December 2, 2009 issue

The Chronicle 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

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 69

www.dukechronicle.com

Lombard WISC DUKE Madison, Wisc. • Wednesday • 9:15 p.m. • Big Ten/ACC Challenge to seek plea deal Blue Devils prep for Badger Challenge

by Julius Jones

by Danny Vinik

A former University official has decided to plead guilty to child sex abuse charges, WRAL reported Tuesday.

Frank Lombard, a former professor and associate director of Duke’s Center for Health Policy, appeared in court Tuesday after U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia filed a criminal information, signaling the U.S. Attorney’s intention to seek a plea deal.

Frank Lombard The statutory minimum for sexual exploitation of a minor is 30 years, but a plea deal may cut the sentence in half.

Lombard was arrested June 24 during a sting operation conducted by the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department for the District of Columbia’s Child Exploitation Task Force.

According to the arrest affidavit, Lombard allegedly offered an undercover police officer the opportunity to watch him perform sexual acts with his 5-year-old foster child and fly to Durham to have sex with the young boy himself.

Lombard’s attorney could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Just days after getting back to Durham from its first games outside of Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke’s early-season schedule doesn’t get any easier.

After two hard-fought victories over Arizona State and Connecticut last week to win the NIT Season Tip-Off, the Blue Devils head to Madison, Wisc. where they will face Wisconsin (4-1) tonight at 9:15 p.m. in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

Duke (6-0) is a perfect 10-0 in the Challenge and isn’t prepared to let its unblemished record slip away this year.

“We definitely don’t want to lose and when it comes to going on the road to do it, it definitely gets very serious,” junior Nolan Smith said, “It’s going to be a hostile environment…. [The coaches] definitely take it to another level for this game.”

The No. 6 Blue Devils defeated Wisconsin two years ago, 82-58, in the Challenge, but are not sitting back and expecting another easy victory.

“They have some guys in their starting lineup who were in that game two years ago,” senior Lance Thomas said. “We know those guys didn’t forget how we won last

The chronicle

The chronicle

Chronicle File Photo

Jon Scheyer and Duke defeated Wisconsin last time they played in 2007’s Big Ten/ACC Challenge.

See wisconsin on page 8

No more cases of Students robbed at Local Yogurt drug-resistant flu Five Chronicle staff members among victims of armed robbery found at hospital

by Emmeline Zhao The chronicle

from Staff Reports The chronicle

After extensive testing, no more cases of drug-resistant H1N1 virus have been discovered at the Hospital, WRAL reported Tuesday.

Officials announced Nov. 20 that the Hospital had four cases of the virus, which is resistant to Tamiflu, a drug used to treat both H1N1 and the seasonal flu.

Three of the patients who contracted the drug-resistant strain have died.

All four of the patients were being treated in an isolated unit in the Hospital before their cases were announced in a Nov. 20 news release, which noted that the patients were all extremely sick with “underlying severely compromised immune systems and multiple other complex medical conditions.”

See h1n1 on page 4

Men’s Tennis singles players unite to form impressive duo, Page 7

Two men robbed a University Drive business at gunpoint Tuesday evening. No one was injured in the incident.

Five Duke students—all members of The Chronicle’s staff—were in Local Yogurt at approximately 7:25 p.m. when two masked men entered the shop and demanded money. Local Yogurt Owner Ted Domville and six other patrons, including two young children, were in the store at the time. “[The first man] pointed the gun over the counter and said, ‘Give me the money.’” Domville said. “I went over to the register but he seemed to think things were going too slow, so he reached across [the counter], grabbed the money from my hand and took off.”

Both men were dressed in dark colors and wearing black ski masks. Domville described the men as approximately 5’8” and of normal build.

The first man entered the store carrying a small gun, similar to a revolver, said Chronicle staff writer Ciaran O’Connor, a freshman who was in the store during the robbery. The man briefly waved the gun in the air before taking a shot at the ceiling. The store’s patrons prompt-

ly dropped to the floor, protecting the two children, O’Connor added.

The men took off with “at least a couple hundred dollars” from the register, Domville said.

“They were in a hurry. I didn’t even get through handling all the bills [in the register] and he just took what I had in my hand,” Domville said. “The whole thing happened in less than 30 seconds.”

Meanwhile, the second man swept the customers of visible purses and wallets, O’Connor noted.

“They definitely knew what they were doing and planned it and had the car running,” he said. “It was a well executed robbery—they got what they wanted and no one saw their car.”

Chronicle staff writer Jessica Chang, a freshman, was robbed of her laptop and wallet in the incident after a brief struggle with the robber to keep her belongings.

“I heard the gun shot and we all ran next to the counter, we were all huddled there and when they were leaving, one of the guys came and grabbed my bag from me,” Chang said. “It was all just really surreal—I couldn’t even believe

ONTHERECORD

“The debt at which we find ourselves now is troubling not only to me, but to most of my constituents back home.”

­—Congressman Howard Coble on the health care bill. See story page 3

See robbery on page 4

DUU: End of year blowout Union finalizes the budget for this year’s LDOC, PAGE 3

2 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 the chronicle

worldandnation

TODAY:

5942

THURSDAY:

6351

Afghans experience mixed reactions to Obama’s speech

Proposition 8 challenged on Senate to vote on health bill grounds of discrimination WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senators prepared to cast their first votes Wednesday on health-care reform, but even as partisan divisions hardened and contentious amendments stacked up, Democrats increasingly expressed optimism that they would succeed in passing a bill before Christmas.

The intitial amendments offered illustrated the legislation’s vast scope and lingering vulnerabilities. The first, co-sponsored by Sens. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, would increase preventative healthcare for women at a 10-year cost of $940 million. One aim of the measure is to blunt concerns raised last month when an independent commission recommended that women undergo mammograms less frequently.

“

Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.

