The Washington Post National Weekly - September 27, 2015

Worst Week Donald Trump 3

Politics Fiorina’s life as a CEO 4

Health Hospitals say copper is golden 16

5 Myths Classified info 23

ABCDE NATIONAL WEEKLY SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

.

IN COLLABORATION WITH

IS BIGGER BETTER?

Central Florida has built the nation’s second-largest undergraduate enrollment by redefining the cost and experience of college PAGE 12

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

2

2015

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

3

KLMNO WEEKLY

WORST WEEK IN WASHINGTON

Donald Trump

by Chris Cillizza

W

hat happens to a candidate whose central message to voters is that he’s winning by a lot, once he’s no longer winning by a lot?

That’s the question for Donald Trump, the reality­star real estate investor, who watched this past week as his once­soaring poll numbers began to take a turn for the worse in the wake of the second Republican presidential debate.

Yes, Trump still tops the 15­candidate field in the slew of national polls that have come out since the debate. But his lead has softened significantly in the past two weeks or so. According to the Real Clear Politics average of all polling in the race, Trump was averaging more than 30 percent of the overall vote a fortnight ago but has now sunk below 25 percent.

A lead is a lead. But there’s other evidence out there that the unmatched interest in Trump is waning somewhat. Witness Trump’s speech Wednesday to the South Carolina African American Chamber of Commerce. Despite his insistence that it was a packed house of enthusiastic supporters, photos from the event suggest it, well, wasn’t.

And then there was the pledge to boycott Fox News Channel, the news source for conservatives, because of allegedly unfair treatment. And the feud with National Review editor Rich Lowry. And the attack on Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), a GOP rival, as “sweaty.”

KLMNO WEEKLY

JASON DAVIS/GETTY IMAGES

Add it all up, and you get a picture of a candidate whose death grip on the Republican race seems to be slipping some.

Donald Trump, for looking like you might have peaked, you had the worst week in Washington.

Congrats, or something. n

This publication was prepared by editors at The Washington Post for printing and distribution by our partner publications across the country. All articles and columns have previously appeared in The Post or on washingtonpost.com and have been edited to fit this format. For questions or comments regarding content, please e-mail weekly@washpost.com. If you have a question about printing quality, wish to subscribe, or would like to place a hold on delivery, please contact your local newspaper’s circulation department. © 2015 The Washington Post / Year 1, No. 50

CONTENTS POLITICS THE NATION THE WORLD COVER STORY SCIENCE BOOKS OPINION FIVE MYTHS

4 8 10 12 17 18 20 23

ON THE COVER With 54,000 students and a focus on low costs and broad access, the University of Central Florida is storming higher education.

Istockphoto image.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

4

KLMNO WEEKLY

POLITICS

The legacy that Fiorina left at HP BY

D ANIELLE P AQUETTE

W

hile Carly Fiorina was lauded as one of the most powerful women in business when she took the reins at Hewlett-Packard in 1999, she was never widely known as someone who opened doors for other women to succeed.

Fiorina is remembered instead for her autocratic style and for presiding over a tumultuous period of boardroom clashes and cuts.

But several former colleagues say Fiorina did, in fact, work quietly during her leadership in the early 2000s to boost the careers of women in a high-tech office culture that had long favored men.

The picture that emerged from more than a dozen interviews with former high-level executives is complex, one of a corporate leader who didn’t want to be dismissed for pushing “women’s issues” but fought to level the playing field in Silicon Valley.

“If the first thing a woman does is come in with a ‘female agenda,’ a lot of people will flip out and say, ‘That’s just what I feared,’ ” said Susan Bowick, who worked at HP from 1977 to 2004, most recently as the global head of human resources. “Shortly after she laid out the business agenda, she and I started working together on how to get change to occur on a variety of issues — like promoting people based on performance, not because they were next in line.”

Management at the time was mostly male and white. Fiorina wondered if talent in different packaging was overlooked. So she requested data from across departments — the company started releasing gender-specific numbers in 2001 — to understand who stood out among more than 100,000 employees.

“She asked: What are the stats on women at different levels?” said Bowick, now retired in Colorado. “Her philosophy was: What gets measured gets done.”

One apparent result was a bump in gender diversity. From 2003 to 2005, the share of female managers at HP in the United States went from 36 percent to 38

CHRIS PREOVOLOS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Colleagues saw quiet help for women — but also a harsh style percent, company reports show.

In 1999, the year Fiorina joined HP, 27 percent of the executive officers listed in the company’s annual report were women, or six of 22. By 2004, the share had shifted to 47 percent, or seven of 15.

The typical Fortune 500 company, by comparison, had about 22 corporate officers in 2005, according to Catalyst, which tracks gender diversity data. Women, on average, held 3.6 of these positions.

In her bid for the Republican presidential nomination, Fiorina’s focus on gender economics

sets her apart in a crowded field.

“A woman has a lot of potential,” Fiorina declared at a recent rally in Washington, “and when that potential is used — as the facts undeniably demonstrate — the world is a better place.”

During Wednesday night’s GOP debate, though, she spent more time fielding attacks on her record at HP. And, in fact, some former colleagues remember her harsh style more than any focus on helping others break glass ceilings.

“Carly’s focus was on numbers, a certain set of criteria she knew would be seen by the board and by

Carly Fiorina rings a bell to virtually open the New York Stock Exchange from HewlettPackard’s headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., in May 2002, the year that the company acquired Compaq.

stockholders,” said Jerry Cashman, a former communications executive who left HP in 2000.

“They had nothing to do with diversity and work-life.”

Fiorina was an outsider, the firm’s only chief executive never to climb an internal rung, and the first woman to hold the title. Unlike her predecessors, former staffers claim, she avoided the cafeteria. She walked everywhere with bodyguards. She kept her office doors closed.

Her notoriety spiked in 2002 during a merger with Compaq Computer. Critics argue the move diluted Hewlett-Packard’s star

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

5

POLITICS printing business at an unjustifiable cost to shareholders. Another expense was human: Some 30,000 workers lost their jobs.

Fiorina was ousted in 2005. She has never held public office, though she tried to unseat Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in a failed 2010 Senate race. She stakes her reputation on her time at Hewlett-Packard.

Susan Burnett, the company’s former vice president of workforce development, said she reported to Fiorina during the Compaq merger.

“We overlapped,” recalls Burnett, who left HP in 2003 after 22 years at the company. “We had two of everybody. The question was: What are we going to do? If we could get all the A-players from Compaq and keep all the A-players at HP, that meant we had to say goodbye to some of your solid, heavy-lifting people.”

Top technology firms today collect gender-specific data, though findings are rarely released to the public. Google and Facebook, for example, have pledged to hire and promote more women, who hold less than a quarter of senior management roles at both companies.

Twitter was both praised and mocked this month after announcing plans to grow its share of female employees from 34 percent to 35 percent.

“At the end of that process, I had the best team I’d ever had in my life,” said Burnett of the HP reorganization. “Brilliant ideas came from having a different group with new blood, new perspectives. Carly believed if you get a diverse team, you get better results.”

Using data to advance underrepresented groups was not a radical idea, said Debra Dunn, the former vice president of corporate affairs and global citizenship.

“The issue has always been how aggressively companies move to change the data,” she said. “Carly made it more of a focus throughout the company at all levels. It’s not rocket science, but it has an effect.”

Punky Fuerstenberger, a former human relations employee under Fiorina, remembers scouring women’s magazines for female talent outside the company: Did Cosmopolitan spotlight a rising engineer? “We tried to find even more women technical people than we had,” she said. “But at

CHARLES OMMANNEY/THE WASHINGTON POST

“Carly didn’t want to be associated with women’s rights. She wanted to be seen as a strong leader, man or woman.” that point in time, there weren’t that many in the industry.”

Fiorina wanted to create them, Fuerstenberger said. She oversaw an executive development program that paired prospective superstars with top brass mentors.

If a company site wasn’t meeting performance standards, human resources would conduct a talent review at a lower level, according to Burnett’s memory.

They sought talented women to train and place on a promotion track.

“Seasoned executives were assigned employees who they’d normally never hang out with,” said Burnett, now a leadership consultant in Silicon Valley. “I remember saying to a team of all-white, male executives, ‘You don’t really hang out with Indian women.’ So, they’d hang out with someone every month and realize: There’s an extraordinary talent here.”

Mei Chen, who worked in robot research at Hewlett-Packard from 2001 to 2006, recalls being dispatched to teach high school girls in the San Francisco Bay area how to build computers.

“We knew it was important to have a strong, competitive workforce,” said Chen, who now teaches informatics at the University at Albany, State University of New York. “You start with education to create such a workforce, so we were guiding people from our own communities.”

Fiorina started as a secretary at a nine-person real estate firm.

“One day, two men who worked there approached my desk and said: ‘We’ve been watching you, and we think you can do more than type and file,’ ” she said in June at a hotel party in Washington, D.C. “They saw potential and possibilities in me, and so I came to see these things in myself.”

In 1980, Fiorina joined AT&T as a management trainee. By 1995, she ran the company’s North American operations. She next moved to Lucent Technologies, an AT&T spinoff, to work on the firm’s 1996 initial public offering, which raised $3 billion. In 1998, Fortune crowned her “the most powerful woman in American business.”

Not everyone, however, warmly

Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina speaks during a national security forum Sept. 22 at the Citadel in Charleston, S.C.

At a glance In 1999, the year Fiorina joined HP, 27 percent of the executive officers listed in the company’s annual report were women, or six of 22. By 2004, the share had shifted to 47 percent, or seven of 15.

KLMNO WEEKLY

welcomed the rising star to Hewlett-Packard.

Cashman, who worked at the company from 1983 to 2000, most recently in communications, said he decided to split after Fiorina arrived. He remembers spotting her at a retirement party for Lewis Platt, her predecessor.

“She had a huge frown on her face,” said Cashman, who now works at an insurance company.

“She wanted nothing to do with the HP legacy. She had the dynamic of ‘I’m not going to let these white boys tell me how to run the company. It’s mine now.’”

Platt, a widower who raised two daughters, put work-life balance in the company’s top three priorities, said Cashman, who said he helped run support programs for working parents. Fiorina, he feared, valued profits over people.

An e-mail from an Internet mailing list of more than 20 retired HP women, forwarded to a Post reporter, reveals dislike for Fiorina and the possibility of her in the White House: “I wonder how much the country will pay her to leave,” one message said.

Pat Pekary, the former managing director of Hewlett-Packard Professional Publishing, who worked at the company for 23 years, said authors would call her often to request an interview with Fiorina. The chief executive usually declined.

