december 4, 2009 issue

Complaints prompt RGAC to revise menu

by Nicole KyleThe chronicle

The residential Group Assessment committee has de-cided to revise the section menu for selective living groups beginning in early January.

The shift follows complaints from the interfraternity council and the Selective house council.

“This is going to be a collective process between [iFc, Selective house council and campus council] to make sure, at the end of the day, we have a menu that’s most beneficial for all stakeholders and students —both unaffiliated and affiliated,” said campus council Presi-dent Stephen Temple, a junior.

Although the original rGAc scores will remain, there will be changes to where groups can choose to live. The scores determine the order in which SlGs can

See RGAC on PAGe 4

Duke weighs consulting optionby Will Robinson

The chronicle

When the Board of Trustees Business and Finance com-mittee convenes this weekend, its members will be acutely aware of the steps that Duke’s peer institutions are taking to confront the challenge of a recession. Several of those schools have hired external consulting firms, just like a pri-vate company would do, to scrutinize management prac-tices and identify ways to save money.

The trend-setter for this approach is located only eight miles down the road from Duke.

holden Thorp, chancellor of the University of north car-olina at chapel hill, announced last Spring that he would use a gift from an anonymous donor to hire management con-sulting firm Bain & company to help Unc cut about $150 million, or 7.9 percent, of its $1.9 billion operating budget. The donor specifically requested that Unc hire Bain.

“Public confidence in the way that universities are man-aged, is strained,” Thorp said in a video posted on Unc’s Web site after Bain completed its report in July. “i’m proud that carolina has been ahead of the curve in addressing these concerns this year.”

Several weeks later, Bain started working on similar

projects at cornell University and the University of califor-nia, Berkeley. When Duke’s Board of Trustees last met in october, the growing trend was a focus of conversation for its Business and Finance committee.

“We did discuss the possibility of bringing in an outside consultant,” professor of biomedical engineering Warren Grill, a faculty representative on the committee, said in an october interview. “i think it’s something we will consider going forward.”

But for now, the committee has opted to pursue a “ground up,” “grassroots strategic planning process” that will occur at the level of the University’s individual schools, Grills said.

“There’s going to have to be some shared pain at all levels,” he said.

The Duke Administrative reform Team, created in Feb-ruary to identify ways to help the University trim $125 mil-lion from its budget over three years, will continue its own efforts to reduce costs. DArT is headed by Provost Peter lange and executive Vice President Tallman Trask.

Trask said in an october interview that members of DArT will rely on its existing experience in cost-containment

See ConsultinG on PAGe 5

UNC, Cornell among peers who have hired Bain & Co.

by Lindsey RuppThe chronicle

The Board of Trustees will consider the first phase of the University’s involvement in china at its meeting this weekend.

Duke is considering building a pres-ence in Kunshan province in two phas-es—the first is a partnership between the Fuqua School of Business, the government of Kunshan province and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, said Trustees chair and Democratic state Sen. Dan Blue, law ’73.

if the Trustees approve the Fuqua

phase in china, the University will send a delegation to china to sign the phase one agreement and break ground on fa-cilities for Fuqua programs in Kunshan in January 2010, according to a nov. 19 slideshow presentation posted on the Academic council Web site. The facili-ties would be ready for occupancy in 2011, the document states.

“As people look at the kind of interdis-ciplinary approaches that we have to deal-ing with different issues, it’s attractive to people, and the government of Kunshan

is the richest, the most successful small city in china being 1.5 million [people],” Blue said. “The way Duke delivers education is the way china feels education should be delivered to china in the 21st century.”

Pending Board approval, the Kun-shan government will provide 200 acres of land at no cost to Duke and build the facilities for the Fuqua programs on the land, Blue added.

Under the proposal, the initial facilities

See ChinA on PAGe 6

by Lindsey RuppThe chronicle

The Board of Trustees will review the University’s financial situation, consider replacements for two trustees and dis-cuss the potential effects of health care reform on Duke and the health system.

As the University continues to try to cut about $70 million from its bud-get this year, the Trustees will hear an update on Duke’s financial state at its meeting this weekend. executive Vice President Tallman Trask said he and Provost Peter lange are on target to meet their budget goals so far.

Trask added that with monthly retirement incentive decisions due Dec. 8, the Duke Administrative re-form Team has completed its major personnel projects and has begun to examine program budgets, including those for the units of information Technology and communications.

lange said that as units begin to see reductions in personnel from retire-ment initiatives, vacancy management and reductions in overtime, he will look to update the Board on how those units are beginning to adjust to smaller staffs.

See tRustees on PAGe 6

Trustees to discuss finances, health care

Trustees weekend: eyeing China and the world

Duke’s Board will consider groundbreaking expansion into China

The ChronicleThe independenT daily aT duke universiTy

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, IssUE 71www.dukechronicle.com

“Our aspirations in the last year or two certainly have not declined... but the capability to fund all those aspirations has.” —Warren Grill, University Priorities Committee Chair on objectives. See story page 3

RLHS to bring back Saturday cleaning, Page 3

onTherecordDuke pulls the upset against Buckeyes, Page 7

RLHS to restore Saturday

cleaning, Page 3

2 | FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 ThE ChRonIClE

On stands today!

Winter Break required reading

worldandnationNEW DELHI — India offered a plan

Thursday to unilaterally slow the pace of its carbon emissions by 2020, and as-sured lawmakers that the offer does not amount to a sellout of national interests.

After a four-hour discussion on cli-mate policy in parliament, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said that India’s decision to cut emission intensity by 20 to 25 percent—that is, emissions rela-tive to the size of its economy—will not be legally binding or subject to interna-tional verification. But he added that, if India were provided with international aid or technology, it was prepared to offer more at the global climate nego-tiations that are to begin next week in Copenhagen.

“Our emissions will go up, but its pace will slow. We are not doing this because of the Copenhagen meeting, but out of

our own national interest,” Ramesh said during a parliamentary session in which lawmakers cautioned against succumb-ing to international pressure.

The offer is a marked shift for India, which has argued that the international onus to curtail carbon emissions should be on rich, industrialized countries be-cause their it was their development that was at the root of global warming and because they can more easily afford to take action. Today, however, rapid eco-nomic growth and development have made India—a country of more than a billion people—one of the world’s top emerging emitters of greenhouse gases.

“We did not pollute for the last 200 to 300 years, but will we do it in the next 30 years,” Ramesh said. “We cannot sit like a frog in the well and say we won’t do any-thing. The world will laugh at us.”

“ ”A good scare is worth more to a man than good advice.

— Edgar Howe

TODAY IN HISTORY1973: Pioneer 10 reaches Jupiter

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report, billed as one of the most comprehensive studies to date of how low-income and mi-nority students fare in college, shows a wide gap in graduation rates at public four-year colleges nationwide and “alarming” dispari-ties in success at community colleges.

The analysis, released Thursday, pro-vides a statistical starting point for 24 pub-lic higher education systems that pledged two years ago to halve the achievement gap in college access and completion by 2015. Together, the systems represent two-fifths of all undergraduate students in four-year public colleges.

