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Polls shows McCain, Obama in close race

by

Shuchi Parikh THE CHRONICLE

Naureen Khan THE CHRONICLE

A year ago neither pundits nor partisans could have predicted that North Carolina would be one of only six battleground states in the Nov. 4 presidential election, with a mere three weeks to go.

But in this traditionally Republican stronghold—where President George W. Bush trounced his opponents by double digit margins in both of the last two elections and no Democrat has laid claim to its 15 electoral votes since 1976—the latest polls indicate that the contest is anything but in the bag for either candidate.

“The Republicans have a strong base of support here, and you can’t count Sen. [John] McCain out because this has been a reliable state for them for years,” said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at the University ofNorth Camp na at Chapel' Mill and an expert on Southern* politics. “What you can say is the dynamics have changed.... It was up to [Democratic Sen. Barack] Obama to change the dynamics, and he’s done that.

Earlier in the year, McCain had taken

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SHEFT/THE CHRONICLE

David Cutcliffe (left) and Mike Krzyzewski (right) shared a stage in the GreatHall Wednesday. The two head coaches ofDuke's most recognizable sports answered questions for 45 minutes.SEE PAGE 9

SEE ELECTION ON PAGE 8

Hopeful DukeEngagers must no longer hold their breath—the list of group program sites for this summer was made available Wednesday, with some changes in store.

A total of 30 programs in 21 countries are planned—including seven in the United States—compared to 26 programs offered last year. Programs that have been axed include one each in Bangladesh, Ghana, Peru, Turkey and Uganda as well as two sites in India.

New programs that have been added to this year’s list include three domesticand nine international programs—five of which are in Africa.

“With 30 program offerings crossing myriad areas of civic engagement next summer, we trust that students interested in doing a DukeEngage experience will find a good fit either domestically or internationally,” DukeEngage’s Director of Communications Eric Van Danen wrote in an e-mail.

A number of programs, most of which are based in Latin America, require language proficiency. Van Danen said the number of such programs—seven of 30—roughly compares proportionally to the number offered last year.

The application deadline for group programs is Dec. 15, and students must apply to one international and one domestic site.

DukeEngage will be able to accommodate more than 300 participants this summer.

Effects of financial crisis ripple to campus life Students adjust career plans; more look to graduate school by

Hanna Mahuta THE CHRONICLE

Plan A for many Duke seniors is to parlay a past summer internship on Wall Street into a full-time job with a six-figure salary. But the storm that slammed the banking industry and wreaked havoc in the global financial markets has forced some students to consider plan B. Financial companies slashed 150,000 jobs in 2007 and are speculated to have eliminated more than 100,000 jobs in 2008, The New York Times blog DealBook reported this month. At Duke, where a large proportion of the Class of 2008 went into finance, the volatile financial landscape of vanishing jobs and employment uncertainty is a source of panic for many once Wall Street-bound seniors.

SEE CAREER ON PAGE 6

Tuition

,

fee increases still likely by

Jessica Lighter THE CHRONICLE

Typically, when the price of a good gets too high, people back consumption and seek an alternative—what hap-

cut

pened when gasoline prices peaked this summer.

But a college education might be an exception to this rule.

“Apparently, there is a sufficient level of demand for tertiary education so the price will go up to what the market will bear,” said Emma Rasiel, associate director of undergraduate studies and assistant professor of economics. “If people will pay that amount, why should the market not bear that amount?”

Even with the recent financial crisis, families can expect at least a modest increase in next year’s tuition, as is typical every year, Provost Peter Lange said.

“How big the increase will be, we don’t know,” he said.

SEE INCREASE ON PAGE 7

THE CHRONICLE

2 I THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008

m

Madonna, Ritchie seek divorce

LONDON After countless denials of domestic trouble, Madonna and Guy Ritchie announced Wednesday they are divorcing after nearly eight years of marriage.

The couple's announcement brings to an end a showbiz union that spanned theAtlantic and dominated the gossip columns.

Madonna and her filmmaker husband were always greater tabloid fodder in England, where they lived. The pop star seemed to take to English life, spending much of her time at the couple's 1,200-acre country estate in Wiltshire, and to some ears, adopting a slight British accent.

Top al Qaeda in Iraq official killed BAGHDAD American soldiers killed leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, No, the alleged 2 who trained a Moroccan in Afghanistan, reand cruited foreign fighters ran operations in northern Iraq where Sunni insurgents remain a potent threat, the U.S. military said Wednesday.

The man, who the military said was known as Abu Qaswarah, died Oct. 5 during a raid on a building in the northern city of Mosul that served as a major "command and control location"for the region. Four other insurgents were killed in the operation, the U.S. said. ~

Today at Duke

...

Coming Out Day at Duke Bryan Center Plaza, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Both community members and allies are encouraged to stop by and get information, as well as a free"Love=Love" t-shirt.

Russia-Georgia talks start shakily

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GENEVA The first high-level talks between Russia and Georgia since their war broke down Wednesday, but international sponsors said the negotiations had only hit a procedural snag and will resume next month.

The delegations from Russia and its allies in the breakaway Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia left the talks before their scheduled end. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin claimed they left because Georgia failed to come to a second session planned with all the parties.

The talks were called to discuss several issues including whether both sides were complying with an EU-brokered cease-fire, security, the return of refugees and human rights and what steps need to be taken.

Georgian Deputy Foreign Minister Giga Bokeria claimed that "from the start Russia and it's proxies in Abkhazia and South Ossetia created difficulties."

Bokeria told The Associated Press that Russia demanded official status for the two breakaway delegations rather than restriction to speaking at working groups,

Man convicted of incest from 1990s LEESBURG, Va.—A one-time top lieutenant to Martin Luther King Jr. was sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison for having sex more than a decade ago with his then-teenage daughter.

The Rev. James Bevel, 71, a key architect of the 1963 Children's Crusade in Birmingham, Ala., and other pivotal moments of the civil rights movement, was convicted earlier this year of a single count of incest.

The assault occurred in the early 1990 in Loudoun County, when Bevel was working closely with the Virginia-based organization led by political extremist Lyndon Laßouche.

The 15-year sentence imposed by Circuit Judge Burke McCahill was the most severe allowed. Sentencing guidelines called for probation only.

Scientists hopeful for future policies WASHINGTON For nearly eight years, many mainstream scientists have been frustrated with the Bush administration. They've claimed that science has been censored, ignored and politicized on issues from global warming to stem cells to evolution.

Both presidential candidates—Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama—offer policies farther from the president than they are from each other. They advocate mandatory caps on the main global warming gas and favor federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.Obama and McCain promise to seek, government science advice. ~

A Former first lady hospitalized LOS ANGELES Nancy Reagan suffered a broken pelvis in a fall at her home and will be hospitalized for several days, her spokeswoman said Wednesday. The 87-year-old former first lady fell last week, spokeswoman Joanne Drake said. She did not seek immediate medical care but decided Monday to get checked out because of persistent pain, Drake said.

Doctors at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center determined she had a fractured pelvis and sacrum, the triangular bone at the base of the spinal column.

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the chronicle

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008 I 3

N.C. candidates meet for debate Loop to close at midnight Sun. to Wed. by

Emmeline Zhao THE CHRONICLE

TODD

SUMLIN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

(From left to right) Republican Pat McCrory, Libertarian Michael Munger and Democrat Bev Perdue viefor the N.C governorship at a debate Wedneday. by

Julius Jones

THE CHRONICLE

In the final night before early voting and the final debate of the hotly contested election season, all three candidates for governor of North Carolina squared off in Charlotte Wednesday. The hour-long affairfeatured Republican Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, Libertarian candidate Mike Munger, chair of the political science department and Democratic Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue.

Before their meeting, which was sponsored by Charlotte’s WSOC-TV, WTVI public broadcasting station and the League of Women Voters of Charlotte-Mecklenburg, only two of the three candidates participated in each debate since the primaries. The candidates covered a range of issues Wednesday, including crime, education, healthcare and illegal immigration. The economy, however, remained the primary concern for all three candidates.

“The fact of the matter is that trickle-down, Bush Wall

Street policies are hurting Main Streets all across North Carolina,” Perdue said.

To help alleviate some of North Carolina’s economic troubles, McCrory proposed attracting new businesses to the state. He cited lowering both the state’s income and corporate taxes as potential ways to achieve this.

“We have the highest income taxes in the Southeast,” said McCrory. “The main job of the governor is to sell the state ofNorth Carolina to businesses.”

The candidates said the rising cost of healthcare was one of the reasons businesses are leaving the state. Munger argued that the mandates insurance companies have placed on them by state law make healthcare expensive.

These mandates include various types of services not covered in other states.

“We have to change the way we view healthcare in this

Students looking for a midnight snack from The Loop may now be restricted to just that—midnight.

Instead of being open until 2 a.m. every night, The Loop will only maintain those hours Thursday through Saturday and will now close at midnight Sunday through Wednesday. The restaurant announced its shortened hours Tuesday.

“During the first half of the week, it’s been really slow after midnight, and it’s gotten to the point where we just don’t need to be open that late,” The Loop owner Dennis Lane said.

The restaurant will stay open later near the end of the week because there is usually more traffic and more students tend to be out past midnight, Lane said, adding that the diner will also have later hours on game nights and during exam week.

Lane said the presence ofThe Loop cart on the Plaza and late hours were taking a toll on labor hours and revenue.

“It’s something that we needed to do because it makes no sense to keep people there until 2 a.m. when there’s no one coming in,” he said. “We have to have a grill person, a pizza person, a register person, a dishwasher person —and having that many people to do that one order of french fries at 1 a.m. isn’t making ends meet.”

Some students said the new hours do not meet their late-night snacking needs.

“It’ll really affect my studying because I don’t want to have to go to McDonald’s since that’s the

SEE DEBATE ON PAGE 5

SEE LOOP ON PAGE 5

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4 1 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008

CHRONICLE

Pratt council lays ground for mentoring program by

William Hvung THE CHRONICLE

Engineering students hoping to get a hands-on experience—with a little help—may have their chance in the coming years.

The Engineering GraduateStudent Council plans to initiate a new mentoring program targeted toward undergraduate engineers in the next year, beginning with with a small trial group. Through the program, a student from the Pratt School of Engineering and a graduate engineering student will work as a pair on a research project of their choice. The program is being spearheaded entirely by students.

Andy Ewing, the Web coordinator of EGSC and a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, said he believes that it will be a great opportunity for students to practically apply what they have learned in classrooms.

