Gov’t budget cuts may affect Duke

by Jack Mercola THE CHRONICLE

With the general election in the rearview mirror and a fiscal cliff on the horizon, federal and state governments will likely make some spending cuts that could af-fect Duke.

If unchanged, major automatic spending cuts and higher tax rates will go into effect Jan. 1, 2013, prompting what many politicians and pundits have called a fiscal cliff that may shock the wallets of many Americans and could send the United States into another re-cession. Because the 2012 general election did not alter the balance of power on Capitol Hill—Re-publicans kept their majority in the House of Representatives and

Democrats widened their majority in the Senate but still do not have a supermajority—the two parties that have been long at odds on issues concerning taxation and government spending will need to forge an agreement before the end of the year in order to alter these policies.

Not only are Bush-era tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year, effectively raising taxes at all income levels, but federal spend-ing will be cut across the board by 0.25 percent on average for many federal agencies. The National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health could see their funding cut by up to 7.8 percent.

SEE BUDGET ON PAGE 6

Preparing for new MCAT may be more challenging

by Georgia ParkeTHE CHRONICLE

Undergraduate students prepar-ing for a career in medicine will need to adjust their courseloads to better prepare for the MCAT.

In the next few years, prospective medical school students will begin to take a revised version of the Medical College Admission Test. The changes to the test will include elimination of the writing section in 2013 and the addition of sections on behavioral sci-ences, social sciences and biochemis-try, as well as added focus on critical thinking—to take effect in 2015. Ac-cording to a Kaplan Test Prep survey, 87 percent of medical school admis-sions officers are supportive of the changes. But some think the changes, which will extend the length of the

test from 5.5 hours to seven hours, will make pre-med undergraduate course-loads more challenging because of the added topics.

In the 2012 survey of medical school admissions officers—released earlier this month—40 percent of respondents said they believed pre-med courseloads will increase, and no respondents said they believed the changes would make medical school preparation easier. The major subject changes will not affect pre-med stu-dents graduating in 2013 and 2014, said Owen Farcy, assistant director of pre-health programs for Kaplan Test Prep. But underclassmen need to plan ahead to make sure they will be prepared for the test when it changes

BYTHENUMBERS

40percentof medical school admissions officers think MCAT changes will make the undergraduate pre-med courseload more difficult.

74percentof medical school admissions officers support the changes to the MCAT.SEE MCAT ON PAGE 4

KENTUCKY FRIED FRESHMENby Andrew Beaton

THE CHRONICLE

ATLANTA — When Mason Plumlee fouled out with 35 sec-onds left, he bowed his head but headed to the bench without re-gret. On the Blue Devils’ next pos-session, Seth Curry hit two free throws to extend Duke’s lead to eight. Twenty-one seconds later, Ryan Kelly capped off Duke’s scor-ing with a two-handed slam.

Facing a Kentucky squad led by a quartet of freshmen, Duke’s seniors combined for 51 points—and the team’s first 28 points of the game—as the No. 9 Blue Devils beat the No. 3 Wildcats 75-68 in the Champions Classic at the Georgia Dome.

Curry finished with a game-high 23 points, 14 of which came in the second half, after Plumlee scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half.

“I think it was good, especially in the end-of game situation, hav-ing guys like myself, Ryan and Seth who have been in those,” Plumlee said. “Each possession becomes that much more important, so I think we had guys on the floor that understood the importance of a possession.”

Kentucky (1-1) did not hold a lead during the entire sec-ond half, with Duke (2-0) hold-ing a 12-point lead with 6:30 to play after a Curry jump shot.

ELYSIA SU/THE CHRONICLE

SEE M. BASKETBALL ON PAGE 8

The ChronicleTHE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 58WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

PTSD linked to PTSD linked to fear control fear control

in brain, in brain, Page 2Page 2

Gross Hall Gross Hall renovations renovations underway, underway, Page 2Page 2

ONTHERECORD“My point here is that the definition of popularity is

historically and pervasively blurred....” —Lindsay Tomson in ‘The sociology of mario kart.’ See column page 11

2 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

TO RENT or TO BUY?

where Duke finds housing

A Hungry Heart: Gordon Parks Dr. Deborah Willis, Chair of the Department of Photography and Imaging at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and contributor to

an upcoming book about Gordon Parks

Friday, Nov. 16, 2012 • 6:00 p.m.Nasher Museum of Art

Duke University Conversation and slide presentation

Reception to follow

For those of us who look for a compassionate voice in photography and fi lm, the name Gordon Parks comes to mind. Over the course of more than two decades, Parks produced photo-essays on a broad range of topics, including gang wars in Harlem, fashion in Paris, and segregation in the American South, before embarking on his successful career as fi lm director. He was also an accomplished portraitist, capturing now-iconic images of Ingrid Bergman, Gloria Vanderbilt, Duke Ellington, Malcolm X, and Muhammad Ali. November 30th would have been Gordon Parks’ 100th birthday. Dr. Deborah Willis is a contributor to the fi ve-book series, Th e Collected Works of Gordon Parks, to be published this fall.

Sponsored by: Center for Documentary Studies • DeWitt Wallace Center • Duke University Libraries John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute • Kenan Institute for Ethics • Offi ce for Institutional Equity

Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture • Th e Department of African and African American Studies Th e Graduate School • Vice Provost Offi ce for the Arts

PTSD linked to smaller fear center in the brain

by Kelly ScurryTHE CHRONICLE

Scientists have determined that brain structure may play an important role in developing post-traumatic stress disorder.

A study released Nov. 5 by a team of scientists from Duke and the Durham VA Medical Center have determined a link between the size of the amygdala, a structure in the brain associated with impulse control and fear response, and the presence of PTSD in recent com-bat veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The article, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, found that the veterans with PTSD had a smaller amygdala volume.

“We know that the amygdala is important to PTSD because it is im-portant in how we process fear and perceive what’s threatening in our en-vironment,” said Dr. Rajendra Morey, lead author of the study and assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science.

PTSD is a severe anxiety disorder

that can develop in individuals who have seen or experienced an event that causes psychological trauma, such as domestic abuse, assault and war. Symptoms of the disorder include re-living the trauma through flashbacks or nightmares, avoidance of stimuli as-sociated with the trauma and difficulty concentrating. Nearly seven percent of the general population is believed to have the condition.

Incidents of PTSD occur in many veterans who served in combat roles. Nearly 14 percent of combat veterans serving in Iraq and Afghanistan have developed PTSD, according to the De-partment of Veterans Affairs.

The researchers studied 200 combat veterans who served in Iraq or Afghani-stan after Sept. 11, 2001. Although all of the participants had been exposed to trauma before the study, only half of the veterans had PTSD. The study examined the volumes of the amygdala using MRI scans of all the participants.

SEE PTSD ON PAGE 5

CHRONICLE GRAPHIC BY CAROLINE RODRIGUEZ

A new Duke study has found a link between post-traumatic stress disorder and a smaller amygdala, which controls fear and impulse in the brain.

by Ryan ZhangTHE CHRONICLE

Gross Hall is undergoing renovations that will expand its capabilities and allow other departments, including political sci-ence, to move in.

The project will cost a little over $24 million, said Paul Manning, director of the Office of Project Management. Con-struction will conclude by summer 2013, and the building is expected to be ready for the start of the school year next Fall. Renovations are taking place both within the building and on its exterior and sur-roundings, though classes continue to be held inside.

