April 13, 2005

Carolina in the News

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

National News Note

Bart Ehrman, chairman of the religious studies department, will be featured on "Dateline NBC" (WNCN-TV in the Triangle) tonight at 8. Ehrman will discuss his book "Truth and Fiction in `The Da Vinci Code.'

National Coverage

Will the aid be there?
U.S. News & World Report
Like many parents today, Dave and Pam McCorry of Mattawan, Mich., have scrimped, saved, and sacrificed to send their oldest son, Andrew, to college....And, like Princeton, which set the bar by eliminating all need-based loans in favor of grants back in 2001, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and Rice University no longer require low-income students to borrow money.

The Bully Blight Scientists find that getting picked on is more harmful than anyone knew
Time Magazine
Like most of her classmates at Washington High School in Milwaukee, Wis., La Shanda Trimble, 18, is attentive to fashion trends; it's the particular trend she chooses that sets her apart....According to Dr. William Coleman, professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, bullies are four times as likely as the average child to have engaged in criminal behavior by age 24; they also grow up deficient in social, coping and negotiating skills and are more likely to engage in substance abuse.

Sierra Club Revisits Issue of Immigration
The New York Times
A year after a bitter election for the board of the Sierra Club that focused on candidates' stands on immigration, the issue is now before the membership, this time as a ballot initiative....."We are fighting what we consider to be a hostile takeover," said J. Robert Cox, a former club president and a professor of communication studies at the University of North Carolina, who founded Groundswell Sierra and echoes his group's old rallying cry against the anti-immigration insurgents.
Registration required.

The Problem with "Pushing Back" (Commentary)
The National Review
During the 1990s, a number of events led observers to conclude that all was not well with civil-military relations in America....In the words of Richard Kohn, a distinguished professor of history at the University of North Carolina and one of the country's foremost experts on the nexus between civilians and the uniformed military in the United States, civil-military relations during this period were "extraordinarily poor, in many respects as low as in any period of American peacetime history."

Newspapers need focus on reader, editors told
Newsday
Buffeted by declining circulation numbers, increased pressure for profits and growing public mistrust, the newspaper industry is again roiled with angst about its long-term future.....Philip E. Meyer, a former executive at the Knight Ridder chain who teaches journalism at the University of North Carolina, said many newsrooms are starved for cash to develop new products and services that may be more relevant to readers than putting ink on paper.

Piracy suits arise after Internet2
The Associated Press (National)
The super-fast "Internet2" network that connects universities researching the next-generation Internet is also apparently popular among college students who download pirated music and movies....There are five university members of Internet2 in North Carolina: Duke University, EastCarolina University, N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill and Wake Forest University.

Regional Coverage

Abortion bill would mandate counseling
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)
A woman seeking an abortion would have to undergo professional counseling before the procedure could be performed under a bill filed by a St. Tammany Parish lawmaker....Bordlee, a lawyer and anti-abortion lobbyist, said a 2003 study by the University of North Carolina indicated that women who have abortions are three to six times more likely to commit or attempt to commit suicide than women who do not.

Southern Icons Are Changing With The Times (Commentary)
The Tampa Tribune
William Ferris stood on the creaky wooden planks and gazed at the plastic chairs and picnic tables under the mossy oaks of the Skipper Dome....The guy has a resume that stretches to Yale and a dozen points in between, including his current position as chief of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina.

State & Local Coverage

Heels draw praise, questions
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The ovations keep on coming for North Carolina, the 2005 NCAA men's basketball champion....A few blocks away at the Executive Mansion, Gov. Mike Easley presented each player with the Laurel Wreath Award. He also asked the team to join him in a toast -- clinking glasses of Orange Crush sent by Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

Time to celebrate, wait
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Five seniors from North Carolina's national champion basketball team offered funny, tearful, poignant goodbyes at the squad's awards ceremony Tuesday night.

A Capital Occasion
The Winston-Salem Journal
Gov. Mike Easley and the UNC basketball team offered Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich a special toast yesterday....Rand noted that before the NCAA tournament, Time magazine ranked the teams scholastically in what it called "The Smart 16." The teams in the final were Michigan State and UNC.

