Duke student Drew Everson had been drinking before he died in an accidental fall in October.

According to a toxicology report released Friday, Everson had a blood-alcohol content of .133. In North Carolina, .08 is the point at which you're considered legally intoxicated.

Everson had been out with friends but went his own way and wasn't seen again until he was found behind the student union on Duke's East Campus. He was found at the foot of a steep, concrete stairwell behind the building. He later died.

According to a medical examiner's report, he died of blunt trauma to the head as the result of a fall.

His organs were donated, according to the medical examiner's report.

"The medical examiner's report released today provides finality to the extensive investigation by the Duke Police, which has concluded that Drew Everson’s death occurred as a result of an accidental fall into an open stairwell," said Michael Schoenfeld, a Duke spokesman. "The Duke community is deeply saddened by this tragedy and continues to mourn Drew's death.  His legacy at Duke will be long-lasting, and we offer our thoughts and prayers to Drew's many family and friends."

Everson, 21, was a popular student who friends said had an uncanny knack for bringing people together. The university held a memorial service to honor him in Duke Chapel; it attracted more than 1,000 mourners.

Duke has found a new way to go global: By sending its basketball broadcast to China.

The university will broadcast its Jan. 15 men's basketball game against Virginia in Mandarin Chinese.

(Image courtesy theduckstop.net)

The free broadcast will be available both live and on-demand at GoDuke.com Inside Access, and marks the first time in ACC history that a game has been broadcast in Chinese, according to a Duke news release.

Duke undergraduate student announcers Yunze Chen, John Sheng and Jesse Sun will call the action live from inside Cameron Indoor Stadium at 2 p.m. Eastern Standard Time/. That's 3 a.m. China Standard Time, for those hearty souls hoping to tune in.

Duke is home to more than 1,000 current students, faculty and staff from China, and more than 600 Duke alumni live in China.

Duke’s presence in China includes executive MBA residencies, DukeEngage sites, study abroad opportunities, global health and medical research projects, and numerous faculty research and engagement programs. In 2010, Duke announced plans for a campus to be built in partnership with the city of Kunshan, China. The campus is currently under construction and expected to be completed in the summer of 2012.

“Given the university’s footprint in China, Duke Basketball’s international brand, and the popularity of coach Mike Krzyzewski overseas following the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, this is a logical and intriguing step to take,” said Jon Jackson, Duke’s associate director of athletics for university and public affairs. “We are excited to merge campus and athletics resources to deliver Duke Basketball to a much larger audience.”

For months now, the N&O has been writing about the curious case of Anil Potti, the now-disgraced cancer researcher whose work at Duke has come under serious scrutiny within his profession.

Potti left Duke in November following revelations that he padded his resume and published findings now being retracted.

In today's paper, reporter Sarah Avery introduces you to Joyce Shoffner of Raleigh, who was enrolled in one of Potti's clinical trials and is less than enthused by how the university has handled it.

Shoffner provides a human face to this ongoing saga. She says treatment she received through Potti's clinical trial complicated her medical situation.

Duke has received a $5 million gift to support academics at its law school.

The gift comes from Stanley and Elizabeth Star, longtime donors to the school. Stanley Star, a 1961 graduate of the law school, is the formal principal of Cliffstar Corp. which began as his family's 19th century winery and became a top private-label juice manufacturer.

The $5 million gift, announced Friday, will support faculty, student scholarships, law school programs and other initiatives.

Previously, the Stars donated funds to help launch the school's Law and Entrepreneurship LLM program, which debuted in August. And in 2004, the couple gave $3 million to create the Star Commons, a law school gathering spot.

Stanley Star is a member of the school's board of visitors and previously co-chaired its building campaign committee.

Newsflash: Duke is popular.

The university reports today that more than 29,500 high school seniors have applied this year, eclipsing the previous record by 10 percent.

Best of luck to them. They're vying for a seat in a class of about 1,700 new students this fall.

The previous record was set a year ago. In fact, this marks the fourth straight year in which the total applications number has set a record. In the last three years, Duke's total number of applicants has swelled 54 percent.

“We’re gratified by the interest we’re seeing nationwide and worldwide in Duke,” Dean of Undergraduate Admissions Christoph Guttentag said in a news release. “We’re also humbled; these are exceptional young women and men, and our challenge will be to understand which ones, individually and as a group, will represent the best match for Duke."

More than 60 percent of applicants are seeking need-based financial aid, Guttentag added.