The research found that about 45 per-cent of low-income and underrepresented minority students entering as freshmen in 1999 had earned bachelor’s degrees six years later at the colleges studied, com-pared with 57 percent of other students.

Stem cell research approvedWASHINGTON, D.C. — The Obama ad-

ministration this week approved the first human embryonic stem cells for experi-ments by federally funded scientists un-der a new policy designed to dramatical-ly expand government support for one of the most promising but also most con-tentious fields of biomedical research.

The National Institutes of Health autho-rized 11 lines of cells produced by scien-tists at the Children’s Hospital in Boston and two lines created by researchers at the Rockefeller University in New York. All were obtained from embryos left over by couples seeking treatment for infertility.

“This is a real change in the landscape,” NIH Director Francis Collins said. “This is the first down payment on what is going to be a much longer list ... that will empower the scientific community to explore the poten-tial of embryonic stem cell research.”

TODAY:

5236

SATURDAY:

4341

India offers plan to reduce carbon emissions by 2020

Report shows major gap in graduation rates

CARLA RIvERA/THE LOS ANGELES TIMES

Rochelle Carros, a senior at Cal State Dominguez Hills in Carson, Calif., plead to the Cal State Universi-ty board earlier this month. Courses in her program have been cut, and she is not alone. The California State University system—the nation’s largest, with 23 campuses and 450,000 students—had its state funding cut by more than half a billion dollars this fiscal year.

ThE ChRonIClE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 | 3

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Saturday cleaning to be restored

CAmpUS COUNCIl

by Shaoli ChaudhuriThe chronicle

The new year will see the return of Sat-urday cleanings.

At campus council’s meeting Thursday night, Bernard Smith, assistant director of housekeeping operations for residence life and housing Services, announced that Saturday cleanings of West and east campus dormitories will resume Jan. 16. rlhS eliminated the cleanings in August because of significant cuts in housekeep-ing operations, he said, noting that the number of positions was reduced from 120 to 88 this year.

Smith said the decision to bring back Saturday cleanings was a result of a se-mester of complaints and concerns from students.

Following the elimination of Saturday cleanings, rlhS monitored the effects and complaints, ultimately finding it fea-sible to bring back the old cleaning sched-ule, Smith said. Starting next semester, 16 housekeeping staff members will be in charge of Saturday cleanings, with six on east and 10 on West. in order to overcome the difficulty of having fewer employees, housekeeping staff will be working with a new “team cleaning concept.”

See CounCil on PAGe 4

Committee reviews cost-cutting effortsby Zachary Tracer

The chronicle

Warren Grill, chair of the University Priorities committee and Addy professor of biomedical engineering, presented an update on the committee’s work to the Academic council Thursday.

The committee works to define Uni-versity and academic priorities in order to help administrators allocate funding.

“our aspirations in the last year or two certainly have not declined... but the ca-pability to fund all those aspirations has,” Grill said.

in the next few months, administrators will be making decisions for the next fiscal year about compensation and other pri-orities at the school and University levels, said craig henriquez, Academic council chair and professor of biomedical engi-neering and computer science.

During the Fall, the committee moni-tored Duke’s efforts to cut its budget in response to financial difficulties. it has reviewed the Duke Administrative reform Team’s efforts to cut costs and examined how cuts in the Facilities Man-agement Department have affected the University.

“The grounds will not be kept in the splendor that we are used to,” Grill said, adding that faculty offices will be cleaned less frequently, trash cans will not be emp-tied daily and litter will not be picked up as quickly across the University.

Groundskeeping has to be maintained at its current level in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, at the hospital and in athletic facilities, he noted.

Building temperatures have also been

reduced to about 68 degrees to cut spend-ing, Grill said.

“i think that we have largely done the easy things,” he said. “i think the challeng-es going forward are going to be a little more demanding and we’re going to need to be very prudent.”

The committee will also discuss Duke’s administrative structure and the impacts of the faculty early retirement incentive.

“it’s prudent to look at our adminis-trative structures and ensure that those are in alignment with our strategic plan,” Grill said. “This will be a big part of what we will try to do in the coming semester.”

The committee should ensure that the faculty retirement incentive does not cause more professors to retire than are hired, he said. he noted that efforts to generate additional revenue, such as the creation of new masters pro-grams, have resulted in more students attending Duke.

Grill displayed several slides listing the committee’s past and future initiatives. Among the issues the committee plans to consider in the Spring are fringe benefit cost containment, “envisioning a smaller Duke” and how auxiliary enterprises such as Dining Services and residence life and housing Services will be budgeted and funded.

in other business:The council approved a proposal sub-

mitted by the Fuqua School of Business for a Master of Management in clinical informatics degree. The Board of Trustees will vote on the proposal at its meeting this

weekend.in a closed session that ran for almost

an hour, the council continued its discus-sion of Duke in china, which it also dis-cussed in a closed session at its nov. 19 meeting. Dr. Sanders Williams, senior ad-viser for international strategy and senior vice chancellor for academic affairs, led the discussion.

ACADemIC COUNCIl

CAROLINE RODRIGUEz/THE CHRONICLE

Warren Grill, chair of the University priorities Com-mittee, said Duke needs to be ‘very prudent’ as it continues to cut costs to close its deficit.


“We’re just doing more with less,” Smith said.

rlhS Associate Dean Joe Gonzalez said the reinstitution of Saturday cleanings will incur no additional cost, a factor that played heavily in rlhS’ decision. he added that staff levels during the weekday workdays will be ad-justed accordingly to compensate for the Saturday schedule.

campus council President

Stephen Temple, a junior, said members were strongly in fa-vor of reinstituting Saturday cleanings.

Students can continue to do their share in keeping the cam-pus clean, Smith said.

“Just be more considerate... you’re going to be having your parties Friday nights and that’s fine, but pick up [after] your-self so we don’t have to pick up 400, 500 beer bottles or beer cans,” he said. “Just pick up, that’s all we’re asking.”

in other business: After a presentation from

lDoc committee members, campus council moved to provide $15,000 for the last Day of classes. Duke Univer-sity Union decided to grant a cash allocation of the same amount for lDoc in its meet-ing Tuesday.

next semester, campus council will discuss giving space on central campus to Panhellenic Association sorori-ties, Temple said.

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select housing. The decision to keep the original scores is a reflection of rGAc’s faith in the rGAc process, said Joe Gonzalez, associate dean for residential life.

“The rGAc process reflects a great deal of effort from a lot of stu-dents, and it produced results that are very balanced and very accurate in many ways,” he said. “The students managed the system very well.”

The leaders of iFc and Selective house council approached rGAc and residential life and housing Services, who ultimately approved the decision to revise the menu.

“We’ve invited the presidents of campus council, iFc and Selective house council, among other rep-resentatives, to come forward with a resolution,” Gonzalez said.

once there is a resolution that all three groups support, the proposal will be submitted to rlhS.

rGAc co-chair John Pryor, a ju-nior, said the decision to revise was warranted.

“The original menu was prepared by campus council, which represents the student body—we’re simply mak-ing the process more inclusive,” he said. “it’s important to remember, though, that rlhS has its own views on how the space should be used and we still need to consider independents.”

