January 5, 2004

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

National Coverage

Colleges Are Urged to Shift Their Accounting Practices in the Post-Enron Era
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In this time of corporate scandals, colleges and universities should not only be fiscally accountable, but also be able to prove it, say groups specializing in academic and nonprofit finances....The recommendations from the national business-officers association were developed in cooperation with the Association of College and University Auditors and financial officers at several universities. Those institutions were Cornell, Johns Hopkins, and Stanford Universities; the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Indiana University at Bloomington; the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; the University of Notre Dame; and the University System of New Hampshire.

Court Slows Efforts to Stop Illegal Sharing of Music
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Students and college officials alike are scrambling to understand the implications of a federal-court ruling that crippled the ability of the recording industry to seek the names of those who illegally share music online....The ruling is also a boost for an unnamed student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The student had challenged the subpoena provision of the digital-copyright law after the RIAA subpoenaed the university to reveal the student's identity.

No Mark of Distinction
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Brenda Wineapple wants to cut out the academy's colon. She has had trouble
doing so herself, even in the titles of her own books. Indeed, it is unlikely that
a top-notch gastroenterologist or grammarian could help her achieve her aim....
"It could be worse. We could be publishing book titles that have semicolons in
the titles," says Kate Douglas Torrey, director of the University of North
Carolina Press.

Educating Parents About College Life
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Several decades ago, the idea of "parent relations'' in higher education was virtually unheard of. Since then, programs and offices for parents have been springing up at institutions all across the country. ...Helen E. Johnson is a consultant to colleges and universities in the area of parent relations and is the co-author, with Christine Schelhas-Miller, of Don't Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money: The Essential Parenting Guide to the College Years (St. Martin's Griffin, 2000). She has managed parents' programs at Cornell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Majoring in Philanthropy
The Chronicle of Philanthropy
GAINING SUCCESS BY DEGREES
Nonprofit programs are proliferating at colleges and universities. One of the oldest programs is at the University of San Francisco, where Robert Glavin, who has spent decades working for nonprofit groups, is a professor....A SOCIAL-WORK PROGRAM at the University of North Carolina has evolved to include instruction in nonprofit management and community
work.

Chemicals at issue in toilet-to-tap revival
San Diego Union Tribune
If the city of San Diego revisits a controversial plan to turn sewage water into drinking water, one of the key issues will be whether the treatment can remove chemicals such as those contained in birth control pills and antibiotics....[Daniel] Okun, a retired University of North Carolina environmental engineering professor, said there are close to 100,000 potential contaminants of water. Many are undetectable with current testing and there have been no studies to determine their health effects, he said.

No quick fix to make all Seattle's crosswalks safe for pedestrians
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle resident John Healey says there's a new health club at the base of Queen Anne attracting neighborhood residents. But getting to it poses a real risk to health....The rethinking of the city's uncontrolled marked crosswalks was influenced by two studies, an early one in San Diego that found more pedestrians were hit inside crosswalks than outside and a more detailed study by the University of North Carolina, Hoyt says.

State and Local Coverage

Iran rejects Dole-led mission
N.C. Associated Press
Iran on Friday rejected a U.S. offer to send a humanitarian mission led by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole to help earthquake victims in Bam, saying it needs to concentrate on its recovery effort....Dole allows the Bush administration to send a muted diplomatic signal, said Jennifer Bremer, director of the Washington Center of UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. Dole is a high-profile government official, but not a member of the administration.

Get ready for a wild election year
The Charlotte Observer
This election year promises to be the Carolinas' busiest and most intriguing in memory, one likely to leave voters entertained, engaged and sometimes exhausted...."It will be the subtext of our elections both in the governor's race and the Senate race," says Ferrell Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.

Will FDA go after tobacco?
The Charlotte Observer
This week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced it will ban ephedra in 2004. Steve Houraney was not impressed...."It seems to me this really could happen," said Kurt Ribisl, an assistant professor at UNC Chapel Hill who specializes in tobacco control policy.

1998 book exposed Thurmond's secret
The Charlotte Observer
In October 1972, as Strom Thurmond's 70th birthday approached, editor W.W. Mims of the weekly Edgefield Advertiser ran a headline that covered his front page in his largest type:...As I was writing the "Colored Offspring" chapter, I spoke with Joel Williamson, a historian at UNC Chapel Hill, who is recognized as an academic authority on miscegenation, and discussed the facts we had compiled.

Walking your way to well-being
The Charlotte Observer
If there's only one thing you do for your health in 2004, try walking...."If you are doing nothing now, you will see a dramatic improvement in your quality of life if you could simply get yourself walking 30 minutes a day," said Mark Fenton, a champion racewalker who hosts the PBS series "America's Walking" and works with the UNC Chapel Hill Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center.

