september 8, 2010 issue

12
The Chronicle THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2010 ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, ISSUE 10 WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM Sustainability initiative signs crop up on campus, Page 4 ONTHERECORD “If you’re studying a drug in Africa... are the drugs then going to be made available to the people that you’re studying... ?” —Dr. Sara Pasquali on overseas drug trials on children. See story page 5 A Pricey Life Congressman David Price speaks at Duke before midterm elections, PAGE 3 LIBBY BUSDICKER/THE CHRONICLE Students and faculty held a vigil Monday night outside the Duke Chapel to hear firsthand accounts of the wreckage in Pakistan after the floods. Student groups gather to provide support for Pakistan flood victims by Matthew Chase THE CHRONICLE Twenty million people are suffering. Thousands are dead. One-fifth of the country is underwater. The flooding in Pakistan is the worst disaster that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has ever seen, but some Pakistani students on campus feel that the situation has barely registered on their peers’ radar. Last night, they tried to change that. At a candlelight vigil on the Chapel steps, about 100 students and faculty heard firs-hand accounts of the dev- astation in the region. “It seems that CNN is about the only 24-hour news out- let that has put an important reporter to cover the disas- ter,” said Ebrahim Moosa, associate professor of Islamic studies. “It struck me that there is something lacking in SEE FLOODS ON PAGE 6 Danzig urges students to ‘take new risks’ by Rohan Taneja THE CHRONICLE In today’s uncertain times, Richard Danzig believes one can never be too certain about the future. The former secretary of the U.S. Navy—who served be- tween 1998 and 2001—spoke to a room packed with stu- dents and faculty at the Sanford School of Public Policy Tuesday about individual and national strategy in an era of unpredictability. Danzig now serves as chairman of the board for the Center for a New American Security, a think tank located in Washington D.C. The speech, sponsored by the American Grand Strategy, was titled “Since We Can’t See the Future, What Do We Do?” Danzig said that with regards to modern conflicts, it is nearly impossible to predict the events that will take place and the way in which they will unfold, using September 11th as a specific example. “One of the things we never foresaw in 1990 was the character of the events of 9/11,” he said. “We didn’t see the trigger events there or foresee their results.” Danzig applied the same principle to individuals’ ten- dencies and warned against being too confident in one’s own predictive abilities. “I think the propensity for error in your circumstance is to follow the straight path and think more confidently of your predictive ability than you should,” he stated. “I think that you should take new risks and go against your natural propensities.” SEE DANZIG ON PAGE 12 City of Durham begins resurfacing Anderson Street by Lisa David THE CHRONICLE Students driving through Central Cam- pus will see workers on Anderson Street this week as the city of Durham makes its scheduled repairs. The resurfacing began yesterday morning and is expected to last a week. In addition to the resurfacing, city planners decided to per- manently remove 37 on-street parking spaces and replace them with bicycle lanes, said Dale McKeel, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for Durham’s Department of Transportation. “The street will remain open, but there will be lane closures [for sections] of the road,” McKeel said. Bus routes and schedules will not change during or after the resurfacing, a Durham news release noted. The project is funded by city bonds from 2005 and 2007, McKeel said. After the street was identified in 2007 as in need of resurfac- ing, McKeel said University officials began discussing with the city the possibility of creating bicycle lanes during the repairs to help promote sustainable means of travel. Jesse Bendetson, a junior, is excited to use the new bicycle lanes for longboarding. But in addition to temporary motorist de- lays, the loss of parking spots may present an inconvenience to students with cars. Sobia Shariff, a senior who lives near the construction site, said that she supports the initiative but will not be able to take advan- tage of the bike route because she drives to West Campus. Lessening the University’s dependence on cars for transportation on campus, how- ever, supports Duke’s goal of becoming a carbon-neutral campus by 2024, Sam Veral- di, director of parking and transportation, said in the release. “We have more than doubled the number of registered bikers in the last year as a result of an incentive program for faculty and staff and a bike loan program for students,” Ve- raldi said in the release. “Creating designated bike lanes on streets like Anderson makes it easier and safer for people to travel by bike and will encourage others to give it a try.” CHRIS DALL/THE CHRONICLE Anderson Street undergoes resurfacing, a project that is expected to be completed next Monday. The city announced the road was due for repair and will add a new bicycle lane.

Upload: duke-chronicle

Post on 26-Mar-2016

215 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

DESCRIPTION

September 8, 2010 issue of Duke Chronicle

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: September 8, 2010 issue

The ChronicleThe independenT daily aT duke universiTy

Wednesday, september 8, 2010 One HUndred and sIXtH year, IssUe 10www.dukechronicle.com

Sustainability initiative signs crop up on campus, Page 4

onTherecord“If you’re studying a drug in Africa... are the drugs then going to be made available to the people that you’re studying... ?”

—Dr. Sara Pasquali on overseas drug trials on children. See story page 5

A Pricey LifeCongressman david price speaks at duke

before midterm elections, PAGe 3

libby busdicker/The chronicle

Students and faculty held a vigil Monday night outside the Duke Chapel to hear firsthand accounts of the wreckage in Pakistan after the floods.

Student groups gather to provide support for Pakistan flood victims

by Matthew ChaseTHE CHRONICLE

Twenty million people are suffering. Thousands are dead. One-fifth of the country is underwater.

The flooding in Pakistan is the worst disaster that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has ever seen, but some Pakistani students on campus feel that the situation has barely registered on their peers’ radar.

Last night, they tried to change that.

At a candlelight vigil on the Chapel steps, about 100 students and faculty heard firs-hand accounts of the dev-astation in the region.

“It seems that CNN is about the only 24-hour news out-let that has put an important reporter to cover the disas-ter,” said Ebrahim Moosa, associate professor of Islamic studies. “It struck me that there is something lacking in

SEE floods ON PAGE 6

Danzig urges students to ‘take new risks’

by Rohan TanejaTHE CHRONICLE

In today’s uncertain times, Richard Danzig believes one can never be too certain about the future.

The former secretary of the U.S. Navy—who served be-tween 1998 and 2001—spoke to a room packed with stu-dents and faculty at the Sanford School of Public Policy Tuesday about individual and national strategy in an era of unpredictability. Danzig now serves as chairman of the board for the Center for a New American Security, a think tank located in Washington D.C. The speech, sponsored by the American Grand Strategy, was titled “Since We Can’t See the Future, What Do We Do?”

Danzig said that with regards to modern conflicts, it is nearly impossible to predict the events that will take place and the way in which they will unfold, using September 11th as a specific example.

“One of the things we never foresaw in 1990 was the character of the events of 9/11,” he said. “We didn’t see the trigger events there or foresee their results.”

Danzig applied the same principle to individuals’ ten-dencies and warned against being too confident in one’s own predictive abilities.

“I think the propensity for error in your circumstance is to follow the straight path and think more confidently of your predictive ability than you should,” he stated. “I think that you should take new risks and go against your natural propensities.”

SEE danzig ON PAGE 12

City of Durham begins resurfacing Anderson Streetby Lisa DavidTHE CHRONICLE

Students driving through Central Cam-pus will see workers on Anderson Street this week as the city of Durham makes its scheduled repairs.

The resurfacing began yesterday morning and is expected to last a week. In addition to the resurfacing, city planners decided to per-manently remove 37 on-street parking spaces and replace them with bicycle lanes, said Dale McKeel, bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for Durham’s Department of Transportation.

“The street will remain open, but there will be lane closures [for sections] of the road,” McKeel said.

Bus routes and schedules will not change during or after the resurfacing, a Durham news release noted.

The project is funded by city bonds from 2005 and 2007, McKeel said. After the street was identified in 2007 as in need of resurfac-ing, McKeel said University officials began discussing with the city the possibility of creating bicycle lanes during the repairs to

help promote sustainable means of travel.Jesse Bendetson, a junior, is excited to

use the new bicycle lanes for longboarding. But in addition to temporary motorist de-lays, the loss of parking spots may present an inconvenience to students with cars.

Sobia Shariff, a senior who lives near the construction site, said that she supports the initiative but will not be able to take advan-tage of the bike route because she drives to West Campus.

