February 6, 2019

The Chronicle

See Inside

Men’s lacrosse set for home opener Page 8

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, FEBRIUARY 6, 2019 DUKECHRONICLE.COM

ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 37

OPINION

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Birds blitzed: Blue Devils beat Eagles The limits of

being ‘Duke poor’ Editorial Board The Chronicle

Henry Haggart | Sports Photography Editor The Blue Devils avenged last season’s shocking loss to Boston College by demolishing the Eagles at home Tuesday night.

By Winston Lindqwister Sports Managing Editor

Heading into the locker room, the Blue Devils hardly looked themselves.

Posting one of their most inefficient shooting nights of the season and facing a halftime deficit against an unremarkable Boston College squad, Duke was facing echoes of past home contests against Georgia Tech and Syracuse.

But even with foul trouble limiting one of their most prolific scorers, the Blue Devils had another option to turn on the offensive pressure.

After a slow first half, No. 2 Duke turned around and took care of business against Boston College 80-55 Tuesday evening at Cameron Indoor Stadium sparked by a 24-point 55 performance from Cam Reddish. Reddish’s BC DUKE 80 massive steal and reversal to cut the Eagles’ lead to two just before the halftime buzzer set the stage for an incendiary evening from the freshman.

“I just wanted to win,” Reddish said. “Coach was going off and after us at halftime, telling us we have to play harder and bring

energy. I took that and wanted to get out there and get the win....

We had to get the crowd into it a little bit, get the energy up. I know I can make the shots. My teammates were finding me in open spots and I just focused on making my shots.”

Out of the break, Tre Jones—Duke’s defensive stalwart at the one—instantly put pressure on Boston College’s leading scorer Ky Bowman, forcing the Eagle star point guard into a bad airball.

Reddish followed it up with a step-back two to level the score.

R.J. Barrett, who saw limited playing time in the first half due to foul trouble, made himself known with an and-one to get the crowd on its feet, and Reddish set the building rocking with a corner three.

From there, it was all Blue Devils (20-2, 8-1 in the ACC), as Duke used an 18-6 run to grab the lead and never look back.

With Reddish, Barrett and Zion Williamson firing on all cylinders, the Blue Devils put their foot on the gas and forced constant contact to limit the Eagles’ weapons. Bowman, who avoided getting caught reaching for the first half, notched four fouls in the first 10 minutes of the second half thanks in large part to Barrett’s constant driving through traffic.

See MEN’S BASKETBALL on Page 9

Just a few weeks ago, world leaders, activists and wealthy entrepreneurs gathered in Davos, Switzerland for the annual meeting of the Global Economic Forum. Against the backdrop of an extravagant ski resort nestled in the mountains of arguably the wealthiest country on earth, the forum opened with the goal of “foster[ing] systems of leadership and global stewardship... to build the future in a constructive, collaborative way.”

The enduring headline from the three-day event has come not from any of the powerful or glamourous attendees, but from a speech by the Dutch historian Rutger Bregman which challenged the wealthy to examine their own complicity in growing economic inequality.

Bregman began by observing that, though climate change was a central theme of the forum, the majority of attendees flew to Switzerland on private jets. He went further, arguing that the key to alleviating inequality is to address tax avoidance by the wealthy—a suggestion that has garnered Bregman viral fame and has reignited debates about the limits of neoliberal capitalism.

At the same time, this week, the opinion page of the Chronicle has played host to a forum on inequality of its own, beginning with a column

by Duke sophomore Ali Thursland, provocatively titled, “The social toll of being financially underprivileged at Duke.” In identifying herself as being ‘financially underprivileged,’ the author sought to call attention to the particular economic burden of participating in the social scene at an elite private university.

The author cited living-group dues, cover charges, alcohol and other expenses as examples of the costs associated with Duke’s cost-prohibitive social culture. Moreover, Thursland asked that wealthier students try to broaden their own awareness of these costs when interacting with students who identify as “low income.”

See EDITORIAL on Page 10

LOCAL AND NATIONAL

President Trump delivers second State of the Union address

By Ben Leonard Managing Editor

With another potential government shutdown looming as Democrats and Republicans clash over President Donald Trump’s demand for border wall funding, Trump called for unity in the State of the Union address.

“The decision is ours to make. We must choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction,” Trump said. “Tonight, I ask you to choose greatness.”

The speech was slated to take place Jan. 29, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.)

would not host Trump’s speech on the House floor during the 35-day government shutdown over border wall funding.

The bill to finance the government that Trump signed Jan. 25—without any wall funding—reopened the government for three weeks, giving the federal government until Feb. 15 to avoid another shutdown.

Top Democrats have refused to sign any spending bill that contains funding for a wall. In December, Trump said he would be “proud” to shut down the government in order to get funding for a wall.

Now is the time for bipartisan cooperation, Trump said in the State of the See TRUMP on Page 12

Chronicle File Photo Trump delivered a delayed State of the Union to a combined session of Congress Tuesday night.

Graduate Young Trustee finalists announced

Sundance 2019: Ted Bundy biopic review

Towerview: Meet the Chron15

Three graduate students will vie for their Trustee position this year.

‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ looks at Ted Bundy through the perspective of his girlfriend.

PAGE 7

Check out this year’s list of pioneers, icons and leaders who are impacting the University.

Young PAGE 2

INSIDE — News 2 | Sports 4 | Crossword 9 | Opinion 10 | Serving the University since 1905 |

@dukechronicle @dukebasketball |

@thedukechronicle | © 2019 The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

2 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

The Chronicle

Finalists for Grad Committee crafting proposal on Duke’s Young Trustee reaction to hate, bias incidents Announced

Academic Programs Committee.

“Along the way, advisory input is often sought from individuals, groups and units. In some cases, proposals must be reviewed by The Bias and Hate Task Force advisory committee has the Board,” he wrote. “Our processes are iterative; at each stage, a crafted and submitted a draft proposal to administration reviewing body can ask for modifications.” for improving Duke’s response to incidents perceived as Whetten said that the proposal aims to separate and distinguish harmful. free speech from incidents perceived as hateful.

The committee—comprised of faculty, undergraduate “Perceived harmful events and how the University reacts and graduate students, staff and administrators—was created to them negatively affects free speech on campus because if in 2016 as part of a set of recommendations set forth by the you don’t feel that you’re being protected, then [you’re] less original Hate and Bias Task Force. likely to engage,” she said.

Chaired by Kathryn Whetten—professor in the Sanford She noted that it is important to make that separation School of Public Policy and Duke Global Health Institute—and between free speech and hateful speech given Duke’s goal Paul James, assistant vice president of diversity, of encouraging free speech equity and inclusion—the committee’s goal This is about something across campus while ensuring has been to look for areas for improvement in things are said with respect and Duke’s responses to acts of hate and bias. The that’s educational, about intellectual engagement. committee also seeks to reinforce a culture of our community stand the Furthermore, the proposal inclusion, conversation and community trust aims to centralize incidents community values we sign onto. perceived as hateful through the on campus.

“What we are talking about is having kathryn whetten provost rather than the Office of some sort of community response [because] CHAIR OF THE COMMITTEE WORKING ON THE Student Conduct or the Office PROPOSAL of Institutional Equity, which I think that there is a commitment on the part of all of Duke,” Whetten said. “We traditionally both focus on the need some kind of policy or actions that address it and incident’s context and the motive of the perpetrator. a broader group of people who are being consulted that “This is about something that’s educational, about our includes students, faculty and staff when [such] incidents community standard, the community values that we sign occur.” onto,” Whetten said. “We want to have a Duke that engages Whetten declined to provide a copy of proposal to The an intellectual community that’s respectful. So therefore, [we Chronicle, explaining that it was still in the editing stage. decided] this needs to come out of the educational space, most “We will invite a diverse group of campus stakeholders likely the Provost office.” (including students, faculty, and staff) to consider the Whetten said that committee members decided to take a question of community responses to offensive speech and temporary hiatus until hearing back from administration and actions,” Bennett wrote in an email. “Specifically, we will having a clearer direction. discuss what the immediate response of our community She added that the advisory committee hopes to hear back should be when such acts occur.” from the administration in the next few months.

He explained that the approval process will involve a “We want to make sure that people have a say and number of groups, including the Executive Committee of are on board, and we want to talk to everyone,” Whetten the Academic Council, the full Academic Council and the explained.

By Mona Tong Staff Reporter

2019

Kenan Distinguished Lecture in Ethics

February 8th, 5:30pm Duke Divinity School, Goodson Chapel

nv

er

sa tio

n

es t

&

w ith

e g r W eo G rt

or ne l

Three finalists for the Graduate Young Trustee position have been announced by the Graduate Young Trustee Selection Committee.

This year’s finalists include Sam Howe, Nathan Bullock and William Brody.

Brody, who earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Duke in 2012, graduated with a master’s of business administration from the Fuqua School of Business last year. He was a Graduate Young Trustee finalist last year as well.

Bullock is a Ph.D. student in the department of art, art history and visual studies, and he is studying the history and theory of architecture and urbanism. He is a candidate for the certificate in feminist theory.

Howe is a J.D. candidate in the School of Law and currently serves as editor-in-chief of the 68th volume of the Duke Law Journal.

Each year, the Young Trustee Election Committee chooses finalists from a pool of applicants based on written applications and interviews—and is then voted on by the Graduate and Professional Student Council General Assembly.

