September 16, 2015 by Duke Chronicle

Brown hosts injured fox

Men’s soccer falls 3-0

Freshmen brought back a fox they found at an underpass before calling Animal Control | Page 2

The Blue Devils gave up 3 goals in the final 12 minutes Tuesday night | Sports Page 4

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ONE HUNDRED AND ELEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 18

Engineering dean search continues Califf nominated to lead FDA Staff Reports The Chronicle A Duke researcher was nominated as the next commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration by President Barack Obama Tuesday. Dr. Robert Califf, former vice chancellor for clinical and translational research, was appointed deputy commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco at the FDA in January and will now await Senate approval for the commissioner position after being nominated. Califf—who has taken a See CALIFF on Page 8

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Claire Ballentine The Chronicle The search for the new dean of the Pratt School of Engineering is ongoing, with George Truskey, senior associate dean for research, serving as interim dean. The search committee was formed in June following former dean Tom Katsouleas’ announcement that he was leaving Duke to become the provost and executive vice president at the University of Virginia, a position he assumed in August. Headed by Jeffrey Glass, professor of electrical and computer engineering, the committee hopes to find a dean

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who will build on the improvements made under Katsouleas. “What I really want most [in the next dean] is someone that is going to continue that forward momentum and really put a premium on highquality faculty hires,” said Provost Sally Kornbluth. During Katsouleas’ seven-year tenure as the dean of Pratt, the school consistently ranked highly among the best undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, including the annual list compiled by U.S. News and World Report. In 2014, Pratt was ranked No. 18 by the publication. Katsouleas’ tenure was also highlighted by an increase in

external research expenditures, the founding of six new research centers and a 62 percent increase in engineering graduate student enrollment. One legacy Katsouleas leaves is his emphasis on hiring the best faculty members possible, Kornbluth noted. “Because of that, the school is on this incredible upward trajectory,” she said. “When you’ve got better faculty, it attracts better students.” In 2009, Katsouleas initiated the Grand Scholars Challenge Program, which is designed to empower students to address See PRATT DEAN on Page 8

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Chronicle File Photo Dr. Robert Califf, former vice chancellor for clinical and translational research and a renowned cardiologist, was nominated to be the next FDA commissioner.

2 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

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Fox’s overnight stay in Brown causes rabies scare Sarah Feng The Chronicle

Less than a week after a urine leak, Brown residence hall freshmen had another memorable experience.

On Sept. 6 at around 8 p.m., several students brought an injured fox— which they found at the underpass by Smith Warehouse while walking back from West Campus—into Brown. The fox was kept in a cardboard box in Residence Coordinator Daniel Flowers’ office overnight before being taken away by the Duke University Police Department to be tested for rabies. The fox survived and was placed in an animal shelter after testing negative for rabies. “First the fox ran away a little bit, but later it got tired, just sitting there,” said freshman Aidan Workman, one of the students involved in the incident. “We realized that its legs were way too hurt.” Workman said he and the other students called Durham County Animal Services, who told them that someone would pick up the fox and instructed the students to leave the animal where they found it. However, the group of freshmen waited at the scene for around 30 minutes, and no one arrived, Workman said. He explained that the group also contacted other organizations as well—including Piedmont Farm Animal Refuge and Triangle Veterinary Hospital—but

would survive. The next day, DUPD picked up the fox and confiscated the sweater that had been used to carry the fox, as well as other clothes that the sweater had touched. They also sent the students who had contact with the fox or the box to be tested for rabies as a precaution. f we “The only contact was me just left picking up the it there, it box through the probably sweatshirt,” Workwould end up man said. “The doctor had us redying anyway. count the whole and since — Aidan story, no one got bitten, Workman the doctor said there was no risk [of] having any rabies at all and just sent us away.” Students in Brown approached the incident with humor. Freshman Julie Williams, a Brown resident, said students in the dorm named the fox Kashew Brown and made a Facebook page for it. Sophomore Sameer Pandhare, an RA in Brown and sportswriter for The Chronicle, noted that he is glad his residence hall was able to save the fox. “You know that we had leaking urine earlier in the year—our dorm is not having it easy,” he said. “But we got a lot of reputation from people around us in saving the fox. I am really proud of my residents.”

