Duke: NC Med Board ‘inaccurate’

by Julian SpectorTHE CHRONICLE

Duke is disputing a state agency’s characterization of the University’s findings regarding the credentials of Dr. Anil Potti.

The North Carolina Medical Board formally repri-manded the former Duke oncologist late last month for unprofessional conduct. The medical board investigated

Potti after learning of allegations that he misrepresented his qualifications and may have committed research misconduct.

In the reprimand, the board wrote that Duke Medical Center, after review-ing Potti’s credentials, had concluded that the errors “were largely the result of carelessness and honest errors with no clear intention to mislead.” This

statement prompted the objection from Duke. Duke’s Associate Counsel Ann Bradley sent a letter

of complaint to Medical Board President Dr. Ralph Loomis Monday, refuting the board’s description of Duke’s conclusions following an investigation into Potti’s curriculum vitae and biographical sketch. The letter calls the board’s description “incomplete” and “inaccurate” and refers back to a statement from Pro-vost Peter Lange issued in August 2010 where Lange noted that “issues of substantial concern were identi-fied” regarding Potti’s CV and biographical sketch, adding that investigators later deemed the errors in these documents as “serious concerns.”

SEE POTTI ON PAGE 5

TORI POWERS/THE CHRONICLE

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson speaks at Reynolds Industries Theater to a crowd of more than 500 people Tuesday afternoon.

Jackson urges consideration of environmental issues

by Matt BarnettTHE CHRONICLE

A leader in environmental policy high-lighted pressing concerns facing the Envi-ronmental Protection Agency Tuesday.

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson ad-dressed more than 500 people about en-vironmental policies and challenges the EPA faces, particularly given the economic downturn and political climate. Jackson leads an 18,000-person department in an effort to protect and enhance the environ-ment and public health. Deemed the 2011 Duke Environment and Society Lecture, Jackson’s talk was sponsored by the Nicho-las School of the Environment and took place at Reynolds Industries Theater.

Jackson commended the Obama ad-ministration’s stance on environmental is-sues, discounting the notion that econom-ic productivity and environmental health are mutually exclusive.

“President [Barack] Obama knows and has said the choice between the economy being healthy and the environment being healthy is a false choice,” Jackson said.

She noted that both economists and in-dustry groups recognize that regulations are almost never the cause of economic problems or layoffs. The opposite is often true, as regulations encourage innovation and often result in a net increase in job creation, Jackson said.

Environmental health has traditionally been a bipartisan issue. The EPA, which

SEE EPA ON PAGE 6

Researchers receive funding to develop HIV vaccineby Lucy Hicks

THE CHRONICLE

Duke University Medical Center re-searchers have received grants totaling $37.2 million to continue work develop-ing an effective HIV vaccine.

Duke researchers are working to develop a vaccine that is de-signed to prevent recip-ients from contracting HIV, which can cause AIDS—the syndrome that results in the pro-gressive failure of the human immune system.

Last week, researcher David Montefiori, professor and director of the Laboratory for AIDS Vaccine Research and Develop-ment, received a five-year $24.6 million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation—the largest of the three awarded grants. Montefiori’s research

largely focuses on identifying the vary-ing effectiveness of antibodies against different strands of HIV in hopes of de-veloping a vaccine.

“One of the crucial aspects of the work that we do is look at the ability of the antibodies to block the many dif-ferent strains of HIV... [which] allows people to identify the more promising candidates and to weed out the weaker vaccine candidates so more work can be done in the more promising approach-es,” Montefiori said.

One of the major issues in preven-tion of HIV has been developing an ef-fective vaccine that protects against the variations of the virus around the world, Montefiori said. There are nine major genetic variations of HIV, and when a patient becomes infected with two dif-ferent types, they can combine into circulating recombinant forms, which make the vaccine development process

much more complicated.The World Health Organization has

estimated that 34 million people world-wide are infected with HIV as of 2010, a number that has been steadily growing for years. The Gates Foundation grants will fund the Medical Center’s HIV and AIDS prevention work in the Collabo-ration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery pro-gram, which is an international network of researchers attempting to develop vaccines and clinical trials. The program was created by the Gates Foundation in 2006 and has awarded grants that sup-port 94 institutions in 19 countries. Duke researchers joined the collabora-tion in 2006, when it received a $31.5 million grant that allowed the Medical Center to establish the Comprehensive Antibody Vaccine Immune Monitoring Consortium, which is led by Montefiori.

Another recipient of a Gates Founda-tion grant is Dr. Barton Haynes, director

of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology and Frederic M. Hanes professor of medicine and immunology. Haynes, who received a three-year $11.7 million grant, focuses on developing the next generation of HIV vaccines based on previous trials by examining immune cells from vaccinated people in order to determine which antibodies are effective. Haynes said he is currently analyzing an-tibodies from a vaccine trial carried out by the U.S. Army and the government of Thailand in 2009. Of 18,000 Thai citizens, 30 percent of participants were protected against the virus. Although that ratio of success was not high, the study contained important implications for vaccine devel-opment, he said.

“The trial gave us hope that indeed a vaccine could be made,” Haynes said.

David Montefi ori

SEE HIV ON PAGE 6

Anil Potti

University says board misstated Duke’s conclusions about Potti

The ChronicleTHE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTH YEAR, ISSUE 70WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Blue Devils lookBlue Devils lookto bounceto bounceback from back from loss, loss, Page 7Page 7

SidewalkSidewalkbecomes becomes

Hootli, Hootli, Page 3Page 3

ONTHERECORD“Look—a lot of people are insensitive, insufferable bigots

and that’s just the way they are.” —Indu Ramesh in “No offense, but...” See column page 11

2 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 THE CHRONICLE

“”

worldandnation TODAY:

7062

THURSDAY:

51

Influenza immunization rates in chil-dren are up this year compared with last, with 36 percent getting the vaccine by the middle of November, government officials reported. This year, Hispanic children have been vaccinated at a higher rate than black children or white children.

TYLER SEUC/THE CHRONICLE

Nourish International held its final Hunger Lunch of the semester. Donations go to programs designed to combat poverty globally.

KUWAIT CITY, Kuwait — Kuwait’s ruler dissolved parliament and said elections should be held after a dispute over corrup-tion allegations sparked anti-government protests. The standoff between Kuwait’s opposition and the government has put the political system under growing strain.

Influenza vaccination rates increase among children

Emir dissolves assembly to defuse protests in Kuwait

WASHINGTON, D.C. — A deeply divid-ed House committee debated Tuesday whether to pass a high-profile bill that would prohibit members of Congress from buying and selling stocks based on non-public information they learn about through their work on Capitol Hill.

Several panel members, backed in part by the testimony of a Securities and Exchange Commission official, said the measure is not needed because existing laws and congressional ethics rules ban such action. They also said the bill, known as the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act, could be used to unfairly tarnish members.

