T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y
The Chronicle
FRIDAY, APRIL 6, 2012
ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 130
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
Marketplace workers hope to secure summer hours
DUKE STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Brown, Swain, Waldt in the race for DSG president by Anna Koelsch THE CHRONICLE
is one of two changes HDRL recently posed to the summer work schedule of Marketplace employees. A policy that would have decreased Marketplace staff during the summer months has been scrapped following a petition and input from workers. HDRL and union representatives are still, however, negotiating how employees’ hours will be changed for the summer sessions. Marketplace employee Stanley Lyons said that senior
Three students will compete next week for the position of Duke Student Government president. Juniors Chris Brown, Alex Swain and Strat Waldt are running to succeed senior Pete Schork as DSG president. Sophomore Patrick Oathout, senator for athletics, services and the environment, is running unopposed for executive vice president, the position currently held by junior Gurdane Bhutani. The election is April 12. The remainder of the DSG executive board, which includes the DSG committee vice presidents, will be elected April 23. These elections have historically coincided with the presidential election but were postponed this year because of an atypically low number of candidates, Schork said. As for the presidential race, Schork said he is pleased with the three candidates, noting their wide range of perspectives and experiences. Brown, who currently serves as DSG’s external chief of staff, said he is running for the position of president because he wants to make the Duke experience the best it can be. “I’m running for president because I love this place, I love Duke,” Brown said. “I have the leadership, experience and passion to make a difference for Duke next year.” In the last year, Brown has worked to finish bike lane renovations, which led to national recognition for Duke as a bicycle-friendly campus. He also worked on developing Tailgate’s replacement.
SEE MARKETPLACE ON PAGE 6
SEE DSG ON PAGE 5
ANH PHAM/THE CHRONICLE
Some Marketplace employees are circulating a petition because their summer work hours are not what they expected. by Marianna Jordan THE CHRONICLE
Ongoing discussions between Housing, Dining and Residence Life, workers union Local 77 and Marketplace employees about summer work hours have left dining staff confused and frustrated due to a lack of communication. Marketplace workers will no longer work during the period between the end of final exams and the start of the first summer session, said Rick Johnson, assistant vice president for housing and dining. This
Team-based Nicolelis’ ‘revolution’ could aid paralytics learning enhances medical training by Danielle Muoio THE CHRONICLE
A monkey sauntered on a treadmill in Durham and half-way across the world a robot sprang into motion. Sitting cross-legged in his office chair, Dr. Miguel Nicolelis holds the tiny chip that both connected these two acts and landed him a spot on John Stewart’s “The Daily Show” in March. The chip is called a brain-machine interface—a term he coined himself— and it records and relays neural activity in the monkey’s brain to move a robot in Japan. This research could one day enable paralytics to walk using a robotic suit operated by the mind. “It is the big revolution that was created here— in this lab that we are still in today,” said Nicolelis, who is the co-director of the Duke Center for Neuroengineering and Anne W. Deane professor of neurobiology and associate professor of biomedical engineering. Although Nicolelis performed his first experiments on rats, he made a major breakthrough in 2000 when
by Tiffany Lieu THE CHRONICLE
To remain competitive in medical education, Duke Medicine has adopted an integrative and collaborative learning method originally applied in Singapore. Team Learn, Engage and Develop—a program currently in its seventh year at Duke University-National University of Singapore Graduate Medical School—is finishing its first full-fledged year at the School of Medicine in Durham. TeamLEAD is a learning model that deviates from traditional lecture-based medical education by using more interactive methods, such as working in small groups and conducting learning outside of the classroom. Despite some criticism surrounding the program, administrators NIHIR PATEL/THE CHRONICLE
SEE TEAM ON PAGE 4
Howe discusses American Indian spirituality, Page 3
Dr. Miguel Nicolelis has made strides in neuroengineering research.
ONTHERECORD
“Do I dare tell the administration they probably made a huge miscalculation in their formation of the house model...?” —Harry Liberman in “How you remind me.” See column page 14.
SEE NICOLELIS ON PAGE 16
Duke tennis to take on Florida schools, Page 10