December 2009

RI ALcelebrating the Duke & UNC-CH connection

Classmates with children?Not your average fairy tale

Stimulus 101Join the debate

SEXRoommates and Regulations

volume 5 issue 2December 2009

2 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5 • issue 22

“I don’t like rules.” Maybe it comes from being an Aries or a firstborn or a Ben Folds fan — who knows? But whatever the reason, something about being told what to do leaves me with a burning desire to do the opposite. I like doing things my way even if it means bending the rules sometimes.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not belligerent. You won’t find any cocaine possession or vandalism charges on my record. But I have been known to jaywalk or enter through a door clearly marked “Exit Only.” I tend to drive a few miles over the speed limit and I sometimes make my own parking spaces. Ocassionally, I answer my phone in the library and eat my lunch dangerously close to expensive equipment in the Carroll Hall labs. I wear my UNC-CH sweatshirt when I visit Duke and I won’t hesitate to tell a Tar Heel that Duke’s Bryan Center totally trumps our Frank Porter Graham Student Union any day of the week.

I’ve always been the borderline-rebellious type. I was the toddler coloring in the margins and on the floor, the kid passing notes during silent lunch and the teenager arriving home five minute past curfew. Never misbehaving enough to get in trouble, but always teetering just behind the line.

Honestly, though, the feeling that comes from walking the line between doing things “their” way and doing things your way is well worth the risk. The tingling that starts in the pit of your stomach, the pounding of your heart and the sweating of your palms — for me, there’s nothing else like it. And the articles and people featured in this issue of Rival prove that I’m not alone in this feeling.

Deep down, very few people like being told what to do. We all have our rebellious sides, especially at Duke and UNC-CH. From producing a show on a student-run radio station to opposing regulations about when and where we can have sex, we like to do things our own way.

We win elections like one of our Out of the Blue subjects, Mayor Mark Kleinschmdt and we take initiative to create new projects like the new Duke Democrats and UNC-CH Young Democrats joint publication Campus BluePrint. Be it competing on a Bhangra dance team or raising a child while still in school, when Duke and UNC-CH students have the drive to accomplish something, little can stop us.

There’s something to be said for coloring inside the lines but nothing great was ever created from keeping up with the status quo. Following the rules may be easy but bending the rules is much, much more fun.

Courtney RollerEditor-in-Chief

content editor-in-chief courtney roller

graphic design editor amanda michelson duke managing editor kaitlin atkinson unc managing editor elizabeth lilly web site editor brad piland editorial directors emily mcginty jessica stringer

unc contributing writers sabina ion courtney roller kelly thore clare white duke contributing writers lysa chen sylvie spewak kathie sun

columnists copeland barnes valerie henry

sports writer evan sandoval

staff designers danielle cushing pamela tseng adrienne wollman

contributing photographers lisa albert brad piland pamela tseng adrienne wollman

business marketing director clare white treasurer danni lin unc faculty adviser bill cloud

Rival is a joint publication between Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that seeks to reinforce and redefine the historic rivalry. Rival is inde-pendently recognized at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is also a member of the Duke University Undergraduate Publication Board.

Funding for Rival Magazine was paid for in part by The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Student Con-gress and the Duke University Publications Board.

All content, pictures, graphics and design are the property of Rival Magazine © 2009-2010. All rights reserved.

letter from the editor December 2009

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the mailbag Tell us what you think [email protected]

And we’ll tell you what we think at rivalmagazine.wordpress.com

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COuRTNEY ROLLER

Roller is a senior journalism major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She can be reached via email at [email protected].

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3November 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE 3October 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE

In This Issue

In Every Issue

Student Parents10As if being a college student isn’t dif-ficult enough. One UNC-CH senior talks about what it means to be a stu-dent, mother and wife.

COVER: Campus Radio18

From DJs balancing classes and grave-yard shifts to the annual kickball game, Duke’s WXDU and UNC-CH’s WXYC aren’t your typical radio stations. See what DJs have to say about the free-form frequencies.

Pre-game4

Find out why the North Carolina Bo-tanical Gardens at UNC-CH may soon be gaining national recognition. Plus, Duke Dhamaka explains the ins and outs of competitive Bhangra dancing.

Devil’s Advocate14

Duke’s Valerie Henry gets warm and fuzzy about celebrating the holidays with her family.

Out of the Blue31Tired of seeing the same old people? Get to know some new campus faces you won’t want to forget.

Randy Regulations24Think your roommate is a pain? At least they’re not rocking the top bunk with a special friend the night before your big exam. Students sound off about catch-ing roommates in the act and officials weigh in about regulations.

Tar Tracks15UNC-CH’s Copeland Barnes reminds students to appreciate college by living in the moment.

Simply Stimulus16Not sure what all the stimulus package talk is about? We’ll explain what you need to know about stimulus money at UNC-CH and Duke.

Top V6Still trying to fill the gaps in your spring schedule? Check out Rival’s list of the top five weirdest classes.

By the Book30Who has it worse? Rival compares film analysis classes at Duke and UNC-CH.

Athlete’s Corner28Evan Sandoval dives in deep with the Duke and UNC-CH swim clubs to talk about their slippery shenanigans.

3December 2009 • RIVAL MAGAZINE

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Bhangra is a complicated and colorful genre of dance full of subtle intricacies and animated formations. It is highly intense, enthusiastic and astonishingly beautiful when done in unison.

It is perhaps one of the most well-known types of Indian folk dance, origi-nating in the northern region of Pun-jab, India , as a celebrat ion of the harvest season. Duke Dhamaka brings the dance to Duke University but with a flair of its own.

Dhamaka is a Bhangra team, with 14 com-petitive members: seven men, seven women. The group has performed the dance genre at Duke since 2003, but for the past four years has deviated away from the more traditional style of dance to embrace its own style with modern infusions of hip-hop and more con-temporary dance moves.

Recently though, Dhamaka has tried to revert back to a more traditional style. This new style should reach out to a whole new

audience because it is geared more toward entertainment. It uses a combination of upbeat, bass-heavy Bhangra music and accents from more modern tracks. One of the captains, Kiran Belani, a senior from Ger-mantown, Md., says the team is “trying to pull a whole new bag of tricks” with new effects such as new tracks, strobe lights, solos and drops.

In the last year the team has placed either first or second in six out of eight competi-tions. Members compete locally and nation-ally, and perform seven to nine times a semester. Later this semester, the team will be performing in Awaaz, The South Asian Association of Duke (Diya)’s annual fall cul-tural show, with over 200 performers and 2,000 attendees.

Among all the teams on campus, Dhamaka stands out. Although not a varsity sport, the team is fierce in competition. Like many competitive teams, all of its members enthu

siastically concur that Duke Dhamaka is one of the most tight-knit groups on cam-pus. Belani says Dhamaka has “a sports team atmosphere, but with something culturally related,” which is what sets it apart from oth-ers.

“I can personally say that being on this team has completely changed my four years at Duke,” she says. “I’ve made my closest friends.” This devoted, energetic and suc-cessful team continues to spread the joy of Bhangra across campus, which Belani says is “the kind of dance that will always put a smile on your face, no matter what.”

Dance with the (Blue) DevilBy Sylvie Spewak, DukeDesign By Amanda Michelson, UNC-CH

pre-game

Photos contributed by duke dhamaka

first building at UNC-CH to meet LEED standards. The Global FedEx Educational Center, which uses solar energy and recycles collected rainwater to improve sustainability, was built to fulfill at least LEED silver standards.


As the days shorten and the foliage starts to fade into the gray of winter, one place manages to keep its natural beauty and stay green.

The North Carolina Botanical Garden’s new Education Center is predicted to be the first federally funded building of any state government to achieve a LEED certification of platinum.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a third-party certification process that judges the environmental performances of buildings. The system is based on five criteria: sustainability, water efficiency, minimizing energy use, reusing and recycling materials, and indoor environmental quality.

To achieve platinum certification, the highest out of four levels, the Botanical Garden at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill must score 62 to 69 in order to receive this rating. Garden officials believe the current score is about 56 points, but hope to increase the score to platinum level.

The garden, which opened in 1951, is comprised of show gardens, walking paths and temporary exhibitions. The Education Center inside of the garden is under construction and will be the part that is scrutinized for certification.