Temple said the new menu will differ from the original but will still adhere to the initial priorities set by campus council.

These priorities include making sure there are no small pockets of independents stuck between large

SlG sections, the “orphan-resident effect,” maintaining an equal distri-bution in each residence area and keeping in mind the balance be-tween non-affiliated and affiliated students.

“A lot of the priorities that went into the old menu will remain. The primary difference is that there will be more involvement from other stakeholders,” Temple said.

When it comes to revising the menu itself, both iFc and Selective house council will have signifi-cant input, Temple said. it comes down to flexibility and how the groups are going to divide open space selections among iFc, Selec-tive house council and campus council, he added.

negotiations between the presi-dents of campus council, iFc and Selective house council, under rGAc’s leadership, will begin in January, Pryor said.

Gonzalez said he is very excited about the enthusiasm shown by the three groups involved and is looking forward to seeing the end result.

campus council released the original menu before Thanksgiving break. The results sparked concern from both iFc and Selective house council.

“Basically, [the original menu] reverted most sections so they wouldn’t get the quality of section that distinguishes fraternities from other blocks,” said iFc President eric Kaufman, a senior. “We’re going to get together, and literally start from scratch. i have no plans except for making sure there’s common space and that more sections are on lower levels.”

RGAC from page 1

INDU RAMESH/THE CHRONICLE

At Thursday’s Campus Council meeting, Campus Council president Stephen Temple (right) listens to proposals to restore Saturday cleaning in dormitories. RlHS says the decision came after a semester of complaints from students.

COUNCIl from page 3


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measures to replicate the expertise that an outside company like Bain would provide. Trask noted that Vice President for human resources Kyle cavanaugh worked in a similar capacity during his time at the University of Florida.

“it didn’t make sense to me that i’d pay millions of dollars when i had the in-house talent,” Trask said.

The services offered by a firm like Bain are indeed expensive. Berkeley’s chan-cellor robert Birgeneau has said that the school’s agreement with the company will cost Berkeley $3 million.

“if we could save $30, $40, $50 million for an investment of $3 million, i’d be es-tatic,” Birgeneau told The new York Times last month. “i’m a physicist, not an expert on organizational structures. But i believe we can be more efficient.”

At cornell, Provost Kent Fuchs initially planned to conduct his own budget review aimed at cutting costs and trimming fat from the school’s bureaucratic structures.

“When i decided i wasn’t personally involved in a number of those areas, i re-alized we needed professional support,” he told The cornell Daily Sun in August. Fuchs declined to comment for this story.

Although Duke has not contracted a similar service, both Trask and President richard Brodhead have pointed to the same person who fills a role similar to that of an external consultant: Timothy Walsh,

formerly of huron consulting Group and now an assistant vice president and control-ler for the University.

Walsh’s position involves controlling the flow of money through the budget, Trask said.

Brodhead called huron a leader in high-er education consulting, and Walsh said he worked with about a dozen public and private universities, including two peer pri-vate schools in the re-gion, before coming to Duke five years ago.

Many higher edu-cation experts have identified administra-tive growth and bu-reaucratic bloat, par-ticularly in places like student services, as one of the primary reasons for universities’ financial struggles.

Between 2002 and 2006, the level of edu-cational spending for classroom instruction decreased across the board while spending in other areas such as student services, ad-ministration and maintenance increased, according to a January 2009 report by The Delta Project on Postsecondary education costs, Productivity and Accountability.

The issue goes beyond just student growth, Walsh said, noting that research spending has been a large area of expansion at Duke.

“The administration grows not just to support the students... research being one of the biggest factors,” he said. “The health

system’s been growing like a weed for the past decade.”

Walsh also identified the proliferation of federal research regulations, which have forced universities to hire more employees and spend more on resources that ensure compliance with new mandates. Walsh added that Bain “totally missed that piece about research” in its Unc report.

Getting down to the implementation

Both Grill and Walsh said Duke can learn from Bain’s work at other schools, despite the fact that Berkeley and Unc are publicly funded.

“Universities are universities,” Walsh said. “We’ve dissected

every word of the Bain study at carolina.”Public schools face pressure from taxpay-

ers, but Duke still faces a large dose of what Walsh called “internal pressure,” largely from its deans and its donors.

But Duke administrators are confident they can do the same work as an outside consultant. cooperation between the Trust-ees, the administration and the faculty have led to a successful cost-cutting formula so far, Grill said.

“We’ve applied the exact same method-ology that a Bain or a Boston consulting Group or a huron would use,” Walsh said. “our collaborative process, i believe, will be far better in achieving savings... simply be-

cause we know the place so much better.”Walsh said DArT and its contributors

have far better internal knowledge of Duke, and will never enact cost-cutting measures that interfere with the University’s central educational mission. it can be easy for out-siders to identify places to cut costs when they are not responsible for the implemen-tation of those cuts, Walsh said, noting that he will oversee Duke’s cost reduction mea-sures through to completion.

“The implementation is the hard part,” he said. “Unc will have a very hard time implementing [some of Bain’s recommen-dations].”

Bain’s work at Unc and other schools has drawn skepticism from students, alum-ni and faculty members alike.

“They think the budget realignment process has been taken out of the hands of academic administrators who will be con-tinuously conscious of the mission of the university and the needs of the academic faculty, and placed in the hands of consul-tants who are outsiders,” lange said.

Walsh said he hopes the Trustees will continue to consider bringing in outside professionals, and he noted that the Uni-versity frequently hires external consultants to examine specific departments. he said he expects the Board to discuss the option at all future meetings, and would welcome the help of external consultants if Trustees do decide to go that route.

“i’d be thrilled to have more resources,” he said.

Lindsey Rupp contributed reporting

CONSUlTING from page 1

“Our collaborative process, I believe, will

be far better” — Timothy Walsh,

assistant vice president/controller for the University


chair and Democratic state Sen. Dan Blue, law ’73, said he is confident Duke is on track to meet its budgetary goals.

he added that the Trustees will continue to stay informed about cost-cutting methods, including decentralized layoffs.

“The Business and Finance committee will probe that, i’m sure... and the entire Board will be interested in that,” Blue said. “As you know, there is no policy to have a reduction in force using [large-scale] tactics. Duke is a decentralized campus in many ways... we discussed that again and thought at one point as this recession got deep-er and deeper that we had all kinds of options available to us and [mass layoffs] is not the one that we chose.”

Blue also said the Board will review the project definition for K4, the proposed fourth wing of Keohane Quadrangle. The basic inside design has been completed, Trask said.

The Board is considering two candidates to fill the un-expired terms of rev. charles Smith, Trinity ’62 and Di-vinity ’65, and Dr. lewis “rusty” Williams, Ph.D. ’77 and Medicine ’78. The approved candidates will take their

positions in July 2010, Blue said. Smith will have reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 years old and Wil-liams chose to retire before the expiration of his term to pursue other things, Blue added.

To fill an unexpired term, the Board may vote to ap-prove candidates and bypass the traditional Trustee ap-proval process, said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.

