Mar. 31, 2011 issue

The Chronicle T h e i n d e p e n d e n t d a i ly at D u k e U n i v e r s i t y

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011

ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 124

www.dukechronicle.com

potti investigation

Nevins defends 3,739 offered spots in Class of 2015 Duke admits 10.8% of regular decision applicant pool, a new record Duke response to flawed data

by Melissa Dalis THE CHRONICLE

For eager high school seniors, the wait is finally over.

The University offered 3,094 applicants the chance to join Duke’s Class of 2015 yesterday. Combined with the 645 high school students already admitted under Duke’s binding early decision program in December, a total of 3,739 seniors have been admitted this year. The acceptance rate for regular decision applicants was 10.8 percent.

Overall, including the 29 percent early decision acceptance rate, the admissions department extended offers to 12.6 percent of applicants, representing a 2.2 percent decrease from last year’s overall acceptance rate. In addition, 2,300 students were offered a spot on the waitlist, which is 1,000 fewer than last year, admissions officials said.

“This was an incredibly challenging year, both for the applicants and for the staff of the admissions office,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag said in a Duke news release. “We wanted to ensure that every application received a thorough review, while being aware that we had a limited amount of time to do so.”

In an interview, Guttentag said the department is hoping for a yield rate in the mid-40

by Tullia Rushton and Zachary Tracer THE CHRONICLE

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The mentor of discredited Duke cancer researcher Dr. Anil Potti provided the first public account of his thoughts and actions as the cancer research he developed with Potti and other scientists came under fire.

In an hour-and-a-halflong presentation to an Institute of Medicine committee, Joseph NevAnil Potti ins, Barbara Levine professor of breast cancer genomics, defended his and Duke’s handling of criticisms about the research that mounted over several years. But he acknowledged that he failed to identify problems with the underlying data Potti used to conduct cancer research at Duke’s Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, which was regarded as groundbreaking when it was published.

“I didn’t recognize that a critical flaw in the research effort was one of data corruption, an apparent manipulation of validation data,” Nevins told the committee.

The IOM committee is working to establish standards for genomics research and other medical science based on large quantities of data. The committee was established in response to the Potti affair.

In a curt exchange with committee member Thomas Fleming, a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington, Nevins refused to say how he believed the data problems occurred.

Fleming pointed out that because the problems in the data improved the experimental results, it seemed that they were introduced intentionally.

“I can’t address it,” Nevins responded. “I just can’t get into a position of speculating on how it happened.”

He noted that Duke is conducting a research misconduct inquiry to investigate how the data errors occurred. And although Potti has resigned and accepted responsibility for problems with the data, Nevins never mentioned his former colleague’s name during the presentation.

‘Too good to be true’ Nevins did attempt to explain why it took years for Duke to address the criticisms of the research.

See nevins on page 6

Duke prepares for switch to Sakai with pilot program, Page 4

See class of 2015 on page 5

chronicle graphic by courtney douglas

vice president for residence life and dining

Four compete to take on new VP position

by Matthew Chase THE CHRONICLE

From planning the details of the house model to dealing with the merger of Campus Council and Duke Student Government, next year’s vice president for residential life and dining will be kept busy.

The four candidates campaigning for the new position have expressed an interest in overseeing the development of the house model—set to be implemented in Fall 2012—as well as handling other ongoing housing and dining issues.

The position—which will oversee a number of decisions that Campus Council has handled in the past—received the most applicants of all DSG vice presidential races, with six students initially running for the position. The four candidates still actively campaigning have experience in Campus Council or DSG. Freshman Wally Gurzynski and juniors Jeremy Moskowitz and Esosa

Osa currently serve on the residence life and dining committee, which was established in light of Campus Council’s merger with DSG. Freshman Philip Srebrev currently serves as a student affairs senator in DSG. The other two candidates who entered the race have since reconsidered their decisions. Freshman Leila Alapour withdrew her candidacy, and freshman Samuel Kebede wrote in an e-mail to The Chronicle that he is “probably not” going to run for the position, although he has not officially withdrawn from the race, said DSG Attorney General Ryan Clark, a junior.

All the candidates running expressed support for the decision to merge Campus Council and DSG, largely because the merger will allow students to lobby for residential life and dining issues more than they were able to do as a part of Campus Council.

ONTHERECORD

“Black culture is Duke culture... We find no shame in promoting this culture especially at Duke.”

­—BSA President Nana Asante on BSAI. See story page 4

See vp on page 8

NYT journalist speaks on Islam in post-9/11 America, Page 3

2 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle

worldandnation onschedule...

Few Runs on Dunkin Few Quad FF, 10:30-12p.m.

AEPi and Roundtable welcomes Spring by providing Few Quad with Dunkin Donuts and Coffee.

Come grab some before class.

on the

South Africa: Reflections on the Photographic Archive Perkins Rare Books, 3:30-5p.m.

Karen Glynn gives a historical overview of the South African Photography collection.

4938

FRIDAY:

6141

Fears, Fairness and Fox News Bio Sci 111, 6-8p.m.

Presented by Muslim Life at Duke, Dr. Robert Jones will examine Fox News’ impact on post 9/11 America.

web

“Krzyzewski also revealed that Duke’s trip to China in August will involve games played against the junior national team. ‘For our school, it’s a great opportunity. We’ll be playing the junior national team in China, three in three cities, then we’ll go to Dubai. We have a young team, and we’ll get a chance to try out some stuff.’”

— From The Blue Zone sports.chronicleblogs.com

James S. Russell /BloomBerg News

The Syracuse Center of Excellence is a $41 million laboratory building meant to help foster the development of conservation technologies. The building features a myriad of techniques and designs that help conserve energy. The building filters indoor air and windowpanes rotate on their own to reduce sun glare. The Center hopes to attract resources from various upstate and downstate New York interests.

“

TODAY:

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without.

— Confucius

”

TODAY IN HISTORY

1968: LBJ announces he will not seek re-election.

President Obama calls for Syrian President refuses new energy incentives to listen to protestors WASHINGTON D.C. — President Barack Obama said Wednesday that there are no “quick fixes” for higher energy costs and the United States must embark on a long-term plan to tap domestic resources, cut usage and develop alternatives to fossil fuels.

The turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa that has driven up oil prices, the earthquake in Japan that triggered a nuclear emergency and increasing competition for resources from the rapidly growing economies of China and India demonstrate the challenges faced by the U.S., Obama said in a speech Wednesday.

He called for new incentives to boost production of oil, gas and biofuels, tougher fuel efficiency standards for vehicles and greater reliance on cleaner sources of energy, including nuclear power. The goal, Obama said, is to cut oil imports by a third in a decade.

off the

wire...

CAIRO — Syria’s 12-day-old protest movement was hoping for major concessions from President Bashar al-Assad.

What it got instead was a declaration that the protesters were dupes of unnamed enemies conspiring to divide and weaken the champion of Arab nationalism.

Assad, in an internationally televised speech, portrayed himself Wednesday as a reformer eager to respond to complaints from Syria’s 23 million citizens. But the demonstrations that have broken out in Damascus, Daraa, Hama and other Syrian cities since March 18 represent “chaos,” he said, and cannot be tolerated if the country is to remain strong in the struggle against Israeli occupation of Arab land.

“We are for supporting people’s demands, but we cannot support chaos,” he added to cheers from assembled members of the People’s Council, or parliament.

Egyptian military issues new constitution

A Presentation of Undergraduate Research Wednesday, April 20, 2011 Bryan University Center

CALL FOR PAPERS (Poster Presentations) Register by Monday, April 11

http://undergraduateresearch.duke.edu/visible-thinking Presented by the Undergraduate Research Support Office

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the chronicle

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | 3

Elliott discusses increasing anti-Islam sentiment

by Michael Shammas THE CHRONICLE

nate glencer/The Chronicle

New York Times investigative reporter Andrea Elliott, who has won a Pulitzer Prize for her reporting on an imam in New York, spoke Wednesday on the growing distrust Muslims in the United States have faced since 9/11.

American Muslims are facing increasing amounts of public distrust and hate speech, said Andrea Elliott, a Pulitzer Prizewinning investigative reporter for The New York Times.

Elliott gave a lecture titled “Islam in a Post-9/11 America” in the Sanford School of Public Policy Wednesday afternoon to discuss the challenges Muslims face assimilating into American society. She stressed that some Americans are starting to believe that terrorism and Islam are synonymous, even though Muslims have fought for, and even died in the service of, the United States.

“The perpetrators of [the 9/11] attacks were of course not Muslim-American,” she said. “And even though some of their victims were, and even though thousands of American Muslims later served in the U.S. military in Iraq and Afghanistan, this episode left many Muslims feeling they have lost their face in America to... fear and suspicion.”

The event was sponsored by the Duke Islamic Studies Center, the Duke University Middle East Studies Center and the Sanford Institute’s DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. After lecturing for nearly an hour, Elliott spent approximately 15 minutes taking questions from students and faculty in attendance.

Although 10 years have passed since the Sept. 11 attacks, Elliott said the amount of anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States has actually increased in the past few years. In August, a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center found that only 30 percent of Americans held a favorable view of Islam. Five years earlier, the statistic was 41 percent.

The poll’s results are reflective of recent events, Elliot noted.

“Just last year we’ve seen the fight over the Islamic center near ground zero, the spread of grass-roots opposition to the use of Shariah [Islamic law] and the buildings of mosques elsewhere in the country and the recent congressional hearings focused on Muslims,” Elliott said.

The media has largely been blamed for this resurgence in negative sentiment, with critics asserting that too much of the media’s coverage has focused on terrorism, she said. But people who solely blame the media are ignoring other factors at work such as “the tone set by the Bush administration” and the immediate reaction to the 9/11 attacks, which gave Americans a “frenzied crash course” on

the religion, Elliot added. “[After 9/11], the press was scrambling to make sense of the attacks and a fringe interpretation of Islam [held by the hijackers] was at the center of the story,” she said. “[But] Islam in most of its vast complexity was a subject that most journalists, like most Americans, knew almost nothing about.”

Elliott spent the rest of her lecture discussing what she has learned about Islam from her own work. She described her experience reporting on the life of an imam in New York City—a three-part series called “An Imam in America” for which she won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize— and the forced resignation of Debbie Almontaser. Almontaser was a Muslim who created the Khalil Gibran International Academy, the first English-Arabic public school focusing on the study of Arabic language and culture, only to be accused of radicalizing her students by a recentlyformed group called “Stop the Madrassa.” The accusations were baseless, Elliott said, but Almontaser was forced out and replaced by a “Jewish principal who spoke no Arabic.”

Even though Elliott said she believes the United States does not have “a widescale problem with radicalization,” she noted that there have been 50 cases in the last few years in which some American Muslims have been caught plotting terrorist attacks at home and abroad.

One of these Americans is Omar Hammami, a young Southern Baptist-raised, Alabaman born to a Muslim and Syrian immigrant father and Christian mother.

Hammami became radicalized, however, and is now a leader in the Shabab, an Islamist guerilla army fighting against the current American-backed Somali government. “[Still], this represents a very miniscule proportion of the U.S. Muslim population,” Elliot said.

Jen’nan Read, associate professor of sociology and global health, was instrumental in inviting Elliot to come speak.

“Often when you follow what’s going on in the Muslim world you hear the same voices again and again,” Read said. “The great thing about Andrea is that she frames things in new and unique ways.”

Sophomore Nicki Adler said she enjoyed the lecture.

“I had read a lot of her articles for our class, ‘Islam and the Media,’ so I was familiar with her,” Adler said. “Every time I see her, I like her more. She is incredibly articulate and has really great advice for anyone that’s interested in journalism.”

e t a g h Nort ooks B

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Northgate Books is a Used Books Superstore, located in Northgate Mall. It has over 5,000 square feet of used, rare, and out-ofprint books at affordable prices. Author Book Signings, free Wi-Fi, coffee, and comfortable seating available.

