July 3, 2002

Carolina in the News

Current National Coverage

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

Infectious Disease Expert Will Lead National Health Agency
The New York Times
Dr. Julie L. Gerberding, an infectious disease expert noted for her work against AIDS and 
anthrax, will be the next director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 
administration officials said today...
..."As important as bioterrorism is, it is only part of the C.D.C.'s efforts," said Dr. William L. 
Roper, dean of the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina and a 
previous director of the health centers. "It would be unfortunate to focus predominately on 
bioterrorism and forget that the agency's larger role is to lead the fight against all infectious 
and chronic disease."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/07/03/health/03CDC.html
(Note: The New York Times requires free registration to access articles. Roper was 
interviewed by several national media outlets concerning the appointment of Gerberding 
including The Associated Press, The Wall Street Journal 
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1025622951268381960,00.html?mod=whos%5Fnews%5Fprimary%5Fhs, 
Atlanta Journal-Constitution http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/news/0702/03cdc.html, 
and The Los Angeles Times http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-cdc3jul03.story.)

Researchers find new identifiers for diabetes
Houston Chronicle
In a promising new field of diabetes research, scientists are finding new ways to help identify 
diabetes-prone patients early, potentially averting complications such as limb amputation, 
blindness and heart disease...
...The researchers measured other markers but found little correlation between those levels 
and increased risk of diabetes when controlling for other factors such as diabetes, said Dr. 
Bruce Duncan, affiliated with both the University of North Carolina and the Federal University 
of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. 
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/health/1473956

'Superarchives' Could Hold All Scholarly Output
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Professors' office computers hold a wealth of original content: research articles, data sets, 
field notes, images, and the like. Some of the material will be published in journals months 
or years after it is created, but even then it will probably be available only to the journals' 
subscribers. The rest will never see the light of day...
..."The whole power of science is the power of shared ideas, not the power of hidden 
ideas," says Paul Jones, associate professor of information and library science at the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "Science advances when there's a free exchange 
of ideas. We move faster by being open. We know this, but we have disincentives right 
now to openness."
http://chronicle.com/free/v48/i43/43a02901.htm
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires subscription to access articles)

Gays seek protection in schools
The State (South Carolina)
Trey Martin and Lindsey Duchac recently were graduated from different high schools in 
different S.C. cities, but their high school stories are startlingly similar. Martin tells about a 
miniature noose taped to his locker by a classmate who disapproved of his lifestyle. Duchac 
tried to ignore a student who called her a dyke in a crowded cafeteria and two others who 
called her a sinner...
...Most research, including a recent study from the University of North Carolina, estimates 
5 to 6 percent of students 17 and younger identify themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual. 
That could mean more than 7,000 S.C. high school students and half a million American high 
school students are dealing with their sexual orientation.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/living/education/3578449.htm

State and Local Coverage

Overhead protector (Editorial)
It is a big pile of money to be sure, and as North Carolina's lawmakers try to figure out how 
to cut their own dwindling stack of bills to keep various state agencies running, a big pile is a 
big temptation. But when it comes to dipping into the $120 million in so-called overhead 
receipts for research projects going to University of North Carolina system schools, legislators 
should resist the urge.
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1505508p-1535874c.html

UNC Chapel Hill opens center to aid minority businesses
Winston-Salem Journal
Officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say they hope that the recent 
opening of a resource center will attract small contractors to the more than $1 billion in campus 
construction. The Historically Underutilized Business Resource Center provides assistance to 
companies owned by minorities and women. Prospective contractors can search for jobs, look 
at project plans and research bidding guidelines at the HUB center. Legislators last year passed 
a law requiring state universities and community colleges to make a good-faith effort to involve 
more businesses in a $3.1 billion bond project.
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/news/regional/MGBEHHBO63D.html
(Note: To view article, please scroll down the web page.)