The building has rainwater collection systems, large windows for day lighting, photovoltaic panels, a geothermal heating

LEEDing the way and cooling system and uses recycled materials in the building process.

The Education Center, built with natural wood, metal and glass, and surrounded by trees, has the appearance of an industrialized log cabin. The structure will house administration offices, exhibits and educational sessions.

Along with applying for LEED certification, the Botanical Garden helps preserve endangered species and teaches visitors about the environment. The goal is not just to conserve but also to give back to the environment, which fits in well with LEED requirements.

Garden officials say they are waiting to make sure the building is as green as possible before submitting their LEED application.

“We’re not going to hit that submit button until we’re pretty confident we have all those points,” says Peter White, the garden’s director. It will take six months to a year for the certification to go through once the application is sent.

If certified, the new center will not be the

quick, pick-me-up shorts

By Sabina Ion, UNC-CHDesign By Amanda Michelson, UNC-CH

Photos contributed by the noth carolina botanical Gardens


Rival counts down the top five weiRd, inteResting and just plain odd classes offeRed at each school.

weiRd classes

By Elizabeth Lilly, UNC-CHDesign and Photos By Amanda Michelson, UNC-CH

Slavic Languages and Literature 101: Introduction to Slavic Civilizations: Peasants, Popes, and Party Hacks

Religious Studies 371: Women Mystics

An introduction to just about everything Slavic (in English), including music, cinema, folklore and religion.

Investigate the characteristics, variety and forms of women’s mystical experiences in this Women Studies cross-listed class. Sounds mysterious, doesn’t it?

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Asian and Middle Eastern Studies 141: Vampire Chronicles: Fantasies of Vampirism in a Cross-cultural Perspective

Religion 114: T’ai Chi and Chinese Thought

This course gets your nose out of a book and your feet on the ground (OK there is some reading), to practice the martial art in this cross-listed dance course and learn its ties to Chinese thought and medicine in comparison to Western bio-medical ideas of the body.

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1No word if the northern Louisiana vamps of “True Blood” are covered, but this seems to examine everything else vampiric across cultures, from Buffy to Dracula to blood donation (hence its cross-listing in six other departments).

Wilson library at UnC-CH


Rival counts down the top five weiRd, inteResting and just plain odd classes offeRed at each school.

Communication Studies 545: Pornography and Culture

English and Comparative Literature 148: Horror

Sociology 165: Introduction to Aging

Don’t get too excited. This course won’t play out like a dirty movie; instead it focuses on the political, legal and aesthetic implications of pornography.

It won’t be a semester of the latest teen slasher films (the closest will be John Carpenter’s “Halloween”). Past sections have analyzed the ideology and ethics of texts such as Shirley Jackson’s classic haunted house book, “The Haunting of Hill House” and a vampiric David Bowie in 1983’s “The Hunger.”

This one-credit hour course examines and sensitizes students to aging and encourages intergenerational communi-cation. Subjects include elderly relation-ships and coming to terms with death.

Philosophy 126: Philosophy of Sport

Consider the sports rivalry from a dif-ferent perspective after examining facets of sports in western culture, like the urge to win, implications of competition and infractions of rules.

Germanic Languages and Literature 136S: Utopias and Nightmares: Science, Technology, and German Culture

Non-science majors need not worry. Students examine German films and texts, assess alternatives to the world’s current state and how science and technology help form those alternatives in this cross-listed Visual Studies course.

Art History 110: Gothic Cathedrals

Learn about Gothic architecture outside of Duke’s campus in this cross-lsited Medi-eval and Renaissance Studies class. Topics include European cathedrals, construction, and financing in medieval city life.

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University students have a reputation for leaning left politically, according to the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles. The study followed 15,000 students entering 136 colleges in 2004 to understand the trend of students moving to the political left during their college careers.

In 2008, HERI found that exposure to more left-leaning peer groups in college led to a liberal shift in values.

Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are not ex-empt from this idea, but when it comes to the two schools’ student publications, you might not have known it — at least until October’s launch of Campus BluePrint, a new monthly magazine collaborated by UNC-CH’s Young Democrats and the Duke Democrats.

Campus BluePrint editors say the maga-zine features progressive-themed articles on important policy issues at the Universi-ty, national and international level. The Oc-

tober issue examines student perspectives on health care reform and explores different ways UNC-CH and Duke are going green.

Campus BluePrint fills a void in the politi-cal discussion at Duke and UNC-CH and aims to redefine what it means to be “liberal,” according to the publication’s editors.

“There was already a conservative publi-cation on campus,” says William Passo, the publication’s editor-in-chief at Duke and a junior art history and political science dou-ble major from McMinnville, Ore. “It was kind of ridiculous that there wasn’t another political publication. That’s a huge void in the intellectual discourse.”

Amy Li, editor-in-chief of Duke’s conser-vative magazine, the Gothic Guardian, says Campus BluePrint will add to political dis-course.

“Even though generally the campus voice is more liberal, it is absolutely their prerogative to start whatever kind of publication they would like,” says Li, a Duke sophomore from

Germantown, Md. “It’s good that they are adding to political talk on campus and fo-cusing more on issues that matter, especially locally. That can only improve the amount of activism on campus.”

David Gilmore, Campus BluePrint’s UNC-CH editor-in-chief, adds that he hopes the publication will spark debate without becom-ing a source of controversy.

“A lot of people, especially people who come from North Carolina, have this misper-ception of what it means to be liberal,” says Gilmore, a UNC-CH junior political science and peace, war and defense double major. “Unfortunately, ‘liberal’ has had a negative connotation in the last 20 years. We want to get rid of the perception.”

While students with conservative views could express their ideas in the schools’ right-leaning publications — Carolina Re-view at UNC-CH and the Gothic Guardian at Duke — there was no similar outlet for students with opposing views until Campus

Expanding the DialogueThe newest Duke-UNC-CH joint publication, Campus BluePrint, gives liberals a chance to balance the debate with conservative publications at both schools.By Lysa Chen, DukeDesign By Amanda Michelson, UNC-CH


BluePrint began as an initiative by the Young Democrats during the spring of 2009, Gilm-ore says.

Young Democrats saw a boost in student involvement during the 2008 presidential election and wanted to maintain that level of enthusiasm for politics and the Democratic Party. The group initially started a blog to share resources and announce events.

“The blog wasn’t really going to get that much attention from the student population, so we pushed for a print magazine,” Gilm-ore says.

At the same time, members of UNC-CH’s Young Democrats were spending a semester at Duke as part of the Robertson Scholars Program.

Through their involvement with the Duke Democrats, who were also interested in start-ing a publication, Campus BluePrint became a collaborative effort between the two uni-versities. Joining Rival Magazine as the sec-ond Duke-UNC-CH joint publication, Cam-pus BluePrint launched an eight-page pilot issue in May and its first official issue in Oc-tober. It also still maintains its blog at www.campusblueprint.com.

Although Duke Democrats and Young Democrats were aware of Rival Magazine’s inter-campus model as they developed their publication, Campus BluePrint is fundamen-tally different.

“We know what Rival is, but we fill a com-pletely different niche,” Passo says.

Passo adds that Campus BluePrint had ap-plied for a grant from the Robertson Scholars Collaboration Fund, which funds projects between Duke and UNC-CH, but did not receive the grant since Rival Magazine was already a joint publication.

The first issue of Campus BluePrint cost $1,700 to produce and was funded instead by Duke’s Undergraduate Publications Board’s Bassett Fund and Young Democrat’s fund-raising.

Future issues will be partially funded by UNC-CH’s Student Congress, Gilmore says. The publication will also receive funds from Duke’s Undergraduate Publications Board when Campus BluePrint becomes an offi-cially chartered publication in spring 2010, Passo says.

Although Passo says one of the primary motivators for creating a joint publication was to combine funding, he adds that Cam-pus BluePrint has bonded Duke’s and UNC-CH’s Democratic organizations beyond just the magazine.

“The magazine helped bridge the gap,” Pas-so says. “They’ve come to some of our meet-ings, and we’ve gone to some of theirs.”

Gilmore agrees that Campus BluePrint has increased interaction between the clubs. Al-though each school has its own editors and

writers, layout and design are done exclu-sively at UNC-CH, and meetings alternate between campuses, allowing editors and staff members to meet new people and visit the other school’s campus.