He added that graduate students may see the initiative as a chance to develop young researchers.

The idea was first proposed by EGSC Vice President student in electrical and computer engineering, during a meeting with Pratt Senior Associate Dean Jeff Glass and Dean Tom Katsouleas when they were brainstorming ideas about what they wanted to do in the school.

“Graduate students know what the undergraduate students are going through,” said Andrew Fontanella, EGSC president and a graduate student in biomedical engineering. “We feel that they have a better feel for specific needs of undergraduates compared to the faculty.”

Glass said he loved the idea of mentoring undergraduate engineers, but was unsure about how it should be im-

Justin Migacz, a graduate

plemented.

“Because the idea is so new, it may be difficult for the students to set it up initially—whether it should be formal, informal—and the details on how they should run it are still to be decided,” he said.

The idea, however, sparked some interest among un-

dergraduate engineers.

Senior Jai Singh said it would be a great opportunity to do a research tailored to his interests. Junior Daniel Hanks said he would be interested if the project requires a relatively low time commitment.

Uday Iruku, a first-year graduate student in engineering management, said it would be more appealing if it was offered as a course or a project for credit rather than an independent research project.

“It’s a good idea, but I wouldn’t want to do it right now when I’m so busy,” said first-year biomedical engineering graduate student Emily Hogan.

Still, Ewing said plans for the initiative have not been finalized.

“There is lots to be worked on,” he said. “But we are receiving positive feedback and are working to make it a lasting program at Duke.”

Obama, McCain exchange jabs in heated debate battleground states, an advantage built in

by Beth Fouhy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

the weeks since the nation stumbled into the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

With few exceptions, the campaign is being waged in states that voted Republican in 2004—Virginia, Colorado, lowa—and in many of them, Obama holds a lead in the polls.

McCain played the aggressor from the opening moments of the debate, accusing Obama of waging class warfare by seeking tax increases that would “spread the wealth around.”

The Arizona senator also demanded to know the full extent of Obama’s relationship with William Ayers, a 19605-era terrorist, and the Democrat’s ties with ACORN, a liberal group accused of violating federal law as it seeks to register voters. And he insisted Obama disavow" last week’s remarks

by Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., who accused the Republican ticket of playing racial politics along the same lines as segregationists of the past.

Struggling to escape the political drag of an unpopular Republican incumbent, McCain also said, “Sen. Obama, I am not President Bush.... You wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.”

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. John McCain assailed Barack Obama’s character and his campaign positions on taxes, abortion and more Wednesday night, hoping to turn their final presidential debate into a launching pad for a political comeback. “You didn’t tell the American people the truth,” the GOP presidential candidate said.

Unruffled, and ahead in the polls, Obama parried each charge, and leveled a few of his own.

“One hundred percent, John, of your ads, 100 percent of them have been negative,” Obama shot back in an uncommonly personal debate less than three weeks from Election Day. “It’s not true,” McCain retorted.

“It is true,” said Obama, seeking the last word.

McCain is currently running all negative ads, according to a study by the University of Wisconsin-Madison. But he has mn a number of positive ads during the campaign.

The 90-minute encounter, at a round table at Hofstra University, was their third debate, and marked the beginning of a 20day sprint to Election Day. Obama leads in the national polls and in surveys in many

GARY HERSHORN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Democratic presidential candidate Sen.Barack Obama and GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain debate Wednesday at Hofstra University. The final debate featured several personal exchanges between the nominees.

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THE CHRONICLE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008 I 5

LOOP from page 3 only other option that’s open that late —it’s greasy and kind of unhealthy,” sophomore Anthony Sanderson said.

“Especially that late at night, I want sus-

Wild night out A guest of a student was charged Friday morning with injury to real and personal property and underage possession of alcohol, and placed under $l,OOO bond. He was seen hitting a vehicle parked in the Upper Allen Lot with a gate arm.

tainable energy.”

Sophomore Joe Catapano, however, not a night qwl and does not feel strongly about the new hours.

“It doesn’t make much of a difference to me because I don’t eat that late—I don’t generally get food after 10,” he said.

Still, a number of students, includingjunior Nimit Lad, appeared to be concerned that McDonald’s would be the only latenight option on campus.

“I’m outraged,” Lad said. “I can’t believe they’re doing this to me—there’s already a limited amount of stuff to eat—what are they doing? It reduces options later at night when you’re trying to get food other than McDonald’s because sometimes, I just don’t want McDonald’s.”

said he is

DEBATE from page

3

state,” Munger said. “I have automobile insurance and it doesn’t pay for oil changes.”

Although McCrory agreed with Munger on the issue of mandates, Perdue said she supported them and argued that North Carolina should focus on preventive healthcare.

“Healthcare is the driving cost for business and our system is skewed towards disease,” Perdue said. “I believe that if I need a mammogram my insurance should pay for it, and I believe that if you need a prostrate exam your insurance should pay for it.”

With respect to education, Munger and

Hungry for faculty food Food was missing from the Upstairs® The Commons kitchen last Thursday. An employee, who discovered that the fodder was gone, believed that someone stole it after forcibly entering the kitchen.

That old thing?

An individual was issued a citation last Thursday for operating a car that had an expired license plate at the West Campus bus stop.

MAYA ROBINSON/THE CHRONICLE

Stinky theft

The Loop shortened its hours Tuesday to close at midnight Sun. through Wed., earlierthan the previous 2 a.m.

McCrary supported school vouchers, but Perdue said they would lead to the destruction of the public school system.

“I am the only person on this platform standing between vouchers and the public schools,” she said, adding that the state could not afford a $9OO million plan for vouchers from McCrory.

McCrory, however, said he had never supported such a broad initiative.

“She is making this up,” McCrory said. “She never read a plan like that from me on my Web site or heard it come out ofmy mouth.”

Tensions among the candidates also mounted when they were debating crime and what to do with repeat offenders.

A bottle of cologne and two parking decals were missing from an employee’s car at 600 Anderson Street on Campus Drive last Thursday. He told police that he believes someone stole the goods from his car, which had been left unlocked.

“I have the endorsement of every single

public safety official in the state,” Perdue said. “As governor of this state I’m going to be tough on crime and smart on solutions.”

McCrory argued that support for Perdue’s plan stemmed from her support of giving law enforcement officers full retirement benefits after 25 years of service.

Perdue also said McCrory had supported a spending cut that took officers off the street. McCrory said this was not true.

“Her notes are inaccurate, Just like her commercials,” he said, referring to a commercial by the Perdue campaign which contends McCrory supports letting other states dump their trash Carolina.

Unwelcome calls A student on Lancaster Street reported cyberstalking last Thursday after receiving harrassing phone calls from a former school friend.

Food point fraud A student reported last Thursday that his DukeCard was stolen and used to make food purchases.

—compiled from police reports

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THE CHRONICLE

6 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008

CAREER from page 1 Mike, one senior who asked that his real name not be used, received a job offer from Lehman Brothers after completing a summer internship at the firm but was forced to seek out other employment options when the company went under.

“It was like, ‘Welcome to the real world b—, you may be unemployed next year,’” he said. “Most people at Lehman could sense trouble. I started applying to other firms while I was there just in case something happened, but no one realized that

[Finance] is what I want to d0.... Come hell or high water, I’m going to get there.

It just might involve a little more of a detour than I’d

“

originally planned.”

Mike, senior

the trouble was everywhere. And now it’s a race for jobs.”

Career Center advisers are helping undergraduates weather the financial storm.

“The Career Center has been anticipating this situation, given everything that’s been happening in the markets and the cutbacks we’ve been seeing in firms,” said David Lapinski, assistant director of employer relations for the Career Center.

“We’ve been trying to identify and introduce alternative career paths and companies to students, encouraging them to look rat

The Truman

outside of the same ones that are usually looked at.”

Lapinski said he has seen the effect of the financial job crunch reflected in recruitment cutbacks by major financial firms. Several of institutions with a strong tradition of on-campus recruitment—including Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan Co. and Morgan Stanley—cancelled recruitment sessions at Duke during the Fall.

Some banks are still recruiting at Duke but are coming with far fewer employment opportunities, Lapinski said. A spokesperson at Deutsche Bank said the firm is still actively recruiting at select universities—including Duke—this year but would not comment on the number of job offers expected to be given out to graduating seniors, noting that it is “a sensitive situation.”

Lapinski has encouraged students to explore alternative financial sectors, noting that the Career Center has resources in a wide array offields.

“There are so many opportunities in areas like equity research, asset management, global markets and many others at firms that are perhaps under the radar, but all actively recruiting [at Duke],” he said.

“There is a broad spectrum of employment that’s available out there.”

Lapinski cited Humana, Macy’s and Accenture as a few these companies.

Admissions offices across the country are also preparing for the effects of the economic downturn. Historically, climates of financial upheaval result in a large increase in graduate school applications, admissions officers noted. Although it is still early in the application cycle for graduate schools, U.S. News and World Report has recorded close to a 25 percent increase in the number of GMAT tests given in August from 2006 to 2008.

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Specialist Anthony Sherman works on the NYSE floor Wednesday, which saw a drop of more than 700 points for the Dow Jones industrials.Thefinancial crisis has led some Duke seniors to rethink their post-graduate plans. admissions at New York University School of Law, and Bill Hoye, associate dean for admissions and financial aid at Duke’s School ofLaw, predicted that the economic slump will likely result in a spike in law school applications.

“I guess the topic sentence is ‘stay tuned,’” Kleinrock said. “But if the markets’ contract continues, we will likely see an increase ofaround 20 percent, which is what we saw after 9/11. And the number of seats in law schools does not change, so as a consequence, competition gets stiffen” Some Duke students said they worry thatpositions in consulting, law school and business will become increasingly difficult to attain because of sharply increased levels of competition.

Despite the setbacks, Mike said his de-

sire to enter the finance industry has not diminished.

“This is what I want to do,” he said.

“Come hell or high water, I’m going to get there. Itjust might involve a little more of a detour than I’d originally planned.”

For some students, the uncertainty in the financial markets is not without a silver lining. Senior Christian Richman said he views his current situation as a blessing in disguise.

“I think we can look at this as being good in away, because even though investment banking is a really desireable job, I don’t think everyone at Duke really wants to do that,” he said. “I’m happy to say that I’ve enjoyed my new job search because now I’m looking more at quality of life, places that are more beneficial for me... places where I’d be the happiest.”

THE CHRONICLE

THURSDAY, OCTOBER

INCREASE from page 1 “But it won’t be zero.”

