September 9, 2004

Carolina in the News

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

International Coverage

Calgary boy dies from football injury
The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Ontario)
The death yesterday of a 16-year-old Calgary football player who spent several days in a coma after a routine blocking drill is bound to heat up debate about the merits of contact sports, especially in school settings, but the teen's family and professionals in the sport said now is not the time to point fingers....According to a recent University of North Carolina study, 13 U.S. football players died during the 2003 season, two of severe head injures and seven others of natural causes likely provoked by strenuous exercise.

National Coverage

For Sale: Again and Again and ...
The Wall Street Journal
Mattress merchants Simmons Bedding Co. and Sealy Corp. may be known for producing a better sleep, but within the world of finance they are better known because each has been owned in succession by no fewer than five private-investment firms...."The balance of power is shifting," the University of North Carolina's endowment investment director, Michael Hennessy, concedes.

Fat once revered as sign of health, wealth
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Once upon a time, poor people were thin and rich people were fat. Not any more....For the most part, "We don't have starvation and we don't have extreme malnutrition," said Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

School mourns football player, 15
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Even after the hit, DeShawn Smith stomped off the football turf in signature form -- fiercely competitive and still determined to give 110 percent....But Dr. Frederick Mueller, a national expert on sports injuries, said head injuries in football cannot be described as "freak accidents" and more can be done to prevent them. Mueller heads the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

City's reputation draws death penalty seminar
The Houston Chronicle
Houston's reputation for generating a large number of death penalty cases was a primary reason for selecting it as a site for training attorneys, a law professor said Wednesday....The session is only the second conducted outside the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Law School since training began in 1970, [Jonathan] Broun said.

The Pre-Baby Vacation
WebMD
The nursery is ready, you're stocked up on onesies, and you've got the market cornered on diapers. You are ready for baby to come -- well, almost...."Be absolutely certain that there are no risk factors for premature pregnancy," says Thomas Ivester, MD, from the division of maternal fetal medicine at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

Regional Coverage

Football getting less dangerous
King County Journal (NJ)
The death of DeShawn Smith is proof that football is a dangerous game....Dr. Frederick Mueller, director of the UNC-based National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injuries, said the game has become safer through rule changes, better equipment, medical advances and improved coaching.

Authorities still looking for source of bacteria
The Bridgeton News (NJ)
The Bureau of Marine Water Monitoring still is trying to locate the source of coliform bacteria pollution that has closed some oyster beds at the mouth of the Maurice River....Connell said the University of North Carolina is doing some of the tests, and when results are available he will share them.

State & Local Coverage

3 struggling schools ID'd for revival effort
The Charlotte Observer
Charlotte-Mecklenburg Superintendent James Pughsley wants West Charlotte, Garinger and West Mecklenburg high schools to be the focus of high school turnaround efforts, the Observer learned Wednesday....The Observer argued that drafts are public documents under N.C. public records law. Experts from the N.C. Press Association and the Institute of Government at UNC Chapel Hill agreed, and board members Lee Kindberg and Louise Woods urged staff to comply.

Ward an amateur with rich legacy
The News & Observer
Time was running out for Harvie Ward, his days growing shorter, the golf courses looming longer...."In his prime, I don't think there's any question that he was capable of going head-to-head against the best players in the world," said Johnny Cake, head pro at UNC's Finley Golf Course.

Take steps to avoid the freshman 15 (Commentary)
The News & Observer
What were you afraid of when you went off to college?..."You always hear about it in high school, that going off to college there's the risk of gaining the freshman 15," said Anna Pryce, my niece who is a freshman from Asheville at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Issues & Trends

Graduate Admissions for Foreign Students Continue a Post-2001 Decline, Report Says
The Chronicle of Higher Education
The number of foreign students granted admission to American graduate schools dropped by 18 percent from 2003 to 2004, according to a report released on Tuesday by the Council of Graduate Schools.

Victories not key to loyalty
The News & Obesrver
Winning big in college athletics doesn't necessarily make university donors more eager to open their wallets, nor does it coax more smart students to apply, according to a report released Tuesday by the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.

Ga. Tech to NCAA: We'll cut scholarships
Savannah Morning News
Georgia Tech wants to punish itself harshly for certifying 17 student-athletes to compete in sports when they weren't academically eligible.

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.