Lessening the University’s dependence on cars for transportation on campus, how-ever, supports Duke’s goal of becoming a carbon-neutral campus by 2024, Sam Veral-di, director of parking and transportation, said in the release.

“We have more than doubled the number of registered bikers in the last year as a result of an incentive program for faculty and staff and a bike loan program for students,” Ve-raldi said in the release. “Creating designated bike lanes on streets like Anderson makes it easier and safer for people to travel by bike and will encourage others to give it a try.”

chris dall/The chronicle

Anderson Street undergoes resurfacing, a project that is expected to be completed next Monday. The city announced the road was due for repair and will add a new bicycle lane.

Page 2: September 8, 2010 issue

2 | Wednesday, sepTember 8, 2010 The ChroniCle

“ ”

worldandnation Today:

9462

Thursday:

8959

seoul — Party officials are arriving in Pyongyang, north korea’s state-run media said Monday, signaling an immi-nent meeting that outsiders describe as a critical step in leader kim Jong il’s he-reditary power transfer.

north korea’s newspaper, the ro-dong sinmun, said the rare meeting of Workers’ Party delegates would “mark a meaningful chapter in the history of our party.” Photos from Pyongyang showed citizens staging a practice celebration.

north korea, the world’s most reclusive nation, said in June that it would hold a party conference—its first such extraor-dinary meeting since 1966—sometime in early september. specific dates are unknown, but north korea analysts be-lieve the conference will be held this week, staged to announce an overhaul of leadership and a high-level position for heir kim Jong eun.

WashinGTon — The u.s. won’t pass legislation this year that charges power plants a price for releasing carbon diox-ide and other gases that scientists have linked to climate change, senate Major-ity leader harry reid said Tuesday.

“it’s a cinch we’re not going to get it done this year,” reid, a nevada democrat, said of the carbon-pricing plan at an en-ergy conference in las Vegas.

last year, the house narrowly passed cap-and-trade legislation in which power plants, oil refineries and factories would have bought and sold a declining number of carbon dioxide pollution rights. The bill, which aimed to cut u.s. greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent from their 2005 level by 2020, stalled in the senate.

reid and other senate democrats proposed scaling back the cap-and-trade proposal to regulate power plants to cut u.s. greenhouse gases.

Greenhouse gas legislation stalls in Senate, Reid says

Va. police use GPS systemPakistani flood victims show resilience

If you think education is expensive—try ignorance.

— Bok Derek

karin brulliard/The WashinGTon PosT

Massive flooding in Pakistan caused Hussain Bux Solangi to lose his house when five feet of water surged into it. Solangi plans to sell his cattle in order to rebuild, reflecting individual efforts to reas-semble their lifestyles despite low levels of government aid.

“Monday’s thrilling boise state-Virginia Tech game, in which the broncos came back in the fourth to win 33-30 thanks to inspired play from kellen Moore, has all of america buzzing. Just don’t count david cutcliffe as impressed with the denizens of the bright blue field. cutcliffe said Tuesday the broncos’ win was the result of the hokies’ mistakes, and he said that he still felt Frank beamer’s squad was better.’”

— From The Chronicle’s Sports Blogsports.chronicleblogs.com

DukeEngage Info Session smith Warehouse, classroom

b252 bay 7, 4-5p.m. DukeEngage program provides general overview of the program

and application process.

Career Fair Prep Flowers 201, 5- 6p.m.

An orientation to the Career Fair will answer all of your questions and ensure that you take full ad-

vantage of all career fairs.

Supreme Court Debate law school 3041, 12:15-1:15p.m. Law professors debate recent Su-preme Court decision regarding federal authority. Lunch will be

provided.

Rare meeting signals power transition in North Korea

onschedule...

onthe web

TODAY IN HISTORY1276: John XXI elected Pope.

offthe wire...

Do you like to write? Do you like sports?

Do you like music or movies?Do you like to take photos?Do you like to make videos?

Do you like graphic or web design?Do you like creating layouts?

The Chronicle has a place for you.E-mail [email protected] or

[email protected] for more information.

Page 3: September 8, 2010 issue

The ChroniCle Wednesday, sepTember 8, 2010 | 3

Participating Companies: Accenture, Barclays, Cambridge Associates, Capital One, Capital One Bank, Central Intelligence Agency, Cornerstone Research, Deloitte, Deutsche

Bank, Edwards Lifesciences, IBM, Inner-City Teaching Corps, Medtronic, Pepco Holdings, RBS, Sponsors for Educational Opportunities (SEO), Teach For America, UBS and Visa

Join the Career Center and connect with companyrepresentatives seeking to increase their diversity recruiting the

day before the Career Center's Annual Fall Career Fair. Registration is encouraged! Please visit our web site:

www.studentaffairs.duke.edu/career/programs-services/diversity-forum

Diversity ForumTuesday, September 14

1:00-3:00 pm Scharf Hall

Learn about a variety of career opportunities from industry professionals, showcase your organization and personal interests,

and network with employers who can help you get one step closer to the internship or full-time position you're looking for.

studentaffairs.duke.edu/careerCAREER CENTERthe

DUKE

Price reflects on experience in Congressby Kevin Thurman

THE CHRONICLE

Rep. David Price, D-N.C. and a former political science and public policy professor, spoke to a small crowd Tuesday evening in the West Union Building, hoping to inspire students to become more involved in politics. The event, which was sponsored by Duke Democrats and Duke Political Union, also included an open discussion forum, in which audience members posed questions about Price’s opinions on current issues in politics. Price is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and represents North Carolina’s

fourth congressional district, which includes all of Durham and Chapel Hill, as well as portions of Raleigh and Cary.

“My assignment here tonight is to say something about the Congressional section of what’s going on in [Washington, D.C.] as well as to say something about the campaign and the issues that are before us this Fall [in the 2010 midterm elections],” Price said.

In his speech, Price focused on the U.S. economy, which he characterized as slowly coming out of “the worst economic downturn since the Great Depres-sion.” Price praised the University and other institu-tions for swiftly taking advantage of research funds to create jobs, but reminded the audience that econom-ic recovery is still unfinished business. He added that regulatory reforms are needed to protect consumers and identify threats to the economy before they be-come serious.

Price also discussed how the Republican Party’s use of stall tactics and accusations has hindered America’s ability to move forward. The Republican Party’s accusa-tion of fiscal irresponsibility “is like being called ugly by a frog,” he said. Price added that the lesson of the past eight years is that the recession hit us during a “pro-found moment of weakness” created by the Bush admin-istration’s fiscal mistakes, and that enacting financial policies similar to those of the 1990s will create fiscal balance in the future.

“These guys put us in a ditch,” Price said. “The notion that you want to turn the keys of the car back to the Re-publicans is unbelievable.”

Price concluded his speech by advising Congress to focus on fixing the economy, giving people confidence and creating more job opportunities.

In the open discussion forum, he addressed ques-tions about transparency in financial regulatory reform. Price noted that effective regulatory reforms should stop predatory practices by financial institutions that harm consumers. indu raMesh/The chronicle

Congressman David Price spoke in the Old Trinity Room Monday night, calling on students to take a more active role in politics.

GPSC hopes to expand Mahato memorial plans

by Stephen FarverTHE CHRONICLE

Members of the Graduate and Professional Student Council met for the first this year Tuesday and covered a diverse agenda.

GPSC members were introduced to their 2010-2011 Executive Board, which is led by President Daniel Griffin, a fourth year Ph.D. candidate in classical studies. Griffin called health insurance, funding and career placement the three biggest issues GPSC will discuss.

“Graduate life here at Duke is pretty good—we’re try-ing to keep that course,” Griffin said.

Due to the withdrawal of an Executive Board member during the summer, GPSC representatives confirmed the appointment of a new community outreach coordinator, Abhilash Sabarathinam, a graduate student in the Master of Engineering Management Program at the Pratt School of Engineering. Griffin said Sabarathinam was selected af-ter a rigorous application process.

