Duke University Alumni Magazine

"The federal government, in the future as in the past, must provide support for conserving and needy college students, This is an essential investment in our extraordinary human capital.... "Our future will also depend on sustained federal investment in the government-university partnership in science and technology. Scaling back our nation's investment in science and research runs counter to our very purpose of balancing the budget: strengthening the economy and ensuring a prosperous future for our country."

"In shifting to a managed care environment, our nation has gone from a system in which the financial incentives were to provide as much care as possible to one in which the incentives are to provide as little interven- tion as possible, Both incentives are flawed."
-- Chancellor for Health Affairs Ralph Snyderman, in a January Washington Post op-ed piece titled "The HMO Hazzard: How the quest for short-term profits may undermine our whole health-care system"

"I am a long way from being retired, I will take the future as it comes,"
-- Terry Sanford, Duke president emeritus, former U.S. senator, and former North Carolina governor, in a Chronicle interview on the publication of his fourth book, Outlive Your Enemies Grow Old Gracefully

"Go to hell Carolina! Go to hell Carolina. Go to hell Carolina. Go to hell Carolina! Go to hell Carolina, Go to hell Carolina. Go to hell Carolina!
"Enough said."
-- The last two of fourteen paragraphs, of varying lengths, comprising The Chronicle's January 30 editorial, '80 - '73, Dukes Without question, still the best," the day after the Blue Devils beat the Tar Heels in Cameron

We asked a dozen undergraduates:
President Clinton has proposed an income-tax credit program that would require college students to maintain a "B" average. Do you think this would affect academic achievement in a positive or negative way?

Positive: 4
Negative: 8

     Show me the money, but don't: attach strings, our poll indicates. Even those in favor of the president's education initiative can't get past that "B" requirement."I think it would discourage students from going to better colleges, where they would be in a lower percentile," worns sophomore Janelle Weaver. Senior Sarah Cairncy says,"In a place like Duke, it's hard to maintain a 'B' average,"

     "I've been reading about motivation, and rewards like this don't help," declares sophomore Aileen Haggerty. "They'll just take easier courses." Another sophomore, Heather Wasserstrom, fears grade intlation (echoing some of the worries faculty faced during the Vietnam War era): "Teachers may feel prcssure to give higher grades to students so that they can stay in school."

     Junior Will Miller says, "a 'B-' might be better, but they should maintain some sort of standard" "The governmcnt shouldn't pay for people to get on education if they are not going to get an education," says junior Arii Bassin.

     Kelly Lorch, a senior, favors such standards: "I think a 'B' average gives you enough leeway to take difficult courses as well as balance out your schedule with courses that may seem easier but are actually of a higher educational value." Another senior, Emily Hassell, sees the tax-credit offer as the equivalent of a merit scholarship, "I think that a scholarship is an investment of faith in youth, so it is good thing try say you must have good grades to receive one," she says. "If we don't set limits, why give scholarships!"

What are campus readers buying in 1997? The Gothic Bookshop's Gerry Eidenier gave us this top-ten list of bestsellers; 1. Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. The antiwar classic uses the character of Billy Pilgrim and the World War II Dresden fire-bombing to reflect on man's inhumanity. The author spoke in Page Auditorium in February as part of the Duke Major Speakers program. 2. The Chapel, With photos by Richard Cheek and an introduction by Reynolds Price '55, this remains a top seller at the Gothic, 3. The Runaway Jury by John Grisham, Once again, the jury becomes the center of attention, especially Juror Number Two, who has planned every move with the help of a beautiful woman.

4. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. The movie, released this winter, brought many readers in looking for the book, which The New York Times has called "A tale of many pleasures -- an intensely theatrical tour de force," 5. Crossing water by Florence Nash A.M, '94. This lovely book of poetry, reviewed in this issue of Duke Magazine, is by a research analyst at Duke Medical Center. 6. The Bride's Passage: Susan Hathorn's Year Under Sail by Catherine Petroski, The author, an independent scholar who lives in Durham, has close connections to Duke, Her story on researching the journal of a sea-captain's wife appears in Duke Magazine's January-February issue, 7. The Third and Only Way: Reflections on Staying Alive by Helen Bevington. This lyrical, literary autobiography by the Duke professor emeritus cof English was reviewed in Duke Magazine's January-February issue,

8. The Launching of Duke University, 1924-1949 by Robert Durden, This is the latest book by the Duke professor, a historian of the Liuke family and of the object of the Dukes' educational largesse, Trinity and Duke. 9. DoubleTake. This new and well- received journal of photographs and essays is published by Duke's Center for Documentary Studies, The New York Times says it "is so full of humanity that you will keep going back...to locok again," 10. The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould. The author, an evolutionary biologist and Harvard professor, "presents a fascinating historical study of scientific racism," according to Saturday Review.

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