In 2002, I suggested to the UNC Summer Reading Program committee that Michael Sells' Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations be the book assigned to all incoming UNC first-year students. A firestorm of controversy followed, ignited by attacks on UNC from extremist religious groups, politicians, and media outlets. In the end, over 2000 students calmly discussed the book in a single 2-hour discussion session on August 19.
     I have written two short articles on the subject:

• "From the Heart of the Qur'an Belt," Religious Studies News, May 2003
• "Reflection: Assigning the Qur'an at Chapel Hill Proved a Fine
  Thing to Do," Spirituality & Health, March-April 2003 

Additional sources of information on the controversy are listed below:

The official UNC web page for the Summer Reading Program

The University Gazette at UNC has a good summary of the 2002 Summer Reading Program, including a chronology

See also the coverage in the PBS Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, including an interview with me

The UNC news service has a complete file of linked articles arranged by date; late July and early August 2002 are dominated by this story:

By far the funniest account was "The Daily Show Report: Terror UNC," by Mo Rocca

Arabic and other foreign language articles summarizing the situation include BBC Arabic Service (8 August 2002)