“They wanted to know if Carly would give them a quote about women in engineering or how women could break through the glass ceiling,” Pekary said. “The feedback that came to me was always: Carly didn’t want to be associated with women’s rights.

She wanted to be seen as a strong leader, man or woman.”

Pekary, now retired in California, recalls feeling stuck after the Compaq merger. “Like our feet were in quicksand,” she said. “People became unsure of what to do.

Employees at Compaq were put in positions over us. They seemed to be very ineffective.”

One day, she reported for a meeting in a conference room.

There sat a telephone on an empty table. Pekary answered it. She remembers the voice on the other end of the line, the order: You have 10 days to clear the building.

The layoff matched a description of Fiorina that few have disputed: frank, calculated, unapologetic — all business. n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

6

KLMNO WEEKLY

POLITICS

Changing the face of government Under Obama, more women and minorities work in the executive branch than ever before

BY

J ULIET E ILPERIN

P

resident Obama’s decision to nominate Eric Fanning — an openly gay man — to head a branch of the military that only four years ago did not allow gays and lesbians to serve openly, was both historic and attention-grabbing.

And it underscored an oftenoverlooked feature of the Obama presidency: Obama has presided over the most demographically diverse administration in history, according to a new analysis of his top appointments. The majority of top policy appointments within the executive branch are held by women and minorities for the first time in history.

The transformation partly reflects a broader trend in U.S. society, but it also reflects the results of a calculated strategy by the nation’s first African American president. The shifts are significant enough, experts say, that they may have forever transformed the face of government.

With Obama, said Robert Raben, a Democratic consultant and lobbyist who works on diversity issues, “We have now settled the fact that diversity is a permanent part of the federal government.”

University of California at Berkeley law school professor Anne Joseph O’Connell has compiled a database of all government appointees confirmed by the Senate to more than 80 important policy positions between January 1977 and August 2015. O’Connell said that her research reveals that Obama has placed women and minorities in 53.5 percent of those posts. His predecessor, President George W. Bush, by contrast, installed women and minorities in 25.6 percent, while President Clinton’s number was 37.5 percent.

And Fanning’s nomination punctuates the fact that members of the LGBT community have also made similar advances under Obama: There are now hundreds of openly gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenderappointeesintheexecutive branch, compared with a handful in past administrations.

In an interview, White House

senior adviser Valerie Jarrett — who has pushed for the hiring and promotion of people from underrepresentedgroups—saidthepresident has “made a very deliberate effort to be inclusive in the diversity of his administration at all levels.”

“So yes, African Americans, women, Latinos, Native Americans, people with disabilities, the LGBT community,” she said. “He wanted to make sure that everybody had an opportunity to serve in this administration and that its diversity reflected the diversity of our country.”

The first black president, also a Democrat, may have faced a special burden on the diversity front.

O’Connell said that although different constituencies have always pressed to have a place at the highest level of government, Democrat administrations are particularly sensitive to these concerns as they relate to race and gender.

“Democrats in the White House face more pressure on ‘demographic’ staffing because many groups who want to see leaders like them worked hard to elect the president,” she said.

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and Institute’s Denis Dison said his group had collected more than 3,000 résumés for Obama in an effort to boost the numbers of openly gay and lesbian appointees. There are six openly gay ambassadors; a gay man serving as the first special envoy to promote global LGBT rights; five transgender men and women who have served in federal agencies and, as of this summer, the first full-time transgender employee in the White House. And Fanning, the Army secretary-designate, is a former Victory Fund and Institute board member.

Previously, just a few presidential appointees were openly gay or lesbian, and none were transgender. Clinton appointed the first openly gay ambassador, James Hormel, in a 1999 recess appointment, and placed lesbian activists Roberta Achtenberg and E. Julian Potter in senior positions at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. George W. Bush had two openly gay AIDS

Obama ups diversity in appointees A survey of more than 80 confirmation-required policy positions in the federal goverment found that more than half of Obama’s appointments to these posts have been women or minorities, or both.

Minority and female appointments are at record highs Across several demographic groups, Obama’s appointments have shown an uptick in diversity over previous administrations. African Americans have seen the smallest gains compared with other groups.

CARTER REAGAN (D) (R)

BUSH (R)

CLINTON (D)

BUSH (R)

OBAMA (D)

35.3% 9.9 Women

Blacks or African Americans

18.7

23.3

7.4

16.4

0

8.1

13.1

7.7

4.2

4.1

3.6

3.3

2.4

4.5

3.9

0

0

1.6

2.3

1.0

14.4

0

Latinos

0

Asian Americans

0

advisers, in succession.

Ted McConnell, a gay Republican who served as a political appointee under Ronald Reagan and on multiple presidential campaigns, said he and others “lived in fear” of having their sexual orientation disclosed. “If you were found out, your career would be over.”

McConnell noted that attitudes toward gays and other minorities had shifted nationwide, not just among the political elite. Six in 10 Americans support same-sex marriage, according to an April Washington Post/ABC poll; last month Gallup released a poll finding a majority of Americans back affirmativeaction,with67percentfavoring such programs for women and 58 percent for racial minorities.

Despite the gains that these groups have made under Obama, none of them — except African Americans — are at parity with

8.5

4.6

their numbers in overall American society. Women’s share of the top policy jobs rose from 23.3 percent to 35.3 percent from Clinton’s tenure to Obama’s, while the percentage of Latinos and Asian Americans roughly doubled over that same period, to 8.5 and 4.6 percent, respectively.

The percentage of African Americans in these posts under Obama is 14.4 percent, according to O’Connell’s analysis, just over one percentage point higher than under Clinton.

O’Connell and others said a combination of factors have contributed to why African Americans have not expanded their share of senior policy jobs under this administration. Clinton made a concerted push to recruit black appointees. And over time, government service has become less attractive to many talented candi-

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

7

POLITICS Most Cabinet positions are more diverse, but not all Obama’s Cabinet has been the most diverse, with 17 of 31 secretaries being minorities or women. Two positions — defense secretary and treasury secretary — have been held only by white males.

White male

Minority male or white female CARTER REAGAN (D) (R)

BUSH (R)

Minority female CLINTON (D)

BUSH (R)

OBAMA (D)

Housing Commerce Health Education Homeland Sec.* Transportation Interior State Veterans Affairs* Attorney Gen. Energy Agriculture Defense Treasury * The Department of Homeland Security began in 2003. The Department of Veterans Affairs was elevated to a Cabinet-level agency in 1989.

Source: Anne Joseph O'Connell, UC-Berkeley Law

dates of color, who chose more lucrative jobs in the private sector.

Although GOP administrations have set precedents of their own — George W. Bush appointed the first black secretary of state, Colin L. Powell — they have been less explicit about promoting minority and gender diversity.

The Obama White House, by contrast, has established specific programs to raise diversity among appointees. The Presidential Personnel Office targets historically black colleges and universities, as well as minority-serving institutions, as part of a new campus recruitment program. It has a liai-

THE WASHINGTON POST

son to identify candidates by working with leaders from underrepresented groups.

Tammy Frisby, a research fellow at the libertarian Hoover Institution, said the shift reflects both a broader social change in the country, as well as the fact that hiring is often based on “who do you know.”

“This is the Obama White House doing what white guys have been doing for white guys since the beginning of time,” Frisby said.

“They know women and minorities, and they’re finding highly qualified candidates that they know that have not been in these positions before.” n

WEEKLY

Francis plunges into U.S. politics BY

D AN B ALZ

I

Labor

KLMNO

t was a historic appearance and Pope Francis seized the moment when he addressed a joint meeting of Congress Thursday at the Capitol. In words and by example, the pontiff challenged the nation’s elected leaders to tackle the most vexing problems in today’s society — and to do so in ways that bind and unify rather than divide and polarize.

The agenda Francis presented on Thursday was a reflection of the ambitions of his papacy, one that has shaken and in many ways revitalized the institutions of the Roman Catholic Church. He spoke again about the urgent need to combat poverty and wealth inequality, to deal forthrightly with the impact of global climate change and, in the ways of the Golden Rule, to treat immigrants as we would want to be treated by others.

If that seemed to tilt in the direction of the priorities of the left, it certainly did. But for all those on the left in the House chamber who cheered those words, Francis offered comfort to the right as well as he reiterated, though gently, his commitment to defending religious liberty and to church teachings on family and respect for all life at a moment when same-sex marriage and abortion are again at the forefront of a pitched political debate in this country.

Francis’s appearance came during a time of division and rancor in America’s politics, with a presidential campaign — particularly on the Republican side — that has been markedbyinsultsandantagonisms and as Congress again confronts the prospect of another government shutdown. With all that swirling through the nation’s capital, Francis spoke more as the spiritual leader he is, rather than as the politician that many believe he also is.

His most important message was to remind his audience that their greatest responsibility is not to party or personal ambition but to the collective good. “You are called to defend and preserve the

dignity of your fellow citizens in the tireless and demanding pursuit of the common good,” he said.

Francis drew on the history of America for his speech, citing four Americans who he said embodied the message he was delivering.

Abraham Lincoln defended liberty.

The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. gave all people the possibility to dream of full rights. Catholic social activist Dorothy Day worked for justice for the oppressed. He said Thomas Merton, the Catholic writer and Trappist monk, showed “how the fruit of a faith” becomes “dialogue and sows peace.”

PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Pope Francis addresses a joint meeting of Congress in Washington on Thursday.

Francis’s priorities have thrust him into the political debates. His focus on climate change and inequality have drawn sharp criticism from the right. In his major public remarks, beginning at the White House on Wednesday, he has shown a willingness to advance the causes that have been at the heart of his papacy.

He reminded his audience Thursday that political activity “must serve and promote” human beings and their dignity. “If politics must truly be at the service of the human person,” he said, “it follows that it cannot be a slave to the economy and finance. Politics is, instead, an expression of our compelling need to live as one, in order to build as one, the greatest common good.”

He added, “I do not underestimate the difficulty that this involves, but I encourage you in this effort.” n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

8

KLMNO WEEKLY

NATION

Wildfire destroys ‘hippie’ haven S ARAH T AN Middletown, Calif.

BY

W

hen word spread that a ferocious wildfire had consumed Harbin Hot Springs Retreat, a beloved clothing-optional New Age resort in the hills of Northern California, offers of help quickly poured in over Facebook.

A Harbin “Heal-a-thon” was announced in nearby Sebastopol to “create a space for Harbin residents and lovers of Harbin to grieve.”

A “moon priestess” from San Rafael said she could set up healing sessions using sacred oils, tuning forks and Tibetan bowls: “Let me know how many healers you need.”