The Board will also discuss how national health care reform could affect the University and the Duke Univer-sity health System, Blue said.

in addition to discussing the future of the University health plan for employees, Trask said the Trustees will en-gage in discussions already taking place in DUhS about potential health care reform scenarios.

“Duke is not a minor player in this, [Dr. Victor Dzau, chancellor for health affairs and president and chief ex-ecutive officer of DUhS,] is very involved at the national level of what health care ought to look like,” Blue said. “We are a major player in the region and nation, so how this regulation impacts Duke will be very representative of how this will impact a lot of other institutions as well.”

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CLASSIFIEDS

CHINA from page1

in Kunshan would provide a minimum 20-year free lease and free utilities for five years and probably be “free in perpetuity,” the slideshow presentation states. The Kunshan government will also provide money and help Duke start its programs and “create a tax exempt entity able to deliver all activities except local chinese degree programs,” which would “put us on an equal footing with chinese universities, never been done be-fore by a U.S. school,” the document states.

Shanghai Jiao Tong University would be involved in faculty hiring, post-doctorate training and in partnering with Duke on activities—including sponsoring Fuqua’s financial and professional services activities in Shanghai, the presentation states.

Although Blue said Fuqua initiated the partnership with china, the site in Kunshan could house many more Duke programs in the future.

Blue said the Kunshan facilities will be built large enough to accommodate potential programs from other Duke schools on an experimental basis, but with no obliga-tion for Duke to create other programs there.

other schools and institutes that could sponsor future programs in china include the nicholas School of the environment, the Pratt School of engineering, the San-ford School of Public Policy, the School of law and some undergraduate experiences like Dukeengage or study abroad, Blue said.

This first phase has no direct cost to the University, so continued financial support from chinese players—pri-marily the government—will be key to the future success of Duke’s plans, Blue noted.

Blue emphasized that the only portion of Duke’s plan in china the Trustees will discuss this weekend is the Fuqua phase. The Board will not discuss the second phase of the program, which would include experimental gradu-ate programs and eventually undergraduate experience.

There is “still a lot of work to be done” in considering expanding Duke’s presence in china, Blue said.

The University and the Board will analyze many concerns before committing to further plans in china, including the effect overseas programs could have on education quality in Durham, financial stainability and cultural differences.

Still, Blue said a presence in china fits with Duke’s in-ternational goals.

“Duke, like the other universities that aspire to be world class, recognize that they need to have a presence in china,” Blue said. “if we’re going to get the best students, the best resources, the best faculty, we decided a long time ago we needed to be a player in the world.”

TRUSTeeS from page 1

Duke’s long ride in the ACC is finally over, and now, the Blue Devils kick off what they hope will be a long journey in the NCAA tournament.

After 20 conference matchups—including 17 wins—unseeded Duke (27-5) opens postseason play

Friday at 7 p.m. against Tennessee (23-7) in Knoxville, Tenn. The Vol-unteers are also not seeded, but their campus is being used as one of 16 host sites for the tournament’s first round, meaning that Tennes-see has the advantage of playing in front of its home crowd tonight.

The Blue Devils and Volunteers are two of four teams playing their first-round contests in Knoxville.

The others are No. 11 Minnesota and Louisville, who meet Friday as well, and the winners of the two games will meet Saturday for a spot in the Round of 16. The second-round match is set for Saturday.

Duke has advanced past the first round of the NCAA tournament in its last four appearances.

—from staff reports

Men’s BasketBall

Duke puts loss in rearview mirror

chase olivieri/The chronicle

andre Dawkins hopes to continue establishing himself as a productive player for Duke against st. John’s saturday at Cameron Indoor stadium.

by Jason PalmataryThe ChRoNiCLe

Sometimes when a team goes on the road and takes one on the chin in a hostile environment, the quickest remedy can be to get back to its home arena and correct its flaws against a lesser opponent.

That situation is the exact one before No. 6 Duke (6-1) as it returns to the friendly confines of Cameron indoor Stadium to take on a St. John’s squad with a deceptive undefeated record early in the season. The Red Storm (6-0) hasn’t been particularly impressive against a paltry nonconference schedule, as its largest margin of victory has been just 13 points. one of those victories was a three-point squeaker at home against Brown Nov. 20.

in the preseason, St. John’s was ranked 11th out of 16 teams in the Big east. But regardless of its early competition, the Red Storm has yet to post a loss, and if the Blue Devils learned anything from their misstep against unranked Wisconsin, it is that they cannot take any opponent lightly.

“We learned a lot. There is a lot we can take away from this game,” Jon Scheyer said after the loss to the Badgers.

See m. bball oN pAge 12

No. 6 Duke vs. St. John’sCameron Indoor Stadium • Saturday • 3:30 p.m. • ESPN2

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Blue Devils hope to upset host Volunteers

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woMen’s BasketBall

83 67Thomas delivers knockout blowJunior’s 29 points, production from bench keys late run to give Blue Devils marquee win

andrew zheng/The chronicle

Junior Jasmine thomas continued her stretch of all-american play with a career-high 29 points thursday night.

by Nicholas SchwartzThe ChRoNiCLe

in a nonconference battle that more closely resembled a late March prize fight, Duke got a good look at a potential NCAA tournament favorite. After an evenly matched first period, No. 11 Duke (6-1) made all the necessary hustle plays in the second half, forcing 21 Buckeye turnovers overall, and rode a career-high 29 points from guard Jasmine Thomas to a signature 83-67 win over No. 3 ohio State.

Duke’s physical defense and extra effort from the opening tip prevented the Buck-eyes from establishing any sort of offensive rhythm, and held a high-octane offense to a season-low point total. ohio State (8-1) entered the game Thursday night as the third-highest scoring team in the nation, averaging 89.4 points per contest.

The first half was closely contested, with each team missing opportunities to sepa-rate itself. Despite forcing 12 turnovers in the first period, the Blue Devils were often unable to convert defense into offense, only shooting 41.9 percent from the field.

Just five minutes into the game, senior forward Joy Cheek got tangled up with a de-fender when positioning herself for a pass and had to leave the game with an apparent left ankle injury. Without one key rebound-er in the post, junior Krystal Thomas and freshman Allison Vernerey were tasked with handling a stout ohio State frontcourt, led by 6-foot-4 center Jantel Lavender.

With an impressive array of post moves, Vernerey took advantage of shaky interior

defense from the Buckeyes, scoring a quick eight points off the bench in the first half. Duke’s bench outscored ohio State’s re-serves 28-2 Thursday night.

Cheek’s rebounding ability was missed, however, as ohio State outrebounded the Blue Devils 23-14 in the first period. By tak-ing advantage of offensive rebounds with five second-chance points in the first half, the Buckeyes were able to stay within striking dis-tance, down only four points at the break.

ohio State came out firing in the second half, and two straight threes by guard Brit-tany Johnson—part of a 14-6 Buckeye run to begin the period—tied the game at 33. After Thomas and ohio State guard Tayler hill traded 3-point shots to make it 45-44 Duke, the Blue Devils made a visible effort to play more aggressively on defense and fight for re-bounds in the post. After being outrebound-ed by nine in the first half, Duke slimmed the deficit to just five in the second period to go along with seven blocks and 11 steals.