UNC files for first expansion permits
The town’s new system for reviewing campus projects is getting its initial workout, thanks to 
a move by UNC to ask permission to start work on six buildings. UNC’s planners filed the first 
of the applications, for a renovation of the Alexander, Connor and Winston dormitories, on June 
21. The rest followed within a week. The filings were the first since the Town Council granted 
conceptual approval last October to a massive expansion of the university’s 209-year-old main 
campus. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-243592.html

Mental health in tug-of-war 
There is one telephone number that Joel Edwards knows by heart. He calls it when he needs 
help, when he's feeling sick, when he's just wanting a friend. The man on the other end is Jerome 
Perry, Edwards' mental health case manager...
...The clinic, with a budget of $300,000 to $400,000, doubles as a training site for psychiatrists 
studying at Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill. Paul Brinich, a professor in psychology and 
psychiatry at UNC-CH and former acting clinical director of Umstead's Children's Psychiatric 
Institute, which runs the clinic, said there is nowhere to serve these children in southern Granville 
County precisely because the hospital filled that role. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/1505652p-1535836c.html

Police to hunt drunken drivers on 4th 
Police will be offering what highway safety advocates call "one-stop shopping" for drunken drivers 
this weekend as part of stepped-up DWI enforcement for the July Fourth holiday, traditionally 
one of the deadliest of the year. The state is deploying its fleet of three "BATmobiles" -- buses 
equipped with breath-testing machines, work stations, bathrooms and even enclosed magistrate's 
offices -- across the state to quickly process drunken drivers...
...A spike in crashes during the Fourth of July weekend can be attributed to the higher volume 
of cars on the highway, said David L. Harkey, manager of engineering studies at the UNC 
Highway Safety Research Center in Chapel Hill. The holiday falls in the middle of the summer, 
when many people are already taking vacation and are on the road. 
http://newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/1507341p-1537478c.html

Her Story
If things had gone as planned, Yasmin Saikia, a UNC-Chapel Hill history professor, would be 
in Pakistan by now seeking out soldiers and veterans willing to talk about the brutality of the region's 
1971 war. But things didn't go as planned. Tensions between Pakistan and India have reached 
a fever pitch over the two countries' longstanding dispute over Kashmir. As in 1971, ethnic 
violence has boiled over and neighbor has turned against neighbor. Unlike 1971, the armies 
poised on both sides are backed by nuclear arsenals. Estimates are that a nuclear exchange 
between the two could kill 12 million. Saikia is watching all this from Chapel Hill.
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/07/03/town00.html

Local woman was Muslim activist in India
Shortly after moving to Chapel Hill in 1999, Yasmin Saikia, a UNC history professor researching 
women's personal stories of conflict in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was preparing for a trip 
to Bangladesh to find women willing to discuss their experiences during bloody military and ethnic 
conflicts in 1947 and 1971. Then one afternoon she answered her phone and was greeted by a 
woman speaking perfect Assamese -- Saikia's native tongue. It was a local call. 
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/07/03/town00_side1.html

Court limits Williamson's freedom 
Wendell Williamson, the mentally ill former UNC-Chapel Hill law student who killed two men 
during a 1995 shooting rampage in downtown Chapel Hill, has lost his bid for the freedom to 
meander alone around Raleigh's Dorothea Dix Hospital. Williamson, 34, does not have a legal 
right to freely roam the unfenced mental hospital campus near downtown, the state Court of 
Appeals ruled Tuesday. The decision came in Williamson's appeal of a trial judge's restrictive 
order in a December 2000 review of Williamson's ongoing involuntary commitment to Dix.
http://newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1507415p-1537477c.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

New paths for students (Editorial)
The future facing the next generation of Tar Heel high school students may bear only slight 
resemblance to the one facing today's graduates. The economy from which they'll derive their 
livelihoods likely will involve far less traditional manufacturing and far more knowledge-based 
business. Innovation will drive productivity even in traditional companies. In that light, high 
schools that try to squeeze all their students into a standard academic mold risk turning out a 
surplus of adults with the wrong skills for survival. Higher education is a proven ticket to success 
and fulfillment for many people, but it's by no means a path suitable for everybody. College 
may not make sense for plenty of students with aptitudes and interests that can be converted to 
skills more readily marketable to employers. North Carolina owes those students a solid range 
of alternatives. 
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/editorials/story/1507386p-1537495c.html

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, 
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, 
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu