November 10, 2003

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

International Coverage

A dean taking care of business
Financial Times (United Kingdom)
Steve Jones, who graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1974 with a degree in economics, believes his return to his alma mater in Chapel Hill - this time as dean of the university's Kenan-Flagler Business School - can be put down to "plain good luck".

Schoolchildren 'show heart risk'
BBC News (United Kingdom)
Many schoolchildren in a US survey are showing physical changes which could mean they are more likely to develop diabetes or heart disease.... "These were regular, normal kids, but we found risk factors that are clear danger signs for the future" --Professor Joanne Harrell, University of North Carolina
Note: Related stories were distributed by the wire services Agence France Presse, Dow Jones News and Knight Ridder Tribune Wire Service

Additional links:

One in eight US children at risk of heart disease
ABC Online, Australia
One in eight American children show three factors that show a risk of heart disease, according to a study presented at an American Heart Association conference in Florida...."The risk was about 1.6 times higher for girls than for boys," said lead author Joanne Harrell, nursing professor at the Centre for Research on Chronic Illness at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Nursing.

Yahoo! News
Dallas Morning News
News Services' release on the study.

What's not fat in West could be too fat in India
- Call to revise obesity criteria
Calcutta Telegraph, India
How fat is fat for Indians?...But Prof. J. Stevens from the School of Public Health, University Of North Carolina, argues in the same journal that revision of BMI for Asians is not warranted unless there is comparable data from Caucasians to show that they don't have a similar increased risk at the high end of normal range.

National Coverage

U. of North Carolina Cuts Some Technology Services
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Facing sustained state budget cuts, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is reducing some of its technology services for students and faculty members.
Subscription required.

Battle for the brainchild
Star Tribune
Dr. Kurt Amplatz insists that he didn't care about making money when he started AGA Medical in 1995...."It has revolutionized the practice of pediatric cardiology," said Elman Frantz, director of the pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory at the University of North Carolina Hospitals.

Student unions getting makeovers
Chicago Tribune
Students arriving at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh this fall couldstop by their student union to pick up a Starbucks coffee; get a haircut, pedicure or massage; or rent a tent for a weekend camping trip...."Students see the union as being the centerpiece for extracurricular activities that canenrich their lives outside of the classroom," said Chris Lamb, 21, a senior at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which in January will complete a $13.4 million expansion and renovation of its 35-year-old Carolina Union.

Michael Goforth: Some necessary food for thought (Commentary)
Fort Pierce Tribune, FL
Last month would have been the annual Music for Hunger festival to raise funds for the Treasure Coast Food Bank....The findings may seem contradictory to the warnings that more and more Americans are obese. But, that is not necessarily so. Barbara Laraia, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
told The Associated Press that hunger and obesity can coexist because poor families "are dependant on foods that are going to make their bellies full, rather than on nutrients. The diet is compromised."

Group wants public places to display commandments
The Sun News
More than 100 people attended a rally Friday at Grand Strand Baptist Church to call on the government to put the Ten Commandments back in public places...."That would be extremely unwise," said Arnold Loewy, a constitutional law expert at the University of North Carolina School of Law. "It's a bad idea to tinker with the Constitution for minor things like this."

Dean's flag remark falls flat with real pick-up driving Southerners
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Chewing his barbecue under a Confederate flag at the Piggie Park restaurant, Greg Wilson figures he's just the kind of pick-up-driving Southerner that Howard Dean wants to bring back to the Democratic Party....John Shelton Reed, an emeritus sociology professor at the
University of North Carolina and co-editor of the Journal of Southern Cultures, agreed. "He actually had a pretty good point," Reed said "His unfortunate shorthand got him in trouble."

Book insults elephant god, angry Hindus say
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Few people outside academic circles noticed when religion professor Paul Courtright of Emory University wrote a book about a Hindu god 18 years ago....The U.S. cover, he said, depicts a clothed Ganesha dancing, an image drawn from a sculpture on display at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

State and Local Coverage

A Tar Heel tradition
The News & Observer (Q Section Featured Issue)
UNC-Chapel Hill likes to portray itself as "the university of the people," a phrase made popular by alumnus Charles Kuralt. In the minds of most North Carolinians, they are "the people."

Everybody wins if cap is raised (Commentary)
Proposals permitting modest growth in out-of-state enrollment across the UNC system are a win-win for North Carolinians. (Jerry Lucido is Carolina's vice provost for enrollment management and director of undergraduate admissions.)

Related commentaries on the out-of-state cap:
Added diversity? That doesn't wash
Raise the cap, stop the brain drain
Take more time, then weigh money
Case by case might be answer
An increase would require checks on it

Tipping UNC's cap (Editorial)
Greensboro News & Record
This week the UNC Board of Governors plans to consider a controversial proposal that would raise the cap on out-of-state freshmen that all UNC campuses can enroll from 18 to 22 percent. But the one-size-fits-all plan is politically unpopular. If approved, it likely would be overturned by North Carolina lawmakers in a heartbeat.

