September 14, 2016

Page 1

Scouting Northwestern

Exploring Nancy Andrews’ legacy

Like Duke, the Wildcats are reeling from a major upset in Week 2 | Sports Page 11

The dean of the School of Medicine worked to increase diversity and inclusion | Page 2

The Chronicle T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

ONE HUNDRED AND TWELFTH YEAR, ISSUE 11

Common Ground returns after addressing criticisms Samantha Neal The Chronicle After taking a semester off to address student feedback, Common Ground will hold a Fall retreat this year. The student-run retreat—which centers on discussions of race, socioeconomic status, gender and sexuality—was cancelled in the Spring amid criticisms of its intense programming and selective application process. A student advisory council was selected from previous participants to identify aspects that could be improved and make changes to the retreat, which normally holds both a Spring and Fall retreat. As a result of the council’s discussions, Common Ground has been extended from four to five days, will allow more contact with staff advisors and will employ a random lottery system to select participants. Senior Emily Chen and junior Alice Reed, co-directors of Common Ground, explained they seek to promote self-reflection and understanding of others’ experiences through the new curriculum. “Common Ground has evolved each semester since its inception, and will continue to evolve, to accommodate a

Graphic by Shreya Shankar | The Chronicle

continuously changing campus climate,” Chen wrote in an email. “We do hope that our curriculum will help participants develop the skills to, and interest in, starting conversations in their communities at Duke about issues of identity on campus.” Common Ground, which was conceived as a student project in 2003, allows students to share their views and experiences.

Participants are led through these discussions by student facilitators. Senior Robert Vann, director of the 2015 Fall Common Ground retreat, wrote in an email that training for facilitators has also been revamped and that facilitators for this retreat will include students who have never attended Common Ground. “We hope that bringing in new faces will

help us to engage a broader section of the student body,” he wrote. Common Ground has previously been criticized for its selectivity. However, the retreat will continue to host only 56 students due to logistical and funding reasons, Reed wrote in an email. Although the selection process will continue to be anonymous, applications have been shortened and will only include one short answer question on why applicants want to attend the retreat. This year, participants will be selected from a pool of completed applications that demonstrate “genuine interest” using a computer algorithm that generates a stratified random sample that will produce a group similar to Duke’s demographics in terms of race and gender, Vann explained. “We feel that these changes to the participant selection process will allow participants to complete the application in a way that is authentic and genuine to their own conception of how their identity has affected their lived experiences at Duke and beyond without concerns about answering in a way that is ‘right’ or palatable to the Common Ground See COMMON GROUND on Page 4

NCAA pulls 7 events out of N.C. because of HB2 Staff Reports The Chronicle Even if Duke earns a No. 1 seed in the 2017 NCAA men’s basketball tournament, it will no longer have the chance to play any postseason games close to home. The NCAA announced Monday evening it will move first- and second-round basketball games as well as events in six other sports out of North Carolina due to the state’s controversial House Bill 2, which eliminates protections for LGBTQ people. The other events are the Division I women’s soccer Final Four, Division I women’s lacrosse Final Four, Division I women’s golf NCAA regional, Division II baseball championship, Division III men’s and women’s soccer

championships and Division III men’s and women’s tennis championships. Full details of the events can be found online. “We agree with the NCAA’s decision. Our position has been clear on this matter, which is that this legislation is discriminatory, troubling and embarrassing,” said Kevin White, vice president and director of athletics, in a statement. “We deplore any efforts to deprive individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, of legal protection and rights. We will always be committed to diversity and inclusion, and applaud any efforts to ensure that those values are protected and enacted at all times, and in all places in the state of North Carolina.” This season will mark the first time since 1985 that no ACC tournament or NCAA tournament games will be played in North

Carolina in men’s basketball. The ACC tournament was already scheduled to be in New York this season, the first time it has ever stayed out of North Carolina for two straight years. HB2 also had an effect on the Blue Devils’ regular-season schedule, when Albany had to cancel an early-season trip to Durham because of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order banning non-essential travel to North Carolina. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski previously called the bill “embarrassing.” The NCAA’s decision may also affect the Blue Devils in women’s soccer, women’s lacrosse and women’s golf. Duke women’s soccer lost the College Cup final last season in Cary, N.C., and the

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See HB2 on Page 13

Chronicle File Photo Athletic director Kevin White said Duke agrees with the NCAA’s decision.

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