Drinking on the town
And the winner is...
BAR ON WHEELS HITS THE BULL CITY
SOPHOMORE REBECCA LAI DISCUSSES HER PRIZE-WINNING VIDEO
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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
XXXXXDAY, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER MMMM XX,2,2013 2013
Plaza to shut down for renovations
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ONEONE HUNDRED HUNDRED ANDAND EIGHTH NINTH YEAR, YEAR, ISSUE ISSUE XXX8
Duke runs away with Bull City Classic
by Elizabeth Kim THE CHRONICLE
Starting in October, the Bryan Center plaza will shut down for the next two years. A central and often lively location on campus, the Plaza will shut down to initiate an approximately four-month long demolition of the West Union building that will be followed by a reconstruction phase expected to last until December 2015, said Paul Manning, director of the office of project management. Students and faculty will be unable to access the area once the bridge from the residential quad is destroyed. “Once the demolition actually begins, the whole area has to be contained so the traffic will be routed around through the Kilgo quad side or around part of the Chapel,” Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta said. Manning said the Plaza will be closed from the three archways on the residential quad up to a temporary partition that will be set up on the west end of the Great Hall at the wooden deck. If the renovations go as planned, the reconstruction phase should be completed in December 2015. Some students are concerned about the implications of the construction over the next few years. “I think that’ll be terribly inconvenient, actually,” sophomore Zohaib Shaikh said. “It’s the main entrance to the plaza— especially because it’s connected to all the residence quads.” He also noted that the West Union renovations have already disrupted student life. “Many eateries are completely gone now such as Subway, Chick-fil-a and Dillo, and not as many eateries came to campus this semester, so I feel like we don’t have as many options as we used to,” Shaikh said. The University has made efforts to maintain aesthetics and allay the inconvenience of the renovations. Manning noted that construction will proceed from 8 a.m. to approximately 6 or 7 p.m. as a measure to reduce the impact of noise pollution from the construction. In addition, the lights inside the West Union building are kept on at See RENOVATIONS, page 12
by Nick Martin THE CHRONICLE
Unlike Duke teams of previous years, it was the ground-and-pound and not the aerial attack that led the Blue Devils to a 45-0 victory against N.C. Central Saturday at Wallace Wade Stadium. After rushing for 257 yards and throwing for 231, Saturday’s game marked the first time since Aug. 30, 2008 that Duke rushed for more yards than it threw for in
a victory. The last time the Blue Devils accomplished this feat was David Cutcliffe’s first game as head coach, a 31-7 victory against James Madison. Now as he enters the first year of his new contract extension, Cutcliffe’s team ran up and down the field, pushing around N.C. Central’s defensive line thanks to an up-tempo, no-huddle pace. “We have to be a team that runs the
football pretty well,” Cutcliffe said. “There’s two reasons—one, because it helps you win football games, the other because we’re good enough to do that.” The Blue Devils boast a deep backfield in senior Juwan Thompson, redshirt junior Josh Snead and sophomores Jela Duncan and Shaquille Powell. A case can be made for any four of Duke’s running backs for the
See Sportswrap, page 1 ERIC LIN/THE CHRONICLE
Duke researchers study ‘ventriloquism effect’ by Gautam Hathi THE CHRONICLE
The same effect that makes ventriloquism work could help people with hearing difficulties, according to Duke researchers. In order to make their puppets speak, ventriloquists rely on a well-known link between sight and sound. The audience hears a joke, sees the puppet move and thinks the puppet must be talking. Duke researchers recently set out to investigate how this trick works. Jennifer Groh, a professor at Duke’s Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, led a study to determine how the brain links separate audio and visual stimuli. The findings contradict conventional wisdom that timing is the most important factor in this connection by showing that the brain uses visual cues to take a guess as to where the sound is coming from. Not only does it further
explain ventriloquism, it has implications for people with hearing impairments. “The question we’re looking at is, ‘How does vision help us learn?’” Groh said. “That’s why we have a ventriloquist illusion, because generally vision helps us to do better at localizing sound.” The study—which Groh conducted along with Daniel Pages, a graduate student in psychology and neuroscience— involved exposing participants to a light and a sound coming from different places. One group experienced the light and sound at the same time, while the other group was shown the light slightly after the sound played. They found that the brain is better at associating visual cues that come after a sound rather than ones that come at the same time. People who saw the light after they heard a sound are more likely to look toward the light than people who experi-
enced them simultaneously. This indicates that the brain “guesses and checks” after hearing something to associate a sight with the sound, Pages said. “It was surprising that it was so difficult for the brain to calibrate [the different stimuli] with just simultaneity,” he said. He added that they expected to see a larger effect from the simultaneous stimuli than they did, because the conventional wisdom has been that timing plays a key role in associating different sensory inputs. The results of this study have implications for people with mild or moderate hearing impairments. Knowing that the human brain has to search for the source of a sound might be useful in designing therapies. “You want to encourage people [with See VENTRILOQUISM, page 4
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2 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
Have you met the STEAMy challenge winner? This past summer, the Duke STEAMy video challenge asked Duke students and recent alumni to create videos designed to showcase the STEAM interdisciplinary approach—a cross between the sciences and the humanities. Sophomore Rebecca Lai, a first-time animator, was the winner of the challenge. The Chronicle’s Ryan Eichenwald sat down with Lai to discuss her experience with animation and STEAM.
TC: Did you ever think, ‘Oh, I’m not going to be able to finish?’ RL: At the beginning, definitely. I actually started off by designing the character, and that part of it, the design parts you have to draw the character in all these various positions so that you can use it later on in the video. At first, I just hated my character design so much. After one day of brainstorming and trying to get out some good designs I thought, ‘This is too frustrating. I don’t think I’m going to make a video after all.’ But the next day, for instance, for some reason I was very inspired, and I started trying some other things, some other designs. After that it was a lot easier.
