April 20, 2010

The ChronicleThe independenT daily aT duke universiTy

TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTH YEAR, ISSUE 136www.dukechronicle.com

New LDOC policy looks to increase safety, Page 3

onTherecord“If you make that investment in me, I’ll make sure you’ve

made the right investment.” —QB Thaddeus Lewis on his talks with NFL general managers. See story page 7

Baseball: Atop the MoundDuke’s pitching staff has reflected the ups

and downs the Blue Devils have experienced this season, PAGe 7

by Rachna ReddyTHE CHRONICLE

2004 was a triumphant year for Homme Hellinga, James B. Duke professor of bio-chemistry. He had just received a $2.5 million Director’s Pioneer award from the National Institutes of Health, won a $10,000 Feynman

Prize and discovered a way to engineer a powerful enzyme from a simple pro-tein. The following year, he secured a titled professor-ship at the University. Hell-inga’s accomplishments shone with promise—both Duke and the field were excited for the future.

But three years later, those sentiments dimmed. John Richard, professor of chemistry at the State University of New York at Buffalo, had collaborated with Hellinga on his research. But in 2007, while Richard and his own team followed Hellin-ga’s notes, they discovered that his designed enzyme—whose details were published in Science magazine and the Journal of Molecu-

Questions linger about Hellinga case

SEE hellinga ON PagE 5

Suspect in Carson case pleads guilty

by Joanna LichterTHE CHRONICLE

The Duke Student government Judiciary held a hear-ing Monday night, following allegations that junior Justin Robinette was impeached as chair of the Duke College Republicans because he is gay. as of 5 a.m. Tuesday, the Judiciary had not reached a verdict in its more than 10-hour meeting.

College Republicans could lose its charter if the Judi-ciary rules that the club violated its constitution. Robinette formally resigned from his position as chair of the College Republicans april 15 and filed a complaint with the Judi-ciary shortly thereafter.

The Judiciary chose not to split up the proceedings so that associate justices could have the case material “fresh in their minds” and maintain confidentiality, said Chief Jus-

Singler to stay for senior year DSG Judiciary weighs claims in Robinette case

ian soileau/ChroniCle file photo

Junior Kyle Singler, who was projected as a late first-round NBA Draft selec-tion, announced Monday that he will be returning for his senior season.

Junior Kyle Singler announced Monday night that he will remain at Duke for his senior season, ending weeks of speculation about his NBa future.

Singler, a 6-foot-8 swingman, was projected to go any-where from the middle of the first round to the begin-ning of the second in the upcoming NBa Draft.

By choosing to return for a fourth season in Durham, Singler will hope to improve his potential draft position and make himself a certain lottery pick. and as far as his team is concerned, Singer’s return—coupled with that of Nolan Smith and the addition of Seth Curry, Kyrie Irving and the rest of a highly touted recruiting class—the Blue Devils figure to be the favorite to defend their national title next season.

“I love being here at Duke and am excited about next year,” Singler said. “I had two great options in front of me, but I did not want to miss out on all of the great things to come in a senior season.”

Singler averaged 17.7 points and 7.0 rebounds per game in 2009-2010 and peaked during Duke’s NCaa Tournament run. The junior played some of his best games in the postseason, earning Final Four Most Out-standing Player honors for his performance in Indianap-olis as Duke won its fourth national championship.

—from staff reports

by Ciaran O’ConnorTHE CHRONICLE

Demario atwater, one of two men ac-cused of killing former UNC student body president Eve Carson, pleaded guilty to sev-eral federal charges Monday.

along with Laurence Lovette, atwater is accused of kidnap-ping and murdering the 22-year-old University of North Carolina at Cha-pel Hill student in March 2008. among other charg-es that include kidnap-ping and possession of a firearm, atwater pleaded guilty to carjacking result-ing in death, according to

a press release issued by the U.S. attorney’s office Monday. The plea deal stipulates that atwater will spend the rest of his life in pris-on without the possibility of parole but will not face the death penalty at the federal level. He will be sentenced Sept. 23.

“Today’s plea spares Ms. Carson’s family

Demario Atwater

SEE atwater ON PagE 4

SEE robinette ON PagE 6

Investigation of James B. Duke prof still pending

emily shiau/the ChroniCle

A panel of experts from international microfinance institutions hosts a discussion at the Fuqua School of Business Monday evening. The event was sponsored by the Duke Microfinance Leadership Initiative.

Microfinance the world

Atwater faces sentence of lifetime imprisonment

Homme Hellinga

2 | TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 ThE ChRonICLE

Class of 2014Find your focus...

• Artists at Work• Between Europe and Asia: Explorations in Culture, Law & Cognitive Science• Engineering Frontiers• Ethics Leadership and Global Citizenship• Evolution and Humankind• Exploring the Mind• Faces of Science • The Genome Revolution and Its Impact on Society• Global Health: Local and International Disparities• Medieval and Renaissance Worlds• Modeling in the Economic and Social Sciences• Muslim Cultures• The Power of Ideas• Power of Languages• Visions of Freedom

Applications Accepted: April 5-May 31, 2010www.focus.duke.edu

Questions? Contact the Focus [email protected]; (919) 684-9370

The Focus Program

Look for the Discovery Mobile!

Earth DayApril 22, 2010 11 am - 3 pm

in front of Duke Chapel

REDuCE • REusE • RECyClE

DonAtE Books!Give your extra books

(including textbooks) to the the Friends of the

Durham County Library

worldandnationmilan, italy — european business

events including trade fairs in london and milan and talks on a loan package for Greece have been diminished, delayed or canceled because of flight disruptions caused by volcanic ash from iceland.

u.s. bank morgan stanley told clients “stuck in london” following an analyst day for Wal-mart stores inc.’s asda unit that it can arrange desk space, analyst and man-agement meetings, and store tours to fill their time. the salone del mobile in milan, the world’s biggest furniture and design fair, had fewer visitors than expected be-cause of travel restrictions.

“about half of the clients we were expecting didn’t show up” in milan, said maurizio peregalli, a designer at Zeus, which makes furniture and light-ing. “our business has been hit hard by the groundings.”

traffic authorities across europe im-posed a flight ban after iceland’s eyjafjal-lajökull volcano erupted april 14, spewing dust across europe. the ash, which can clog plane engines, has resulted in the cancellation of as many as 63,000 flights and prompted the closure of airports from Dublin to moscow. air france-Klm Group, europe’s largest airline, is among carriers pushing european governments to ease restrictions.

the World retail Congress in Berlin, set to host Burberry Group Chief executive officer angela ahrendts, Kingfisher Ceo ian Cheshire and Wpp Ceo martin sorrell, was postponed until october.

“many speakers and delegates faced huge difficulties reaching Berlin in time for the event,” the organizers said today in a statement. the conference had been scheduled for april 21 to april 23.

“ ”Work is the curse of the

drinking classes.— Oscar Wilde

TODAY IN HISTORY1946: First baseball broadcast

in Chicago.

neW yorK — David stockman, a for-mer budget director in the reagan ad-ministration, will pay $7.2 million to settle a securities and exchange Commission lawsuit claiming he misled investors while running auto-parts maker Collins & aikman Corp.

stockman, who was chief executive officer of the company, neither admit-ted nor denied liability in the settlement, which was made public monday in a fil-ing in manhattan federal court. the $7.2 million payment will be partly offset by $4.4 million that stockman previously paid to settle investor lawsuits.

the settlement of the seC’s allegations against stockman and four other ex-Col-lins and aikman executives ends a case that began with a criminal indictment claiming the defendants intentionally defrauded investors.

