LSD, tobacco and Nazi drinking games

18 Jan 2012, Posted by Melissa Dalis in News, Welcome to Academia, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

After playing a Nazi-themed drinking game during an Athletics Union’s ski trip in France, London School of Economics students are now facing disciplinary action, according to LSE student newspaper The Beaver. “‘Nazi Ring of Fire’ involved arranging cards on the table in the shape of a Swastika, and required players to ‘Salute the Fuhrer,’” according to the paper. A fight after the game resulted in a Jewish student breaking his nose.

Columbia University student Adam Klein pleaded guilty Tuesday to attempted drug possession after being accused of selling LSD in 2010, according to Bloomberg. His recommended sentence is five years of probation. Klein is the fourth student to plead guilty in the case. In a five-month investigation nicknamed “Operation Ivy League,” undercover officers spent $11,000 buing cocaine, marijuana, Ecstasy, LSD-based candy and other drugs, according to Bloomberg.

The entire University of California system will be smoke-free over the next two years, according to the Daily Californian.

“As a national leader in healthcare and environmental practices, the University of California is ready to demonstrate leadership in reducing tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke,” UC President Mark Yudof wrote in a letter to chancellors. “Offering a smoke-free environment will contribute positively to the health and well-being of all UC students, faculty, staff, and our patients and visitors.”

While 500 students are rushing Interfraternity Council fraternities at Duke, many University of Pennsylvania students are rushing three business fraternities: Phi Gamma Nu, Delta Sigma Pi and Alpha Kappa Psi, according to the Daily Pennsylvanian. Students interested in these business fraternities met Tuesday for “Business Frat 101,” an introductory session that began the recruitment process. A typical recruitment process includes a few open rush events and then an application process with resume submissions.

Soundoff: (Brrrr)lack Tenting

17 Jan 2012, Posted by Nandini Srinivasan in News, 0 Comments

Thanh Ha Nguyen/The Chronicle

The chill of winter is in the air, even in beautiful-weather-all-year-round North Carolina. This, however, does not stop Dukies from tenting out for the basketball games this season. With Black Tenting—an option for the roughest and toughest Cameron Crazies only—officially starting Jan. 15, The Chronicle’s Nandini Srinivasan asked the tenters about their decision to brave the elements. 

“It was utter bone-chilling cold, but I really like sleeping with all my friends, wink wink.”

-Christina Malliris, sophomore

“It was one big party and bonding time.”

-Maya Flippen, freshman

“The people in our tent were leading sing-alongs which was really hilarious and crazy”

-KellyNoel Waldorf, sophomore

“I didn’t get practically ANY sleep and my toes were freezing”

-Jillian Prier, sophomore

“It’s really fun. It’s really cold. Brrrrr. Staying hydrated is important.”

-Tuck Stapor, sophomore

“If you’re gonna tent, you might as well go all out.”

-Donovan Bigby, freshman

“I’m short and Duke people are way too tall. I wanted to be able to see”

-Cece Mercer, freshman

“Tenting is where all the cool kids are.”

-Blair Winders, sophomore

“For the experience because the people I’m tenting with are all from my freshman dorm and I want some artifact from my freshman year.”

-Frank Lee, sophomore

“Tenting is when you figure out who your true friends are. If you can share a tent with someone for a month and not kill them, you know you’re good.”

-Christina Malliris, sophomore

MLK Day: The timeless trending of justice and equality

17 Jan 2012, Posted by Minshu Deng in News, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

Yesterday marked the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Every year on this day we actively remember the call for justice and the remaining obstacles that face many of us in the fight for equality. Throughout the year we may forget the greater purpose to our lives—broadly put: to make the world a better place, in the sense that we should strive to make differences that more align our world with our values. And even as Duke students, we must remember our university’s commitment to applying knowledge in the service of society, both at home and abroad. The time for justice is always now. The time for equality is always now. Buying TOMS shoes and spending your lecture classes on Freerice.com, while admirable initiatives, are sorry excuses if they make us feel like we are being the change we wish to see in the world. Listed below are some ways we as Duke students can be more civically engaged.