Book Exchange / Fine & Used Books Hours: Monday thru Saturday 10 am - 9 pm Sunday Noon - 6 pm

4 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle

Sakai pilot BSA President Asante defends BSAI gets positive feedback duke student government

by Joanna Lichter THE CHRONICLE

For the first time in recent years, the president of the Black Student Alliance addressed Duke Student Government at its meeting Tuesday night.

BSA President Nana Asante, a junior, spoke before DSG to publicly respond to a letter to the editor published Monday in The Chronicle. Sophomore Brandon Locke’s letter, “A week of segregation,” analyzed the effectiveness of the Black Student Alliance Invitational weekend, an annual recruitment event

for black prospective students, from a personal standpoint.

Asante said she felt there were “blatant inaccuracies” in the letter—namely referring to Locke’s statement that prospective students are hosted exclusively by black students—and she added that BSAI is one of the most effective tools for black student recruitment. BSAI brought about 130 high school seniors to Duke’s campus March 24 to March 27.

“We have a continuously and overwhelmingly positive response to BSAI in [its] effectiveness in promoting and

showing black culture at Duke,” Asante said. “Black culture is Duke culture....

We find no shame in promoting this culture, especially at Duke, where we are a minority.”

Asante was motivated to speak at the meeting by the controversy Locke’s letter generated, as well as its potential effect on the impending DSG elections.

Asante said she feels all the candidates—especially those running for the positions of president and executive vice president—should be informed about BSAI and form an educated opinion on the recruitment weekend before seeking endorsements.

“We are often worried that BSA can become a form of political bait,” Asante said, in reference to securing endorsements. “We don’t find it in the best interest of the BSA... to have any representative of the student body to be anything less than informed.”

Senior Greg Halperin, an academic affairs senator, challenged Asante’s assertion that BSAI promotes an all-encompassing picture of Duke culture. Halperin largely agreed with Locke’s letter stating that the weekend promotes racial restriction and self-segregation. Halperin claimed that BSA perpetuates a culture of separation at Duke by specifically targeting black students.

In response to Halperin’s comment, Asante asserted that BSAI significantly contributes to racial diversity at Duke by

tyler seuc/The Chronicle

In response to a letter to the editor critical of the Black Student Alliance Invitational weekend, which took place March 24 to 27, BSA president Nana Asante spoke before DSG to defend the event’s integrity.

WOODSmont

10th Annual WOODSmont Kids Carnival

April 2nd, 1-4pm, Back Yard Lawn (across from Whole Foods) There will be Games, Arts and Crafts, a raffle, and free food and t-shirts. Bring your kids for a fun afternoon in the sun.

For more information, contact Jocelyn at jao13@duke.edu

See DSg on page 6

by Brandon Levy THE CHRONICLE

After three years using Blackboard Academic Suite, Duke is preparing to upgrade.

A mid-term survey of participants using using a new piece of software, Sakai Collaboration and Learning Environment, in place of Blackboard has yielded “generally positive” feedback, wrote Lynne O’Brien, director of academic technology and instruction services for Perkins Library, in a March 29 email. She added that the instructors will be asked to evaluate their experience with Sakai at the end of the semester.

“As we continue to gather information from faculty and students, we will be modifying our version of Sakai and integrating it with other tools to provide the best possible support for teaching and learning at Duke,” O’Brien wrote.

At the beginning of the semester, 11 Spring 2011 courses began using Sakai as part of a pilot program, which aims to gauge student and professor satisfaction with the software. At the end of the semester, the instructors of these classes and their roughly 400 total students will provide feedback about Sakai, which the University hopes to have all classes using

by July 2012.

See sakai on page 7

the chronicle

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | 5

Parties begin negotiating budget agreement

by Paul Kane

the washington post

WASHINGTON, D.C. — After weeks of arguing, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill began negotiations Wednesday on a possible budget agreement that would slash federal spending by as much as $33 billion and avert a government shutdown.

“We’re all working off the same number now,” Vice President Joe Biden told reporters after meeting with Senate Democratic leaders at the Capitol on Wednesday evening. “Obviously, there’s a difference in the composition of that number—what’s included, what’s not included. It’s going to be a thorough negotiation.”

If approved, the deal would be the largest single-year budget cut in U.S. history.

Lawmakers in both parties are eager to reach such a compromise, which would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year, in September, and end the stopgap spending resolutions that have kept Washington operating a few weeks at a time since last fall. The current short-term measure will expire on April 8, and congressional leaders have said they don’t want to pass another one.

The two sides have already agreed on $10 billion in cuts; now, the House and Senate appropriations committees are searching for an additional $23 billion to extract from the budget, according to lawmakers and aides from both parties.

“We’re going to try to find some common ground,” House Appropriations Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., told reporters. “It’s going to take some time.... [But] the

class of 2015 from page 1 percent range and is aiming for 1,705 incoming students­­ —a slight decrease from last year’s large class of 1,750.

“We always have an exact target,” Guttentag said.

“We don’t expect to be able to hit the nail right on the head, but we always like to have a number that we’re shooting for. The size of the student body and the size of the class is determined by the Trustees [and] the Allen Building.”

This year, Duke received 29,689 applications, which represents an 11 percent increase from last year’s pool and a 46 percent increase from three years ago. This year’s high number of applicants required the admissions department to hire more first readers to get through applications more quickly and efficiently. The swell of applications also affected prospective students as some experienced technical difficulties logging on to the online portal where decision were posted. While some were able to access their decisions at exactly 6 p.m., others had to wait almost an hour until they knew Duke’s final answer.

“It was the longest two minutes of my life,” said Aneesha Sehgal, an accepted student from Cary, N.C. “I’ve been a Dukie since I was born, so it’s in my blood.”

Among those offered admission, California and North Carolina are the most represented states, followed by New York, Florida and Texas, Guttentag said. He added that overseas would be considered number two in the list if it were considered one state.

“In the ways that we measure whether [the incoming class] is geographically diverse, whether it’s by citizenship, ethnicity, all the different imperfect ways that one measures diversity, I expect that this class will be pretty similar to the classes that preceded it,” Guttentag said.

Duke’s admissions decisions were released one hour after Ivy League schools released their decisions, though Duke does not consult those schools when determining its release time, Guttentag said. Compared to Duke’s 12.6 percent admit rate, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University and Cornell University recorded 12.3 percent, 6.2 percent and 18 percent acceptance rates, respectively.

Melissa Chieffe, an accepted student from Ohio, said she was surprised by Duke’s low acceptance rate this year but understands given the rates of peer institutions. “[The admit rate] is lower than I thought—that’s pretty crazy—but I’ve seen other news stories and it seems like a ton of schools have really low acceptance rates this year,” she said.

Cheiffe and her peers have until May 1 to decide whether or not to becoming a Blue Devil. For those who want to learn more about the University, Blue Devil Days, a recruiting program for admitted students that showcases Duke’s academic and extracurricular opportunities, will be held four times in the coming month: April 11-12, April 14-15, April 17-18 and April 25-26.

leadership has said for us to get started.”

Congressional leaders cautioned that no final deal has been reached. The talks could break down over disputes about how much to cut and from where.

Some conservative House Republicans - led by freshmen who came to Washington on a promise to shrink the government - have said they would reject any proposal that falls short of the $61 billion in reductions the House approved on a party-line vote last month. Senate Democrats immediately rejected that measure.

“There have been discussion for weeks, and those discussions are continuing,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. “There’s no agreement, and nothing will be agreed to until everything is agreed to.”

The progress in the negotiations came on the eve of Thursday’s planned rally by tea party activists on the Cap-

itol lawn, with leaders of the conservative movement calling for no compromise with President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Senate. Republican strategists have privately suggested that conservative grass-roots voters would be more supportive of a deal that significantly reduced spending, even if it had Obama’s blessing.

House Republicans fear that a significant number of their rank-and-file lawmakers could view a compromise with Democrats as a retreat. In the event that Boehner loses the support of two dozen or more of his GOP colleagues, he could turn to moderate Democrats for support on a final spending package.

GOP leaders met privately with a bloc of moderate Democrats, but they stressed Wednesday that those talks focused mostly on longer-term deficit reduction and entitlement reform—the larger fiscal issues awaiting congressional action once they clear the funding fight for this year.

Department of Asian & Middle Eastern Studies Exciting courses for area studies during Fall 2011 For more information please contact 668-2603 *NEW* AMES 117S North Korea: Politics, Economics and Culture Critical examination of the political and economic with social, cultural, and religious dimensions of North Korea. Topics includes North Korea’s leadership, religious aspects of the North Korean Juche ideology, the daily lives of its citizens, the Korean War, nuclear development and missiles, North Korean defectors and refugees in other Asian countries, human rights, international relationships, and unification. Professor Hwansoo Kim

AMES 150S Al-Qaeda’s Terrorism Focus on Al-Qaeda, its roots, ideology, and its terrorism. Examination of Al-Qaeda’s ideology, political culture, and development by exploring the narrative discourse of modern Islamic organizations, expanding from the Salfi Movement of the nineteenth century to the current uprising in the Middle East. Presentation of the patterns and ramifications of Al-Qaeda’s terrorist activities. Use critical thinking in order to differentiate Muslim proper narrative discourse from that of Al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups. Professor Mbaye Lo

*NEW* AMES 157 Chinese Im/Migration: Chinese Migrant Labor and Immigration to the US This course presents a comparative examination of contemporary China’s “floating population” of migrant labor, together with the parallel phenomenon of Chinese immigration to the US. We will focus cultural representation of these phenomena--particularly literary, cinematic, and artistic works--but sociological, anthropological, economic, and political perspectives will also be considered.

Topics include cultural alienation, marginalization, and assimilation; education and health care; labor and commodification; gender and ethnicity; narratives of modernization and development; together with the ethical, social, and political implications of migration. Professor Carlos Rojas

AMES 167 Trauma & Passion – Korean Culture Representations of passion and trauma in Korean society and history through various cultural media including literature, historical texts, autobiographies, film, and other visual media. In dealing with historical traumas such as the Korean War, Japanese colonization, Western imperialism and political upheavals, sub-topics to include war, love, melodrama, nationalism, ideological strife and longing and loss. Professor Young Eun Chae

AMES 170 Indian Cinema Sources of vitality in twentieth and twenty-first century Indian cinema. The resilience of popular cinema in the face of Hollywood. Narrative and non-narrative expressive forms in folk and high culture in India. Guru Dutt, Satyajit Ray, Ritwik Ghatak, Mani Kaul, Aamir Khan, and others. Professor Satti Khanna

AMES 173S Gender Jihad: Women Islam & Arab Culture Feminism’s relationship to Islam during and after European colonialism. Sources of and responses to stereotypes of “oppressed Muslim women.” Examination of feminist literary and filmic projects in contemporary Muslim societies. Focus on women as producers of culture and as social critics. Professor miriam cooke

AMES 195.02 Special Topics: Arabian Nights in the West The course aims at introducing the student to the most popular world literature in the West; The One Thousand and One Nights which presents fairy tales, romances, fables, legends, parables, and adventures. The Night’s narrative techniques have appeared in Boccaccio’s The Decameron and Chaucers’ Canterbury Tales .The structure of frame story, in the three works, will be examined in a comparative analysis. Professor Abdul Sattar Jawad

AMES 195.03 Special Topics: Understanding the Middle East The course aims at introducing the students to the politics, cultures, and socioeconomic concerns of the contemporary Middle East. What are the ideological, political, and cultural trajectories of future American and European relations with Turkey, Israel, and the Arab countries, will be exposed to a wide variety of texts and films, from Morocco to Iraq and the Gulf States. Professor Abdul Sattar Jawad

6 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle

dsg from page 4 attracting black students to the University, adding that it does not make sense to recruit a majority population.

“To have a white student recruitment weekend would only reflect one’s lack of knowledge... about [race] relations at Duke University,” Asante said.