“Gross Hall was chosen [for this proj-ect] because it was an asset sitting unused,” Manning said. “Programs needed space for expansion, and here’s all this existing square footage.”

Among the various additions are a new atrium and a large skylight to illuminate the upper floors. The south façade will also be redone, as the solid precast panels will be removed and replaced with a curtain wall of aluminum and glass, Manning said.

“We’re fitting out the second floor and the third floor, which are empty and decant-ed now,” he added. “[The] second floor and

third floor are going to be [designated for] political science and the Pratt School of En-gineering [and will include] faculty offices, teaching and research areas.”

In addition to the indoor improvements, there are also plans to add a bridge from the pedestrian walkway on Science Drive to the central entrance of the building.

Built in 1968, the 146,400 sq.-ft. build-ing had previously been scheduled for de-molition to make way for a new home for the Nicholas School of the Environment, Manning said. A change in plans, however, led to the reoccupation and renovation of the building.

The top two floors of the building were largely vacated after the opening of the nearby French Family Science Center in 2006, said Executive Vice President Tall-man Trask in an email Tuesday. French now houses the chemistry department, which formerly resided in Gross Hall.

The political science department will move to the second floor of Gross Hall next summer as its current location in Perkins Library undergoes renovations, said de-partment chair Karen Remmer in an email Tuesday. She added that the floor will be shared with the Social Science Research Institute.

EMMA LOEWE/THE CHRONICLE

A $24 million construction project is underway at Gross Hall. The renovations, which are expected to be completed summer 2013, will allow more departments to move into the building.

Renovated Gross Hall to open summer 2013

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 | 3

The 2012 John Fisher Zeidman Memorial Colloquium

On Politics and the Press

Panel discussion with:

John Dickerson Slate, CBS News

Nia-Malika Henderson T’91

The Washington Post

Ben SmithBuzzFeed

Moderated by James T. Hamilton

Charles S. Sydnor Professor of Public Policy

Director, DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and

Democracy

Media Coverage of the

2012 Elections

National political journalists from broadcast, print and online media

evaluate coverage of the 2012 presidential election.

Saturday, Nov. 17 1:00 - 2:30 p.m.

Fleishman CommonsSanford Building

For information: 613.7306, shelley.stonecipher@duke.edu

Duke Innovation and Entrepreneurship Speaker Series In parternship with DukeGENPresents

An Evening with JESSE LIPSON ‘00

AND

BROOKS BELL ‘02

The founders of ShareFile(sold to Citrix)

and Brooks Bell Interactive

When: Thursday, November 15thWhere: Gross Hall

5:30 Reception with Food and Drink6:30 Talk

All Duke students and alumni are invited.

RSVP:http://entrepreneurship.duke.edu/calendar

by Joby WarrickTHE WASHINGTON POST

Iran appears to be locked in a fierce internal debate over whether to hold bilateral nuclear talks with the United States, with key political leaders calling for dialogue with Washington and hard-liners pressing ahead with expansion of the country’s nu-clear facilities.

The Obama administration, girding itself for what could be the first major foreign policy test of its second term, has dangled an offer of bilateral talks in hopes of breaking through the nuclear impasse with Iran and easing the threat of a new Middle East war.

But despite positive com-ments in recent days from Presi-dent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other senior leaders, Iran has shown no hint that it plans to accept the offer, U.S. and Euro-pean diplomats say.

Instead, intelligence analysts are detecting signs of continued progress at Iran’s uranium-en-richment plants and no signifi-cant softening on the part of the country’s supreme leader, Ayatol-lah Ali Khamenei, the man who will ultimately decide the coun-try’s nuclear course, according to the diplomats.

“We don’t think the Iranians are there yet, in terms of a deal,” said a European diplomat, insist-

ing on anonymity in discussing nuclear diplomacy with Iran. “Things are moving a bit because they’re feeling pressure from sanctions. But we have no infor-mation suggesting that they’re willing to change.”

A new report expected later this week from the U.N. nucle-ar watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is expect-ed to show that Iran has nearly completed installing centrifuges at its Fordow uranium-enrich-ment plant, a facility being built inside a mountain tunnel to pro-tect it against military strikes, according to Western diplomats briefed on the IAEA’s prelimi-nary findings.

While not all the centrifuges are operating, the near-comple-tion of the plant moves Iran a step closer to having a virtually bomb-proof sanctuary in which to increase its stockpile of en-riched uranium, which can be used for civilian purposes or — if enriched further to fissile form — for nuclear weapons. Only the most powerful U.S. bunker-busting munitions are believed capable of destroying the facility.

U.S. and Israeli officials worry that Iran could use the Fordow plant to make highly enriched uranium for nuclear bombs. Iran insists that it seeks nuclear ener-gy only for peaceful purposes.

The search for a diplomatic solution to the long-running cri-sis gained new urgency in recent weeks because of a conviction among Western governments that time is running out for averting an Israeli military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which could trigger a wider conflict in the region.

Israeli officials have signaled a willingness to delay a strike, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned that his government will act unilaterally if necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear-weapons capa-bility.

Dennis Ross, the administra-tion’s chief adviser on Iran before leaving government late last year, cited the implicit Israeli threat last week in predicting that 2013 would “be a decisive year, one way or another,” for Iran.

“We will see this come to a head,” Ross told a forum at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Thursday. “Ei-ther it will come to a head dip-lomatically or through the use of force.”

Ross also cited Iran’s worsen-ing economic crisis, which he said was battering the Iranian economy to the point where Iran’s leaders must soon decide

Iran locked in internal debate over whether to talk to U.S.

by Caroline MichelmanTHE CHRONICLE

The architects responsible for the West Union Building renovations held an open house Tuesday night in which they re-vealed the preliminary designs and spoke with students about their vision.

Architects David Cook and Mark Rhoads from Grimshaw Architects, the firm behind the redesign, presented their plans to attendees, held a question and answer session and solicited student input. Although the re-design process started about a

year and a half ago, it is still in its early stages, and student in-put was encouraged.

“The architects want a gen-eral sense of if the space has the right feel,” said Chris Roby, director of the University Cen-ter Activities and Events. “This is supposed to be the main stu-dent area on campus, so student input is very important.”

The renovations will begin this summer and will create ex-panded dining facilities and stu-dent life space. Construction is

SEE WEST UNION ON PAGE 5

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

This model shows the most up-to-date plans for the West Union Building renovations. The renovations, designed by Grimshaw Architects, will finish by summer 2015.

W. Union architects invite student input

SEE IRAN ON PAGE 4

4 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

And

Pondering

Consider

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during their junior or senior year.“Freshmen need to start considering how they will prepare

for the test right now,” Farcy said.Many Duke students will be affected by the changes, given

the large number of students interested in pursuing medi-cine. Farcy noted that 355 members of the class of 2012 ap-plied to medical school.

Academic advisors at Duke will continue to have personal and group advising sessions to help students prepare for the MCAT and medical school, said Daniel Scheirer, director of health professions advising. He added that they will increase the number of courses students should take to better prepare for the test.

“We are advising students to prepare by taking a course in biochemistry and one or more courses in psychology or sociology,” Scheirer wrote in an email Tuesday.

