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NEWS SERVICES |
August 26, 2002
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people
and programs cited recently in the international and national media:
Current International Coverage
Muslims are wrong to blame the British media (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Independent (London, U.K.)
Ever since the Rushdie affair I have been harrying the media, liberal intellectuals especially, for
the contemptible ease with which they used the event to malign all Muslims and their faith... On
US television channels the ignorant are fed junk news and views about Muslims and Islam. The
interviewer Bill O'Reilly, for example, finds it intolerable that the University of North
Carolina
should ask some of its students to read the Koran for a course.
http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=327585
New Yorkers must learn to sleep soundly at night (Commentary)
The Daily Telegraph (U.K.)
The other night I watched the CNN anchor, Aaron Brown, interviewing a photographer about
her contributions to a New York Times collection of September 11 reportage... Such pervasive
soppiness might be more tolerable if it weren't for the very real and powerful hostility that greets
any attempts to move beyond it. The University of North Carolina was taken to court last week
by a conservative Christian group for assigning a book about the Koran to its freshmen.
http://www.opinion.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fopinion%2F2002%2F08%2F24%2Fdo2403.xml
(Note: The Daily Telegraph requires free registration to access articles.)
National Highlights
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been chosen as one of this year's 12
"Hot
Colleges" by editors of the 2003 Kaplan/Newsweek "How to Get into College"
guide, available
on newsstands today (Aug. 26). Carolina also was cited in two stories in the guide about
admissions practices, which prominently feature UNC's national leadership last spring in eliminating
binding early-decision admissions. Coverage includes a color photo of Chancellor James Moeser
on campus. His announcement in April, making UNC the first highly selective, major U.S. university
to drop the practice, drew national media attention. For more information, please go to
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug02/kapnewsweek082602.htm.
Today's
edition of The Charlotte Observer features a story about the new rankings
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/3938396.htm.
CNN-TV program, "CNN Sunday Morning," featured author Michael
Sells, who wrote
"Approaching the Qur'an," and Jim Yacovelli, state director of Family Policy Network, on Sunday
morning at 11- noon. Anchor Fredricka Whitfield questioned both in a 5 minute segment called,
"The Koran in college." In this interview, Sells called Carolina "one of the greatest universities in
the world." To view the transcript, please go to
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0208/25/sm.22.html
Current National Coverage
The value of open-mindedness (Editorial)
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.)
The University of North Carolina has assigned incoming freshmen to read the book Approaching
the Qur'an: The Early Revelations. The assignment is appropriate, considering the Sept. 11 attacks
by Islamic fanatics..
http://www.gomemphis.com/mca/todays_editorial/article/0,1426,MCA_537_1342230,00.html
What Little Faith In Christianity They Must Possess (Commentary)
The Tampa Tribune
Talk about making a mountain out of Mecca! It's noteworthy there was precious little outrage in
spring when University of North Carolina Chancellor James Moeser ordered that the school's
incoming freshmen would be required to read a book about the Koran to prepare for group
discussions about Islam.
(Note: This commentary is no longer available online. To read the entire commentary, please
scroll down to the bottom of today's edition of Carolina in the News.)
Carolina's summer reading selection biased, unfair (Commentary)
San Antonio Express-News
Summer reading lists have introduced millions of young readers to great literature... For 4,200
freshmen and transfer students arriving this week at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill, the Summer Reading Program appears, at first glance, no different.
http://news.mysanantonio.com/story.cfm?xla=saen&xlb=1235&xlc=791339
(Note: This column was reprinted in Friday's edition of the Times-Picayune (Louisiana) and the
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)
Letter to the Editor
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The Aug. 22 editorial on academic freedom characterizes the critics of the reading assignment at
the University of North Carolina as being narrow-minded...
http://home.post-dispatch.com/channel/pdweb.nsf/6e56f5328304fd5685256a0f005ed358/86256a0e0068fe5086256c2000334c92?OpenDocument
(Note: The St. Louis Post-Dispatch published three letters to the editor on Sunday. To view all
letters to the editor, please go to the above url and scroll down the page.)
Routine screening urged for Fragile X
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Katie Clapp knew something was wrong with her newborn boy, but it took two years and dozens
of doctor visits before he was diagnosed with the most common inherited cause of mental
retardation... Don Bailey, who led the survey from the University of North
Carolina, said the
findings raised the question of whether all babies should be screened for Fragile X.
http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/living/health/3939362.htm
(Note: This Associated Press story, originating from the Atlanta Bureau, is appearing in other
newspapers and media outlets including the Guelph Mercury (Canada) and the
Baton Rouge
Advocate.)
