August 29, 2019 by Duke Chronicle

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Women’s soccer game ends in draw Page 8

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

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OPINION

Open letter from Duke LGBTQ Network on Chick-fil-A

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 5

Duke issues statement amid Chick-fil-A controversy

By Duke LGBTQ Network Guest Columnist

Editor’s note: The following statement was submitted to Duke and The Chronicle before President Vincent Price and Kevin White, vice president and director of athletics, released a statement in support of the LGBTQ+ community Aug. 27, 2019. President Price and Dr. Kevin White, In the past three years, Duke has experienced a number of incidents that call into question how inclusive and welcoming our campus is for LGBTQ students, employees and faculty, but the university responded each time with swift condemnation of the acts and affirmative support for those who were targeted. Therefore, it is disheartening to learn that just a few days after the fall semester begins at the end of August, Duke Football will meet Alabama in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game. It is shocking to see that our alma mater would enter into a business arrangement with a sponsor that has made no secret of its disdain for the LGBTQ community. Duke would never enter into such an agreement with a company who unapologetically professed financial support for racist, misogynist or anti-Semitic groups. When those working in Athletics have been questioned, they have responded that the contract was signed three years ago, as if that is an excuse. Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ crusade has been well documented for years. They have See CHICK-FIL-A on Page 10

Henry Haggart | Assistant Sports Photography Editor

By Maria Morrison Health and Science News Editor

Four days prior to the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between Duke and the University of Alabama, President Vincent Price and Kevin White, vice president and director of athletics, issued a statement expressing their support for the LGBTQ+ community amid controversy over Chick-fil-A’s stance on LGBTQ+ rights. “In light of Duke’s participation in the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game and the concerns that have been expressed about the title sponsor, we proudly reaffirm our commitment to the LGBTQ+ community,” they wrote. “We stand together with our LGBTQ+ colleagues—along with all of our

classmates, teammates, teachers, alumni and friends—to fight for equality and to demand freedom from fear and hatred.” The statement comes after the Duke LGBTQ Network and the Duke Student Government Executive Board emailed letters to Price expressing their concerns over Duke’s participation in the Chick-fil-Asponsored game. “It’s disappointing to see the University’s actions contradict its statement of support for the LGBTQIA+ community,” wrote senior Manish Kumar, DSG vice president of academic affairs, in a message to The Chronicle. “Considerations should be taken in the future so marginalized voices get a say in decisions like these.” “The Duke LGBTQ Network is pleased

to see the university condemn the widely documented efforts against the LGBTQ community by Chick-fil-A and its affiliates,” wrote Alex Osmond, Trinity ‘09 and president of the Duke LGBTQ Network, in an email to The Chronicle. As recently as 2017, the fast-food chicken restaurant donated more than $1.8 million to groups that have faced criticism of espousing anti-LGBTQ+ policies, according to ThinkProgress, a progressive news site. These groups included the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which had a policy against homosexual behavior; the Salvation Army, which has faced historical accusations of promoting anti-LGBTQ+ views; and the See STATEMENT on Page 12

Two members of Exonerated Five to speak at Duke next week By Matthew Griffin University News Editor

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Members of the Exonerated Five with Ken Burns after the 2012 documentary about their case. Raymond Santana (left) and Yusef Salaam (second-from-left) are speaking at Duke next week.

Hopscotch festival celebrates 10 years The Raleigh music festival will like James Blake and CHVRCHES.

feature

acts PAGE 6

Yusef Salaam and Raymond Santana were wrongfully convicted in 1989, along with three other young men, of the assault and rape of a woman who was jogging in Central Park. The five men are now known as the Exonerated Five. Now, 17 years after they were exonerated, Salaam and Santana are coming to Duke to share their stories in two events next week. The first is a moderated event that will take place Monday, Sept. 2 from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Page Auditorium, and the second conversation will occur the next day at 12:30 p.m. in the Duke Law School. Mark Anthony Neal, James B. Duke

We want ‘Bama

Assistant Blue Zone Editor Evan Kolin previews Duke’s upcoming football game against the juggernaut. PAGE 8

professor of African and African American studies, will moderate the Monday talk, and Brandon Garrett, L. Neil Williams Jr. professor of law, will interview the members of the Exonerated Five during the second event. “Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and their Exonerated Five brothers are one of the greatest symbols of the impact of wrongful convictions,” Neal wrote in an email to The Chronicle. Neal and Garrett separately told The Chronicle of their personal connections to the Exonerated Five. Only a few years older than the five, Neal wrote that he had followed their story for almost 30 years, as he grew up in New York City at the time of the case. Garrett wrote that he represented Salaam See EXONERATED on Page 12

Why men need to stop wearing flip flops

Columnist Sami Kirkpatrick denounces the act of men wearing open-toed shoes in public. PAGE 11

@dukechronicle @dukebasketball |

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New biostatistics and bioinformatics chair is optimistic for year By Ashwin Kulshrestha Staff Reporter

After being thrown into the national spotlight in the spring, Duke’s biostatistics and bioinformatics department has a new chair. David Page—previously Kellett and Vilas distinguished achievement professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison—was appointed as the chair of the department in March, telling The Chronicle that he planned to create a “welcoming and inclusive experience to students and every member of our faculty and staff.”

In January, screenshots of emails surfaced that the rapid action taken by the University in in which Megan Neely, then-director of response to the emails had proved to him that graduate studies, warned Duke would be a place students not to speak that values diversity in Chinese within the its community. department. Neely soon Now, after having stepped down from her held this position for role, and Department a few months, Page Chair Elizabeth DeLong david page remains optimistic. announced she was “I feel more confident CHAIR OF THE BIOSTATISTICS AND BIOINFOMATICS DEPARTMENT than ever that Duke is stepping down from her position in March. committed to creating Assuming his role as department chair, Page a community where every member of our wrote in an August email to The Chronicle faculty, staff and student body feels respected

We will continue efforts to grow and improve.

and valued,” he wrote. In addition to his role as department chair, Page will continue his academic career at Duke, researching the applications of machine learning to health care, while overseeing graduate students. Page’s goal is for the department to be a leader in the field of health data science and “to improve human health in Durham, in the U.S. and around the world.” In January’s email, Neely encouraged biostatistics master students to “commit to using English 100% of the time” and wrote that See CHAIR on Page 12

EMS numbers remain consistent for 2019 O-Week By Nathan Luzum Managing Editor

The number of Emergency Medical Services calls remained consistent with those in the previous two years, while the IFC president reported no violations to fraternities’ selfenforced first-year ban. Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh wrote in an email that there were five EMS calls this O-Week, which is similar to the six calls in 2018 and four in 2017. Cavanaugh declined to comment further on the reason behind the calls, but EMS calls are often made in response to alcohol-related issues. During O-Week, there were four reported cases of underage consumption, seven student alcohol violations and three student drug Emily Qin | News Photography Editor violations, according to Duke University Police

Department’s police blotter. The Interfraternity Council implemented a rule banning first-years from attending fraternity parties from Aug. 20 to Aug. 26, the first time such a regulation has been put in place for O-Week. IFC was tasked with enforcing the rule. There were no reported violations of the regulation, wrote IFC President Harrison Labban, a senior. “From my perspective, we had a successful O-Week this year,” he wrote in an email. “With regards to this policy, it sparked a lot of helpful dialogue within and outside of our community and, ultimately, we did not receive any allegations of violations.” Sue Wasiolek, dean of students and See O-WEEK on Page 12