In other business: DSG approved its annual budget for the 2011-2012 academic year after making minor adjustments. The budget was increased by more than 20 percent from last year—or from $67,000 to about $84,000—as some campus organizations were merged with DSG earlier this

year, said DSG Treasurer Alex Wang, a senior.

DSG is now responsible for funding the Inferno, which is the official student club of Duke Athletics, and the Duke University Student Dining Advisory Committee, as well as for expenses previously covered by Campus Council, which will merge with DSG next academic year. Students groups, though, can receive funds from other venues.

Additionally, senior Max Tabachnik, outgoing chair of the Student Organization Finance Committee, presented the funding requests from several student organizations, highlighting the importance of their upcoming on-campus events. DSG voted to allocate funds to the Duke Chinese Dance Troupe, Kappa Phi Lambda sorority and Mi Gente for their respective programming.

Visit bigblog.dukechronicle.com

nevins from page 1 He said he initially thought that the disagreements were about the statistical methods used to evaluate the data not the validity of the studies. He believed that Duke researchers in his group at the IGSP addressed those concerns by adjusting their methodology.

Nevins said he was also heartened when other studies appeared to confirm the initial findings. But he eventually learned that all the studies—focused on determining whether individuals would respond to cancer treatments— also had problems in their underlying data.

Duke’s reaction to criticism about the research was the focus of some harsh words from the chair of the IOM committee.

Dr. Gilbert Omenn, director of the University of Michigan Medical School Center for Computational Medicine and Biology, criticized the “dismissive nature” of Duke’s response to the complaints.

“The lack of investigations when things were brought up raises the question of how do you deal with something that looks too good to be true and might be,” he said. “It went on for three to four years until the problem was acknowledged. That’s something that’s got to be dealt with internally, I think.”

Nevins disagreed with Omenn’s characterization of Duke’s response.

“I frankly would suggest that the institution did a very good job of addressing this, of paying attention to the issues that were raised,” he said. “I fully appreciate the extent to which this has had a very negative impact on investigators not only outside of Duke, but also within Duke.”

More data issues Still, Duke scientists were conducting clinical trials based on the flawed research until a July 2010 report in the Cancer Letter, an independent newsletter, revealed that Potti had falsified portions of his resume, including falsely claiming to be a Rhodes Scholar.

Following that revelation, enrollment in the clinical trials was halted and investigations into Potti’s work, some of which were already underway, gained new energy. Duke reviewers, including Nevins, soon found more data issues.

“Further analyses revealed corruption of multiple datasets compiled by Dr. Potti,” a Duke background report provided to the IOM committee states.

In at least one case, the incorrect data provided support for Potti’s research, but the correct data did not.

Potti resigned Nov. 19 and accepted responsibility for the problems in his research. A research misconduct investigation, which may answer questions about how the errors in the data occurred, is ongoing. The clinical trials have since been stopped, and four papers based on data handled by Potti were retracted.

Lessons from the Potti affair Nevins offered several lessons from the Potti affair as the IOM committee considers its implications for future research.

He said it is important to ensure the accuracy of all data used in clinical trials, possibly by using software that ensures that data is not manipulated. He noted, however, that it can be difficult to prevent malicious individuals from modifying data.

Nevins also recommended that researchers make public all the information they use to draw their conclusions.

“Ensuring that all data, methods and software are made available in publications is a must,” he said. “To the extent that we didn’t do so, it was a mistake.”

However, many panel members said that making all experimental data publicly available is unrealistic, because it would take up a lot of digital storage space.

“The issue is that we are generating more data than we can actually store,” said Veronique Kiermer, executive editor and head of researcher services for Nature Publishing Group.

“What data do we store, and what can we afford to lose?”

The massive quantity of data that scientists are generating poses other challenges as well.

Scott Zeger, vice provost for research at Johns Hopkins University, said the amount of data that scientists are generating is growing much faster than researchers’ ability to interpret or store it. Ultimately, he said, more data does not necessarily help researchers or doctors gain a better understanding of how to treat patients.

Zeger noted that Duke has one of the best approaches to genomics studies, combining researchers from many disciplines in the IGSP and encouraging them to collaborate with each other. Often, institutions do not provide enough financial support for genomics research because it does not fit well into any established academic department.

“In some ways, Duke was a model,” Zeger said. “The question to you is what went wrong.... Was it a misunderstanding about the science or a bad actor that got in the way?”

the chronicle

sakai from page 4 Although only 93 students responded to the recent survey, 41 of them reported their experience has been “good,” while 12 described it as “excellent.” Only 6 students reported their experience as “fair” and 18 as “poor,” but because 8 of the students who reported bad experiences are in one class, O’Brien believes their problems may be linked to a specific issue in that course.

The main advantage Sakai has over Blackboard is that it is an open-source program, O’Brien wrote. Using open-source software means that rather than paying a licensing fee to a company in return for a product, the University will receive the program’s original source code—which can then be altered to meet the University’s needs.

Keith Wilhite, a lecturing fellow in the Thompson Writing Program whose Writing 20 class is participating in the pilot program, wrote in a March 29 email that he uses Sakai extensively for his course and has had a positive experience with it so far.

“Sakai seems more flexible than Blackboard as a full course management site and organization platform,” he said. “More importantly, from my perspective, my students seem to find the interface more user-friendly.”

Isalyn Connell, a freshman in Wilhite’s class, also praised the interface, adding that it is also more aesthetically pleasing than Blackboard’s. Her favorite Sakai feature is the syllabus function, which allows the instructor to post an online syllabus and attach links to downloadable readings and class assignments within it.

“The syllabus function on Sakai is a lot better than anything Blackboard has to offer,” Connell wrote in a March 28 email. “It is a lot easier to find things and know exactly what is due when.”

Connell said she also enjoyed Sakai’s calendar function, which combines the syllabi from all of a student’s classes into a single calendar.

Owen Astrachan, a professor of the practice in the computer science department whose CompSci 6 class is participating in the pilot, had a more difficult time with Sakai.

Because the pilot Sakai program is hosted at the University of North Carolina, participating Duke students need

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | 7

to use special login names to access Sakai instead of their NetIDs and passwords. This made username and password recovery a complex process if a student’s login was lost, prompting Astrachan to switch back to Blackboard early in the semester.

“If I was going to have that complex process for even five people, that was going to be more of a headache that

it’s worth,” he said.

Astrachan emphasized that his return to Blackboard had nothing to do with the functionality of Sakai, which he said worked fine. He added that he looks forward to using it in the Fall when it is integrated with Duke’s systems, though he said he believes some instructors will have an easier time than others switching to Sakai.

eliza bray/The Chronicle

This Spring, 11 classes participated in a pilot program using Sakai, which administrators say they hope will replace Blackboard by July 2012.

DUKE BASEBALL vs. GEORGIA TECH ACC BASEBALL AT THE DURHAM BULLS ATHLETIC PARK

Friday, April 1st at 6pm Saturday, April 2nd at 2pm Sunday, April 3rd at 1pm All Three Games at the DBAP in Downtown Durham.

Get on the Bus with Duke Baseball this Spring!!

Free Rides on Friday and Saturday! **Inferno Points will be given and Free T-Shirts will be given to the first 250 fans in attendance at Friday’s Game** Tickets: $5.00 for Duke Employees, and Free For Duke Student with Duke Student ID For More Information: Please call the Durham Bulls Ticket Office at 956-BULL.

Take the Bull City Connector Eastbound to American Tobacco

1. Flowers Dr. at Trent Dr. (Eastbound) 2. Trent Dr. at Erwin Rd. (Westbound) 3. Erwin Rd. at Anderson St. (Eastbound) Erwin Rd. at Fifteenth St. (Westbound) 4. Erwin Rd. at Alexander Ave. 5. Erwin Rd. at Pettigrew St. (Eastbound) 6. Main St. at Swift Ave. (Eastbound) Main St. at Iredell St. (Westbound) 7. Main St. at Campus Dr. 8. Main St. at Buchanan Blvd. (Eastbound) Main St. at Watts St. (Westbound) 9. Main St. at Albemarle St. 10. Main St. at Gregson St. 11. Durham Train Station (Eastbound) Main Street at Fuller Street (Westbound) 12. American Tobacco Willard St. at Jackson St.

8 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle

vp from page 1 Gurzynski, who ran unsuccessfully for the position of interim vice president of residential life and dining in March, said he hopes to improve campus culture by dealing with inequities in residential life, improving the freshman dining experience and increasing accessibility to nutritional information. He also hopes to improve the perception of Central Campus.

“Right now you have an inequity between the living experience for [students in] selective living groups and independents,” said Gurzynski, an independent. “I think you need to make them equal.”

He noted that he hopes to ensure that the number of students allowed to block on campus remains high and added that he supports the inclusion of sororities in the new house model as well as a smoking ban on campus.

In achieving his goals of reforming freshman dining, Gurzynski proposed allowing freshmen to use their meal swipes at Trinity Cafe more often and adding more venues to the Marketplace. He hopes to utilize social media to obtain student input on food options beyond what the Duke University Student Din-

ing Advisory Committee already offers.

Gurzynski said his status as a freshman running against two juniors is an advantage because of the long-term nature of dealing with residential life policy.

“I will be able to plan, implement and evaluate the house model—I think that is something you are going to really need,” he said.

Moskowitz, who is campaigning from abroad because he is on a service mission in Ethiopia and Israel, also noted the need to enhance the living experience for independent and selective houses, citing his involvement in greek life and in a quad council. He added that the housing process for students studying abroad needs to be simplified and more clearly defined and that he aims to improve the system by which houses in the new model are evaluated.

He added that the University should provide more incentives to encourage students to live on Central.

“Renovations to apartments are only one piece of the pie,” Moskowitz wrote in a March 29 e-mail. “Despite efforts from the administration, there is still a stigma that is associated with Central.”

Moskowitz also mentioned the need to

push for healthier eateries on campus.

“Fast food culture has taken over campus, and there are very few places where you can sit down and eat a healthy, wellbalanced meal,” he said.

Like many other candidates, Osa also took the position of ensuring that discussions of the house model are “rooted in equality... and student input.” She added that improving the perception of Central will also be crucial for the success of the model, proposing subsidized bike rentals, increased use of van services and increased lighting—especially on Oregon Street.

“We do not want to create a model where people are... going to houses based on location,” Osa said, noting that housing placement should not affect a student’s involvement in campus life.

The University should also make the nutritional content of its food more accessible and increase its options for vegetarians and vegans, Osa said. She added that the freshman meal plan should be more flexible and should potentially include a swipe at the Devil’s Bistro on Central.

“I think [a Devil’s Bistro swipe] would help freshmen have a better understanding of Central... because most students

don’t know how to navigate Central until they live there,” she said.

Srebrev said he would hope to form an exploratory dining committee that would look into eating options on other campuses with “superior dining programs,” such as Virginia Tech and Cornell University.

He also emphasized the need to raise awareness about the actions of DSG, adding that he has already been involved in projects that seek to increase knowledge among freshmen.

“One thing I noticed is that the student government at Duke is not nearly as visible as what I imagined it to be,” Srebrev said.

“The administration is one huge obstacle to any sort of project, which is why I feel like [my] projects, while still in progress, have given me an incredible amount of experience in learning how to deal with the administration and its intricacies.”

Although he is an independent, Srebrev noted that he plans to work with the Interfraternity Council to ensure that the transition to the house model is as “seamless as possible” for fraternities, adding that he hopes the new model will foster greater collaboration between living groups and independents.

