Towerview April 2018

TOWERVIEW > APRIL 2018 | VOL. 19 | ISSUE 4

Duke’s hidden gem

It’s Peaches’ campus, and we’re just living in it

The Chronicle

TOWERVIEW

2 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

The adventures of Peaches: From shy cat to campus icon

By Stefanie Pousoulides Staff Writer

More than five years ago, Carla Antonaccio, a professor of classical studies currently on leave in Greece, found Peaches hiding under a bush in Keohane Quad.

“I heard her crying and pushed food in to her. Gradually she trusted me and came out,” Antonaccio wrote in an email.

This marked the beginning of a relationship between Peaches and the Duke community. Started in January 2017, the Facebook group “Caretakers of Peaches (The Calico Cat)” has gained national attention and connected about 880 cat-loving members of the Duke community.

The caretaker group has had its ups-anddowns—ranging from raising more than $1800 for Peaches’s medical bills to Duke administrators trying to remove her from West Campus.

The Caretakers Prior to “Caretakers of Peaches,” Antonaccio cared for the calico cat. Although Peaches would eventually become a crown jewel on campus, there was no shortage of cats when Antonaccio discovered her.

“They are everywhere. There was one where the new wellness center is, and I became aware of staff and faculty who took care of cats near where they worked,” she wrote. “I don’t know what happened to that colony when all the construction—also the Penn Pavilion— happened. Usually it’s been some community volunteers—Durham animal lovers—and individual faculty, staff and students who have been the backstop to student interest and love for the animals.”

Alongside other members of Duke staff, Antonaccio found kittens with Peaches and

Mamabean, another calico cat that lives near Wannamaker dormitory. All kittens were adopted, one by Antonaccio.

Even though she was uncertain who the kittens’ mother was, Antonaccio wrote that Peaches and Mamabean “are definitely related” and might even be mother and daughter.

Once the kittens were adopted, a nearby animal rescue group—Independent Animal Rescue—spayed Peaches and Mamabean, who were feral at the time. This was a trap-neuterreturn, ensuring that both cats could no longer produce offspring, Antonaccio explained.

The two cats eventually returned to Duke’s campus. Antonaccio wrote that she did not want to separate Peaches from her cat colony, so Peaches remained on West Campus primarily under the care of Antonaccio.

But, Peaches’s care-taking team would expand in 2017, with the creation of the “Caretakers of Peaches” Facebook group. Formed by senior Anna Li, the group started because Li was “really worried” when she returned from the 2016-2017 academic year winter break because she could not find Peaches and figured that someone else who took care of her independently on campus might know.

“I thought it would be a good opportunity for us to unite. If someone was keeping her inside for the night, we don’t have to worry.

That’s how the group started,” Li said.

She said she envisioned the Facebook group as “five nerdy cat lovers,” but membership “really exploded.” She did not realize initially just how loved Peaches was. Today, the Facebook group not only connects caretakers for logistical reasons but also allows members to post pictures and voice any concerns.

“I think the types of posts are pretty consistent. It’s a nice community built around Peaches,” Li said. “Sometimes, I’ll go visit her, and then I’ll see someone else petting her, and

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Chronicle File Photo The “Caretakers of Peaches” Facebook group allows students who love Peaches to connect and coordinate the logistics of providing the cat with food.

we’ll introduce ourselves and realize it’s another person who posts a lot in the group.”

Because of the immense support within the Facebook group, Antonaccio realized she could leave Peaches in the students’ care.

“It was clear to me students were also feeding her, at least during the regular year,” Antonaccio wrote. “Also, there were some faculty-in-residence, and their kids liked the cats and would feed them.”

Initially, Antonaccio said she was really worried that the two cats would be taken by animal control once again. Her main concern now is continuity, as student caretakers have varied in the past couple years.

“In the past, when there was less coordination in feeding, there were mountains of cat food cans, food on the ground, and

that has been unsanitary, unsafe and could lead to problems with housekeeping and administration,” Antonaccio wrote.

Antonaccio misses Peaches and Mamabean but is glad that they are receiving lots of attention and regular vet care.

Junior Anna Matthews is also very involved with the cats on campus. After someone found a cat near Gross Hall, Matthews recovered it but said she doesn’t think there are any remaining in the area. She said no one is entirely certain how the cat was actually found.

“There were no other cats around, and he was shrieking which is usually a sign that the mother is not around,” Matthews said. “He was really skinny—probably had not been taken care of for See PEACHES on Page 6

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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018 | 3

Victoria Pannell is taking matters into her own hands The first-year has gained national attention for advocacy work against gun violence

By Claire Ballentine Towerview Editor

Some students come to Duke eager to get involved in the activist culture that colleges are known for having. Victoria Pannell is a bit ahead of the game—her entire life has already revolved around activism.

The first-year from Harlem, New York, has made a name for herself across the country through her work with the Women’s March and her organizing for gun reform. Earlier this month, a video of her talking about national school walkouts against gun violence that was posted on Twitter by media company NowThis went viral and further propelled Pannell into the center of the movement.