Q &
A
The Chronicle: You were originally majoring in biology, why did you switch? Rebecca Lai: Well, I think biology was kind of my default plan coming in. In high school you don’t really get to take that broad of a spectrum of classes. After coming here, though, I took my first computer science class second semester, and I liked it so much that I decided this was probably the thing for me. TC: What got you into the STEAM program? RL: So a friend told me about the video challenge, and I think the idea just felt very personal for me, because I’ve always really enjoyed both the arts and the sciences. So, you know, the chance to promote that concept was really appealing. TC: You were allowed to choose any medium of video you wanted. What made you decide animation? RL: I’d never actually animated stuff before, but I’d used Flash before to draw things, because it can do vector art. I’d actually gotten practice in it by interning at an animation studio where I was designing props for them. When I saw the video challenge I thought it would be a great opportunity to also learn how to animate, since I hadn’t done it in Flash before. TC: Can you describe your inspiration behind the video? RL: Part if it is a bit autobiographical: the whole “feeling like you have to choose” between art and science, then eventually realizing that you don’t and that when you combine the two can lead to really great results. That part is kind of like my own story. But in terms of other influences, I think there’s definitely a
SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE
Sophomore Rebecca Lai’s animated video discusses the intersection of science and art, emphasizing the importance of creativity. bit of Alice in Wonderland and maybe Narnia sort of thing where you enter into a new world and find new things that inspire you. TC: Why did you choose the particular motifs and metaphors that you did? RL: The whole idea behind STEAM is that when you put art and science together, it leads to better things, and for me that kind of made me think of plants growing—the whole idea of growth—so...plants became my metaphor in the video. TC: Can you describe what it was like creating the video as a first-time animator? RL: I wanted to do an animation piece, but because I hadn’t animated before, I wasn’t sure if it was going to turn out well at all. I didn’t even know if I’d be able to finish a twominute video. I watched a lot of tutorials online, and I think that’s one of the great things about technology today, is that there’s so many online tutorials. So I watched a bunch of those to learn how to do basic animation, and then from there on it was just a lot of experimentation—trying things out until they looked good.
Special Lecture Sponsored by the Chancellor for Health Affairs Duke University Medical Center
Charting Our Future Together: Setting an Agenda for the NHLBI
Wednesday September 4, 2013
TC: What was your reaction when you won? RL: I was looking in my inbox and I saw the email heading, and I just saw that it was about STEAM—I didn’t see what else was in there—so at first I was a little scared. I was like, ‘Oh crud. If they announce the winners…’ I mean, it would have been okay if I didn’t win, because I got so much out of the contest anyway, but I was a little nervous. Then I opened it, and actually seeing ‘Congratulations!’… That was also another shock, but eventually—it was a very happy moment. TC: It was a $1000 cash prize? Any idea what you’re going to do with the money? RL: The weekend before school started, my laptop actually broke, so I already bought a laptop that just happened to be a thousand dollars. So, in the end, there’s no gain. TC: Will you be planning to use the laptop for further animation? RL: Yeah, actually. The new laptop I got is a 17.3 inch monitor, so it’s going to be really good for art. I’m pretty excited.
{
}
Lecture
4:00–5:00 PM Reception
5:00–6:00 PM Searle Center Lecture Hall Seely G. Mudd Building
All you need, all in one place.
Gary H. Gibbons, MD Director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) National Institutes of Health (NIH)
TC: Was the character supposed to be based on your appearance? RL: No, not really. I just had an idea of how I wanted the character to look and I just played around with different designs until I settled on something I liked.
For more information, contact Suzy Johnson at 919-681-8222 or suzy.johnson@duke.edu. Registration is not required. Find location and parking information at maps.duke.edu.
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New Durham venture blends bikes and beer by Katie Becker THE CHRONICLE
Bar hoppers and tourists now can roll through Durham in a whole new way. A Durham-based company called Biker Bar NC rents out a 14-person bar-bicycle vehicle for tours around the city. Opened on August 24, the company is owned by Seth Gross and Martha King. Gross said that there are about a dozen bikes like this throughout the country, and when he read about them, he thought that the bike would be a good addition to Durham. “It seemed like a very Durham thing, because of the opportunities for tourism, fun on the bike, learning the history, exploring Durham’s restaurants and enjoying the city,” Gross said. According to the company’s website, BikerBarNC.com, the bike can be used for events ranging from pub crawls and parties to historic tours and meetings. Rides usually last about two hours and are booked in groups of up to 14. Prices vary, but the typical cost is $325 for a ride—which averages to about $23 per person on a 14-person ride. The bike itself is 16’8” long and weighs 1,700 pounds, and travels between three to five miles per hour. Though Biker Bar NC provides a captain to steer the bike, the patrons provide the power by pedaling as they sit, talk and/ or drink. The project has been in the works for about a year, as the owners wanted to make sure that the city was on board. He said he spoke to Durham Mayor Bill Bell, the Durham Police Department and the City Council to make sure the bike did not violate any city
ordinances. “It was a pretty sizeable investment so we wanted to make sure to approach all of the relevant people,” Gross said. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive.” Gross said that he wants to use the bike to promote civic pride for Durham and see it as “a symbol of the city.” The bike itself is modeled after the Stanley Steamer automobile, which is believed to have been the first automobile on Durham’s streets. The city, he said, even changed a statute law so that having alcohol on the bike would not be an open container law violation. The vehicle is referred to as a “bar on wheels,” but Biker Bar NC does not provide its own alcohol. Instead, groups must bring their own snacks and drinks. Beer and wine are permitted on board, but hard liquor, fortified wine and kegs are prohibited. North Carolina law forbids riders from exiting the bike with an open container. Mike Myers, a junior, witnessed a similar contraption while studying abroad through Duke in Berlin. He said that the bike was a great vehicle for sightseeing around the city. “It worked great in Berlin, but I don’t know how much demand there is for traveling slowly around Durham with beer,” Myers said. “Certainly more than there would be for traveling slowly without beer.” However, he said it might help to bring attention to Durham’s beer scene. “I like the concept for Durham because we have a lot of breweries and micro-breweries, and this could help develop our beer culture,” See BAR BIKE, page 4
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 | 3
New grocery delivery service introduced to all campuses by Hayley Trainer THE CHRONICLE
A new grocery delivery service run by undergraduate students, made its first delivery Sunday. The service—DevilGroceries—hosts a website through which students living on all three campuses can order groceries to be delivered to their rooms. Orders can be placed any day of the week, and deliveries are made every Sunday. Juniors John Hosey and Anshuman Prasad founded the service following a summer of living on campus together. “Anshuman, who is from Delhi, asked me whether there were milkmen in the U.S.,” Hosey said. I told him there used to be. That got us thinking, ‘What if there were milkmen for Duke? What if we started delivering milk and cereal?’” The selection has grown from milk and cereal. DevilGroceries currently offers 19 types of fruit, 18 types of vegetables and a variety of other food items— many of which cannot be bought on campus. New selections are added weekly, Hosey said. “We’re offering a lot of food that people can’t get on campus,” he added. “Fresh fruits, fresh veggies, fresh bread. We buy them the same day they’re delivered, so you know they’re fresh.” Hosey noted that common food venue Au Bon Pain only offers one type of apple, but students can order a wider selection from DevilGroceries.
Students can currently pay for their deliveries using credit, debit or cash. The DevilGroceries team hopes to eventually offer the option of paying with Food Points or FLEX, Hosey said. “Getting on food points is our primary goal,” he said. “It would make our service a lot more accessible for students, and it would be beneficial for the University as well.” One goal of DevilGroceries is to offer selections at a lower cost to students than the Duke alternatives. There is a $3.99 flat rate delivery charge for every order, and a minimum order of ten dollars is required. Orders placed on Central and West campuses are delivered directly to students’ doors, whereas East campus orders are delivered to the dorm common rooms. The service currently works with Target, Kroger, Food Lion and Sam’s Club to purchase their selection, but one of the long-term goals is to expand into other retailers, Hosey said. “We source items wherever they are cheapest in an effort to keep prices as low as possible,” Prasad said. “Hopefully a long-term agreement with one or more stores will lead to a further reduction in prices.” Junior Samantha Perez, who like many others, does not have a car on campus, said that this service would be beneficial to many students.