Scheirer added that molecular biology and genetics will be important topics to cover during the undergraduate ca-

reer of students preparing for the exam. He also noted a new software program called AdviseStream, implemented this Fall, which allows pre-med students to plan and track their curriculum throughout their undergraduate experience.

“The result will be a series of course maps, which will give undergraduates a visual of what courses contain which foun-dational concepts,” Scheirer said.

Daniel Moore, a freshman who plans to take the MCAT, said he is not concerned about preparing for the new version of the test because of Duke’s advising program.

“My academic dean told me what I need to do—she showed me all the classes I need to take, what I need to do during summers and what I need to do outside of school,” Moore said.

Despite a potentially more difficult undergraduate course-load, approximately 74 percent of those surveyed believe that the new test will prepare students better for medical school.

“The hopes of these changes is that [these students] who have experience in sociology and biological science will come to medical school and have more robust conversations with their peers and professors,” Farcy said.

The last major changes to the MCAT were made about 20 years ago in 1991. The Association of American Medical Colleges formed the MR5 Advisory committee in 2009 to per-form the fifth comprehensive MCAT review. The committee evaluated the test in its current form and spoke with medical students, undergraduates and medical school admissions offi-cers to create a list of recommendations for the new version.

“The test has traditionally been used as a measure of sci-ence knowledge in biology, chemistry, physics, et cetera,” Farcy said. “But it is also a test of critical thinking skills.”

The changes, he said, represent “the humanistic side of medicine, not just science.”

To accommodate the new test length, a lunch break will be added, Farcy said. Additionally, tests will only be administered in the morning—as opposed to the current format, which al-lows tests to start in both the morning and afternoon.

“I’m definitely against it being seven hours long,” said Pe-ter Mullen, a pre-med freshman. “Performance would dete-riorate throughout the whole thing.”

The AAMC expects that this new version of the MCAT will be in place until 2030.

between negotiations and economic catastrophe. Under pressure from international sanctions, Iran’s currency has plummeted in recent months while exports of petroleum — Iran’s chief source of foreign revenue — have been cut nearly in half.

“The focus on their economy has become more acute, and that suggests that there may be increased interest in looking for a way out,” he said. On the other hand, “it doesn’t mean that diplomacy is guaranteed to produce an outcome that we want,” Ross said.

Administration officials have acknowledged raising the possibility of bilateral talks as a way of luring Iran back to negotiating table. The offer was most recently made during informal contacts on the sidelines of September’s U.N. Gen-eral Assembly meetings in New York. Iranian diplomats at the time expressed interest in exploring the idea, according to U.S. and European officials familiar with the exchange.

The offer remains open, diplomats said, though no nego-tiations — formal or informal — have been held, or planned so far. A State Department spokesman last week dismissed as “ridiculous” a published report that Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was meeting privately with Iranians.

Meanwhile, the signals from Iran have been mixed. In Tehran, where Obama’s reelection triggered speculation in state-run media about an imminent “grand bargain” to set-tle the nuclear dispute, a number of prominent politicians and opinion leaders have wondered aloud about whether the moment had finally come for ending three decades of hostility with the United States.

“Some people in the system and administration are increas-ingly asking this question: Who has said — and why — should we so intractably insist on enmity with the U.S.,” Sadegh Ziba Kalam, a political analyst and professor at Tehran University, said in an interview Sunday. “It is possible that the idea that enmity with the U.S. is not in our interests is getting more weight and we see a move toward serious negotiations.”

Ahmadinejad is among several prominent Iranians who have spoken favorably in recent days about a possible deal with the United States. The Iranian president, during a visit last week to Indonesia, said Iran’s nuclear program was now a “political” issue, adding, “The issue should be resolved in relations between Iran and the United States.”

Another senior official, Mohammed Javad Larijani, sec-retary of Iran’s High Council for Human Rights and broth-er of the country’s parliament speaker, suggested in a tele-vised interview that it was in Iran’s interest to deal directly with Washington. “To protect the interests of our system, we would negotiate with the U.S. or anyone else even in the abyss of hell,” he said last week.

But other prominent officials remain adamantly op-posed. Influential figures among Iran’s military and para-military organizations — such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij militia — have flatly rejected the pos-sibility of U.S. talks, as have a number of conservative clerics and religious leaders.

“We are not going to resume relationships with America, unless the U.S. changes its behavior,” Brig. Gen. Moham-mad-Reza Naghdi, the leader of the Basij, told a news con-ference on Saturday in Tehran.

The last significant opportunity for a breakthrough in U.S.-Iranian relations came in 2003, when Iranian leaders secretly reached out through intermediaries to members of the George W. Bush administration to discuss a possible “grand bargain.” The effort quickly collapsed.

IRAN from page 3

WWW.QDUKE.COM

MCAT from page 1

THE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 | 5

Even though the study did link the size of the amygdala to PTSD, it did not determine what conclu-sively led to the smaller brain structure.

“We don’t know if people who have smaller amygda-las go on to develop PTSD [after exposure to trauma] or if the [exposure] leads to a decrease in the size of the amygdala,” said Kevin LaBar, co-author of the study and professor of psychology and neuroscience.

Morey stated that the data is more consistent with the idea that people with PTSD may have a smaller amygdala prior to trauma exposure, which may predis-pose them to developing the disorder. The researchers did not observe a trend suggesting that the amygdala changed in size as a result of the frequency, duration or severity from the trauma.

A variety of factors could potentially affect the size of the amygdala, ranging from heredity and nutritional issues during gestation to environmental issues.

The discovery of the link between amygdala size and PTSD could play a factor in determining occupational roles in the military, LaBar said.

“If it can be established that this is a contributing factor for developing PTSD, we may be able to use this as a screen test so it may help us in assigning [people with smaller amygdalas] to jobs in the Army that would make them less exposed to trauma,” he said.

The results from the study are not expected to have an impact on treatment options for those suffer-ing from PTSD, which currently consist of medication and group therapy, said Dr. Gregory Weiss, a physician in the Mental Health Service Line at the Durham VA Medical Center.

“While medicine can help control some of symp-toms, such as jumpiness, psychotherapy is still the gold standard,” he said.

How a Railroad Lawyer Became the Great Emancipator:

Abraham Lincoln and the Problem of Ending Slavery

November 14, 201212:15 p.m. | Duke law room 3041

Did Lincoln deserve his reputation as the Great Emancipator?

Did he free the slaves?

Why did he wait so long?

Paul FinkelmanJohn Hope Franklin Visiting Professor of Legal History

delivers the Robert R. Wilson Lecture at Duke Law School

BRIANNA SIRACUSE/THE CHRONICLE

Students, faculty and employees look at plans for the ongoing West Union Building renovations. Representatives from Grimshaw, the architec-ture firm managing the project, visited campus Tuesday to answer questions and detail the plans.

PTSD from page 2

expected to be complete by summer 2015.Although many students were unaware of what the

renovations will entail, much of the information the architects used in their designs came from student fo-cus groups conducted last Spring, Roby said. The ar-chitects were also excited to hear student feedback.

“It’s great being able to speak with students in open a dialogue,” Rhoads said. “We’re early enough in the process that student input can really make an impact.”

The architects noted that the renovated West Union is meant to be the social heart of campus.

“We want to turn the West Union into a real interac-tive spot for student life,” Rhoads said. “Right now, it is a place where you walk around, but we want to change it into a gathering place.”

The new West Union is intended to promote a healthy, vibrant lifestyle among students, Cook added.