Lange added that the economic climate is volatile and may change significantly next Fall. As of now, University administrators are acting prudently about new expenditures and are not in a situation where they have to make new commitments, Lange said. Discussions with the Board of Trustees concerning tuition will begin in February.

In the past quarter-century, the cost of a college education has increased more rapidly than that of every other major product or service, CNN Money reported in August.

When financial aid is taken into account, college costs have jumped 439 percent since 1982, the magazine reported.

Tuition and fees—the largest portion of college costs have increased the most among public institutions on a percentage basis, but the largest dollar increases in tuition have occurred at private research institutions.

At Duke for instance, tuition and fees for the 2007-2008 school year totaled $35,512—more than a $13,000 increase from the 1997-1998 school year, when tuitionand fees were $22,173, according to a February 2008 letter Duke sent to the U.S. Senate Finance Committee.

Despite thisjump, The Chronicle calculated that Duke’s tuition has increased about 4.9 percent annually, which is lower than the 5.6 percent average increase for private four-year universities.

—

Curbing the increase Some members of Congress, however, are trying to curb rising college costs. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said earlier this month that he would introduce legislation requiring universities to spend 5 percent of their endowments over a given number ofyears to make college more accessible to middle- and low-income families.

Administrators, however, said a fixed payout as Welch suggests does not provide the long-term stability and predictability that higher education needs to have rational budget planning.

“I don’t think that a formulaic spending rule is advisable,” Lange said. “We spend at a rate thatallows us to spend out an appropriate amount offunds in the good years and the bad years. And that requires balance.... I think that the way we address endowment spending is more complicated than the representative may fully understand.”

James Roberts, executive vice provost for finance and administration, also noted that the amount of money institutions of higher education invest per student is higher than the price a student actually pays.

In addition, administrators argue that a college education is an atypical good that changes on a yearly basis. Thus, indices that measure the average price of consumer goods, like the Consumer Price Index, do not factor in aspects crucial to a college education, Roberts said.

“One thing to keep in mind is that CPI is designed to measure the price of a market basket of goods and services at constant quantity and quality—[it] doesn’t account for improvements in program scope in quantity or quality,” he said. “So, I think that the institutions that Duke compares itself to have seen significant improvements in [these areas.]”

These improvements, however, do not come without a hefty price tag. Along with increases in general operational costs such as energy and health care, expansions in student services and special programs, as well as advancements in technology, have driven up the cost of tuition.

Another large category of expenditures for most universities is the personnel they employ, said Connel Fullenkamp, associate professor of economics. To attract and maintain top-notch faculty, institutions like Duke have to offer optimal salaries that are competitive with the private

industry.

Accompanying the increase in price is an increase in the University’s financial aid commitment. Since the cre-

ation of the Financial Aid Initiative in 2005, financial aid has doubled, Roberts said.

Ironically, Duke’s expenditure on financial aid is another significant cost driver for tuitionfor some students, Roberts said.

“What institutions of higher education are trying to do is make sure they are remaining accessible with their aid programs,” said Matt Owens, .associate vice president for federal relations for the Association ofAmerican Universities. “So students that have the ability to pay wind up paying close to the sticker price or the full sticker price.”

Worth the price tag?

Increases in operational and maintenance costs as well as financial aid commitments, however, are not solely re-

sponsible for increases in college tuition. Duke competes for top resources, faculty and students, in what some have called an “arms race” for excellence. The University’s increased spending to remain competitive translates into

higher tuition for students, but less directly to furthering students’ education.

“There is competition for quality at the top end,” said Jane Wellman, executive director for the Delta Project, a nonprofit organization that evaluates postsecondary education costs, productivity and accountability. “Duke is competing to be in the top top top, so it’s competing for amenities.... Some of the money doesn’t pay off in quality of education, but pays off in quality of life.”

Studies have shown that students with a college education—whether public or private—do gain tangible benefits. In a survey by the Brookings Institution and reported in CNN Money, students from families at every income bracket had a greater chance of earning a salary in the top 20 percent if they had received a college degree. The question remains, though, whether the selectivity of the institution makes a difference.

In a 1999 study conducted by Princeton economist Alan Krueger and researcher Stacy Berg Dale at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the researchers compared the salaries of graduates from elite institutions with those who had been accepted to these schools but elected to attend

2008 I 7

less prestigious schools. Aside from low-income students who benefited from attending the elite institutions, the researchers found no differences between the salaries of the two groups of graduates.

“If you control for quality, aptitude and motivation, [students] do just as well in entry jobs or salaries if they come from public or private schools,” Wellman said. .

Administrators, on the other hand, said the Duke experience is unique in the opportunities it provides to students, both inside and outside the classroom as well as abroad.

“Since [Duke represents] a smaller slice of education it obviously is not for most people,” said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. “If you want to be in an environment thatfosters excellence and that will challenge you intellectually, culturally and socially... then Duke is a place that few if any others can compare to.”

Besides, some aspects of an elite education are inherently inefficient and costly, Schoenfeld said.

“A faculty member and 10 students in a seminar is a faculty member and 10 students in a seminar,” he added.

“Things we do are by their nature less susceptible to changes in improvements in efficiency.”

THE CHRONICLE

8 | THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008

ELECTION from page 1 The Old Trinity Room in the West Union Building opens today as a “One Stop, No Excuse” early voting site through Nov. 1.

Students can cast their ballots from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on most weekdays and for limited hours on most weekends.

Any registered voter in Durham County can vote at the location. In addition, unregistered voters, 18 or over, can register on-site and vote at the same time.

Unregistered voters will need to provide a valid form of identification. A student ID will be accepted for Duke students living on campus. Off-campus residents will need documentation with their name and proof of address, such as a rental agreement or a bill. »

the lead over Obama with ajune Public Policy Polling poll favoring him 45 percent to 41 percent. The same PPP poll conducted last week shows Obama holding a slight advantage, 49 percent to 46 percent.

In addition, the Democrats have added more than 250,000 new voters to their roll in 2008, compared with about 54,000 new additions for the Republicans, according to records kept by the North Carolina Board of Elections.

“It’s a competitive state—we’ve known that from the beginning,” North Carolina GOP spokesperson Brent Woodcox said. “It’s just kind of the environment and the political climate we’re in.... But we’ve been in tough contests before, and we are confident we can replicate the results we’ve had before.”

The Ohama campaign’s aggressive and costly effort to win the state, seeking to capitalize on the demographic changes in its populace and dissatisfaction with the current economic outlook, has forced the McCain campaign to defend its turf.

“You see in the polls enormous majorities think that the country is on the wrong track,” Guillorysaid. “It’s not at all surprising in that context that a Democratic ticket, which doesn’t hold the While House right now, would be making a strong run as voters contemplate a different set of policies.”

The considerable resources the Obama camp has dedicated to North Carolina may be most apparent on the airwaves. An analysis by the Wisconsin Advertising Project found that Obama has outspent McCain 8-to-l on television ads in the state. The campaign, however, emphasized that they hope to spread their message primarily by face-toface canvassing and community organizing.

“At the end of the primary season, Sen. Obama saw an opportunity in North Carolina. He realized that people in the state were sick of the direction that George W. Bush had taken the country,” said Paul Cox, a spokesperson for the Obama campaign in North Carolina. “We’ve been going door-to-door presenting the case that Sen. Obama presents a credible new direction for our government.”

Obama has campaigned in the state five times, including rallies attended by thousands in Asheville, Charlotte and Greensboro. His surrogates, including wife Michelle

»

»

»

JAMIE-ANDREA YANAK/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

GOP presidential nominee JohnMcCain made his first general election campaign trip to North Carolina—a swing state—Monday.

Obama, have made the trip to North Carolina on several other occasions.

“So I said to myself, ‘Maybe we should just keep on coming to North Carolina,’” Obama told supporters in Asheville Oct. 5, the Associated Press reported. “Despite the pundits, despite the prognosticators, despite the cynicism, it turns out, 30 days out, we are right in the hunt in North Carolina.”

On the ground, the Obama campaign has 45 offices across the state, 30 of them opened since the end of August, as well as 17,000 volunteers and about 400 paid staffers. He will visit North Carolina for the sixth time Sunday in Fayetteville.

Sen. McCain, on the other hand, made his first public appearance in North Carolina since the May primaries Monday in Wilmington, and he will visit Concord Saturday.

Republican vice presidential candidate Gov. Sarah Palin attended a rally in Greenville last week, with another visit scheduled for Thursday in Elon.

The McCain, campaign has 35 Victory Offices in operation across the state that are also coordinating the campaigns ofN.C. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and gubernatorial hopeful Pat McCrory, as well as about 40 paid staff members.

“I need your help here in North Carolina,” McCain told the 2,000-strong crowd in Wilmington, acknowledging his new role as an underdog. “We’re in a close race, and we need to fight.”

All signs indicate that it will be a fight to the finish for both candidates as they make last-minute efforts to sway undecided voters and maintain their base of support.

“For the Obama campaign, it’s a matter of assuring people and working hard to get the maximum turnout of voters on Election Day,” Guillory said. “The McCain campaign has a harder task because it is less well-organized on the ground.... They need to turn voters’ attention away from the economy and more towards a judgment of the candidates themselves.”

SIV ML

Proceeds will help: •

Upgrade existing arts and recreation facilities Build and expand trails, parks and museums Career training and workforce development Community cleanup and beautification •

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How will the money be spent?

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5% for Community Cleanup 5% for Workforce Training 10% to Market Durham •

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Its Amenities 80% for Civic and Cultural projects, including Recreation and Trails •

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1) CULTURAL FACILITIES Hayti Heritage Center Civic Center Carolina Theatre •

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$22,500,000 Durham Arts Council Durham Armory •

2) MUSEUMS $23,800,000 Museum of Life and Science Parrish Street Museum Without Walls Minor League Baseball Fan Experience and National Museum History Museum and Parrish Street Common Room.

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3) RECREATION AND TRAILS $12,850,000 Durham County Stadium Durham Bulls Athletic Park American Tobacco Trail West Point on the Eno Park and Environmental Education Center Pearsontown Trail New Hope Preserve/Hollow Rock Park Little River Corridor New Hope Trail, Third Fork Creek Trail West Ellerbee Creek Trail Durham Central Park East.