“i think we didn’t react well to their physi-cal play,” ohio State coach Jim Foster said. “They came after us and we didn’t respond.”

The Blue Devils began a decisive run with 5:35 left to play in the game when Jasmine Thomas curled off a screen and buried a three from the right side to make it 69-61. Thomas would go on to score five more points as part of a 12-0 Duke run that stretched the lead to 78-61 with just over three minutes re-maining. Thomas torched the Buckeyes with 24 second-half points, many of which came from incisive drives to the bucket.

“i noticed i was rushing my shots a little

bit in the beginning, so i decided to attack the basket in the second half,” she said.

The Duke guard erupted for 29 points, breaking a career-high mark of 26 she set earlier this year against Texas A&M. Thom-as stole an ohio State inbound pass with 46

seconds remaining to cap a stellar second half defensive performance and seal an up-set win in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in front of a spirited home crowd.

“That’s the kind of game i came here for,” Vernerey said.


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woMen’s soCCer: season In reVIew

Duke perseveres past several injury setbacksby Nicholas Schwartz

The ChRoNiCLe

After a 2-0 defeat at the hands of No. 12 ranked Rutgers, a roller coaster season came to a close for a depleted and exhausted Blue Devil squad. Though Duke was bounced from the NCAA tournament at an earlier stage than in any other tournament team during head coach Robbie Church’s tenure, the Blue Dev-ils have reason to celebrate a sixth-place finish in the toughest conference in the country.

Duke was forced to overcome a turbu-lent pre-conference season that saw a num-ber of first-team players lost for the year to injuries. Kim DeCesare, an incoming fresh-men pegged to start, suffered an ACL tear before even stepping onto the field at Ko-skinen Stadium, starting what seemed to be an epidemic in the locker room.

“it was very challenging early in the year— every week it seemed we were losing a major player in our program,” Church said.

All in all, Duke lost five potential starters for the 2009 season, including senior captain Sarh Murphy and defender Ashley Rape, a 2008 All-ACC Freshman Team honoree. Faced with a challenging schedule early on, Church was forced to rely on a group of tal-ented, yet still unproven freshmen to fill the void, especially on defense. After the midsea-son switch to a more defensive-minded 4-4-2 formation, Duke started five freshmen: mid-fielder Nicole Lipp, fullbacks erin Koballa and Maddy haller, centerback Libby Jandl and goalkeeper Tara Campbell.

“We had to have a number of freshmen step in and play, and we had only seen them for a month,” Church said. “i almost just wanted to shut it down and look forward to

next season. it was demoralizing.”A young Blue Devil squad performed ad-

mirably for Church, and even forced then-No.1 North Carolina into overtime on the road. The freshmen’s play, combined with the exemplary leadership provided by the Blue Devil seniors, rejuvenated the team halfway through the year, propelling Duke to a .500 record in the ACC and a berth in the NCAA tournament for the seventh straight season.

“The seniors could have been the first ones to give in, but they’re the ones who kept the team together through all the inju-ries and kept us motivated,” Church said.

The Blue Devils were led by their on-field general, midfielder elisabeth Red-mond. Already a three-time All-ACC selec-tion, Redmond’s consistently stellar play anchored the Duke offense. With 12 assists on the year, Redmond led the ACC for the

rob sTewarT/chronicle file phoTo

Freshmen tara Campbell (in green), nicole lipp (10) and libby Jandl (3) all contributed heavily for Duke this year.

second time in her career. her 87 career points place fourth all-time in Duke history, while her 35 assists are second all-time.

KayAnne gummersall’s scoring touch also landed her in the record books this season, as she lead the team with 11 goals, the genesis of which often came from Redmond. The se-nior striker finished her career at Duke with 34 goals, fifth-most in Blue Devil history.

Though less apparent in the stat sheets, senior midfielder Jane Alukonis provided the youngest Blue Devils with much-needed guid-ance on and off the pitch. Alukonis, a four-year starter, was one of four captains, along with Redmond, gummersall and Murphy.

While the onslaught of injuries crippled Duke’s chances of reaching the elite eight for the third consecutive year, the youngest Blue Devils were able to gain valuable play-ing time against ACC opponents. Five Duke freshmen played in at least 19 games in 2009, and Church expects the on-field experience to correlate into success in the future.

“There’s a great base for us in 2010,” Church said. “We’re going to have a high num-ber of players coming back, a lot of experience and some really talented young players.”

With the return of proven players like Rape and defender Molly Lester, along with the ex-pected emergence of DeCesare, many players will be able to return to their more natural po-sitions in 2010, after having to switch positions in order to accommodate injuries this year. if capable players like winger Cody Newman and forward Chelsea Canepa can make up for the lost production from Redmond and gummer-sall next year, the Blue Devils are confident they can return to the top of the ACC next fall.


DiversionsShoe Chris Cassatt and Gary Brookins

Dilbert Scott Adams

Ink Pen Phil Dunlap

Doonesbury Garry Trudeau

Sudoku Fill in the grid so that every row, every col-umn and every 3x3 box contains the digits 1 through 9. (No number is repeated in any column, row or box.)

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The Chronicle semi predictions:

help! i’m caught in between: ........................... clee, fontasha, honover/under broken plates: 3.5: ................... will, emmeline , honx2flirting with lindsey goes a little overboard: ..............................rayLOTS of opinions get expressed: ........................................... shuchipalmatary buys one too many: ................................gabe, JP, taylor5:30 pregame: bad idea?: .............................. chase, pena, crod, iancan we livestream dean?: ................................ klein, dennis, cartersomeone in this group ends up in WM: ................ toni, julia, lruppBarb Starbuck does not approve: ............................................. Barb

Student Advertising Manager: ..............................Margaret PotterAccount Executives: ........................... Chelsea Canepa, Liza Doran

Lianna Gao, Ben MasselinkAmber Su, Mike Sullivan, Jack Taylor

Quinn Wang, Cap YoungCreative Services: ...............................Lauren Bledsoe, Danjie Fang

Christine Hall, Megan Meza Hannah Smith

Business Assistant: ........................................................Joslyn Dunn

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Politics at its heart is a delicate balance be-tween pres-ervation and

destruction: main-tain the things that work and re-place those that don’t in an effort to forge more per-fect systems. As we all learn from ob-serving the federal government, prob-lems arise when individuals aquire a bias that is no longer the best outcome for all. The deadliest vice of a functional democracy is the stall tactic, employed as a means to obstruct needed change for the sake of more specialized interests. Unfortunately, there’s been a lot recently in the way of painstaking political stubbornness on many levels and in many orga-nizations.

Consider examples from the last two weeks at Duke. When Duke Student Government ever ac-cumulates measurable legislative progress in a process directly relevant to student affairs, its lead-ers should feel proud that the system has served its students. Yet that was not the case last week when the Young Trustee reform bill was uncompromis-ingly expunged by way of presidential veto last month. Though slightly less mean-spirited than former DSG president Jordan Giordano’s execu-tive smackdown of “East Campus Gardening Day” this past Spring, President Awa Nur’s swift dis-missal of recommendations compiled from over a month of debate and open forum suggestions is short-sighted at best.

