Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Partly Cloudy High 37, Low 17 www.chronicle.duke.edu Vol. 98, Mo. 82
he Chronicle
Howlin’ Wolves The men’s basketball team seeks to blow off steam against N.C. State, its first opponent since Maryland. See page 11
THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
By
Jennifer Song
The Chronicle
[he
more things change, the more
Or so it seems with the debate surrounding abortion. Thirty years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-2 in Roe v. Wade to legalize the practice. At Duke, the anniversary has sparked a wide range of discussion on the ruling’s significance, as well as a reexamination of the seemingly stagnant debate. “The decision itself was a landmark injudicial review. Many advocates say that Roe v. Wade ‘recognized’ a woman’s right to choose, but in fact it created that right,” Professor and Chair ofPolitical Science Michael Munger wrote in an e-mail. “The 30-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade marks the continuing controversy that attends an attempt of overt judicial legislation.” Supreme Court justices ruled January 22,1973, to give women a qualified constitutional right to an abortion during most of a pregnancy. Roe v. Wade challenged a Texas law that banned abortions except to save the mother’s life. In the decision, Justice Harry Blackmun argued laws banning abortion violate due process of the Fourteenth Amendment, which the court said protects a woman’s right to privacy against state action. This privacy, which some argue has little constitutional basis, in-
eludes a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy. The justices also qualified when abortions could take place; no government regulation during the first three months; limited regulation in the second trimester to protect the woman’s health and safety; and government power to ban abortions during the third trimester, during which physicians have agreed the fetus is capable of living on its own.
However, medical advances have changed dramatically in the last 30 years, creating more ambiguity. “The word ‘abortion’ doesn’t really cover the scientific and technical possibilities and we don’t have a consensus on how these possibilities should be regulated,” said Jean O’Barr, professor of the practice in the women’s studies program and former chair. “Debate is particularly intense because there are so many things we still don’t know.” Some perceive the discussion on abortion shifting from civil rights concerns to broader morality issues. “The 60s and early 70s were a time of civil liberty concern across the board,” said Laura Edwards, associate professor of history. “Civil liberties are not as much the focus of our politics but we’re moving toward concern for substantive morality and revisiting issues of economics, which might be good considering how strong religion and morality are talked about in mainstream politics.” However, while some believe the Roe v. Wade decision See ROE V. WADE on page 10
BAA profs express frustration Faculty members speculate that a severe reduction in the department could eventually mean the demise of one of Duke’s strengths. By KELLY ROHRS The Chronicle
Following the announcement that a reorganization of the biological anthropology and anatomy department will likely reduce the faculty by more than half, professors have expressed concerns about the future of the department. BAA department Chair Richard Kay told faculty members last week that, through retirement and attrition, fulltime faculty positions in BAA will probably drop from 10 to four and temporary positions from seven to two. Although professors in the department indicate such a drastic reduction would take several years, BAA Professor William Hylander said the faculty was “hopping mad” after the announcement. “You could see a very rapid bailout of faculty. They’re all very good, so it’s not going to be difficult for them to end up in really good places,” said Steve Churchill, associate professor and director of undergraduate studies of BAA. Four tenured professors are near retirement age, but none of them are likely to leave the University for at least See BAA FACULTY on page 8
Students criticize Young trustee finalists chosen ‘terrorist’ speaker By KEVIN LEES The Chronicle
Becky Thompson, a visiting professor in AAAS, thought Whitehorn’s past political experience—from women’s liberation to civil rights to HIV/AIDS
The Inter-Community Council selected the three finalists for this year’s undergraduate young trustee this week, and for the first time ever a member of Duke Student Government was not in the group. Senior Brady Beecham, former president of the Duke University Union; senior Andrew Nurkin, president of Campus Council; and senior Jesse Panuccio, current president of the Union, were notified late Tuesday night of the decision that they are finalists. The DSG legislature and the ICC will vote together on who will be the young trustee at DSG’s meeting next Wednesday, Jan. 29. Since the ICC took over the process and DSG was formed from the remains of the Associate Students of Duke University in 1994, each group of finalists has included at least one member of DSG. Last year’s group of finalists was the first not to include an executive officer ofDSG. Of the nine semifinalists, four were DSG executive officers or Cabinet members, including DSG President Joshua Jean-Baptiste. None of this year’s finalists thought the absence of
See WHITEHORN on page 10
See YOUNG TRUSTEE on page 8
By WHITNEY ROBINSON The Chronicle
Laura Whitehom never thought her invitation to speak at an African and African American Studies graduate seminar would attract a second glance. The problem, the Duke Conservative Union charges, is that Whitehorn is a convicted terrorist. Whitehorn spent 1985 to 1999 in prison for planting a bomb in the U.S. Capitol in protest of the U.S. invasion of
Grenada. Laura Whitehorn
iiidlllc
Sorority rush ended this past weekend, but greek officials
have dec| jnec] t0 gjve any details of how the recruitment process went. See page 5
Alan Kors, an opponent of speech codes and professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, spoke about campus dialogue Tuesday. See page 6
Members of the Durham City Council voted Tuesday night to increase city employees’ benefits package 5 percent, a return to the traditional raise. See page 7