“The West Union doesn’t work now,” Cook said. “The design is the inverse of how it works now. It’s supposed to relate to the campus, be a connection be-tween the inside and the outside.”

The architects’ vision of a fun, social student cen-ter was echoed in students’ reception of the designs, which was overwhelmingly positive. Many attendees of the open house were excited by the changes, although some were less excited about the timeline.

“It looks really awesome, it’s just too bad it won’t be done in time for [sophomores] to use it and experi-ence it,” said sophomore Benny Bscher. “I think the Bryan Center will become completely obsolete once [West Union renovations are] done.”

Sophomore Emma Arata agreed that the new West Union will be a much more livable space. Especially excited by the redesign’s focus on sustainability—the plans include a rooftop terrace—she thinks the reno-vations are making much better use of the space, and the new West Union will be a good transition between the Main Quad and the Bryan Center Plaza.

With the renovation and design still in the early stage, the open house was only the first of many meet-ings and focus groups for students to critique the proj-ect, Roby said.

“It was a cool thing to do for students to offer input,” Arata said. “It’s great to create the interface between the architects and the students who aren’t involved in committees.”

WEST UNION from page 3

WWW.QDUKE.COM

6 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

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Associate dance professor Ava Vinesett presents an interactive lecture—Creat-ing Ashe/Connecting to the Divine Tuesday night.

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The cuts are likely to slash fed-eral research funds for universi-ties nationwide, said Chris Sim-mons, associate vice president for federal relations and one of three registered federal lobbyists em-ployed directly by the University.

“Given the size of the federal deficit, we’re prepared for some cutbacks, especially in research,” he said. “If funding is cut, the University will have to compen-sate for that in some way.”

Not all universities will see funding cut equally, and those that have more competitive research faculty will likely come out on top, Simmons noted, adding that Duke has a high-powered faculty that is highly competitive for funds.

Duke was ranked the fifth-largest research university in the nation based on expenditures and was the 13th-most federally funded in the 2010 fiscal year.

Simmons added that the ef-fects of budget cuts will lag be-hind the actual implementation of the cuts.

“We won’t know the actually impact of the cut on our budget for several months,” he said. “How we react to those cuts will depend on how our faculty competes and which federal programs are cut.”

Last week, North Carolina vot-ers elected a Republican-controlled state government. Upon inaugura-tion, the GOP will hold the gov-ernor’s seat, the lieutenant gover-nor’s seat and a majority in both the state house of representatives

and senate, a dominance North Carolina has not seen in 140 years, said Mike Schoenfeld, vice presi-dent for public affairs and govern-ment relations. Like for the federal government, a top priority on the state government’s agenda will be the budget, he added, noting that possible spending cuts will have direct and indirect effects on the University.

One state program relevant to Duke that may see funding cuts is the North Carolina Legislative Tuition Grant Program, a scholar-ship program that grants money to North Carolina students who choose to attend in-state private schools, Schoenfeld said. NCLTG used to give $1,800 scholarships to in-state students in order to in-centivize young North Carolinians to keep their talent in state. Last year, the program was changed to a need-based system to save costs, but the general concept remains the same.

If state funding for K-12 pub-lic schools is slashed and the re-sults of those cuts negatively af-fect Triangle-area schools, it may hamper Duke’s ability to recruit faculty and staff who would send their children to such institutions, Schoenfeld added.

Throughout his campaign, President Barack Obama touted his ongoing dedication to the ex-pansion of the federal Pell Grant program, which provides need-based aid to low-income universi-ty students. Obama argued that if his opponents in the Republican party gained more power in Wash-ington, they would drastically cut

funding for this program, making it more difficult for Americans to obtain higher education.

This distinction, however, may not be so clear—funding for higher education is typically an important priority across party lines, Simmons noted.

“We know that the president and Congress have been support-ive of universities and of sending students to college,” he said.

Although Pell Grants are pro-tected from automatic cuts, other federal financial aid programs could be cut by $134 million.

Another hot-button issue this election cycle was the staying power of the Affordable Care Act, which Obama’s victory will enshrine as the “law of the land,” said House Speaker John Boeh-ner, R-Ohio, in an interview with ABC News last Thursday.

Duke spends approximately $400 million insuring around 70,000 faculty, staff, dependents and retirees annually, Schoen-feld said. As health care reform becomes fully implemented na-tionwide—a process that will take a number of years—Duke will see its cost of providing insurance in-crease. For example, beginning in 2014, the University will have to insure faculty and staff members’ dependents until they are 26 years old, Schoenfeld noted.

“Stability almost always trumps uncertainty and there are many as-pects of the ACA... that will make the health care system more ra-tional, more comprehensive and more fair, but they’re not without their trade offs,” Schoenfeld said.

BUDGET from page 1

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ately responded by inserting 7-foot Willie Cauley-Stein into the game alongside Noel.

With the Blue Devils reeling, the Wildcats saw their chance to land a few more punches.

“I felt we had some chances to get up and down,” Noel said.

On the first Kentucky possession following Plum-lee’s departure, 6-foot-8 Wildcat forward Alex Poyth-ress rebounded a missed 3-pointer over 6-foot-1 Tyler Thornton and slammed it home to pull Kentucky back within four. But Hairston was not about to let his team hit the mat.

“I know my team needed me on defense, to play physical, to try and guard Nerlens Noel,” Hairston said. “[Noel is] a great player and he hit some tough shots, but I just wanted to make him work for everything.”

Noel—who has been touted for years for his out-standing shot-blocking ability—aggressively pursued the opportunity to block shots in the lane, and his willingness to attack penetrating guards left the offen-sive glass open. Hairston pulled down two offensive re-bounds and put them back in, keying a 12-6 Duke run with Plumlee on the bench.

“When I got into the lane, I knew Noel would try and block shots,” senior guard Seth Curry said. “So I was just trying to get it on the rim. And Josh did a good job cleaning up a few times for me.”

Keeping the Wildcats at arm’s length during Plum-lee’s absence was crucial, knowing that Kentucky head coach John Calipari and his usual elite recruiting class were not going to be knocked out easily either.

“You know they’re going to make a run,” Krzyzewski

SportsThe Chronicle

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WEDNESDAYNovember 14, 2012

>> THE BLUE ZONE Make sure to keep up with the sports blog for live updates on all basketball games, as well as a post-game breakdown of Duke and Kentucky’s matchup.

Winter is coming. And for the first time in 18 years, winter does not mean an early end to the college football season for Duke.

In just 18 days, the Blue Devils will receive an invitation to play in their first bowl game since 1994. Not only will this mark the culmination of Duke’s most successful season in two decades, but it will also unscramble the ACC into its final postseason alignment.

But until Dec. 2, the guesses of college football pundits are as good as yours when it comes to projecting where the ACC teams will end up come bowl season.

One of the reasons for this uncertainty is that the ACC will not likely fill all of its bowl contracts this season. The confer-ence currently has agreements with eight bowl games, but with two games remaining in the year, only four ACC teams—Duke, Florida State, Clemson and N.C. State—are currently bowl eligible. Boston College has already been knocked out of

bowl contention after a dismal 2-8 start, and North Carolina is ineligible for postseason play due to NCAA infractions.

Virginia and Virginia Tech are each one loss away from losing their bowl eligibility as

well—one of those dominos is guaranteed to fall when the Cavaliers and Hokies square off in Blacksburg, Va. on Nov. 24, and Virginia

needs a win over North Carolina this weekend to have a shot at bowl eligibility.

