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
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012
Students laud new reform to assault policy
ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 34
WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM
Admins tie uptick to reporting
Down at the market
New standards lead to higher reported rates of alcohol and drug use
by Margot Tuchler THE CHRONICLE
Students and alumni are applauding the success of efforts to repeal the one-year statute of limitations on sexual misconduct reporting. The abolition of the statute of limitations for reporting sexual misconduct came after several months of student mobilization and negotiation with administrators. Widespread student outcry in response to the diminishment of the statute from two years to one spawned a Duke Student Government campaign, which was led by Ebonie Simpson, Trinity ’12 and former DSG vice president for student life. Simpson said she believes the policy change came only after administrators’ attitudes changed, noting that the administration was initially “on the defensive.” “They were trying to explain why they changed it,” Simpson said of her conversations with administrators last Spring. “We were finding holes in those arguments.” The campaign largely depended on input from students across campus and the ultimate instigation of research of University policy, the policies of peer institutions and state legislation, said Pete Schork, 2011-2012 DSG president and Trinity ’12. “The heart of this all along was students who
by Kristie Kim THE CHRONICLE
FAITH ROBERTSON/THE CHRONICLE
SEE POLICY ON PAGE 6
A vendor sells sunflowers and lilies at the Durham Farmers Market Saturday morning.
Shaw named Dormant bacteria chair of Duke evade antibiotics Endowment by Parth Chodavadia THE CHRONICLE
by Carleigh Stiehm THE CHRONICLE
Minor Shaw will now serve as chair of the board of trustees of the Charlotte-based Duke Endowment. The Duke Endowment is a major University benefactor and recently contributed $80 million to Duke Forward, the latest capital campaign, to be used for renovation of the West Union Building and other facilities. The Endowment, a philanthropy focused on projects in North Carolina and South Carolina, also supports education programs at Duke, Davidson College, Furman University SEE SHAW ON PAGE 4
Antibiotics kill off most, but not all, of a target bacteria. A team of scientists set out to explain why a select group of bacteria survive. The researchers at Duke and other universities found that when a phosphate group attaches itself to the bacterial protein HipA, bacterial cells containing the protein gain tolerance to antibiotic drugs.The study was published in the September issue of Cell Reports. By studying the proteins involved in drug tolerance, researchers may be able to glean solutions to eradicate bacterial diseases such as tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis. The researchers observed the addition of a phosphate group to a
protein—a process called phosphorylation—which changes the shape of the HipA protein, thereby putting it in a dormant state that antibiotics do not target. “Before conducting this study, we hypothesized that HipA phosphorylation induces protein activation and persistence,” said Kim Lewis, director of Antimicrobial Discovery Center at Northeastern University and co-author of the study. “What we found was completely unexpected. Our results showed that [HipA] auto-phosphorylation leads to HipA inactivation and multi-drug tolerance.” Lewis noted that multi-drug tolerance is not the same phenomenon SEE BACTERIA ON PAGE 4
ONTHERECORD
Track trains with a new treadmill, Page 7
“I am really frustrated about the problematic way we celebrate Columbus Day....” —Abdullah Antepli in Columbus Day reflections. See column page 11
A recent surge in on-campus drug and alcohol law violations is a result of new reporting policies, rather than an increase in student drug use, University officials say. On Sept. 30, Duke released its 2012 Clery Security Report—a campus safety report that universities are required by federal law to publish annually. According to the report, on-campus news drug law violations analysis more than tripled, and alcohol law violations increased by nearly 40 percent from 2010 to 2011. The increase is a result of several factors, including the implementation of a new information system and heightened staff training, wrote Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations, in an email Monday. “I don’t believe [the report] is a reflection in the increase in actual behavior but an improvement in the ability to track and identify those behaviors,” said Kyle Cavanaugh, vice president for administration. At Duke, 626 on-campus alcohol law violations were referred for disciplinary action in 2011, an upswing from 452 in 2010 and 423 in 2009. Additionally, 110 drug law violations were reported in 2011, compared to 34 and 36 in 2010 and 2009, respectively. The higher number of reported violations SEE CLERY ON PAGE 6
BYTHENUMBERS
110 626 alcohol law drug law
violations violations were reported in 2011, referred for disciplinary action on campus in 2011, while
as opposed to
452 34 reported in 2010
Cockrell takes junior year head-on, Page 7
reported in 2010
2 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012
THE CHRONICLE
13K patients may have Romney calls for policy been exposed to fungus change in Middle East THE WASHINGTON POST
WASHINGTON — As many as 13,000 patients across the country got steroid injections that may have been contaminated by a fungus linked to a rare form of meningitis that has killed eight people, federal officials said Monday. The officials don’t know how many of the injections were tainted. But they do know that 13,000 patients received the injection from the compounding pharmacy at the center of the outbreak, according to officials. Federal and state health officials are scrambling to contact patients who might be affected by the widening outbreak, which involves a medicine commonly used to treat lower back pain, methylprednisolone acetate. A total of 105 cases of meningitis linked to the injections have been reported in 23 states, according to updated figures provided Monday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Across the country, state and local health department officials have been trying to contact patients who may have been given the tainted injections, in some cases making home visits. “They’re just trying to reach everyone, especially since the early symptoms might be considered just a plain old headache or flu,” said Beth Bickford, executive director of the Association of Ohio Health Commissioners. She said early treatment is key. More than 17,000 vials of the injectable
steroid were shipped from a compounding pharmacy, New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Mass., to 75 facilities over the summer. The injections were given from late May through late September. Fungus in some of the vials appears to cause a rare brain infection that requires months of intravenous antibiotics to cure. Unlike other types of meningitis, symptoms might appear gradually, said CDC spokesman Curtis Allen. They include sensitivity to light, stiff neck, weakness or numbness and slurred speech. The outbreak has focused attention on the regulation of pharmaceutical compounding companies. The Massachusetts company has voluntarily recalled all its products, suspended operations and said it is working with regulators to identify the source of the infection. Massachusetts health officials, in a statement issued Monday, said that compounding pharmacies are only allowed to prepare and dispense medications for individual patients and that manufacturing products without prescriptions is a violation of a company’s license with the board of pharmacy. Traditional compounding pharmacies typically custom-make medicines for individual patients. In the past two years, hospitals and other health-care providers have been relying increasingly on these pharmacies because of continuing drug shortages, particularly of generics, industry executives said. SEE FUNGUS ON PAGE 12
by Jerry Markon THE WASHINGTON POST
LEXINGTON, Va. — In what was billed as a major foreign policy address, Mitt Romney accused President Barack Obama of a lack of forceful leadership in the Middle East on Monday, saying that a waning of American resolve in the region has made it a more dangerous place. “It is time to change course in the Middle East,” Romney said. “The president hopes for a safer, freer, and a more prosperous Middle East allied with the United States. I share this hope. But hope is not a strategy. We cannot support our friends and defeat our enemies in the Middle East when our