The hearing struck a very different tone from one held last week on two similar bills. Members of the Senate Com-mittee on Homeland Security and Gov-ernmental Affairs said the bills should be retooled and quickly passed to restore the public’s confidence in Congress.

Congress debates bill to ban lawmakers’ stock trades

41

“Just one week ago, Duke was No. 3 in the AP Poll and received multiple first-place votes, but after being dominated by Ohio State on the road, the Blue Devils fell to No. 7 this week. Prior to the loss in Columbus, Duke had one of the strongest resumes in the country.”

— From The Blue Zonebluezone.dukechronicle.com

onthe web

GoPass Distribution EventMarketplace, 6-8p.m.

Duke Parking and Transportation and Stu-dents for Sustainable Living is distributing GoPass, which provides free riding on Trian-gle Transit and other regional transit routes.

Screen/Society:Duke Student Film Showcase

Griffith Theater, 6-10:30p.m. The two-day event screens final projects in

Duke film classes this semester.

Duke Men’s Basketball vs. Colorado State

Cameron Indoor Stadium, 7p.m. Duke (7-1) is playing its first game in seven

days against Colorado State (5-3).

scheduleat Duke...

America is a nation with many flaws, but hopes so vast that

only the cowardly would refuse to acknowledge them.

— James Michener

TODAY IN HISTORY

1941: Japan bombs Pearl Harbor.

oono the calendarEarthquake Memorial Day

Armenia

Good Neighborliness DayTurkmenistan

National DayIvory Coast

International Civil Aviation Day

International

Duke Symphony OrchestraReynolds Theater, 8-10p.m.

The Duke Symphony Orchestra, directed by Harry Davidson, presents “Three Tributes and

the Heir of Beethoven”.

www.dukechronicle.com

stuck inside studying for finals? find out what you’ve been missing. the chronicle archives on-line: anytime, any place, emerging from Perkins not required.

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 | 3

Duke student’s start-up rebranded as Hootli

NC unemployment rate falls in October

by Kotoe OshimaTHE CHRONICLE

A student-founded discount site exclusive to deals in the Durham area has rebranded itself after the threat of a lawsuit.

Hootli—a Duke alumni and student-led venture that advertises discounted group deals for 35 local restaurants and bars, in-cluding some on-campus vendors—is re-gaining traction after avoiding a potential legal battle in August. Formerly known as Sidewalk, the small company changed its name after the owners of the website Side-walk.com—another business associated with the restaurant industry—claimed infringe-ment upon its identical name.

“We decided to move forward,” said Hootli President Andrew Joiner, Fuqua ’11. “The best course of action was to start fresh and use everything we learned, use our tech-nology, use existing relationships and use our marketing study to relaunch under a new name.”

Although the company’s attorney antici-pated that Hootli would win a legal battle if charges were pressed against them, approxi-mately $500,000 in legal and attorney fees was difficult for the small start-up company to dispense for a legal response, Joiner said.

Keeping the well-received owl figure as the company’s logo, the name Hootli was chosen for its uniqueness to try and avoid any future legal issues with website domain names as well as with Twitter and Facebook.

“We learned our lesson the first time, we want something catchy, something simple that’s also something that is completely dif-ferent from anything that’s in the market

right now,” said senior Daniel Bingyou, Hootli vice president of sales.

At one Hootli hosted event at Devine’s Restaurant and Sports Bar Nov. 10, senior Doug Dellinger won a two-night trip to Las Vegas with a $500 credit at a casino. The prize, co-sponsored by Hootli and Devine’s, was part of Hootli’s special launch events that they hosted as various bars and restau-rants near campus.

“It’s cool that they’re trying to do some-thing entrepreneurial and also trying to help out local businesses,” Dellinger said. “It’s a good cause [because] they’re [making] stu-dents aware of more local businesses.”

Hootli partners with local restaurant and bars to drive customers through its doors during off-peak hours, using time-sensitive deals and draws support from those in the Duke community. The Duke Student Pub-lishing Company, publishers of The Chron-icle, provided $8,000 in a convertible note as seed money for the company’s startup costs last Spring and is a marketing partner selling the Hootli service.

The Hootli business model is distinct from other deal-of-the-day websites such as Groupon, Joiner said, with a more focused target demographic—college students—rather than the international breadth of-fered by Groupon.

With approximately 3,000 active users and plans to include restaurants in Chapel Hill next January, Joiner said he is confident that the rebranding process has not set the company back.

“We’re in a stronger position now based on our traction than ever before,” he said.

By Joel LutherTHE CHRONICLE

The latest state unemployment data re-veals that the number of residents filing unemployment insurance claims has in-creased while the unemployment rate has dropped.

According to the North Carolina Em-ployment Security Commission, the unem-ployment rate for Durham County was 7.7 percent in October—a decrease from 8.1 percent in September. The county rate is lower than the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate of 10.4 percent in Oc-tober, which has held fairly steady over the past several months.

Larry Parker, acting public information director of the N.C. Employment Secu-rity Commission, noted that the state’s job market is on the recovery, though progress has been slow.

“We’ve lost a lot of jobs since the reces-sion, so it’s going to take a lot of time to get back,” Parker said. “It’s a slow gain, but we’re getting there.”

North Carolina added 5,500 jobs in Oc-tober, 700 of which were located in the pri-vate sector. At the same time, the number of initial claims for unemployment insur-ance increased by 3,327 since September, and the number of people making claims increased by 480.

Due to the fact that more people are entering the labor force, the unem-ployment rate may see a decrease even though the total number of unemployed people actually increases, said Seth Sand-

ers, professor of economics and public policy and director of the Duke Popula-tion Research Institute.

The N.C. unemployment rate of 10.4 percent is greater than the national aver-age of 9 percent. Since November 2010, North Carolina’s rate has been higher than the national rate.

Duke—which employs approximately 33,000 people across the University and health system—is weathering the trend fairly well, Vice President for Administra-tion Kyle Cavanaugh said. Job applications have steadily increased since the econom-ic downturn—averaging approximately 13,000 per month, he added.

“In general, since the economic down-turn, the hiring numbers at the Univer-sity have essentially been steady,” Ca-vanaugh said. “We do expect and project that we will see some hiring increases in the health system, predominantly driven by the new Cancer Center and the Duke Medical Pavilion.”

Cavanaugh attributed the University’s success to the increased demand in its necessary and relevant services for the community.

“The demand for higher education has remained strong, and the demand for health care has not only remained strong, it has continued to grow,” he said.

Sectors such as government, profes-sional and business services and educa-tion and health services experienced the

SEE UNEMPLOYMENT ON PAGE 5

4 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 THE CHRONICLE

by Karen DeYoungTHE WASHINGTON POST

GENEVA — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton met here with leading members of Syria’s opposition Tuesday amid a fast-moving escalation of interna-tional pressure to force the departure of the country’s President Bashar Assad.

