WHERE THE GRASS IS GREENER... To chained-to-East freshmen, the grass may look greener on the idyllic West Campus quads. But to freshmen and upperclassmen alike, the grass fields behind the East Campus Bell Tower just look... shaggy.
The unkempt lawns are not part of a plan to authenticate East's 18th-century style architecture with of-the-era landscaping. Rumor has it that when contractors rebuilt the sidewalks behind the new freshman dormitory, they inadvertantly regraded the surrounding hill at too steep an angle. The problem? Facilities staff can't mow the slippery slopes or get down to the grass field below.
"They're supposed to make a new gate in the fence on the other side where the incline is not as steep so they can mow," said sophomore and Chronicle columnist Elizabeth Rudisill, a sax player who practices weekly on the fields with the marching band. "But they haven't done anything at all yet."
And until they do, band members will continue to brave the hazards of the natural world. Sticks, potholes and that pesky steepness are everywhere, they say. "It's just not flat," Rudisill said.
The silver lining? The prospects for competitive Marketplace-tray sledding have never looked better.
GOODBYE DURHAM, WITH LOVE... She may have been planning it for months, but Karen Krahulik's decision to depart from her position as the head of the LGBT Center-announced the day undergraduate classes began-came as somewhat of a surprise to the rest of the campus.
"I was looking for a job that would offer me a bit of a promotion," Krahulik said, adding that she will work as dean of students at Brown University. "Also, I was offered a position that was less marginalized than the one that I was in."
Working with a fringe cultural group, Krahulik said, was routinely difficult. She described Duke in 1999-the year she was hired-as not being "based in a particularly gay-friendly or highly gay populated area."
Given the demanding nature of the job, she said she wanted a change before she experienced any burn-out. "It's always uphill work, and as much as I enjoy the challenge of it, I would like a position that offers less resistance," she said.
Her trek to Providence is also something of a homecoming. "I'm returning to my northern, Ivy-League roots," she said.
Here's your hat, Dr. Krahulik, but what's your hurry?
E = MC2 = $$$ We've heard the Physics department held a Relativity Contest Sept. 10, allowing select students to take an exam on the subject after a series of lectures. But the prize exceeded a few paltry extra-credit points or a low-res commemorative print-out: The top prize was $1,000. In cash.
And so while the rest of us were hung over from the early September debauchery that was Einstein Week-um, yeah-senior Abhijit Mehta was collecting. Now he'll be applying to graduate school, he says, on the department's dime-he's putting his winnings toward application fees and the GRE.
"I hope that students will take advantage of the events that the Society of Physics Students will be having this year to promote 2005, the [U.N.-designated] Year Of Physics," Mehta said.
If said events are anything like this one, Mehta may get his wish. Cha-ching.
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