The publication hopes to increase interac-tion even more in the future with issue re-lease parties, Gilmore adds.

“We’re a magazine that promotes liberal values and at the same time want to strength-en the relationship between Duke and UNC-CH,” he says.

Looking ahead, Passo says Campus Blue-Print hopes to establish itself as a sustainable campus publication by involving students of all years and backgrounds.

For instance, the first issue features an ar-ticle about universal health care by Duke first-year Samantha Lachman, of Vancou-ver, Canada, who says she is excited to see

Campus BluePrint develop.Lachman adds that Campus BluePrint is

“something really necessary.”“Coming as a Canadian, I feel even more

like a socialist here, even though in Canada I’m pretty moderate,” she says. “I feel like this publication was really needed. A number of very prestigious speakers [at Duke] have been more on the conservative side, and the publication can express views that aren’t be-ing brought to campus in terms of speakers or public discourses.”

Gilmore and Passo say Campus BluePrint is constantly looking for more writers and photographers. The publication primarily recruits from Duke Democrats and Young Democrats, through the organizations’ list-servs and meetings, but any interested stu-dent is invited to get involved.


Fairy Tale

By Courtney Roller, UNC-CHDesign By Danielle Cushing, UNC-CHPhotos By Lisa Albert, UNC-CH

One UNC-CH student shares her struggles of being a mother, wife and college student. It’s not a traditional fairy tale, but there’s still a happy ending.

Redef dine


Many of us begin college with an optimistic abundance of plans and dreams for what our future will become. As we mature

throughout our four years of undergraduate education, change becomes inevitable. We change our majors, friends, hair styles and political views, just to name a few. Usually the changes are slowly achieved but for some, like Christina Lopez Kaemmerlen, change comes unexpectedly and has the ability to rearrange all our storybook dreams.

Standing in her bathroom during the sum-mer of 2007, Christina, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill senior from Salis-bury, N.C., lined a lifetime’s worth of preg-nancy tests across the counter and showed the results to her summer fling, Joe Kaem-merlen.

“They all came out positive. I started cry-ing my eyes out,” she says, “and he just said, ‘Christina, you have never been more beauti-ful than you are right now.’”

Needless to say, Christina hadn’t planned on getting pregnant the summer before her senior year. Though she and Joe both admit they knew their relationship was destined to go further than just a simple summer ro-mance, they hadn’t planned for it to progress so quickly.

“I never dreamed of having a family,” Christina says. “Yeah I talked about it — as the princess fairy tale — I wanted to get mar-ried and have children once I graduated from college or once I graduated from grad school

or once I finished law school. It was never like, ‘Oh, I want to get married and have a child now.’”

Growing painsThe now 24-year-old journalism major

says that though she and Joe had only been seeing each other for three months before she found out she was preg-nant, there was very little debate about the next step.

“We ended up being very lucky that, morally, our outlooks on life are very much the same,” Joe, 28, of Green-ville, S.C., says, “Neither one of us really ever considered abortion.”

They decided that Joe would move to Cha-pel Hill with Christina so they could contin-ue dating before the due date in April 2008. Christina cancelled her intended housing assignment for Ram Village and in August 2007 she and Joe moved into a place near Weaver Dairy Road.

“The honeymoon ended,” Joe says.“It ended very fast and very hard,” Chris-

tina adds. “We struggled to get to know each other.”

Once fall classes started, it became clear to Christina that her original plan of taking classes full time, hav-ing her baby in April and graduating in May was unrealistic.

“I quit around the end of Septem-ber,” Christina says. “I was sick every morning, then I was exhausted and I just wanted to sleep all day, every day.”

Along with the physical ailments of being pregnant, Christina was facing serious emotional anxiety, too. “When I was pregnant I never wanted to walk around campus,” she says. “I didn’t have a ring on my fin-ger and I didn’t want the looks that were associated with ‘Oh my God, she’s pregnant.’ It was the worst thing ever.”

Christina says she also felt inse-cure about Joe seeing her morning sickness, weight gain and fatigue during pregnancy because they had only been together for such a short period of time.“Even though Joe and I knew each other, we still didn’t re-ally know each other, so I struggled with still wanting him to think I’m pretty,” she says.

These were difficult for Joe, as well. “It was really hard for me to accept that she was go-ing to drop out of her classes because that was really the whole purpose of us being up here,” he says.

Plus, Christina had already established friendships and connections in Chapel Hill, which left him feeling out of the loop

at times. He struggled to find a balance between maintaining his friend-ships back home and find-ing a new direction from the “no-ambition bachelor life” he’d been living the past few years.

“It was a growing pain,” he says. “Christina com-ing in and kind of whisk-ing me away from that life

was ultimately a good thing, but it was a very painful growing experience.”

Nothing short of fateChristina and Joe welcomed their daughter

Isabelle into the world on April 3, 2008. They married at a courthouse ceremony in July, which they intended to keep hidden from their friends and families. “I didn’t want to tell people we were getting married at the courthouse,” Christina says. “We’d already done things backward anyway.”

The couple says they were quite surprised when Joe’s mother called them the morning after their secret wedding and asked if they had gotten married.

“Apparently whatever happens at the court-house gets in the paper the next day,” Joe says with a shrug. “I joke about it and say it was a shotgun wedding but that’s not really accurate. It was definitely something we both really wanted.”

Though Christina jokes about their fairy tale wedding, she describes the events that followed as nothing short of fate. Despite making it through their sometimes-tumul-tuous first months together, they knew that some serious changes had to be made. Their off-campus living arrangements had been the source of much stress as they had diffi-culty organizing Christina’s classes — while she was enrolled — and Joe’s full-time work schedule.

But now they had to find a more conve-nient place to live because they had a child and were both planning to enroll in classes for the fall semester — Christina going full time back at UNC-CH after a year off and Joe going part time at Durham Technical Com-munity College so that he could stay home with Isabelle during the day.

“Everything just kind of fell into place,”

“It was never like, ‘Oh, I want to get married and have a child now.’” -- Christina Kaemmerlen, UNC-CH senior

Christina Keammerlen and daughter isabelle walK toward their apartment in the baity hill Community at unC-Ch.


Christina says. While researching for a new place to live she discovered information about Baity Hill, UNC-CH’s family housing unit. She contacted the property manager and learned the community was hiring part-time office assistants. She was hired for the job after one brief interview and suddenly became aware of an array of scholarships, benefits and services available to student parents that she and her husband had never known about.

Both Christina and Joe agree that moving to Baity Hill was one of the best decisions they have ever made. “For me, moving into Baity Hill and being supported by the Uni-versity really helped,” Joe says. “Especially after the failure that living off campus was.”

Moving to Baity Hills also opened the door for Christina and Joe to establish new friend-ships. “There are a ton of other women in the same situation that I am in, trying to handle doing a job, going to school, taking care of a child with a financial burden that we have,” Christina says. “If we lived off campus we wouldn’t have nearly what we have now. We have babysitters if we need babysitters. We have friends if we need friends.”

The ability to trade child care with other residents is a huge help for the Kaemmerlens and other residents at Baity Hill. “I’m taking night classes now, but next semester there is going to be a little overlap,” Joe says about his and Christina’s class schedules. “Being in a community where a lot of other people are in the same situation and they can watch Isabelle for that two or three hour overlap, we wouldn’t be able to take all the classes that we wanted if it wasn’t for living in this community.”

Finding the balanceEven with the support of the Ba-

ity Hill community and their fellow student-parent friends, Christina and Joe still have trouble finding the bal-ance between raising a child and being college students.

“The biggest thing is negotiating priorities,” Joe says. The couple agrees that Isabelle is their number one pri-ority, then Christina’s and Joe’s edu-cations respectively rank as priorities two and three.

“And then work and then homework is last,” Christina says about rank of their subsequent responsibilities, “and a lot of times homework doesn’t get done. My grades went from being re-ally really good, to now, as long as I get a C+, I’m good to go.”

Grades are just one of the many things Christina and Joe have had to be willing to compromise on.

The two rarely go out with friends and often only have a chance to speak to each other for less than a few hours a day, total.

“Because you’re sacrificing, you come to understand, ‘OK I can’t fo-cus as much as I used to be able to because I have this big time involve-ment of having a little one,” Joe says.

“There are a lot of late nights where Isabelle stays awake until 10 or 11 o’clock and there have been a couple of times where Christina has gone to bed before Isabelle.”


