April 9, 2010

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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

FRIDAY, APRIL 9, 2010

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, Issue 129

www.dukechronicle.com

Groups OKs Gore: Climate change a ‘moral issue’ 3 new degree programs A&S Council

by Eugene Wang THE CHRONICLE

by Christina Peña THE CHRONICLE

Arts and Sciences Council went out with a “major” bang Thursday evening. The council reviewed proposals for three new degree programs at its final meeting of the academic year. Members of the council unanimously approved a new biophysics major, financial economics minor and concentration for the economics major, as well as an East Asian studies certificate. “We were all very excited,” said Arts and Sciences Chair Ruth Day, associate professor of psychology and neuroscience. “It was a very intense student suggestion-led initiative. It underwent very thorough examination and back and forth revisions. We look forward to seeing students in [the programs].” The objective of the biophysics major is to offer a coherent program for undergraduate students with interests in both physics and biology to receive a B.S. and A.B. degree. Many council members commented on their surprise that the major, dealing with the study of physical aspects of processes that enable cellular, tissue and organismal function and survival, did not already exist. “This field is not new,” Day said. “It has been around for decades. I was surprised to See A&S council on page 8

tyler seuc/The Chronicle

Former Vice President Al Gore emphasizes the climate change movement as a moral issue during a speech in Page Auditorium Thursday night. Gore cited the lack of political will as the major obstacle of climate reform.

Despite leaving public office in 2001, Al Gore still knows how to work a crowd. “I am Al Gore, and I used to be the next president of the United States,” joked Gore, who unsuccessfully made a bid for the White House in 2000 and served eight years as vice president in the administration of former president Bill Clinton. “I don’t think that’s very funny. Maybe someday I’ll fully appreciate that line.” Although Gore opened his speech—which was sponsored by the Nicholas School of the Environment—with a few humorous stories from his political career, he spent most of his talk outlining broad solutions to global warming and urging those in attendance to take up the climate change cause. Gore spoke in a packed Page Auditorium and to a few hundred people watching via closed-circuit television in Griffith Film Theater Thursday evening. Gore—who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 for his environmental activism and penned the bestselling book “An Inconvenient Truth”—said the tools needed to deal with global warming are already available. He noted that technological advancements in solar, wind and geothermal energy provide alternatives to a fossil fuel-based economy. But ultimately, what is needed to correct climate change is the political will to make harmful environmental practices—like carbon-dioxide emissions—economically unattractive in the marketplace, Gore said. He emphasized that reversing the effects of climate change is a moral imperative and that See GORE on page 8

Walker’s legacy Danesh to focus on long-term projects marked by faith, physics intellect DSG Vice President for academic affairs candidate

by Shaoli Chaudhuri THE CHRONICLE

William Walker, James B. Duke professor emeritus of physics, passed away Thursday morning at the Duke Home Care and Hospice, after a nearly 20-year battle with skin cancer. He was 86 years old. Walker has been at the University for 39 years and served as chair of the physics department for six years from 1971 to 1977. Family and friends remember him for his devotion to science and to integrity. “He was the finest man I’ve ever known,” his son Sam Walker, Trinity ’80, said in an interview Thursday night. “[He had] absolutely penetrating honesty to the point of making you uncomfortable. He would call things the way they were.” Walker graduated from Rice University in 1944 and

This year is Kaveh Danesh’s first year as an academic affairs senator, but he doesn’t want it to be his last in DSG. The Academic Affairs committee oversees the planning and implementation of projects that address, among other issues, reforming courses and pre-major advising. By running for vice president, Danesh, a sophomore, said he aspires to further commit himself to the committee, primarily by focusing on long-term projects and following through with ideas. “Duke academic reform is really something that requires long-term devotion, and I think sometimes people think they can propose an idea and immediately effect change, but it really does require a lot of time,” Danesh said. “The way I plan to address that is to have clear goals established from the start. The things that matter need to be addressed immediately. We need to work on them consistently.” Danesh added that he believes his ideas, devotion and experience in working with administrators qualify him for the vice presidential position. “I know what administrators want and also what students want, and I think I have the ability to implement policy that

See walker on page 6

See academics on page 5

by Joanna Lichter THE CHRONICLE

Blue Devils to host Presbyterian today, Page 13

lawson kurtz/The Chronicle

Sophomore Kaveh Danesh, who is running unopposed for Vice President for Academic Affairs, will focus on long-term projects to reform academics.

ONTHERECORD

“After Mill Village, Edens is supposed to be one of the next priorities.”

­—Campus Council President Stephen Temple. See story page 4

Men’s Tennis: Last stand Blue Devils host Georgia Tech, Clemson in last home games, PAGE 14


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