August 9, 2002

Carolina in the News

Current International Coverage

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

Restoration drama
The Economist 
Restoring damaged habitats to something like their pristine condition is a relatively 
recent idea. For most of humanity's history, the trend has been in the opposite 
direction, as people have logged forests, drained marshes and cleared land for 
agriculture... Similar ideas apply to marine environments. Charles Peterson, of 
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has found that mathematical 
models of the communities of animals and plants in oyster reefs can help to show 
which animal species may successfully be re-established in a damaged reef.
http://www.economist.com/science/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1270447

Shorter breast cancer course 'as effective'
BBC News
A short course of radiation therapy after a breast cancer operation is just as 
effective as a longer course, Canadian researchers have found... In an editorial in 
the journal, Dr Carolyn Sartor and Dr Joel Tepper, of the University of North 
Carolina School of Medicine, ask whether this study sets a new standard for using 
radiation therapy in early-stage breast cancer. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/2177117.stm
(Note: This story was also featured in The National Post. No online link is 
available.)

Current National Coverage

Quest for knowledge ignites baseless fight (Editorial)
USA Today 
Since Sept. 11, Americans have thirsted to learn more about Islam, the world's 
second-largest religion, but a faith practiced by just a small fraction in the USA. 
Among the questions many have grappled with: How could Muslim terrorists carry 
out such horrific attacks in the name of their religion?
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2002-08-08-edit_x.htm

Book fails to tell whole truth (Opinion Editorial Column)
USA Today 
"What were they thinking?" "How can anyone use their religion to justify killing 
innocent people?" These are the kinds of questions many Americans have asked 
themselves since Sept. 11.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2002-08-08-oppose_x.htm
(Note: Joe Glover is the president of Family Policy Network.)

Lawsuit against Koran assignment ignores the mission of universities (Editorial)
The Philadelphia Inquirer
To read or not to read - a book on the Koran, that is - that's not the question. 
Freshmen at the University of North Carolina can read a volume about the Muslim 
holy book and write an essay on it for a required, noncredit summer reading 
program, or they can write an essay on why they chose not to read it.
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/2002/08/08/news/editorial/3822283.htm

Qur'an reading assignment stirs passions for and against 
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 
When the University of North Carolina required 4,200 incoming freshmen and
transfer students to read a book about the Qur'an this summer, student body 
president Jennifer Daum didn't think it would cause much of a stir. With the Sept. 
11 terror attacks as a backdrop, Daum, 21, of the Town of Delafield, thought 
reading "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations" would be a mind-
stretching exercise to help people understand Islam.
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/aug02/65188.asp

Saying 'no' to knowledge (Editorial)
The Baltimore Sun
The path to truth and understanding leads directly through knowledge and 
learning, and bypasses ignorance and intolerance. Worn as that platitude may be, 
it bears repeating again in the context of a very silly lawsuit that has been filed 
against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/bal-ed.unc09aug09.story

Committee votes to bar funds for University of North Carolina reading 
assignment on the Quran 
San Francisco Chronicle 
A state legislative committee voted to ban the use of public funds for a University 
of North Carolina reading assignment on the Quran unless other religions get equal 
time. 
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2002/08/08/national1323EDT0606.DTL
(Note: Other pickup of this national Associated Press story includes The Washington 
Post, The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe, Newsday, The Sun News 
(South Carolina), The State (South Carolina) and The Lexington Herald Leader.)

National News Notes

Provost Robert Shelton's appearance on "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer" has 
been rescheduled to air either tonight or Monday at 6 p.m. on PBS (The local 
affiliate is WUNC-TV).

Regional Coverage

Question & Answer: Dr. Kathryn Walbert
The Times-Dispatch (Virginia)
Dr. Kathryn Walbert is an academic-skills instructor at Duke University and a 
longtime associate of the Southern Oral History Program at the University of 
North Carolina. Q. How would you define "oral history" and its importance inside 
and outside the classroom? A. In its simplest form, oral history is storytelling and 
listening. Anyone who has sat in a grandmother's kitchen and asked about the 
'good old days' has done a form of oral history...
http://www.timesdispatch.com/news/education/MGBYTDP2J4D.html

North Carolina News Notes

Robert Adler, professor of management at the Kenan-Flagler Business School, 
was featured on the WUNC-FM program, "The State of Things" (WUNC, FM 
91.5) on Wednesday about business ethics. WUNC-FM is the local National 
Public Radio affiliate.

