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, JANUARY 28, 2011
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 85
www.dukechronicle.com
Alum Seitz 84 DUKE nominated to head OLC
FDA auditing BC 68 health system, admin says
by Maggie Spini
by Tullia Rushton
The pairing of several Democrats and Republicans at Tuesday’s State of the Union address provided a visual representation of President Barack Obama’s high hopes for bipartisanship. Some critics may doubt the substance behind Tuesday’s gesture. But for one Duke graduate, legislators’ future ability to compromise holds special significance. Obama nominated alumna Virginia Seitz, Trinity ’78, to head the OfVirginia Seitz fice of Legal Counsel Jan. 5, but her confirmation lies in the hands of the Senate—and will serve as a test for the viability of a less partisan government. If Seitz is confirmed as the assistant attorney general for the OLC, she will be its first Senate-confirmed head since Jack Goldsmith, who left the office in 2003. After failing to gain Senate confirmation, Obama’s original nominee for the position, Dawn Johnsen, withdrew in April 2010. “Very candidly, the problem was that Dawn was looked upon by the Republicans as being too liberal,” said Scott Silliman, executive director of the School of Law’s Center on Law, Ethics and National Security. “The Republican members of the Judiciary Committee were going to block her.” The OLC, which provides legal advice to the president and to all other executive
6-1 in the ACC) used a 32-16 run spanning both halves to put away the Eagles, earning a 84-68 victory and protecting their home floor for the 31st consecutive game—the longest active streak in the country. “We won a really good game tonight,”
Officials from the Food and Drug Administration are currently at Duke, auditing data from clinical trials that test genomics technologies, according to a report from The Cancer Letter. Doug Stokke, assistant vice president of communications for Duke University Health System, confirmed that an FDA audit team is on campus but declined to discuss details surrounding the audit. Christopher Kelly, a press officer for the FDA, declined to comment due to FDA policies concerning current investigations. According to several documents obtained by The Cancer Letter, certain clinical trials commenced without receiving proper clearance from the FDA. These documents also seem to suggest that Joseph Nevins, Barbara Levine Professor of Breast Cancer Genomics, was associated with several trials that were not approved by the FDA, The Cancer Letter reported. The Cancer Letter reported that in a Dec. 20 presentation before the Institute of Medicine, Dr. Robert Becker, chief medical officer at the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device Evaluation and Safety, implied that technology in the three clinical trials related to the research of Nevins and recently discredited cancer researcher Dr. Anil Potti was not tested under an Investigational Device Exemption. He noted that an IDE would have been required, given the nature
See m. basketball on page 6
See fda on page 4
THE CHRONICLE
See seitz on page 12
THE CHRONICLE
Chris dall/The Chronicle
Senior Nolan Smith scored a game-high 28 points on 10-for-20 shooting from the field against Boston College. The Blue Devils defeated the Eagles 84-68 Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium.
BOSTON MASSACRE by Sabreena Merchant THE CHRONICLE
Home court had not been kind to the nation’s top teams this week. But against a pesky Boston College squad determined to earn its first-ever win in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke did what Kansas, Pittsburgh and Syracuse couldn’t. The Blue Devils (19-1,
duke university union
New Joe College Day chair hopes to increase attendance by Amanda Young THE CHRONICLE
Duke University Union members elected junior Kawon Lee as the Joe College Day committee chair Tuesday, with the goal of improving and attracting more students to the event. Lee, who served on DUU’s Joe College Day and Marketing committees for two years, said she wants to restructure the event and bring in more local vendors, adding that she thinks this will increase student attendance. The last Joe College Day was held on Oct. 2 and lasted from 2 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. This year, the committee plans to hold the event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the first Friday of classes in August. “It should be a welcome back concert, where everyone can gather and get pumped up for the upcoming year,” Lee said. “It would be great if we could incorporate local bands as well so that it has more of a Durham personality
Food trucks feed hungry K-ville tenters, Page 3
to it. More student groups would be great as well.” According to Lee, the budget for the event is undecided, but the committee hopes to try to bring in more mainstream artists. From the 1950s to 1970s, Joe College Day flourished as an annual Spring festival, with floats, boxed lunches and musical acts. Then in 2007, after 30 years of absence, Joe College Day returned with a successful debut. However, attendance has steadily declined in the past few years, something that DUU hopes to change. Sophomore Nathan Nye, the outgoing Joe College Day committee chair, said Joe College Day did not attract as many students this year as DUU had hoped. “This year we saw that due to midterms and other events, we were losing the crowd we could’ve had,” Nye See joe college on page 12
Surveys bring changes to intro biology classes, Page 3
ted knudsen/Chronicle file photo
Cute is What We Aim For performs at Joe College Day Oct. 2. Duke University Union hopes to revive the event’s declining attendance.
ONTHERECORD
“There is nothing unique in dreaming. It’s the fulfillment of dreams that’s sometimes beyond one’s control.”
—Professor Charles Thompson on the DREAM Act. See column page 11