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
MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 2011
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 81
www.dukechronicle.com
Admins refuse faculty request to reinstate funds by Nicole Kyle THE CHRONICLE
and membership, said the decision to make those numbers public was the prerogative of each chapter. Otherwise, the form of recruitment this year was consistent with the recruitment calendar that was introduced last year. Instead of five consecutive days of recruitment like in 2009, recruitment took place over two weekends after classes had started. Recruitment events also took place on both East and West Campuses for the second consecutive year. The only difference in format from last year, Krieger said, was accommodating the larger number of potential new members. “I am very excited for all of the new members,” Krieger said. “Everyone in the Panhellenic community is very excited.” Also notable this year was the larger number of sophomores,
Although faculty members have requested that $300,000 be reinstated immediately to one research support fund, the University will maintain its decision to temporarily reduce the funding, which is a source of supplemental funding for research and travel. The reduction, which leaves the fund at about $100,000 this fiscal year, has limited some researchers’ opportunities to expand their work, according to some professors. The Arts and Sciences Council requested in November that the administration reinstate the $300,000 to the fund, but administrators could not do so, said Alvin Crumbliss, dean of the faculty of the arts and sciences. The fund— which is a source for additional archival research and conference travel and participation—represents less than 1 percent of the annual research expenditures in Trinity College. Traditionally, research spending in Trinity totals more than $50 million—a number that is not expected to change in the coming fiscal year, Crumbliss said. “No student programs or classes were affected by the diminished funding of the A&S Research Council funds,” Crumbliss wrote in an e-mail Dec. 10. “ I admit there is an effect on faculty travel to professional society meetings and small research grants to faculty.” George McLendon, former dean of the faculty of arts and sciences and dean of Trinity College, ordered this cut before leaving Duke last Spring, and this is not the first year the research fund has been cut. The research council received approximately $400,000 in the 2008-2009 fiscal year, but this was reduced by $300,000 for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, Crumbliss said. Trinity College external grants,
See bid day on page 4
See research on page 4
audrey adu-appiah/The Chronicle
Members of Zeta Tau Alpha welcome new sisters to the sorority during Bid Day, the culmination of two weeks of Panhellenic Association recruitment.
Panhel sororities extend 367 bids by Maggie Spini THE CHRONICLE
The Duke Chapel bells had guest accompaniment on Sunday—the gleeful chanting of women accepting membership into their respective “Best Damn Pledge Class.” Duke’s nine Panhellenic Association sororities extended invitations to 367 women on Bid Day, the conclusion of a recruitment process that began on Jan. 14. In total, 511 women registered for recruitment. The offering of 367 bids represents an increase from last year’s 311 women out of an original group of 434 registrants. In past years, Panhel has released quota numbers—the maximum number of bids each chapter is allowed to give. This year, Panhel decided not to release the numbers. Senior Laura Krieger, Panhel vice president of recruitment
Bhargava calls prayer space a place to “strengthen oneself” by Sony Rao
THE CHRONICLE
In a show of religious unity, Hindu and Buddhist student groups came together Saturday to inaugurate a new, shared prayer room in the Bryan Center. Students, faculty and members of the Durham community gathered in the Breedlove Room to celebrate interfaith collaboration on campus and the official opening of the Hindu-Buddhist prayer space. Events included prayer ceremonies in the afternoon followed by a Anju Bhargava reception sponsored by the Duke University Faith Council. In the evening, keynote speaker Anju Bhargava, a member of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships and founder of the Hindu American Seva Charities, spoke in the Goth-
Duke mounts comeback to beat N.C. State, SW Page 5
ic Reading Room to an audience of approximately 60 people. Bhargava said the opening of the space represented the growth of religious diversity and unity on campus. “The prayer room is a place to be in the right company, a place of character building, a place to strengthen oneself,” she said. As a member of President Barack Obama’s faith council, Bhargava works to discuss and recommend methods of improving cooperation between the government and faith-based organizations. She added that the prayer room will be a major boon to young people who wish to engage in faith-based service at Duke, encouraging Hindus and Buddhists to come together to serve the community. “You need a worship space first before you can come together as a community and serve others,” she said. The groups now have two rooms in the basement of the Bryan Center—one is to be used as an office space and the other as a prayer space, with Hindu deities on one wall and Buddhist deities on the other.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to meet at a steady place,” said Kishor Trivedi, faculty advisor of the Hindu Students Association and Hudson Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Sumi Loundon Kim, chaplain for the Buddhist Community at Duke, also spoke at the inauguration. She expressed gratitude toward Abdullah Antepli, Duke’s Muslim chaplain, for giving his organization’s space to the Hindu and Buddhist student groups. Katie Ehrenberg, president of the Buddhist Community at Duke and a graduate student in the School of Nursing, said she was pleased with the inauguration’s turnout. About 40 people attended the blessing of the spaces in the afternoon, she added. Ehrenberg noted that although the room is a suitable place for the members of the Buddhist community to meditate and pray, it has a limited capacity. She said she hopes members will be able to meet in See prayer space on page 4
ONTHERECORD
“I still believe that students take great risk when joining and engaging with unrecognized groups.”
—Vice President for Student Affairs Larry Moneta. See story page 3
chelsea pieroni/The Chronicle
The new Hindu and Buddhist prayer space in the Bryan Center was officially opened Saturday, with a speech by Anju Bhargava in the Gothic Reading Room.
@ DUKECHRONICLE.COM Symposium discusses importance of communities to environmental change