After nearly two hours of talks with top officials of the Syrian National Coun-cil, an umbrella organization that came together this summer, a senior State De-partment official said Clinton deemed them a “leading and legitimate represen-tative of Syrians seeking a peaceful demo-cratic transition.”

As the meeting took place, around a table decked with white roses in a small hotel conference room, there were new reports of violence in the central Syr-ian city of Homs. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights quoted witnesses as saying 34 bodies were dumped in the streets Monday night.

One resident of Homs, who declined to give his name because of safety con-cerns, said dozens of people had been arrested and executed in a public square in the city.

Also Tuesday, the Arab League said it would maintain sanctions against Syria, after the Assad government said it would reject a proposal for military monitors and observers unless the league lifted suspension of Syria's membership. The United States and Europe have imposed economic sanctions.

The Geneva meeting was the most high-profile encounter to date between the opposition and the Obama admin-istration. The State Department official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity about the private session, said Clinton had asked about the council’s transition plans and its recognition of the need to reach out to Syria’s myriad minority groups and had come away impressed.

The council leaders did not ask for a public U.S. endorsement or recognition, the official said, and indicated that they saw a continuation of Arab League efforts as the best way forward.

But “what’s new here, and fairly sig-nificant,” the official said, “is that the secretary of state had this meeting.” Council leaders had previously met with Clinton's counterparts in Britain, France and Germany.

In a statement to the seven council leaders before reporters were ushered from the room, Clinton said, “We cer-tainly believe that if Syrians unite, they together can succeed in moving their country to [a] better future.” She said the United States was “committed to help-ing... make this transition.”

The meeting came as the U.S. ambas-sador to Syria, Robert Ford, was return-ing to Damascus, a month and a half after leaving for “consultations” in Washington following what the administration said was a government-backed campaign of intimidation against him, including an attack on his home in the Syrian capital.

Clinton meets with Syria opposition

Mine owner to pay record $209M penalty

by David Fahrenthold and Kimberly Kindy

THE WASHINGTON POST

The owner of a rogue coal mine in West Virginia where sparking machinery and built-up gases led to an explosion that killed 29 men last year has agreed to pay a record $209 million penalty and make historic changes to protect miners from harm, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.

The settlement with Virginia-based Al-pha Natural Resources, which bought the parent company of the mine, Massey En-ergy, is more than 40 times larger than any previous fine for a coal disaster. It came 20 months after the blast at the Upper Big Branch mine, the worst U.S. mining disas-ter in 40 years.

Also Tuesday, a new government report detailed the world inside the mine April 5, 2010, where modern men went under-ground to face problems out of the 19th century. Miners worked amid pockets of neck-high water and buildups of explosive methane and coal dust. Their bosses kept two sets of safety logs, a real one and a fake one to show government inspectors.

“If basic safety measures had been in place,” said the report, from the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, “there would have been no loss of life.”

The settlement requires Alpha to pay $1.5 million each to the families of 29 dead and two injured miners.

It also requires the company to spend at least $80 million on measures intended to prevent another disaster—better air

monitors inside mines and new devices to provide oxygen for suffocating men.

“You can’t trade lives for money,” was the message to the coal industry as a whole, said Davitt McAteer, a mine-safety expert who led the state of West Virgin-ia’s inquiry into the disaster. “You have to make it hurt enough, and try to make them pay attention.”

McAteer said that the Upper Big Branch disaster was a reminder of how little had changed in mining since the days of canaries and dynamite. The Upper Big Branch miners were killed by the same unsolved safety problems that caused the country’s worst mining disaster, at Monon-gah, W.Va., in 1907.

“It was coal dust. It was ventilation” problems, McAteer said. “Same [stuff], 104 years later.”

Tuesday’s agreement will end the threat of federal prosecution for Alpha, as a company. Its penalties also include $48 million, to be placed in a trust for mine safety research, and $34.8 million to pay off Massey’s outstanding fines for safety violations.

“What I hope they get from it is that they can’t just write a check and make an investigation go away,” U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin said in a telephone inter-view Tuesday night. “They have to have a commitment to incorporating... real, tan-gible safety measures.”

The agreement would still allow Massey

SEE MINE ON PAGE 6

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 | 5

POTTI from page 1

largest growth in employment—a .7 percent increased in employment from September to October. According to the ESC, the changes may be due in part to seasonal patterns, especially in the government sector.

Some employers in North Carolina have not needed to make major changes in their hiring practices.

Duke Energy, which has headquarters in Charlotte, N.C., has maintained a steady number of employees and currently employs 18,000, noted Duke Energy spokesman Dave Scanzoni.

Duke Energy’s steady employment numbers is partly due to the nature of its product—electricity is necessary regardless of the economic situation, Scanzoni said. Even so, usage patterns of both industrial and residential cus-tomers have changed, he added.

“We’re seeing reduced operations of major industrial facilities, some of which have closed down,” Scanzoni said. “There is usually—year to year—a small increase in our residential use, but that hasn’t been happening over the past couple of years. Those customers have pretty much been flat.”

Sanders noted that the economy appears to be im-proving, though pinpointing the precise moment of re-covery is difficult.

“The problem is that a recession is backwards look-ing,” Sanders said. “We really don’t know if we are in a recession—we only know that we have been in a re-cession. As far as we can tell, it looks like we are in a recovery.”

UNEMPLOYMENT from page 3

“The bottom line is we disagreed with the characteriza-tion of the results of Duke’s investigation as portrayed in the consent order that was executed by the North Carolina Medical Board and Dr. Potti,” Bradley said in an interview Tuesday.

Whenever the board receives information regarding a possible misconduct by a physician, it investigates that information, Medical Board Legal Director Thomas Mans-field said. If the medical board determines misconduct occurred and pursues public disciplinary action, the in-vestigation frequently results in a settlement between the board and the physician in question before going to trial. The agreement is then documented in a consent order signed by the physician and the board.

The passage in question—paragraph 10 of the consent order—states, “Duke Medical Center has investigated Dr. Potti’s curriculum vitae and Duke Medical Center bio-graphical sketch concerns and concluded that, while there

were some inaccuracies on the biographical sketch and curriculum vitae, they were largely the result of carelessness and honest errors with no clear intention to mislead.”

The wording of the board’s consent order reflects a process of negotiation between the medical board and the physician after the board prepares an initial draft, Mans-field said.

“The physician is always going to be motivated to nego-tiate language that puts him in the best light possible,” he said. “From the board’s perspective, we are going to rely on information we gathered in our investigation, and we will always try to insist that consent orders will be objective and factual.”