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volume 11, issue 9

means

October 16, 2008

necessai

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escapism film festival Duke grad's score for horror film part of festival

PAGES

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rev it up

not too Keane

Sex Drive Like Superbad, only not as good

Piano rockers disappoint on third LP

:

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8

October 16, 2008

recess

■[editor'snote]

Dear Duke Student Government, Coach David Culdiffe and Duke Football, You just got rickrolled.

Urban Dictionary, recess’ reference material of choice, defines being rickrolled thusly: “To be tricked by a forum troll into clicking on a Rick Asdey music video." What’s a forum troll, you ask? Excellent question; fortunately, it doesn’t matter. There are no such things in real life, and real life is the wonderful forum in which Duke’s own rickrolling took place. You see, DSG decided to allow students to pick the football team’s theme song for the year, a method of decisionmaking so frightening that the country’s founding fathers went through a great deal of trouble to make sure it could never be used to pick the chief executive.

Moral of this story: If the president were elected by popular vote, Rick Astley would win. Every time.

But I digress. DSG compiled a list of student favorites, populated by such old-school gems as “Don’t Stop Believing,” “Runnin’ with the Devil” and a Petey Pablo song (which received 12 votes, further casting doubt on the viability of this process). And “Never Gonna Give You Up,” Rick Astley’s classic paean to not makin’ you cry and not sayin’ goodbye, came out on top. This isn’t the first instance of rickrolling on a grand scale, however: Radiohead rickrolled millions last year with a fake countdown to information concerning their new album, and CNN was rickrolled by wily sign-holding Washington University students this year during

their live broadcast of the presidential debate. But really, this takes the art to a whole new level.

Further analysis of the list of song nominees reveals even more surprises.

If the vote distribution were to accurately reflect the popularity ofcertain songs on campus, one would expect 117 percent of votes to have been cast for XL, spread out evenly between “Live Your Life” and “Whatever You Like.” Soulja Boy wasn’t even an option, which is a little bit like a Clinton not being a candidate. Katy Perry’s absence is irrefutable evidence of God’s existence, and a strong majority of the songs are from the ’Bos or earlier, which is just lame.

Unfortunately, DSG’s failure to at least give Kanye West some votes is certain proof that this contest was actually a farce. Without proper representation for Kanye, recess cannot possibly condone this contest as fair and balanced, and no doubt there are investigations already ongoing as to the deceit that went into this “election.”

Duke will be reminded of the rickrolling at every home game, every time this absurd (yet, strangely brilliant) song blares through Wallace Wade’s speakers. While Coach CutclifFe has taken large strides towards building a program that’s never gonna give you up and never gonna let you down, it remains to be seen how having a theme song sung by an individual who wears 100-percent denim outfits may affect the team’s play.

—Kevin Lincoln

DUKE PERFORMANCES ESPflKfl CLfISICfI -

10/17, 10/19, 11/7

DUKE PERFORMANCES

-

fiYPSY

SATURDAYS: 10/25, 11/8

DUKE PERFORMANCES ROIfRO UIBAIBO Thurs. 10/30.

In

l||l duke performances

-

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8 pm. Nelson

GET TICKETS:

919-684-4444 dukcpcrfonTißiicGS-org

Because of the success of political commentary in this space —especially among members of the Duke Conservative Union—we’ve decided to bring it back this week. If you’re an average Duke student, you probably got wasted playing debate-themed drinking games (“Maverick!”), so for the blacked-out, here’s a recap of the key moments in the night; 9:16 p.m. Obama uses the word “profligate.” English majors and elitists everywhere sigh in ecstasy.

9:17 p.m. McCain argues his spending freeze uses a hatchet, and then a scalpel. We’re pretty sure we saw that one last season on Grey’s.

9:20 p.m. McCain: “Senator Obama, if you wanted to run against President Bush, you should have run four years ago.” He then points to the sky and says “Count it!”

9:24 p.m. Bob Schieffer looks like a leprechaun.

9:30 p.m. McCain has been fascinated by his Sharpie for four minutes... and counting.

9:35 p.m. McCain argues thatA.C.O.R.N. is “destroying the fabric of democracy.”

Someone here is a nut (for the record, recess endorsed Barack Obama last spring, so we’re bound to follow editorial policy).

9:37 p.m. McCain gets Barack-rolled.

9:40 p.m. Schieffer asks why each candidate’s running mate would be better than the other. Gleeful Democratic audiences wonder where Obama will start.

9:47 p.m. McCain says we can end our dependence on Middle Eastern and Venezuelan oil within his first term.

9:54 p.m. Apparently automakers are “getting hammered right now,” possibly because of McCain’s oil pledge. Still, road trip to Detroit, anyone? Perhaps Duke grad Rick Wagoner would let us crash at his house... or on the floor of a shuttered factory...

10:04 p.m. Who would win in a fight between Joe Plumber and Joe Sixpack?

10:08 p.m. “Now, Bob, I’m not wearing pants right now,” says Barack Obama.

10:09 p.m. “And neither am I,” says McCain, 10:10 p.m. A vigorous boxers, briefs or adult diapers debate ensues. The CNN undecided Ohio voter graph is starting to look like the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

10:31 p.m. Bob says voting will make us feel “big and strong.” Particularly if we’re not wearing pants.

—Leslie Griffith andDavid Graham, editor

■ [recesseditors] What is an Experimental Geographer?

David Graham Baishi Wu Nancy Wang Jessie Tang Jordan Axt Andrew Hibbard Glen Gutterson

Eugene Wang Chelsea Allison

Saturday night in New Hampshire making mountains out ofmole hills

me

proving your body is a wonderland having a fetish for sand the earth is the turf Jared Artificial Diamond one foot in, one foot out a glorified

spelunker

believes CLT is an actual city

recess

October 16, 2008

PAGE 3

Dukie’s score adorns Midn i oct 16 7:30 p.m

barkiey Hendricks Nasher Museum of Art

Best known for his life-size portraits, Duke's current artist in residence will discuss the influence of the Spanish old master Diego Velazquez on his own work. The talk is held in conjunction with the current exhibition El Greco to Velazquez: Art during theReign of Philip 111. Free.

scenes of secrecy Center for Documentary Studies Opening reception for the new CDS exhibit concerning various invasions of privacy that often prioritize security over human rights. A talk by artist and experimental geographer Trevor Paglen of the University of California, Berkeley. Get your creep on. Free.

5:30 p.m

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Sukiyaki Western Django is one of the baker's dozen of films in the Escapism Film Festival, this weekend at the Carolina Theatre downtown.

8:15 p.m

“I was born and raised in Eastern Europe and this is my THE CHRONICLE most authentic voice,” she said. “If I come from that place When composer Penka Kouneva came to Duke in 1990 of authenticity, my music will be dark and serious [which from Bulgaria, she didn’t expect to stay for seven years and is] good for drama.” leave with a Ph.D. She also didn’t expect that her work As such, the score for Midnight Movie reflects this tone would make its way back to Durham in 2008. as well as Kouneva’s research on the scores for &-movies But thanks to the Carolina Theatre’s Escapism Film Fesfrom the 19605.

Set a decade later in the 19705, Midnight Movie balances tival, Kouneva’s music has found its way back to her first two tales of terror. When a group of friends gather in the American home.

She wrote the score for Midnight Movie, one of the 13 theater to watch a cult horror film, they find themselves films playing as part of the festival’s fifth season. embroiled in a race for their lives to escape the film’s vilKouneva, who came to Duke on the Mary Duke Biddle lain, who has jumped off the screen and into their reality.

Like many of the films at Escapism, Midnight Movie is Fellowship for Composition, said her study at the Univerher musical best suited-for fans versed in the history of horror films. in development. was sity paramount “Due to the supernatural nature of our story, we were [Duke] gave me that sense of foundation, that sense of able to create a villain that paid homage to the past, but capability,” she said.

As much as Duke was formative for Kouneva, her BulSEE ESCAPISM ON PAGE 8 garian roots are as, if not more, important. by

Andrew Hibbard

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Manbites Dog Theater

Based on the best-selling book by Joe Bageant, Man Bites Dog Theatre will present a special staged workshop reading of this provocative play-in-progress.

The story details Bageant's return to rural Virginia, and the play features guns, God and a native son's love of his roots (not to mention karaoke). Nightly, $5.

oct 18 3:00 p.m.

monsters of mock Lincoln Theater, Raleigh

A day-long festival paying tribute to the Triangle's most promising tribute bands. In all, 10 acts will perform, featuring groups dedicated to recreating The Ramones, Guns 'N' Roses and Poison. Come to remind yourself that no matter how hard we try, the 'Bos will never leave us. $l5.

GET TICKETS:

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lIP u,r^l^MANc;

oct 16-18 deer hunting w/jesus

910-684-4444

;

dukeperformances.org

BY LESLIE GRIFF TH

he more things change..

When the renovated Coffeehouse opens Oct. 18, the suede will be new but the offbeat spirit the same.

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The Duke Unive rs ity Union, which oversees the Coffeehouse, formed a

the Union, the renovatio gust, Marston said.

Gone is the disused s blocked the entryway. dodgy egg-crate acoustic used to rub off on dru backs during shows. Gom old counter, replaced wi granite one twice as loi and with considerably m space behind it—than previous one.

“The counter is grea> Aivaz gushed. “You don understand the kind space that we used to hav the freedom this will affo 1 us, not having to go back the storage room every tw minutes.”

Gone also is most, not all, of the Coffeeh* old furniture. The brigh green couch and its < burns and the well-worn have given way to a behe couch and a massive hi bag chair—but alongsL thrift-store finds that keep to the oiu house style, Marston noted.

“It’s a fine balancing act” between maintaining the Coffeehouse’s beloved alternative vibe and heightening its appeal to a broader Duke crowd, Goonewardene said.

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a niche popue should feel •ut here,” he an have the •e with more now. It was al collaboraeffort, and I nk it turned t well.”

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Babylonia Aivaz was moving a television out of the Duke Coffeehouse two weeks ago when the load slipped, bashing her head and leaving her with a nasty black eye.

In classic Coffeehouse fashion—unconventional, unconcerned, unabashedly alternative—Booking Manager a junior, stepped in to save the day.

Jen Fuh,didn’t have ice, so Jen took metal bolts from the “We refrigerator, put them in a Ziploc bag and held it against nty eye,” recalled Aivaz, who is the Coffeehouse’s inventory and marketing manager.

[The black eye] makes her look hardcore,” said General Manager Andrea Marston, a senior.