words are not backed up by deeds.” With the president now potentially vulnerable on issues such as Libya and U.S.Israeli relations, the Romney campaign senses an opportunity to reshape an issue long seen as an Obama strength. Referring to recent attacks on America’s diplomatic posts in the Middle East, Romney said it is Obama’s “responsibility to use America’s great power to shape history—not to lead from behind, leaving our destiny at the mercy of events. Unfortunately, that is exactly where we find ourselves in the Middle East under President Obama.” SEE MID EAST ON PAGE 5
MELINA MARA/THE WASHINGTON POST
Former Gov. Mitt Romney delivers a foreign policy speech before more than 400 cadets at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Va.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012 | 3
Nobel Prize awarded for stem cell discoveries by Brian Vastag THE WASHINGTON POST
British scientist John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka of Japan shared the 2012 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine Monday for experiments separated by almost 50 years that provide deep insight into how animals develop and offer hope for a new era of personalized medicine. “Their findings have revolutionized our understanding of how cells and organisms develop,” the Nobel committee said in the prize announcement. In 1962, Gurdon wowed the world of biology by cloning a frog via a clever technique. He transplanted the genetic material from an intestinal cell of one frog into an egg cell from another. The egg developed into a tadpole, showing that ordinary cells contain the entire genetic instruction manual for whole organism. The experiment—which other scientists were slow to accept as valid— led in 1997 to the cloning of the first mammal, Dolly the sheep. Since then, scientists have cloned mice, dogs, cats, pigs, horses and cattle, although mutliple attempts to clone monkeys have failed, as have attempts to produce cloned human embryos. Cloned mice have become laboratory mainstays. Gurdon, 79, is an emeritus professor at Cambridge University who still conducts research at an institute there bearing his name and was knighted in 1995 for his work in developmental bi-
Yawping
ology. His frog experiments a half-century ago showed that scientists “should be able to derive any one kind of cell from another, because they’ve all got the same genes,” Gurdon said Monday at a London press briefing. In 2006 and 2007, Yamanaka extended this insight by turning back time on individual cells from both mice and humans. By sprinkling four genes on ordinary skin cells, Yamanaka discovered a virtual fountain of youth: Any cell, he found, could be reverted to an early embryonic state. These “induced” embryonic cells behave much like the ethically contentious stem cells gleaned from human embryos. Like embyronic cells, they can be grown into many other types of tissues but without having to destroy any embryos. The breakthrough offered hope that someday skin cells could be harvested from a patient, sent back in time to an embryonic state, and then grown into replacement tissues such as heart muscle or nerve cells. A huge global research effort is now working to develop pluripotent stem cells, as they’re called, into treatments for heart disease, some forms of blindness, Parkinson’s disease and many other disorders. Because the cells made by the technique are genetically identical to the patient, the advance “may one day allow
CHELSEA PIERONI/ THE CHRONICLE
Band Yawpers performs at the Duke Coffeehouse Friday night SEE NOBEL ON PAGE 12
4 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012
BACTERIA from page 1 as multi-drug resistance. Resistance is an active process in which a cell tries to prevent antibiotics from hitting their targets, Lewis said. Resistance can take the form of bacteria producing enzymes that modify or cleave antibiotics. Multi-drug tolerance, on the other hand, involves dormant cells called persisters that bacteria produce as an internal survival mechanism, said Richard Brennan, professor of biochemistry and coauthor of the study. Antibiotics are far less effective in tagging
THE CHRONICLE
dormant bacteria—this is why tuberculosis and E. coli are difficult to eradicate. To pinpoint structural mechanisms at work in HipAmediated multi-drug tolerance, researchers used x-ray crystallography to produce three-dimensional images of HipA’s conformation before and after auto-phosphorylation, Brennan said. “We didn’t realize what intense gymnastics this protein had to go through in order to become phosphorylated,” Brennan said. “With the addition of a single phosphate group, internal amino acid
chains were ejected outwards and external amino acid chains inwards. We were completely surprised by how flexible these proteins can be.” Because of the drastic conformational change in HipA, kinase inhibitors may be a possible treatment method for multi-drug tolerant diseases such as tuberculosis and cystic fibrosis, Brennan noted. Both Brennan and Lewis agreed that discovering potential downstream targets of HipA is the first step to developing these therapeutic drugs. “We are currently trying to identify HipA targets and compare our results from in vitro studies with results from in vivo studies,” Brennan said. “With this data, we could understand exactly how HipA limits activity of other molecules and [pinpoint] the biochemical pathway involved in regulating cell dormancy.” Lewis wants to take this research one step further and examine how bacterial cells transition from dormancy to normalcy. “We now understand how HipA inhibits itself,” Lewis said. “But in addition to treating multi-drug tolerant diseases, we want to eradicate them. To accomplish this goal, we must first understand the biomechanics involved in converting dormant bacterial cells to normal.”
THU NGUYEN/THE CHRONICLE
A group of researches at Duke and other universities have been exploring why some bacteria are able to resist antibiotics.
SHAW from page 1 and Johnson C. Smith University. As chair of the board, Shaw oversees the dispersal of Endowment funds and the programs the board regulates. “I will continue the work of our past chairmen to carry out the vision of [University founder] James B. Duke through The Duke Endowment,” Minor wrote in an email Monday. “I am excited about the opportunity to serve the Carolinas through the philanthropy of the Duke Endowment.” She was elected as chair by the presiding board of trustees following the August death of former chair Neil Williams, Trinity ’58 and Law ’61. “Neil was a great leader who served us and the University well,” Duke Endowment President Eugene Cochrane said. “He will surely be missed.” Shaw will continue to follow the plans on which Williams had been working to strengthen universities and communities in North Carolina and South Carolina, Cochrane noted. Because Shaw was previously the vice chair of the board, she is already familiar with the board’s goals. “Nothing will be changing in a dramatic way,” Cochrane said. The Endowment funds contribute greatly to the renovations and changes that students see on campus, said Michael Schonfeld, vice president for public affairs
and government relations. The Duke Endowment selects projects to support at Duke University based on proposals made by the administration, most recently the $80 million donation in March 2011 to renovate West Union, Page Auditorium and Baldwin Auditorium, he said. The Duke Endowment also contributed $50 million, part of which funded the construction of the [Mary Duke Biddle] Trent Semans Center for Medical Education. It also supported the creation of DukeEngage, along with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Schoenfeld added that the Endowment has funded scholarships and other programs which benefit students. The Duke Endowment is the largest single donor to the University in its history. “Minor Shaw will be a wonderful chair of the Duke Endowment board,” Schoenfeld added. “She is deeply committed to continuing the Duke Endowment’s goals in education, health care and the ministry, not just at Duke University but throughout the Carolinas.” Aside from her new role as chair, Shaw is also the president of the Greenville, S.C.-based Micco LLC, a private investment company. She also chairs the Daniel-Mickel Foundation and the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport Commission. In addition, she serves as a board member of other organizations in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Student Foreign Policy Debate moderated by [secret] Obama & Romney Campaign Surrogates
TONIGHT 5:30 pm Von Canon C *The first 50 people to arrive will receive a ticket to the debate between Karl Rove and Robert Gibbs to be held on October 22 (Tickets not available to public until October 10!) The Ambassador Dave and Kay Phillips Family International Lecture presents
“What’s at Stake for America’s Global Role in the 2012 Election?” A Debate moderated by Professor Peter Feaver
Karl Rove
vs.