Wally Gurzynski

Jeremy Moskowitz

Esosa Osa

Philip Srebrev ted knudsen, Tyler seuc and melissa yeo/The Chronicle

THE UNIVERSITY & CULTURAL FUND FALL FUNDING CYCLE DEADLINE: MONDAY , APRIL 18, 5:00PM All DSG-recognized undergraduate organizations are eligible to apply Funding available for programs in the following categories: • Co-curricular education

• Non-alcohol social activity

• Health and safety

• Cross-cultural/collaborative

• Multiculturalism/diversity

• University/community service

APPLICATION To download the application or for more info, please visit: http://www.studentaffairs.duke.edu/mcc/resources/university-and-cultural-fund PROGRAM EVALUATIONS Program critiques from last year’s funded events must be submitted by Monday, April 18th as well. Eligibility for funding is contingent on submission of these event evaluations. Program evaluation forms can be found at: http://www.studentaffairs.duke.edu/mcc/resources/university-and-cultural-fund QUESTIONS Questions can be directed to Linda Capers (Asst. Director, Center for Multicultural Affairs) at lfc@duke.edu

Recess

volume 26 issue 13 march 31, 2011

THROWING UP THE DEUCES

Recess reviews new LPs from Wiz Khalifa and the Mountain Goats

CENTER

chelsea pieroni/The chronicle

pieces

Susan Alta Martin’s work on display at Golden Belt

page 3

watts project

jazz luminaries combine to play work of Jeff Watts

page 7

sucker punch

new Zack Snyder movie could use some Spartans

page 8

recess

theSANDBOX. At what point will a school’s acceptance rate drop to zero?

Duke accepted just 12.6 percent of applicants who applied this year. Penn took only 12.3 percent, Princeton 8.4 percent, Yale 7.4 percent and Harvard an obnoxiously low 6.2 percent (H8 you, Harvard).

It’s a record year! They’re the smartest, most qualified, most diverse group ever! There’s an award-winning sharp shooter who was born blind, a senior who has lived in all 50 states, a track star who ran a four-minute mile—then did it again backward!

Setting records is such a cliche, anyway.

It’s making us a little bit uncomfortable. We even tried to turn you away before you applied.

Don’t these kids read The New York Times, where Columbia proved their wit as an institution of “higher” learn-

ing with a huge drug bust? Didn’t they see that one Harvard student’s fake resume, or the other Harvard student who preferred to learn his pretenses at Andover? What about the list of classes at Stanford that showed some student-athletes just want to be athletestudents?

As for Duke, we proved we could “create a wildly distorted image” of the school. Our prez said it himself! Don’t they know how to open a PowerPoint file? Or read a Caitlin Flanagan article?

Either any press truly is good press, or the Class of 2015 outsmarted us.

(Maybe we should have expected it.)

They saw through our attempts to turn them away and realized that schools like Duke aren’t such bad places to attend after all.

See you at Blue Devil Days, overachievers.

—Taylor Doherty

[recesseditors] Our face tattoos: Kevin Lincoln.........................................................................................David Lynch Lisa Du....................................................................................................white rabbits Ross Green..........................................................................................AP Style Guide Andrew O’Rourke....................................................................................hipsta rims Sanette Tanaka..............................................................................frozen yogurt cup Maggie Love......................................................................................pig in rainboots Michaela Dwyer................................................................directions to Golden Belt Nate Glencer.................................................................................................a sundial Lindsey Rupp......................................................................................it’s temporary!

March 31, 2011

Mad Men has been delayed.

I hope you know what this means. For the last two years, after I caught up on the second season while sitting isolated in my hostel room in Belfast, stealing internet from the hallway, Mad Men has been a core part of my summer and gotten me through the first bend of each school year.

Like certain pieces of indelible art, the show has come to color in and frame whole blocks of my life. And now it’s been delayed, a casualty of success, mired in monetary disputes and disagreements over what characters may or may not be indispensable.

The one thing everyone agrees on is that creator Matthew Weiner is indispensable. So who can we spare? What sacrifices need be made to ensure the return of one of the greatest long-running narratives in culture?

A quick poll of my Mad Men-watching friends provides interesting feedback. Out of the six people I talked to, I received six different answers—a testament to the variety of emotions the show inspires in people.

Everyone favors different characters and subplots, as it should be with any effective multidimensional fiction. The results are: Roger Sterling, Lane Pryce, Harry Crane, Henry Francis, Betty Draper and Bert Cooper.

Naturally, nobody said Don—there wouldn’t be much of a show without him.

And Pete got away clean, which doesn’t surprise me, what with his endless entertainment value and the constant uncertainty as to whether he’ll play the hero or the villain. As did Peggy, probably Mad

editor’s note

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Music Venue

Men’s best character; Joan, its most charismatic; and Trudy, its most weirdly likeable.

Roger is a bold choice, and he’s always been my favorite, mainly because of his oldschool wit and terrible vulnerability. Without Lane, the show would lose its acerbic Brit. As events get farther into the future, one has to imagine that Harry, the television czar, will become even more important. Henry Francis has already proven far more interesting than I ever thought he would, and he provides a much-needed foil to Betty’s unhinged behavior. But, crazy as she is, Mad Men isn’t Mad Men without Betty Draper, the ultimate casualty—at least, at this point—of its vaunted, cigarette-burned chauvinism. And Cooper’s getting old, but he’s so damn funny.

The point here is that none of these figures are worth casting off, and I salute Weiner for fighting the powers that be, even if it does get me a little worried. Artists aren’t exactly at the height of their financial viability in the new decade, though television remains an arena in which writers can achieve a fair level of financial success and security.

Regardless, there are few shows on TV right now that inspire the same sort of fervent viewership and constant speculation that Mad Men does, and it has single-handedly made AMC one of the most cuttingedge producers of content in any medium.

I can’t see this stalemate going on too long.

That might just be wishful thinking. But if I have to contemplate lockouts in the NFL, NBA and Mad Men, all going on at the same time, I might lose my mind, so think of this as a self-protective measure.

For my money, I’d fire Roger Goodell.

—Kevin Lincoln

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March 31, 2011

Page 3

Pieces shows work of Susan Alta Martin

by Michaela Dwyer THE CHRONICLE

Aptly titled Pieces: Recent Work, Susan Alta Martin’s new photography and sculpture exhibit at Golden Belt demonstrates the artistic coherence of piecing together different mediums.

The one-room exhibit features a handful of works that range from mixed-media constructions to traditional framed photography.

Although diverse, the quality and content of the pieces emphasize themes of displacement and isolation in the face of typical sociality.

Martin’s focus on western North Carolina comes through most expressively in her representations of small towns and the effects of surface mining on the mountain landscape.

In a brief series titled “Main Streets,” Martin attached vibrant, true-to-life photographs of seemingly abandoned storefronts to flat surfaces—most likely cardboard boxes. The result is eerie: At first, the photographs seem a typical documentation of small-town U.S.A. But, upon closer inspection, one can notice that the edges of the photographs curl up along the cardboard “buildings,” and the works move farther from reality.

Martin’s other photographic works maintain the same unsettling vibe. In a collection called “2nd Floor Main Street,” Martin photographed regal chairs of years past in an abandoned hotel. The chairs sit strategically in opposition to a broken window or an open doorframe. They belong neither in the context of their photographs nor, it seems, in their original habitats—a hotel ballroom, the side of a bedroom table, a formal sitting room.

The exhibit’s most noticeable pieces, however, are Martin’s constructions, which combine digital photography, found ob-

jects and natural elements. The work in the center of the room, “Undone,” seemed too literal a depiction of mountaintop mining, and its obvious placement signaled the misguided intention to showcase this work as the exhibit’s culminating piece.

“Meth Lab,” a sculpture featured at the side of the room, is more nuanced and arguably a better embodiment of the exhibit’s title. “Meth Lab” features a three-dimensional photographic construction of a trailer amid the contents of a typical junkyard—bottles (a few Erlenmeyer flasks), cans and dirt. Trees made from chicken wire rise from the dirty ground. Some are wrapped with colored tape to signify their impending destruction, but in this context, the color of the tape reads as a more conscious artistic choice rather than a reflection of realistic tree-cutting practices.

The entire diorama-esque scene lies stilt-like atop an old-fashioned sidetable attached to the legs of another table. A curving root extends downward directly beneath the scene to reach a pile of dirt arranged on the floor.

Each component of the work fits with another despite the overall variety of artistic mediums. The scene seems familiar—and almost cliche—but it balances natural and industrial elements to render an overall environment that precludes superficial classification. The very piece-like nature of this exhibit makes us question the way we classify artwork in general.

With Pieces, Martin makes the point that even a singular work of art can be composed of many different pieces—each carrying meaning in different ways that ultimately reflect the essence of artistic synthesis and collaboration.

Pieces: Recent Work will run through May 22 at Golden Belt.

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On display at Golden Belt, Pieces: Recent Work includes new photography and sculptures from Susan Alta Martin, largely focusing on western North Carolina.

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RECESS INTERVIEWS HAMMER NO MORE THE FINGERS

Page 4

recess

Almost exactly two years after debut Looking for Bruce, the second LP from Durham’s own Hammer No More the Fingers, Black Shark, comes out April 5 on Churchkey Records, with a release show tomorrow at Motorco Music Hall starting at 9 p.m. Recess’ Kevin Lincoln spoke with bassist/vocalist Duncan Webster and guitarist Joe Hall about the new record, having fans in England and their pride in being part of the Triangle music scene.

How do your think your sound has changed since Looking for Bruce? Black Shark seems like more of a rock album.

Duncan Webster: I think it’s a little more open-sounding. At the time, we were jamming more often and, I don’t know, it has a lot more buildups; it’s a lot more dynamic. It has a groovier sort of feel to it, a bigger atmosphere.

Joe Hall: Just the flow in general—before we got into the studio, we demoed everything a lot and decided on an order. We just knew how the whole record was going to move. Track 5 [“Thunder n’ Rain”] has kind of an epic ending, so we were envisioning that as the end of side one, and you flip it over and it’s the beginning of side two. We were just more prepared, and it’s more mature and we’re a better band because we’ve been doing it for that much longer.

Right, you can definitely hear on Black Shark that you guys get into a groove, and this album seems a little more punk to me, too.

Last time we spoke, we talked a lot about the Durham-Chapel Hill scene and how you guys fit in, and I’m curious how that’s evolved.

DW: I feel like this is the best music

March 31, 2011

scene in America. It’s the best one I’ve encountered.

JH: I would definitely agree with that. I’d say we’re biased because we’re from here, but the amount of inspirational things going on here, not just

DW: There’s a lot for sure. Everybody’s other, all the bands and help each other and venues have a c the bands and local ar

music—Durham is totally on its way up.

It’s always been the dirty stepchild of the Triangle, but now I feel like people are really starting to appreciate it, with Motorco opening up and Fullsteam, the Skate Park, Marry Durham.

And you guys are goi this album drops?

DW: Yeah, we ha there called Inhaler R the second time we’v they put Looking for B

March 31, 2011

of Durham pride, friends with each get along and try r out. The bands close relationship, rtists.

ing to England after

ruary and we did a two-week tour. This time we’re going for three-and-a-half weeks, I think. We’re looking forward to getting over there more often, twice a year at least.

JH: I think rock is pretty big there, the kind of rock we play is pretty big.

There’s a lot of American bands who weren’t big here that went over there and did their thing and got huge.

DW: Everyone we know out there are sweethearts. This time we’re playing some pretty crazy venues… I have no idea what they expect. Maybe they know something we don’t know, maybe we’re huge over there (laughs).

So, you’re working on the next record— where do you see yourselves going from here?

DW: Just, keep touring, moving to England maybe? (laughs) JH: Our label over there is trying to convince us to move to London.

I’m definitely for it, we’ll see how our tour goes over there. We’re still young enough to just up and move and live wherever.

DW: But if we don’t, we’re hoping to get a booking agent and get on a larger label and do it how [Durham folk-rockers] Megafaun did it: play a ton, bust your ass.

JH: And we’ll be back in the studio this fall to record, hopefully a fulllength, but if not, an EP. I think we all are kind of upset that it took two years to put out something else; there’s no reason for it to take that long.

ave another label Records. This’ll be ve gone out there; Bruce out last Feb-

recess

z i w

Page 5

kha

lif a

the mountain goats all eternals deck 4ad

eeEEE

If John Darnielle’s not going to make you dance, he’ll at least make you think.

