October 24, 2002

Carolina in the News

Current National Coverage

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

War Dividend
Barron's
Oct. 9, 2002, marked the longest bear market since the 1930s. When will it end? Gathering war clouds 
may actually help drive the bears off Wall Street... But even at a premium, do rights offerings generally 
pay off? Not according to a study of 120 closed-end fund rights offerings over a decade. Three finance 
professors -- Ajay Khorana of the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, Sunil Wahal of 
Emory University and Marc Zenner of the University of North Carolina -- found that on average, fund 
companies announce rights offerings when times are good and the funds trade at a premium to net asset 
value...
http://online.wsj.com/barrons/article/0,4298,SB1034979908846316668,00.html?mod=this%5Fweeks%5Fbarrons%5Fmutual%5Ffund%5Fcolumns
(Note: Barron's requires a subscription to access articles.)

Richmond divided over Vista Hills project
Contra Costa Times
Eighty-eight homes and a strip mall will replace a planned 10-acre shopping and business center meant for 
Vista Hills... Studies show grocery chains often bypass cities with substantial black populations. One study 
by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health revealed there are four times as 
many supermarkets in white neighborhoods as in black neighborhoods...
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/4357351.htm

Student governments pay officers in myriad of ways 
The University Daily Kansan (student publication at the University of Kansas)
Working as the official voice of the student body brings more benefits the just prestige. At the University 
of Kansas and universities throughout the country, most student government officials receive compensation 
for their work. But, most of those same officials agree that the compensation is not enough... Jen Daum, 
student body president at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, receives a $2,400 stipend for the 
school year. As president, Daum is also included as a member of the UNC board of trustees, a position
that gives her a $600 parking pass and tickets to all university sporting events. At UNC, the stipend is 
intended to compensate her for a part-time job because, as president, she is not allowed to have a job. But 
Daum said the stipend didn't come close to compensating her...
http://www.kansan.com/stories.asp?id=200210240005

North Carolina News Note

Dr. Linda Cronenwett, dean of the School of Nursing, was featured in a brief segment on how UNC 
is helping to combat the nursing shortage on News 14 Carolina (Time Warner, Raleigh) on October 21. 
No online links are available. This topic has been the subject of UNC tip sheets and suggestions to 
reporters over the past several months.

State and Local Coverage

Market demand unites sponge cake, deep fryer
Charlotte Observer
The people have spoken, long live the people! Or maybe not, if they keep eating this way. Due to popular 
demand -- read: lots of nagging children and more than a few pestering adults -- deep-fried Twinkies have 
landed at the N.C. State Fair, which ends Sunday... Glenn Hinson, a folklore professor at UNC Chapel 
Hill, also tried the new carnival cuisine -- as an academic exercise, it should be noted...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4355083.htm

3 schools join UNCC in Latin Film Festival
Charlotte Observer
The fourth annual William Wilson Brown Jr. Latin American Film and Video Festival begins Nov. 1, and its 
scope has expanded. Though UNC Charlotte is still the main host with half of the six films, Davidson College, 
Johnson C. Smith University and Wingate University now offer one screening each. The festival is sponsored 
by UNC Charlotte and The Outreach Office of the Consortium in Latin American Studies at UNC Chapel 
Hill and Duke University...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/living/food/4346508.htm

N.C. court candidates trade criticism about complaints
Charlotte Observer
Two candidates for the state Supreme Court traded pointed words Wednesday night about formal 
complaints filed against them in recent months by members of the opposing parties... "I really have no idea 
what (the report) contained or said," Orr said during a candidates forum at the University of North Carolina 
law school...
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/4355171.htm
(Note: This North Carolina Associated Press story also appeared in The Herald-Sun. Also covering the 
law school debate were The News and Observer and WUNC-FM, among other outlets.)

Abuse of is a academic freedom sign of professors' arrogance (Commentary)
The Herald-Sun 
UNC Chancellor James Moeser won the applause of his academic peers back in August when he forcefully 
defended his university's summer reading selection for incoming freshmen. To question the choice of 
"Approaching the Qur'an," he said, was an encroachment on academic freedom...
http://www.herald-sun.com/archives/URNDetail.cfm?URN=0401716186
(Note: This commentary was not available online until today. The Herald-Sun requires free registration to 
access archives.)

UNC chancellor's stance on criticism inconsistent (Letter to the Editor)
Chapel Hill Herald 
I was amazed to find the column in Sunday's Chapel Hill Herald with the full text of UNC Chancellor James 
Moeser's Faculty Council remarks. This was no doubt a courtesy granted him because of the paper's 
editorial. How can he be so inconsistent to make the following two statements?..
http://www.herald-sun.com/archives/URNDetail.cfm?URN=0401716238
(Note: This letter was not available online until today. The Herald-Sun requires free registration to 
access archives.)

Botox Helps Relieve Woman's Eye Spasms
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
Botox is known for fixing wrinkles, but for a local woman, it ensures her eyesight. Annie Giacalone, of 
Wilmington, has essential blepharospasm, a long name for the movement disorder that causes uncontrollable 
muscle spasms around eyelids... "These patients literally can't open their eyes, and they can even have 
functional blindness," said Dr. Jonathan Dutton, an ophthalmologist at the University of North Carolina at 
Chapel Hill...
http://www.wral.com/health/1736879/detail.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

NCAA Panel Endorses Proposed Changes in Academic Standards for Athletes
The Chronicle of Higher Education
A National Collegiate Athletic Association panel on Tuesday endorsed a set of proposed changes in
academic requirements for Division I athletes. If approved by a panel of college presidents next week, the 
new rules would allow some athletes with extremely low standardized-test scores but extremely strong high-
school grades to compete, and would require athletes already in college to make more progress toward a 
degree to remain eligible to compete...
http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/10/2002102302n.htm
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access articles.)

Budget deficits force state schools to cut funding, raise tuition
Brown Daily Herald (student publication at Brown University) 
With a lagging economy and slipping state tax revenues, some of the nation’s elite public universities are 
feeling the squeeze of budgetary cutbacks... The University of North Carolina, threatened with cuts of 
$70.6 million, could fire 781 employees of the UNC system, including 200 faculty members...
http://www.browndailyherald.com/stories.cfm?S=1&ID=7637

Chapel Hill budget gains by at least $1.6M 
The Herald-Sun
Town officials say Chapel Hill’s battered budget picture is starting to improve, thanks to the partial restoration 
of state revenue sharing and the upcoming addition of a half-cent to the local sales tax rate...
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-280268.html

Note: If you have any questions about Carolina in the News, 
please call Cathleen Keyser or Mike McFarland at News Services, 
(919) 962-2091 or news@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu