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The Chronicle

See Inside Duke softballtakes field for first game ever Page 6

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T D A I LY AT D U K E U N I V E R S I T Y

MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Students find suspicious person in Edens dorm room late Friday

ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH YEAR, ISSUE 18

LOCAL AND NATIONAL

‘STILL A VALUABLE ACT’: DUKE PROFESSORS ANALYZE N.C. JOINING U.S. CLIMATE ALLIANCE

By Staff Reports The Chronicle

A DukeALERT was issued at about 9 p.m. Friday after two students found a suspicious person in their West Campus dorm room. The subject—who neither student knew, and who has since left the area—was described as an approximately 30-year-old male between 6 feet and 6 feet 5, with “medium complexion” and a short buzz cut. Clothes the subject was wearing when the students entered the room included a long sleeve blue and white checked shirt, khaki pants and tan shoes. No injuries were reported by Duke Police, which also reminded students to keep their doors locked and to report any suspicious behavior. John Dailey, chief of the Duke University Police Department, wrote in an email that the subject was able to enter the room because the door was not locked. He added that no possessions were taken from the dorm room. “So my friend’s dorm in Edens got broken into last night and DUPD downplayed the whole thing—called the middle aged man just a ‘suspicious person’—and misquoted them in the report,” wrote sophomore Robin Yeh in a post on the Fix My Campus Facebook group Sunday. DUPD misquoted Yeh’s friend by releasing details describing the subject as having “medium complexion,” despite the friend saying the subject had “light skin,” Yeh noted in the post, which received more than 80 reactions See EDENS on Page 4

Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons Members of the alliance aim to achieve the national goal of meeting or exceeding the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan.

By Xinchen Li Contributing Reporter

Without federal guidelines to address climate change, several Duke professors said North Carolina’s commitment to a state-level climate change alliance is mostly a symbolic gesture but still a meaningful one. Gov. Roy Cooper announced Sept. 20 that North Carolina will join 13 other states and Puerto Rico in the U.S. Climate Alliance—a bipartisan coalition committed

I have never seen the question of energy choice being as partisan and politicized as it is today. RYKE LONGEST

DIRECTOR OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CLINIC AT THE SCHOOL OF LAW

Chronicle File Photo On Friday night, two students in Edens discovered a suspicious male in their room.

to upholding the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement objectives on climate change mitigation. The governors of California, New York and Washington co-founded the alliance June 1, shortly after President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris agreement. “I don’t think there is any substitute for federal action [regarding climate change mitigation] but [joining the U.S. Climate Alliance] is still a valuable act,” said Billy Pizer, a faculty fellow at the Nicholas School of the Environment and professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy.

Pizer said a state-level alliance demonstrates the diversity of perspectives in the United States on climate change mitigation, especially when the federal government deviates from its original climate commitment. The alliance Members of the alliance aim to achieve the national goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 26 to 28 percent from 2005 levels by 2025. They also want to meet or exceed the targets of the federal Clean Power Plan. But there are no uniform rules on how each state will meet this objective. Joining the alliance is an executive act, not a legislative one, said Ryke Longest, director of the Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at the School of Law. “This act has not made its way into any regulatory change at this point,” Longest said. “But it indicates the state executive branch is aiming at a different policy objective, namely to increase renewables and decrease reliance on fossil fuels.” Longest said he expects Cooper’s climate agenda to encounter challenges from the Republican-dominated state legislative branch because of the partisan divide over climate change. “I have never seen the question of energy choice being as partisan and politicized as it is today,” Longest said. Among the member states of the U.S. Climate Alliance, only the governors of Massachusetts and Vermont are Republican. The rest—including those from the three See ALLIANCE on Page 4

Catching trains, not senioritis

Primetime beatdown

Two seniors set out to write, direct and produce a film about a young man who runs away from home and begins trainhopping. PAGE 2

Duke football was blown away at home by the 14th-ranked Hurricanes, failing to score a touchdown in a 31-6 loss Friday night. PAGE 6

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