— Mark Twain

”

PASADENA, Calif. — Lawyers for two gay couples challenging last year’s Proposition 8 initiative banning samesex marriage in California brought their case to a federal appeals court panel in Pasadena on Tuesday, arguing that they need access to initiative sponsors’ internal campaign communications to prove the ballot measure was passed with “discriminatory intent.”

The request to review all messages pertaining to the campaign strategy of the Proposition 8 sponsors ahead of a Jan. 11 trial was approved by the San Francisco-based federal judge presiding over the case, prompting the initiative backers to turn to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals with claims that such disclosure would violate their First Amendment protections.

TODAY IN HISTORY 1986: Dow-Jones index hits record 1955.57

KABUL -- It’s commonplace to hear Afghans describe a rush of mixed feelings when a Western military convoy roars past. They’re glad for the protection from insurgents, but they don’t want foreign soldiers in their homeland forever.

So U.S. President Barack Obama’s pledge to send additional troops to fight the Taliban—coupled with talk of an eventual pullout—is a message that resonates with many here.

Still, there are misgivings. Some Afghans fear that the U.S. strategy will prompt the Taliban simply to wait out the Western presence. The militants, they warn, will melt away in the face of new U.S.-led offensives, biding their time in the countryside or in Pakistan until the foreigners are gone and they can seek to seize power again.

An American exit strategy “is not a good idea,” said Mohammad Omar, governor of Kunduz, a northern province in which insurgents have made significant inroads. “Afghan forces won’t be in a position for a long, long time to safeguard our country.”

But in a reflection of Afghanistan’s tradition of national pride and mistrust of outsiders, others said it was time for this country to begin standing on its own.

“We need to strengthen our own army,” said Sangiwal, an adviser to the governor of violence-ridden Helmand province, who uses only one name.

“Sending more troops is a good idea for now. But look how many, many times more expensive one American soldier is, compared to an Afghan one!”

Ken Hively/Los angeles times

Architect Rebecca Rudolph pulls a curtain in the living room of her remodeled house. Rudolph said she repaved the living room’s floor with stained-black concrete slab to make the room “feel enclosed as well as open to the outside.” The home, which was 500 sq. ft. when it was purchased nine years ago, has been enlarged to 1,150 sq. ft.

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 | 3

NC lawmakers LDOC budget set at $20,000 largely opposed health care bill duke university union

Eight of 13 reject House bill despite recent poll data

by Ciaran O’Connor The chronicle

stephen farver/The Chronicle

DUU President Zachary Perret approves the budget for this year’s LDOC celebration, which includes a $5000 loan, at Tuesday’s DUU meeting.

by Ray Koh

The chronicle

The Last Day Of Classes committee will have to work with a smaller budget this year.

At their meeting Tuesday night, Duke University Union members finalized end of semester plans and in a closed meeting, discussed LDOC plans.

“We are giving a total of $20,000 to LDOC,” said President Zachary Perret, a senior. “Fifteen thousand is for the LDOC event, and $5,000 is a loan.”

Perret noted that the loan will allow the LDOC committee to begin to repay its deficit from last year’s event, which is estimated to be around $13,000. The committee will have two years to repay its loans and eliminate its deficit, Perret said.

“This year, LDOC will be smaller financially but not

in detrimental ways,” Perret said. “The program and quality will still be really good, but we have to be conscious of what is going on financially in the University.”

Perret declined to comment on possible guests and programs for LDOC. He said those details will be released in March after Spring Break.

In other business: Tickets for the Bo Burnham show are still available through the box office and Online. The event is scheduled for Thursday at 8 p.m. in Page Auditorium.

The Duke Coffeehouse will host a release party for Humble Tripe’s new CD. The event will be the Coffeehouse’s last before the Spring semester, said DUU Vice President Karen Chen, a junior.

Latkes & Libations

Hanukkah Party and Chordoma Foundation Fundraiser

Wednesday, December 2nd 9:30 pm at Armadillo Grill

Dreidel tournament & latke eating contest FREE drinks, food, and chocolate gelt Awesome prizes & giveaways

All are welcome to attend!

jewishlife@duke.edu 919.684.6422 http://jewishlife.studentaffairs.duke.edu

Although a recent poll conducted by Elon University found that three-fourths of North Carolinians support health care reform, only five of North Carolina’s 13 congressmen voted for the recent House resolution on health care.

The general population poll, conducted Oct. 26 to 29, surveyed 703 N.C. residents via cell phones and landlines and has a margin of error of 3.8 percent. The poll news asked respondents about their views on the economy and health analysis care. It found that 54 percent of those surveyed supported the public health care option being debated in Congress at the time.

All five Republican congressmen in the state voted along party lines and against the Affordable Health Care for America Act, which was narrowly passed by the House of Representatives Nov. 7, 220 to 215. The bill’s key provisions include prohibiting insurers from denying coverage based on patients’ medical histories. The act also establishes a government-run insurance plan in competition with private plans, a “public option” which would be available only to a small minority of poor Americans See health care on page 6

4 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 the chronicle

graduate and professional student council

Graduate housing on Central to be renovated

by Alejandro Bolívar The chronicle

The Graduate and Professional Student Council discussed Central Campus renovations and voiced opposition to the proposed merger of the International House and the Multicultural Center at its Tuesday night meeting.

Marijean Williams, Residence Life and Housing Services director of accommodations, administration and finance, said renovations to some apartments on Central Campus will begin this summer. The renovations aim to make some apartments more suitable for graduate students, and come after Duke delayed plans for New Campus indefinitely.

Central Campus apartments were to be demolished under plans for New Campus, but the recession led Duke to pursue less expensive ways of improving Central.

Duke hopes to increase the appeal of the apartments to graduate students, particularly those from abroad, Williams said. Currently there are 200 beds for graduate students, with 28 vacancies.