“No one deserves to die, no one deserves to be shot,” she said. “We have an administration that is complacent, so someone has to step up and take matters into their own hands.”

The spotlight is nothing unusual for Pannell, who gained recognition for her work throughout middle school and high school.

She explained that she began giving back to the community when she was four years old and started helping her mom run their food pantry, through which they feed about 500 families every year.

As she got older, she connected with Reverend Al Sharpton and his National Action Network organization, which aims to increase voter education, help people in poverty and support small businesses. She was appointed northeast regional director of the youth movement, leading the efforts to advocate for gun reform and other issues impacting schools and communities.

“It was basically self-advocating for youth

issues and making sure that politicians don’t forget young people exist,” she said.

Pannell has also been involved with Street Corner Resources, an organization that works to create a more peaceful community by providing young adults access to employment, education and training.

In 2015, she founded her own group called Tools for Change, an entirely youthrun effort. The organization helps provide young people with whatever they need— including applying to college, obtaining state IDs or even just finding food and clothing.

They also facilitate access to mental health therapy and teach kids life skills—such as opening a savings account and learning financial literacy and table manners.

Pannell has received numerous accolades for her work. In March 2016, she was awarded the Phenomenal Woman Award by the New York Branch of the NAACP and then was appointed to NYC Community Board 10 by Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer a month later. She also received the distinction of Chairperson of Community Board 10 Youth Task Force in September 2016.

Another one of Pannell’s passions is fighting against sex trafficking, which she first learned about at age 12 when she portrayed a girl who had been sexually trafficked for a public service announcement by Change.org. She said the experience especially impacted her when she met the real-life girl whose story she was telling.

“I knew I wanted to dedicate at least a portion of my life to stop human trafficking,” she said. “People think it’s in another country when it’s in our own backyard.”

Along with the ad, Pannell also delivered a TED Talk on the topic to high school students

in San Diego.

“Human trafficking is an issue that people forget about, and people fail to realize it’s so rampant,” she said. “It could be happening right next door.”

When Pannell arrived at Duke this fall, she didn’t miss a step, continuing her work advocating against gun violence and police brutality.

She is currently a youth ambassador for the Women’s March organization, which encouraged students and teachers to walk out of schools March 14 to demand Congress take action on gun control.

“We’re letting Congress know they can’t be complacent, they can’t just offer condolences, they have to put work behind it,” she said.

Pannell helped organize the walkouts across the country and assisted in developing an online toolkit that protestors could use to stage their own walkout.

This issue is personal for her, as she has had friends who have gotten shot and killed, and also had friends who pulled the trigger.

“I think it’s important to let people know that gun violence is a public health issue,” she said. “It’s not something we can set aside and forget about.”

But how does she balance all of this while also being a full-time student?

For one, much of her work as a Women’s March ambassador can be done remotely. She has weekly phone calls with the organizers and other youth representatives from across the country, during which they discuss what’s happening in the news and their latest efforts.

Her job is to inform the older organizers about the issues impacting young people.

Still, coming to Duke has been a transition

for Pannell, since it’s so different from New York City. She especially misses how so many places in the city were open past 10 p.m., unlike in Durham.

She explained that she thinks growing up in New York City made her more accepting of people.

“When you walk in New York, you see people of every race and color, so you really learn to accept people and not take people at face value,” she said. “I was raised to not see color.”

Senior Brennan Steele said he met Pannell because they are both part of the Reginaldo See VICTORIA on Page 8

Special to The Chronicle Pannell has worked with the Women’s March organization to protest gun violence.

find housing at The Chronicle’s online guide to living near Duke.

4 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

TOWERVIEW

The Chronicle

‘There’s a certain feeling when your feet leave the ground’ Students form community, center their minds through rock climbing in Wilson Gym

Special to The Chronicle Students described the climbing wall in Wilson Gym as an open and welcoming space where they can socialize with friends.

By Yuexuan Chen Staff Writer

Pass by K-Ville, swipe in at Wilson Gym, walk past Quenchers and a grey, irregularly shaped wall with colorful blobs rises out of the floor beneath you.

It’s the backdrop of Wilson’s cardio area.

Squished into the corner surrounded by an army of exercise bikes and treadmills, the rock climbing wall is an obvious afterthought.

“Wilson is very gender segregated with cardio being mostly girls and the weight room being mostly guys, but we’re kind of tucked into our little corner at the climbing wall and have that less,” senior Mike Kim said. “It’s a good environment for anyone to come in.

Some of our hardest climbers we have are girls like Meryl which is pretty cool.”

If you stick around, you’ll get coated by chalk and hear words like beta, sit-start, arête, crux, jug, mantel, crimp and project—and I mean “project” used as a verb but pronounced like the noun.

“Eavesdrop on any of the conversations that happen at the rock wall, and you might feel like you’re in another country,” senior Meryl McCurry said.

It’s an alien language in an alien universe of people trusting strangers to not drop them, so that they can scale synthetic fruity pebbles. The wall occupies a small corner of Wilson, but for some reason attracts a community of people from all different corners of Duke’s campus.