His band the Mountain Goats have made a career of performing an indie-folk/rock hybrid that is light on production and heavy on lyricism. Their new release, All Eternals Deck, is largely consistent with this pattern: Each of its 13 songs lay dense, cryptic, poetic lyrics atop relatively straightforward arrangements­—acoustic guitar, piano and drums. Eschewing narrative, Darnielle crafts songs that are rich in metaphor and imagery: “The compasses I came into this world with never really worked so good/Gentle shadows spilling down the hills up on Mulholland at Ledgewood,” he sings in his nasal warble on “Liza Forever Minnelli,” the album’s closer.

The music, though, often suffers due to the supreme emphasis placed on the words. Darnielle rarely strays from the punchy folk formula that characterizes much of the Goats’ catalogue. There are some highlights—the gentle groove of “Beautiful Gas Mask,” the lovely, plaintive blues of “Sourdoire Valley Song”—but by and large the album is not consistently compelling. Allegedly recorded in multiple studios under numerous producers, Decks boasts little variation to show for it. With the exception of higher production values than his earlier lo-fi boombox recordings, this is in many ways the same material that Darnielle and co. have been putting out for two decades.

This distinctive blend of folk and poeticizing made 2002’s Tallahassee and 2005’s The Sunset Tree great albums, but the formula is tired at this point. And though longtime fans may appreciate its familiarity, All Eternals Deck is simply too much of the same.

—Josh Stillman

wiz khalifa rolling papers atlantic

eeEEE

According to Wiz Khalifa, hip-hop’s latest weed-rap sensation, the title of his third album, Rolling Papers, doesn’t just allude to smoking weed. Instead, the Pittsburgh-based Wiz is trying to convince us that the name is a threefold reference to his stoner persona, his 2009 emancipation from Warner Brothers Records and the album’s freestyled, organic writing process. Unfortunately, that convoluted explanation is only a pretense to this lethargic follow-up to the 2010 mixtape Kush & Orange Juice.

“Black and Yellow,” the first single off the new album, is arguably Khalifa’s strongest track. Produced by Billboard Hot 100 veterans Stargate, the song stands out as a throwback to Wiz’s 2009 sophomore album Deal or No Deal, which was filled with loud, rhythmic beats and catchy

hooks. On Papers, however, “Black and Yellow” sounds like an oddity amid the low-energy, hazy feel that permeates the new album. Khalifa’s minimalist lyricism is reminiscent of Kid Cudi, but unlike the melodic Cudi, Wiz’s droning delivery sounds removed from the synth-heavy production. With no strong beat to support lines like, “I always knew I was this good/But I never knew I’d be this good,” from album closer “Cameras,” the rapper sounds immature and uninspired.

Khalifa’s appeal has nothing to do with the substance of his lyrics, as he proved on the marijuana-tribute mixtape Kush, but with no other outstanding elements on his new album, it’s easy to focus on his lackluster rhymes. Of course, none of this will impede his commercial success, as tracks like “Rooftops” and “No Sleep” sound like they were manufactured for repeated airplay. But if Wiz’s newest release is any indication of talent, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain of smoke.

—Katie Zaborsky

recess

Page 6

March 31, 2011

All I Need Is 1 Pen

limitless

dir. neil burger rogue

eeEEE

For a film based on Alan Glynn’s novel The Dark Fields, about a pill, unlimited brilliance and the nature of the human mind, one might expect Limitless to be similarly ingenious. Unfortunately, much like the pill, the movie’s thrilling effects wear off quickly.

On the surface, everything looks peachy for protagonist Eddie Morra, played by Bradley Cooper, a failed writer who comes across a pill (known as NZT) that allows him to access all of his brain, instead of the supposed 20 percent that others can use at any given time. With it, he becomes incredibly successful and turns his life into a high-powered fairy tale. Of course, what goes up must come down, and eventually he finds himself in a dilemma that only the pill can solve.

It’s a good premise—if slightly hazy on all the scientific facts—and has the inimitable Robert De Niro in a supporting role. Yet after those two pieces of advertising bait, the film, written by Leslie Nixon (The Thomas Crown Affair) and directed

by Neil Burger (The Illusionist), ultimately fails to deliver. The plot has holes miles wide and often picks up an interesting quandary only to waste it with a ridiculous solution. This is especially true of the ending, which is perhaps the biggest copout I’ve ever seen in a film. And De Niro is left stranded without a well-developed character to inhabit—he seems almost like a corollary to the main story.

Limitless does a few things well: It has a fast-paced charm about it that holds one’s attention, and the cinematography is appropriately creative and entertaining. But it’s almost certainly a one-time-only sort of experience.

Looks like Burger could have used a little NZT himself.

—Christina Malliris

Eliza bray/The Chronicle

Bruce Davenport’s All I Need Is 1 Pen is currently on display at the Franklin Center Gallery. The show, comprised of works on paper, deals with the culture of New Orleans, where Davenport lives.

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recess

March 31, 2011

Page 7

“Watts Project” convenes jazz luminaries

by Brian Contratto THE CHRONICLE

Those familiar with jazz know the names: Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton and Christian McBride. These musical legends will perform “Watts Project” this Friday in Page Auditorium as part of Duke Performances’ “Liars, Thieves and Big Shot Ramblers” series.

Although the performance will draw on the spirit of Watts’ 2009 release WATTS, the reconfigured cast of musicians will not be playing by the books. Jazz, after all, is an improvisational form of music; changing the players gives noticeable new flavor and personality, much like introducing an unexpected new ingredient to a familiar dish. And Grammy-winning jazz drummer Watts knows how to cook up a feast of sound.

“Watts plays with particular dynamism—there are people who play their instruments well, but he is a musician in a time when there are very few excellent musicians,” said Branford Marsalis, who played saxophone on WATTS. A piano-less jazz quartet, though unconventional, is not an especially new configuration and plays to the unique strengths of this all-star roster.

“The whole ensemble is more exposed. I think their voice is way more upfront [without a pianist]” said Director of Duke Performances Aaron Greenwald. “It reflects the composer—a sense of humor, a little anger, at times irony.”

Jazz musicians often specialize in projecting an aura of infinite coolness, and Watts is no exception. He has a mellifluous voice and a rhythmic cadence, eager but not urgent; he syncopates his statements with bits of unrestrained laughter. “Watts Project” seems to embody this personality.

Watts described the direction of the ensemble—pulled from blues, world and African music—while emphasizing the spontaneity of their expression, an approach similar to free and avant-garde jazz.

“I don’t want this talented collection [of musicians] to be locked into just trying to reproduce a certain vibe, because that’s going to limit the different flavors and colors they bring to the table,” Watts said. Jazz musicians of all instruments are now “a lot more rhythmically conscious, and at the same time... more lyrical.”

Expect the ‘Watts Project’ to play like an enthusiastic late night conversation between often estranged, yet well acquainted, talents. Although the topics might be outlined in advance—Coltrane on saxophone, McBride on bass, Payton on bass and Watts providing a drum fix—the conversation can go anywhere.

“Beyond playing the music very well, I also expect to be pleasantly surprised,” Watts said. “There’s certain things in art and music that you don’t want to know.”

Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton and Christian McBride will perform “Watts Project” this Friday in Page Auditorium at 8 p.m. Tickets are $32, $26 or $18 for the general public and $5 for Duke students and can be purchased at the Duke Box Office or tickets.duke.edu.

special to The Chronicle

The four artists will focus on Watts’ original compositions, including music from 2009 LP WATTS. Their performance will be largely improvisational and does not include a pianist.

special to The Chronicle

“Watts Project,” part of Duke Performances’ “Liars, Thieves and Big Shot Ramblers” series, brings together jazz musicians Jeff “Tain” Watts, Ravi Coltrane, Nicholas Payton and Christian McBride for a performance tomorrow night in Page Auditorium.

recess

Page 8

sucker punch

dir. zack snyder warner bros. pictures

eeEEE

Wow. What a mess.

Sucker Punch, the newest film from 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder, tells the story of a character named Baby Doll (Emily Browning), who is sent to a mental asylum to be lobotomized by her lecherous and murderous stepfather. Along with four other women—Blondie (Vanessa Hudgens), Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish), Rocket (Jena Malone) and Amber (Jamie Chung)—Baby Doll tries to escape. The on-screen events play out in two different alternate-realities: a burlesque world in which the girls are prisoners and another where the girls participate in sci-fi battles. Unfortunately for Snyder, this is no Inception.

The biggest problem with the film is the screenplay.

There’s a good story buried in here, but Snyder fails to realize it. The theme of living inside your head is a captivating one, and the concept that what happens in your

imagination can affect the real world is even more intriguing. But Snyder has little gift for building suspense or developing characters, and he fills the solid framework with predictable plot twists and heavy-handed scenes of abuse.

Ironically, the action and fantasy scenes—which have become Snyder’s calling card—work against him here.

The inclusion of expensive and impressive fantasy elements only makes the story in the real world seem more boring. It’s hard to make a 20-minute battle sequence in space a metaphor for walking three feet and stealing a knife from someone’s pocket. Inevitably, the audience is going to want to stay in that fantasy world, where at least something happens.

The only justification for Snyder to maintain the burlesque story-line—which is awful—is that he said he was trying to make a statement about female empowerment.

The violence toward the girls, however, fails to connect any of the desired strength or defiance to the characters’ actions. Unlike Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Snyder’s use of excess does little to confront these questions of gender inequity.

—Sarah Zuk

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Waddell’s FHI exhibition contemplates use of light

by Andrew Hibbard THE CHRONICLE

Local artist Stacy Lynn Waddell’s new exhibition UltraSuper—part of the Franklin Humanities Institute’s yearlong exhibition series of African American, Caribbean and Diaspora arts—is a dynamic environment of sound, light and space. She makes excellent use of FHI’s small gallery space to explore the relation of social identities in postmodern, post-everything American society.

The artist squeezes three podium-mounted slide-reel projectors into a pop-up photo studio shrouded in a dark mylar curtain. Not quite claustrophobic, the space is tight. Riddled with the erratic clicks of transition slides and switches of light, the installation creates an air of rhythmic tension as bursts of illumination come and go and abstract images flash on a screen.

The installation displays an apt formalism. Almost in a painterly manner, Waddell projects light into space, modeling the gallery through high-contrast streams of darkness and light. Our sense of environment and place emerges through these contrasting blasts of light. We feel space through whole-body sensations rather than visual perception.

The exhibition statement imbues UltraSuper with an identitarian charge, asking what is made visible and invisible through the manipulation of light. By conflating darkness and blackness, Waddell forces us to critically examine how light and ways of seeing create identities and spaces in American culture.

Crucially, UltraSuper explores blackness as a space of high contrast between light and dark. This hyperbolic gesture demands us to better understand our situation in the world by critically examining sensorial experiences. Space emerges through the contrast of senses in dynamic changes between dark and light, silent and loud. Yet these silences and darknesses are not empty but filled with meaning.

In our spectacular culture of blaring illumination and postmodern excess, Waddell’s exploration of darkness is about more than racial identity and relation. It is a call to explore the forgotten and hidden, the invisible and unfelt corners of the world which slip between the cracks. Waddell invites us to come into contact with the process of how the world is mediated and represented.

But an exercise in analysis and ekphrasis cannot quite do justice to this work. After all, there is no substitution for sensing—and not just seeing—the sensational.

UltraSuper is on display at the Franklin Humanities Institute in Smith Warehouse through April 15.

Sports

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The Chronicle

ONLINE

THURSDAY March 31, 2011

Read the final segment of our look back at the men’s basketball season An analysis of the Duke recruits’ performance in the McDonald’s All-American game

www.dukechroniclesports.com

McCrory not one to save best dives for last

by Tom Gieryn THE CHRONICLE

Next weekend, Purdue diver David Boudia will travel more than 600 miles, from Indiana down to Durham.

