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Feb. 13, 2006
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:International Coverage
Colon cancer chemotherapies OK for elderly
United Press International
New potent chemotherapies for colon cancer are as safe and effective for the elderly as they are for younger patients, a U.S. study finds. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers led a data review of nearly 4,000 colon cancer patients who had been enrolled in four large-scale clinical trials that began in the 1990s nationwide and in Europe.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/folfox021006.htmNational Coverage
Economic View: Chasing full employment
The New York Times
Full employment! The United States has rarely entered that paradise. There was a hint of it in the late 1990's, but for Americans under the age of 50, the experience has been so fleeting that they may not realize full employment was once a hotly pursued goal — a condition considered so important that many politicians wanted it legislated and not left to chance. ..."Two percent unemployment would certainly be a condition closer to one in which everyone seeking work would be able to land a job at a good wage," said William A. Darity Jr., an economist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
Mixed message for job seekers
MarketWatch
If you look at the current unemployment rate, you might think 2006 will be the year of the job seeker. But economists note that the unemployment rate doesn't predict the future, and even as some states and industries continue to show job growth, the outlook could be summed up as only fair-to-middling. ...Some economists are more optimistic. "We're probably going to see the unemployment rate back down at 4% before we're through with 2006," said James Smith, chief economist with Parsec Financial, a money management firm in Asheville, N.C., and finance professor at the University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill, N.C.
Just-passed budget bill could be challenged in court
The Associated Press (National)
Opponents of a major budget bill just signed by President Bush are weighing a court challenge on the grounds that the measure is unconstitutional because it was amended after the House voted on it. ..."That bill ... is actually not a properly enacted law," said Michael Gerhardt, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina School of Law. "It wouldn't surprise me if a court struck it down. That bill was not approved by the House."
Georgia's ex-cornerback still fighting team
The Associated Press (National)
Decory Bryant had been injured on the football field before. He’d bruised muscles, dislocated fingers, broken a few bones. This time, though, was different. ...But every year, as players get stronger and their opponents more talented, the risks become greater. Since 1977, 252 football players have had devastating injuries to their cervical cords and not completely recovered — 31 at the college level, according to a University of North Carolina study.
The Lowdown on Sweet?
The New York Times
When Dr. Morando Soffritti, a cancer researcher in Bologna, Italy, saw the results of his team's seven-year study on aspartame, he knew he was about to be injected into a bitter controversy over this sweetener, one of the most contentiously debated substances ever added to foods and beverages. ...Dr. Bucher of the National Toxicology Program said pathologists at the program, with which Ramazzini collaborates, looked at 70 tumor slides. But with the study producing over 9,000 tumor-containing slides, James Swenberg, professor of environmental science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, says that this falls short of standard practice.
Skip Your Veggies? Not So Fast (Commentary)
BusinessWeek
Here comes another wild ride on the roller coaster of health advice. For years we have been told that eating less fat and munching on more fruits and veggies can work magic, preventing everything from heart disease to cancer. ... What does this mean for diet? "We don't want to be morbidly obese or too skinny," says Dr. Nortin Hadler, professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, "and it's pretty compelling that between those two extremes, we can't measure many differences."
State bar ignores errant lawyers
The San Jose Mercury News
When California prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys engage in conduct that violates defendants' rights, they can rest assured that they will rarely be held to account by the agency in charge of policing lawyers. ..."The bar and the judiciary that oversees prosecutors do not take actions to enforce the norms of prosecutorial conduct,'' said Richard Rosen, a University of North Carolina law professor who has written about how disciplinary authorities across the country treat prosecutors.
State & Local Coverage
UNC planning ‘Maymester’ pilot
The Chapel Hill Herald
For three weeks in May 2007, UNC students may get credit for studying astronomy in Chile, finance on Wall Street or the links between math and poetry on campus. Similar courses could be part of the university's proposed "Maymester," a three-week term after the spring semester when students could take one intensive class. While "Maymester" is still in the planning stages and professors haven't created specific courses, most of the offerings would be interdisciplinary in nature or involve hands-on research projects that could take students off-campus, administrators said. "The life cycle of a fruit fly is three weeks," said Bobbi Owen, associate dean in the College of Arts and Sciences. "You can do real research in three weeks."
Note: No link available.
Related Link: http://www.wral.com/news/6945575/detail.htmlUNC researcher aims for breakthrough diabetes treatment
The Triangle Business Journal
Since 1977, Dr. David Clemmons had immersed himself in the intricate interactions of the smooth muscle tissue that comprise vascular walls. Then, one winter day in early 1998, an accumulation of research set off a light bulb in his head: There had to be a way to treat the deadly vascular disease that kills the vast majority of diabetics, not just slow its progression. Since then, Clemmons has toiled in his University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill lab to develop a drug that could stop, if not reverse, the progression of atherosclerosis - a buildup of fatty tissue in the veins that causes heart attacks and strokes.
