January 19, 2005

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Grids Unleash the Power of Many
The Wall Street Journal
Computer scientists in three states... are each combining their technology resources into separate computer grids that will give researchers, universities, private companies and citizens access to powerful supercomputers....MCNC is spearheading North Carolina's statewide grid development that currently includes seven universities including North Carolina State, Duke, and the University of North Carolina.
Subscription required.

State & Local Coverage

Web site discloses grad rates
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Most North Carolina colleges and universities graduate less than half of their students within six years of enrollment....At UNC-Chapel Hill, 83 percent of students finish in six years. Last fall, Chancellor James Moeser said that wasn't good enough. He resolved to push the university's rate to at least 92 percent...."You always want to look to somebody who's doing better," said Robert Shelton, provost at UNC.

UNC's trustees have focused on its affordability (Commentary)
The Daily Tar Heel
Nelson Schwab III, member , UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees--Accessibility and affordability remain at the core of UNC-Chapel Hill's commitment to our state's young people and to their families.

A small increase isn't out of line (Commentary)
The Daily Tar Heel
Matt Calabria, Student Body President, UNC-Chapel Hill--A year ago, I ran on a policy of "fighting unreasonable tuition increases," and I intend to - but as I hope to show here, there's good reason to consider the notion that not all hikes are unreasonable. I hope to prove that a small, judicious tuition increase is worth consideration, given UNC-CH's situation, and might be an effective way to preserve affordability while pursuing excellence.

Papers, officials support a freeze (Commentary)
The Daily Tar Heel
Amanda Devore, president, ASG--In the coming months, the UNC-system Board of Governors will once again face campus-initiated tuition increase proposals coming from almost every campus in the UNC system.

Raising tuition mustn't become an annual trend (Commentary)
The Daily Tar Heel
Zach Wynne. Student Body President, UNC-W--Since I came to UNC- Wilmington four years ago, I have seen four tuition increase proposals.

UNC near to picking book for program
The Herald-Sun (Durham)/The Chapel Hill Herald
A campus committee is leaning toward a book on a southern racial uprising for use as UNC's 2005 summer reading program text.
Related link: http://www.dailytarheel.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/01/14/41e7c0be2cd07?in_archive=1

Change focus of UNC award (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
Passion, piety and affections have both dangers and joys, George Lensing told UNC Chapel Hill's winter graduates last month. The noted author and professor of 20th-century poetry was alluding to William Butler Yeats' poem "Among School Children."

Reading skills help protect from ill health
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
The human immune system can get a boost in many ways, from eating a balanced diet to exercising, getting adequate sleep, even sometimes by taking medicines and inflammation-fighting supplements.....Poor literacy is linked to people's failure to get tests...according to the study by researchers at UNC and RTI International.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/apr04/pignone040804.html

Speaker says education is civil rights' target
The Chapel Hill News
Howard Lee, chairman of the state Board of Education, told those who attended Sunday's 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Banquet that education is today's civil rights "arena."...George Lensing and Steve England were recipients of "bridge-builder" awards. Lensing, a UNC English professor, was honored for his efforts to provide affordable housing in Chapel Hill...."My Brother Martin," Chuck Stone, Walter Spearman professor of journalism, reflects on the legacy of his fraternity brother and how his experiences with King influenced him during the civil rights movements.

King's message resonates in local events
The Chapel Hill News
Pumping his index finger with fury, Mitch Baker bellowed grim statistics at the crowd of mostly black college students....Baker, 21, won hearty applause from nearly 150 people packed into a UNC-Chapel Hill student union room Monday evening.

Teenagers take stand on war
The Chapel Hill News
Like millions of teenagers before him, Will King dutifully filled out his military draft registration and mailed it in within 30 days of his 18th birthday....Though belonging to the Quakers or any other anti-war religion is likely to carry weight in a draft appeal, simply claiming objection to war on registration forms isn't a proven strategy, said Donald Shaw, UNC-Chapel Hill professor and state director of the Selective Service System.

In search of the holy grail of community journalism (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chapel Hill News
I am searching for the holy grail of community journalism: a large, stately silver urn awarded annually to the very best weekly newspaper in North Carolina - lost for almost 50 years....Information about the whereabouts of the Walter Savory Cup may be sent to Jock Lauterer, who teaches Community Journalism at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication....

Issues & Trends

Office proposals up for hearing tonight
The Chapel Hill Herald
A new office building with residences on top may go up in Meadowmont, if a businessman can convince town officials to tweak the master plan for that development off N.C. 54....Over on Finley Golf Course Road, the Delta Sigma Phi house was built in the early '90s, but the fraternity no longer occupies the house. UNC owns the property, and it plans to tear down the house to make way for the office building and 43 parking spaces.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

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