Earth Day
Space
Festival features food, fuel and Captai n Planet, PAGE 3
New Duke astronautics club gets off the ground, PAGE 4
Baseball
k m?
Duke wins its first ACC series in over one year, SPORTSWRAP 2
The Chronic!^
Med student arrested on rape charge
COACH P GETS HER BLUE DEVIL DAY
for blood type mix-up
Eugene Wang THE CHRONICLE
by
A Duke student in the School ofMedicine was arrested by the Durham Police Department on a second-degree rape charge Saturday, University officials confirmed Sunday. Mohamad Halawi, a 23-year-old originally from Lebanon, was arrested Saturday morning and released on a $50,000 bond that afternoon, officials said. “I know there was an allegation made by another person of a sexual assault, and he was brought down to the magistrate’s office, and it thought there was enough to justify the charge,” said John Bumess, senior vice president for government affairs and public relations. The Durham Herald-Sun reported Saturday that the alleged victim was a 23-yearold woman. David Jarmul, Duke’s associvice president of news and ate communications, said the University has received no additional information about the identity of the woman. “The alleged incident occurred the evening of [April] 19th, and Duke was notified about it the next day,” Jarmul said. “Since then, Duke has been cooperating and working closely with the Durham Police Department.” Magistrate Eric Van Vleet told The Herald-Sun that he had no information regarding Halawi’s past and found no evidence of a prior criminal record. Van Vleet said the punishment for
DUHS sued Patient's family alleges error in transfusion led to death by
Jasten McGowan THE CHRONICLE
Family members of a patient who died at Duke University Health System filed a lawsuit against DUHS last month regarding an alleged transfusion of the
wrong blood type, The Raleigh News and Observer reported Saturday. Gene Edward Harrell, who suffered from non-Hodgkins lymphoma, came to DUHS for treatment in March 2005. He had a severe reaction to the erroneous transfusion—preventing a stem cell transplant to treat the disease—and later died in January 2006, the lawsuit states.According to the suit, Harrell’s cancer rapidly progressed without the stem cell treatment, leading to his death. Neither Harrell’s son, who filed the lawsuit, nor representatives of DUHS could be reached for comment Sunday. The lawsuit comes four years after the transplantation of a heart and lungs of the incorrect blood type into 17-year-old Jessica Santillan, who died after the procedures in 2003. The Santillan case prompted an array of safety reviews and policy changes by DUHS to prevent similar errors. According to the American Red Cross, human error in the transfusion process —
WEIYITAN/THE
CHRONICLE
New women's basketball head coach Joanne P. McCailie shares a moment with a new friend during a press conference held to introduce her Friday afternoon at Cameron indoor Stadium.
SEE ARREST ON PAGE 6
SEE LAWSUIT ON PAGE 8
Bomb threat deemed no hazard LDOC rapper issues apology BY ZAK KAZZAZ THE CHRONICLE
Early Friday morning, Duke University Police De-
CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO
Duke officials did not evacuate residents after a bomb threat was made on Bell Tower Dormitory on East Campus early Friday morning.
partment received an anonymous bomb threat for Bell Tower Dormitory and another building, which does not exist. The threat—received through a telecommunications device for the deaf—was not found credible by the police, but they investigated the dorm to ensure there was no hazard, said Larry Moneta, vice president for student affairs. Bell Tower residents were not evacuated and received an e-mail about the threat several hours later. The incident added Duke to a list of schools and universities across the country that have received security threats since the Virginia Tech shootings a week ago. Although some universities have chosen to evacuate buildings and cancel classes in response to the threats, others have opted to continue normal activities. “Threats are made over the course of the year, SEE BELL TOWER ON PAGE
8
by
Caroline McGeough THE CHRONICLE
Common, the rapper scheduled to perform at the Last Day of Classes concert Wednesday, has apologized for publicly denouncing the men’s lacrosse team at a performance last spring. “I want to say first ofall that I apologize for accusing people wrong that didn’t do it,” Common told The Raleigh News and Observer Thursday. During an April 19, 2006, concert at Emory University, the rapper said he believed allegations of rape made against members of the team. Common said his statements regarding the allegations stemmed from personal reactions and did not reflect the facts of the case. SEE COMMON ON PAGE
5