Tuition not all that's rising at UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)/The Chapel Hill News
Pedestrians caught jaywalking or crossing against the light on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus will face $135 fines beginning Monday. Full enforcement of pedestrian safety law is the final phase in the UNC Department of Public Safety's plan to make the campus safer for those traveling by foot, said Randy Young, information specialist for the department.
Note: Story also ran in the Chapel Hill Herald.Coach, wife head $10M campaign
The Chapel Hill Herald
Tar Heel basketball coach Roy Williams and his wife Wanda will serve as honorary co-chairmen of an effort to create a $10 million endowment for the Carolina Covenant, UNC's initiative to make a Chapel Hill education possible debt-free for low-income students. The $10 million campaign to endow the covenant will generate income to fund the program's scholarships and other related initiatives. These include grants to cover the cost of mandatory freshman orientation programs, which take place before students' financial aid packages can take effect, and a mentoring program that matches first-year scholars with faculty and staff.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/covenantcochairs020806.htmProfessorship in Jewish studies
The Chapel Hill Herald
The children of Johannes (Hans) and Sonja van der Horst have established a distinguished professorship in Jewish studies at UNC in honor of their parents, and in fulfillment of the wishes of Sonja van der Horst, a Holocaust survivor. The family used Holocaust reparation funds to establish the JMA and Sonja van der Horst Distinguished Professorship in Jewish Studies; their gift qualifies for matching funds from the state endowment trust funds. UNC's College of Arts and Sciences will conduct a search to fill the position with a scholar whose teaching and research will contribute to the work of the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies. The Van der Horst gift counts toward the university's Carolina First Campaign goal of $2 billion.
Note: No link available.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/vanderhorst020806.htmBlack History Month stirs readings, discussions, signings
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
February is Black History Month and a number of related literary events are planned. ...Joan Didion, who stripped the Day-Glo veneer off the hippies in her devastating piece of reporting, "Slouching Towards Bethlehem," and whose book "The Year of Magical Thinking" won the 2005 National Book Award for nonfiction, will present a free public reading at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 28 in Memorial Hall at UNC.
Related Link: http://www.lincolntribune.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=3872
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan06/didion011706.htmDance group to perform Feb. 24
The Chapel Hill Herald
The Mark Morris Dance Group, one of the nation's most acclaimed modern dance troupes, will perform at 8 p.m. Feb. 24 in UNC's Memorial Hall. The performance performance will include "Going Away Party," "All Fours," "Three Preludes" and "V." Single ticket prices range from $26 to $60 for the public and $10 each for UNC students.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/markmorris020306.htmWhat counts with college?
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Many of the students and their parents who have been shuttling through open houses at Wake County's magnet high schools this month aren't thinking just about the next few years. They're also thinking about the four years of college to come. ...But students hit their academic stride at different ages. If the academic light bulb hasn't come on by the eighth grade, the ninth grade is not too late, says Stephen Farmer, director of undergraduate admissions at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Related Link: http://www.newsobserver.com/690/story/399184.htmlUNC paper publishes cartoons
The Associated Press (N.C.)
The Muslim Students Association at the University of North Carolina on Friday asked the campus' student newspaper to apologize for publishing an original cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad. ...The Daily Tar Heel has a long history of journalistic independence, but university officials would hope that it would use restraint around a topic such as this one, which is hurtful and offensive to members of the campus community, said Margaret Jablonski, vice chancellor for student affairs at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Related Links: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=local&id=3896166
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/02/13/centuryCartoon draws ire at UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In a world where months-old caricatures of the prophet Muhammad have sparked massive tumult and outcries of blasphemy among Muslims, a political cartoonist at UNC-Chapel Hill put his own head on the block this week. Philip McFee, a senior English major at UNC who draws editorial cartoons for The Daily Tar Heel, the student newspaper, wanted to contrast peaceful tenets of the Koran with the violence and ransacking that erupted over the depiction of the prophet.
