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March 6, 2006Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:Pit incident coverage
The following is a sampling of national, regional and local coverage of the Pit incident:
UNC grad in court on alleged hit and run
The Associated Press (National)
A University of North Carolina graduate from Iran, accused of running down nine people on campus to avenge the treatment of Muslims, said at a hearing Monday that he was "thankful for the opportunity to spread the will of Allah." At about the same time, UNC students held what they called an "anti-terrorism" rally on the Chapel Hill campus.
UNC attacker appears in court; says 'Allah is my lawyer'
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, the 22-year-old former UNC student charged with trying to run down other students at the University of North Carolina on Friday, thanked the judge Monday during his first appearance for the opportunity tell people about Allah.
Related Link: http://www.wral.com/news/7743390/detail.htmlAnti-terrorism rally set at UNC's Pit
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The UNC-Chapel Hill graduate charged with driving into a lunchtime campus crowd Friday is scheduled to be in court today, accused of what some students are condemning as an act of terrorism. ...UNC-CH Police Chief Derek Poarch has said Taheri-azar, a native of Iran, intentionally hit people to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world."
Related Link: http://www.wral.com/news/7721912/detail.htmlUNC attacker sought revenge
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A UNC-Chapel Hill graduate told investigators he intentionally drove into a crowd of students on campus Friday to "avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world," UNC Police Chief Derek Poarch said Saturday. Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, told detectives to go to the Carrboro apartment he shared with two other men, saying authorities would find evidence there that would explain his decision to hurt students. Poarch declined to say what, if anything, was found, but emphasized that Taheri-azar appears to have acted alone.
Classmate: UNC suspect was 'nice guy'
The Charlotte Observer
UNC Chapel Hill police say a former Charlotte resident told them he drove an SUV through a crowd on campus to avenge the deaths of Muslims worldwide. ..."All of our students have been through a lot," said Margaret Jablonski, the school's vice chancellor for student affairs. "We will continue to do all we can to support the university community during this difficult time."
Driver charged after SUV plows through crowd
NBC News and news services
A recent University of North Carolina graduate was charged with nine counts of attempted murder Saturday, a day after authorities say he drove through a popular campus gathering spot in an attempt to avenge Muslim deaths. ...Taheri-azar, who called police to surrender and then awaited officers on a street two miles from campus, is cooperating with investigators, Poarch said. The FBI has also interviewed him, but Poarch said he did not know whether he would be federally charged.
Related Link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/04/national/main1369408.shtml?CMP=ILC-SearchStoriesTrying to make sense of the inexplicable (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
We thought we'd be thinking and talking about basketball this weekend. We thought we'd be fixated on young men in long shorts running up and down a hardwood court and feeling that our lives depended on how successful they were. But then, as it can sometimes do, reality intruded, and we realize that our lives depend on something else. And that is sometimes sheer good fortune.
Graduate's apartment searched after campus attack with SUV
Knight Ridder Newspapers
University of North Carolina police say Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar told them he drove an SUV through a UNC Chapel Hill crowd to avenge the deaths of Muslims worldwide. ..."We called him Mo-Mo," she recalled. "I spoke to him many, many times. A very nice guy. I can't believe this happened." Ludwick and her parents said Taheri-azar, his mother and his sister lived next door to them in Charlotte, N.C., for about five years. Taheri-azar's family moved about two years ago, said Erin's father, Steve Ludwick.
Related Links: http://washingtontimes.com/upi/20060305-013259-5496r.htm
http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/03/06/qt
http://www.wfmynews2.com/news/local_state/article.aspx?storyid=589176 hurt as driver plows into students
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
A man who drove a Jeep Cherokee Laredo into a lunchtime crowd on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus Friday, striking nine people, may have been protesting Americans' treatment of Muslims. Six people had been released from UNC Hospitals by Friday evening. None was seriously injured, university officials said. The three others declined to be treated.
Related Links: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4775544.stm
http://rdu.news14.com/content/headlines/?ArID=81321&SecID=2For campuswide email messages, statements from Saturday's news conference and university news about the incident, go to: www.unc.edu/news/
National Coverage
Elite colleges look to new well of students: community colleges
The Associated Press (National)
The signs are everywhere, from the BMWs parked on campus to the students' designer cell phones, to the number of families paying full price even as tuition and fees climb past $40,000. The most prestigious colleges are overwhelmingly attended by the wealthy. ...University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill typically takes 650 transfer students annually, but only about one-quarter come from community colleges. The university will work closely with three nearby schools and hopes to enroll about 25 from each community college per year.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/jackkentcooke030606.htm8 Selective Colleges Pledge $20-Million to Attract More Students Transferring From Community Colleges
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Eight highly selective colleges and the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation have agreed to spend nearly $27-million to improve access to a four-year education for community-college students from low- and moderate-income families. ...The seven other colleges chosen for the program are Amherst College, Bucknell University, Cornell University, Mount Holyoke College, the University of California at Berkeley, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Southern California.
