sept. 25, 2012 issue of the chronicle

12
UNC murder details emerge The campaigns are here to stay by Georgia Parke THE CHRONICLE As the election countdown narrows to a mere 42 days, all en- gines are firing on both sides of the presidential contest in North Carolina—both campaigns have pledged to stay strongly rooted in North Carolina until Nov. 6. The campaigns of President Barack Obama and his Repub- lican challenger Mitt Romney have both cited North Carolina as a cru- cial battleground state. Obama took the state by 0.3 percent in 2008, a feat he hopes to repeat this year. But Romney will need to take in order to have a chance at winning the election, said sophomore Alex Gersovitz, recruitment outreach coordina- tor for North Carolina Young Americans for Romney. by Lauren Carroll THE CHRONICLE New details have surfaced regarding a UNC student mur- dered two weeks ago, unveiling information about the scene of the crime. Faith Hedgepeth, a 19-year old junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was killed in her apartment Sept. 7. The Durham County Su- perior Court sealed the majority of the documents related to the investigation, keeping many of the details of the crime from the public. But publicly available recordings of the radio conver- sations among Durham’s fire department, police department and emergency management services reveal details about what authorities encountered when they arrived that morning at her apartment at 5639 Old Chapel Hill Road. Chapel Hill police—who are investigating the murder, though Durham police were the initial responders—have yet to release a cause of death and a description of the crime scene due to the restrictions on the case. But according to the recordings, Durham authori- ties found Hedgepeth in her bedroom, and there was blood. Additionally, the recordings in- dicate that by the time medics arrived, her body was cold to the touch, and it was believed that someone had been in the apartment. Chapel Hill dispatch record- ings are currently unavailable due to a court order to redact all or part of the recordings, police spokesman Sgt. Joshua Mecimore wrote in an email Monday. Friends found Hedgepeth Airall: Offensive incidents spurred admin response Conservatives outline goals for environment by Kristie Kim and Margot Tuchler THE CHRONICLE The free market should play more of a role in protecting the environment, conservative thinkers said at a confer- ence Monday. Noted economists, lawyers, politicians and environmentalists spoke to a crowd- ed audience in Reynolds Industries The- ater about conservative approaches to environmental policy, including discus- sion of government regulation and bud- geting for environmental costs. David Roche—graduate student in the Nicho- las School of the Environment and third- year law student—mediated the event. Environmental debate too often de- volves into bumper sticker arguments and two sides screaming at each other, THE CHRONICLE Multiple incidents of intolerance to- ward others have taken place on cam- pus recently, said Zoila Airall, assistant vice president of student affairs for cam- pus life. Airall notified students of a number of incidents on campus targeting students based on their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality and religion in an email Monday. In an interview, Airall noted that the email was not sent in response to one specific incident. She said she has re- ceived four official reports and has had additional conversations with students re- garding offensive acts that have occurred on all three campuses. Airall said incidents—which have hap- pened on East, West and Central campus- es—have included offensive words written on doors, defamation of personal property and name calling or insensitive jokes. She noted that the incidents have not targeted a specific minority group, nor have they originated from one group of students. “I’m not trying to alarm students— that’s definitely not my intent,” Airall said. “I really wanted everyone to just become a little bit more sensitive and responsible to one another and to realize that we all have to live in this community.” Airall noted that junior Stefani Jones, Duke Student Government vice president for equity and outreach, contacted her af- ter the email was sent and said she was not aware of the incidents occurring. Airall said she hopes the email will serve to fos- ter discussion among students about the Duke Community Standard and incidents like those she described. —from Staff Reports SAMANTTHA SCHAFRANK/ THE CHRONICLE Jeremy Carl of the Hoover Institute speaks about achieving green energy with a limited budget at a symposium Monday. SEE CAMPAIGNS ON PAGE 5 SEE HEDGEPETH ON PAGE 4 SEE ENVIRONMENT ON PAGE 5 SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE UNC junior Faith Hedgepeth was killed in her apartment Sept. 7. Po- lice have sealed much of the case. Obama and Romney camps pledge to fight for NC votes SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have pledged to campaign heavily in North Carolina, well-known as a swing state, until Election Day. news analysis The Chronicle THE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 24 WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM Expert talks Expert talks population population growth, growth, Page 2 Page 2 A look at Blue A look at Blue Devils in the Devils in the WNBA, WNBA, Page 7 Page 7 ONTHERECORD “...It is obvious Romney either doesn’t know opportunity is unequal or doesn’t care.” —Rajlakshmi De in “A presidential nominee.” See column page 11

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Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

UNC murder details emerge

The campaigns are here to stay

by Georgia ParkeTHE CHRONICLE

As the election countdown narrows to a mere 42 days, all en-gines are firing on both sides of the presidential contest in North Carolina—both campaigns have pledged to stay strongly rooted in North Carolina until Nov. 6.

The campaigns of President Barack Obama and his Repub-lican challenger Mitt Romney have both cited North Carolina as a cru-cial battleground state. Obama took the state by 0.3 percent in 2008, a feat he hopes

to repeat this year. But Romney will need to take in order to have a chance at winning the election, said sophomore Alex Gersovitz, recruitment outreach coordina-tor for North Carolina Young Americans for Romney.

by Lauren CarrollTHE CHRONICLE

New details have surfaced regarding a UNC student mur-dered two weeks ago, unveiling information about the scene of the crime.

Faith Hedgepeth, a 19-year old junior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was killed in her apartment Sept. 7. The Durham County Su-perior Court sealed the majority of the documents related to the investigation, keeping many of the details of the crime from the public. But publicly available recordings of the radio conver-sations among Durham’s fire department, police department and emergency management services reveal details about what authorities encountered when they arrived that morning at her apartment at 5639 Old Chapel Hill Road.

Chapel Hill police—who are investigating the murder, though Durham police were the initial responders—have yet to release a cause of death and a description of the crime scene due to the restrictions on the case. But according to the recordings, Durham authori-ties found Hedgepeth in her

bedroom, and there was blood. Additionally, the recordings in-dicate that by the time medics arrived, her body was cold to the touch, and it was believed that someone had been in the apartment.

Chapel Hill dispatch record-ings are currently unavailable due to a court order to redact all or part of the recordings, police spokesman Sgt. Joshua Mecimore wrote in an email Monday.

Friends found Hedgepeth

Airall: Offensive incidents spurred admin response

Conservatives outline goals for environmentby Kristie Kim and Margot Tuchler

THE CHRONICLE

The free market should play more of a role in protecting the environment, conservative thinkers said at a confer-ence Monday.

Noted economists, lawyers, politicians and environmentalists spoke to a crowd-ed audience in Reynolds Industries The-ater about conservative approaches to environmental policy, including discus-sion of government regulation and bud-geting for environmental costs. David Roche—graduate student in the Nicho-las School of the Environment and third-year law student—mediated the event.

Environmental debate too often de-volves into bumper sticker arguments and two sides screaming at each other,

THE CHRONICLE

Multiple incidents of intolerance to-ward others have taken place on cam-pus recently, said Zoila Airall, assistant vice president of student affairs for cam-pus life.

