The ChronicleTHE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

XXXDAY, MONTH XX, 2013 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE XWWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

from Staff ReportsTHE CHRONICLE

In 2012, the combined num-ber of property crimes and vio-lent crimes reached its lowest point in 23 years, according to an annual report released by the Durham Police Department.

The rate of violent crime per 100,000 persons in Durham, which includes such incidents as homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, decreased 1 percent from 2011 to 2012. The actual number of violent crime offenses, however, increased slightly from 1,712 incidents in 2011 to 1,721 in 2012. Violent crime composed 14 percent of all crime in Durham in 2012.

In contrast, property crimes such as burglarly, larceny, vehicle theft and property crime fell 9 percent—a total of 969 fewer incidents from 2011 to 2012. Burglaries specifically fell 15 per-cent.

The report noted that DPD cleared 49.5 percent of violent crime cases and 22.2 percent of property crimes cases, adding that the rates were above the

FBI’s 2012 clearance rates.“The department’s goal was

to have a violent crime clear-ance rate of 45 percent and a property crime clearance rate of 22 percent,” the report’s execu-tive summary reads. “We met our property crime goal and signifi-cantly exceeded our goal for vio-lent crime clearance.”

The report attributes some of this decrease in burglaries to the Residential Awareness Program, an initiative launched in 2012. Through the program, DPD analyzes target areas with recent burglaries, and designated com-munity resource unit police of-ficers inform residents about the incidents going door-to-door. Police officers also conduct addi-tional patrols in areas designated as high risk. Burglaries in Dur-ham dropped about 15 percent in 2012.

There were also 21 homicides in 2012, with victims ranging from 13 to 81 years old. The number is down 19 percent from 26 homi-cides that occurred in 2011.

Genetics research could help Genetics research could help criminal psychopaths, criminal psychopaths, Page 3Page 3

Duke assesses Duke assesses number of number of credits for credits for

lab-heavy courses, lab-heavy courses, Page 2Page 2

ONTHERECORD“Outsourcing people’s social responsibility isn’t necessarily

a bad thing if that’s what it takes to be effective....” —Lydia Thurman in ‘Couch po-tay-toe, couch po-tah-toe.’ See column page 10

The ChronicleTHE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 113WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Scott drops out of EVP race, leaving one candidate

For a DSG pres, Oathout says experience matters

Junior Patrick Oathout, candidate for Duke Student Government president, is a public policy and philosophy double major from Houston. He is currently DSG executive vice president, a student representative on the Board of Trustees, president and founder of Duke Colloquium Fellows and a founding fa-ther of Duke’s chapter of Sigma Pi fraternity. His Chronicle column is on hiatus during the campaign. The Chronicle’s Sophia Durand sat down to discuss his accomplishments, vi-sion for DSG and the upcoming March 7 elec-tion.

The Chronicle: What defines you as a leader and qualifies you for this posi-tion?

Patrick Oathout: The position of DSG president is a couple of things—it’s an advocate, an idea generator and a repre-sentative for students. And I have experi-ence in all of those areas.

JESSIE LU/THE CHRONICLE

Junior Patrick Oathout from Texas is running for Duke Student Government president. The election will take place March 7.

DUKE STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTIONS

by Zac ElderTHE CHRONICLE

Duke turned to its three most veteran players on senior night to take care of Virginia Tech and finish the regular season undefeated at Cameron Indoor Stadium for the third time in the past four years.

Seniors Seth Curry, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee com-bined for 52 points as the No. 3 Blue Devils outpaced the Hokies (13-17, 4-13 in the ACC) in the second half to pull away for an 85-57 victory. Curry, Kelly and Plumlee became the second se-nior class in program history to

win all of their home games in three of their four seasons.

“I’m so proud of my seniors,” Duke head coach Mike Krzyze-wski said. “They’ve been abso-lutely amazing—their four years and being a part of 120 wins and

Seniors bid adieu with 85-57 win against VT

BRITTANY ZULKIEWICZ/THE CHRONICLE

Seniors Mason Plumlee, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly combined for 52 points in their final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

SEE MBB ON PAGE 1

SEE SCOTT ON PAGE 5 SEE OATHOUT ON PAGE 2

Durham crime hits 23-year low

by Carleigh StiehmTHE CHRONICLE

Sophomore Tre’ Scott canceled his campaign for Duke Student Govern-ment executive vice president, leaving sophomore Nikolai Doytchinov as the sole candidate.

Scott, currently DSG vice president for services, announced his decision Tuesday, following almost two weeks of campaigning. Doytchinov, vice presi-dent for academic affairs, will be the only executive vice presidential candi-date on the March 7 ballot.

“It took two days of really reflecting, praying and thinking about what I want-ed and where I stood,” Scott said. “This isn’t a decision out of sadness, this is a decision out of happiness because the future that I see myself trying to accom-plish for Duke is a brighter one and that is what is most important.”

Doytchinov said he was excited to start working towards accomplishing

his goals a day sooner.“I am a little bit relieved by the an-

nouncement, and frankly I was very sur-prised,” Doytchinov said. “I would like to thank [Scott] for a good campaign that was also very clean.”

Scott said he realized that the tradi-tional managerial role assigned to EVP did not agree with his desire to be a vehicle for student opinion and social change. Even though his previous in-volvement in DSG has allowed him to move forward with some of his goals, he said EVP would be a step in the opposite direction. The role of EVP is too struc-tured for a “loose cannon,” he said.

Additionally, he has decided not to return to DSG next year.

“The idea of branching out and do-ing something different with the posi-tion of EVP has not been done before, and I had to ask myself, has it not been

SEE CRIME ON PAGE 6

2 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 THE CHRONICLE

by Andrew LuoTHE CHRONICLE

Students have taken issue with apparent unfairness in course credit assignment for time-intensive lab classes, and now faculty are looking at ways to change it.

Under the current course credit sys-tem, the hours spent in class do not factor into the credit value assigned to a course. This means students can receive the same amount of credit for a class that meets a few hours a week as for a lab class that meets several hours more. Students have identified this disparity particularly in phys-ics, chemistry and biology courses, where lengthy labs are necessary components of that area of study.

Faculty from the chemistry and physics departments are addressing the discon-

nect between time spent in a class and the credit awarded by proposing the addition of course credit to lab classes.

“We want to restructure undergradu-ate courses so that we can keep the qual-ity high and make it more equitable,” said Ashutosh Kotwal, physics professor and as-sociate chair for teaching.

Kotwol is an ex-officio member of the Undergraduate Experimental Physics Com-mittee, a faculty committee in the physics department that is considering separating the laboratory component of certain phys-ics classes to be a stand-alone course car-rying course credit. The committee will be convening at a faculty retreat in April to discuss the proposals.

The chemistry department has had simi-lar discussions for course credit re-evalua-

tions, including assigning the lab portions of Chemistry 101DL: “Core Concepts in Chemistry” and Chemistry 201DL: “Organ-ic Chemistry” as separate 0.25 credit cours-es. Advanced physical chemistry courses such as Chemistry 301, 310 and 311 already have standalone laboratory courses Chem-istry 301L, 310L and 311L that each carry 0.5 course credits.

Credits where credit is dueThis increase in credit for labs would

be a step in the right direction in the eyes of chemistry major Victoria Reynolds, a senior. She said the higher-level chemistry classes such as physical chemistry deserve a stand-alone 0.5 credit, if not more.