The wall was built in 2007 and for the first two or three years, it was fully managed

by students. It was originally going to be a bouldering gym—a type of rock climbing with shorter walls, no ropes and thickly-padded floors—but the builders came in to Wilson and saw the potential for a 35-foot top-roping wall.

Top roping is a form of rock climbing with the rope already at the top, as opposed to sport and lead climbing where you clip the rope in to different points as you climb up.

Now, the wall is run by Outdoor Adventures which is managed by Chris Hendricks and TJ Beezley.

Beezley described the wall as open, accessible and welcoming. Hendricks added that it’s a central space to not only climb, but also socialize.

According to Hendricks, 4,945 people visited the climbing wall in 2016-17, with 52 percent male and 48 percent female. In addition, 418 participated in the Duke Adaptive Climbing events for people with disabilities to learn how to rock climb. These numbers were up from 3,968 for the climbing wall and 80 for Duke Adaptive in 2012-13.

“I think I spend more waking hours at the climbing wall than anywhere on campus,” McCurry said. “I’m moving to San Francisco after graduation, and I already know the climbing gym I want to join. I really want to continue to build communities around rock climbing and take weekend trips outside.”

With the closest climbing gym in the area being a 15-minute drive away, Meryl might not have even gotten into climbing if there weren’t a Duke wall.

“To a non-climber, it sounds like I’m

Special to The Chronicle In the 2016-17 school year, there were 4,945 people who visited the climbing wall, with 52 percent being male and 48 percent female.

speaking gibberish, but if you’re in the community, it makes so much sense to you,” McCurry said. “That’s why it’s so tight-knit and seems cliquey. There’s an instant understanding of the different layers.”

There’s a team of route-setters that arrange the blobs of plastic to make creative mental and physical problems to solve, and McCurry’s routes have a theme this semester: dating websites. The pink 5.10a “Crimpin’ Mingle” and 5.10b “Match.com” are Meryl’s creations.

The blobs are called holds and the climbing routes are color coded and labeled with levels of difficulty from 5.5-5.13, with each level exponentially more difficult.

For instance, 5.13 is much harder than 5.5.

A crimp is a strained hold that requires you to hold your weight with only your fingertips.

Match is a move where you match your hands or feet on the same hold. “[Climbing] is a physical brain teaser,” McCurry said. “Route-setting is like choreographing a dance. You think about the general movements, you have an idea of the flow, and it’s not until you actually get there and start performing the moves that you know exactly how it will flow.”

McCurry described climbing as one of the few things through which she finds her state of flow where she is completely focused and present. And there’s always more to discover in climbing—from indoor to outdoor to sport to trad to multi-pitch to alpine to mountaineering to ice climbing.

“Each next step I take in climbing, I’m like ‘how did I call myself a climber before this?’” McCurry said. “It’s always this imposter syndrome.”

She said she thinks climbers at the wall are like tenters in K-Ville.

“That’s how the climbing wall sometimes feels to me,” McCurry said. “We have our own group of climbing wall crazies.”

When sophomore Natalia Androsz—an ECE/CS major, linguistics minor and neverbefore athlete—first joined the OA staff, she was intimidated by the cliquey-ness of OA, “especially the [Project Wild] people.” At her first staff meeting, everyone seemed to know each other and were chatting, but she only knew three people there from an OA backpacking trip.

“I thought, it’s just gonna be another group where I can’t make friends with anyone,” Androsz said. “I’d never been to this part of the gym. I was afraid to be such an amateur.

There’s a perception that it’s an exclusive group, but I found that it was very inclusive, and I’ve been able to make friends and acquaintances.”

A peer advisor and resident assistant in

Southgate Dorm, Androsz is a dual citizen of Poland and the United States, and is from Brookfield, Connecticut.

“There’s exactly one brook and one field,” Androsz joked about her hometown.

She’s planning on taking a National Outdoor Leadership School course in Patagonia next year before her study abroad in Chile. During her senior year of high school, Androsz and her best friend Julia traversed Northern Spain hiking the Camino and spent most of her summers growing up in Poland.

She said that she struggled a lot during her first year of college because even though she had great close friends, she didn’t feel like she had a community. Now, she is a part of this “awesome and friendly” climbing community.

“I never felt bad that I didn’t know [climbing] terms,” Androsz said. “People were throwing out beta, arête and send, and I did not know any of those words meant. I asked, people were super nice and said ‘I’m sorry, I say these words so much that I forget that people don’t know what they mean.’”

She noted that she likes seeing people return to the climbing wall and watching them improve.

“By nature, climbing is a partner sport,” she said. “You need someone to hold the other end of your rope. There’s such a cool bond made just belayer to climber.”

For sophomore Ake Kankirawatana, his introduction to climbing was during a freshman fall break trip. It was a 5.6 climb.

“It was weird, it was awesome,” Kankirawatana said.

He started coming to the Wilson wall every day during freshman year.

