Feb. 9, 2007

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

New universes will be born from ours
New Scientist (United Kingdom)
What gruesome fate awaits our universe? Some physicists have argued that it is doomed to be ripped apart by runaway dark energy, while others think it is bouncing through an endless series of big bangs and big crunches. ...Now physicists Lauris Baum and Paul Frampton at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill are invoking this effect to explain how the entropy of our early universe might have been kept in check.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan07/newmodel012907.html

National Coverage

Weighty Matters
Newsweek
The specter of dangerously thin models has raised its beautiful, lolling head once again, this time at New York’s Fashion Week, which ends Friday. ..."You always [have to] look at the discrepancy between the real and the ideal," says Cynthia Bulik, a clinical psychologist who heads the eating-disorders program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Scientist serves up doughnuts with caffeine kick (Commentary)
MSNBC.com
That cup of coffee just not getting it done anymore? How about a Buzz Donut or a Buzzed Bagel? That's what molecular scientist Robert Bohannon has come up with. ..."I see nothing positive from this," said Barry Popkin, a nutrition scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Regional Coverage

Download TKO
The Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
"Nobody knows anything."— screenwriter William Goldman talking about the movie business, but it can be applied to the music business as well. ...In a March 2004 study called "Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis," two researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill concluded that sharing digital music files had, well, no effect on CD sales at all.

Professor to discuss learning theories
The Baltimore Sun
Dr. Mel Levine, a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina Medical School and an author known for his theories on learning, will give a free lecture in Baltimore on Wednesday.

Event showcases ‘radicals in Black & Brown’ (Commentary)
People's Weekly World (Chicago)
I’ve just returned, all energized I might add, from an incredible event sponsored by the Sonja Stone Center for Black Culture and History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The event was called “Radicals in Black & Brown: Palante, People’s Power and Common Cause in the Black Panthers and the Young Lords Organization.”
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan07/pantherslords011907.html

State and Local Coverage

In manufacturing and trade, we're huge (Opinion-editorial column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Living in North Carolina these days, it's hard to avoid thinking about the G word: Globalization. For a variety of reasons it's harder still to resist the temptation to see this complex, multi-layered process as being deleterious in an economic sense to the inhabitants of the state, if not to all Americans. ...Peter A. Coclanis is associate provost for international affairs and Albert R. Newsome professor of history at UNC-Chapel Hill.

A start, a finish on art walk
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Orange County arts scene gets a healthy boost tonight from openings featured on the Second Friday Art Walk, and exhibits worth seeing will continue to open over the next two weeks. Tonight at the Ackland Art Museum on the UNC campus, see the unveiling of "Fashioning the Divine," a group of never-before-exhibited South Asian sculptures, dating from the second century through the 13th century, from the museum's collection.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan07/divine011107.htm

DanceBrazil brings capoeira, modern dance to UNC
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
As a youngster in Brazil, Jelon Vieira had the moves before he officially began learning the martial arts form known as capoeira. ...Audiences will see plenty of capoeira, a martial arts form that originated in Brazil, when the company of 12 dancers and four musicians performs today and Saturday at UNC's Memorial Hall.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/brazil020207.html

'Blazing Saddles' to be topic of talk
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Hollywood screenwriter and producer Norman Steinberg, who co-wrote the screenplay for Mel Brooks' landmark 1974 Western comedy "Blazing Saddles," will show and discuss the movie at 7 p.m. Monday in 116 Murphey Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. Admission is free.
Related link: http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/541131.html
UNC Event brief: http://www.unc.edu/news/briefs/2007/020507.html

Divorce? Invalid. New marriage? Ditto, judge rules
The Greensboro News & Record
Vernon Chrisp is in a tight spot. ..."Obviously a person cannot be married to two people at once," said Maxine Eichner , a professor of family law at UNC-Chapel Hill. "What might have been in the thoughts of the judge was that he had notice. It still is a very unusual situation."

Year-round plan isn't a done deal, some say
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Wake County's student reassignment plan is history now, but the fight over year-round conversion is far from over. ...Gregory S. Allison, a lecturer in public finance and government at UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government, said state law seems to indicate school boards can't use operating money to pay for capital costs without approval from county commissioners.

Hillside students get studious attention
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
When Geoffrey Cooper, 19, walked into an algebra class at Hillside High School last fall, he spotted a student in the back of class, looking almost convincingly into a textbook. ...Students at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University also have stepped in to help the high school students this year.

Exhibit examines schools' desegregation
The Chapel Hill Herald
In the momentous 1954 case Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, the United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that racial segregation in public schools was inherently unequal and therefore unconstitutional. ...Artifacts in the new exhibit are primarily related to Hillsborough, although some materials were provided by the Chapel Hill Museum or photocopied from UNC's North Carolina Collection.

Issues and Trends

Panel OKs UNC tuition hikes
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/Chapel Hill Herald
The UNC Board of Governors will vote on tuition for UNC Chapel Hill and other system schools at its meeting today at N.C. A&T University, and members said they will leave some time for more discussion of the out-of-state issue at Carolina.

UNC panel backs tuition, fee increases
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Tuition and fees are expected to rise 5 percent to 6 percent at most UNC campuses in the 2007-08 academic year, according to rates approved Thursday by a UNC Board of Governors committee.

Tuition hikes would take effect this fall under UNC plan
The Associated Press (N.C.)
Tuition and fees could increase by 9 percent this fall at some schools within the University of North Carolina system if proposed rates are approved Friday by the UNC Board of Governors.
Related link: http://www.fayobserver.com/article?id=254310

Partnership wants money to help promote UNC-RM
The Rocky Mount Telegram
The Carolinas Gateway Partnership has requested financial contributions from Nash County and Rocky Mount to support the proposal to establish a University of North Carolina campus in the area.

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/news/clips/index.shtml.

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