From the news release:

The current number of high school seniors applying to be part of Duke’s Class of 2015 is 29,526. Of that number, 24,307 have applied to the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences (a 10.8 percent increase over last year), while 5,219 have applied to the Pratt School of Engineering (a 7.7 percent increase). The final number of applicants is expected to increase slightly as applications submitted by mail are received.

California again provided the largest number of applicants, with New York second and North Carolina a close third.The greatest growth among applicants in recent years has been among students from the West Coast and from overseas.

The applicant pool is fairly evenly divided between males and females.

Among students of color, the greatest increases were among Latino students and students of Asian descent. Admissions decisions will be made available to applicants online in early April.

From correspondent Virginia Bridges

Changes to Duke University and Duke University Health System employees’ insurance plans will reduce the choices and quality of medical care in the area, physicians told the Durham County Commissioners today.

Representatives from Triangle Orthopedic Associates, Durham Internal Medicine, Regional Neurosurgery and other businesses said changes that took effect Jan. 1 prevent Duke employees from seeing a number of physicians in the Durham Regional Hospital network. The change could result in patients paying out-of-pocket expenses, or changing to doctor unfamiliar with their care, they said.
Duke employs about 34,000 people.

Kyle Cavanaugh, Duke vice president for human resources, said the change didn’t target Durham Regional, but sought to bring the system in compliance with national health care reform.   

“We are just like every other employer in the nation. We have gone through a number of different changes in our health care plan in an effort to provide competitive benefits and manage our costs,” he said.

Commissioners Chairman Michael Page said county leaders will investigate whether the changes violate provisions in Duke’s contract to lease Durham Regional. 

We wil have more on this story as it develops. If you would like to speak to a reporter, please contact Virginia Bridges at virginiabridges@gmail.com. 

On Nov. 15, Duke President Richard Brodhead wrote a letter to students, urging better behavior and a broader embrace of values and good behavior.

It was an unusual move. Students aren't accustomed to hearing from their president or being gently chided by him.

The letter was far from scathing. Prompted by a succession of embarrassing incidents, it suggested that Duke's image was being distorted but asked students to "face up" to behavior they feel isn't appropriate.

Was Brodhead being a strong leader by sending this letter? No way, argues Jay Schalin of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.

Writing on the Pope Center's website today, Schalin interprets Brodhead as being irritated rather than outraged by the misbehavior of some of his curent and former students.

He writes in part:

The email does not convey a deep concern by Brodhead for the students’ self-destructive behavior, but rather his irritation that their antics are getting in the way of the school’s image. Nor is there any outraged call for serious culture change on campus—just a timid suggestion that students change their ways. And it demonstrated a lack of leadership; his administration should be out in front on this issue, not merely willing to “cooperate with you [the student body] fully.”

What do you think?

Click here for some background and to read the entire letter.
 

Rodney Purvis, one of the top high school basketball point guards in the Class of 2012, ended his college recruitment on Friday when he announced he will sign with the University of Louisville.

"My mind was made up about three weeks ago when I visited Louisville," Purvis said Saturday. "I just waited a while to make sure I didn't change my mind."

A Duke professor who made national headlines last year in announcing plans to turn grading over to her students has been nominated by President Barack Obama to a position on the National Council on the Humanities.

Cathy N. Davidson is the Ruth F. DeVarney Professor of English and the John Hope Franklin Humanities Institute Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke. She was vice provost from 1998 through 2006.

She also is co-founder of the Humanities, Arts, Sciences and Technology Advance Collaboratory, a network of educators dedicated to learning in the digital age.

The National Council on the Humanities helps advise the National Endowment for the Humanities, which makes grants to support the arts and humanities.
 
Last year, Davidson decided to challenge her students in her interdisciplinary "This is Your Brain on the Internet" course by giving them the power to evaluate each other.

They all got A's. But as you'll read in this profile, Davidson believes they were challenged far more than if she taught the class in a more traditional way.

At Duke, some enterprising graduate students found a clever way to register their distaste for bonuses paid to top executives with Duke's health system and investment management company.

Dressed as Depression-era fruit sellers and paperboys, a handful of students mocked the high pay through a faux fundraiser.

The students were registering their disagreement with bonuses, revealed on federal tax forms, paid to several higher-ups. The students criticized the payments, saying they came while the university was freezing pay and reducing campus resources.

Duke officials, however, say the criticism is misinformed. The compensation, they say, is contractually obligated and linked to work performance years ago.

Here's the story.