In the spring of 2018, Amy Hafez, then a sixth-year Ph.D. student in molecular genetics and microbiology, was selected as the Graduate Young Trustee and is currently serving out her three-year tenure.

Like the undergraduate Young Trustee, the Graduate Young Trustee spends their first year on the board as an observer and then gains voting rights for the remainder of their term.

The election for Graduate Young Trustee will be held at the General Assembly meeting on Feb. 12 this year.

co

Health and Science News Editor

A

By Kathryn Silberstein

C obe R

on friendship and faith across political difference

Moderated by: Joseph Winters, Department of Religious Studies More Information: dukeethics.org

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019 | 3

Marijuana use affects sperm, new Duke research suggests

By Anna Gotskind Staff Reporter

During the last several years, marijuana use has increased, as medical cannabis has become legalized in 33 U.S. states.

New research from Duke suggests that its use can alter the DNA of sperm.

Susan Kay Murphy, associate professor in obstetrics and gynecology, and Scott Kollins, professor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences, recently published findings of a study to determine if cannabis has effects on reproduction.

The research was focused on determining if pre-conceptional exposure to cannabis alters the epigenetics of sperm.

Twenty-four men—twelve cannabis users and twelve non-users—were enrolled and participated in the study.

Data was then collected and sequenced on participants’ genomic profiles to determine if cannabis alters the DNA methylation of its users.

“DNA methylation is a type of epigenetic modification,” Murphy said. “We all have DNA methylation in our cells.

The methylation is the addition of a carbon and three Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons hydrogen atoms—little molecular tags—to the DNA at Duke University researchers have shown in a new study that marijuana usage affects the DNA of men’s sperm. specific bases.”

In certain regions of DNA, the default is to be un- genome and are added back once the sex is determined. exposed rodents. methylated. Thus, if methyl tags are there, it can repress the The second reprogramming period occurs right after Murphy noted that prior studies by another group have activity of the gene. Methylation has various regulatory effects fertilization and involves erasure of the methylation marks. shown that exposing parents to THC results in offspring that on the gene, and it is common in many if not all forms of “We don’t know whether the differences that we are seeing exhibit behavioral abnormalities, but also are more likely cancer. On the other hand, methylation in the user group that we studied can be when they become adolescents to use self-administered is an important component in the I just feel that it’s important passed onto the offspring,” Murphy said. heroin—they have more of an addictive phenotype. development of sperm, so its alteration that people have a better “They may all get erased after fertilization, Although they are still unsure of the exact could be detrimental. and you would never see any evidence of it mechanics, the researchers were able to conclude that Essentially, the changes in understanding of what the in the offspring.” exposure to cannabis does have an effect on the sperm. methylation could change one’s potential consequences are...

However, many researchers agree that Neurodevelopment testing revealed that the offspring of sperm. the reprogramming periods are a very fathers who are exposed to THC exhibited higher ADHD susan kay murphy vulnerable time in development and and schizophrenic-like behaviors.

“The changes we are seeing are ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR IN OBSTETRICS that anything from cannabis exposure to methylation,” Murphy said. “We Additionally, they found that the higher the concentration AND GYNECOLOGY don’t know whether those changes eating a high-fat diet could have an effect of THC in users’ systems, the greater the genetic alterations can survive the reprogramming on the efficiency and accuracy of the to their sperm. At this point, it is unknown whether a sperm during early development and then [be] carried into the reprogramming process. affected by THC would be healthy enough to fertilize an egg offsprings’ tissues.”

Researchers suspect that THC, the active ingredient and continue its development into an embryo.

Methyl groups go through reprogramming twice during in cannabis, is responsible for many of these reproductive The findings were limited due to the relatively small number the course of our lifespan. The first occurs when the gamete effects. This is supported by a complementary experiment is developing. The methyl groups get stripped away from the they conducted testing the epigenetic effects seen in THCSee MARIJUANA on Page 12

NeuromodulatioN for accideNtal Bowel Leakage

TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY SACKLER SCHOOL OF MEDICINE NEW YORK STATE/AMERICAN PROGRAM

Do You Suffer From Accidental Bowel Leakage?

This study may be for you! The NOTABLe study will determine whether a new treatment for Accidental Bowel Leakage called Percutaneous Tibial Nerve Stimulation (PTNS) is more effective than sham (placebo) treatment at improving symptoms.

Have You Tried…?

• Constipating Medications • Pelvic Muscle Exercises • Dietary Changes

You May Be Eligible For This Study If...

• You are a female with accidental bowel leakage • You have tried other treatments with no success • You are 18+ years of age and not pregnant • Dietary Changes

For More Information Contact:

The Sackler School of Medicine-New York State/American Program offers an outstanding four-year medical school curriculum, taught in English, leading to the M.D. degree.

The Program is chartered by the Regents of the University of the State of New York and is accredited by the State of Israel.

Graduates participate in the National Resident Matching Program and return to the United States for their residency training. Since its commencement in 1976, over 2,000 alumni have completed their residency training at the most distinguished hospitals in the United States.

Shantae McLean, MPH

(919)401-1018

shantae.mclean@duke.edu

Applications for the Class of 2023 will be accepted until May 30, 2019. www.sacklerschool.org provides extensive information about Sackler SOM. For further information, e-mail sacklermed@sacklermed.org

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

4 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

New insight into birdsong leads prof to amend long-held hypothesis

By Maria Morrison Staff Reporter

New research has led a Duke professor to rescind a hypothesis he made years ago.

Initially, Professor of Biology Steve Nowicki made the hypothesis that the quality and complexity of a male bird’s song indicated a high mating potential to females because it also conveyed intelligence.

Now, although it has been shown that the song does directly relate to brain size, Nowicki publicly acknowledged that the females are not choosing their mates based on brainpower.

It has long been known that that females factor the male’s song into their mating decisions. However, researchers were not able to definitively say what part of the singing ability females were targeting.

Nowicki’s team hypothesized that complexity indicated Courtesy of National Park Service intelligence, which would be helpful in finding good nesting Professor of Biology Steve Nowicki now argues that female birds are not choosing mates based on brainpower. and hunting locations for chicks.

However, further research invalidated the hypothesis, and scientists are once again asking why female birds care about the male’s song.

“The main goal of the research is to understand what kind of information an animal’s signal has, and what makes that signal reliable,” Nowicki said.

He explained that in general, animals cannot lie the way humans can.

Whereas a human male could falsely boast about height, education or occupation on a dating profile, animals use innate sounds to convey information. When a young male songbird learns a song, similar to how human speech is developed, his ability to replicate that song is positively correlated to his intelligence, Nowicki added.

The young birds go through subsong, a stage similar to babbling from toddlers. During this time, different birds will progress through different degrees of developmental stress.

HOT ITEM of the WEEK

The main goal of the research is to understand what kind of information an animal’s signal has, and what makes that signal reliable. steve nowicki

PROFESSOR OF BIOLOGY

Duke Quarter Zips

Colors: Black, Charcoal, Oxford Available Sizes: S - 2X Fabric Content: Black: 50% cotton, 50% polyester Charcoal: 60% cotton, 40% polyester; Oxford: 70% cotton, 30% polyester Advertised price does not include tax.

Offer cannot be combined with any other discount or promotion.

Offer valid Wednesday, January 16 through Monday, January 21, 2019, or while supplies last.

26

$

each

Compared to $5295 each Available in the following locations:

The University Store Upper Level, Bryan Center

Medical Center Bookstore Lower Level, Duke Clinics

eSTORE

www.shopdukestores.duke.edu Departments of Duke University Stores®

Higher stress leads to worse memorization of the song and results in a smaller brain.

“The song is an indicator signal saying how well this male developed,” Nowicki said.

Assuming that all birds undergo the same relative amounts of developmental stress, then the males that were able to perform best under that stress will be the smartest mating choices, he added.

Such was the hypothesis presented in Nowicki’s paper in the early 2000s. However, after suggesting that females cared about the size of the brain as indicated by the quality of the song, Nowicki began experimenting.

He first tried working with wild birds. The team recorded song sparrows, comparing their tunes to the standard ones found in the wild.

They then captured the birds and ran them through a series of cognitive tests, such as flipping open the right container to find food. The results were inconclusive, with better singers doing well on some tasks but poorly on others.

In order to comprehensively test the hypothesis, Nowicki turned to a more controlled experiment. They raised chicks, carefully monitoring which songs they were exposed to and then testing their cognitive abilities, but again found no consistent correlations.

This study could also demonstrate a flaw in the way people think of animal intelligence.

Humans have a high correlation with cognitive tasks, which is why there can be a generalized IQ. However, birds are very modular and can’t be quantified in one single intelligence measure.

The experiment is an example of the importance of negative data. Nowicki said that an issue in science is the difficulty to publish negative data compared to positive.

“When we’re doing science we can’t be so in love with a hypothesis that we aren’t willing to test it critically,” Nowicki explained.

Nowicki’s future work will be centered around the way birds perceive color and the implications that has on mating potential.

Since brighter males normally attract more females, it is important to know if the females see color categorically— either red or orange or continuously—a spectrum from red to orange.

The Chronicle

recess dukechronicle.com

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019 | 5

VOLUME 20, ISSUE 38 | FEBRUARY 6. 2019

‘extremely wicked’

Ted Bundy biopic starring Zac Efron premieres at Sundance, page 7

behind the piano Duke dance accompanist talks music career, page 7

a loss for words Recess managing editor confronts her conflict with writing, page 6

R 6 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

recess editors

Who do you want for P-checks?