PASSION. RIGOR. PURPOSE.
Human Rights
Global Migration
dukeethics.org/ecp Rethinking Regulation
From the challenges facing governments in a global world to the decisions students confront everyday at Duke, the Ethics Certificate takes you on a multidisciplinary exploration of the question, “How ought we to live?” A new pathway emphasizes experiential learning, with a faculty-mentored research experience and an in-depth community engagement project, such as DukeEngage Dublin, Kenan Summer Fellows, or a global internship.
Religions & Public Life
Moral Attitudes & Decision-Making
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4 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
VENTROLIQUISM
from page 1
The Chronicle
Dancing with the stars
hearing difficulties] to actively look for the sound,” Groh said. “That kind of active behavior could help them to some degree.” This study could help in developing devices to aid people who are either vision or hearing impaired because it explores the link between those two senses, said Norbert Kopco, a psychology and neuroscience research associate, who has worked with Groh on previous studies in the same field. “There is huge potential for the development of prosthetic devices that help people whose vision or hearing is impaired,” Kopco said. “To the extent that one of the senses can supply the information that the other sense cannot, understanding how the visual and auditory information interacts is critical for the development of such medical devices.” The study also explored the similarities between human and monkey brains by including two monkeys as participants. Groh explained that humans and monkeys use similar mechanisms for vision and hearing, so conducting this study on monkeys allowed her to examine whether the mechanisms for associating visual and auditory stimuli are consistent between the two species.
BIKE BAR
from page 3
Myers said. The Aug. 24 opening featured an inaugural ride, whose riders included Bell and Frank Stasio, host of “The State of Things” on WUNC. The other twelve seats were filled by the highest bidders in an auction whose proceeds benefited the John Avery Boys and Girls Club of Durham. Gross noted that he hopes the bike will be used for more charity events in the future. Gross explained that one of the biggest challenges so far has been getting people to visualize and understand what the bike really is. He added, though, that when people do hear about it, the response is positive. “We’ve already had a ton of emails requesting the bike for various events, even though the booking function of the website doesn’t officially open until Tuesday,” Gross said.
AMANDA BRUMWELL/THE CHRONICLE
Student performers dance the night away at the Dance Council Showcase Thursday night.
Feelin’ alive
NOTHING
TASTES BURRITOS COSMIC as good as
from
cosmic cantina
Menu Sampling
Old School Veggie Burrito Regular Chicken Burrito Cheese Quesadilla Chicken Quesadilla VeggieNachos Chips & Salsa
Open until 4 am
$2.86 $5.65 $1.41 $3.59 $4.12 $2.06
1920 1/2 Perry St. at Ninth Street Just a block from East Campus Also serving from Chick-Fil-A on West Campus
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EMD trio Krewella entertain Duke students during the annual Heatwave concert Saturday night.
the chronicle
september 2, 2013
BULL CITY SHUTOUT
ERIC LIN/THE CHRONICLE
sportswrap
MEN’S SOCCER: MATHERS SCORES TWICE FOR DUKE • CROSS COUNTRY: SWEEPS BULL CITY CLASSIC
6 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
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Duke records first shutout since 1989 in season-opener by Nick Martin THE CHRONICLE
In the third edition of the Bull City Gridiron Classic, Duke dominated N.C. Central from the opening kickoff, running away with a 45-0 victory against the Eagles in Wallace Wade Stadium. The game was the Blue Devil’s first shutout victory since 1989, when they held North Carolina scoreless en route to a 41-0 victory. Unlike last year’s lopsided victory, Duke (1-0) did not wait to until the second half to pull away. Behind a stifling defense, a 257-yard rushing performance and an explosive performance from junior receiver Jamison Crowder, the Blue Devils proved their offense is as potent as ever. Utilizing a no-huddle offense for the entire game, Duke kept the Eagles defense on their heels for the entirety of the game. N.C. Central (0-1) did its best to match the speed on offense, but failed to put together any successful drives, being held to 184 yards compared to Duke’s 488. The first half belonged to Crowder, who brought the crowd to its feet on a pair of exciting punt returns. His first return of 25-yards set up the Blue Devils’ first touchdown. Crowder fielded the Eagles’ next punt at Duke’s 24-yardline and weaved in-and-out of would-be tacklers before breaking away to the right sideline, taking it all the way for a 76-yard return, putting the Blue Devils up 14-0. In his second career start, Boone looked sharp—completing 16-of-20 passes for 176 yards and adding a rushing touchdown. Boone started hot, completing his first four passes before McCaffrey dropped a would-be first down, bringing on sophomore kicker Ross Martin. Martin, who was touted as one of the top kickers in the NCAA and named to the Lou Groza Award watch-list, struggled early on, missing the 38-yard field goal wide right and placing a kickoff out of bounds following Crowder’s punt return for a touchdown. Martin managed to redeem himself later on, nailing a 39yard field goal in the fourth quarter to secure the final score.
Following the 25-yard punt return by Crowder, Duke took over at the Eagles’ 45-yard line and Boone led the offense down to the N.C. Central 5-yard line. From there, redshirt-junior Brandon Connette took over at quarterback and put the Blue Devils on the scoreboard with a 3-yard pass to redshirt junior Braxton Deaver, putting Duke up 7-0 with 5:09 left in the first quarter. Duke’s defense managed to hold its own against redshirt senior Jordan Reid and the Eagles offense to 106 yards, five first downs and no scores in the first half. Reid was under duress all day, going 11-for-20 with only 89 yards passing on the day. Redshirt sophomore cornerback Jeremy Cash was particularly impressive, leading the team with five solo tackles, one pass breakup and a quar-
45 DUKE
terback hurry. The second half opened up with the Blue Devils and Eagles trading punts, with neither team having much success moving the ball. After a few stale possessions, Duke’s offense found its spark behind sophomore running back Jela Duncan, who rushed 11 times for 79 yards and a touchdown with 1:14 left in the third quarter. Boone did not see much playing time in the second half, with Connette taking over following the first drive of the half. Connette connected with redshirt junior receiver Isaac Blakney for a 19-yard touchdown strike with 36 seconds left in the third quarter. Duke was able to empty its bench in the final quarter, with a number of true freshmen and walk-ons seeing the field as the Blue Devils ran out the clock to preserve a shutout victory.
In a season-opening victory against N.C. Central, cornerbac to its first home shutout since 1978.