Airall notified students of a number of incidents on campus targeting students based on their race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexuality and religion in an email Monday. In an interview, Airall noted that the email was not sent in response to one specific incident. She said she has re-ceived four official reports and has had additional conversations with students re-garding offensive acts that have occurred on all three campuses.

Airall said incidents—which have hap-pened on East, West and Central campus-es—have included offensive words written on doors, defamation of personal property

and name calling or insensitive jokes. She noted that the incidents have not targeted a specific minority group, nor have they originated from one group of students.

“I’m not trying to alarm students—that’s definitely not my intent,” Airall said. “I really wanted everyone to just become a little bit more sensitive and responsible to one another and to realize that we all have to live in this community.”

Airall noted that junior Stefani Jones, Duke Student Government vice president for equity and outreach, contacted her af-ter the email was sent and said she was not aware of the incidents occurring. Airall said she hopes the email will serve to fos-ter discussion among students about the Duke Community Standard and incidents like those she described.

—from Staff Reports

SAMANTTHA SCHAFRANK/ THE CHRONICLE

Jeremy Carl of the Hoover Institute speaks about achieving green energy with a limited budget at a symposium Monday.

SEE CAMPAIGNS ON PAGE 5 SEE HEDGEPETH ON PAGE 4

SEE ENVIRONMENT ON PAGE 5

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

UNC junior Faith Hedgepeth was killed in her apartment Sept. 7. Po-lice have sealed much of the case.

Obama and Romney camps pledge to fi ght for NC votes

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have pledged to campaign heavily in North Carolina, well-known as a swing state, until Election Day.

news analysis

The ChronicleTHE INDEPENDENT DAILY AT DUKE UNIVERSITY

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTH YEAR, ISSUE 24WWW.DUKECHRONICLE.COM

Expert talks Expert talks population population

growth, growth, Page 2Page 2

A look at Blue A look at Blue Devils in the Devils in the WNBA, WNBA, Page 7Page 7

ONTHERECORD“...It is obvious Romney either doesn’t know opportunity

is unequal or doesn’t care.” —Rajlakshmi De in “A presidential nominee.” See column page 11

Page 2: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

2 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

The age of overshoot: a Q&A with John SeagerTHE CHRONICLE

As the global population continues to increase rapidly, the earth and its resources will struggle to sustain the en-tirety of the human race, said John Sea-ger, the president and CEO of Popula-tion Connection. The nonprofit seeks to educate people about global population issues and advocate for family planning and the empowerment of women. The Chronicle’s Jack Mercola spoke with Seager about population growth and re-source distribution as well as America’s role in helping to solve these issues.

The Chronicle: What’s the dif-ference between the earth’s capac-ity and what the earth is able to support?

John Seager: Right now we’re in an age of overshoot. We want to use and are using resources up at a rate faster than they can be natu-rally replenished. It’s a little like those cartoons with Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote where Wile E. Coyote runs out over the edge of the cliff.

As a cartoon, of course, he’s fine until he looks down and real-izes he’s over the edge. We’re kind of out over the edge of the cliff in terms of the rate at which we are using certain natural resources and also the rate at which we are pumping certain pollutants into the air.

The best work on this in my view is done by a professor at Rock-efeller University named Joel Co-hen. He wrote a book called “How Many People Can the Earth Sup-port?” The conclusion he came to was that there is no answer to that question. Or, more specifically, to answer that question requires ask-ing two other questions: One, how do you want to live? And, two, how do you want everyone else to live—the other humans, the other crit-ters and generations to come?

If everybody ate the typical American diet, two billion of the world’s seven billion would eat, and five billion would not. If ev-eryone ate the typical diet of the Indian subcontinent—lots of rice, vegetables and a little bit of animal protein—there would be enough calories produced to feed all sev-en billion. If we all wanted to live like the very poorest people do in East Africa, with the resources we produce now, we could support 40

billion people. It depends how we want to live and how we want other people to live.

TC: So is overpopulation more related to density of people or dis-tribution of resources?

JS: Population density in a given location is not a bad thing. In fact, it can be a great thing. You can make a pretty good case that the most sustainable human envi-ronment in the U.S. is the island of Manhattan—people tend to live in small units, they generally don’t have a car, they use public open spaces, they walk or take mass transit, stores they need tend to be within a few blocks.

So, when you think about sus-tainability, that prototypical farm-house out in Vermont may be nice, but sustainability and density can go hand-in-hand.

Now, on the other hand, you could take all seven billion of us and fit us into Los Angeles County, if we wanted to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. But heaven forbid one of us got thirsty, or had to use the bathroom, or got hungry? All of a

sudden, you have a problem.

TC: Are you saying that the relative distribution of resources plays a bigger role than the density of people?

JS: You can certainly make a case that what we have are distri-bution problems, but that’s like telling the miners trapped under-ground in Chile several years ago that there was plenty of oxygen to go around, but there was a dis-tribution problem. Distribution problems are not small problems.

For example, there are areas of Africa where millions of people experience great water scarcity. And we can tell them, “Hey, we’ve got plenty of water in the Great Lakes.” But moving fresh water from one continent to another is no small task.

TC: What role does the United States play in population control of the global population?

JS: I just want to be clear here. From our perspective, we’re never looking at this in the context of population control.

TC: Sorry, I misspoke.JS: No don’t worry. It’s a good

word to bring up because it’s a good word to focus on. There was at one time a sentiment that this was about controlling people. Our sentiment is that this is about em-powering people—never coercing anybody, but rather, creating op-portunities for people.

The United States has been and remains the leading interna-tional funder of family planning programs. We put about $615 million per year into them. This program was begun by a Repub-lican president, Richard Nixon, who also started the EPA. And 40 years ago, this issue had strong bipartisan support. Over the de-cades, it has become something of a political football. We’ve seen this dramatic shift in the political landscape.

TC: Now Population Connec-tion and its goals lay on the left side of the American political theater?

JS: I don’t think we moved to the left so much as the landscape moved so that we sit there.

I would like nothing more than to see both political parties com-peting to show how much they can do for this issue. We’re a non-partisan organization. But that’s not the case right now. There are a few Democrats who are on the other side of the fence and a few Republicans who are on our side of the fence, but for the most part, it is a political football.

I like the word “connection,” because people connect to this is-sue in many places. For some peo-ple, the primary concern is the en-vironment. There are also people who understand this issue’s impor-tance because they’re concerned about global security.

Seventeen of the 20 states that are generally described as “failed states” around the world are expe-riencing rapid population growth. If you look at some of the hottest places in the Middle East, you have an enormous number of people competing for a limited number of resources. The issue is that, though some of those govern-ments are strong and functioning, others are not so much, such as Syria at the moment.

One of the things [this over-population] means, is that [these failed states] have an enormous youth bulge. Often, there are enormous numbers of reasonably well-educated young men who cannot find jobs. It’s usually those young men on the streets rioting. The rioting leads to upheaval.

A U.N. official once said that when you’re poor and you run out of food, you have three choices: One, you can starve. I think most of us, when given that choice will ask to hear the other two choices. Two is to migrate. There are all kinds of problems with that. Often, the only place to migrate to is another place in Africa where conditions are as bad as the original location. And you may be surrounded by people you don’t know. Three is to revolt or take some extralegal action. There is no fourth option…. So there are people across the political spectrum who care about this.