“I was decent at it which was pretty cool,” Kankirawatana said. “There was a natural progression. I fell really in love with it, just being at the wall. Sometimes I’ll come the Wilson wall and just do homework to be near the rock wall. It has a certain vibe to it.”

Growing up, Kankirawatana did “stints of soccer, swimming, fencing and all that jazz,” but never considered himself an athlete.

“My life at Duke wouldn’t be my life at Duke at all [if there was no climbing wall],” Kankirawatana said.

P-Wild, Outing and OA make up his social life, he said. He described the wall as a sense of familiarity, peace and intimacy and P-Wild as family.

“There’s a certain feeling when your feet leave the ground,” Kankirawatana said. “You leave every single thought on the ground.”

Junior Courtney Werner was See CLIMBING on Page 7

Special to The Chronicle Climbing routes are color-coded and labeled with levels of difficulty from 5.5-5.13, with each level becoming more difficult.

The Chronicle

TOWERVIEW

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018 | 5

How safe is Duke? Reality versus perception of campus crime

By Shannon Fang Staff Writer

Crime has always been a hot topic on Duke’s campus.

In late February, a student reported an attempted kidnapping on Central Campus.

Students have also voiced concern about how long it took the University to send out a DukeAlert after a suspicious individual entered a dorm on West Campus in September 2017. The Duke University Police Department has said it is increasing the police presence around Central Campus and improving lighting.

DUPD does publish an annual crime report, with the most recent covering the years 201416. However, the report groups its on-campus categories by the terms “residential facilities” and “on-campus.”

What these reports do not provide is how crime is distributed between residential facilities on East, West and Central Campuses and now the 300 Swift complex. Similarly, the “on-campus” section does not explain how crime is distributed between different locations such as the Bryan Center or libraries.

Vice President for Administration Kyle Cavanaugh explained that the structure of crime reports is prescribed by the U.S. Department of Education. Crimes are thus broken down by building type (e.g. residential building, non-residential facilities) instead of by campus.

Where exactly on campus is crime most prevalent? The Chronicle scanned and analyzed DUPD’s weekly crime logs between January and December 2017 to create a snapshot of crime patterns during the year.

Summarizing 2017 The majority of reported crimes took place at the Duke Hospital, followed by East Campus, West Campus and lastly Central Campus.

There were about 135 reported crimes in East Campus residence halls, significantly more than took place in West Campus dorms. The vast majority of East Campus crimes involved student alcohol violations. East Campus had more reported alcohol violations than West and Central combined.

But alcohol and drug violations, as well as larceny, were still the main crimes on Central Campus. Cavanaugh said the most common crime throughout campus is the theft of unattended items.

Although one student The Chronicle spoke to said she felt unsafe at 300 Swift, there were only 16 reported crimes near the apartment complex. However, the apartment complex only opened for relocated students in September 2017.

Excluding the medical campus, the crime data show 10 cases of sexual assault, nine stalking cases and about 20 cases of non-sexual assault. There were also two reported cases of sexual battery.

There were three reported cases of sexual assault on West Campus, two cases on Central Campus and one case on East Campus. Four occurred in unknown locations on campus. Stalking was reported five times on West, twice on East and twice at unknown locations.

West Campus had 10 non-sexual assaults, followed by four on East Campus, three on Central Campus and three reports with unknown locations. The vast majority of non-sexual assaults, however, occurred in areas involving the medical campus—about 95 at the Duke Hospital complex, the Duke Medicine Pavilion, the Duke Cancer Center and Duke South.

Larceny was by far the most common crime, with almost 400 reported cases throughout the entire campus. There were 23 incidents in the Bryan Center. Motor vehicle crimes were also relatively common, with about 100 reports throughout campus, including both theft and

Graphic by Jeremy Chen

breaking and entering.

Most motor vehicle crimes occurred in the various parking garages and lots across campus, but some happened outside of academic and residential buildings.

About 20 motor vehicle crimes were reported on West Campus outside of buildings such as the Allen Building, the Law School, the Sanford School of Public Policy, Old Chemistry and other academic or residential areas. Five such cases occurred on East Campus outside of buildings like East Union, the Freeman Center, Gilbert-Addoms dorm and the field hockey stadium. Three cases occurred on the streets making up Central Campus.

Only three crimes against motor vehicles were reported in the Blue Zone.

Reality vs. perception The campus crime statistics did not necessarily align with the perceptions of students who spoke with The Chronicle and posted on Fix My Campus complaining about issues with campus security.

Sophomore Ellenor Brown said she thinks that most crime occurs on Central and East Campus. Central Campus is easily accessible for non-Duke individuals and East Campus is near Ninth Street, she noted.

Although East Campus did have a high number of crimes, Central Campus had the fewest. It is possible, however, that this is due to the high number of alcohol violations on East Campus.

However, Brown said that she believes Duke’s campus is safer overall than other colleges because it is relatively isolated.

Brown lives on Central Campus, and she said it is nerve-wracking to hear about crimes that do not get reported by Duke Alerts. At the beginning of the year, she heard that a student’s Duke ID was stolen near her apartment and her friend’s car window was smashed.