Maryland still has a shot at bowl eligibility... mathematical-ly. But to make it to 6-6 the Terrapins will need to post back-to-back victories against Florida State and North Carolina. Let’s just cross that one off our list.

So under those conservative assumptions, the ACC can have at most eight bowl eligible teams this year, but those who are fighting for one of the four remaining bowl contracts will need major help to get there.

Wake Forest sits at 5-5, needing to win one of its two remaining non-conference matchups to go bowling this season. The Demon Deacons, however, will have to defeat either third-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind. or a sneaky Vanderbilt squad, which has posted a 4-3 record in the powerhouse SEC this season and is riding a four-game winning streak.

Duke’s next opponent, Georgia Tech, faces a must-win game when the Blue Devils travel to Atlanta this weekend. If the Yellow Jackets can defend their home turf, they will have a shot at the ACC Championship game if Duke beats Miami in its final game of the season. If the Blue Devils come out on top this weekend, Georgia Tech needs to beat in-state rival Georgia, who will represent the SEC East in its conference championship game.

And then we have Miami, who needs a victory against South Florida at home this weekend or against the Blue Devils in Durham Nov. 24, and will likely make it to six wins. But that might not mean bowl eligibility for the Hurricanes, who still await the outcome of the Nevin Shapiro investigation by the NCAA and could be deemed bowl ineligible this season. Mi-ami has a difficult decision to make over the next two weeks, and could self-impose a bowl ban in order to lessen penalties by the NCAA. This issue will be discussed ad nauseum over the next two weeks, especially since the Coastal Division title could be hanging in the balance as the Hurricanes enter the final week of the season.

So when the dust settles, the ACC may end up with only five or six bowl eligible teams—so what does that mean for Duke? The Blue Devils’ ultimate bowl destination will depend on both their performance and that of other teams—most notably Clemson—in the season’s final two weeks.

Cleaning up the ACC’s bowl mess

DanielCarpOn Football

SEE CARP ON PAGE 8

MEN’S BASKETBALL

Hairston helps Blue Devils absorb Kentucky punches

SEE HAIRSTON ON PAGE 8

ELYSIA SU/THE CHRONICLE

Junior Josh Hairston converted two offensive rebounds into baskets in the second half during a critical 14 minutes, after senior Mason Plumlee fouled out at 16:04 left in the game. Last Friday against Georgia State, Hairston was the only Blue Devil to play and not score.

by Tom GierynTHE CHRONICLE

ATLANTA — In a fight between two talented heavy-weights, winning requires more than just punching. It requires taking punches as well, and Duke demonstrat-ed Tuesday night that it understands this principle.

In a physical 75-68 win against Kentucky at the Geor-gia Dome, the No. 3 Wildcats landed a heavy blow when star senior center Mason Plumlee picked up his fourth foul with 16:04 left in the game and the Blue Devils leading by six. But with the help of junior forward Josh Hairston, Duke not only absorbed the blow, but also stung Kentucky with a counterattack.

“This is definitely my best game here at Duke, in my career,” Hairston said. “I just wanted to bring energy, toughness, fight, and I think that’s what I did.”

Leading all scorers with 16 points at the time, Plum-lee was forced to the bench, also leaving Duke without its primary defensive presence against Kentucky fresh-man phenom Nerlens Noel.

Plumlee had led the Blue Devils with his intangi-bles, showing a demonstrative side that was seen only in flashes last season. He demanded the ball loudly in the post, and generally looked eager to play a physical game against a hyped Noel.

“Early on I felt like I could score, and then they start-ed doubling me,” said Plumlee, who added three assists and five rebounds to his 18-point scoring effort. “And when they double, it’s only going to open other guys up. I had some turnovers, but besides the turnovers, I felt something good was going to happen every time.”

With Plumlee sidelined, Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski turned to the 6-foot-7 Hairston against the 6-foot-10 Noel, and the Wildcats immedi-

8 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

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The ACC’s eight bowl contracts will select bowl-eligible teams in just under three weeks. BCS bowl games are given priority, starting with the Discover Orange Bowl, which will receive the ACC Champion. Given Clemson’s resurgence back into the BCS picture, the Tigers may earn the ACC a second BCS slot with a bid to the Sugar Bowl. Should this happen, it will most certainly open up better bowl possibilities for the Blue Devils.

The Chick-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta receives the next choice, and will likely take the Ti-gers, should the Sugar Bowl not come calling. A representative from the game attended Clemson’s thrashing of Duke two weeks ago and likely paid keen attention to the large number of fans willing to attend away games. Should Clemson make a BCS game, Miami could be the next choice for the Chick-fil-A bowl—if they do not self-impose a ban—but otherwise Duke could potentially sneak into a major bowl game against an SEC opponent.

If the Blue Devils were to win their re-maining two games and make it to the ACC Championship game in Charlotte, N.C., they would be guaranteed at least a trip to the Russell Athletic Bowl in Orlando, Fla. or the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, which hold the next two selections. Should they not make the ACC Championship game, many believe that Duke could be invited to the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, which holds the confer-ence’s fifth choice due to its proximity to the Triangle, though that same situation applies to N.C. State in Raleigh. If the Wolfpack are selected instead of the Blue Devils, the next option would be the Music City Bowl in Nashville, Tenn.

So if you’re trying to book early travel plans to Duke’s bowl game, don’t bother asking an expert—chances are they know just as much as you do. Two more wild weekends will provide only limited clarity to what has been a year to remember in the ACC.

M. BASKETBALL from page 1 HAIRSTON from page 7

But Wildcat freshman Alex Poythress threw down a put-back slam to reduce the margin to 10.

That sparked a run with Kentucky ral-lying to make the score 64-61 with less than four minutes to play. But Curry made two free throws to extend the lead to five. The Blue Devils did not score in the 4:26 between Curry’s points.

“We just said, it’s a three-minute ball-game. Let’s win a three-minute ballgame, and we did,” Duke basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “Seth was terrific. I think he was the difference maker in the game…. I think he took control of the game. We wanted the ball in his hands, and he made veteran, tough plays down the stretch.”

Poythress responded with a jumper on the next sequence, but another Cur-ry bucket ensured that the Wildcats nev-er came within a possession of tying the game for the rest of the way.

In the final 2:04, the Blue Devils made 7-of-8 free throws. Curry went 6-of-6 from the free throw line, and Plumlee—who typically struggles from the charity stripe—nailed all four of his attempts.

“I personally want to have the ball in my hands as much as possible to go up there and knock them down,” Curry said.

Rasheed Sulaimon gave the three seniors a boost in the final 20 minutes, after the freshman shot 0-for-7 in the first half. Sulaimon hit three 3-pointers in the second half—two of them coming in a critical stretch with Plumlee on the bench after picking up his fourth foul with 16:04 to go. Sulaimon led Duke with six rebounds and five assists.

When Plumlee went to the bench af-ter the foul call, the Blue Devils extend-ed their lead to double digits for the first time.

Throughout the game, Plumlee fought a physical battle in the paint with Wildcat Nerlens Noel, who is regarded as the top freshman in the nation. De-spite Plumlee picking up two early fouls that clearly frustrated him, he shot 5-of-6 from the field in the first half, guiding Duke to a 33-31 lead at the break.