TC: What programs does the U.S. implement exactly?

JS: About 10 percent of our money goes to the U.N. They, in turn, run programs around the world. The other 90 percent goes to what we call “bilateral assis-tance,” which is provided to a rec-ognized organization that works in the field. They work all over the world, from Thailand to Ethiopia to Guatemala—specifically to edu-cate women, men and couples. And we provide them with contra-ception.

TC: How do the goals of Popu-lation Connection affect the edu-cation status of women, and vice-versa?

JS: If I could do one thing to transform to world, beyond the obvious world peace and harmo-ny forever, I would ask that every woman on earth had education so that she may function as an inde-pendent and successful woman in the world. The challenge there is that it’s not inexpensive. It costs roughly ten times as much to ed-ucate a woman for a year than it costs to provide a year’s worth of contraception. Sometimes, gov-ernments are placed in a position where they must decide between education for women and contra-ceptives.

CHRIS DIECKHAUS/THE CHRONICLE

John Seager, president and CEO of Population Connection, spoke with The Chronicle about America’s role in finding solutions to issues of overpopulation and resource distribution.

Page 3: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

THE CHRONICLE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012| 3

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!Population growth hurts everyone, expert says

UN split on solution to solve Syrian violence

by Elizabeth Djinis THE CHRONICLE

Unbridled population growth can lead to numerous problems across the world, a leading researcher on the topic said.

John Seager, president and CEO of Population Connec-tion, a nonprofit organization devoted to encouraging edu-cation on population growth, spoke to students Monday re-garding the world’s increas-ing population. He noted that Population Connection’s goal is not to limit the popu-lation but to make people more aware of the challenges they are bound to face as the birth rate grows and the mor-tality rate decreases.

“Population growth is one of the preeminent challenges of our time,” Seager said. “We’re all kind of in this to-gether on this planet.”

Seager said he was inspired to take up this cause when he realized how drastically the United States’ own popula-tion had decreased in such a short time period and how the same could be done for other countries.

At the time former Presi-dent John F. Kennedy was in-

augurated, American women had 3.4 children each, Sea-ger noted. By the time for-mer President Jimmy Carter was inaugurated, the aver-age woman in the US had 1.7 children.

Seager said this 50 percent drop in 16 years occurred due to increased access to birth control and improved resources for women. With

by Nicole Gaouette and Flavia Krause-Jackson

BLOOMERG NEWS

UNITED NATIONS — United Nations Special Envoy Lakhdar Bra-himi told the Security Council Mon-day that reducing the violence in Syria isn’t possible unless the world body is united on a way to end the 18-month conflict.

Brahimi’s remarks underscored the U.N.’s paralysis in dealing with a civil war that has claimed more than 26,000 lives. He also was making clear that if he fails in his mission to help the country make the transition to new leadership, the responsibility won’t be his alone.

“You all say you support me indi-vidually, why don’t you support me collectively?” Brahimi told the gath-ered ambassadors when he briefed the Security Council, according to a diplomat in the room who wasn’t au-thorized to speak about the meeting. “It shouldn’t be very difficult,” the en-voy told them.

Brahimi, who just returned from a trip to Damascus, Cairo and Syrian refugee camps in Jordan and Leba-non, spoke at the U.N. as world lead-ers gathered this week for the annual General Assembly. The Syrian con-flict threatens to further destabilize a region already facing the possibility of an Israeli strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. The veteran Algerian diplo-

mat warned of the consequences.“There is no disagreement any-

where that the situation in Syria is ex-tremely bad and getting worse, that it is a threat to the region and a threat to peace and security in the world,” Bra-himi said, speaking to reporters out-side the Security Council chamber.

Brahimi’s predecessor, Kofi An-nan, also placed some blame on the Security Council when he resigned from the position after less than six months, telling reporters about the “clear lack of unity” in the council as well as the “finger-pointing and name-calling.”

Joshua Landis, who heads the Middle Eastern department at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, said Brahimi’s comments were meant to “underline the hypocrisy of the international community” that says it wants a solution to the violence yet will not compromise to reach one.

“He’s also providing himself with an alibi,” Landis said in a telephone interview.

The Security Council has been deadlocked for more than a year as Russia and China have protected President Bashar Assad from censure in resolutions brought by the U.S. and allies. Russia in particular has made clear that it won’t allow a U.N. resolution to become the basis for

SEE POP. ON PAGE 6

SEE SYRIA ON PAGE 6

KATHY HUANG/ THE CHRONICLE

John Seager, president and CEO of Population Connection, gave a talk about the relationship between the growing population Monday afternoon in the Gross Chemistry Building.

Page 4: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

4 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

in the apartment at 11 a.m. Sept. 7 and called 911, which alerted Durham dispatch. Chapel Hill police are investigating the case because the apartment complex, Hawthorne at the View, is in the part of Chapel Hill located in Durham County. Police have yet to publicly identify a suspect.

Police do not believe the homi-cide was a random act of violence, and there is no immediate threat to the UNC community. The UNC Board of Trustees is offering a $25,000 reward for information that could lead to an arrest. The Haliwa-Saponi American Indian tribe, of which Hedgepeth was a member, and Hawthorne on the View are each offering an addi-tional $1,000.

Authorities typically choose to seal information that only some-one involved in the crime could know, Mecimore previously told The Chronicle. He noted that if details of the investigation are widely circulated, it would be dif-ficult to discern whether a sus-pect had first-hand knowledge of the crime scene or if they learned about it on the news.

Releasing information about the manner of death, in particu-lar, could harm the defendant’s ability to get a fair trial with an unbiased jury, in addition to dis-rupting the investigation.

Hedgepeth, who was from Warrenton, N.C., was a biol-ogy major and Gates Millennium Scholar at UNC. She also became actively involved in the UNC American Indian Center during

her freshman year. She worked at Red Robin restaurant in Durham, and friends say she wanted to be-come a pediatrician.

Hedgepeth’s apartment complex does not house a large number of students, and other residents have not expressed con-cerns of personal safety since the incident, a Hawthorne on the View employee said last week.

The Red Robin where Hedgepeth worked, located on Durham-Chapel Hill Boulevard, is hosting a fundraiser Wednes-day Sept. 26 to benefit the Faith Hedgepeth Scholarship Fund. Between 5 p.m. and 11 p.m., 15 percent of dine-in customer pro-ceeds will go to the fund, which family and friends started to sup-port a high school student from Hedgepeth’s hometown.

SIMON DENYER/THE WASHINGTON POST

In New Delhi this month, these bangles made by children were seized in a police raid. An epidemic of child trafficking in India was largely ignored until recently.

Child traffi cking in IndiaHEDGEPETH from page 1

TOWERVIEWTOWERVIEW

Page 5: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

THE CHRONICLE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012| 5

said Roche, a self-proclaimed liberal.“If you can’t start with dialogue, a

general place of agreement, then you’re never going to reach a solution,” he said. “We start from very different points—our ideologies are very different—but the end point, our vision of the future, is similar. They want a healthy environ-ment [and] a positive sustainable future just like we do.”

The event’s keynote speaker was Bob Inglis, president of the Energy and En-terprise Institute and former Republi-can congressman from South Carolina. He delivered a speech titled “Putting Free Enterprise to Work.”