However, she said no DukeAlerts were sent out and that crime on Central is rarely reported.

Senior Elizabeth Speed, vice president for campus life for Duke Student Government, said she believes that most crime occurs on Central Campus parking lots. However, the data does not back this up—motor vehicle crimes were more prevalent on West Campus.

“This is likely because each Central Campus house has vehicle access, making it easy for someone to enter and exit areas where students live,” she wrote. “Additionally,

Central Campus faces Erwin Road, which has a lot of non-Duke traffic.”

Sophomore Cameron Rosen added that she believes sexual assault is the most common crime on campus because such assaults are more likely to go unreported. DUPD’s weekly crime logs and annual reports would not pick up those incidents.

Improving safety Brown often drives to Perkins Library to study a few times a week because of the unreliability of the CCX bus. But after studying in Perkins, she always feels nervous walking to the Allen lot because the path is not well-lit and the parking spaces are tucked behind buildings.

She always calls a friend when leaving Perkins and does not hang up until she gets into her car.

“Many students who go to Perkins at night park in the Allen lot, so it makes sense to have security guards back there,” she said. “I feel like that would really improve the feeling of safety on that part of campus. It would make me feel a lot safer just knowing someone is there.”

Better lighting would also make her feel safer, Brown said. Central Campus and the Allen lot are poorly lit, she noted, and Campus

Drive is extremely dark at night. She said she feels safe walking around by herself at night on West Campus—but the same is not true for Central Campus.

Brown also said she thinks having security cameras in front of residential areas is a smart idea to help identify intruders. She would not view the security cameras as an invasion of privacy.

She referenced the September 29, 2017 DukeAlert about a middle-aged man who broke into a girl’s dorm room. She believes security cameras would have helped identify the individual and that the Duke Alert was released late and lacked detail.

“I feel like the way the DukeAlert came out was nonchalant, and there was never any follow up,” Brown said. “I felt like it was not very thorough, and the students that live on West definitely deserved more information than that so that they could try to prevent something like that from happening again.”

Cavanaugh stated that DukeAlerts follow prescribed federal guidelines. According to the 2016 Handbook for Campus Safety and Security Reporting, “every institution is required to immediately notify the See CRIME on Page 8

Chronicle File Photo Although some students said they perceive Central Campus as unsafe, Central had fewer reported crimes in 2017 than East Campus and West Campus.

6 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

PEACHES FROM PAGE 2 a while. I ended up getting him to the vet.”

Once the kitten was not constantly sick, Matthews said Li put up posters around campus to find someone to adopt it. A Duke faculty member eventually adopted the kitten to give his other cat company. Matthews said that they cuddle constantly and are very adorable.

“It ended as a very good success story,” Matthews said.

Unfortunately, the cat also contracted worms and fleas. When this happened, Matthews and others took the cat back to the vet. Despite treatment, the fleas did not go away.

She explained that the worms were the main problem because just receiving one treatment did not fully eliminate them.

Matthews noted that in addition to not noticing any other cats near Gross Hall, many of the other cat colonies on campus have been dwindling.

“Treat cats kindly. As far as I can tell, there have been cats on campus for 40-plus years, and there are different myths as to how they ended up on campus,” she said. “But they bred for a while, and the population started shrinking when people started taking care of them. Most of the cats are really old. I think Peaches and Mamabean are the youngest cats on campus.”

First-year Julie Peng, an active member in “Caretakers of Peaches,” has spotted a cat that even roams around East Campus. In an email, Peng wrote that she first encountered the cat, which she named Floofyboi, outside of Lilly Library. Since then, she has seen Floofyboi a few times and has become aware that the cat belongs to graduate students.

“Floofyboi walks up and likes to rub up against your legs,” Peng wrote. “He/she is incredibly friendly and has a very nice, fluffy tail.”

But, with Li graduating this year, other caretakers will have to step up. Li said that she has been “pseudo-training” two first-years to take on her official cat responsibilities, including annual vaccinations and filling up Peaches’s food. Despite her many duties, Li does not think that she does more than most people. Equipped with the tremendous support from the Facebook group, Li pointed out that there are hundreds of people on campus who provide Peaches with love and affection.

“It’s not an official position. It’s kind of like you can make as much out of it as you want, just as long as you make sure the cat is well cared for.

I just wanted assurance that someone will be taking care of them after I leave,” Li said.

A day in the life of Peaches During the time Peaches spent with Antonaccio, Li said she observed the cat become more outgoing.

“In the last couple years, she has really blossomed,” Li said. “She knows that the students are here to play with her and feed her.

She likes us now.”

Li described the daily life of Peaches and noted that she does not seem to have any particular order. She sleeps in her house— which was purchased last winter via a Facebook fundraiser—outside Keohane 4B and spends the rest of the day wandering between Few and Keohane, sometimes even reaching the main quad and getting close to the Chapel.

Peaches definitely knows where people go, Li said. One year, when summer school students lived near Edens, Peaches did too. Li also mentioned that Peaches occasionally hangs out with Mamabean near Wannamaker.