FOOTBALL
ERIC LIN/THE CHRONICLE
True freshman Johnell Barnes recorded the first reception of his college career and was one of four first-year players to see action in Duke’s blowout victory.
Backup quarterback Brandon Connette opened the scoring when he found tight end Braxton Deaver for a 3-yard touchdown.
from page 1
starting position. So instead of choosing just one, the offense uses all four throughout the game, with every back ready to go at a moment’s notice. “That was a good start for our offensive line and running backs, our running game in particular,” redshirt junior Anthony Boone said. “It’s kind of a baseline of where we’re out. I thought they did a great job.” All four backs received at least six carries on Saturday and all four averaged more than five yards a carry. Together, the unit averaged six yards per carry. “We have got to maintain being good enough to [run the ball].” Cutcliffe said. “I thought, going in, that we might run for more yards than we did.” Duke’s quarterback contributed to the ground game as well, as redshirt juniors Boone and Brandon Connette combined for 46 rushing yards, each adding a touchdown run. What was most impressive about the rushing outburst was the Blue Devils’ efficiency running the ball on first down. Duke averaged 7.2 yards per carry on first down, setting the team up with a number of second-and-short opportunities, giving the Blue Devils flexibility to go back to the ground. Six of Duke’s runs on first down went for longer than 10 yards—including a 31-yard scamper by Snead—which moved the chains and kept the clock moving as the offense moved at a frantic pace. Duke’s rushing attack has usually played second fiddle to the passing game, with talented quarterbacks
Jamison Crowder took a punt 76 yards to the house to give the Blue Devils a 14-0 advantage.
Quarte touchd throug
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Defense stands tall in NCCU 0 Blue Devils’ victory by Zac Elder THE CHRONICLE
ERIC LIN/THE CHRONICLE
ck Ross Cockrell had four tackles and led the Duke defense
Thad Lewis and Sean Renfree running the Blue Devils’ offense in past years. The team heavily relied on the aerial attack to get them through the game, using the run just to catch the defense off-guard. Nobody was caught off guard when Duke ran the ball—but nobody could stop it either. The Blue Devils kept rotating their backs and hitting the holes hard, keeping the Eagles on their toes for the entire game. If any of the running backs deserves a gold star, Duncan was the one who made the best case. The sophomore ran downhill all day, rumbling for 76 yards on 11 carries and adding one touchdown in the third quarter to put Duke up 35-0. Duke’s success in the run game is a testament to the work of its offensive line. Led by redshirt senior Perry Simmons, the Blue Devil line boasts four returning starters from last year’s team, with redshirt sophomore center Matt Skura taking over for the recently-graduated Brian Moore. Even when Duke did not run the ball, the offensive line gave ample passing protection for both Boone and Connette, neither of whom were sacked during the blowout victory. “It was great,” Boone said. “They gave me all the time in the world and did a great job in pass protection and understanding what I was seeing. We were on the same page “ The Blue Devils’ 257 rushing yards were the most a Duke team has gained on the ground since Sept. 29, 2002. The team’s 49 attempts have been surpassed just once by a Duke team during the Cutcliffe era—in last year’s last-second victory against North Carolina.
The Blue Devils did something Saturday that no Duke team has done since 1989—shut out an opponent. Anthony Boone led the offense to one of its most efficient performances in recent history, and the Blue Devils’ defense dominated as Duke cruised to a 45-0 win over N.C. Central. “Can’t say enough about our defensive stat and defense; you’ve got to start with that,” Blue Devils’ head coach David Cutcliffe said. “It’s nice to see a shut out, and in this modern era its difficult. And it wasn’t a fluke.” The Blue Devils allowed the Eagles to amass just 184 total yards of offense. N.C. Central punted 10 times on the day, and only managed nine first downs, compared to 27 for Duke. The Eagles did not even cross into Blue Devil territory until there were three minutes remaining in the second quarter. From the onset, the mostly-untested Duke secondary lived up to the praise it has been receiving from coaches since coming out of summer camp. Redshirt sophomore Jeremy Cash—in his first collegiate action since his true freshman season at Ohio State—proved his worth at the strike safety position, providing support against the run and holding his own in the defensive backfield against the pass. “He had fun,” Cutcliffe said. “And he was chomping at the bit [Saturday] morning and last night. Yesterday afternoon he came to me talking about it. There’s no question he made a lot of plays.” The transfer’s energy on the field was infectious, and the Blue Devils swarmed the run game all evening, holding the Eagles to a meager 2.8 yards per carry. Cash finished with six tackles, including one for loss, in his first Duke game. “That’s one thing they instilled in us at Ohio State,” Cash said about his rambunctiousness on the field. “I think it’s important that you get the whole team into it, and the crowd into it too.” True freshmen Breon Borders and Bryon Fields also showed their mettle in the secondary. Both cornerbacks saw the field
and often, getting reps with both the firstand second-team defensive units. Borders even recorded his first interception as a Blue Devil, picking off a pass on the last play of the game and returning it 19 yards as the celebratory fireworks rang out at Wallace Wade Stadium. Going up against a starting offensive line stocked with 300-plus pounders, Duke’s defensive line and linebacking core plugged up the middle and forced N.C. Central runners to the edge, where they had little success bypassing the Blue Devil secondary. Despite recording only two sacks, the Eagles’ passing game looked anemic—quarterbacks Jordan Reid and Malcolm Bell combined for just 103 yards through the air. “I’m pleased with our pass rush early,” Cutcliffe said. “[N.C. Central] made the decision to keep their back in against a four-man rush, which was a good sign. It made it a little bit harder for them to spread our coverage.” This offseason, Cutcliffe said that his squad had gone from “irrelevant to relevant” and now they needed to go from “relevant to good.” Duke certainly handled N.C. Central the way a top-tier program should take care of a FCS program. The Blue Devils put forth a completely dominant football game. The Eagles’ offense saw almost no success against the first-teamers and only started racking up yards late in the game with most of Duke’s first unit on the bench. Offensively it was the same story—the Blue Devils moved the ball methodically, and N.C. Central looked physically inadequate against a faster, stronger Duke squad. The Blue Devils’ depth, especially at the tailback position, wore down the Eagles’ front seven and led to easy scores, both through the air and on the ground. Duke recorded its first shutout in more than 20 years, and only its fifth shutout since 1964, and looked like a team with something to prove this season. The last time the Blue Devils recorded a shutout was also the last time they won a share of the ACC championship. “The scoreboard said it all,” Cash said. “45-zip.”