Many speakers focused on the role of business in environmentalism. The seg-ment “Free-Market Environmentalism in the 21st Century” featured Jonathan Adler, professor of law at Case Western Reserve University and director of the Center for Business Law and Regula-tion. Adler is widely published in the field of environmental law.

Adler noted that in the past there were generally two responses to envi-ronmental problems from conserva-tives. One option is to agree to a more cost-effective solution, while the other is reflexive opposition —countering any proposal merely because of the party spearheading it.

“The dominant problem within free market environmentalism is not market value, but generally the failure to have markets—failure to have those institu-tions upon which markets are based present and protected in the environ-mental context,” he said.

Additionally, Reed Watson, Nicholas School and Law ’08, referenced “envi-ro-preneurs”—people who have an en-trepreneurial idea and want to apply it to improve environmental quality—as part of a potential solution.

In order to have success within the environmental context, Watson empha-sized that both liberals and conserva-tives need to adopt the idea that people should pay full price for the resources they consume and be paid for the vital resources they produce.

Enviro-preneurs who assume the rest of the world shares their environ-

mental value system should expect to fail, though, Watson said. These people expect corporations to forego financial returns for environmental or social re-turns.

“If you don’t know how to frame the problem, we will never find a viable so-lution,” Adler said.

Senior William Barlow, a member of the Duke College Republicans, noted in an email Monday that although many conservatives believe in climate change, they tend to tackle it the wrong way.

The combination of government aid in the research stage of alternative fuels and handing over obtained results to the free market in a subsidy-free envi-ronment will produce the best results for the future, both economically and environmentally, he said.

“Our responsibility as environmen-tally conscious Republicans is to help our fellow party members understand that you can be a conservative, believe in climate change and offer conserva-tive solutions to climate change without losing your core values—in fact con-firming your core values,” Barlow said.

Asher Spiller, a law student at the University of North Carolina at Cha-pel Hill and an attendee of the confer-ence, said he comes from a liberal back-ground and was interested in gaining

exposure to environmental discourse from the conservative perspective. He thought the arguments were well-artic-ulated and were consistent with what he knew of conservative values.

Ligia Schlittler, an environmental lawyer from Brazil and a third-year Duke Law student focusing on environmental law and energy, also attended.

“It was very informative because the debates were very clear… and their ap-proach was very practical and econom-ic-oriented,” she said.

Roche noted that the environment does not need to be as contentious an issue as it is typically portrayed.

“Recently conservatives haven’t con-fronted environmental issues as head-on because it’s become so partisan, but the Republican Party was the party of Clean Air Act amendments and [Rich-ard] Nixon began the [Environmental Protection Agency],” Roche said. “En-vironmental protection is, at its heart, a very conservative concept—you don’t want to ruin really good things.”

The event was hosted by the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Forum, the Nicholas Institute for Environ-mental Policy Solutions, the Nicholas School, the Duke Federalist Society, DCR and the Energy and Enterprise Initiative.

“North Carolina is crucial to the suc-cess of the Romney campaign,” Gersovitz said. “There are few pathways to winning without North Carolina.”

Gersovitz cited the economy as a key issue for North Carolina in the coming weeks, which is in line with the cam-paign’s national theme of highlighting economic issues.

There is a national strategy but not necessarily a local one, he said, noting the importance of local businesses and the recovery of the post-university job market as examples of economic priori-ties for Romney.

The economy will also be the focus of the Obama campaign over the next 42 days, an Obama campaign official said Monday. Obama volunteers will contin-ue to campaign in the grassroots meth-od that was successful in North Carolina in 2008, the official added.

The Obama campaign has 54 field offices throughout the state, whereas Romney’s campaign has 28.

During the Democratic National Con-vention in Charlotte, the Republican National Committee spent significant time and money running a “war room” to send out counter-messages via Face-book, tweets and other social media con-current with convention events. The Re-publican National Committee also had daily press conferences during the DNC that featured key GOP members, such as Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina.

Democrats have also been inviting key party figures to make high-profile visits to North Carolina to maintain vis-ibility in the state.

“Our strategy is to work hard for ev-ery single vote between now and Elec-tion Day,” said Walton Robinson, North Carolina Democratic Party communica-tions director.

First lady Michelle Obama has taken 11 trips to North Carolina since 2009, including Wednesday’s turn through North Carolina Central University and East Carolina University. Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, D-Fla. and Demo-cratic National Committee Chair, has also made appearances in North Caro-lina, speaking in Raleigh and Winston-Salem last week about the high stakes of the upcoming elections.

North Carolina’s status as a battle-ground state has encouraged some Duke students to change their voter registra-tion from their home state to North Car-olina.

There is a wider range of political opinions in North Carolina than in New York, said junior Noelle Ohanesian of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., noting that the outcome of the vote on Amendment One demonstrated to her the impor-tance of registering to vote in North Carolina.

“Hopefully my vote will have more sway here,” added freshman Will Chang, of Santa Clara, Calif. “And obviously if I want my candidate to win, I’d vote in the state where my vote has more statistical significance.”

The close margin could be beneficial to the president because Romney must expend resources in a state that will only help him if he carries it, said Don Taylor, associate professor of public policy.

“In 2008, President Obama won by 14,000 votes out of 4.2 million cast—essentially a tie,” he wrote in an email Thursday. “Regression to the mean would suggest a close win for Romney in North Carolina this time. If President Obama wins North Carolina again, then that means the election has turned into a rout for the president.”

CAMPAIGNS from page 1 ENVIRONMENT from page 1

0

0N.C. REPUBLICAN PARTY HQ

N.C DEMOCRATIC PARTY HQ

CHRONICLE GRAPHIC BY ELIZA STRONG

SAMANTHA SCHAFRANK/ THE CHRONICLE

Jeremy Carl of the Hoover Institute and Eugene Lehrer, president of the R Institute, talk about keeping the planet green on a low budget at the Conservative Vision of Our Environmental Future symposium Monday.

DOWNTOWN RALEIGH, N.C.

Page 6: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

6 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

this, Seager suggested more educated women would prefer, when given the choice, to have smaller families.

Freshman Santiago Bejarano, said he believed that Seager’s opinions were too broad to en-compass every cultural group.

“I know, especially with La-tinos and [Catholics] in gen-eral, larger families are seen as healthier families, as a sign of prosperity,” Bejarano said.

Freshman Allison Draper noted that some women—even

when educated—have large families by choice.

“I have a friend who has eight kids in their family, and they’re not Catholic,” Draper said. “[Her mother] feels that God wants her to have all these kids in her life. She’s com-pletely educated. She went to college.”

Seager also pushed the idea of birth control as one of the most successful and important innovations of the 20th century, citing its effects as giving wom-en the right to choose what to do with their lives.

“For the first time, one half of the world is not dependent on the other half,” Seager said. “Women have the ability to con-trol where their lives are going to go to.”

The idea that the develop-ment of birth control was the defining moment for female in-dependence, though controver-sial, resonates with some. Drap-er sees both sides of the issue. For people in relationships, she says, birth control allows the woman to have a say in the size of her family without impact-ing the committed relationship

with her partner. “Women have the luxury

of saying ‘I don’t want to have kids’ because when they have birth control, they at least have the choice” Draper said.