Christy Kuesel .............. mormon choir Sarah Derris......................dostoevsky Will Atkinson ...................... radiohead Nina Wilder ................................gaga Selena Qian ....................mike posner Eva Hong......................... adam levine Alizeh Sheikh ........................... kanye Lexi Bateman ....................indoor cats Sydny Long .............................. mitski Ashley Kwon .......... the old ludwig van Jessica Williams .......... various artists Bre Bradham.........................peaches

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

recess

I’ve had to do an egregious amount of writing in the last few weeks. Not that much writing for Recess, admittedly, but writing for classes, internships, scholarships and the like.

Now, I am tasked with writing this editor’s note — in an hour and a half, optimistically — and I couldn’t be less thrilled. Truth be told, I dread writing. Maybe it comes to me more easily than most, but it could be easier. But I have to do it. I need to do it. I often find my thoughts so convoluted and disordered that I turn to writing to make them at least somewhat intelligible and to make sense of myself.

I am most insecure in my ability to communicate. I often think that if I had a more assured control of language, at least some of my fears socially and academically would dissipate. I know that self-confidence is something that must be learned intrinsically — it cannot be granted from anyone. It’s funny to think that I speak three languages — English, Arabic and French — and cannot feel an ounce of self-assuredness in any one of them.

I cannot count the number of times I have hesitated to speak up in class discussion because I lacked confidence in my answer — in myself — and immediately regretted it when I realized that I was right all along. Even the times when I do answer, I find myself getting so caught up in my words, that by the end of my long-winded explanation, people are generally lost and I am nervous and flustered again.

So, I often find myself thinking about how I can remedy my insecurity. Perhaps I just need to expand my vocabulary. Surely knowing more words will allow me to convey my more complicated thoughts. Since late high school, I’ve kept a growing list of words in my phone’s notes app. I read as much as I can, play word exercises on my phone and free-write in my journal. Does it help? Well...I still haven’t finished this note.

I know that I shouldn’t fault myself too

IT’S SO CREAMY

much. But the people I admire most in my life seem to have such an effortless way with words. It’s as if they understand every facet of themselves, and have no trouble relaying their innermost complexities with the grace and fluidity of a dialectic gymnast. It’s hard not to feel incapable — ashamed, even, of my perceived shortcomings. And the shortcomings seem so personal, because words are so personal. They are how we reach out to the world, how we understand it through auditory and symbolic representations.

But I know that no one is infallible. I just tell myself to keep trying.

Despite my verbal hesitations, I can always

editor’s note rely on the page. The page is so forgiving. I can sit in front of it for hours, and the page will never betray any sign of impatience, of restlessness — no matter how frustrated or impatient I grow with myself. I can be unafraid of making mistakes upon the page, without judgement or anxiety (so long as it remains a dialogue with myself). Writing may be my own curse, but there is no blame to cast upon the imperturbable canvas.

The complications I feel when speaking are certainly also felt when writing. I typically describe my writing as frantic and disjointed.

In fact, this is probably the first time I’ve attempted line-by-line writing in quite some time. Typically — especially when I write reviews — I will skip the intro altogether, jotting down my most pressing thoughts first, then slowly building my paragraphs

around them. I will often jump around paragraphs — even words — as needed, and fill them in as I go along. Sometimes, I will spend upwards of five hours or more on a single article, carefully crafting my thoughts into comprehensible sentences and taking frequent breaks in between.

After I’ve exhausted my mental labor, and an article is finished, I am proud. Sure, that is to be expected, but for me it means I am capable — capable of translating the chaotic ruminations of my mind into something meaningful and thoughtful. When my work is published, my words cannot be silenced by someone louder or more assertive. Sure, people can choose whether or not they would like to read my words, but that does not make them any less present, real or valid. Writing for Recess reminds me that I have a voice.

Maybe no one really cares, but at least I have said everything I needed to say at the time, and for that I am grateful.

I would like to mention that this note took me exactly an hour and a half to write, a record on my part. I am impressed by how effortlessly the words came to me after releasing the expectations that I hold for myself, emptying any presuppositions and writing what I feel instead of what I think that I should write. I can only hope that I will be this relaxed in my future writing endeavors.

—Sarah Derris

on the cover: ‘Cherry Bomb’

by Jenny Eggleston

BE THE FIRST TO KNOW

ABOUT NEW ARRIVALS, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, THE LATEST IN TECHNOLOGY, SALES EVENTS, AND MORE.

SIGN UP! The University Store Duke eSTORE Duke Technology Center Gothic Bookshop News & Events Medical Center Store Secret Sales Class of 2022

MENU SAMPLING Old School Veggie Burrito Regular Chicken Burrito Cheese Quesadilla Chicken Quesadilla Chips & Salsa

$2.86 $5.65 $1.41 $3.59 $2.06

1920 1/2 Perry St. @ Ninth Street Just a block from East Campus

To sign up, visit our website at www.dukestores.duke.edu and click on the BTFTK icon on the left.

Our Privacy Policy: We respect your right to personal privacy. We promise to use this subscription service for the express purpose of keeping you informed of only those services that you have requested. Your personal information will not be disclosed to any third parties. We hope you will find our e-mails of benefit. We promise to keep them informative and to-the-point. You will have the option of unsubscribing from this service with each e-mail campaign.

OPERATION: Stores Administration

PUBLICATION: Chronicle

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

recess

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019 | 7

sundance 2019

‘Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile’ glorifies serial killer Ted Bundy

By Miranda Gershoni Staff Writer

Our culture has always been fascinated by serial killers. Since the phenomenon solidified in the ‘70s, there has been no shortage of killers in cinema (see: “American Psycho,” “My Friend Dahmer” or really any David Fincher film); there are even several best serial killer movies lists online. There’s not anything wrong with this natural fascination, but the way these killers’ stories are told on the screen matters.

Following the release of “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” a film about the life of serial killer Ted Bundy, many viewers expressed their discomfort at the way Bundy’s story was handled. The film premiered at Sundance just days after Netflix’s release of “The Ted Bundy Tapes,” a docuseries which also focuses on the paradox of Bundy’s charm and homicidal tendencies.

The obsession with this idiosyncrasy is understandable and admittedly interesting, but the representation of Bundy in “Extremely Wicked” was distasteful, and only perpetuated perverse tropes that have real consequences.

The film received a great deal of criticism on the choice to star Zac Efron as Bundy, mostly because of his typecast as the harmless hunk in cutesy movies with large female audiences. It wasn’t necessarily just Efron’s striking looks that upset critics, but the

overall characterization of Bundy, which the “High School Musical” star did a fantastic job of portraying. Rather than being held accountable as the brutal murderer and rapist of at least 30 young women, the film was framed as a biopic of an endearing outlaw — who just so happened to have homicidal tendencies — and his unfortunate demise.

The trailer alone conveys this tone, with its obnoxious guitar riffs and misguided taglines that seem to be gearing the viewer up for an epic blockbuster adventure. Rather than portraying Bundy as the cruel killer he was, the film romanticizes the story of the cleancut good ‘ol boy whose potential is cut short by a few perverse, out of character actions.

“Extremely Wicked” spends almost no time on Bundy as a killer, approaching young girls strategically and ending their lives brutally, and instead fixates on Bundy’s life as a loving husband and father, his cheeky performances in court and his general eccentric magnetism.

Although these were certainly aspects of his story and should be considered as a key piece in the analysis of his story, they shouldn’t be included at the expense of his more important legacy as a killer.

Rather than leaving with a sense of indignation and disgust, when I left the theater I just felt confused. Deep down, I was obviously angry, but it was almost like I didn’t know where to put it. I left feeling bad for this vague killer played by a familiar actor, because he had been painted as this

misunderstood man on death row, rather than feeling disturbed and grieving for the victims and their families.

This portrayal is harmful because, rather than focusing on the harm Bundy caused countless girls, we’re focusing on the impact it had on the killer’s life. The movie’s treatment of Bundy reflects our own greater culture’s unwillingness to punish men for their actions, even actions as severe as murder. This trend teaches boys that all wrongdoing will be excused by mental health or quirkiness, and teaches girls that they should endure the effects of these

actions, especially if the perpetrator is attractive or charming. These imbalanced expectations don’t always lead to murder, but more common crimes like sexual assault and rape.

“Extremely Wicked” didn’t err in its choice to tell the story of a killer, but in its decision to characterize him in such a forgiving way.

If we are constantly fed stories of violent men in quasi-heroic, irreproachable roles, we are more likely to continue to construct dangerous people into these false narratives, leaving victims without support and continuing the cycle.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute The film follows notorious serial killer Ted Bundy through the perspective of his longtime girlfriend.

campus arts

Duke dance accompanist Natalie Gilbert discusses music and innovation

By Kristi Sturgill Contributing Writer

In Duke dance classes, Natalie Gilbert is not the ballerina. She’s the pink-haired musician perched on an extra cushion on a black piano bench in the glass cube at the front of the Rubenstein Arts Center.

Gilbert has played behind baby grand pianos in dance studios for over 50 years now. She has been at the American Dance Festival, a summer school and nationally recognized performance series in Durham, for 35 years, previously serving as director of musicians.

For Gilbert, her work is an art form — even when it’s not the main focus of the show. And she has no plans to vacate her piano bench.