“As we increase our housing room amount on campus it will free up more appropriate space on Central Campus that we can then renovate to fit grad students’ needs,” Williams said.

The Central Campus renovations will be conducted in three phases, Williams said. One-third of the apartments will be renovated each summer so that students can live on the rest of Central Campus.

Graduate students new to Duke and the U.S. will be given higher priority in obtaining on-campus housing, Williams said.

First-year international graduate students will be allowed to apply first among graduate students for on-

campus housing, followed by other first-year graduate students.

Students in the audience also expressed concern that off-campus housing can be inconvenient and unsafe, particularly because many international students do not own cars.

Associate Dean for Residential Life Joe Gonzalez and Williams said they are talking with owners of off-campus apartment complexes who are interested in attracting graduate students. To draw more graduate students, a few complexes, such as University Apartments, have started to remodel some units.

GPSC members also discussed the effects proposed plans to relocate the International House to Smith Warehouse would have on the graduate community.

There will be two graduate student members on the 15-person task force that will consider plans for the International House and the Multicultural Center, which were scheduled to merge until administrators delayed the plans last month.

“International students are quite substantial in our population,” said GPSC President Yvonne Ford, a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in nursing. “As graduate and professional students, my request was that we have a voice because we are big consumers of these services.”

GPSC members decided unanimously to write a letter to University officials to voice opposition to the merger.

Melissa Wiesner, a Master of Management Studies student in the Fuqua School of Business and Trinity ’09, gave a presentation on why the International House should remain on Campus Drive.

“Location is key—it’s historic and it’s cozy,” she said.

h1n1 from page 1 Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service interviewed hospital employees and patient family members in an attempt to trace the origin of the four cases, Dr. Joseph Govert, director of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, told The Chronicle in a previous interview.

CDC members also assisted the Hospital in repeated testing for the drug-resistant strain in other patients being treated for swine flu and other patients in the isolated unit where the strain was found.

The drug-resistant cases were not resistant to Relenza, another drug commonly used to treat swine flu, and no cases were reported in the student body or among employees who worked with the patients.

More than 50 cases of drug-resistant H1N1 have been reported around the globe since April, 15 of which have been reported in the United States.

robbery from page 1 that it had happened.”

Durham Police responded within five minutes of the incident and patrolled the area until the store closed at 10 p.m., Domville said.

But the Local Yogurt incident was not the only one Tuesday evening. A similar robbery was reported at about 8 p.m. at a gas station located on Sedwick Road—7 miles down the road from Local Yogurt.

Although police have not been able to confirm that the two incidents are linked, both occurred within a small time frame early in the evening and involved business patrons, said Sgt. Evans of Durham Police Department, who was DPD’s watch commander Tuesday night.

“Usually with robberies like this, they don’t usually mess with customers. But in this case, they did,” Evans said.

“Eight p.m. is a little early for a robber usually—too many people out and about.”

Still, the area around Local Yogurt is generally safe and sees few problems, Evans said.

The business opened in May. But as business slows in colder months, a frozen yogurt shop may not have been the ideal store to rob, Domville said.

“But if you’re in business long enough, no matter the industry, there’s a chance for this to happen, especially in a down economy and the holidays,” he said. “The thing to do is to keep cool and keep the people involved safe.

There’s nothing anybody could’ve done differently to have changed the situation.”

the chronicle

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 | 5

Obama lays out strategy for war in Afghanistan

by Scott Wilson

The Washington Post

WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Obama announced Tuesday that he will send 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan by next summer and begin withdrawing forces in July 2011 after nearly a decade of battle.

Addressing the nation from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Obama drew on the weight of war he has felt as commander in chief and on the national security interests at stake in Afghanistan and Pakistan to explain his decision to escalate the eight-year-old conflict and to begin leaving it before his term ends. He warned bluntly that “huge challenges remain.”

“Afghanistan is not lost, but for several years it has moved backwards,” he said. “In short, the status quo is not sustainable.”

Obama concluded a three-month review of war strategy by placing extraordinary confidence in a strained U.S. military and applying fresh pressure on the uncertain government of President Hamid Karzai to reform itself in months rather than years.

The 30,000 additional U.S. troops amount to most of what Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, requested at the end of August. But by setting a date for when he will begin removing U.S. forces, scheduled to number about 100,000 by next summer, Obama is effectively holding McChrystal to the urgent timeline he laid out in his bleak assessment of the situation.

Obama’s escalation of the war effort and

presentation of an exit strategy reflects the divisions that emerged within his administration during the strategy review and the difficult politics he faces in selling his plan at home and abroad.

Foreshadowing the debate over his strategy, Obama said: “Years of debate over Iraq and terrorism have left our unity on national security issues in tatters, and created a highly polarized and partisan backdrop for this effort.”

As details of his plan emerged Tuesday, some Republicans accused Obama of aiding the Taliban insurgency by setting a date to begin a withdrawal, even though administration officials said the pace will be determined by the country’s security and political stability. Democrats criticized Obama for an expensive, if time-limited, expansion of an unpopular conflict at a time of economic hardship at home.

The president spoke for about 40 minutes to an audience of cadets gathered at Eisenhower Hall on this historic campus on the banks of the Hudson River. Many of those in attendance will deploy to Afghanistan as part of Obama’s escalation, and they received his speech with a mix of solemn silence and polite applause. Seventy-three West Point graduates have died in battle since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Obama’s audience extended beyond the hall to include a skeptical American public, reluctant allies abroad, a weak government in Pakistan, and an Afghan population waiting to see whether international forces or the Taliban will win the war.

Documentary Theater DOCST 190S.02 and THEATRST 149S.02 Instructor: Mike Wiley M 10:05 - 12:35p, Bridges House 113 This course explores the way humans narrate, document and interpret their lives through storytelling, individual interpretation and drama.