On the other hand, Draper noted that birth control allevi-ates some of the responsibility from the man and allows young women to be blamed for their accidental pregnancies, which can occur despite the use of birth control.

“It allows the man to say ‘Oh, you know, it’s not my fault,’ and brings to mind the story of the

17-year-old getting pregnant and having nowhere to go,” Draper said.

The question Seager is look-ing to answer is whether or not the planet can survive with the population rates as they are now. Although Population Con-nection educates young Ameri-cans on the problems associat-ed with the world’s population growth, it does not take a stance on a solution.

“How many people can the Earth support?” asked Seager. “The answer is there is no an-swer.”

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Due to the growing demand for this class, CAPS is adding a new section of Koru this semester. We’re also supporting a study into the effectiveness of the skills taught in this class. See the CAPS website for details.

This workshop series offers skills in Mindfulness and Meditation, which lead to the type of growth symbolized by the koru. In addition to helping to decrease your stress, this course offers an approach for finding more satisfaction in your daily life.

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POP. from page 3

SYRIA from page 3

WILLIAM BOOTH/THE WASHINGTON POST

Abu Ibrahim and 12 members of his family live under an olive tree on the Syrian side of the border, waiting for a place in a Turkish refugee camp to open up.

On the bordermilitary intervention, as happened in Libya in 2011.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in New York for the General Assembly, told a gather-ing of senior editors and television network anchors Monday that out-side involvement just complicates matters. Instead, Iran supports the formation of a “national dialogue group” of countries, including Sau-di Arabia and Turkey, he said.

“We are hopeful we can have a stand-up contact group,” Ah-madinejad said. “All of the actors must be present. I believe Turkey should be a part of these negotia-tions. What will occur within Syria is what the people of Syria decide.”

The Obama administration has said Iran is supplying weapons and materiel to Syria as well as sending military and technological specialists

to help the Assad regime.For the regime in Iran, the bat-

tle over Syria’s future is crucial. If Assad is forced from power, Shiite Iran would probably lose its most important regional ally and a linch-pin in the so-called Shiite Crescent that runs through Iraq, Syria, Leba-non and the Palestinian territories. Iran’s rivals, the Sunni Gulf nations, have long wanted a chance to curb its power and influence.

Brahimi’s assessment to the Secu-rity Council was grim, according to the diplomat who wasn’t authorized to comment publicly. He said the en-voy described torture so routine that it’s not mentioned unless people are asked and the steady destruction of Syria’s cultural heritage.

One sign that doesn’t speak well for Brahimi’s efforts is the rigidity of Security Council members’ posi-tions, said Aram Nerguizian, a visit-ing fellow at the Center for Strate-gic and International Studies.

Page 7: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

SportsThe Chronicle

www.dukechroniclesports.com

TUESDAYSeptember 25, 2012

>> THE BLUE ZONE Think Psy’s Gangnam Style was getting big? Check out the Duke wrestling team’s video of the song on the sports blog at: www.sports.chronicleblogs.com

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

DUKE IN THE WNBAby Daniel Carp

THE CHRONICLE

In the 2011-12 NBA season, Duke basketball alumni played more minutes and scored more points than any university in the country. The Blue Devil women have also made their own mark on the professional level as well.

With the WNBA set to begin its playoffs Thursday, Blue Devil fans will see many familiar faces taking the court in three of the four conference semifinal series. With eight players on seven WNBA rosters, 2012 marked another successful sea-son for the Blue Devils—the league’s third-most represented team behind Connecticut and Tennessee—in the pros.

Duke alumnae—including Lindsey Harding of the At-lanta Dream, Mistie Mims, formerly Mistie Williams, of the Connecticut Sun, Karima Christmas of the Indiana Fever, Monique Currie and Jasmine Thomas of the Washington Mystics, Alana Beard of the Los Angeles Sparks, Krystal Thomas of the Phoenix Mercury and Chante Black of the Tulsa Shock—have all made an impact for their respective teams this year.

Four former Blue Devils will begin playoff runs this week, as Beard’s Sparks are set to take on the San Antonio Silver Stars, Mims’ Sun will face the New York Liberty and Harding’s Dream square off with Christmas’ Fever. Profes-sional players who once called Duke home view the Blue Devils’ presence in the WNBA as a testament to the pro-gram’s success in recent years.

“It says a lot of things certainly about the talent, of course, but I think it says a great deal about the intangibles, the work ethic and being reliable. Professional basketball is very different than college basketball,” said Duke head coach Joanne P. McCallie. “I think it speaks very well for the maturation of our student-athletes over the course of the four years that they’re here.” SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

After graduating from Duke in 2011, 6-foot-5 center Krystal Thomas is one of eight Blue Devils currently playing in the WNBA.

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Lindsey Harding, one of two Duke women’s basketball players whose jersey has been retired, now plays for the Atlanta Dream in the WNBA.

MEN’S SOCCER

Blue Devils look to refind offensive groove

SEE WNBA ON PAGE 8

by Staff ReportsTHE CHRONICLE

After a shaky start to the season, the Blue Devils have finally made it back to .500, and they stayed there with a 0-0 draw against No.

25 Wake Forest last weekend.

But Tuesday’s match against UNC Wilmington will in-volve Duke (3-3-1) looking to achieve something that it has yet to do all season—win on the road. The two teams will play at

UNCW Soccer Stadium at 7 p.m. Tuesday. This may be the team’s chance to im-

prove on the road as two of the three teams Duke has already faced away from home were ranked opponents. After beginning the year 0-2, the Blue Devils are now 2-0-1 in their last three games.

Although Duke started this turnaround through an offense explosion behind the likes of junior Sebastien Ibeagha, the staple of the team lately has been its stellar defense. Senior goalkeeper James Belshaw has logged three straight shutouts, and certainly has the opportunity to keep the streak alive against an average UNC Wilmington offense. In the Blue Devils’ tie against the Demon Deacons on the road Friday, Belshaw kept Wake Forest off the

board with an eight-save performance. The defense has been thriving thanks

to Belshaw’s performances and will look to continue its success as the offense hopes to regain the firepower it displayed in its 2-0 victory against Clemson.

The Seahawks enter the matchup aiming to rebound from a 2-0 loss to George Mason in which they could never find their offen-sive groove.

UNC Wilmington (2-5-1) comes into the contest looking for a signature win against an ACC team before diving into conference play. The Seahawks enter the match with a balanced attack, featuring three players hav-ing already scored at least two goals this sea-son. UNC Wilmington has been particularly potent late in games, as they have scored six goals this season in the second half, com-pared to just three in the first half. This may present problems for the Blue Devils defen-sively—four of the five goals Duke has sur-rendered have come in the second half.

The Blue Devils’ success has also caught the attention of fans. The team nearly tripled their attendance between their games against Georgia State and Clemson, with the latter contest bringing in over 1,100 fans. This type of excitement—and the momentum of a win against a non-conference opponent—could be exactly what the team needs with a rival coming to town Friday when No. 8 North Car-olina comes to Koskinen Stadium.

CHRIS DIECKHAUS/CHRONICLE FILE PHOTO

Duke goalkeeper James Belshaw leads a defensive unit that has not yielded a goal in three consecutive games.