A win for the ages (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
What a lovely surprise! It never occurred to us that we, because of our advanced ages -- 80 and 77 -- would be honored guests on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill right after the big game. Over and over, students came up to us to thank us for being there supporting the school, the basketball team and the students by our presence.

Carrboro eyes link with UNC 'brains'
The Chapel Hill Herald
Town officials are hoping its proximity to Chapel Hill will help make it a hot spot for UNC brains.

Sage of Pope money has no winners (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
Perhaps it's a good thing that the John William Pope Foundation has decided not to fund a Western cultures program at UNC. The decision, made at the end of last week, apparently ends what had been a bitter argument that was not guaranteed to have any winner.
Note: This editorial is not currently available online.

UNC to air student concerns with Aramark
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC officials will soon meet with representatives of the private company that runs the university's dining halls. When they do, they'll tote a small handful of student concerns with them.

Students plan Moeser stakeout
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Students at UNC-Chapel Hill continued to push Tuesday for a meeting with Chancellor James Moeser about their concerns over treatment of campus of food-service workers.

UNC `Da Vinci Code' expert on TV
The Charlotte Observer
Bart Ehrman, chairman of the religious studies department at UNC-Chapel Hill, will be featured on "Dateline NBC" (WCNC-6) tonight at 8. Ehrman will discuss his book "Truth and Fiction in `The Da Vinci Code.' " Ehrman's book identifies 10 errors in Dan Brown's best-selling novel alleging a Catholic church conspiracy to disguise the true nature of early Christianity.

North Carolina Voices: Understanding Poverty - Poor Pay More
WUNC-FM
The uphill battle of living paycheck to paycheck is made steeper by a frustrating phenomenon. When you have less money, you often end up paying more for goods and services than people with greater wealth. Missing utility payments might mean re-connect fees and a steep deposit to get your service turned back on.
Note: The panel discussion sponsored by the Center of Poverty, Work and Opportunity was mentioned in this segment.

Roses & Raspberries
The Chapel Hill News
Roses to Dr. Charles van der Horst, who had the innovative idea to offer something at Sunday's Apple Chill Festival besides the usual crafts, music and food: free rapid HIV tests....So van der Horst, an infectious disease physician at UNC Hospitals, is taking the message...to the people.
Related link: http://www.chapelhillnews.com/news/story/2307413p-8686352c.html

'Never again'
The Chapel Hill News
The three Holocaust survivors -- Renee Fink of Fearrington, Marianne Roberts of Chapel Hill and Barbara Rodbell of Carolina Meadows -- spoke in low and gentle voices to the UNC-Chapel Hill students surrounding them Monday night in a cavernous meeting room in Carmichael dorm.

Have faith in governing (Commentary)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A friend of mine, who classifies herself as a political independent, asked why conservatives insert God into "everything."....The National Study of Youth and Religion, groundbreaking research under the direction of UNC-Chapel Hill sociologist Christian Smith, revealed that religiously affiliated teenagers are more likely to make healthy personal choices and succeed in school.

Kristof to speak on Darfur situation
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A Pulitzer Prize-winning op-ed columnist of the New York Times will speak about his experiences in Darfur, Sudan, at 6 p.m. today in Room 111 of Carroll Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus.

Issues & Trends

From the bottom up (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
They are the often invisible people who do the hard, essential tasks of state government. They clean floors, do laundry, prepare meals and dig ditches. Their workdays can be long and arduous.

Noncitizens could get tuition deal
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A move is under way to offer illegal immigrants in-state tuition rates at North Carolina's public universities and community colleges.

Chapel Hill OKs condo permit
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Thirty-five apartments in the heart of downtown Chapel Hill will become eight upscale condominiums after the Town Council approved a special-use permit for the project Monday night over some members' objections....The Condominiums will replace Village Apartments, the nearly 70-year-old complex that now largely serves UNC-Chapel Hill students.

Town's new seal doesn't please every palate
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Athena -- goddess of wisdom, protector of cities -- is the symbol of civilization, useful knowledge, noble reasoning and logic....The headgear looked like a bonnet every which way Barbara Wiedemann, a visiting design instructor at the UNC-Chapel Hill journalism school, tried to add it.

Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is an e-mail sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time - often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.

Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.