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College Board drops Ten-cent bag fee may come to Durham, thanks to Duke Law clinic adversity score problems, Nowlin explained. According to Nowlin, plastic doesn’t decompose and is often improperly disposed of, ending up “in the sediments of our A proposed ordinance will charge Durham shoppers a creeks, in our drinking water, in our reservoirs and in fish tissue.” 10-cent fee for paper and plastic take-out bags, and a Duke Producing paper bags can “take up just as many and oftentimes more resources from the Earth” Law clinic played a key role in drafting its language. than the same for plastic bags, The Durham Environmental Dresibach said. Affairs Board endorsed the The clinic also has conducted ordinance—which was proposed studies to predict the impact of the ordinance on the Durham by the nonprofit organization Don’t Waste Durham—in community. For example, August. The Environmental Law one research project aimed and Policy Clinic at Duke Law to “quantify the economic School, a partnership between and social impact of plastic the law school and the Nicholas bags,” said Nancy Lauer, an School of Environment, provided environmental policy fellow representation and research in of the Environmental Law and order to convince lawmakers to Policy Clinic. It also surveyed support the proposal. business owners to gauge their Crystal Dreisbach, executive attitudes toward the proposal. director of Don’t Waste “We were able to survey Durham, said that the fee is almost 40 businesses—grocery the best way to shift people’s stores, convenience stores, general retail stores, takeout mindsets and create sustainable behavioral change, leading places—and we found in this Juan Bermudez | Staff Photographer survey that the vast majority of more people to bring reusable bags. The fee would target shoppers who use them were supportive of the idea single-use paper and plastic take-out bags, but excludes those of a fee on bags,” Lauer said. “There was really overwhelming support.” who participate in public assistance programs like food stamps or WIC benefits. Members of the clinic anticipated potential pushback about “It’s very well-grounded in research that proposing a fee whether Durham has the authority to enact a fee. Accordingly, on something creates an economic signal for consumers that Nowlin said that the clinic compiled research that found directly converts to behavior change,” she said. “This [fee] is that, under the state’s Solid Waste Management Act, local governments have considerable discretion in taking steps to more effective than say a ban, an incentive program.” The ordinance targeted both plastic and paper bags because See BAG on Page 12 they both pose an array of environmental and economic By Mona Tong

By Maria Morrison

Local and National News Editor

Health and Science News Editor

In the face of backlash from parents, students and university officials across the country, the College Board has abandoned its efforts to include an “adversity score” with students’ SAT scores. The score was slated to be a quantitative measurement of 15 factors of adversity from a student’s neighborhood and high school. As an alternative to grouping a student’s life experiences into one number, the College Board is now working on a program called Landscape, which will create a profile of data, not a combined score, for each student to display their socioeconomic background. Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag told The Chronicle in June 2019 that Duke did not intend to use the score as an exact measure of hardship, but instead as an “insight into a student’s environmental context.” According to the College Board’s 2018 results reported by the Wall Street Journal, Asian students scored an average of 100 points higher than the average white student, and white students had a score 177 points higher on average than black students and 133 points higher on average than Hispanic students. Among all races, children who came from collegeeducated parents in wealthy families scored higher than those who did not. In 2018, 50 colleges—including N.C. State University— factored the adversity score into their admissions decisions as part of a beta test. According to the original plan, another 100 institutions, including Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, would be added in 2019, and the score would be used more widely in 2020. “We listened to thoughtful criticism and made Landscape better and more transparent,” said David Coleman, CEO of See ADVERSITY on Page 12

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AMES 195

Crical Introducon to Asian & Middle Eastern Studies

Studies intellectual concepts and cultural frameworks from Asia at large; compares normave European and North American concepons of East Asia and the Middle East with contemporary challenges; examines how they internalize, negoate and resisted Eurocentric knowledge; and focuses on naon, gender and race. Leo Ching Persian 101

Elementary Persian Shahla Adel Persian 203

Intermediate Persian Shahla Adel Turkish 101

Elementary Turkish Didem Havlioglu Turkish 203

Intermediate Turkish Didem Havlioglu Turkish 305

Contemporary Turkish Composion and Readings Didem Havlioglu Urdu 101

Urdu Script

Peter Knapczyk

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Duke prof. weighs in on NC racial bias case By Matthew Griffin University News Editor

The N.C. Supreme Court heard arguments Monday and Tuesday in a case that could determine the fates of death row inmates who say race played a role in their sentencing. Tilmon Golphin, Marcus Robinson, Christina Walters and Quintel Augustine had all been convicted of murder in Cumberland County and sentenced to death. However, in 2012, a judge commuted their sentences to life in prison without parole under the Racial Justice Act, a 2009 state law from the Democrat-controlled legislature that allowed death row inmates to challenge their sentences if they could show their sentences were influenced by racial bias.

The act was repealed in 2013 under a Republican majority, and in 2015 the state Supreme Court ruled that the four needed new trials to get off death row. In 2017, a judge dismissed all four cases on the grounds that, since the Racial Justice Act was no longer in effect, there were no grounds for the proceedings to continue. The challenge to that ruling has now reached the state Supreme Court. James Coleman, John S. Bradway professor of the practice of law, said the inmates should have their sentences reduced once again to life in prison, as their sentences should not have ever been increased after being reduced. “What the repeal [of the Racial Justice Act] attempts to do is to remove the process by which a person could show that he was eligible for commutation,” Coleman said. “And I think

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that would be an ex post facto law, which means it would be a retroactive increase in the punishment given that the legislature had commuted the death sentence for anybody whose case was tainted by race.” Coleman, a co-director of Duke Law School’s Wrongful Convictions Clinic, also said that those who had already filed a claim should have continued proceedings to determine whether their sentences should be commuted. Two such inmates, who filed motions before the Racial Justice Act was repealed, will argue for their own hearings in front of the N.C. Supreme Court alongside the previouslynamed four plaintiffs. The 2015 state Supreme Court court decision was based on an unusual technicality, Coleman added. In the hearing that determined that the four sentences should be commuted, the state repeatedly asked for more time to bring in experts. The judge eventually refused their request and issued an opinion finding that the four’s original trials had been affected by racial bias, commuting their sentences to life in prison. The state Supreme Court found that this was an “abuse of discretion,” Coleman said, adding that the court made this decision knowing that the state might use the repeal of the Racial Justice Act to try to send the four inmates back to death row, depending on if the repeal was retroactive. He added that the judge who presided over the hearing, Gregory Weeks, the former Cumberland County senior resident superior court judge, ruled there was “actual discrimination in all four cases, so [his] decision didn’t have to rely on the statewide statistics [that the experts were going to provide].”