And offers of work and shelter came from all over Northern California for the dozens of massage therapists, landscapers and other employees who both lived and worked at Harbin and had lost everything in the fire.

“This really is a tragedy,” said Harbin groundskeeper Neil Nelson. “For so many people, it was their home and their job.”

Nelson was among the first employees to return the other week to the 1,700-acre property, an oasis of forested valleys and languid spring-fed pools before fire raged through here Sept. 12. People came from around the globe to soak, to study yoga and to enjoy Watsu, or water Shiatsu, a form of water massage that was born here.

Known to locals as “the hippie place,” Harbin was one of Middletown’s largest employers. Owned by the Heart Consciousness Church, it employed about 150 people when the fire struck. More than 500 people were also staying as guests in small cottages and domes scattered across the property or camping in tents on its hillsides.

Though there have been no reports of injuries at Harbin, the destruction wrought by the Valley Fire has been vast. Officials said the Valley Fire is the third-worst in state history, claiming 1,910 structures as of Wednesday. It was about 80 percent under control but, combined with another large fire still burning in Northern California, has so far consumed 229

BONNIE JO MOUNT/THE WASHINGTON POST

As many in Northern California offer to help, this New Age ‘utopia’ must once again rebuild square miles, an area about the size of Chicago.

Nearly 20,000 people have been ordered to evacuate, and four have been confirmed dead. This past week, President Obama declared a major disaster for places affected by the Valley Fire and approved federal assistance for state and local recovery efforts.

Situated at the end of a narrow dirt road, Harbin has drawn visitors since the 1880s, when its springs were renowned as a cure for joint pain. Since then, it has burned to the ground three times, in 1894, 1943 and 1972.

The latest blaze was devastating. The other week, the entrance to the resort was still marked by its famous metal gate in the shape of a roaring dragon. But everything else was gone. Abandoned cars in the parking lot dripped melted metal onto the asphalt. The oncegrassy golden hills were bare and black. A small deer lay dead in the burned grass.

Only the occasional buzz of distant chain saws broke the silence.

In overalls and a cowboy hat, Nelson dug through the charred ruins looking for a fireproof safe that had held the resort’s daily cash receipts. When he finally found it and got it open, all the paper money had burned.

Nelson gestured to a swath of concrete and white ash that used to be the main office. Beyond lay more piles of concrete that used to be a market and a temple. Water in the resort’s three hot springs was filled with blackened debris.

Nelson’s wife, Deirdre Davis, struggled to hold back tears. Davis, who worked in the front office, said her family had been coming to the resort for as long as she could remember.

“There’s a beautiful feeling of utopia. Harbin has always had a kind of magic,” Davis said.

“You can burn Harbin down many times, but this is the living web of people who really love a place,” she said.

One local supporter, Caroline Oswald of Oroville, has set up a forum for people mourning the

Groundskeeper Neil Nelson surveys damage at Harbin Hot Springs Retreat in Middletown, Calif.

“This really is a tragedy,” he says.

“For so many people, it was their home and their job.” The resort has burned to the ground three times previously, in 1894, 1943 and 1972.

fire, called Harbin Hope. She said she happened upon Harbin six years ago when she was looking for a place to stay while attending a cooking retreat in Calistoga. The experience was unforgettable, she said, adding that she returned four times over the next two years.

“You could meet people from all over the world and strike up a conversation,” Oswald said. She said that after hearing about the fire, she “couldn’t stop crying.”

For Julie Adams, the managing director at Harbin, the Valley Fire represents the destruction of a life’s work. Adams arrived in 1984 and has lived at Harbin ever since. She helped overcome the desolation of the 1972 fire, filling the resort’s new buildings with artwork that she created and collected.

The dragon gate, she said, was one of her first purchases. Now, Adams will have to rebuild again.

“There’s a feeling now of beginning again that is both familiar and heartbreaking,” she said.

For the moment, Adams and many other Harbin employees are living in two rented Airbnb homes inCalistogaandplanningtheirnext moves. Adams said she hopes the bathingpoolscouldberebuiltinfull byJanuaryandthattheresortcould reopen next summer, although Nelson said that seems unlikely.

Nelson worries about a new fire safety law that requires the retreat to have two means of egress. Harbin has only the narrow dirt road, although the resort had been in the process of building a second road when the fire hit.

Nelson’s house survived the blaze, although much of the Harbin-owned ranch where he lives was destroyed. He and his family are back home but living without neighbors or electricity.

As Nelson spoke, he wandered pastatriooffuturisticdomes,home of the retreat’s Watsu center, which were miraculously untouched by the fire. A light morning mist hung in the valley behind the domes, creating a deceptively serene tableau amid the fire’s destruction.

“It’s just amazing to stand here,” Nelson said, “and take it all in.” n Tan is a freelance writer.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

9

NATION

KLMNO WEEKLY

Pricey pill is rare bit of transparency BY

C AROLYN J OHNSON

M

artin Shkreli is health care’s Gordon Gekko, its wolf of Wall Street, the symbol of all that makes people uneasy about an industry that seeks to make money by selling treatments while vowing to care only about the well-being of vulnerable patients.

For days, a seething socialmedia mob backed by an opportunistic politician or two has hammered the swaggering 32-year-old “pharma bro” who jacked up the price of an obscure but critical drug, was theatrically unapologetic about it and publicly called a journalist a moron for asking why.

Shkreli’s actions were shocking for a simple reason: It was an unusual moment of complete transparency in health care, where motives, prices and how the system works are rarely ever talked about so nakedly. Shkreli’s company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim from $18 to $750 per pill because he could.

“I think it reflects a widespread appreciation that pricing for drugs is entirely irrational in this country and the pharmaceutical industry has total control over prices and there’s no rationality to the system,” said Peter B. Bach, a physician and director of the center for health policy and outcomes at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York. “It’s such a perfect, crystalline example of everything that can be done, given the lack of rationality in the system, and the total bankruptcy of the justifications for high drug prices in the first place.”

Arthur Caplan, director of the division of medical ethics at New York University Langone Medical Center, said focusing too much on Shkreli was a diversion from the real issues in the health-care system, where it’s relatively rare to even know how much something costs or what a fair price would be.

Drug companies often set prices and try to deter questions about costs by “ringing the innovation bell” — suggesting that to limit profits in any way will leave lifesaving cures to languish in test

PAUL TAGGART/BLOOMBERG NEWS

‘Pharma bro’ decision caused uproar, but debate over maximizing profits is unusual in health care tubes, Caplan said. Shkreli explained what he did in a straightforward way. It was kind of like speculating on a rare metal.

“The rest of the health-care system . . . no one is explaining the price. No one even knows what the price is. And no one knows what a fair price is,” Caplan said. “He was transparent — and the industry, the whole health-care industry, is not transparent. It’s not even close. It’s the most obtuse, dense, incomprehensible pricing structure ever created by humanity.”

To hear Shkreli tell it, Turing is the little pharma that could: a start-up that bought the only treatment for a severe but rare parasitic infection and then hiked the drug price more than 4,000 percent so the company could begin to turn a profit and grow.

“It’s a great business decision that also benefits all of our stakeholders,” Shkreli wrote on Twitter.

In a telephone interview Monday, Shkreli compared Turing favorably with other companies that charged more for medicines that treat diseases that were less severe and more common.

“To me, I think the pricing dis-

cussion is inappropriate, because there are far larger targets to focus on than little Turing Pharmaceuticals,” Shkreli said.

By Tuesday evening, the Internet rancor had taken its toll, and Shkreli appeared on ABC News to say he had heard the public’s complaints and would lower the price of the drug by an undisclosed amount. A spokesman for the company, Allan Ripp, said Wednesday that there was no update yet on what that price would be.

Shkreli plays the villain well — the hedge-fund manager turned pharmaceutical speculator posts smug photos of himself on his Twitter feed, lords his youthful confidence with aplomb, and isn’t afraid to say what he thinks — even, and perhaps especially, if he realizes it might annoy some people.

Before he incited the ire of the Internet this past week, he had already gained notoriety as a hedge-fund manager who wouldn’t hesitate to personally contact the Food and Drug Administration to weigh in on whether the agency should grant approval for a drug that he also happened to be short-selling — a

Martin Shkreli and his company, Turing Pharmaceuticals, raised the price of Daraprim from $18 to $750 per pill, though he later said the company would lower the price by an undisclosed amount.

term for betting that a stock would go down.

He’s also used to being under fire. A watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, in 2012 requested a federal investigation into his short-selling activities. He is being sued for $65 million by Retrophin, a company that he founded and got pushed out of “because of serious concerns about his conduct,” according to a statement from the company. Retrophin said it received a subpoena from the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, requesting information about its relationship with Shkreli and the hedge fund where he worked, according to a securities filing.

But Shkreli’s decision to raise the price of a drug that treats a rare but severe infection that afflicts HIV and cancer patients and was approved decades before he was born incited a level of wrath that made the provocateur turn his Twitter account to private.

A spokesman for Impax Laboratories, the company that sold Turing the rights to Daraprim for $55 million, said he could not comment on whether the drug was profitable.

Pharmaceutical companies that make new therapies often justify prices by saying they will recoup the investment needed to research, develop and gain approval for new drugs. With Daraprim, all that money had already been spent, so radically hiking its price seems to some more the tack of a hedge-fund manager who discovers an undervalued asset than a reflection of the drug industry’s practices, analysts said.

Even PhRMA, a trade group that frequently finds itself defending the industry against critics, pointed out that Shkreli’s company, Turing, was not a member and slammed the door on him.

“PhRMA members have a long history of drug discovery and innovation that has led to increased longevity and improved lives for millions of patients,” PhRMA President John J. Castellani said in a statement. “We do not embrace either their recent actions or the conduct of their CEO.” n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

10

KLMNO WEEKLY

WORLD

Which refugees will get to stay?

BY

Initial asylum decisions

S

Listed are the top destinations in Europe for asylum seekers. Most places turn away more people than they accept after the initial application.

A NTHONY F AIOLA Kassel, Germany omali asylum seeker Ismail Mohamed Hassan, 22, awoke to an early knock at his refugee center door. It was the state police bearing two unpleasant gifts — a one-way ticket out of Germany and a car ride to Frankfurt Airport. This was it, he recalls thinking. Deportation.

Unless he found a way to stop it.

Germany is ground zero in Europe’s migrant crisis, a nation set to receive up to 1 million asylum seekers this year, far more than any other country in the region.