Chronicle File Photo Students in Brown residence hall on East Campus found an injured fox at the underpass near Smith Warehouse and brought it back to the dormitory. The fox was later tested for rabies.

they were either closed for the night or said they were no longer taking animals. At that point, the freshmen decided to take matters into their own hands. “If we just left it there, it probably would end up dying anyway,” Workman said. The students took the fox back to their residence hall and asked their resident assistant for help, Workman explained. He said he wrapped his hands in a sweater and placed the fox into a

cardboard box that one of their friends had brought. The students first took the fox into the guest bathroom in Brown before Flowers and the RAs decided to keep the fox in the RC’s office for the night. Freshman Bryn Hammarberg noted that although the fox had clearly injured its legs, there was not much blood—only a wound on its mouth. Two RAs examined the fox to make sure it

Faith in the White House: A Conversation with Michael Gerson and Mac McCorkle Thursday, Sept 17 • 12:20pm-1:15pm 0012 Westbrook (Divinity School)

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Duke researchers fight cancer with nanoparticles Robyn Guo The Chronicle Duke scientists have discovered a breakthrough method of delivering cancer drugs that drastically improves their efficiency. This summer, a team led by Ashutosh Chilkoti—Theo Pilkington professor of biomedical engineering and chair of the biomedical engineering department—published a study describing the new technique, in which nanoparticles are modified to package and deliver a common chemotherapy drug called paclitaxel. Although nanoparticles have been used before in treating cancer, the Chilkoti group, which studies biomolecular materials, deASHUTOSH vised a system that alCHILKOTI lows the drug to reach and destroy tumors nearly twice as effectively as current methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The success of the new nanoparticle packaging system has been demonstrated in mice, and the team is also focused on adapting their discovery to other chemotherapy treatments and other cancers. “We have demonstrated this platform for only one drug, but this is not only true for one—you can use it for any drug,” said Jayanta Bhattacharyya, senior research scientist and lead author of the recently published study.

“This is actually a robust technology for using different kinds of chemotherapy drugs.” The project launched three and a half years ago, when the group of researchers realized that the current nanoparticle packaging system used for delivering cancer-fighting drugs was not as efficient or safe as it could be. “The main problem of cancer chemotherapy drugs is that they are not watersoluble. So when you administer them in humans, you have to use some solubilizing agents—which can be very toxic,” Bhattacharyya said. Current nanoparticle methods that deliver paclitaxel—commonly used to treat ovarian, breast and lung cancers— use foreign and synthetic materials that can be harmful when released in the body. The drug also has problems with dissolving in blood. To address these common issues, the team was able to link the paclitaxel drug to amino acids, which are essential building blocks of many other molecules in the body. Once released, these new nanoparticles allowed the drug to more effectively move through the bloodstream, and the amino acids did not harm the body in the process. Bhattacharyya added that another major problem with current chemotherapy drugs is that they are often not tumor-specific and can therefore damage healthy parts of the body. “If you inject them, there is no guarantee that they will reach the tumor,” he explained. “You are getting less drug in the place you want, but you are getting

Chronicle File Photo A new method of delivering cancer drugs using nanoparticles has allowed drugs to destroy tumors nearly twice as effectively as current FDA-approved methods.

drugs in all the other healthy organs.” With this challenge in mind, the scientists engineered the nanoparticles to respond to changes in acidity, causing the drug to only be released and delivered to tumor cells—which are more acidic than normal cells in the body. In the mice they studied, Chilkoti’s system resulted in much longer survival with both breast and prostate cancer. Some mice even saw complete tumor regression, demonstrating the clinical possibilities of this technology and its

effectiveness over current methods. Although this particular study focused on packaging paclitaxel, Bhattacharyya and the Chilkoti group are now working on applying the packaging system to deliver other chemotherapy drugs. By designing different combinations of drugs and packaging materials, they hope to effectively treat more types of cancer and target specific ones.

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FOOTBALL

2-0 WILDCATS READY FOR CLASH

Upstart Northwestern looks to continue its strong start in an early battle of unbeaten squads Sam Turken The Chronicle Following a 10-3 campaign in 2012, Northwestern suffered a disappointing two-year stretch in which it won a combined 10 games. But after a 2-0 start—including a 16-6 upset against then-No. 21 Stanford and a 41-0 rout of Eastern Illinois—the Wildcats are back on track. No. 23 Northwestern will try to keep its undefeated season alive when it meets Duke Saturday at 12:30 p.m. at Wallace Wade Stadium. The game will mark the 17th time the two programs have faced each other and although the squads have split the previous 16 matchups, the Wildcats have recently dominated the series, winning six of the last seven showdowns. “It’s going to be a great challenge for us,” Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald said at his weekly press conference Monday. “Going on the road for the first time, we’re playing an outstanding team. They play hard. They play physical. This will be the fastest team we’ve played yet this year. Their return game is dynamic. They play up-tempo. [We] just [have to] be prepared to adjust. That’s probably the most important thing. We’ve been here before.” Last year, although Northwestern upset then-No. 17 Wisconsin as well as

Esteban Peralta | The Chronicle Thomas Sirk has impressed in his first two starts, but will need to attack a Northwestern secondary that picked off 15 passes last season to push the Blue Devils’ record to 3-0.

then-No. 18 Notre Dame, the Wildcats failed to continue that high level of play throughout the season. Northwestern’s offense was its main weakness—the unit produced just 23.0 points per game—as the Wildcats struggled with an inconsistent quarterback and a weak offensive line. But so far in 2015, Northwestern seems to have addressed those problems.