The law is clear that the legislature intended to commute death sentences under the circumstances that it set out in the [Racial Justice Act]. james coleman

JOHN S. BRADWAY PROFESSOR OF THE PRACTICE OF LAW

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North Carolina hasn’t carried out an execution since 2006, according to a N.C. Department of Public Safety database. However, having their sentences commuted nevertheless was a benefit for the four inmates; Time Magazine reported that Golphin was given a lower classification and moved to a prison where he had more privileges. The Racial Justice Act was aimed to combat the influence of race in the justice system. In the cases of the four men whose sentences were commuted, for example, prosecutors struck black jurors from the jury and wrote racially charged descriptions of black men. Coleman said that the act was a good measure to prevent this kind of discrimination. “If the result of what [prosecutors] did in the past is that many of the people who are under death sentences end up with their sentences commuted to life,” he said, “that will be an incentive for them to stop doing the things that they had done.” Coleman said that the current case will test whether the state Supreme Court is willing to address the problem of discrimination in the justice system. “The law is clear that the legislature intended to commute death sentences under the circumstances that it set out in the [Racial Justice Act],” he said. “And if the [N.C.] Supreme Court ignores that fact and finds some way to get around the clear law, then I think it would be an indication that the court is indifferent to race discrimination in North Carolina.”

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Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons The North Carolina Supreme Court heard arguments Mon. and Tues.

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VOLUME 115, ISSUE 5 | AUGUST 29, 2019

hopscotch takes raleigh Music festival celebrates its 10th year, page 6

beyond disney Our culture editorâ€™s guide to summer blockbusters, page 7

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local arts

Hopscotch Music Festival to celebrate its 10th year

recess editors How’s the first week of classes going?

Nina Wilder ....................i crave death Will Atkinson .......excited 4 frat parties Courtesy of Flickr Raleigh, N.C.’s Hopscotch Music Festival is celebrating its 10th anniversary Sept. 5 – 7.

Miranda Gershoni ......................WNS Sarah Derris...........not enough bagels Jack Rubenstein ..........florida’s better Sydny Long .............. i just hate disney Kerry Rork.... where’s paul mccartney? Alizeh Sheikh ...........physics killed me

on the cover: Skaters in NYC, by Sarah Derris

By Jack Rubenstein Culture Editor

Raleigh’s eclectic Hopscotch Music Festival will celebrate its 10th anniversary Sept. 5 to 7 with headliners like James Blake, SleaterKinney, CHVRCHES, Phantogram, Little Brother, Raphael Saadiq and Jenny Lewis. The festival will take place all throughout downtown Raleigh at 11 locales, with outdoor venues City Plaza and Red Hat Amphitheater serving as the main stages. Hopscotch sets itself apart from other music festivals by featuring approximately 25 percent in-state bands. The festival has partnered with Come Hear NC, a promotional

Admission is always free for Duke students.

campaign from the North Carolina Arts Council and the North Carolina Department of Natural & Cultural Resources, to promote the many groundbreaking and boundarypushing North Carolina artists making an appearance. Come Hear NC’s mission is to highlight the impact that current and former North Carolina artists have made on American music, celebrating pioneers like John Coltrane in jazz, George Clinton in funk and James Taylor in rock. The critically acclaimed Durham hiphop outfit Little Brother may be making the most significant appearance of any local band at Hopscotch. This is the band’s first festival appearance and first show in Raleigh since it disbanded in 2010. The band released an album just last week titled “May the Lord Watch” that has already received dazzling reviews. Other headliners — such as James Blake, SleaterKinney and Raphael Saadiq — also released new albums this year, meaning there will be plenty of new material on display at the festival. Hopscotch has a lot to offer music fans with any taste. Venues range from outdoor amphitheaters to small local clubs and bars. The festival’s more than 130 band lineup includes rock, hip-hop, electronic, folk, experimental and metal artists. The festival’s unique setup — spread out across Raleigh with no centralized grounds — allows it to cater to music fans who just want to see the headliners or cannot spend the whole day at the festival. In addition to General Admission, VIP and Day Pass options, single show tickets cost anywhere from $37.50 for Jenny Lewis on Friday and Little Brother and Raphael Saadiq on Saturday to $49.50 for Thursday night’s main show at City Plaza featuring Sleater-Kinney and Kurt Vile. However, it may be worthwhile to seek

out the acts earlier in the day, as Hopscotch is known for being one of America’s best underground music festivals. The festival brought back artist-curated bills this year, asking 10 North Carolina artists — including some who were already attending the festival — to help fill out the lineup. This should improve the festival’s already stellar set of local, up-and-coming and underground bands. For those interested, Kings Bar is the only venue exclusively showcasing these artist-curated bills, although other venues will feature some of these bands throughout the weekend. While the festival itself is great, Hopscotch may be just as well known for its Day Party Series. The parties are free and open to the public, usually running from noon to 5 p.m. Most of the day parties still feature live music from an eclectic set of bands, but they are a more casual and accessible environment than the official festival. For something different on Saturday, visit the Day Party Market from noon to 7 p.m., which will feature more than 40 vendors on the streets of downtown, or the Haha Hopscotch Comedy Showcase from noon to 5 p.m. at The Night Rider. At the same time as the comedy show, local group G.O.U.G.E (Gimmicks Only Underground Grappling Entertainment) will be showcasing comedic wrestling fights at Ruby Deluxe. Poking fun at the silly outfits, excessive violence and bizarre self-seriousness of professional wrestling, G.O.U.G.E should be one of the more interesting groups performing throughout Hopscotch. A strong lineup of headliners, local bands and underground acts gives the Triangle area much to look forward to in Hopscotch’s 10th year. The festival had its biggest pre-sale ever this year, so make sure to grab a pass before it’s too late.

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nasher.duke.edu/voices Radiant Tushka (detail), 2018. Repurposed quilt, assorted glass, plastic and stone beads, printed chiffon, nylon ribbon, canvas, acrylic paint, nylon fringe, copper, and artificial sinew; 95 ½ x 64 x 2 ½ inches (242.57 x 162.56 x 6.35 cm). Courtesy of the artist and Kavi Gupta, Chicago. Photo by Peter Mauney. Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now is organized by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas. The exhibition is co-curated by independent curator Candice Hopkins (Tlingit, citizen of Carcross/ Tagish First Nation in the Canadian territory, Yukon), Mindy Besaw, curator of American art at Crystal Bridges, and Manuela Well-Off-Man, chief curator of the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts at the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Support for this exhibition and its national tour is provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Sotheby’s Prize. This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. This exhibition has been made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities: Exploring the human endeavor. At the Nasher Museum, this exhibition is made possible by the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, with additional support from The Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Family Fund for Exhibitions. This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.

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playground

An alternative guide to the Disney summer blockbuster season By Sydny Long Culture Editor

Once upon a time, summer was ostensibly blockbuster season. Just as Academy Award Best Picture contenders are invariably saved for a winter release, the biggest films — in both budget and scope — were given summer releases to reach a wider audience and garner greater buzz. Ever since the splashy June premiere of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film “Jaws,” the hottest months of the year have also been the most entertaining, as studios pack their summer schedules with epic releases and people liberated from work and school swarm theaters. This trend has been seeing a gradual decline over the past decade that was recently expedited by Disney’s acquisition of Marvel, 21st Century Fox and Lucasfilm. While the summer blockbuster season had previously been defrayed by an ever-expanding offering of tentpole films throughout the year, as well as a continued rise in streaming, it is Disney’s monopoly on the film industry that appears to be cutting the season short — for other studios. According to box office statistics, four of the 10 most profitable movies released this summer belong to Disney, with that quartet positioned snugly at the top of the list. What is more insidious is the number of theater screens bought for each film: Disney easily scored over 4,000 screens for each of their films, purchases that often shut out smaller studios and prevent them from raking in comparable profits. Disney is literally squeezing its competition out of the theaters and strengthening its industry monopoly in the process. This summer’s Disney domination appears to be only the beginning of a perilous drop into media homogeneity precipitated by the massive company’s preoccupation with keeping its products family-friendly and inoffensive — definitely not the desired modus operandi for the largest film studio in America. With the season now seemingly defined by Disney, it seems only fair to shed a little more light on the films that didn’t get their time in the sun.