“I think she knows the campus pretty well.

She [has] also gone with me to the Gardens before,” Li said.

Peaches is a pretty competent hunter as well.

Li has witnessed the cat take down birds and kill mice, in addition to carrying a squirrel tail in her mouth. Yet, despite her more aggressive side, Li characterized Peaches as a pure spirit.

Li explained that it sometimes scares her how much Peaches trusts her, as Peaches also hops into her car for the vet—assuming that Li is “doing something good.” Although she is

TOWERVIEW

still vaccinated against rabies, Li said Peaches has never shown any aggression toward her, adding that she doesn’t think Peaches would ever bite anyone.

Peaches also has therapeutic value, especially for students who miss their pets at home. Li explained that animals have a way of grounding others “back into the present because that is where they live.”

“There’s just something about this warm, happy cat sitting on your lap,” Li said. “It helps to remind you that there is a lot of joy in the little things in life.”

Peaches loves people and greets everyone she encounters, Matthews explained.

“I will be walking to visit a friend, she will come running up to me and try to trip me because she wants to pass me and weave around my legs,” she said. “If I squat to pet her for a moment, she will climb up onto my legs even though I am not completely sitting down, and she will refuse to get off. I will be able to hang out with her for a bit by her climbing on my lap and being very excited to see me.”

During the winter, there were concerns about whether Peaches had gained too much weight. Li said people worry a little bit too much about her. She explained that in the past, the exact opposite concerns had been voiced, as students believed Peaches was too skinny and might have health issues.

On both occasions, Li took Peaches to the vet and found out that the concerns to be false alarms, as the weight of outdoor cats fluctuates with the season. At her vet visit in late winter, Peaches was “only 0.3 pounds different.”

“Even though she looks very heavy, it’s mostly fluff,” Li said. “Peaches isn’t actually fat.

It’s a misconception.”

Memelord reacts only Sophomore Will Ye, the creator of Duke Memes for Gothicc Teens, spoke to Peaches’ presence in student life. As a Few resident, Ye sees Peaches often and believes her to be a cat adopted by all students.

“The biggest reason why I’m active in the [Facebook] group is that I really like Peaches, and everyone else does, too,” Ye said. “Having her show up in your Facebook timeline makes

Peaches used to be very feral. But, obviously times have changed, and she’s very trusting now. anna li

SENIOR AND CREATOR OF THE “CARETAKERS OF PEACHES” FACEBOOK GROUP

it even better. I also do think it is pretty useful to have a discussion outside of physically seeing Peaches because a few posts—like the vet ones or asking questions about health, or about taking care of her after seniors graduate—are important to have and to keep things organized and future clarifications about Peaches and other animals on campus.”

Ye also drew a connection between Peaches and meme culture on campus because of how popular memes of her are. He described a past meme featuring Peaches and Nugget—both animal icons—asking people to vote for one or the other.

“Everyone knows who Peaches is, and everyone knows who Nugget is,” Ye said.

“So, the meme is pretty funny and generates controversy in a fun way.”

Sophomore Carly McGregor, another active member of the meme group, sees Peaches every day before she goes to breakfast and characterized her as a “little bundle of love” with a very reassuring presence on campus. McGregor referred to some of the earliest, popular memes on the meme page being those of cats.

“If you look back at the early memes, like ‘Can I has cheezburger?,’ a lot of them did originate with cats. So, I feel like the meme atmosphere and that culture is probably related to the entire campus being really excited about

The Chronicle

Chronicle File Photo Some students have raised concerns that Peaches might be overweight, but Li said the cat received a clean bill of health at her last vet visit.

this one cat. There is definitely an interest there,” McGregor said.

Getting rid of Peaches?

Last summer, Li noticed Peaches’ cat house had “mysteriously disappeared.”

“I wasn’t sure if administration moved it, or if housekeeping did. But, I wanted to get administrative approval for the houses this year. I wanted to get some sort of word from them that the [cat] houses wouldn’t be removed,” Li said.

Since then, Li has been in email correspondence with Debbie Biondo, assistant dean for West Campus, about campus protections for Peaches and Mamabean. Li explained that Biondo has acknowledged that cats are “special cases” but is “still concerned that the cats are feral.” Li believes these apprehensions to be “reasonable” but that Peaches is “much more trusting” since she was spayed and taken care of by Antonaccio.

“Peaches used to be very feral. But, obviously times have changed, and she’s very trusting now,” Li said.

Antonaccio noted her support for keeping Peaches on campus, assuming that the caretakers’ efforts continue.

“I’m glad [Peaches is] loved and taken care of and hope it continues; I would not be in favor of [the administration] trying to eradicate cat colonies or remove cats that are being responsibly supported by the community,” Antonaccio wrote.

Signed by more than 650 people, Li wrote a petition detailing the importance of the cats on campus and why the administration should provide protections for them. The petition calls for winter housing, assurances that Duke administration will not tamper with cat housing unless in case of an emergency, no disruption to their food except for sanitation issues and $400 per year for their vaccines and medical bills.