After months of sweat, tears and, in Aivaz’s case, burst blood vessels, the revamped Coffeehouse is ready for its close-up. But despite the swanky furniture, granite countertops and beige tiles, the threesome at the heart of the renovation project say the Coffeehouse hasn’t lost the quirkiness that has made it a haven for the non-stereotypical Duke crowd since its inception.

“We didn’t choose the beige tiles,” Marston said, laughing. “I think people were worried that it would become like corporate Starbucks, which didn’t happen.”

Now, just days before Saturday’s re-opening party, the triumvirate recall how it all began six months ago.

“We started thinking about it in April, then it started really happening in August,” Marston said.

“Yeah, in April, it was just a brainchild, a fetus,” Aivaz chimed in. She pointed at a mural of a distorted fetus on the back wall, one of the pre-existing murals now sharing wall space with six

otspotforthe many still be a haven for the few? As plans progressed, members of the comrnite clashed —

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that included Aivaz, Mansion and Fuh to make plans for a renovation last spring, explained DUU President Chamindra Goonewardene, a senior.

Goonewardene and DUU Executive Vice President Bryant Moquist, a senior, also served on the committee.

“It was something all of us were toying around with [when my term began],” Goonewardene said. “Then we started talking to administrators and we made it happen.”

After they secured $53,000 from Executive Vice President Tallman Trask and funding for new furniture from

some

den, von der Heyden,’ and as you can see that totally didn’t happen,” Marston said. “I’ve been in the middle of a lot of

arguments, a lot of negotiations, and I think it’s more our vision than theirs. In the end I think we came to a good compromise.”

She said she hopes the revamped venue and re-opening party Saturday will attract a larger clientele than before, especially freshmen.

“More people will come to the shows now because they know it exists,” Marston said.

Goonewardene agreed.

“There’s no [other] real place for freshmen to hang out on East [Campus] and it’s a really cool space,” he said Should anyone doubt that the Coffeehouse can step up without selling out, the painting is on the wall to prove it; After soliciting designs through a campus-wide contest, the staff selected six artists to paint new murals for the Coffeehouse walls. From a “loctopus”—that is, a half-lion, half-octopus—to a disembodied face against a bright orange background to a green power fist, these murals sit side by side with the spaceships and fetuses from the good old days.

But even with a balance struck between old and new, Aivaz said she sometimes misses the old.

“I was probably the most reactionary of us,” she said of the vision for the renovation. “I don’t think I could sleep here any more. I used to sleep here sometimes.”

Aivaz can rest easy knowing that despite the cosmetic changes, the Coffeehouse’s vibe will be just as weird as ever.

“It’s the same, justwith cleaner surfaces,” Marston said.

“Yeah,” Aivaz said. “More hygiene, same spirit. That can our motto.”

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October 16,

recess

PAGE 6

SEX DRIVE DIR S. ANDERS SUMMIT ENTER TAINMEN'I

Anybody who liked Superbad will enjoy Sex Drive just as much. Based on the same brand of hormonal adolescent humor, Sex Drive is an Odyssean adventure. Where Superbad revolved around two similarly misfit male teenagers and their girl problems, Sex Drive tells of lan’s quest to meet his online girlfriend, Ms. Tasty, and subsequently lose his virginity. lan (Josh Zuckerman) fits the Michael Cera archetype —a pale, skinny wimp whose desperation to get laid is both sad and funny. Zuckerman portrays a wittier version of the type than Gera’s Evan, but the effect is the same. lan’s chubby sidekick, Lance (Clark Duke), is strangely skillful with women. His character seems

unbelievable and forced at times, but Duke delivers an adequate performance.

Accompanying this dynamic duo is Felicia (Amanda Crew). Felicia is like Juno—a wannabe punk with a soft heart. Throughout the film, Felicia and lan share a palpable sexual tension that builds as the trio nears the meeting place where lan will become a man.

Also featured are James Marsden and Seth Green. Playing lan’s jerk older brother, Marsden nails the role, but his talent is greater than the script. Green plays his usual smarmy self—this time dressed up like an Amish man.

There is nothing unpredictable about Sex Drive, but it is clever and will provide a few laughs. Since it occupies the same niche as Superbad, it won’t be anywhere near the hit that was. But really, does this kind of movie ever get old?

—Braden Hendricks

THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES DIR G. PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD FOX SEARCHLIGHT

����� A feel-good story about racism, domestic abuse and unintentional matricide, The Secret Life ofBees depicts a rich family drama in the last days of Jim Crow. In this adaptation of Sue Monk Kidd’s bestselling novel, Dakota Fanning plays Lily Owens, a 14-yearold who lives with a horrifying burden —at age four, she accidentally shot and killed her mother while trying to save her from T. Ray, Lily’s abusive father (an un-Wimbledonesque Paul Bettany). After running away with her nanny Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) Lily finds family and redemption with the refined but free-spirited Boatwright sisters on their honey farm.

The Boatwrights’ tacky Pepto-pink home is host to tragedy, growth and romance over the course of the film, as Lily falls for a black teen (Tristan Wilds) and struggles ,

DUKE PERFORMANCES ESPflHfl CLASICA ■

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escape her father. But it’s the house’s inhabitants—and the fine actresses who play them—that make The Secret Life of Bees so compelling. Queen Latifah and Alicia Keys are engaging as August and June Boatwright, who together care for May (Sophie Okonedo), their hilarious and heartbreaking sister who feels the world’s sadnesses as her own. Hudson, true to form, is sterling as Rosaleen, a proud and witty young woman worn down by life but inspired by the recent passage of the Civil Rights Act. Fanning, remarkably, is not overshadowed by these powerful screen presences.

Despite her gangly frame and otherworldly big eyes, she packs a lot of dramatic punch.

Her Lily is simultaneously defiant and vulnerable, and she manages to convince us that a girl so surrounded by loving women could truly believe herself unloved. Smart, sensuous and not overly sweet, The Secret Life ofBees is a well-crafted story of human and apian lives.

—Leslie Griffith to

October 16, 2008

recess I’M FROM

BARCELONA

WHO KILLED HARRY

HOUDINI?

MUTE RECORDS

����� The world’s favorite 30-member Swedish indie collective, I’m From Barcelona, follows up their joyous 2006 debut Let Me Introduce My Friends with Who Killed Harry Houdini? Rather than the upbeat, life-affirming tunes of innocence that epitomized the group’s earlier work, the songs of Who Killed will leave listeners feeling much more subdued and calmed.

But once old fans get used to the new sound, the slower, more graceful Who Killed will lead to subtle contemplation. “Gunhild” features a flowing piano and haunting chorus of vocals that lull the listener into a dream-like state. However, the real gem of the album is “Music Killed Me,” which swells from simple gloom to magnificently dark heights a la Arcade Fire.

NIKKA COSTA PEBBLE TO A PEARL GO FUNK YOURSELF RECORDS/STAX RECORDS

����� After a three-year hiatus, soulful funk crooner Nikka Costa finds success with her fourth—and best—release yet, Pebble to a Pearl. Released on her own Go Funk Yourself Records, the record is saturated with songs of love, hope and authority. Though the tracks are weakened by their monotonous beats and styles, Costa’s fourth effort nudges her out of the shadow of more popular contemporaries such as Aany Winehouse and Joss Stone.

The first single, “Stuck to You,” is the album’s most instantly satisfying song. Even with a simple, repetitive beat, the track achieves itsfull potential through Costa’s sassy lyrics and high-energy vocals. With clever remarks such as, “If you a sin, I’d be your mercy/If you the beat, I’d be the moves/If you the tree, I’d be the roots,” it’s hard not to fall in love. On the same note, “Can’t Please Everybody” is an equally catchy stand-up-for-yourself anthem with a Motown twist.

The oddball of the album, “Bullets in the Sky,” is also its high point, as the song ventures away from Costa’s comfortable territory. Punctuated with syncopated beats and electronic chords, the politically minded song has great build up. Unfortunately, it is the only one of its kind on the disc.

After the initial gloss wears off, the songs in Pebble to a Pearl begin to bleed together and could benefit from a more diverse repertoire of styles and lyrics. Despite the lack of variation, Costa’s latest still provides a solid handful of pop gold, sure to add a glimmer of sunshine to any lackluster day.

—Jessie Tang

CAT'S CRADLE (919) 967 9053 300 E. Main St. Carrboro www.catscradle.com

OCTOBER: 17 FR: CHATHAM COUNTY LINE w/ Thad Cockrell** 18 SA: JERRY DOUGLAS 21 TU: COPELAND, Lovedrug, Lydia 22 WE: MOP, w/ Connie Price The Keystones ( Free show: RSVP @ SCION.com/livemetro ) 23 TH ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO/ Satin Peaches 24 FR: PEPPER w/ Supervillians, Passafire 25 SA SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS w/ Deshawn Hickman 26 SU: ILL BILL & Sean Price w/ Mi Platoon 27 MO: HOTEL CAFE TOUR (Ingrid Michaelson, more) 28 TU: DEERHOOF 29 WE; BASSNECTAR w/ Beats Antique 30 TH; BOUNCING SOULS, Strike Anywhere more 31 FR EVERYBODYFIELDS w/ Katie Herzig &

&

NOVEMBER: 1 SA: WXYC 80s DANCE 2 SU: DEERHUNTER w/ Times New Vikins** 3 MO: MURS w/ Kidz In The Hall 4 TU: Election party w/ host 9th Wonder 5 WE: THE MOUNTAIN GOATS, KAKI KING 6TH: LOTUS, Seepeoples**

SHOW @ LINCOLN THEATRE, Raleigh: Oct. 29: MINUS THE BEAR, ANNUALS,

Cat's Cradle is at; 300 E. Main St Carrboro 27510 919967 9053

NOWSERVING CAROLINA BREWERY BEERS ON TAP!

Sylvie

SHOW MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH: OCT. 18 SA: THE MAGNETIC HELDS, Portastatic" @

**

Asterisks denote advance sales at Bull City (Durham) “BUY TICKETS ONLINE! at WWW.ETIX.COM For phone orders call 919 967 9053 Check www.catscradle.com for more listings...

PAGE?

The merry chorus of the album’s first single, “Paper Planes,” (unfortunately, not an M.IA cover) offers the simple, childlike advice to clear one’s mind by making paper planes. Here, listeners find the playful, care-free philosophy that we have come to expect from lead singer Emanuel Lundgren.

This welcomed thread of energy continues into the second half of the album. The mildly more upbeat “Mingus” and the rocking distorted guitars of“Houdini” revert back to the band’s older feel, but prove to be less impressive than Who Killed s more introspective tracks.