Related Links: http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/399702.htmlNation's interstates are turning 50
The Greensboro News & Record
Edd Hauser remembers well his first encounter with an interstate. It came on a cold, clear night in January, 1958. He and three high school friends had been cruising Winston-Salem in his father's '56 Pontiac Bonneville when they decided to try out Interstate 40, the new three-mile expressway which cut through the city. ..."It's a huge range of improvement," said James F. Smith, a professor of finance at UNC-Chapel Hill. "The existence of those roads makes everyone in Guilford County better off."Roads to Love
The Winston-Salem Journal
During his yearlong tour in Iraq, Sgt. Matthew Carver risked his life for love, traveling the bomb-riddled roads north of Baghdad that connect Camp Taji to Camp Anaconda. The convoys might include 20 vehicles. Trucks in front of the pack were occasionally hit with small-arms fire, though Carver might not learn of it until after the convoy arrived. Carver usually rode in an armored Humvee with three other soldiers. ...The number of dual-military marriages has been on the rise since the 1970s and '80s, when more women enlisted in the armed forces, said Dennis Orthner, a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina. Orthner has also consulted with the military on family issues.
Cards help deployed troops bridge language gap
The Jacksonville Daily News
They say a picture’s worth a thousand words, and in this story a picture likely saved a little girl’s life. American soldiers were manning a checkpoint in Iraq when a local man ran up to them, screaming the word “hospital” repeatedly. ...Using this “visual language” can be effective, said Anthropology Professor Robert Daniels from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “Using a live translator introduces a whole social environment that could influence the conversation,” said Daniels. Using pictures, Daniels said, could eliminate what he called “cultural static,” such as dialect.Campus politics all in the family
The Chapel Hill Herald
James Allred grew up listening to his dad, UNC's executive associate provost, talk shop about campus politics at the dinner table. The conversations must have rubbed off. Allred, a UNC junior who has lived in Chapel Hill since he was a baby, is running for student body president. If he wins in Tuesday's balloting, he would deepen the family's already deep Tar Heel roots -- and, indirectly, be his dad's boss. ..."James is his own man," said Steve Allred, who, as executive associate provost, is one of the university's highest-ranking officials.
Daytime care center helps keep seniors living at home
The Chapel Hill News
Michael Savino leads the circle of participants through their exercises. "The sun comes up," he says, as arms are raised, "paints the room yellow," fingers are wiggled, "and sets with a clap," everybody claps and wiggles their fingers out to their sides. ...The center has a capacity of 10 participants. Many who attend pay on a sliding scale with outside funding picking up the remainder of the $65-per-day tab. Orange County provides $40,000 a year; Carol Woods, UNC and the Strowd Roses Foundation provide donations and grants as well.
Issues & Trends
New efforts beckon UNC
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC campuses may embark on three corporate partnerships that have the potential to push the frontiers of technology and create hundreds of jobs in North Carolina -- but that also could carry a multimillion-dollar price tag for the state. In addition to the already announced research campus in Kannapolis created by Dole Foods owner David Murdock, the UNC system is looking at a deal with IBM to develop what could be the world's largest supercomputer. And N.C. State and UNC-Chapel Hill have been approached by California entrepreneur Alfred Mann to start an institute that would design and produce medical devices.
UNC approves tuition hikes
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Students will pay more to attend the state's public universities in 2006-2007. On Friday, the UNC Board of Governors approved tuition and fee increases of 8 percent to 20 percent for North Carolina residents. In-state students will pay tuition and fees of $3,395 at N.C. Central University, $4,678 at N.C. State, and $4,876 at UNC-Chapel Hill. Out-of-state rates are $13,139 at NCCU, $16,876 at NCSU and $19,524 at UNC-CH. The annual amounts do not include room, board and books.
Related Link: http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-700255.htmlUNC board OKs increases in tuition, fees
The Associated Press (N.C.)
University of North Carolina leaders approved tuition and fee increases of up to 20 percent Friday, but still didn't dump too much of the costs of public education on the people paying the bills, the chairman of the system's Board of Governors said. The hikes bring the tuition paid by in-state students to about 25 percent of the actual cost, said Brad Wilson, chairman of the board that sets policy for the state's 16 public universities. That level is about right, he said.
Related Link: http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ/MG
Article/WSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1137834025452NCSU may gain in research cash
The Triangle Business Journal
An impending shift in federal research spending could bestow huge benefits on North Carolina State University while handicapping the Triangle's two largest federal award winners - Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. President Bush's budget would trim about 1 percent off the Department of Health and Human Services' research budget, the lion's share of which is for the National Institutes of Health. The NIH is the single largest source of federal research dollars for Duke and UNC. The cut, if approved by Congress, would be the first in DHHS research spending in nearly a decade.UT plans to lift rate, number of graduates
The Houston Chronicle
All nine University of Texas campuses will graduate students at a higher rate than their national peers, the university system's regents promised Thursday in response to legislative pressure from both political parties. The regents issued an April 15 deadline for each campus to submit plans to increase the percentage of students who graduate in four, five and six years, as well as goals for the next decade. The universities will be measured against schools of similar stature and demographics.
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.
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