Documentary theater takes the real stuff of human life, grounded in history, and transforms it into stories for the public. This style of performance flows from the theater artist’s ability to study people closely, interview them, and ultimately embody them using their voices and their words. Performances are literal reproductions of that in-depth study. Students in this class will delve into various aspects of sharing stories through documentary theater. After grounding themselves in the history and methodology of this approach to storytelling and narrative strategy, students will research, write and perform an informal staged reading for a Duke community audience of invited guests. The performance component is a culmination of the class’s fieldwork, archival research, and shared experiences. Artists, activists, and everyday people of all performance levels and backgrounds are urged to enroll.

Mike Wiley is a playwright and actor whose overriding goal is expanding cultural awareness for audiences of all ages through dynamic portrayals based on pivotal moments in African-American history. In doing so, he helps to unveil a richer picture of the total American experience. His expanding rich repertoire of original productions, including Blood Done Sign My Name, ‘Dar He and more, each display his acclaimed ability for bringing to life multiple intertwined characters, with Wiley often portraying more than two dozen persons in a single “one-man” drama.

The course will focus on the journeys of the Freedom Riders during the Civil Rights Movement. For more information about the Freedom Riders check out http://breachofpeace.com/blog/

Tis the season

melissa yeo/The Chronicle

The Duke Chorale, directed by Rodney Wynkoop, puts on a Christmas-themed concert Tuesday evening in the Chapel. The price of admission was one non-perishable food item per attendee.

6 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 the chronicle

health care from page 3 currently without coverage. The Senate began considering its own resolution, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Nov. 21.

Republican Rep. Howard Coble— whose district encompasses Greensboro, N.C.—echoed much of the GOP’s opposition to the perceived high costs of health care reform under President Barack Obama.

“One of the main reasons was the total cost,” Coble said. “The debt at which we find ourselves now is troubling not only to me, but to most of my constituents back home.”

Although this may seem contrary to the poll’s findings, David Rohde, Ernestine Friedl professor of political science, said that poll results can be misleading.

“The kinds of numbers you get from polls like this about something as complex as health care and the public option depend a great deal on how you ask the question,” Rohde said.

Still, Hunter Bacot, director of the Elon University Poll, said that though results can fluctuate based on question wording and syntax, he believes that the poll’s questions were soundly constructed.

“We chose to go as broad and neutral as we could,” he said.

When it came time to vote, five of the eight N.C. Democratic congressmen seemed to mirror the poll’s findings by voting for the resolution.

“What this bill is mainly about is insurance reform, which is to give all Americans access to affordable coverage and to remove all discrimination and barriers to coverage,” said Rep. David Price, who represents Durham. “While [the resolution

is] not perfect, and we’ll continue to work on it, it’s a very good basic proposal and I was proud to vote for it.”

But three Democratic congressmen voted against the resolution and against their party—Democratic Reps. Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre and Heath Shuler.

According to the Washington Post, all three Congressmen represent districts in which more than 20 percent of the population is currently without health insurance.

McIntyre and Kissel were unavailable for comment, and their press secretaries, Haven Kerchner and Dain Mitchell, could not immediately be reached.

Although Shuler was also unavailable for comment, his press secretary, Doug Abrahms, said that the congressman voted against the resolution because he believed it did nothing to stem the rising costs of health care.

When asked about the Elon poll and the number of uninsured in Shuler’s district, Abrahms said that Shuler believes there is too much emphasis being placed on the public option and that “the public option actually is not going to cover that many workers.”

In a press release, Kissel said his main sticking point with the resolution was its proposed funding cuts to Medicare, the government’s current health insurance program for elderly citizens.

“While I believe comprehensive health care and insurance reform is necessary, I cannot vote for [the resolution] in its current form, which cuts $399 billion from Medicare,” he stated in the release.

Price, however, disputed this assertion.

“Saying that Medicare in general is hurt is just not accurate,” Price said. “The bill strengthens Medicare.”

source: the washington post

graphic by hon lung chu/The Chronicle

Sports

FOOTBALL

The Chronicle

WEDNESDAY December 2, 2009

Head coach David Cutcliffe finished third in ACC Coach of the Year voting with four of 40 votes. Georgia Tech’s Paul Johnson won the award for the second straight year

www.dukechroniclesports.com

2 Plumlees Star singles players grow together and the Supermen Men’s Tennis

Gerald Henderson declared for the NBA Draft in April. More than seven months later, I’m here to tell you it wasn’t that big of a deal.

Yes, Henderson was the best player on a team that won the ACC Tournament and advanced to the Sweet 16. Sure, his dunks consistently electrified Cameron more than anything else in the past four years.

Joe But the most important part of Henderson’s emergence last season wasn’t that he established himself as a legitimate NBA prospect. It was that he, Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler formed a deadly trio that became nearly impossible to stop, as long as the opponent wasn’t Villanova. When defenses managed to stop one or two of the Big Three, the others compensated. And then there were games, like the ACC Tournament final against Florida State, when all three exploded and Duke became almost unbeatable.

Six games into the season, it seems safe to say that the Blue Devils have a new trio to lean on in 2009-2010. After showing hints of a potential breakout season at the Blue-White game Oct. 16, Nolan Smith has established himself as one of Duke’s primary weapons. He currently leads the Blue Devils in scoring with 18.5 points per game, including a career-high 24 in his season debut against Charlotte Nov. 17.

Add in the preseason All-American (Singler) and the point guard poised to become the ninth Duke player to average double-digit points for four seasons (Scheyer), and you have a threesome that is as good as any in the nation.

It’s just missing one thing: a nickname.

The Big Three wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly creative or unique to the Blue Devils. When most people hear “Big Three,” they think of car companies, T.V. stations or the Boston Celtics, not Henderson, Scheyer and Singler.