Nur has forcibly injected herself into a process that by her own admittance deserves freedom from DSG executive intervention. This seems more like a personal move to prevent something potentially bad from happening on her watch than a con-scious effort to bring the “right” type of change. The result: postponement until an equally flawed amendment was pushed through, implementing a student vote that will likely see even less turnout than the current sorry state of DSG elections. The fundamental problem is that few involved parties care enough about the best process for selecting the Young Trustee to sacrifice time or reputation to achieve transparency and fairness.

Political inanity again reared its ugly head Nov. 19 when whining about low scores prompted ad-ministrators, Campus Council and the Residential Group Assessment Committee to agree to post-pone the process. The adminstration has repeat-edly expressed the need to reform general living

space requirements on West Campus. In that light, living groups and Campus Council took a large step backward by calling the RGAC process into question. A metric designed to ensure fair living conditions and reasonable contributions from living groups on campus is now in danger of collapsing under the weight of its entrenched opponents.

Consider that when Interfraternity Coun-cil members complain that the RGAC selection process is “unfairly tailored to the missions of a few groups,” they are exactly right. Maintenance of a clean section and reasonable living environ-ment for surrounding dorm inhabitants should be non-negotiable obligations. If some fraternities can’t find a way to reconcile their extracurricular activities with these basic and ideally universal re-sponsibilities, then it should be no surprise that the RGAC process has no place for them. The fun-damental problem is that few living groups care enough about the RGAC to exert the effort neces-sary to abide by its stipulations.

These are conflicts that are shadows of the sort of stick-in-the-mud tactics that may conspire to doom federal health care reform from both sides of the aisle in Congress. Though the House bill passed with a slim margin, the Senate is likely to pose a gauntlet of its own, with some senators pub-licly vowing to reject reform in its entirety on the basis of legislation containing or lacking a public option. With a general consensus on the need for some sort of change to the current system no mat-ter the style, outright refusal to participate in the process is foolish and insulting.

Of course, with voters tuned in to ideological purity more than ever, it is nearly impossible for legislators to engage in real debate forged through compromise and meeting each other halfway without being perceived as “weak” for stepping back on key ideological issues. The fundamental problem is that few legislators care enough to risk political backlash in order to fight for fundamen-tal, game-changing reform of the current system, even as it is widely agreed that the status quo is unacceptable.

The picture looks bleak all around. Though I would characterize myself as a general optimist, it is difficult to have a sunny outlook when political infighting echoes all the way from the Bryan Center to the halls of the Capitol. As it stands now, it makes more sense at all levels for offending parties to sim-ply drag their feet and wait it out. Perhaps the best we can do is to wait ourselves, hoping that the stall-ing game may wear out its welcome over time.

Mike Meers is a Trinity senior. This is his final column of the semester.

commentaries10 | FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 thE ChRonIClE

the C

hron

icle

The

Ind

epen

dent

Dai

ly a

t D

uke

Uni

vers

ity

editorial

In the case of Duke’s De-partment of Athletics, the numbers tell the story, and they are striking.

In fiscal year 1995-1996, the department’s operat-ing budget totaled $18 million. And in the current fiscal year, the department’s budget is $60.3 million.

Based on these figures, the athletics department does not turn a profit for the University.

In May 2008, the Univer-sity decided to increase the annual subsidy paid from the University’s central fund to the athletics department from $7.2 million to $15 million. Even then, in fiscal year 2008-2009, expenses exceeded revenue by almost $1 million, and that deficit was covered by the depart-

ment’s dwindling reserve funding.

In fact, for several years, as both the department’s budget and the size of the University subsidy have increased, defi-cit spending has become the

norm.Now, the

University is trying to close a $125 mil-lion deficit in its general operating budget with, among other mechanisms, early retirement packages for employees, cuts to aca-demic department fund-ing and reductions in fac-ulty hiring.

Large-scale layoffs are be-ing avoided at all costs, al-though Executive Vice Presi-dent Tallman Trask has said that layoffs may well become necessary in anticipation of fiscal year 2010-2011.

But while the University is

in the middle of implement-ing sophisticated, difficult and wide-ranging budget reductions in response to the recession, the athletics department is trimming fat from its extravagant budget by reducing media luncheons and printing costs.

Revenues to the depart-ment are down by about 7 or 8 percent, but costs have only been cut by about 5 percent. In a paltry piece of window-dressing, the University sub-sidy was cut to $14.5 million.

In short, the athletics de-partment has come to depend on the University to support its extravagant spending. And when the University needs to save every dime it can, and every sector of the University is sacrificing, the athletics de-partment is cutting next to nothing.

For it appears that al-

though the department has received more and more money from the University to help fund substantial increas-es in facilities, scholarships and coaches’ salaries, the University has not acquired any leverage over the athletics department in return.

The University now finds itself inexplicably unable to demand major cuts to the athletics department’s budget in a time of general scarcity.

As a consequence, the University is funding the ath-letics department’s largesse with money that could di-rectly be used to fill crucial faculty openings or prop up the Multicultural Center—actions that are central to the mission of the University.

The Department of Ath-letics is in part to blame for this state of affairs. Its costs

have ballooned in recent years, without comparable in-creases in its revenues.

Far from laying out a plan to reduce its budget, the department’s 2008 stra-tegic plan, “Unrivaled Am-bition,” in fact called for a larger University subsidy and massive renovations to almost every athletic facility on campus.

The real blame, however, does not lie with the athletics department for wanting to spend money.

It lies with the Univer-sity for failing, over the long term, to rein in the steadily increasing cost of athletics to Duke. During the recession, this failure of oversight has become an even more clear failure of priorities, which should be corrected as soon as possible. At the very least, it should be explained.

The fundamental problem

The cost of unrivaled ambition

”“ onlinecomment

I personally think it’s a bit sad when great universities feel compelled to become an athletics/entertainment business and, to varying degrees, lose sight of the mission of a university.

—“Duke-affiliate” commenting on the story “Athletics’ growth provokes debate.” See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

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mike meers mike check

commentariesthE ChRonIClE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 | 11

As the Aughts near their inevitable end, I’ve chosen to write about the masterpiece that will surely go down as the best song of the

decade: “Ignition (Remix)” by R. Kelly. Even on a purely aesthetic level, the verdict is

clear. As soon as the silk-smooth delivery of the introductory incantation of “Now usually I don’t do this but uh…” seeps through the stereo speakers on a Friday night, your troubles begin to subside. And if you, like Our Narrator, are also sippin’ coke and rum, by the time the triumphant rally cry of “It’s the freakin’ weekend baby imma ‘bout to have me some fun!” comes along, your problems will dissipate into the hazy blur that’s absorbing the dance floor.

