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May 9, 2005
Carolina in the News
Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina
people and programs cited recently in the media:National Coverage
An Unkind Cut
U.S. News & World Report
A common surgery is probably headed for medical obscurity. A new analysis of episiotomy, the surgical snip to enlarge the opening for vaginal births, concludes that it doesn't do any good and may be harmful....Episiotomies are already becoming less common, says obstetrician Laura Riley of Massachusetts General Hospital, but plenty of doctors do them routinely--about a third of U.S. vaginal births include the snip. Says lead author Katherine Hartmann of the University of North Carolina, "This may be the last part of really medicalized childbirth to go away."
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may05/hartmann050305.htmlHealth: More Than Calories
Newsweek
Last week's Food Marketing Institute show in Chicago revealed a new lineup of functional foods....Touted in a new Kashi kids' cereal, this vitamin B-like nutrient helps with memory development, says the University of North Carolina's Steven Zeisel.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/mar04/zeisel031804.htmlMedicaid fix could hurt most vulnerable
The Dallas Morning News
At the top of Congress' to-do list: reduce the federal deficit. But amid the desire to cut spending, the nation's most vulnerable may be in the budget cutters' cross hairs - poor children, the elderly and the disabled...."Medicaid protects the most vulnerable - pregnant women, children, people with AIDS - and to take a pound of flesh from them is morally bankrupt," said Jonathan Oberlander, professor of social medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A fat fantasy (Commentary)
Scripps Howard News Service
"Some Extra Heft May Be Helpful." That New York Times headline summarizes the tasty tale the media have fed you based on a new study that says the spare tire around your waist may actually give you more mileage in life....A 1998 New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) study of 300,000 men and women found the "minimal risk" to be a BMI of 19.0 to 21.9. "I'm sorry to tell you," lead author Dr. June Stevens of the University of North Carolina told reporters, "but it's the very lean weight that is associated with the best survival rate."
Yes, you can say constipation
Knight Ridder News Services
What's a glamorous superstar like Cybill Shepherd doing in Fort Worth, early in the morning, talking about constipation before she jets off to Toronto to film a new two-hour CBS television movie about Martha Stewart?...."It's not that it is difficult to diagnose, but people don't talk about their bowels much with their primary care physicians," says Dr. Stephen Furs, a gastroenterologist who participated in a double-blind clinical study on Zelnorm at UNC Chapel Hill.
Measuring Athletes' Academic Progress (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Murray Sperber's piece titled "When 'Academic Progress' Isn't" (The Chronicle Review, April 15) seems to invite the reader to conclusions of the following sort: Graduation rates of student-athletes are unacceptably low; that is largely attributable to widespread use of transfer student-athletes; if steps now in process within the National Collegiate Athletic Association result in improved graduation rates, the results will be tainted because they will have been achieved through easy courses and majors; and the NCAA attempted a pre-emptive public-relations strike by its recent release of academic performance data.....John P. Evans is a professor of business administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the NCAA's Committee on Academic Performance.
Subscription required.Regional Coverage
Predicting Your Body's Future
KOMO-TV (ABC, Tacoma, Wash.)
A lot of us want to eat right and exercise more. But what if the key to a long, healthy life was right inside your body?...."We just don't know enough to use those types of tests effectively," said Dr. Steven Zeisel with the University of North Carolina.
State & Local Coverage
Chancellor visits Goldsboro on 'Carolina Connects' tour
News-Argus (Goldsboro)
The chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, James Moeser, was in Goldsboro on Thursday as part of a campaign to strengthen connections between the university and the people who live across the state.
Note: Chancellor Moeser traveled to Goldsboro Thursday to tour the offices of The Family Life Project, a Carolina-run, Goldsboro-based research and outreach program working in rural N.C. and Pa. to better understand the ways in which community, employment, family economic resources, child care quality/access and other issues shape the development of young children. He also visited the newsroom of the News-Argus.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may04/carolinaconnects052704.htmlMoeser speaks on UNC, Habitat (Speech Transcript)
The Chapel Hill News
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser celebrated a partnership between university students and Habitat for Humanity of Orange County on April 29 at Rusch Hollow, Habitat's new affordable community in Chapel Hill. Following are remarks he made at the event.
Whose growth is it anyway? (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
Here's the other quote I was thinking of starting this week's column with: "Growth doesn't pay for growth. It never has. It never will. So let's get real about it."...So it was startling to sit next to James Moeser, the UNC chancellor, Wednesday as he talked with reporters Anne Blythe, Matt Dees and me about Carolina North.
UNC's new Web site aims to be resource for community residents
The Chapel Hill Herald
UNC's Web site has all sorts of useful information. Too much, really, if you live here in Chapel Hill and need just a simple, quick nugget of information about some university issue affecting your community....The site, which debuted about a week ago, is expected to change and receive updates intermittently, said Linda Convissor, UNC's director of local relations. Much of the information doled out to townspeople as they ask for it will now be available more directly and to a broader audience, Convissor said.
N.C. needs 16 special universities, not two (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Charlotte Observer
I don't know about you, but the words "precision metrology" are not in my everyday vocabulary....The Senate wants to let UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State, the state's two major research universities, set their own tuition, so long as the cost remains in the lowest one-quarter of universities in the nation and the legislature approves it.
Tuition bill: no sale (Editorial)
News & Record (Greensboro)
Well into its 253-page proposed budget, the Senate has tucked, or perhaps snuck, in a curious and ill-advised bill. While that description might fit a few measures in the $17 billion plan, this particular legislation would allow UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State to set tuition without the approval of the university system's Board of Governors.