“I feel like I put more work into the lab portion than the actual class,” Reynolds

said. “Even though lab was every other week, given the amount of preparatory work and the time spent on the write-up af-terwards, you would usually spend 20 hours every two weeks on the lab report.”

The discussed reassignment of course credit would only apply to the courses of the physics major in which class time re-views physical principles while labs teach students how to use instruments and de-sign an experiment, said Daniel Gauthier, Robert Richardson professor of physics and chair of the committee. The concepts in lab are not directly in support of the concepts from the lecture portion of the course, so the lab component can be a class of its own.

SEE CREDIT ON PAGE 6

CHRONICLE GRAPHIC BY RITA LO AND THU NGUYEN

Currently, students in many introductory basic or natural science courses spend more hours in the classroom or lab than students in introductory humanities or social sciences courses—for the same number of credits.

DUKE RESPONDS TO COURSE CREDIT DISPARITYChemistry, physics departments consider ways to increase credits given for courses with time-intensive lab components

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 | 3

The Baldwin Scholars Programannounces the

Unsung Heroine Award

This award will recognize a woman who has demonstrated extraordinary dedication to issues that

face women at Duke or in the larger community, but whose efforts have not received formal recognition.

The recipient can be an undergraduate or graduate student, alumna, faculty,

administrator, staff, or retiree.

Nomination letters should be sent to

baldwinscholars@duke.edu. Priority consideration will be given to nominations

received by March 15, 2013.1920 1/2 Perry St. at Ninth Street Just a block from East Campus

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Research could help criminal psychopaths

by Kelly ScurryTHE CHRONICLE

Researchers may soon find a genetic reason for the existence of psychopaths.

By examining DNA samples from New Mexico prisoners, a trio of interdisciplin-ary researchers at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences think they might be able to understand what causes some people to lack empathy. Psychopaths have a person-ality disorder characterized by antisocial behavior—most notably a lack of empathy. They commit 30 percent of violent crimes, even though they account for less than 1 percent of the population, said Walter Sin-nott-Armstrong, Chauncey Stillman profes-sor of practical ethics and member of the research team.

“[Psychopaths] represent a profound philosophical problem about the limits of human nature and morality,” Sinnott-Armstrong said. “If we can treat that 1 per-cent, we can have a big impact on society because we would also be preventing the worst kinds of crime.”

Finding a genetic cause for psychopa-thy could help researchers find ways to better treat the disorder, especially if the research shows what parts of a person’s life could have triggered psychopathic be-havior, said Pate Skene, associate profes-sor of neurobiology and member of the research team.

“Evidence that psychopaths have certain triggers that can make them vulnerable to developing psychopathic behavior may be helpful in determining help, treatment and support for them,” Skene said.

Gaining a better understanding of psy-chopaths could also lead to a variety of le-gal implications— ranging from assessing prisoners’ rehabilitation to determining the ability of a defendant to stand trial, the researchers noted.

Psychopaths tend to be more charm-ing and able to manipulate their way out of prison, and then they return to previous behaviors when released, said Liz Cirulli, assistant professor at the Duke Center for Human Genome Variation, who was added to the team to examine the DNA samples.

“We need a better way to determine who will recidivate when they get out of prison,” he said.

Finding a genetic cause for psycho-paths could potentially lead some courts to re-examine the definition of an insan-ity plea in a trial. Now, a person can only use an insanity defense if he or she did not understand that they were committing a crime, which is not the case for psycho-paths, Skene said.

“Psychopathy is not an acceptable rea-son for an insanity plea because they know what the law is, but they don’t care,” Skene added. “[Understanding] empathy is help-ful in determining how we will handle such people.”

The study will examine research collect-ed by a lab at the University of New Mexico headed by Kent Kiehl, associate professor of psychology. The study will also examine gene samples from samples from more than 1,000 Duke students and employees, as well as people in the Durham commu-nity from the past three years.

ADPhi again denied on-campus housing

by Imani MoiseTHE CHRONICLE

In a private hearing held Monday, the Interfraternity Council voted to deny the off-campus fraternity, Alpha Delta Phi, admittance to the council, IFC Vice President for Recruitment Taylor Elliott, a junior, confirmed in

an email Tuesday.Alpha Delta Phi

President Stephen Potter, a junior, could not be reached for comment.

Junior Jack Riker, president of the In-terfraternity Council, declined to comment, saying that the details

of the proceedings are confidential.Alpha Delta Phi has undergone

many name changes since it was origi-nally chartered on Duke’s campus as Sigma Delta Epsilon. SAE was expelled from the national fraternity in 2002 for violating rules regarding risk manage-ment, such as hazing and illegal alco-hol use. As a consequence, the char-ter was immediately disaffiliated from Duke.

After moving off campus, the fra-ternity assumed the name Delta Phi Alpha. Four years later, the fraternity was adopted by Alpha Delta Phi as part of the national organization’s effort to expand to more elite institutions.

Members of the chapter stated that they were open to the idea of affiliat-ing with the University once they es-tablished a national partnership, but, seven years later, this has yet to hap-pen.

Alpha Delta Phi

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez speaks at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez diesby Emilia Diaz and Juan Forero

THE WASHINGTON POST

CARACAS, Venezuela — The death of President Hugo Chavez on Tuesday after a long fight against can-cer led to an outpouring of grief from the poor masses as the country braced for an expected election to deter-mine the future of the socialist system he implanted.

In a brief, somber announcement televised nation-ally, Vice President Nicolas Maduro, crying while he spoke, said he had “hard and tragic” information — that Chavez had died at 4:25 p.m. The 58-year-old lead-er had ruled Venezuela for 14 years, becoming a savior to millions but seen as a despot by opponents.

The government did not say what caused Chavez’s death, having never revealed what kind of cancer he had been battling since it was detected in June 2011. But the president had been suffering from a severe in-fection and serious respiratory problems, Maduro had

said in an earlier announcement Tuesday when Chavez was still believed to have been alive.

News of El Comandante’s death led some of his fol-lowers to pour into the streets of this oil-rich country, which the populist leftist had turned into a Socialist state modeled partly on the Cuban regime that he re-vered.

“He was like my father. He had a soul that was very big, and we are very sad,” said Nancy del Nogal, 58, a worker in the state oil company, which Chavez purged of opponents. “He didn’t deserve it. We deserved it more than him. He fought for this country, and we’ll follow him and continue in this battle. Let that be clear to the world. We’ll fight for what he fought for here.”

Chavez, though, also deeply divided this country of 29 million.

He was able to take control of the courts, the con-gress and all other institutions, while forcing some of

his toughest opponents into exile.He called his critics part of a “corrupt elite” that

wanted to sack Venezuela, though polls showed that nearly 50 percent of voters here opposed his rule. He also became Latin America’s leading anti-U.S. leader, accusing the United States of plotting incessantly to topple his government.

Even on the day of his death, in a speech filled with accusations against the United States, Chavez’s closest associate, Maduro, had announced that there “is no doubt” that the country’s “historic enemies” had found a way to infect him with cancer.

After his death was announced, President Barack Obama said in a statement that “the United Stats re-affirms its support for the Venezuelan people and its interest in developing a constructive relationship with the Venezuelan government.”

Under the constitution, Chavez’s death should trig-ger a presidential election to replace him within a month.

