April 12, 2004

Carolina in the News

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:

International News Coverage

RIAA Says Study Falls Short
Reuters international wire service (U.K.)
The Recording Industry Assn. of America is questioning the results of a recent academic study on illegal downloading....The new study, conducted by two professors at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina, is steeped in complex statistical equations.

National Coverage

Paying For College
U.S. News & World Report
Right about now, the only thing that many high school seniors are focused on is whether the admissions letters popping up in their mailboxes say yes or no.,,,At the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, undergrads from low-income families who complete 10 to 12 hours a week of work on campus will receive a full-tuition grant.

Astronomers to debut Andes telescope after 18-year quest
National Associated Press
Astronomers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill this week will mark 18 years of work and dreams by powering up a world-class telescope atop a ridge in South America's Andes Mountains.
Note: This Associated Press article appeared on a number of national media outlet websites including CNN and USA Today. The story originated Sunday from an extensive report in The News & Observer (see link below under State and Local News.

No Half Wits
ABC News
Some people probably suspected the math whiz from grade school wasn't in his right mind. Apparently he wasn't - he was in his right and his left mind...."There's a lot of interest in how training and learning can affect the brain's functional organization and structure," says Dr. Heidi Roth, assistant professor and cognitive neurologist at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Department of Neurology.

In Mental Health, a Question of Balance
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The academic research projects financed by the National Institute of Mental Health may well include the most eclectic mix of any of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health...."There's probably a little bit of exaggeration and dramatization" in Dr. Torrey's reports about the mental-health institute, says Jeffrey A. Lieberman, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Shock Away Tendonitis
Ivanhoe Newswire
Every year millions of Americans seek treatment for tendonitis. It occurs when a tendon near a joint becomes inflamed. Treatment is often difficult and recovery can be long. Now, a new approach relieves the pain of this common condition...."Numerous clinical studies have shown it to be effective in managing a wide variety of tendonopathy and chronic tendonitis syndromes," says orthopaedic surgeon Spero Karas, M.D., of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Two legislators to push to allow sports betting
The Philadelphia Inquirer
When it comes to sports betting, the federal government has stacked the odds against New Jersey....Nevada gaming interests would likely lobby against Atlantic City's gaining another casino attraction, said Koleman Strumpf, an economics professor at the University of North Carolina who has studied sports betting.
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State & Local Coverage

New telescope is light at end of 18-year quest
The News & Observer
After 18 years of dreaming and scheming, UNC-Chapel Hill astronomers will power up a world-class telescope Friday atop a skinny ridge in the Andes Mountains. The telescope, with a mirror more than 13 feet wide, is powerful enough to explore a universe yielding secrets like never before. It propels UNC-CH into a new research league.

UNC staff seeks pay raise for next year
The Herald Sun
The plight of the underpaid state employee is certainly not a new issue; it's been a topic of considerable discussion around this college town for several years now....Frustrated, UNC's Employee Forum has raised the stakes with a resolution that not only supports the concept of employee raises, but lays out some specific guidelines too.

Carolina North may face obstacle
The News & Observer
The plans for Carolina North, the research park that UNC-Chapel Hill proposes to build nearly two miles north of the main campus, make one major assumption: that Horace Williams Airport will close early next year.

Council needs to open talks with UNC (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
At some point, Chapel Hill and UNC officials simply will have to talk to each other about Carolina North. Both parties have too much riding on the project to postpone the start of the conversation until the day the university files a permit application.

Fire safety, brother (Editorial)
The News & Observer
A lot of excuses are being offered for why some of those who live in fraternity houses at UNC-Chapel Hill don't seem to realize the importance of fire safety:

There's no excuse for fire safety violations (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
It was a day that dawned bright and sunny, but it ended as one of the darkest days in this community's history....The university, on the other hand, is somewhat constrained and does not have much control, since the fraternity houses are privately owned and off campus.