Bradley said she believes that the information about Duke’s investigation included in the consent order came from the research misconduct report—a different inves-tigation from the investigation into Potti’s credentials—regarding Potti’s research methods. This report was com-pleted by a standing committee during the second stage of Duke’s research misconduct investigation. The medical board would not have access to this report unless Potti

shared it with them, she added.“What I believe these comments [in question] were

taken from was that initial inquiry report,” Bradley said. “It contained similar language that you could pull out, but nowhere in the inquiry report will you see those words or in that grouping.”

Mansfield confirmed receipt of Bradley’s letter and said the medical board is in contact with Duke’s counsel and Potti’s attorney, James Maxwell, who is also a senior lectur-ing fellow at the School of Law and Law ’66.

“We are aware of [the letter] and considering [Brad-ley’s] comments—more communications will occur,” Mansfield said.

Maxwell, a partner in the Durham law firm Maxwell, Freeman and Bowman, P.A., declined to comment.

Mansfield declined to comment on any specific infor-mation not included in the public consent order, citing a state statute legally prohibiting the board from such dis-closures.

Duke expects the medical board to amend the consent order, Bradley said.

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Spike Lee was on campus Tuesday to make a surprise visit to ENG-189: “The Films of Spike Lee.”

He got game

6 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 THE CHRONICLE

was created by Republican former Presi-dent Richard Nixon, saw some of its great-est advances under Republican administra-tions, Jackson said.

“People of all parties and opinions want swift action whenever they see a threat in their communities,” she said.

Jackson outlined some of the EPA’s re-cent works, including steps to reduce toxic air pollution and cross-state air pollution, as well as investments in water infrastruc-ture and community cleanups. She noted that the Obama administration was the first to recognize the adverse effects of green-house gases.

Nicholas School Dean Bill Chameides introduced Jackson, adding that environ-mental health is deeply connected with human health. He also noted the EPA’s im-portance globally.

“The myth that the environment is an issue for greens… is just that—a myth,” Chameides said. “Anyone who questions the value of the EPA should spend a week in China or India.”

In an interview after the event, Jack-son said many people do not remember what it was like before the establish-ment of the EPA, which may lead to un-informed criticism about the environ-ment. Jackson said she wants to remind people about the environment’s impact on public health.

“There’s just no incentive in our system that’s built in to price pollution or deal with it or minimize it,” she said. “EPA has protection in its name—it’s not unlike a police force or a defensive unit of our gov-ernment.”

Tim Profeta, director of the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solu-tions, said he is thrilled that Jackson came to Duke and commended her skills as the EPA administrator.

“We aren’t moving backwards on envi-ronmental protection, but we are moving backwards on political will,” Profeta said. “She’s the perfect administrator for this time—her ability to be pragmatic and to really roll with the punches in the middle of a political maelstrom has been essential

for her to allow the agency to continue to function.”

Profeta said Jackson’s talk has wide-reaching effects beyond the University.

“[The talk] was a strong and forceful de-fense of the agency’s actions,” he said. “It’s not any surprise she came to this state and to this campus to make her voice heard, given the importance of the state in the politics of 2012.”

Justin Garland, a first-year Master of En-vironmental Management student at the Nicholas School, said he is impressed by Jackson’s talk.

“She was inspiring,” Garland said. “It was the first time I’d ever seen her, and I was surprised to come away feeling pumped up and excited about environmental work.”

EPA from page 1

The final grant recipient is Dr. Mi-chael Frank, a professor of pediatrics and immunology, who was awarded a three-year $892,000 grant to study the HIV antigen for vaccine development.

Duke’s work to combat HIV does not end with development of this HIV vac-cine, Montefiori said. It is part of a broad-er effort on campus to combat HIV/AIDS and raise awareness around the issues, especially given that December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month. Programs such as “Know Your Status”—a student campaign that sponsors HIV testing with the Student Health Center—encourage awareness about HIV and offer free test-ing every Monday on campus.

“Our goals are twofold—to increase awareness of HIV on campus, as well as decrease the stigma around HIV test-ing,” said senior Ijeoma Agu, co-director of Know Your Status.

HIV from page 1

executives and managers to be charged as individuals. So far, only one has been prosecuted—mine security chief Hughie Elbert Stover, who was convicted last month for lying to investigators and try-ing to destroy mine records.

Miners’ families can still pursue law-suits against Alpha. But prosecutors said that, if a future judge awards them more than $1.5 million, Alpha can subtract that amount from their settlement.

The chief executive of Alpha Natural Resources, Kevin Crutchfield, said in a written statement that, “we're particularly pleased that a substantial portion of the settlement is going towards furthering miner safety, which has always been Al-pha's guiding principle.”

Despite the record size of the penalty, some mine-safety experts said they wor-ried it would not be enough to make se-rious changes. Alpha owns more than 80

coal mines, which means the money for safety upgrades would be just $1 million per site.

“Although it sounds dramatic, it may not effect meaningful improvements” be-cause the equipment is so expensive, said Judy Rivlin, associate general counsel with the United Mine Workers of America.

Mine safety experts also said the settle-ment addresses the physical safety issues, but does little to fix a corporate culture that often seeks to skirt safety rules.

“Doing more research to determine how a mine blows up doesn't get at the real problem,” said Celeste Monforton, a former federal mine-safety official. “What do you do to address the organizational pressure on the ground every day to place [coal] production over safety?”

The new federal report, which ran more than 1,000 pages, described an op-eration where rampant safety problems were hidden from federal inspectors.

The mine’s ventilation system, in which giant fans push in fresh air and vent flam-

mable gases, was not working properly. Flammable coal dust was allowed to build up despite requirements that it be cov-ered with inert rock dust.

The government said the mine kept these problems out of the books shown to inspectors. When inspectors arrived, officials stayed a step ahead, warning miners underground to either clean up or shut down.

Massey officials intimidated their em-ployees, according to the report—When one miner stopped to address a safety concern, he was told “if you don't start running coal up there, I’m going to bring the whole crew outside and get rid of ev-ery one of you.”

That miner, Dean Jones, died with 28 others when a spark from a faulty ma-chine set off a pocket of methane. That explosion set off another and much larg-er one in the coal dust. The government said flames whipped for miles through the mine's tunnels, followed by suffocating gases called “afterdamp.”

MINE from page 4

SportsThe Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com

WEDNESDAYDecember 7, 2011

>> BLUE ZONE A deeper look at the stats behind Austin Rivers’ emer-gence in Columbus.

A recap of major move-ment in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.

Robbed Sportsmen from Blue Devils past

WES ELKMEIER 17.5 ppg, 41.7 3PT%JESSE CARR 8.8 ppg, 47.6 3PT%DORIAN GREEN 12.4 ppg, 51.7 3PT%

GREG SMITH 10.8 ppg, 5.0 rpgWILL BELL 7.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg

QUINN COOK 3.1 ppg, 1.0 apg, 8.4 mpgSETH CURRY 14.1 ppg, 40.7 3PT%AUSTIN RIVERS 15.4 ppg, 65.2 FT%RYAN KELLY 12.8 ppg, 4.4 rpgMASON PLUMLEE 12.0 ppg, 9.8 rpg

FRO

NTC

OU

RT

BACK

COU

RT

BEN

CH

The Rams’ tallest starter is only 6-foot-6, though 7-foot Trevor Williams will likely see minutes off the bench. Still, Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly should have the opportunity to put up career numbers.