Among the Wildcats’ strengths is its offensive versatility. Fitzgerald’s club relies on different sets and schemes to surprise defenses. Northwestern can spread teams out wide and will often line up two tight ends with two running backs and run downhill. Like Duke quarterback Thomas Sirk, Northwestern’s Clayton Thorson has only two career starts. At 6-foot-4 and

220 pounds, the redshirt freshman is an athletic quarterback who can beat defenses with both his legs and arm. Although he has only thrown for a combined 257 yards and one touchdown through two games, the Wheaton, Ill., native has completed 57.5 percent of his passes without throwing an interception and burned the Cardinal defense for a 42-yard touchdown run. “He has a great grasp of the entire offense,” Fitzgerald said. “We’ll continue to try to play to his strengths and bring him along as we have in previous years when we’ve had a first-time starter at quarterback.” The Wildcat offense also features a big offensive line and a strong running attack. Northwestern rushed for 225 yards in the season opener against Stanford and then gashed Eastern Illinois for 344 yards on the ground. Fitzgerald’s squad has a deep stable of running backs but relies heavily on sophomore Justin Jackson. The Carol Stream, Ill., native rushed for 1,187 yards and 10 touchdowns as a freshman and has already recorded 212 yards this season. “They do have a great running back and a huge [offensive] line,” Duke senior linebacker Dwayne Norman said. “It’s going to depend on our athletic ability to fill [in] the gaps See FOOTBALL on Page 8

MEN’S SOCCER

Late flurry of goals deals Blue Devils their first loss Mitchell Gladstone The Chronicle For nearly 80 minutes, the nation’s leading offensive attack was held in check. Soccer, however, is a 90-minute game, and the final 10 were more than enough for UNC Wilmington to cash in. The high-flying No. 24 Seahawks soared to a 3-0 victory against the No. 16 Blue Devils Tuesday night at Koskinen Stadium, remaining undefeated on the season while UNCW 3 handing Duke its DUKE 0 first loss of the 2015 campaign. A pretty flick from UNC Wilmington midfielder Jordan Cordero put teammate Daniel Escobar in behind a pair of Duke defenders, and the Seahawks capitalized

in the 79th minute, grabbing a 1-0 lead. In desperate need of a goal, the Blue Devils pushed forward, looking for an equalizer, but their efforts only left the cupboard bare in the back. Their opponents punished them for it, scoring consecutive goals in the waning minutes to provide the game’s final margin. “Goals change games,” Duke head coach John Kerr said. “You get one of those and you change momentum, so we had to spend the rest of the half chasing the game.” The first half had its ups and downs for Duke (4-1-1). Offensive struggles were the theme for both teams early, as the Blue Devils did not manage to get a shot off until the 25th minute and the Seahawks—who entered the evening averaging 3.6 goals per See M.SOCCER on Page 5

Lily Coad | The Chronicle Goalkeeper Wilson Fisher made a pair of saves to keep the scoreless tie in place, but eventually UNC Wilmington’s top-ranked offense broke through for three goals in the second half.

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line, but instead allowed the Seahawks to double their advantage. “[Sending an extra defender up] backfired,” he said. “They capitalized and scored the second goal, which basically killed the game.” Midfielder Ben Fisher took advantage of a Blue Devil penalty just outside the box, burying a free kick in the lower left corner from 25 yards out to give UNC Wilmington a 2-0 advantage in the 88th minute. Just 84 seconds later, teammate Colin Bonner added the final tally—his sixth of the year, moving the Fulton, Md., native into a tie for third-most in the country.

M. SOCCER from page 4 game—were kept off the scoreboard in the early going. Duke’s first real scoring opportunity came from forwards Macario Hing-Glover and Jeremy Ebobisse, who combined on a speedy run that left Ebobisse firing a near-range shot and missing just wide right of the net. A series of substitutions after a half-hour of play then brought life to Duke’s attack. Ten minutes later, junior Jared Golestani’s header tailed left, leaving the game scoreless as the teams headed to halftime. “We came out of the gate in the first half a little sluggish and flat,” Kerr said. “To be fair, the substitutes came on, I asked them to give a lift, and they did very well. Early in the second half, I thought we were excellent. We just didn’t get that elusive goal.” For much of the latter 45 minutes, the trajectory of the game remained the same. Neither Duke nor UNC Wilmington (5-0-1) were able to get into much of a rhythm in a game that was chippy and physical between the two sides. The Seahawks registered 15 fouls on the evening—including two yellow cards—to go along with the Blue Devils’ nine infractions. The tide quickly turned with Escobar’s late score and suddenly, Duke was forced to press on the offensive side of the ball. Kerr made a tactical move, sending one of his defenders forward in hopes of pressuring the UNC Wilmington back sudoku_486B

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 | 5

Although Duke’s six-game homestand to open the season ended on a sour note following a draw with No. 5 Virginia Friday night and Tuesday’s loss, the Blue Devils and their coach will now dig into the meat of ACC play as they hit the road to take on No. 14 Clemson Friday night. The defending ACC champion Tigers, who moved to 4-1-1 with a win against Furman Tuesday, will pose a stiff challenge for a Duke side that has shown a great deal of promise. “We’ve played well all season long,” Kerr said. “This is hopefully just a blip and we can recover and get a [better] result on Friday.”

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6 3 8 9 4 2 1 5 7 2 8 1 3 6 9 4 7 5 5 9 3 Lily Coad | The Chronicle Senior Zach Mathers and the rest of the Blue Devils kept the game scoreless for nearly 80 7 2 6 minutes Tuesday night against UNC Wilmington, but the Seahawks poured home three goals Theloss New Yorkseason. Times Syndication Sales Corporation in the final 12 minutes to break the ice and hand Duke its first of the 8 10018 1 4 620 Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Wednesday, September 16, 2015

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6 3 8 2 1 4 9 7 5 9 4 2 6 5 7 8 1 3 The Chronicle What will Trump say in the debate tonight: 1 5 7 3 8 9 2 4 6 talk about his hair: ��#amrithisnotimpressed feminism: �� wutangclan 2 8 1 9 7 3 6 5 4 something racist: �� zhangsta Let them eat cake: ��vosburghler 3 ��pollackwannacracker 6 9 5 4 2 1 8 7 everything and nothing: hillary’s emails: �� yungkhloe something sexist: ��wellsreport 4 7 5 8 6 1 3 2 9 he loves women: ��barakobama Barb Starbuck: ��Barb 5 9 3 4 2 8 7 6 1 Student Advertising Manager: ��Liz Lash Account Representatives: 7 2��John6Abram,1Maria3Alas Diaz, 5 Alyssa 4 Coughenour 9 8 Sophie Corwin, Tyler Deane-Krantz, Davis English, Philip Foo Kathryn Levine,5 John McIlavaine 8 1Hong,4Rachel7Kiner,9Elissa 6 3 2 Nicolaas Mering, Brian Paskas, Juliette Pigott , Nick Philip, Maimuna Yussuf

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ACROSS 1 Word after which a parent might interrupt a child 4 Peter Parker’s aunt in “Spider-Man” 7 Branchlet 11 Grimy abode 14 Card game call 15 “Rules ___ rules” 16 “Not that!” 17 Before, in poetry 18 Turntable measure, in brief 19 Wifey, with “the” 20 Scaly anteater 22 Unpleasant atmosphere 24 Leaves in a hurry 25 Subject-changing word 26 Letters on a wanted sign 27 Cartoonist’s work 30 Curry of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”

31 The Wizard of ___ (nickname of Warren Buffett) 33 Org. whose resources partly go to waste? 34 Adjective for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un 37 Picks 40 Stay longer than 41 Points of entry 42 Southeast Asian language 43 Be there for 45 Tankard contents 46 Was furious 49 “___ bite” 50 Something just under one’s nose, slangily 53 Not much 55 ___ sauce 56 Fish also known as a dorado 58 Big mouth 59 Glass of “This American Life”

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6 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

Legacy admissions: something given for little returned

espite the massive amount of effort and resources dedicated to college admissions, the procedures used are still a mystery to most, and the Duke admissions process is no different. With a 9.4 percent acceptance rate for the Class of 2019, Duke’s high selectivity merits even closer scrutiny to see how it turns down those applicants who are promising but simply without space in the class. From test scores and GPA to less concrete and more controversial metrics like background and legacy status, the process indeed has complex considerations. However complex it may be, we must aim for a fair process that looks to benefits both individual students and the communities and University at large that they join. Today we question whether legacy relations should affect a prospective student’s value to admissions. Like many other academic institutions, Duke considers legacy status as one preferred factor among many, but according to the Duke Alumni Association, “alumni affiliation is far from a guarantee of admission.” Although there are no published numbers on our legacy acceptance rates, legacy status is widely talked about as a booster for student applications alongside diversity and athletic ability. Those who argue against legacy admissions

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Editorial One must also consider what legacy admits add to the Duke community as a whole. Those that believe legacy students bring a coherent or uniquely beneficial background to Duke are deluding themselves. Affirmative action based on gender, race or geographic diversity has been used to increase diversity of thought in thriving academic communities. But the children of Duke graduates are very skewed to uniformity in their demographics, and this justification cannot stand in trying to show legacy students bring something to the table of diversity.