New soda war: attack of the scientists
The Associated Press (National)
Low-fat, low-cal, low-carb. Atkins, South Beach, The Zone. Food fads may be distracting attention from something more insidiously piling on pounds: beverages. ...'We've done it with cigarettes,'' said one scientist advocating this, Barry Popkin at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Comparing soda and obesity to tobacco and lung cancer is a baseless crusade, industry spokesmen say.
It's enough to make your head spin (Opinion-editorial column)
The Los Angeles Times
"Low-Fat Diet Does Not Cut Health Risks, Study Finds" (New York Times, Feb. 8). "Study Reverses Long-Held Ideas on Calcium's Use" (Los Angeles Daily News, Feb. 16). ...A survey of women conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Pharmacy found media coverage of the study had significant influence on women's decisions to continue using hormones or not.
The Suburban Solution
The New York Times
Bernie Tetreault was driving along Good Hope Road, past the Baptist churches and check-cashing storefronts that populate Washington's poorest neighborhood, when a dented green street sign caught his eye. It marked the way to the Frederick Douglass Dwellings, a place that no longer existed. ...From 1976 to 2000, subsidized housing's share of new federal spending fell 80 percent, according to Michael A. Stegman, a former HUD official, now at the University of North Carolina. "This year, there is virtually no new housing production," he says. Meanwhile, as housing-subsidy agreements expire, about 1,000 apartments a month leave the federal housing rolls.
Impeachment Proves Risky Political Issue
The Wall Street Journal
If Democratic candidate Tony Trupiano wins a Michigan House seat this fall, he pledges that one of his first acts will be to introduce articles of impeachment against President Bush. ...Michael Gerhardt, an impeachment expert at the University of North Carolina law school, says there could be a "credible basis for an inquiry," but additional facts would have to be established before anyone could "demonstrate an impeachable offense occurred."
The Clef to the Roman (Opinion-editorial column)
The New York Times Book Review
What is the best way to record a life? In fact or in fiction? And does there have to be a difference? Reading Gail Godwin's journals from her mid-20's, when she fled America for Europe, seeking distance from a failed job and a failed marriage, I was struck by one of her many asides about her writerly frustration. ...In 1959, right after she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Godwin left her thwarted mother and skeptical stepfather behind and arrived in Florida to work as a cub reporter for The Miami Herald. ...Liesl Schillinger, a New York-based arts writer, is a regular contributor to the Book Review.
The Book of Bart
The Washington Post
Where does faith reside? In the soul? The mind, the marrow of the bones? In the long hours of the night, the voices of the evangelical preachers on the AM dial seem to know. Believe, they say. Then daylight comes and the listeners' questions fade. Bart Ehrman is a sermon, a parable, but of what? He's a best-selling author, a New Testament expert and perhaps a cautionary tale: the fundamentalist scholar who peered so hard into the origins of Christianity that he lost his faith altogether. ..."Sometimes Christian apologists say there are only three options to who Jesus was: a liar, a lunatic or the Lord," he tells a packed auditorium here at the University of North Carolina, where he chairs the department of religious studies. "But there could be a fourth option -- legend."
Edwards tackles poverty issue in quest for presidency
The Washington Post
“Sometimes,” says John Edwards, “people need a breather.” He is not talking about himself, although surely he needed one after his brief rocket ride through the upper atmosphere of national politics. That ride ended — or perhaps paused — when the Kerry-Edwards ticket lost. The people whom Edwards thinks really need a breather from presidential candidates are the voters. ...While his wife, Elizabeth, continues to recover well from breast cancer, he is director of the new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina.
Related Link: http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060306/EDIT/603060302/1003State & Local Coverage
MBA course at UNC aims to spawn startups
The Triangle Business Journal
Dan Marquardt appeared dumbfounded by the question. The second-year MBA student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Kenan-Flagler Business School had just delivered an "elevator pitch" about a key-chain-sized device he is hoping to commercialize. Marquardt believes he can store a patient's medical information, including prescriptions taken and allergies suffered, on such a device, which would transmit the information to a 911 dispatcher in case of an emergency.
What's going on
The News & Observer (Raleigh)Presidential adviser: A UNC-Chapel Hill professor has been named to the President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology, the White House announced last week. Daniel A. Reed, director of the Renaissance Computing Institute and UNC's vice chancellor for information technology, was one of 14 appointees.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar06/renaissance030206.htmAward for mentors: An award has been created to honor UNC faculty for excellence in mentoring doctoral students.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/gradmentor022706.htmTheatrical summer jobs: Interested actors, singers, dancers and theater technicians can apply for 300 summer jobs through the nation's largest combined audition for outdoor historical dramas.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/oddaud022806.htmUNC prof’s memoir a love-a-Heel
The Chapel Hill Herald
Last year was a good one for Fred Hobson. He's hoping tonight will be a good night. Hobson grew up pretending to be his favorite Tar Heel basketball players at the hoop by his house in Yadkin County. ... Hobson, an English professor at UNC, shares tales about his obsession with UNC hoops in his new memoir, "Off The Rim: Basketball and Other Religions in a Carolina Childhood" (University of Missouri Press, March 2006). He is giving readings around the region to promote the book.