Duke Global Health Institute

Hart Leadership Program

Apply for a Duke Engage domestic or international service-learning program

Search the Duke Partnership for Service database of the many volunteer organizations on campus for one that interests you: http://dps.dukegroups.duke.edu/students/database

Duke Center for Civic Engagement

Center for Race Relations - Every semester the CRR also hosts Common Ground, a student-led diversity immersion retreat.

Women’s Center

LGBT Center

Politics Roundup: Mitt Romney and the Palmetto State

16 Jan 2012, Posted by Walker Schiff in News, 0 Comments

Sophia Palenberg/The Chronicle

All Eyes on South Carolina

After Mitt Romney squeaked by Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum in Iowa and had a very convincing victory in New Hampshire, the GOP primary race moves to South Carolina. South Carolina’s primary, which will take place this Saturday, is thought by many to be the last chance for anyone to show they are serious about challenging Mitt Romney.

Newt Gingrich is the only candidate within striking distance of Romney. After having huge leads in polls in South Carolina in mid-December, Newt’s numbers plummeted in late December and hit rock bottom after the Iowa caucuses. His numbers have leveled off just above 20 percent, but Mitt has been hovering around 30 percent since the Iowa caucuses. Newt needs a big bump in the next week in order to stay in the presidential race.

GOP Establishment Line Up Behind Romney

No non-incumbent GOP presidential candidate has ever won Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina in the same primary season ever. It appears that Romney is going to break that trend in South Carolina this Saturday but not without a fight from Newt Gingrich, who has been unrelenting in his attacks on Romney’s time at Bain Capital.

The Republican establishment, though, is taking Romney’s side on the issue. They know that a long, grueling primary is bad for Republicans’

chances of taking Obama’s seat in the White House this coming November.

This past weekend, Huntsman dropped out of the race after finishing third in New Hampshire, the state in which he bet all of his chips on a good finish. In doing so, he also endorsed Romney and called for party unity.

McCain, who had defeated Mitt in a fiery primary in New Hampshire in 2008, shared the stage with Romney in New Hampshire before last week’s primary.

Mike Huckabee also came to Romney’s defense over the Bain Capital attacks, which Romney featured in a recent ad.

These Republicans all know that it is only a matter of time before Romney is a candidate and the Bain Capital attacks will be coming from the Obama campaign.

A limit to our love…

09 Jan 2012, Posted by Minshu Deng in News, 0 Comments

Minshu Deng/The Chronicle

…of the Internet.

Looking at all of my suggestions of YouTube videos and other ways to spend time on the Internet, it’s arguable that I have an unhealthy attachment. One reason why I decided to blog for The Chronicle may or may not be the fact that I wanted to justify the time I spend online.

I’m definitely not alone though: the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project recently conducted a study that found 53 percent of individuals aged 18 to 29 go on the Internet purely for fun or to kill time.

This is a number clearly on the rise, a trend that can be in part explained by high speed broadband connections, the popularity of cultural phenomena such as memes and YouTube, video on demand services such as Hulu and of course social networking sites such as Facebook.  And the trend is present across all socioeconomic classes.

The question though is: should we be alarmed? Going off of my own observations, sitting in large lecture classes and seeing Facebook and online shopping sites on countless computer screens: yeah, it might be a problem.

Kenneth Land, Professor of Demographic Studies and Sociology, provided a more nuanced view in an email Dec. 10.

“People have always found some way to have fun or pass the time, so perhaps going online just substitutes for some other activity such as mindlessly watching television,” he wrote. “We also have more ‘leisure time’ today than in prior centuries when it was necessary to spend more time on survival and maintenance tasks.  Perhaps going online emerged just in the right era.  Of course, there can be a downside to spending too much time online, which might lead to general social concerns and problem definition.  We do not, however, seem to be at [that] stage as yet.”

The Internet is one of the most powerful tools today, in that it presents us with the possibility of the instantaneous exchange of information. A lot of times the usefulness of these exchanges is questionable, seeing all the memes and YouTube videos friends post on each other’s Facebook walls.  But as with all things, the key seems to lie with striking a healthy balance.