NSA data collection haltedWashinGton, D.C. — a special fed-

eral court that oversees domestic sur-veillance has raised concerns about the national security agency’s collection of certain types of electronic data, prompt-ing the agency to suspend collecting it, u.s. officials said.

the foreign intelligence surveillance Court, which grants orders to u.s. spy agencies to monitor u.s. citizens and res-idents in terrorism and espionage cases, recently “got a little bit more of an un-derstanding” about the nsa’s collection of the data, said one official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because such matters are classified.

the data under discussion are records associated with various kinds of commu-nication, but not their content. it was not clear what kind of data had provoked the court’s concern.

toDay:

7243 WeDnesDay:

6341

Eruption of Iceland’s volcano affects European economy

Stockman will pay $7.2M in SEC lawsuit settlement

Denis Doyle/BloomBerG neWs

Airline passengers wait in line Monday for their flights to depart from Barajas Airport in Madrid. Fol-lowing the eruption of an Icelandic volcano last week, air traffic throughout Europe has been halted due to safety hazards caused by the remaining ash in the air. The resulting lack of flights has had a negative effect on the airlines, but has caused an increase in the amount of travel by train and car.

ThE ChRonICLE TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 | 3

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Sushi Love may join MOP next Fallby Sanette Tanaka

THE CHRONICLE

Durham restaurant Sushi Love will not join the Merchants on Points program until Fall semester at the earliest, the Duke Uni-versity Student Dining advisory Committee announced at its meeting Monday night.

DUSDaC co-Chair Jason Taylor, a senior, said there is not enough time left in the school year to accept an additional vendor.

“There isn’t any way we can get them on, and I don’t think it is practical right now,” Taylor said.

Sushi Love currently delivers in con-junction with the student-run Devil’s De-livery Service and accepts orders on credit cards. although DUSDaC discussed add-ing Sushi Love to MOP because of ex-pressed student interest, definite plans were not made.

“Sushi Love never approached us di-rectly or submitted their documents,” Tay-lor said. “We never made contact.”

He noted that the process of add-ing a vendor to MOP typically takes two months. after the eatery presents a pro-posal to DUSDaC, Dining Services reviews the vendor and installs the necessary ma-chinery to accept points.

“I am interested to see how delivery sushi works and how the quality will be,” Taylor said. “I think it would be neat, but I’m curious to see how it will go over [with students].”

in other business:Last week, after DUSDaC dined at

and reviewed Devil’s Bistro, the recently opened Central Campus eatery, the com-mittee submitted a list of suggestions to the eatery. Recommendations included adding

umbrellas to the tables on the outdoor pa-tio, creating a separate line for grab-and-go items and making water more accessible.

“DUSDaC has been doing an extensive amount of work surrounding the campus eatery,” said co-Chair alex Klein, a junior and The Chronicle’s Online editor. “I am very proud of that.”

Bon appétit Management Company, which runs the Bistro, has responded well to all the suggestions, Taylor said.

Since its opening, the Devil’s Bistro

has acquired its liquor license, ordered a projection screen to show movies and will likely hire additional staff.

“I think they are doing a lot behind-the-scenes to get going as fast as they can,” Taylor said. “I was really impressed with everything they did.”

Incoming co-Chair andrew Schreiber, a junior, also said DUSDaC will hold an open town hall forum to discuss the cur-rent state of Dining Services with students april 25.

nate GlenCer/the ChroniCle

At the DUSDAC meeting Monday night, members discuss adding Durham restaurant Sushi Love to the Mer-chants on Points program. The group said Sushi Love will not join the program until next Fall at the earliest.

DUKE UNIVERSITY STUDENT DINING ADVISORY COMMITTEE LDOC policy changes aim to boost safety

by Christina PeñaTHE CHRONICLE

The Last Day of Classes will see a few changes this year to promote a safer, healthier celebration.

LDOC will be treated much like the night of the National Championship game. Campus will be closed off to those not af-filiated with Duke and police will ensure that motor vehicles coming through cam-pus are part of the Duke community. Duke students will also be required to carry their DukeCards with them at all times.

“all of the students had various experi-ences last year or in prior years, and [the LDOC committee] came to the conclusion that part of the challenge comes with man-aging and dealing with students who are not Duke students,” Dean of Students Sue Wasiolek said.

LDOC Committee co-Chair Christie Fal-co, a senior, noted that last year, thousands of non-Duke affiliates came onto campus on LDOC.

In addition to a closed campus, students will be limited to carrying six beers on their person, six less than last year’s limit.

“It is really hard to get administrators and faculty to feel good when you’re saying you can have 12 beers,” Falco said. “Drink-ing needs to be kept under control—finish six and get more.”

Falco added that the committee and

SEE lDoC ON PagE 4


administrators are also cracking down on drinking games like beer pong and chugging on the quad.

Tom Szigethy, associate dean and director of the Sub-stance abuse Prevention and Health Promotion Center, said the emergency medical services tent will be moved to a more visible location near the Chapel so that students can see where it is and take responsibility for helping each other.

“Hopefully this will make students more aware that choic-es they may make can possibly put them in that tent,” Szig-ethy said.

Containers that students can carry with them will be limited to 24 ounces, instead of 30 ounces like last year, and the LDOC committee will be handing out free 24-ounce water bottles.

“It’s a safety thing,” Falco said. “We don’t want entire box-es of Franzia.”

There will be various events scheduled throughout the day. activities include a Chapel climb, Mulan sing-along and a campus-wide barbecue in Krzyzewskiville. Much of the pro-gramming is scheduled for either earlier or later in the day because police have said the heaviest drinking occurs around mid-afternoon, Falco said.

“We’re trying to curb that heavy drinking,” Falco said. “We want to revitalize LDOC and make it more inclusive for those who do not drink.”

With all of these scheduled events, however, LDOC will still be a regular day of class.

“Classes come first and foremost,” Vice President for Stu-dent affairs Larry Moneta said. “The events are really intend-ed for students to occupy their time between classes or if they don’t have classes.”

Some administrators have heard anecdotes about stu-dents going to class intoxicated or drinking alcohol in class. Wasiolek noted that she has even heard about professors providing alcohol for their students.

But Moneta assured that most faculty members are responsible.

“Those [professors] must be the saddest creations on earth, but those faculty members are so far and few in be-tween,” he said.

Moneta noted that Lee Baker, dean of academic affairs of Trinity College, would be sending a message to all faculty about asking students who come to class intoxicated to leave.

“We’re certainly aware of that type of behavior and the reality is that students should hold students accountable,” Moneta said. “That is just embarrassing.”

Christine Pesetski, assistant dean for off-campus and me-diation services, said the a-team, which is made up of faculty, staff and students, will be the initial enforcers and monitors of the event. She added that enforcement depends on stu-dent behavior and cooperation.

“The conduct system is not if x [action] then y [consequence],” Pesetski said. “It depends on many things—if the person is over 21, if they were being disruptive, any past incidents.”

Despite the policy changes, Falco noted that the LDOC committee is not trying to stop students from drinking or having fun.

“We are fundamentally trying to start making people aware that LDOC is a privilege, not a right,” Falco said. “There were way too many medical emergencies last year. Things are get-ting a little out of control.... We are trying to start the trend of a safer and more under-control festivities.”