Note: No link available.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/hobson022206.htmUNC, Duke unite for 'Seven Deadly Sins'
The Chapel Hill Herald
In 1933, when Kurt Weill found his name at the top of Hitler's blacklist of modern -- and therefore degenerate -- artists, the composer left Germany for Paris. ... Combining opera, choral close-harmony, dance and drama, the critically acclaimed show is rarely produced; but faculty and students from UNC and Duke have united to bring the event to UNC's Kenan Theatre Wednesday and Thursday. The performances, sung in English, are free.
UNC News Release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/feb06/sevendeadly022806.htmBusinesses meet immigrants' needs
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Illegal immigrants can qualify for mortgage loans, buy health insurance, set up checking accounts, check out library books and make monthly payments on kitchen appliances. ..."I know of few businesses in North Carolina or anywhere in the U.S. who can afford to turn their backs on such a lucrative target market -- undocumented or not," said Nicholas Didow, an associate professor of marketing at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Commissioners right to challenge fees (Opinion-editorial column)
The Charlotte Observer
I think you sold the Lincoln County commissioners who voted against an adequate public facilities ordinance short. ...There is a third unspoken rail in this debate. The Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at UNC Chapel Hill released a study recently. The cost of educating the children of illegal immigrants in North Carolina 10 years ago was $10 million statewide. They estimated the cost statewide last year at $210 million.
Ceremony salutes flag and its cause
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
They sang "Dixie" in the white-columned House chamber of the historic State Capitol on Saturday, gathering to hear a fierce defense of their Confederate heritage. ...Other academics say modern-day tension about Southern history can be defused by erecting public memorials to civil rights heroes or the slaves who helped build the antebellum South -- such as the display recently unveiled at UNC-CH. Don't knock down Silent Sam, the Confederate soldier statue who stands guard at the UNC campus; build new monuments to other portions of the Southern saga, they say. "You can't erase history -- it is what it is," said William Ferris, associate director of UNC's Center for the Study of the American South.
A pulpit minus the politics
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The Rev. Stephen Davey is an evangelical Christian. He views the Bible as the inerrant word of God. He believes Jesus alone can provide salvation. And he reads the Genesis story as a literal historical account of creation. ..."They're not all Pat Robertsons," said Christian Smith, a professor of sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill who has written widely on evangelical churches. "There's complexity. There's diversity. There's ambivalence within evangelical ranks."
Isaac Brody and Joseph Graham
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
On the day that Jennifer and Tony Terry's twins were born, the mood in the delivery room was somber. One son they would swaddle in blankets to carry home to their farm in northern Durham County. The other they would carry home in a tiny cremation urn. He would never draw breath. ...A little more than two years before the Terrys conceived, UNC had recruited Dr. Anthony Johnson to expand UNC's expertise in twin-to-twin syndrome. His arrival marked the beginning of cutting-edge treatments, such as laser surgery to close problem blood vessels. UNC, now one of 11 centers nationally targeting the syndrome, sees up to five patients with the disease a week. Many come from within North Carolina, some from as far away as New York and California.
Not disrespectful (Letter to the editor)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Regarding your Feb. 21 story about the Muslim student sit-in at the Daily Tar Heel newspaper on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, I must admit I do not understand. Is it not legitimate to attempt to portray what many of us believe would be the reaction of Muhammad, the founder of Islam, to what his followers are doing in his name? How is it possible to do that in a cartoon without showing Muhammad?
Stories raise questions about news choices (Letter to the editor)
The Chapel Hill News
Readers asked two hard questions about our news decisions last week. Allen Murray wanted to know why we ran a story in The News & Observer on UNC professor David Galinsky's blood-alcohol level the weekend of his campus memorial. Galinsky was one of two pedestrians killed while crossing a Chapel Hill highway last month. His death sparked a call by his widow and Town Council members for greater safety measures.
Issues & Trends
UNC tuition idea shouldn't mean paying through nose (Opinion-editorial column)
The Winston-Salem Journal
Like a lot of students enrolled at one of the 16 member campuses of the University of North Carolina system, John Alexander hadn't heard anything about a trial balloon floated last week that could radically change his tuition. ...Jeff Davies, the chief of staff of the UNC system who floated this particular balloon, says that the traditional picture of the full-time student has changed so much that the idea at least merits study.
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.
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