Yet, like Hassan, after risking their lives by land and sea to reach the continent’s economic powerhouse, about one in every two asylum seekers is initially rejected. It has made asylum a numbers game. In Germany, 86 percent of Syrians are being granted some form of refugee status, as are 82 percent of Iraqis and 80 percent of Eritreans. Only 30 percent of Afghans are making the cut. For those coming from Kosovo and Albania, the acceptance rate stands at almost zero.

But if Hassan’s story suggests the trials set to face hundreds of thousands of rejected asylum seekers — two stressful years spent in a bureaucratic nightmare trying to stay — it also offers them a ray of hope. While vast numbers of migrants like him are being rejected, far fewer are actually being deported.

Saying its generous system has become an incentive for more and more migrants to rush into Europe or die trying, Germany is preparing a new crackdown on those it says should leave. That has thrust this nation of 81 million to the center of the debate over perhaps the biggest question of the crisis: Of the hundreds of thousands of migrants coming, who gets to stay?

Even in the United States, deportation cases of undocumented migrants can linger for years. But because the migrants coming to Europe in dramatic waves are largely applying for legal asylum, they are benefiting from a cata-

Accepted

Rejected

Accepted

= 1,000 people

Italy

Belgium

8,045

Rejected

14,600

12,290 20,580

Bulgaria

7,000

Denmark

5,480

430 510

Hungary

1,260

Malta

4,935

2,580

Germany

475 6,240

Netherlands 12,550

Austria

4,920 40,560

11,690

56,715 1,270 1,970

Finland

1,070

Greece Sweden

11,335

9,255 1,585

Spain

2,035 30,650

France

U.K.

14,815

10,050

4,905

DATA AS OF 2014. NUMBERS ARE ROUNDED.

Norway Switzerland

53,685

2,735

6,390

15,410

SOURCE: EUROSTAT CHART BY THE WASHINGTON POST

logue of appeals and pseudostatuses including a precarious right to remain that is simply called “toleration.” If they can stall long enough, German codes potentially allow them to beat the system and win permanent residency. And even when deportation orders come through, there are ingenious ways around them.

Hassan was one of the unlucky ones. A lithe construction worker with scars on his body he says came from a 2011 al-Shabab bomb blast in Mogadishu, he is one of the

15,820

untold thousands being rejected without even a review of his case.

That’s because, like most of the hopeful refugees arriving here, he first entered Europe in a different country. In his case, it was Bulgaria. Under E.U. law, Germany does not have to listen to his claim.

It can just send him back.

It tried to do just that in December last year when police hauled him to Frankfurt Airport.

But once aboard a flight, Hassan managed to block his deportation. German policies restrict the

Half are initially rejected in Europe, but many find ways to remain

use of force during expulsions, and some deportees have taken to kicking and screaming inside plane cabins to thwart takeoff.

Hassan said he merely informed the crew that he was leaving involuntarily. The result: Citing a possible safety risk, the pilot allowed him to disembark. With no grounds to detain Hassan further under German law, frustrated authorities released him.

Back in Kassel, his lawyer found him a shield against another deportation attempt: Church asy-

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

11

WORLD lum. Hassan packed up and moved into a welcoming Catholic church. There are no laws offering legal sanctuary in churches. But such protection is a German tradition dating to the Middle Ages, and officials here have been loath to challenge it. For Hassan, it might be a solid plan. If he can avoid deportation for four more months, a loophole in the asylum law would compel the German government to hear the merits of his case. Because the Germans — citing logistical and safety issues — are generally not deporting Somalis to their home country, he has a good chance of being allowed to stay.

“I cannot go back to Somalia,” Hassan said inside the tranquil rectory of St. Familia Catholic Church, a sanctuary he rarely leaves for fear of being arrested. “It is too dangerous there. I won’t go back.”

A new draft law to be debated in the German Parliament would, for instance, take aim at the majority of migrants who, like Hassan, are traveling to Germany through transit countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Croatia. Part of the plan is to disincentivize staying.

Rather than offering cash benefits and housing to those being ordered to leave — Hassan, for instance, received aid for 24 months as he fought deportation — such migrants would instead simply receive some food and a one-way ticket out.

Germany last year managed to return only 4,700 of the 35,000 migrants who were told to go back to those nations — in part because deportations are difficult.

The new law, however, would not close the important loophole being used here by Hassan and others to avoid deportation to transit countries. If an asylum seeker can manage to fend off deportation for six to 18 months, the German government has no choice but to reopen their case.

“Deportation is always difficult, but maybe you have to remove 100,000 to help the other 600,000 find a way to stay,” said Demetrios G. Papademetriou, president emeritus of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. “Europe needs to develop a backbone, to say that on principle, if you are an unauthorized immigrant, an economic migrant, we are going to identify you and send you back.” n

KLMNO WEEKLY

As chaos swirls, these doors are always open H UGH N AYLOR Beirut BY

For many Lebanese, Barbar resonates on a deeper level, symbolizing stability in a place so often shaken by unrest, said Amal Andary, a culture writer at Lebanon’s AlAkhbar newspaper.

I

n a country that has long faced the uncertainty of war and religious strife, you can bet on one thing. The doors that lead to Barbar’s world-class kebabs will be open.

Arguably the most famous eatery in Lebanon has never closed since opening for business in 1979, the many fans of the establishment will tell you.

The spits that rotate Barbar’s succulent hunks of beef and chicken over slow-roasting flames didn’t stop during the civil war that ended in 1990, management and employees say with pride. They say the grillingcontinued—24/7—evenon the day that a rocket-propelled grenade struck the Beirut-based restaurant’s entrance.

Barbar never turns away customers, said Bassem Abu Hamdan, 33, a policeman and customer. “It’s always open. Always, always, always,” he said.

Two years ago, CNN ranked Barbar first in a list of the world’s best kebab places, coming ahead of restaurants in Israel, Iran and Greece.

The news organization singled out Barbar’s chicken shawarma — with its marinade of cardamom and cinnamon — as “the tastiest” of all offerings.

For many Lebanese, Barbar resonates on a deeper level, symbolizing stability in a place so often shaken by unrest, said Amal Andary, a culture writer at Lebanon’s Al Akhbar newspaper. Recently, concern has mounted over fallout from civil war in next-door Syria. More than a million Syrians have taken refuge in Lebanon.

“It’s an unshakable icon,” Andary said of Barbar.

It’s also massive, taking up almost an entire block in the capital’s Hamra area. Surrounding the main restaurant are more than half a dozen Barbar shops that specialize in juices, sweets, falafel sandwiches, normal sandwiches and specialty pizzas.

TAMARA ABDUL HADI FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Firas, left, and Abu Ali, the main chef, show off plates of falafel and vegetables at Barbar, a Beirut institution that opened in 1979.

Facades are faded. Waiters can be abrupt. And the no-frills picnictable seating feels out of sync with Beirut’s burgeoning market of trendy bistros that cater to wealthy, French-speaking elites.

But Barbar is popular.

Poor. Rich. Famous. They all come. On Friday evenings, finding a seat can feel as frustrating as standing in line at a VIP nightclub.

“You can’t believe the pressure I’m working under!” Mohammed Rezik, 46, a waiter, said as he served a crush of patrons.

Mohammed Hussein, 47, boasted about having served Arabic singers and movie stars, including Egyptian actor Adel Emam.

Barbar’s origins trace back to its sexagenarian founder, Mohammed Ghaziri. With a fifth-grade education and the clothes on this back, a 17-year-old Ghaziri took a job on a Greek shipping vessel in the late 1960s, touring the world and its restaurants. Returning to Lebanon a decade later with cash in hand, he opened a small shop.

Every few years since then, Ghaziri expanded, said his son, 33-year-old Ali Ghaziri, who is now co-owner with a brother of what has become the Barbar Em-

pire. The only time the establishment failed to make money was when the elder Ghaziri attempted to turn the restaurant into a place for fine dining, Ali said.

“That didn’t work out, so he went back to his roots,” Ali said of his father, who is retired.

Reaching back to the restaurant’s roots meant catering to the rich, poor and Lebanon’s diverse and feuding religious groups. During the 15-year civil war, fighters representing many factions would take breaks at the restaurant. To protect patrons, the restaurant erected a 10-foot-high sandbag wall between the entrance and the adjacent street.

Nowadays, Beirut manages a shaky calm. Barbar’s employees seem more concerned about a crisis over garbage collection that has caused trash to pile up on the capital’s streets. One pile isn’t far from the restaurant.

Customers seem unfazed. Hussein el-Soud, 29, visited recently from his home town of Cairo. He just had to dine at Barbar, he said.

“All my friends said I have to eat here,” Soud said while devouring a plate of beef shawarma.

“It’s delicious.” n

Giving education to the masses

PHELAN M. EBENHACK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

BY NICK ANDERSON in Orlando, Fla. Knightro, the University of Central Florida’s mascot, greets freshmen in August. The school says its growth serves a nation in desperate need of a bettereducated workforce.

A

small state school launched here in the 1960s to develop employees for the space program has morphed into one of the nation’s largest universities, using accessible admission policies and online instruction to fuel extraordinary growth in an era when many public colleges face fiscal uncertainty. ¶ The University of Central Florida will have about 54,000 undergraduate students this fall, up 90 percent since the turn of the century. The only public university with more is Arizona State, counting at least 67,000 on five campuses. ¶ UCF and ASU are in the vanguard of an insurgency that aims to demolish the popular belief that exclusivity is a virtue in higher education. They stand for access on a grand scale, arguing that breakneck growth serves a nation in desperate need of a better­educated workforce. They also are pursuing a new financial model that enables public universities to thrive even when state support dwindles. ¶ Their solution, possibly a blueprint for others around the country, combines a bustling traditional campus with an ever­widening menu of online and semi­online courses. And they’re doing it at a relatively low price.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

13

COVER STORY

Biggest public universities Here are the top public universities in undergraduate enrollment as of fall 2014, and percentage growth since 2000.

School

2014 undergrads

Growth since 2000

Arizona State University* University of Central Florida

67,498 52,671

72% 86%

Texas A&M University at College Station Ohio State University Florida International University Pennsylvania State University University of Texas at Austin Michigan State University Indiana University at Bloomington California State University at Northridge

47,093 44,741 41,009 40,541 39,523 38,786 36,419 35,616

30% 25% 56% 18% 4% 13% 24% 58%

* ASU figure includes multiple campuses Source: U.S. Education Department, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

“Our concern is that qualified students who want to get a college education be allowed to do so,” UCF President John C. Hitt said. “We’ll do our part in that, to the best of our ability.

We do recognize that there is a limit. We just don’t know where it is.”

Many UCF students are the first in their families to go to college, and thousands arrive every year from community colleges.

“We don’t have enough of these examples,” said Andrew P. Kelly, a higher education analyst at the American Enterprise Institute.

