May 16, 2002

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Thursday, May 16,2002

Partly Cloudy High 84, Low 60 www.chronicle.duke.edu Vol. 98, No. S1

The Chronicle f I

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They’re Golden The men’s tennis team beat California last weekend to advance to the NCAA’s sweet 16. See page 13

THE INDEPENDENT DA LY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

Gates Foundation gives S3SM to Duke $3O million pegged for new science building By JAMES HERRIOTT

Melinda Gates, Trinity ’B6 and Fuqua ’B7, serves as vice chair ofthe Student AfThe University’s science and student fairs Committee of the Board of Trustees. life initiatives took a $35 million leap forShe co-founded the Gates foundation in ward with a gift from the Bill & Melinda January 2000 with her husband Bill, Gates Foundation announced May 2. chair and co-founder of Microsoft. Of the gift’s $35 million, $3O million “Melinda French Gates is a wise will help fund the planned multidiscipli- and committed alumna and trustee,” nary sciences building—to Keohane said. “We are gratebe named the French Sciful to her not only for the reence Center, in honor of sources provided by the Melinda French Gates’ famifoundation... but for her perly—and $5 million will be sonal leadership in helping earmarked for assorted Stuus shape and implement dent Affairs projects. PresiUniversity priorities.” dent Nan Keohane anProvost Peter Lange said nounced the gift at an that, as outlined in its strateAcademic Council meeting. gic plan, the University hopes Equaling the 1999 Edto strengthen science and enmund Pratt donation that re- Melinda Gates gineering departments, better named the School of Engiintegrate teaching and reneering, this gift ties for the search and promote interdisciplinary second-largest in dollar value ever given learning. He said the new science structo Duke behind James B. Duke’s foundture—scheduled to cost about $BO miling $4O million grant in 1924. lion—would encourage those goals “I’m pleased to be giving back to the among the biology, biological anthropolouniversity that has given me so much,” gy, chemistry and physics departments. Melinda Gates said in a statement. “It’s “We are certain that Duke needed this my hope that this new state-of-the-art facility and we went ahead with plans science facility and the student life initiadespite the high costs,” Lange said, tives will enrich undergraduates’ learnThe Chronicle

MATT KLEIN/THE CHRONICLE

MIKE DUNLEAVY, CENTER, HAS JOINED teammates Carlos Boozer and Jay Williams in declaring himself eligible for the NBA draft. Dunleavy will meet with the media today.

Dunleavy keeps draft watchers in suspense By PAUL DORAN The Chronicle

Duke officials, NBA experts and the entire college basketball world have spent the week reacting to senior Mike Dunleavy’s May 11 decision to declare himself eligible for the NBA draft. Experts have predicted that Dunleavy’s entry in the draft will change the make-up of the NBA Lottery and could impact the top 10 picks, but Duke basketball officials maintained this week

that they believe Dunleavy will still come back for his final year of college eligibility. By not signing with an agent, Dunleavy left open the possibility that he could withdraw his name and return to school anytime before June 20. “It’s not a done deal with Mike,” said associate head coach Johnny Dawkins. “[His prospects in the draft] will have to be very attractive for him to go. Just See DUNLEAVY on page 17

ing experiences

See GATES GIFT on page 12

DUHS to eliminate 300 jobs Officials pledge to maintain quality of patient care By WHITNEY BECKETT The Chronicle

Prompting some employee concerns about benefits and job security, Duke University Health System plans to eliminate 300 positions in response to budgetary pressures caused by cuts to government reimbursements and higher health care costs, officials announced last week. Bill Donelan, DUHS executive vice president, said the cuts would not adversely affect patient care and predominately would be taken from Duke Hospital and the Patient Revenue Management Organization, which are in relatively better budget positions. However, the cuts, which represent about 3 percent of DUHS’s 10,000 positions, likely will not translate to 300 people losing their jobs, Donelan said. Many of the positions eliminated are already vacant, and the Health System will try to transfer employees whose jobs are eliminated to other positions within DUHS or the University. In addition to the 300 eliminated positions, 100 more will be cut through attrition. The announcement drew mixed reaction from employees. Some said they were not concerned about losing their position or the quality of care. Cathy Williams, staff specialist in the Division

Inside

of Urology, worried patient care would diminish if jobs are overly consolidated. “If they are taking away some of the PRMO, how long will it take patients to register?” Williams said. “If they combine too many jobs into one, they might have too many patients to take care of and that wouldn’t be good patient care.” DUHS has lost a net $2OO million in the last five years, and Donelan attributed the loss to the federal Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which he said has led the state to make reductions in

Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. The problem is amplified by cuts from the federal government, which matches state reimbursements two to one. Anticipating that North Carolina’s current budget crisis will likely lead to more cuts, Donelan said the system preemptively reacted by proposiifg position elimination—which should save $l5 million in the next fiscal year—as well as other cost-saving measures, like procurement efforts that have saved over $l6 million. “It’s an opportunity to do more with less, but at the same time there are limits,” Donelan said. In 1994, faced with budgetary pressures and

Dr Robert Cook-Deegan, a health policy analyst in Washington, D.C., has been tapped to head Duke’s Center for Genome Ethics, Law and Policy. See page 5

See HOSPITAL CUTS on page 12 )

The search for a director of the Freeman Center for Jewish Life has ended with the hiring of Jonathan Gerstl, who brings a fundraising background. See page 6

The Arts and Sciences Council approved a new Community Standard, intended to foster a greater sense of academic integrity among students. See page 8


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