Photo Slideshow: Snow at Duke
30 Jan 2010, Posted by Michael Naclerio in Featured, Photos, 0 Comments
On
A former Chronicle Editor tells us why the lacrosse case should have been #1
03 Jan 2010, Posted by David Graham in Decade in Review, News, 2 Comments
I’ve had a few experiences in the few months since graduating that have made me feel pretty old. One was seeing wasted frosh gathering to go to Tailgate and being appalled. The second was this week, when I saw that Chronicle editors deemed the financial crisis the biggest story of the decade, over even the Duke lacrosse case.
My reaction: Man, these kids are young. And also: Do we forget so soon?
Clearly, the case will not be even a major footnote in the history of America, race relations, or academic reform (of prosecutorial misconduct, perhaps). But it will go down as a huge event in University history—think Bassett Affair—and it’s hard to imagine an event that shaped the decade at Duke more forcefully than the lacrosse case.
First, for people. It seems fair to assume that everyone in the classes of 2006 through 2010 or so had a college experience uniquely informed by the case. I think of the case as the bookends for my undergraduate life—from the party and first allegations, in the spring of my freshman year, through the quick disintegration of then-district attorney Mike Nifong’s case, then the lengthy and painful denouement, dropping of charges, disbarment, and then the end of most major action during my senior year. But anyone at Duke during that bizarre and awful spring remembers the swarm of reporters and cable trucks that invaded the Chapel circle and made going to class or Alpine an ordeal. I imagine this is just too surreal to describe to anyone who wasn’t there. We all dealt with that onslaught, the national media attention, the anxious or mocking calls from family and friends. Some of us had to reconcile the picture of friends we knew with the lies that were being disseminated about classmates.
As the case progressed, Duke students became aggressively involved in the community, launching a campaign—unsuccessful—to defeat Nifong at the polls. (One of the most moving moments of my Duke career was watching lacrosse players picket for hours in cold and constant November rain outside of a local polling station to try to sway last-minute voters.) We watched jubilantly as Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped the charges, and as Nifong was disbarred. It must have been so strange, in a different way, for admitted students deciding on a school that spring. What could convince them to come to a school under the cloud Duke was, I can’t imagine, but they deserve some special recognition.
The important part is that for most Duke students—especially this crop, which got a rather raw deal, being the one that saw Duke’s U.S. News ranking decline rather than rise, and the first not to see a National Championship for years–lacrosse was a defining moment, if not the defining moment.
And so it was for Duke, too, which brings me to my second point. No, all of the Group of 88 aren’t gone (nor should they be; the only thing more tiresome than reading the invective that says a professor who made a mistake is not a leading scholar in her or his field, is reading comments on the Chronicle site about how Duke should stop teaching the humanities altogether. Yawn.). But the case luckily rid the University of Houston Baker, for example. It helped to reform a rather decadent culture. It didn’t go nearly far enough in repairing the rift between Duke and Durham, nor in dealing with the socioeconomic and racial issues both within and outside the campus walls that were uncovered. Still, it forced a far more introspective stance on administrators, faculty and students alike. The Brodhead administration, No. 4 on this list, will always be associated with lacrosse, and Duke will, for better or for worse, be dealing with the implications of the case on its reputation—whatever they may be—for years to come.
I think the editors did a nice job with this list, with a couple caveats. It’s hard to figure how—even for the News department—the 2001 National Championship and dearth since then wasn’t top 10, given the centrality of basketball at Duke. It’s harder to figure out how the world financial crisis ends up as a bigger story for the University. For one thing, the most common start date for the meltdown—September 15, 2008—was only a few months from the end of the decade. For another, although one can’t say enough about the trouble faced by folks being laid off by Duke, it’s never really been many Duke students’ style to care about the people who clean their dorms and serve their food. For most Duke students, faculty and administrators, the crisis will only make a rich university a little less rich. And some of the projects being pushed back now—think Central Campus—might have been farther along if not for the three-ring circus of distraction the scandal provided. And finally, even if I’m wrong, these effects will truly be the story of the decade to come, not the one that just ended.
The lacrosse case is a staple of decade-end blogs elsewhere, and it should have been at the top of The Chronicle’s list too.
David Graham, Trinity ’09, was editor of The Chronicle’s 103rd volume. His writing has appeared in Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and The National. He can’t believe he let himself be sucked into writing this.
