December 31, 2003

Carolina in the News

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

State and Local Coverage

UNC Aims To Make Campus Living More Attractive To Upperclassmen
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
College dorms and suites are not meeting the needs of today's students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, so administrators have a new plan to study...."When they get to be 20 or 22 years old, the notion of continuing to share a room or a bathroom with 40 or 50 of their closest friends starts to get a little out of date," said Dr. Dean Bresciani, Vice Chancellor for Students Affairs.

Triangle techies see trends
The News & Observer
We polled local technology experts for advice on tech trends to watch next year....RFID will be the "most mundane and quickly ubiquitous" technology of 2004, said Paul Jones, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who runs iBiblio.org, home to one of the most eclectic collections of online material in the world.

This was the year for Aiken
The News & Observer
Clay Aiken began the year as an unknown singer with a bad haircut and funny glasses...."I think his appeal is as the sort-of clean-cut, nonsexually threatening or predatory nice guy," said John Covach, who teaches courses in popular music at UNC-Chapel Hill. "It's one of the prototypical teen idol images."

UNC must revise plans for housing project
The Chapel Hill News
Chapel Hill planning officials early this month issued a site development permit to UNC that stipulated that the university can only move forward with its plans to build student family housing along Mason Farm Road if certain conditions were met.

Site to link teachers with donors
The News & Observer
Cash-strapped classrooms in the state might soon get a financial boost. Triangle entrepreneur and philanthropist Michael Brader-Araje is leading the first expansion of a Web-based charity that has helped teachers gain $1 million in funding for everything from crayons to cameras....Brader-Araje is working to connect with University of North Carolina alumni for donations.

Issues and Trends

College football fans deserve a real championship playoff (Editorial)
USA Today
As the University of Southern California plays Michigan in the Rose Bowl on Thursday, big-time college football heads into a four-day, season-ending frenzy that could crown a new national champion.

Playoffs are no panacea (Opinion-Editorial Commentary)
USA Today
Critics of the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) have called for a 16-team NCAA playoff to determine a Division I-A football champion. They portray an NFL-style playoff as a panacea for the team-selection problems of the current format. A playoff system, however, might have as much controversy as the current bowl-selection process because those teams passed over could have fewer, if any, post-season opportunities. Like other proposals of its type, the NFL-style playoff poses a number of issues that its proponents have not addressed....Harvey Perlman, chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is a member of the BCS Presidential Oversight Committee.

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.