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 | 7
Around the ACC No. 8 Clemson 38, No. 5 Georgia 35 In what was one of the premier games of college football’s opening week, the Tigers made a statement for the ACC against a high-powered SEC foe. Quarterback Tajh Boyd threw for three touchdowns and ran for two more and running back Roderick McDowell ran for 132 yards in a game that had no shortage of offense, with both teams combining for 1,012 yards. No. 6 South Carolina 27, North Carolina 10 The Gamecocks threw for a 65-yard touchdown pass on their third play from scrimmage and jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first quarter. South Carolina never looked back, disposing of the Tar Heels in their season-opener. Sophomore Mike Davis led the way for the Gamecocks with 115 yards on 12 carries, including a 75-yard touchdown scamper to ice the game. Georgia Tech 70, Elon 0 Duke did not provide the most lopsided result in the ACC’s first week of action— rather, it was the Yellow Jackets who drubbed Elon 70-0. Georgia Tech averaged 7.2 yards per carry and racked up 557 yards of total offense, but perhaps the biggest surprise was quarterback Vad Lee’s big-play ability through the air, throwing for 189 yards and two touchdowns on 7-of-11 passing. Virginia 19, BYU 16 The Cavaliers were on upset alert late in their season-opener against the Cougars, but a 13-yard touchdown run by Kevin Parks with 2:36 to play was enough to give Virginia its first win of the year. Amassing just 223 yards in the game, the Cavalier offense looked anemic at times, and Virginia also struggled to stop BYU running back Jamaal Williams, who ran for 144 yards on the game. No. 1 Alabama 35, Virginia Tech 10 The Hokies never had much of a chance against the defending national champions. Head coach Nick Saban’s squad marched into Lane Stadium and struggled at times on offense, but superb special teams play allowed the Crimson Tide to run away with a victory. Wide receiver Christion Jones opened the scoring for Alabama with a 72-yard punt return touchdown and added a 94-yard kickoff return for a score in the second quarter. Virginia Tech quarterback Logan Thomas struggled, completing just 5-of-26 passes.
Penn State 23, Syracuse 17
erback Anthony Boone scored his first down of the season when he broke gh on a 1-yard run.
Linebacker Kyler Brown forced a fumble and defensive end Dezmond Johnson fell on it to give Duke the ball deep in Eagles territory.
Josh Snead scampers for a 31-yard run down the left sideline—Duke’s longest rush of the afternoon.
In a tale of two quarterbacks, rue freshman Christian Hackenberg earned the first win of his college career against one of the ACC’s newest members while senior Drew Allen struggled in his first start for Syracuse. Check out more recaps from the first week of ACC football at sports.chronicleblogs.com.
8 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
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MEN’S SOCCER
Blue Devils win John Rennie Invitational by Daniel Carp THE CHRONICLE
As a freshman last season, Zach Mathers was one of the anchors of a Duke defensive unit that allowed just 13 goals in 18 games. But as Mathers looked up the field, he watched an offensive unit that managed just 20 tallies in a lackluster season. A position change to midfield has allowed Mathers to take a more active role in the Blue Devils’ offense, and the team saw instant diviRU 1 dends from the switch at the John Rennie DUKE 1 Nike Invitational. NE 0 Mathers scored twice on the weekend and DUKE 2 was named the tournament’s MVP, leading Duke to a 1-1 draw against Rutgers Friday and a 2-0 victory against Northeastern Sunday at Koskinen Stadium. “We learned a lot about ourselves this weekend,” head coach John Kerr said. “We gained a lot of confidence in our play against Rutgers Friday night and had that will to win.... Today’s game was disjointed due to the heat and the tactics of the other team. It was disappointing for the fans to watch a game like that, disappointing for us, but at the end we came out with the right result.” Mathers’ first tally of the season could not have come at a more opportune time for the Blue Devils. After surrendering an early goal in its season-opener against the Scarlet Knights (0-1-1), Duke (1-0-1) trailed 1-0 in the closing minutes of the contest. Freshman
CHRIS DIECKHAUS/THE CHRONICLE
Sophomore Zach Mathers netted two goals in Duke’s opening weekend of the season.
Brody Huitema’s last-ditch shot attempt was blocked, but the rebound bounced right to Mathers, who found the back of the net with 11 seconds to play to force overtime. Sophomore Luis Rendon had a good look at the goal for the Blue Devils in overtime, but his shot bounded off the post to keep the game deadlocked until the final buzzer. “That’s going to be part of when we look back to the season. It could be the tie that gets us into the playoffs or the non-loss that gets us into the playoffs,” Kerr said. “We played excellent soccer throughout the game to come back and tie that game late in the second half
was a tribute to how well we work and how we’re not going to give up this year. We should have won in overtime” Mathers also broke through in the 72nd minute against Northeastern (0-1-1) to break a scoreless tie. “I saw the ball come across and told one of my teammates to leave it,” Mathers said. “It fell really nicely for me and I got over it and slid it in the corner.” Duke matched the Huskies’ physicality from the game’s opening whistle. After being called for just 10 fouls against Rutgers, the Blue Devils were whistled for 12 fouls in the first half and racked up 20 on the game. Less than two minutes after Mathers gave Duke a 1-0 lead, Huitema was taken down in the box as he streaked toward the net on a breakaway. Northeastern’s Conner Alexander was issued a red card for the foul, and Blue Devil midfielder Sean Davis knocked home the penalty kick to extend the team’s lead. Kerr noted that with a number of new players getting comfortable with Duke’s system, the team continues to grow. But the Blue Devil head coach did not shy away from testing these new pieces against the Huskies, starting
three of his four freshmen in Huitema, Jimmy Doll and Seo-in Kim alongside transfers Alex Long and Tomas Coulter. “Really happy with the additions to the team,” Kerr said. “We had five new players in our starting lineup. We’re making strides—a long way to go, but good progress.” Long, a graduate student who played three years at South Carolina, kept the Huskies off the board early in Sunday’s game, making a big save in the opening minutes and punching a way a number of early Northeastern corner kicks to keep the game scoreless en route to his first shutout in a Duke uniform. Mathers said that after allowing a goal in the 21st minute of the contest against Rutgers, the Blue Devils are hoping to start games more quickly in hopes of making late-game heroics a last resort. “We need to come out stronger in the first half. We tend to come out pretty slow,” Mathers said. “If we pick it up we can start punishing more teams early and then in the second half we always seem to pick it up. Our start is huge for us.”
CHRIS DIECKHAUS/THE CHRONICLE
Alex Long recorded the first shutout of his Duke career in a 2-0 win against Northeastern.