Tuesday, 7 p.m.UNCW Soccer Stadium

Duke

UNC-Wvs.

Page 8: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

8 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

Despite the competitive nature of their oc-cupation, Duke-blue blood runs thicker than water in the WNBA. Whether they face each other as opponents or relive their college days by playing on the same team, former Blue Devils in the WNBA share a strong bond that transcends the game of basketball.

“Playing against other Blue Devils is al-ways fun. It’s always fun to see each other and you know each other’s games,” Hard-ing said. “At one point we were young and we were playing together and I don’t think we ever thought we would have the oppor-tunity to play together professionally.”

These bonds withstand the test of time as well. Although some attended Duke during different eras and never shared the court together at Cameron Indoor Stadium, for-mer Blue Devils of different generations still regularly keep in touch while on the road and rehash their memories playing in front of the Cameron Crazies.

“It’s also cool to see the younger ones play, the ones I never had the opportu-nity to play with. Jasmine Thomas, Karima Christmas—I never played with them but I definitely watched them after I graduated. And having the chance to play against them is great just to see how talented they really are,” Harding, who graduated in 2007, said. “It’s a pride thing, it shows how much our coaches have done at Duke to prepare us for this level.”

Although Currie and Thomas are the only former Duke players who currently play as teammates, many combinations of former Blue Devils have had the opportu-nity to play together in the WNBA through-out the years. Playing together provides former Blue Devils with an on-court ad-vantage due to the chemistry Duke players

have developed over the years, said Beard, who spent multiple seasons playing along-side Currie and Harding as members of the Washington Mystics.

“It was definitely an advantage. We were very familiar with each other’s games. It didn’t take us very long to develop the type of chemistry that we once had,” Beard said. “At this level you come into training camp and have two or three weeks to get ready, so you don’t really develop the chemistry until midway through the season, but playing with players you were familiar with like Monique and Lindsey, we had it from the get-go.”

Many of the former Blue Devils still find time to connect with the current Duke play-ers and coaching staff. Almost all of the for-mer Duke players in the WNBA said they are able to visit campus at least once per season. This both allows the former Blue Devils to reconnect with their roots and serve as role models to Duke’s current team, many of whom looked up to these current WNBA players while they played in college.

The former Blue Devils’ eagerness to stay connected with their university and basket-ball program demonstrates the strength of Duke’s network in the WNBA. Although some players graduated nearly a decade ago and may never have played a game for Mc-Callie, Duke’s WNBA alumnae continue to give back to the program that guided them to realize their professional dreams.

“It’s an amazing thing and it’s a re-flection of the kind of people they are. They’re great people, tremendously loyal to Duke, and they’re willing to help out any way,” McCallie said. “I appreciate them very much and love to see them coming back. It’s been great to get to know them a little bit, and I look forward to getting to know more as our current players graduate onto professional ca-reers in the coming years.”

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WNBA from page 7

Duke quarterback Sean Renfree rebounded from an early inter-ception, finishing the game having completed 26-of-37 passes for four touchdowns. Two of those scores were to wide receiver Conner Vernon, who finished the game with eight catches for 120 yards. The offense earned B+ marks for its efforts.

Page 9: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

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One of the consistent messages of the holy Quran to her followers is addressed in the following verses: “The good deed and the

evil deed are not alike. Repel the evil deed with one, which is better, then lo! He, between whom and you there was enmity [will become] as though he were a bosom friend.” And: “The servants of the Most Merciful are those who walk upon the earth humbly, and when the ignorant address them [harshly], they respond with [words of] peace.”

In last few weeks, we witnessed so many Muslims fail miserably to up-hold these central ideals in response to a worthless video produced by a bunch of insignifi cant provocateurs and charlatans. A small number of Muslims did not choose to repel with something better, respond with words of peace or walk away with dignity, as the holy Quran teaches us. Instead, they protested in front of Western em-bassies. A smaller number of them went even further and acted violently, attacking and killing innocent diplomats. So they responded to evil with something even worse.

Needless to say, these idiotic and senseless violent reactions deserve condemnation with the strongest words possible. The primitive and barbaric actions of these violent protesters are not defensible or justi-fi able by any part of Islam. They are clear violations of the core teachings of the Quran and of the very teachings of the prophet they claim to be defend-ing. No insult of any religious fi gure, including the Prophet Muhammad, warrants violence. I think these angry and violent Muslims gave the makers of this worthless movie more than what they wanted. Through their reprehensible reactions, the protes-tors proved all the main points of that disgusting movie—not to mention the fact that their senseless rage, and its coverage in the global media, was an-other blow to the already battered image and repu-tation of Muslims all around the world.

However, there were many more Muslims and non-Muslims who, rather than resorting to violence, responded in a better manner. I hope all have seen the tens of thousands of Libyans who came out and condemned the outrageous violence in Benghazi, which cost the life of our ambassador and three oth-er American offi cials.

To me, one of the most powerful and telling ex-amples of repelling evil with something better took place at the State Department on Sept. 13. Only days after we lost our ambassador, Secretary Clinton host-ed a belated reception in celebration of Eid ul-Fitr, which is one of the most important Islamic celebra-tions and marks the end of Ramadan.

I was one of a hundred or so American Muslim

leaders invited to the reception. The event began and ended with prayers for our fallen diplomats, es-pecially for Ambassador Stevens who was known by many in the audience. The reception also highlight-

ed the many uplifting achievements and contributions of the American Muslim community through various State Department programs here in the U.S. and all over the world. The speakers, including Secretary Clin-ton, articulated hope, wisdom and common sense.

This reception was one of the most profound events I have ever at-tended in my life because of when and how it happened. There is a very

powerful and meaningful story here. The wisdom and civility of this story needs to be told everywhere but especially in the Muslim world. This reception is one of the many instances where America has become what she claims to be. Though her embas-sies were attacked, diplomats brutally killed and anti-American sentiments increased in many Mus-lim-majority societies, the U.S. Secretary of State honored an important Muslim day of observance and highlighted the good work of the American Muslim community.

I honestly ask those fellow Muslims who carry all sorts of grievances, with all due respect to some of them, about America: If this is not repelling evil with something better, then what it is? Can you in all hon-esty imagine any existing Muslim-majority society do-ing the same? Imagine that violent Christians attack the Egyptian, Turkish, Saudi or Malaysian embassies. Imagine that violence gets out of control and sev-eral diplomats die. And imagine, as this chaos and terror rage on, that the foreign affairs ministers of those governments hold a Christmas party for the minority-Christian communities in their country. In their statements they clearly say: “Those radical and violent Christians do not represent all Christian-ity and Christians. You are our citizens and we are proud of your good work.” Is this possible or even conceivable in any Muslim-majority society? Let me answer for you: Absolutely not! The civility and dignity of this reception and similar events should humble you and invite you to be measured in your legitimate grievances. When Muslim-majority societ-ies reach this level of maturity and health, most of the ugliness we face today will be left behind. Until then, as Americans let’s continue to repel evil with something better.