In addition to introductions, members of GPSC shared a new plan to expand the Mahato Memorial event, a memorial in honor of Abhijit Mahato, a Duke graduate student who was shot and killed in 2008. The members discussed the photography contest titled “Envisioning the Invisible,” hosted by Pratt in honor of Mahato. Individuals who submit photographs are eligible for a $1,000 award, and winners will be announced at the event Sept. 15.

The meeting began with a talk by Patricia Callaway and Virginia Steinmetz, two assistant directors of the Career Center, who spoke about the center’s services for gradu-ate students. Steinmetz said one of her biggest goals this

SEE gpsc ON PAGE 6SEE price ON PAGE 12

Page 4: September 8, 2010 issue

4 | Wednesday, sepTember 8, 2010 The ChroniCle

Union looks to add freshmen to senior board

by Joanna LichterTHE CHRONICLE

With an executive board staffed primarily by se-niors, Duke University Union will turn to freshmen to fill its ranks.

At their meeting Tuesday night, DUU members dis-cussed ways to recruit more students to the board in order to sustain its operations beyond the next few years.

“To me, [recruitment] is a huge problem,” said DUU President Yi Zhang, a senior. “Yes, it’s great that we’re all talented, that we’re all knowledgeable about Duke. But next year, what’s going to happen?”

Zhang proposed reinstating DUU’s Freshmen Intern Program in order to attract new students. The Intern Pro-gram, which ran in the 2008-2009 academic year, recruited approximately 20 freshmen to take an active role in DUU programming.

During the first half of the program in the Fall, fresh-men would sit in on committee meetings and engage in discussions, said Special Projects Dustin Gamza, a senior. In the Spring, the interns would be responsible for plan-ning two freshmen-only events.

“The idea behind this is to get freshmen involved early on,” Gamza said. “From day one, they see the union as we see it and not just as one committee. Another advantage [of the program] is to have DUU representatives for the freshmen class... so there are specific people thinking about freshmen on the union.”

Two years ago, freshmen-led events included a “Duke Iron Chef” competition in the Marketplace and a water park day on the East Campus Quadrangle. Gamza said the “Duke Iron Chef” event was particularly successful.

Many members, however, objected to having a for-mal application process for students interested in join-ing DUU.

“It makes DUU seem like it’s something it’s not,” said sophomore Alex Shapanka, chair of the Speakers and Stage committee. “[DUU] is creative, it’s free. The Fresh-men Intern Program is very regimented.”

Senior Karen Chen, Major Attractions committee chair, suggested holding a general body meeting for all DUU committee members. This way, Chen said, students would have a better understanding of how the committees func-tion together under one umbrella.

GeneVieVe Werner/The chronicle

Duke University Union members brainstormed ways to engage more freshmen at their meeting Tuesday night.

SEE duu ON PAGE 6

Group begins sign campaign to encourage sustainability

by Brandon LevyTHE CHRONICLE

Since the beginning of the academic year, students have encountered notices in dorms across campus tell-ing them to “join the dark side.”

Placed next to certain light switches as part of a cam-paign to reduce their environmental footprints, the notic-es are just a small part of the University’s push to become sustainable. Duke’s Climate Action Plan includes a pledge for the University to achieve climate neutrality by 2024.

The policy “commits the University to leadership in three areas: environmental research and education; en-vironmentally responsible operations; and environmen-tal stewardship in the community,” according to the Sus-tainable Duke website.

Students for Sustainable Living placed the signs around dormitories to remind students to observe par-ticular environmentally-friendly practices ranging from reducing their shower time to taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Even the signs themselves are sustainable, printed on recyclable plastic with eco-solvent ink.

Casey Roe, outreach coordinator for the Sustainability Office, said the notices were put up in housing buildings on East Campus and West Campus toward the end of July, a couple weeks before students began arriving on cam-pus. SSL hopes to expand the project, which was funded partly by Residence Life and Housing Services and partly by Duke’s sustainability budget. There are plans to put up

SEE sustainability ON PAGE 12

Page 5: September 8, 2010 issue

The ChroniCle Wednesday, sepTember 8, 2010 | 5

ADVERTISEMENT

A quesadilla so loaded,It might just buy you dinner.

great food. low price. open late.

1920 1/2 Perry St. at Ninth St. Just a block from East Campus

10% off with Duke ID!

Researcher discovers happiness enzyme in off-campus food

Q A& with Dr. Sara PasqualiA recent analysis by Duke research-

ers, including Dr. Sara Pasquali, Medicine ’02 and assistant professor at the Duke University Medical Center, examined the globalization of pediatric trials and its ethical and scientific im-plications. The report, titled “Global-ization of Pediatric Research: Analysis of Clinical Trials Completed for Pedi-atric Exclusivity,” reviewed data from 174 trials conducted since the passing of the Pediatric Exclusivity Provision, which extends patents by six months for companies that conduct safety and ef-ficacy studies with children. More than one-third of pediatric trials it considered enrolled patients from developing na-tions overseas. But with international testing comes the necessity of centralized review boards and training in research methods and ethics, according to the re-port. The Chronicle’s Lauren Carroll spoke with Pasquali about her research and the ethical implications of trials.tc: Some articles written about your research have compared the youth from underdeveloped coun-tries participating in the tests to ‘lab rats,’ though your report nev-er uses the phrase. How accurate is this portrayal, and what role does the Pediatric Exclusivity Provision play in all of this?sp: Well that’s not something we necessarily said in this paper. I think to fully understand this provision, you have to understand that there are some advantages and disadvan-tages, positive and negative things about the legislation. The positive

would be that because of this law, [more than] 150 drugs have been studied on children that otherwise would not have been studied at all and we would have no information about their efficacy in children. The other positive thing is that this legislation has allowed us to have a better understanding of how drugs work in children worldwide and has allowed us to improve the health of children not just in the U.S., but throughout the world—which is very important. But then the other thing to think about in terms of the potential negatives would be that there are certain scientific and ethical implications that you have to consider when thinking about this.... This is a complicated issue to think about. This law was designed to encourage research that would enable the [Federal Drug Adminis-tration] to label drugs appropriate-ly for children in the U.S. [with] re-gards to the dose and how safe they are. It’s not really known whether it’s valid to extrapolate the results from studies that are conducted in children overseas or another coun-try, and there are a number of rea-sons for that. Some of it depends on their genetic background, some of it may depend on their access to health care resources and all of these things might differ in other countries.tc: Is it important for researchers to disclose where their studies take place for the sake of clarity?

sp: So I think that one thing we discussed in our project that’s very important is yes, just to have a bet-ter idea of where these studies are conducted and what is going on be-cause right now over half the stud-ies are not even published in medi-cal literature. Number two, when they are published, a significant number of them don’t have any in-formation about where the studies took place. We’re requiring that the studies are published and that they contain information about where the testing took place so we’re able to study that in more depth, which would be very helpful.tc: It seems that the reason pharmaceutical companies are conducting these tests overseas is because there is an economic incentive to do so. Why do the companies conduct the studies overseas, and what role does the provision play in this?sp: Well, it doesn’t exactly pro-vide incentive for companies to test in developing nations. It only provides an incentive for con-ducting studies on children, and how it does this is by providing a six-month patent extension to the pharmaceutical companies for conducting the studies. Now, the drug company may decide to con-duct the study overseas in order to increase their ability to enroll a number of children in a timely manner. It’s also much cheaper to conduct studies overseas and

outside the U.S. in many cases be-cause there are fewer regulatory requirements, so those are the potential reasons.tc: What additional measures would you support going forward with this sort of testing?sp: [One] thing that might help would be requiring that the phar-

maceutical companies describe how the places it’s studying are related to the intended market and the drugs being tested. For example, if you’re studying a drug in Africa or some sort of underserved country, are the drugs then going to be made avail-able to the people that you’re study-ing once the trial is over?

sPecial To The chronicle

Duke researcher Dr. Sara Pasquali studied pharmaceutical company trials on children overseas and the ethical implications of the trials’ globalization.