Robert Gibbs
TICKETS AVAILABLE OCTOBER 10 (at the Duke Box Office or www.tickets.duke.edu) Event: October 22 Location: Page Auditorium Time: 5:00 pm
CoͲSponsor support provided by: The Sanford School of Public Policy, the Triangle Institute for Security Studies, the Alexander Hamilton Society, the College Republicans, the Duke Democrats, the Duke Student Government, and the Duke International Relations Association
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012 | 5
MID EAST from page 2
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Romney also said Obama failed reformist protesters in Iran in 2009, and is failing the anti-Assad forces in Syria now. The United States is “sitting on the sidelines,” instead of working with other nations to arm the Syrian rebels. The speech at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington thrust foreign policy even more into the center of a campaign that until recently had been almost entirely about the economy. The focus is expected to intensify as the two candidates debate foreign policy during their last one-on-one encounter on Oct. 22. Much of Romney’s address focused on the complex threat posed by Iran, but he did not propose specific solutions that differ from the Obama administration’s current policy of tightening sanctions and insisting that an Iranian nuclear bomb is intolerable. Romney did not say whether he would continue the current international diplomatic effort to persuade Iran to back off from the most worrisome elements of its nuclear program. Iran claims the program is aimed only at peaceful nuclear energy and medical uses. Romney said he would support Israel, the nation presumably most at risk if Iran acquired nuclear weapons, and charged that Obama’s poor relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has help embolden Iran and other adversaries. “I will reaffirm our historic ties to Israel and our abiding commitment to its security,” Romney said. “The world must never see any daylight between
our two nations.” That comment was made in reference to a remark Obama reportedly made to “put some daylight” between the United States and Israel early in his administration. Obama has since pledged many times to support Israel and his administration claims ties between the two nations have never been stronger. Romney said he would bulk up the U.S. naval presence around Iran, something the Obama administration has done occasionally on an ad hoc basis. He said he would add to the Navy’s fleet, but did not say how he would pay for it. Romney also promised new conditions on foreign aid, including to Egypt. “I will make it clear to the recipients of our aid that in return for our material support, they must meet the responsibilities of every decent modern government,” Romney said. Romney spoke in a small auditorium at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, from a slightly upraised lectern with a U.S. flag and several military flags behind him. A group of several hundred cadets, decked out in white uniforms, filled the seats, mixing with a few dozen invited guests. After his address, Romney was planning to participate in a roundtable with retired generals, but that event was closed to the press and public. Romney spoke in confident and crisp tones, perhaps reflecting the intensive preparation aides said he had engaged in for the speech. Gone was the hurried demeanor he had displayed at a rally just the night before in Florida, where he rushed through his remarks as rain threatened from a
gray sky. In his comfort zone when focused on the economy, Romney has stumbled during his occasional forays into foreign policy. He offended his British hosts and Palestinian leaders during an overseas trip in July, failed to mention Afghanistan in his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, and was roundly criticized for the timing of his attack on Obama’s handling of violence in Libya, in which four Americans were killed. With increasing questions about the Obama administration’s handling of the Libyan violence—and with Romney gaining momentum from his widely praised performance in last week’s first debate—some experts think the speech is well-timed. Though Obama has consistently outpolled Romney on foreign affairs, that advantage has diminished. A Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted just before the first debate showed Obama with a five-point edge in who is more trusted to handle international concerns, down from the president’s double-digit advantage earlier in the year. “It’s understandable why he’s doing it now,” said David Rothkopf, a former senior Clinton administration official who is chief executive of Foreign Policy magazine. “The administration, which two to three months ago seemed unassailable on foreign policy and national security issues, now looks much more vulnerable because of what happened in Libya, because the entire Middle East is a mess, because of tensions between Obama and [Israeli leader Benjamin] Netanyahu.”
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October 9 – 16 EXHIBITIONS Coney Island 40 Years: Photographs by Harvey Stein. Thru Oct 27. Center for Documentary Studies. Free. Student Action with Farmworkers: 20 Years of Growing Farmworker Activists. Thru Dec 9. Perkins Library Gallery. Free. Documenting the Politics of Food: Photographs from the Rubenstein Library Collections. Thru December 10. Rubenstein Library Photography Gallery. Free. Eat, Pray, Weave: Ancient Peruvian Art from the Permanent Collection. Nasher Museum of Art.
EVENTS October 10 Barbra and Andrew Rothschild Lecture. Meet artist Kerry James Marshall, a leading contemporary artist, whose work is part of the Nasher Museum’s permanent collection. 7pm. Free. October 11 Art +: Where Art & Math Intersect Lecture Series. Talk by Massimo Fornasier. “Mathematics reconstructing Art.” 5pm, Nasher Museum Aud. Free. October 12 Duke Arts Festival 2012 Submission Deadline! We seek student artists and performers for the 2012 Duke Arts Festival scheduled for Oct 26-Nov 4. Ready to hang/display artwork accepted until October 19. All forms of visual and performing arts welcomed. Signup at arts.duke.edu/festival. October 13 Duke University String School. Dorothy Kitchen, dir. 3pm, Beginning Ensembles & Intermediate I; 7pm, Intermediate II & DUSS Youth Symphony Orchestra. Reynolds Theater. Free. October 15 Across The Threshold Deadline! Submit proposals for papers, panels, workshops or lecture-demonstrations for the 2013 interdisciplinary conference. More information at danceprogram.duke.edu/threshold.
SCREEN/SOCIETY All events are free and open to the general public. Unless otherwise noted, screenings are at 7pm in the Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center. (ED) = East Duke 108. (N) = Nasher Museum Auditorium. (SW) = Smith Warehouse - Bay 4, C105. (W) = Richard White Auditorium.
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DRUGSTORE COWBOY Robert Yeoman Retrospective
10/10
WHEN THE DRUM IS BEATING (Documentary about Haitian musicians) NC Latin American Film Festival ami.duke.edu/screensociety/schedule
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POLICY from page 1 were very upset and took it upon themselves to do research and ultimately put in a lot of effort to get the change overturned,” Schork said. Sophomore Sarah Haas noted that she was impressed by the impact students were able to have on the issue, adding that she signed the petition to eliminate the statute of limitations and publicized the issue via various social media outlets. “This issue... has the capacity to personally affect every single student on this campus,” Haas wrote in an email Monday. “It has been argued that college students are more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other age group, and Duke is far from immune to this.” The abolition of the statute will play a
key role in ending the “culture of silence” that surrounds sexual violence, Simpson added. It will discourage perpetrators from committing sexual assault and encourage others to recognize sexual violence. The statute will change the way the student body and administration deal with sexual assault, said sophomore Chandler Thomas, a gender violence prevention intern at the Duke Women’s Center and writer for Develle Dish, a student feminist blog. “I personally know students [whom] this policy change and the abolition of the statute of limitations will directly affect,” Thomas said. “If more people feel empowered and are able to come forward to the Office of Student Conduct, more perpetrators can be suspended and hopefully eventually expelled from school.” Thomas said she was pleased that Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Mone-
ta’s email addressed the importance of the elimination of the statute in the broader context of violence prevention. “The discussions about the statute of limitations have brought to light our need to continue our aggressive approach to minimizing sexual harassment and assault at Duke,” Moneta wrote in an email Sunday. Thomas added that the policy will enhance Duke’s presence as an advocate for ending gender violence among other universities. Several contemporaries, including Brown University, Harvard University and Princeton University, do not have statutes of limitations. The success of the student body on this issue bodes well for the future of student activism on campus, Schork said. “This just attests to the potential we as students have to make effective change on campus,” Haas noted. “I’m looking forward to what comes next.”
