January 16, 2004

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

National Coverage

The Laziness Myth
Child Magazine
"He's so lazy!" It's an epithet frequently flung at children who don't do their homework or apply themselves in school. But in his new book, The Myth of Laziness, Mel Levine, M.D., a professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, argues that very few children (or adults) are actually lazy. Instead, he believes that subtle, undiagnosed neurodevelopmental breakdowns cause memory, language, motor-function, and organizational weaknesses, which lead to what he calls "output failure."

State and Local Coverage

Growing Pains
The News & Observer
It wasn't that the minister of pastoral care at Abundant Life Church in Hillsborough had done anything wrong. But as he assumed his role as lead pastor for Vida Abundante, the church's Spanish-speaking counterpart, he was standing before members whose ranks included Venezuelans, Costa Ricans, Mexicans, Hondurans and Guatemalans.... "They have to adapt," said Thomas Tweed, the Zachary Smith Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Corrections
The Herald-Sun
A Wednesday article about a $3 million professorship in honor of outgoing Duke President Nan Keohane should have stated that UNC raised all of the money for that position. The Herald-Sun regrets the error.

Colorblind play honors King
The News & Observer
Mike Wiley has been rejected for roles countless times because of the color of his skin....The play will feature students from the Durham School of the Arts and from UNC-Chapel Hill, where Wiley is a master's degree student in drama. School of the Arts drama teacher Carl Martin is the director.

Airport board member ousted
Washington Daily News
The Beaufort County commissioners voted 4-2 Thursday to remove Dorie Richter from the Warren Field Airport Commission and started proceedings to remove two more members of the airport's governing body.....During the meeting, Spruill called the School of Government at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to get confirmation of the commissioners' action.

Issues and Trends

Universities Seek Steady Funding
The Washington Post
The series of tuition increases imposed last year at Maryland public universities emerged as a defining issue in discussions over the future of higher education funding in Annapolis yesterday.

Boom-bust economy hurting higher education (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
During my four years at N.C. State University ( 1999 to 2003) my tuition rose an astounding 72 percent. Seeing the cost of any public good rise 72 percent should be alarming to anyone in this state.

Numbers of female science professors lag
The Herald Sun
While the percentage of women studying science and engineering has significantly increased, a report released Thursday shows men greatly dominate the science and engineering faculties at top research universities, including Duke, UNC and N.C. State.

Early budget figures show a tax hike in Chapel Hill
The News & Observer
Every year about this time, Town Manager Cal Horton crunches the numbers and then tries to give the Town Council a conservative, but educated, guess as to what the tax rate for the coming fiscal year could be....Several weeks ago, in an attempt to give UNC-Chapel Hill less of a monolithic, institutional face, university administrators tried a new tack in reaching out to Town Council members.

City-UNC contacts queried
The Herald-Sun
Town-gown issues like Carolina North and contacts between individual Town Council members and administrators from UNC generated the most heated discussions during a council planning retreat on Thursday.

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.