Figuring it out Already picking up tunes by ear at 4-yearsold, Gilbert started piano lessons at a young age.

“I was learning how to read music while I was learning how to read,” she said.

She got her first commission when a high school teacher recruited her to play for dance rehearsals for a staging of “West Side Story.” Later, at Oberlin College, Gilbert decided to work as a dance accompanist after realizing it paid the same rate of $2.50 per hour as her cafeteria job.

Gilbert had no dance accompanist training; she was just thrown in. But for her, that was exhilarating.

“Part of the fascination for me was figuring it out,” she said.

Figuring it out became a motif. She found her own path, progressing to accompanying at some elite institutions: Columbia University, Princeton University, New York University’s Tisch School, the Martha Graham School and the Taylor School, to name a few.

In 1982, American Dance Festival teacher Betty Jones asked Gilbert to play for her classes during ADF’s summer residency at Duke.

“At that time it was quite small,” Gilbert said.

“There were a fraction of the number of teachers who currently teach at ADF.” But the program grew exponentially from there. With an ever-expanding festival and a

desire to collaborate with other dance teachers, Gilbert decided to create a new position for herself: director of musicians.

Initially, she mostly coordinated musicians with different dance classes. Later she remained creative, establishing an annual concert for the musicians at ADF. ADF executive director Jodee Nimerichter considers this ongoing concert a highlight of the summer.

“The musicians’ concert is always quite riveting,” Nimerichter said. “By the end of the show, the audience is on their feet, dancing to the music.”

Evolving styles Even after hours in front of the piano, Gilbert finds ways to stay enthusiastic.

“I always try to change it up,” she said. “When I am listening to the radio, I think ‘Ah, that could work for plies’,” she said.

In the past, ballet pianists often played only classical music, as ballet dancers only performed to classical scores. Now, choreographers don’t limit themselves to 18th-century composers, so Gilbert also got more creative, too. In ballet classes at Duke, she’ll throw in a little “West Side Story” or “Sound of Musical,” or a little jazz or some alternative sounds.

For an added challenge, Gilbert likes to improvise in class.

“Sometimes the teacher’s voice will inspire me. Sometimes a particular dancer will inspire me. Sometimes it’s a game for me, like ‘Oh, I haven’t played in the F sharp minor yet today.

Why don’t I try that?’ I try to find new musical ideas or make my hands go in different patterns than normal,” she said.

And she doesn’t limit herself to striking keys to make music. She recruits her piano’s wooden base and strings, and pedals, playing them with a whack to the wood, a pluck on the strings and a quick release of a pedal.

In spring of 2018, Gilbert brought a loop machine and drum machine to ballet class in the Rubenstein. She used natural sound apps and a Brian Eno app of electronic sounds to pre-record different timbres, textures and soundscapes.

During class, she would supplement them with live voice or piano. Duke sophomore and ballet student Cordelia Hogan remembers hearing crickets and rain from the machines.

“The first time she did, I was kind of like ‘what’s going on?’ But I really liked it. It took me out just going through the motions in ballet class.

It made me focus more on the music, and that made me focus more on dance. Check in and not just, ‘Oh, gotta do tendus again’” Hogan said.

Always collaborating Gilbert thinks arts collaboration is vital, be it with a pianist, a drummer or a set designer.

“I think that it is the best way for arts. Egos get out of the way more. More interesting ideas come up when you are sharing ideas, but you are coming at it from different practices,” she said.

The inspiration Gilbert gains from collaboration is evident in the dance classroom, Nimerichter said.

“The crossover between the worlds of dance and music has been a huge inspiration for her.

That dedication, that perseverance to provide music for dancers is inspiring,” she said.

Gilbert said her dream would be to time travel to the 1920s during an era that she described as ideal for arts collaboration.

“If you go back to the Diaghilev idea of bringing contemporary artists of all kinds— painters, sculptors, composers, choreographers, writers—and get them all in the same room talking, that’s when art happens. Like in the ‘20s in Paris. I still believe in that model really strongly,” Gilbert said.

She’s starting to work on a Diaghilev-like partnership here in Durham. Linda Belans, Durham area artist, dancer, and dance critic, invited several artists to collaborate on a piece called “Double Crossed,” asking Gilbert to compose the music. The piece, which is still in its beginning stages, is related to women’s rights and the #MeToo movement. It considers how some people thought women were supposed to sit in a certain way traditionally, with their legs crossed.

“She is always pushing herself and expanding the possibilities,” Nimerichter said of Gilbert.

“She is adventurous and willing to try new things.

She has curiosity to stretch and push beyond.”

Special to The Chronicle Duke Dance program and ADF accompanist Natalie Gilbert plays in the Rubenstein Arts Center.

Sports 8 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

dukechronicle.com

The Chronicle

The Chronicle

THE BLUE ZONE

BEYOND THE ARC: DUKE BEATS BOSTON COLLEGE dukechronicle.com

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Duke plagued by another dismal start Tuesday

By Dilan Trivedi Associate Sports Editor

Some may chalk up Duke’s slow start Tuesday to overlooking the contest in favor of the top-three matchup against Virginia that has received extensive media attention.

The Blue Devils have struggled to come out of the gates strong, especially in recent contests—offering a blueprint to defeat one of the top teams in the country.

“Our defense kept us in the ballgame. We did not communicate well. No one was talking.

Even when we said something to run on offense, we did not run it,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “We were kind of fortunate to be down only two at the half.”

At the start of the season, against the likes of Hartford, Yale, Princeton and Texas Tech, Duke struggled to break out in the first half— in part due to 18.4 percent shooting from deep—averaging a halftime lead of just 7.5 points despite playing teams it should have been blowing out.

Those problems have carried over to ACC play and pose a serious threat to the Blue Devils’ title hopes. Contests against Georgia Tech, St. John’s and now Boston College—all competition Duke should handle easily relative to the rest of its schedule—have seen the Blue Devils come out of the gates lethargic, failing to hold the lead as late as seven minutes into

Henry Haggart | Sports Photography Editor

R.J. Barrett and the Blue Devils struggled from the perimeter Tuesday, making just one of 15 first-half attempts beyond the arc. the second half.

The problems are stemming from continued woes from deep and a new defensive strategy against Duke that has exacerbated the lack of shooting. In the loss to Syracuse, the

Orange forced the Blue Devils to attempt an astronomical 43 shots from downtown with their stifling 2-3 zone.

“Coaches around the country watching us attack the zone in the first half got to be

saying ‘I’m not buying his zone offense book, not that I have one.’ We matched up where they were so we were not moving,” Krzyzewski said. “Zion was in the corner a lot. We had some outliers in the first half. In the second half we had good stuff against the man and zone and scored 52 points.”

Despite connecting on just 30.9 percent of shots from deep, Duke is attempting 23.3 shots per game beyond the arc for the season.

Between the Syracuse, Yellow Jackets, Red Storm, and Eagles matchups the Blue Devils have shot just 21.9 percent on 28.5 attempts from downtown. By preventing the likes of Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett from getting inside through the zone, opponents have been able to force Duke’s offense to play from a point of weakness.

Early in the game, the offense tends to be stagnant with all of the wings sitting around the arc waiting for an opportunity to shoot or drive. Although the looks are typically wide open from ideal spots like the corner, it might be time to accept that the “regression to the mean” may not be as large as expected.

Jack White, after starting the season as a knockdown shooter, has gone ice-cold following his 0-for-10 performance against Syracuse, and seems hesitant to shoot See SHOOTING WOES on Page 9

MEN’S LACROSSE

Blue Devils to face High Point in home opener

By Evan Kolin Staff Writer

It has been six years since Duke lost its home opener, a 14-12 defeat to then-No. 9 Denver to kick off the 2013 campaign.

The second-ranked Blue Devils will hope to keep that streak rolling when they take on High Point Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Koskinen Stadium. This will HPU vs. mark the sixth all-time meeting between the No. 2 two programs—with Duke Duke leading the series WEDNESDAY, 7 p.m.

5-0—and the fifth Koskinen Stadium consecutive year that Duke will take on the Panthers in one of its first two matchups of the season.

“While we have played them from year to year, Coach Torpey is known kind of as a mechanic,” head coach John Danowski said.

“They do a lot of different things. We may see some zone, we may see some 10-man wide. They do a lot of different things all over the field, so we are going to have to be fundamentally sound

in order to be successful.”

Last season the Blue Devils (1-0) were led by attackman Justin Guterding, who scored five goals en route to Duke’s 18-6 thrashing of High Point. Guterding may have graduated last spring, but the Blue Devils’ swarm of talent under him should ensure that this year’s version of the annual meeting isn’t any closer.

Then-freshman Joe Robertson posted a hat trick of his own in the team’s win over the Panthers (1-0) a season ago, and has shown that he’s more than prepared to be Duke’s main offensive weapon going forward. The preseason All-ACC selection and now sophomore led the Blue Devils with four goals in the team’s 17-9 win against Furman Saturday.

Furthermore, both sophomore Cameron Badour and senior C.J. Carpenter—each of whom missed all of last year’s title-game run due to injury—posted hat-tricks in Duke’s opening victory. Their return is a huge part of the Blue Devils’ ability to maintain a top ranking despite graduating its all-time leading scorer as well as its starting goalie.

