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, FEBRUARY 17, 2010
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 97
www.dukechronicle.com
$50M deficit remains, says Brodhead President: ‘Let’s step up to its challenges’ Revised estimate shows cuts ahead of schedule by Lindsey Rupp THE CHRONICLE
ian greenWALD/special to the chronicle
The Duke medical team in Haiti evacuates an earthquake victim via helicopter to the USNS Comfort, a navy hospital ship, for surgical treatment.
Medical team returns from Haiti by Shaoli Chaudhuri THE CHRONICLE
After 10 days in Haiti, the Duke medical team sent in the wake of last month’s earthquake returned home Monday. The 14-member team of specialized doctors and nurses––led by Dr. Ian Greenwald, chief medical officer of Duke Health’s Preparedness and Response Center––set out Feb. 5 to support two Partners
in Health hospitals in the island nation. Partners in Health, a global health organization co-founded by Duke Trustee Dr. Paul Farmer, Trinity ’82, runs one hospital in the nation’s capital, Port-au-Prince, and one in the neighboring city of Cange. “Our team worked 16 hours a day in 100-plus degree heat,” Greenwald wrote in an e-mail. “The work was hard. The conditions were suboptimal. But I am confident
we made a difference.” All but two team members returned Saturday, said Dr. Mark Shapiro, a trauma surgeon who served on the team. Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious diseases physician, and Nancy Payne, a clinical nurse specialist, remained in Haiti until another medical team could take over, and are See Haiti on page 5
University dining system remains in flux by Sanette Tanaka THE CHRONICLE
Negotiations regarding the overhaul of Duke Dining to reduce the current $2.2 million deficit are still under wraps. Campus leaders involved in the discussions—including Vice President for Campus Services Kemel Dawkins, Director of Dining Services Jim Wulforst and Duke Student Government President Awa Nur, a senior—met Tuesday to discuss changes but reached no resolution. Adjustments to dining should be finalized this week, Dawkins said. Wulforst declined to comment for this story. “The deficit is real, and we want to fix it with the least harm to students,” said DSG Chief of Staff Mike Lefevre, a junior. “We don’t want only undergraduates to be hit.” Jim Wulforst After the meeting, Nur, Lefevre and sophomore Pete Schork, DSG vice president for athletics and campus services, created a list of student provisions for the administration, including setting an expiration date of one year for any dining changes and eliminating faculty and staff discounts on food. “We haven’t put any number on a fee or figured out what the entire package will look like, but pending these stipulations, we will consider a variety of proposals,” Lefevre said. Previous plans to close the gap included “directed choice” and
Renfree rehabs as spring practice begins, Page 8
a “freedom tax.” Under directed choice, students would have be required to spend 500 to 700 food points at non-contracted Bon Appétit Management Company vendors, including the Great Hall and the Marketplace. A freedom tax would have charged students a 6 percent tax on food points spent at contracted eateries. Both plans are now off the table, but changes must still be made because the current dining model is unsustainable, Schork said. Although alterations to dining have not been finalized, Lefevre said students can expect both internal changes—which will affect faculty and staff—and administrative changes, such as fee increases and food plan changes. Freshmen may experience the most dramatic modifications of all, including fewer food points in each of the plans. The points in the base allocation may decrease to $300 from $370. Decreasing allotted food points would ideally shift freshmen from eating at contracted eateries to eating more meals at the Marketplace, increasing the amount of funds going to Bon Appétit and Dining. But Lefevre said such a plan would not alleviate the deficit, and students would continue to eat at contracted locations. “What would the freshman reaction be? They would hate it,” Lefevre said. “It would be frustrating, but they would cope and in the end, their parents would add more [points].”
Durham Public Schools The school system received a $1.25 million grant from a national foundation, see story page 3
See dining on page 6
President Richard Brodhead announced Tuesday that the University is almost halfway toward eliminating its budget deficit. Brodhead said officials now estimate Duke’s overall deficit to be “in the range of $100 million.” In his Primetime address to about 75 audience members in Page Auditorium and 100 online viewers, Brodhead said a number of circumstances have improved since officials announced the original estimate of $125 million. Primetime addresses are quarterly talks between senior administrators, staff and faculty about the University budget. He added that efforts to cut the budget have already reduced the deficit by $50 to $60 million through cuts already enacted or identified. He offered few details as to how Duke will eliminate the remaining amount. “It’s not a time when we can stop being disciplined,” Brodhead said. “We think we’ve solved more than half the problem in the first See Primetime on page 6
courtney douglas/The Chronicle
President Richard Brodhead spoke to employees and other audience members in Page Auditorium Tuesday on efforts to decrease Duke’s budget deficit.
ONTHERECORD
“This is the beginning of the program. It will help North Carolina recover from this crisis more readily.”
—Pat Simmons, director of the NCDOT’s rail division, on a federal grant. See story page 3