Instead of “The Lion King” ... Try “The Farewell” “The Lion King” was the biggest box office success of the summer, drawing in over $500 million in ticket sales alone — despite being a shot-for-bland-shot remake of the beloved 1991 original film of the same name. The film is a savanna-dry, dead-eyed reimagining of a movie not at all in need of a reboot, and it quickly became the poster child for Disney’s obsession with live-action remakes of its classic animated movies. It practically oozes studio notes, manufactured to strike the perfect nostalgic points without a single ounce of creativity, ingenuity or imagination. “The Farewell,” on the other hand, is a bracingly personal story about a ChineseAmerican woman and her struggles with the cultural traditions that she finds more harmful than helpful. Written and directed by Lulu Wang, the movie is incredibly specific to her experiences with her traditionalist family while still maintaining a universality that can charm even the most jaded watchers. While “The Lion King” was made to be universal, “The Farewell” finds its relatability through emotional, personal touches that make this film feel like a handcrafted gift from a beloved relative. Instead of “Toy Story 4” ... Try “Booksmart” The “Toy Story” trilogy was widely considered to be one of the best in film history, telling a compelling tale about life, friendship and family before neatly capping it off with a tearjerker finale. Unfortunately, no amount of satisfying closure could stop Disney from going after more profits and releasing a fourth installment that, though entertaining and fitfully emotional, proves diminishing returns are possible for even the most adored franchises. There is nothing wrong with the film, but it feels unnecessary and distractingly schizophrenic underneath the nostalgic gloss. “Booksmart” is nostalgic for entirely different reasons. Yet another tale of high school excess in the tradition of “Superbad,” “Booksmart” stands apart due to the irresistible chemistry between its two leading ladies, its inventive filmmaking and its subtle inclusivity.

Nina Wilder | Contributing Graphic Designer Four of the 10 most profitable movies released this summer belong to Disney.

The movie proves that treading familiar ground — geeks getting their time in the partying sun — can yield fresh results through genuine effort to tell a story from another perspective and make unique choices instead of sticking to an audience-pleasing formula. Instead of “Spiderman: Far From Home” ... Try “Midsommar” While most of Marvel’s standalone films are outstandingly bland, the “Spider-Man” movies have a homemade, down-to-earth quality that makes them feel like indie projects instead of the work of a trillion dollar studio. “SpiderMan: Far From Home” is no different, finding a strong sense of humor and a heartfelt lesson about responsibility under the sixteen Avengersrelated plot threads. Though the movie is far and away the best of Disney’s money-making quartet, it still feels very much like the vision

of a corporation in spite of director Jon Watts’s earnest attempts to make it a lighthearted, goofy high school rom-com. Conversely, “Midsommar” feels entirely like the singular vision of Ari Aster, who traumatized audiences for a second summer in a row after last year’s jawdropping “Hereditary.” The film is by turns horrifying and hypnotic, drenching every nightmare-inducing scene in dazzling sunlight and bright flora. Instead of relying on conventional scares, “Midsommar” establishes a theme of isolation and unacknowledged grief that makes it one of the most emotionally visceral films of the year, as well as one of the goriest. In an industry where playing it safe is becoming the status quo, it is so refreshing to see a film that feels like a true, uncensored work of personal art.

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Engage with Latino/a/x communities in Durham and beyond, visiting a Spanish-speaking radio station, local gathering places, and multimedia art exhibits and performances. Read, listen, and explore the crucial roles played by aural and written media in constructing race, culture and community. Contact: Silvia Serrano, Program in Latino/a Studies in the Global South, silvia.serrano@duke.edu

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THE BLUE ZONE

POSITIONAL PREVIEW: DEFENSIVE LINE dukechronicle.com

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FOOTBALL

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BRING ON ‘BAMA

Duke set to begin 2019 campaign in marquee kickoff game

MEN’S SOCCER

Blue Devils to open season

By Evan Kolin

By Andrew Donohue

Assistant Blue Zone Editor

Associate Sports Editor

Duke has won seven consecutive season openers dating back to 2012. Don’t expect that streak to extend to eight. The Blue Devils will travel to Atlanta this Saturday for the Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, taking on No. 2 Alabama at 3:30 p.m. in what many believe Alabama might end up being the vs. most lopsided contest in the event’s history. Duke The Crimson Tide are currently a 34.5-point SATURDAY, 3:30 p.m. favorite, though for Mercedes-Benz Stadium Duke, it’s a milestone for the program to just be in the contest. “We have worked extremely hard as a program to put ourselves in a position to be in a game like this—really hard,” head coach David Cutcliffe, who graduated from Alabama in 1976, said. “Our program, we lost some good players on both sides of the ball. We got a lot of good football players coming back...Yeah, huge challenge. Huge opportunity for our program to take another step.” There is reason for the expected point differential. Alabama returns the majority of

Though an up-and-down exhibition slate showcased some flashes of dominance, ultimately, last season’s struggles in front of goal reared their head again in the three preseason games. But with the exhibit competition being erased as Duke’s official ledger stands at 0-0, the Blue Devils will look to put those troubles in the past as the regular season begins. Duke will start Furman the season at home vs. with the John Rennie Duke Nike Invitational this weekend. The 10thFRIDAY, 7:30 p.m. ranked Blue Devils will Koskinen Stadium play Furman at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Koskinen Stadium before facing CSUB Cal State Bakersfield vs. at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at Duke Koskinen as well. Duke looks to build on last SUNDAY, 2:30 p.m. year’s run to the ACC Wallace Wade Stadium semifinals and third round of the NCAA tournament. “Preseason is an opportunity to get a sense of who is working well together and get guys some time,” Blue Devil head coach John Kerr said. “I’m happy with the way preseason went and I think we’re where we need to be going into the regular season.” Duke welcomed several new players to the squad this season who will be counted on as key contributors, including two graduate transfer defenders in Sergi Nus and Hassan Pinto. Nus comes to Durham from Virginia, where he was twice an All-ACC performer before missing

Henry Haggart | Staff Photographer

Deon Jackson and the Duke offense will face the daunting task of taking down Alabama. an offense that finished 2018 third in points per game and sixth in total yards—head coach Nick Saban’s best marks during his 12 years in Tuscaloosa, Ala. The leader of that offensive attack, 2018 Heisman Trophy finalist Tua Tagovailoa, rewrote the Crimson Tide record books last season, setting the single-season marks with both 3,966 passing yards and 43 passing touchdowns.