Number 1: Making a smaller Duke
31 Dec 2009, Posted by Zachary Tracer in Decade in Review, Featured, News, 0 Comments
November 10 was the day the economic turmoil of the past year and a half hit home for many Duke undergraduates.
That Tuesday, students found out that the University was planning to lay off the director of the Multicultural Center and another well-liked staff member.
Nearly 300 employees—mostly secretaries, housekeepers and other lower-paid workers—had already accepted retirement packages, and another 200 were being offered incentives to leave. Departments—from academics to athletics—were cutting spending. The threat of further layoffs was in the air (and remains in the air: 57 percent of the University’s spending [link opens PDF] goes to salaries and benefits, after all), and the University was searching for still more ways to cut its budget, working to close a $125 million hole left by a falling endowment and empty-pocketed donors.
The decade wasn’t supposed to end this way, with impassioned students protesting and petitioning the administration to retain beloved members of the Duke community and cancel a planned merger of the Multicultural Center and International House (The protests failed on the first goal and succeeded on the second).
Until the last years, it had been a decade of growth on every front for Duke.
Surging endowments and overwhelming giving helped build buildings, hire professors and bring in more students than ever before. Deep pockets funded top-10 sports teams and lured a football coach who knows how to win.
Money also led to big dreams: A New Campus was planned to replace the garden apartments of Central Campus and redefine residential life at Duke. Designs were drawn for a glass pavilion to replace the West Union building.
Today, construction plans have been put on hold, professor hiring is down and athletic spending stands to be scrutinized.
Blue Devils, from the top of the administration to job-hunting alumni and undergraduates, have been forced to dream smaller.
The effects of the recession is number 1 on our stories of the decade list. These are the issues and events that made headlines for weeks at a time over the last ten years, those that sparked the most debate on campus and beyond, and the ones that we believe will continue to shape our coverage in the years to come.
Photo Licensed via Creative Commons from Corey Butler
The Chronicle News Blog Presents: Top Ten News Stories of the Decade
28 Dec 2009, Posted by Naureen Khan in Decade in Review, Featured, News, 5 Comments
If you haven’t noticed as we draw to the close of this decade, the media loves its lists. There’s Time’s annual world’s most influential people list, Rolling Stones’ Best Albums of the Decade, the New York Times Book Review’s Best of 2009, the New Yorker’s Best Films of the Decade…and the list goes on and on and on, if you’ll pardon the pun.
The Chronicle too has caught listmania with Recess staff members compiling their own Top Ten Tracks of 2009 and Sports doing a series on Duke’s All-Decade Teams. We at News have been perhaps a little slower on the uptake, but we too wanted to bring you a list–of the top ten news stories of the decade.
These are the issues and events that made headlines for weeks at a time over the last ten years, those that sparked the most debate on campus and beyond, and the ones that we believe will continue to shape our coverage in the years to come.
As we publish our picks, we’ll be posting an updated list here:
10. North Carolina swings blue in 2008
9. Building, building, building
8. The murders of Abhijit Mahato and Eve Carson
7. Problems for the Duke University Health System
6. September 11th and the wars on terror
5. New rules for living and learning
Disagree with our choices? Think our news sense is bogus? Let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.
Q&A with the Class of 2014
17 Dec 2009, Posted by Sabrina Rubakovic in Academics, News, 0 Comments
The Chronicle’s Sabrina Rubakovic spoke with six high school seniors who have just been accepted to Duke. The first members of the Class of 2014 talk about why they chose Duke and how they and their parents reacted when they found out that they got in.
Ari Novick: Davie, Florida
The Chronicle: What was your reaction to being accepted?
Ari Novick: I was very ecstatic. I rushed to tell my mom and I called my dad to let him know. I actually called my dad and walked into the room where my mom was and right as my dad picked up I said, “I’m accepted” and both of them heard at the same time.
TC: Were you intimidated by the 32-percent spike in applications?
AN: I didn’t actually hear about that until afterwards. Apparently my parents knew about that and they decided not to tell me because they didn’t want to worry me. I think that if I had known, it wouldn’t have worried me since my grades are what they are, and there’s nothing I could do about that. I would’ve just hoped that the 32% just weren’t that smart.
TC: Did you think that you would be facing more competitive applicants this year?