Regional News Notes
The Back Pew: A university is the place for revelations (Commentary)
Roanoke Times & World News (Va.)
It may have been the spring semester of my freshman year at the University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill that I first sat in class under the Rev. Dr. Bernard Boyd... The folks at the Family
Policy Network in Bedford County who prompted the recent lawsuit against UNC-Chapel Hill
over a required seminar on the Quran would quickly point out that I was not compelled to take
any classes under Boyd.
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story135524.html
Faith moves him to act
Roanoke Times & World News (Va.)
Joe Glover doesn't mind comparing himself to David fighting a mighty Goliath... Goliath - this
month's version - is the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Through his Bedford County-
based Family Policy Network, Glover championed a federal lawsuit against the university - his
wife's alma mater - challenging a reading assignment on the Quran.
http://www.roanoke.com/roatimes/news/story135192.html
State and Local Coverage
The News and Observer Q section posed the following question this Sunday: "Could UNC-CH
officials have foreseen the weeks of debate they would spawn by requiring freshman to read a
224-page book about the Qur'an? Then again, isn't debate what college is about?" This section
featured four opinion-editorial columns from Chancellor Moeser, freshman Rebecca
Chasnovitz,
State Representative Gene Arnold, and Director of UNC's Program on Southern Politics, Media
and Public Life Ferrel Guillory and included comments from incoming freshman and letters to the
editor about the summer reading program as well as a chronology of the 2002 Summer Reading
Program . Below are urls to some of the stories:
Book Smarts
News and Observer
It was not tight budgets, this time, that pitted politicians against professors. Parents and lifelong
friends worried about bright young men and women who were leaving home at summer's end.
http://www.newsobserver.com/quran/story/1673088p-1694057c.html
An atmosphere of unfettered inquiry (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
Carolina attracts amazing students. On Monday, they responded admirably to the challenge of an
assignment -- reading a book about the Quran -- that sparked national controversy.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672642p-1693980c.html
(Note: James Moeser is chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill.)
An attempt to make sense out of tragedy (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
I came to college because I don't know everything. I don't know what career I should pursue, I
don't know my feelings on country music and, judging by the clock right now, I don't know how to
manage my time.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672642p-1694059c.html
(Note: Rebecca Chasnovitz is a freshman at UNC.)
A matter of timing --and arrogance (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
Much controversy has ensued over the summer reading assignment at UNC-Chapel Hill, where
"Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations" was a requirement for all incoming freshmen.
Failure to perform this task required the individual to defend that position based upon his or her
personal religious principles.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672642p-1694058c.html
(Note: Gene Arnold serves in the N.C. House of Representatives.)
Freshmen weigh in
News and Observer
'It's been way, way overblown. I'm an international studies major now, and [reading the book]
maybe inspired me to minor in Arabic...
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672642p-1694060c.html
(Note: This column features the opinions of three incoming freshman about the controversy over
the summer reading program.)
Old song, new verse (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
In 1925, the General Assembly held a hearing on a resolution to stymie teaching of evolution in
North Carolina's public schools. Harry W. Chase, president of the University of North Carolina,
showed up in Raleigh to speak against the measure as an affront to teachers' "human liberty."
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672642p-1693973c.html
(Note: Ferrel Guillory heads UNC's Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public
Life.)
Listening Post: The doom of ignorance (Speech Transcript)
News and Observer
From remarks by Charles Kurzman, assistant sociology professor, at last week's freshman
convocation at UNC-Chapel Hill. A few weeks ago, I was sitting in a restaurant in Istanbul,
Turkey. This restaurant is underneath a bridge, so there's traffic honking over our heads and water
practically splashing up on the table...
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672643p-1693994c.html
A chronology
News and Observer
Source: N&O Archives
May 8: Campus press announces faculty panel's pick for summer reading for incoming freshmen,
"Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations" by Michael Sells.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1672642p-1694006c.html
Meanwhile, we study religion every day (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
The camera crews have left, and the furor seems to have died down about the teaching of religion
at UNC-Chapel Hill...
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1672635p-1694109c.html
(Note: Laurie Maffly-Kipp is chair of the department of religious studies at
UNC-Chapel Hill.)
