Tuesday, September 4, 2001
Scattered Showers High 79, Low 66
www.chronicle.duke.edu Vol. 97, No. 8
The Chronicle
Fall sports Several sports teams are kicking off their fall seasons. Read all about their prospects in Fall Sports 2001.
THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
DSG prepares for election !� Officials extended the deadline for legislative applications until Monday night, bringing the total number of interested students to 52. By ALEX GARINGER The Chronicle
Even before its annual leg-
islative elections, Duke Student Government has already had its first hiccup.
Late Sunday night, DSG Attorney General Elizabeth Kreul-Starr and President C. J.
Walsh decided to extend the deadline for legislative election packets from 5 p.m. Sunday to 11:59 p.m. Monday. In a mass
e-mail sent to the entire student body, they explained that they were attempting “to increase student involvement in the University decision-making process.” “These election packets contain the tools to put your name on the ballot for this Wednes-
day’s election,” Kreul-Starr and Walsh wrote. “In this year of implementation, make sure that your voice is heard through involvement in DSG. The process is simple—only 50 signatures are required to enter this election.” The extended deadline brought the final candidate tally to 62, about 10 more than last year. DSG officials declined to say how many packets had been handed in by the
STUDENTS will have the opportunity tives Wednesday. original Sunday deadline. “We just want more,” Walsh said Sunday. “It’s not as big a deal to add a candidate to the ballot, because it is all on computer. It’s Labor Day weekend, and some students have not been on campus. The extra day should help.” The 40 elected legislators
represent five constituencies: West Campus has 16 legislative spots; East Campus has 12; Central Campus, six; North Campus, two; and off-campus students, four. There are also
to vote for their legislative representacutting the number of DSG legislators down from 50 to 40, in part because of poor attendance and inefficient meetings. The measure, proposed by former vice president for student affairs Jasmin French and former vice president for academic affairs Jason Bergsman, met sharp opposition. Legislators argued that the size of the organization was one of its strengths and that a smaller legislature would not increase accountability.
10 at-large positions, although
This summer, Walsh, a senior, proposed holding shorter
more will be added if elected spots remain vacant. Last April, DSG considered
meetings each week instead of the traditional bi-weekly sesSee DSG on page 7 P~
PRATIK PATEL/THE CHRONICLE
Labor of love Samuel Findley, a graduate student in classical studies, plays with his daughter Coriander outside the Chapel on a rainy but cool Labor Day.
Muslim students receive long-awaited prayer space University chooses central location By VICTORIA KAPLAN The Chronicle
Muslim students on the go now have a centrally located space set aside for prayer on campus. The space—a room in the former Office of Institutional Equity in the greenhouse behind the Bryan Center—is a “functional step forward,” said senior Lala Qadir, co-president of the Muslim Student Association. The room provides Muslim students, who must pray five times a day, with the privacy they previously lacked for such prayer. For the first time, MSA has also been allotted office space, located in the Office of University Life on the top floor of the Bryan Center. “Last year, we had to pray all over campus,” Qadir said. “We’re hoping this can be a place where everyone can
THE GREENHOUSE behind the Bryan Center now has a room dedicated to prayer space for Muslim students. Previously, the building housed the Office of Institutional Equity.
Hflo 'ioluc
The Children’s Campus, a day care facility for the children university employees, reopened to replace spots at the YMCA’s Early Learning Center. See page 3
congregate.” In the spring, student groups in the Office of University Life donated their
Researchers at the University have developed a method to engineer bacterial proteins that can track chemicals in the human body. See page 4
own office space for Muslim student prayer because MSA did not have an office then. “It was a wonderful show of solidarity,” said Saima Hussain, a senior and co-president of MSA. “Students in other groups understood our needs.” Qadir attributed the acquisition of the new space to the “great initiative
from students and the administration’s willingness to help.” The issue of prayer space was first brought to light last November at the Unity through Diversity luncheon,
where leaders ofcultural groups spoke about their goals and concerns to an audience of administrators that included President Nan Keohane. Judith
White, director of the Residential Program Review and chair of last year’s Cultural Space Committee, responded to MSA’s needs for space, helping find the new room.
See PRAYER SPACE on page 9 �
A recent Duke study indicates that depressed patients that have suffered cardiac heart failure are more likely to die than those who are not depressed. See page 5