. I kill mice while learning about the mouse’s genes. Then he picked up his staff and jumped right back The point, of course, is that I have a lot to learn into the party. and not a lot of time to do it, and so there really As a member of the med school admissions isn’t any time to waste. After all, by this time next committee, this is the type of resolve I look for year, I’ll be a doctor. when determining who has what it takes to sucSo when I say I went to Tailgate, I didn’t just go ceed as a med student. Back in my (grandpa’s) to Tailgate. I went to learn. And since I write this day, they called that gumption. column mostly as a weekly monument to my own 4. The summer before my senior year, Towego but also as a public service to the Duke com- erview magazine (which I edited) ran a cover that munity, I thought I’d share. foretold, in giant pink letters, “THE DEATH OF 1. Despite what you may read on these very TAILGATE.” The cover story, cleverly headlined pages, dating at Duke is by no means dead. In “The Fall of a Fall Tradition,” told of the adminthree hours at Tailgate, I saw no fewer than eight istration’s attempts to shut down a pre-football couples making out. Let me be clear: When I say party that focused too much on drinking and not making out, I mean really going at it. Like, for an enough on the football team. Four years later, it’s uncomfortably long time and with an uncomfort- clear that story was totally wrong. (In Towerview, able amount of visible body fluids. we also ran a story on Mike Posner, and now his And even more striking, these couples just single is No. 15—I’m looking at Top 100—on the would not be stopped. Most of the couples were Billboard chart, so we were occasionally not horgetting jostled by the furiously dancing crowd and ribly wrong.) were actively being soaked with beer. Even the Tailgate is alive and pretty much exactly the fact that it was approximately 5,000 degrees in the same as ever. If I weren’t such a crusty old man, it Blue Zone could not stop these modern-day Pyra- just might’ve warmed my heart. mus and Thisbes. If the delicate flower of love can blossom in the Blue Zone, then the soil on the rest Alex Fanaroff is a fourth-year medical student. His of campus must be fertile. column runs every Wednesday.
I
WednesDAY, september 29, 2010 | 11
commentaries
Old forgotten words
’ve started to forget how my life was before tened. Then she left. A boy who loved RaggedyI came here to South Africa. At Duke I used Ann ran up—quite suddenly—grabbed Coleton to go to bed at 3 a.m. every night, and here I around the neck mid-sentence and pushed him to cannot sleep in later than 6:30 a.m. the ground. My company consists of the same “You talk so much crap!” he 27 people. It has been weeks since shouted. His eyes had tears in them; I’ve introduced myself to anyone, Coleton wasn’t fighting back. In and last Monday was the first I could fact, his face looked a bit gleeful. freely use the internet (though Abbie and I had our hands to our “freely” still entails walking from mouths. my fenced-in camp to the fenced-in “Break it up!” said the senior offices, in a group of no fewer than class clown with whom my brother rachna reddy three, before 5:30 p.m., when it gets used to be friends. They broke it up. field notes dark and the leopards come out). Coleton sat up and laughed and the When I came to Duke and startboy left. We went back to talking. But ed going to sleep late at night, I began forgetting moments later, there was another fight. Pushed by my life at home. I became aware of this during one his attacker, the register boy, gray around the eyes, incident when I was back in Michigan and went in a long jersey, put his arm through the doubleto Wal-Mart. The boy at the register was tall and sided glass cafeteria wall. We gasped and saw the bulky, and as he scanned the Jif jar across the laser hole he’d made. Glass and blood were on the I noticed that his right forearm had been sliced floor. There was flesh in the hole. open with something jagged. Register Boy clutched his arm and made a It was quite grotesque, really—swollen pink dopey smile. His eyes lost some focus and his lips, scars wiggled from wrist to elbow and the skin be- bright and fat, opened and slipped out of componeath them looked grated. The gouged arm had sure. His teeth were crooked. Eventually an ambutwo-thirds the volume of its counterpart; he had lance came and the glass got swept up, but it was a lost a lot of blood and the stitches, if any, had been while before they fixed the window. sloppy. What had happened? At this point I felt I’d At Wal-Mart, he bagged my peanut butter and stared too long at the wound and switched my gaze we smiled at each other. I wondered if he rememto his face. Then I realized I knew exactly what had bered I’d seen the fight or if he recognized me at happened. I had been there. all, and I felt strange for having forgotten that bit Abbie and I were 14 and waiting for her sister to of my own history. pick us up from school. We were in the cafeteria, with chatty Coleton, who had long hair then, and a Rachna Reddy is a Trinity junior. She is studying girl who was in love with him called Raggedy-Ann. ecology in South Africa for the semester. Her column runs Coleton talked and Raggedy-Ann beamed and lis- every other Wednesday.