Along with a full-time course load, Chris-tina works 15 hours a week at her part-time job for Baity Hill and seven hours a week at a public relations internship for UNC Hos-pitals. A glance inside her monthly planner

shows that her job and internship are only a small part of the engagements she has pen-ciled, circled and highlighted.

Christina certainly doesn’t miss out on too many school-related activities. From going to San Diego for the Public Relations Stu-dent Society of America (PRSSA) National Conference in early November to network-ing and career nights hosted by University Career Services, Christina stays involved with campus life. She sees her participation in such events necessary for future success, but for the Kaemmerlens, every decision they make is a battle of give and take.

“It is our ambition and our drive,” Chris-tina says. “I’m not going to settle for working at McDonald’s and raising my child off of $7.50 an hour or whatever minimum wage is. I want Isabella to have the things I had growing up. I want Isabella to have her own room. I want a house with a staircase. I want all these things that I had growing up and that he had growing up, and we don’t want to short Isabelle.”

Though things are certainly getting easier now that Isabelle is 18 months old and past the less-than-fondly-remembered days of uneven sleeping and painful teething, the Kaemmerlens wouldn’t recommend their choice of being parents while in school.

“It’s really hard. It takes a lot of dedication. It takes a lot of hard work. It takes a lot of planning and I would recommend for ev-eryone to try doing it the traditional way,” Christina says. “But at the same time, these are the best times of our life and I think Joe would agree with me there, I wouldn’t trade this for the world.”

Both Christina and Joe came from fami-lies with three children and plan to have two more children within the next two to six years. “We’re just trying to plan the

next one out,” Joe says. And though Isabelle proved to be quite an unexpected addition to Christina’s and Joe’s personal fairy tale, they can’t imagine life any other way.

“I’m proud of her. She’s gorgeous and amaz-

ing and intelligent and I think we kick butt,” Christina says, “I think we’re pretty awesome together.”

“For me, moving into Baity Hill and being supported by the University really helped. Especially after the failure that living off campus was.”-- Joe Kaemmerlen, Christina’s husband

In my f a m i l y f o r Thanksgiving, we all gather in Lexington, Va., where my aunt

and uncle own a ranch that has been passed down through generations. The land serves as a nucleus to hold together the families scattered from California to Texas to Alabama, a central meeting place we come back

to each year.For the men in my family, the land also means

deer hunting. One morning last Thanksgiving break I woke up to a lovely deer carcass hanging upside-down outside of my window. I swallowed the bile rising in my throat and mentioned to my aunt she really needs to hurry up and replace the blinds in the guest room. That evening over 40 people – cousins, second cousins, aunts-once-removed, grandparents and great-grandparents gathered in the old hunting lodge for Thanksgiving dinner. When I tasted the roasted venison smothered in gravy, I forgave my cousin Josh for the gruesome morning surprise.

To most Duke University students, Thanksgiving is about family and food. However, the cuisine can vary depending on family heritage. Harrison Lee, a Duke junior, describes his typical Thanksgiving dinner as “All the usual stuff – turkey, potatoes, cranberries; but we also have kimchi,” a traditional Korean dish of spicy, pick led cabbage. “It’s a love it or hate it food,” he tells me, “I hate it.” To him Thanksgiving is about being with family and appreciating your blessings, mixed with a healthy ambivalence toward the pungent smell of kimchi.

When asked how he feels about turkey hunting, Lee responds that it “would probably be tricky” and prefers store-bought turkeys because they are “cleaner and easier, from what I understand.” However, his family

would love to get into the spirit with a friendly practical joke on the neighbors. Each year his neighbors put a huge inflatable turkey in their yard and each year he and his father search for a inflatable pilgrim and shotgun to place across from it – just to stay historically accurate.

Another celebration of Thanksgiving is vacation and a break from school. The holiday should be about rest, relaxation and a break from the usual frenzy of productivity. Unfortunately, Duke only allows students three days off of school, rather than the full week like many other universities. And as soon as we return, exam week hits.

To get me through the two-week cram session between Thanksgiving and winter break, I envision myself sprawled on my living room floor at home rifling through the Christmas presents under our tree

In my family, we have an unusual tradition of how we label presents. Instead of writing the recipient’s name, we write a brief description of the person and how the gift relates to him or her. Instead of labeling a wrapped sweater, “To Sara,” I would write, “To my sister with a sense of fashion.”

The tradition began when my Aunt Beth suggested the family donate to charity instead of give each other gifts. “We just end up with a lot of junk,” she would say, “why don’t we do something truly meaningful instead?” My Dad, adamantly opposed to the idea and responded with a story of how growing up he and his sister would search for the perfect gifts for each other, label them with a cryptic phrase and then spend the days leading up to Christmas trying to guess what they were. He said it was through those mystery gifts he felt closest

to his sister. Convinced, my whole extended family took up the tradition and since then the opening of presents has become immensely more entertaining – and meaningful.

I think this year I will label a rifle-cleaning kit to my deer-hunting cousin Josh, “To the master of the gruesome yet delicious venison roast.”

14 RIVAL MAGAZINE • volume 5• issue 2

advocatedevil’s

To Kill a Turkey

“One morning last Thanksgiving break I woke up to a lovely deer carcass hanging upside-down outside of my window.” -Valerie Henry

By Valerie Henry, Duke


Tucked away in the mountains just outside of Hendersonville is the time capsule of my

adolescence. A place that holds reverie and solitude, peacefulness and abundant nature. Memories of my family, old friends, summer and growing up. Summer guest periods at Kanuga, a conference center affiliated with the Episcopal Church where families can spend vacation time, were always something I

looked forward to. But it was not until after years of going there I realized their true significance. Such a delay in these sorts of realizations, particularly among college students, is seemingly all too common.

We tend to forget that there is more to life than perfecting the balance between academics and a thriving social life as we simultaneously strive to paint our resumes with leadership and involvement on campus and in the community. But where do other things come into play? What about wholeheartedly engaging in family or in friendships or even in ourselves?

What happens to all of that during the four short years we spend being pulled in every imaginable direction, stretching ourselves beyond our limits? After finally entering this “real world” for which we have spent so many years preparing, will we look back and question, yet again, where our time has gone?

Memories of summers with my family at Kanuga encompass this realization perfectly. Each July from fourth grade through my first year of college, my family and my grandmother spent one week at Kanuga. Guest Period Two was our time together, and my time to recollect and relax. My time to reunite with those kinds of friends with whom you just somehow manage to pick up right where you left off the summer before. It was my time to grow in my faith. My time to grow in myself. And while I always knew there was something special about this place, I was painstakingly slow at fully comprehending its meaning and impact on my life.

The roads throughout the Kanuga grounds are peppered with cozy forest green cottages that guests call home for a week or two each summer. Every slat of wood holds a

memory. Every creak of the floor tells a story. These are the memories that we are certain never to forget, but their importance may not be revealed to us until years thereafter. And, much like our time at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the years we spend in these places somehow do not seem quite as valuable until the tassel is turned and life shoves us forward.

Looking back at the 10 summers I spent at Kanuga, I am still unable to pinpoint one particular aspect of those weeks that made this place so exceptional. Perhaps it was the serenity I found in nature. Or the reflection of the cross on Kanuga Lake, just slightly rippled at times from the light breeze over the water’s flawless surface.

Maybe it was the late nights spent in deep conversation with friends on the pavilion overlooking the waterfront or simply on the front porch of our cabin. During those years, my mentality reflected that which we often tend to have toward the better things in life. One of pride, of haste, of, yet again, being so quick to dive in but too slow to gain true understanding.

After that first summer, Kanuga began to carve out a place in my heart. This place would grow deeper as I grew

older, as my family grew closer and as my friendships grew stronger.

The six-hour rides in the back seat of my grandmother’s light blue Mercury to Hendersonville from my home in Smithfield became increasingly manageable as years passed. And the detachment from vanities of the everyday became more desirable with time. Places like this tend to grow on us, as do people and experiences.

As our undergraduate years seem to pass with mounting speed and as our final semesters approach, the clearer it becomes as to how irreplaceable these years are. And as the consistency I once found in these weeks at Kanuga each summer has dwindled, life will continue to change. Something about the places that affect us the most, however, will always remain the same. But so is life, and so we will eventually come to equally comprehend the actual worth of our time in college. Perhaps some realizations are not meant to be made until later. Perhaps this is what gives them true meaning.

