July 11, 2003

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Chronicle of Higher Education
Once again, the book chosen for the summer reading program at 
the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has become 
the focus of controversy. Several Republican state 
legislators and incoming students have criticized this year's 
selection as "pure liberal propaganda" and "Christian bigotry."
http://chronicle.com/daily/2003/07/2003071104n.htm

Regional Coverage

'Pump-up' skeletons let soft shells move
Crabs found to use water to firm external skeletons
Baltimore Sun
If human skeletons turned to Jell-O every few months, we'd all collapse in a heap 
of useless, floppy limbs until our bones hardened again. ...Writing in the current issue 
of the journal Science, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill say
blue crabs have evolved a way to stiffen their floppy new shells with water pressure, keeping 
themselves mobile while they wait for their new and bigger shells to harden.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.crab11jul11.story

Study Identifies Key Step Allowing Cells To Migrate
Science Daily
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers have discovered a 
prime regulator of the mechanism by which human cells migrate in health and in illness, a process 
crucial to sustaining life. Their work helps explain how cells can stick to a surface long enough to
pull themselves and move forward and then release that grip so that they can continue and not be 
anchored to one spot. ...Cai Huang, a graduate student about to complete his doctorate in cell 
and developmental biology at the UNC School of Medicine, led the project. 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/07/030711092442.htm

Also ... Other coverage on this story includes National Associated Press distribution and this N.C. account::
Crabs have two skeletons 
News & Observer
For what seems like forever, science teachers used crabs as perfect examples of
animals that wear their skeletons on the outside. Turns out that was only half the story. 
A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate student and her professor have discovered that
blue crabs actually have two skeletons: the visible hard shells and a squishy, internal 
system that turns on only when they molt. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/2685232p-2489577c.html
(note: This study was the subject of a UNC news release)

State and Local Coverage

Book is widely required 
News & Observer, July 1
"Nickel and Dimed," the UNC-Chapel Hill summer reading assignment that has 
whipped up another political tempest, is a popular choice for campus freshman reading 
programs -- precisely because it evokes strong opinions. This year, more than a dozen 
universities have required incoming students to read "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) 
Getting By in America" by Barbara Ehrenreich. They include Ohio State, Indiana State, 
Lehigh and Ball State universities. In North Carolina, Davidson College students discussed 
the book last fall, and freshmen at Appalachian State and UNC-Asheville will read it this fall.
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/2685230p-2489551c.html
This link also will take viewers to the following list: 
A nine-member committee of faculty, staff and students at UNC-Chapel Hill considered dozens of books
before selecting "Nickel and Dimed." ...

More than 12 campuses use book UNC chose with no fuss 
The Herald-Sun,
UNC Chapel Hill's summer reading selection is a popular one
on college campuses these days, having been picked for similar reading programs 
across the nation, including one at another UNC-system institution. The 
book, "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting Ahead in America," by Barbara 
Ehrenreich, is being used at more than a dozen universities across the country this 
summer, including Appalachian State University in Boone. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-370322.html

UNC conservatives creating Web site 
The Herald-Sun
A conservative student group displeased with UNC's summer 
reading book selection is creating a Web site to offer another side to the issue -- and hopes it 
can have a presence on the university's own Internet site. The Committee 
for a Better Carolina, a fledgling student group, is putting together a Web site 
that can be found at www.CarolinaBlueprint.com starting next week, said the group's 
founder, Michael McKnight. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-370321.html

Summer Reading (Editorial)
Winston-Salem Journal
Less fun than a beach trip but sure to generate publicity, protests of the 
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's summer reading program have 
become a rite of the vacation season. The latest stir means that the folks at Carolina 
must be doing a good job of selecting books that will provoke thought and discussion....
Opening minds to new ideas...is what education should be about. .
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Common%2FMGArticle%2FPrintVersion&c=MGArticle&cid=1031770012243&oasDN=journalnow.com&oasPN=&image=wsj80x60
New summer book, new flap at UNC (Editorial)
Greensboro News-Record
Last summer, less than a year after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, UNC-Chapel Hill
assigned incoming freshmen to read “Approaching the Qur’an: The Early Revelations.”
...Yet, when it was duly read by most students, the walls of the university did not topple from 
exposure to Islam. Academic freedom, which includes exploring new ideas, prevailed.
This summer the university has chosen another book for incoming freshmen and, once 
again, it has provoked a controversy. ...''Nickel and Dimed’’ is a national best 
seller and an illuminating portrait of the economic underside of society. Radical it is not.
http://www.news-record.com/news/opinions/edit10.htm