The most common argument used to defend legacy admissions policies is that legacy families make large donations. However, the way students are admitted should not be shaped by the end goal of growing the endowment, especially at a “need-blind” institution like Duke. Enriching the experience of students is a goal of any university, and the endowment is a necessary means to that end. Even still, a study we have cited in the past casts serious doubt on the financial justification for legacy preference policies when it concludes “there is no statistically significant evidence that legacy preferences impact total alumni giving.” On its face, the purpose of legacy preference policies is dubious. If being a legacy has impacted a student’s desire to come to Duke, they should explain how the effect their relation had and how it forms their vision of Duke. Otherwise, legacy preference policies should be removed altogether. Upon further consideration of how current policies may benefit the admitted student, their peers and their university, it becomes clear that the few benefits—and even harms—of the legacy policy do not justify the cost of denying acceptance to qualified candidates who lose this tiebreaker but would impact the Duke community in positive ways.

eclining biodiversity doesn’t usually make the global-issue short list. It’s often thought of as a purely ethical dilemma with little bearing on the success of human populations. As a result, the issue of biodiversity is often overshadowed by hefty topics like hunger,

Another 5.2 percent of bee species are likely to be threatened in the near future. The study suggests that bees are dying because of human activity and decreased biodiversity. Sources of food for pollinators have been depleted by intensive production of silage, or food for livestock, as well

Caeleigh MacNeil GREEN MUSE

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argue for a system based on intellectual ability, demonstrated passion and any number of other characteristics unconnected to being born into a “Duke family.” There is nothing wrong with the children of alumni applying to their parent’s alma mater. What is wrong is if the bonus unduly compensates for another part of their application and they are not able to meet the same standards required of their peers. A 2008 study concluded that legacy admits, on measures of academic performance, are less prepared than other students whose parents went to college in the first year.

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war and health—things with a visible and direct impact. These problems are important, don’t get me wrong, but so is biodiversity. It’s just harder to see because species loss has a more indirect effect on humanity. Take, for example, the importance of biodiversity in agriculture. Diversity among crops helps to reduce weakness and disease. In fact, most of history’s worst agricultural disasters were caused by a lack of biodiversity—a potentially disastrous dependency on only one strain of crop. One of the best examples of this is the Irish potato famine, which occurred when about two-fifths of the Irish population was reliant on a specific strain of potatoes. A crop disease known as potato blight ravaged crops during the 1840s, causing the death of over one million people, and the emigration of a million more from Ireland’s borders. By the time the famine died down, a fourth of the island’s population was gone. Biodiversity is also essential for the health of pollinators, like bees, that are a key aspect of global agriculture. For example, a 2010 study at the French National Institute for Agricultural research traced a link between the diversity of bee diets and the strength of their immune systems. Bees make a compound called glucose oxidase that preserves honey and food for larvae against infestation by microbes and thus protects the hive from disease. Scientists found that bees fed with a mix of five different pollens had higher levels of glucose oxidase compared to bees fed with pollen from a single type of flower. So biodiversity creates hardier bee populations, and a lack of biodiversity would therefore make the insects more susceptible to disease. In fact, bee populations have been drastically declining worldwide along with decreased plant species diversity and increased pesticide usage. According to a study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Europe’s wild bee population is in dramatic decline, with nearly one in 10 species facing the threat of extinction.

as widespread use of herbicides that has created grassland with few flowering plants. Also, the use of certain pesticides can interfere with bees’ ability to navigate and find their way back to their hives, resulting in a phenomenon called “colony collapse disorder.” This has contributed significantly to bee population and biodiversity decline. This decline is especially troubling because 30 to 40 percent of food production requires an insect population. The destruction of bee populations has already forced farmers in the Chinese province of Sichuan to pollinate plants by hand, and in the U.S., many farmers must use rented hives transported across the country by truck to pollinate crops. According to a 2008 study, the process of pollination —a service that bees traditionally provide for free —is worth an estimated $217 billion. Pollination is an example of an essential ecological system that relies on biodiversity. Other systems, such as soil nutrient recycling, also rely on species diversity and are just as important for agriculture. But farming aside, biodiversity has also contributed to the development of drugs derived from plants and microbes; in fact, around half of all drugs on the market in the United States are derived from plants, animals and microbial organisms. The more of these species that exist, the better the chances of finding treatments for a wide range of diseases and conditions are. So it seems that biodiversity is closely tied to hunger and human health. It increases the reliability of crops and decreases dependency on a single food type. It’s also essential for important biological systems like pollination and nutrient cycling that humans need to survive—systems that are very difficult to replicate with man-made alternatives. It has also contributed to medicine production and has created raw materials for industry and innovation. All global life depends on a diverse natural environment, and humans are no exception. Caeleigh MacNeil is a Trinity senior. Her column runs on alternate Wednesdays.