It might seem an odd destination for Boudia, who last weekend finished second in the platform event at the NCAA Championships—to Duke’s Nick McCrory.

When Boudia gets to campus, though, the pair will be teammates for a change, but even as they hone the precise teamwork required for synchronized diving, they’ll still be competing.

“Even when we practice,” McCrory said, “everything’s a competition. We’ll be getting ready to do something synchro, and we usually do one or so of each of our dives individually before we do it at the same time, so we’ll turn that little individual into a competition round in practice.”

And last weekend, the latest chapter in a “friendly competition”—which began in junior diving and continued through last year’s NCAA Championships—was written in Minneapolis,

Minn. It was McCrory who took center stage, as he emerged with his second NCAA title in his two years at Duke.

Boudia entered the finals of the platform competition as the favorite, advancing out of the preliminary rounds as the top seed. The Boilermaker hoped to add to his trophy haul after capturing both the one-meter and three-meter diving titles earlier in the week.

Lurking one place behind him, though, was longtime friend and foe McCrory. The situation was fairly familiar for McCrory, who went into the finals of last year’s NCAA Championships as the third seed, again looking up at the No. 1 seed Boudia.

McCrory said he enjoys going into a competition seeded second, since each round of dives proceeds in reverse order of seeding. So McCrory dove second-to-last, ahead of Boudia.

“I like being in that position going into a final because that means I get to put pressure on the last diver every round,” McCrory said.

And McCrory applied plenty of pressure Chronicle FILE PHOTO

See CHAMP on page 11

Nick McCrory won his second national championship in platform diving behind a dominant first attempt.

Strategy change propels Ward to national title

by Andy Moore THE CHRONICLE

Chronicle FILE PHOTO

Becca Ward made a key tactical adjustment in her NCAA Championship bout against Princeton’s Eliza Stone.

Becca Ward has come far since that fateful morning when, as a nine-year-old, she accidently walked into a fencing class at her local rec center. She was just trying to find the pool, but she signed up for fencing lessons anyway.

Wednesday, the Duke junior reflected on that unlikely beginning, as well as the newest accomplishment in her decorated career—a second national championship that should go well with her two Olympic bronze medals.

And yes, if you were wondering, the second NCAA title was better than the first.

“Everyone seemed a lot more excited after this championship,” Ward said. “I know the school better and the people better, and it was a little more for Duke because I understood the significance.”

Ward’s road to her second national championship did not come easy. In the first day of competition last Saturday, Ward went 10-4, a middling record by the fencer’s lofty standards. She chalked the four losses up to focusing too much on what results her wins might have. In fencing, Ward explained, the sheer quickness of the sport means you always have to stay in the moment.

“You have to be so focused and adaptive,” she said.

Sunday would bring much more success.

While Ward entered the day in fifth place, she won nine straight bouts in the morning round robin to move up to second and qualify for the semifinals.

In the semis, Ward faced someone she has known for years—Harvard’s Caroline

Vloka, a close friend and competitor during Ward’s entire career. The fencer said she faced Vloka in the finals of the Y12, Y14 and Junior Championships. They also squared off in the 2006 Cadet World Championships. The two grew up together, traveling the world to compete at elite fencing events.

But while Ward and Vloka may be friendly, they’ve had several intense battles, especially over the past three years. In Ward’s freshman year, she topped Vloka 15-4 to win the saber national championship. Last year, Vloka exacted revenge on Ward in the championship match, coming out on top in a close 15-13 match.

The pendulum in the rivalry would swing back Ward’s way Sunday. She beat Vloka 15-11 and moved on to the finals where Princeton’s Eliza Stone awaited.

“I always want [Vloka] to do well,” Ward said, “but there’s still the underlying [factor]: I need to beat you in the end.”

In the finals, Ward started strong against Stone, jumping out to a 7-2 lead. The Blue Devil faltered at the midway point of the match, though, a tendency she has shown throughout her career. The lapse allowed Stone to catch up, and the two fencers were soon tied at 12.

Ward decided then to switch up her strategy. Stone had slowed down her attack, ensuring that Ward was repeatedly forced to make the first move. Ward decided, though, that the Tiger would stop pushing her to attack, and See WARD on page 10

10 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle

WARD from page 9 she would capitalize on the mistakes Stone was certain to make.

It paid off. Ward rallied for three straight points, topping Stone for the title and capping another All-American year.

On Tuesday, Ward broke down how she changed her strategy with the clinical precision of a chess player.

“At 12-12 it kicked in,” she said. “I started off strong, then let it slip, and I realized what she had done to change her strategy and I changed to match it.

“It proved effective in the end.”

With the season over, Ward looks forward to foregoing training for the Olympics—she decided some time ago not to compete in 2012, and 2016 is “not on the priority list” (but it’s still a possibility). She plans to continue light training while interning in Washington D.C. this summer as part of DukeEngage.

And if she ever enters a rec center while there, you never know what will happen.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Smith’s steady play fueled Duke

by Chris Cusack THE CHRONICLE

Learning to play without Kyrie Irving was like beginning a whole new season.

The Blue Devils struggled to find an identity in the post-Irving era, shuffling through every conceivable starting lineup in the beginning of the ACC season.

Initially, Nolan Smith shifted over to point guard while Andre DawkSeason and Seth Curry battled for the Lookback: ins last vacant perimeter starting spot.

Freshman Tyler Thornton also Part two briefly saw his minutes increase at the beginning of conference play, letting Smith return to his natural position on the wing on offense.

Meanwhile, Ryan Kelly, who had put on 25 pounds of muscle during the offseason, began to see his hard work pay off. After starting most of the team’s games in the fall, Kelly came off the bench for a three-game span in December before returning to the first five just one game before the Blue Devils’ ACC opener against Miami. The sophomore used his vastly-improved post game and perimeter shooting to keep the starting job for the rest of the regular season.

Throughout all of the lineup turmoil, though, Duke kept afloat on Smith’s back. The senior emerged as the most dangerous scoring threat in the conference behind what quickly became his hallmark: a crossover dribble and first step quick enough to leave even top defenders reeling. Smith quickly began posting the highest scoring totals of his career, even as he became the primary distributor on offense.

“I have to step up, run the show, lead these guys, even more than I’ve been trying to do,” Smith said after the Blue Devils crushed Bradley in Irving’s first game out. “I have to be more of a facilitator for these guys to get them involved and at the same time, stay effective.”

Smith averaged 23.3 points and 5.9 assists per game through the first month of ACC play as he began his quest to be the first player in history to lead the conference in both scoring and assists. Except for a minor road bump against Florida State in Tallahassee, the Blue Devils continued to find ways to win.

That is, until they went up to New York City to take on St. John’s in the building Smith playfully coined “Cameron North,” Madison Square Garden. The Red Storm blew out Duke 93-78 in a game that still was not as close as the score indicated. The contest exposed the Blue Devils’ most glaring weaknesses: a one-dimensional offense and absence of low-post play.

Smith had 32 points on 10-of-19 shooting, while none of his teammates scored over seven points except Kyle Singler. The reigning Final Four Most Outstanding Player scored 20 points on just 7-of-17 shooting, including an abysmal 1-of-7 from beyond the arc. The problem ran far deeper than simply one game, though, as the senior’s shooting funk from the perimeter lingered throughout the entire season. After posting a 39.9 shooting clip from 3-point range as a junior, his field goal percentage from deep dipped all the way down to 31.6 this season.

Making matters worse, he could no longer rely on Brian Zoubek—the nation’s most effective offensive rebounder a season ago, according to statistician Ken Pomeroy—to corral errant shots. The Blue Devils’ offensive rebounding percentage dropped from 40.3 last season to 34.8 this season, or from seventh to 82nd nationwide.

See LOOKBACK on page 11

COURTNEY DOUGLAS/Chronicle FILE PHOTO

Nolan Smith was a constant scoring threat for the Blue Devils this year, tallying double figures in every regular season game except for one.

the chronicle

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | 11

CHAmp from page 9

LOOKBACK from page 10

from the outset, as he nailed his first dive, completing a remarkable four-and-a-half somersaults as he traversed the ten meters from platform to pool. Combine his topnotch execution with the dive’s incredible 3.7 degree of difficulty, and he netted 101.75 points and a commanding 23.35-point lead after just one dive.

“It’s interesting that I put that dive first because normally people will save their highest degree of difficulty for the end,” McCrory said. “I like putting that dive first because I just like competing it. It’s fun to do, to get the adrenaline going.”

He made the decision to move the dive to the front of his program last year, and he says it “has really paid off.”

Two other divers attempted the dive in the finals as well, but both of them used it as their last dive. McCrory’s performance on the dive nearly exceeded that of both of the other competitors combined: Boudia scored 79.55 points for it, and Texas’s Drew Livingston got just 49.95 points for a total of 129.5.

McCrory never looked back from there, placing first in four of the six rounds, including another score over 100 for his final dive.

He dominated the event from start to finish, despite having to change his program at the last minute after suffering a minor shoulder injury in one of the earlier competitions. He also competed in the 1-meter and 3-meter springboard events, and the busy schedule provided an even greater physical challenge.

But the injury didn’t affect him except on his newest dive, so he had to use an alternate for his third dive. The switch didn’t faze him at all, as he scored straight 9.5s for the dive, for 91.2 points.

It was then, McCrory said, that he felt confident he would walk away with his second trophy in as many years.

“At that point I was just able to trust that I just needed to relax and do my last three dives like I’d been training them, and like I knew I could, and that if I did, then I would win,” he said.

Modifying his program is nothing new for McCrory, who has tinkered with his list of dives several times since coming to Duke.

“Unfortunately the tower event has sort of turned into ‘how many flips can you do before you hit the water?’” he said. “So there’s always people throwing new dives.”

He learned two new dives in the fall training season leading up to last year’s NCAA Championships and has added more to his repertoire since then.

It also doesn’t hurt that his mental fortitude has improved from enduring the more frequent competitions of the college scene. McCrory said he’s learned a great deal from the long season of dual meets, which don’t give the same level of competition as the national-level meets in which he’s accustomed to competing. He’s had to learn how to pump himself up for some of the lower-key dual meets, and that has enhanced his mental abilities.

“Forcing myself to get excited and ready and dive well really helps me in the big meets where I’m trying to stay calm and collected,” McCrory said.

Fortunately, as he tinkers with his program and learns to manage his mental state, he’s supported by a coach with whom he’s been familiar since before he came to college.

McCrory knew Duke diving coach Drew Johansen in juniors, and he trained with Johansen for a year prior to enrolling at Duke.

“He’s really been able to make the technical changes that I need to take my dives to the next level, and just improve consistency and sharpness,” McCrory said.

Johansen, who is also the long-time coach of Duke junior Abby Johnston—who won the 3-meter springboard event at the women’s NCAA Championships—is unafraid to set lofty goals for his divers.

“He expects a lot, so it’s fun training for him because he knows what I’m capable of, and always pushes me to do everything in practice to the best of my ability,” McCrory said. “He always works hard and he knows when I’m working hard.”

The next goal for McCrory and his coach is lofty indeed—making the 2012 Olympic team that will represent the United States in London. The goal seemed sacred to McCrory when he talked about it: He lowered his voice perceptibly, and his hands, which had been in constant motion, lay suddenly still. He’d been verbose in some of his answers as he addressed the media for nearly 25 minutes, but when the Olympic subject was broached, he had little to say.

“Everything’s sort of been pointed in that direction,” McCrory said. “It’s my ultimate goal to be on that team.”

And if that’s what he hopes to do, an NCAA title can’t hurt.

It took until February for another scoring threat to show up, but his emergence couldn’t have come at a more important time for Duke. Facing a 14-point halftime deficit to then-No. 20 North Carolina in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Seth Curry exploded, scoring 18 in the final period to bring his team back for a 79-73 win. Curry and Smith shot a combined 60 percent for the game—the pair made 14-of-19 from the floor in the second half alone—balanced out by Singler’s 3-of-17 shooting performance.