Although no one spoke of a campaign as Venezu-elans tried to get a grip on the news, Chavez told his followers in a Dec. 8 televised address that his succes-sor should be Maduro, a former bus driver and union leader with close links to Cuba’s leadership. The op-position candidate, political analysts say, would prob-ably be Henrique Capriles, 40, a governor who lost to Chavez in an Oct. 7 presidential election by more than 10 points but energized the country’s opposition.

Many analysts say the opposition will have an uphill battle to win the presidency, with the sympathy votes playing in Chavez’s favor. The state’s heavy spending during election time, which includes handing out homes to voters, has also created believers who vote for Chavez’s self-styled revolutionary government.

“There is no reason to believe that Maduro would lose, given both the popularity of the revolution but also the weakness of the opposition,” said George Cic-cariello-Maher, a professor at Drexel University and author of the book “We Created Chavez: A People’s History of the Venezuelan Revolution.”

“And any government — right or left — will need to take seriously popular demands to continue, and even radicalize, the revolution,” Ciccariello-Maher said.

A leading opposition figure said she hopes that Venezuelans will come together now to form a coun-try free of the angry divisions that marked the past 14 years. “A chapter has closed for Venezuela,” said Maria Corina Machado, a congresswoman. “We should take profound lessons from all of this.”

Venezuela had been in a state of tension for weeks after Chavez flew to Cuba on Dec. 10 for his fourth and most complicated of four cancer surgeries, which took place the following day.

He was never seen publicly again, with only four pho-tos of him issued, showing him lying in a bed in February

SEE CHAVEZ ON PAGE 6

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 | 5

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SCOTT from page 1

done because no one has thought about it or has it not been done because that position really isn’t malleable enough for that?” Scott said.

Although he will not return to DSG next year, Scott said he will still have “his ear to the ground” and act as a resource for change within the student body through his involvement in other student groups.

Had he been elected, Scott said he would have fulfilled the goals of his plat-form, but it would have required energy to manipulate the position. His energy can be more effective if applied else-where, he added.

“My goal has always been to do what I thought would be the best for not only the entire student body, but also what is best for me, and I have to make sure that I don’t lose sight of Tre’ amongst every-thing else,” Scott said.

Scott said that Doytchinov will do a good job of filling the EVP’s role as man-ager of the DSG senate, but he may see obstacles when attempting some of his more ambitious goals.

“The vision of an EVP going beyond the requirements of running the senate will be a difficult task,” Scott said. “I will be here if he needs me.”

Junior Patrick Oathout, current EVP and presidential candidate, said that Scott would have made a good EVP, but added that it took integrity to decide that he did not want the position now rather than to leave the position after being elected.

“I am glad Nikolai had the chance to campaign with an opponent,” said Oathout. “When I ran unopposed last year, I campaigned really heavily, and I think it helps to develop a platform and create concrete goals.”

Scott wanted to thank his supporters for all of the support and help that he received during the campaign.

“I am happy with this decision,” Scott said.

make www.qduke.com your homepage

Obama pitches a budget deal to GOP

by Lori Montgomery and Rosalind S. Helderman

THE WASHINGTON POST

WASHINGTON — After more than two years of failed negotiations with GOP lead-ers, President Barack Obama is for the first time reaching out directly to rank-and-file Republicans who have expressed a willing-ness to strike a far-reaching budget deal that includes higher taxes.

In a flurry of meetings and phone calls over the past few days, Obama has courted more than half a dozen Republicans in the Senate, telling them that he is ready to over-haul expensive health and retirement pro-grams if they agree to raise taxes to tame the national debt.

“He wants to do the big deal,” Sen. Lind-sey Graham, R-S.C., told reporters Tuesday after a 10-minute phone call from the presi-dent, their third conversation in the past two weeks.

Graham has repeatedly said he could support the White House’s goal of raising $600 billion in new revenue over the next decade in exchange for reforms to health and retirement programs. Now, he said, “what I see from the president is probably the most encouraging engagement on a big issue I’ve seen since the early years of his presidency.”

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she, too, welcomed Obama’s call. “Even though it may be belated, the president does seem to be extending an olive branch and en-couraging cooperation,” she said.

But there was more skepticism of

Obama’s motives among other high-profile targets, including Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., a member of the Gang of Six, which labored for months on a bipartisan deficit-reduction deal without ever receiving the president’s attention.

“It’s hard to be too optimistic,” Chamb-liss said. While he considers the outreach “a good sign,” he said, “I don’t know that any-thing happened” to make Obama call now “other than his polling shows that a biparti-san, truly balanced approach is pretty popu-lar out there in the country.”

It was not immediately clear whether the effort marked the beginning of a sustained White House campaign to circumvent Re-publican leaders on the budget or whether Obama is merely checking to see if there’s any appetite for undoing the sharp automat-ic spending cuts known as the sequester.

The cuts hit Friday and will slice $85 bil-lion out of agency budgets this year without an agreement to cancel or replace them.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Jay Carney said that Obama is interested in “assembling a caucus of common sense and working with them to bring about a resolu-tion to this challenge.”

Although the conversations have focused largely on the budget, Carney said, the presi-dent is talking with lawmakers about “a vari-ety of issues, not just our fiscal challenges.”

For weeks, Obama has pleaded with GOP leaders to revisit a plan he put on the table in December that would raise roughly $1.8 trillion over the next decade through

SEE BUDGET ON PAGE 6

JESSIE LU/THE CHRONICLE

Sophomore Tre’ Scott decided Tuesday to drop out of the race for DSG executive vice president.

6 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 THE CHRONICLE

Durham police also launched a spe-cial victims unit in 2012, which focuses on sexual crimes and child abuse. Re-ported rapes increased 11 percent from 2011 to 2012 from 66 to 73 incidents, but

some reports made in 2012 referred to assaults in earlier years.

The report also states that the staff positions at the police department were nearly full. All 514 sworn positions were filled by the end of 2012, and civilian staff filled 91 percent of its 117-position capacity.

CRIME from page 1

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Chemistry labs, too, include material that is not directly credited, said sopho-more Krishan Sivaraj, a biology major.

“Most of the material that was covered in chemistry lab was never covered on a test, so it would have been much more beneficial if I had received some course credit for my work,” Sivaraj said.

The physics committee, however, will not consider adding credit to lab sections for life science and engineering-based physics classes. The lab portions in the introductory engineering and life science-based physics classes are closely connected to lecture material and are an integral part of learning the in-class material, Gauthier said.

Additionally, because tuition for sum-mer courses is paid for per course credit, adding an additional credit for lab would create an increased financial burden for students taking classes over the summer, Gauthier said.

For the chemistry department, add-ing a separate 0.25 credit to general and organic chemistry courses would be con-sistent with what is done at many other institutions that operate on a course hour system, where courses with both lectures and labs are often offered as four or five hour courses, Richard MacPhail, co-direc-tor of undergraduate studies of chemistry, wrote in an email Sunday.

This addition would alleviate student concern over the credit they are receiving for the time involved in labs.

Certain courses are “infamous” among students for their time-consuming labs, such as Physics 264L: “Optics and Modern Physics,” said physics major Alex Wertheim, a junior. Many of the labs involve taking a lot of time and working with sensitive

equipment. It would be encouraging for students to see the amount of time they put into lab translate into actual course credits, he added.