“Especially when you’re playing a team as talented as Kentucky at every po-sition, you have to get things from tons of areas and different players,” Kelly said. “As seniors we need to be there to lead our team through anything. That’s what got us through a game there like that when you had people in foul trou-ble and had to play with that.”

said. “They’ve won more than 100 games in the last three years. They’re national cham-pions, so they’re going to make a run.”

And as expected, Kentucky came storming back with an 11-2 run of its own that lasted five minutes. Poythress—who made a statement with his aggressive play throughout the game—had two of his five offensive rebounds and scored four of his 20 points during this stretch. Graduate guard Julius Mays scored five straight points to make the score 66-63 with 1:37 to play.

But Duke got its gloves back up and dealt Kentucky a knockout punch in the form of a Seth Curry drive for two points, followed by an Archie Goodwin turnover on the other end. Duke broke a Wildcat press following the turnover, and Noel fouled Thornton near midcourt as he hustled to recover defensively.

With Duke in the bonus, Thornton drilled both halves of a one-and-one with 40 seconds on the clock, forcing Calipari to go into foul-and-hope mode. Curry and Rasheed Sulaimon combined to shoot 3-for-4 from the line on the en-suing Blue Devil possessions, sealing the win for Duke.

But being in a position to count on free-throw shooting at the end had all begun 16 minutes earlier, when Duke showed a maturity and resilience—usu-ally a hallmark of Blue Devil squads—that had frequently eluded it last sea-son. Hairston, the only Duke player to play and not score in the team’s season opener last Friday, landed some of the critical jabs.

“Josh fought like crazy,” senior Ryan Kelly said. “He was unbelievable. He did an unbelievable job fighting Nerlens, all their bigs, rebounding.”

Fighting, indeed.

Kelly, who finished with 10 points, was most impactful on the defensive end guarding Kentucky sophomore forward Kyle Wiltjer. With Plumlee on the bench at times, Kelly’s defense in the post was thrust into the spotlight, and he re-sponded with three blocked shots, all of which came in the first half.

After recording a team-high 19 points in the team’s season-opening victory against Maryland, Wiltjer scored just five points Tuesday night.

“They took him away. They did a great job of saying, ‘He’s not getting a shot off,’” Kentucky head coach John Calipari said. “He played well against Maryland, shot the ball. Well this team said, ‘He’s not shooting it.’”

Quinn Cook, who did not start for the second consecutive game, also gave the team an early spark, playing 15 of the first 20 minutes while starting point guard Tyler Thornton played just seven. Cook subsequently started the second half Thornton’s place.

Entering the game with Duke down by four, Cook took advantage of a Ken-tucky backcourt that was without start-ing point guard Ryan Harrow, who did not travel to Atlanta due to illness.

Cook orchestrated an offense that combined to turn over the ball just eight times, while recording 16 assists. The Wildcats recorded 13 turnovers and 13 assists.

“I thought he played with asser-tiveness. He pushed it. He played re-ally good defensively,” Krzyzewski said. “Quinn Cook really gave us a lift. He scored in transition—it was kind of dif-ficult for us to score in the halfcourt in the first half.”

Redshirt freshman Alex Murphy, who did not play in the team’s opener against Georgia State, played two minutes in the first half but did not see the floor for the rest of the game. Junior Josh Hairston played a critical 14 minutes, however, converting two offensive rebounds into baskets in the second half.

This was the first time the Blue Dev-ils defeated a top-three opponent since a Feb. 2008 victory against then-No. 3 North Carolina, while Krzyzewski moved to 5-1 in his career against Kentucky and 2-0 against Calipari-led teams.

And Krzyzewski was able to count on Curry, who turned in a big-game perfor-mance reminiscent of his 22-point per-formance in Feb. 2011.

“I’m proud of you,” Krzyzewski said, patting Curry on the back. “I’m glad you came to Duke.”

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“Tonight, in this election, you, the American peo-ple, reminded us that while our road has been hard, while our journey has been long, we have

picked ourselves up, we have fought our way back, and we know in our hearts that for the United States of America the best is yet to come.”

Barack’s acceptance speech did ex-actly what it had to. It thanked all the right people and reminded us that he is at heart a family man. It gave a gra-cious nod to the challenger. And if it hadn’t been noticeably free of John McCain’s name, that speech could have been the one delivered in Chi-cago just about four years ago, right down to the last journey metaphor.

Sitting in my room, listening to his 20-minute speech, I felt as though I was at a spelling bee with all the buzzzzz-buzzzzz-buzzwords being thrown around. I understand that campaigning is a diffi cult task. To simultaneously brand oneself and allow for an under-standing of the meaningful subtleties that your spe-cifi c policies and character project is hard. So fi ne, focus on your patriotic and presidential public image until you get the votes. But after inauguration, realize there’s an expectation of follow-through. Each four-year term a president serves ideally will result in a little more than extra jargon for political science students to memorize or staged pictures with foreign diplo-mats. So we’ve given you another shot, Barack!

At the beginning of Obama’s fi rst term, the great orator sought to turn powerful rhetoric into progress with a “Russian reset.” The American image project-ed by Bush wasn’t necessarily one most Russians ap-preciated and Obama was going to change that. By diminishing forcefulness and projecting friendliness, the United States was set to adopt a doctrine of “mea culpa,” of humility.

But this attitude failed to account for the pragma-tism of political circumstances. It takes more to ac-complish political ends than gestures. Russian policy isn’t a reactionary response to American friendliness. With considerations in the Middle East, oil prices drive policy. The Russian resistance to interventions in Libya, then Syria over the past two years, and over the past decade in Iran is intrinsically attached to a desire to keep oil prices high and Russian exports lu-crative. So now, four years later, we fi nd a Moscow that is hardly a supportive ally in the Middle East.

Even more concerning, progress with nuclear strategic arms reduction is unimpressive. More than 90 percent of the nuclear weapons in existence are in stockpiles in Russia and the United States, and a lack of trust (based upon a mismatch of political in-terests, as in the Middle East) prevents the two sides from making real changes to that fact. The inability of

the two biggest nuclear-weapon states to make these reductions creates no incentive for any other nuclear weapons state to consider reduction, and further sup-

ports non-nuclear-weapon states’ cries that Russian and American goals of a nuclear-free society are hypocritical.

USAID itself was expelled from Russia this September when the Rus-sian government became fed up with USAID support for democratic orga-nizations. The Russian government obviously cares a little more about dis-banding election-monitoring groups than befriending the United States. Obama has underestimated the per-

sonal impact Putin has on Russian ideology; if friend-ship and alliance free of political pressure is the goal, the United States would have to accept at face value the adherence to some of the more unsavory, undem-ocratic elements of Russian policy in Russia and be-yond its borders. That’s certainly not something that Obama’s reset policy did, and, in my opinion, falls well outside the realm of what it should be doing.

This October, the Russian foreign minister said, “If we talk about the ‘reset,’ it is clear that, using computer terminology, it cannot last forever. Otherwise it would not be a ‘reset’ but a program failure.” I’m no English major, but that seems incongruous with the optimistic wordplay Obama has been batting around with re-gards to Moscow. Match the public sentiments of Rus-sian offi cials with the deliberate expulsion of USAID from Russia and it becomes strikingly clear that it’s not perceptions of a boisterous, domineering, Bush-led America on the global stage that has been preventing tighter relations between these superpowers.