But the mechanisms at play within the record-ing make it infinitely more than just the perfect example of a feel-good party song. First of all, the conceptual elements of the song dutifully encap-sulate the pre-recession boom that will act as a counterpoint to the economic downturn of this decade’s second half. Even better, the context that Kelly chooses to couch the song in—the conceit that not only is this the “remix” to a song entitled “Ignition,” but also a song about the remix to a song entitled “Ignition”—makes the track a text-book example of self-referential expression, illus-trating how a piece of art can become doubly rich when there is a subtle but effective reminder that a work’s content is inextricable from the style in which it is presented—or that, as my existential-ist cinema professor is wont to say, “All great art is about what it is about.”

Grab your iPhone and click down to the song; at about a minute in, you’ll realize that there’s a lot going on there. The first hint that Kelly is reppin’ some serious poststructuralist self-commentary is the address to the invisible entity that will, if it abides by Kelly’s request, “go ‘head and break ‘em off wit a ‘lil piece of the remix.” One can assume that the “‘em” refers to us, the listeners, who will now be privy to a “piece” of the remix to the origi-nal version of “Ignition” (which appears immedi-ately before “Ignition (Remix)” on Kelly’s 2003 album Chocolate Factory), but it is unclear as to whom Kelly is directing this demand. What this im-

provisatory-sounding preamble does accomplish, however, is that it informs us of the song’s primary focus: the song itself. And then, 30 seconds later, as the double-kicked snare hits and oscillating syn-thesizer lead us into the chorus, this hypothesis is proven true—the chorus, the song’s prime real es-tate is devoted to the proclamation that, yes, it is none other than “Ignition (Remix)” that is “Hot and fresh out the kitchen.”

Once it is established that the song is a meta-commentary on the song itself, the anecdotal tales of Kelly’s wild night fall into place within the work’s general schematic. In what may be the most ingenious revelation in a song chock full of them, Kelly creates a scenario in which he and the rest of the people at the party (and the after-party, and the hotel lobby) are par-tying to the song that he has created about the party. There’s even an explanation of why they’re listening to “Ignition (Remix),” Kelly informs us that the action occurs “while they sayin’ on the radio, ‘it’s the remix to ‘Ignition’” (which, of course, would be impossible if Kelly were still laying down the part of the vocal track that contains that lyric, when the remix is only half-complete at best). This technique creates an infinite wormhole, something akin to look-ing at a hypothetical picture of you looking at a copy of the resulting picture.

Therefore, when “Ignition (Remix)” is played at a packed 4:00 a.m postgame full of sweaty booze-and-Red-Bull-fueled kids (as, I’ve found, it often is), it creates a seamless convergence of temporali-ties: not only are the revelers dancing to a song with lyrics designed to mimic their actions precisely, but the people at the post-game and the people in the song are also dancing to the exact same song.

But, if you’re not a big fan of picking apart ra-dio gems to find out how relevant they are to cur-rent postmodernist theory, the song is still a trea-sure trove full of unforgettable moments. To name a few: the “bounce bounce bounce bounce…”; the totally bonkers “Murder She Wrote” reference; the POP! of a snare drum that syncs up perfectly with the third syllable of “crystal poppin” and, my per-sonal favorite, the laudatory moral equivocation of “I’m like so what I’m drunk.”

In short, “Ignition (Remix)” is the best song of the decade. 2010s—you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Nathan Freeman is a Trinity senior. This is his final column of the semester.

lettertotheeditorUnion workers are burden to Duke Dining

Duke Dining has a problem, and it is not the $2 million deficit.

Instead of coercing students to spend their food points at non-contracted establishments, why doesn’t the University identify why these particular venues have become so unattractive. It is my belief that many in the administration have done so, but either those voices are suppressed or they are too afraid to publicize their findings.

What do all of the non-contracted venues, the Marketplace, the Great Hall, Subway, Chik-fil-A and Trinity Café, have in common? Two words: Local 77. Unionized workers staff only and all of these eateries. This can only mean that the Din-ing deficit is a product of the union’s absurdly bloated contracts, including designed impedi-ments to any disciplinary action and bizarre pro-visions allowing workers to skip work at will. De-spite unnecessarily increasing the Dining deficit, these contracts make it nearly impossible for the Bon Appetit Management Company to police their employees. Not surprisingly, the adminis-tration forces Bon Appetit to hire these union-ized workers just as they are planning to force us

to eat at their workplaces.Bon Appetit is a great management com-

pany. Its staff works tirelessly to respond to stu-dent needs and improve the dining experience, however, union workers drastically burden the service of their venues. I don’t have to tell you how bad that service really is. It seems that every Duke students has a dining “horror story” from one of these establishments. In fact, I often have my politically astute friends guess which campus eateries are run by union employees. Rarely do the Marketplace, the Great Hall and Subway go unmentioned.

Interestingly, as sales data confirm, these also rank high on the “least favorite” and “worst ser-vice” lists. It is not fair to the management com-pany to dictate who they can hire and on what terms they can “manage” them. Nor is it fair to require students to spend their money on food and service that they so clearly do not want. Let the management company manage however they wish, and let the students eat wherever they wish!

Jake BullockTrinity ’11

“I’ve got a week to cram for my BME 83 final,” Pratt says to Trinity over burgers at the Loop, “When’s your paper due?”

“Next Monday,” replies Trinity. Thank God it’s a term pa-per and not a final exam, thinks Trinity. Or at least, should think.

After finals are over, Pratt and Trinity are likely to share a similar bewilderment of not having retained much from their courses. Only for Pratt, it’s cramming for an exam. For Trinity, it’s a protracted term paper completed not by deep sea diving, but by spurts of hydroplaning across the material’s surface.

Writing a term paper today could hardly be called advanced learning. But it’s not really our fault either. What denigrates the intellectual rigor of the undergraduate academic paper is the ubiquity of analyzed information available online and the revisions-for-dummies built into today’s word processors.

In “Phaedrus,” Plato recounted Socrates’s fear that writing would rob men of their memory. By transferring knowledge in their minds onto paper, men would adopt “the conceit of wisdom instead of real wisdom,” and “receive a quantity of information without proper instruction.”

Although we now know Socrates’s concern is unfounded, there is something to be said about the erosion of our memory. Retaining facts is something of a lost art now, easily substituted by the Internet, with its remarkable capacity to capture some twenty centuries of ad-vanced thought at the click of a mouse.

Playwright Richard Foreman laments the loss of our “inner rep-ertory of dense cultural inheritance” in a recent web publication of the British science and technology think tank Edge Foundation, Inc. Alluding to Socrates, he imagines “pancake people,” stretched thin by too much information too readily available in his play “The Gods are Pounding My Head!” Foreman’s “pancake people” may too well refer to the 21st-century man, or college student, as the case may be. One wonders if the process of building a “complex, dense and ‘cathedral-like’ structure” of a self-made liberal arts education has become replaced by the convenience of the Internet.

We can still construct the cathedral-like structure that Foreman refers to with universally-accessible information on the Web if we are forced to interpret it in new forms. The Internet gives us knowledge—fast. And to quote Sir Francis Bacon via the paraphrased Latin truism, scientia potential est, “knowledge is power.”

How we use that knowledge, however, is a different notion al-together. Knowledge, as organic matter, nourishes new growth of something more synthesized, something more commonly known under the Genus Analysis in the college context.

