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The
DUKE UNIVERSITY Ninety-Ninth Year, issue 19
HURRICANE ISABEL
J
High school junior Josh Mcßoberts is Puke-bound
Chronicle
DURHAM, N.C.
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17,2003
WWW. CHRONICLE. DUKE. EDU
The Storm Approaches
Sigma Chi party Duke evacuates Beaufort outrages Latinos Easley declares
Gov. state of emergency,
by
state of disaster by
Andrew Collins THE CHRONICLE
In anticipation of the landfall of Hurricane Isabel, the Duke Marine Laboratory in Beaufort, N.C., has canceled classes for the rest of the week and asked students to evacuate by 10 a.m. this morning. Residential Life and Housing Services Director Eddie Hull said the University will have to temporarily house only about 13 undergraduate students—all of whom attend Duke but are studying at Beaufort this semester—in residence halls. They will stay in Edens Quadrangle, where some rooms are currendy unoccupied in anticipation of students returning in the spring from abroad. Undergraduates from the University of North CarolinaChapel Hill and Davidson College will be supported by their respective schools, and graduate students, faculty and staff will find their own individual accommodations. Assistant Director of Auxiliary Services Anne Light said the University offered to house Duke graduate SEE EVACUATION ON PAGE 7
Members of the University’s Latino community are furious over Sigma Chi fraternity’s “Viva Mexico” party, held last Saturday night. The concerned students and faculty said they see the party which included invitations in the form of expired green cards and a “border control” at the door—as derogatory towards Mexicans and Latinos, and as a continuing example ofhow Latinos are marginalized on campus and beyond. nt isn’t just this one weekend; it isn’t just Sigma Chi. I’ve been here three years and this is the straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Ornaf Rashrd, ajbintMDJD candidate and president of the Duke Hispanic/Latino Law Student Association. To some, the party seemed innocent and well-intentioned. In an e-mail, Sigma Chi president Marc Mattioli wrote that the event was “designed to be a light-hearted representation of the Mexican tourism scene.” Still, Mattioli said his fraternity takes responsibility for its actions. “We are fully aware that mistakes were made in the presenta—
PATRICK
SCHNEIDER/KRT
Coastal North Carolina residents preparefor the arrival of Hurricane Isabel Tuesday.
It’s not easy being clean by
Aaron Levine
the chronicle
Yeji Lee
THE CHRONICLE'
Tim Johnson crinkled his forehead as he tried his best to think ofhis personal pet peeves. It was only 7:30 a.m. on a Friday morning, and the heat of the late summer day had not quite crept in, but he was already sweating—the 46-year-old man had, so far, replaced a dozen trash bags. “I like my floors clean,” he answered after a moment, taking off his cap to wipe the sweat. “Showers, too. You know, those silver things where the water comes out from?” Johnson demonstrated with his hands, pretending to dab something in front of him. “I like it when they shine.” He stood on the first floor of House T, taking a rare momentary break to catch his breath before hurtling up the several flights of stairs to attack the next set of garbage cans and bathrooms. Tall and soft-spoken, Johnson has worked as a housekeeper in Craven Quad since 1992, mopping flooded bathroom floors and tackling mountains ofbeer cans for 11 years. SEE A DAYIN THE LIFE ON PAGE 6
tion of our party and we are takinternally to make sure that this situation does not arise again,” he wrote. “We are very apologetic to the Latino community at Duke and any others that found offense in our actions.” Sandra Sanchez, president of Lambda Pi Chi sorority, said that she had not spoken with anyone from Sigma Chi, but felt that whatever their reasoning, certain respectful decisions should have been made, “Even if [the party] were meant to be fun, they should have thought about the consequences,” Sanchez said, This is not the first time that Latino students have spoken out against social events they viewed as belittling to the Latino community. In October 1994, members of Mi Gente requested that Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and Pi Beta Phi sorority change the name of its annual “South of the Border” mixer, noting that the name of the event used derogatory stereotypes, Sanchez said she hoped the Latino community would make a formal request to have Sigma Chi held responsible in the Greek system. ‘They should be j ng S( e pS
SEE SIGMA CHI ON PAGE 8