Alabama’s previous program highs were 3,487 and 30, respectively. Tagovailoa’s rise to prominence led to a new style of Crimson Tide football—one that boasted an elite aerial attack rather than the typical grit-and-grind Saban units. It certainly helped that the star quarterback had perhaps

See FOOTBALL on Page 9

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Blue Devil offense stalls in scoreless draw By Riley Pfaff Associate Sports Editor

It is “the beautiful game,” but even a dedicated soccer fan could be forgiven for struggling to find much offensive beauty Wednesday night. Long after the sun had set on a beautiful night at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, the Blue Devils and Hoyas ground out a 0-0 tie that featured tenacious defense from both teams, but little in the 0 way of offense. During GU the double-overtime DUKE 0 draw between No. 10 Duke and No. 13 Georgetown, the Blue Devils managed just ten shots, only two of which were on goal, as it was shut out for the second game in a row. “I liked the competitiveness. I liked a shutout; obviously a clean sheet is always one of our goals,” said Blue Devils head coach Robbie Church. “I liked that we had some better positional play and we possessed it a little more than we did on Sunday night. We created more opportunities, but there were more opportunities out there to create.” Duke and Georgetown met for the first time ever last August, but since then have had three matchups against each other, including

Wednesday night’s contest. They fought to a double-overtime tie just over a year ago in Washington, D.C. before meeting again at the Hoyas’ Shaw Field in the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament. The second meeting was less kind than the first to the Blue Devils, who held tight with the eventual national runnerup until midway through the second half, when Georgetown took over en route to a 4-1 win. After enduring sustained intense pressure from North Carolina in Duke’s first loss of the

season Sunday, the Blue Devils’ back line was again put to the test Wednesday against the Hoyas. Georgetown came out pressing hard and mostly controlled the ball for the first part of the game, getting several early shots off before Duke (1-1-1) was able to get anything close to the Hoyas goal. However, nearly 15 minutes into the contest the Blue Devils finally got the break they were

See M. SOCCER on Page 9

See W. SOCCER on Page 9

Mary Helen Wood | Photography Editor

Tess Boade managed three shots for the Blue Devils, who could not break through offensively.

Blue Devil goalkeeper Will Pulisic will look to follow up his all-ACC performance this fall.

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FOOTBALL FROM PAGE 8 the nation’s best receiving corps by his side, one that returns almost all key contributors from last year, including the star of the pack, junior wideout Jerry Jeudy. The former five-star recruit took home the 2018 Biletnikoff Award as the country’s top receiver, posting 1315 yards and 14 touchdowns as a true sophomore. Mel Kiper Jr. ranks him as the No. 1 overall prospect for the 2020 NFL Draft. “I don’t know if there is a better prospect than [Tagovailoa],” Cutcliffe said. “But Jeudy may be equal. There’s no stopping [him]— you’ve just got to minimize damage. With people that explosive [and] that fast, coverage has to change, you have to get help [in] different ways...he’s not the only one they’ve got at receiver.” That leaves the Crimson Tide’s running back unit as perhaps the only part of the offense that needed any rebuilding this offseason, losing both Josh Jacobs and Damien Harris to the draft. With those two gone, Saban will have to make do with what he’s got left—five-star Najee Harris and four-star Brian Robinson Jr., though both are suspended for the first half Saturday for missing a team meeting. It’s rare to get this far along in a preview of Alabama without at least some mention of its defense, but that just speaks to the weapons the Tide have on the offensive end. Still, top-10 finishes in both points and total yards allowed per game last year shouldn’t be ignored, though injuries have continued to riddle Alabama leading up to this weekend. First, it was linebacker Joshua McMillon, who may miss all of 2019 with a knee injury. And now, star linebacker Dylan Moses—quite possibly Alabama’s best player on the defensive end of the field—is believed to be out for the year with a torn ACL. Even so, there is little doubt that Duke will have an extremely tough time moving the football. A big part of that will also be due to the changes Cutcliffe’s squad have experienced

dukechronicle.com on the offensive end, with former quarterback Daniel Jones drafted No. 6 by the New York Giants. His departure makes way for redshirt senior Quentin Harris to take over under center, a player known far more for his legs than his arm. “I have great confidence in [Harris],” Cutcliffe said. “I had great confidence in [Jones] his first full year as a starter. They’re a little different. One of the things that I’ve been fortunate to do in my career is have to replace first-round draft choice quarterbacks. It’s not an easy task. “The thing that Quentin Harris didn’t have to do, he didn’t have to become a leader. He’s been a leader in our program. If you just heard him speak, you realize what type of young man he is. He speaks volumes of the character in our program.” Harris’ passing options, however, are not ideal. With Jake Bobo sidelined, not a single Blue Devil wide receiver playing Saturday will have posted more than seven receptions in 2018. Someone who did, though, is running back Deon Jackson. Jackson enters 2019 as Duke’s only member of the preseason all-ACC team and is primed for a big year as an all-purpose threat. The backfield tandem of him and Brittain Brown—a more conventional running back— will likely be Cutcliffe’s biggest source of offense this season. Overall, it’s not impossible that the Blue Devils escape Atlanta with a win. Their defensive line is perhaps the best front four Cutcliffe has had here in Durham, and a secondary led by Michael Carter II should be solid against most teams. Even Koby Quansah—who recently underwent surgery on his thumb—could be out there as early as this weekend to anchor the linebacking corps. But sometimes, the talent difference is just too much. And that will most likely be the case on Saturday. “Starting with them brings our game to the next level,” Quansah said. “So, we start hot, we play hot, we’re gonna carry that throughout the season. So being able to play again, the elite, helps us to know that we can play at this level. And carry that throughout the whole season.”

THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019 | 9

M. SOCCER FROM PAGE 8 last season due to injury. Pinto transferred from Elon after serving as a key member of the Phoenix’s squad. “Hassan [Pinto] has been a great addition to our squad,” Kerr said. “He’s adapted well to the position we want him to play and has been fitting in well with the players. Sergi has been here all spring and he’s been doing great in a central position, so we have a lot of experience back there.” The Blue Devils will have an experienced backline with Pinto and Nus, as well as returning defenders Matthias Frick, Ian Murphy and Aedan Stanley. The group will combine to anchor the defense in front of AllACC goalie Will Pulisic. Duke’s defense may be tested by Furman’s attack, which returns leading scorer Emery May. Furman returns seven starters from last year’s Paladin team that earned a Southern Conference tournament title and an NCAA tournament bid last season. The Blue Devils’ strike force is led by Daniele Proch, who was selected to the Hermann Trophy Watch List, the top individual award in collegiate soccer, after scoring 11 goals and tallying four assists last season in a secondteam All-American performance. The senior ended the preseason with a bang, scoring two goals in a half against Coastal Carolina in Duke’s final exhibition game.

Preseason was not the smoothest for Duke generally, as it struggled through its first two exhibition matches, drawing 2-2 with South Carolina before losing 2-1 to UNCWilmington, surrendering the winning goal in the 88th minute after tying the game just 10 seconds before. The outlook is optimistic for the Blue Devils this season, though, as they boast an experienced roster that lost just two major pieces from last season’s team with the graduation of Ciaran McKenna and ACC Rookie of the Year Issa Rayyan leaving to pursue playing professionally. “We have a really experienced team,” Kerr said. “You look at our team—we have a lot of players that have played a lot of games together over the course of two or three years. If we can stay healthy, we’ll be in really good shape.” Duke always begins its season with the John Rennie Nike Invitational, named after the coach who guided the Blue Devils to the program’s lone national championship. The invitational means something special to Kerr, who was the star player of that 1986 team, as well as Hermann Trophy winner that year. “It’s the first opportunity of the season to win a tournament or a trophy,” Kerr said. “We always relish the opportunity to play in this tournament with my former coach who established the program to where it is today.”