“It’s a rare sight to see institutions self-consciously trying to build capacity to serve more

Many UCF students are the first in their families to go to college.

KLMNO WEEKLY

students. The incentives tend to point in the opposite direction, toward exclusivity. These guys are breaking the mold.”

The beneficiaries are students such as Claudie Milien, 18, from West Palm Beach, Fla. His mom is a caregiver, his dad a golf caddy.

Neither earned a bachelor’s degree. Milien aims for one in computer science. The price is right: In-state tuition and fees at UCF are $6,368 this year. The size is right, too.

“I like that it’s huge,” Milien said at a recent rally for new students. “There’s so many things you can do here. If you have an interest, most likely you’ll find it.”

There are downsides. Central Florida’s student-to-faculty ratio is one of the highest in the country, at 31 to 1 as of 2013. The norm for public universities with at least 20,000 students is 19 to 1.

Some classes on the sprawling campus are so packed — with as many as 1,000 students — that there are only enough seats to handle a fraction of them. The rest watch online or squat in the aisles. Such “lecture-capture” courses and others with online elements aim to bolster teaching capacity and give students flexibility. Some students juggle classes and jobs. Others don’t want to attend lectures.

Elizabeth Connor, 23, who graduated this year with a bachelor’s degree in management, said the size of one class shocked her when she The Rosen first arrived.

College of “Mom, I don’t think I Hospitality can do this,” she recalled Management saying in a phone call building at the home. “There’s 700 peoUniversity of ple in my business Central Florida class!” But she grew to in Orlando. like the format because she could rewatch lectures if she got confused.

“I never missed a beat.”

UCF officials say three-quarters of undergraduate classes have fewer than 50 students.

But they acknowledge more professors are needed. Plans are underway to expand tenured and tenure-track positions 25 percent over two years.

Many colleges have the opposite problem and are scrambling for students. Small private schools often face real jeopardy if they can’t recruit a large-enough student body. Tiny Sweet Briar College in Virginia, more than a century old, this year barely avoided shutdown.

Elite private universities, on the other hand, turn away tens of thousands of applicants a year. These schools are growing little, if at all.

Stanford and Princeton have talked recently about possibly adding a hundred or so students per class. At UCF, that amounts to a rounding error.

Public universities dominate the college market, but tight state budgets and policies geared toward selectivity often cap growth. continues on next page

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

14

COVER STORY

The median undergraduate growth rate for state flagships from 2000 to 2013, federal data show, was 18 percent.

The University of Florida, up the road from here in Gainesville, grew 1 percent, while the state’s population grew 20 times as much. The surge in young adults seeking entry to college created an opening for the upstart UCF on the east side of Orlando.

To Floridians, UCF is well known, but nationally it flies under the radar. It ranks 168th on the U.S. News and World Report list of national universities. The school drew attention in January 2014, when the football Knights reached the Fiesta Bowl, upsetting Baylor 52-42 and finishing in the national top 10.

One of its most famous alumni is comedian Daniel Tosh (class of 1996), an analyst of Internet videos on Comedy Central; another is economist R. Glenn Hubbard (class of 1979), an architect of President George W. Bush’s tax Vaishnavi Varma, cuts.

23, left, and What was originally Anusuya called Florida TechnoArunachalam, logical University 24, in the student opened in 1968, a year union. Mikayla before astronauts jourMitchell, 18, at neyed to the moon from the freshman a launch pad east of convocation. here. Walt Disney World opened to the southwest in 1971, a major catalyst for the region.

But when Hitt took over in 1992, UCF was still a modest commuter school, with 18,000 undergrads. He set about rebuilding the sun-drenched campus. The joke here is that the initials stand for “Under Construction Forever.”

Early on, Hitt pushed to join the NCAA’s highest level of football.

“If you’re a state university in the South, and you want to be taken seriously, there are several things you do,” he said. “You do a fair amount of research. You award a fair number of PhDs. And you play Division I football.” The university also built a 45,000-seat stadium.

Those are typical brand-building moves.

Less typical was UCF’s plunge in the late 1990s into online instruction. Hitt said he wanted to ease a bottleneck: Too many students had trouble getting their final credits for graduation. So UCF started putting courses online. “That made a big difference in letting us continue to grow,” Hitt said.

Whether they live on campus or commute, students now can take classes that are fully online, fully face to face, or a mix of the two.

Faculty say the wired generation is sometimes more engaged online. “They’ll text you or write you more than they might raise their hand in class,” said Amy Gregory, an assistant professor of hospitality management. “There’s safety in being on the other side of the device.”

The increasingly sophisticated online oper-

KLMNO WEEKLY

PHOTOS BY PHELAN M. EBENHACK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Whether they live on campus or commute, students now can take classes that are fully online, fully face to face, or a mix of the two.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

15

COVER STORY

KLMNO WEEKLY

from previous page

“Our concern is that qualified students who want to get a college education be allowed to do so,” UCF President John C. Hitt, above, said.

ation helped UCF expand even during years of economic recession, when state funding grew lean. Another key to growth: UCF guarantees admission to local community college graduates. More students enter every fall as transfers than as freshmen.

“I was trying to save as much as I possibly could,” said Wisangeles Walker, 21, a transfer student from Seminole County. Like 20,000 others here in financial need, she receives federal Pell grants.

The daughter of Jamaican and Puerto Rican parents, Walker is a first-generation college student. She promised her mother she would go to college before her mother died of leukemia three years ago. A management major, Walker just finished an internship with Frito-Lay and hopes that will lead to a job offer. She also is president of a club called the Transfer Knights and goes to football and basketball games to soak up what she called “the real college experience I was looking for.”

What will a bachelor’s degree mean for Walker?

“Everything,” she said. “Being able to provide for myself. Making my mom proud. It means everything to me.”

Jessica Roberts, 19, a first-generation student in psychology, manages the pantry of a campus charity called Knights Helping Knights. It distributes free food and clothing to those in need. “You feel good knowing that you’re really helping people,” she said.

Ivey Padgett, 20, a computer science student, is helping to start a computer club called Knight Hacks. Her dad is an electrician, her mom a homemaker. They didn’t go to college.

“They’re so proud,” she said. “They brag about me all the time. I tell them, ‘You guys, you don’t have to tell the pharmacist.’ ” UCF officials say wider access does not mean lower standards. The school admits fewer than half of its freshman applicants.

Grades and test scores of those admitted have risen over the years, and the incoming class includes 69 National Merit Scholars. The six-year graduation rate (70 percent) is about 10 points higher than the national average.

The school also fares well in competition for what Florida calls “performance funding” — effectively a public bonus pool for state universities.

Michael M. Crow, president of Arizona State, says his school and UCF are pointing the way to a new era for American universities that are bigger and more diverse than ever, but also research-intensive. The nation’s needs, he said, can’t be met through small liberal arts colleges.

Bigger can be better, Crow and Hitt say.

“If you vary from the norm of a few professors gathered around a few students,” Crow said, the perception is that “somehow you must be doing something that is not as good. But there’s no evidence of that at all.” n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

16

KLMNO WEEKLY

HEALTH

A germ-fighter makes a comeback BY

L ENA H . S UN

A

ncient Egyptians used copper to sterilize chest wounds and drinking water. Greeks, Romans and Aztecs relied on copper compounds to treat burns, headaches and ear infections. Thousands of years later, the ancient therapeutic is being embraced by some hospitals because of its ability to kill bacteria and other microbes on contact, which can help reduce deadly infections.

At least 15 hospitals across the country have installed, or are considering installing, copper components on “high-touch” surfaces easily contaminated with microbes — faucet handles on sinks, cabinet pulls, toilet levers, call buttons and IV poles.

“We’ve known for a long time that copper and other metals are effective in killing microbes, so it wasn’t a great leap to incorporate copper surfaces into hospitals,” said John Lynch, medical director of infection control at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, which is redesigning a wastedisposal room to incorporate copper on light switches and door handles.

For many hospitals, the death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan last year at a Dallas hospital heightened concerns — two nurses caring for him caught the virus because of poor infection control. And even before that, public health officials had identified nearly two dozen dangerous pathogens — many of them resistant to virtually all antibiotics — whose spread in health facilities and elsewhere could result in potentially catastrophic consequences.

They include MRSA, a potentially deadly infection that is increasing in community settings; VRE, which can cause a variety of infections; and C. diff, which causes life-threatening diarrhea and sends 250,000 people to the hospital every year.

On any given day, about 1 in 25 patients in acute-care hospitals has at least one health-care-associated infection, according to the

JUSTIN HAYWORTH/GRINNELL COLLEGE

Ancient Egyptians used copper to sterilize injuries.

Now hospitals use it to fight spread of infections.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pneumonia and surgical-site infections are among the most common. In 2011, about 75,000 patients with health-care-associated infections died in the hospital.

Hospital officials aren’t the only ones interested in copper.

Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport installed drinking fountains retrofitted with antimicrobial copper surfaces. In Colorado Springs, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s flagship training center uses custom dumbbells with antimicrobial copper grips.

So do two professional hockey teams, the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues. Even a Chick-fil-A in Morganton, N.C., installed antimicrobial copper on restroom door handles.

Copper can kill or inactivate a variety of pathogens by interacting with oxygen and modifying oxygen molecules. In bacteria, this disrupts the outer layer, damaging the genetic material and

cell machinery, which can lead to cell death. A recent study found that copper also destroys norovirus.

There has been only one published clinical trial showing how copper reduces infections in hospitals. The results, however, were striking: Researchers said the study, which took place between July 2010 and June 2011, showed that copper surfaces reduced infection rates by 58 percent.

Now, the CDC is pressing for more research. This month, it held a roundtable on environmental infection control in preventing Ebola and other healthcare-associated infections. Officials, who are exploring copper and other technologies, are working with hospitals, academics and the copper industry.

The Defense Department, which funded the first clinical trial on copper and hospitalacquired infections, is researching copper’s effectiveness against one type of bacteria, acineto-

Queenster Nartey, a senior majoring in biological chemistry at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, works with Terri L. Kelling, staff development and infection prevention coordinator at Grinnell Regional Medical Center, as she collects samples for research about copper surfaces and their ability to reduce infections.

bacter, which can cause pneumonia or bloodstream infections among critically ill patients, including wounded soldiers returning from the battlefield.

Many experts have concluded that traditional methods for reducing hospital-acquired infections, such as hand washing, aren’t enough, because people don’t always do what they are supposed to do and many pathogens can survive for long periods on surfaces. That’s why hospitals are experimenting with other ways to destroy them, including using ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide vapor to target germs in nooks and crannies not easily reached by cleaning crews.