State and Local Coverage

Over the line (Editorial) 
A university is a marketplace of ideas, ideas subject to debate, to challenge -- ideas 
that inform and sometimes inflame. It must always be so on campuses public and 
private, where freedom must resonate with knowledge and truth. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1623033p-1650372c.html

UNC Islam reading knocked 
A state House panel, slogging through a second day of debate over the North 
Carolina budget, voted Wednesday to bar the use of tax dollars for a university 
summer reading program that singles out one religion. Many lawmakers were incensed 
that UNC-Chapel Hill administrators had instructed incoming freshmen to read a book 
about Islam before they arrive on campus this fall.
http://www.news-record.com/news/government/ncbudget08.htm

House action on Quran book angers some UNC officials
A state House attempt to block UNC’s controversial requirement that all incoming 
freshmen read a book about the Quran has angered some university officials and 
faculty members. "It’s nothing more than political theater," said Joseph Ferrell, a 
longtime UNC professor of public law and policy who also serves as secretary of 
the UNC Faculty Council. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-255524.html

Study limit may risk certification
Critics of a state House committee budget amendment said Thursday that academic 
freedom and university accreditation may be threatened if the General Assembly 
approves the effort to stop a UNC-Chapel Hill summer reading program that 
requires new students to read about Islam's holy Scriptures.
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1623244p-1650454c.html

Court date for UNC lawsuit nears
High Point Enterprise 
The lawsuit against the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's mandated 
summer reading program will be heard in federal Middle District Court in 
Greensboro next week. The action was filed July 22 in Greensboro by a conservative
Christian group, The American Family Association Center for Law & Policy, based 
in Tupelo, Miss. The plaintiffs, three students and two taxpayers, contend the reading 
program is unconstitutional.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=4999699&BRD=1332&PAG=461&dept_id=414366&rfi=6

Appalling intolerance (Letter to the Editor)
I am truly outraged at the intolerance and idiocy of our state legislators for their 
decision to pull public funding from UNC-Chapel Hill's freshman reading program 
(news story, Aug. 8) on "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations." It is 
appalling that those elected to guide our state can demonstrate overwhelming prejudice 
in such a destructive way...
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1623039p-1650425c.html

UNC's tardy step (Letter to the Editor)
As a recent UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus and a human rights activist, I am saddened 
about the state House's decision to block state funding for the university's summer 
reading assignment "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations."
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1623042p-1650358c.html

The micromanagers (Letter to the Editor)
Regarding the Aug. 8 article "House panel would rein in UNC reading requirement": 
Members of the state House of Representatives who are attempting to micromanage
the educational process at UNC-Chapel Hill -- about which they seem to know 
nothing -- set a dangerous example. They erroneously believe that Islam is their 
enemy; Republicans quoted in the article about attempts to censor higher education 
say as much...
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1623040p-1650334c.html
(Note: Donald Matthews is a professor of history at UNC.)

Thinking like Osama (Letter to the Editor)
I read with horror your Aug. 8 headline "House panel would rein in UNC reading 
requirement." This decision is one the most closed-minded and disappointing ever.
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1623043p-1650432c.html

Our Muslim troops (Letter to the Editor)
During the House Appropriations Committee's debate over UNC-Chapel Hill's
requiring incoming freshmen to read a book on Islam, Rep. Larry Justus, as quoted 
in Consider This, the newsletter of the Common Sense Foundation, called the 
assignment "...an insult to anybody in the uniform and anyone who has ever worn 
the uniform."
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1623041p-1650482c.html

Legislators promote ignorance about Islam (Letter to the Editor)
Charlotte Observer
I'm frightened and appalled by "N.C. legislature blasts UNC for assigned Islam 
reading" (Aug. 8)...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/opinion/3828034.htm

Editorial Cartoon regarding UNC's reading program
http://www.newsobserver.com/powell/

Peeling the Orange 
Don’t be alarmed at the recent removal of about 150 campus trees, say university 
authorities... Future water shortages here will be abetted by UNC’s plans to use 
"back wash" water to be piped from the OWASA water filtration plant on Jones 
Ferry Road to the university’s co-generation power plant on Cameron Avenue 
for use in the power generation process... 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-255537.html

A Team Effort to For Healthy Hearts 
WTVD-TV (ABC)
UNC and the state are teaming up to help state employees prevent heart disease 
and lower insurance costs. A lot of people don't realize heart disease is the number 
one killer of men and women in the U.S. And every year, the state pays millions of 
dollars to cover insurance claims for workers who've suffered heart attacks and 
strokes. So the state asked cardiologists at UNC to help state employees identify 
their risk for heart disease. 
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/health/080802_NH_HeartStudy.html

UNC Offers New 14-Month Nursing Program
WRAL-TV (CBS)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is starting a new program that may 
help to ease the state's nursing shortage. Fourteen months ago, Jeff Dudley was 
leading backpacking excursions. On Sunday, he will become a registered nurse and 
work in one of the intensive care units at UNC.
http://www.wral.com/health/1601399/detail.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

House panel OKs new state budget 
On its third day of debate, the House Appropriations Committee passed a $14.3 billion 
state budget Thursday, but not before Gov. Mike Easley's More at Four prekindergarten 
program had a near-death experience.
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1623244p-1650380c.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