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WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 | 7

The young liberal’s folly Reclaiming the transcendent

ver the course of my time at Duke University, I have been mistaken for a liberal time and time again. Upon correcting one well-meaning man after he jokingly called my group of fellow interns in Washington, D.C., and I “crazy liberals,” he professed his surprise. I was a 21-year-old attending Duke — how could I be anything but? He was not wrong to assume. Of seven college students he was speaking to, I was the only conservative, reflecting a growing trend of America’s youth leaning to the left. Over the past three years, my experiences

today identify as liberal. They are fighting for the disenfranchised, and political identity is the first frontier for self-righteousness. My generation has grown up in a golden age. I remember attending a conference where Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute, reminded a group of us that we live in a period of history richer than any period in the past. Thanks to the spread of democracy and capitalism throughout the world, more kids like us have been able to enjoy opportunities to pursue higher education and higher standards of

n my Sept. 2 column, I suggested that we turn upward as we begin the school year to meet the responsibility that flows from the privilege of a Duke education. Turning upward means exploring the Life Questions that are embedded in every human heart—why am I here, what makes for a Good life, does my existence even matter—and attending to our spiritual flourishing just as much as we attend to our intellectual, social and professional flourishing. I also noted that graduation day can arrive without our having given those questions

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William Rooney

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IMAGO DEI

on Duke’s campus have convinced me that many (not all, by any means) of my peers identify as liberal by default. The rhetoric that is bandied about by student interest groups and many professors makes it difficult to distinguish between the false, idealized version of conservatism and the true principle behind the movement. It has become easy to mistakenly conceptualize the conservative effort to preserve individuals’ rights to life, liberty and prosperity as an effort to undermine them. For example, if I was an international student who was hearing about America’s politics in detail for the first time, it might make sense to be suspicious of a movement that is said to be the movement of “the white, rich, heterosexual male.” If asked whether low-income workers should make a federal minimum wage of $7.25 or $12, I would likely choose the latter. If I was told that low-income, minority voters are being kept away from the polls, I would be understandably concerned. By engaging with conservative policy proposals on the basis of the supposed “white, rich, heterosexual male” identity of their authors, we are exempted from examining them on merit of their substance. In a blatant example of identity politics, we disservice the scores of conservatives who do not fit the conventional picture we paint of America’s right. By only having to state the obvious — that $12 is, of course, a more livable wage than $7.25 and that all Americans should, of course, have access to the polls — we rob policies like opposition to mandating a higher federal minimum wage and support for voter identification laws of their nuance. Conservatism is painted by the shallowest of brushes on this campus, often without even a cursory effort at understanding it. It is unfortunate that the label of conservatism has become a catch-all for policies that do not pass the test of political correctness at first glance. Being liberal has come to mean being an advocate for the poor, for women and for minorities by its very virtue of being the alternative to conservatism. In an age defined by affinity for social justice and activism, it is no surprise that the overwhelming majority of college students

living— whether in the United States, South Africa or India. Our world is privileged in the 21st century, regardless of our nationality, race, gender, religion or sexuality, and we are only going to become more privileged as the years go on. It is easy — no, it is convenient — to forget that the tenets of conservatism had something to do with this rise in prosperity. Today, we stand ready to undermine the singular concept of citizenship that we have exported to the rest of the world over the years, and the brand of capitalism that guided the world into this prosperous century. My peers in colleges across the country refuse to engage with illegal immigration and abortion as issues that could corrupt the sacred institution of citizenship and concept of liberty as it was developed by our founding fathers. The truth is, the instinctual demonization of charter schools, the oil and gas industry, and American interventionism— to pick a few traditionally conservative causes — are examples of cheap, arm-chair moralism that often ignores the good that conservative ideas have wrought for the very people liberals champion. These examples suggest to me that my liberal friends cannot be as cavalier and flippant in their dismissal of conservatism as they would like to be. While I personally believe that conservative policies will, on balance, help the disenfranchised more than liberal policies in the long run, I am not asking that all my peers agree with me. All I ask is that the merits and successes of conservative causes be given more consideration than they are currently given on campuses like Duke’s. If the liberal movement on college campuses has its way, the next generation of America’s policymakers will speciously lead with an eye for the facially humanitarian. A movement should win thanks to its substance — not thanks to a marketing campaign that panders to this nation’s do-gooder youth.