Scheyer, Singler and Smith need a better nickname. Being one of the best isn’t just about what you do on the court.

(OK, maybe it is.) But a good nickname certainly doesn’t hurt. Just ask Air Jordan, Magic or Pistol Pete. Or well-known units like Phi Slamma Jamma, the Purple People Eaters and the Steel Curtain.

I’m convinced that the Three ‘S’s— which is what ESPN analyst Dick Vitale called them during last week’s NIT Season Tip-Off—have more naming potential than last year’s trio. But what direction should we take it?

The Three Musketeers? Too medieval.

The Three Stooges? Too goofy. The Three Amigos? Still not quite there.

Besides, none of those take advantage of what really makes Duke’s top trio unique: a shared last initial. This is a once-in-a-

Drews

See drews on page 8

by Andy Margius The chronicle

Four months ago, freshman Henrique Cunha and junior Reid Carleton had never met each other.

Fast forward to November, and the duo has already established itself as one of the top doubles teams in the country after finishing as the runner-up at the ITA National Indoor Championships, an event they had to qualify for by winning a regional tournament.

“We were just randomly put together at the beginning of the year.” Carleton said. “We didn’t even know each other, but we started off [playing] really well together.”

Really well might be an understatement to describe this duo. During the fall season, Cunha and Carleton went 17-3, won the regional championship and the ITA All-American backdraw title and reached the finals of National Indoors, the fall’s most prestigious event. They became only the second Blue Devil team to ever qualify for the ITA National Championships.

The uniqueness of this doubles team, however, lies in the fact that neither player was a real doubles specialist. Both Cunha and Carleton were significantly more experienced playing singles.

“It’s weird because they both have always been kind of singles oriented,” head coach Ramsey Smith said. “Reid’s an amazing tennis player, but up until this fall he always thought of himself as a singles guy. But he gets paired up with Henrique, who has also pretty much

“Reid’s an amazing tennis player, but up until this fall he always thought of himself as a singles guy.”

— Head coach Ramsey Smith just played singles, but he’s just so talented and so good that he has learned the game of doubles, and Reid has as well.”

Smith was quick to point out, however, the adaptation the players had to make to the new game.

“They won predominant[ly] at the beginning of the fall playing from the baseline,” Smith said. But they won at the end of the fall by being aggressive.”

Cunha reiterated the point, saying that he played little doubles before his experience with Carleton, and due to Smith and assistant

lauren dietrich/Chronicle file photos

Henrique Cunha (left) and Reid Carleton (right) have become one of the best doubles pairings in the country despite having met just a few months ago. coach Josh Goffi, he has seen a vast improvement.

“We started playing [well] because we were good singles players,” Cunha said. “But then we started practicing and we started getting into more doubles skills, and it added to our game and made us a good doubles team…. Now I think I am a much better doubles player because of Ramsey and Josh.”

Going into the spring, the Cunha-Carleton connection will give the Blue Devils something they have sorely missed: an established number one doubles pair. In dual meets in the past, the doubles point has made all the difference for Duke.

Last year the Blue Devils went 12-1 when winning it, and only 4-8 when dropping the doubles point. Now that Duke features one of the top doubles teams in the country, the Blue Devils will likely have a better success rate in dual matches.

In addition to their on-the-court contributions, Cunha and Carleton have helped the program off the court. Thanks largely to the success of these two, Duke signed three top American recruits in early November. Two of the recruits are among the top 10 in their class while the other ranks in the top 25, giving the Blue Devils the top incoming class next year.

“I’m really excited about the recruiting class, but I’m really excited about this spring,” Smith said. “We’re going to be a lot better than last year, and these next couple of years we’re going to put ourselves in a position where we’re contending for the ACC title and put ourselves in the mix for the national title.”

While Cunha and Carleton are already taking Duke to the next level, their potential to improve as they continue to play together is even more exciting for the Blue Devils. Of the pair’s three losses this year, two were to senior-led teams and two were in pro-set matches.

Given that the two have only played together for a few short months, this doubles team should look even more impressive in the spring.

As for now, Duke finally has a dominant doubles pair. And that could be the first step for the Blue Devils as they try to establish themselves as a national contender.

8 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 the chronicle

drews from page 7 lifetime opportunity. By my imprecise calculations, there is a 0.15 percent chance that a team’s top three scorers will have the same last initial and a 0.006 percent chance that the initial is an S (assuming it’s equally likely for a last name to start with any letter, which isn’t true, but it makes the math much easier). Factor in the probability of it happening on a top-10 team, and we may never see this again at an elite program.

The Three ‘S’s is OK, but it’s a cop-out, like A-Rod or KG. SSS is too simple, not to mention too hard to say.

SSS can represent a hissing sound, though, and there must be an intimidating snake name to use, right? Plus, Scheyer, Singler and Smith play for the Devils, and that connection is just too good to pass up. (Of course, as any knowledgeable Duke fan will tell you, the Blue Devils were named after a French infantry battalion, not Satan.

But that only dampens the snake-devil link a little.)

The problem is finding a good snake name. Most blue snakes have the color in their name, so those are out because they’re too obvious. Some, like the Black Mamba, are taken. Others, like the Eastern Diamondback, are too unwieldy to be used.

And it seems like the snake should reflect Duke’s three stars in some way, but that is nearly impossible to do. “Sidewinders” maintains the ‘S’ theme in the name, but there is no other link to the three Blue Devils unless you are willing to make a big leap and say that these venomous pit vipers—like Scheyer, Singler and Smith—are dangerous.

So snakes are too complicated. What about wellknown objects that have ‘S’s on them? It works for the M&M boys (take your pick of Mantle and Maris, Mauer and Morneau or virtually any Detroit Lions GM/coach combination since 2001). “The Skittle boys” doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, though.