Microsoft Word subverts the natural conversion process of that readily available knowledge into new growth. Just imagine how much one can revise information into new shapes, like gluing together piec-es into a convincing model of time-earned ideas.

The power of word processing is rather astounding when one thinks about how writing used to be done—yes, by hand, in notebooks (gasp!). On the increasingly rare occasion that we encounter such a writer today, like the Turkish Pulitzer Prize-winning author Orhan Pamuk, the idea astounds us by its novelty.

To be clear, I’m not harboring some archaic nostalgia for hand-written term papers. Typing is good if not for its speed, then un-doubtedly for its cleanliness and ability to help us streamline our thoughts. After Friedrich Nietzsche bought a Malling-Hansen Writ-ing ball, his first typewriter, a friend commented that his writing had become tighter.

When we begin to think of ourselves typewriting, the way, say, Cormac McCarthy wrote “The Road” and “No Country for Old Men” exclusively on a 1958 Olivetti, it seems laughable to imagine ourselves clacking away in Perkins elbows deep in globs of white-out. That McCarthy could write great American novels without Shift+F7 is enough to make us shake our heads at the whimsy of a world before MS Word’s thesaurus.

With SparkNotes and time to revise, students in courses with term papers are less likely to invest in gaining knowledge from the class-room. Seduced by Web shortcuts, they are more likely to stave off readings until days before a paper deadline. In that brief window, they have the luxury to play around with words until information takes the shape of something original.

There may be an easy solution: If professors really want to make their students think and cultivate analysis throughout the semester instead of in the last two weeks of finals, they should enforce timed paper exams or hold written exams in class, and increase the impor-tance of class participation during the semester.

That would not only save students the agony of learning the his-tory of political thought from 1700 to 1875 in the span of two weeks, it might motivate them to invest more in helping to preserve and contribute to the “dense cultural heritage” we’ve been handed down over the years. Not to mention make us more interesting and in-sightful.

Courtney Han is a Trinity senior. This is her final column of the semester.

No to term papers

‘Ignition (Remix)’ is the best song of the decade

courtney han the good life?

nathan freemangood night,

and good luck

12 | FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2009 thE ChRonIClE

by Jeff SchollThe chronicle

Jasmine Thomas may have stolen the show on offense Thursday night against ohio State, but the Blue Devils’ de-fensive performance against Buckeye standout Jantel lav-ender was equally important in Duke’s upset victory.

The two-time defending Big Ten Player of the Year seemed primed for a big night after scoring 33 in a victory against

california Sunday. Although she posted a team-high 20 points against the Blue Devils, lavender never found a comfort zone under the basket because of Duke’s unrelenting defensive intensity.

“She had 20 points, but i felt like she had to earn every single one of those points

that she scored tonight,” junior center Krystal Thomas said.When one takes into account the fact that eight of those

20 points came as a result of foul shots and a 3-pointer in the game’s final seconds, the 6-foot-4 center’s numbers seem much less impressive.

Thomas played an integral part in taking lavender out of the game and made her look far from deserving of the All-American status she received in the preseason. Thomas blocked lavender twice during the game and forced her into awkward shots from the opening tip.

lavender’s first basket was indicative of her performance as a whole. She scored the Buckeyes’ opening points of the game but did so on a short jumper that banked off the glass and rolled on the rim before finally dropping through the net.

lavender scored only six points in the paint on the night, whereas Duke racked up an impressive 46 as a team. The Blue Devils frequently double-teamed her when she received the ball down low, which often led to open 3-pointers for the Buckeyes. ohio State made 7-of-14 deep balls in the second half, but Duke was willing to allow attempts from long range simply because the Blue Devils, especially Jasmine Thomas, always seemed to find an answer on the offensive end.

The stifling man-to-man defense on lavender was even more noteworthy given that senior forward Joy cheek, the team’s most experienced post player, went down with an

ankle injury about five minutes into the game and only returned for a brief period in the second half.

“it was a little surprising—Joy’s not a person that gets hurt ever,” Jasmine Thomas said. “When she did come in [again in the second half] and she was a little bit unstable, i just knew that our post players were going to have to take it over.”

head coach Joanne P. Mccallie also occasionally em-ployed a zone to keep the Buckeyes guessing. And indeed, lavender said she was surprised at how poorly her team reacted to the changes in Duke’s defensive schemes. ohio State’s lack of awareness was compounded by the Blue Dev-ils’ renewed commitment to staunch defense after giving up 95 points to Texas A&M in their only loss of the season.

“After Texas A&M it was definitely a big lesson learned—how important defense is,” Krystal Thomas said. “it’s some-thing that we’ve stressed ever since that game and that’s what won us the game tonight. i thought everyone worked very hard on their assignments. everyone defended, every-one rebounded and it’s just been a mindset all throughout practice and it showed tonight.”

lavender shot 7-of-18 from the field on the night, well below the 55.6 percent shooting clip she had averaged in her first eight games. even though she grabbed a season-high 18 rebounds, only three of them came on the offen-sive glass, further demonstrating Duke’s defensive domi-nance in the post.

And in shutting down the best player on a national pow-erhouse, the Blue Devils learned another lesson: if they can limit the effectiveness of their opponent’s primary scorer, they can compete with any team in the country.

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O ff

Women’s basketball

Intense defense shackles OSU’s All-American

Game Analysis

“We need to know that every game we play, no one is go-ing to give us a game. every team is going to fight.”

After allowing a patient Wisconsin offense to me-thodically wear down its defense en route to 40 percent shooting from beyond the 3-point line and 17 assists on 26 made field goals, head coach Mike Krzyzewski noted some weaknesses on the end of the court where Duke usually wins games.

“You have to communicate really well against [the swing offense] and play passing lanes well,” Krzyzewski said. “Their offense just beat our defense, especially early on, which gave them more confidence.”

The Blue Devils will get the opportunity to adjust on the perimeter against a red Storm offense led by bouncy swingman D.J. Kennedy, who comes into Dur-ham averaging 17.7 points an outing. Also playing a big role thus far for St. John’s has been junior guard Dwight hardy, the team’s second-leading scorer and

leader in 3-point field goals made.For Duke, Saturday will be an early indication of

how Krzyzewski sees the rotation shaping up as his team moves closer to the meat of its schedule. The Wisconsin loss marked highly touted freshman Mason Plumlee’s collegiate debut, as he came off the bench and played 10 uneventful minutes.

having missed opportunities to get accustomed to the system in live play against weaker teams, Satur-day’s game will be a great chance for the center to find his comfort zone. in contrast, ryan Kelly did not see game action against the Badgers.

Another freshman who has already started to make his mark is Andre Dawkins. The sharp-shooter has made 14 of his last 18 attempts from downtown and should see an increase in his minutes if that produc-tion keeps up.

More importantly, though, Saturday’s tilt with St. John’s represents a chance for the players to get back out on the court and rid themselves of the bad taste in their mouths left over from the loss in Madison.

m. bball from page 7

“Joy [Cheek] is not a person that gets hurt ever.”

— Jasmine Thomas

december 4, 2009 issue

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