their due and, worse, that Duke endorses that outcome by conferring degrees on programs that do not address, even remotely, a single Life Question. That institutional issue is the subject of today’s considerations. Put simply, the University and its curricular offerings should play a substantial role in a student’s examining of the first questions of life. Furthermore, students should be able to undertake that examination within a theological framework. For the answer to each Life Question is, at its core, affected by whether God exists and what that existence may mean to the significance of human life. Unfortunately, at Duke, rigorous engagement with religious truth claims—both philosophical and scriptural—is confined, if not relegated, to the Duke Divinity School. For undergraduates, who are coming of age intellectually and spiritually, that sequestration impedes, if not prevents, formal exploration of the highest dimension of reality—the transcendent. That God and a theistic conception of the universe are not accorded a place in the curriculum—much less in the departmental structure—of Trinity College itself speaks sad volumes about the orientation of our university. The unmistakable implication is that the existence of God, the proper conception of God and the impact of that conception on the meaning of our existence are, in the view of Duke as an institution, not worthy of mainstream undergraduate study. They are, instead, regarded as matters of personal opinion, private judgment and sentimentalized faith, and they are exiled to campus ministries and devotional life. That perpective, which is common among large research universities, seems to have been inherited from the steroidal skepticism and epistemological reductionism of the Enlightenment. The result has been an equivalence of “science” with “total knowledge” that has led to a reverence for STEM and a cultural obsession with technological progress DPU’s Burke & Paine is a biweekly column that and material consumption. While all would runs on alternate Wednesdays. Each column will agree that science and technology have feature a different writer and will cover a different improved our material lives enormously, they topic related to political engagement. Trinity senior provide for a meaningless existence if they are not framed with sound answers to the Pi Praveen wrote this week’s column. Life Questions. But those questions do not directly pertain to the material realm, cannot be answered empirically and require a mode of inquiry that proceeds beyond the physical to the metaphysical. That mode of inquiry is properly known as “theology” or, literally, “the study of God.” Theology has two primary branches. Philosophical theology, which includes metaphysics and epistemology, reasons discursively to arrive at understandings of the existence of God, the nature of God, the nature of the human person made in the image of God and the ethical consequences of the www.dukechronicle.com/opinion answers to those questions. Sacred theology investigates the metaphysical, anthropological and ethical claims of sacred scripture. Theology provided the fulcrum of a

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respected university education for centuries. Europe’s first universities in the thirteenth century were locuses of theological study with the greatest intellectual rigor of the day. Theology’s place as the “queen of disciplines” persisted at universities throughout the scientific revolution and most of modernity. In the mid 1800s, John Henry Cardinal Newman promoted theology as the keystone and unifying element in higher education in his hallmark work, “The Idea of a University.” The same perspective gave birth to Duke. Trinity College (named, of course, for the

Triune God) and the motto of our university— eruditio et religio, “knowledge and religion” —bespeak a tradition that provides theology with not just a legitimate but a central role in a university education. Moreover, the very layout of our campus affirms theology’s place at the heart of our studies. West Campus is cruciform in design, and the massive Chapel at the epicenter fulfills James B. Duke’s wish that “the central building be a great towering church which will dominate all of the surrounding buildings, because such an edifice would be bound to have a profound influence on the spiritual life of the young men and women who come here.” For Duke to offer a genuine university education in which Life Questions and their answers frame our lives as moral persons who seek knowledge, Duke must reclaim its academic heritage in the form of a theology faculty and department within Trinity College. The Department of Religious Studies addresses religious beliefs primarily from historical or sociological perspectives. Those courses generally do not address religious truth claims on their merits—the soundness of the premises upon which the claims are based or the implications if the claims are true. Nor do most of those courses attempt to understand religious claims from within their own frameworks: what conception of God informs a religious tradition and how does that conception affect its perspective on morality and human meaning? During my time at Duke, the Philosophy Department has shown little interest in metaphysics and the traditions within which it is situated. Since the 2009 passing of Father Ed Mahoney, a revered medieval philosophy professor, the University’s Philosophy Department tolerates in its curriculum a glaring 1400-year hole from roughly 200–1600 A.D. In doing so, the department has declared that many of the greatest thinkers in both Western and Eastern traditions, including Augustine of Hippo, Moses Maimonides, Al-Farabi, Avicenna, Averroes, Anselm, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, are not worth studying. With that, the richest conversations about the merits of theological and philosophical truth claims, and the religious beliefs that flow from those claims, are confined to late-night dormroom conversations or worship services. Reclaiming theological offerings within Trinity College would respect years of academic inquiry and discourse, avoid the reductive and unfulfilling epistemologies of skepticism and materialism and acknowledge Duke’s specific history and tradition. Most importantly, though, reincorporating theology into Trinity College would assist students to turn upward. It would guide us in fulfilling our responsibilities as human persons, made in the imago Dei, to consider the Life Questions as part of our privileged and formative education at this otherwise great place of learning. William Rooney is a Trinity senior. His column runs on alternate Wednesdays.