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CROSS COUNTRY
Duke men and women sweep Bull City Classic by Ali Wells THE CHRONICLE
Duke opened the season Saturday with decisive victories against both the men’s and women’s teams of city foe N.C. Central in the Bull City Classic. Saturday’s race marked the second and final time the two programs will meet in Wallace Wade Stadium but was the fifth consecutive duel meet between the Blue Devils and the Eagles on both teams’ daily training trails. “This is a great way for us to open up the season and be in partnership with N.C. Central,” men’s head coach Norm Ogilvie said. “This weekend is a celebration of Durham.” With Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmir” playing in the background and football fans cheering, the men and women started just a minute apart. Both races were close for the lap around the track in the stadium, but Duke soon distanced itself from N.C. Central as the runners made their way to the finish in the Sally Meyerhoff Fitness Loop. Junior Abby Farley finished first on the women’s side, leading the way into the loop and turning in a time of 15:08 for the 4,000-meter in her first overall victory as a Blue Devil. “This is definitely a longer distance for me,” Farley said. “I’m more of a mid-distance runner, but this is really exciting. I’m excited about our season. We have a
ERIC LIN/THE CHRONICLE
With a time of 15:08, junior Abby Farley crossed the finish line first for the Duke women and gave the Blue Devils their fifth-straight victory in the Bull City Classic.
great chance to do well.” Freshman Grace Chang, senior Dana Morin and junior Colleen Schmidt all finished within 22 seconds of Farley before the first Eagle, Amber Brooks crossed the finish line in fifth. Freshman Gina Daniel rounded out the Duke field in sixth place. With the top four finishes and a sixth place finish, Duke racked up just 16 points as opposed to N.C. Central’s 39, pulling out a comfortable victory.
Kakuro In Kakuro you must place the digits 1 to 9 into a grid of squares so that each horizontal or vertical run of white squares adds up to the clue printed either to the left of or above the run. Numbers below a diagonal line give the total of the white squares below; numbers to the right of a diagonal line give the total of the white squares to the right.
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“This was a solid, hard effort,” women’s head coach Kevin Jermyn said. “We aren’t at that point in the year when we are race-ready. We are ge aring up their training to be ready for a full-race effort and using each other to get mentally and physically ready.” On the men’s side, freshman Stephen Shine led the parade of the six Blue Devils across the finish line, completing the 6,000-meter run in 19:11 for his first collegiate
win as well. “We knew Stephen was a talented guy with really good high-school credentials,” Ogilvie said. “He showed that talent counts for a lot.” Sophomores William Hague and William Rooney followed shortly behind, turning in times of 19:15 and 19:27, respectively, and sophomore Blake Udland and freshman Weston Carvalho claimed the two remaining scoring positions for Duke. Freshman Aaron Liberatore crossed the finish line sixth, more than a minute before Gregory Coward of N.C. Central finished. Liberatore’s score did not count, but the men’s team shut out the Eagles with a final score of 15-45. “The shutout was certainly the goal in this dual meet,” Ogilvie said. “It’s a good indication that we are about where we thought we were. We just want to keep training hard.” The home trails and cheering crowd made this meet an excellent transition from the preseason to the regular season. The rest of the meets this season will take place away. The men’s team will head to Furman on September 14 next, and the women will compete in the Adidas Challenge on September 20. “Ultimately, we need to get going with some more competitive races in the month ahead, but there’s lots of time left,” Jermyn said. “It’s a patient path to the ACC Championship.”
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
A more holistic scorecard Although we do not always share the views of Duke administrators, we largely agree with their recent critique of President Obama’s plan to cut college costs. If implemented, the plan would allow the Department of Education to rank colleges and disburse federal financial aid to colleges that are financially accessible, affordable and have better outcomes. Higher ratings will be given to schools based on certain factors, such as the earnings and advanced degrees graduates later procure. Although we believe the federal government should help make college more accessible, the plan defines the value of a college education too narrowly and could initiate a turn towards more vocational curricula. To understand the flaws in Obama’s proposal, it is important first to identify the problem he is trying to address. At colleges across the country— at public and community colleges, in particular— students are shelling out huge sums of money for a college degree only to discover upon graduating that they either cannot land a job or cannot make enough money to pay off their student debt. Obama’s plan aims to solve that problem by rewarding federal aid to colleges that keep costs
down and produce graduates that are able to find well-paying jobs. Because Obama wants colleges to train students for jobs at a low cost, his plan fails to capture the full scope of what a college education ought to offer. It reduces the value of a college
Editorial education to its instrumental value, implying that a college is only worthwhile insofar as it can help a student find a job. Although colleges ought to create opportunities for students to start careers, that is not the only duty universities have to their students. A college education should equip students with the tools necessary for lifelong personal growth and critical engagement with civic and political institutions. In so narrowly defining the value of college, the President’s plan will incentivize colleges in need of aid to emphasize job training over the liberal arts. Elite private universities like Duke, because they can operate with reduced federal aid, will face no pressure to restructure, but colleges dependent on federal assistance will confront
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“If I had a son, he would look like Trayvon.” It was Obama-ever-post-racial who made this about race, rather than about the content of character. This was not what Dr. King had in mind.
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—“Gertrude Higgins” commenting on the column “50 years of misinterpretation”
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DANIELLE MUOIO, Editor SOPHIA DURAND, Managing Editor RAISA CHOWDHURY, News Editor DANIEL CARP, Sports Editor JISOO YOON, Photography Editor SCOTT BRIGGS, Editorial Page Editor CASEY WILLIAMS, Editorial Board Chair JIM POSEN, Director of Online Operations ELYSIA SU, Managing Editor for Online CHRISSY BECK, General Manager EMMA BACCELLIERI, University Editor ELIZABETH DJINIS, Local & National Editor ANTHONY HAGOUEL, Health & Science Editor TORI POWERS, News Photography Editor KELSEY HOPKINS, Design Editor LAUREN FEILICH, Recess Editor ELIZA BRAY, Recess Photography Editor MOUSA ALSHANTEER, Editorial Page Managing Editor ASHLEY MOONEY, Towerview Editor JENNIE XU, Towerview Photography Editor KRISTIE KIM, Social Media Editor LAUREN CARROLL, Senior Editor MATT BARNETT, Multimedia Editor REBECCA DICKENSON, Advertising Director MARY WEAVER, Operations Manager DAVID RICE, Director of External Relations
a clear incentive to shift towards a vocational model. If they do, they will nudge lower-income students towards vocational schools and away from institutions that offer a more holistic, liberal arts education. Moreover, the plan conflicts with the President’s stated goal of funneling more college graduates into the education sector. If federal aid is tied in any way to graduates’ future earnings, it seems unlikely colleges will encourage their students to pursue a career in education, a profession that remains disgracefully undervalued in the United States. The proposal will not have much effect on Duke, but it forces us to think more carefully about how to assess the value of a Duke education. Settling on a concrete metric will prove challenging, if not impossible. In light of the rising cost of attending the University, however, administrators should attempt to better articulate the value of a Duke education and to justify major expenditures with reference to that standard of value. Duke is expensive, and administrators need to make sure the University is focused on training engaged citizens and offering students opportunities for meaningful personal and intellectual growth.