Offering an additional 0.25 credits for the lab portions of general and organic chemistry would recognize the time stu-dents put into lab, Reynolds said.

“The lab portion does not usually have a big impact on your grade, unless you stop doing the labs,” Reynolds said. “The issue is that students are not rewarded very much for putting time into the lab portion of the class.”

There is no specific timeline in place to officially add 0.25 credits to lab courses, MacPhail said.

‘Contact hours’ in lab courses One recurring topic of debate on

course credit re-evaluation is a course’s contact hours, the time that students spend in the classroom, said Steve Now-icki, dean and vice provost for undergrad-uate education.

The University currently operates under a course credit system, in which students are given 1.0 course credit per course. Under this system, courses such as Chemistry 201DL that have a discussion, lab, and lecture component have the same credit value as a class with fewer contact hours such as Writing 101: “Academic Writing,” which only meets two hours and 30 minutes a week.

Lee Baker, dean of academic affairs of Trinity College of Arts and Sciences and as-sociate vice provost for undergraduate ed-ucation, noted that Duke uses the course credit system because the “scope, scale, and intensity of learning” should be mea-sured both in and out of the classroom.

The course credit system also elimi-nates “unproductive” discussion about whether a course should be worth three

or four credit hours, Nowicki noted. In the modern-day classroom, where there are online materials and work done out of class, in-class contact is a poor measure of the effort students put into a class.

“It’s invidious to use class time as a mea-sure of effort,” Nowicki said. “It’s true that engineering courses require you to be in the laboratory, but that is only because the work you are expected to do can only be done in a lab. However, if you’re a litera-ture class, you are spending hours in the library on research. It is hard to say which class requires more work.”

Offering a diverse range of courses is more important than counting the time spent in a class, said Paul Manos, director of undergraduate studies in the biology department. Lab and lecture should help students form a “cohesive body of knowl-edge.”

Manos cited the current model of Biol-ogy 202L: “Genetics and Evolution” as an example of cohesive learning. The course, which uses the “flipped classroom” model this semester, prompts students to take their own initiative in learning class mate-rial, and the success of the course so far shows that it is paying greater dividends.

Biology 202L, which is currently taught by Mohamed Noor, Earl McLean profes-sor and associate chair of biology, requires students to watch pre-recorded lectures on Coursera, complete an online quiz and make notes of concepts before attending class. By doing so, class time becomes tai-lored to student discussion.

“It’s the experiential learning that cre-ates a solid curriculum for students,” Ma-nos said. “For many science classes, you can’t just get the course from the lecture—you need the lab aspect. The investment of time is part of the agreement for students that are taking courses rooted in the natu-ral sciences.”

flanked by two of his daughters. Chavez returned to Venezuela on Feb. 18, spirit-ed into Caracas in a pre-dawn flight, out of the sight of cameras or well-wishers. He was taken to the hospital where he would spend the rest of his days.

His poor state of health kept him from showing up to his Jan. 10 inau-guration for a fourth term, prompting many Venezuelans to question whether the constitution was not being violated. Maduro and other ministers appeared

to be running the day-to-day affairs of state, though their leader had not tak-en the oath of office.

The absence of Chavez from Venezu-ela’s daily life was an astonishing shift in a country where all things political had revolved around a man who loved the limelight — a loquacious and bom-bastic leader known to give speeches lasting up to 10 hours.

Indeed, an entire state media ap-paratus — with six television stations, a number of newspapers and dozens of community radio stations — was built to amplify his message.

a combination of tax increases, Medicare reforms and reductions in the annual cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security ben-efits.

Alan Kreuger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, pressed the case for Obama’s “balanced” ap-proach again Tuesday in a speech to the Na-tional Association for Business Economics.

But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., have rebuffed the presi-dent’s entreaties, saying they will not agree to replace spending cuts with tax increases. During a meeting with the four top congres-sional leaders Friday at the White House, Obama broached the issue of entitlement re-form but, according to an aide familiar with the meeting, found no takers.

So on Saturday the calls to rank-and-file GOP senators began, starting with Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee, Rob Portman of Ohio and Chambliss. On Monday, Obama spoke to Collins and to Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who said the two discussed the negotiations over enhanced background checks for gun purchases as well as budget issues.

Obama had previously spoken to Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., in a meeting at the White House with Graham that focused pri-marily on immigration.

Meanwhile Tuesday, the White House said that Obama is “deeply concerned” about the impact of a House Republican funding measure that would avoid a govern-ment shutdown later this month but lock in the sequester for the rest of the fiscal year. But the statement stopped short of threat-ening a veto, and congressional leaders ex-pressed optimism that a showdown will be averted.

SPENDING from page 5CREDIT from page 2

CHAVEZ from page 4

SportsThe Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com

WEDNESDAYMarch 6, 2013

>> ONLINE Inclement weather kept what was supposed to be the first outdoor match of the season indoors, but No. 4 Duke men’s tennis rolled past No. 28 VCU Tuesday.

12/23 3sThe Blue Devils made it rain from beyond the arc, hitting 12-of-23 3-pointers.The Hokies, by contrast, made just 5-of-17 from distance.

4 TOsThe Blue Devils turned it over just four times in the game while recording 17 assists and forcing 10 Virginia Tech turnovers.

20-2 runBeginning with four con-secutive Mason Plumlee made free throws, Duke finished the game on a 20-2 run to secure the victory.

TRIO OF LEADERS

BRITTANY ZULKIEWICZ/THE CHRONICLE

Seth Curry transfered in, Mason Plumlee considered going to the NBA Draft, and Ryan Kelly has battled injuries, but the trio is now all together for one final run after going undefeated at home in three of their four seasons in Durham.

by Brady BuckTHE CHRONICLE

Seniors Seth Curry, Ryan Kelly and Mason Plumlee have been through almost everything together—from the high of winning a National Championship in 2010 to the low of being upset in the NCAA Tournament Round of 64 last season against 15th-seeded Lehigh.

Tuesday night the trio of veterans played its last game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, leading Duke past Virginia Tech 85-57 with a collec-tive output of 52 points.

“I’m so proud of my seniors,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They’ve been absolutely amazing. Their four years and being a part of 120 wins and championships and how they’ve gone through this whole year. One has played hurt the entire year. One was out for 13 games, and he’s coming back. They’ve been great. I’m glad they were recognized so well and had a chance to thank the fans.”

Plumlee, Curry and Kelly lead the team in scoring at 17.1, 16.9 and 14.8 points, respectively. That production and the team’s suc-cess during the entire four years—a record of 120-21—stems from the continuity, character and talent of this core group. Having three seniors—each being all-conference caliber players—has had an as-tounding impact on the program.

Each has risen to the occasion to help Duke pull out big-time wins. Some of the three’s most memorable moments: Curry’s 22-point performance to help the Blue Devils overcome a 14-point halftime deficit to defeat North Carolina in 2011, Kelly’s trium-phant and career-high 36-point outburst Saturday in a win against Miami in his first game back from a foot injury, and Plumlee’s 21-point and 17- rebound performance to help secure a win against Ohio State in November.

The achievement is especially impressive in the context of a col-lege basketball landscape of high-roster turnover and short-lived col-legiate careers.

“We were talking about it with Coach yesterday,” said Curry, who transferred after his freshman year at Liberty to join Kelly’s and Plumlee’s class in Durham. “This is something rare where you have three really good seniors who really control a team. That’s rare. That might be the last time you see that at Duke, or for a while in the country. It’s really special and something were really proud of.”