8 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015

CALIFF from page 1 leave of absence from the University due to his FDA duties—is a renowned cardiologist and the founding director of the world’s largest academic research organization, the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Bloomberg reported Tuesday that the nomination came in a statement that included the names of nominees for several administrative positions. If confirmed, Califf will replace Stephen Ostroff, who has served as acting commissioner since former commissioner Margaret Hamburg left the position in March. One of the challenges Califf could face is adjusting to the new parameters for faster drug and medical device approval outlined in the 21st Century Cures Act, which would provide $550 million to the FDA in the next five years and is awaiting Senate approval. When Califf spoke to The Chronicle in January after being tapped as deputy commissioner for Medical Products and Tobacco, he noted that he hoped to address the increase in electronic health records and improve the FDA’s clinical trial process. The Bloomberg article announcing Tuesday’s nomination noted that Califf, 63, has more than 1,200 publications in peer-reviewed literature and has been instrumental in several drug-related clinical trials. “My particular career specialty has been clinical trial design and efficiency,” he previously told The Chronicle. “There’s huge support everywhere now to streamline clinical trials. Making studies better—what could be more interesting?”

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PRATT DEAN from page 1 pressing global issues. Students in the program work to develop solutions to 14 problems identified by the National Academy of Engineering. “It’s a great way to get students excited about engineering and how engineering can impact the world,” Truskey said. The Grand Scholars Challenge Program has been recognized nationwide—with over 50 schools implementing their own grand challenge programs after Duke. Katsouleas also helped integrate Pratt with the rest of the University. An important aspect of Katsouleas’ leadership was his work to enhance TOM KATSOULEAS collaborations and initiatives between engineering and medicine, Truskey said. “The thing that makes us really special is that people can come here and collaborate with really great people,” Kornbluth said. “The barriers are low, everyone is collegial [and] people are wanting to do new and interesting things.” Truskey also shed light on possible future directions for the school. Truskey said he hopes the next dean will continue Katsouleas’ work with entrepreneurial students who wish to start their own businesses.

The next dean may also focus on advancing the new environmental engineering major, which has expanded Pratt’s undergraduate offerings. The first class of environmental engineers will graduate Spring 2016. Another goal will be to improve diversity among students, staff and faculty. “[The next dean] needs to be a dynamic leader and to have a vision that can attract the support of the faculty and staff members,” he said. As interim dean, Truskey noted that he plans to evaluate the firstyear curriculum and develop ways to enhance it and make it more hands-on. Katsouleas he is not the only thing dean of Pratt to that makes us have gone on to really special become provost at another university. is that people In 2007, former Pratt dean Kristina can come Johnson became here and provost and vice collaborate president for academic affairs with really great people. at Johns Hopkins U n i v e r s i t y. Johnson, the only — Sally woman to hold Kornbluth the post, later took a position in the U.S. Department of Energy. Prior to arriving at Duke, Katsouleas served as an electrical engineering professor and vice provost for information services at the University of Southern California. Although the length of the search

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is undetermined, previous searches have been completed within one calendar year. Both Katsouleas and Johnson were selected within a year of their predecessors’ departures. Amrith Ramkumar contributed reporting.

FOOTBALL from page 4 and run sideline-to-sideline with their running back.” On the other side of the ball, Northwestern boasts one of the nation’s top defenses. Ranked fourth nationally allowing 3.0 points per game, the Wildcat defense swarms to the ball and features a stout defensive line. Against Stanford, which prides itself in wearing down opposing defensive lines, Northwestern’s defense won the battle up front. The Wildcats recorded three sacks and eight tackles for loss, and held the Cardinal to less than 100 yards rushing. Like the Blue Devils, Northwestern also relies on its experienced and deep secondary to limit big plays. Last year, the unit combined for 15 interceptions and helped the Wildcats limit opponents to less than 225 total passing yards per game. “They’re very sound at what they do,” Sirk said. “They’ve been coached very well. They’re in the right places at the right time.” Saturday’s bout is a crucial test for the Wildcats. In order for Northwestern to reach once againthe 10-win plateau, it must continue its high-level of play against quality 75004 opponents away from home.

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