System should seek context for move on cap (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill Herald
The UNC system's Board of Governors is likely to vote this week on a controversial proposal to alter the system's 18-percent cap on out-of-state enrollment. Members either should reject it or embrace a compromise suggested by two of their colleagues that calls on campuses that want to tinker with the cap to offer further justification for the move.

For UNC, cap hike means more star students
The Herald Sun
It's more than just an out-of-state zip code that differentiates UNC students like Vin Thorn from the North Carolinians they call classmates....At UNC, Chancellor James Moeser has spoken at length about the need for more highly talented students from other states who, he said, will produce a "brain gain" to benefit the entire university.

Related stories:
N.C. Associated Press
N.C. Associated Press #2

UNC Board Considers Out-of-State Admissions Change This Week
WTVD-TV (ABC, Raleigh)
The UNC Board of Governors will consider this week two proposals that would allow the campuses to enroll more students from out of state.

Researcher angles to explain fish's ways
The News & Observer
He calls it fish psychology.
For nearly two years, Bradley Lamphere, a doctoral student in the UNC-Chapel Hill ecology department, has studied the comings and goings of a small fish in the cold waters of the Nantahala River and its Macon County tributaries.

Council annex plan on agenda
The Fayetteville Observer
Fayetteville's City Council is ready to listen to opinions about a proposal to annex 43,000 people....David Lawrence, a professor of public law and government at the University of North Carolina, said the requirement is for major trunk lines, not individual lines down each street. Lawrence is one of the people governments most often consult about annexation and utility law.

Fans look for swinging rivalry
The News & Observer
They are both polished and exceptionally successful men, well-spoken, well-tailored and very well-off. They're advocates for teamwork, leadership and honor....It's because one of the greatest rivalries in college sports -- Duke vs. Carolina -- is now in the hands of two of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and UNC-Chapel Hill's Roy Williams.

Trauma need center of debate
The Fayetteville Observer
Fayetteville is the largest city in North Carolina without a designated trauma center, meaning people in the region have to travel farther than many in the state to be treated for serious injuries....Arvilla Stiffler is the clinical director for the trauma program at UNC-Chapel Hill. She leads an advisory council for trauma centers in the central part of the state.

John Shelton Reed: `Minding the South' (Book Review)
The Charlotte Observer
John Shelton Reed is an East Tennessee boy who was such a whiz at algebra that he headed off to MIT for his serious booking....Those of us who attended the University of North Carolina, as the Chapel Hill campus was alone known in the mid-1960s, were unfortunate to have missed his arrival there in 1969, but his writings and musings about the South have enlightened and entertained us ever since he seriously began to wallow at the trough of the Professional Southerner.

UNC professor writes a timely book that explores Islam
The Chapel Hill News
Carl Ernst is no stranger to controversy. As distinguished professor of religious studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and a specialist in Islam, he was involved in the national so-called "Quran controversy" over the Carolina freshman reading assignment of fall 2002.

Footnotes -- Moeser raises funds in Europe
The News & Observer
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor James Moeser crossed the pond last week to schmooze with alumni and solicit donations for the university's $1.8 billion fund-raising campaign known as "Carolina First." In London, Moeser attended a reception for about 100 alumni at the Hayward Gallery. He also had a private meeting with a major donor. In Paris, Moeser was the guest at a reception for 50 alumni at a private home. The campaign has drawn $1.1 billion in pledges and donations so far.
Note: This article is not available online.

Issues and Trends

Five Truths About Tuition
The New York Times
Can anything besides an act of God stop the rise of college tuition? For the last several months on Capitol Hill, the higher-education establishment has been on the defensive over the question -- and at times things have gotten very testy.

Related stories from the New York Times Education Life supplement:
Where Does it Go?
I'm NOT Going to Pay a Lot for This Education
What a Deal!
Registration required.

Rich Colleges Receiving Richest Share of U.S. Aid
The New York Times
If there is any grand, elegant logic behind the federal government's dispersal of more than a billion dollars in college aid, then Maria Hernandez is humble enough to confess that it has escaped her.
Registration required.

For Many College Students, a Job (or Two) to Pay Tuition
The New York Times
Brandon Cox, a senior at the University of Kansas, has struggled to make ends meet throughout his college years. In particularly hard times, he has considered selling his blood to earn extra cash.

Colleges Face Veritable SAT Of Challenges
The Wall Street Journal
It seems as though everyone in this town has a gripe with America's colleges and universities....Tuition is too high. The number of students who graduate is too low. Professors are too liberal, and someone or other has an admissions advantage, a leg up on federal loans, or both.
Subscription required.

New council seen as tougher on UNC
The Chapel Hill News
Residents of neighborhoods close to campus are patting themselves on the back in the wake of last week's election, in which the big winners made neighborhood protection and standing up to UNC on development issues a main topic of their campaigns.

Elections are barometer of voter feelings
The Chapel Hill News
What are we to make of last week's local elections? Election results are always a good barometer of community sentiment, and last Tuesday's vote did send up some interesting smoke signals, I think, of what's on our minds.

No fast track on road projects
The Chapel Hill News
If there is truth to the adage that slow and steady wins the race, then the town eventually might just come out victorious in its efforts to limit the expansion of Weaver Dairy Road and South Columbia Street.

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.