Feb. 13, 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

"Slum tourism" stirs controversy in Kenya By Andrew Cawthorne
Reuters
It's the de rigueur stop off for caring foreign dignitaries. It reached a worldwide audience as a backdrop to the British blockbuster "The Constant Gardener." ...Salim Mohamed, project director for the Carolina for Kibera charity, said the stream of high-profile visits to the 3 km-long (1.8 mile) corridor was raising expectations among residents which, when not quickly fulfilled, fueled frustration with the appalling living conditions.

National Coverage

Survey Puts New Focus on Binge Eating as a Diagnosis
The New York Times
Binge eating is not yet officially classified as a psychiatric disorder. But it may be more common than the two eating disorders now recognized, anorexia nervosa and bulimia. ...Cynthia M. Bulik, director of the eating disorders program at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, does not see it this way. “It’s patients who want this in the D.S.M. so they can get treatment,” Dr. Bulik said. “I’ve gotten e-mails from people saying, ‘Thanks for putting a name on this binge-eating disorder.’

Alabama to move up presidential primary
The Associated Press (National)
Alabama's presidential primary next year is expected to be moved up to Feb. 2, a Saturday in advance of the increasingly crowded lineup of states on Feb. 5. ..."When one state moves, another state moves. There is no way Alabama can guarantee itself a critical vote," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media, and Public Life at the University of North Carolina.

In Wake of Seven Firings, Branches Clash Over Interim U.S. Attorney Nominees
National Law Journal
The old way of appointing interim U.S. Attorneys was constitutionally sound, many legal experts agree. ..."It is possible that what may be behind the department's arguments is its concern about the unitary theory of the executive," said constitutional law scholar Michael Gerhardt of the University of North Carolina School of Law.

Regional Coverage

Proposed driving law merely picks on teenagers (Column)
The Tucson Citizen (Ariz.)
Teens constantly want to control what they do, including driving. ...A teen with another teen in a vehicle is 39 percent more likely to be in an accident than if driving alone, a AAA lobbyist told state lawmakers last week, citing a study from the University of North Carolina.

State and Local Coverage

UNC takes a significant step forward (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
More than 80 years ago, a Harvard faculty member named Carter G. Woodson organized what he called Negro History Week. ...The university named its newest residence hall after George Moses Horton. Horton wasn't a big donor to the university, nor a prominent graduate. In fact, he could not have attended UNC.
Related link: http://www.wchl1360.com/details.html?id=2909
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/hortonhall020907.html

UNC dedicates dorm to Chatham slave, poet
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC officials dedicated a dormitory on Monday to George Moses Horton, a Chatham County slave and poet who contributed greatly to the intellectual life of the university. ..."He was about intellectual engagement," UNC English professor Trudier Harris said. "He joined with Frederick Douglass in not allowing his mind to be enslaved."
Related link: http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=triangle&id=5027641

Dorm named for slave poet
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Slavery was his curse. Selling vegetables was his living. Verse was his love. George Moses Horton, a Chatham County slave and self-made poet, now has a UNC-Chapel Hill dorm named for him.

Honoring a Slave
WUNC-FM News
For the first time in its history, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has named a campus building after a slave. George Moses Horton Hall bears the name of a Chatham County slave who defied convention and earned renown as a poet. Some people say it’s time the school acknowledged its link to slavery.
Related link: http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/
paper885/news/2007/02/13/University/Dorm-Name.Honors.Slave-2715500.shtml
?sourcedomain=www.dailytarheel.com&MIIHost=media.collegepublisher.com

Gems from South Asia at the Ackland (Column)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Some of the greatest art works known to humankind were created by artists, determined to make the unknown visual, especially when the unknown is an intangible idea. ...Now, at the Ackland Art Museum we are being introduced to South Asian material, again the products of humans attempting to fashion something real out of the idea of divinity. This exhibition of 24 Buddhist, Jain and Hindu artifacts has been seven years in the making and is opening in conjunction with a catalogue that reflects the scholarship of Pika Ghosh, associate professor of art History at UNC.
Note: No link available.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jan07/divine011107.htm

Freedom of the Press & the Military
"The State of Things," WUNC-FM
Cori Dauber, communications professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, was featured on today's (Feb. 13) edition of "The State of Things" to discuss how the line between the First Amendment and national security is drawn. Both the media and the military were designed to defend American rights like having freedom of the press, but the constitutional mandates of this country have been known to clash with one another.

Report: Smoking among teens drops
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Cigarette use by North Carolina high school and middle school students has significantly decreased since the state began funding tobacco-use prevention and cessation initiatives for teens, according to UNC Chapel Hill researchers.
Related link: http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/16688133.htm
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb07/tobacco021207.html

Lawyers won in Google deal
The Charlotte Observer
The law firms representing Lenoir and Caldwell County governments collected thousands of dollars in legal fees to attract Google to the struggling region -- closing last-minute real estate deals from some elderly residents who said they were confused by the process. ..."It sounds like a mess," said David Owens, a professor at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government.

Not for Sale
The Winston-Salem Journal
Where Jane Stokes Everhart and her cousin, Joyce Parsons, see their family's farming heritage, Davidson County sees economic opportunity. ...The land can't be condemned solely for economic-development purposes but it can be condemned for things such as roads and utilities if it is for a public purpose, said David Lawrence, a professor at the Institute of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Shaping an artist as a young man
The Charlotte Observer
In his own words, as told to Staff Writer David Perlmutt Painter and sculptor Juan Logan began his visual life on a farm near Belmont in Gaston County. At the now-closed, all-black Reid High School in Belmont, Logan, 60 and a UNC Chapel Hill art professor, learned to create his own voice from shop teacher Harold McLean.

UNC Student Body Elections today
WCHL-AM (Chapel Hill)
Today,, those students who vote pick Carolina’s next student Body President. Mixed in with the serious ideas are some frivolous ones.

Issues and Trends

Sun rises, as does tuition (Editorial)
The Star-News (Wilmington)
The University of North Carolina continues to act as if students and their families are ATM machines. ...The university system's rulers say that 32 percent of the latest price increases will fatten faculty salaries. Forty percent will go to financial aid for poor students.

Lot 5 in hands of town manager
The Chapel Hill Herald
In its vote in favor of the Lot 5 project on Monday, the Town Council put a last, critical negotiating task in the hands of Town Manager Roger Stancil. The debate turned on the energy efficiency of the building Ram Development would construct on Lot 5 along West Franklin, Church and West Rosemary streets, including condominium units and shops.

Duke to pay for student service
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Duke University leaders believe volunteer work is an integral part of college -- and they're willing to spend millions to prove it. ...At UNC-Chapel Hill, a public service scholars program that started in 2003 enrolls 1,000 students who perform service and assemble portfolios on their work. They will earn a notation on their transcripts when they graduate.

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.