AN: I thought it was possible but I try not to worry myself about that sort of thing because my grades, they are what they are there’s nothing I could do to change that, so all I can do is apply and hope. So I worried a little bit but I didn’t really let it get to me.
TC: What did you think of the application process?
AN: I thought it was fairly easy compared to a lot of other schools. The common application made things very easy, the Duke supplement was pretty easy. It’s stressful because once you hit submit you hope that you remembered to put everything on that application and you have a deadline to meet, and that makes you stress.
TC: Why Duke?
AN: I applied to [The Pratt School of Engineering], and Pratt’s one of the best engineering schools so that already distinguishes Duke. And also there’s a certain dichotomy of academic vitality and social vivacity. People at Duke seem to be smart and have fun doing it. Plus, Duke has a great campus and is great climate-wise. I can’t wait to be a part of the Krzyzewskiville culture, camping out.
TC: Any additional comments?
AN: It’s kind of anticlimactic getting in early decision because now I’m in and now I have to go back to high school for half a year. And nothing’s really happening between me and Duke until regular decision applicants are accepted [in March]. So I got in and it’s kind of anticlimactic.
—–
Janu Ramakrishna: Troy, Michigan
The Chronicle: What was your reaction to being accepted?
Janu Ramakrishna: I think I screamed for like two hours straight. I was excited because I applied early decision because I knew that that was my number one school, and it felt like a victory, you know, like an achievement.
TC: Were you intimidated by the 32-percent spike in applications?
JR: I was aware [of the increase], my dad showed me the article. It was scary but then I also read about how there was only an increase from certain areas, like international applications and like in California, and you know how they take a quarter of students from each area. So I was worried, but I wasn’t that worried since there wasn’t a big increase in applications from Michigan, so it wouldn’t really affect their quota from Michigan.
TC: Did you think that you would be facing more competitive applicants this year?
JR: Yes, I was so worried because last year some of our best students went to Duke, so I was very worried that it would be difficult and my chances weren’t as high as I wanted them to be.
TC: What did you think of the application process?
JR: It was pretty okay. I kind of, you know, looked at the application beforehand and kind of knew what had to be done. I talked to the admissions office, but I mean it’s still a daunting process. There’s still a ton of work and at times I was like I really don’t want to do this right now, but I really wanted to go to Duke and apply early decision, so I knew it had to be done. So it was tedious, but it was necessary.
TC: Why Duke?
JR: That’s a big one. My dad went there so that was definitely a factor in my introduction to Duke. But I want to go into BME as of right now and Duke’s number two. But for me it’s the balance between academics and social life that kind of interested me. I go to a really intense college prep school, and I didn’t want to be around kids who were that intense academically again. I wanted to be around kids who were that ambitious but more well-rounded. So that was something that intrigued me. And I also read somewhere that there was a lot of focus on undergraduates and not just graduate students, so I’d have access to research.
TC: Any additional comments?
I was definitely really excited. I can’t wait to start, I just want to be done with high school right now. It feels good, it feels really good, and I’m excited because I’m hoping that Duke is really like the place where I’m going to come into own.
—–
Ryan Kane: Florida
The Chronicle: What was your reaction to being accepted?
Ryan Kane: Shock and happiness. I wasn’t sure how good my chances were at getting in so when I saw congratulations I got accepted, that was really all I read when I opened it.
TC: Were you intimidated by the 32% spike in applications?
RK: That worried me a bit after I applied.
TC: Did you think that you would be facing more competitive applicants this year?
RK: Well I kind of thought I would, but I also thought there would be a lot of students that weren’t more qualified because Duke’s been advertising their financial aid so I thought that people who didn’t think they had much of a shot would apply too.
TC: What did you think of the application process?
RK: I only applied to two places and Duke’s pretty straightforward. I didn’t get an interview but other than that it went pretty easily.
TC: Why Duke?
RK: Besides the fact that it’s a good school, what really lured me in was when I visited last spring. It felt a lot different than any of the other schools I visited. It felt just as academic as all of the other schools but a lot more fun. I visited Georgetown and Stanford, and they seemed a lot stricter. Duke seemed not more laid back but more lively, more active, like there would be more going on.
—–
Abby Schoenfeld: Durham, North Carolina; Durham Academy
The Chronicle: What was your reaction to being accepted?
Abby Schoenfeld: I was really excited and my dad cried. Both of my parents went to Duke and they had already bought a bunch of Duke merchandise, so they weren’t hiding very well when I opened the decision.
