March 23, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Regulators Want Antidepressants to List Warning
The New York Times
Patients taking antidepressants can become suicidal in the first weeks of therapy, and physicians should watch patients closely when first giving the drugs or changing dosages, federal regulators said yesterday....Dr. Jeffrey Lieberman, a professor of psychiatry and pharmacology at the University of North Carolina, said that the agency's action suggested that antidepressants had become too popular and physicians too casual about dispensing them.

The promise of preschool
The Boston Globe
Once upon a time there were 123 poor, African-American children living in a Michigan town called Ypsilanti....The problem with the research, said David Blau, a professor of economics at the University of North Carolina and author of "The Child Care Problem," is that it focuses on very high-cost, high-quality programs unlikely to be duplicated in a broad public system.

Diabetes Looms Large
HealthDay Wireservice
Emerging outbreaks such as SARS, Ebola and avian flu make the most dramatic headlines, but there's a more destructive epidemic that threatens far more lives in the United States and the rest of the world: Diabetes...."The worst case scenario is that we'll just get fatter and fatter and more sedentary until we look like Jabba the Hutt [the galactically obese crime kingpin from Star Wars] and everybody will have diabetes in their 40s and 50s," says Dr. John Buse, director of diabetes care at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Reaching to the Choir
The American Prospect
In early February, 60 minutes' Morley Safer portrayed white evangelical Christians as the carnies of American Protestantism....Christian Smith is a professor and associate chair of sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of Christian America? What Evangelicals Really Want.

State & Local Coverage

Lobbying legislators (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Law School Dean Gene Nichol put his finger on part of the problem the other day -- "a discrepancy between what most folks think would be reported" and that which must be reported when paid lobbyists spend money to influence members of the General Assembly.

Building on lots idea gets vision
The News & Observer
They want a neighborhood grocery store, a bookshop and a bus transfer station or some other public building where artists and performers could show their stuff...."Downtown, with its eclectic mix of retail, office, and residential uses and its proximity to the University of North Carolina campus has historically been the cultural and commercial nerve center of Chapel Hill and the neighboring areas," the company contracted to do the analysis, Economics Research Associates, concluded in the report presented Monday.

Oyster dredging could be modified
New Bern Sun Journal
State fisheries officials are considering adding 30,000 more acres of coastal waters to areas closed to oyster dredging....Another study, led by Pete Peterson, marine biologist with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Institute of Marine Science, found that harvest by divers caused 80 percent less damage to oyster reefs in the Neuse River than dredging did.

Complaint leads to abortion discussion
The Herald-Sun
The Carolina Women's Center at UNC plans to hold a panel discussion this fall on abortion, following a complaint from the Carolina Students for Life that the center was trying to exclude its views.

Knitting finds a niche on college campuses
The News & Observer
Thu Washington has seen a lot in her 26 years.
There was her family's escape from Vietnam in 1983, then, after high school, the four years she spent in the military to help pay for college....Students have asked about starting a knitting club at UNC-Chapel Hill, said Jon Curtis, assistant director for student activities and student organizations.

Morehead magic
The Chapel Hill News
Flashlight beams scanned the tree silhouettes projected on the dome of the Morehead Planetarium's Star Theater. Then, to a chorus of "Ooooohs!" from about 250 young children, the interior of a tree house appeared.

Heels season disappointing, but hopeful (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
It's finally over, the season of constant inconsistency. Roy Williams' first year as head coach of the Tar Heels is ended, and we have all spring and summer to think of what might have been.

Issues and Trends

Shift eyed in aid for N.E. colleges
Boston Globe
The Bush administration is proposing to redirect three financial aid programs that disproportionately benefit some of the wealthiest private colleges in New England. The move would shift tens of millions of dollars away from the region and toward the Sun Belt.

ECU's fresh start (Editorial)
The News & Observer
As Eastern North Carolina leaves the tobacco economy behind, the region looks to East Carolina University for leadership. Thanks to a vote of the UNC Board of Governors, the new go-to guy on campus will be Steve Ballard, now the top academic officer at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Student leaders question ASU benefits process
Watauga Democrat
Appalachian State University's policy prohibiting workplace harassment states that the university "is committed to equality of education opportunity and does not discriminate against applicants, students or employees on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability or sexual orientation....The two have already investigated policies of other schools within the University of North Carolina (UNC) system, including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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.