But those measures require actions by human beings — which is not the case with copper.

“It’s always working, it requires no human intervention, no supervision, and it’s acting continuously,” said Michael Schmidt, a microbiology professor at the Medical University of South Carolina and one of the researchers who conducted the first and largest study of copper surfaces in hospitals.

While welcoming the findings, researchers said additional studies are needed to answer many questions.

“Right now, there’s not enough data on copper or other technologies to make firm recommendations on what hospitals should do,” said L. Clifford McDonald, a medical epidemiologist at the CDC.. In the meantime, facilities should continue to thoroughly clean patients’ rooms and supplement that with disinfectants. And everyone, especially health-care workers, should wash their hands with soap and water.

Cost is an issue. Adding copper surfaces is about 15 to 20 percent more expensive than using traditional stainless steel. But the long-term benefits are worth it, Linden and Schmidt say.

The average cost to outfit a hospital room with antimicrobial copper items is about $5,000, Linden said. But one infection adds $43,000 in patient costs, according to federal data. n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

17

SCIENCE

KLMNO WEEKLY

Alaska’s ‘lost world’ of dinosaurs BY

R ACHEL F ELTMAN

P

aleontology can be pretty grueling work, especially if you want to study dinosaurs who could handle

snow.

To get to the Prince Creek Formation of Alaska — an area rich with fossils of creatures who lived in the ancient Arctic — scientists have to wait for things to thaw. Then they have to come in on tiny bush planes and take inflatable boats down rivers plagued by crumbling cliffs. If they make it to the dig site without a plane crash or a cascade of boulders, they’re in for freezing rain, snow and hordes of mosquitoes — not to mention bears, wolves and other dangerous predators.

They endure all this for a single month of field work. It would be a tad longer if not for falcon nesting season.

“The falcons do dive bomb us pretty frequently,” Florida State University professor Greg Erikson told The Washington Post.

But for Erikson and his colleagues, it’s worth it. To them, this part of Alaska is the last frontier of dinosaur discovery. Along with Patrick Druckenmiller, earth sciences curator of the University of Alaska Museum of the North and associate professor of geology at the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Erikson has just announced the discovery of a new species of dinosaur found in the area.

But the duck-billed dino is even more exciting than your usual find. The dinosaur, which was previously believed to belong to a well-known species, was incredibly abundant around 70 million years ago. They’ve already found some 10,000 bones from the species.

And that means that it thrived in an area that was — at least for a dinosaur — remarkably cold.

“It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of dinosaurs living up in the polar world was kind of, you know, really? Are you kidding?”

Druckenmiller said. We don’t know a ton about how dinosaur

PHOTOS BY GREG ERICKSON/UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA MUSEUM OF THE NORTH VIA ASSOCIATED PRESS

The newfound species thrived despite snowy dark, researchers say metabolisms worked (in fact, the debate over whether they were warm or cold blooded still rages on) but most people think of them as fairly tropical creatures, like modern lizards.

It’s an intriguing question, and one that’s difficult to answer with bones alone: Did dinosaurs, like modern reptiles, need to bask in the sun and heat to survive? Or were they warm-blooded, like the birds that would become their only surviving descendants — able to survive in the cold and dark? Erikson and Druckenmiller’s new species shows that the answer may be quite complicated.

The new species, called Ugrunaaluk kuukpikensis, is described in a study published Tuesday in Acta Palaeontologica Polonica. At 25 feet long, the plant eater looked very similar to Edmontosaurus, a duck-billed dinosaur frequently found in Alberta and Montana. But the abundant bones, which the researchers believe are gathered in one place

because a herd of young dinosaurs were attacked, showed enough small differences to make them suspicious. Detailed analysis by Hirotsugu Mori, a former graduate student at UAF, helped confirm that this was a new creature.

At the time that these dinosaurs lived, their region would have averaged temperatures in the low 40s. “By reptilian standards, that’s pretty chilly,” Druckenmiller said. So he and his colleagues believe that this species must have had special adaptations to live in the cold.

“These were dinosaurs living at the very edge of what we think dinosaurs were physiological capable of,” he said.

Erickson added that these extreme conditions created a sort of “natural laboratory.” If the team can figure out how U. kuukpikensis was different from its close cousins in balmier regions, they might figure out how the new species managed to survive the cold.

A sample of frozen bone is seen after researchers excavated it near Nuiqsut, Alaska.

At top, the campsite for the researchers is seen at the dig site along the Colville River near Nuiqsut.

The researchers are particularly interested in looking at how quickly the new species grew, which could tell them whether it used an unusually slow metabolism to manage the cold. They can track growth rates by looking at lines of arrested growth in the dinosaur bones, which are basically the same as the rings on a tree.

In addition to cold and occasional snow, the dinosaurs also endured darkness: The region would have been dark for three to five months a year, and there’s no sign that the dinosaurs migrated to get some sun. The researchers already have evidence of at least 13 species of dinosaurs taking up permanent residence in this inhospitable place, and they expect to find even more — including a few unknown species.

“It’s intriguing for us to ponder how they survived those months of darkness,” Erickson said.

“We’re just finding this whole new world of dinosaurs we didn’t know existed.” n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

18

KLMNO WEEKLY

BOOKS

At the center of many legal storms N ON-FICTION

l

REVIEWED BY

A NNETTE G ORDON- R EED

T SHOWDOWN Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court Nomination That Changed America

By Wil Haygood Knopf. 404 pp. $32.50

he opening chapters of Wil Haygood’s engaging “Showdown” make clear that even if Thurgood Marshall had not made it into history books as the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, he would have deserved a place in American history as one of the best, most effective lawyers of his generation. In truth, he should be considered one of the best lawyers in the nation’s history, for during the 1940s and 1950s he tied together a string of legal victories that not only served his clients, but also helped transform American society.

To do this he went straight into the belly of the beast. Working at considerable personal danger as the chief lawyer in a series of cases designed to destroy racially based segregation, Marshall crisscrossed the South, challenging the system of legalized white supremacy. As he made the rounds of “courthouses in the South . . . folks would come for miles, some of them on muleback or horseback,” to witness the phenomenon of a black man “who stood up in white men’s courtrooms.”

The successes rolled in. Smith v. Allwright, in 1944, did away with the Texas Democratic Party’s primary system that was limited to white voters. In 1948, Shelley v.

Kraemer struck down the use of racially restrictive covenants, not just in the South but in neighborhoods across the country. In 1950 came Sweatt v. Painter and McLaurin v. Oklahoma. These cases held that segregation in the nation’s professional and graduate schools was unconstitutional.

Marshall’s “titanic achievement,” as Haygood reminds us, was the 1954 landmark case Brown v. Board of Education, “which outlawed the separatebut-equal doctrine that had been the law of the land and ordered the desegregation of public schools.”

With this, Marshall, already well known, ascended to heights rare

WALLY MCNAMEE/THE WASHINGTON POST

in a profession not often seen as producing heroes. The Baltimoreborn, Lincoln University- and Howard Law School-educated attorney became a hero to millions and remains so today.

Of course, not everyone was a fan. By the time Marshall was slated to reap what many considered the ultimate professional reward for his legal prowess — a seat on the Supreme Court — as Haygood notes, he was “Public Enemy No. 1” to white Southerners still smarting from his successful strikes at what they considered their entirely just and proper way of life. In chapters covering each day of Marshall’s confirmation hearings before the Senate, Haygood details the ways in which Marshall had to confront the Southern senators on the Judiciary Committee, a veritable “murderer’s row” of staunch segregationists who were determined to scuttle his appointment.

Haygood makes plain that President Lyndon Johnson used every power at his disposal to ensure that Marshall’s appointment would be a success, employing his

famous capacity to arm-twist, cajole and persuade in service of a result that he clearly believed would be good for blacks, good for the country and, in addition, good for his legacy. Reminiscing some years after the hearings, Johnson spoke in plain terms about what defeating the segregationists in the Senate meant: “There was probably not a Negro in America who didn’t know about Thurgood’s appointment. All over America that day Negro parents looked at their children a little differently, thousands of mothers looked across the breakfast table and said, ‘Now maybe this will happen to my child someday.’ ” In the end, there was not much the “old bulls” could do. Not wanting to essentially relitigate the civil rights movement before the American public, they used crime as a surrogate for the issue, suggesting that Marshall would not be tough enough on criminals or people who may have been rioting for political purposes. But they were speaking to a skillful lawyer who knew how to parry hostile questions. Plus,

Johnson, the former “master of the Senate,” had the votes. Marshall came out of the committee by a vote of 11 to 5 in favor of sending his name to the Senate, where he was, as we know, successful.

Haygood tells this story with great energy and at times with humor and style. But one wishes for a more illuminating portrait of the man at the center of the proceedings — Marshall was even more interesting than Haygood reveals. And one jarring note that never fades is the use throughout the book of “Negro” and, on occasion, “colored.” While Marshall was said to prefer “Negro,” and the word fits with the era when he came of age in the law and transformed it, it feels forced and contrived in this work. The usage gives the book an old-fashioned feel, and not in a good way, as it may turn off the generations of people most in need of learning about Marshall’s amazing story and how he helped shape the world we live in today. n Gordon-Reed is a professor at Harvard.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

19

BOOKS

KLMNO WEEKLY

Banville’s ‘Guitar’ plays familiar tune

Tailfins to tailspin: Detroit in the ’60s

F ICTION

N ON-FICTION

R

l

REVIEWED BY

J ON M ICHAUD

egular readers of the work of John Banville could be forgiven for entertaining the possibility that the Irish novelist’s entire oeuvre has sprung from a single sentence by Vladimir Nabokov, namely Humbert Humbert’s assertion in “Lolita” that “You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.”

While not all of Banville’s narrators have been murderers, many have been criminals of one stripe or another, and each, from Freddie Montgomery in “The Book of Evidence” to Victor Maskell in “The Untouchable,” has shown himself to be an able stylist.

Oliver Otway Orme, the narrator and protagonist of Banville’s latest novel, “The Blue Guitar,” upholds both the criminal and compositional impulses of this lineage. He tells us on the first page that he was “a child prodigy in the fine art of thieving.” That page and the ensuing 250 offer ample proof that Orme knows his way around a sentence, too. Take this striking simile for falling in love: “It was as if a god had reached down from that sky of stars and scooped us up in his hand and made a little constellation of us on the spot.” Or this manifesto of aesthetic self-identification: “I’m a son of the north: my hues are the hammered gold of autumn, the silver-grey of the undersides of leaves in rainy springtime, the khaki shine of chilly summer beaches and the winter sea’s rough purples, its acid virescence.”