Elkmeier, Carr and Green have led Colorado State to the second-best 3-point shooting percentage in the country this season, but the trio will be helpless on de-fense against the Blue Devil guard trio.

With Pierce Hornung, the Rams’ leading rebounder, ex-pected to be out recovering from a concussion, the Rams are extremely thin in the frontcourt. Miles Plumlee will likely see increased minutes as a post mismatch.

The BreakdownThe Rams have a quality win over in-state ri-val Colorado and a near-miss against 2010 NCAA Tournament bracket-buster Northern Iowa, but they simply don’t have enough size to stay with the Blue Devils. Unless Elkmeier, Carr, or Green put up a Jimmy Baron-esque 3-point shooting performance, this one will get ugly in a hurry.

OUR CALL: Duke wins, 98-55

DUKE CSUPPG: 77.4 70.9PPG DEF: 69.6 70.6FG%: 46.9 45.73PT%: 41.0 45.6FT%: 68.6 75.6RPG: 37.5 30.6APG: 12.8 10.5BPG: 3.3 1.9SPG: 7.8 5.1

12.515.4TO/G:

GGGFF

GGGFF

DUKE vs. COLORADO STATEWednesday, December 7 • Cameron Indoor Stadium

7 p.m. • ESPN2

No. 7 Duke (7-1) Colorado State (5-3)

On Monday, head coach Mike Krzyze-wski was named a co-Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. The esteemed honor, given every year to the “athlete or team whose performance that year most embodies the spirit of sportsmanship and

achievement,” is the latest in a long num-ber of accolades for the coach, who has won an Olympic gold medal, the FIBA World Cham-pionship, a nation-al championship and the Division I

win record over the past three years. He’s also bowled a 300, won “Dancing With the Stars” and notched two holes-in-one dur-ing this run—I think.

Monday’s honor not only represented K’s first time winning the award, but also the first time any Dukie has won the hon-or. This got me thinking—with the long, illustrious history Duke athletics has pro-duced, surely there have been some Blue Devils who have been robbed of Sports-man of the Year. Right?

1942. Sports Illustrated champion: N/A. Robbed Blue Devil: Wallace Wade

I’m cheating a bit here. Sports Il-lustrated began publication in 1954, so there was no real robbed Dukie in 1942

(although one has to think Joe Dimaggio would be doing the robbing that year). Wade still deserves to be on this list for sav-ing a major college football bowl game, the 1942 Rose Bowl.

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Har-bor in Dec. 1941, Rose Bowl event organiz-ers were skittish about playing the Rose Bowl on the West Coast, a region of the country that seemed poised to become a battleground at any moment. Wade and Duke offered then-Duke Stadium as a set-ting for the game against Oregon State, al-lowing the game, a 20-16 Duke loss, to be played. Without this invitation, it’s assumed the game would have been cancelled.

Oh, and there’s this—after the loss, Wade signed up for military service at the age of 49. He ended up seeing intense ac-tion on the European theater, fighting at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge and winning a Bronze Star. You didn’t screw with Wallace Wade.

1961. Sports Illustrated champion: Jerry Lucas. Robbed Blue Devil: Art Heyman

Heyman is getting the nod here for two reasons. First, he was indirectly responsible for kicking off the Duke-Carolina rivalry on Feb. 4, 1961, when, after fouling Tar Heel Larry Brown, Heyman started a 10-minute brawl that included the combined rosters

AndyMoore

SEE SPORTSMEN ON PAGE 8CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

Gerald Henderson deserved an award for doing this to Tyler Hansbrough in 2007, Moore writes.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Rams feature trio of top 3-point shooters

by Brady BuckTHE CHRONICLE

Coming off a lopsided 85-63 loss to No. 2 Ohio State last Tuesday, Duke will look to regain its groove at Cameron Indoor Sta-dium as it hosts the Colorado State Rams (5-3) tonight at 7 p.m.

After going through a gauntlet of eight games in just 19 days to start the season, the No. 7 Blue Devils (7-1) have had seven days since their last game, which has allowed for a much-needed period of consistent prac-tice time and the opportunity for players to reflect on a tough loss.

“We have been practicing the past five or six days with no games and hard practic-es,” freshman shooting guard Austin Rivers said. “We’ve learned and I think we’ve got-ten better even since the Ohio State game. Sometimes games like [Ohio State] can ac-tually help a team.”

Rivers was one of Duke’s few bright spots in Columbus, Ohio, finishing with a career-high 22 points against the Buckeyes. The two-time ACC rookie of the week es-tablished himself as one of the best drivers in college basketball from day one, but as the season has progressed Rivers has be-come more of a complete player.

“I think [Rivers] is a much better de-fender. He has cut down on his turnovers and he is playing a more well-rounded

game,” associate head coach Chris Col-lins said. “We have been encouraged with how he has improved.”

For the Rams, an upset win against a top-10 team would be a huge NCAA Tour-nament resume booster for a program hungry to make the 64-team field for the first time since 2003—when it fell to the Blue Devils 67-57 in the first round.

Colorado State returns a majority of last year’s squad that for most of the sea-son was on pace to earn one of the final NCAA Tournament at-large bids. A few costly losses down the stretch, however, prevented the Rams from ending their tournament drought, leaving them with a fifth-place finish in a tough Mountain West Conference that saw its top two teams—Brigham Young and San Diego State—make the Sweet Sixteen.

In order to make the upset a reality, Colorado State will need its best perfor-mance yet from its prolific perimeter at-tack to compensate for the team’s lack of interior height. So far this season, the Rams have had the second highest three-point shooting percentage in the country at 45.6 percent, which nearly led them to road wins against NCAA Tournament-caliber teams Stanford

SEE CSU ON PAGE 8

8 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 THE CHRONICLE

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of the Duke and North Carolina teams and several cheerleaders. This is widely consid-ered the moment when Duke and North Carolina’s intense rivalry extended from football to basketball. And it makes for one hell of a way to start the rivalry.

The second reason why Heyman de-served to win? He punched Larry Brown! How many Knicks fans want to do that?

1979. Sports Illustrated champions: Ter-ry Bradshaw and Willie Stargell. Robbed Blue Devil: 1979 men’s basketball team

On Feb. 24, Duke and North Carolina played each other in a game that Duke led 7-0 at the half. That is not a typo—Dean Smith ran a four-corners offense through-out the entire period, not allowing the su-perior Duke team to take possession except on several rare plays. In the second half, the Tar Heels thankfully abandoned this approach, allowing a real basketball game to occur. Duke won 47-40.