CLERY from page 1 can be sourced to enhanced clarity in communication with the Duke University Police Department as well as a clearer definition of reporting criteria—not increased student use—Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek added. The latest Clery Report, produced under the new information system, will serve as a baseline for future reports, Wasiolek said. As a result, it is difficult to compare the 2011 statistics with years prior, she said. “There was a clearer understanding of what needed to be reported and when [those violations] needed to be reported,” she said. For the past couple of years, training for residential staff has become more “hands on,” in that staff members are required to complete more practice reporting, Dean for Residential Life Joe Gonzalez said, noting, however, that there are numerous reasons for the influx of reported violations. Beginning in August, all residential staff members were required to complete training on the Clery Act, something that was not offered in previous years. The training established their role as reporters under the federal act, Gonzalez noted. But this training would not have impacted the most recent Clery Report, which reflects 2011 data. Gonzalez noted that an additional factor contributing to the increased number of individual violations is that more large parties were reported in 2011. “It’s something that wasn’t too common five or six years ago,” Gonzalez said. Although the increase in alcohol violations does not necessarily correlate to an increase in alcohol use, the report perhaps shines some light on the use of marijuana, wrote Stephen Bryan, associate dean of students and director of the Office of Student Conduct, in an email Monday. “Regarding drug referrals, I do believe we are seeing an increase in use, particularly with marijuana,” he said, noting that the observation is anecdotal, not based in statistics. Wasiolek added that feedback garnered from both resident assistants and staff members has led to a more comprehensive reporting system. Cavanaugh noted that investigations on off-campus facilities are likely not included in the Clery Report. Although DUPD does not directly handle crime reports committed in off-campus residential areas, they coordinate with Duke administrators and Durham Police Department to assist students living off campus. DUPD Chief John Dailey deferred comment to Cavanaugh. Overall, despite the increase in violations of liquor and drug use, the report continues to reinforce the idea that Duke fosters a safe campus, Cavanaugh said, adding that the report is a good indication of where the University needs to spend more time on prevention. “In every one of the categories [specified in the Clery Report], we have to remain vigilant to work collaboratively and try to be more proactive,” he said.
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TUESDAY October 9, 2012
Visit the sports blog tomorrow afternoon for quotes from Duke football head coach David Cutcliffe as the team prepares to take on Virginia Tech next Saturday.
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ROSS THE BOSS
Cornerback Ross Cockrell has turned his freshman year struggles into junior year success by Michael Schreiner THE CHRONICLE
One play from Ross Cockrell’s freshman season sticks out in his mind. In his second start, a 54-48 loss to Wake Forest, he got burned—badly—by wide receiver Chris Givens. It certainly was not the first time a receiver beat him, and it would not be the last, but after the play Givens turned to Cockrell and said something he remembers to this day. “[Givens] wasn’t really talking trash, but he just told me, ‘Hey man, you ain’t good,’” Cockrell said. “I was like, well, ‘I really haven’t been playing well, so he might be right.’” Two seasons later, it is hard to believe that anyone doubted the corner from Waxhaw, N.C., let alone Cockrell himself. The redshirt junior was named a captain before the year started, and halfway into the season he leads the nation in passes defended with 13. Through six games, he has four of his team’s seven interceptions and is second on the team in tackles. His four picks lead the ACC. But the success Cockrell has enjoyed so far this year stands in stark contrast to the struggles he dealt with his freshman year. After redshirting the year before, Cockrell spent much of the 2010 season adjusting to the level of play at the collegiate level. “A lot of players that are young do things their own way. It’s just natural,” Cockrell said. “I did the same thing. I felt like I knew what to do, and I wanted to do it my way.” Targeted by opposing quarterbacks, he ended up leading the team with three interceptions but broke up just seven passes all season and rarely walked off the field feeling satisfied by his overall performance. “I wasn’t playing well at all,” Cockrell said. “It’s no secret FAITH ROBERTSON/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
Junior cornerback Ross Cockrell leads the ACC with four interceptions and leads the nation in passes defeded with 13.
SEE COCKRELL ON PAGE 8
CROSS COUNTRY
Respect, Nuthin’ but an Alter-G Thang one vote at a time by Danny Nolan THE CHRONICLE
Often the first piece of equipment associated with running, aside from shoes, is the treadmill. This past April, the crosscountry program invested a large sum of money into this very piece of equipment. This, however, is not any run-of-the-mill treadmill. It is the Alter G, a product that allows runners to defy gravity. “It’s basically like running in a bubble,” cross-country runner Ashley Brasovan said. “I call it the bubble machine.” Cross country runners are susceptible to injuries. The average Duke women’s runner covers upwards of 70 miles per week. Enter the Alter G, an anti-gravity treadmill, created for faster and less painful recovery from injury. The treadmill, which can cost as much as $75,000, has already made an impact on the durability of cross-country runners. “So far the health of our team this year has been significantly improved compared to last year,” women’s cross-country head coach Kevin Jermyn said. “I think our fitness, as well, is certainly at a higher level.” For runners, having an anti-gravity treadmill has allowed for a smoother transition back to the grind of crosscountry racing. “It feels so much better than running on land especially for me coming back from knee injury it hurts so much less,” crosscountry runner Adrianne Soo said. “It just
“I’ve been injured several times in my time here at Duke and [the Alter G] has allowed me to pretty much double my mileage,” Brasovan said. “I do 50 percent of my mileage on land and 50 percent on the Alter G at this point.”
College football is all about the polls. More than any other NCAA sport, it has become more about perception over reality, reputation over performance. That’s why it’s such a big deal that even one writer put the Blue Chris Devils in his AP Top 25 ballot after this week’s 42-17 win against Virginia. John Silver was the only one of 60 voters to acknowledge Duke’s 5-1 start, ranking the team No. 23 between Boise State and Ohio. The assistant sports editor at the Journal Inquirer in Manchester, Conn., he primarily covers Connecticut but told The Chronicle Sunday he looks to select “up-and-coming teams” for the last few spots in his ballot and was swayed in large part by the Blue Devils’ 76 points in their two ACC matchups. Meanwhile, the reaction within the Triangle was more subdued. Neither of the two local voters—Harold Gutmann of the Durham Herald-Sun and Joe Giglio of the
SEE ALTER G ON PAGE 8
SEE CUSACK ON PAGE 8
Cusack
DUKE STUDENT BROADCASTING VIA YOUTUBE
Senior cross-country runner Ashley Brasovan runs on the team’s new Alter G treadmill, purchased in April. feels lighter, because you are lighter.” Before running, cross-country team members must first put on special spandex shorts that zip into the treadmill. Once strapped in, it calibrates the amount of pressure to relieve based on the runner’s weight. From there, the Alter G inflates until the “bubble” is ready to go.