“Well I think the thing that you are always curious about is can those students now start to

Charles York | Special Projects Photography Editor

Joe Robertson paced the Blue Devils’ effort against Furman with four goals. build a consistency,” Danowski said. “Scoring three goals in the first game is great, but more than that they played right throughout the 60 minutes. And the question is can they continue to play right now four days later. [It is] not easy...everybody guns for Duke and High Point will be really excited and really fired up for this game.”

High Point, meanwhile, returns three of its top four scorers from last year, including sophomore

Asher Nolting and senior Chris Young. Young was the only Panther to score twice against Duke last season, while Nolting chipped in a goal of his own in addition to two assists.

The pair also made their presence felt in the team’s dominant 13-0 win over St. Bonaventure Saturday, with Young putting See M. LACROSSE on Page 9

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

M. BASKETBALL FROM PAGE 1 “We can’t be soft, and we have to play like men,” junior captain Jack White said. “We have to be stronger and we can’t expect things to be easy. We need to come out and fight. We did a good job of that. We outscore them by 27 in the second half, and we weren’t ourselves in the first half on both ends. We made some uncharacteristic plays and not hitting shots we usually do. The second half we definitely adjusted and I couldn’t be happier with how the boys responded.”

In the first 20 minutes of play, the Blue Devils looked far from the offensive juggernaut they’ve been all season. Although Barrett and Marques Bolden started Duke off strong, foul trouble on Barrett limited the Blue Devils’ ability to score down the stretch of the half. Coupled with abysmal 3-point shooting—Duke was 1-for-15 beyond the arc at the half—and the Blue Devils’ offense looked anemic against the Eagles (11-10, 2-7).

Even Williamson—who posts one of the most efficient scoring pedigrees in the NCAA— couldn’t get many of his shots to fall early, but would finish with 16 points and a season-high 17 rebounds.

The lone bright spot for the Blue Devils in the first half was White and Jones’ pressure on defense. White recorded two blocks in the opening half and Jones held Bowman— the conference’s third-leading scorer behind Williamson and Barrett—to just seven points at the half.

“Defense is part of our identity as a team,” White said. “One of our big strengths, especially when we’re locked in, especially from how wide we can play with our lateral quickness. Our athleticism means we can lock teams down,

which I think we especially showed in the second half. It’s definitely important. We need to have that consistent effort every game no matter what it is.”

Although the Blue Devils earned the win, Duke can’t afford to play sloppy in its upcoming ACC gauntlet. The Blue Devils will face No. 3 Virginia on the road in a top-three rematch of Duke’s 72-70 win at home.

“Ever since we beat St. John’s the only thing you see on ESPN is our game against Virginia,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Nothing was said about this game. All the shows and everything, that’s the world these guys live in. I told them, ‘Look, we have to play this game.’ I don’t know if that was a part of it. We are young team so we can fall prey to that. Thank goodness we didn’t for 40 minutes.”

M. LACROSSE

SHOOTING WOES

FROM PAGE 8

FROM PAGE 8

up a game-high four goals and Nolting when open. Meanwhile, Cam Reddish adding three goals and four assists of his has not shown a consistent ability to own. Their production will be essential if connect, seemingly converting more High Point hopes to improve upon its 6-1 on contested pull-up threes than catchconference record last year—tied for first in and-shoots from the corner. Williamson the Southern Conference—without 2017-18 and Barrett are average shooters at best. goals leader Conner Robinson.

Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, their “We saw them early in the year, but then two highest-percentage shooters—Alex Nolting had a great year and Young had a O’Connell and Justin Robinson—have great year,” Danowski said. “You can make an combined to play just 15 minutes per argument [the Panthers] were a goal or two game, often in garbage time. away from making the NCAA tournament.

The bright spot for Duke is that it is They grew as the year went on and we expect usually a vastly different second-half team them to be much better, much different offensively. Using the same games for players than they were a year ago.” reference, the Blue Devils improve their Nevertheless, the Blue Devils should have shooting from 16.7 percent from deep in the little trouble containing the Panthers’ attack. first half to 26.9 percent in the second frame.

Midfielder Hunter Vines was the only High Whether it is simply adjusting to a new zone Point freshman to even attempt more than a defense look with halftime adjustments from single shot in the team’s season opener, so Duke’s Krzyzewski or shots starting to fall, Duke has defense—led by All-Americans J.T. Giles-Harris been able to overcome slow starts. and Cade Van Raaphorst—will be more than “In the first half we were just lacking familiar with their opponents on the field. energy and we couldn’t hit shots, so we came Following Wednesday’s contest, the Blue out in the second half wanting to attack and Devils will travel to Jacksonville, Fla. to take that’s what got us going,” Tre Jones said. on Jacksonville this Saturday. But the real However, with the upcoming six-game matchup Duke has its eyes set on is a full stretch featuring four road contests, four week later, when the team returns home to ranked teams, and the big rivalry game face its first ranked opponent of the season against No. 8 North Carolina, slow starts in No. 8 Denver. could make for a tumultuous stretch.

“Not a thing,” Danowski said regarding Good teams will not easily cede the how his team plans to prepare for the momentum and let an early lead slip away top-10 Pioneers. “We are focused right in front of a raucous home crowd. Look now on tonight’s meeting at 8:30...we will no further than Gonzaga—the type of meet as a group and then we will focus on high-caliber competition the Blue Devils a pregame meal and then we will focus on will face in the tournament: the 16-point The New York Times Syndication Corporationdeficit was ultimately too our warmup tomorrow.

We just want to Salessecond-half 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 live in the moment.” much to overcome.

Henry Haggart | Sports Photo Editor

Jack White played elite defense in the first half Tuesday.

For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 ForRelease ReleaseWednesday, Tuesday, February For February5,6,2019 2019

CLASSIFIEDS HELP WANTED SUMMER CAMP STAFF Duke Youth Programs has openings for residential staff for the summer camp programs� For more information and to apply, please visit the website at https://learnmore�duke� edu/youth/employment-opportunities� Email tpatters@duke�edu

TRAVEL/VACATION BAHAMAS SPRING BREAK $189 for 5-Days� All prices include: Round-trip luxury party cruise� Accommodations on the island at your choice of ten resorts� Appalachia Travel� www�BahamaSun�com 800-867-5018

The Chronicle classified advertising www.dukechronicle.com/ classifieds deadline 12:00 noon 2 business day sprior to publication

The Chronicle Our Chron15 categories and additions: Vondy: Life Saver���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������touché Peaches: villainas ��������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������satistics The walk-up line: in memoriam �����������������������������������������������������luzumontheloose Young Dolph: coffee connoisseurs �������������������������������������� americasnexttopmodel The Loop: home ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������winniethepooh Student Advertising Manager: ��������������������������������������������������������������Griffin Carter Account Representatives: �������������������������������������������� Paul Dickinson, Matt Gendell, Francis L’Esperance, Lancer Li, Jake Melnick, Emma Olivo, Spencer Perkins, Brendan Quinlan, Levi Rhoades, Rebecca Ross, Alex Russell, Paula Sakuma, Jake Schulman, Zoe Tang, Stef Watchi, Matt Zychowski Creative Services: �������������������������������������������������� Rachael Murtagh, Myla Swallow Student Business Manager ������������������������������������������ Will Deseran, Brian Njoroge

WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 6, 2019 | 9

Crossword ACROSS 1 Gloomy First victim of sibling rivalry atmosphere

30 from fear 26 Shiver Often-prewritten article, for 32 news Big tub short 33 By way of 29 Regret 34 Turkey ___ king 30 Wide-eyed sort 35 in Munich 34 A, Unrealized 36 36 Telescope Draw (out)part

5 ___ Newton Mess up (cookie) 9 Subject of some 8 Somewhere youth sports across fraud the ocean 14 Transmitter of 12 What inventions freckles start as or blond hair 14 Actor Morales of 15 “You’re ___ to “The Brink” talk!”

15 Toot one’s own 16 “Now!” horn 17 goals in a 16 Three Fish fork single game 17 Cocktail fork 19 Leap day baby, 19 astrologically Vice president who became 20 ambassador Darth Vader’sto nickname as a Japan boy 21 Swapped 21 Similar 22 It ends rather 23 “Hmm, I don’t spookily: Abbr. know” 23 Last ruler of the 24 Blood fluid United Kingdoms 26 Its lyrics telland of of Sweden unrequited love Norway

37 staff 37 Music Leslie in the notation Women’s 41 Basketball Child’s pleaHall of Fame 42 38 ___-Caps Salad fork 43 39 Calligrapher’s Flashlight inserts, tool perhaps 44 used 40 League Soldier’sthat topper red,inwhite and 41 a Well, old Rome blue ball, for 42 Loos short 43 Greed Some rock 45 or gluttony coverings 46 Someone who 44 “Bye!” likes to see many 45 raised Wide shoe spec hands 46 Reason ___ Village 50 to get (Manhattan braces neighborhood) 53 47 Push Russia, once 54 close to call 50 ___ Preschool group?