“Duke administration currently does not even recognize or support the presence of these cats on campus,” the petition states. “Given the enormous positive impact these cats have on the Duke community, it’s time that Duke administration joins the student body in recognizing them as part of our family.”

Li does not believe that Biondo has seen the petition.

“At this time, I have no comment regarding [Peaches] the cat,” Biondo wrote, in an email.

Junior Francia Fang is a resident assistant for Keohane 4B and believed the petition to be “a success.”

“I think it is a bit ridiculous for the administration to try to get rid of her,” Fang said. “I know we have other cats on campus who are not as well known as Peaches because they are not as comfortable around strangers.

But, at the end of the day, they are all harmless.

And, I think she is a staple on campus and that students really enjoy having her around.”

However, the only “RA-specific” comment Fang has is about Peaches’s current house.

Although she does not believe it has caused

issues, the housekeeping staff expresses concerns when there is vomit outside the dorm or if Peaches’s food is left outside in the rain and becomes soggy and looks gross, a concern addressed in Li’s petition.

“Since her little home is right next to one of the main entryways to the dorm, it is an unpleasant sight to look at,” Fang said. “Usually when that happens an email gets sent out to the entire Keohane 4B community to take care of it.

Usually, it is resolved in a matter of days. Aside from that, Peaches poses no issues in terms of administration. People generally have a really good time playing with her and petting her. I know I do too.”

Save Peaches In 2017, Li started a GoFundMe to raise money for Peaches and Mamabean’s vaccines that raised $1,890. She attributes its success to The Chronicle article that discussed it and the followup in People Magazine. Matthews and Li said that the funds were eventually exhausted when taking care of various cats on campus.

In the hopes of establishing a more sustainable funding source, Li attempted to organize a system within Duke to pay for cats’ annual medications and vaccines. Matthews emphasized the importance of the cats receiving their boosters within a certain time frame to keep them safe. If either of them becomes injured, it would be optimal for them to receive medical attention as soon as possible.

“If they are injured, it is better to take them to the vet so they won’t be angry or grumpy or other various problems,” Matthews said.

“We don’t want them to be upset with the students. Being able to get funds for that would be very useful.”

As an RA, Li talked to people in Housing and Residence Life about the issue.

“It’s kind of like [HRL is] aware of her but don’t have an official place for her. It’s only recently that she has become a campus figurehead, so I think it would be nice to make an official place for her and get some campus funding,” Li said.

Li later said that she has turned away from placing “pressure on housing” and toward targeting University Center Activities and Events. To be considered in the Student Organization Finance Committee annual budget, she is considering forming a chartered student organization.

“I don’t really have faith that we can keep running fundraisers to pay for their stuff because that was mostly successful from the People Magazine article, and I don’t think they’re going to run any more articles for us,” Li said.

A volunteer student group from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln called Husker Cats aims “to ensure a high-quality life for cats living in feral colonies on campus.” Li cited this group as a model for how current cat caretakers at Duke “could make it work.”

Li also mentioned that someone could write a book on Peaches and donate the proceeds.

“There are a lot of ideas bouncing around,” Li said.

The Chronicle

CLIMBING FROM PAGE 4 Kankirawatana’s first belay.

“Teamwork and trust crosses over into friendships in the climbing community because you trust each other with your lives,” Werner said.

Werner said she finds that the wall is important for stress management and finding mental clarity.

“The existence of accessible top roping gyms like the Duke wall where you can walk in with no experience and check it out are so important,” Werner said.

The Duke climbing community isn’t just made up of current students though.

When P-Wild climbing directors Michael Kim and Courtney Werner were leading an Outing Club trip to Rocky Face—2.5 hours away—they ran into Kevin Sparks, Trinity ‘79, who asked for a belay and introduced himself as the 1979 P-Wild climbing director.

Sparks’ dad worked for an oil company, so he was a city kid who grew up in London, Beirut and Lebanon. Sparks was an economics major and learned how to rock climb through P-Wild where he met Chris Hyson, Trinity ’77 and a geology major. Hyson and Sparks are still climbing together to this day.

After Duke, Sparks did a Ph.D. in physics as well as postdoctoral work. Then, he spent two years as a full-time professional climber and met his future wife at Smith Rock—a popular and famous climbing area in Oregon. His wife’s workplace that specializes in fiber optics was looking for a physicist, and he is still working at the same company as a scientist today. They are life partners and climbing partners for life.

During his time at Duke, Sparks climbed the Chapel—yes, from the outside—twice. Once with his friend Tom and once another friend named Adrian.

“It was with Adrian that we took a pumpkin

TOWERVIEW

up and skewered it up onto one of the spires,” Sparks said. “The pumpkin was stuck up there for three or four weeks after. It was a great trip.

I don’t recommend it to anyone. It’s a very, very, very serious undertaking. The first 70 feet or so was extremely difficult to protect. It’s a chimney, and it’s very difficult climbing…

At the top there is a two-finger pocket in the gargoyles eyes.”

