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
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTH YEAR, Issue 117
www.dukechronicle.com
MMS grows 71 MRST DUKE 66 despite doubts Freshman Gray leads comeback of practicality Blue Devils survive second-round scare
by Matt Barnett THE CHRONICLE
Duke’s undergraduate Markets and Management Studies certificate has a devoted student following, despite the fact that some have criticized its practicality. The certificate program has grown significantly in the last 20 years, said Lisa Keister, professor and director of the Markets and Management Studies certificate program. In May 2011, 211 students will graduate with the certificate on their transcripts. For the 2009-2010 academic year—the most recent year for which statistics are available—620 students were enrolled in the certificate program. Only 24 students were enrolled in the program in 1989—one of the first years the certificate was offered. Junior Juan Pablo Garcia, a candidate for the certificate, said the skills he has gained will be useful in his professional career. “MMS has taught me a lot about the ‘soft’ side of business, and this will be very handy as I grow as a professional,” Garcia said. “It has given me a lot of skills that will definitely help me once I have a job.” Yet some alumni and professors have expressed disagreement about whether the program should maintain a pre-professional or more liberal arts focus. In February, Scott de Marchi, director of See mms on page 6
by Steven Slywka THE CHRONICLE
Tyler Seuc/The Chronicle
Freshman Chelsea Gray scored 13 points in last night’s 71-66 win over Marist, but none were more important than the eight she had in the contest’s last three minutes. Duke advanced to the Sweet 16.
All season-long, Duke has looked for senior Jasmine Thomas to hit the big shots that capped its improbable comebacks. But last night, it came down to a freshman who played like it was her last game in a Blue Devil uniform. Chelsea Gray scored eight points in the final three minutes—including a 3-pointer—and made two key steals to give the Blue Devils a 71-66 win over Marist and vault the team into the Sweet 16. Her play also prevented Duke from falling in a shocking second-round upset against the 10-seeded Red Foxes. “This is March,” Krystal Thomas said. “It’s survive-and-advance time. We’ll take the fact that we did win.” Duke trailed nearly the entire game, but thanks to the late rally keyed by Gray, the Blue Devils were able to withstand 25 points from Corielle Yarde to keep their season alive. With three minutes remaining and the shot clock winding down, Gray launched a three from well behind the line to cut the Red Foxes’ lead to one. Then, on the See w. basketball on Page 10
duke student government
Election schedule changes to prevent voter ‘burnout’ by Anna Koelsch THE CHRONICLE
After low voter turnout for the second of two Duke Student Government elections last year, DSG has reshuffled the executive board and Senate election schedule. Although DSG grouped committee vice president elections with Senate elections last year, the student body will return this year to choosing vice presidents on the same day as the president and executive vice president. “It was our hope that by combining the two elections, we would elevate focus on vice president elections, which in our minds are equally as important [as president and executive vice president],” said DSG Executive Vice President Pete Schork, a junior, who wrote the executive order in
September changing the election based on an agreement between the executive board and the cabinet. The executive order was written last summer while the Senate was out of session, but the Senate had the opportunity to repeal the legislation this Fall. Last year, committee vice president elections were held with Senate elections to allow president and executive vice president candidates to run for other positions on the executive board if they did not win their first-choice position, said senior Gregory Morrison, former DSG executive vice president and a Chronicle columnist. He added that the process did not have its intended effect. “When Awa Nur [Trinity ’10] won, Mike Lefevre and Chelsea Goldstein [Trinity ’10] lost.... Our 2009-2010 executive board
would have been strong if they’d had the opportunity to be elected to [other] positions,” Morrison said. “The split election was designed to allow more continuity in the upper ranks of DSG.” None of last year’s unsuccessful candidates, however, sought a committee vice president position after losing the race for president or executive vice president. DSG President Mike Lefevre, a senior, said the organization “loses so much talent” when unsuccessful contenders do not attempt to gain a different position. “It was such a grueling process to run for executive vice president and president that nobody took advantage of the opportunity to run for something else,” Lefevre said. In addition to the lack of former contenders running for other executive
board positions, last year’s separate elections presented a large voter turnout discrepancy. Although 41.5 percent of the student body cast votes for president and executive vice president, only 26 percent voted in the election for committee vice presidents and senators, Schork wrote in an email. Schork attributed this drop in votes to “burnout” because the student body participated in two elections last year—Young Trustee in February and DSG president and executive vice president in March—prior to selecting committee vice presidents and the Senate in April. Although Lefevre said voter turnout will increase with the new schedule, he expressed concern for the Senate election See dsg on page 6
Grilled cheese bus needs funds to open, Page 4
ONTHERECORD
“Providing information to law enforcement about those activities is one form of cooperation.”
—Professor David Schanzer on preventing radicalism. See story page 3
TEDx comes to Duke, Page 4