Of course, there is another familiar object associated with the letter S. It’s simple yet powerful, forceful yet graceful. It would subtly chip away at any doubts about Duke’s athleticism. The only problem is that an NBA superstar is already using it. But he’s using the singular form. This would be a slight twist.

And what opponent would want to face a starting lineup consisting of the Plumlees and the Supermen?

sam sheft/Chronicle file photo

Junior Nolan Smith will be challenged on the defensive end by Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon, Wisconsin’s two best perimeter players.

wisconsin from page 1 let last game relax us.”

Thomas is coming off his first career double-double in the win over Connecticut and is looking to keep his strong play going against the Badgers’ inside presence.

“That’s how I play in practice,” Thomas said of his per-

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formance against Connecticut. “It’s just a matter of transitioning it to the game… That’s the story of my career: me being the most wiry guy on the court and going up against a monster. I’m ready for it. [The] younger guys will be ready for it by following my lead. It comes down to just being tough. I’m not backing down from any one of those guys and I’m not letting my teammates do it, either.”

Wisconsin traditionally relies on strong post players for its scoring, and this year is no different. Led by juniors Jon Leuer and Keaton Nankivil down low, the Badgers possess a formidable front line that will test Duke’s revamped inside game. Leuer enters the game averaging 13.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest while Nankivil tacks on 8.4 points and 6.4 rebounds.

In the win over UConn, Duke struggled shooting the ball, making just 29.6 percent of its shots and getting only six points from preseason All-American Kyle Singler, but the Blue Devils still won easily thanks to their strong defense.

“We have guys that embrace getting stops,” Thomas said, “Defense is how we’re going to win big.”

Seniors Trevon Hughes and Jason Bohannon lead Wisconsin at the guard positions, scoring 14.2 and 11.2 points per game, respectively. The Badgers enter Wednesday’s contest after a third-place finish in the Maui Invitational, where they defeated both Arizona and Maryland and lost to a strong Gonzaga team.

While Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins each got their first taste of a big game in Madison Square Garden, fellow freshman Mason Plumlee had to sit on the bench with his fractured wrist. After participating in full practice Tuesday, Duke hopes that Plumlee will be ready for action come game time tonight, and he is expected to dress for the matchup with the Badgers. All three freshmen will be entering their first college away game and the most hostile environment they have faced thus far. Kelly, Dawkins and Plumlee don’t have to look very far for leadership, though, as Thomas is ready with advice.

“I’ll tell them to follow my lead,” he said. “Just look at how we’re playing out there. Don’t be affected by any of that stuff. Don’t be affected by the crowd.”

Duke walks into the Kohl Center after two strong victories and with another chance to send a message to the rest of college basketball that the Blue Devils are no longer just a 3-point shooting team. They play defense, attack the offensive glass and rack up points in the paint. As Nolan Smith said, “No more calling Duke soft.”

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Diversions Shoe Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

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The Chronicle songs we wanted from the duke chorale: redneck yacht club: �������������������������������������������������������������������� clee sweet georgia brown: ���������������������������������������������� will, emmeline you enjoy myself (with trampolines): �����������������������������Watchdog mambo no. 5: ���������������������������������������������������������������������������austin dreidel dreidel dreidel: ��������������������������������gabe, kevin, sabreeena dead silence: ������������������������������������������������������������������������� nobody rockin robin (tweet tweet): ������������������������������������@alexklein, reed girl from ipanema: ����������������������������������������������noko, lrupp, tracer Barb Starbuck loves xmas music more than anything:............Barb

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Public higher ed in peril The economic recession Large decreases in state has left no American college funding have put many instior university untouched. tutions within state university Here at Duke, we have seen systems under pressure, but significant changes. Depart- such cuts have perhaps been ments have cut budgets, felt most at highly selective administrators state schools have curbed like the Unieditorial faculty searchversity of Calies and employee layoffs fornia, Berkeley and the Unihave only just begun. versity of North Carolina at These cutbacks at Duke Chapel Hill. have had a tangible impact, In recent weeks, public but they have yet to seriously universities have turned to impinge on the educational tuition raises to close budand research mission of the get gaps. The University of University.

California system is raising For many of America’s top undergraduate tuition 32 public colleges and universi- percent next year for both ties, however, the recession in-state and out-of-state stuhas posed a serious threat to dents. Closer to home, the their continued well being, University of North Carolina raising important questions system’s Board of Governors about the future of public upped tuition at UNC by higher education. about 5 percent.

“

Sorry DSG, but you’re the only ones who care about yourselves.

—“Gob Bluth” commenting on the story “Senate finalizes YT reform.”

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While raising additional revenue from tuition is an undesirable but necessary step in the short-term, it is an unacceptable substitute for state funding that will likely continue to falter in the foreseeable future.

Without a steady stream of state financial support, public schools cannot compete with wealthy private schools like Duke, Harvard or Yale when it comes to financial aid packages, faculty salaries or research funding.

Although this situation would benefit Duke and allow it to attract top talent from state schools, a drastic imbalance between public and private universities is not a desirable outcome for the long-term health of our

economy or democracy. But with funding for these public institutions running dry, it is unclear who should foot the bill to keep them going.

Increased federal funding to state schools is one option. Yet money from Uncle Sam rarely comes without costly strings attached.

Federally mandated curricula, for example, or greater federal university oversight would be a high price to pay for financial assistance.

Admitting a larger percentage of out-of-state students who pay higher tuition rates is another possibility.

This, however, erodes the capacity of a state university to educate its own residents, ostensibly a core mission for any public institution. In addition, the price charged to

out-of-state students does not reflect the true cost of educating a student, so even with more students paying higher tuition, public universities will still bleed money.

The current financial crisis has exacerbated the challenges facing the public higher education system in America: What should be the role of public higher education? What is the proper balance between public liberal arts schools and technical colleges? How should prestigious state schools compete with wealthy private universities, and how can public university systems fund this?