Perspective We Gaintar tracks

“We tend to forget that there is more to life than perfecting the balance between academics and a thriving social life...” -Copeland Barnes

By: Copeland Barnes, UNC-CHE


The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, more commonly referred to as the Stimulus Package, is impacting the Triangle more than you may know.

In addition to creating new research initiatives on campus, stimulus fund-ing has also afforded students with opportunities for internships and

employment. UNC-CH senior Yulia Koltun, of Weddington, N.C., was hired by the Line-berger Comprehensive Cancer Center to work with the Personally Relevant Informa-tion about Screening Mammography study, a program that was granted stimulus fund-ing from the National Institutes of Health.

“The PRISM is an intervention aimed at increasing rates of annual mammog-raphy adherence,” Koltun says. “The

center recently received funding that has allowed the project to extend its previous reminder period. I was hired to assist in process of creating and mailing reminders that notify study participants that it’s time for them to get a mammogram.”

Koltun works flexible hours and is paid biweekly. As a public health major, Koltun is able to work in a field that she not only finds interesting, but also pertains to her education.

“I’ve been working in the field since sophomore year through three previous research assistantship positions through

By: Kelly Thore, UNC-CHDesign By: Adrienne Wollman, UNC-CH

REAL RESULTS

Fast facts for UNC-CH (as of November 2009) and Duke (as of September 2009)

the nutrition department at the School of Public Health, Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UNC Center for Health Promotion and Disease Preven-tion,” Koltun says. “I’ve not had any research experience in the role of public health in breast cancer prevention, so this assistantship has allowed me to gain some insight.”


Stimulus funding comes from several different sources and is distributed to states by the federal government. Each state then decides how and

when to divvy up these funds.However, additional funding goes to

various federal agencies toward certain specialized program areas. These agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation award funds to state programs applying for grants to conduct research in these fields.

Faculty and staff at both The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University are applying for and receiv-ing stimulus funding to help spearhead research projects throughout their respec-tive campuses. This year, more than 400 research-funding proposals have been granted between the two Universities.

“Research in itself is a stimulus in that it creates jobs and can ultimately create products and ideas that will lead to the for-mation of companies,” says Tony Waldrop, vice chancellor for research and economic development at UNC-CH.

Waldrop says that, as of early November, 900 grant request proposals have been sub-mitted by UNC-CH. Of these 900 requests, 242 have already been approved. Wal-drop adds that it’s estimated that around $89.1 million total will be spent on these stimulus-funded projects at UNC-CH this year alone.

“There’s a great diversity of research going on around this campus,” Waldrop says, adding that topics for these projects have included alternative energy sources,

cancer research and cardiovascular disease research. “Even though it’s a huge number, it’s consistent with the research that we’re already doing here on campus.”

More projects means increased oppor-tunities for students to get involved in research. Waldrop says these projects have already either created or retained around 130 jobs at the University, a success he contributes mostly to the applications coming from UNC-CH.

“The fact that we’re doing so well points to high quality of the faculty that can com-pete so effectively.”

Ferrell Guillory, a journalism professor at UNC-CH, says a good chunk of stimulus funding will go to scientific research.

“What’s important for the University is that a lot of the stimulus funding is in research grants, particularly in health and the environment,” he says.

“There has been a lot of excitement and urgency on the side of the universities to get their proposals in because the money is there to work on projects that have quick payoff in terms of putting people to work,

hiring researchers and all of that,” Guillory says.

Because each state will handle funding differently, Guillory assigned a project to his journalism class, Southern Politics: Critical Thinking and Writing, regarding economic stimulus projects in the South.

“Each student has a state to follow,” he says. “We’re going to spend the second half of the semester delving into how each state is handling its stimulus money. It’s not

just a documentation…it’s how is this stimulus playing out?”

Research projects have also seen a boost at Duke. According to James Siedow, vice provost for research at Duke, of 854 requests submitted requesting research funding from the stimulus, 237 have

already been granted and are estimated to cost around $147 million this year.

Siedow says the stimulus funding has granted research opportunities for faculty, staff and students that would otherwise have not been possible.

“For Duke and UNC both, much of our reputation is built upon the world-class quality of the research that goes on in and outside of the medical schools,” he says. “And that research doesn’t come free. You need to be funded in order to do research at that level.”

STIMULUS QUICK HITS

STIMULUS REPORT

“Research in itself is a stimulus in that it creates jobs and can ultimately create products and ideas that will lead to the formation of companies.” -Tony Waldrop Vice Chancellor for research and economic development, UNC-CH

Want to know more? Want to voice your opinion? Join the debate at: http://rivalmagazine.wordpress.com/


With no restrictions save a few set by the FCC, DJs at Duke’s and UNC-CH’s radio stations broadcast their musical free-for-alls over the sound waves.

Freeform RadioBy: Kathie Sun, DukeDesign and Photos By: Pamela Tseng, UNC-CH

Jessica Ginocchio a Unc-ch JUnior DJs her raDio proGram which airs on wXYc 89.3 ThUrsDaYs from 2 To 5 p.m.


Starting from scratchAll DJs at WXYC are enrolled students or station alum-

ni, and at the larger station, there also comes a more traditional and hierarchical system of assigning shifts. Clare Connolly, who is currently a sophomore majoring in textiles technology at North Carolina State University, started her career there last year when she was enrolled as a first-year. She was excited from the start to work with college radio, because she grew up in Chapel Hill and saw many of her friends have a blast working at the station.

As a newcomer, she was stuck with a graveyard shift, something she actually found to be helpful because she felt more comfortable settling in and experimenting without the pressure of a huge crowd listening. Of her first show, Connolly admits that she “was totally terri-fied” but that getting into the role was surprisingly easy.

Santos’ first shift was also at an hour when most people would reasonably be sleeping. She says that at the begin-ning of the semester, her show from midnight to 3 a.m. on Wednesday mornings caused an unwelcome rift in her sleep schedule, one that she has since compensated for with random naps throughout the day.

New DJs work their way up a ladder, starting with un-desirable shifts and showing their dedication by pick-ing up as many shifts as possible over breaks, all for the chance to DJ in a popular time slot or for their own specialty show. Although this hierarchical system is per-haps a nuisance at the beginning (especially coupled with schoolwork and other extracurricular activities), most seem to readily overcome this barrier in order to continue working with the station. All of the DJs at both stations truly love music and gush about the incredible access to it that they have at their respective studios, and the chance to share this love with a wide audience.

Unbeknownst to most passers-by, the per-fect home for a raucous night of party punk on Duke University’s East Campus is in the Bivins building, a wall away from a serene

dance studio. Here in this mostly unexplored corner of East, local residents come out to play in WXDU’s studio. Similarly to East’s locale situated in the midst of a resi-dential community and just a short walk from a vibrant avenue of local restaurants and shops, Duke’s radio sta-tion has extended open arms to community members and residents since it went on the air in the 1950s. Down the road at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an all-student staff runs WXYC and yet manages to integrate the community with the station through unde-niably great music and a fresh style.

In stark contrast to Duke, WXYC’s studio is located in the hub of student activity on campus, the Frank Por-ter Graham Student Union. On the third floor above

students socializing and studying, disk jockeys go to the studio to hang out and lose themselves in WXYC’s labyrinth of CDs. Unlike Duke, UNC-CH’s radio station has sufficient interest within its student population to sustain an all-student staff. It also boasts an impressive list of alumni including ESPN’s Stuart Scott and radio personality Rick Dees, and holds the bragging rights to being the first radio station in the world to stream music over the Internet.

Mary Santos, a junior English major from Clayton, N.C., describes the station as being pretty popular both around campus and town, citing the predominance of WXYC 89.3 bumper stickers as evidence. DJs often post links to their shows on their Facebook statuses, encour-aging friends and classmates to tune in. Station-spon-sored events, such as the 80s dance at Cat’s Cradle, are well-attended and generate positive responses through-out the community and campus.


At Duke however, the majority of the DJs and ad-ministrators are community members, which is un-usual for a university-run radio station. Savannah Wood, Durham resident and WXDU 88.7 produc-tion manager, estimates that anywhere from 50 to 70 percent of the staff are non-students.