8 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012
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FOOTBALL
COCKRELL from page 7 that I struggled my first year playing.” Head coach David Cutcliffe recognized that Cockrell was allowing his inexperience to detract from his raw ability on the field, and continually reassured Cockrell that he would be making a contribution to the team in the near future. He had sold Cockrell on his vision for Duke football when he recruited him, and he remained convinced that he would play an integral part in achieving those goals. Believing Cockrell had the mental tools to bounce back from his mistakes, Cutcliffe encouraged him to stay aggressive, even when he was burned by opponents. “His mommy and daddy gave him everything he needed when he was at home with them,” Cutcliffe said. “The ones you lose confidence in are the ones that you see get shattered. I never lost confidence in [Cockrell] because he never lost his confidence…. He is filled with the right stuff.” By trusting his struggling freshman cornerback two years ago, Cutcliffe helped produce not only an emerging shutdown corner, but also a leader vital to the first 5-1 Duke football team since 1994. The Blue Devil defense has improved in recent seasons along a similar trajectory to Cockrell, and he credits the improvement in Duke’s pass rush with helping the secondary make the game-changing plays that were rarely made in past seasons. “We have so much experience throughout the defense,” Cockrell said. “We have guys that have taken a lot of punches, and been young—been just been overpowered. And now we are the older ones, and we are throwing the punches.” The ability to create opportunities and finish big plays is something Cutcliffe has harped on in recent years, and Cockrell believes it is evident of the team’s progress toward Cutcliffe’s vision for the team. “This is the picture they built for us, and we are making it happen,” Cockrell said. “That’s the reason I came here. I felt comfortable with what he was doing, and I wanted to be part of the change that we are seeing now.” A product of that change was beating Wake Forest for the first time since 1999. In that 34-27 victory, Cockrell had six tackles and limited the man he guarding, Sherman Ragland, to just three catches. In the fourth quarter, with the score tied 20-20, Ragland dropped a long pass while defended by Cockrell. Not usually a trash talker on the field, Cockrell let Ragland know in no uncertain terms that he had made a monumental mistake. Ragland said nothing in return. This time, Cockrell had the last word.
Canty earns ACC honors by Staff Reports THE CHRONICLE
For the third time this season a Blue Devil has won ACC Defensive Back of the Week. This week’s recipient—senior safety Walt Canty. Canty earned the right to join teammates Ross Cockrell and Jordon Byas as ACC Defensive Backs of the Week by racking up 14 tackles in Duke’s 42-17 victory against Virginia Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium. Canty’s careerhigh three tackles for a loss helped Duke stymie the Cavalier offense in the second half, keeping Virginia off the scoreboard for the final 30 minutes of the game. Canty leads the Blue Devils in tackles with 53 on the season, 19 more tackles than second-place Cockrell and 25 more than third-place Brandon Braxton. He is also tied with defensive lineman Kenny Anunike for the team lead in tackles for a loss with 5.5.
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Duke players had a lot to celebrate after their 42-17 win against Virginia, and they were rewarded with votes in both major polls.
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CUSACK from page 7 Raleigh News & Observer—had Duke in their rankings. Should Duke be ranked? Frankly, I’m not sure. The four teams it has beaten are a combined 10-18, and it doesn’t have a notable win like Iowa State’s over then-No. 15 TCU—but neither does new No. 23 Louisiana Tech, whose best win is a 44-38 shootout with…Virginia! Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they don’t get any extra credit for playing with so few healthy defensive starters that they likely couldn’t have fielded a full team for the Blair Holliday 4-v-4 tournament last Friday. But that fact alone means Duke has done more than simply take care of business. The Blue Devils were treated similarly across the rest
ALTER G from page 7 Running on the Alter G has been a useful tool for rehabilitation, but running outside remains a top priority for the team. “Generally we have [the team] run out on land first and then maybe they come back and supplement after because it does throw off their feel,” Jermyn said. “Most of their running, I would say, you know, anywhere from 75 percent to 100 percent of all their training is on land, so we’re using this in bits and pieces.” Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the Alter G is not the treadmill itself, but where it is physically located. The cross-country department decided to place the product in the middle of their office. “It’s nice from my point of view, because my office is
CAROLINE RODRIGUEZ/THE CHRONICLE
Walt Canty was named the ACC Defensive Back of of the Week after registering a team-high 14 tackles against Virginia. of the polling landscape, receiving votes in the USA Today/Coaches’ Poll and a No. 25 vote in ESPN ACC blogger Heather Dinich’s weekly national power ranking. So why is Duke getting so much national love but so little regionally? Gutmann, responding to a follower wondering what Duke needed to do to get his vote, wrote on Twitter “if they beat FSU and Clemson then maybe.” Meanwhile, Gutmann has Louisiana Tech (whose best win is still against Virginia) at No. 22. I don’t mean to make this about finding inconsistencies in voters’ ballots. The criteria mandated to voters from the AP are vague enough that anyone would fiddle with their evaluative criteria over time. Nor am I trying to pick on Gutmann, whose decision to not include the Blue Devils—a team that has yet to beat a bowl-caliber squad— in his ballot is justifiable. I even picked Duke to finish the season 4-8 just two weeks ago, when they were already 3-1. Reputation and history have long played a big role in polling, just ask Notre Dame. That doesn’t always lead to incorrect results—once again, the SEC appears to merit its lofty reputation—but it can unduly hold teams like Duke outside the rankings because of its past. But this time, it seems national voters are more willing to jump on the Duke bandwagon than their Triangle colleagues. This year’s Blue Devils have had so many reasons to fail—the rash of injuries, an unfavorable ACC schedule and the shellacking at Stanford—that the local media (myself included) have felt like it’s just a matter of time before the inevitable collapse. And in fairness, that’s what has happened every year since 1995. After the last few weeks, though, it sure doesn’t look like any of those factors are going to drag Duke down. Obviously the Blue Devils aren’t perfect—the Stanford game wasn’t that long ago, after all—but after last week, I know this: The Blue Devils have made the biggest leap forward of head coach David Cutcliffe’s tenure, even bigger than the 2008 squad that quadrupled its victory total compared to the previous two seasons combined. Las Vegas certainly hasn’t realized that yet, as Duke opened as a 10-point underdog for Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech. The Hokies lasted just three weeks in the rankings, falling out after losing to unranked and then-winless Pittsburgh in a 35-17 blowout. Since then, Virginia Tech is 1-2 with its only win against a struggling Bowling Green. Regardless of what happens Saturday or through the rest of the season, this 5-1 stretch has begun to give the Blue Devils their reputation back on the national level, one voter at a time. right next door,” Jermyn said. “When we were first looking around for a good place for the treadmill, this wasn’t the first one on my mind. But eventually it popped up and it just seemed like a really, really good fit.” Brasovan thinks that while the Alter G is a great tool, she acknowledges that running on a treadmill cannot simulate the rush of running outside. “It’s kind of like a little cave up here,” Brasovan said. “It’s not the most fun thing. You’re kind of just staring at a wall or listening to music the whole time you’re on it, but you kind of get used to it after a while.” Despite the location, runners and coaches alike feel that the Alter G was a worthwhile investment. “At first I really hated running on a treadmill and staring at that wall for a long time,” Soo said. “But we’re good friends now, me and the treadmill. It’s been great to have, I’m really glad we have it.”