These are the difficult questions our educational leaders must be prepared to address both now and in the future.

Obama Ups the Ante

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WASHINGTON ­— Six months after saying he doubted that “piling on more and more troops” was the road to success in Afghanistan, and then warning his commanders not to ask for more, President Obama has given Gen. Stanley McChrystal nearly all the troops that he wanted.

But in granting much of McChrystal’s request, Obama has set narrower and more explicit objectives than the broad, Afghanistan-wide counterinsur- karen deyoung gency his top military commander in the coun- featured column try had outlined, and given him a short timeline for achieving them.

In Tuesday’s prime-time speech, the president asked international allies for tangible proof of the new closeness they have affirmed with his administration, reviving demands for help that both he and his predecessor had largely abandoned. He issued sharp warnings to the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan to embrace his strategy.

By upping the ante on all fronts, Obama is attempting to change the metabolism of a war that has sputtered along for more than eight years. His order to deploy 30,000 more U.S. troops to Afghanistan by summer, and then start withdrawing them a year later, constitutes an acknowledgment that the situation is dire, and that both the resources and the patience for dealing with it are limited.

If the strategy is successful, control of Afghan provinces and districts will begin to be turned over to local officials as early as a year from now and insurgent sanctuaries in the mountainous Afghanistan-Pakistan border region will be destroyed. If the strategy is a failure, it could come just as the 2012 election cycle gets underway.

On Tuesday night, Obama defined victory much the same way he did in March, when he announced his first “comprehensive” strategy for Afghanistan: denying al-Qaida sanctuary in Afghanistan and Pakistan, defeating the terrorist group and dismantling it. Many of the rhetorical sound bites in the new plan sounded the same as they did in the old one: a reprise of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as the rationale for the war, a warning that there would be no “blank check,” a cautionary note that “none of this will be easy.”

In broad terms, Obama’s plan is reminiscent of President George W. Bush’s “surge” strategy in Iraq — standing up indigenous military forces so that U.S. troops can “stand down.” What Bush officials called “breathing space” for local Iraqi governance and infrastructure to develop, Obama officials referred to Tuesday as a “window of opportunity” for the Afghans.

Not surprisingly, administration briefers sharply disputed any comparison. The difference, a senior Obama adviser said, was in the clear benchmarks and deadlines that have been set this time around.

Rather than acceding to McChrystal’s request for

an escalation of 40,000 troops over a year to 18 months, Obama has demanded a quick jolt of 30,000, with the first Marines scheduled to arrive early this winter and the remainder of still-undesignated Marine Corps and Army units to be in place by the end of the summer.

The strain the rapid deployment will put on the military is considerable, and it will bring the total number of U.S. troops to more than 100,000, more than double those in place at the beginning of the year. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who has been given some minor wiggle room around the 30,000 cap, has assured Obama that it is doable.

The schedule will be helped by the ongoing withdrawal from Iraq, where U.S. troop strength is down to about 116,000 from its October 2007 peak of 166,000. McChrystal has been given a list of units that will be available and told to revise his recommendations along the lines of Obama’s strategy.

He will concentrate forces in population areas in Afghanistan’s southern Pashtun belt, where the Taliban controls wide swathes of territory, and continue the withdrawal already begun from lightly populated and hard-to-defend outposts in the north and east.

Beyond training academies and mentoring, Afghan army and police units will find U.S. forces sleeping, eating and fighting with them at every turn. Some U.S. officials, notably Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, D-Mich., have called for the size of the Afghan army to be quadrupled. Obama has rejected such calls as unrealistic, and set a first-year target to expand the force from its current size of 90,000 personnel to about 134,000. The goal, administration officials said, was to improve quality as well as quantity.

Officials said that the strategy also includes “aggressive targeting” of insurgents in the border areas, a nod to plans advocated by Vice President Joe Biden to step up attacks by air assets and Special Forces units outside of high population areas.

Stressing a private warning he has sent to Pakistan, Obama said: “We ... have made it clear that we cannot tolerate a safe haven for terrorists whose location is known and whose intentions are clear.”

The Afghanistan that Obama envisioned Tuesday evening was not the flourishing, modern democracy of which Bush often spoke. Obama did not talk about advancing “opportunity and justice,” as he had described in March. Instead, he spoke of “objectives.”

“We must reverse the Taliban’s momentum and ... strengthen the capacity of Afghanistan’s security forces and government.” The question Obama faced, a senior adviser said, was “how good is good enough ... and the president came up with an answer for that.”

Doing more, he said, “is debatable at a think tank. It is not debatable in the real world.”

Karen DeYoung is an associate editor for The Washington Post.

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Why I’m thankful

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T

hanksgiving put me in a reflective mood, so I hope you’ll indulge me.

What a wonderful holiday! Today, it is celebrated because of its universality and capacity to unite families.

People will travel hundreds of miles to be with family members they haven’t seen in months and share a single meal with loved ones.

But it is important not to forget Thanksgiving’s more visceral origins. Thanksgiving began as a harvest holiday meant to celebrate the fact that there would be food yousef to eat in the coming winter. abugharbieh That’s why it’s celebrated a month earlier in Canada. fast forward For nearly all of human history, having a failed harvest was a real possibility, and death from starvation was not out of the question. In some places in the world, it still is. But for most Americans in the 20th and 21st centuries, thankfully, it is not.

Yet, in what has been labeled the Great Recession, it is important to acknowledge this more visceral Thanksgiving narrative. Today, many Americans are, in fact, struggling to get by. Though most are not starving, the pangs of necessity are no longer so distant. Obesity may be one of America’s greatest health problems, but, ironically, so is hunger.