LDOC from page 3

and friends the uncertainty and pain of a drawn-out trial and endless appeals,” said U.S. attorney anna Mills Wagoner in the statement. “We hope this resolution will help the Carson family put this horrendous act behind them, as best they can, and move on with their lives.”

atwater and Lovette allegedly kidnapped the athens, ga. native from outside her Chapel Hill home just before 4 a.m. March 5, 2008. authorities contend the two men stole Carson’s SUV and stole $1,400 after bringing her to several aTMs. Carson’s body was found at 5 a.m., at the intersection of Hill-crest Circle and Hillcrest Drive in Chapel Hill. She had been shot five times, once in the head.

“While we deplore the evil and negligence that led to Eve’s death, we agree with the U.S. attorney’s decision to accept the plea agreement,” Carson’s par-ents said in the press release. “We are very grateful for the dedication and hard work that have gone into the investigation and prosecution of this crime.”

atwater is also facing separate charges of first-degree murder and kidnapping at the state level. Lynne Klauer, public information officer for the U.S. attorney’s Office for the Middle District, con-firmed that the federal plea deal does not affect the state charges, which also carry the possibility of capi-tal punishment.

“We can still proceed with our case,” said Orange County District attorney Jim Woodall. “The state can still go forward with the death penalty.”

according to The associated Press, Orange County has not issued a death sentence in approxi-mately seven decades.

Lovette was 17 years old at the time of Carson’s mur-der and cannot face capital punishment. He is also be-ing charged with robbing and murdering Duke gradu-ate student abhijit Mahato at his off-campus apartment in Durham Jan. 18, 2008. Lovette faces a maximum sen-tence of life imprisonment for both murders.

Lovette and atwater had already been charged with previous crimes and were under parole supervi-sion at the time of the murders, prompting increased scrutiny of North Carolina’s probation system.

ATwATER from page 1

larsa al-omaishi/ChroniCle file photo

This year’s Last Day of Class festivities will be closed to outside visitors. Administrators hope the policy change will increase safety during LDOC.


lar Biology—did not perform as Hellinga alleged it did, according to a 2008 article in Nature magazine. Suspicions began to rise about the decorated scientist’s integrity.

Now, three years after those suspicions first arose, the situation has yet to be re-solved. Hellinga remains a titled member of the biochemistry faculty and the shadow of the controversy looms over the depart-ment and Duke’s reputation.

In Fall 2007, following Richard’s find-ings, Hellinga attributed the mistakes in the experiment to his former graduate student, Mary Dwyer, and requested a formal inquiry of her. Dwyer—who told Nature she raised concerns about the data with Hellinga before publication—was cleared of all wrongdoing in February 2008 and both of the papers in question were retracted. Months later, on July 24, Hellinga wrote to the Correspon-dence section of Nature that the University had granted his request for further investiga-tion, acknowledging “personal responsibility to the scientific community” and to his stu-dents and colleagues for the errors.

“So many questions were being raised, that I thought it would be appropriate that somebody had a look at this and—as it says in the letter, in a dispassionate, objective way—try to figure out the facts and the rights and wrongs of the case,” Hellinga said in an in-terview with The Chronicle this month.

Senior Medical School officials—includ-ing Nancy andrews, dean and vice chancel-lor for academic affairs, Sally Kornbluth, vice dean for research, and Wesley Byerly, associate dean for research services—re-ferred all questions regarding the status and scope of the investigation to Doug Stokke, assistant vice president of com-munications for Duke University Health System. andrews, Kornbluth and Byerly de-clined to comment further.

“Duke is committed to nurturing and sup-porting the highest quality science and we review all allegations concerning research in-tegrity according to established procedures,” Stokke wrote in an e-mail statement on behalf of medical school administrators. “We trust that you and your readers will understand that it would be inappropriate for Duke to comment on any specific proceedings due to confidentiality and other restrictions.”

the investigationThe University has a multi-step process

in place to address research misconduct—defined as “fabrication, falsification or plagiarism”—on the part of Duke faculty.

Such investigations—whose details are confidential—are handled by Byerly, the Medical Center’s misconduct review officer.

When a suspicion of misconduct is re-layed to the misconduct review officer, he notifies the vice chancellor for academic af-fairs—currently andrews—and they decide whether to forward it to a standing commit-tee for inquiry. after the standing commit-tee reports back, the vice chancellor can choose to launch a formal investigation.

at this point, an ad hoc committee, whose members are chosen by the vice chancellor for their expertise and impartiality, is formed. The committee prepares a final report and the vice chancellor determines a course of ac-tion. ad-hoc committees can include experts from outside institutions, if deemed appropri-ate by the vice chancellor. The identity of the members on the committee is undisclosed.

a number of abnormalities have arisen in this particular case.

Jane Richardson, also a James B. Duke professor of biochemistry, said there are advantages and disadvantages to having an internal office investigate. an outside com-mittee might not understand local issues, the intangibles and who the people involved are, she said. In addition, by requesting an investigation of himself, Hellinga became both the accused and complaining party.

It remains unclear what influence Hell-inga, as the complainant, had on determin-ing the charges.

“Duke has a financial as well as a public relations interest here in keeping [Hellinga] and keeping him going,” Richardson said. “They really have a conflict of interest in this—as any institution would to some extent. This never looks good for a school’s reputation.”

She said, however, that she would not question the sincerity of those currently serving on the committee.

“They definitely take their job very seri-ously,” Richardson said.

Provost Peter Lange said internal investi-gations are the standard across the country.

Unless there are “extenuating circum-stances,” the entire investigation process should take no more than 312 days—less than one year. By this summer, Hellinga’s investigation would have lasted two years.

Chris Raetz, chair of the biochemistry department from 1993 to 2007 and a cur-rent professor, said people he meets across the country are still asking about how Duke is handling the situation. His response, he said, is that it has been a year and a half into the investigation, and there is still no word of a resolution.

“I mean, yes, he deserves due process by all means, and we don’t want to jeopar-dize that, but there has to be a resolution at some point,” Raetz said. “The administra-tion should be held accountable for wrap-ping it up at this point.”

The situation has been further complicat-ed by Hellinga’s conduct toward Dwyer. Issues of scientific misconduct are tied together with allegations of misconduct as a mentor.

Duke University Policy and Procedures governing Misconduct in Research, outlined in the Faculty Handbook and last revised Jan-uary 2007, state that “neglecting to supervise others properly in work for which the faculty member is responsible,” is an inappropriate practice, but does not necessarily represent misconduct in research—possibly putting it outside the parameters of the investigation.

The document also states that principal investigators—faculty members who head their own labs—must bear primary respon-sibility for the research conducted under their supervision.

Student impact ‘not just about Dwyer’The Hellinga situation has elicited an

outcry not only from scientists frustrated by his failure to explain experimental mis-takes, but from graduate students angered by his willingness to accuse Dwyer.

“To the outside world, the University has done nothing, except maybe halfheart-edly confirmed that they’re investigating Homme [Hellinga] on his own terms,” said Louis Metzger, a recent Ph.D. graduate in biochemistry. “But they never even said what the scope of their investigation is.”

In the summer that followed Dwyer’s ex-oneration—prior to Hellinga’s own request for an investigation—Metzger and several other graduate students in biochemistry drafted a petition requesting a formal in-vestigation of Hellinga on two possible of-fenses: that he published Dwyer’s data de-spite her objections, and that he pursued “baseless and malicious, or reckless” mis-conduct charges against her.

Metzger delivered notarized copies of the petition July 3 to the offices of eight University administrators, including Korn-bluth, andrews, Lange, interim Chair of Biochemistry Kenneth Kreuzer and Presi-dent Richard Brodhead. Each copy bore 18 signatures of current students and re-cent graduates. Many more wanted to sign, Metzger said, but were afraid or felt it was not in their best professional interests.

Dwyer was not informed of the petition. Metzger said he wanted the petition to be about the principles behind the incident in-stead of perceived as a personal vendetta.

andrews met Metzger the same day he delivered the petition specifically to inquire about Dwyer’s involvement. Metzger clari-fied that he believed she was unaware of it and they did not discuss further issues. He received no response from the other recipi-ents and later that month in Nature, Hell-inga publicly announced his investigation.

One year later, the investigation was pending, and Metzger still had no word about its status or the petition. He request-ed to meet with andrews and was granted a meeting with Kornbluth late last august.

Metzger said he understood the investi-gation was confidential, but he wanted con-firmation that the students’ concerns were being addressed. after a series of exchang-es and meetings, Kornbluth confirmed that the committee had been made aware of the petition and would discuss the issues within its purview.

One month later in October 2009, Hell-inga’s former post-doctoral student pub-lished results that contradicted two more of his papers. In an open house with bio-chemistry students that month, andrews declined to answer questions about the on-going investigation, Metzger said.

“The worst part in the department is the students feel that Duke and the de-partment are stonewalling and not doing anything about this,” Richardson said. “It’s unclear that the investigation took under mandate what the students asked.”

Richardson said she is closer to the envi-ronment in Hellinga’s lab than most faculty

in the department, as she and her husband have also worked in protein design and served on the Ph.D. defense committees for many of Hellinga’s former students. Pri-or to the inquiry of Dwyer, the Richardsons were close friends with Hellinga and his wife, Lorena Beese, also a James B. Duke professor of biochemistry.

“I think [Hellinga is] brilliant and his ideas are really going to work in the long run,” Richardson said. “His part in this is also a tragedy.”

Richardson said, however, that Hell-inga’s lab is “much too hard” on gradu-ate students.

“This is not just about Mary Dwyer,” she said.

James Qiu, currently a post-doctoral as-sociate at Tufts University, joined Hellin-ga’s lab as a graduate student in 2003 and worked there for three years before switch-ing laboratories—an unusual move—and graduating in July 2009. Qiu said there is a fundamental problem regarding graduate students’ protection.

“[Dwyer] was really Homme’s favorite graduate student,” he said. “That he turned around and accused her of academic mis-conduct when the results were not what he wanted them to be after previously winning prestigious awards for the same work is very disturbing. It gives the perception that any professor could level a charge at any stu-dent at any time.”

Richardson said she feels it would be better if Hellinga does not take graduate students in the future.

“It would mean we wouldn’t have to has-sle every time we get a new class in, warning people in a way that would work,” she said.

a repairable department Many faculty and students said the pend-

ing investigation has affected Duke’s repu-tation, specifically hampering the search for a new chair of biochemistry.

Professors and students said they are of-ten asked about the Hellinga controversy at job interviews and scientific conferences.

“I mentioned I was from Duke and peo-ple didn’t want to ask me about the science, they wanted to ask me about this Hellinga character,” Qiu said, relating his experi-ence at a conference in New Hampshire.

This year, the biochemistry department embarked on its third chair search in as many years.

Richardson said she thinks the unre-solved investigation has affected the effort to fill the position.

“It’s hard to believe this wouldn’t have a strong effect on people,” she said. “I doubt we’ll get a chair until this is all taken care of.”

Raetz said, however, that chair searches are generally lengthy processes and the biochemistry department has been func-tioning well with an interim leader.

Despite the taint of the investigation, students and faculty appreciate the cohe-siveness of the graduate student popula-tion in the biochemistry department.

“Our program has been damaged by this affair, but it is not broken,” Metzger said.

HELLINGA from page 1


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tice Matthew Straus, a sophomore. Straus recused himself from the hearing because he attended last week’s College Republicans meeting in which Robinette was impeached.

as of now, the case will remain in student hands, Uni-versity administrators said, citing Duke’s tradition of stu-dent self-government.

associate Justice Carissa Mueller, a junior, presided over the hearing and will vote on a ruling with three other justices.

Robinette could not be reached for comment Monday or early Tuesday morning.

Monday’s hearing was only open to those who pro-vided testimony, Straus said. In total, the Judiciary heard testimony from 22 individuals, and both sides presented evidence to the Judiciary separately. Based on his past experience, Straus said the majority of the evidence would likely be in the form of e-mails, constitutional amendments and resolutions.

“We were just showing our reasons behind the impeach-

ment and our reasons had nothing to do with Justin’s sex-uality,” said junior Rachel Provost, College Republicans chief of staff who testified at the hearing. “Most of us had known about this for months before that.”

The articles of impeachment maintain that Robinette was removed from office because he had “repeatedly failed in his capacities as chair.” among other charges, Robinette was accused of mishandling group endorsements, fixing internal elections, neglecting to coordinate events with the College Republicans at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and exhibiting unbecoming conduct.

Because they had attended key meetings of the College Republicans executive board, Straus and senior Spencer Eldred, DSg vice president for student affairs, served as neutral parties and offered testimony at the end of pro-ceedings.

Straus said he felt the College Republicans impeach-ment meeting april 14 was conducted in an inappropriate manner.

“To have me as a guest and have a meeting like that in front of me as a guest, I asked, ‘aren’t you embarrassed?’”

Straus said in a interview early Tuesday morning. associate Justices Martin Njoroge, a junior, and Chas-

tity Threadcraft, a senior, also recused themselves from the hearing Monday. Njoroge is Robinette’s close friend and Threadcraft was away on a prior engagement.

at 3:30 a.m., Mueller declined to comment about the possible outcomes of the proceedings, adding that she did not know enough about the case at the moment. Ultimate-ly, the Judiciary can do essentially whatever it wants, said associate Justice David Wang, a sophomore.

Vice President for Student affairs Larry Moneta said the administration is monitoring the situation and conducting its own informal conversations about the events.

The review process in this situation falls under student jurisdiction, said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations. No complaint has been filed with the Undergraduate Conduct Board, Schoe-nfeld confirmed Monday.

“The administration would only intervene in extraor-dinary circumstances if there was concern that DSg’s own processes were not being followed [or there were] safety concerns,” he said.

Purchase The Chronicle’s National

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ROBINETTE from page 1

by Alex KrinskyTHE CHRONICLE

Inconsistency has plagued the Duke pitching staff all season. Although its pitchers have fueled

the team’s success, their moments of brilliance and promise have been offset by breakdowns and lopsided losses.

The Blue Devils en-

tered this season understanding that they would win games with solid pitching and defense—even with the loss of star pitcher Andrew Wolcott to the MLB Draft—rather than explosive bats. In most of the team’s wins this season, Duke (21-

16, 6-12 in the ACC) has held its opponent to few if any runs and has accumulated four shutouts thus far.

“Our team is really based on pitching and defense,” junior Dennis O’Grady said. “Every time we go out, our goal is to shut the other team out and just throw up zeros every inning.”

O’Grady, senior Michael Ness and sophomores Ben Grisz and Eric Pfisterer have been workhors-es for the Blue Devils and have each pitched more than 35 in-nings Senior Christopher Manno, though, came into this season with high expectations but has under-performed to this point. Manno is 1-2 with two saves and a 6.25 ERA.

The senior has faired no bet-ter in conference play, posting an 8.37 ERA.

“Chris has been really good for us during his career, and he’s working very hard,” head coach Sean McNally said. “He’s made some bad pitches and he’s paid for it.… He’ll get it cranked up. For us to be good, he’s a key guy. From what I know about him, he’ll continue to work at it relent-lessly, and that’s all he can do.”

Freshman Chase Bebout and Marcus Stroman, however, have stepped up immensely and made a positive impact.

Bebout, an imposing figure on the bump standing 6-foot-6, has been a vital contributor to Duke’s success with a record of 4-1 and a 3.72 ERA. In ACC play, Bebout’s 4.38 ERA is the lowest on the team.

“They’ve been huge,”

Thursday, the National Football League will kick off its 75th annual player draft, now a three-day made-for-television extrav-aganza carried live on ESPN and the NFL Network. For the first time, the draft’s first round will be held on Thursday night, with the drama and theater of the event moving

straight to Prime-time. 32 players will be anointed as a team’s first-round selection on Thurs-day and will almost instantly become multimillionaires.

After opening night, the spot-

lights will turn down a notch, Commis-sioner Roger Goodell will hand over the duties of announcing picks to a deputy and NFL teams will get down to the busi-ness of making the remaining 223 picks of the draft. These picks will be more cal-culated gambles than surefire bets, with t e a m s in later rounds taking flyers on

players that they view as un-derrated or overlooked.

Most players tabbed in the late rounds will never make the final cut for NFL rosters in August. A few of these bets will pay off in monumen-tal fashion—with the sixth-round selection of three-time Super Bowl winning quarterback Tom Brady perhaps the

most notable example. But out of 2010’s class of draft-eligible play-ers, there might not be one player that

merits a late-round shot at an NFL roster more than Duke’s own Thaddeus Lewis.

Lewis wrapped up a record-setting Duke career this fall by finishing as the ACC’s sec-ond all-time passing leader, with his career total of 10,065 passing yards ranking only behind N.C. State’s Phillip Rivers in the re-cord books. Lewis’s steady hand at the helm of David Cutcliffe’s offense over the past two seasons was a fundamental element of the Blue Devils’ recent football resurgence. His strong body of work earned him a trip to February’s NFL Combine in Indianapo-lis, where just over 300 top prospects work out in front of all 32 NFL teams.

“They said I did well, went out there and threw the ball well,” Lewis said of his combine workout. “I just did what I need-ed to do. I worked out and competed in front of all 32 teams, and a lot of guys didn’t [get that opportunity].”

Measured up alongside his combine contemporaries Sam Bradford, Jimmy Clausen and Colt McCoy, Lewis doesn’t particularly jump off the paper. Although Lewis put in a strong showing at the combine, including running the fourth-fastest 40-yard dash time at his position, the prevailing measures and metrics that grade NFL quarterback prospects aren’t favorable to him. At 6-foot-1, Lewis is a hair shorter than most NFL teams would like. And although he was a prolific pass-er with the Blue Devils, Lewis doesn’t quite have the top-flight arm strength that league offensive coordinators covet.

But in evaluating Lewis’s intangibles, there’s plenty for NFL teams to like. From the moment he took over in the second series of his freshman opener against Rich-mond until his final snap senior year, Lewis

SportsThe Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com

TUESDAYApril 20, 2010

>> MEN’S LACROSSE Sophomore defenseman CJ Costabile was named ACC Player of the Week for his play in the Blue Devils’ 13-9 defeat of No. 1 Virginia Saturday

QB Lewis hopes name is called in NFL Draft

WillFlaherty

lawson kurtz/ChroniCle file photo

Quarterback Thaddeus Lewis’s record-breaking Duke career has not guaranteed him a spot on an NFL roster.


Junior Dennis O’Grady has gone 0-2 in six starts for the Blue Devils so far this season.

Pitching staff the key for Duke against ACC’s best

TUESDAY, 6 p.m.Lynchburg, Va.

Liberty

Duke

vs.

SEE lewis ON PAGE 8

SEE pitchers ON PAGE 8

BaseBaLL


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played under the direction of three different offensive coordi-nators. For each of his first three seasons, Lewis was burdened with learning a new offensive scheme in just a few months before being thrown right into the action in the fall.

But as his success on the field at Duke indicates, the mental challenge was but a small hurdle and was a forma-tive experience that is a great indicator of his ability to grasp the complexities of a pro-style offense. Correspond-ingly, Lewis felt he excelled in the intense, one-on-one in-terviews that teams conduct at the combine.

“I got good feedback, and some of the guys said, ‘If I didn’t know your system, now I know [it]. You did a good job regurgitating what you learned from Coach Cut, and that’s a good sign of a good quarterback.’”

And in the same vein, two seasons under the tutelage of a highly regarded quarterback guru such as Cutcliffe has prepared Lewis well for the challenges of the NFL. His play this season was enough to have one fellow ACC coach, Maryland’s Ralph Friedgen, proclaim that Lewis “is definitely an NFL prospect.”

But even more effusive praise of Lewis came from Duke

offensive coordinator Kurt Roper. “I keep telling everybody that there’s not 90 quarterbacks in the world better than Thad Lewis,” Roper said in an interview with ESPN.com. “You look at 30 [NFL] teams having three quarterbacks. Thad is a good football player and should end up playing in that league in some role.”

Although Lewis has recently drawn some additional at-tention from individual teams—he participated in a pri-vate workout with his hometown Miami Dolphins in early April—Duke’s record-holding signalcaller knows that his NFL chances are far from guaranteed. Lewis said that he would definitely pursue opportunities as an undrafted free agent if his name is not called in New York. But after hearing him make the pitch for himself at Duke’s Pro Day in March, it’s hard not to be pulling for Lewis as NFL teams work down their draft boards this weekend.

“He’s a guy with a great work ethic who has the ability to make the guys around him better,” Lewis said of himself when asked how he would describe his strengths to an NFL general manager. “He is a team player, a hard worker, and he is a leader. He’s going to give you everything he has.

“If you make that investment in me, I’ll make sure you’ve made the right investment.”

Chase olivieri/ChroniCle file photo

Despite playing for three different offensive coordinators, Thaddeus Lewis excelled in his college career, giving him a shot at being an NFL draftee.

Lewis from page 7

O’Grady said of the two freshmen. “Marcus and Chase have been big contributors for us this year. If we didn’t have those two guys, I don’t how many wins in the ACC we would have.”

Stroman plays second base and is instrumental in the Duke offense, but he has also been a force on the mound. Out of the bullpen, Stroman is 4-1 with three saves and a 4.34 ERA.

“Marcus has been unbelievable—a freshman like that who can come in and be in pressure situations in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings with the game on the line,” O’Grady said. He’s a special player and he’s really going to be the face of the program.”

There is an undeniable dichotomy in the Duke pitch-ers’ performance in nonconference games compared to conference matchups. Duke’s domination of nonconfer-ence opponents and its struggles in the ACC is a reflection not only of the conference’s superior level of play, but also of the pitching staff’s own vulnerability.

In six games against Fordham and Temple, for example, the Blue Devils only allowed 13 runs. In just three games against powerhouse Georgia Tech, though, Duke gave up 43.

“We have the same mindset in ACC games and noncon-ference games,” O’Grady said. “The competition is a lot different. The ACC is the best league in the country and the best players play there, and it’s just a learning curve.”

Duke still has four series left against tough ACC oppo-nents to end the season, and the pitching staff must be more dependable in order to finish strong and make the conference tournament.

“We’re going to try to be consistent for the remainder of the schedule,” O’Grady said. “We really need to start turning around and getting more wins, and it’s going to start with the pitching staff.”

piTchers from page 7


Freshman relief pitcher Marcus stroman (above) and starter chase Bebout, also a freshman, have combined for eight wins this season.


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Thousands of high school seniors eager for an invitation to Duke’s Class of 2014 are going to have to keep on wait-ing. Last week, The New York Times reported that 3,382 applicants—up 856 from last year—had been offered a spot on the Univer-sity’s waiting list.

At highly selective liberal arts schools like Duke, wait-ing lists play an important role in allowing the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to secure a talented and di-verse freshmen class.

It is difficult for the Uni-versity to determine just how many accepted students will choose to matriculate. Un-fortunately, there is no tried and true formula to calcu-late yield, as extenuating circumstances—like the eco-

nomic climate or a basketball championship—can increase or decrease the number of students that enroll.

If the University does not fill all of the spots in an in-coming class through its ini-

tial round of acceptances, it needs a reserve

of high-quality students that a waiting list provides. But in order to maintain diversity and ensure a representative freshmen class, this waiting list must be sufficiently large to contain “buckets” of dif-ferent types of students.

As important as a sizeable waiting list may be, this year’s number is unreasonably large.

Last December, the Uni-versity admitted a record high 602 students to the Class of 2014 through the bind-

ing early decision program. This left approximately 1,100 spots open for the regular decision round.

At the end of March, the admissions office extended ac-ceptance offers to 3,372 high school seniors—more than three acceptances for every open spot. On top of this cush-ion, the University offered an-other 3,382 students a spot on the waiting list.

Although many students will remove themselves from the waiting list and commit to attending another school, the chances are still slim for those who choose to keep their sights on Duke. The number of incoming freshmen admit-ted off the waiting list chang-es each year, but the Office of Undergraduate Admissions estimates that it will be less than 60 students this year.

Such a large waiting list for such a small number of spots unfairly keeps high school seniors hanging on for a concrete answer from the admissions office. Students invest time and money to ap-ply to Duke, and they deserve a timely “yes” or “no,” not a noncommittal “maybe.”

And if students perceive that their application to the University is not being evalu-ated fairly, all of the financial resources the admissions of-fice has spent building up the Duke brand will have been for naught.

What is most revealing about this entire episode, however, is the fact that the admissions office is increas-ingly strained by the ever-growing number of appli-cations to Duke. Guttentag admits that admissions of-

ficers did not have enough time before the March dead-line to re-evaluate the waiting list and eliminate students who should have been de-nied. This is problematic.

Because of its role in craft-ing the undergraduate stu-dent body, the admissions office is integral to the life of the University. It must have the time, resources and staff to thoughtfully and fairly evaluate each application—and deny students when ap-propriate.

Moving forward, the Of-fice of Undergraduate Ad-missions must carefully con-sider how it can maintain the thoughtfulness and scrutiny of its selection process as the number of applicants contin-ues to rise. In future years, 3,000-person waiting lists will be simply unacceptable.

commentaries10 | TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 ThE chRonIcLE

The c

hron

icle

The

Ind

epen

dent

Dai

ly a

t D

uke

Uni

vers

ity

editorial

Ego

Too many ‘maybes’

”“ onlinecomment

We do not want to elect a freshman into a role this large.

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Inc. 1993Est. 1905

I love it here. I really do. I’d better, consider-ing how much I recently blew ordering a class ring, but I digress.Rather than giving a sentimental (and incom-

plete) list of all the things here I love, I’m more concerned with one of the things that I don’t: Managing your ego at Duke is no small task. The fact that I’m obsessed enough with my own to write about it is a case study in just how hard this place makes it.

If it were easy, we wouldn’t have the infamously recurring theme of “effortless perfection” on cam-pus. There are people around you, many of them, who the Duke culture is absolutely eating alive. You may know they’re struggling, but odds are you don’t.

(A quick note of clarification: That term, effort-less perfection, is not inherently female-exclusive. As far as I can tell, its association with women’s is-sues stems from its usage in a report several years ago by the Women’s Initiative. Call me insensitive, but I don’t think this is a strictly female phenom-enon. It could just be that men might try to be perfect, too.)

Take a look around you. There’s an absolutely ludicrous amount of talent here. I’m reminded of a shirt by SnorgTees that reads “I urinate excel-lence” across the front, except in less polite terms. Although I am sure most wouldn’t ever say it, the phrase describes pretty much everyone at Duke. It also explains the state of male bathrooms in my dorm most weekends. They are spreading excel-lence, you see.

There is the guy who plays piano, orates mag-nificently, understands quantum physics and can pick his nose with his little toe while doing a hand-stand. There is the girl who dances, sings beauti-fully, fills a room with laughter and has no clue how pretty she is. Then there’s you.

You are not in the same league as these people. They seem capable of doing anything well and barely even working at it. You’re struggling just to do merely what’s asked of you. Putting yourself up against that level of giftedness is not just hum-bling, it is outright painful. You want to hate them for it, but you can’t because you know they don’t want to hurt you. They are just better than you.

It is easy to get down on yourself when you rec-ognize this. It’s easy to get down on yourself when you can’t keep up in a class. It’s easy to get down on yourself when it seems like you don’t have as many friends as you should (and Facebook affirms it). It’s easy to get down on yourself when your initial efforts to line up an internship fail spectac-

ularly because your resumé reads, “Hi, I’ve done all this random crap that makes me exactly 36 per-cent qualified for nothing because I have no idea where I’m going with my life. Hire me!”

It’s even easier when you say it all at once. Depressing as all that may be, though, it’s still only one side of the coin.

A couple weeks ago I passed through a hallway where a couple guys were playing a game they called “Nutball.” It was aptly named, describing the elegant and sophisti-cated sport of throwing tennis balls at one another’s genitalia. Ameri-ca, I give you your future leaders. I make no guarantees about their

prospects for producing the next generation.I suddenly feel far less inferior. It’s comforting.

That’s just the beginning, though. What goes on around you can bring your ego to new and lofty heights, perhaps in part because it is happening in the context of our Gothic Talentland.

It’s a good feeling when you get a perfect score on that test with an average in the low 70s. It’s wonderful when people compliment your writ-ing (though a scathing indictment of their taste, really). It’s flattering when you catch her staring at you for the umpteenth time and she blushes. When you find out you’re someone’s hero—espe-cially when that someone is your own hero—you are on top of the world.

But this doesn’t solve the problem; you are still letting your worth be dictated by factors in hands other than your own. Arguably, it’s worse because now you have farther to fall. Oh, and fall you will. Duke will always find ways to humble you.

I wish I could say that I rely on my own inter-nalized definition of excellence, but I don’t. I try to, but it is too tempting to rely instead on exter-nal validation, especially during the times when it comes readily. Sometimes I don’t mind being called arrogant because it means I fooled some-one into thinking I’ve got it figured out. Often the people I’m trying to fool are those closest to me.

If I can take any solace, though, it is in knowing that I am hardly alone in letting Duke and my peers define what success is. I hear it going on every day.

“Otherwise I’ll drown in the sea of resume builders.”

“Look at this picture; am I prettier than she is?”“But you’re so much smarter than me!”“Is everyone going out tonight?”Perfection indeed.

Jeremy Walch is a Pratt junior. This is his final column of the semester.

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jeremy walchanger turned

sideways

It’s my final column of the year, so you’re going to have to bear with me while I get a little literary. It’s a re-

flective time, and having grown up in New Eng-land, Robert Frost’s child-hood stomping grounds, I know that it doesn’t get more reflective than his poem “The Road Not Taken.”

Most people familiar with the poem tend to remember only the final lines, out of context, as a ringing en-dorsement for individualism: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference.” But if you read through the rest of the poem, the speaker actually points out that the two paths were pret-ty similar—“the passing there had worn them really about the same,” and so the two paths “equally lay.”

