July 14, 2003

Carolina in the News

Recent National Coverage

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

Easing the Admissions Frenzy (Editorial)
The New York Times
The quixotic campaign to ease the early applications frenzy that 
has many high school seniors scrambling in early fall to decide what 
college they want to attend got a modest lift last week. The magazine 
whose rankings have helped spur the frenzy said it is eliminating a 
statistic that has helped prompt colleges to admit a huge chunk of 
their incoming freshman classes months before standard acceptances...
Stanford did the same, and the University of North Carolina and Beloit 
College followed suit. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/opinion/13SUN3.html?n=Top%2fOpinion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fEditorials

The Changing South Finds Its Way on I-85
New York Times
It begins quietly enough in the piney woods of southern Virginia. 
At Petersburg, I-85 diverges from I-95, the main drag of the East 
Coast, and heads diagonally across Dixie for the next 600 or so miles, 
passing through North Carolina and Georgia, before petering out in 
Montgomery, Ala...Despite the peach farmer's fading fortunes — or 
perhaps because of them — the Peachoid endures, a folk art symbol 
of the changing South. Such roadside structures are part of a deep-
seated Southern tradition, said William Ferris, a professor of history 
at the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of 
North Carolina. "Virtually every fruit and vegetable grown has its own 
festival here," Dr. Ferris said. "They recall the medicine and minstrel 
shows of the past."
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/automobiles/11ROAD.html

Here's Uncle Zeus, Aunt Hera, the Twins ...
New York Times
It was about 20 years ago when Jon O. Newman, a federal appeals court 
judge in Manhattan, walked up to a staff member in the New York 
Public Library and asked, "Do you have a book anywhere in this 
library that has a complete genealogical chart of Greek mythology?" 
They didn't...The scholar, Maria-Viktoria Abricka, who had taught 
mythology at the University of North Carolina and reads Greek 
and Latin, agreed to help.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/12/nyregion/12GREE.html
(Similar stories also appeared in the Chicago Tribune and the 
Pittsborgh Post-Gazette.)

U.K.-based SunTech Medical expands local operations 
MSNBC
Boosted by five years of revenue growth, SunTech Medical 
Instruments is expanding and moving its corporate headquarters 
from Raleigh to Morrisville...SunTech was founded in 1984 with 
technology licensed from the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill. In 1996, a group of private British investors acquired a majority 
stake and the company began focusing on electronic blood pressure 
monitors.
http://famulus.msnbc.com/famuluscom/bizjournal07-14-010506.asp?bizj=TRG

For Primal Duo, the Memories of Trees Hold No Terror
New York Times
Eiko and Koma seem to live their dances, moment by moment in 
their slow unfolding. "Tree Song," commissioned by the American Dance 
Festival in Durham, N.C., and performed at outdoor sites in the area, 
is a perfect example...Eiko and Koma's following performance, on 
Tuesday night under a tall, slender, graceful tree in McCorkle Park 
at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, had slight 
overtones of sexy playfulness. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/arts/dance/14EIKO.html

National News Note

UNC School of Public Health nutrition professor, Barry Popkin, will
appear tomorrow on National Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation." Popkin will discuss
diet, obesity and the food industry. The program airs locally from 
2-4 pm on WUNC-FM.

Regional Coverage

Orlando Sentinel
Researchers have identified a mechanism by which chronic stress 
weakens the immune system, putting people at greater risk of disease 
and, possibly, premature aging...Kiecolt-Glaser and her husband, Ronald 
Glaser, a viral immunologist at Ohio State University, headed a research 
team from Ohio State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
that monitored blood levels of IL-6 in 119 elderly caregivers and 106 
non-caregivers (their average age was 70), for six years.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/custom/science/orl-insstress13071303jul13.story
This story is the subject of a UNC News Services news release
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/jun03/maccall063003.html

State and Local Coverage

Moeser invites legislators to visit 
News and Observer
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser has invited a group of 
Republican legislators to campus to discuss the controversial freshman 
summer reading selection, "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in 
America." 
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/2687903p-2492206c.html

Moeser asks lawmakers to chat about beef with Ehrenreich book 
Chapel Hill Herald
The group of state legislators who expressed discontent with UNC's 
summer reading program this week have been invited to campus to 
chat about it with university leaders. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-370695.html
For a list of books considered, see this companion link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-370677.html

UNC tells book's critics to discuss it on campus
Charlotte Observer
The chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
has invited legislators who criticized the school's choice for the summer 
reading program to discuss the book.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/6287264.htm
Note: This Associated Press story resulted from UNC's release Friday
of Chancellor Moeser's letter to Sen. Horton.