Page 6: September 8, 2010 issue

6 | Wednesday, sepTember 8, 2010 The ChroniCle

OPERATION: Computer Store PUBLICATION: ChronicleHEADLINE: Inkjet Printer DATES: TBACOLOR: Black

INKJET PRINTER

SALEDESKJET F4480 ALL-IN-ONEPrint, Scan, Copy by HP®

$29Ground Level, Bryan Center • 684.8956www.dukestores.duke.edu/cpustoreMonday - Friday: 8:30am - 6pmSaturday: 9am - 6pm

Department of Duke University Stores®

plus tax

FEATURES:

Print Speed: Black: Up to 28 ppm Color: Up to 22 ppm

Connectivity: 1 USB 2.0

Maximum Scan Size: 8.5 x 11.7 in

Copy Features: 25 to 200% copy resize, Up to 9 copies

Paper Handling: 80-sheet input tray, 15-sheet output tray

Print Features: Borderless printing up to 8.5 x 11 inPrice good while supplies last.

Limited quantities available.No rainchecks.

OPERATION: University Store PUBLICATION: ChronicleHEADLINE: Ring Days DATES: 09/08/10COLOR: Black

Welcome Back StudentsDistinctive. Classic. Lasting.

Jostens Ring DaysSeptember 8 & 9: 10am - 4pm

The University Store, Bryan Center, West Campus

Sponsored by Duke University Stores®

year is to increase opportunities for students to meet with student employers on campus. The Career Center will co-host TechConnect—an annual event that brings together employers and students—with the Department of Com-puter Science and Pratt Sept. 14. It will include a panel of employers to provide advice to Duke students searching for internships and jobs.

Steinmetz added that at the Sept. 15 Career Fair, Duke will host more than 100 employers to meet with students. She strongly encouraged students to attend the fair and visit their offices in the Smith Warehouse.

“[Students] don’t have to wait until their last year to con-tact the Career Center,” Steinmetz said before explaining the benefits of reaching out early to the center’s advisers.

gPSC from page 3

courTney douGlas/The chronicle

The graduate and Professional Student Council finalized its executive board and looked ahead to the coming year at its meeting Tuesday.

the global empathy for Pakistan right now. Clearly, the Pakistani government doesn’t always get the best press... and that has trickled down to a lack of empathy for the Pakistani people.”

Flooding in the region, which began with the start of seasonal monsoons July 22, has killed about 1,752 people, according to United Nations estimates. The floods have significantly damaged the country’s infrastructure, as the destruction of roads, schools, health facilities and other buildings has left millions displaced. The estimate of vic-tims reportedly exceeds the totals for the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the Haitian earthquake combined.

“They have lost everything, their businesses, their houses, basically their lives,” said senior Asad Sheikh, Pakistani Students Association president who spent part of the summer in Pakistan. “People don’t realize the scope of the disaster. It’s not millions [of dollars need-ed], it’s billions. It’s not years, it’s decades.”

Although many Duke students from Pakistan did not see the destruction first-hand, witnessing the relief efforts was a call to action. Sophomore Raasti Said does not live near the destruction, but said she visited a relief camp about 40 minutes from her home in Karachi this summer.

“What I saw was actually pretty scary. They had no food, they had nothing,” Said said. “When we were giv-ing them rations I was told that I could not give them out myself because I would be ‘lynched’ because they were so desperate.”

In vying for private donations, students must deal with the negative publicity the country’s political policies have garnered. But Sheikh said Pakistan’s public perception

should not dampen aid, adding that the entire country has rallied around the devastation.

The United States has led the relief effort—officials announced Aug. 19 that Washington would increase its funding to $150 million.

“Some of the [people affected by the flood] have probably never even heard of America. It’s human suf-fering that people need to care about, not necessarily Pakistan’s policy,” Sheikh said. “I was able to experience the collective spirit in Pakistan. People in Pakistan... are starting to realize that the U.S. is an ally.”

Tuesday’s vigil was the first campus flood-related event, but student organizations have many fundraising plans in place, including a fast taking place Wednesday. The Univer-sity has been supportive of student initiatives, Said said.

Moneta said the University is approaching the Paki-stan flooding in a similar fashion to the way it handled Hurricane Katrina and previous global natural disasters.

Most money raised as part of the relief efforts is going to nongovernmental organizations such as the United Nations Children’s Fund as opposed to going directly to the Pakistani government, largely due to fear of corrup-tion, Sheikh said.

And although the majority of Pakistanis directly af-fected by the flooding live in the poorest corners of the country, the disaster has touched all segments of society.

“Food prices have been hiked up,” said senior Farah Dadabhoy. “Everything that the whole country needs is locally-grown, and this year there is none of that.”

Although she is now far from Pakistan, sophomore Ruqayya Diwan, who is also from Karachi, said she still con-siders her native people throughout her daily life at Duke.

“The summer is over, but the suffering goes on,” she said during the ceremony.

flOODS from page 1

But senior Will Benesh, executive vice president for external affairs, objected to the proposal, referencing last year’s meeting when only members of the executive board attended.

At the end of the meeting Zhang postponed the deci-

sion for recruitment.

in other business:Duke Student Broadcasting may partner with

GoDuke.com to provide online sports coverage. Al-though discussions are still in the works, DSB Presi-dent Maddie Burke, a senior, said DSB will most likely finalize the decision this week.

DUU from page 4

Page 7: September 8, 2010 issue

SportsThe Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com

WEDNESDAYSeptember 8, 2010

>> ONLINE

ONLINE

Duke will add 3,904 seats for the Alabama game, the ath-letic department announced

Also on the blog, Scott Rich says more about his column on paying college athletes

JasonPalmataryOn Football

Learning from our last Wake encounter

Duke tops Charlotte

dianna liu/The ChroniCle

Redshirt senior Abraham Kromah identified a change in attitude for Duke over the past three years.

Change in attitude marks Blue Devils

Caroline rodriguez/The ChroniCle

Junior Amanda Robertson had 10 kills in the match, including four in the final set, to help Duke win 3-0.

FootbAll midweek notebook

With the conference opener at Wake Forest looming this weekend, Duke’s quest to make its first appearance in a bowl game since 1994 truly begins now.

And as I turn my thoughts to the De-mon Deacons, the image that immediate-ly comes to my mind is my view from the press box at last season’s finale: Duke’s seniors walking off the field for the last time, defeated after an overpowering Wake Forest offense dropped 45 points

on them.In that

game, which resembled a track meet more than a football con-test, the two teams’ offens-

es combined for just under 1,000 yards, and quarterback Thaddeus Lewis capped off his Duke career with a brilliant 387-yard day. Donovan Varner caught 11 passes for 174 yards, becoming just the third wide receiver in school history to have more than 1,000 receiving yards in a season.

The offense played beautifully. The Blue Devils still lost, however—a victim of the defense’s failure to get stops.

The game actually didn’t matter last year, as Duke had already been eliminated from bowl contention. But this year’s team can still learn from it. They can learn that the roadmap to qualifying for the postsea-son should not include a reliance on offen-sive firepower to outscore opponents week

See palmatary on pAge 8

DUKE

UNC-C3

0

by Laura KeeleyTHe CHRonICLe

When Duke started its 2008 season off with a win against an FCS opponent in head coach David Cutcliffe’s debut, he had to discourage students from tak-ing down the goalposts.

There were no such shenanigans last Saturday.

even though Duke finished with similar statistics on offense in the con-tests against James Madison in 2008 and elon last week and collected a win in both games, the tone last Saturday was drastically different. Instead of talking about how the team enjoyed competing and joking how his seniors didn’t know what to do after what he termed “a great win,” Cutcliffe harped Tuesday on the presence of too many mistakes in assign-ments and techniques. For him now, the expectations are higher and simply win-ning is not enough.

“You have to expect to win, and in the same sense you have to expect to play well,” Cutcliffe said at a press con-ference yesterday. “The confidence to play well is earned, not given. That was my theme Sunday to our team. We’ve created some expectations. There’s a

purpose behind that. I really believe if our players don’t have expectations, if our fans and our university don’t have expectations, then nothing is ever really going to happen.”

The players also want that higher standard to shine through on Satur-days, said redshirt senior tight end Brett Huffman, who served as last week’s game captain. Huffman caught two of Sean Renfree’s passes for 17 to-tal yards.