Abdullah Antepli is the Muslim Chaplain and an adjunct faculty of Islamic Studies. His column runs ev-ery other Tuesday. You can follow Abdullah on Twitter @aantepli.

commentaries10 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

The C

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The Ind

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editorial

Repel evil with what is better

Get ready for MOOCs

”“ onlinecomment

Until people vote for candidates that match their ideals, irrespective of party affi liation, the people of America won’t really run our country—we’ll continue to be run only by those who have the money.

—“Whitney” commenting on the story “Libertarian Gary Johnson: Waste your vote on me.” See more at www.dukechronicle.com.

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Direct submissions to:

E-mail: [email protected] Page DepartmentThe ChronicleBox 90858, Durham, NC 27708Phone: (919) 684-2663Fax: (919) 684-4696

Duke launched its fi rst on-line course Monday as part of a pilot project in conjunction with Coursera, an online edu-cation company. Duke will be joining a small but growing number of top universities of-fering massive open online courses. MOOCs differ from traditional online courses in that they have un-limited enrollment: Any stu-dent can sign up, for no cost presently, to take the course. Fancier MOOCs even boast social networking functions such as discussion boards and Q&As that facilitate virtual in-teraction.

Many are heralding MOOCs as the future of higher education. However, we should be wary of overestimating their value. While they provide real

benefi ts to students and educa-tors, MOOCs will never com-pletely be able to replace the experience of the traditional classroom. For one, they teach certain subjects better than

others. One can easily imagine subjects heavy in

facts and technical skills, such as mathematics or biology, to be taught over MOOCs more ef-fectively than discussion-based subjects like literature. Perhaps that is why the fi rst Duke course on Coursera is bioelectricity in-stead of, say, an introduction to Jane Austen. This is not to say that creating high-quality hu-manities MOOCs is impossible, just that it is considerably more diffi cult.

This hints at an even larger problem concerning interper-sonal interactions over MOOC

platforms. While some MOOCs do offer discussion boards—Duke’s currently does not—we do not believe that MOOCs will be able to provide the face time that is essential to the most profound of learning experi-ences. Furthermore, this lack of personal interaction again underscores that students can gain factual information from MOOCs, but may not develop more intangible critical think-ing skills.

Finally, the ascendance of MOOCs will likely bring dangerous incentives to mon-etize online education. While MOOC enrollment currently is free and unlimited, it is easy to imagine a future where credit or certifi cates can be given out to people who pay for and complete MOOCs. This is troublesome on several

levels. First, the accountability present in traditional online courses, where assignments and participation are moni-tored is absent in MOOCs. Giving credit without proper assessment would not only di-lute a Duke degree but fails to provide MOOC students a complete and quality educa-tion. Second, MOOCs may attract lower-income students who turned to cheaper alter-natives to attending a two- or four-year college. Doling out shoddy credits to these stu-dents is wrong, evoking the problems surrounding fraud-ulent online for-profi t univer-sity operations.

Rather, Duke’s MOOCs should remain completely sep-arate from credit-giving online courses. MOOCs can serve as a valuable supplement, but

not substitute for the classic liberal arts experience. They can provide the typical Duke student the opportunity to gain a basic understanding of an interesting subject he oth-erwise would not have time to take. In the wake of the Intel-lectual Climate Committee’s recommendations for facilitat-ing a more engaging intellec-tual atmosphere, MOOCs—with their fl exibility and convenience—can be effective in encouraging learning for learning’s sake. Quality and ac-cessibility should remain high priorities for Duke in its new Coursera venture. MOOCs are a useful tool in expanding Duke’s reach, earning the title of higher education’s hot new thing. However, they should not be seen as an alternative to higher education itself.

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abdullah antepliblue devil imam

Page 11: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

commentariesTHE CHRONICLE TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 | 11

Bored? Visit www.chronicleblogs.com for our news, sports, editorial

and recess blogs.

Last week, a presidential nomi-nee denigrated almost half the electorate. Much of the news

and analysis surrounding leaked foot-age from a private Mitt Romney fundraiser has focused on what the vid-eo means for the elec-tion and whether his facts were correct. But the fact that Romney stands by his comments means that we need to look again at the ideas behind his state-ments.

In the video, Romney describes 47 percent of Americans as “dependent upon government, who be-lieve that they are victims, who believe that government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.” Actually, 100 percent of Americans are dependent on government. It’s how we coordinate infrastructure, national defense, legal systems, an educated population and some degree of cohesion. Romney’s emphasis, of course, was on income support and health care programs, which are more contested. But that still would include groups like veterans and retired individuals who have contribut-ed towards Social Security. And did he seriously include food on that list? Even someone who supports limited govern-ment should understand that calories are hugely important to national pro-ductivity. Low-income employees need energy to work, and unemployed in-dividuals need to be sustained so they can put effort into the job search.

“Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax.” This effectively shows not only that he wants tax cuts for the wealthy but also that he doesn’t think other people are taxed enough. This came from the candidate who has refused to release most of his tax returns. In continuing about this 47 percent, he said, “And so my job is not to worry about those people—I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” He’s referring to winning voters at this point, so I won’t use this to assume he doesn’t care about low- or middle-income individuals. But if he’s sure that he can never convince almost half of the electorate to take personal responsibility, then that’s a rejection of social mobility.

In talking about his heritage, Rom-ney said, “Had [my dad] been born of Mexican parents I’d have a better shot at winning this.” Some reactions have discussed this statement as a reference

to Romney’s unpopularity among the Hispanic electorate. In other words, he was being playful about how to get more votes. If I give Romney this benefit of

the doubt, then it seems like he believes voters vote based on identity mark-ers more than on issues and policy. That could be true for some, but it isn’t true for most. Despite Sarah Palin’s chance to make history as the first female vice president, she did not sway enough women voters to win. Just

because we are the same race and share similar ethnic heritages doesn’t mean I will vote for Bobby Jindal if he runs for president. It’s important to have minorities represented in government, but it’s even more important that they advocate for minorities at-large to ac-count for uneven playing fields. Given Romney’s stances on immigration, re-productive rights and LGBT rights, it’s clear he doesn’t prioritize advocating for marginalized individuals, so any connections to the Hispanic electorate wouldn’t actually help.

The most frustrating aspect about the comment on Mexican heritage was that it was followed by a conversation about preferential admissions for mi-norities. Affi rmative action policies are important because of structural and societal discrimination and a system where having more resources increases one’s chance of success. Admission pol-icy, though helpful, alone can’t correct for all the uneven playing fi elds already underneath us. Because he donated his inheritances, Romney said, “I had inher-ited nothing. Everything that Ann and I have we earned the old-fashioned way, and that’s by hard work.” The reason Romney is out-of-touch is not because he’s rich; it’s because he credits only hard work and hasn’t acknowledged his opportunities and resources as a white, straight man from a wealthy family. I don’t mean to say that these are the only modes of opportunity or that Romney hasn’t struggled. But it is obvious Rom-ney either doesn’t know opportunity is unequal or doesn’t care.

The reason why much of the com-mentary has not bothered to analyze his words is probably because the video was so obviously misguided. His disre-spect is clear, as is the choice that he should not be the president of the United States.

Rajlakshmi De is a Trinity senior. Her column runs every other Tuesday. You can follow Rajlakshmi on Twitter @RajDe4.