The novel begins with Orme, (“I’m pushing fifty and feel a hundred.”) in a state of crisis. The uncloaking of an affair he’d been enjoying with a neighbor’s wife has sent him scurrying back to “that most banal of refuges,” the house where he was born. There, with only an aged rat for company, he ponders the “puny catastrophe that is my life.”

Two events seem to have precipitated his perplexity. The first is the sudden death of his 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, and its ramifica-

tions in his marriage. The second, and perhaps more devastating, is the loss of the artist Orme’s desire to paint — “rigor artis,” he terms it at one point.

Orme is a loquacious selfexplainer, which is another way of saying that he is a helpless solipsist. “You never notice anything that’s not yourself,” Polly says to him after their affair turns sour.

He vacillates between grandiose justifications for his dishonesties and mea culpa self-flagellation: “Nothing like the silken whip of self-reproach to soothe a smarting conscience,” he observes.

At its deepest, “The Blue Guitar” is a meditation on the creative instinct and the means by which people attach meaning to their lives. It’s a persistent theme in Banville’s work. Many of his protagonists, in addition to being criminals, have been artists of one kind or another.

Though he surrenders to creative impotence, Orme never stops thinking, digressing, wondering. What pins this book down and keeps it from being just the random musings of a frustrated man is its grounding in loss and its reckoning with mortality. Ultimately, the peripatetic, kleptomaniac Orme is undone by the world’s refusal to sit still and be captured by him. We are told that he never paints people, only objects, in part because people are so changeable. Recalling his daughter, he writes, “How well I remember her face, which is a foolish claim to make, since any face, especially a child’s, is in a gradual but relentless process of change and development, so that what I carry in my memory can be only a version of her, a generalisation of her, that I have fashioned for myself, as an evanescent keepsake.”

In this beautiful, heartbreaking novel, Banville has fashioned much more than a mere keepsake for his readers. n Michaud is a novelist and the head librarian at the Center for Fiction.

D THE BLUE GUITAR

By John Banville Knopf. 256 pp. $25.95.

ONCE IN A GREAT CITY A Detroit Story

By David Maraniss Simon & Schuster.

441 pp. $32.50

l

REVIEWED BY

K EVIN B OYLE

avid Maraniss was born in Detroit in 1949, which is to say he was born in a boomtown, an industrial behemoth of 1.9 million people scrambling to meet the nation’s insatiable demand for V-8s and tailfins.

When his family left seven years later, the demand was stronger than ever. But the city was starting to shrink, its population undermined by suburbanization, its economic vitality by automation, and its social fabric by racism so deep it seemed bred in the bone. By the end of the 1950s, the city’s white population had fallen by 361,000, while its manufacturing base had hemorrhaged close to 100,000 jobs. “Prosperity seemed bound to go on forever,” Time magazine reported in 1961, “but it didn’t, and Detroit is now in trouble.”

In his captivating book, Maraniss, an associate editor at The Washington Post, picks up the city’s story in November 1962 and follows it for the next 18 months, until May 1964. He focuses on the period’s power brokers and trendsetters who believed they could get Detroit moving again.

It was a faith moored in politics.

In 1962, progressives took control of city government. From that victory surged a wave of reform. The new mayor, Jerome Cavanagh, launched a courageous campaign to rein in the city’s notoriously racist police force. The United Automobile Workers’ powerful president, Walter Reuther, called for a sweeping assault on the inequalities that ran through urban life.

And the city’s most prominent African American activists brought home the massive moral force the Southern civil rights movement had unleashed. That effort peaked in June 1963 when the Rev. C.L. Franklin — the father of an aspiring singer named Aretha — led 125,000 in a glorious “March to Freedom,” a moment Maraniss imbues with the majesty it deserves.

Marching wasn’t enough, though, not when you could be dancing in the street. Berry Gordy

Jr. founded Motown Records in 1959 and by late 1962 he’d set up a studio fronted with a humble little sign declaring the place “Hitsville, USA,” honed the label’s sound and signed a remarkable group of performers. Maraniss interweaves the subsequent triumphs with another process of mass-consumption creativity — Lee Iacocca’s marketing masterpiece, the Ford Mustang — but his heart clearly belongs to Motown.In a rush of hits, Maraniss hears the sound of a city suddenly, improbably filled with hope.

He carries that sense to the narrative’s end. The Mustang rolled into showrooms in April 1964. On May 16, Mary Wells’s “My Guy” hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts. A week later, Lyndon Johnson used his commencement address at the University of Michigan, an hour’s drive from downtown Detroit, to call for the construction of a Great Society that “demands an end to poverty and racial injustice . . . a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community.” A society that looked like the city Detroit’s political class dreamed of building.

But dreams were no match for the dynamics that had taken hold of Detroit in the ’50s. The reformers couldn’t slow white flight out of the city, much less reverse it. The jobs kept disappearing. And racial tension mounted year after year, until the summer of 1967, when it exploded in a week-long rebellion that began with a mindless raid by a police department still steeped in the racism the mayor had hoped to expunge. After that, the crises accelerated, the city’s challenges deepening with each decade: more people gone, more factories closed, more businesses shuttered — even Motown left, in 1972 — more neighborhoods hollowing out, more Detroiters slipping inexorably into poverty. n Boyle teaches American history at Northwestern University.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

20

KLMNO WEEKLY

OPINIONS

Walker’s exit puts focus on a fickle GOP electorate DAN BALZ is chief correspondent at The Washington Post. He has served as the paper’s national editor, political editor, White House correspondent and Southwest correspondent.

Let’s stipulate that Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s surprise early exit from the presidential campaign was caused in no small part by a candidate who did himself in.

But what can be said about the nature of a fickle Republican electorate that has turned its back on politicians like Walker in favor of non­politicians with no records of success in government?

Whatever can be said about Walker’s skills as a presidential candidate — and they were obviously lacking in a number of ways — there is no questioning that as governor he stood for the very values and principles that conservative voters claim they champion and put them into practice.

Memories, apparently, are short among the Republican base.

Walker is a small-government conservative with conviction. He didn’t intentionally plan to blow up his state in the first weeks of his governorship. That came about in part due to his own miscalculations, which he later acknowledged. But fundamentally it happened because he pursued an agenda that conservatives in 2010 had indicated they wanted their elected officials to pursue.

Like most Republican governors elected at the time, Walker called for significant spending cuts to deal with a sizable budget deficit. He went farther by picking a fight with organized labor, recommending restrictions on the collective bargaining rights of public employee unions. Madison became the scene of round-theclock protests, beamed live around the country on cable television.

Walker later acknowledged that he was shocked by the reaction, particularly the national backlash. He wished he had done a better job of laying the groundwork for the changes he was pushing. Still, in the face of

angry demonstrations, he held firm and prevailed. His state ended up split almost evenly — pro-Walker and anti-Walker.

When organized labor pushed for a recall election in the spring of 2012, over the objections of President Obama’s reelection campaign team, Walker found himself once again under siege.

His opponents poured millions into the effort to oust him. He collected millions of his own, from the big donors, the Koch brothers and the grass roots. Once again he emerged victorious.

By then Walker was a hero to the tea party wing of the Republican Party — far more so than the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney — and to many in the party establishment as well. He seemed the embodiment of what they longed to see from their leaders in Washington: backbone and results in a hostile environment.

All of that has mattered little in this strange year of 2015.

Certainly, Walker made mistakes as a candidate. At various times, he gave the appearance of not being ready for the presidency, stumbling on foreign policy,

ANDY MANIS/GETTY IMAGES

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker ends his bid for the White House.

immigration and other questions that seemed to catch him unawares. But were his verbal missteps any more significant than those of challenger Donald Trump? Republican voters punished Walker while giving Trump a pass. That, at least, is what the polls suggest.

What are Republicans looking for in a nominee? They have turned away from politicians who have fought difficult battles in difficult environments. Those without records — Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina — seem to be flourishing. Those with records are struggling at the moment to break into double digits in the polls.

The most recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 58 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents prefer a candidate with experience outside the political establishment, while 36 percent say they want someone with experience in how the political system works.

Walker isn’t alone in this. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, elected in 2009 in a state even bluer than Wisconsin, helped restore the party’s morale after Romney’s defeat in 2012. Former Florida governor Jeb Bush compiled a conservative record in one of the most important swing states in the country. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has had success in the other big swing state.

Former Texas governor Rick Perry was the first to drop out of the race. He was a better

candidate this time than he was four years ago, but GOP voters apparently couldn’t get past his weak performance in the 2012 campaign.

What this year so far shows is that Republicans may be paying a price for their own antigovernment rhetoric. They have debased the currency of governing to the point that right now experience in office produces no dividends.

Quite the opposite. The rewards are going to those who have no governmental record to defend, and who like Trump offer grand promises with little to back them up. To many Trump supporters, the elites in their party have had their day and failed.

Walker’s announcement on Monday was more than a departure statement. It was in its own way a rallying cry to the Republican base to think again about priorities and realities. He said he hoped that a campaign with fewer candidates will hasten the moment when conservative voters will have to think about more than flamboyant performances and refocus on the things that matter.

That day likely will come at some point, when the field winnows more. The nature of the Republican nomination contest will then change, though just when is not yet clear. But for now, as Walker learned painfully, the GOP electorate is in another place, where shiny objects look very appealing. n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

21

OPINIONS

KLMNO WEEKLY

TOM TOLES

Insecurity beneath Xi’s repression JEROME A. COHEN is professor and codirector of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University School of Law and adjunct senior fellow for Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

This visit to Seattle, Washington and New York by Xi Jinping , widely viewed as China’s strongest dictator since Mao Zedong, gave Americans another occasion to take his measure and ponder the many dilemmas of Sino-American relations. Xi arrived fresh from Beijing’s extraordinary Sept. 3 military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II . It was an extravaganza designed to demonstrate to his country and the world not only China’s power but also Xi’s. In the United States, the pomp and circumstance accompanying Xi’s visit are all likely to enhance his prestige.

Yet, if the truth be known — and China’s pervasive censorship and propaganda make it hard to come by — Xi is an insecure leader. To be sure, the dramatic drop of China’s stock markets and the more significant slowdown of its formidable economic development are not secrets to the many countries that have quickly felt their impact and to those in China who have lost nest eggs or jobs. The world is also increasingly aware of the Chinese people’s dissatisfaction with Xi’s inadequate efforts to curb massive pollution and other threats to health and safety.

Less obvious is the lack of support for Xi’s daring struggle to curb endemic corruption.

