February 27, 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:

Class Warfare
Time Magazine
Who's going to argue with this outcome? Back in 1992 Shunta Belle was on the fast track to nowhere, 
"hanging around thugs and drug dealers and trying to prove myself to them." Then, as a freshman at Provine 
High School in Jackson, Miss., she signed up for the spit-and-shine, no-nonsense world of the Junior Reserve 
Officer Training Corps. For the first year, Belle held on to a few of her underachieving civilian comrades. 
But over the next three years, she picked up new friends, a better attitude and a fresh set of goals to match...
...Critics, both educators and parents, wonder, though, whether another well-funded program focusing on, say, 
music or science might produce equally positive results. They say JROTC exploits minority kids by dangling 
a carrot of financial security in front of them. According to a 1995 study, paid for by the American Friends 
Service Committee and called Making Soldiers in the Public Schools, 45% of all cadets who successfully complete 
JROTC enter a branch of the service. "A 14-year-old is no match for the Department of Defense in sorting out the 
military's claims," says study co-author Catherine Lutz, an anthropology professor at the University of North 
Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
http://www.time.com/time/education/article/0,8599,212638,00.html

The weight of the world
Boston Globe
Obesity once was a wealthy nation's burden, a symptom of societies affluent enough to eat too much 
and do too little to burn off the cache of calories...
''In the [United States], we have this conception that we're the center of all the problems of obesity, but 
it's not true,'' said Barry Popkin, a professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. 
''There are many, many countries that have a problem comparable to the US. It's a globalizaton of what we 
eat and how we act.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/057/science/The_weight_of_the_world+.shtml

Driven to reduce traffic on campus
Baltimore Sun
For the Johns Hopkins University, the breaking point came when consultants showed college leaders 
photos of campus tours in which prospective students were crossing paths with soda delivery trucks...
...n advising the two schools, Gross and his colleagues pointed to the University of North Carolina, Princeton 
University and Emory University, where they also served as consultants, as proof of the benefits of reducing 
traffic. Although blocking auto access in a car-dependent country always meets with some resistance, they said,
it has proved surprisingly popular on campuses.
http://www.sunspot.net/news/local/bal-md.cars26feb26.story

National News Notes

"Good Morning America," (ABC-TV), February 27
Members of the Carolina Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority were featured during live segments several times 
this morning on this highly rated morning news and talk show. All this week, the show has been profiling 
various groups of women for makeovers and members of the sorority, who are celebrating their 25th 
anniversary in New York this week, contacted program producers. While three of the older members were 
being made over in the New York studio, current members of the sorority were watching on monitors inside 
the house back in Chapel Hill and they were asked to go outside for a series of live segments. Several times 
during the broadcast, Anchor Diane Sawyer mentioned the university by its full name. When current members 
were shown live, the name and location of the university were displayed prominently.

State and Local Coverage

UNC too slow on cleanup at Mason Farm (Editorial)
The good news about the waste contamination at the Mason Farm property is that UNC has begun cleaning 
it up. The bad news is that the Mason Farm site contains some nasty contaminants in concentrations much 
higher than expected. And while it's good that UNC is proceeding with contamination removal, it's not good 
that the university has dragged its heals on the cleanup and had to be forced by the state to speed it up. 
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/02/27/opinion00.html

UNC panel will weigh parking, transit options
The consternation that usually signals a campus discussion of parking and transit will be on full display today 
when a UNC committee tries to find a way to increase transportation revenue. 
Discussions that have been contentious in recent weeks surrounding issues of parking and transit must come 
to some sort of resolution today. UNC’s Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee -- TPAC -- must 
create some sort of plan in order for it to be finalized and presented to university trustees in late March. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/orange/10-199563.html

The time is right for entertainment tax (Letter to the Editor)
This letter is in response to Roland Giduz's recent renewal of his oft-expressed suggestion that Chapel 
Hill seek a luxury tax on local entertainment. We support the idea and think it is time for our municipal 
officials, UNC administrators and our representatives in the General Assembly to support this proposal. 
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Opinion/columns/letters/latest.html

Into Africa
Volunteers from Northwest North Carolina to educate and entertain children 
Before she commits herself to the Peace Corps, Ariel Shumaker is test driving the concept by helping 
young people in Africa for a month. Shumaker, who is from Winston-Salem, is a sophomore at the University 
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. This summer, she and others - most of them college students - are going to 
Malawi in southern Africa as volunteers in a program set up by World Camp for Kids, a nonprofit organization 
founded in 2000 by three college students.
http://www.journalnow.com/wsj/living/MGB9MNZO4YC.html

Interview with Vincas Steponaitis 
Along with his research work, Vincas Steponaitis, the director of UNC’s Research Laboratories of Archaeology, 
gives free public talks on the history of archaeology in North Carolina. Those talks reveal some interesting 
nuggets. Recently, Steponaitis sat down with The Herald-Sun to talk about his work. The following are excerpts 
of that interview. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/features/54-197313.html

UNC student rolls ahead with plans for AIDS Ride
Melissa Semcer hasn't owned a bicycle since she moved to Chapel Hill when she was a seventh-grader. 
Now that she is about to graduate from UNC-Chapel Hill, she plans to celebrate that achievement by riding 
a bicycle from Amsterdam to Paris -- that's 500 miles. Did I mention that she doesn't have a bike? 
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/02/24/town00.html

UNC history professor completes 3 books on America’s first president 
On the dollar bill at least, George Washington looks more like someone’s mild-mannered granny than one 
of history’s most successful generals and statesmen, but his appearance in most portraits is deceiving, 
historians agree. Artists captured his image at the time, but not his remarkable personal qualities. 
http://www.heraldsun.com/features/54-197315.html

Home run of a proposal 
UNC-CH softball team helps man pop question to assistant coach 
Jeff McLeod Burden isn't a catcher, but he took up position behind home plate before Saturday's UNC 
softball game.First he sang a love song. Then he tossed his girlfriend, Beverly Smith, a softball. Smith, 
the team's assistant coach in charge of pitching and catching, was baffled.
http://www.newsobserver.com/sunday/news/triangle/Story/1100651p-1100514c.html

Issues and Trends Affecting Carolina

Legislators scrutinizing private tuition aid 
As legislators Tuesday took their first serious look in a decade at a 30-year-old program that 
helps pay private college tuition for North Carolinians, Sen. Walter Dalton posed a hypothetical 
question to program supporters.
If students at one university have average family incomes of $100,000, while those at another average 
just $50,000, is it fair for the state to give both universities the same amount of need-based aid?
http://www.newsobserver.com/wednesday/news/nc/Story/1101231p-1100959c.html

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