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Duke bets big on interdisciplinarity Monday’s editorial exam- the best universities will supply ined the importance of in- society with nimble problem terdisciplinary collaboration solvers who can move across to the Duke Forward capital disciplines with confidence campaign. Today we assess the and creativity. Duke is posicampaign’s tactic: What does tioning itself to outcompete it mean to put the very best interdisciplinarAmerican unieditorial ity at the heart versities in, say, of our strategic vision? 20 years, instead of perpetually Lacking the centuries-old playing catch-up. tradition of its peers, Duke Is Duke’s forecast correct? has sought out other ways to Is interdisciplinarity the new set itself apart. Embodying frontier of academia? Will bold ambition, Duke has had bridging traditionally separate to think outside the box to fields reinvigorate the liberal attract and produce the best arts university? President Richtalent. Continuous innovation ard Brodhead suggests that has made Duke a world-class the answer is yes, albeit with a university in a short timespan. few potential pitfalls. But rather than accept the Technological advancestatus quo, Duke is trying to ments and globalization have innovate again. In emphasiz- irrevocably altered society and, ing interdisciplinarity, Duke thus, those best equipped to is betting that, in the future, lead it. Today’s graduates are
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Who likes dampness in the air in hot weather? It’s a waste of water and electricity, and it ruins the peace in the plaza with that ghastly hissing sound. —“ashpool” commenting on the story “Investigating the plaza mist-ery.” See more at www.dukechronicle.com.
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YESHWANTH KANDIMALLA, Editor LAUREN CARROLL, Managing Editor JULIAN SPECTOR, News Editor ANDREW BEATON, Sports Editor CHRIS DALL, Photography Editor MAGGIE LAFALCE, Editorial Page Editor KATHERINE ZHANG, Editorial Board Chair PARKER KUIVILA, Managing Editor for Online JIM POSEN, Director of Online Operations CHRISSY BECK, General Manager KRISTIE KIM, University Editor TIFFANY LIEU, Local & National Editor ANDREW LUO, Health & Science Editor CAROLINE RODRIGUEZ, News Photography Editor PHOEBE LONG, Design Editor MICHAELA DWYER, Recess Editor SOPHIA DURAND, Recess Photography Editor SCOTT BRIGGS, Editorial Page Managing Editor MATTHEW CHASE, Towerview Editor ADDISON CORRIHER, Towerview Photography Editor NICOLE KYLE, Social Media Editor SAMANTHA BROOKS, Senior Editor REBECCA DICKENSON, Advertising Director MARY WEAVER, Operations Manager DAVID RICE, Director of External Relations
increasingly tasked not only with uncovering new knowledge, but also with bringing vast amounts of information from disparate sources to bear on complex social problems. In the future, society will increasingly consider an educated person to be someone who synthesizes different data, perspectives and methodologies. For Duke to produce such a person, the University will have to restructure. Longterm resource allocation for interdisciplinarity is crucial. We imagine the University will make more funding available to projects dealing with integrative approaches. Duke will organize more around emerging social problems rather than traditional modes of learning: Duke’s focus on global health serves as an in-
structive example. However, there are risks. Promoting interdisciplinarity might endanger the pure and theoretical core of each discipline, which might not easily lend itself to quick connections with other disciplines. Incentivizing interdisciplinarity, especially financially, might lead some disciplines to contort themselves in forced or unnatural ways to do the new hot interdisciplinary thing. Furthermore, extensive interdisciplinary work might also fundamentally change the core of each discipline. Depending on how Duke structures its interdisciplinary push, whether interdisciplinarity occurs at the fringe of disciplines or grows from the center, the basic composition of the disciplines may change
themselves. What will be considered meaningful and valid academic work and how that work gets done will change. The types of questions faculty think to ask within their departments will change. For better or worse, professors at Duke might not be thinking about their fields in the same ways as their counterparts at Harvard or Yale. Wednesday, we will take up the question of what interdisciplinarity might mean for undergraduates. As for the big picture, Duke should be commended for boldly engaging, forecasting and planning for the future. It should continue doing so intelligently, without falling prey to the shallow, reductive discourse with which interdisciplinarity is often associated.
On queuing
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MARGOT TUCHLER, University Editor JACK MERCOLA, Local & National Editor DANIELLE MUOIO, Health & Science Editor ELYSIA SU, Sports Photography Editor ELIZA STRONG, Design Editor HOLLY HILLIARD, Recess Managing Editor CHELSEA PIERONI, Online Photo Editor ASHLEY MOONEY, Sports Managing Editor SONIA HAVELE, Towerview Editor MELISSA YEO, Towerview Creative Director NICOLE KYLE, Special Projects Editor MAGGIE SPINI, Senior Editor MICHAEL SHAMMAS, Recruitment Chair BARBARA STARBUCK, Creative Director MEGAN MCGINITY, Digital 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. © 2012 The Chronicle, Box 90858, Durham, N.C. 27708. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the prior, written permission of the Business Office. Each individual is entitled to one free copy.