Saturday’s New York Times brought news that one out of every eight Americans and 25 percent of children are now receiving food stamps. The numbers are astonishing, and even more so considering that not all those eligible for food stamps use them. Many of those recently added to the dole are among the working poor or people left unemployed by layoffs and a stagnant economy. People who never thought they would have to rely on public assistance now have few other choices.

Yet, while reading the article, I could only think of how the increase in the number of Americans receiving food stamps was merely a symptom of a year filled with bad news in the United States. The housing market collapsed, unemployment soared, tent cities sprung up under bridges and Bear Stearns—previously one of Wall Street’s mainstays— evaporated in a cloud of debt.

These are things that everyone is familiar with, and that I imagine many people at Duke have been touched by in varying degrees of severity. And, when I read the New York Times piece, they were the stories and images that I immediately reflected upon.

The article—instead of evoking the sullen and despondent faces of hungry Americans—made me think of the oscillating curves of boom-and-bust cycles, waves of monetary flows and a national debt looming overhead threatening to crush all of our futures. It’s so easy to intellectualize these problems to avoid being overcome by the fact that so many of them involve real people suffering, and now, even people close by.

It took me awhile to think of the problem in very simple, human terms. I tried to envision empty pantries, skipped meals and hungry children crying. When I did, I realized why I was thankful for Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for Thanksgiving because it reminds me that boom-and-bust cycles are not simply about the rising and falling of bank accounts or the interest rates on T-bonds. Boom-and-bust cycles are about the difference between plenty and famine. Thanksgiving provides physical metaphors for things that are difficult to understand intellectually. Thanksgiving let’s me know what gratitude feels like.

This column this semester has been an attempt to explore some serious problems facing our society—discrimination, terrorism, etc. I hope that my discussion of them has been more than an abstract intellectual exercise.

I hope that, like Thanksgiving, my columns have occasionally made you pause and think.

We are all connected, just like in “Lion King.” Seriously.

Good, now that you’re actually with me. This country and this world have a lot of problems and it will be up to us to solve them.

But we still have reason to give thanks.

Yousef AbuGharbieh is a Trinity senior. This is his final column of the semester.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009 | 11

T

Where legal dreams are made

he courtroom stirs with anticipation. Lawyers make last minute preparations, witnesses sit anxiously in the front row and then suddenly the judge enters. All rise. For some in the crowd, this may all seem ridiculous.

The lawyers aren’t really lawyers; they’re college or high school students. The witnesses are their schoolmates. The case the judge will hear didn’t actually happen. elad gross For the next few hours, kitty babies everyone in the courtroom shares a fantasy involving expert witnesses, emotional defendants and ruthless attorneys.

But the one element of reality everyone shares in that courtroom is the competition underlying the fantasy—the two opposing teams of attorneys are actually being scored based on their performance. This is Mock Trial, and by the middle of the competition you may just be so drawn into the game that you forget that no attorney in the competition has actually passed the bar examination.

I sent several interview questions to Duke Mock Trial members, and eight students responded with comments. The responses opened a window into what makes the mock world tick.

Some of the current Duke competitors did compete in their high school’s Mock Trial program, but everyone stressed that prior experience is not at all a prerequisite. One of the major commonalities was competitors’ career interests. Almost every respondent plans to be a real-life lawyer some day. But, according to the respondents, sharpening logic skills, making new friends, improving debate and public speaking skills and taking the occasional road trip are some of the draws that could attract even the mechanical engineer-in-training. The time commitment is significant, but worthwhile, according to the responses.

John Wheeler, Trinity ’84 and the current president of the Board of Directors of the National High School Mock Trial Championship, also stressed the benefits and excitement of Mock Trial. Tens of thousands of students compete at the state level and are faced with problems that advance critical thinking skills. But the competition is no longer limited to just U.S. participants. South Korea, for example, competes in the tournament, playing by the rules of the U.S. legal system. Wheeler suggested that today’s Mock Trial competition may eventually lead to a new separate international tournament.

But not all has been well in the fantasy realm of Mock Trial competition. Some Duke participants responded that sexism plays a role in scoring, with women being judged more harshly than their male counterparts.

And the scoring system, being so subjective, is always a debatable issue, especially when those being scored happen to be the future attorneys of the world.

Perhaps the most controversial issue in Mock Trial’s history has been scheduling at the high school level. In 2005, an orthodox Jewish team from New Jersey made it to the national competition. The competition took place over a weekend, but the Jewish team could not compete during the Sabbath. At first, the national organization refused to accommodate the team, but at the actual competition site, a number of teams volunteered to compete in an extra round against New Jersey on Friday. Although the competition schedule was altered a bit, the accommodation process seemed to work well.

Wheeler said that, at the time, the national high school organization was divided on whether to accommodate religious scheduling conflicts. To ensure competitive fairness and logistic ease for teams coming in from other parts of the country, the national board chose not to accommodate conflicts. A few states boycotted and at least two current Duke students were unable to go on to the national tournament.

The American Mock Trial Association, governing the college competition, chose a less absolute route.

Rule 4.29 of the AMTA rulebook allows for some accommodation to be determined on a case by case basis, but still does not allow for “fundamental changes in the format of the tournament.” Many of the Duke respondents noted that Bob Jones University cannot compete in the national tournament because they do not compete on Sundays for religious reasons.

During this past high school national tournament, another Jewish team asked for a schedule change. After threats by real attorneys and judges, accommodations were made. The issue forced the hand of the national organization, and after a “contentious” debate, Wheeler said that the policy would be changed to accommodate such teams.

Wheeler wants to move past the controversy. Mock Trial “should be a celebration of what kids can do,” he said. The benefits of Mock Trial should help make the transition process a bit easier. But Wheeler, always staying optimistic, was open to one possibility to revisit the controversy: “If you want to develop it as a Mock Trial case….” Perhaps the fantasy world isn’t really so much a fantasy.

Elad Gross is a Trinity senior. This is his last column of the semester.

12 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2009

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