The fact of the matter is that different ideologies and enormous nuclear arsenals make for a complex relationship, and merely engaging Russia in a con-versational and amicable fashion won’t reset that. Sometimes it does take pressure to accomplish the ends that are valuable to Americans. It’s up to Obama then, not to campaign for Russian approval, but to determine what is most valuable to American foreign policy under different circumstances. If it’s better to step up on nuclear arsenal reductions and be the fi rst to suggest a compromise, then that’s what needs to happen. Americans can be friendly and unassuming! But if it’s better to amp up pressure on Russia with regards to Syria, with regards to Iran, then we need to realize that words can’t go it alone. My vote going into this new administration is for a new start. It’s prob-ably time to reset rhetoric and focus on meaningful progress.

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

commentaries10 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

The C

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The Ind

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Dai

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Uni

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editorial

Resetting rhetoric

A better West Union

”“ onlinecomment

When someone acts in a manner that is undeniably ac-cepted as “out of line”, “over the top” or just plain “wrong”, there are consequences to those actions. ...

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The Chronicle welcomes submissions in the form of letters to the editor or guest columns. Submissions must include the author’s name, signature, department or class, and for purposes of identifi cation, phone number and local address. Letters should not exceed 325 words; contact the editorial department for information regarding guest columns.

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E-mail: chronicleletters@duke.eduEditorial Page DepartmentThe ChronicleBox 90858, Durham, NC 27708Phone: (919) 684-2663Fax: (919) 684-4696

Tuesday, architects from the fi rm Grimshaw held an open house for students to view and comment on plans for the new West Union build-ing their fi rm is designing. The early results are very encour-aging. In both their designs and solicitation of feedback, the architects demonstrated an awareness of the needs this new building must fulfi ll. As currently pro-posed, the new building will reconceive student space on campus by providing a social hub at its heart. The New West Union will hopefully serve as a place students want to be, not just a place they have to be.

The new West Union build-ing will serve as a keystone for West Campus life after its completion. The overhaul

represents an opportunity to correct the current architec-tural oddities hampering so-cial interaction. Whereas the old, inadequate West Union leaves students with few oth-

er options for public, com-munal social

spaces, the new West Union promises to encourage fl uid, interconnected and open so-cial community.

These advancements are grounded in the physical, spa-tial transformations envisioned. The old West Union is an rudi-mentary assemblage of nooks and crannies—its many rooms feel cloistered and isolated, and the building lacks intuitive pas-sageways, inhibiting any sense of connectivity amongst the students inside. As proposed, the new West Union identifi es

these shortcomings and works to correct them.

The values the building wants to advance—openness, socializing and visibility—are matched in the building’s physical attributes. A promi-nent and fl uid central stair-case connecting the fl oors of a glass-covered tiered atrium will unify the space. Students inhabiting the building for myriad reasons—to study, eat and play—will be visible to each other. Large glass win-dows promise to make the new building brighter and more attractive. Crucially, the inclu-sion of so much space desig-nated explicitly for students, including Link-like areas for studying, activity space for so-cializing and seating areas for dining and conversation, sig-nals prioritization of the needs

of a diverse and active student community.

Currently, the only true 24/7 communal space on West Campus is Perkins Library, if one doesn’t count the eater-ies McDonald’s and Pitchfork Provisions. We wholeheartedly support the development of the new West Union building as a more attractive alterna-tive. We hope the architects and the administration will join to execute the construc-tion of a building that ac-complishes this vision. A pub, proposed for the ground fl oor occupied formerly by the Out-post, would be a unique and welcome addition to on-cam-pus social life. The new West Union should be versatile and include space for after-hours gatherings—including a performance space and a

late-night eatery. Sustainability should also continue to be a priority.

Finally, we encourage stu-dents to remain engaged. With construction scheduled for Fall 2014, the window of opportunity for impactful stu-dent input is shrinking. Future open houses present crucial opportunities for student voices to be heard. Instead of leaving creative decisions up to administrators, we encour-age student leaders formally involved in the process to pro-actively assess and advocate for student needs. Right now all signs are encouraging, but the architect’s vision is not set in stone. Students still have the opportunity to infl uence how this building takes shape, and we hope they take the oppor-tunity to do so.

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YESHWANTH KANDIMALLA, EditorLAUREN CARROLL, Managing Editor

JULIAN SPECTOR, News EditorANDREW BEATON, Sports EditorCHRIS DALL, Photography Editor

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The Chronicle is published by the Duke Student Publishing Company, Inc., a non-profi t corporation indepen-dent of Duke University. The opinions expressed in this newspaper are not necessarily those of Duke University, its students, faculty, staff, administration or trustees. Unsigned editorials represent the majority view of the editorial board. Columns, letters and cartoons represent the views of the authors.

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lydia thurmandoubly a lie

commentariesTHE CHRONICLE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 | 11

As the after effects of Hurricane San-dy continue to be felt in the North, a new specter—gasoline rationing—is

making its own unpleasant presence more and more painful for consumers. In the wake of the storm, demand for gasoline has increased dramatically. At the same time, the supply of gas—es-pecially from powerless lo-cal providers and damaged regional suppliers—has either stagnated or sharply contracted. In response, local governments have rather unwisely attempted to keep prices down by im-posing price ceiling and gas rationing boondoggles on the desperate populations.

In order to effectively assess such a policy, it’s important to start by recogniz-ing that prices are more than just arbitrary sums paid by buyers to sellers in exchange for trinkets and knick-knacks. A price, within the context of the economy at large, is actually a highly complicated method of communication. It conveys information pertaining not only to the wishes of buyers and sellers, but also to the desirability of goods, the availability of goods, the costs of their factors of production, and the overall effi ciency of the allocation of resources in the economy as a whole. A price is capable of discriminating against buyers who are either unwilling or unable to prioritize a good in question and against sellers who are equally unlikely to provide that same good at competitive market rates. Its fl uc-tuations serve as a signal from consumers and producers to entrepreneurs and in-vestors who, should they forecast strongly enough, can alter the structure of produc-tion and allocation of certain resources in order to provide for the future demands of the populace. A price plays an integral and yet invisible role in the spontaneous coordination of the seemingly disparate and unrelated phenomena that make up our economy. Like language or the human body, the price system fascinates because it represents spontaneous order on a scale that utterly defi es planning and precon-ceived direction, but that functions splen-didly nonetheless.

In the case of the gas shortage, then, the rising price of gasoline should be seen in a new light. No longer the instrument of greedy and rapacious sellers, seeking to profi t off of the weak and downtrodden, the rising price actually signals to buyers that supplies of the good in question are dwindling. As the supply continues to dwin-dle and the price continues to rise, buyers of gasoline will be increasingly forced to purchase only the amount that they abso-lutely need. The high price of gasoline will incentivize consumers away from excessive stockpiling, and represents a crucial mech-anism of conservation that is endogenous to the price system itself. This, of course, does not guarantee that those who come late to the market will still receive the gaso-line they need. It does, however, do a far better job than price controls and ration-ing—both of which incentivize excessive stockpiling and black marketeering by ar-tifi cially attaching pre-disaster “prices” to a post-disaster supply—at giving them some-thing of a chance.