Sparks trad-climbed the Chapel which means that he placed his own protection using small pieces of gear that are put into cracks during the climb with his rope through the gear to catch a potential fall.

What appeals most to senior Mike Kim— and many of the other climbers—about the sport is its ability to help him destress and find his flow.

“When climbers talk about flow, no one knows what they mean so there is value in putting words into it,” Kim said. “But I still don’t know how to describe flow.”

Maybe it’s like a writer whose words and thoughts dance across the page and you can’t stop reading. A pianist whose fingers seem to float on the keys. A figure skater that jumps with no hesitation and is fully connected with the music. A mathematician who with a piece of chalk write out a beautiful proof that covers the entire board. An artist who has complete control over their paint brush to create transcendent masterpieces.

Maybe flow is when someone is so connected to their sport, movement, thoughts, subject, song that they are in that exact moment. They aren’t thinking ahead or behind their movements, but they are right on the sweet spot of being fully present, immersed and focused on their art and craft.

Maybe it’s the combination of nature, risk, focus and mind-body coordination.

Regardless of the exact definition, climbers at Duke are at the Wilson wall doing what they do best—finding their flow.

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018 | 7

Special to The Chronicle Students involved in campus climbing activities frequently take trips to nearby nature preserves, which allows them to form close friendships.

Special to The Chronicle Climbers described finding a state of “flow,” in which they are attentive to their current climb and not thinking about anything else.

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

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8 | WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 2018

VICTORIA FROM PAGE 3 Howard Memorial Scholarship Program. He noted that he has been extremely impressed with the work Pannell did before college, on both a local and national scale.

“I feel like a proud dad seeing her grow and push forward in her activism,” he said.

Pannell’s success is a result of how driven she is, added her friend Michael Ivory, a senior.

“She’s very attentive to the things that matter to people,” he said. “She just has the power to turn her feelings and her ideas into meaningful messages for other people.”

Pannell noted that she has loved the people she has met at Duke so far, and likes how the students advocate for what they care about.

“I’ve noticed that students take matters into their own hands here,” she said. “Students speak up.”

TOWERVIEW

Although Pannell hasn’t been super involved in campus activism yet, she plans to do more in the future. A political science major with a minor in African American studies, she explained that she wanted to adjust to Duke’s campus and academic life before committing to lots of different activities.

However, she noted that she has identified issues in the black community on campus especially and recognizes that Duke needs to increase its diversity.

“It’s hard being a minority here,” she said.

“When you walk around campus, I don’t see a lot of people who look like me, which is an issue.”

The Duke community can eagerly await her future activism on campus issues, which she will undoubtedly engage in. After all, she’s only a first-year.

As for the long term?

“I want to run for president in 2036,” she said.

Special to The Chronicle Pannell’s community service work began when she started helping her mother run their food pantry, which feeds about 500 families every year.

The Chronicle

CRIME FROM PAGE 5 campus community upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation occurring on the campus that involves an immediate threat to the health or safety of students or employees.”

It also states that the notifications must come out “without delay” after confirming a dangerous situation exists.

Speed agreed that, even if security cameras might not prevent crime, they would make her feel safer because cameras can provide evidence for DUPD. Rosen said that if having security cameras outside dorms will make students feel safer, then they are worth it.

In response to these concerns, Cavanaugh stated that staffing has increased on campus and that more than 1,000 security cameras have been installed within the past three years in parking garages, surfaces lots and at the entrances of the majority of buildings. He did not specify whether the cameras had been included for residential buildings, but noted that Housing and Residence Life has improved the card access system and installed new locks on Central Campus. Lighting has improved as well, he added.

Rosen lives at 300 Swift, and she said that having security guards and better lighting would make her feel safer. Often, when the Swift Express is not running, she will take the C1 back to her apartment. However, she must walk up a wooded hill from the bus stop to get to her apartment.

“I feel very unsafe walking up there because I know last year there was an assault on Swift Hill, and there have also been robberies,” she said. “Especially since it’s getting dark so early, it’s 4 p.m., and I should not have to feel scared walking up the hill, but it is dark, so I do.”

Rosen said there needs to be a security guard somewhere on that hill.

Chronicle File Photo In 2017, there were about 135 reported crimes on East Campus, most of which involved student alcohol violations.

“I know that my parents and friends will be relieved if I have a safe way to walk home,” Rosen said. “Your heart starts to race, and you walk faster, and it’s not necessary to feel like that.”

Despite Cavanaugh’s statement, Rosen said she has not noticed an increased security presence throughout campus in general.

“In the past, DSG has conducted light and safety walks with Duke Police, students and administrators around Central Campus at night to identify spots where there is no light or students may feel unsafe in order to address any insufficiencies,” Speed wrote regarding DSG’s efforts to improve safety.

Speed noted that the light walks last occurred in 2014 and 2015, and they were “successful in identifying spots on Central Campus that were not well lit and where apartments had vulnerability to public roads.”

Speed said she was not aware of a similar endeavor happening this year.