But the triumvirate was nearly broken apart. At the end of last sea-son, the Duke fan base was in a frenzy as the 6-foot-10 Plumlee mulled

giving up his last year in Durham in order to enter the NBA Draft.

His return saved what would have been an otherwise undersized and inexperienced Blue Devil frontcourt this season. And Tuesday night, the National Player of the Year hopeful got to say goodbye to Cameron In-door Stadium—where the group was undefeated for three of its four seasons—in proper fashion.

“It is sad,” Plumlee said. “That’s the last time we’re going to play in Cameron. We won’t have that feeling as a player again.”

The stars may be aligning for the team at just the right time as the group’s collegiate careers draw to a close. Arguably the team’s most important player, Kelly, is back, and his reinsertion to the lineup has allowed the squad to instantly rekindle some of the spark and confidence it had in November at full strength when it beat four ranked foes in impressive fashion. Kelly was also injured at the end of last sea-son, when the Blue Devils were bounced by Lehigh.

The last time Duke has lost a game without Kelly was last February.

Battling through a lower leg injury this entire year, Curry appears to be healthier than he has been all season. The experience of a veteran team that is undefeated with Kelly healthy should be an invalu-able asset in the postseason.

“It gives us a huge edge when you have three se-niors, especially in tournament play when you don’t want it to be your last game,” Curry said. “You have that extra motivation and extra edge. We’ve been through a lot of experiences.”

As remarkable as the trio’s journey has been, the shared mindset is that the final lap is the most para-mount. Fairly or unfairly, their legacy will likely be judged and remembered largely by how they per-form in March and early April.

“There’s a ton of season left, so we’re going to do something special,” Kelly said as he addressed the crowd following Tuesday night’s game.

Curry, Kelly and Plumlee play their fi nal game at Cameron Indoor

8 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 THE CHRONICLE

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After Duke’s win against Virginia Tech, seniors Mason Plumlee, Seth Curry and Ryan Kelly addressed the crowd at Cameron In-door Stadium, where they just played their fi nal game. Here are some highlights from their speeches.

Plumlee:“First of all, I want to thank you guys, you all have been great our whole four years, espe-cially this season. We’re undefeated at home. Most of you guys here are seniors tonight. I really wanted you guys to have a night like ours. I’ve seen you guys all over campus…. Personally I just want to say thanks. You guys are great.”

Seth Curry:“I just want to say thank you for all four years being here. You guys are the best. Easily

the best home court advantage in the nation. In the four years that we were here, three out of the four we were undefeated.”

Ryan Kelly:“I’m going to tell a little funny story….

When I was in middle school I came to a Duke basketball game, and I remember wondering, ‘Man, what does it feel like to have this place fi lled up with the best fans in the world?’ I just want to thank my family over there. My high school coach, who is a former Duke cap-tain, is here. Of course my beautiful

girlfriend Lizzy. To the medical staff, Jose…. Being out for

that long of a time your se-nior year, it’s not fun when you miss all

year. I have the greatest appreciation for you guys. I hope you all know we put it all on the line for you, so we’re going to do

something special.”

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championships and how they’ve gone through this whole year. One has played hurt the entire year. And one was out for 13 games and he’s coming back. They’ve been great.”

The Blue Devils (26-4, 13-4) struggled in the early going after their emotional win against Miami just three days prior, which marked the return of the previously in-jured Kelly.

After Duke got on the board first with a Plumlee free throw, Jarrell Eddie knocked down two 3-pointers to give Virginia Tech a lead it would maintain for much of the half. Erick Green started off the first period much like he did in the Hokies’ February matchup against the Blue Devils when he poured in 22 points.

“Tonight’s game was a difficult one for us,” Krzyzewski said. “I think we’re emo-tionally spent with the February we’ve had and these last three days. We’re not as phys-ically spent as we are emotionally. It’s been a heck of a thing.”

Leading the nation with 25.0 points per game entering Tuesday, Green went 5-of-10 from the field in the first half to lead the Hokies with 12 points at the break.

Defensive rebounding woes plagued Duke to start the game, even with Virginia Tech big men Cadarian Raines and Joey van Zegeren both in early foul trouble. The Blue Devils could not find Plumlee and take advantage of a large size differential in the paint, but instead relied on outside shooting and Kelly’s inside-and-out scoring to take a 38-35 lead into halftime.

Kelly paced the Blue Devils in the first half with 14 points.

Plumlee, who finished the night with 14 points and seven rebounds, made his presence felt immediately in the second half, converting a tough look inside for two points on the Blue Devils’ opening posses-sion and then throwing down a dunk on his next trip down the court.

The Cameron Crazies then erupted after Curry knocked down his third and fourth 3-pointers of the game, forcing a Virginia Tech timeout and giving Duke

a 12-point lead fewer than five minutes into the period. Curry ended the game with a team-high 20 points, including five 3-pointers, while Kelly added 18 points, nine rebounds and a block.

“We picked up our defense, especially our ball screen defense, and made it hard for guys to get in the lane,” Kelly said. “It’s amazing, when our defense picks up our offense picks up almost immediately. That has to be something we learn form. We’ve seen it in the past, and we have to continue to have that.”

The Hokies only shrunk the lead to sin-gle digits once during the remainder of the game, bringing the score within six with 12:37 left after another Eddie 3-pointer. But Green was the one carrying the Virgin-ia Tech offense, as the Winchester, Va. na-tive improved on his previous performance against Duke, racking up 25 points on 10-of-19 shooting.

But even with the complement of Ed-die’s 13 points, Virginia Tech could not find the offensive production to match the Blue Devil seniors and Quinn Cook, who finished the game with 14 points.

“I thought the three seniors just as-serted themselves in that second half,” Krzyzewski said. “Mason was a bull inside. Ryan, again, he’s playing a lot of minutes without being in condition, and Seth’s two threes got us going.”

With 2:20 left to play and Duke amid a 20-2 run that put the game out of reach, Krzyzewski began the ritualistic process of subbing out Kelly, Curry and Plumlee to standing ovations from the crowd at Cam-eron Indoor Stadium.

And as a special treat for Duke fans—with 1:11 left to play, Krzyzewski called a substitution timeout to insert senior and former walk-on Todd Zafirovski, who still has a year of eligibility remaining, to the wild cheers of the Crazies.

After the game, the emotions flowed freely on Coach K Court as Plumlee, Curry and Kelly all gave speeches to a still-packed stadium.

“It’s sad,” Kelly said. “That’s the last time we’re going to play in Cameron. We won’t have that feeling as a player again.”

M. BASKETBALL from page 1

NICOLE SAVAGE/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

After the game, head coach Mike Krzyzewski said Curry, Kelly and Plumlee have been “absolutely amazing.”

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Whether you twang your “ay”s or opt for the posher “ah,” it all comes down to the same thing: We’re lethargic. It’s not just Ameri-

cans, although we do our part with our TV about TV and our valet parking. Rather, there’s something inherent in human na-ture that makes us self-possessed and as a result, base decisions mainly on personal exertion. We opt for conve-nience over cause. There are so many children starving and forests being slashed and burned that it’s hard to invest an appropriate amount of emotional engagement in each new cause, whereas independence and apathy are both incredibly easy.