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Pop stars, pandas get caught in Asian crossfire
Y
ou know things are really bad when pop stars and pandas get drawn into a diplomatic dispute. It started as a minor fender bender at sea—a Chinese fishing boat colliding with two Japanese coast guard ships. It exploded into a diplomatic crisis that produced a chilling message: Asia’s future is one in which two economic powers will increasingly be at odds over issues so william pesek petty that they beg credulity. And marbloomberg news kets will be caught in the crossfire. Following the Sept. 7 detention of the Chinese fishing-boat captain, China severed senior-level contacts and street protests sprung up there demanding his release. Next came reports that China was banning the export of “rare earths” to Japan, threatening supplies of a raw material vital to hybrid cars, laptops, wind turbines, weapons and iPhones. Oddly, the real indignity involved pop stars. Chinese organizers canceled concerts in Shanghai by boy band SMAP. Its five members are Japan’s biggest celebrities. Just try getting through an hour in Tokyo without seeing them on television and billboards or hearing their sugary tunes blaring out of karaoke bars. The souring tone of China-Japan relations went viral once Japanese learned SMAP got dissed. And then there’s the bizarre panda scandal. Beijing dispatched investigators to a Kobe zoo to get to the bottom of the death of a giant panda on loan from China. Some conspiracy theorists connected Xing Xing’s Sept. 9 death during a medical procedure to the boat incident—all apparently an effort to annoy China’s 1.3 billion people. Japan released the captain, making Prime Minister Naoto Kan look wimpy. He faces a public angry that he bowed to Beijing. China demanded an apology and compensation. Japan responded by calling for China to pay for repairs to its coast guard vessels. This dustup still has legs. This is the first major tiff since China replaced Japan as Asia’s powerhouse. China’s overreaction smacks of diplomatic immaturity and makes a mockery of its charm offensive in Asia. Anyone who thinks the changing of the guard in Asia will go smoothly is dreaming, and that’s bad news for investors. Really, folks, can we all take a deep breath and relax? There’s just too much at stake here, not only for Asian relations but for the sake of the world economy. The shifting balance of Asian power adds new tension to old disputes. Thankfully, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan has avoided a visit to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine since taking power a year ago. It houses memorials to war criminals and irks Asian neighbors who say it celebrates Japan’s wartime atrocities. This latest Japan-China stalemate is colored by geopolitical destiny. China is steadily eclipsing Japan, and officials in Tokyo don’t like it. Their counterparts in Beijing aren’t about to back down now that the economic wind is at China’s back and Asian dominance beckons. China’s efforts to draw neighbors away from the U.S. orbit just took a huge blow. It also has opposed U.S.-South Korea military exercises aimed at deterring North Korea, and dismissed regional efforts to mediate maritime territorial claims. None of this is sitting well in Asia. All this makes an even bigger mockery than normal of meetings of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and Association of Southeast Asian Nations groups. They get little done in the best of times, never mind with China and Japan exchanging barbs and weighing trade sanctions. Officially, this dispute is over a group of tiny uninhabited islets and outcroppings about 200 miles off the northeast coast of Taiwan, for which there are rival claims. The tension is a product of past conflict and Japan’s penchant for whitewashing its World War II aggression. Really, it’s related to Asia’s future. Even a whiff of a chance of further confrontation will dent Asia’s future. China is Japan’s biggest trading partner, and Japan is a major source of the foreign-direct investment on which China relies for its 10 percent growth. Asia’s two biggest economies at loggerheads is in no one’s best interest. China and Japan must stay focused on the big picture. Flexing muscles won’t raise China’s per-capita income, which is a tenth of Japan’s. Japan must remember that China is becoming the growth engine on which its future rests. It’s never good to alienate your biggest customer. Asia’s rocky economic seas just got rougher, as even pop stars and pandas can attest. William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist. This column originally ran on Tuesday.