Growing up
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CARLEIGH STIEHM, University Editor GEORGIA PARKE, Local & National Editor TONY SHAN, Health & Science Editor ERIC LIN, Sports Photography Editor RITA LO, Design Editor JAMIE KESSLER, Recess Managing Editor THANH-HA NGUYEN, Online Photo Editor MATT PUN, Sports Managing Editor CAITLIN MOYLES, Towerview Editor DILLON PATEL, Towerview Creative Director JULIAN SPECTOR, Special Projects Editor CHELSEA PIERONI, Multimedia Editor YESHWANTH KANDIMALLA, Recruitment Chair JULIA MAY, Recruitment Chair BARBARA STARBUCK, Creative Director MEGAN MCGINITY, Digital Sales Manager
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I’m an adult!” If you haven’t already seen Miley Cyrus’s performance at the VMAs last week, consider yourself lucky. For those who have, rest easily knowing that you were blessed to witness the on-stage deflowering of our favorite little Disney star to Robin Thicke. In an effort to finally free herself of her teen pop icon past, Miley Cyrus overcompensated at the VMA’s more than Napoleon did in Europe. It’s okay little guy, you conquered A LOT of land. We know you’re huge. Nothing screams maturity like pursuing every avenue to horrify your parents. What more does Billy Ray want to see than his little snowflake grinding, twerking and air humping a foam finger on stage to her heart’s content? But it’s okay, people, because look how grown up she is! With the same angst of Andy Samberg as he screams “I’m an adult!” in “Threw it on the Ground,” Miley Cyrus has managed to shake the shackles off childhood, lose the lip gloss and push up bras and venture into the world of womanhood. She flaunts her curves and takes the stage with purpose while being an icon for women’s rights. Miley Cyrus’s use of that foam finger was a step forward for feminists everywhere. Miley’s phallic foam member was over 12 inches long and demonstrated to the world that she could roll with us big boys. Furthermore, her “ethnic” dancing (a move known by the blacks as “twerking”) serves as a shining example of her maturity and cultural awareness. I have never before seen such a masterfully crafted examination of the intersectionality of oppression, amalgamating both racial and women’s empowerment; it really is the best of both worlds. While Miley is busy permanently scarring the Smith family and all of televised America, we have the very same maturing process occurring in front of judgmental online newspapers here at our dear and beloved University. No longer wanting to be part of the small, rambunctious, white-privileged basketball school which thrived in budding alcoholism, laughing at minorities and an overall sense of being better than you, administrators decided it was time for Duke to grow up. The first winning blow for our improved image is the utter destruction of Tailgate as we know it. Tailgate was a bane to student academia and overall quality of education. Rather than spend a day tailgating for our beloved football team like any other university, we now have the entire day to do all the suggested class readings and practice problems we can dream of. What’s even better is that for once we remember the football games! Whereas before we would drink until we didn’t notice how severely we were losing, we now don’t have to drink, because no one knows there is a football game at all. For those (approximately eight) students that do watch Duke football games, they
can post-game solemnly and soberly, reflecting upon the values of good sportsmanship and attempting to come to terms with Duke having the greatest talent
Monday Monday MEAN BOY disparity between basketball and football on this side of the Mississippi. In the name of looking better, Duke has also decided to spend appropriate sums of money on areas of campus in need. While Epworth continues to sink into its dilapidated ruins, its residents can rest easy knowing that already-functional GilbertAddoms just received a seven million dollar renovation and that their dorm is mostly free of asbestos. G.A.’s new glass walls, four 100-inch flat screen televisions and granite counter tops are now perfect to impress interested freshmen. Show them G.A. and then send them to live in a jail cell in Randolph. Classic bait-and-switch. As it became evident 20 years ago that West Campus residential areas such as Craven and Crowell were in need of renovations, Duke had the foresight to forego them and spend $80 million on updating the West Union and installing a massive, glass lunchbox adjacent to the plaza which is guaranteed to kill at least five birds a day. The most impressive feature of this new dining area is that it manages to be worse than The Great Hall while also more expensive. The new Events Pavilion is a striking piece of architecture on Duke’s campus, receiving reviews from Duke students such as “Why?” and “We spent money on that?” These beautiful and completely practical transformations to West Campus have not only removed dining options such as Subway, Armadillo Grill and Chick-fil-A, but also managed to install no new options besides Red Mango, an over-priced watering hole for sorostitutes to feed an eating disorder and enable themselves to believe that froyo is a food group. This radical change to our dining plan will strategically wipe out the fatties on campus, further beautifying the campus environment for us all. While, before, Duke University was a fledging party school with no serious academics or adequate living space, now it is a shining beacon of fiscal responsibility and appropriate spirit-rallying for football games. So throw on your devil horns, get a mediocre and over-priced meal at the Pavilion and trudge on to the big game you’ll regrettably be sober enough to remember. Mean Boy is still bitter about his inability to wall twerk and is currently accepting applications for female tutors.
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Duke liberals should be up in arms
L
ast year, I wrote a column extolling the virtues of being a member of a minority political viewpoint on campus. Today, I write a companion column delineating the detriments that arise when campus discussion is dominated by the liberal viewpoint. And it is my claim that, paradoxically, those harmed above all by this status quo are liberal students. The negative effects are bountiful. Often discussed is the fact that disenfranchised perspectives on specific issues go unheard. This is true. A Chronicle story published last semester reported on how Duke students opposing samesex marriage remain, almost without exception, silent. The same in my experience could be said for pro-life, anti-affirmative action and pro-Second Amendment arguments. This political climate robs students of vital preparation for rebutting arguments with which they disagree. From a sheer standpoint of teaching argumentation, you cannot learn to effectively debate what you almost never hear. As evidence, look no further than the proclivity of many anonymous commenters to resort to ad hominem attacks when confronted with a conservative Chronicle column. But this first effect passes over an even more deleterious result of a campus rhetoric dominated by the liberal perspective—issues in their entirety are left off the table. I’ve been at Duke for three plus years, and I have almost never witnessed debates on the national debt, entitlement reform, school choice or a host of other issues. Rather, I encounter what seem to be debates on the same issues in repeated cycles—important issues no doubt, but not wholly representative of everything worth discussing. You can partly chalk this up to political apathy, but if conservatives and libertarians had more sway in campus dialogue, these issues would be given more attention. So what’s important here is that when liberal students leave Duke, many might be departing un-versed on a plethora of issues half the country finds important. The third and most irritating effect I would term “political narcissism.” Ensconced in an ideological cocoon devoid of counterarguments, constantly being told they are right—students can succumb to close-mindedness or, at worst, hold political views for no other reason than the plaudits they receive from others for holding them. Such political narcissism is demonstrated by the primary argument given against allowing the opposing view to be heard: that the opposing view is simply wrong and thus not worth listening too. It is the self-fulfilling prophecy of an ideology that “it” is all that is correct and thus “it” is all that is worth listening to. So combine these three effects, and what you get is a campus political rhetoric dominated by a
small set of high-priority liberal issues, with only one side of the debate presented for each one. That’s not so much an intellectual dialogue as a political pep-rally for people of the same mind. But for those liberal students who want to enter into partisan politics or political activism, the reality of the status quo is even worse. For them, it’s not only important to be able to effectively respond to opposing sides—it’s crucial to be able to convince opposing sides. Indeed, persuasion
Daniel Strunk ELEMENTS OF STYLE should be one of the primary skill sets any future politico should hone in college. Yet for every one liberal column I encounter in The Chronicle that attempts to convince, I find five that simply attempt to polemically rally those who already agree. The fact is that liberal students should seek out those who disagree with them, encouraging them to speak up and engaging their arguments—not only because it would benefit them individually, but because they should want to grow their numbers. If liberals are correct—if their stances on the issues are the end all be all, the way and the truth and the light—then a flock of vocally disagreeing students provides fresh converts to their cause. For with the truth on their side, surely four years is sufficient to persuade the non-initiated of liberalism’s empirical and normative superiority. It could be said that no one makes a better missionary than the previously converted. Why turn away an opportunity to bring more in to the fold? I will openly admit I have generalized to a great extent by engaging a dichotomy of liberal and conservative in this column. There’s plenty in between and further out. In the spirit of “On Liberty,” my main point is that minority views in general should be given voice. The same goes for viewpoints of a more radically leftist nature—any set of ideas that currently goes unheard. So I stand behind what I wrote in my previous column—I and other minority-viewpoint-holders benefit exponentially from the status quo, being challenged every day and made to persuade, re-characterize and reconsider. But it would be a mistake to view this rhetorical landscape as wholly beneficent, and those who should be most concerned are those most contentedly unchallenged. It is they, not I, who should be up in arms. Daniel Strunk is a Trinity senior. His column runs every other Monday. Send Daniel a message on Twitter @DanielFStrunk.