Prof urges N.C. to heed Valdez oil spill effects (Question & Answer)
The News & Observer
Many people think the biological damage from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska almost 15 years ago was confined primarily to the short-term effects that were well-publicized. A study published in December by the journal Science says such thinking is a mistake. Its findings say damage to marine life from the oil spill continued for much longer than previously thought. That has significant implications for environmental research and protection of other bodies of water. Charles H. Peterson, a professor of marine sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, was the lead author of the article.

In 'Separated,' MFA students take art in new directions
The Chapel Hill News
Call it experience envy, but hearing about the different experiences of the UNC Master of Fine Arts students in their first semester made me want to be a part of the program. Perhaps they allow flies on the wall. The nine first-year students are preparing for a group show to introduce themselves to the community. The exhibit, "Separated," opens on Jan. 13 at the John and June Allcott Gallery in the Hanes Art Center on the UNC campus with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. The show runs through Feb. 5 and is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Towns, county look to issues affecting the year ahead
The Herald-Sun
While Carolina North has been a huge issue across the border in Chapel Hill, it has played a
little differently in Carrboro. The massive satellite campus certainly got some discussion leading up to the November election, but the debate tended to be most intense on projects that were closer to reality than Carolina North, like the Winmore and Pacifica developments.

Issues and Trends

Plans to tackle college costs risk tripping up students (Editorial)
USA Today
At the University of California at Los Angeles, tuition soared 43% this school year. At Arizona State University, tuition rose 39%. Across the USA, costs at four-year public colleges increased 14% on average, not counting hikes for room, board and fees. The sharp spikes have caused students and parents to complain to just about anyone who will listen. And in Congress they're getting a particularly sympathetic ear. Republicans in the House of Representatives are pushing a plan to punish public and private colleges if their tuition increases outpace inflation. Democrats want to penalize flinty state legislatures that slacken their support of higher education.

Intervention is needed (Opposing Editorial)
USA Today
America's higher education system is in crisis. Explosive price increases are jeopardizing the dream of a college education for millions of students. According to the Advisory Committee on Student Financial Assistance, cost factors prevent 48% of all college-qualified, low-income high school graduates from attending a four-year college and 22% from attending any college at all. This is unacceptable.

An overdue boost for the underpaid (Editorial)
Wilmington Star News
You have to wonder where Gov. Mike Easley found the $4. 5 million, but you can't fault the way he's spending it: giving a raise to some of the state's worst-paid workers.

Up from poverty (Editorial)
The News & Observer
America promises nobody a free lunch, but hard work is supposed to lead to a good living. Sadly, North Carolina has held that brass ring beyond the reach of too many people in state jobs, including the 600 workers who maintain the buildings and grounds of the public university system. Governor Easley has given those workers hope for the first time in three years. The governor ordered up pay raises for those at the bottom of the salary scale so that none would earn less than $18,312, or 120 percent of the federal poverty level. As employers, the taxpaying public surely can afford $1 million out of a $14 billion budget to fairly compensate people.

A decent gesture for state employees (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
When UNC last month hired a new super-professor at a salary of $250,000, it must have turned some heads of the folks who will be cleaning his office....Also last year, Chancellor James Moeser appointed a task force to look into working conditions of campus employees. It will be interesting to see the report of that group, which is expected shortly.

Raises not widespread, but welcome
The News & Observer
Richard Emery, a housekeeper at N.C. State University, hopes he's on the list to receive one of the pay raises aimed at some of state government's lowest-paid workers....At UNC-Chapel Hill last year, Chancellor James Moeser established a task force to improve the workplace for campus employees.

Some housekeepers to see pay increase
The Chapel Hill News
Some housekeepers, groundskeepers and other employees at UNC-Chapel Hill could receive unexpected pay raises intended to bring their salaries above the federal poverty line.....UNC Chancellor James Moeser formed the Chancellor's Task Force for a Better Workplace in late July. In November, the group released the results of an employee survey that found that, when asked to list up to three things that the university should do to improve the workplace in the short term, respondents most frequently mentioned increasing salaries.

Honors courses get review
The News & Observer
The perfect 4.0 that once meant straight A's in high school is now a perfect 5.0 and climbing.. A proliferation of honors-level courses in many North Carolina schools has helped push grade-point averages higher than ever for top students...."The important thing is taking the work," said Bobby Kanoy, UNC associate vice president for academic and student affairs. "The more rigorous courses are going to help them be successful."

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.