November 3, 2003

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

National Coverage

New Attacks Intensify Pressure on Bush
The Washington Post
Twice in the past two weeks, the Iraqi opposition has hit high-profile U.S. targets that had been largely beyond its reach, an escalation that may prove more significant strategically than tactically because of the increased political pressure it puts on the Bush administration...."They are pretty good at surprise and finding the weak spots -- the U.N., then the Red Cross, now this," noted Richard H. Kohn, a military historian at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

More U.S. Families Hungry or Too Poor to Eat, Study Says
National Associated Press
Despite the nation's struggle with obesity, the Agriculture Department says more and more American families are hungry or unsure whether they can afford to buy food. ...Barbara Laraia, an associate professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, said hunger and obesity can coexist because many hungry families struggle with their weight.

'Off-label' prescriptions can be fatal
Knight Ridder wire services
For the last 31/2 months she was pregnant, Tammie Snyder had a small medical device
strapped to her thigh. It pumped a drug called terbutaline through her body to prevent her
from going into labor too soon...."I think experiment is too good a word," said [John] Thorp,
a professor of obstetrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

On campus: Free speech for you but not for me?
USA Today
Most college presidents argue that their campuses and classrooms encourage the free exchange of ideas....But for their part, some students say they have more modest goals. "I'm not looking to pick a fight," says Joe Jones, 22, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and member of a Christian group. "I want the freedom to say what I want to say."

The Cruelest Cure
The New York Times
I'm sitting in a room with six terrified people. Outside the window we can hear the roar of Boston's rush hour, cars sputtering at intersections, baseball fans shouting in the streets. Out there it is loud, but in here, at the Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders at Boston University, it is as hushed as a hospital, the faces of the patients slick with sweat....Reid Wilson, a professor of psychiatry at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and an ardent Barlow supporter, adds that Barlow's work hasn't completely caught on because, as he puts it: ''We're still on the uphill climb....

Believing in biotech
St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times
When Gov. Jeb Bush launched his whirlwind - and successful - campaign to bring Scripps Research Institute to Palm Beach last month in exchange for more than $500-million in public funds, he said it would put the state on the map in the biotechnology industry....Eight [microdevices] have been sold and two systems are being constructed, one for a researcher at the University of North Carolina Medical School and the second for an unidentified defense contractor.

State and Local Coverage

On behalf of us out-of-staters... (Commentary)
Greensboro News-Record
When I was an out-of-state student at UNC-Chapel Hill years ago, my parents down
in Alabama never paid a dime in tax money to fund my North Carolina education....The
pie would simply get bigger, Jerry Lucido, UNC-Chapel Hill admissions director, explains.

Assessing the out-of-state cap (Editorial)
The Chapel Hill News
It's become the political thing of late to bash UNC over its proposal to admit more out-of-state students. Which tells us that the proposal is probably worth looking at.

With new logo, UNC sells brand
Durham Herald-Sun
As a UNC committee brainstormed ideas for a new university logo, a thought was broached that was so ghastly and improbable that it was quickly struck down, never to be considered again...."A couple people were bold enough to suggest that they were sick of the Old Well," said Nancy Davis, UNC's associate vice chancellor for university relations.
Note: The Herald-Sun story also has been distributed by the N.C. Associated Press earlier today.

Sustainability? What's that? (Commentary)
The Charlotte Observer
One problem environmental groups face is the impression that they're negative about everything. It's not universally true, but when groups spend most of their time working on problems, they often neglect to celebrate the things that go right. ...UNC Chapel Hill Facilities Services Sustainability Initiative in Chapel Hill, whose activities include using green building strategies, operating a fare-free bus system, creating porous paved parking lots to minimize runoff, maintaining vegetated rooftops and erecting a 70,000-gallon cistern to irrigate ball fields rather than tapping drinking water supplies.

In the Carolinas
The Charlotte Observer
The number of foreign students enrolled in colleges and universities dropped by 4 percent in North Carolina and jumped by 6.6 percent in South Carolina in 2002-03, the year after the Sept. 11 attacks....The Carolinas schools with the largest foreign-student enrollment are: UNC Chapel Hill: 1,347; 1,412

North Carolina's plantations had humble roots
N.C. Associated Press
North Carolina's plantation homes are a good illustration of what provoked an old joke that the state is a valley of humility between two mountains of conceit....It's not something that would have staggered the large planters in the South if they'd have come to visit," said Peter Coclanis, chairman of the history department at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Out of the blue
The Charlotte Observer
After 10 years, Raleigh psychiatrist Dr. Richard Weisler didn't know what else to try for two patients with bipolar disorder....He had become familiar with lamotrigine (la-MO-tra-gene) through his research at UNC Chapel Hill medical school.

Doubts raised on sale of land
The News & Observer
In public, the debate over a new state prison in Greene County focused on creating 400 jobs and making room for more inmates...."It's so that they don't end up in some way benefiting in their private capacity from a contract that they are involved with in their public capacity," said Frayda Bluestein, a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Institute of Government and an expert on public contracting law.

Issues and Trends

Foreign-Student Enrollment Stagnates
The Chronicle of Higher Education
A Saudi Arabian student at the University of Colorado at Denver counts down the days until January, when he will earn his master's degree in architecture and can take his wife and 1year old son home.

Halloween crowd breaks records
The Chapel Hill News
Police say it's the largest crowd this town has ever seen....At its peak of Friday night, about 78,000 costumed revelers roamed a six-block area during Chapel Hill's annual Halloween celebration, which, in spite of the record-breaking turnout, came off largely without incident.

Council to welcome at least two rookies
The Herald-Sun
Four seats on the Town Council are at stake on Election Day, and at least two will go to newcomers....The incumbent mayor has said that he wants to keep focusing on the environment, the economy and the community, and on issues like expanding the town's parks and sidewalk system and UNC's planned Carolina North satellite campus off Airport Road.

Bonds would go to library, sidewalks, more
The Chapel Hill Herald
The ballots that Chapel Hill voters see Tuesday will include five separate bond questions, in a total package of $29.4 million that's the largest in town history.

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.