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013 | 11
On disillusionment
O
ne day early in the first semester of my freshman year, I got off the bus on West Campus for class and saw a tent. It was not one of the enormous, white event tents to which I have since become accustomed. It was a small camping tent—blue, if memory serves. It was placed beside the path running parallel to the bus stop that people use to walk from one side of the quad to the other. They put it there, they said, so that they would be accessible, so that people could come talk to them. There was always supposed to be someone in the tent. I may be imagining this, but I have this image in my head of a sign written in black ink on a sheet of BRAVE NEW WORLD cardboard. The letters were big, all caps: OCCUPY WALL STREET. Or maybe it was OCCUPY DUKE. I recognized that tent. Not specifically—I had never seen it before. But I had watched movies and talked to my parents and paid attention in U.S. History, so I recognized what was happening. This was disillusionment. I was 18 years old. It was time for me to become overwhelmed by how screwed up the world was. It was time for me to shed the innocence of childhood and face all of the problems that plague us. 18. Time for marches and protests, time to go put flowers in gun barrels. Time to be in the crowd below as speakers inspire from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Time to burn draft cards and set up a table on the plaza with flyers about the injustice that I find most infuriating, or perhaps just the injustice I happened upon first while discovering them all so quickly. But the story of the tent didn’t unfold like I expected given the history I knew. It wasn’t a movement that grew bigger and bigger—I don’t remember a second tent joining the first or a crowd gathering outside. It wasn’t a movement that faced increasing opposition and was eventually quashed by the powers that be or one that was successful enough to warrant a movie 50 years down the road. Really, it just got cold. Winter came, and the movement disappeared like a match trying to be lit in harsh, cold wind. The tent, which had never looked impressive with the Duke Chapel towering over it, started to be empty more often than not. Eventually, maybe at nighttime so people wouldn’t see, someone went out there and disassembled the poles, rolled up the tarp. For a long time, I couldn’t figure out why that made me so sad. I was not sad because of my affection for the movement. No matter how much I might vaguely identify with their cause, I thought Occupy Wall Street was severely flawed. Never once was I tempted to step into that tent myself. I think I was sad not because Occupy Wall Street had failed, but because disillusionment had somehow changed. The people in that tent weren’t protesting with any real concrete goal, with any specific policy change in mind. They were doing the best they could to speak out against injustices that were so large they could sense them but not define them. I admired them but hardly felt inspired or motivated. It makes sense that disillusionment has changed, for the problems with the world have changed. The hole in the ozone layer has faded into global climate change. The war in Vietnam has faded into an even broader, less comprehensible war. Mom at home all day taking antidepressants has faded into Mom at work all day taking antidepressants. The conviction that we chose the wrong economic system has faded into conviction that, viable alternatives aside, we’re still doing something wrong. These problems don’t have obvious source or obvious cause or obvious remedy. I can’t even understand them, and they seem insurmountable to me. They’ve lost their immediacy. It feels like we’ve seen it all before, and we came out okay, so history suggests we’ll pull out of this one fine, too. I am kept from action by this dual, conflicting conviction that the problems are insolvable and that they’ll of course be solved because they always have been. Maybe out of self-preservation, I stop myself from thinking about how they were solved by us, by our disillusionment being powerful enough to drive change. They were solved by reacting to the screwed-up world with passionate discontentedness, not resigned acceptance. I don’t know what will happen if this mechanism breaks. I don’t like to write columns about fear. Fear is bleak. Fear is miserable. There are so many emotions that I feel more frequently, and I prefer every single one of them. But I am today. This column is about fear—my biggest fear. I fear that our generation’s disillusionment is yielding nothing more than a vacant, weather-beaten tent. I fear that I don’t even feel motivated to do anything about this. More than anything else, I fear that discovering the problems of the world has simply ceased to be exhilarating—that they are too deep and too many.
Ellie Schaack
Ellie Schaack is a Trinity junior. Her column runs every other Monday.
RENOVATIONS
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www.dukechronicle.com
12 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2013
from page 1
All the colors of the wind night to increase safety. The wall currently around the building will stay up for the duration of construction. “We’re going to have the construction fencing both around the library and the West Union the next few years, so we might as well make it look good,” Moneta said. Despite his qualms about the projected inconveniences, Shaikh is optimistic about the outcomes. “Construction is kind of unsightly around campus, but in the long term it’ll probably be worth it for what it will be in the future,” Shaikh said.
GROCERIES
from page 3
“I really like this idea because part of the reason why I don’t cook is because I don’t have a car, and I don’t have any way to get groceries,” Perez said. “I think it would be a great service for students without cars.” Sophomore Peter Shi, who found out about the service from a post on the Duke Class of 2016 Facebook page, was one of the first recipients of a DevilGroceries delivery Sunday afternoon. “I didn’t want to go all the way to Whole Foods, which is the nearest option for students who want to buy groceries, and I wanted to save some time,” Shi said. Hosey said thus far the Duke community has been supportive of the new venture. Both creators have confidence in the future success of DevilGroceries. “Even President Brodhead asked if we’d deliver to his house,” Prasad said.
SONAL GAGRANI/THE CHRONICLE
@dukechronicle
Students attend the opening of the Arts Annex and enjoy free food, tie die and activities Sunday.
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