Senate threatens UNC system (Editorial)
The Wilmington Star-News
The N.C. Senate has voted to make it cheaper and easier for athletic booster clubs and academic scholarship programs to bring more out-of-state students to North Carolina's public universities....Maybe that's one reason the Senate voted to let UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State raise prices for all other students, whether the UNC Board of Governors likes it or not.
Failing grade... (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It starts here, and it's likely to end with UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University boosters declaring their independence from the University of North Carolina system. After that, the elitists who are leading the fight to allow those schools to raise tuition on their own say-so -- independent of approval from the UNC system's Board of Governors -- will indeed raise tuition. And raise it again. And again.
...times two (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Tuition "independence" isn't the only dim idea some legislators are trying to light up these days. Another Senate budget provision would be downright silly in its aim -- if it weren't so serious as far as its advocates go.....That's right -- they're not in-state students, but would be defined as such "for all purposes," says the bill. While the bill would apply to all full-scholarship students, it's likely to have the biggest impact on athletic scholarships, which are paid for in the cases of UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State University by booster groups.
UNC, State must play by the rules (Editorial)
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Leaders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are keeping their cards close to the vest regarding a state Senate proposal to free UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. State from having tuition increases approved by the Board of Governors.
Don't break apart the UNC system (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
In this community, of course, we need no convincing to believe that the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is the crown jewel of the state university system. We are readily willing to accept the idea that the entire 16-campus system dutifully revolves around the brilliant sun of the campus in our midst.
UNC's intent is main topic
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC Health Care's new emphasis on efficiency and productivity does not mean it is turning from its original mission to be a haven for the state's sick and poor, the chief executive of the system said Friday.
Season taps star power, regional roots
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
At a glance, the debut season of UNC-Chapel Hill's first executive director for the arts seems to be all over the map. But a closer look reveals the deliberate choices Emil Kang made for the reopening of the 1,434-seat Memorial Hall after two years of renovation.
Related link: http://www.newsobserver.com/lifestyles/story/2384924p-8762955c.html
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/may05/memorial050205.htmlAt UNC, a chancellor for the arts emerges
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Emil Kang quietly slipped into his new job as UNC-Chapel Hill's first arts czar in January and got right to work on a monumental task: crafting a performing arts season that would trumpet the reopening of Memorial Hall and proclaim that some of the world's most accomplished artists would regularly appear on campus.
UNC news release: http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/nov04/kang111204.htmlLaw schools' case vs. govt. off to high court
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
When a military recruiter visited Duke University's law school this year to conduct on-campus interviews, student Teresa Sakash didn't drop off a resume. Instead, she submitted a petition.....Officials at both Duke and the law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill said they post signs notifying students of the military's policy on homosexuality when military recruiters come to campus.
Immigration trends a lot to think about (Commentary)
Asheville Citizen-Times
At a recent meeting of the North Carolina Editorial Writers, James H. Johnson Jr., director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told a story to illustrate a point.
Michael Dell sinks $100M into Red Hat
Triangle Business Journal
Billionaire Michael S. Dell, founder and chairman of Dell Inc., has placed a $99.5 million bet on Red Hat...."There are a lot of hedge funds that are doing convertible arbitrage," says Richard Rendleman, a professor of finance at the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Did feuding board break law?
The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte-Mecklenburg school board member Larry Gauvreau and the board majority disagreed over going into closed session April 26 to discuss who'd be interim superintendent and a retirement package for Superintendent James Pughsley....Did anyone break the law? Editorial Page Editor Ed Williams asked David Lawrence Jr., a professor of public law and government at UNC Chapel Hill who worked with the study commission that drafted the law. Here's part of their conversation.
Zines: Passion for print
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
With online blogs proliferating by the nanosecond, it's a breeze to get your innermost thoughts, rants, artwork -- anything -- out to strangers in a flash....."It feels so different from the weird sterile environment when I have this little photocopied secret thing," says [Niku] Arbabi, who works by day as curator of UNC-Chapel Hill's Screen Arts program. "It's kind of cool."
Officials plan to use ECU funds for facility: Family medical center plan needs legislative approval
The Daily Reflector (Greenville)
ECU officials plan to scrap a request to the state for funding to build a replacement family medicine center and instead pay for the project with university money....Chancellor Steve Ballard made abolition of fees paid to the state a priority earlier this year. He doesn't think it's fair to the university to have to pay bills that similar institutions in the state, such as the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Medicine, do not.
Eudy's PR-lobbying firm is one-stop influence shop
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Ken Eudy is a new kind of figure in the state capital a full-service, behind-the-scenes, political Mr. Fixit.....A study released last week by UNC researchers found the campaign had been effective in making teenagers more aware of the dangers of smoking. Two TV ads produced for the campaign won Telly Awards from the advertising industry.
Issues & Trends
School resources put to the test
The Charlotte Observer
Educators, parents and students say they believe new high school graduation requirements approved Thursday will better prepare N.C. students for life after school....Most students already take the five classes, which are required for entrance to University of North Carolina system schools. In addition, the test scores count toward up to 25 percent of a student's grade in the courses.
Town arrives at MLK Boulevard
The Chapel Hill Herald
When Heather Williams first moved to Chapel Hill in July, the signs were still up along Airport Road imploring local leaders not to change the thoroughfare's name.
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.
Carolina in the News is also posted daily to the News Services Web page, http://www.unc.edu/news/clips/index.shtml.
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