September 3, 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:

Unfazed (and Unconverted) by Book on the Koran
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In the end, the book that had proved so divisive brought students together in a circle. On a Monday 
afternoon last month, officials and professors at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill led 
most of the college's 4,000 entering freshmen and transfer students in discussions of a scholarly book 
about the Koran. 
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i02/02a04801.htm
(Note: This was the lead item in the "Students" section in this week's print edition. This article also 
featured a picture of Chancellor Moeser and Student Body President Jennifer Daum with reporters. 
To view this picture, please go to http://chronicle.com/students/. The Chronicle of Higher Education 
requires a subscription to view articles.)

Does the Koran Belong in Class? (Letters to the Editor)
The New York Times
To the Editor: Re "Cuckoo in Carolina," by Thomas L. Friedman (column, Aug. 28): There is an 
argument for studying the Koran that conservative Christian groups may not have considered: 
America has been forced into a state of war against Islamic terrorists, and to fight them effectively, 
we must first understand them...
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/03/opinion/L03KORA.html
(Note: The New York Times published seven letters to the editor about the summer reading program,
including one letter by Carl Ernst, professor of religious studies. The New York Times requires free
registration to access articles.)

Critics of Muslims, Quran showing their ignorance (Opinion-Editorial Column)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A debate has recently erupted at the University of North Carolina over the requirement that incoming 
freshmen read a book about the Quran, the book that Muslims believe to be the revealed word of 
God. Like most issues of the day, the television talking heads have monopolized the discourse --- if 
that is what you want to call self-declared experts on everything screaming at one another. 
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/monday/opinion_d337faf60083410f00e1.html

The Culture Wars Now Have a Global Scope (Opinion-Editorial Column)
Newsday (N.Y.)
In August, a conservative Christian group unsuccessfully tried to block the University of North 
Carolina from assigning a book about the Koran to freshmen. The Virginia-based Family Policy 
Network accused the public university of "unconstitutional religious indoctrination." 
http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion/ny-vpste032848012sep03.story?coll=ny%2Dviewpoints%2Dheadlines

Reading program on Koran ignites debate (Editorial)
San Diego Union-Tribune
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of this nation's most respected institutions of 
higher learning. But the overheated rhetoric of demagogues on talk radio and elsewhere would have
us believe that it is a hotbed of Muslim propaganda.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/opinion/news_1e29bottom.html
(Note: The San Diego Union-Tribune published a letter to the editor on Monday about this editorial. 
To view this letter, please go to 
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/op-ed/letters/20020902-9999_1e2lets1.html)

Academic Freedom in a World of Moral Crises (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Last month, members of the Appropriations Committee of the North Carolina House of 
Representatives voted to use the power of the state budget to block the assignment of a book to all 
freshmen and transfer students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Approaching the 
Qur'an: The Early Revelations (White Cloud Press, 1999), by Michael Sells, a professor of religion 
at Haverford College. 
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v49/i02/02b02001.htm
(Note: The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to view articles.)

9/11 Lessons Not Easily Taught In Classrooms
Hartford Courant 
In America's classrooms, Sept. 11 gripped teachers and students alike and created a demand for on-
the-spot lessons on geography, history, politics. But in the year since the attacks, teaching about this 
historic and shattering event has been anything but easy. For some, it has been a minefield... The 
University of North Carolina was sued in federal court by a Christian group after the university asked 
incoming freshmen this summer to read a book about the Koran, Islam's holy text.
http://www.ctnow.com/hc-911schools0903.artsep03.story
(Note: News Services provides information for this story.)

Educators: Racial storm brews in South's schools
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Resegregation is helping to create ''the perfect storm'' threatening Southern public schools, a college 
educator said Friday. Southern students are less likely to study alongside students of other races and 
ethnicities than they were in the 1980s, when court-ordered desegregation was most strictly enforced, 
said John Charles Boger of the University of North Carolina law school. Boger spoke at a day-long 
symposium here on the resegregation of Southern schools. 
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/saturday/news_d307a624855d7139001e.html

State and Local Coverage

Black & white 
News and Observer
Amoy Baker was pleased to see that her son's new charter school had a strict discipline policy... 
They're also struggling to come up with answers to courts that have removed race from student 
assignment, parents who are demanding neighborhood schools and elected leaders who themselves 
are questioning the value of integration. Against that backdrop, more than 500 civil rights activists, 
scholars, policy-makers and school officials gathered Friday at a conference in Chapel Hill to discuss 
the resegregation of public schools in the South.
http://newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1688488p-1707409c.html
(Note: The News and Observer Sunday "Q" section featured the topic of school integration and 
resegregation, focusing on the Friday conference on the trend of resegregation in southern schools, 
held by the UNC Center for Civil Rights, a component of the School of Law. Media representative 
attending the conference also included WSOC-TV (ABC affiliate in Charlotte, NC), WRAL-TV 
(CBS), WNCN-17 (NBC) and WUNC-FM. Jack Boger, professor of law, did an interview about 
the conference on Friday on the North Carolina News Network, comprised of about 90-plus radio 
stations across the state.)

Group gathers at UNC to close achievement gap
News 14 (Time-Warner)
Hundreds of people including scholars, civil rights lawyers, and teachers gathered in Chapel Hill 
Friday to turn the spotlight on improving low test scores at schools across the state.
http://rdu.news14.com/content/your_news/durhamchapel_hill/?ArID=13137&SecID=42
(Note: News 14 has the video component to this story online. To view this, go to the about url 
and click on "Play" in the "Watch the Video" box on the right side.)