The abysmal game led to two posi-tive developments. It spearheaded the charge to install a shot clock in col-legiate basketball, allowing basketball fans to not have to contemplate leaving the sport forever during interminable first halves like that one. And, it led to this quote by Duke coach Bill Foster: “I thought Naismith invented basketball, not Deansmith.”

Coach burn!1984: Sports Illustrated champions: Ed-

win Moses and Mary Lou Retton. Robbed Blue Devil: Tom Butters

Without Tom Butters, there might not be a K.

In 1980, Butters, the athletic director, went out on a limb to hire Coach K, and after three seasons, it didn’t look like his experiment was going to work out. Duke had gone 38-47 in Krzyzewski’s first three seasons, Iron Dukes were calling on the athletic director to fire the young K and even Krzyzewski himself was worried for his job when Butters called him into his of-fice on the morning after a 31-point loss to Wake Forest in 1984.

Instead of firing the coach, though, But-ters offered him a five-year contract exten-sion. The rest is history.

1989. Sports Illustrated champion: Greg LeMond. Robbed Blue Devil: Steve Spurrier

If the past 20 or so years were any in-

dication, winning an ACC championship with the Duke football team is one of the toughest achievements in sports. Kudos, Ol’ Ball Coach.

1992. Sports Illustrated champion: Arthur Ashe. Robbed Blue Devil: Chris-tian Laettner

Laettner had quite the year. He cement-ed his legacy as one of college basketball’s all-time greatest players with his fourth straight Final Four, second straight nation-al championship and the greatest shot in basketball history. He also made the Dream Team as the only collegiate player on the squad. (Now would be a good time to put that I am not discounting the achievements of any honoree—especially Ashe.)

2007. Sports Illustrated champion: Brett Favre. Robbed Blue Devil: Gerald Henderson

Tyler Hansbrough had it coming.

and Northern Iowa. Wes Elkmeier and Dorian Green spearhead a potent back-court averaging 17.5 and 11.4 points, respectively.

“Hopefully, we can do a good job with our perimeter defense, take away the open shots and not let them get in their comfort zone,” Collins said.

Colorado State will be at even more of a disadvantage on the boards with their leading rebounder Pierce Hor-nung—who averages 7.3 rebounds a game—likely unavailable tonight due to a concussion. Duke should be able to use its size advantage to overpower the Rams inside, especially given Mason Plumlee’s high-level play as of late. The 6-foot-10 junior has asserted himself as one of the premier big men in the ACC,

SPORTSMEN from page 7averaging a near double-double with 12 points and 9.8 rebounds per game.

“The fact that he has added a low-post scor-ing game with his jump hook and ability to attack the basket—now he is becoming a com-plete player and somebody that presents a lot of problems for the opponent,” Collins said.

The Blue Devils will need stronger contributions from Ryan Kelly and Andre Dawkins against Colorado State after the two juniors were each held scoreless last Tuesday against Ohio State.

With a return to form from its veterans, Duke will look to get out to a quick start, control the glass and use its talent to over-whelm a scrappy Colorado State squad to start the month of December stronger than it finished November.

“We aren’t going to show up to a game like we did for Ohio State,” Plumlee said. “It doesn’t matter who you play, you can always get beat if you show up like that.”

CSU from page 7

TYLER SEUC/THE CHRONICLE

Mason Plumlee has emerged as a scoring threat this season, averaging 12 points and 9.8 rebounds through the Blue Devils’ first eight games.

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 | 9

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we got game: .................................................................nick, patrickjungle fever: .............................................................nickyle, tanakabamboozled: .............................................................general pattonguess who’s coming to dinner?: .............................................. drewtales from the hood:............................................................ ctcusackclockers: .........................................................tyler, jisoo, tori, ebray a james lee joint: ....................................................... jaems, melissaschool daze: ........................................................................... yueranBarb Starbuck’s next to spike if you pan left to right: ............ Barb

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Teach for America does numerous positive things, but its structure is fl awed. It’s that simple, really.

Obviously, Duke is a big Teach for America feeder as the Class of 2011 had 53 students accepted into the program, ranking 4th for mid-sized schools after Harvard Univer-sity, Boston College and George-town University. Approximately 16 percent of last year’s senior class, or 250 students, applied.

But there’s one number that has always struck me about Teach for America: The number of alumni who donate time or money is currently 50 percent. This is a drastic increase from past years, but it still shows that TFA is a pit stop, rather than a destina-tion, for most who decide to enter the program.

And Duke feeds students through this pit stop, though they leave en masse after two years, leav-ing many school districts without a sense of conti-nuity. These young teachers—who are lauded for their successes inside the classrooms—often move on to law or business school, fi elds that are more lucrative. A 2010 Wall Street Journal article cites 500 TFA alumni work in government (presumably with many working in education-related policy).

There are, however, those who move on to higher positions in the fi eld of education. There are now 450 TFA alumni working as principals and school super-intendents. There are stories of alumni who turned around school districts once they got to higher powers, and TFA lauds the idea of making serious change.

But still, TFA faces the challenge of retaining more of its corps members as teachers. A critical New York Times article on TFA cited Dr. Heilig and Su Jin Jez of California State University’s compila-tion of various studies on the program, including one that stated by the fourth year, 85 percent of TFA teachers had left New York City schools. TFA responded by citing a 2008 Harvard doctoral the-sis, which, though stating 61 percent stayed beyond two years, cited that “few people are estimated to remain in their initial placement school or the pro-fession beyond fi ve or six years.”

And, to be honest, why would they stay? With the average TFA salary for a Dallas-area teacher hovering around $45,000, there aren’t incentives for students to stay beyond a brief resume boost. Why would you accept less than the median start-ing salary (just under $60,000 for Duke graduates) two years after starting—especially if you were a top student, someone TFA recruits?

That’s why the ground level is in constant fl ux. And the only way to change this problem is to fi g-ure out where TFA should go in the future.

If TFA is being honest with itself, it should real-ize that its incentive structure does not match its main ideology. Throughout my research, the one

thing that popped up was how often TFA compares itself to the Peace Corps, especially when asking for government grants. And, honestly, why wouldn’t the program utilize a similar structure to the Peace Corps? Currently, the Peace Corps offers a stipend based on the location of volunteers and then gives a minimal allowance (approximately $8,000 pre-tax) after the 27-month stint. There are other options—travel pay,

student loan deferment and even two vacation days per month of service—but the main idea is that it is a volunteering opportunity. Members get health benefi ts, but again they are essentially working for the idea of helping others while simultaneously get-ting some serious experience and resume help.