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recall more than three years ago hoarding the longest does not necessarily benefit from the a war chest of Duke-issued T-shirts. I was a transplant the most. freshman then, and Gildan cotton garments Yet, there are instances when queues are a bawere a mainstay of my wardrobe. I also remember rometer for the level of need. Days before units having to commit to the exercise of of ultra-luxury condominiums in queuing, and being educated by Singapore are about to go on sale, my American peers on the right one can spy construction workers expression. and maids camping at the sales “You mean line, don’t you?” my office. These are paid queuers. friend offered when I whined about People who value a swanky address the serpentine train of people on a the most are willing to offer cash diabolically stuffy and moist sumto migrant workers who are willmer evening. ing to wait. The force of money to jing song ng “Line,” as opposed to “queue,” allocate resources is inescapable. jingapore says suggests a deliberative discipline. However, there are easier means of There is the deliberative dimenattaining allocative efficiency—an sion when somebody lines up his or her shoes. economic outcome distributing goods to people Line also connotes staunch linearity. It is the that most desire, and are able to pay for, such default rule governing our societal interactions. goods. Consider an auction. Quite often, the allocation of scarce resources From an economic angle, queues are not alclings to the axiom of lines: “First come, first ways bankrupt of usefulness. They can be signalserved.” ling devices. Cheap and good food abounds in This prevalent practice of forming lines offers Singapore’s hawker centres. These are sheltered cues on things that animate our social life. sites that bring together street food vendors. For the 20-minute interval between classes, My mother is a gastronome. Her keen eyes will students scurry from lecture hall to tutorial class- scan the hawker centre for the food stall sportrooms. The espresso machines on campus emit ing the longest queue. Then, she will proceed to a hissing overdrive as people queue for a reju- lengthen the queue. The quantity of people waitvenating shot of caffeine. With a recognizably ing in front of a stall bespeaks the quality of the strained whirl, e-print machines spit out reams hawker’s cuisine. of readings and assignments. When a student There is also something intensely democratic proceeds to print out a science textbook dur- about queues. We loathe queue jumpers. We also ing this peak period, the seething impatience find it chafing when airport security rolls out the that accumulates behind him or her is almost royal red carpet and opens a new lane for gold mepalpable. dallion/elite plus/diamond class passengers. The An alternate set-up would have students who willingness and ability to pay to avoid waiting does have minimal printing needs hop ahead of the not mitigate the searing unfairness. The queue is queue. With two students contending for the almost sacrosanct; each human body has its place printer, the student who has to print a thousand in this rigid, egalitarian-esque template. Like the pages does not need to hold up the student with concept of one-vote-per-eligible-citizen, some a single-paged reading response in the printer things are sullied by free market exchanges. queue. The latter would only nibble away a morDemocratic norms nourish a communal spirit sel of the former’s time. that helps individuals define themselves vis-à-vis This musing begs a larger question on utility others. There is the value of equality amidst an maximization. A time-centric queue does not al- unsettling and uneven socioeconomic terrain. ways seem to be the best means of maximizing There is the feeling of being part of a larger enbenefits or minimizing costs, considering the tity—a town, a school, a country, a world—where panicky tapping of feet and exasperated sighs one’s opinion counts. from our e-print queues. Next semester in K-ville the fervid queue in a A queue can be defied when people who have frigid winter begins. As clumps of students wait, pressing needs will benefit the most from the chat and mingle in lines, the queue becomes a scarce product or service. A family whose flight concentrated collective experience. It is less about is on the verge of taking off can wriggle by the allocative efficiency than the ties that it will bind. line of travellers who are awaiting airport security clearance. There is also the intuitive thought Jing Song Ng is a Trinity senior. His column runs that organ queues should make allowances for every other Tuesday. You can follow Jing on Twitter @ people in dire straits. The person who has waited jingapore.
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012 | 11
commentaries
The V-word
V
oucherizing isn’t in the dictionary, but it’s secure the prices it does now. Romney is claiming something to consider before casting your that current seniors won’t be affected, but this is ballot this year. Vouchers are government- false. With its loss of bargaining power, Medicare funded credit for individuals to spend in a specific will either be more expensive (adding to debt) or private sector, such as health insurance or educa- some Medicare benefits will have to be diminished. tion. On the surface, vouchers are intended to in- Seniors who can afford higher quality insurance will crease competition between the private and public be okay, but those who can’t will be left behind as sectors to ultimately lower government spending Medicare loses its bargaining ability. And by the time and increase consumer choice. Within our generation ages, the system would the complexities of actual policy, howbe further divergent. As people opt ever, the effect of vouchers varies from out for private insurance, Medicare helpful to devastating, depending on will become more expensive or prothe existing circumstances. Voucherizvide fewer benefits or both. Private ining Medicare or primary schooling, for surance companies would be the only example, would be a disaster. feasible option for elderly individuals, Medicare has been on the forefront and because of the way these compaof this year’s election because the costs profiteer, elderly people would rajlakshmi de nies of the program are rising. These rising be subjected to the highest insurance minority report costs are no fault of the Medicare propremiums and the financial stress that gram: The Baby Boomer generation Medicare was created to alleviate. is aging, people on average are living longer and Voucherizing has also cropped up this year in edhealth technologies are advancing in quality. Health ucation policy, with Romney supporting the V-word expenditures are increasing for everyone and in all and Obama opposing it. The end result of diverparts of the world; this is not a characteristic unique gence is the same, but the mechanism is different. to Medicare. That’s why policy improvements must Voucherizing primary schooling means that more consider holistic solutions rather than only decreas- middle-income and high-income families would ing costs. switch to private schooling and our education sysMitt Romney’s plan for Medicare is to repackage tem would become more socioeconomically (and current spending into “a fixed-amount benefit to therefore racially) segregated. This already hapeach senior that he or she can use to purchase an in- pens to some extent—people choose where to live surance plan.” This is voucherizing. Senior citizens based on the neighborhood schools, and because under this plan would receive a “fixed-amount ben- schools are often funded by local taxes, constituent efit” (a voucher) that could be spent toward private wealth and education funding tend to accumulate insurance or toward Medicare. Under a simplistic together. Areas with high concentrations of lowmodel, this seems like a good idea: Increase choice income neighborhoods have less tax revenue to apwhile maintaining the Medicare option. In actual- ply toward schools. Add in vouchers, and the public ity, this would lead to a divergent system in which school system will lose resources to private schools health insurance for the elderly becomes even more and primary education will abandon all semblance unequal. In addition, government debt would rise of equal opportunity. due to Medicare’s weakened bargaining power withThere is no universal rule that vouchers are alin the insurance market. ways negative. It is highly context-dependent. In It’s important to remember that Medicare is es- the case of the uninsured non-elderly population, sentially a large insurance company. Under the cur- voucherizing makes some sense: It encourages berent system, Medicare is a large share of the health ing insured and therefore diversifies risk and reducinsurance market. When it comes to price-setting es unnecessary hospital visits, which are often paid between Medicare and various medical providers, for by the government when someone is uninsured. Medicare can use its large purchasing power to its In the cases of Medicare and education, however, advantage and obtain lower prices from the health voucherizing would eventually lead to a system that providers. If Romney is elected and implements the fails to protect those who rely on public options. voucher system, there will be immediate, negative In the end, we have to decide what we value. If we changes for senior citizens and for future genera- value the health of our seniors and the education of tions. Economic expectations for Medicare within our youth, then we can’t let them be swept callously the healthcare market will shift from a force to be into the margin. reckoned with to a much less relevant entity under the voucher system. Because prices are driven by Rajlakshmi De is a Trinity senior. Her column runs expectations of the future, Medicare will immedi- every other Tuesday. You can follow Rajlakshmi on Twitately lose its bargaining power and won’t be able to ter @RajDe4.