Mary Helen Wood | Photography Editor

Brooke Heinsohn put together another solid night in goal for the Blue Devils.

W. SOCCER FROM PAGE 8

Mary Helen Wood | Photography Editor

In his first season as Duke’s full-time starter behind center, Quentin Harris will be put to the test in a major way against Alabama’s elite, albeit injury-riddled, defense.

looking for, as Ella Stevens lofted a near-perfect free kick into the box that found the head of Taylor Mitchell. However, her header soared harmlessly past the crossbar as Duke missed out on what would prove to be its best scoring change of the half. But while the Blue Devils offense struggled to put much pressure on Hoyas goalkeeper Anna Leat, Duke’s Brooke Heinsohn faced slightly more heat on the opposite end of the field, making one save on six Georgetown shots. The Hoyas also had two corner kicks in the first period but failed to capitalize on either one. “We didn’t play well early in the game and we caused problems by turning the ball over in bad parts of the field,” Church said. “We didn’t pass the ball well the first 30 minutes. It was unfortunate half came when it did because we were finally starting to get a little rhythm to our play and a little bit of rhythm to the game. You’ve got two teams that played on Sunday night and then they’ve got to turn around and play again on Wednesday and it’s hard. It’s hard to get your legs back.” The second half began where the first half left off, with neither team really getting much going on the offensive end as both sides were thwarted by strong defensive play and several

offsides calls. Duke had more success working the ball into the offensive end but still struggled to find many scoring chances. With just over ten minutes left in the second half, Delaney Graham and Tess Boade nearly broke free on consecutive runs down the right sideline towards the goal, but a pair of well-timed tackles ended both opportunities. Georgetown (1-1-1) got one more chance to end the game in the last 15 seconds of regulation, but Heinsohn smothered Julia Leas’ desperation shot to send the game to overtime. Little changed in either overtime period, as neither team could find space to operate on offense and both failed to generate many opportunities. The Blue Devils managed to fire four shots in the first overtime period—they had ten all game—but just one was on goal. In the final ten minutes, the teams combined for one shot total. Duke will remain in Durham through midSeptember, as the Blue Devils finish out a six-game homestand that continues this Saturday with their second quick turnaround of the week against Santa Clara at Koskinen Stadium. “[This stretch] is going to be hard,” Church said. “What we need to do is get on the practice field. We just don’t have any time.”

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

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“

Chick-fil-A Kickoff Commentary DSG Executive Board Statement

Duke itself occupies a controversial relationship with the queer community. In the university’s history, University Police have arrested individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation, the institution has painted over artwork celebrating the queer community, and administration initially pushed back against opening

This is not an excuse; Chick-fil-A’s attitudes against the queer community have been known well before that time. The decision to sign onto this game without consideration for its implications on Duke’s queer community calls into question the university’s values. We agree that the game may provide support

Duke Student Government Executive Board GUEST COLUMNIST President Price and Dr. Kevin White, Recently, the Duke LGBTQ Network shared an open letter expressing concern and requesting action on the 2019 Chick-fil-A Kickoff Game between Duke and Alabama. As an institution that prides itself on its diversity and inclusion, we, as representatives for the undergraduate student body, find it disappointing that Athletics would sign on to a game supported by an organization that has publicly expressed its disdain for the LGBTQ community.

E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.edu

the Duke Chapel to same sex civil unions, to name a few. However, this has changed somewhat in recent years, with the opening the Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity and the university offering more courses in Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies. Athletics’ business agreement with Chick-fil-A is in conflict with Duke’s present commitment to continue support for the queer community. In an era of growing homophobia, misogyny, antiSemitism, racism and xenophobia, as evidenced by recent events on campus, the university should not prioritize relationships with hurtful businesses over its marginalized students. Chick-fil-A’s anti-LGBTQ sentiments are well documented. For years, the organization has donated millions of dollars to groups that oppose LGBTQ rights, such as groups that oppose same sex marriage and promote conversion therapy as a “cure” for same sex attraction (evidence shows that this does not work and can in fact be deletrious). Chick-filA’s current CEO has remained obstinate in spite of criticism, and the head of their charitable branch has referred to the company’s espousal of anti-LGBTQ organizations as a “higher calling.” The corporation has also been implicated in scandals affecting other marginalized communities, including a lawsuit regarding Islamophobic actions. It’s disheartening to learn that, according to the Duke LGBTQ Network, Athletics’ only response was a justification that the contract was signed three years ago.

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to Duke’s football program and serve as display of our school’s athletic prowess. And with it quickly approaching, it is unlikely that Duke will renege on the agreement. However, we stand by the Duke LGBTQ Network in our support for the university to acknowledge its wrongdoing and take action to correct this offense. Moving forward, we call on administration to find ways to mitigate the harmful consequences of this decision, inviting participation from queer students, faculty, and staff. We extend support to the Duke LGBTQ Network, and offer our support in this process. Signed, The DSG Executive Board: Avery Boltwood, Executive Vice President Kaitlyn Boncaro, VP Services and Sustainability Saheel Chodavadia, Chief of Staff Alyson Diaz, President Pro Tempore Tommy Hessel, VP of Campus Life Manish Kumar, VP Academic Affairs Devin Mahoney, SOFC Chair Liv McKinney, President Ivan Robles, VP Equity and Outreach Valeria Silombria, VP Durham and Regional Affairs Blue Devils United: Emma Cairns, President

FROM PAGE 1 given millions of dollars to groups (including certified hate groups) that depict gays as pedophiles, lobby against LGBTQ rights and advocate for conversion therapy— despite the fact that medical evidence has proven that such therapy is impossible and harmful. Chick-fil-A is not a rehabilitated company that has seen the error of its ways and has made changes. Just three months ago, the head of their charitable branch called the company’s support for anti-LGBTQ organizations a “higher calling” and added that they have no intention of curtailing such funding. This position is in stark contrast to the values that we as an institution represent and try to instill in our students and employees. In 2013, the football team participated in the Chickfil-A Peach Bowl, which was the source of concern by many of us then as well, but unlike that game, this one was a voluntary decision, not one that was forced on us by the bowl selection process. When this contract was signed, it was likely hailed by Athletics as a terrific deal that would support programs for our student-athletes, give them great exposure and showcase Blue Devil pride, likely without any consideration of the bigger issues here. But there is another kind of pride at play here and we feel that the university should seize on this as a teaching moment and not miss the opportunity to make our values known by all who watch the game. While canceling the contract seems like an appealing solution on the surface, understandably, it would be an imprudent move with other far-reaching complications. However, it cannot be overstated that Duke voluntarily co-branding itself with Chick-fil-A undermines its moral standing by silently affirming Chick-fil-A and its very public support of hate groups. Duke must mitigate this offensive action with some type of response. During televised games, for example, there are often ads for each of the schools

and this would be a terrific opportunity for Duke to highlight its commitment to diversity and inclusion. Alternatively, we could also issue a statement that reaffirms support for all members of our community or sew a patch on the uniforms of our coaching staff that states, “We are all Duke” and make it known what that fully means. There are many ways that we can make our position known without being disrespectful or controversial, and the Duke LGBTQ Network would be happy to participate in that type of discussion. We must do something. Otherwise, we will be judged by the actions of Chick-fil-A—and that is not who we are. Sincerely, Alex Osmond T ‘09, President, Duke LGBTQ Network Todd Montgomery T ‘83, Vice President, Duke LGBTQ Network Jack Boyd T ‘85, Board Member, Duke LGBTQ Network Thomas C. Clark T ‘69, Board Member, Duke LGBTQ Network Mark Stephanz T ‘83, Board Member, Duke LGBTQ Network Katherine Turner T ‘90, Board Member, Duke LGBTQ Network