“The biggest difference from prior years to this year and the past couple years under coach Cutcliffe is not only the coaches’ expectation to win, but us as players genuinely have an expecta-tion to win now,” Huffman said. “even with the win last week against elon, we weren’t completely satisfied in the lock-er room afterwards. We won, we got the W, but we wanted to win even bigger than that. That’s the change in attitude that this team needed.”

The cultural revolution extends off-the-field as well. Duke Football is an around-the-clock commitment now, red-shirt senior captain Abraham Kromah

See attitude on pAge 8

See volleyball on pAge 8

by Jay VithaTHe CHRonICLe

Coming off a busy and productive week-end at the Blue Raider Bash, the Blue Devils didn’t let up last night, shutting out UnC-Charlotte 3-0 in an easy win at Cam-eron Indoor Stadium.

“I am really pleased with the way the team executed tonight,” head coach Jolene nagel said. “our serve and serve-receive was very consistent which allowed us to do

more on offense.”Duke (5-1),

which entered the match on a five-game winning

streak, came out in the first set aggressive on the serve as well as on defense. As a re-sult, junior Sophia Dunworth established control of the game from the net, finishing the first set with five kills and leading the Blue Devils to a 25-13 win.

In the second set, Dunworth, senior Becci Burling and junior Amanda Robert-son demonstrated their strength at the net again with 11 kills combined. The veterans on the team allowed Duke to control the tempo of the entire set.

Charlotte (4-3) came out ready to play in the third set, keeping pace with the Blue Devils for the first half of play. The Blue Dev-ils, however, proved too strong for Charlotte and pulled away to win 25-15. Robertson, who was a sizable part of the offense with 10 kills on the match, contributed four more

CourTney douglas/ChroniCle file phoTo

While Riley Skinner won’t be present Saturday, the high-powered Wake Forest offense hasn’t left.

volleybAll

Page 8: September 8, 2010 issue

8 | WedneSday, SepTember 8, 2010 The ChroniCle

The Chronicleclassified advertising

www.dukechronicle.com/classifiedsrates

All advertising - $6.00 for first 15 words10¢ (per day) additional per word

3 or 4 consecutive insertions - 10 % off5 or more consecutive insertions - 20 % off

deadline12:00 noon 1 business day prior to publication

paymentPrepayment is required

Master Card, VISA, Discover, American Express, cash or check

ad submissiononline: www.dukechronicle.com/classifieds

email: [email protected]

fax to: 919-684-8295phone orders: (919)-684-3811

No refunds or cancellations after first insertion deadlineADVERTISERS: Please check your advertisement for errors on the first day of pub-lication. If you find an error, please call 919-684-3811. The Chronicle only accepts responsibility for the first incorrect day for ads entered by our office staff. We cannot offer make-good runs for errors in ads placed online by the customer.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A LOT OF CARS INC.

250+ Vehicles. Layaway w/$500.

Financing Guaranteed!!!!!!!!!

Most Cars $1000/$1500 down. $275/month.

Duke Student/Employee Hospi-tal ID $100 discount.

3119 N. Roxboro St. (next to BP gas station). Owned by Duke

Alumni

919-220-7155

BOOST YOuR ChILd’S SkILLS ANd CONFIdeNCe!

Enroll today in a weekend workshop for middle and high

school students!Visit www.learnmore.duke.edu/youth or

call 684-6259 for more informa-tion.

Space is limited!

HELP WANTED

AN exCITINg pART-TIme opportunity is available for an Administrative Assistant II to join an HHMI laboratory at Duke. This 30-hour a week position with benefits will provide high level administrative support to an HHMI Early Career Scientist and his lab. Preferred Qualifica-tions include Bachelor’s degree and at least 4 years of previous office experience, preferably in a medical, scientific, academic or non-profit environment; budget and grant management experience; excellent organiza-tional and problem solving skills; strong computer skills (MS Of-fice, Outlook, HTML, SAP); and able to work independently. To apply, send cover letter, resume and salary history, including the job title in the subject line to [email protected]. No phone calls, please.

eARN $20-$35/hR. in a reces-sionproof job. 1 or 2 week class-es & weekend classes. 100% job placement assistance. Raleigh’s Bartending School. HAVE FUN! MAKE MONEY! MEET PEOPLE! Ask about our FALL tuition rates and student discounts. CALL NOW!! 919-676-0774, www.cocktailmixer.com.

I Am AN expeRIeNCed Durham photographer looking for female models to help me expand my portfolio. Compen-sation will be in the form of dig-ital copies or monetary, which is $40 an hour. You can contact me through my website at http://www.portraitsbykeith.com.

SeekINg CReATIve peR-SON interested in building

scavenger hunts, puzzles, cross-words. Up to $100/day. Flexible

hours. Interest in startups a plus. Send resume to jobs@

cluekungfu.com.

FOR SALE

dORm, LOFT; Custom built dorm lofts built to your dimensions! Can be painted in just about any color you

choose. $450 covers materials, construction, finishing, delivery,

AND SETUP! Discounts given for multiple orders (ie. both roommates buy a loft). Email

[email protected] Check us out on Facebook!

CONveNIeNTLY LOCATed near Duke. 3 bdr, 2.5 bath

home in beautiful community that includes pool, clubhouse, tennis+. First floor master, gas fireplace, hardwoods, beauti-fully landscaped. For sale by owner. 5 Whitburn Place. By

appt. only [email protected] or 489-0887.

R U Creative? Looking for a campus job for

10-12 hours per week working on Apple computers doing pre-press jobs for The Chronicle? Freshmen enouraged to apply.

email [email protected]

CLASSIFIEDS

said, as the high standards Cutcliffe has set for class participation and behavior trans-late into on-the-field results.

players must sit in the first three rows in their classes. They’re also discouraged from using crude language in front of any-one, all in order to project a positive influ-ence of the program.

“I can honestly say that everybody has bought into what Coach Cut is saying,” said Kromah, who registered four tack-les and helped secure the Blue Devils victory with a fourth quarter intercep-tion. “Coach may say things that some-times go over our heads, but we listen to all of that stuff and make sure we are in the front three rows in class and ask questions. Those little little things like

that, they really transfer on the field. We pride ourselves in trying to become bet-ter at everything we do.”

The attitude shift has Cutcliffe this week calling Saturday’s game Wake Forest a must-win, despite the fact that the Demon Deacons have won the two teams’ last 10 contests.

“There are a lot of those milestones that we have gone past,” he said. “There are many still out in front of us. Winning an ACC game was one. That doesn’t sound like it needed to be one, but it was. Then winning one on the road and then winning consecutive games. now certainly winning our rivalry games and being able to beat Wake Forest and being able to put some streaks together in a positive manner. All of those things you better face them head on and not deny them; it’s what we have to do to grow the program.”

AttituDe from page 7

volleybAll from page 7

kills in the final set.“Tonight was a great night, we

had a lot of fun and the chemistry was there,” Robertson said. “We were all playing for each other—the team plays best when we do that.”

The Blue Devils dictated the pace of the entire match in part because of their freshman libero, Ali McCurdy, who played solid defense, finish-ing with seventeen digs. McCurdy’s youth, once again, did not affect her game on the court.

McCurdy, along with the rest of the team, exhibited good chemis-try during the match, nagel said, even when reserve players con-stantly substituted in against the overmatched 49ers.

“We played a lot of people to-night,” nagel said. “But the tempo did not slow down with people com-ing in off the bench.”

Last night marked the begin-ning of a five-match homestand for Duke, a welcome respite for the team after spending much of the early season on the road. This week-end, the Blue Devils host the Duke Invitational Tournament and will play Delaware Friday, n.C. Central Saturday morning and no. 12 Min-nesota Saturday night.

The Blue Devils expect Minneso-ta, especially, to be among the tough-est competition they face this season.

“The tournament this weekend is going to be great,” McCurdy said. “We are really looking forward to the Minnesota game.”

dianna liu/The ChroniCle

At his weekly press conference, Cutcliffe said that he and his team had created high expectations this year.

pAlmAtARy from page 7

after week. And after the season-opening win

against elon, in which the phoenix racked up 406 total offensive yards, one thing is clear: new formation or not, the defense needs to perform better.