55 wrap 53 Ranee’s Estate sharer

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE Q A T G HI P A S T M E W C A B S EI S PI

A B H E M A E N D E R A R T A B U H T P T A P R

N E NI T RI O R E T RI NI O A C A T SI E V A E

D L R E O T U G U H M T A M TI O E K R O A L G A S

A D O R A T M A B E L E H O S R T OI Z O O G N E

F O OI L A V L A R S E S FI S E O G S E U T

AI L N L C EI G T E AI R N F N E S O A R

T G A E D K A K O N EI N G E O S T AI O P U A S

T I F F E R O V M I G N T E H N R U A R S E H

AI D P O P L C O A P N E A P A E U N E T S P Y

C B A R RI P G O H O T L T E G A G S E T S H O

R S O T S E L S M O L U G N E C E H W H A LI ZI

H O NI H C O E O P V R E E R Y H N O BI E B TI O T

O A D T EI N N HI E N M E P E E V N O R L O V N E

N D E O S S G A D S O T R E G D E N E E M

57 shaped 56 What’s Bespectacled at the gym, canine of comics 59 informally Dessert fork 58 62 Literary Fruit forklast words 63 Haberdasher’s 61 Barely array adequate … or what the 64 “Yikes!” starts of 17-, 37- and 65 26-, TV’s Don Draper, 50-Across are for one 63 66 Wild Abbr. on a 64 remote Slithering killer 67 “___ Fictional boy who 65 a little!” rafted down the 66 Car radio button Mississippi 67 of money 68 Short Big brand of petrol that 68 Couple might be snapped by DOWN paparazzi 1 ___ Beach, Calif.

2 Makeshift DOWN 3 Horror-struck Makeshift shelter 1 4 2 Kosher Pitch tobakery the no-no head, informally 5 Total They might go 3 viral 4 Call from a chair 6 umpire “Mr. Robot” network 5 Chocolate kiss 7 wrap Partner of wide 8 What Buddha 6 Provoke is said to have 7 meditated Gordon ___, under lead role in “Wall 9 Barren Street” 10 pass 8 Boarding Mobile device datum download 11 to 9 “Heavens Smart Murgatroyd!”

10 Things to stop 13 and Genre of the smell band Less Than 11 Quick Jake appraisal 12 Idiotic Caught a bite 15 13 The Beehive andon 18 Cards, bouffant scoreboards 18 off on 20 Go 1980s-’90s tangents N.F.L. great Ronnie 22 Watergate chair 24 hearings Like envelope Sam flaps

Edited by Will Shortz 1

2

3

4

14 12

13

17 16

18

20 19

21

24 22

25

30

26

34

35

38

37

27

5

6 5

15

14

16

17

19

18 23

26

31

34

7

22

21

25

27

29

32

41 45

53

54

58 59

59

13 11

28

29

33 31

32

33

47

48

49

50

51

52

15

36 37

46 52

48 55 60

12 10

43

45

54 55

11 9

40

42

51 47

10

30

39

44

9

35 36

38

50

8

24

20 23

28

7 6

0101 No. 0102

60

46 53

49 56

56

57

58

61

62

62

65

63

64

64

66

67

67

57

65 68

PUZZLE BY GARY JACOBCEE STULBERG

25 Savory taste Relatives of 27 puffins Cocktail hour 27 nosh Relatives of 28 kingfishers Number of 28 batters India ___ in a 31 lineup Wind tunnel currentsa liquid 29 Neither solid 32 nor “Gotait!”

31 33 Famous They cancollie be of radio, TV and film saturated 35 self34 Inflated Pride parade image letters 36 in the 35 Break Rest ___ workday 39 Big name in 37 Popular laptops perfume

38 of 40 Out Fashion commission accessory that may be six ___, feet 39 Hammond long of “The writer of the 42 Wreck No longer Mary Deare” interested in 40 Kids 43 An assistant 41 might Vehicletake withone a meter 48 Follower of yes 45 Moe, or no Larry in theor Curly military 46 Defeat decisively 49 Ancient arts 47 Tolkien venue creature 48 Develop gradually 51 Black-and-white 49 Cash in mammals

51 52 Nuts Prefixcontaining with caffeine musicology 53 Spanish Security food guard’s 52 viewing,onforsmall short served 54 plates River originating in Pittsburgh 56 Athletic award 55 Shoe part 58 Figure Hard-to-explain 57 on a skill, for short résumé, in brief 58 Tee Monk known as 59 box sign info “The Father of English History” 60 “I ___ it!”

60 follower 62 Upsilon Cable news host 61 Velshi Stop on a trip

Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 7,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).

Read about and comment on each puzzle: nytimes.com/wordplay.

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

The Chronicle

“

Phoning home

D

uke will start to feel like home slowly at first. Then, all at once, you offhandedly refer to going ‘back home’ during winter break of your first year, to which your mom casts you a look of confusion and disappointment. “You are at home,” she says.

As a senior, I ache for home more than I did as a first-year. I’m looking at jobs in cities far away and I’m consumed by the feeling of needing to be back in the

Janie Booth COLUMNIST familiar territory of my hometown, cushioned by the safety net of my parents, sisters and friends.

What’s the opposite of wanting wide open spaces?

Of wanting to be returned to what is comfortable so much that it hurts? Is it just homesickness?

I left my home in Charlotte, North Carolina on a muggy day in August of 2015. 18-year-old me wanted adventure. I craved wide open spaces big enough to make mistakes, ready to leave behind what was comfortable in favor of Duke’s big, scary campus.

19-year-old me wanted more. So I packed my bags again and took off to South Africa for a summer on a DukeEngage program, in search of adventure

onlinecomment

”

“Eat the rich.”

—Lama Abu Hantash, responding to “Confronting being a low SES student at Duke” via Facebook on Feb. 4, 2019

LETTERS POLICY The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identification, phone number and local address.

Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns.

The Chronicle will not publish anonymous or form letters or letters that are promotional in nature. The Chronicle reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length, clarity and style and the right to withhold letters based on the discretion of the editorial page editor.

Est. 1905

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com commentary

10 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

Direct submissions to: E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.edu Editorial Page Department The Chronicle Box 90858, Durham, NC 27708 Phone: (919) 684-2663 Fax: (919) 684-4696

The Chronicle

100-degree heat, I shout the phrase “Welcome home” to every first-year and their families over and over until my voice is hoarse.

The orientation programming centers around the idea that Duke will become home for every first-year student as long as they immerse themselves in clubs and organizations and use the resources to their fullest extent. To do this successfully, though, we ask one thing: forget about your home. The other one, the home you came here from.

The mentality we hear as college students is that home isn’t a place, it’s the people you surround yourself with. That home can be folded up and packed up into a few suitcases. That Duke can become a home to all if you try hard enough.

But as I am beginning the slow descent into leaving the home I’ve made here and trading it for another strange place, I’m realizing that home isn’t so easy to take with you.

Maybe the reason we are quick to label other places home is that we are running away from the places that raised us: the asphalt that scraped my knees as I learned how to ride a bike, the basketball hoop with the frayed net still in the driveway, the doorway with pencil marks measuring my height every year until I stopped growing.

Four years at Duke has shown me that I can call many places home, but there’s still only one home I dial to when I need a reminder of what raised me.

Janie Booth is a Trinity senior. Her column runs on alternate Tuesdays.

Letter to the editor: The light rail

T

o the Editors: Light rail in our region faces critical deadlines in the coming few weeks, and Duke faces a pivotal role to enhance the livability of our region.

I grew up in Durham and watched the downtown die in the 70s as middle-class residents and shops fled to the outer neighborhoods. In the early 80s I attended Duke at a time when the university pulled inward, hugged students close, and walled itself off from the struggling city. In recent years, with an expanding economy, Duke has done a good job of anchoring revitalization in Durham. Recruiting students and faculty has never been easier. Today, I’m living a dream of investing in downtown’s alternative art scene.

The university is positioned to allow—or block— light rail access to the hospital and to downtown.

Progress will require a right-of-way donation on Erwin Road, a public road, and sharing Duke’s bus repair lot at the corner of Main & Buchanan. Duke needs to

avoid the tempting lethargy of a nonprofit, endowed landowner, sitting on linchpin property.

My organization, The Fruit, is on the proposed rail line, but we’re also smack dab in the middle of 24 acres of new high-density, high-priced development. As a real estate investor, I’ll be fine. But as an arts entrepreneur with a philanthropic bent, it’s clear that a diverse, creative community needs affordable transport. More importantly, 70 percent of Durham’s public housing units and the future of the downtown’s workforce housing (think teachers, health aides and police) will be accessible by light rail. Durham seems to be getting it right—Go Triangle’s planners have been thoughtful about how to spread benefits around the region. If you’ll pardon the turn of phrase, it’s time for Duke to hop aboard light rail.

EDITORIAL

Much like how, as Bregman pointed out, the lavish chalets and glistening conference centers that populate Davos obscure the realities of inequality, our campus environment has entirely skewed our understanding of wealth. Not having a car on campus, having to maintain a work-study job and not being able to afford a Canada Goose puffer are seen as symbols of being “low income” at Duke. Solidly upper-class students love to gripe about how “poor” they are, having spent their entire allowance on shots at Shooters or steaks at the Washington Duke.

Meanwhile, outside of Duke, without the economic and social protections of an elite university environment, many Durham residents have to deal with issues more genuinely tied to poverty: homelessness, skyrocketing rent, minimum wage jobs, etc.

We have not made space on campus to have conversations about inequality beyond being reminded every so often that it exists in the form of persistent social problems that we all should try to solve (in the manner of “Knowledge in the Service of Society”). Instead, from the millions of dollars that gild campus facilities to the ever-increasing price of tuition, the standard of wealth experienced by the majority of students on this campus is accepted and celebrated. If these stories from Davos and Duke have taught us anything, it is that we are greatly in need of an acknowledgement of the relationship between wealth and inequality as well as, perhaps, a deeper understanding of the relativity of our on-campus realities.