The glamorized “road less traveled” is only how the speaker is anticipating de-scribing his choice later on, “somewhere ages and ages hence.” But in his mind, he will always remember the two paths as equal and wonder what could have been had he chosen the other (leading him to say those final lines “with a sigh”).

What Frost is writing about is regret, and as we count down to the end of the year—and for seniors like me, to the end of our time at Duke—perhaps regret is something that’s on your mind as well.

Time’s just about up—did you have enough fun? Do you have enough mem-

ories? Did you check off everything on your bucket list?

As a general rule of thumb, I like to avoid regret. It’s a taxing emotion that gets in the way of happier reflection. Are there things in my Duke career that I could’ve done differently? Of course. I could’ve joined a different fraternity or stayed inde-pendent. I could’ve tried to work things out with my girlfriend freshman year

instead of breaking up in November. I could’ve stayed in Durham instead of go-ing abroad. I could have studied more for this test or less for that test; I could’ve written another draft for that paper or stayed at the bar for one more pint.

It’s natural to imagine the hundreds of directions your life might’ve gone had you made a different choice. But I like to think about it in reverse—every decision I’ve made over the last four years, large or small, has led me to where I am standing now. And while I wouldn’t say that I am standing exactly where I thought I would be, as I look back on all the good memo-ries, the view from here is pretty great.

And while I don’t want to rely on the message of regret, I also don’t like the self-important justification provided by the simple reading of those final lines. What is it about the road less traveled that made all the difference? Is it somehow better just because fewer people have traveled it before? Is there a case here for Robert Frost as the world’s first hipster?

At the end of the day, there’s nothing to gain by trying to compare your own experiences to those of anyone else. Ex-periences are inherently subjective and personal; they can be different without necessarily being “better” or “worse.” Whether you were on the floor of Lu-cas Oil Stadium in the student section in Indianapolis or burning benches on the quad here in Durham, the fact re-mains that we won a National Champi-onship and celebrating it was awesome everywhere.

It sounds silly and obvious when you say it that way, but I guarantee there’s a senior out there walking by a bulletin board with “Things to do in Durham!!” written in colorful ink, looking up and down the list and saying, “Man, I wish I had done that,” or worse, “Boy, if I don’t hurry up and do that, I’m going to regret it.” Those are the most dangerous regrets: not the ones you’re feeling now, but the ones that you think that you’re going to feel 10 years from now.

But at the end of the day, there is no perfect Duke experience—no cookie-cutter mold to try and squeeze through in four years. Don’t regret the things you’ve done or haven’t done. Find the things at Duke that you enjoy, enjoy them as much as possible and treasure those memories.

On a personal note, I spent my first three years at this school relatively anony-mously, and I don’t regret those years at all. Then senior year came, and my name and thoughts graced the campus newspa-per every other week; I don’t regret that choice either. Writing this column has been an honor, a challenge and a joy. I haven’t always made friends with my writ-ing, but I hope I’ve made people think about campus life a little more.

I’m ready to graduate and move on to life’s next big dream without regret. Thanks for reading.

Bradford Colbert is a Trinity senior. This is his final column.

commentariesThE chRonIcLE TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 | 11

The Road Taken

endorsementDuke Partnership for Service endorses

AkpaninyieBoth Ubong Akpaninyie, a sopho-

more, and Gordon Wilson, a fresh-man, have presented valuable ideas to improve Duke-Durham relations and develop a strong relationship with the Duke Partnership for Service. We would be excited to work with either candidate on his initiatives. However, we chose to endorse Akpaninyie for this year’s Duke Student Government vice president for Durham and regional affairs.

Akpaninyie’s priorities for next year align closely with our own, and he demonstrated a good understanding of our function. His ideas to promote freshman involvement in social action complements the transformation of our First-Year Program, as do his ideas for on-campus events. He proposed con-crete ideas to promote clear and effec-tive communication between dPS and DSG, and a commitment to leveraging DSG’s resources to further our goals.

We value his extra year on the commit-tee, and feel that this experience allowed him to compare and evaluate different philosophies in this position. He dem-onstrated a clear understanding of the fi-nancial reality with respect to transporta-tion issues, but also has ideas for creating long-term solutions in spite of this. Ak-paninyie has proactively researched social action initiatives at other universities, and has used this extensive knowledge to de-velop creative ideas to address Durham-related issues. Finally, we are confident in his ability to relate to major stakeholders, such as the administration, student body and community partners.

Becky AgostinoPresident, Duke Partnership for Service

Trinity ’11

Aluminum! Foiled again!Last week, when you were passing the

trees that line the West Campus Plaza on your way to lunch, did you catch a

glimmer of silver out of the corner of your eye? While sitting on the C-1 on the way back from class, did you spot a humanoid figure dangling from the handrail above your head? Or did a miniature soldier guarding the beverage-containers recycling bin perhaps give you a moment’s pause as you walked out of Perkins after a night of studying?

If you’re familiar with the aluminum foil figurines that make mysterious ap-pearances around West Campus, you know what I’m talking about. At half a foot tall with a metallic sheen that flashes in the sunlight, they’re pretty hard to miss. Notice one dangling from a tree branch, and suddenly they’re everywhere—an in-vasion of tiny foil statuettes peaking out from every corner of campus.

Of course, detecting their unexplained existence on campus opens the door to fur-ther mystery: Who makes these foil men? Why? What, if anything, do they mean? These questions always puzzled me, until I traced the foil men back to their source.

As it turns out, they’re made by a soft-spoken and thoughtfully philosophical student at Duke, who prefers anonymity. After picking up the skill at a young age, “bin Fuad” (a code name he specified upon our introduction) can now make each foil man in less than five minutes—and he makes, he said, sometimes a hun-dred at once to scatter across campus. At other times, he shapes just one based on a passing fancy and leaves it wherever it strikes him as a fitting location.

This is not to say that I found out every-thing there is to know about our diminutive aluminum foil friends. As we sat on the Plaza mere feet from where I’d seen my very first foil man, bin Fuad remained reluctant to lend his own interpretation to his artwork.

The simplicity of his aluminum art reflects, in a sense, the sincerity of his in-tentions: “I really enjoy when I see them make certain people happy,” he explained, though he stressed their exact meaning was meant to be open to personal interpreta-tion. When, for instance, I pressed him on the whimsical nature of his creations, he sug-

gested that despite their fanciful and “very temporary” quality, there remains “a part of whimsy that’s very important—people can

often think better when their spirits are lifted... and this is serious.”

For bin Fuad, to whom the subtle spreading of the “joy of the universe” is a significant endeavor, anonymity lends an aura of secrecy that he believes heightens the intrigue of his project. “If I were in the audience, I’d think

[anonymity] is more interesting,” he in-sisted, noting that he’d like his figurines to take on “some kind of universal aspect” independent of his identity.

This sentiment, which associates the appeal of a piece of art to the secrecy of its origins, brings to mind another, more well-known artistic undertaking. PostSe-cret, started by Frank Warren as an ongo-ing community art project, relies on the anonymity of its contributors, who mail Warren their secrets on homemade post-cards. Selected secrets appear weekly on Warren’s blog, with the hope that these concealed experiences will represent the collective confessions of those who visit the PostSecret website.

Bin Fuad’s aluminum foil men and PostSecret are examples of the way in which anonymous art can use personal reactions and experiences to express hu-man universals. They reveal how basic emotions—joy, for instance—are both private and common phenomena, how perhaps the most deeply personal feel-ings are always universal.

Indeed, with finals looming and end-of-the-semester ennui setting in, the urge to retreat into our own worlds of stress and individual summer plans may be appeal-ing. But we should try not to forget the ties that bond us together in spite of our individual frustrations and ambitions.

Whenever you next find yourself bogged down, look around instead, because who knows? There may be an aluminum foil man peeking out at you from the nearest tree, or the archway of your dorm, or the bench in front of your doorway. Go ahead, look around—see what you’re missing.

Shining Li is a Trinity sophomore. This is her final column of the semester.

shining liall too human

bradford colbertthe other side

Monday’s story, “Duke College Re-publicans impeach chair,” detailing the removal of former Duke College Republicans chair Justin Robinette, a junior, has provoked a strong reaction from our readers. This is understand-able, and it merits some explanation.

The Chronicle was alerted to this story around 3 a.m. Thursday when junior Justin Robinette, who had been impeached at a College Republicans meeting earlier that night, contacted two editors in The Chronicle’s Univer-sity department.

In an e-mail, Robinette alleged that he was impeached because of his sexual orientation.

Friday afternoon, a Chronicle re-porter met with Robinette in person. He informed her that he was not pre-pared for a story to be published due to personal reasons, but he said he hoped to work with us on a story in the future.

At this point, news of the incident was spreading quickly across campus

and beyond the University. The Chron-icle was contacted by a wide range of individuals who wished to share their thoughts on the issue. Clearly, this was no longer a private matter.

I had a personal meeting with Robi-nette Sunday, and we discussed his concerns about going on the record. Following our conversation, Robinette consented to an interview with The Chronicle.

We would not have published the story unless Robinette was willing to speak to us on the record.

Furthermore, The Chronicle would never seek to “out” any member of the LGBT community. Robinette gave us his explicit consent to conduct an interview, and it was our responsiblity to report a newsworthy event that has attracted the acute interest of the cam-pus community.

Will Robinson is a Trinity junior and editor of The Chronicle. Please contact him at [email protected] if you have questions.

editor’s note

12 | TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2010 ThE chRonIcLE

By Shailagh Murray and Brady DennisThe WashingTon PosT

WashingTon, D.C. — Democratic leaders scrambled Monday to peel away the Republican votes they need to bring a Wall street reform package to the senate floor this week—an effort hampered by sharp partisan divisions.

Both sides are attempting to exploit a lingering resentment toward Wall street in the election-year debate. Democrats have seized on the attempt to curb reckless investment practices as part of an effort to depict the goP as out of touch with the con-cerns of average americans. on Monday, Democrats sought to use a lawsuit brought against financial giant goldman sachs by the securities and exchange Commission as a cudgel to per-suade Republicans to line up behind the bill.

Republicans, in turn, think voters have even less faith in Washington than in the banks and investment houses that played central roles in the nation’s economic collapse, and they are portraying Democrats’ overhaul attempt as a

“bailout” that could cost taxpayers billions.White house officials said President Barack obama will

give a speech at new York’s historic Cooper Union college on Thursday in which he is expected to remind voters in the starkest terms of what many in Washington assert is the irresponsibility that took hold on Wall street as financial firms sought fatter profits.

a laundry list of presidents have appeared at Cooper Union to deliver policy pronouncements, and obama is no stranger to the venue. at a critical point in his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, he used the backdrop to outline his economic message and the need to “establish 21st century regulatory framework” to a Wall street that had proved surpris-ingly supportive of his campaign. executives at goldman sachs gave almost $1 million to obama’s 2008 campaign. But the government action brought against that firm has now become a pivotal point in the administration’s push for reform.

“By not enacting our legislation—by filibustering it, stop-

ping it—we leave the american public vulnerable once again to the kind of shenanigans that have occurred in our large fi-nancial institutions across this country,” senate banking Chair Christopher Dodd, D-Conn. told reporters Monday. “This comes right down to this basic question,” he said. “Whose side are you on? What more do you need to know?”

Dodd’s 1,400-page bill would create an independent regulator, housed at the Federal Reserve, who would be charged with protecting consumers of mortgages, credit cards and other loans against lending abuse and other deceptive practices. it also would create oversight of the vast derivatives market, curtail the regulatory powers of the Federal Reserve and give the government authority to wind down large financial institutions in an orderly way.

Republicans have argued that the measure contains loop-holes that could lead to government bailouts of such firms. They also have maintained strong opposition to the creation of the new consumer regulator, arguing that it would be an-other layer of government bureaucracy that would burden businesses, stifle innovation and lead to higher costs.

But even as the rhetoric grew more heated, Democratic and Republican negotiators explored potential areas of compromise, including changes to a $50 billion fund that the financial industry would set up to liquidate bankrupt firms. some Republicans say the firm could encourage the high-risk investments that led to the current crisis.

Dodd, the chief sponsor of the senate legislation, said the fund could be altered in the interest of a bipartisan deal. “There are other ways of doing it,” he said. “This isn’t the only way.”

Treasury secretary Timothy geithner made the Capitol hill rounds on Monday, visiting two Republican senators as part of the administration’s quest for converts. Unless Democrats can pick up at least one Republican on a pro-cedural vote to bring the bill to the senate floor, a goP filibuster could stall it indefinitely.

senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Ky., the main goP critic of the overhaul measure, struck a more conciliatory tone in a senate floor speech Monday. obama had singled out McConnell in his radio address saturday for the goP leader’s “cynical and deceptive assertion” that the Democratic bill would lead to more bailouts.

in his remarks on Monday, McConnell conceded that “both parties agree on this point: no bailouts.” he urged his Democratic colleagues to “come together and direct our energies toward making sure we achieve that goal, and leave aside all the name-calling and second-guessing.”

Jim Manley, spokesman for senate Majority Leader harry Reid, D-nev., said the bill could reach the floor as soon as Thursday, although a vote to allow debate to be-gin probably would occur no earlier than Monday. senate agriculture Chair Blanche Lincoln, D-ark. is expected to complete work Wednesday on a final portion of the legisla-tion that would regulate derivatives.

Inaugural SeriesTHE Sanford ScHool of PublIc PolIcy

Fifty years after Terry Sanford was elected governor of North Carolina, this symposium revisits the pressing concerns of his political career: poverty, education and racial inequality.

3:30 p.m. concurrent panel discussions

“The Pursuit of Equity in Health, Wealth and Citizenship”

Panelists:WilliamA.DarityJr.,ShermanJames,andIreneGodinez

“Facing the Achievement Gap from Kindergarten to College”

Panelists:CharlesClotfelter,HelenLadd,MinnieForte-Brown, andR.ScottRalls

“From Then to Now: Antipoverty Efforts in North Carolina”

Panelists:RobertR.Korstad,JamesL.Leloudis,LeslieWinner, NaomiFeaste,andNoahRaper

5:00 p.m. reception, Terry Sanford photo exhibition, and book signing

ToRightTheseWrongs:TheNorthCarolinaFundandtheBattle toEndPovertyandInequalityin1960sAmerica (By Robert R. Korstad & James L. Leloudis, UNC Press 2010)

6:30 p.m. Keynote address by n.c. Sen. dan blue (d-Wake)

Symposium, book Signing and receptionfriday, april 23, 2010

To right These Wrongs: continuing the Work of Terry Sanford

Sanford building, duke university

ThefinaleventoftheSanfordSchoolofPublicPolicy’s2009-2010InauguralSeries

Register online at www.sanford.duke.edu/events/inaugural/special/ or contact (919) 613-7315

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PovertyChronad2.indd 2 4/1/10 12:30 AM

Democrats look to close partisan divide on Wall Street reform

Documents

April 20, 2010