A fair amount of listeners is comprised of locals and Internet streamers and includes a sizable popu-lation outside North Carolina. Station workers say that there are more community listeners than stu-dent ones, a statistic that makes WXDU stand out among college radio.

However, this relative lack of student involve-ment belies the enthusiasm and passion of the station staff and administration. This year’s Gen-eral Manager Marc Loeffke, a junior and an en-vironmental policy and economics double major from Auburn, Ala., knew even before he arrived on campus that he wanted to work with college radio. Loeffke hosts a weekly punk rock show named “Power Hour” that showcases his deep knowledge and admiration for all things in the genre. He was lucky enough to land a show at a reasonable hour in his first semester thanks to WXDU’s eager reception to student help.

The station is also very accommodating to new show ideas and additional input from students. Katherine Buse, a junior English and documentary studies double major from Chapel Hill, pitched her documentary show after taking a class at the Center for Documentary Studies last year and it was accept-ed as part of a community news program despite her lack of any prior connection to the station.

Other examples of such idiosyncratic specialty shows and WXDU’s unique flavor include a mystery theme show and - after finally working up the courage to start DJing - Wood’s quirky “I liked you better before you sold out” show.

An advantage of having a community-student hybrid radio station is that the local volunteers are usually extremely well-versed in music trivia. People like Wood, a self-described champion of local music, willingly devote many hours of their week without compensation to support the sta-

Musical roots in the community

phoTo illUsTraTion of a bUlleTin boarD in The wXYc office

tion, which speaks volumes about their dedica-tion to music.

Loeffke insists that this feature of WXDU is among his favorite parts of working at the stu-dio; the locals are “usually really cool, super wel-coming older punk rockers.” Despite how easy it would be for them to be elitist with their accu-mulation of musical knowledge, they are instead very knowledgeable and often worked at their own college stations.

Marc describes the kinship between the staff at the station as “a good bridge between the school and the community.”

“You learn so so so much coming here,” he ex-claims, as he dances to the blasting rock, drum-ming to the blistering beat. Marc’s enthusiasm is infectious and it is clear that many others before him felt the same way about music, as they filled the cluttered station with shelves upon shelves of carefully cataloged and critiqued CDs.

Among the LPs and records are posters an-nouncing local concerts and cryptic signatures of music-lovers over the years.


Despite such energy however, WXDU’s pulse is not felt throughout the student body as widely as staff would like. Although the station is funded by Duke University Union and regularly hosts and sponsors events at locales around campus, like the annual three-day Troika Music Festival, the student-station connection is not as pronounced at Duke as it is at UNC.


DJs at both stations explain that they can pretty much play what-ever they want within the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) guidelines, which are to play six songs from a select playlist once an hour. DJs must submit their playlists for royalty calcula-tions and other data that nods to the business side of music.

Other seemingly strange rules of the FCC include a provision for at least one non-rock song per hour and the official difference be-tween explicit and indecent. “You can fuck the police but not your mother,” Wood says. For any listeners eager for indecent material, such songs are allowed during the safe harbor hours of 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.

For some DJs such as Santos, there are no strict formulas for cre-ating playlists. Some weeks she plans out a set and others she grabs CDs off their shelves right before a show. At Duke, Loeffke tries to instill a bit of theory into his shows, saying that while every DJ is different, he likes to have every song segue into the next with a connection. “WXYC is about dissonance,” he adds, “Anyone can scramble a playlist on iTunes.” For one particular garage-rock show in October, he worked on his one-hour long playlist for around three weeks. Duke students certainly take everything seriously, in-cluding music, as Loeffke adamantly explains “we only accept awe-some music.” Despite his playful rivalry, he can at least agree with the DJs at UNC-CH that planning a playlist can be stressful, espe-cially when homework is piling up. However, this work is hardly tedious and something he would probably be doing anyway.

There is a unique fellowship between all of the DJs at UNC-CH that is less evident at Duke since everyone involved with WXYC is or was a student. At Duke the station is relatively disconnected from the rest of campus and some DJs feel as if they really only get to know the people that come on in neighboring shifts.

Loeffke notes that people rarely spend free time at the station out-side of their shifts and meetings, something quite different from the experience of DJs at UNC-CH. However, this connection is quite an individual matter at both stations and WXDU makes a solid effort to host dance parties at Duke Coffeehouse, and other events that reach out to the student populace and give the staff a chance to interact. The two stations even join forces at least once a year in their annual kickball tournament, bridging any diversity in musical tastes with a friendly ball game.

Despite these discrepancies both stations share a sort of frenetic and youthful disorderliness that could only be found in college ra-dio. There is a sense of freedom and experimentation among the student DJs and community volunteers alike. College radio is typi-cally described as “freeform radio” as DJs are given almost com-plete control over what they play, despite university funding. As Santos notes, college radio tends to “cater to people that already are willing to listen to different music,” but certainly this music falls on receptive ears and the Triangle area is made all the better as both stations’ primary focus is on introducing listeners to worthwhile music.

Selecting the songs


WXYC’s Mary Santos’ playlist excerpt from Nov. 4, 2009

• J Dilla “Lightworks”• Little Boots “Stuck On

Repeat”• Lady GaGa “Bad

Romance” • Om “Thebes”• The Mountain Goats “1

Samuel 15:23”• New Order “Bizarre Love

Triangle”• a-ha “Take On Me” • Sleigh Bells “A/B

Machines”• David Bowie “Starman” • Girls “Summertime”

WXDU’s Marc Leoffke’s playlist excerpt from Oct. 25, 2009

• The Monks “Cuckoo”• Fe Fi Fo Fums “I Just Wanna Have

Some Fun!”• The Carbonas “Cold Waste”• LiveFastDie “Amputated”• Thee Headcoatees “Ca Plane Pour

Moi”• Redd Kross “I’m Alright”• Nobunny “Chuck Berry Holiday”• Shark Pants “Automatic Pinner”• Chinese Telephones “Basement

Child Super Rock Fun Go!”

Tune in: WXDU 88.7 FMWXYC 89.3 FM


In a college dorm room, where there’s hardly enough room or privacy to go around, it’s common for roommates to share just about every aspect of living.

But some students share a little too much with their unfortunate roommates – includ-ing their sex lives.

Stereotypes linking college dorm rooms with sex have been around just as long as

the sock-on-the-door cliché, the universal college signal that a sexual tryst is taking place inside. As if being “sexiled” – banished from the room so a roommate can follow those good old hormonal urges – wasn’t bad enough, some students are actually present when their roommate is having sex.

In response to significant complaints of this nature from on-campus residents last year,

Tufts University in Massachusetts recently instituted new regulations that prohibit sex acts in the dorm room while a roommate is present.

The University’s Office of Residential Life and Learning (ResLife) added the provision to its guest policy, which goes on to state that sexual activity in the room should not interfere in the privacy, sleep or study habits

The only thing worse than walking in on your roommate doing the deed is having your roommate walk in on you. Following Tufts Uni-versity’s recent regulations on sex, students and officials at Duke and UNC-CH have varying opinions about whether or not univer-sity policies should cover sex etiquette.

by clare white, unc-chdesign and photos by adrienne wollman, unc-ch

Control Yourself...at least while my roommate’s here.


of a roommate. ResLife enacted the new policy after a re-

view of the previous year’s trends indicated it was the most commonly cited source of conflict among roommates. First printed in the school’s 2009-10 handbook for students living on campus, the new policies have re-ceived significant media attention.

Tufts may be the first college in the nation to institute rules addressing the issue of sex in on-campus housing and what it means for roommates – at least in such explicit terms.

The new regulations at Tufts have also raised questions about whether other schools plan to implement similar regulations, or even if they should.

Currently, neither the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill nor Duke Uni-versity enforces any policies that would prohibit consensual sex by two adults in a dorm room. Both schools do address sexual misconduct relating to rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in their respective conduct guidelines.

Rick Bradley, the assistant director for Housing and Residential Education at UNC-CH, says that he is unaware of any existing UNC-CH regulations that resemble those implemented at Tufts.

However, UNC-CH also requires its on-campus dorm residents to fill out a room-

mate preference sheet when students sign a dorm contract. The sheet allows each room-mate to express his or her personal living preferences, which could include rules about sexual conduct.