“At times during the season I could stand around and watch Nolan [Smith] and Kyle [Singler],” Curry said after the game. “But coming into tonight, I knew I had to be another punch out there for us.”

Curry stayed hot for the rest of the season, compiling a team-high 43.8 3-point shooting percentage. It seemed almost unfair, then, when Irving tantalized the media and crowd by warming up with the team at the ACC Tournament in Greensboro a month later. Soon after, it was

announced he would play during the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament, leading the West Region No. 1-seed Blue Devils against Hampton and Michigan.

After a tentative performance against the Pirates, Irving came to Duke’s rescue in a close game with the Wolverines, banking in the game-winning runner in a 73-71 victory.

The Blue Devils’ 93-77 shellacking at the hands of Arizona in the Sweet 16 was made all the more surprising because of Irving’s improvement. Duke appeared powerless against sophomore sensation Derrick Williams and allowed the fifth-seeded Wildcats to shoot almost 60 percent from the floor in the second half.

Almost as suddenly as it had begun, Irving’s comeback with the Blue Devils was over. The loss to Arizona also marked the end of Smith and Singler’s careers, the team’s two cornerstones and the only remaining starters from the 2009-10 NCAA Championship team. And with the Duke future of underclassmen Irving and Mason Plumlee uncertain, only one thing is for sure: The Blue Devils will have a completely different look come next season.

Application for President of Campus Recreation Leadership Council http://bit.ly/ibf6aJ The Campus Recreation Leadership Council is the body formed to bring together student leaders, faculty and senior members of Campus Recreation and the Athletics Department to help inform the future development of Campus Recreation. Campus Recreation includes Aquatics, Sport Clubs, Outdoor Adventures, and Intramurals. If you’d like the opportunity to have a voice in the future of Campus Recreation at Duke and help lead the charge to develop the burgeoning program, PLEASE APPLY!

Apps are due to ctm8@duke.edu by April 3rd at midnight.

12 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle Classifieds

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Employees, and their qualified children, can receive a significant tuition discount: $1335 (instead of $2670) for a regular course, $2225 (instead of $3560) for BIOLOGY, CHEM & PHYSICS. Questions? Contact summer@ duke.edu or visit www.summersession.duke.edu.

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These studies are conducted at the Brain Imaging and Analysis Center (BIAC) at Duke University Medical Center. Participants should be 18 years old or older and should have no history of brain injury or disease. Most studies last between 1-2 hours, and participants are paid approximately $20/hr. Please contact the BIAC volunteer coordinator at 681-9344 or volunteer@ biac.duke.edu for additional information. You can also visit our website at www.biac.duke.edu.

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THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | 13

Diversions Shoe Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

Dilbert Scott Adams

Doonesbury Garry Trudeau

The Chronicle chronicle-free thursday!?: partyin’ partyin’ (yeah!): �����������������������������������������������������������tonY praying for no correction boxes: ����������������������ruppdoughkyleette flowers 301 meltdown: ������������������������������������������������� chinnybang pregaming followed by gaming: �������������������� clee, eliza, meredith no games for us :( : ���������������������������������������������DDJ, visuuuuutipol cabbing to Lupe w/ Bill: �����������������������������������cgicd, chelc, glencer gracias twotongs: ��������������������������������������������������������������������� pena going wireless: ��������������������������������������������������������������������������alem Barb Starbuck never takes a day off: ��������������������������������������� Barb

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Student Advertising Manager:..........................................Amber Su Account Executives:.............. Cort Ahl, Phil deGrouchy, Will Geary, Claire Gilhuly, Gini Li, Ina Li, Spencer Li, Christin Martahus, Ben Masselink, Emily Shiau, Mike Sullivan, Kate Zeligson Creative Services Student Manager............................Christine Hall Creative Services:...............................Lauren Bledsoe, Danjie Fang, Caitlin Johnson, Brianna Nofil, Megan Meza Business Assistant:.........................................................Joslyn Dunn

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The Independent Daily at Duke University

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14 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle commentaries

Vote Osa for RLD VP

The inaugural campaign areas through involvement for Duke Student Govern- with DSG and Campus Counment’s vice president for cil. He displayed impressive residence life and dining fea- command of the problems tures a crowded field, but two facing housing and dining candidates stand head and and his understanding of the shoulders above their com- West Union overhaul was parpetition. ticularly comW a l l y prehensive. editorial Gurzynski, a Aware of freshman, and Esosa Osa, a his relative inexperience, junior, offer students solid Gurzynski made a compelling options for a role that will argument that the position of work with the administration this new vice president would on two crucial upcoming be better filled by an underprojects—the Fall 2012 tran- classman with a three-year sition to the house model stake in these long-term afand the University’s planned fairs. Nevertheless, Gurzynsrenovation of the West Union ki’s overall knowledge lacked Building. depth.

Gurzynski, a promising He overemphasized the young candidate, is enthusi- importance of maintaining astic about housing and din- Campus Council’s “spirit” ing. In his short time at Duke on the new RLD committee he has accumulated consid- rather than focusing on ways erable experience in these to integrate the positive ele-

“

Congratulations to all the potential new Dukies!

—“jailbird” commenting on the story “Regular decision acceptance rate 10.8 percent for Class of 2015.”

See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

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

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Lindsey Rupp, Editor Toni Wei, Managing Editor Taylor Doherty, News Editor Andy Moore, Sports Editor Courtney Douglas, Photography Editor eliza french, Editorial Page Editor Will Robinson, Editorial Board Chair Christina Peña, Managing Editor for Online jonathan angier, General Manager DEAN CHEN, Director of Online Operations Matthew Chase, University Editor Samantha Brooks, Local & National Editor Sonia Havele, Health & Science Editor Melissa Yeo, News Photography Editor Kevin Lincoln, Recess Editor Lisa du, Recess Managing Editor Charlie Lee, Editorial Page Managing Editor SAnette Tanaka, Wire Editor kevin lincoln, Towerview Editor Chase Olivieri, Towerview Photography Editor zachary tracer, Special Projects Editor alex beutel, Director of Online Development Jinny Cho, Senior Editor DAn Ahrens, Recruitment Chair Mary weaver, Operations Manager Barbara starbuck, Production Manager

each problem distinguish her from the other candidates.

For example, she displayed a sharp understanding of what will matter most to students during the transition to the house model—notably the issues of assigning groups to sections by “fit” and of relegating students to their houses through random distribution. Osa also recognized the role funding will play in allowing houses to define their unique group identities.

Osa immediately grasped the timetable and significance of the West Union Building renovations for dining, and she offered interesting new proposals such as adding designated spaces for student groups near eateries.

The other two candidates in the race—junior Jeremy Moskowitz and freshman

Philip Srebrev—were underwhelming. Srebev showed a lack of knowledge that makes him unqualified. Moskowitz, who was out of the country this week, submitted a platform lacking detail and a video that was not highly informative. A fifth candidate recently dropped out of the race.

We are most confident in Osa. She astutely outlined plans to match each senator under her purview with his or her specific interests, and we believe she can lead and direct this new committee effectively.

The Chronicle’s independent Editorial Board formally endorses Esosa Osa for vice president for residence life and dining.

Precious Lockhart and Katherine Zhang recused themselves due to their roles in DSG.

House model = community (?)

onlinecomment

ments of the flawed organization into DSG. Additionally, he displayed naiveté and overly idealistic ambition for Duke Dining, which is struggling to overcome a budget deficit.

We hope Gurzynski stays involved with this committee next year and believe he will gain wisdom from living on West or Central Campus and from continuing to work within DSG. Osa, a rising senior who has lived on all three residential campuses during her time at Duke, is the candidate best suited to lead this committee.

Her mature and engaging presence combined with an extensive knowledge of housing and dining will make her an outstanding VP for RLD. Osa’s knowledge of the issues and her understanding of the particular relevancy of

Jeff Scholl, Sports Managing Editor Joanna Lichter, University Editor Ciaran O’Connor, Local & National Editor Tullia Rushton, Health & Science Editor Margie Truwit, Sports Photography Editor Michael Naclerio, Multimedia Editor Nathan Glencer, Recess Photography Editor Drew sternesky, Editorial Page Managing Editor carter Suryadevara, Design Editor Lawson kurtz, Towerview Editor Maya Robinson, Towerview Creative Director hon lung chu, Special Projects Editor for Online cheney tsai, Director of Online Design Julia Love, Senior Editor Jessica Lichter, Recruitment Chair CHRISSY BECK, Advertising/Marketing Director REBECCA DICKENSON, Chapel Hill Ad Sales Manager

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C

an the house model give Duke more “com- words about minority recruitment weekends, it’s regumunity”? larly taken for granted that Duke undergraduates are During the Fall, when it was first outlined, somehow divided. Whether we supposedly separate the switch to the house model seemed likely to give along lines of race and ethnicity (self-segregation) or significantly more independents the opportunity to on-campus social affiliation (Greeks vs. SLGs vs. Goshlive on West Campus after their sophoDarned Independents), we hear that more year, thus making West a more we don’t interact fluidly enough, that viable housing option for upperclasswe’re cliquish and parochial, etc. men who aren’t members of SLGs or We’ve all heard these claims, refraternities. That seemed basically fair gardless of whether we think any of and therefore laudable. them to be true, or whether they are But now we know that some stutrue. All of them imply that our broaddents will transfer straight from er undergraduate community isn’t coEast Campus to a house on Central connor southard hesive—that is, communal—enough.

Campus—potentially skipping West It’s not possible to start one narradead poet altogether. And then we have to contive about community among Duke sider: Which Selective Living Groups undergraduates (house model = more will be moved from West to Central (or vice versa)? community) from scratch, in the shadow of our longWhat does “fit” mean, if anything? Will house assign- standing discourse about community (Duke underments for unaffiliated students be random, or will graduate life = not enough community), and pretend there be a sorting hat? as if the two aren’t related, if only by proximity. Duke All of those questions deal with the concrete de- already has a conversation about community. No one tails of the house model, and the administration will at Duke should make a claim about lack of communipresumably offer some of the answers in due course. ty here without discussing the potential implications Press releases and interviews, though, often give us of the old discourse for new policies. the “what” while leaving the “why”—the ideas underSo, assuming we really want to raise our commulying the switch—murky. But there are some clues. nity quotient, why opt for the half-measure that is The term “community” has been used repeatedly, the house model? We could go all out and create both this Spring and last Fall, in connection with the residential colleges—a la Yale, Rice and those pichouse model. Campus Council President, Stephen turesque schools in England. If we had residential Temple, has been quoted as saying that the new mod- colleges, incoming freshmen would be part of an el will help students “build strong communities and extended house “community” before they even had friendships.” Vice President for Student Affairs Larry the chance to get involved with any other groups Moneta, and Steve Nowicki, dean and vice provost for that might subdivide their loyalties. Reynolds Price, undergraduate education, have both cited the desire of course, advocated for residential colleges in his to generate a greater sense of community among stu- 1992 Founder’s Day speech. dents as one of the reasons why they’ve advocated on Or maybe residential colleges aren’t what we behalf of the house model. And at least one editorial need at all—who knows? The point is that such an has run in these pages with “house model” and “com- approach to community-via-policy would claim that munity” in its headline. some students pick a faction or two at some point It’s hard to say in advance whether the house mod- during their freshman year, diagnose this as a probel will lead to community, however defined, though it lem (whether or not it actually is) and then make will certainly lead to continuity of location. And can a prescription to solve that problem. That’s one exUniversity policy actually enhance anyone’s sense of ample of what a full consideration of “community” community, or perhaps even create community where at Duke might look like. it didn’t exist before? Who could know that?