12 | WednesDAY, september 29, 2010
mcnamara from page 1 organizations, such as the need for child-friendly shelters, housing units with easy access for the disabled and meals with more nutritional value than the meals-ready-to-eat often distributed at disaster sites, he said. “We need a closer relationship with the private sector to bring those communities online,” McNamara said. “Faith-based groups are [also] a critical partner. It’s about leveraging and enhancing those things your community does on a day-to-day basis.” Before becoming FEMA chief of staff, McNamara worked in both corporate and government emergency management positions. His wide-ranging experiences include assisting in the responses to the Sept. 11 attacks, the anthrax attacks on the U.S. Senate, the Oklahoma City bombing and Hurricane Opal in 1995. McNamara said that although many relief organizations latch onto the Department of Defense’s mod-
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el of top-down leadership, in emergency situations this method is inefficient and slow, and it does not adequately tailor responses to individual communities’ needs. “A lot of federal agencies will fall into that mentality,” he said. “In a disaster, [this is] way too slow, and you don’t have the same information as the people on the ground. If you move forward with centralized decision making, you’re asking for trouble. [It is] a recipe for failure.” The Hurricane Katrina relief effort was an example of this sort of dysfunctional leadership, McNamara said. The government was unable to make swift decisions and was “seeking information instead of seeking solutions.” FEMA will release new guiding principles on its website next week, McNamara said. The principles are teamwork, engagement, getting results, preparation, empowerment, flexibility and accountability. “We’re learning slowly,” he said. “The more we can show folks why what we are saying is correct, the better off any emergency response is going to be.”
graduate schools from page 1 to comment on the details of the report’s findings. She added that she will analyze the data, as will the Office of Institutional Research and individual departments. Although the study was released yesterday, it takes into account data compiled from the 2005-2006 academic year. The report ranks more than 5,000 programs in 62 fields and includes “illustrative rankings” for each program categorized into three groups: student support and outcomes, diversity and research activity. Other overall ranking measures include average number of Ph.D.s graduated from 2002-2006 and average Graduate Record Examination scores. Researchers used a combination of surveys and data mining of publications through the Institute for Scientific Information and 224 scholarly societies. Wright and former Graduate School Dean Lewis Siegel collaborated with the NRC to provide data about the University, Wright said. Although the NRC rankings may affect a prospective graduate student’s choice of school, Graduate and Professional Student Council President Daniel Griffin said the report will not necessarily become a major factor. “Rankings on the whole, I think, will probably have little impact, especially given that the data is just about [20052006],” Griffin said. According to the NRC, however, results are likely to be relevant today because of low faculty turnover in recent years. The data also reveals larger trends about graduate schools. Doctorate programs are 72 percent public universities, and minorities are underrepresented among faculty, contributing 5 percent or less in professorships to all broad fields except the social sciences and the humanities. “If anything, I’d say that at this point the study reaffirms in my mind the importance of routinely evaluating programs by external reviews and providing important information like time to degree, completion rates and placement for prospective students in a transparent way,” Wright said.
energy from page 3 The system, which costs $1.08 million, will have several functions, one of which is to capture methane gas from the waste and then use it to generate electricity. The methane collected from the device will be able to produce 512 to 639 megawatt-hours of clean energy each year. By capturing methane gas from hog waste, Duke will receive carbon offset credits and Duke Energy will get renewable energy credits. “Duke University has a goal of being carbon-neutral by 2024,” said Tatjana Vujic, director of the University’s Carbon Offsets Initiative, in the release. “We need to account for those greenhouse gas emissions we can’t reduce by preventing or reducing emissions elsewhere... and we want those [carbon] offsets to come from projects that make a difference to our local and regional environment and economy.” In addition to harvesting renewable energy, the infrastructure will also handle liquid waste better by altering treatment and then either recycling it as flush water for the hog houses or eventually for crop irrigation, thus forming a closed circuit. Other members of this partnership include the United States Department of Agriculture and the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Lagoon Conversion Program, which both provided grant funding for the project. As compensation for letting the University and Duke energy use his facilities, Loyd Bryant, owner of the farm, will own the system at no cost after 10 years and will save on his electricity bill due to the new system.
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