September 1, 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

This year it's lean and mean
Newsday (New York)
This time next week, you will be up to your eyeballs in juice boxes, plastic wrap, celery sticks and frayed nerves...."You want to provide a nutritious offering that would include a fruit, a vegetable and a protein, but you also want a lunch that the child would eat," says Dianne Ward, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health.

Kerry-Edwards children say father have plan for tuition aid
National Associated Press
The adult children of the Democratic presidential ticket told North Carolina college students Tuesday that their fathers have plans to help them with tuition and finding jobs....Cate Edwards, Vanessa Kerry, Alexandra Kerry, and Andre Heinz spoke at a rally at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, one of three stops they
made in the state.

Democratic senator follows his heart - but not his party
USA Today
Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia hasn't lunched with his fellow Democrats on Capitol Hill in years....But Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics, Media and Public Life at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, says most disaffected Democrats in the South have already switched parties.

GOP likes Democrats who think like Zell Miller does
The Orlando Sentinel
He is exactly what President Bush needs to win a second term in the White House -- a conservative, a Southerner...."A lot of what's going to happen at the Republican Party is going to happen with the Southern base in mind," said Ferrel Guillory, director of the Program on Southern Politics and Media at the University of North Carolina.

Programs move college orientation in new direction
The Kansas City Star
Two dozen freshmen pack a seminar room, debating the Abu Ghraib prison abuses and corporate fraud scandals in the context of The Good Society, a book they've all scanned....That happened two years ago when the University of North Carolina asked its 4,200 freshmen at Chapel Hill to read a book called Approaching the Qur'an.

Regional Coverage

Does Kerry have key to Bush's lock on South?
The Virginian-Pilot
Pamela Brown has been getting a lot of calls lately asking for President Bush yard signs and bumper stickers...."Earley was a weak candidate, and he's not comparable to George Bush." Thad Beyle, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Kerry has a better chance of winning that state than winning Virginia.

Trumpeters of tolerance intolerant (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
When I was in graduate school, political correctness was beginning to rear its head....The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill recently kicked Christian fraternity Alpha Iota Omega off campus for refusing to certify that it would not discriminate based on religion.

State & Local Coverage

West House burden falls to preservationists (Letter to the Editor)
The Chapel Hill News
I am writing to offer a more detached perspective to your latest story, "UNC won't bend on West House" (Aug. 29). The story summarized Chancellor James Moeser's recent response to state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird as well as the viewpoints of a campus staff member who has made preservation his cause celebre....Judith
Welch Wegner, Hillsborough

Candidates' children on campaign trail
The Charlotte Observer
Introducing the children of John Kerry and John Edwards on Tuesday, N.C. Central University student leader D'Weston Haywood lingered on the educational section of their resumes....Like Bill Clinton in 1992, Kerry and Edwards must generate strong turnout from younger voters this fall to unseat the Republican
incumbent. At Tuesday stops on the campuses of UNC Chapel Hill and N.C. Central and East Carolina universities, their children told student crowds that Kerry and Edwards have a plan to help pay for college and improve post-school job prospects.

Kerry Edwards Children Stump for Dad
WUNC-FM
This week Democrat John Kerry is doing the traditional thing and not campaigning while the Republicans hold their convention in New York. But there's no tradition that says his kids can't campaign for him. This week Kerry's daughters, his step-son and John Edwards' daughter are making campaign stops to try and persuade college students to vote in November. WUNC's Leoneda Inge was with the Kerry-Edwards bunch when they brought their college tour to North Carolina.

Candidates' children tour N.C. campuses
The News & Observer
Cate Edwards said she was glad to be home. Andre Heinz asked a local politician if Chapel Hill had a Krispy Kreme....The adult children of John Kerry and John Edwards, along with Heinz -- a Kerry stepson -- stumped for the Democratic presidential ticket Tuesday at N.C. Central University in Durham and UNC-Chapel Hill.

Kids of Kerry/Edwards pump up students at UNC
The Chapel Hill Herald
Apparently, none of the experts on politics who criticize college students for election-year apathy has ever met Taylor Johnson....Kerry's daughters Alexandra and Vanessa, his stepson Andre Heinz, and Edwards' daughter, Cate, hit Chapel Hill around noon Tuesday for a lightning-quick pep rally. In the span of maybe 15
minutes, the quartet fired up a largely receptive crowd of at least 500 students crowded onto Polk Place.

Children Of Kerry, Edwards Urge Students To Vote
WRAL-TV (CBS, Raleigh)
The children of Democratic presidential and vice presidential hopefuls John Kerry and John Edwards are in North Carolina Tuesday to appeal to college students....The group spoke at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and East Carolina.
Note: This story also aired on WTVD-TV, News-14, WUNC-FM.

The World in a Bowl
The Charlotte Observer
The first time I tasted Tôm Kàa Kài, the traditional Thai soup, the waiter delivered it to my table with a warning....Emily Vasquez is a public policy major at UNC Chapel Hill. She wrote this story while serving as an intern at The Charlotte Observer.

Roses & raspberries
The Chapel Hill News
Roses to the UNC women's soccer stars, past and present, who represented Chapel Hill so gloriously in the Olympics.

Grades rising at N.C. colleges, but does it matter?
N.C. Associated Press
Grades appear to keep rising at several North Carolina universities, but state educators are unsure whether it's the result of too many undeserved high marks....The problem with giving more high grades is that it damages some of these incentives, said Peter Gordon, the UNC-Chapel Hill professor who led the latest campus grade study.

Grade-point averages rising at N.C. colleges
The Charlotte Observer
It's the battle of the grade-point average: down versus up....A UNC Chapel Hill study this year confirmed grades at the campus keep rising. Forty-one percent of the university's grades were A's in spring 2003 compared with 38 percent four years earlier.

Daughtridge touts economic growth policies
Rocky Mount Telegram
N.C. Rep. Bill Daughtridge was all business this year....The state college and university system received a share of legislative attention as well, he said, noting plans approved to build a $60 million heart center at East Carolina, $180 million cancer center at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, $35 million genetic information research center at UNC-Charlotte, $28 million pharmacy school at Elizabeth City State and $35 million health center at UNC-Asheville, along with a laundry list of other pet projects.

Issues & Trends

Why Ranking Colleges Is Good (Commentary)
The Washington Post
I met Robert J. Samuelson, the Newsweek and Washington Post columnist, the first week of my life as a reporter, in the spring of my college sophomore year. He was a sophomore too, but already a star on the campus newspaper and assigned to edit the work of hopeless novices like me.

Record number of minorities take SAT
USA Today
More than a half-million minority students in the high school class of 2004 took the SAT - a record and a sign that the nation's college-bound population is growing more diverse.

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.