Sincerely yours, Tim Walter, Trinity ‘86

Inc. 1993

BRE BRADHAM, Editor MICHAEL MODEL, Sports Editor ISABELLE DOAN, News Editor BEN LEONARD, Managing Editor NATHAN LUZUM, SHAGUN VASHISTH, LEXI KADIS Senior Editors LIKHITHA BUTCHIREDDYGARI, Digital Strategy Director SUJAL MANOHAR, Photography Editor FRANCES BEROSET, Editorial Page Editor CHRISTY KUESEL, Recess Editor ALAN KO, Editorial Board Chair SYDNEY ROBERTS, Editorial Board Chair CHRISSY BECK, General Manager MARY HELEN WOOD, Audio Editor STEFANIE POUSOULIDES, University News Department Head JEREMY CHEN, Graphic Design Editor JAKE SATISKY, University News Department Head JUAN BERMUDEZ, Online Photography Editor MICHELLE (XINCHEN) LI, Local & National News Head IAN JAFFE, Special Projects Photography Editor DEEPTI AGNIHOTRI, Health & Science News Head CHARLES YORK, Special Projects Photography Editor KATHRYN SILBERSTEIN, Health & Science News Head HANK TUCKER, Towerview Editor JU HYUN JEON, News Photography Editor SHANNON FANG, Towerview Managing Editor SARAH DERRIS, Recess Managing Editor LIKHITHA BUTCHIREDDYGARI, Investigations Editor HENRY HAGGART, Sports Photography Editor KENRICK CAI, Investigations Editor WINSTON LINDQWISTER, Sports Managing Editor LIKHITHA BUTCHIREDDYGARI, Recruitment Chair MAX LABATON, Editorial Page Managing Editor FRANCES BEROSET, Recruitment Chair VICTORIA PRIESTER, Editorial Page Managing Editor SAM KIM, Senior News Reporter MIHIR BELLAMKONDA, Editorial Page Managing Editor MAYA ISKANDARANI , Senior News Reporter JIM LIU, Opinion Photography Editor SEAN CHO, Senior News Reporter IAN JAFFE, Video Editor TREY FOWLER, Advertising Director JAMIE COHEN, Social Media Editor JULIE MOORE, Creative Director The Chronicle is published by the Duke Student Publishing Company, Inc., a non-profit corporation independent of Duke University. The opinions expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of Duke University, its students, faculty, staff, administration or trustees. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors.

To reach the Editorial Office at 301 Flowers Building, call 684-2663 or fax 684-4696. To reach the Business Office at 1517 Hull Avenue call 684-3811. To reach the Advertising Office at 2022 Campus Drive call 684-3811.

One copy per person; additional copies may be purchased for .25 at The Chronicle Business office at the address above. @ 2019 Duke Student Publishing Company

with every mile I put between me and home: 7,978 miles, to be exact.

I wrote in my journal that summer about finding home unexpectedly in the winding streets of my neighborhood of Tamboerskloof; in a coffee shop; in a new job. Even on a quest to go as far as I had ever been away from home, I kept searching for it. For the familiar.

Was it that I found a new home, or just that I wanted to taste what leaving home felt like? Planting my flag on a different planet, just for a little while, to see what the view is like from over there?

I arrived back in North Carolina two months later to a “Welcome Home” sign resting on the kitchen table, but without clarity over if home can be two places at once.

21-year-old me has enough. I call home almost daily.

I don’t even think about it, I just reach for my phone absentmindedly and press the dial button to connect to the landline on School House Lane, the street where I grew up and my parents still live.

I’m learning that calling a place home isn’t the same as calling home. Even when all the paperwork— a college diploma, tax returns, and a heavily stamped passport— clearly indicates that I no longer live at home, all the same, there I am, clutching my phone and hoping that someone still picks up on the same landline I’ve called my whole life.

And that’s what this whole thing is about. The places we call home. The home we call to instinctively.

As a head orientation counselor, it’s been my job to make this campus feel like home for incoming first-years from their very first week. As we feverishly unpack cars in

FROM PAGE 1

While not a seemingly radical assertion on its face, the column has since sparked a variety of responses in the form of letters and yet other columns. One author took issue with the initial column’s “Let them eat cake” focus on the affordability of Duke’s social culture, arguing that low-income students face more significant challenges than simply affording Hawaiianthemed darty get-ups and Juul pods. Other voices called for validation and support within the lowincome student community rather than arguments over petty differences, while another repeated the oft-cited neoliberal refrain that low-income students are simply failing to work hard enough and budget appropriately.

These pieces for the most part all cite the same statistics. The median household income at Duke tops out at almost $200,000. 20 percent of students here come from families that make $630,000 or more. What is most important to note about wealth stratification at Duke is how differently each of these authors interpret these statistics. For students whose wealth is not reflective of the moneyed majority on this campus who belong to the proverbial “one percent,” there is certainly a sense of relative deprivation. In validating those experiences though, we cannot forget their relativity. A student considered “low income” at Duke—someone whose family income is around $80,000 a year and would be eligible for almost full financial aid coverage— would be categorized as existing solidly within the American middle class outside the Gothic Wonderland.

This was written by The Chronicle’s Editorial Board, which is made up of student members from across the University and is independent of the editorial staff.

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com commentary

WEDNESDAY, WEDNESDAY,FEBRUARY FEBRUARY 6, 2019 | 11

What we’re really paying for

A

s a second-semester senior, it is hard not to be reflective about my time at Duke. With graduation a few months away, I have been looking back at what I have done here and trying to discern what I still want to do. So picture me a few weeks ago, on the first night of black tenting, lying in my sleeping bag, shivering, in the fetal position, listening to my tent get hounded with rain, and repeatedly asking myself, Is this really how I make the most of my senior spring?

After seven semesters, my life at Duke has become fairly routine. Every week I have classes to attend, homework to complete, and a slew of meetings and rehearsals to go to. Every

Ethan Ahuna COLUMNIST week I focus on meeting due dates, keeping up in my classes, and checking all the boxes on my to-do list.

But in the process, I started going through the motions.

And without realizing, I lost track of many of the reasons I was excited to come here in the first place.

I came into Duke excited to take advantage of its vast offerings. I was looking forward to forming relationships with professors, exploring Durham, listening to guest speakers, and attending as many different sporting events and student performances as possible. But as I wrap up my undergraduate experience, I realized how far I am from these goals. With a few

exceptions, I let opportunities to develop faculty relationships slip to the wayside. I didn’t go to as many guest speakers as I wanted, and the time I have spent off campus in Durham is embarrassingly limited. The events and performances I have attended are limited almost exclusively to those that my friends are in.

I was trying so hard to be a good student, that I lost sight of how to be a good Duke student. I missed out on many opportunities I was once thrilled about because I was so focused on just getting through my week.

Obviously, the vast majority of us come to Duke for the superior academics. But full tuition alone costs over $50,000.

If all you are getting for your money is eight classes a year, then a student who pays full tuition is spending over $6,000 per class. Yes, Duke classes are (sometimes) interesting and (often) challenging, but there are many cheaper schools to attend where you can learn essentially the same content. So why do we pay so much money to take those classes here?

It’s because what sets Duke apart is its people. We are surrounded by renowned professors. Our peers are incredible athletes, brilliant artists, and thoughtful intellectuals from a diversity of backgrounds. People are this university’s greatest asset: the professors in front of the classroom, the intelligent and passionate young people that make up the student body, and the experts, artists and activists willing to come share their wisdom on our campus.

And in a year, or in a decade, I won’t look back on my time in college and remember the content that was on my Spanish midterm. I’ll remember being blown away by my friend’s a cappella concert and making posters for another friend’s fencing

match. I’ll remember the freezing-cold slumber parties in K-Ville and the spontaneous spring afternoons spent in the Gardens. I’ll remember the dinner conversation that really pushed me and the campus speaker who made me reconsider my viewpoint. Our investment into Duke pays off when we use our time here to grow and challenge ourselves not just as academics and students, but as well-rounded people.

There will always be more opportunities for me to take classes. If I want to learn new content or write more papers later down the line, I am sure I will be able to. But this is my last chance to sleep in a tent with friends just for the fun of it. This is my last chance to take advantage of the institutional resources and human capital that I can only access under the umbrella of this institution. And most importantly,this is my last chance to be in this insulated environment of young, interesting people who challenge and fulfill me every day.

So in my last semester, I am challenging myself to step out of routine and look beyond my to do list. I am challenging myself to take advantage of the treasure trove of talent and intellect around me before it spreads across the country and the world. I am challenging myself to make more time for coffee dates, guest speakers, and excursions into Durham. And I am challenging myself to pursue the opportunities that make Duke unique. Getting my degree is about passing my classes. But before that degree comes, I hope I can fully appreciate that being a Duke student is about much, much more.

Ethan Ahuna is a Trinity senior. His column usually runs on alternate Tuesdays.

Subject: Something else to think about...

H

ey All, We have had several hundred separate Duke students go to the meme page and ask if we had headshots of the faculty who chose to vilify international students. We, the International Association, were unable to provide them with the headshots of these faculty members. However, we decided to share with the larger Duke community some thoughts to reflect on.