“From a technique standpoint, we weren’t as good as we needed to be,” head coach David Cutcliffe said yesterday. “We need to tackle a lot better.”

Whether it was secondary players get-ting turned around and losing their foot-ing or linebackers not wrapping up their tackles, the Blue Devils proved vulnerable to giving up the big play, as elon picked up over 20 yards on seven different oc-casisons. Defensive backs like Ross Cock-rell and his replacement Johnny Williams struggled to make plays on the ball once it was in the air. Too often playing behind the receiver Saturday, the secondary will need help from the defensive front in the future in order not to be victimized by downfield passes.

But help seems to be on the way. The coaching staff has decided to be less con-servative with its blitzing, as well as vowing to incorporate new, unseen packages.

“I want to be the aggressor; I don’t want our team on its heels,” Cutcliffe said. “By design, we’re going to be more aggressive, and we’re going to hit quar-terbacks.”

Interestingly, in the past, Duke has al-ways subscribed to a bend-but-don’t-break mentality defensively. In fact, junior nose tackle Charlie Hatcher told me in an in-terview yesterday that the defense’s ob-jective is to keep their opponent out of the end zone, even if that means letting them rack up yardage. This mentality is one that Cutcliffe and his defensive staff would like to change as the unit relies more on its physicality.

“I don’t like that bend-but-not-break mindset,” Cutcliffe said. “You can barely bend that many times without breaking.”

At least at this point, players and coach-es alike understand that the key to Duke’s success will be its defense getting stops and takeaways so its offense isn’t always playing catchup. We’ll see if the view from the press box changes as a result.

Miss the last

recruitment meeting?

You can still write!

Email

[email protected].

Page 9: September 8, 2010 issue

the chronicle Wednesday, september 8, 2010 | | 9

DiversionsShoe Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

Dilbert Scott Adams

Ink Pen Phil Dunlap

Doonesbury Garry Trudeau

Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, every col-umn and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. (No number is repeated in any column, row or box.)

Answer to puzzle

www.sudoku.com

the chronicle Our last ditch attempt for freshmen:

drinkin under the table: ........................................... twei, dr. carter Spooning in Central: .............................................. doughboy, ruppmeow: ....................................................................................... tullialong ball, no ball:.................................................. dimaggio, nomarinvoking the inner Cohen: ....................................................... PeñoTeach me to doogy: ............................................................CourtneyPrivate browsing: ......................................................................PeñaThree Pronged: ..................................................................... SanetteBarb Starbuck doesn’t recruit, she selects: .............................. Barb

Student Advertising Manager: .........................................Amber SuAccount Executives: ........................ Phil deGrouchy, Claire Gilhuly,

Nick Hurst, Gini Li, Ina Li, Spencer Li,Christin Martahus, Ben Masselink,

Emily Shiau, Kate ZeligsonCreative Services Student Manager ...........................Christine HallCreative Services: ...............................Lauren Bledsoe, Danjie Fang

Caitlin Johnson, Megan Meza , Hannah SmithBusiness Assistant: ........................................................Joslyn Dunn

Can’t Find Nemo? Put a “Lost” Ad in

The Chronicle classifieds.

www.dukechronicle.com/classifieds

Page 10: September 8, 2010 issue

As the cost of a secondary education rises in an uncertain economic atmosphere, col-leges are beginning to adopt a more corporate mentality. The Texas A&M University system may push this mentality to new heights by pro-viding students, taxpayers and the public with a way to place a dollar value on professors.

Texas A&M professors will soon be evaluated based on dollar-figure criteria including their salaries, the amount of research funding they gener-ate and the funds they bring in through teaching, accord-ing to a The (Bryan-College Station, Tx.) Eagle. When completed, “The Texas A&M University System Academic and Financial Analysis” project will be submitted to the A&M System Board of Regents for

consideration. The proposal reportedly has the support of Texas Gov. Rick Perry, and is part of an effort to promote greater accountability among faculty at public institutions.

This controversial new pro-posal is a mis-guided means of addressing a

reasonable goal. While evalu-ation is an important compo-nent of any institution, this particular plan is too narrow.

First, it ignores the inher-ent differences between pro-fessors of humanities and sciences, disproportionately emphasizing research fund-ing for an array of different disciplines. Although securing grant funds for research fac-tors into both subject areas, it forms a much greater portion of the work of science faculty members, which could poten-

tially bias the value formula in their favor.

Second, a quantitative analysis of professors’ worth ignores the intangible ben-efits educators bring to a col-lege. A calculation of gener-ated research and teaching funds does not represent such qualities as professors’ ability to engage a classroom or improve the reputation of their university. Placing such a high premium on a limited set of criteria would likely move educators’ focus toward their own research goals and away from their responsibility to educate students. Such a shift is counter to student in-terests and the broad goals of secondary education.

Finally, Texas A&M’s pro-posed formula speaks to a discouraging trend in how secondary education operates.

Universities are slowly begin-ning to take on a greater corpo-rate outlook, seeking to market themselves purely as products to be consumed by students. This attitude neglects the non-economic benefits of a liberal arts education. Although surely students ought to reap certain financial rewards by means of their degree, these advantages should not be the sole purpose of an education.

Universities should not be viewed purely as corpora-tions, but as communities of shared learning.

Although this method of evaluating faculty is flawed in many ways, the idea of review-ing professors’ contributions to a university is an important one. Whether through peer or student evaluations, univer-sities do have an obligation to students to ensure that they

are hiring productive, effective educators. There is no formula for carrying out this task, but assessment of professors is with-out doubt a necessity.

A quantitative rubric for assessing professors’ perfor-mance offers a quick fix to the difficult questions many universities face. Students in-creasingly look for tangible evidence of what their diplo-mas are worth, and in a tough economic climate taxpayers want to see their dollars go-ing toward an efficient public education system.

Nevertheless, the value of an education extends beyond students’ job prospects and pandering to taxpayers. In-stitutions of higher learning should be the first to recog-nize this, and must put in the effort to more thoughtfully review their own worth.

commentaries10 | wednesday, september 8, 2010 the chronicle

the c

hron

icle

The

Ind

epen

dent

Dai

ly a

t D

uke

Uni

vers

ity

editorial

Heal thyself

Money can’t buy me knowledge

”“ onlinecomment

I don’t think Duke students are likely to venture out into Durham a lot, even given the new bus. But some would be better than none.

—“sunflowerradio” commenting on the editorial “Get on board with the Connector.” See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

Letters PoLicyThe Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters

to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identification, phone number and local address. Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns.

The Chronicle will not publish anonymous or form letters or letters that are promotional in nature. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, clarity and style and the right to withhold letters based on the discretion of the editorial page editor.

Direct submissions to:

E-mail: [email protected] Page DepartmentThe ChronicleBox 90858, Durham, NC 27708Phone: (919) 684-2663Fax: (919) 684-4696

Inc. 1993Est. 1905 the chronicleLindsey ruPP, Editor

toni Wei, Managing EditortayLor doherty, News Editor

andy Moore, Sports Editorcourtney dougLas, Photography Editor

Ben Brostoff, Editorial Page EditorWiLL roBinson, Editorial Board Chair

christina Peña, Managing Editor for Onlinejonathan angier, General Manager

dean chen, Director of Online Operations jeff schoLL, Sports Managing Editor MattheW chase, University Editor joanna Lichter, University EditorsaMantha Brooks, Local & National Editor ciaran o’connor, Local & National Editorsonia haveLe, Health & Science Editor tuLLia rushton, Health & Science EditorMeLissa yeo, News Photography Editor Margie truWit, Sports Photography Editorkevin LincoLn, Recess Editor MichaeL nacLerio, Multimedia Editor Lisa du, Recess Managing Editor nathan gLencer, Recess Photography EditorcharLie Lee, Editorial Page Managing Editor dreW sternesky, Editorial Page Managing Editorsanette tanaka, Wire Editor carter suryadevara, Design EditorandreW hiBBard, Towerview Editor LaWson kurtz, Towerview Editorchase oLivieri, Towerview Photography Editor Maya roBinson, Towerview Creative Directorzachary tracer, Special Projects Editor hon Lung chu, Special Projects Editor for OnlineaLex BeuteL, Director of Online Development cheney tsai, Director of Online Designjinny cho, Senior Editor juLia Love, Senior Editordan ahrens, Recruitment Chair jessica Lichter, Recruitment ChairMary Weaver, Operations Manager chrissy Beck, Advertising/Marketing DirectorBarBara starBuck, Production Manager reBecca dickenson, Chapel Hill Ad Sales Manager

the chronicle is published by the duke student Publishing company, inc., a non-profit corporation independent of duke university. the opinions expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of duke university, its students, faculty, staff, administration or trustees. unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors.

to reach the editorial office at 301 flowers Building, call 684-2663 or fax 684-4696. to reach the Business office at 103 West union Building, call 684-3811. to reach the advertising office at 101 West union Building call 684-3811 or fax 684-8295. visit the chronicle online at http://www.dukechronicle.com.