“There are always general roommate com-plaints, but there has really never been any kind of widespread issue of that nature be-fore – at least in those clear of terms,” Brad-ley says of UNC-CH’s on-campus housing system.

“It doesn’t seem to be necessary here right

now, but if it becomes a concern down the road we will obviously reevaluate the issue.”

There are no plans by UNC-CH’s Housing and Residential Education officials to imple-ment any new rules prohibiting sexual activ-ity in the dorms any time soon.

“We try to address the broader issue of get-ting along with people and what that means,” Bradley says. “We expect students to behave as adults and have those conversations be-tween themselves just as they would in off-campus apartments and housing.”

Officials at Duke have responded similarly, stating that a new policy would only be con-sidered if there was enough student demand for it. So far, that has not been the case.

“From my experience working with stu-dents seeking reassignment, there have been only occasional situations where the room-mate’s guest or sexual habits were cited as a contributing factor to the decision to move,” says Jen Frank, the assistant director of ac-commodations at Duke.

Frank adds that the frequency of this problem would be hard to gauge, as the true reason is often not cited by students who are eager to leave unpleasant room-mate situations.

Joe Gonzalez, Duke’s associate dean for residential life, says he has dealt with few cases of roommate feuding that involved issues with sexual practices.

“While this type of situation is brought to our attention occasionally, it is usually done so as part of a broader roommate conflict situation,” says Gonzalez. “But our expec-tation is that a student should be able to be in his or her room anytime the student wishes to do so.”

Like UNC-CH’s use of preference sheets

“We try to address the broader issue of getting along with people and what that means. We expect students to behave as adults and have those conversations between themselves just they would in off-campus apartments and housing.” -Rick Bradley Assistant Director for Housing and Residential Education

to help students self-resolve conflicts, Duke requires that its first-year students sign a roommate agreement form. While sex is never explicitly mentioned in the contract, individuals may decide if that topic should be included and to what extent.

But many students find it hard to believe that such drastic measures are even needed to enforce proper sexual behavior among roommates.

“It just seems silly to me and unnecessary,” says Tim Thomson, a junior economics ma-jor at Duke from Knoxville, Tenn. “Maybe it could be an issue freshman year when you might not know the person, but after that, you are living with someone you’re friends with who respects you. It seems like it would be common courtesy.”

Thomson said he has rarely heard of in-stances where rules like that might have been needed, but other students who have fallen victim to their roommates’ lack of inhibition

may disagree.For Allie Hayes, a junior sociology major

at UNC-CH from Dallas, hearing a horror story about a close friend’s plight was enough to make her think defined restrictions might be necessary for some individuals.

Last year, one of Hayes’ close friends got into an uncomfortable situation with her boyfriend’s roommate when he walked in on them during sex.

“She and her boyfriend were in the middle of hooking up, and her boyfriend’s roommate came back completely smashed. He literally collapsed on the bottom bunk in between my friend and her boyfriend and wanted to ‘cuddle’ with them,” Hayes says.

Such an uncomfortable incident may have been avoided if there had been better com-munication and clearer boundaries between the two.

Hayes thinks that while such instances are mainly isolated, there is some value in con-sidering the benefits of such rules.

“I think there is just a level of respect that isn’t always there, but that could be enforced with some kind of official policy,” Hayes says. “That being said, I don’t know many people who would be want to make a big deal about complaints that come up during a room-mate’s late-night booty call, at least in legal terms. It would be too embarrassing.”

Good communication among roommates seems to be a key way to prevent situations where one is subjected to the other’s inap-propriate behavior. Promoting this type of roommate interaction is something that could be done without imposing specific campus guidelines regulating sex.

Better communication and active owner-ship about personal sexual health are two things that Duke Education Leaders in Sexu-al Health (DELISH), a peer education group

at the University, promote. Lindsey Bickers Bock, a health education

specialist in the Office of Health Promotion and a representative for DELISH, believes that taking active ownership of your own sexuality is an important component in dis-cussions about sexual health and roommate boundaries.

“We know sex is a healthy and important aspect of living, so we need to encourage open conversations about it,” Bickers Bock says. “So we can be comfortable with telling a roommate, ‘Hey this is not cool to be doing while I’m around’.”

Other concerns with implementing such regulations on sexual activity have to do with their enforceability.

Even Tufts’ office of ResLife has made it clear that the new regulations have more to do with initiating discussion and coopera-

tion between roommates than actually pro-hibiting behavior.

The broad terms of the Tufts’ policy also make it difficult to define what constitutes a violation of the rule. If sexual activities are disrupting a roommate’s privacy, sleep or study habits, is it OK to lock him or her out of the room for that purpose? The ambiguity of the policy may also discourage students from reporting violations.

Students may also refrain from reporting violations of policy because they believe it is not a university’s place to regulate such intimate behavior.

Liz Deane, a junior economics and peace, war and defense major at UNC-CH from St. Louis, says she thinks that such a regulation would be pointless since most people work out roommate issues on their own.

“I feel that for most people that kind of sit-uation would never even arise,” Deane says. “But even if it did, how many people would

actually report a roommate? You have to live with that person, that person’s probably a friend. It would be awkward to go back and live with someone after you basically made it clear to everyone they can’t control them-selves while you’re in the room.”

Whether it’s a problem related to sexual is-sues or not, it’s important to remember that mutual respect for living preferences and open communication are an important way to prevent roommate conflicts of any kind.

Roommate bonding can be an important part of living in a college dorm, but walking in on a roommate in the middle of an or-gasm may not be the best way to strengthen a relationship.


“She and her boyfriend were in the middle of hooking up, and her boyfriend’s roommate came back completely smashed. He literally collapsed on the bottom bunk

inbetween my friend and her boyfriend and wanted to ‘cuddle’ with them.” -Allie Hayes Student, UNC-CH


Roommates SPEAK UP and SHARE ALL

“ It was after a date function at my boyfriend’s fraternity [at Duke] and it was right after we started dating. We (the girlfriends) didn’t know it but the two boys had made a plan to just share the room because they couldn’t decide who would get it afterwards. So we walk in and there is a big sheet splitting the room down the middle. They tried to act like it was a wall, but it was so awkward because we kept talking to each other through the wall. We’d be like, “We can hear you.” all night.

–Claudia, UNC ‘11”One time I had sex when my roommate was asleep, he didn’t know and it hasn’t been a problem. Other times, our system is as follows: one of us will walk in the room and if two people are having sex... we leave them alone making sure they know where the dental dams are located. Then the roomate calls the other once he is done. This is usally are around 3 a.m. and that is how us Duke gentlemen do things.

- Hugh, Duke ‘13

“”


Entering the season, the Duke University men’s basketball team has three scholarship guards on the roster. If two of the men get hurt, what is Coach K to do? Well, he could take a page out of the Duke Swim Club’s book and use players from the women’s team.

“We had two guys that dropped out of a race,” says Brett Josephson, president of the Duke Swim Club and a senior biomedical engineering major from Chicago. “And there was a girl named Caroline and she wanted to swim with the men.”

So, Caroline Rodriguez put on her cap and took position in the water.

“She actually scored and beat some guys,” Josephson says.

To be clear, Rodriruez actually should have been disqualified, but since it was a backstroke race, the swimmers started in the water instead of from the diving blocks. The officials just never noticed her.

“She just swam the event for fun since our guy who was supposed to be entered

couldn’t make the meet. She was excited that she was able to beat some guys,” says Josephson.

Beating people is something that both clubs are used to, as the teams have finished near the top at meets this semester.

“We generally have a pretty strong team,” says Aaron Roberts, UNC-CH Swim Club vice president and a senior exercise and sports science major from Cincinnati. “North Carolina is a good swimming state in general.”

According to Roberts, the UNC-CH Swim Club has won the North Carolina regional competition the past two years and finished second at nationals two years ago.

Roberts also mentioned that the UNC-CH Swim Club usually beats Duke, who did finish a respectable fifth at the 2008 nationals.

Both teams expect to compete for high finishes at the upcoming nationals in spring 2010.

“I’m feeling really good about nationals,”

says Josephson. “We have a lot of dedicated [first-year] and senior holdover from last year.”

UNC-CH, which also has a good blend of leadership and first-year students, is feeling the same confidence. Roberts says a lot of the newcomers are still in a competitive mode from high school, allowing them to contribute immediately to the team.