Study: Schools tend to resegregate
Winston-Salem Journal
North Carolina's public schools are becoming more segregated, and high-school and middle-school 
students are more likely to be in single-race classrooms, researchers at Duke University have found... 
Still, North Carolina isn't as segregated as other Southern states, said Charles Clotfelter, a professor of 
public-policy studies and economics at Duke University. "For a state as a whole the public schools aren't
that segregated," Clotfelter said at a conference on resegregation and Southern schools at the University 
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/news/education/MGBQATM2J5D.html

Everybody ought to have a chance (Question and Answer)
News and Observer
Julius Chambers, director of the UNC Center for Civil Rights, is a lawyer who has successfully fought 
dozens of desegregation cases, including the one that led to court-ordered busing in the Charlotte-
Mecklenburg schools in the 1970s. 
http://newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1688488p-1707388c.html

Diversity isn't a constitutional right (Opinion-Editorial Column)
News and Observer
A conference at UNC-Chapel Hill, timed to coincide with the end of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg 
desegregation plan, featured speakers lamenting the end of school desegregation and forecasting all sorts 
of dire consequences...
http://newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1688488p-1707331c.html

Resegregation is the ‘perfect storm’ of education (Commentary)
Chapel Hill News
From around the country, civil rights advocates, Justice Department lawyers, university deans, school 
board members and even a Supreme Court justice or two descended upon Chapel Hill last week to talk 
about a dirty little secret.
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/1686758p-1706371c.html

Final Word (Letter to the Editor)
News and Observer
The News and Observer featured 10 letters to the editor in the Sunday "Q" section about the summer 
reading program. To view all the letters, please go to the url below. 
http://newsobserver.com/news/q/story/1688491p-1707446c.html

Increased Awareness (Letters to the Editor)
Winston-Salem Journal
Carolina students are pleased with efforts to increase awareness of Islam. The "requirement" is meant to 
urge incoming students to speak intelligently and without hatred about Islam...
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/opinion/letters/MGBILJMGI5D.html
(Note: The Winston-Salem Journal published three letters to the editor on Saturday. To view all of 
the letters, please go to the above url and scroll down the web page.)

Islam in context (Letter to the Editor)
News and Observer
The subject of Thomas Friedman's Aug. 15 Op-ed article concerning India, Islam and democracy should 
have been the focus of the required reading at UNC-Chapel Hill, not a book about the Quran.
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1689602p-1708024c.html

Quran snippets don't tell the whole story (Letter to the Editor)
Chapel Hill News
Chancellor James Moeser of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has tried to justify UNC's 
introduction to incoming students to read this year's selected book, "Approaching the Qur'an: The Early 
Revelations."
http://www.triangle.com/triangle.com/communities/chapelhill/opinion/story/1686752p-1706372c.html

Footnotes: Two N.C. hotties earn kudos
News and Observer
Two North Carolina institutions are among Kaplan-Newsweek's choices for the 12 "hottest colleges." 
Davidson College and UNC-Chapel Hill made the hot list in the Kaplan-Newsweek "How to Get Into 
College" guide, which hit newsstands last week. 
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1689104p-1707692c.html
(Note: For more information about UNC rankings, please go to 
http://www.unc.edu/news/archives/aug02/kapnewsweek082602.htm)

UNC-CH to give training in public service (Question and Answer)
News and Observer
UNC-Chapel Hill soon will launch a "distinction in public service" recognition program for students who 
graduate with significant public service... Carolina's Center for Public Service received a $15,000 grant 
to plan the program. Center Director Lynn Blanchard recently talked to The News & Observer about 
the program, which could start as soon as January.
http://newsobserver.com/news/story/1689104p-1707704c.html

Funding the library (Letter to the Editor)
News and Observer
We were delighted to read your Aug. 25 editorial praising the renovation of the Robert B. House 
Undergraduate Library at UNC-Chapel Hill. 
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/letters/story/1687030p-1706464c.html
(Note: Joe Hewitt is university librarian at UNC.)

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

Growth of creative hubs redefines 'white flight'
Austin American-Statesman (Texas)
White people left Milwaukee by the thousands in the 1990s. In a remarkable shift of population, the 
number of whites declined in 120 U.S. metropolitan areas between 1990 and 2000... Blacks, too, are 
attracted to these cities, says James H. Johnson, an expert on U.S. demographic trends in Chapel Hill, 
N.C. Atlanta, Washington, Dallas, Houston and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., all gained a large number of 
blacks, members of the same talented, creative group that is filling the other cities of ideas.
http://www.austin360.com/aas/specialreports/citiesofideas/whiteflight/0901whiteflight.html
(Note: Johnson is the director of the Urban Investment Strategies Center and Frank Hawkins Kenan 
Institute of Private Enterprise and is professor of management at the Kenan-Flager Business School.)

Sharing college costs (Editorial) 
News and Observer
In this millennium, education beyond high school will be as much a necessity for young people as jeans and 
T-shirts. In just two short years, North Carolina has seen the evaporation of thousands of decent jobs that 
don't require a degree... Fortunately, University of North Carolina campuses have had more financial aid
money to keep the neediest students enrolled.
http://newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1689594p-1708002c.html

New chairman of UNC board quite the mover (Tar Heel of the Week feature)
News and Observer
As a boy growing up in Western North Carolina, Brad Wilson moved seven times, all within the state, 
before he reached the eighth grade... In July, the 49-year-old Wilson won the backing of the state's 
business, political and academic elite to ascend to the top spot on the UNC Board of Governors, which 
sets budget priorities for the $2.8 billion University of North Carolina system.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1688529p-1707374c.html

Student influx irks neighbors 
News and Observer
Ted Shear fears his West Raleigh neighborhood is slipping away. In July, a longtime neighbor sold her 
home to a man who plans to rent it to university students. Already students have moved into the house 
behind Shear's, and on weekends, their deck fills with music and friends into the wee hours.
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/triangle/story/1688712p-1707318c.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