© 2010 the chronicle, Box 90858, durham, n.c. 27708. all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be repro-duced in any form without the prior, written permission of the Business office. each individual is entitled to one free copy.

Recently, while discussing the case of a dy-ing patient who was, despite the reality of her situation, far too young to die, I was

struck by the overwhelming sadness of the hos-pital. Aloud, I said to the intern standing next to me, “Every day, we see multiple patients whose stories are actually too sad to be true.”

And yet, the stories were true. The 40-something-year-old fa-ther who survived several heart attacks in his 30s, only now to be dying of cancer. The previously healthy father of two young chil-dren who, all of a sudden, had a stroke and now can’t move the left side of his body. The new mother, diagnosed with postpartum cardio-myopathy, whose heart will never recover from the strain of her pregnancy and might even get worse.

In the last three weeks, I’ve seen these pa-tients, live and in the flesh. It’s utterly, mind-numbingly, sad.

Mind-numbing. I use this word consciously, and I mean it liter-

ally. The depth of suffering that one sees at Duke University Hospital actually has the power to anesthetize the part of the brain, or perhaps the part of the soul, that is capable of comprehend-ing pain. It’s like the part of my brain that nor-mally is very capable of thinking about suffering has gone to the dentist to get a tooth pulled, and the dentist gave my brain a shot of lidocaine and some laughing gas, and now everything is vaguely distant and dull.

For instance, I might walk into the room of a patient, an older woman with dementia, who neither knows where she is or why she’s there. I might have been told that this patient is here in the hospital because she passed out dur-ing breakfast and didn’t respond immediately when her daughter shook her and yelled at her. And I think, immediately, that this woman is not likely to live much longer, regardless of what is done or not done for her while she’s in the hospital. And I think, immediately, that she may have passed out from a myocardial infarction or a pulmonary embolus or aortic stenosis or an aortic dissection or a stroke or a seizure or ventricular tachycardia or maybe something else.

And not until much later, if ever, do I think about the woman or her family. Was the daugh-ter scared when her mother was unrespon-sive? Is she finding it difficult coping with her mother’s illness? When the patient was slipping

slowly into her current state of not-knowing, was it scary for her to think about where she was headed? Did she worry about being a bur-den, about scaring her daughter by passing out when she ate breakfast?

To some extent, this makes sense. As doctors (and trainee doctors), we’re supposed to think first about diagnosing and treat-ing patients who come to the hospital, preventing the acute ill-ness with which they arrived from killing them. We learn the six life-threatening causes of chest pain, and how to treat a patient with dangerously high blood pressure, and how to rapidly assess a trau-

ma patient, because these skills will ultimately allow us to save lives.

The ultimate question though, is whether this mind numbing matters. Does it matter if doctors are slow to consider their patients’ emotional needs? The question of whether a physician’s ability to respond emotionally to patients correlates with the patient’s satisfac-tion with his care is an active area of research. I don’t claim to be an expert, but the data is equivocal.

But even in the absence of patient-satisfac-tion-driven data, it’s clear that numbness to human emotion is not a good thing. Person-ally, I remember reading my medical school admissions essay, full of idealism and energy, at the end of my first clinical year and real-izing that the 21-year-old who wrote that es-say might not have recognized the 23-year-old who was reading it.

Whether my patients were happy with me or not didn’t matter. I wasn’t happy. So I backed away from the textbooks, and for the first time in a year, I read some real books. Robert Penn Warren. Michael Chabon. David Foster Wallace. Eventually, my med school admissions essay made sense to me again.

Now, I try to temper my reading of the medi-cal literature with my reading of real literature. It works for me. Others of my classmates go to the gym or do community service. Hopefully that works for them.

The point is that we (and you, if you choose this path) need to have something to re-engage the non-trainee-doctor portion of our minds. Whether or not it matters to our patients, it should matter to us.

Alex Fanaroff is a fourth-year medical student. His column runs every Wednesday.

alex fanarofffarewell tour

Page 11: September 8, 2010 issue

Chiuso, chiuso, chiuso. Closed. It’s 2:00 p.m. and I’m wandering the city center to find a post of-fice to file paperwork for Italian medical insur-

ance. Chiuso is an important word here in Italy—so important that it is one of about twenty Italian words I know at the moment. From around 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. every day, shopkeepers, workers and executives turn over their “aperto” signs to “chiuso” to enjoy the time-honored tradition of the siesta.

This semester, I am tak-ing part in the Duke in Flor-ence study abroad program, which has a somewhat mis-leading program name. It doesn’t actually take place in Florence, but rather Ses-to Fiorentino, literally trans-lated as “sixth Florence.” Sesto is a small town about six miles outside of the Flor-ence city center, accessible

from the city by a 20 minute bus trip or a 10 minute train ride. And it doesn’t feel like a Duke program—there are just six Duke students in the program but about 30 other students from the University of Michigan and the Uni-versity of Wisconsin.

Unlike in some metropolitan parts of Italy that have done away with the luxurious tradition of a siesta due to the pressures of globalization and the dependence on tourists to pump money into the economy at all times (gelato, anyone?), residents of Sesto wouldn’t think of giving up their midday break from work. The streets and central plaza turn into a ghost town during the after-noon, the Italians returning to their homes for lunch, a nap and relaxation.

Could you imagine what would happen at Duke if we did this? If we stopped classes and closed all of the cam-pus eateries for three hours every afternoon? Things would get scary if we closed Wilson and Brodie or Per-kins and Bostock. We wouldn’t know what to do with ourselves.

I asked a new Italian friend, Bruno, about his thoughts on the subject of the siesta. I explained to him the likely reaction of my peers in the event of a three-hour daily hiatus from the world. Bruno was as-tounded at the concept of a 24/7 library, gym or eat-ery. A lifelong resident of Sesto, he couldn’t wrap his head around the demand for access to these services, let alone the fact that anyone would be willing to work such uncomfortable hours.

Last Friday, the New York Times published the results of a study conducted by Androniki Naska of the School of Medicine of Athens and Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulous of the Harvard School of Public Health on the effects of siestas on cardiovascular health in Greek men and women. Of the 23,000 individuals that partook in the study, the individuals who took a midday siesta of about 30 minutes at least three days a week was significantly less likely to experience death from heart disease. The researchers posited that the decline in heart failure could be attributed to a variety of factors, including al-leviated work-induced stress and increased productivity in the workplace.

I was surprised to learn that the Italians do not nec-essarily work less then we do, just differently. Huffing-ton Post columnist Peter Baldwin points out that Ital-ians typically work the same or even a few more hours than the average American. Italians squeeze in more time in the evenings and even on the weekends, where they put in a few hours on Friday evening and Saturday morning.

Looking around at my new Italian neighbors, I can’t help but think that they got it right. And while I can’t deny that the American in me was frustrated with the lack of available post offices during broad daylight, I can always come back later in the evening to file for medical insurance. If the Italians endure these small in-conveniences in exchange for more sleep, higher pro-ductivity and less stress, I would be a fool to even want to change the system.

Like many Duke students, I could probably count the number of “siestas” I have taken in my life on two hands. But I am going to make a goal of embracing this Italian tradition in order to better appreciate la dolce vita. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Lauren Moxley is a Trinity junior. She is abroad in Italy for the semester. Her column runs every other Wednesday.

commentariesthe chronicle wednesday, september 8, 2010 | 11

Siesta time

We’ve all heard Pratt students complain about how late they have to stay up each night and how impossible their problem

sets are. No Trinity student in his or her right mind would want to switch into Pratt. Pratt is a dictatorship, compared to Trinity’s democratic freedom.