UNC fraternity had trouble-prone alarm (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer
Your April 8 article "UNC frats lax about fire safety" included a photo of Delta Kappa Epsilon with the caption "Fire alarm system -- including backup power supply -- was deactivated." That's not quite the whole story.

Channels exist for addressing in-class hate speech (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
One point defenders of Elyse Crystall, the UNC lecturer who publicly chastised a student who voiced an objection to homosexuality, have made is that the university doesn't tell instructors how to deal with an in-class outbreak of hate speech.

Experts address textile issues
News 14 (Time Warner, Raleigh)
Textile layoffs continue to punish rural North Carolina and it could get worse. Some economists believe another 100,000 jobs could be shipped overseas by 2012 but the layoffs are affecting more than the employees....Researchers hope the conference will spur further studies and help inform legislators.

Census finds residents fleeing Eastern N.C.
The News & Observer
Census estimates released Thursday underscore the economic malaise visiting Eastern North Carolina, confirming that many people are abandoning large parts of the region....Jim Johnson, a demographer at UNC-Chapel Hill, blames the loss on the region's dismal job market.

UNC study pushes fat formula
The News & Observer
As obesity swells to a super-sized health threat, a new study finds many North Carolina doctors use the wrong tool to determine which children are overweight....Pediatricians are more likely to use height and weight charts to assess whether a child is obese or at risk of becoming obese, a UNC-Chapel Hill survey found. But they are more likely to identify a problem using a mathematical formula called a body mass index.

Study tests healing ability of massage
The News & Observer
Joseph Palmer calls massage the No. 1 treatment in the world....The massage project falls under a partnership with UNC-Chapel Hill and is funded by the National Institutes of Health and its National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.

Celebrating the written word
The News & Observer
Randall Kenan is a man of the literary world. A writer of fiction and nonfiction, he has taught at Sarah Lawrence and Columbia University, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill, and the universities of Mississippi and Memphis....."The quality of the participation with the local community is really rare," says Kenan, who is back at UNC-CH, his alma mater, as a writing professor.

Harlem poet will hold UNC residency
The Chapel Hill Herald
It took a detour for Willie Perdomo to discover the poet who would change his life.....Perdomo, in town this week for an artist's residency at UNC, will introduce a film about Thomas: "Every Child is Born a Poet: The Life and Work of Piri Thomas," on Tuesday as part of his residency.

Volunteer doctor distinguished by compassion
The Herald Sun
For Dr. Tim Carey, practicing internal medicine isn't enough. Neither is instructing medical students or researching health-care systems.,,,Carey works at UNC Hospitals, teaches at both the UNC School of Medicine and School of Public Health and directs the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research.

Auditor faults UNC's bidding
The News & Observer
UNC-Chapel Hill hired a company to pressure-wash Kenan Stadium without going through proper competitive bidding, State Auditor Ralph Campbell says.

Business-park expansion may cost $70 million
The Winston Salem Journal
When business and city officials presented plans for the proposed research and development building at the Piedmont Triad Research Park on Thursday, it marked a big step in the park's development....The research park is "absolutely" progressing at a rate similar to other technology parks its size, said Michael Luger, the director of the Office of Economic Development for the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.

Issues and Trends

Straight A's Can Hurt a College Education
The New York Times
You can't blame the undergraduates at the nation's most selective colleges for feeling confused....They started building their résumés in high school, or even earlier, for entry into the top colleges that they had been led to believe would assure their future happiness. Following the advice of school guidance counselors, college admissions consultants and parents, they worked relentlessly to amass all the right academic and extracurricular credentials.

Curry has a wish list
The News & Observer
JamesOn Curry, whose basketball scholarship offer from North Carolina was withdrawn after he pleaded guilty to drug charges, said Thursday night that he still wants to join a Division I program.

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, please call Russell Campbell at News Services, (919) 962-2091, russell_campbell@unc.edu, or Mike McFarland in University Communications, mike_mcfarland@unc.edu

Note: Web links on this page are time-sensitive, so stories might not be available after the day they first appeared.