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THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019 | 11

Centrist ‘Chads’

t’s not a refreshing take to say that politics, particularly in the United States, have become incredibly polarizing and personal. The very thought of bargaining and compromising with those from across the aisle is often seen as indicative of a lack of principle or poor moral character. For these reasons I can

believe that centrism is an enlightened or more rational political ideology because of the “unique” faculty of being able to understand and work with the other side. I’ll certainly concede that understanding the experiences, values and arguments behind one’s political opponent is useful for interpersonal relationships and navigating

David Min COLUMNIST

understand why it may appear intuitive in this political climate to believe that the “truth” lies somewhere in the middle of Mary Helen Wood | Photography Editor more radical views and that only through a balancing act of both give and take can politicians arrive at pragmatic and beneficial outcomes. This sort of analysis, however, is easy for Centrist Chads—many of whom are here at Duke—precisely because it is a cop-out. Centrism, “bridging the divide,” or whatever you want to call it isn’t innovative or intelligent; it’s an erroneous and shorthand solution to complex critical judgments and commitments about the political. tragic cases are miles better than any other I know that there are people who are variety of flip flop wearer. That being said, simply moderate because of conflicting there are also two types of flip flop wearers, interests and well-intentioned indecisiveness. each exceptionally worse than the base model. However, I do think that many centrists The first is the flip flops plus gym shorts with adopt their political affiliation as a result lanyard keychain peeking out one pocket of privilege and general political apathy. breed. If that lanyard isn’t around your neck I think that the biggest reason why many then you don’t need it, it’s as simple as that. people identify as a “moderate” is that they The second are those who wear flip flops with are personally uncomfortable or simply don’t jeans. I feel no need to explain further why this care enough to interrogate their own beliefs is not only an affront to all things fashion but to make difficult judgments. I don’t believe it’s realistic to expect or mandate all people to actively participate in politics or even to inform themselves, but it’s undeniable that anyone remotely affected by the political has at least formulated some stances about the existing political structures and regimes. It takes a certain level of socioeconomic also basic human dignity. standing to be able to evaluate the existing And before you say it, I don’t buy any political conflict, the tangible and material type of “but it’s convenient” argument. consequences of poor policy decisions and It takes twenty seconds max to put on still believe that “both sides are really bad” or normal shoes and if you really have an “I just don’t really think about politics.” aversion to socks you can invest in a pair of For these people, the moderate view espadrilles or something. Flip flops are also is appealing in debates and conversations just uncomfortable and useless shoes that because the term rarely forces one to prevent you from participating in a number commit to defending specific policies or of essential daily activities. Good luck chasing beliefs about concepts like state power down the C1 in your flat pieces of rubber or inequality, especially when one is illattached to a plastic wishbone. informed. The moderate view is trendy But functionality aside, what it really and simultaneously illusory; it allows the comes down to is respect. Respect to those you participant to constantly shift between interact with in the outside world and who particular stances based on where the willingly choose to spend their precious time conversation goes or what currently seems with you. The least you can do is not selfishly more appealing without consideration to subject them to your poor life choices. If you internal consistency or guiding principles. find some sort of commune of flip flop wearers Oftentimes the result is an incoherent who collectively opt-in to the madness, then conglomeration of news channel talking be my guest to make that mistake together. But points; the most prominent example is in the company of upstanding members of probably the “socially liberal, but fiscally society, please refrain. conservative” type. Although this topic I’d like to end by saying to those who has been widely explored amongst collegecurrently or in the past have dabbled in the aged adults, I still think it is an excellent footwear dark-side, I forgive you. There was example of the dangers of moderation. a time that I too sported the Adidas slide For instance, these types are fine accepting in any and all informal settings. We are popular and widely held soft-left social raised not knowing any better and easily get stances such as the existence of racism and trapped in an echo chamber that prevents discrimination but are then unwilling to us from seeing the error in our ways. I do, extend the identical warrant of empathy to however, implore you to do better. To better economic policy in terms of government yourself and help in bettering those around intervention in response to a history of you. This starts of course starts with purging racial discrimination or even cross apply your own closet of open-toed shoes, but also core values like compassion to the status of means taking initiative by pointing and underpaid and exploited workers. yelling “what are those??” any time you see a In fact, I think that centrists often make flip flop out in the wild. fallacious political judgments because they begin with the assumption that moderation Sami Kirkpatrick is a Trinity senior. His is an objective good and that seeking the column, “kinda kidding,” usually runs on middle ground is effective praxis. Many alternate Wednesdays.

On flip flops and the male foot

here are few things I hate more than the sight of flip flops, or any opentoed shoes for that matter, worn on a male foot. Male feet are just gross. Mine personally have wiry hairs shooting out the top of each toe, crowned with haphazardly trimmed toenails which crescendo into a pinky toenail that’s become such a lost cause that I’ve resorted to just kinda filing down once every blue moon so that it doesn’t rip holes in my socks.

Sami Kirkpatrick COLUMNIST Even if you’re one of the chosen few with hairless feet that you attentively and frequently groom, chances are your male foot is still gross just by the nature of it being a male foot. Fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford put it best in a February 2017 interview with Entertainment Weekly: “I wouldn’t be caught dead in flip flops. I hate flip flops on men. Unless you have the world’s most perfect feet, and then only at a beach resort, never in the city. This trend of men in flip flops in a city drives me crazy— or on a plane—when you’re on a plane and someone gets on in flip flops, it’s very strange. I don’t know how they feel secure enough, I couldn’t cope with it.” I would argue that first and foremost the function of a male shoe is not to provide support or protection, but instead to spare friends and strangers alike from constant exposure to the deformed monstrosities encased inside. That’s what makes opentoed shoes so egregious. Instead of hiding the foot they frame it and present it for the whole world to see. A bare foot, for instance, in an appropriate setting like a pool or inside a house rarely gets noticed because our brains tune out the expected. Shoes, however, are one of the first things catch our eyes when we interact with someone in an unfamiliar setting. A pair of flip flops, then, are essentially clickbait tricking innocent eyes into having to look at gross feet. On Duke’s campus, 90 percent of guys dress either like old men or middle schoolers. The old men might wear something like khakis with a horizontal stripped polo, usually poorly paired with some random athletic shoe. The middle schoolers wear almost exclusively shorts in tandem with white high socks and some overly-busy graphic tee. But even these