Yet, what if I told you that Pratt stu-dents are in fact happier academically than their peers in Trinity?

It is no secret that engineering at Duke is regimented. Even with no college/AP/IB credit from high school, a typical ma-jor in Trinity College requires only 10 courses. A major in Pratt, on the other hand, demands not only proficiency in math, chemistry and physics, but has a stone-set, four-year plan for any-one who dares to venture on such a draconian path.

Entering into Pratt with no preexisting science credit is like jumping into a pool of piranhas. Say goodbye to your former life and prepare to be eaten alive. You will only be able to select seven electives throughout your entire career at Duke. And of those seven, five have to be designated as social science or humanities. In other words, there is very little freedom in Pratt.

Yet, Pratt students are happier than students in Trinity. Why is that? It has to do with why conservatives are happier

than liberals. In 2006, a Pew Research Center survey indicated that

47 percent of conservative Republicans in the US were “very happy,” while only 28 percent of liberal Demo-crats specified the same self-description. Similar results were replicated in three other nationally represented studies in the US.

A 2008 study at New York University explained why conservatives are happier than liberals. Conservatives view economic inequality as something they cannot change. They are able to rationalize class differences better than liberals. Conservatives simply accept the disparities in the world.

Liberals, on the other hand, are unhappy because they see the socioeconomic inequalities as opportuni-ties for change. And when nothing actually changes, liberals become frustrated and disheartened.

So how does this relate back to Pratt and Trinity?Pratt students have less control over their aca-

demic career plans than Trinity students. There are only four degrees that Pratt students can choose from: biomedical, civil, electrical and computer or mechani-cal. Trinity, however, offers 45 majors, 47 minors and 21certificates. The choices available in Trinity College are literally infinite. There are more possible combi-nations of majors, minors and certificates than there

are students at Duke. As a result, when faced with comparably fewer choic-

es than students in Trinity, Pratt students learn to accept what conservatives al-ready believe: you can only control so much of the world. Pratt students begin to rationalize in the same way conserva-tives do. They assume they failed the last midterm because other people simply performed better.

Take my rationalization as an ex-ample: everyone in Pratt is forced to take EGR 53, so it’s all right if I don’t do really well in it. There are geniuses in the class who are able to get 100 per-

cent. I’m no genius, so how can I compare? Luckily, I don’t need to worry. As long as I pass and gradu-ate from Pratt, I will be able to find a job and live a happy life.

Trinity students, though, have so many choices that they are at loss in finding a major and sticking to it. There is always a sense of regret. What if I had been a psychology major? Would my GPA be in a bet-ter shape?

Also, Trinity College does not specifically train stu-dents in a profession, as Pratt does. In order to earn comparable salaries to students who graduate from Pratt, most Trinity students still need to go onto gradu-ate school. Therefore, it is little wonder why Pratt stu-dents are relatively happier than Trinity students: they have to worry less about life in general.

Yet, knowing this, why am I in Trinity?Different people derive individual happiness from

different places. Some find happiness in high GPAs or knowing there is a set future ahead of them. Others believe that happiness is a process. It’s not the goal, but the path towards that goal.

I find my happiness in freedom. I relish my abil-ity to choose whatever course I want. I usually will still be changing my classes around on the last day of drop/add.

I don’t work well with limits set by other people. Re-gardless of what happiness Pratt might bring in helping me escape self-blame, I find greater joy in making my own mistakes and creating my own future.

I enjoy the mystery of the unknown.Pratt will plan out my four years at Duke, so I won’t

have to worry and be unhappy. But it comes at the cost of my autonomy. My autonomy is my definition of self. If I were to ever give that up, who would I be as a person?

Rui Dai is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Wednesday.

Engineered happiness

lauren moxleyla vita e bella

rui daia picture’s worth

Page 12: September 8, 2010 issue

12 | Wednesday, september 8, 2010 the chronicle

Fall Special

Student GroupAdvertising

Special$100

full color quarter

page ads

Let Campus know what’s going on!

94% of undergrads read The Chronicle

Chronic le Adver t i s ing ~ 684 .3811adver t i s ing@chronic le .duke .edu

He pointed out, though, that certain policies were good investments despite a lack of understanding about the fu-ture. Education, for example, should be expected to be a worthwhile investment. But he added that he is less enthu-siastic about people who claim to understand “the key to the future” because “we’re lousy predictors.”

Danzig, once an adviser to Barack Obama during his 2008 presidential campaign, spent a portion of the speech giving more general advice about problem analysis in situations in which there is a lack of understanding and information.

“None of us gets everything right when looking at am-biguous situations,” he said. “What you can learn is not necessarily how to improve your insight, but also gain an insight about yourself. Where does your propensity for error lie?”

During the question and answer portion of the talk, junior Nikola Lahcanski asked Danzig how he felt his law degree from Yale Law School had impacted his public career. Danzig said that his experience at Yale affected the way he thinks.

“I think it was a terrific form of education for me not because you learn about the law but because of what you learn about thinking like a lawyer,” Danzig said.

Sophomore Amit Parekh was particularly impressed by the general life advice that Danzig gave in his remarks.

“I thought it was a great speech that gave us a unique perspective on life,” Parekh said. “I especially enjoyed his views on how people should diversify themselves because of the serendipity that our paths can take.”

signs in academic buildings in the near future. “It was an idea that our Sustainability Office had, but

the project was undertaken by SSL,” Roe said. “They helped to design the content and the graphics and worked with us on finding funding.”

Before putting up the signs, SSL surveyed 130 students, asking questions specifically related to the notices. Now that the signs have been put up in dorm buildings, Roe said, the organization will work on conducting another survey to de-termine how the messages have affected student behavior.

But the effectiveness of the signs will ultimately de-pend on students’ individual reactions to them.

Freshman Jenai Jackson said she believes the signs will make a difference in student behavior because they help increase awareness, adding that a lot of people in her dorm read the notices.

Other students noted that the slogans are “useful remind-ers,” but junior Gaurev Sen said he thinks that the presence of the messages alone will not change students’ habits.

“It’s more of a question of whether people already care about [the environment] or not,” he said. “It might remind people who are forgetful, but it won’t change people’s minds.”

Junior Mikael Owunna, co-president of the Duke Environ-mental Alliance said he believes that “the majority of people mean well” when it comes to protecting the environment.

“Having these strategically placed reminders on how to make subtle changes in their daily behavior will help these people to be more environmentally conscious in their decision making,” he said. “Regardless of whether this occurs or not, though, it will have sparked discus-sions that make people think more about how their ac-tions affect the environment.”

Roe said there are many ways for students, staff and faculty to get involved with sustainability at Duke. Faculty and staff can start “green teams” and relate sustainability to course material. And students can help the cause by utilizing public transportation and supporting eateries on campus that focus on sustainability.

“Everyday choices that students are making can make a difference,” Roe said.

sustainability from page 4 danzig from page 1

ted knud/the ChroniCle

Former secretary of the navy Richard danzig spoke in sanford tues-day night, urging listeners to be prepared for life’s surprises.

Regarding President Barack Obama’s decision to end the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, Price said he was pleased that the Iraq War was ending, noting that he never wanted to go to war in the first place. He added that America’s involvement in Iraq is not over, since there will be residual U.S. forces which will train Iraqi forces to handle violence in the country.

Senior Ben Bergmann, president of Duke Democrats and co-president of Duke Political Union, said he was pleased about the turnout of the event. Because Price rep-resents all of Durham County, Bergmann noted that all Duke students should be interested in events that allow them to meet their congressman face-to-face.

Sophomore Ming Jiu Li said he was also pleased with the opportunity to see and hear Price in person, although he said he had hoped to hear more about the healthcare bill. Nevertheless, as a Women’s Center in-tern involved with the voter registration drive, Li said he was hopeful about future collaboration with Duke Democrats and DPU.

pRice from page 3