If Let Me Introduce My Friends is a sunny day in the field of childhood, Who Killed Harry Houdini?is the quiet, reflective night, slightly more confused and doubting. Fans will appreciate the creative risks taken by I’m From Barcelona, who could have easily stuck with their previously winning formula. At one point, Lundgren laments, ‘You have to take some chances as you grow.” It’s nice to see he practices what he preaches.

—Sam Schlinkert

October 16, 2008

recess

PAGES

KEANE PERFECT SYMMETRY ISLAND RECORDS

Keane started off with a distinct objective: to be a successful pop group that primarily featured piano instead of guitar. Somewhere on the way to their newest release, Perfect Symmetry, this mission was abandoned.

With this development, the Sussex trio lost any shred of originality. What’s left is yet another band trying to resurrect the ‘Bos, singing in English accents and writing their lyrics entirely in cliches.

Vocalist Tom Chaplin takes primary focus on the record’s 11 songs, a direct byproduct of the piano’s disappearance behind cheap, omnipresent synths. Unwilling to exercise a capable singing voice in his native accent, Chaplin stretches for a more American inflection on many of the songs. Interestingly, the result is a sound reminiscent of Killers’ frontman Brandon Flowers, and the style suits neither Chaplin nor the band. His lyrics seem as though they were taken directly from a laundry list of overplayed

OPEN HOUSE Interested in studying the environment or sustainable development?

love songs, which becomes apparent after a quick glance the tracklist. Seriously, two songs with “love” in the title, one with “heart.” Inventive.

Although lines like “I saw your face looking back at me/I saw my past, and I saw my future” hint at zero effort, it isn’t until forgettable slow-burner “Playing Along” that the album’s complete lack of ingenuity is exposed. The band actually adds more instruments and speeds up the tempo as Chaplin sings, “I’m gonna turn up the volume,” something so unoriginal that its use almost seems ironic.

Sadly, it’s not.

Keane does manage to produce some solid hooks, namely on the title track, which benefits from a return to their older style. Intriguing piano and solid drumming are backed by subde electronics, adding flavor but not overpowering the pop-pleasantness. The chorus is also kept charitably short, solving a problem that weakens many of Symmetry's other songs. Even with its charms, “Perfect Symmetry” is overlong and repetitive, but at least its content deserves to be replayed. The same cannot be said for much else, and this derivative songcraft will not breed repeated listens.

—Kevin Lincoln at

CHRONICLE

Escapism Film Festival at the Carolina Theatre.

ESCAPISM from page 3 with a fresh approach,” said Jack Messit, the film’s writer and director, in a press release. “It was fun to explore what a more traditional slasher villain would do in a modem film.”

But Midnight Movieis only one ofseveral films playing this weekend. Now in its fifth year, the Escapism Film Festival—in 2006 the festival took a one-year hiatus and transformed itselffrom an Asian-only event—is proving itself to be a venerable tradition at the theater in the same vein as the famed “Midnight Madness” section of the Toronto Film Festival.

“We’d like to be the Southeast’s answer to Midnight Madness,” said Jim Carl, senior director of the Carolina Theatre.

He added that 2007 was the best year for the festival so far, as it saw its highest attendance and ticket-sales.

And now, in 2008, cinephiles can enjoy their favorite genre of film set to the sounds of one of the area’s own.

The Escapism Film Festival runs from Oct. 17 to 19 at the Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan St. downtown. Midnight Movie screens Saturday at 9:40 p.m. and Sunday at 9:33 p.m.

For more information, visit carolinatheatre. org/escapism.

October 20, 4-6:30 p.m Low Library Rotunda Columbia University 116th and Broadway

Columbia University has many programs for you.

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Surveillance plays Saturday and Sunday afternoons as part of the

Cat’s Cradle 300 E. Main St. Carrboro

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At the Environmental and Sustainable Development Programs Open House, learn how our programs can help you reach your goals. Whether you are interested in global poverty alleviation, sustainable development, ecology or environmental policy, Columbia University has programs for you.

For more information, please contact Louise Rosen at students@ei.columbia.edu or call 212-854-3142. www.earthinstitute.columbia.edu/education Find out about Columbia’s new M.P.A. in Development Practice

©The Earth Institute

AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

University IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK

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Advance sales at Schoolkids (Raleigh) Alley (CH) Chaz's Bull City Records (Durham) Charge by phone at 919-967-9053 Or on the web at WWW.ETIX.COM www.catscradle.com &

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>>

SPORTS BLOG

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Thaddeus Lewis mentored Miami's backup quarterback Jacory Harris in high school

This summer, Mike Krzyzewski learned at least one reason

THURSDAY October 16,2008

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THE INVISIBLE PLAY

Devin Hester pulled off his light against Duke—except it by

Ben Cohen

THE CHRONICLE

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to the way ESPN play-by-play man Dave Armstrong’s tone changes over 30 seconds—the way it morphs from conversational to reverential—and you will begin to understand why more than a million people have gushed watching looping YouTube reels of Devin Hester ever since.

“He’s ready at the 35,” Armstrong said.

“Backs up to his own 30, waits for a block, here he comes again, this time he dances back into trouble—andback out again! Wow! Still on his feet! Are you kidding me? Wow!” A roar ripped through the crowd 0f40,000 spectators at the Orange Bowl Oct. 8, 2005, when Hester was still at his own 30-yard line, seemingly trapped by Duke’s punt-blocking unit. By the time he eased up into the end zone after glancing behind him twice, the pandemonium had reached a crescendo.

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The Miami fans, though, were cheering for a play that never actually happened. You see, the Chicago Bears’ explosive return man’s most-viewed return on YouTube was negated by an unnecessary holding penalty. The box score from Miami’s 52-7 win shows no Hester touchdowns and offers no peeks into Hester’s brilliance that afternoon.

But the memories of the Blue Devils who were torched that day are more reliable.

“It was probably one of the most amazing individual plays I’ve ever seen,” said backup quarterback Zack Asack, who started that day.

“That’s Devin Hester,” said running back Clifford Harris, who rushed for 19 yards on 10 carries that day. “He’s doing the same thing now in the NFL.” Before he was a Pro Bowler who returned Super Bowl XL’s opening kickoff for a SEE HESTER ON PAGE 11

students’ questions

Devil Walk to go through Cameron Saturday by

Ben Cohen

THE CHRONICLE

Mike Krzyzewski has coached at Duke For 29 years, but Wednesday marked the first time he held an event for students with another head coach.

Krzyzewski and David CutclifFe shared a stage in the Great Hall and answered questions from around 200 students for 45 minutes, discussing topics as wide-ranging as Krzyzewski’s Olympic experience and Cutcliffe’s first walk through Duke’s West Campus.

The third installment of CutclifFe’s biweekly meeting with students showcased the good will between Duke’s two most recognizable programs, which both play Saturday. CutclifFe’s team welcomes Miami at 3:30 p.m. in Wallace Wade Stadium right after Krzyzewski’s squad tips off its season in the annual Slue-White scrimmage at 1 p.m.

The events will be linked even further as the football team will take a detour through Cameron Indoor Stadium •n its weekly Devil Walk.

“I would love for Cameron to be fu11... but even more importandy, I would love for you to knock the ceiling down with the noise when our football team comes through,” Krzyzewski said. “Remember

how good that is. We’re going to win, and if you do, they’re going to win, too.”

CutclifFe and Krzyzewski spoke for about 10 minutes each before taking questions from the audience. CutclifFe spoke primarily about his admiration for Krzyzewski and the example he set with Duke Basketball, and Krzyzewski discussed his time winning a gold medal in Beijing in August and recounted the first time he met CutclifFe in December.

After speaking for about an hour with the man who would become Duke’s head coach, he wholeheartedly recommended him to the search committee.

Krzyzewski even contrasted the gathering to a similar question-and-answer session taking place Wednesday night between two presidential nominees with opposing views.

“We’re on the same ticket,” Krzyzewski said before he was interrupted by CutclifFe. “Vote for Duke!” CutclifFe said.

The comparisons between the two men extend past their employer. Krzyzewski’s grandson and CutclifFe’s daughter are in the same third-grade class at Durham Academy, where CutclifFe said his daughter is the smartest girl and Krzyzewski’s grandson is the smartest boy.

SAM SHEFT/TH

David Cutdiffe (left) and Mike Krzyzewski (right) took questions before about 200 students Wednesday in the GreatHall.

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THE CHRONICLE

16,2008

AROUNRTHE STANDINGS ATLANTIC WAKE BC FSU MARYLAND CLEMSON N.C. STATE

ACC 2-0

1-1 1-1 1-1 1-2 0-2

OVERALL

4-1 4-1 4-1 4-2 3-3 2-4

VA. TECH GA.TECH UNC DUKE UVA MIAMI

THURSDAY FSU at N.C. State

North Carolina loses WR Tate for season JOEDY McREARY

ASSOCIATED PRESS

ACC OVERALL 2-0 5-1 2-1 5-1 1-1 5-1 1-1 3-2 1-1 3-2 0-2 2-3

7:30 ESPN

North CaroCHAPEL HILL, N.C. lina receiver Brandon Tate is out for the season because of a knee injury, ending his college career and leaving the No. 18 Tar Heels without a big-play threat and kick returner.

Tar Heel head coach Butch Davis said Monday that an MRI Sunday night confirmed an earlier diags torn anter^or Notebook nos cruciate and medial collateral ligaments.

“You never know until you get the Xrays and MRIs,” Davis said.

Tate injured fps right knee while returning a punt in the first quarter of the 29-24 win against Notre Dame Saturday.

He walked off the field and into the locker room under his own power, and did *

*

not return.

SATURDAY Ga. Tech at Clemson Wake at Maryland Miami at Duke UNCatVirginia Va.Tech at BC

The injury initially was announced as

Noon Noon 3:30 3:30 8:00

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a sprain “I made a quick move to my left, moved to the right and saw a gold helmet hit my leg,” Tate said. “I thought it was like a bruise or something, real sore on the inside part ofmy knee. The MRIs told me everything.”

Tate scored five touchdowns this season and was leading the ACC with 163.7 all-purpose yards per game. He had 376

yards receiving, 143 yards rushing, 305 kickoff return yards and 158 punt return

yards.

Duke wideout Eron Riley leads the conference with six touchdown grabs.

“If [he’s] not the most explosive player in college football, he’s really close,” North Carolina quarterback Cameron Sexton said. “To replace a kick returner, punt returner and receiver ofhis caliber, you just can’t do it. But we’re going to find somebody who’s going to play really well in his place.”