It should be clear—according to this value-free deductive analysis—that shortage-induced price increases provide an important mechanism on the part of the unrestricted market for conservation in times of increased scarcity. It is also

important to note, however, that “price gouging,” as it is so derisively called, sees to an even more critical need. As supplies in affected areas dwindle and prices rise accordingly, entrepreneurs who operate outside of the disaster zone are increas-ingly incentivized—in an attempt to

capture increased profi ts from these localized price increases—to redirect their own resources toward the storm-stricken areas. The infl ated prices in these areas, operating again as signals, will draw fresh re-sources like honey does fl ies. In so doing, the price increases—if they are al-lowed to materialize—will

spontaneously coordinate the replenish-ment of supplies in these areas by real-locating resources toward them. In short, the much-maligned price increases ampli-fy the willingness of neighboring locales to resupply underserved areas.

All of this holds, however, only so long as the voluntary interactions of consent-ing individuals are allowed to take place free of third-party interference. As soon as exogenous distortions—in the form here of state intervention—are permitted to tamper with the price system, the correc-tive forces of voluntary exchange are im-mediately undermined. In the regrettable event that price controls are enacted, for instance, the state destroys both the con-servation and replenishment mechanisms. In so doing, it virtually guarantees that the pain experienced by consumers will en-dure longer than is absolutely necessary. It was such an insight that led American economist Murray Rothbard to observe, in 1962, “The typical government reason for selective price control—‘we must im-pose controls on this product as long as it is in short supply’—is revealed to be an almost ludicrous error.” The actuality, he explained, is “precisely the reverse: price control creates an artifi cial shortage of the product, which continues as long as the control is in existence.”

The concept is one that, at fi rst, can be diffi cult to grasp. We are so often pre-sented with portraits of starving families at the mercy of ruthless price gougers that the cries for government to help almost seem to justify themselves. It is for this reason, though, that we must be vigilant against lapsing into the so-called “Nirvana fallacy,” which is committed when we com-pare the market order to the fantasy of a perfect outcome rather than the reality of the imperfect state response. In a perfect Eden, for instance, no individual would go for more than a second without all the gas he could ever want. In a market economy, especially one stricken by a natural disas-ter, he might go for some time without it, but various mechanisms will be in place to provide for conservation, replenishment and bidding for scarce resources amongst consumers. Finally, in the unfortunate state takeover of the disaster zone, he will suffer through the barriers erected against all of these functions, and, moreover, will be made to feel as though he should be grateful for it.

I, personally, know how I would rank them.

Chris Bassil, Trinity ’12, is currently work-ing for Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Bos-ton, Mass. His column runs every Wednesday. You can follow Chris on Twitter @Hamsterd-amEcon.

Spontaneous response to disasters

I have owned a Nintendo DS since I was 15. In completely unrelated news, I also had not kissed a boy by

that time. My raunchi-est love affairs were re-stricted to utterly literal joysticks, reinforcing my belief that navigat-ing the male anatomy paled in comparison to navigating Koopa Troo-pa Beach.

I was a disobedi-ent 11th grader in ap-proximately one way: I played video games in class. I didn’t cuss, I got good grades and I didn’t touch or ingest any un-seemly unmentionables. But you bet your bottom dollar that I’d meta-phorically serve the finger to my AP English teacher in the form of my Nintendo DS.

“Oh, you wanna talk poetry? Well I’m playing ‘Professor Layton and the Curious Village,’ so pipe down. Shakespearean ‘Who Wants to be a Millionaire’ can wait, because solving this cryptogram is more important than your iambic pentameter, lady.”

I was truly the James Dean of digi-tally fortifi ed teenage rebellion.

At a time when the majority of my friends started drinking alcohol, Ma-rio Kart acted as my surrogate social lubricant. I may not have been doing keg stands with the guy in the puka shell necklace, but I was still bonding with the weirdoes similarly equipped with handheld gaming devices. These weirdoes (who remain my friends and who remain weird) taught me one of the most signifi cant lessons of my adolescence: There’s a difference be-tween being cool and being popular.

In my high school, those terms were lumped together. The cool kids were the popular kids, even if the cool kids were vilifi ed by the majority of their classmates. For teenagers, pop-ularity doesn’t indicate high-approval ratings. If anything, it merely denotes intrigue and in most cases jealousy. Cool kids, who were doing defi ni-tively cool things like Drugs and Sex and Pop-Rock ‘n’ roll, were dubbed “popular” just because they gave ev-ery social stratosphere something to gossip about. But calling the girl in head-to-toe Juicy Couture popular did not automatically insinuate that she was a pleasant human being.

However, and this is equally impor-tant, it didn’t imply that she was an unlikeable person either. It cannot be assumed that a heavily criticized per-son is a bad person. Just like it cannot be assumed that a categorically cool person is a universally adored person. My point here is that the defi nition of popularity is historically and perva-sively blurred. This grammatical am-biguity for one word transitively dis-torted my understanding of another. So the meaning of cool also required clarifi cation, if not re-characteriza-tion.

The people who really enlight-ened me to coolness were the very same people who taught me how to

turbo boost. They were also the peo-ple who made “Hit It and Quidditch” Harry Potter tribute tees with me, the

people who memorized the Ron Burgundy cata-logue of pickup lines, the people whose un-apologetic obsession with hot dogs induced a bounty of low-culture culinary rants. I’ve been blessed by a lot of freaks in my life.

So what if the most interesting things I did in high school were

actually just being imposed on my Sims? Living vicariously is an innate human tendency that allows us to be safely standard while also acting un-commonly uncharacteristic. Some achieve this with a little technological assistance. An in-crowd wannabe is no different than an avatar-wielding geek—both seek ways to step outside themselves. And both consider the outside option to be a, so to speak, cooler alternative than their own re-ality. The key is to understand that living vicariously does not mean liv-ing enviously, because in most cases the object of your fi xation is hardly a literal representation of what you’re in need of.

While I was riding shotgun to big daddy Donkey Kong, I didn’t actu-ally want to be a 64-bit creature drift-ing in a boxcar. What I did want was an adventure. I’ve recently realized that the word adventure has been haunting me ever since graduation. I’ve even more recently realized that the word adventure has been really haunting me since puberty. As a little kid, I had no concept of cool or pop-ular. In fact, I felt very few sentiments other than “this is fun” or “I have a boo-boo.” As kids we either laugh or cry, and the things we cry about are fl eetingly forgotten as soon as we fi nd the right adventure. As adults we let adventure become clouded by obliga-tory peer defi nitions of cool and popular. So now, in a life stage over-wrought with arbitrary syntax, I can’t help but feel that I’m a couple quests short of a satisfying life.

I know a lot of weirdoes who re-mind me that my personal defi nition of cool is being silly, childlike and ad-venturous. I had to be reminded of this when I was 15, I still need those reminders at 22, and I fully intend to abuse Peach with red shells well into my 40s. By the time I get to Cougar Town though, I’m confi dent my vir-tual expeditions will be mere mani-festations of the many real world adventures I’ll have under my belt. After all, you can’t get to the fi nish line without slipping on a couple ba-nana peels!

Lindsay Tomson, Trinity ’12, is cur-rently applying her Duke-developed skills of sarcasm and awkwardness in the real world. Her installation of the weekly So-cialites column runs on alternate Wednes-days. You can follow Lindsay on Twitter @elle4tee.

The sociology of mario kart

lindsay tomsonmiddle child

syndrome

chris bassilhuman action

The Socialites

12 | WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

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