There is an implicit social contract between the Duke administration and the international students that their well being is Duke’s first priority. Depressingly, the way this contract is viewed by administration

International Association GUEST COLUMN is akin to how Duke students view bus schedules shown on the Rider app—a joke.

While Duke is happy to take the full tuition paid by international students and the groundbreaking research and work being done by several of its international academic community, it is not happy to allow them the right to express their national and cultural identity (IN THE PRIVACY OF A PERSONAL CONVERSATION). Duke has required all undergraduate students to complete foreign language studies, but apparently it expects us to abandon all our foreign language skills once we enter its graduate programs.

We were disappointed that these faculty members did not take the opportunity to appreciate the diversity and capabilities that international students are bringing to Duke and instead chose to stoke racism and xenophobia on campus.

To faculty members, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE remember that it is not the job of international students to constantly prove their proficiency in English when they have already done so to gain admission into Duke. You have no idea how hard it is for international students to come to the U.S. and learn in a nonnative language. In fact, you also have no idea how important it is for them to speak in their mother tongues as a way to feel at home, feel a sense of belonging, and connect with their cultural identities. When someone is speaking

in a foreign language, and you feel like they are talking about you. It almost certainly is not about you. You are not that interesting. As such, we have the upmost respect...NOT!...for the frustration you have imposed on international students with your email. That being said, we encourage you to commit to being a decent human being 100% of the time whether you are at Duke or at any other place in life.

Copying all administrators as a reminder given the endless list of equity issues that still need to be addressed and resolved on this campus.

Happy to discuss more. Just stop by our weekly meetings on Mondays at 7 p.m. in the CMA Resource Room.

Best, International Association In all seriousness, even though Dr. Neely has stepped down as director of graduate studies, there is still a lot more work to be done. International Association has long been trying to bring about policy changes on campus for years to improve the university’s support for Duke’s international community.

However, most, if not all our pleas have been ignored or lost in bureaucratic processes.

The International House, whose mission is

to provide educational programs, services and advocacy to Duke’s global community, cannot even earn a proper space on West or East Campus. There, the hardworking staff have been forced to do their best from a remote location where most undergraduate students cannot conveniently access its great support.

Their efforts and the value of the existence of an umbrella institution for the international community at Duke have not been sufficiently acknowledged and appreciated by the university, let alone being adequately funded.

So many international students at Duke have gone all four years without ever even knowing that such a resource exists.

This lack of visibility and accessibility only further contributes to the general unavailability of resources that international students receive. On many fronts, Duke is sending a very clear message that it does not value its international students as much as it values its domestic students. For starters, Duke does not offer need-blind admission to international applicants, which results in a disproportionately affluent international student body. The message is clear: we only want you if you can pay. This dynamic

Chronicle File Photo

generates a complicated relationship between low-income, international students and the university, and ultimately amplifies alienation and ostracization on campus.

Take O-Week as another example: international first-years arrive onto an empty campus for international orientation and are expected to go through the move-in process entirely alone, many arriving even without their parents; for many, this is their first time in the United States. Contrast this to the excitement and buzz generated from the move-in party when domestic students arrive on campus a few days later.

The underwhelming reception given to internationals often exacerbates the feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and isolation that any first-year student is likely to experience.

When it comes to professional career search, the lack of structured curricular practical training programs, which would allow international students from all majors to complete internships in a field of their interest, deepens the challenges faced by non-STEM international students. It forces many of us to make the tough decision between paying $3,000 for an inflexible writing course or shortening the time they can stay in the U.S. by participating in optional practical training after graduation. As graduation season approaches, it is also extremely disappointing for us to find no commencement programs designed for international parents to assist them with travelling logistics, campus navigation, and language translation.

Now that the New York Times, BBC, CNN, CBS, and the Washington Post have called out Duke and its administration for being irresponsible at best and xenophobic at worst, every administrator is jumping through hoops in order to prove that we, as a university, are not condemnable. But is this because the university genuinely strives to protect its students, or does it only care for its brand? (Don’t forget that we have a university campus in China.)

We have just one message for Duke: step up and do better.

This guest column was written by International Association members Helen Yang, a Trinity senior, Sherry Huang, a Trinity senior, Shyam Pradheep, a Trinity junior, and Paulina Guerra, a Trinity junior.

12 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2019

MARIJUANA FROM PAGE 3 of men involved in the trial, so the Duke research team is planning to continue their research with larger groups.

They also plan to study whether changes in sperm can be reversed if the user is no longer exposed to cannabis, and want to determine if any epigenetic changes are carried forward to the child.

They also want to learn about the impact of those changes by testing the umbilical cord blood of babies born to fathers with THC-altered sperm.

“I just feel that it’s important that people have a better understanding of what the potential consequences are so that they can make better-informed decisions about when and where and if they do want to use,” Murphy said.

TRUMP FROM PAGE 1 Union, pointing to recent bipartisan efforts that included some of the most significant changes to prison and sentencing laws “in a generation” and measures to fight the opioid epidemic.

Likely in reference to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Trump blamed “ridiculous partisan investigations” for division.

“If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war and investigation,” Trump said. “It just does not work that way.”

Trump: Border wall a ‘moral issue’ Trump pitched his border wall and argued it was a moral issue, citing drugs and gang members crossing the border among other factors. He said that one in three migrant women are sexually assaulted on the way to the United States—a claim PolitiFact has rated “half true.”

“The lawless state of our southern border is a threat to the safety, security and financial well-being of all America,” Trump said.

Trump added that he sent a “common sense” package to Congress that would end the border “crisis,” which included humanitarian assistance, more law enforcement, stronger

The Chronicle

dukechronicle.com

drug detection at ports, elimination of loopholes that enable child smuggling and construction of a border wall.

“Walls work and walls save lives,” Trump said. “So let’s work together, compromise and reach a deal that will truly make America safe.”

Trump notably did not use the platform to call for a national emergency to build a border wall without Congressional approval, which he has threatened to do.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) reportedly warned him that doing so would “almost certainly spark a rebellion within his party—and a vote to overrule him.”

In a pre-rebuttal speech, presidential candidate and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) said that Trump’s anticipated calls for unity were “insincere.”

“We’re in store not for a speech that will seek to draw us together as Americans, but one that seeks to score political points by driving us apart,” Harris said.

Harris also railed against Trump’s demand for a wall.

“When you hear claims that our problems would all be solved if we just built a wall on our southern border, don’t forget the babies, ripped from their parents’ arms,” Harris said.

hopes to stop new HIV infections by 2030.

According to estimates from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1 million people in the United States have HIV. The Trump administration’s health officials would spend five years working in 20 of the states hit hardest

by HIV, according to POLITICO. “Together, we will defeat AIDS in America,” Trump said.

“And beyond.”

Trump was also optimistic about the country’s economic prospects, claiming that his administration added 5.3 million jobs, though Bureau of Labor statistics indicate the real number is 4.9 million.

“In just over two years since the election, we have launched an unprecedented economic boom, a boom that has rarely been seen before,” Trump said. “There has been nothing like it.”

Trump responds to controversial abortion bill In response to a proposed Virginia bill that would ease access to third-trimester abortions, Trump asked Congress to “prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.”

Trump cited Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s comments, in which Trump claimed he advocated for “execut[ing] a baby after birth.”

“So in this particular example, if a mother’s in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” Northam said Wednesday. “The infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired. And then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”

The Virginia bill would allow third-trimester abortions with the approval of one doctor, not three as currently is written into law.

Trump pledges to end HIV epidemic by 2030, touts economic growth By targeting communities hit hardest by HIV, Trump

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Trump delivered his 2018 State of the Union address, pictured, when the Republicans held both houses of Congress.

February 6, 2019

“Consider This as You Vote for Young Trustee”

By Richard Riddell, Senior Vice President and Secretary to the Board of Trustees

S

ince 1972, the Duke University Board of Trustees has benefited from recent or current students serving as Young Trustees. Next week, undergraduate students will vote for a new Young Trustee in a campus-wide election.

To the undergraduate students: As you consider which candidate to support (all are outstanding), I’d like to share thoughts on the criteria trustees use when selecting new members of the board.

Trustees are fiduciaries—which is often thought to mean overseers of the finances of the university. But it means much more: fiduciaries hold the university in their trust. They are responsible for the long-term health of Duke, imagining what faculty and students 30 years from now will benefit from, as well as paying attention to ensuring Duke thrives today. Trustees come from many backgrounds and constituencies, and when they join the board, they check their advocacy hat at the door and put on their fiduciary hat: they are responsible for the whole university, expected to think broadly about issues that come before the board and not advocate for any particular one (this is the main distinction between a fiduciary body and a representative one—like DSG).

Trustees are broad-thinkers and care about the overall mission of Duke. They have an interest in the role of the university in society, respect how universities are administered and governed, and are curious about issues that research universities face today.

Trustees speak and think independently and are able to discuss tough issues in a candid, confidential, manner. They value collegiality, knowing the importance of being a member of a group and respecting other members. They exercise good judgment. As representatives of the university, they embody the values that define Duke—respect, trust, inclusion, discovery and excellence.

In over a decade serving as secretary of the board, I’ve found the perspectives of Young Trustees valuable and insightful: they are close enough to the experience of being a student to help older trustees understand current campus issues and thoughtful about ensuring that Duke continues to be a vital institution for future generations of students.

As you prepare to vote next week, I invite you to give thought to which of the candidates best embodies the qualities above.