Nationals will be held April 17-18 in Atlanta, according to the American Swimming Association’s University League, of which both teams are a part.

Josephson should be especially excited about a return trip to Atlanta.

In March 2009, Duke had a swim meet at Georgia Tech where they competed in the pool used at the 1996 Olympic Games.

It was the coolest place the Duke Swim Club had ever gone for a meet, says Josephson.

But the best trip ever – Josephson says that belongs to the week that the Duke Swim Club spent in Puerto Rico. The team went

Against the CurrentDuke and UNC-CH club swim teams share their waves of adventure with Rival sports writer Evan SandovalBy Evan Sandoval, UNC-CHDesign By Amanda Michelson, UNC-CHPhotos By Brad Piland, UNC-CH

over winter break last year for training.“We submitted an application for the

‘Dream Trip,’” says Josephson. The Dream Trip scholarship is awarded to

one club sports team per year at Duke and gives members the opportunity to travel somewhere cool and train, Josephson says.

He said the Dream Trip reward paid for two-thirds of all the team’s expenses to Puerto Rico and the rest came out of team members’ pockets. The money from the University comes from the Gorter Fund, which was founded by the Gorter family whose son was killed in an accident. Their son was very involved in club sports so the family contributes to the sports club funds.

Josephson and the other 23 members certainly appreciated the reward as they were able to train in a 50-meter, outdoor pool in the middle of winter in the warm Puerto Rican weather.

The UNC-CH Swim Club may have not traveled to an exotic location like Puerto Rico, but they have been in a hot tub large enough to hold 50 people.

The giant hot tub is located at the

University of Virginia in the school’s natatorium, which Roberts says was one of his favorite places that the UNC-CH Swim Club has been.

All these trips help in creating camaraderie among the swimmers on the teams.

Roberts says that a lot of people make good friends on the team. He says people have even gone on to become roommates with other team members.

As president, Josephson said he tries to make the swim club a more close-knit group. The team throws a “welcome to the team” party at the beginning of the year, along with other parties throughout.

Both teams allow anyone to join, no matter his or her level of talent. The teams have some swimmers who dropped out from the varsity teams and people who just want to swim for fun.

Each club has around 50 members, but not all of them can make every practice and meet. Roberts and Josephson estimate that about 20 to 25 swimmers are really dedicated, coming to most practices and meets.

Anyone can choose which event they want to swim in, says Josephson. But, “if the number of spots is limited, officers choose

who swims based on who is the most dedicated and who has the best times.”

Speaking of dedication, the 2009 ASAU nationals were held at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. The meets took place April 4-5, which happened to be same time as another important event for UNC-CH students: the Final Four in Detroit.

“We were waiting for our heat and there was like ten minutes until the game, so we

just left,” says Roberts.The game was UNC-CH vs. Villanova;

what they left was their final meet of the day.

The team crowded together at a Buffalo Wild Wings and watched the game, says Molly Tesch, president of UNC-CH Swim

Club.Tesch says “The locals were surprised to

see a bunch of UNC kids in Ohio. It was a lot of fun though, and the other teams were all excited for us the next day at the meet.”

“We have had multiple experiences where we had to rush away from meets to watch basketball games,” adds Tesch.

Now that is real dedication.


“I’m feeling really good about nationals. We have a lot of dedicated [first-year] and senior holdover from last year.” -Brett Josephson, Duke Swim Club President


out of the BLUE............By the Book:

Film analysis

UNC-CH DUKECourse name: FilmAnalysis IntroductiontoFilmStudiesCourse number: ENGL142 ENGL101A

Professor: Dr.GregoryFlaxman Dr.NegarMottahedeh

Offered in spring Yes No2010:

Required texts: 1book+Blackboardreadings 3books+E-reservereadings+Blackboardreadings Number of papers: 4 3+blogposts+Wikientries

Number of quizzes: 5 0

Number of exams: 2 2

Course grade: Twoexams30% Writtenworkandpresentations70% Quizzes10% Participation30% Papers45% Recitation15%

Number of pages 2 8in syllabus:

Attendance Noattendancetakenforlecture Allowed2absencesbeforegradeisloweredpolicy: Allowed1absencefromrecitation

Films covered: -”ModernTimes” -”Amelie” -”AManEscaped” -”FightClub” -”LostinTranslation” -”CinemaParadiso” -”SingingintheRain” -”SleeplessinSeattle” -”TheShining” -”Cache” -”Stagecoach” -”VisionsofLight” -”TheBattleshipPotemkin” -”Suspicions” -”CitizenKane” -”RearWindow” -”AllthePresident’sMen” -”Vertigo” -”TheThinRedLine” -”Detour” -”NorthbyNorthwest” -”Chinatown” -”Psycho” -”Kiss,Kiss,Bang,Bang” -”TheBicycleThief ” -”ManwiththeMovieCamera” -”BattleofAlgiers” -”CitizenCane” -”LasMaitreFous“ -”TriumphoftheWill” -”Casablanca” -”Breathless”


Thetown-gownrelationshipinChapelHilljustgotalittlemoreinsightthankstoMayorMarkKleinschmidt.Afterservingeightyearsonthetowncouncil,thisUNC-CHalumnuswasrecentlyelectedmayorofChapelHill.Kleinschmidtsaysheencouragesallstudentstofindissuestocareaboutandstartputtingtheirvaluestoworkbyactuallytakingstepstomakingrealchange.“Onceyougetyourfeetwet,it’snotabigleaptogettinginvolvedonapolicylevel,”Kleinschmidtsays.AndnowastheexecutivedirectoroftheFairTrialInitiativeinDurham,Kleinschmidtisdoingjustthatasheworkstoensurefairnessfordefendantsfacingthedeathpenalty.By:JessicaStringer,UNC-CH

TomiAdewale,aNigerianativewhogrewupinPittsburgh,spendsalotoftimeinherroom.InspiredbyanelectronicmusiccourseandherDukeinNewYorkexperience,shemixeselectronicmusiconhercomputer.Aseniorhistorymajor,AdewalebrokeintoDuke’smusicsceneduringherfirstyearwhensheformedTheAJENCY.TheAJENCYperformedfor“EastCampusIdol”andpracticedsoofteninPegram’scommonroomthatpeoplebegantomemorizetheirsongsandtapalongwithpoolsticks.AdewaleisnowasoloartistwhohopestofilmandcomposeananimatedmovieaboutBerlin,Germany.By:EmilyMcGinty,Duke

TocallEricaEisdorferabookwormwouldbeanunderstatement.For30years,EisenhowerhasspentherdayssurroundedbybooksasthemanageratBull’sHeadBookstore.Thissummer,shejoinedtheranksofherfavoriteauthorswhenshewroteabooktitled“TheWetNurse’sTale.”Setinpre-VictorianEngland,Eisdorfer’sheroineSusanRoseworksforarichfamily,doingtheworkthatwomenhavedoneforcenturies.Luckilytoday,Eisdorfersayswomencanchoosetoworkanywheretheywant,evenifitmeansleavingDuke,acampusthatshegrewupon—becauseherfatherwasaprofessorthere—andcomingtoUNC-CH.EisdorfersaystheBull’sHeadhassoldquiteafewcopiesofherbookandthathavingareadingofherbookthereinSeptemberwasveryspecial.“It’sbeenalovelyreception,”Eisdorfersays.“Itwasadreamcometrue.”By:JessicaStringer,UNC-CH

NanjeCaihua,aseniorculturalanthropologymajoratDuke,ismorethanastudent,hecomesfromalonglineofyakherdersinTibet.Hegrewupinayak-hairtepeetent,whichhesharedwithhisextendedfamily.CaihuasaysthatinTibetyaksarehisfamily’sprimaryresource.“Wegetmostofourfoodfromthem:milk,cheese,butter,andmeat.Wealsohavetosellacoupleofyakseachyeartogetsomeincomesothatwecanbuyotherfamilynecessities,”Caihuasays.“Theyarealsoourpets.”WhenCaihuaisnotherdingyaks,heishelpingthecommunityinandaroundDukebywritinggrantproposalsforsolarenergyprojectsandforstudentswhocan’taffordeducationcostsinhishometown.By:KaitlinAtkinson,Duke

out of the BLUE............

RI ALRivalMagazine.woRdpRess.coM

December 2009

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