Although this persistent campaign remains popular with the masses, influential

entrepreneurs and the officials on whom they depend live in uncertainty, even fear that they will become the campaign’s next casualties, and remain stubbornly passive. Even more worrisome to the regime are the enduring obstacles to transforming the export-led economy into the consumer-andservices one required by China’s more advanced stage of development. Cautious bureaucrats are reluctant to implement essential initiatives opposed by powerful vested interests. If the economy continues to go south and unemployment rises, so too will the risk of political instability.

There are increasing, if dimly perceived, signs that internal political struggles are again occurring within the Communist

Party elite, despite Xi’s assumption of virtually all the formal levers of authority in a fashion reminiscent of Stalin as well as Mao. Back-door intrigues and the covert interference of retired leaders may become even more troublesome if Xi’s anti-corruption campaign moves beyond terminating the business operations of previous leaders’ families to actually prosecuting them.

Xi evidently believes that, if he is to succeed in his plans to purify China’s physical and moral environment, transform its economy, pacify widespread unrest and achieve his vaunted “Chinese dream,” he cannot permit the slightest amount of public disagreement, pluralism and autonomy. That is why repression and manipulation of the Internet and social media have become more severe than ever, and why he has been crushing nongovernmental organizations and their personnel and persecuting human rights activists and those few hundred lawyers willing to defend them. That is also why increasingly popular Christian churches are being desecrated and minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang cruelly suppressed.

While he has preached the importance of the rule of law and fostered some technical

improvements in legislation regarding judicial procedures, in practice Xi has tightened party controls over the courts, allowed secret police and their hired thugs to distort legal restraints and sought to silence the legal profession. He is turning China into a state dominated by the internal security forces backed by the military, but this only further alienates intellectuals and professionals.

After dealing with this past week’s challenging U.S. agenda, which is set to cover cyberespionage and intellectual property theft, the South China Sea, Taiwan and international law, currency valuation and bilateral investment negotiations, human rights and repatriation of Chinese both wanted and unwanted by Beijing, Xi will return to yet another domestic celebration — the Oct. 1 holiday marking the 66th anniversary of the People’s Republic. Yet, when all the hoopla has ended, he will have to ask himself, as the insecure dictators of Taiwan and South Korea asked themselves 30 years ago: How long can any modernizing authoritarian regime rely on repression to cope with the mounting problems magnified by the very economic and social progress it has promoted? n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

22

OPINIONS

BY SHENEMAN FOR THE STAR-LEDGER

Ready to fight and waiting on U.S. DAVID IGNATIUS writes a twice-a-week foreign affairs column for The Washington Post.

While the Obama administration haggles over its Syria strategy, a Kurdish militia that claims more than 25,000 battle-hardened fighters is poised several dozen miles north of the Islamic State’s capital of Raqqa — ready to roll toward the extremists’ sanctuary.

U.S. Special Operations forces have been providing air support, training and supplies for the Syrian Kurdish group, the People’s Protection Units, known as the “YPG” from its Kurdish initials. A resupply shipment of about 100 pallets of arms and other aid has been positioned at a U.S. air base in the Gulf, awaiting Washington authorization for an airdrop to the Kurdish fighters and their Sunni Arab allies.

“We have no objection to more cooperation with the U.S. and going ahead to Raqqa,” said Saleh Muslim, the co-chair of the Democratic Union Party, which oversees the militia. But he said that any final assault on Raqqa should come from an estimated 5,000 Arab tribal forces in the region that are working with the YPG. Muslim spoke to me Tuesday

by Skype from northeast Syria.

Several U.S. officials say that a White House decision to approve expanded aid has been expected for more than a week.

Deliberations were complicated by debate over Russia’s recent military moves in Syria, which Moscow describes as an effort to join the fight against the extremists.

“Analysis paralysis” is how one frustrated U.S. official describes the slow process of approval.

Advocates argue that after recent setbacks for a U.S. “train and equip” mission for Syrian moderate forces, the Kurds are the best option against the extremists: Air support wouldn’t risk significant U.S. casualties, nor would it violate existing U.S. understandings with Turkey, nor would it threaten the Russians.

Muslim said the YPG force is larger than a U.S. official’s estimate of 25,000 but he wouldn’t provide a number. U.S. and Kurdish officials said the YPG’s power on the ground and its readiness to attack are already well-known to the Islamic State militants, who are getting pounded in the Raqqa region by coalition airstrikes and firefights

KLMNO WEEKLY

BY MIKE SMITH FOR THE LAS VEGAS SUN

with YPG forces.

The YPG fighters get high marks from U.S. commanders.

Backed by U.S. air support, they’ve swept west from their bases in Iraqi Kurdistan and captured a huge swath of northeast Syria, estimated by one official at about 17,000 square kilometers. In January, they won a fierce battle to drive the Islamic State from the border town of Kobani.

U.S. commanders have discussed with their YPG counterparts a move south that would squeeze the Raqqa region, while U.S. and coalition planes and drones attack the city from the air. Once Kurdish fighters had cordoned the areas near Raqqa, the final assault to clear the city and hold it would be left to a Sunni Arab force. Muslim said that about 3,000 members of the al-Shammar tribe are fighting alongside the YPG in Hasakah province, northeast of Raqqa, and more than 1,000 additional Sunnis are fighting closer to the city. But any such assault on Raqqa is probably months away.

The YPG has been the most reliable ally for the U.S.-led coalition in Syria, but the alliance carries several complications.

First, the militia has close links with the Iraqi Kurdish group known as the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, or PUK, which has

fragmented in recent years and has growing ties with Iran.

Second, the YPG has even tighter bonds with the radical Turkish militia known as the PKK, which the Turkish government regards as a terrorist organization.

Syria has been a nightmare for U.S. policymakers partly because the order of battle there is so tangled. The rampaging YPG is backed by our adversary, Iran, but mistrusted by our ally, Turkey.

The United States says it wants to work for a diplomatic settlement with help from Russia, which is now sending a significant new military force into northern Syria.

Meanwhile, progress on the “southern front,” has been hamstrung by Jordan’s reluctance to topple President Bashar alAssad until it’s clearer who will succeed him.

In this fog of policy, the only goal shared by all major players — the United States, Russia, Turkey, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Syrian regime itself — is to defeat the Islamic State. The best U.S.-backed fighters against the extremists have been the Syrian Kurds, who say they’re ready to do much more, with U.S. support.

In Syria, where there often seem to be only bad options, helping the Syrian Kurds fight the Islamic State should be a nobrainer. n

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

23

KLMNO WEEKLY

FIVE MYTHS

Classified information BY

E LIZABETH G OITEIN

The controversy over Hillary Rodham Clinton’s use of a private e­mail account while she was secretary of state has centered on whether she used it to send or receive classified messages. This focus obscures the larger question of whether Clinton’s setup affected the State Department’s compliance with the Freedom of Information Act and legal requirements for federal agencies to retain records.

Correct a handful of prevalent myths, and it’s clear that this aspect of the story reveals more about our nation’s dysfunctional system for managing official secrets than it does about Clinton.

1

Information can be “classified,” even if no one has classified it.

Many news reports and commentators have suggested that “information is classified by [its] nature” (as Sean Davis writes in the Federalist), even if no agency or official has classified it.

When it comes to “original classification” — the initial decision to classify information — that portrayal is simply wrong.

Under the executive order that governs classification, the 2,000plus officials who have this authority “may” classify information if its disclosure reasonably could be expected to damage national security. The determination of harm is often highly subjective, and even if an official decides that disclosure would be harmful, he or she is not required to classify.

Information provided by foreign governments in confidence is different. The executive order cautions that the release of such information is “presumed” to harm national security; the rules provide that such information “must be classified.” There is a difference, however, between “must be classified” and “is classified.”

2

It’s easy to figure out whether information has been classified.

There is a common refrain that Clinton “should have known” there was classified information

in e-mails she got, even if it wasn’t marked.

The classification rules treat this myth as if it were true. Once information has been classified by an authorized official, anyone who retransmits it must mark it as classified, even if it was not marked when received. This is called “derivative classification,” and it can be performed by any of the 4.5 million individuals who are eligible to access classified information. They rely on “classification guides” — a kind of index of original classification decisions, mostly kept on secure Web sites — to determine what information has been classified and therefore must be marked.

The categories of information listed in guides are sometimes so broad or vague that they leave officials to guess whether any given piece of information has been classified.

3

Anything classified is sensitive.

In fact, the classification system is marked by discretion (intended) on the front end and uncertainty (unintended) on the back end. This lack of clear boundaries opens the door to a huge amount of unnecessary classification.

There are multiple incentives, unrelated to national security, to classify. It is easier and safer for busy officials to classify by rote rather than to pause for thought.

Classification is a way for officials

WASHINGTON POST ILLUSTRATION

to enhance their status or protect agencies’ turf. It can hide embarrassing facts or evidence of misconduct. There are no countervailing disincentives, as agencies do not punish overclassifying. The result is massive overclassification, a phenomenon noted by experts and blue ribbon commissions for decades. Current and former government officials have estimated that 50 to 90 percent of classified documents could safely be released.

4

Any mishandling of classified information is illegal.

In fact, in a nod to the complexities of handling classified information, the law criminalizes only violations that are “knowing,” “negligent” or the like. The law falls short, however, in failing to give express protection to knowing releases of classified information by whistleblowers. The Obama administration has used the Espionage Act — a statute meant to target spies and traitors — to prosecute federal employees who revealed waste, fraud and abuse.

Judges allowed these cases to go forward even though none of the defendants harmed or intended to harm national security.

5

Our classification system protects us from harm.

Actually, our bloated classification system puts our security at risk. Some classification is unquestionably necessary to keep the nation safe, but overclassification not only stifles public discussion and debate; it also discourages people from following the rules. Officials who routinely encounter innocuous information marked “top secret” are more likely to handle information carelessly or even engage in unauthorized disclosures, believing that little harm will result. A casual approach to classified information jeopardizes the real secrets buried within the excess.

Overclassification also creates practical barriers to compliance.

The procedures for storing, accessing and transmitting classified information are burdensome. That’s a feature, not a bug. But when onerous security measures must be followed to transact even the most routine official business, the burden can become untenable.

Goitein is co-director of the liberty and national security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2015

24

Foothills Magazine presents its 4th Annual

PHOTO CONTEST

Enter your photos taken in North Central Washington for the chance to win cash prizes and see your photos published in the magazine! Photos will be judged in two categories – human subjects and landscapes.

Get all the details at ncwfoothills.com/photocontest Entries must be submitted by January 4, 2016

North Central Washington’s lifestyle magazine foothills.wenatcheeworld.com