Now Davis is hunting for a replacement for his most versatile player beginning this week at Virginia, where the Tar Heels haven’t won since 1981.

But stepping in for Tate—who finishes his career as the NCAA’s all-time leader with 3,523 combined kick return yards—might be too much for one person, Davis said.

“There won’t be one guy this week,” Davis said. “There may be one guy three weeks from now, or two guys two weeks from now, but it may take a committee of two, three, four, five guys that can come in and do some things for us.”

What kind of potential do Thaddeus Lewis and Eron Riley have on the next level?

They have a lot of potential, they could be Sunday-type players, especially if Lewis can get some help with the running game—it’s going to make him a lot better.

Can the passing game thrive without a solid running game?

If you can run the football, it makes a lot of difference how you put pressure on the passer. I think it’s pretty hard to just be a good passing team and not being able to run the ball.

What are your thoughts on this weekend’s Duke-Miami matchup?

Miami’s got a lot of talent. That’s going to be the key, whether Duke can protect the quarterback. If they can, they’ll have some chances in the passing game. It’ll be a challenge for Duke—it’ll be a really good game.

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the chronicle

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008

HESTER from page 9

CHRONICLE FILE PHOTOS

Before Devin Hester returned SuperBowl XL's opening kickoff for a touchdown, he torched theBlue Devil defense in 2005 for a touchdown negated by a penalty. The return is still his most-viewed YouTube clip.

i

touchdown, Hester was eluding ladders and slipping through creases for the Hurricanes, and his punt return against Duke was his magnum opus.

Blue Devil punter Chris Sprague took the snap at Duke’s 15-yard line with 3:05 left in the second quarter and Miami leading 24-0. He cleanly let go a 46-yard punt with a hangtime between three and four seconds.

Hester caught the ball at the 29-yard line.

He took a hop back before splitting two Duke defenderswith a shimmy at the 30.

Six quick steps to the right. Pause. Pivot.

Four steps to the left. Halt. Pivot again.

He turns around—his back faces the line ofscrimmage—to try again, but he is wrapped up by freshman safety Andreas Platt, who grabs him by the collar. Hester spins with Platt hanging on, his grip gradually sliding down Hester’s body undl he loses it completely.

Armstrong, the announcer, laughs. Hester is only beginning.

He retreats to the 25, and an empty patch offield down the right sideline beckons. Hester then glides through two more defenders with a quick burst. Sophomore linebacker Brandon Tapps goes for his ankle and misses.

And then the best part—even better than treating a 195-pound safety like a bothersome fly or parting two chasing defenders with one step.

Hester stops, if only for a split second. He looks right His body is squared like a linebacker’s before the snap. He takes inventory; A defender lurks behind, and two more loom to the left So Hester bolts right.

Past DeAndre White, past Platt, who gets another piece of his shoulder and past C J. Woodard, all the way down the right sideline. Hester takes one peek behind his left shoulder—then another—and sees what everyone else has just taken in; everything

I 11

but the end zone is behind him But one of those lagging players is Miami wide receiver Tanard Davis, the Hurricane responsible for Hester’s magic being erased from all official records. Davis pushed Sprague from behind at the 28-yard line, even though the Duke punter had absolutely no chance of touching, let alone tackling, Hester.

The official whisded him for holding, and Hester’s touchdown was pulled back to the 38.

Since then, the highlight has been archived on YouTube, where it is Hester’s mostwatched clip—the replay has reached an even wider audience than his Super Bowl return or his 97-yard touchdown sprint to open Miami’s rivalry game against Florida in 2005.

Duke’s players don’t need to rewatch the return to remember Hester’s brilliance. Harris said he hasn’t replayed it in “a while,” but he’s in no rush. After all, he has a different perspective than most fans. It’s hard for Harris to gape at die highlight when his teammates were the ones looking foolish.

“It was more disappointment than awe,” he said. “There were a couple ofkey mistakes that set the tone, and it was frustradng.”

And despite the way the return is remembered even after so many more instances of Hester’s acrobatics —in the last week alone, six viewers have left awe-struck remarks below the YouTube video—Hester’s own coach doesn’t remember the specific play.

“He just had so many great returns,” former Miami head coach and current ESPN analyst Larry Coker said. “[The best was] probably the Florida return. He told me, ‘Coach, I’m going to take my first return back for a touchdown.’ We played a good N.C. State team in Raleigh, and he took a kickoff seven yards deep in the end zone and took it back the distance. I was telling him, ‘Stay in, stay in, stay in,’ and there he goes for 107yards. ‘Go, go, go,’ I guess.”

The 2005 Blue Devils would have preferred if Hester had stopped.

Duke Univer Department of Political Science presents

The Ella Baker Tour Duke East Campus

White Auditorium Thursday, October 16 4:30 p.m.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2008 i 13

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1

Last week Duke Student an open and inclusive conGovernment announced the sideration of Judicial Affairs policy. creation of the Judicial AfMoreover, the student comfairs Student Advisory Group, whose task will be to review mittee promises to be a wellcomposed all proposed mix of stuchanges to editorial dent leaders Judicial Affairs policy before they go into and at-large members, which effect. figures to serve as an accurate Although the new group representation of educated will have no material control student opinion.

DSG—and Vice President over judicial policy, it will be notified of all alterations to for Student Affairs Lauren Maisel in particular—should the policy and will make recommendations on the probe praised for making judicial policy reform a priority posed changes.

Of course, this is a far cry and for bringing the issue to from the Judicial Affairs task student attention.

But this column is skeptical force, which was disbanded last Spring and whose charge about how effective the comwas to evaluate disciplinary mittee will be in its efforts to policy on a large scale. But, in lobby the administration for itself, the new group is a step positive change.

It is generally true that in the right direction toward

students should not have the final say over judicial policy.

But in the recent past, student opinion on judicial policy has simply not been listened to at all, and this trend must change.

DSG has made a first gesture. Now the onus is on the administration —specifically, Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta and director of Judicial Affairs Stephen Bryan —to pay attention to what students have to say.

Whether or not the University administration chooses to consider the input from the Student Advisory Group, there are still a few ways in which the committee can be effective at its task.

First, the group should publicize to the student body every change injudicial policy as soon

A day in the

ontherecord The Republicans have a strong base of support here, and you can *t count Sen. [John] McCain out because this has been a reliable state for them for years.... It was up to [Democratic Sen. Barack] Obama to change the dynamics, and he’s done that.

Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Public Life at UNC and an expert on Southern politics. See story page 1.

LETTERS POLICY

What

did you do with your day today? Maybe it’s 8 a.m. and you’re at Alpine waiting for a bagel, deliberating how much longer you can put off writing that paper. Or it’s 8 p.m. and you’re heading to a mee mg, ing about how you still have nothing on your to-do list accomplished. Nevertheless, I wonder if my typical days at Duke were anything like my days here in cUlgCicl Jlclllg inner-city Chicago ibe twe akin My day began today when my alarm clock rang at 6 a.m. Snooze. Ring. Snooze. 6:30 a.m Rush and get ready for school, arrive thirty minutes before the bell. Three students are already standing outside my door, wanting to make up quizzes, do some homework in my room and just hang out.

Freshmen at my school do not have a first period class, so students have a while to catch up on work before classes start.

Second period: Half the class strolls in late, but the students are fairly calm with the exception of K. K is on the drumline and incessantly drums on his desk throughout class everyday. I lis energy can either bring excitement into the earliest class of the day, orcause a high level ofirritation when he is unable to distinguish between participation and pestering.

Division: Division is homeroom, which lasts for 10 minutes. Today, a mix-up of the bells resulted in confused students all over the school—in the halls, in my room, roaming around aimlessly. I had students in my division and third period wandering in and out, and at least 10 out of the 45 instructional minutes I have tvith my third period were disrupted.

Third period; I co-teach this class with a special education teacher. The students have a wide range of reading levels, emotional or behavioral disorders and learning disabilities. One student, Z, is bipolar and will spend some days doing all of her work diligently and other days will push back on everything. Today was a day where she walked in with a stomp in her stride and walked out of the class halfway through. However, the students around her are extremely supportive, keeping her on track and continuing their own work despite any distractions.

Fourth period: My first planning period of the day. 1 usually spend this time completing the tasks I should have before school, tutoring students who are on lunch, calling parents and finishing plans for the next d«y. Today, I had a student come in to get ##

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as possible. Students should have to wait until two weeks into the school year in order to learn about policy changes that were made over the summer.

The group can do this in the form of an e-mail, a widely available report, or communication thorough with The Chronicle. In other words, the group will be most effective when it is serving as a means of communication between the administration and undergraduates at large.

In addition, the group should be transparent and free to express its viewpoint when it opposes the administration. The student body has the right to know what its student leaders think of proposed policy changes before they are enacted by the Office ofJudicial Affairs. not

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Most importantly, the group should push back on the administration when it thinks that it is being facing with unfair changes to the judicial code. In this respect, the group should act as a lobbying organization and work to make administrators take it seriously.

In the last analysis, no sweeping changes are likely to result from this group. It is a modest step toward increasing the student input that goes into judicial policy, but DSG should keep its eyes on the prize—a more wholesale reform of judicial policy.

To achieve this end, the University must reinstate the Judicial Affairs task force and give it the power to address the key issue of judicial reform.

Jane Chong recused herself from this editorial.

life

tutoring and make up a quiz. Her uncle was shot and killed last weekend, and she missed a week of school to help her mom prepare for the funeral.

Fifth period: This is an incredible period, since I have been able to create a very supportive learning environment with these students. Last week, we sang my song “Evolution” (to the tune of Fergie’s “Glamorous”), and every student belted out the lyrics and even danced in their seats. Today, of their own accord, students got up to help others on two separate occasions.

Sixth period; I have a student in this class, L, who spent the first three weeks of the school year slacking off. After he got an F on his progress report, he started to ask me about homework every day. He also studied extremely hard for the quizzes, coming in and asking me to quiz him. He moved his seat from the back of the room to the front, and today he had a C on his progress report. After school, L came to my room saying how he still wanted to bring his grade up even more, and got some extra assignments from me to do.

Seventh period; Lunch. I spent most of this time finishing up the week’s lessons and writing my weekly quiz.