Other offenders (Letter to the Editor)
News and Observer
In his Aug. 18 column on the Quran controversy, Editorial Page Editor Steve Ford defended
putting Islamic culture, and not Christian or Jewish culture..
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/1672713p-1693986c.html
Shouldn't have (Letter to the Editor)
News and Observer
In Steve Ford's Aug. 18 column, "Coulda, woulda, shoulda at UNC," he asks and then states:
"Didn't anyone bother to wonder how this was going to look?
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/1672714p-1694027c.html
A form of tribute (Letter to the Editor)
News and Observer
Perhaps every citizen in North Carolina should have required reading. I suggest a text in introductory
logic. In his Aug. 18 column, Editorial Page Editor Steve Ford referred to a letter-writer's point
that the UNC Quran flap is "odious" because the reading assignment "implicates the dead themselves."
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/1672715p-1694042c.html
Response in Quran issue draws praise
Chapel Hill News
University officials say they're pleased to see a committee of the UNC system Board of Governors
moving forward on efforts to pass a resolution endorsing academic freedom, but they expressed
dismay that a conservative Christian organization plans to move ahead with its lawsuit challenging
the school's summer reading program.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/news/story/1667086p-1688796c.html
Can we put Quran ban behind us? (Editorial)
Chapel Hill News
Well, that's settled. The Board of Governors of the University of North Carolina does support
academic freedom after all.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/1667051p-1688792c.html
The Quran Culture Wars
The Spectator (Raleigh, N.C.)
Sometimes all you can do is laugh. Sometimes the spectacle parading in front of you is so idiotic, so
over-the-top absurd, all you can do is lean back in a chair, cross your arms behind your head and
laugh out loud as you watch... We all know the story: Far-right conservatives went nuts after UNC-
Chapel Hill decided to require (well, sort of) incoming first-year students to read Approaching the
Quran: The Early Revelations.
http://www.spectatoronline.com/notebook_metrocolumn.html
Opinion Panel
Winston-Salem Journal
Do you think that the N.C. General Assembly should prevent the University of North Carolina from
assigning reading material about the Quran?
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/opinion/panel/index.shtml
(Note: The Winston-Salem Journal conducted a poll by email about the General Assembly's response
to the summer reading program. To read the results of this poll, please visit
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/opinion/columnists/MGBVPSD3A5D.html)
People of faith must vote their convictions (Letter to the Editor)
Greensboro News and Record
I'd like to thank the judges who allowed UNC-Chapel Hill to continue with the Quran program, even
though it was an open-and-shut case of unconstitutionality...
http://www.news-record.com/news/opinions/letters/sunletters1.htm
Sept. 11 attacks continue to affect opinions on Islam
Asheville Citizen-Times
After Sept. 11, George W. Bush was careful to tell Americans they had not been attacked by Islam but
by ruthless terrorists who had hijacked a peaceful religion along with the planes that slammed into the
World Trade Center and Pentagon... And this month, the University of North Carolina faced legal and
legislative challenges, and criticism for asking 4,200 incoming freshmen and transfer students to read
"Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations," a book written by Haverford College religion professor
Michael Sells about Islam's sacred scripture.
http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/news/18870
Learning about other cultures part of college experience (Letter to the Editor)
Asheville Citizen-Times
I have read several letters complaining about UNC required reading on Islam to prepare incoming
freshmen to participate in a discussion on Islamic culture. The writers complain the school is "teaching Islam."
http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/letters/18768
Students can read Koran with no prompting from state (Letter to the Editor)
Asheville Citizen-Times
I take issue with the naive opinion of the author of the letter, "Editorial on UNC reading requirement is
bigoted," (AC-T, Aug. 15), about UNC freshman's curriculum requiring study of the Koran...
http://cgi.citizen-times.com/cgi-bin/story/letters/18809
Ye Olde UNC (Letter to the Editor)
Greensboro News and Record
I am writing in response to the editorial (Aug. 17) "Scholarly inquiry is affirmed at UNC," concerning the
controversy over the required reading by incoming freshmen of the book "Approaching the Qur'an."
http://www.news-record.com/news/opinions/letters/satletters2.htm
One-sided (Letter to the Editor)
Wilmington Morning Star
EDITOR: Regarding the discussion of the Quran book by UNC-CH students, page one of the Morning
Star on Aug. 20 presents “Chapel Hill holds Quran talks” as an innocuous discussion of a religious text.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=WM&Date=20020824&Category=LETTERS&ArtNo=208250001&Ref=AR&Profile=1018&SectionCat=letters
(Note: The Wilmington Morning Star published two letters to the editor on Saturday. To view both,
click on the above url and scroll down to the bottom of the web page.)