David Crane, the CEO of NRG Energy, spoke to this at the MIT Energy Conference this past week-end. Amidst jokes about backwards, American ener-gy realities, be it the continued use of wooden elec-tricity poles or the constant vilifi cation of the EPA, he dropped a line that really struck home: “80 per-cent of Americans are pragmatic environmentalists.” We care about the earth when it’s easy to do so.

Despite the intention of his comment as just a funny sound bite, the sentiment rings true. People care when it is the path of least possible resistance. If you’re eating lunch and a recycling bin is there, you wouldn’t actively look for a trashcan. But it takes a hardened environmentalist to carry an empty soda can around for more than 30 seconds, seeking out a recycling bin. I would like to think that I care about the environment about as much as the next person. I’m vegetarian, so “Duty to the Environment”: check. But if I happened to like meat instead of fi nding it gross, I would be eating feedlot-beef on my ham-burgers with the best of them.

People have too much faith in the proactivity of people. The average American produces about 20 tons of carbon dioxide per year, for a grand total of six billion tons of carbon dioxide coming from the United States. If everybody cut out a mere two tons worth of waste from their lifestyle, we would be on par with one of the next highest emitters, Australia, and we would cut out 600 million tons of carbon dioxide. That’s about how much the U.K. emits in a year. So problem solved; power to the people!

Unfortunately, doing it for the next generation isn’t a strong enough incentive. Environmental problems are the origin of the concept of tragedy of the commons. Even when there is personal gain to be had from making pro-environmental choic-es, it’s not a reality of American energy infrastruc-

ture that people work for this common benefi t. Consider the way you use electricity in your home. When do you run your dishwasher? When do you turn on the washer or dryer? My answer is when

they’re full.However, the choice to run your

dishwasher as soon as you fi nish dinner is overly common. The huge demand placed on the electric grid around 6 p.m. drives up prices for users and raises emissions from the power generation. More often than not, baseload power is provided by the effi cient power plants. Those with worse track records are only brought into use to meet increased

demand during peak hours. Less demand dur-ing peak hours would mean lower maximum de-mand on the electric grid, and emissions would decrease. Peak hours are predictable, but there is no good way to see real time electricity costs or track your personal usage. Though using electric-ity intelligently is good for everybody involved, it’s hard to encourage that small effort. Lena Hansen, a representative of the Rocky Mountain Institute put it quite well, “Nobody wants to be a day trader for $5 a day.”

The moral of our lethargy is this: If you care about something, make it easy for other people to care about. Emotional appeals have very limited effi cacy. I got super psyched and wrote George W. Bush a letter about saving seals in second grade, but a week later I forgot that I cared. We are far-too over stimulated to hang onto each individual sob story. The way that you can affect change then isn’t on public media campaigns against using a billion hand towels. You have to actually change infrastructure: work on a start-up, write legislation, do something. Laziness is the basis for an industry. Cool gadgets like Nest, a smart thermometer that adjusts your home’s temperature itself for optimal energy use, get designed because people are apa-thetic. Ironically enough, our laziness creates jobs and opportunities for innovation. Outsourcing people’s social responsibility isn’t necessarily a bad thing if that’s what it takes to be effective, so stop feeling bad about the Fritos and keep on clutching your universal remote. Couch potato isn’t such a dirty word after all.

Lydia Thurman is a Trinity sophomore. Her column runs every other Wednesday. You can follow Lydia on Twitter @ThurmanLydia.

commentaries10 | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 THE CHRONICLE

The C

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editorial

Couch po-tay-toe, couch po-tah-toe

Think before you voteWe had a diffi cult time de-

termining which candidate to endorse in this year’s Duke Stu-dent Government presidential race. Patrick Oathout and Ste-fani Jones, both juniors, pre-sented very co-gent, eloquent platforms. But one candidate was, by an ex-tremely narrow margin, stron-ger than the other.

Each candidate has their requisite strengths, but each possesses major weaknesses as well. Oathout, current execu-tive vice president, impressed us with his breadth of knowl-edge and experience. He dem-onstrated deep institutional knowledge of administrative and policy structures. He was adept at grasping holistic, big-picture issues and developed more comprehensive policy

proposals. But he displayed a worrisome tendency to revert to aggressive rhetoric when challenged and has been re-sponsible for a number of high-fl own but ultimately ineffective

initiatives such as the DSG bill of rights.

Jones, current vice president for equity and outreach, also has her strong suits. She has a demonstrated track record of targeted advocacy, lobbying for a University policy against us-ing confl ict minerals and help-ing the effort to eliminate the one-year statute of limitations on reporting sexual miscon-duct. But she demonstrated a superfi cial level of institutional knowledge. For example, she cited former DSG president Elliot Wolf, Trinity ’08, for start-ing the FLUNCH program

when, in reality, the program began during the term of Paul Slattery, Trinity ’08. Jones is too focused on tackling external advocacy issues—albeit crucial ones such as the sexual miscon-duct policy—instead of the in-ternal workings of DSG, which are more technical but vital to the organization’s overall suc-cess. Furthermore, Jones’s plat-form suffered from ambiguity. Her proposed amendments to the current alcohol policy call-ing for a “modifi ed distribution model,” were vague and, by her own admission, probably infeasible. Her policy stances are often simplistic, such as her proposals to increase din-ing options during West Union renovations, which ignore cru-cial factors such as the dining defi cit.

Several assumptions shaped

our endorsement decision. The fi rst is that Duke faces an upcoming year fi lled with di-visive issues with large impacts on student life. These issues in-clude the West Union renova-tions, alcohol policy and hazing policy—all of which will require forceful advocacy on behalf of Duke students. Second, Duke has a history of experiencing social culture controversies, such as the recent Asian-themed party, which demand a subtle approach to balancing relations with the Duke student body and administrators.

We believe Jones would be slightly better suited to being the outward face of DSG dur-ing these potentially combusti-ble issues with her understand-ing of social dynamics and balanced negotiation skills. We strongly suggest that she com-

pensate for her gaps in institu-tional knowledge and address internal affairs by appointing cabinet members and collabo-rating with DSG members, in-cluding Oathout, to maintain critical day-to-day operations. The agenda on incoming ex-ecutive vice president Nikolai Doytchinov, a sophomore, who aims to make internal mecha-nisms more effi cient, would be a good complement to Jones’ emphasis on external advocacy.

Both Oathout and Jones have done well in their current roles, but both their presiden-tial platforms suffer from de-fi ciencies. However, given the likely contentious nature of the issues facing DSG next year and forced to make a choice, we endorse Jones while recogniz-ing a strong case for Oathout as well.

”“ onlinecomment

How about this for a legacy? A university administra-tion, in concert with a district attorney, attempted to lynch three innocent men for the sake of political correctness.

— “Walter Abbott ” commenting on the editorial “The lacrosse legacy.” See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

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lydia thurmandoubly a lie

commentariesTHE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 2013 | 11

dsg endorsementsAsian Students Association endorses Jones

for DSG presidentThe Asian Students Association is proud to offi cially en-

dorse Stefani Jones for DSG president. We are impressed with what she has already accomplished as DSG vice presi-dent of equity and outreach and all the projects she’s con-tinued to work on even in the midst of a busy campaign. We are confi dent that she has unparalleled experience and the skills to work together with our Asian/Asian American com-munity as we strive for a more inclusive campus.