Eighth period: I would say that eighth period is the most inconsistent in terms of their personality and how many distractions occur. Today, I called on a student, T, to repeat instructions to the class, when another student, M, said, “I don’t want her to tell me what to do, I don’t like her.” Before I knew it, T was getting out of her chairand taking off her sweatshirt. I had to do some crisis prevention to ensure both students would not fight, and M received one day of in-school suspension for the disrespect she showed her fellow classmates.

I spend everyday after school in a meditative trance, wondering how my teaching affected my students’ learning. As I drive home on Lake Shore Drive and watch as the neighborhood transitions from poverty stricken families to crowds of people running along the beach with iPods, I feel like I’ve lived in two separate worlds.

So how much are my days here like my days at Duke? Many of the skills I learned at Duke I use in my classroom everyday—problem solving, optimizing time, building relationships and reflecting on my actions and their consequences. I enjoy hearing about the basketball team’s record. But most importantly, my students never cease to amaze me with their drive, determination and resilience, just like my peers at Duke did.

Angela Jiang, Trinity 'O7, is a second-year teacher with Teach for America in Chicago. Her column runs every other Thursday.

the chronicle

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16,2(XJ8 115

commentaries

No leadership in sight

lettertotheeditor Callingcandidates stupid is ignorant in itself The Brian Steiners of this country are the reason I am this close to expatriating. In his Oct. 8 guest commentary, “Why I am this close to expatriating,” Brian Steiner argues without any tangible evidence that Gov. Sarah Palin is, shall we say, less than brilliant. This claim is offensive, baseless and quite simply ignorant Steiner ought to be ashamed.

It’s interesting that he seems to believe that Palin has “said the least” out of any of the candidates thus far, and that all she said was “You voters are upset, and we’re gonna fix it’” while not offering any real solutions.

Funny. I guess it’s OK that Sen. Barack Obama prophesies “hope” and “change,” but the only concrete plan he offers regarding either idea involves your literal change—and taxing it.

Following Steiner’s argument, thiswould mean that Obama is stupid.

He’s not. Neither is Palin. Neither are Sens. John McCain and Joe Biden, for that matter. I don’t care how smart a candidate sounds when he or she gives a

speech—I care how smart he or she is with policy formulation, practicality and implementation.

What all ofyou Brian Steiners need to understand is thatyou must look beyond what candidates sayabout an issue in 90 seconds. Judge them based on the decisions they make—or don’t make—that affect your life, not based on words that guarantee nothing.

I suppose all those Alaskans were pretty dumb to vote for someone with a “vacant skull.” Never mind the fact that Palin had to run a brilliant campaign against an incumbent governor from her own party. Never mind the fact that she has instituted revolutionary environmental regulations and practices. I guess she didn’t understandfiscal policy when she made all those spending cuts to encourage government responsibility.

All those stupid decisions earned her approval ratings from her constituents in the upper 80 percentage range—if not higher according to most polls.

Sarah Palin, stupid? Yeah, I believe that Elizabeth Reese Trinity ’l2

Mad as hell

There

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was a moment in the news cycle last week where I feel America revealed something within itself that it has never wanted to fully recognize. dark A spot, to say the least, on what is, by and large, a very beautiful jSMppwi'yanP canvas.

Last Friday, at a campaign rally, Sen. John McCain addressed a crowd of die-hard Republicans. At some point though, one of tariq mohideen the seated members frankie says relax decided that it was time to speak up. Cue a virulently racist Republican who begged McCain to win, because no American could trust an “Arab” to run this country.

Now, how did your presidential candidate—a man who has a standing shot at the most powerful job in the world—react? Well, in a perfect world, McCain would have chastised her for not only misrepresenting Sen. Barack Obama but also for misrepresenting the intentions ofmillions ofhard working, often times Republican, Arab and Muslim Americans. Instead, in the world we’ve got, McCain defended Obama as a “decent family man and citizen,” because, you know, ArabAmericans aren’t.

From a man who’s trying to win every vote he can get his hands on (and believe me, he needs them all), there wasn’t a single word extolling Arab Americans who have served this country in every wayfrom the drug store clerk up to Republican Sen. John Sununu. Instead, there was either a tacit agreement that Arab Americans are worthy of our scorn or, at the very least, no attempt to change that assumption.

In an infamous incident in June, a young Obama staffer tried to remove two headscarf-wearing Muslim women from a photo op—an act that Obama quickly denounced. Although Obama has been open about having a father who was raised as a Muslim, this incidentjust reinforces the fact that manyAmericans feel negatively about Muslim Americans. In all honesty, as a Muslim American myself, who can blame them?

Who can fault Americans for having these negative thoughts on Muslim and Arab Americans? You can’t blame the American people—not when their image of Muslims is either angry young men or angry old men who love explaining to the world why they hate America. ,

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Some argue that this is the only image people see because a sensationalist media is proffering a stereotype. I think that’s an excuse that almost all Muslim Americans use because they themselves know what the real problem is—it’s us. The fault, dear Brutus, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves. How many moderate voices of Islam or the Middle East have you seen over the past eight years? How many people have you seen stand up as a voice for the moderate Muslim majority? This is a silent majority that would do Nixon proud. In a time where the Islamic faith and the American people are crying out for a palatable, moderate religious leader, I am dumbstruck that nobody has come forward as our Billy Graham or Martin Luther King to speak to the masses.

I know I’m a hypocrite because I’ve also been too quiet for my own good. To be honest, I’m not nearly devout enough to believe I could be taken seriously as a voice.

But now... now, I’m sick of sitting here and just taking it I’m sick of allowing people to believe that I am a swath of broad strokes with no meaning or definition. We need someone to tell the world that, “No, Muslims do not endorse extremism,” and ‘Yes, we also wonder WWJD?” If people knew how similar the Moses depicted in the Torah was to the Musa (Arabic for Moses) depicted in the Quran, or the Jesus in the Bible was to Isa (Arabic for Jesus) in the Quran then we’d have not only far less to fight about, but also some level of common ground.

It’s not even a question of doctrine. Rather, we need a leader to voice these ideas for us on a large scale. I, for one, am tired of being distrusted. I’m tired of being the butt of jokes (towel-head, cameljockey, one-way truck driver... not that these aren’t funny they’re just old by now).

It’s time we stood up, for our own sakes. The situation we live in today is of our own making and we can fix it ourselves. We have to be open and communicative with the outside world—not insular and strange. Seriously, somebody has to reach out, and even though I can’t say I have any expertise on Islam, I would do it myself ifI had to. Even though my Arabic sucks and, for the life of me, I find it difficult to pray once a week let alone five times a day, I feel compelled to stand up and be heard. Why on earth would someone like me even consider trying to lead on this issue?

The answer is simple, and it’s not simply because I’m tired. I’m mad. I’m mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore. We can’t go on like this.

Tariq Mohideen is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Thursday.

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The Chronicle is now accepting applications for columnists, bloggers and cartoonists for the upcoming spring semester. Applications are available, by request, from lms4@duke.edu or in front of 301 Flowers Building. Please send completed applications to chronicleletters@duke.edu before the Nov. 13 deadline.

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can imagine the shock that Obama opponents felt when they realized that many Americans are no longer afraid of putting a biracial man—and, in accordance to the enduring one-drop rule, a black man—into theWhite House. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and so I envision their brainstorming went something like this: “What is the only thing scarier than a black man in office?”

To which someone responded, “A black man with an angry black wife.”

That didn’t work either. nana duffuor So someone came to the conclusion that in a post 9/11 minority report America—one with fear and prejudice resuscitated, at a time when the words Arab, Muslim and terrorist have become readily interchangeable—if die thought of a black man in the White House picking up that “3 a.m. phone call” isn’t enough to send Americans into a shiver, then certainly a scary Arab-Muslim-terrorist is.

After recent criticism about going too negative, Sen. John McCain’s campaign tried to switch gears and quiet disrespectful comments from supporters. At a recent McCain rally, supporters expressed their fear ofan Obama presidency.

One woman said to McCain, “I can’t trust Obama, I have read about him and he’s not, he’s not., he’s an Arab.”

McCain shook his head in disapproval and responded, “No ma’am. He’s a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that’s what this campaign is all about He’s not, thank you.”

Although McCain admirably denounced his supporter’s racist remark and corrected false information, I take issue with die way in which “decent family man” and ‘Citizen” were posed as being antithetical to being an Arab.... as if Arabs can never be decent family men or citizens.

Rumors of Obama’s religious background have flooded the election and, despite one very outspoken reverend, Obama’s opponents have made consistent efforts to not so subdy link him with Arabs, which mean Muslims, which mean terrorists.

The reference to Obama as Barack Hussein Obama by McCain supporters looks to tie the presidential candidate to the villainy of Saddam Hussein, a strategy that has proven ineffective. A last-minute attempt to connect Obama with William Ayers, which inevitably involved a lazy attempt to connect Ayers with radical Islamic terrorism, proved even less successful.

Back in February at a McCain event, when the Barack Hussein Obama reference was made, McCain quickly condemned it. But the stakes have changed, and in this month alone the reference has been made on several occasions. Obama opponents have continually tried to use Obama’s multicultural background to characterize him as a Muslim and, in so doing, as an anti-Semite.

On the flip side, in response to accusations thatObama is Muslim, the Obama camp’s defense has been to relentlessly dismiss such rumors by reminding Americans not to fear, as he is no unfriendly foreigner but rather a God-fearing Christian just like “the rest of us.”

My disappointment with both sides lies in the fact that neither has halted the finger-pointing to call attention to the fact that the rumors concerning Obama’s religion and ethnicity are inherently bigoted. Questions regarding Obama’s cultural and ethnic background are rooted in xenophobia and hold the very same religious discrimination that both sides so vocally condemn of anti-Semites.

The FBI reported an overall 8 percent increase in hate crimes in 2006, but acknowledged that some groups, including Muslims, experienced an even greater increase. According to the reports there was a 22 percent increase in attacks on Muslims, which came to 156 hate crimes in 2006. Although political leaders have condemned the hate crimes themselves, they have been either too willing to capitalize on post-9/11 fears for political gain or too quick to dismiss these fears. Despite politicians’ claims to be on the side of the American people, I don’t see either side standing up for their fellow citizens.

The statement that has been made loud and clear is: Ifyou are Muslim oran Arab, don’t even think about running for president Matter of fact don’t even bother considering yourself an American.

At some point I so badly wanted Obama to halt all conversation and beg the question that I think needs to be asked: “So what if I was a Muslim?” Surely that would have been the death of his campaign, and that scares me.

Nona Duffuor is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every other Thursday.

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THE CHRONICLE