lettertotheeditor Rethinking economic fairness On Monday, Michael Cook wrote on the need to re-evaluate what “Economic patriotism” entails. Mr. Cook warned of “validating capitalism through its societal benefits” and encouraging corporations to commit to the well-being of society at large. Alternatively, he suggests that true economic patriotism involves pursuing one’s “dreams for their own sake and no one else’s.” In justifying this claim, Mr. Cook misrepresents the Aristotelian idea of happiness. As Mr. Cook notes, Aristotle observes that happiness is the highest good for man. Yet happiness was understood by the Greeks as not a purely individualistic state of achievement but as an activity. Particularly for Aristotle, happiness was a social activity inextricably tied to political life as well as to the form and aim of government. Aristotelian happiness involved action in concert with political life. Of course, this misunderstanding does not establish any reason against a re-evaluation of “economic patriotism.” But it does betray the narrow vision through which Mr. Cook considers economic action. The triumph of individual achievement is only pristine so long as Mr. Cook ignores
the social and political factors that work in concert with the individual. In the United States, this coordination both provides equal benefit across society and ingrains inequality. Our judicial, electoral and financial systems are all meant to “level the playing field.” But they are imperfect processes. Even social traditions like nepotism are frowned upon yet inextricable from the reality of economic action. This is not a socialist or egalitarian argument. It is an argument of fairness—one with which both egalitarians and Randians agree. But society does not reflect this condition of perfect fairness, and likely never will. The economic patriotism of Democrats and Republicans both offer solutions to this imperfect reality of economic systems—government intervention, charity and corporate responsibility. Whether one prefers government intervention, civic responsibility or a combination of both, it is clear that self-interest is neither a road to Aristotelian happiness nor an honest representation of how we should validate capitalism. Chris Kennedy Ph.D. student, political science
Columbus Day reflections
E
very nation has their own ups and downs in their histories. They have periods they can be proud of and other chapters that are not sources of pride but rather of embarrassment and shame. National holidays are important symbolic events. Nations reveal a lot about themselves—who they are and what they are made of—through these symbolic national days of celebration. As a recent immigrant to the U.S. from Turkey (after abdullah antepli having lived in South East blue devil imam Asia for a number of years), yesterday was my 10th Columbus Day celebration living in this country. Like many other immigrants who have adopted this beautiful country as their homeland, I have taken my adoption process very seriously. I studied America’s history, culture and national holidays, as well as her civic, political and governmental structure. Most of what I learned confirmed my desire to make the USA a homeland for me and for my family. However, Columbus Day has been by far the most difficult thing to understand and digest in this journey of becoming American. I guess I am really frustrated about the problematic way we celebrate Columbus Day. Yet, we continue year after year to celebrate it in the same troubling fashion. What would it take to correct this? Here is what I mean. Having lived and traveled to several countries where you can’t even talk about certain painful chapters of that nation’s history, I have always admired the civility, honesty and truthfulness of American society’s ability to talk, research, discuss and debate its history openly and without any fear of persecution or discrimination. So, unlike many other nations, the U.S. does not live in denial of what happened. Access to historical information on any period of U.S. history is, by and large, available to all. More importantly, the pain and suffering that has historically occurred on this land is almost always acknowledged by the overwhelming majority. So the problem is not competing and contradicting narratives of what happened or how it happened. Those who have read the historical documents about Christopher Columbus can see not only that Columbus was not the first European to arrive to the “New World,” but also that he does not deserve to be deemed the “Original American Hero.” If we judged Columbus today based only on the account of his memoirs, it wouldn’t take much to see how unimpressive, disturbing, cruel and shameful his tenure was. He could easily receive multiple death sentences by any U.S. court. In addition, no one denies that the arrival of European settlers to this New World since Columbus’s landing—which we celebrate on this national day of observance—led to the total destruction of the history, culture and the legacy of the indigenous peoples of this land. What happened to Native Americans is not a mystery but a well-known and well-documented tragedy. And also no sane person today disputes that the shipment of millions of African slaves to the Americas, since Columbus’s arrival to Bahamas, is one of the most shameful and ugly chapters of our history. The disturbing legacy of what happened to the indigenous inhabitants of this beautiful land and the suffering of millions of human beings under cruel slavery still haunts us a nation. So, despite knowing all of this, how in good conscious can we still have a national day like Columbus Day? How and why did we construct Columbus Day as a national holiday in the first place? If it was a mistake of previous generations, why don’t we correct that mistake? What would it take for us to collectively come to a higher level of honesty and determination to find a better way to celebrate our presence on this land? I hope I will live long enough to see this change, and I am hopeful. Many other, similar changes took place in this country. Why not add changing Columbus Day to these changes? Abdullah Antepli is the Muslim Chaplain and an adjunct faculty of Islamic Studies. His column runs every other Tuesday. You can follow Abdullah on Twitter @aantepli.
12 | TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2012
THE CHRONICLE
FUNGUS from page 2
Inner-city chemistry
ANDREW MOORE/ THE WASHINGTON POST
This 2009 picture shows a chemistry lab inside a former high school building in Detroit.
Of the country’s 56,000 community pharmacies, about 7,500 are considered compounding pharmacies, industry executives said. But the large volumes produced by NECC and its extensive multi-state shipments make it more like a manufacturer and less like a pharmacy, industry executives said. “It’s an outlier if this is the kind of volume and distribution they were doing,” said David Miller, head of the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists near Houston. “At what point do you draw the line between a pharmacy and a manufacturer? It is something from a regulatory perspective that needs to be looked at,” said Joe Cabaleiro, executive director of the Pharmacy
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Compounding Accreditation Board, a voluntary accreditation organization. The Massachusetts company was not among the 162 accredited pharmacies, he said. The day-to-day operations of compounding pharmacies are regulated by state boards. Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has generally claimed oversight of drug-compounding activities, the agency has relied on states to regulate them, according to a 2003 report by the Government Accountability Office. Several lawsuits have muddied the issues of regulatory oversight. John Eklund, owner of Preston’s Care Pharmacy, a boutique pharmacy in Arlington, Va., worries that the meningitis outbreak threatens the profession and could prompt new regulations. He typically produces single batches of custom-mixed drugs for individual patients who have prescriptions from a doctor.
NOBEL from page 3 us to transplant rejection-proof tissues,” said a leading U.S. stem cell researcher, George Daley, director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Yamanaka’s work “has now expanded to hundreds of labs around the world [that] are exploiting the techniques to study virtually every kind of disease. The impact cannot be overstated,” Daley said. Already, scientists are using such transformed cells to study “diseases in a dish” made from patients with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease. Research teams have also found shortcuts to turn skin cells directly into muscle fibers and brain neurons. The first human trials of induced stem-cell therapies could begin next year, Yamanaka said during a press briefing Monday. He said these three diseases present an attractive target for the first tests. On Monday, Yamanaka credited his co-laureate for making his advances possible. “This field has a long history starting with John Gurdon,” he said in a brief telephone interview posted on the Nobel Prize Web site. Yamanaka noted he was born in 1962—the year Gurdon published his pivotal frog experiments. A surgeon by training, Yamanaka, who splits his time between Japan’s Kyoto University and the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco, Calif., said treating patients has always been his aim. “My goal all my life is to bring this stem cell technology to the bedside, to patients.” But the therapeutic potential of induced stem cells remains in question. Some experiments show the cells may form tumors, prompting skepticism that they will ever be safe enough to treat heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and many other conditions where specific cells of the body break down. However, the Nobel committee in its citation said the dual “groundbreaking discoveries have completely changed our view of development and cellular specialization. Textbooks have been rewritten and new research fields have been established. By reprogramming human cells, scientists have created new opportunities to study diseases and develop methods for diagnosis and therapy.”
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