It’s a huge load off.
TC: Were you intimidated by the 32-percent spike in applications?
AS: That was really intimidating, but I figured I would just be Zen about it. If I didn’t get in, that is what it is. But I did get in, so no problem.
TC: Did you think that you would be facing more competitive applicants this year?
AS: Probably. I had heard that my class was the biggest class to ever be applying to college so that was kind of scary and I knew that Duke was getting really hot because my dad told me because he works there…
He is vice president for public affairs [and government relations], Michael Schoenfeld.
TC: What did you think of the application process?
AS: The hardest part was doing the essays but once I figured out a good topic it just sort of came to me and I just wrote it all in one sitting, so it was hard until that point.
TC: Why Duke?
AS: Because I love all the stuff they’re doing interdisciplinarily and I could have a really flexible curriculum and they have great study abroad options which I’m really interested in, and I’d think I’d like to double major in ICS [international comparative studies] and music, hopefully.
TC: Any other comments?
AS: I’m really excited!
—–
Matt Ordway; Stamford, Connecticut
The Chronicle: What was your reaction to being accepted?
Matt Ordway: I was very, very excited. I was very happy. I wasn’t really sure what would happen–if I was going to get in or not, so it was a relief. Also, I’m done with the college process, and it’s my first choice.
TC: Were you intimidated by the 32% spike in applications?
MO: Yes, I wasn’t really sure what would happen.
TC: Did you think that you would be facing more competitive applicants this year?
MO: I didn’t really have any idea.
TC: What did you think of the application process?
MO: I didn’t think it was too bad. I made sure to start early so I wouldn’t do anything last minute. I made sure I got everything in early so I wouldn’t be stressed out to make deadlines. If I applied regular decision, it would be a lot more stressful just because I already know so early, and I didn’t do any of my regular decision supplements, so if I didn’t get into Duke I’d have like a week or two weeks to get those done.
TC: Why Duke?
MO: I visited last summer and there weren’t a lot of students on campus, but I got a sense that everyone really loves Duke and there’s a lot of pride and good academics and I thought it was really cool campus, and just ever overall I just thought it would b e a really good fit for me.
—–
Claire Stovall: Clarksville, Georgia
The Chronicle: What was your reaction to being accepted?
Claire Stovall: I was actually kind of in disbelief. I felt like I’ve been waiting so long that when I actually got it I was like “oh my god I got in.” I just kind of sat there, and my dad was like flipping out. It took me a few hours to be like “oh, this is really happening.”
[When it registered], I was so excited, I was so happy about it. I really wanted to go to Duke for a long time. My dad told everybody and my phone was like exploding. He sent like a mass email to my family and everyone I know and I put it on my Facebook and got like 40 comments and 15 likes or something ridiculous. It was crazy.
TC: Were you intimidated by the 32-percent spike in applications?
CS: I really was, I was looking at all the statistics of [Duke students], and mine were pretty good. I thought I had a pretty good chance, especially because the [acceptance rate] was better for early decision. But when I saw the article about the increase, I was like “oh no, there’s going to be a lot of people that I’m up against.”
TC: Did you think that you would be facing more competitive applicants this year?
CS: Not really. I really didn’t think that. I figured it would be about the same as last year, except there would be more of them, of course.
TC: What did you think of the application process?
CS: I thought it was pretty easy except there were just a lot of forms that I had to get filled out and getting other people to fill them out was stressful. I didn’t really mind the essays. It was just making sure [Duke] had it all, I was so worried they’d get lost or something.
TC: Why Duke?
CS: I wrote an essay about that! I went to the TIP [Talent Identification] program and I did that for 3 years, and that means I was at Duke for 9 weeks. I was really impressed with all the buildings and facilities, and I worked at the science centers when I was at TIP and I was like “oh this is amazing.” And it’s a really highly ranked school and it’s close to my house.
All the big schools that are like really popular, really highly ranked schools, they’re mostly up north I feel like. Duke is in the south, and I live in Georgia and I wouldn’t have to fly anywhere.
There were people that came to talk to us [at TIP] about Duke and I really liked it. There was one lady that taught our class that was a TA [at Duke], and I liked her.
The [French Family Science Center] was really cool too.
TC: Any other comments?
CS: I’m very excited. I’m very, very excited.