Low-key, respectful events set for 9/11
News and Observer
Grief and sorrow will flood some of the Triangle's most visible public places -- the Entertainment and
Sports Arena, the State Capitol and UNC-Chapel Hill -- as residents mark the anniversary of the Sept.
11 terrorist attacks... As he did last year, Chancellor James Moeser will address students on the Polk
Place lawn, where dozens of community service groups will recruit volunteers. A student-sponsored
candlelight vigil is expected later that night. "It's a time to reflect on our core values as Americans," Moeser
said Friday, a time for faculty, students and staff "to channel their grief, their energy into acts of service."
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1669375p-1691020c.html
Melting pot
The News and Observer
On a blistering summer afternoon, cabbie Ali Mohamed waits outside Raleigh-Durham International
Airport for a fare... "It's more cosmopolitan, it's more global and I think it speaks volumes in the international
marketplace about the fact that we are a place that celebrates, manages effectively and embraces diversity,"
said Jim Johnson, a Kenan professor of management at UNC-Chapel Hill.
http://newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1672862p-1694049c.html
Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina
Private Money Pads Packages of Public University Leaders
The New York Times
Some of the country's highest-paid officials at public universities are being compensated at levels once
considered the domain of their counterparts at private institutions, a survey published today by The Chronicle
of Higher Education shows.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/23/education/23SALA.html
(Note: The New York Times requires free registration to access articles.)
Missing Males
The Winston-Salem Journal
At Winston-Salem State University, all it takes is a quick count of the dorms to see that women students
far outnumber men: four for women, one for men... College officials, meanwhile, worry that an uneven
enrollment could jeopardize future growth and wonder how far they should go to create or maintain gender
balance on campus
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/news/education/MGB1WBDCA5D.html
(Note: The Associated Press also picked up the story, which has appeared in
The Charlotte Observer
and The News and Observer.)
Joint town-UNC public works site proposed
Chapal Hill News
The Elkin Hills neighborhood’s push to keep UNC from building a fueling station and grounds-keeping
facility next to the community has sparked a lot of interest from Town Council members.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/news/story/1667085p-1688844c.html
Rising water use concerns OWASA
Chapel Hill Herald
Whether a direct correlation or simply a coincidence, local water use increased markedly this week just
as the massive influx of students returned to UNC for the start of the school year.
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-260505.html
Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News,
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services,
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu
or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu
***
IT'S NO SIN TO LEARN FROM BOOK ON ISLAM ; THE FLAP OVER A COLLEGE
ASSIGNMENT ON ISLAM IS ABOUT THE LINE BETWEEN FREEDOM OF RELIGION
AND FREEDOM FROM RELIGION.
08/23/2002
Wisconsin State Journal
ALL
Page A14
At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill , the university's 3,500 freshmen have a required summer
reading assignment: A book about the Koran, the sacred writings of Islam. The controversial UNC assignment
offers further evidence that teaching students about the world's great religions - Christianity included - is not a
violation of the First Amendment's guarantee of freedom of religion.
Incoming freshmen at UNC are required to read "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations," by Michael
Sells, a professor of religion at Haverford College. The book is a translation of 35 early suras, or chapters, of
the Koran, accompanied by commentary and a glossary of Islamic terms. University officials say the book was
assigned to introduce freshmen to the intellectual give-and-take of college, not to indoctrinate them in any
particular religious faith.
Some pro-Christian groups didn't buy that argument. They challenged the reading assignment in court (and lost
on appeal) and the North Carolina Legislature is threatening to withhold money to UNC unless it guarantees
"equal time" for other religions.
The real story here is not whether "Approaching the Qur'an" is a balanced treatment of Islam. It likely is not:
Critics say the book ignores the Islamic concept of "jihad," or holy war. (In fact, it glosses over the fact that
Islam was founded amid violence. Christ never led armies or ordered the execution of prisoners, but
Mohammad did.)
Nor should the debate center on whether or not professors at a public university have the right to make
provocative reading assignments. Good professors do that all the time. Without academic freedom, the nation's
great universities would atrophy at a Third World pace.
At its core, the UNC flap is about drawing a reasonable line between freedom of religion and freedom from
religion. The Christian groups that have tried to block the reading assignment should instead be supporting it.