politics but will contend that such a faculty not only presupposes the importance of compromise but is also insufficient for advancing a convincing argument or coherent political ideology. Moreover, moderate politicians, at least today, pride themselves on being able to survey a wide array of opinions and private interests to ultimately devise policy that hopefully makes some universally accepted improvements. Here it’s obvious that the consequences of the western political system conflate empirical considerations with deductive validity. The middle ground between a truth and a lie is still false; just because particular compromises may bring about beneficial outcomes does not suggest in the slightest that moderation is necessarily correct. We should always seek to—at least at first— uncover the “absolute truth.” Even if we were to adopt the centrist’s logic of seeking to be “more correct than not,” on almost all salient political issues it would seem natural to make certain judgments about the differing opinions and then to conclude that one side might be “less wrong.” For many issues, such as Israel or climate change, the “middle ground” seems to be incoherent, even further from the truth and infuriating for the advocates of opposite sides—overly reductionist applications of moderation as a solution to conflict have historically resulted in unacceptable conclusions such as with the Three-Fifths Compromise. Realistically speaking, understanding that both sides have faults is not sufficient to believe that all ideology is foolish or that opposite opinions can be equally valid. Others argue that certain political realities such as divided government or the influence of corporations may necessitate compromise, but it’s easy to draw a distinction between truly believing that the ideal political reality exists in center versus fully considering the optics of particular rhetoric or policy stances; centrism concedes the inevitability of imperfect, moderate actions while the latter focuses on devising strategies by which politicians can pass legislation that brings us closer to specific ideological stances. Moderation is easy to defend because it’s obvious why people might feel this and that way on certain issues, but a deeper dive easily exposes the prominent internal inconsistencies in certain moderate beliefs. I think that it is possible to be well informed about politics, hold oneself to consistent principles, and ultimately end up as a political moderate. I have no qualms with this situation, but I find it hard to believe that a majority or even many self-identifying “centrists” fit this particular mold. All I’m asking is for Centrists Chads to critically examine their own political stances and to minimally seek consistency.

David Min is a Trinity sophomore. His column, “milk before cereal,” runs on alternate Thursdays.

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

12 | THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2019

EXONERATED

STATEMENT FROM PAGE 1

FROM PAGE 1

Paul Anderson Youth Home, which teaches youth that same-sex marriage is wrong, as of ThinkProgress’s reporting in March 2019. Along with these donations, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy, son of founder S. Truett Cathy, spoke out against the LGBTQ+ community in 2012, saying that those who support same-sex marriage are acting against God, as he supports “the biblical definition of the family unit,” the Washington Post reported at the time. Chick-fil-A did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Duke currently has a Chick-fil-A located in the Medical Center. “We stand together to condemn any effort to legislate, mandate, or facilitate bias and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, race, religion, immigration status, or national origin,” Price and White continued. The football game is scheduled for Aug. 31 and will be held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. “By standing together, we seek to make our campus more just and inclusive, and to carry these values to the wider world. Let this be a notice that the Duke community not only defends but celebrates the humanity of all people,” Price and White wrote to end the statement.

when he was a new lawyer, and he helped with the lawsuits that the Exonerated Five filed against New York City after their convictions were overturned. Salaam and Santana, as well as Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson and Korey Wise, were coerced by the police into giving false confessions and then sent to prison for the rape of Trisha Meili, a 28-year-old woman who was attacked while jogging in Central Park on April 19, 1989. Their convictions came despite neither eyewitnesses nor DNA evidence linking them to the crime. The five men were exonerated in 2002 after Matias Reyes, a serial rapist, confessed to the crime. They then filed lawsuits against New York City for the original, biased trial, and they eventually settled the civil case for

BAG

FROM PAGE 3 reduce waste. The next step for the clinic, since the board has endorsed the ordinance, is to meet with representatives of the city council and the city

manager’s office to create a plan for a formal vote in the upcoming months, Nowlin said. In the meantime, she said the clinic will be doing additional research and expanding upon the survey on business attitudes. The ordinance has already influenced other cities in North Carolina to pass similar environmental policies, Nowlin noted. She said that she sees Durham as a laboratory to test solutions to environmental problems, and that individual communities should take distinctive measures that will have a “meaningful and beneficial impact on our public resources.” “Just [recently], the Fayetteville city council decided to stop buying Styrofoam, and they’re working on banning it in their city. Asheville is doing the same,” she said. “So I think Durham is really starting something, as we often do.”

$41 million in 2014. The Exonerated Five were featured in a Ken Burns documentary in 2012 and in “When They See Us,” a 2019 Netflix miniseries directed by Ava DuVernay. DuVernay coined the name “Exonerated Five” to “better reflect [the men’s] status and reclaim their humanity after years of being vilified as the Central Park Five,” according to a Duke Calendar listing. In Durham, there are significant steps to be taken to prevent wrongful convictions and restore social justice to the criminal justice system, Garrett wrote. Law school students can learn from the mistakes made during the original trial, from the lawsuits that the five men filed after their convictions were vacated and from the way that they have become social justice leaders in recent years, he added. Neal described that he is looking forward to “hearing, in their own words, their stories of transcendence and what it means to them, given all they survived, to become such true symbols [of] perseverance and justice.” “We can all learn from the rush to judgment, the coerced and fabricated confessions, the bias, [the] flawed forensics, the shoddy policing, the media frenzy and so many of the other problems that caused the miscarriages of justice in the Exonerated Five case,” Garrett wrote.

ADVERSITY FROM PAGE 3 the College Board, in a statement published by the Wall Street Journal. “Landscape provides admissions officers more consistent background information so they can fairly consider every student, no matter where they live and learn.”

O-WEEK FROM PAGE 2

associate vice president for student affairs, told The Chronicle earlier in August that she was “enormously proud and pleased” of IFC’s new rule. “This decision will better enable the firstyear students to focus on their transition to Duke while the fraternity members are able to get settled back on campus and begin to plan for the new year,” Wasiolek wrote at the time.

Office for Institutional Equity to conduct a comprehensive review of the Masters of FROM PAGE 2 Biostatistics program. “The assessment provides a number of two faculty members approached her and recommendations including diversity and were disappointed that the students “were inclusion education and training, enhanced not taking the opportunity to improve their student orientation programs, and clear and English and were being so impolite as to have regular communications about values and a conversation that not everyone on the floor policies,” Page wrote. “Department faculty could understand.” and staff have already undergone implicit bias Theafter Newthe York Times Syndication Corporation Just days email, Mary Klotman, Sales training and conflict resolution training, and we 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. dean of the medical school, directed Duke’s will10018 continue efforts to grow and improve.”

CHAIR

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The Chronicle What will it take for Duke to win this weekend: Nothing special, we’re gonna win: �� mccleodnine A lot: �� kingsaul Sinkhole under ‘Bama sideline: ��satistics101 Daniel Jones out of retirement: ��carti b I don’t care about sports: �� leahwouldntwannabeya Student Advertising Manager:............................................................... Rebecca Ross Account Representatives:................ Juliana Arbelaez, Emma Olivo, Spencer Perkins, . Sam Richey, Alex Russell, Paula Sakuma, Jake Schulman, Simon Shore, Maddy Torres, Stef Watchi, Montana Williams Marketing Manager:........................................................................ Jared McCloskey Student Business Manager..................................................... Dylan Riley, Alex Rose

Crossword ACROSS

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PUZZLE BY KYLE ERIK AGARD DOLAN AND ANDY KRAVIS

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Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year). Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.