Apt choice for freshman seminar (Editorial)
Chapel Hill News
Michael Hooker would be proud.
For the second year in a row, the freshman reading program that 
the late UNC chancellor started as a way to stir intellectual ferment 
on campus is causing a row. There’s nothing like a public fuss over a 
book to get the brain juices flowing among young college students. http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/2688523p-2492810c.html

Chapter Two (Editorial)
News and Observer
In the wake of last year's controversy over a reading assignment 
for incoming students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel 
Hill, some university leaders proclaimed the dispute a fight over 
academic freedom and the free speech that goes with it. The book, 
about the Quran, was deemed by critics to be an insensitive assignment
because of the 9/11 tragedy, and a politically tone-deaf choice on the
part of those faculty members and the committee members who made it. 
http://www.newsandobserver.com/editorials/story/2687727p-2492303c.html

Confab on reading program could be valuable (Editorial)
Chapel Hill Herald
UNC Chancellor James Moeser has faced a lot of criticism for public-
relations gaffes during his tenure. Some of it has been fair; some of it hasn't. 
But even his critics should agree that he's handling the latest fuss over the 
university's summer reading program with aplomb. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/chhedits/57-371081.html

Off the beat
On (not) getting by at Carolina (Commentary)
Chapel Hill News
The book paints a vivid portrait of the hardships faced by our nation's 
migrant poor.  It's a tale of dislocation, false hopes and frustrations fueled by endemic 
poverty -- and its frank and unbridled insight into life as an underprivileged 
American has drawn heated criticism.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/2686315p-2490873c.html

A symbol of UNC facades (Opinion Column)
News and Observer
Let me say, first off, that I read Barbara Ehrenreich's book 
"Nickel and Dimed," and I didn't much care for it. It was gracefully 
written and engaging, as all of Ehrenreich's work is. It also brought 
attention to an economic class that gets precious little.Still, I found 
it disingenuous, this columnist and best- selling author posing as a 
minimum-wage worker to collect what we journalists call "color" -- 
or colorful details -- while secretly slipping home now and then to 
get an Amazon.com fix and drink a nice bottle of pinot noir.
http://www.newsandobserver.com/front/columnist/story/2692376p-2496156c.html

Triangle-area newspapers published more than a dozen letters to the editor
over the weekend, including letter by Faculty Chair Judith Wegner and 
Student Body President Matt Tepper. To sample these letters, links to The
News and Observer, Durham-Sun, Chapel Hill News and Chapel Hill Herald
letters pages follow:

http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687837p-2492262c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687835p-2492168c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687833p-2492222c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/story/2687738p-2492308c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687829p-2492254c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687831p-2492306c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687836p-2492241c.html
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/2687828p-2492265c.html
http://www.heraldsun.com/opinion/chhletters/
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/2688522p-2492809c.html

Getting a jump on business 
News and Observer
If you could write a check for whatever amount of money you needed 
for the rest of your life, how much would that be? If you owned the 
Los Angeles Lakers, what is the long-term financial gain of trading 
star players Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal or both? ...Such questions 
and challenges were daily fodder for about 60 high school juniors who 
just completed a three-week course at Duke University and UNC-Chapel 
Hill designed to attract minorities into business careers. Known as 
LEAD -- Leadership Education and Development -- the business program 
is seen as one way for universities to address affirmative action issues 
without relying on the consideration of race during the admissions process.
http://newsobserver.com/business/story/2692827p-2496130c.html

Publication of notes assists social workers (Question and Answer)
News and Observer
From his perch at the Jordan Institute for Families in Asheville, 
John McMahon, a clinical instructor with the UNC-Chapel Hill School 
of Social Work, sifts through field research, policy recommendations 
and case studies to try to give the state's child- welfare workers a 
quarterly publication to augment their training inside and outside the 
classroom. 
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/2692383p-2496208c.html

UNC prepares to keep SARS out of school 
Chapel Hill Herald
The immediate SARS threat over, UNC officials are now looking ahead, 
with some trepidation, to the start of the fall semester. UNC, idyllic in 
the summer with just a smattering of students around, will swell to 
about 25,000 students in late August. It's those students whose summer 
plans took them outside the state and nation who raise the most concerns. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-370902.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

ACC to start push for NCAA rule change
News and Observer
The ACC's proposal for a rule change that could result in a lucrative 
postseason football title game as early as 2004 is ready for submission 
to the NCAA early next week.
http://newsobserver.com/sports/college/story/2687862p-2492267c.html

Evans won't run again for council 
Chapel Hill Herald
After three campaigns and 10 years on the Town Council, Pat Evans 
said Friday that she won't seek another term. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-370690.html

Bateman steps down to find more time 
Chapel Hill Herald
Flicka Bateman says her desire to pursue other interests explains 
why she won't seek re-election to the Town Council this fall. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-370701.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