Here's why: Those who would purge all discussion of religion from the hallways of public schools have been
arguing for decades that education is tantamount to indoctrination. It you teach a kid about the life of Christ or
Mohammad, you're somehow crossing the line into state sponsorship of religion.
That's hogwash, of course, and the UNC assignment proves it. If professors can require students to read a
book summarizing Islam, they can also require them to read a book capturing the core tenets of Christianity or
Judaism. It is not a "government" decision, but a legitimate academic exercise.
The students at UNC who read "Approaching the Qur'an" will undoubtedly learn a great deal, such as the
fact that there are many parallels between Islam and Christianity. Perhaps the folks opposing the UNC reading
will learn something, too: That if they fight this assignment, they're on shaky ground the next time a professor
asks students to read a book about the Bible.
***
What Little Faith In Christianity They Must Possess
DANIEL RUTH
08/23/2002
The Tampa Tribune
FINAL
Page 2
Talk about making a mountain out of Mecca!
It's noteworthy there was precious little outrage in spring when University of North Carolina Chancellor James
Moeser ordered that the school's incoming freshmen would be required to read a book about the Koran to
prepare for group discussions about Islam.
After all, college students are called upon often to do stuff they would rather not do - such as study, attend class,
take tests. There are other more worthy campus pursuits: drinking beer, sleeping late and having as much
recreational sex as possible.
And thus, the requirement to read "Approaching the Qur'an" by Michael Sells was probably no more a big deal
to students than having to ponder the "History of Twyla Tharp" for an arts appreciation class.
Ah, but that was before the politicians and a Christian fundamentalist group decided to make a senseless federal
case out of the Koran by suing to stop the assignment.
The Family Policy Network and the American Family Association Center For Law and Policy argued in court
that the reading assignment violated constitutional provisions against a state- sponsored religion in that the
university was forcibly indoctrinating students to the ways of Islam.
Poppycock.
Chicken Littles
Like many public universities, UNC has a religious studies department in which all manner of faiths and theological
issues are studied with precious little controversy.
Ironically, given the off-campus brouhaha by fundamentalist Chicken Littles, Moeser moved to create the reading
assignment in the wake of Sept. 11, when more students sought to enroll in courses about Islam to understand a
culture and a faith unfamiliar to them.
And this is wrong how?
"Had this been a Bible reading imposed under these terms, it would have been stricken," said Stephen Crampton,
mouthpiece for the American Family Association.
But that Lot's wife view of academia misses the point of the assignment.
It is not too terribly presumptuous to assume that a vast majority of UNC 's 3,500 incoming freshmen come from
Christian families, where, to varying degrees, they were steeped fairly well in the tenets and principles expressed in
the Bible.
Is Crampton's confidence in students' adherence to their Christian ideals so meager that he fears after being exposed
to a single book about the Koran they will be drawn helplessly to wear burqas, even the guys?
Oh ye of little faith.
Skewed Prism
If anything, the dustup over the assignment serves to prove Moeser's point that the reading and discussion would be
a worthy exercise in academic freedom.
Especially since Sept. 11, many Americans' views toward Islam have been skewed through the prism of violence
and jihad. And many Arabs, simply because of their ethnicity, are looked upon as potential terrorists.
Moeser should be lauded for his effort to bring a measure of coherent, sane dialogue toward reaching a fairer, more
balanced understanding of a culture.
What better place to accomplish that goal than a college campus?
Universities should be places where great debates occur, where differences are vigorously debated, where students
are taught how to think and defend their opinions.
Sure, let's not forget the beer and the parties. This is college, after all. Better not get too carried away with all this
intellectual stuff.
Is "Approaching the Qur'an" the perfect vehicle for students to get a clearer picture of Islam? Probably not. Islam is
a complicated subject. But Moeser wasn't attempting to create a master class on Islam - only a first step toward
perspective.
Did Moeser's effort pay off? Or were the students scandalized as Crampton feared? According to news reports out
of Chapel Hill , a number of students said, if anything, they found the book boring.
Ah, what better academic preparation for four years of the Principles of Macroeconmics, or the Wit and Wisdom of
Nietzsche, or Rocks 101?
This flap ought to die down pretty soon, once Crampton and his ilk realize there will be no rush of Baptist students
converting to Islam.
Besides, there are more important campus issues on the horizon.
Basketball season starts soon. In North Carolina, that's a cult.