reces s
students
Several young alumni find success afte r leaving Duke
Recolonized Pi Kappa Phi fraternity begins recruiting new members
w sports
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Eight men's tennis players qualify for ITA Regionals
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The Chronicled
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2005
THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY
ONE HUNDRED AND FIRST YEAR, ISSUE 38
Event parking spurs complaints Econ department to eliminate B.A. major WOJCIECHOWSKA
BY IZA THE CHRONICLE
Students with Blue Zone parking passes have been required to move their cars from the lot during several weekends this semester. by
many events that require students to relocate their vehicles. “It’s really annoying, and I feel like there should be a better option,” sophomore Rachel Brown said. Sophomore Brandon Guard received a $4O improper permit ticket for not moving his car back to the Blue Zone after a home football game weekend.
Diana Ni
THE CHRONICLE
For students with Blue Zone
parking permits, the Rolling Stones concert, home football games and graduate school basketball ticket campouts all mean one thing—the hassle of moving their cars to Central Campus for the weekend. This year Duke has sponsored
SIOM grant aids cancer research by
Steve Veres
THE CHRONICLE
The Preston Robert Tisch family donated $lO million
to the Brain Tumor Center of Duke University Medical
Center and the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, officials announced Wednesday. The contribution is the largest donation the DCCC has ever received, and the funds will eventually be split to support research and hire new faculty, said Dr. Henry Friedman, co-director of the Brain Tumor Center. Because of the gift, the Brain Tumor Center will now officially be referred to as the Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center at Duke Tisch, chair of Loews Corporation and chair and co-owner of the New York Giants football organization, was diagnosed with inoperable SEE GRANT ON
PAGE 7
“It’s a pain—especially when you have a lot of other weekend events going on—sometimes you just forget where your car is,” Guard said. “But then you don’t remember until you have a class conflict.” In response to the numerous events requiring car removal, SEE PARKING ON PAGE
6
In an effort to give economics majors a more complete understanding of the field, the Department of Economics will begin to revamp its undergraduate degree program in 2006. The department, which is the most popular at the University, will begin to phase out the bachelor of arts degree next fall; students matriculating in or after 2006 will only have the option of receiving a bachelor of science degree. Current and prospective economics majors already enrolled at Duke will not be affected by the changes, but faculty are encouraging the undergraduates to pursue the B.S. track. Emma Rasiel, director of undergraduate studies for economics, said more than 60 percent of economic majors have already declared their intention to earn a B.S. degree. The elimination of the degree is one of the first steps in the Undergraduate Economics Major Initiative, which also includes the restructuring of course distribution requirements for majors. The changes were prompted by top academic deans’ sug-
gestions that the department provide students with more
hands-on research experience. “We said, ‘Rather than just trying to tweak our program, why not take this opportunity to look at the program as whole—if we had the possibility to create an ideal program, what would it look like?’” said Assistant Professor of the Practice Michelle Connolly, who led the committee that mapped out the major’s changes. One notable difference between the B.A. and B.S. majors was that the B.A. degree did not require undergraduates to take econometrics, which will now be required for all majors. “It’s certainly not that we’re unhappy with having a B.A. degree, it’s just that it’s important enough for every student to have econometrics,” said Connel Fullenkamp, associate director of undergraduate studies for economics. Fewer students may decide to major in economics because of the degree change. Officials, however, said they could not predict how significant the decrease would be because they could not assess the factors that influenced SEE EGON ON PAGE 5
Dorm maintenance frustrates students by
Katherine Macllwaine THE CHRONICLE
From outside their grand stone walls, the buildings of the West Campus Gothic Wonderland appear unshakable. In reality, however, they are not always as sturdy as they seem —and this semester, residents of Craven Quadrangle have been consistendy reminded of structural problems. Two major incidents involving faulty plumbing occurred in Craven within a month. The morning of Sept. 8, a clogged pipe in a urinal exploded, flooding the third-floorbathroom of House R and spreading its damage to residents below. “There was water cascading out of the bathroom,” said third-floor resident and senior David Schloss. Water came through his door and collected on the floor, but his room suffered from no significant damages. Second-floor resident and seniorYuval Patel was not so fortunate. Because of the flood, parts ofPatel’s ceiling collapsed, and his mattress was ruined. Soon after, in the early morning hours of Oct. 6, a marble partition in the basement bathroom of House VO collapsed. “It was cracked all over the floor,” sophomore Cleland Robertson said. “The door was blown clear. The toilet seat
TOM MENDEL/THE CHRONICLE
Several maintenance problems have popped up this year in dormitoSEE DORMS ON PAGE 8
rieSr including a broken bathroom lock in Crowell Quadrangle.