A presidential nomineeTo kick start our three-day week-

end, some friends whom I’ve had the fortune of knowing since

freshman year planned a hike through Eno River State Park. On a Friday afternoon charmed by a beaming sun that had silenced the growling thunders of previous days, we bundled ourselves into two cars and travelled to Bobbitt Hole Trail.

Bobbitt Hole, to my philistine and foreign ears, brought to mind a location that could have been in “The Lord of the Rings.” And I wasn’t entirely wrong. Straight out of the sanitary, prim and proper college compound, we were treated to a brook gurgling as it squeezed itself between rocks and boulders. It was quite magi-cal—the scent of damp soil, the sight of turtles tanning on a tree trunk prostrat-ing across the river and the sound of us slapping salami onto our sandwiches.

We recalled our fi rst-year antics, plenty of which centered on the Mar-ketplace. Somebody took off with a whole pecan pie. Another snagged a pineapple that had been a piece of the cafeteria’s edible decorations. A sack of granola tided me over during Thanks-giving break, when eateries were closed and the shower faucets only begot pain-fully frigid water.

Our Bobbitt Hole chat hurtled through time, from bygone moments to post-graduation plans. The latter in-creasingly engraves itself on the campus landscape as career fairs and informa-tion sessions clutter our daily planners. Clad in spiffy suits and putting on clip-pity-cloppity heels, our future-regarding selves gaze toward haloed futures. Yet, let us not miss the moments for what they are worth.

Effi ciency demands that a clear goal be in sight. Strutting toward a gilded fu-ture, we discard distractions and scorn idleness. This militant march, however, tramples on present moments that cra-dle muted meaning. Conversations with someone who has toasted your smoked salmon bagel, or the housekeeper scrub-bing the tiles while you are scrubbing your teeth, are present indulgences. We learn of and are inspired by the verbal vignettes that defi ne our human stories.

There is another case to be made against hyper anxiety of the future. The future beckons through a foggy uncertainty. Exigencies ambush us. Our

fetish for money partly stems from the ability of legal tender notes and investment portfolios to store value. Eventually, we hope to unleash this pent-up stash of cash before our lives are spent. But consider the certitude of present moments and perhaps we will learn to savor them.

The carefree holler of “YOLO!” skims over the depth of moments. For the moments that stick, the “you” that is the capital “Y” takes a backseat. The individual melts into the collective, and the shell of self-regard shatters.

The three-pointer that snatched vic-tory from the grasp of our pasty blue rivals in Chapel Hill emptied dorms, common rooms and libraries of stu-dents. People congregated and chant-ed, “WE are Duke!” Men and women who lay down their lives in combat live on in the stories that get told and retold by their comrades. Moments become monuments.

Even a future-centric zealot should hesitate before scorning ineffi cient moments. In the long run, everyone is dead. That is our shared future. The moments we share with others now, however, coalesce into a legacy that lin-gers like the defi ant embers of a doused campfi re, refusing to go out. Appreci-ating the communal aspects of life re-quires an acute sensitivity that isn’t rid-den rough shod over by the obsession with graduation plans. Such allows us to live on in the stories and memories of other humans.

All of us are hiking toward the heights of a brilliant future. The moun-tainous trail twists and turns. Novel and unexpected delights flit past us. These are fleeting moments that light up our fancy and wonderment. I’m still learning how to marvel at them, be-cause they’re eventually all that we’re left with.

Jing Song Ng is a Trinity senior. His col-umn runs every other Tuesday. You can fol-low Jing on Twitter @jingapore.

On moments

jing song ngjingapore says

rajlakshmi deminority report

Mariah Hukins, Trinity ‘13

Page 12: Sept. 25, 2012 issue of The Chronicle

12 | TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2012 THE CHRONICLE

This message is brought to you by the Department of Art, Art History and Visual Studies, Center for Documentary Studies, Chapel Music, Duke Dance Program, Duke Music Department, Duke Performances, Nasher Museum of Art, Duke University Libraries, Screen/Society, Department of Theater Studies with support from the Office of the Vice Provost for the Arts.

ami.duke.edu/screensociety/schedule

EXHIBITIONSCharlotte Caspers: Originals and Copies. Thru Sept 30. East Duke Corridor Gallery. Free.

Coney Island 40 Years. Thru Oct 27. Center for Documen-tary Studies. Free.

Student Action with Farmworkers: 20 Years of Growing Farmworker Activists. Thru Dec 9. Perkins Library Gallery. Free.

Documenting the Politics of Food: Photographs from the Rubenstein Library Collections. Thru December 10. Ruben-stein Library Photography Gallery. Free.

Eat, Pray, Weave: Ancient Peruvian Art from the Perma-nent Collection. Nasher Museum of Art.

ONGOING Duke Arts Festival 2012. Now accepting work by student artists in all art forms and performance genres for the 2012 Duke Arts Festival, Oct 26-Nov 4. Deadline to submit Octo-ber 12. arts.duke.edu/festival

Across The Threshold. Now accepting proposals for papers, panels, workshops or lecture-demonstrations for the 2013 interdisciplinary conference. Deadline October 15.danceprogram.duke.edu/threshold

EVENTSSeptember 25Ciompi Quartet Lunchtime Classics. Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Rasumovsky.” Noon. Gothic Reading Rm., Perkins Lib. Free.

September 26Wednesdays @ The Center. Dance professor Purnima Shah screens her documentary film “Dancing with the Goddess.” Noon, 240 John Hope Franklin Center. Free.

September 27Art+ Where Art & Math Intersect Lecture Series. Talk by Charlotte Caspers + Ingrid Daubechies. Mathematics Reveal-ing Art. 5:30pm, Friedl Bldg. Free.

Reception and Talk/Book Signing. Editor Eric Muller discusses the new CDS/UNC Press book Colors of Confine-ment: Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in WWII. 7-9pm, CDS. Free.

‘80s to the M-M-M-Max. Free film series to complement Time Capsule: Basquiat (1996, Julian Schnabel, 108 minutes). 7pm, Nasher Museum Aud. Free.

September 28Movies on the Lawn. Full Frame and American Tobacco present Under African Skies on the American Tobacco Cam-pus lawn. 9pm. Free.

September 30Faculty Recital. Susan Fancher, saxophone, Rachael Elliott, bassoon, & Jane Hawkins, piano. Works include Poulenc’s Trio for soprano saxophone, bassoon and piano. 3pm, Nel-son Music Rm., East Duke Bldg. Free.

SCREEN/SOCIETYAll events are free and open to the general public. Unless otherwise noted, screenings are at 7pm in the Griffith Film Theater, Bryan Center. (ED) = East Duke 108. (N) = Nasher Museum Auditorium. (SW) = Smith Warehouse - Bay 4, C105. (W) = Richard White Auditorium.

9/25 “Rethinking Nonfiction” by Prof. Devin Orgeron (6:30pm, W) AMI Showcase--Cinema Studies Lecture Series. Note new time!

9/26 BATTLE OF ALGIERS (Italy/Algeria, 1966) (ED) Feminism & Freedom Film Series

9/27 BASQUIAT (Julian Schnabel, 1996) (N) ‘80s to the M-M-M-Max

10/1 CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS (35mm) Tournées French Film Series

September 25-October 1