October 11, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

National Coverage

Grading the Higher-Education Report Card
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In September the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education issued "Measuring Up 2004," a state-by-state "report card" that showed that the nation has made little progress over the past decade in increasing the number of students who enter and graduate from college....Some states, despite bad grades, are already showing what can be done to increase affordability. Initiatives like the Carolina Covenant at the University of North Carolina, which covers all tuition costs for qualifying low-income applicants, are a welcome step in the right direction.
Subscription required.

Health: It's Over Your Head
Newsweek
An estimated 150,000 kids suffer a sports-related concussion each year. ..."It may create a false sense of security," says Kevin Guskiewicz, director of the Sports Medicine Research Laboratory at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and lead author of a position statement on managing sports-related concussions in the current issue of the Journal of Athletic Training (nata.org).

Despite report on Iraq, Bush charges ahead
The Des Moines Register
President Bush charged back to Iowa on Saturday hoping to regain his campaign's momentum, which stalled last week amid damaging news about his justification for war in Iraq....University of North Carolina political science professor James Stimson said the first debate improved Kerry's standing among people who had doubts about Bush but were unfamiliar with Kerry.

Kerry economic plan (Editorial)
Las Vegas Review-Journal
Domestic policy was an issue in Friday's presidential debate, so let's look at a couple of John Kerry's specific domestic proposals...."Maybe we can slow it down a tad" by altering the tax code or taking other steps, said Douglas Shackelford, a professor of taxation at the University of North Carolina, "but we're just talking about whether a factory closes in one year or two."

State & Local Coverage

Judicial Round-up
"The State of Things" (WUNC-FM, Chapel Hill)
The legal system in North Carolina is the subject, as Host Melinda Penkava speaks with Joe Kennedy, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law Professor; Joe Neff, reporter at the Raleigh News and Observer; and Alan Gell, who was sentenced to die and later acquitted of murder. Topics will include the election of judges, prosecutors under fire, and what John Edwards' candidacy is doing for the reputation of trial lawyers. Listener Call-In.
Note: This program will rebroadcast tonight at 9 p.m.

Splintered nation
The News & Observer
The trouble with trying to pigeonhole a North Carolina voter becomes clear in a five-minute conversation with Fred Rosendahl, a 64-year-old from Raleigh.....That's because North Carolina's longtime residents cherish values learned at church and around the dinner table, said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Despite fiscal troubles, Easley touts accomplishments as governor
The Associated Press (N.C.)
A campaign strategist couldn't have scripted Democratic Gov. Mike Easley's re-election bid any better...."We've been watching a Jim Hunt who never got tired of campaign events," UNC-Chapel Hill political science professor Thad Beyle said.

Ballantine working on eastern Dems, GOP to pull upset
The Associated Press (N.C.)
As a bluegrass quartet strummed on a Wake County farm's lakefront and Republicans ate barbecue, Patrick Ballantine chatted with young and old alike, hoping to prove he can bridge the North Carolina GOP's generation gap....But Thad Beyle, a UNC-Chapel Hill political science professor who studies gubernatorial politics, said it is Ballantine who remains an unknown quantity to many voters.

Campaigns get testier as Senate race tightens
The Charlotte Observer
Last month Republican Richard Burr suggested some supporters wanted "skin to rip and blood to flow" in his race against Democrat Erskine Bowles for U.S. Senate...."The battle over NAFTA and foreign trade ... is the battle for votes in the textile towns, which are through some of the most solidly Republican districts in the state," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media, and Public Life at UNC Chapel Hill.

Woollen gym gets makeover
The Chapel Hill News
UNC officials sold off a bit of Woollen Gym this week, but the spirit and functionality of the building remain intact for future generations of Carolina students.

American Racist, etc.
"The State of Things" (WUNC-FM, Chapel Hill)
John Sweeney, professor of Journalism at UNC-CH asks the question, what do college sports and driving on I-95 have in common? Success depends on how well
you negotiate the speed traps.

Power play
The Chapel Hill News
Two men struggle for the throne - one protecting it, the other pursuing it....For the politically minded, the parallels between "The Tragedy of King Richard II," which begins a three-week run Wednesday night at the UNC Center for Dramatic Art, and the heated presidential contest are striking.

Free speech? (Letter to the Editor)
The News & Observer
As a teacher at UNC-Fayetteville and as a concerned citizen, I could not help but wonder if I seem to interpret the case of UNC-Chapel Hill's Dr. Elyse Crystall in a different way than U.S. Rep. Walter Jones in his Sept. 30 People's Forum letter and in his previous concerns about a student who voiced his opinion in class regarding his perceptions of homosexuals....David Garrett Izzo

Issues & Trends

Spread of honors colleges raises concerns
The Associated Press
Bronwyn Stippa had all but made up her mind to attend New York University, a top-notch private college....Trying to lure students like Stippa, public universities are rapidly developing honors colleges that advertise the cozy qualities of a liberal arts college within the walls of a university.

UNC to seek billions
The News & Observer
UNC system leaders are already thinking beyond their current campus construction boom. And the cost estimate for their next six-year building plan is an eye-popper -- up to $4 billion in state money....At UNC-Chapel Hill, officials say they're spending at the rate of $1 million a day on construction.

Town panel faults UNC for Carolina North plans
The Chapel Hill Herald
A town committee says that features of the most-recent plans for Carolina North either fall short of the committee's goals, or are too vague to even tell how they stack up against those goals...."It's still early, as far as trying to nail all of that down," UNC Trustees Chairman Richard "Stick" Williams said of many of the details.

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/newsserv/clipsindex.htm.

Please share any questions, comments or suggestions at news@unc.edu.