Ting-Ting Zhou, Trinity ’13President, Asian Students Association

Duke Baldwin Scholars endorse Jones for DSG president, Doytchinov for EVP

Duke Baldwin Scholars are proud to endorse Stefani Jones for DSG president and Nikolai Doytchinov for DSG executive vice president. While both presidential candidates would be great for the job, the Baldwin Scholars believe that Stefani best represents our mission of advocating for wom-en’s rights and all student equality. She has proven to be one of the strongest leaders on campus as vice president of equity and outreach and has accomplished a laundry list of goals by staunchly advocating for student rights and beliefs. She has a broad range of ideas regarding student and campus life that she plans to enact, yet she is also intent on maintaining fl ex-ibility and being open to student needs as they arise.

In addition, we feel that she has the best understand-ing of all student perspectives. We also support her belief that the president should act primarily as an advocate for all student interests on campus, and advocacy is where she really shines. Stefani has proven that she is a capable and effective leader, and we fully support her mission to make real, impacting change on campus.

As for EVP, we endorse Nikolai because he has the knowl-edge necessary to effectively run the Senate and the vision to make the DSG more receptive to issues directly affect-ing students. Nikolai is incredibly well versed in DSG and Duke rules and procedures and will be an invaluable asset to the president in improving effi cacy and productivity. We support Nikolai’s vision of turning the focus of DSG away from internal affairs and toward enacting legislation that positively and effectively impacts students. He has proven himself to be a strong and proactive leader during his term as vice president of academic affairs and has accomplished an extensive list of goals in a swift and timely manner. Niko-lai has taken the time to prepare for the demands of the EVP position and his track record shows that he is more than capable of meeting such demands.

Elizabeth Clark, Trinity ’13President, Baldwin Scholars

IFC endorses Jones for DSG president, Doytchinov for EVP

Having met with all the candidates, the Interfraternity Council has voted to formally endorse Stefani Jones for presi-dent and Nikolai Doytchinov for executive vice president in the upcoming Duke Student Government elections.

Stefani Jones’ experience in DSG as vice president for eq-uity and outreach and senator for athletics, services and the environment has prepared her to tackle some of the tough-est issues facing our campus in the upcoming academic year, and the IFC believes that she will be effective in advocating for all Duke students. In addition, Stefani is the president and co-founder of the Coalition for a Confl ict-Free Duke, and the IFC feels strongly that she will be able to further unite the student body under her leadership. We are confi dent that Stefani will be a strong voice for the student body, and a ve-hicle of positive change for our campus.

For the position of executive vice president, we have vot-ed to formally endorse Nikolai Doytchinov. Nikolai dem-onstrated a focused, organized and tangible plan of action for the position of EVP, and we are confi dent that his plans will have a tremendous, positive impact on Duke’s campus. Nikolai is an intelligent and motivated individual who will serve the Duke community well through the position of ex-ecutive vice president.

The Interfraternity Council wishes the best of luck to all candidates in the upcoming election, and strongly en-courages all members of the Duke community to partici-pate in voting.

Jack Riker, Trinity ’14President, Interfraternity Council

Duke Diya endorses Oathout for DSG presidentAs Duke Diya’s executive board interviewed the can-

didates for DSG president, we found that each candidate brought a unique perspective. Stefani Jones emphasized the importance of diversity on campus and strengthening the inclusive nature of the Duke community. Stefani’s track record also indicates that she has tackled many issues on campus by working with, and often times, challenging the Duke administration, when necessary.

Patrick Oathout, however, distinguished himself by de-scribing his wide range of experiences both within DSG and outside of DSG, and by articulating his concrete ideas and plan of action to better support organizations like Diya and the students that Diya represents. For example, he highlighted the importance of having campus eateries cater to specifi c diets such as halaal, vegan and vegetarian restrictions. Understanding the diffi culties that such stu-dents have in fi nding an adequate variety of foods, Patrick has a plan to reform the dining options. Patrick also un-derstood the challenges that student groups face when ap-plying for funding from SOFC and gaining funding from other sources, and said that he hopes to create a system in which student groups can easily access information about all available sources of funding. He also presented a plan for getting student organizations to collaborate on philan-thropic activities by creating a student philanthropy drive. His understanding of the charitable work of organizations such as Diya, whose annual Awaaz cultural show seeks to highlight and donate proceeds to organizations working on issues of both local and global importance, and the pros-pect of making an even bigger impact through campus col-laboration was especially impressive. Overall, it seemed that Patrick had the leadership and organizational experience to understand how to maneuver through the power struc-ture of both DSG and the University, while implementing constructive change.

Thus, Diya is happy to announce its endorsement of Pat-rick Oathout for DSG president. We encourage all students to vote, wish all the candidates the best of luck and look forward to the election’s results.

Komal Patel, Trinity ’13Co-president of internal affairs, Duke Diya

Environmental Alliance endorses Doytchinov for EVPEnvironmental Alliance endorses Nikolai Doytchinov

for DSG executive vice president. We would like to com-mend Tre’ Scott* for his widespread involvement on cam-pus and dedication to communication with students. How-ever, we believe Doytchinov has the experience, ideas and focus important for the EVP position. His experience as the vice president of academic affairs and his past collabora-tions with other DSG members, administration and more, contribute to his capabilities as an EVP who will facilitate both internal and external communication and effi ciency. In addition, Doytchinov is well-equipped for fulfi lling his commitment to improving transparency on our campus. We were impressed by the clarity of his plans of action to achieve this goal, among many others, and are confi dent he will be a strong student voice for more responsible invest-ment by the University. Finally, we were excited to hear his ideas on reducing Duke’s carbon footprint, including fa-cilitating public transportation for students and advocating for more local and organic foods and composting facilities at our eateries. We believe Doytchinov is a candidate who offers an enthusiastic and balanced approach to the many interests of our diverse student body, and Environmental Alliance supports him for the position of EVP.

We were not able to meet with both presidential candi-dates and therefore are unable to make an offi cial endorse-ment for this position.

Jina Kim, Trinity ’13President, Environmental Alliance

ESG endorses Jones for DSG presidentIt is with confi dence that the Engineering Student

Government endorses Stefani Jones for president of Duke Student Government. After interviewing the candidates, we found both Stefani and Patrick well qualifi ed and su-premely capable. However, with respect to the engineering student body, we found that Stefani has the priorities and skills to best serve us as DSG president.

Stefani showed an understanding of the Pratt School that inspired faith among our board. She was well versed in the goals, projects and activities of ESG, and demonstrated

an active interest in engineering affairs. In particular, Ste-fani’s interest in improving Pratt advising and expanding study abroad opportunities for engineers shows an under-standing of the issues and a genuine desire to improve the engineering community as a whole. In addition to these aspects, Stefani shows an attention to improving DSG-ESG cooperation and incorporating more national alumni rela-tions in Pratt school activities. Ideas like these, as well as the main facets of her platform, are why we believe Stefani will make a strong and capable president.

Her experience with student groups across campus, her advocacy work and her familiarity working with ad-ministration and faculty are all factors we believe make Stefani an ideal candidate for DSG president. For Pratt, as well as the whole campus, ESG fi rmly believes Stefani will make a great president.

Derek Schocken, Pratt ’15President, Engineering Student Government

Duke Democrats endorses Jones for DSG presidentDuke Democrats has chosen to endorse Stefani Jones

for president of Duke Student Government. She would bring extensive experience in DSG, good working relation-ships with administrators and experience in Duke’s activist community to the position.

Patrick Oathout is also a qualifi ed and enthusiastic candi-date. However, Stefani demonstrates deeper knowledge of current voting issues on campus, and her plan to confront voter apathy and voting challenges on campus is superior. We also prefer her strategy to foster activism at Duke by ex-panding the Duke Activist Mentoring Network, an initiative that stalled last year and that should be revitalized. Patrick’s claims that Stefani would have an “adversarial” relationship with the Duke administration seem to be unfounded; her numerous accomplishments include working with the ad-ministration to end the statute of limitations on sexual as-sault. Stefani’s leadership and enthusiasm will ensure that her presidency is a success.

Either Nikolai Doytchinov or Tre’ Scott* would make a great executive vice president. Nikolai has well developed plans for leading the DSG Senate, and he would bring great technical and organization skill to the position. Tre’ would be a charismatic face for DSG; he also advocates for con-necting more students to Durham, an initiative we support. Nikolai and Tre’ bring different experiences and expertise to the table but both are competent and enthusiastic.

David Winegar, Trinity ’15Co-president, Duke Democrats

Muslim Students Association endorses Oathout for DSG president, Doytchinov for EVP

The Muslim Students Association is pleased to endorse Patrick Oathout for DSG president and Nikolai Doytchinov for DSG executive vice president. We are confi dent that the unique demands of these positions will be best handled by Patrick and Nikolai. That said, the Duke MSA greatly ap-preciates that all of the candidates invested time into un-derstanding the issues facing Muslim students, as well as the broader Duke student body. In particular, the candidates recognized growing needs for space allocation, advocacy for cultural groups and Halaal dining options desired by many Muslim students and faculty.

Patrick presented a compelling history of broad experi-ences and a comprehensive appreciation for the diversity of student voices. His record of standing up for the recogni-tion of student groups, even when such positions have been uncommon or unpopular, further convinces us of his dedi-cation to all students. Patrick’s approaches to creating con-venient means for student input, as well as his commitment to transparency in DSG processes, assure us that he will best serve students interests as an open and engaging president.

For the EVP position, Nikolai demonstrated exception-al personal characteristics and a strong track record that combine to make him the best candidate. His strategic ap-proach to becoming an effective leader in DSG, long term vision and recognition of the many potential challenges to policy changes refl ect his extensive preparation for the rig-ors of such a leadership position. The Duke MSA endorses Nikolai with the confi dence that both in principle, and in practice, he will be able to effectively engage the issues that concern students across campus.

Nabeel Hyder, Trinity ’13President, Muslim Students Association

*Editor’s Note: Tre’ Scott has dropped out of the DSG executive vice president election. Endorsement letters submitted before this update have been left in their original form.*

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OATHOUT from page 1

To be an effective DSG president and a leader, gen-erally you need to have a comprehensive set of expe-riences in academics. I have that, having started the Duke Colloquium on campus, which seeks to reduce credentialism and enhance professionalism, as well. [I have experience] in services too, in helping create Fix My Campus, working on the launch of TransLoc, among other things… [Also] in development affairs, having served two years on the Board of Trustees and worked on the development of the capital campaign, a [$3.25] billion goal to raise funds for Duke develop-ment. I also have a lot of advocacy experience within DSG.... This year, I worked on codifying our first of-ficial bill of rights, which is something we never had before.

I really have a track record of results all across the board, and I also have the experience in a diversity of areas to prove it. But to be a good DSG leader, you also need to have ideas and solutions to the problems

that affect students, and you also need to be good at identifying the problems that affect students.... If you think there are problems on campus, whether it’s with alcohol policy, hazing or dining, you can’t just say “this is a problem that I promise to work on,” you need to have concrete solutions, too.

TC: How do you define the role of DSG on campus? Do you think DSG is an effective force for change on campus?

PO: DSG should be a facilitator of change and per-haps provide the resources to do it. But anyone who says that DSG should control all change and activism on campus misunderstands the role of government. I don’t think DSG should control everything. I think there are a lot of individuals within DSG right now that would like us to be the solver of all problems and to publicly solve them too, so maybe at the end of the day, we get credit for it. But at the end of the day, the most efficacious solutions... come from students.... What I do think DSG can do is it can facilitate discussion. If a student wants to create a campus entrepreneurship

grant, they can go to DSG and ask for the money to make that happen, or they can go to DSG to ask for the publicity venue to make that happen. If there is a political group on campus that feels they are being marginalized in some sort of way, they can go to DSG to facilitate a discussion on the issue, facilitate a policy solution to administrators on the issue or the like. At the end of the day, we are representatives at our core. I don’t think we should be dictators or controllers, as well. The core of being a representative is knowing what your constituents want, too.

TC: How do you think it can improve?PO: Some people say that DSG needs to be the voice

for all students. I’d say that people who say that are taking away the voice of students because they are as-suming again they know what’s right, and all of the stu-dents don’t know what’s right. DSG should be a way to amplify the voice of students and help them achieve the outcomes they want. For example, this year DSG has passed a lot of resolutions on issues—a resolu-tion to affirm the identity of all students, a resolution condemning this event, a resolution supporting this event... And those all have really good intentions but they are not at all concrete solutions.... DSG needs to work on having concrete solutions. Not just identifying problems and saying, “We’re going to be your voice,” but often amplifying the voice of students, so it doesn’t always have to be the DSG president who marches into Allen Building. It can be a student with the help of DSG behind them that marches into Allen Building and says “This is a significant problem.”

TC: What is your proudest accomplishment as a leader on campus and why?

PO: I would pick Fix My Campus. It’s really not something that had necessarily my name attached to it. It wasn’t “Patrick achieves this.” It was collaboration with a lot of different people. In fact, a senator for ser-vices this year, [freshman] Lavanya Sunder, has taken the leadership of that. So I am glad to see that it is a project that isn’t just a one-year thing, but something that DSG will continue for years on. It also really chang-es the way DSG interacts with students. Previously, DSG bureaucrats would sit in their offices and say, “I think I know what’s best for students. I think students want this, that or the other.” And sometimes they were right, and sometimes they weren’t. With Fix My Campus, it outsources the idea generation back to students and it goes to students first and asks, “What do you think is wrong on campus?” It can be something simple like a maintenance request or it can be something big like... “I’d like to see an academic advising program that is more affirming of people who are pre-professional....” That project has the opportunity to not only change the way DSG interacts with students and removes the barrier and sense that we are internally focused, that we are going to students first. But it’s also going to be generating results not only this year, as it already has done, but for years to come.

TC: What is your top priority for next year if you win?

PO: I would like to work on pushing against the bartending alcohol policy proposed by the administra-tion. I am going further than saying we need to keep BYOB because a lot of people and administrators do not think that BYOB is working. I would like to push for an open-door policy, which is what our peer institu-tions Stanford [University] and Yale [University] both have—and it works really effectively at their schools. It institutes a safer drinking culture because it out-sources the enforcement of alcohol to [resident as-sistants]. With BYOB, the enforcement is outsourced to students, and with bartending, it’s outsourced to 35-year-old bartenders who don’t go to this school and sort of kill the mood at a party. By enforcing it to RAs and getting people who know the students to enforce the alcohol policy, they can make safer decisions for the students, since they know the students better. They might even know their drinking habits and drinking limits. They are also responsible individuals who have gone through training, as well.

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