So far, though, campus policy makers like Moneta Still, it seems that Duke is going to the trouble of and Nowicki have opted to invoke community as an overturning the current housing model—and put- ideal without properly acknowledging the complex ting up the new, multimillion-dollar K4 dorm in the context in which claims about community at Duke process—partly because of a hypothesized need for are made. Talking about a need for greater commugreater community. nity without spelling out exactly where and how our Such a claim assumes that the Duke undergrad- sense of community is faltering leaves us all wallowuate community needs to be made more commu- ing in utter vagueness. That’ll be true, no matter how nal. So, what’s been said about the house model many brave souls end up in Gryffindor. switch fits into a particular, broader strain of our on-campus dialogue.

Connor Southard is a Trinity junior. His column runs As we’ve seen this week during yet another war of every other Thursday.

the chronicle

THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 | 15

commentaries

endorsement Vote Pete Schork and Christine Lieu For the upcoming DSG elections, Duke Club Sports has chosen to endorse candidates Pete Schork for DSG president and Christina Lieu for vice president of athletics, services and environment. The executive committee and club sports presidents have heard all running candidates speak extensively of their respective goals and plans for the future of Duke. Pete and Christina have both demonstrated that they are highly qualified for their respective positions. Both of our endorsed candidates bring

impressive background experiences to the table and have the know-how and willpower to bring about the changes we seek at Duke. Pete and Christina are not only visionary but also practical and grounded. Duke Club Sports formally endorses Pete Schork for president and Christina Lieu for vice president of athletics, services and environment.

Katherine Forbes Trinity ’12 President, Duke Club Sports

The ways we wish things were

I

n 1953, a boy named Roberto Bolaño was brought can fiction had proven fruitful, and his achievement into the world, born to a Chilean truck driver was enriched even further by the humble beginnings and a schoolteacher. Bolaño was, by all accounts, from which he came. not the stuff of legends. Scrawny and small, he spent He died six weeks later. Apparently an avid heroin his early and adolescent years as an outcast and a user, as many had gleaned from an apparently autobiopunching bag until slowly he came to graphical short story of his, Bolaño had prefer his private bookishness to the suffered from a failing liver for years, more normal hobbies of other Chiland finally it had caught up with him. ean schoolchildren. Finally, in 1968, he Apparently, all of those years of using, dropped out altogether and left his nawhich had produced such great works, tive Santiago with his family to pursue a revoked as well the hand that had writfuture in Mexico City. ten them, and the author died of the For the decade that followed, Bosame sword by which he had lived. laño lived the life of a vagabond: TravOnly, Bolaño had never done herchris bassil eling from city to Latin American city, oin. He had, according to friends and just a minute he both worked for the papers and even his own wife, never touched the involved himself in politics—and occustuff. For that matter, he hadn’t even pied his free time with poetry all the while. An ardent been in Chile during the Pinochet coup, either, as Trotskyist who sought to destroy the status quo estab- many—the man himself included—might have you lishment in all things, Bolaño founded a laughable believe. No, in the end, it seems Roberto Bolaño may little poetic movement called “infrarrealismo,” the have been little more than a troubled failure-turnedmajor tenets of which involved denouncing popular father whose impetus for success was his firstborn son.

Latin American poets like Octavio Paz by disrupting Bolaño considered himself, to his dying day, a poet their public readings. But, not surprisingly, the move- first and foremost and made his move to fiction for ment never went anywhere significant, and so, soon the express purpose of leaving behind a legacy and after it broke apart, Bolaño left Latin America to start inheritance for his children. anew on the shores of Spain.

Why, then, the stories of drugs and revolutions?

In Europe, Bolaño largely left his preoccupation The reviews you’ll read will never fail to mention with politics behind and devoted his time to poetry them, and the readers to whom you speak will lament instead. Working without success on his writing for the dirty habit. Why is it that this is the way we wish the next 10 or so years, he finally decided to switch to things were, even in the face of evidence otherwise? fiction, a field in which he would experience almost I suspect that it is because we embrace the image of infinite success and stardom. But first, he would fill the tortured artist, not for his sake but for our own— his days with odd jobs just to stay afloat and would so much so, in fact, that we go to great lengths to turn write through his nights so that, for all his varied ex- an artistic man into an addict, so we can say that his periences, he’d have something to show. own brilliance is no benchmark for our collective lack Slowly, Bolaño began to finish some shorter works thereof. We cannot resist attaching a certain evil to of fiction—“By Night in Chile,” “The Skating Rink” men whose successes far surpass our own, and it seems and “Amulet,” to name a few—and found himself a to be the sole means to cope with their apparent supublishing house that would take a chance on him. It periority. Whenever we discuss the great strengths of would not be long from there before he would pub- such a man, it is always as a neighbor to his weakness, lish “The Savage Detectives”—the book which would which we can create if need be. rocket him to fame—and “2666,” which was published But Bolaño is long gone, and he got for his own posthumously. that which he set out to get—so no harm is done.

In 2003, the Chilean finally won himself the rec- No harm is done when we do these things, at least ognition that he deserved and was declared by his not to him. contemporaries to be the best Latin American writer of his generation. His search to subvert, through his Chris Bassil is a Trinity junior. His column normally writing, the standards of modern-day Latin Ameri- runs every Friday.

I

Another tsunami

n the coming decade, Japan will have to face the consequences of not just one, but two, tsunamis: the recent March 11 wave that devastated the Tohoku region of northeast Honshu and another that will batter its public finances and societal foundations for years to come. This other wave, dubbed the “silver tsunami,” may be more destructive than the first. It is not a natural phenomenon, but a demographic one: Japan is already the oldest country in the world, and it will continue to get older.

The silver tsunami is not your typical tsunami. For one, it is fairly easy to predict. By looking at the number of people living into their elderly years and factoring in the birthrate, demographers can paint a very accurate picture of a population’s paul horak future. Japan’s future looks the road ahead particularly gray. Its population of roughly 130 million people is expected to shrink to 100 million by midcentury with the share of people over 65 years of age to rise from around 20 to over 30 percent of the total population.

It is not the only country facing this problem: South Korea, Russia, Italy, Spain, Germany and other parts of the developed world are also aging rapidly. The demographic tides are even turning in China where there is a great concern that the country will grow old before it can grow rich. Aging is a fundamental economic concern because it limits consumption, places an increased burden on the working population and is thought to stifle innovation. Unlike the typical tsunami that strikes only once and very quickly, the force of the silver tsunami will be distributed in many places and over many years.

In other ways, though, the silver tsunami is not all that different from natural tsunamis. For example, any preparation is likely to be inadequate because there are always unforeseen consequences. No one expected the massive earthquake and tsunami that recently devastated Japan to cause nuclear ruin, but that has been one of the most globally concerning results in a long slew of tragedies.

In order to avert demographic doom, the Japanese will have to exert the same steadfast resolve and unity of purpose that is required to rebuild the country after the recent earthquake and tsunami. Younger generations will have to work hard and continue to pursue world-class educations, and older generations will have to find new ways to contribute to society and continue to be altruistic with the country’s tax dollars. There is room for the government to step in and make sure these things happen.

Seeking to boost fertility, it has already extended tax credits to new parents and multi-children households. But this is hardly enough in a society where there are already more grandparents than future parents: a classic example of too little, too late. More emphasis should be put on dealing with the extant elderly population. Legislators should reduce the burden of healthcare and pension costs on the new generation of workers and require more elderly-friendly business practices. Getting people to be more productive in their later years would go a long way to moderating the negative effects of aging on economic growth.

There is always the danger in a democracy that the preferences of a particular interest group distort government priorities, and there is a risk that Japan’s elderly voter bloc— called by some the “gray peril”—will hijack the system. If, for example, the Japanese government reduced expenditures on education in exchange for more elderly assistance programs, innovation could be stifled. The economic climate of Japan may change, but an older society does not have to be a worse off one.

Aging is not something to fear or resent. If anything, Japan and the other graying countries should be proud that they have reached a stage of developmental maturity when the silver tsunami is a concern. Governments having to support more people for longer stretches of time is not a bad thing.

If done effectively, balancing the current needs of the elderly with the need for investment for future growth, their citizens will be happier and better off.

Confronting the silver tsunami is a daunting task. Although it is difficult to prepare for such a profound population aging, a rational and measured response on the part of the Japanese government will go a long way to brightening the economic outlook in the land of the rising sun.

Paul Horak is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Thursday.

16 | THURSDAY, MARCH 31, 2011 the chronicle

studentaffairs.duke.edu 919-684-3737 twitter.com/duke_sa www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Duke-University-Student-Affairs/5536709183

Kenan Moral Purpose Award In honor of its 15th anniversary at Duke, the Kenan Institute for Ethics has established the Kenan Moral Purpose Award to recognize an outstanding essay on moral purpose by a Duke undergraduate. The award recognizes the critical role a liberal arts education can play in students’ exploration of the personal and social purposes by which to orient their future and the intellectual, emotional, and moral commitments that make for a full life.

The winning essay will receive an award of $1,000.

Essay deadline is 4/22.

For essay guidelines and information, visit kenan.ethics.duke.edu/education/moral-purpose-award/

Greek Community Welcomes Sigma Pi Fraternity The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life is pleased to announce Sigma Pi as the newest member of the Greek Community at Duke. Their mission is to build and support chapters and alumni organizations that advance truth and justice; promote scholarship; encourage chivalry; diffuse culture; and develop character in the service of God and man. Congratulations to the founding chapter members!

For more information about Sigma Pi, please visit their website at http://www.sigmapi2.org/

Lupe Fiasco and Kid Sister Thursday, 3/31 at 8 pm at Erwin Park Outdoor Field, standing room only. Doors open at 7 pm.

Tickets will remain on sale until 5 pm.

Tickets and information available at: http://tickets.duke.edu/show.asp?shcode=1291.

Shabbat with Jewish Life at Duke Shabbat and holidays at the Freeman Center for Jewish Life are about creating a sense of home. Services are largely student-led and strive for a tone that balances an open conviviality with the solemnity of the occasion.

On Shabbat and High Holidays, we offer both Conservative and Reform services. On the other holidays, the community prays together as one.

Dinner is open to everyone, but requires a reservation.

To RSVP for Shabbat Dinner, visit studentaffairs.duke. edu/jewishlife/shabbat-dinner-form Donate To

studentaffairs.duke.edu/events Careers in Regulatory Affairs Panel Discussion for Duke Grad Students & Postdocs 03/31, 9-10 am, Bryan Research 103 Register at tinyurl.com/regulatoryaffairs Career Corner in the Women’s Center 03/31, 2-5 pm, Women’s Center (107 Few Fed) Fireside Chats: Careers in Higher Education for Ph.D. Students with Dr. Jacqueline Looney 03/31, 5-6 pm, 201 Flowers Register at studentaffairs.duke.edu/ forms/d/?p=ebji Fears, Fairness, and Fox News 03/31, 6-8 pm, Bio Sciences 111 US Special Envoy to the OIC 04/01, 6-8 pm, Location TBA Part of Islamic Awareness Month dukemsa.org for more info Global Café 04/01, 9-10 am, International House Jummu’ah 04/01, 12:45 pm, Gray 229 (York Reading Room)

First-Year Fridays: Drop-In Advising Hours on East Campus 04/01, 1-3 pm, Career Center, Smith Warehouse Bay 5, 2nd floor Shabbat with Jewish Life at Duke – Reform & Conservative Services and Benenson Family Shabbat Dinner 04/01, 6:15-8:15 pm, Freeman Center for Jewish Life RSVP for dinner required by 12pm Friday. Go to tinyurl.com/ShabbatJustClickIt to RSVP. Pets on the Quad 04/02, 12-2 pm, West Campus Quad “Our Lives: Up Close & Personal” LGBTQA Discussion Group 04/05, 6:30-8 pm, Center for LGBT Life (2 West Union Building) Harvard Business Case Workshop for Ph.D.s 04/06, 3-5 pm, 201 Flowers Registration required. Go to studentaffairs.duke.edu/career/alan-kantrow to register.

Jazz at the Mary Lou 04/06, 9:30 pm - 12:30 am, Mary Lou Williams Center