Nickel and diming it in America (Commentary)
Greensboro News & Record
Here we go again in Chapel Hill. Last summer the university assigned incoming freshmen 
a book to read about the Quran. The purpose was to expose their minds to a religion that baffled 
Americans after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The goal of a university is to 
educate, right? ...This summer there is yet another ruckus. UNC-Chapel Hill assigned (though 
did not require) incoming freshmen to read “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America.’’
...I read the book when it was published in 2001 and I urge you to do the same. 
It is neither seditious nor radical. It merely lays out the truth, which sometimes stings.
http://www.news-record.com/news/columnists/staff/roberts11.htm

Time for politics and prose at UNC (Editorial)
Herald Sun, July 11, 2003
You can always tell when another academic year is drawing 
near at UNC Chapel Hill. An uproar breaks loose over the 
university's choice of a book for its freshman reading program. ...
http://www.herald-sun.com/opinion/hsedits/56-370221.html

Letters to the Editor
News & Observer
Letter: Minimum thought
If I ever saw a persuasive reason to reinstitute the military draft it was the July 8
article about the summer reading list at UNC-Chapel Hill. You reported on the flap over
Barbara Ehrenreich's book "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America." ... 
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/

Letter: Not so radical
According to your July 10 account, Republican state legislators and select students 
call Barbara Ehrenreich's "Nickel and Dimed" "indoctrination" and "intellectual pornography," 
its ideas "fringe" and "radical." Really? Highlighting the daily struggles of low-wage workers is 
hardly radical. Calling for a living wage so that people can feed and clothe their children is not a 
fringe idea. It should be any country's goal. 
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/

News & Observer (Editorial Cartoon/Reading Program) 
http://newsobserver.com/graphics/photos/xtq_20030711-graphics/powelled.GIF

UNC-CH alumnus continues his TV exploration with Dead Zone
Winston-Salem Journal
The late, great Gene Roddenberry might have created the Star Trek universe, but
it was an honorary North Carolinian who saved its TV franchise and is now at the 
helm of another groundbreaking series.A native of New York, Michael Piller migrated to 
and matriculated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, all on the 
recommendation of family friend and newsman Charles Kuralt. While attending UNC-CH, 
Piller worked as an intern for WBTV in Charlotte...
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031770015182&path=!frontpage&s=

Issues and Trends in North Carolina 

Lawmakers down to final days 
News & Observer
The legislature plans to finish its business a week from today, likely leaving several
major issues such as a lottery, banning video poker and a death penalty moratorium 
on the table for next year. ... It would be the first time since 1999 that legislators 
finished their so-called long session before August. Senate leader Marc Basnight said he would 
not stand in the way of the adjournment, but he wants legislators to return later in the year to 
consider legislation placing restrictions on medical malpractice lawsuits, and an economic 
development package that includes a biotechnology research and training center and a cancer 
center for Triangle universities.
http://www.newsobserver.com/front/story/2685234p-2489511c.html

ACC looking ahead 
News & Observer
The next important development in Atlantic Coast Conference expansion 
likely will take place Sept. 30 and Oct. 1 in Charlottesville, Va. 
That's when Virginia will host the league's athletics directors, including Miami's Paul Dee 
and Virginia Tech's Jim Weaver, plus various conference officials for two days of 
concentrated planning meetings. 
http://newsobserver.com/sports/college/story/2685705p-2489609c.html

Critic of UNC plans files for council seat
The Herald-Sun
The fifth announced candidate in this year's Town Council race is a writer and planning board
member who lives on East Franklin Street. Thatcher Freund, 47, filed on Thursday for the race, in
which four council seats and the mayor's seat are up for re-election in November. ...Freund singled 
out the future development of UNC's Horace Williams tract as one of his key concerns. 
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-370319.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