Paying $45,000 is a lame attempt to try to per-suade others that this is more than just a very suc-cessful volunteering opportunity. Instead of denying tens of thousands of willing and able young people, why not restructure the program for volunteering, remove a vast majority of the pay (i.e. stipend struc-ture) and place many more students and make a much larger impact on the education system?

Would the number of applications decrease? Defi nitely, but the Peace Corps has survived, and it would ensure that TFA chooses people who want to teach. Even if applications were cut in half, there would be approximately 20,000 people willing to work. The stipends would be higher for TFA members due to higher standards of living, but the number would come in below the aver-age salary for TFA teachers. Further, a change in terminology would change incentivizing struc-tures. The move would make the TFA experi-ence entirely altruistic (volunteering) as opposed to a paid job. Then, the schools should take the money saved from salaries for every young person for two years and put it in a pot. Use this money to go aggressively at the best teachers—the ones with the best scores or best reviews or some sort of method—and try to retain them at higher salaries. Good teachers would get paid higher salaries by schools. It makes sense. Let those that go on to be principals, be principals or those that want to go do policy, do policy, but be competitive at retain-ing good teachers for beyond four or fi ve or six years. TFA has helped start the education revolu-tion. Now it’s time to take the next step.

Antonio Segalini is a Trinity junior. This is his fi nal column of the semester.

commentaries10 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 THE CHRONICLE

The C

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The Ind

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Dai

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Uni

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Education needs a Peace Corps

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Yesterday’s editorial ar-gued that the rapid expansion of DukeEngage could under-mine the program’s ability to best realize its mission—to transform students and work with communi-ties. Today, we argue that one crucial constraint on DukeEn-gage’s size should be its ability to audit partner nongovern-mental organizations.

DukeEngage is not by it-self imperialistic. Duke has nothing to gain from creat-ing spheres of infl uence in the communities that Duke-Engage works with. DukeEn-gage aims to avoid fostering dependence and to promote community self-suffi ciency, and we think the program is true to its word.

But the NGOs that Duke-

Engage partners with can and do have interests separating them from the communi-ties that they operate within. NGO employees are just people —people who need to

win grants to pay their sala-ries and who

may have personal histories —angry ones—with members of their communities. This can effect Duke students. In one now infamous Du-keEngage horror story, Lisa Ma, Trinity ’10, describes a Trinidad and Tobago NGO more concerned with feather-fl ashing than working with the surrounding community. DukeEngage can only ensure that student energy is not co-opted by misguided partner organizations by rigorously vetting these organizations.

This is no small beer. Community elites—which frequently include NGO brass—are often the easiest to talk to. It is much easier for a DukeEngage staffer to audit a site by talking to the English speakers in a com-munity, those familiar with western cultural practice and who know how to hob-knob with westerners. But talking to community elites—the low hanging fruit—misses the point of an audit: to fi gure out how an NGO impacts the people it aims to help.

The best way to audit an NGO is to visit it. Last year, the DukeEngage staff visited 14 of the 30 group project sites. Visiting less than half of the sites is not enough. If lim-ited resources prevent a visit to every site, then DukeEn-

gage should downsize. But even visiting every

NGO isn’t enough—they must be evaluated effectively, and to do this, the program needs objective evaluative cri-teria and experts to conduct the evaluations. DukeEngage staff can only conduct lim-ited evaluations if they don’t know the language and cul-ture of the areas they visit. Meanwhile, Duke has a hid-den cache of experts on lan-guage and culture: its faculty. Why not have relevant faculty travel with auditing teams to evaluate partner NGOs? Fac-ulty speak the language and know the historical and cul-tural trends in an area. Who better to evaluate an NGO’s impact on a community and to tease out the selfi sh inter-ests of partner NGOs?

Evaluation cannot stop at community impact. DukeEn-gage’s fi rst constituency, by its own admission, is student participants. If an NGO can-not provide the sort of ex-perience that transforms a student—and that DukeEn-gage considers integral to its impact on individual students and the campus—then Duke-Engage should not partner with it. Because students can self-report their own experi-ences, we are not too worried about evaluating this factor. But those factors, too, should fi gure into evaluation.

Bigger is not better, espe-cially when we risk helping the wrong people by expand-ing unnecessarily. DukeEn-gage should curb its growth until it can properly audit partner NGOs.

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antonio segalinimusings

commentariesTHE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 | 11

Last year, my fi nal article of the semester was titled “Why I love Duke.” In many ways, it was a very fi tting end to freshman year and to a semester’s

worth of Chronicling with the blissful naivety that only a fi rst-year student could possess. I went on and on about why Duke was the best place on Earth and why I loved virtually every aspect of this university, often ig-noring the abounding fl aws in our Gothic Wonderland. This semester, my column has taken a much harsher tone. I’ve criticized the administration at length for its lack of transparency and refusal to seriously consider student input. Not surprisingly, I was condemned for be-ing too negative. Go fi gure.

First, let me be clear about something: I’m still mad. I’m mad that the administration has decided to make my sophomore year a transition year. I’m furious that a “tran-sition year” means a year’s worth of social engineering experiments in a worthless attempt to change the social scene at Duke. I’m livid that the new house model will give students less control over their housing options un-der the guise of building community. And I’m pissed as hell that every transition is executed with the transpar-ency of a brick wall.

Yet, beyond all that, I’m hopeful. I’m optimistic be-cause I still know I chose Duke for all the right reasons. When it comes down to it, it isn’t the administrators or the professors that make a school. I chose Duke for the students.

For years, the student voice defi ned the culture at Duke. Certainly, that culture is far from perfect, but al-lowing students to take an active role in shaping their surroundings created a palpable enthusiasm at this Uni-versity. It was that enthusiasm that I felt when I fi rst came to Duke.

Unfortunately, I’ve seen that passion wane over the last few months. I’ve heard so many students say that, as much as they used to love Duke, they would now tell prospective students to look elsewhere. Students no longer feel that the administration has their interests at heart, and many have given up on having their voices heard. For a student body as bright and opinionated as Duke’s, this kind of apathy just isn’t acceptable.

I sometimes write scathing articles because I can’t stand idle knowing that I let my school change for the worse. Many students are afraid of public dissent: The idea of challenging the administration is terrifying with possible implications. I’m just some guy who writes an article twice a month; administrators can easily turn the other cheek. I would be fl attered if they cared enough about my opinion to try to stifl e it. In the end, though, I am just one stu-dent and they can ignore my columns. But when enough people sound the alarm, people start to take notice.

The proposed Merchants on Points modifi cations from the beginning of this semester are a good exam-ple. When Duke Dining Services restricted the delivery options before 7 p.m. on food points, the backlash was enormous and the decision was quickly rescinded. At a certain point, ignoring your detractors’ opinions just isn’t an option anymore.

I’m not asking students to storm the Allen Building with torches, but we can’t let Duke become a place where students are afraid to voice their concerns. Our actions shaped Duke University’s past, and they will be integral to its success in the future. So I’m making a special plea to every unsatisfi ed student. Join a focus group or com-mittee. Write a letter to The Chronicle. Write a letter to the Board of Trustees. Do something to make your voice heard, because I know the enthusiasm that fi rst brought me to Duke isn’t dead. It might just be dormant.

In the end, loving this school and criticizing it aren’t mutually exclusive. Pointing out its fl aws and being part of the solution make it stronger. Tailgate may be a thing of the past, but I refuse to believe that the students’ fi ghting spirit has gone with it.

Here’s how I see it: It’s time to make the administrators sweat. It’s good for them, and it’s good for Duke.

Scott Briggs is a Trinity sophomore. This is his fi nal column of the semester.

lettertotheeditorA message from Pi Kapp

On Nov. 19, the Mu Chapter of Pi Kappa Phi hosted an HDRL-approved party that was intended to celebrate Thanksgiving. We chose the theme of Thanksgiving because of the close proximity of our event to the national holiday. At the time, we didn’t realize that such a theme would offend so many of our classmates and the Native-American community as a whole. We were in no way attempting to glo-rify a history of atrocities committed against Native Americans. Regardless of our intentions, we sincere-ly apologize to our peers and the members of the Native-American community who were offended by the theme and our portrayal of Thanksgiving. As a fraternity, we will always welcome constructive criti-cism in the interest of fostering a better University community. In addition, we apologize to the student body for refl ecting poorly on the school. A single day in which the achievements and good intentions of the students at this University are overshadowed by negative attention is one day too many. Further, the

brothers of Pi Kappa Phi hope that the issues raised by this unfortunate incident will give rise to a larger discussion within the Duke University community.

It’s clear from the discussions that have emerged since our Thanksgiving party that this issue pertains to more than just our group of 68 young men. It is un-deniable that there is a need for a dialogue between the Native American community and the larger Duke community. For that reason, we encourage anyone who is concerned or curious about this issue to join the brothers of Pi Kappa Phi and the Native Ameri-can Student Association Wednesday at 12 p.m. in the Center for Multicultural Affairs in the Bryan Center for “Culture Clash.” This event will be a learning op-portunity for everyone and a chance for our fraternity and any other interested parties to learn more about a culture that we admittedly don’t know enough about.

Sincerely,Tyler Donahue, Trinity ’12

President, Pi Kappa Phi Mu Chapter

Why I still love Duke

scott briggsas i see it

They say that opinions are like a—holes. Every-body has one... and some of them are poopy.

So what do you do when someone confronts you with an insensitive, misinformed opinion or belief? You get offended. (They also say that being offended is something that white people like, but luckily, in my experience, that enjoyment has transcended racial boundaries. Small changes!) Don’t get me wrong—there’s plenty of stuff out there to take offense to and justifi ably so. Racism. Sexism. Ho-mophobia. Stereotypes. That Pi Kapp party, apparently. And that’s just a few.

Look—a lot of people are insensi-tive, insufferable bigots and that’s just the way they are. It’s excruciating. All we can really do to deal with it is become, well, of-fended. What’s interesting is that much of the time we spend getting offended is for the sake of others. We’re offended when states pass laws against same-sex marriage. We’re offended when a girl is raped and someone says, “Her clothes were slutty; She was ask-ing for it.” And rightly so. When people are unfairly victimized, we take it personally.

So, we tell racist bigots that we are offended at their racist bigotry. And then, maybe, somehow, that person will be a non-racist non-bigot! And the world will be a happy place again! Yay idealism! Consider this, though: It’s pretty diffi cult to change someone’s opinion. It’s ac-tually really, really hard. And even if it does happen, it takes forever. I mean, even if we limit our discussion to just the brain, every time you change your mind, there’s some rewiring of neural pathways that must take place. When you remember something like a fact, many little neurons help cement it into your long-term memory. So when you start doubting those facts, memories and perceptions, a whole can of worms opens and develops into the long-term potentiation that your brain worked so hard to arrange. Many little neurons have to dance the conga in order to stabilize your new opinion. And that’s got to take some time.

Let’s talk in a more social context. Say you admit your opinion is wrong. Well, it’s not as simple as that. Your confession implies that everyone who has infl u-enced your education and the environment in which you were able to develop these opinions is also wrong—your parents, your teachers, your mentors, your friends. It’s pretty tough to believe that your entire moral, po-litical and social education was fl awed. So you don’t do it that easily. Oh, at some point, you’ll have to tell everyone that you changed your opinion. It could get awkward. At worst, you could be called a hypocrite, and denounced as weak in your beliefs (think: politicians). Reputations could be ruined. And that’s no fun.

So when someone’s poopy opinion offends you, you take offense to years of ingrained beliefs fostered by family, social order and pesky neurons. However

much you complain and tell the world how offended you are, changing some-one’s opinion is a daunting task that could take years. You have to persist, to educate others on a variety of lev-els with a variety of examples and evi-dence. Let’s be real—neither of you has the time.

When you consider that, somehow being offended doesn’t seem to be the right way to solve the problem of crappy opinions. And maybe crappy opinions aren’t even the real problem. Why do people even have these opinions? Prob-

ably because they were raised or somehow infl uenced to think that way. And why is that?

Well, for starters, the United States has a veritable ocean of examples of historical intolerance. Crappy opinions expose things like cultural misunderstand-ings, prejudice, confl ict and sheer ignorance. It’s un-comfortable stuff.

Offense is not a mutual process. It’s a static con-struct, one where you simply acknowledge the perpetu-ation of the problem, but do not actively try to solve it or understand how it became so enduring. So hey, maybe being offended is a little overrated.

The next time someone alerts you to their poopy opinion, instead of letting them know how offended you are and what a racist, masochistic, insufferable bigot they are, maybe take a different approach. Don’t take it personally. Calmly ask why they think that. Ask them to present personal evidence of what led them to believe such things and why they continue to maintain those beliefs. Ask questions. Probe. And then, do the same for yourself.

In short, have a discussion. Do it in person or on-line; it doesn’t matter. At worst, you will have kept an open mind and encouraged someone else to do so as well. At best, your discussion will incite others to join in, and more and more people will confront these is-sues and try to understand why and how they are per-petuated in today’s society. And if enough people join in, it becomes a lot easier for examples and evidence to be presented on a variety of levels, for neurons to start dancing, and for (other people’s, if not your own) opinions to slowly start changing.

And hey, maybe then there really will be fewer poopy opinions in the world. Unfortunately, I don’t think the same logic applies to poopy a—holes.

Indu Ramesh is a Trinity junior. This is her fi nal column of the semester.

No offense, but...

indu rameshhooked on

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Visit www.dukechronicle.com for an additional Letter to the Editor:“Online Chronicle poll an affront” by Erica A. Scott

12 | WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2011 THE CHRONICLE