December 10, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

The Buzz Is Back at North Carolina
The New York Times
The pounding rap beat of "Jump Around" by House of Pain blares from the loudspeakers inside the Smith Center at the University of North Carolina. The pulse lifts the sky-blue-covered fans from their sky-blue-covered seats and inspires a pregame frenzy.

Billionaire NBA Owner's Gamble On a Hedge Fund Faces Long Odds
The Wall Street Journal
Mark Cuban's proposal to launch a sports-gambling hedge fund is itself a big wager....Plus, large bets can shift the odds. "The question is, how much could you actually invest before they start moving these lines?" asks Koleman Strumpf, associate professor of economics at the University of North Carolina and a gambling scholar.

State & Local Coverage

Kids get into action
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
North Carolina kids are on their way to better health, thanks to state and national grants...."Get Kids in Action" is a $4 million partnership between UNC-Chapel Hill and Gatorade to help prevent childhood obesity.
Note: This event was promoted by News Services, Athletics and the School of Public Health.

Critic's Picks - Art
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
At UNC-Chapel Hill's Sonja Haynes Stone Center, "Letters From Home: The Art of Michael D. Harris" represents a decade of the artist's work. The show takes the trope of letters -- both in the form of those written to home and those of African scripts and symbols -- as its subject in a series of computer-altered prints and mixed-media assemblages and installations.
http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/story/1916866p-8262857c.html
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2004/112404.html

Mentors help young Latinas
The Chapel Hill Herald
Latino girls at McDougle Middle School usually stay after school once a week, but it's not detention that's keeping them there...Las Guapitas was recently awarded a small grant, $300, from UNC's Carolina Center for Public Service.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/dec04/servicegrants120204.html

Open a present, and the past (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
...Wealthy businessmen are trying to donate to fix an obvious deficiency in the curriculum, but some crotchety faculty members and students are bah-humbugging about the philanthropists' conservative beliefs....
Note: This column by Jon Sanders of the Pope Center is about the Pope Foundation and UNC-Chapel Hill. It is not available online.

Experts analyze textile industry's future
News 14 (Time Warner, Raleigh)
Quotas that regulate global textile trade will be lifted as of Jan. 1, and that could spell trouble for North Carolina's textile industry...."They're feeling floor effects where only 20,000, 30,000, or 40,000 jobs are left in the state, so I'm sad to say the quotas will push that further," said John Kasarda, a member of the UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and a trade expert.

Edwards at Duke? In the talking stage
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Count Duke among the places that would like to play host to outgoing U.S. Sen. John Edwards....UNC Law School Dean Gene Nichol also has confirmed talking with the senator about a teaching position there.

Issues & Trends

Bowl-Bound Football Teams Fail to Graduate Many Players, Studies Find
The Chronicle of Higher Education
College football teams that will play in bowl games this winter are not doing enough to make sure their athletes graduate, according to studies released this week by the University of Central Florida and the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
Subscription required.

UNCA chancellor to leave for new job in May
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Asheville announced Thursday that he will step down in May to become president of a Catholic liberal arts college in Massachusetts.

UNCW trustees vote to hike tuition
Wilmington Star-News
The UNCW Board of Trustees voted Thursday to increase in-state undergraduate tuition 11.7 percent, adding $225 to the cost of attending the school next year. The board also approved raising general fees nearly 4 percent to $1,767.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

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