NEWS SERVICES |
August 13, 2002
Carolina in the News
Current
International Coverage
Here is a sampling of links and notes about
Carolina people
and programs cited recently in the international and
national media:
US Varsity in controversy over Koran
The
Hindustan Times (India)
An American university has come in for strong
criticism from Christian fundamentalists
for including a book on Koran
in its curriculum to foster greater understanding between
Christian and
Muslim students.
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/holnus/03131406.htm
Current
National Coverage
Resolution Affirming Academic Freedom Fails to
Win Approval of U. of North
Carolina Board
The Chronicle of Higher
Education
Faculty leaders at the University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill are blasting the
university system's Board of Governors after it
failed on Friday to pass a resolution
defending academic freedom. The
vote came as the Chapel Hill campus is being attacked
by state
legislators for requiring incoming freshmen and transfer students to read a
book
about the Koran.
http://chronicle.com/daily/2002/08/2002081301n.htm
(Note:
The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access
articles.)
Mandating the Koran (Editorial)
The Wall Street
Journal
When a state university requires students to immerse themselves
in the study of a
particular religion, it can expect trouble. That's
exactly what the University of North
Carolina got for its summer
reading requirement that all incoming freshmen read portions
of the
Koran and commentary by a religious scholar. The school now faces a
lawsuit
from a group of students and alumni, charging violations of the
First Amendment.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB1029195943657435395.djm,00.html
(Note:
The Wall Street Journal requires a subscription to access articles. A
Washington
Post commentary published Aug. 12 was distributed via
the Post wire service. Among
outlets picking that up was The News
and Observer. A related commentary from
The Chicago Tribune
published on Aug. 11 was featured in today's edition of
The
Houston Chronicle. The national Associated Press story distributed late last
week
about the state legislative action also has been picked up as a
brief in The Christian
Science Monitor.)
Checking In
on Campus
The Chronicle of Higher Education
In the mid-1980s, Saint
Louis University bought a hotel, turned it into a dormitory, and
called
it Reinert Hall. Almost 20 years later, officials decided that the private
institution
needed a hotel... The University of North Carolina at
Chapel Hill brought in Doubletree
in 1993 to operate the Carolina
Inn, which the university had owned and managed since
1935. By the late
1980s, the aging property was a "pretty shabby place. We had
never
properly managed it as an asset," says Carolyn W. Elfland,
associate vice chancellor
for campus services at Chapel
Hill.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i49/49a02901.htm
(Note:
The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access
articles.)
Asking for More
The Chronicle of Higher
Education
When she's not "praying to the job gods," Nancy Kutrumbof has
been contacting the
financial-aid offices of the University of
Connecticut and the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill,
asking for more aid for her two sons, who attend the colleges.
http://chronicle.com/weekly/v48/i49/49a03701.htm
(Note:
The Chronicle of Higher Education requires a subscription to access
articles.)
Top Ten Cities for Hispanics
Hispanic Magazine
In
Washington Post writer Joel Garreau’s book, “The Nine Nations of North
America”
(Houghton Mifflin, 1981), he describes what going “home” felt
like to a colleague who left
a prestigious Washington, D.C., job to return to
his quieter, smaller, original town out west:
“Suddenly a knot
disappeared from his stomach, a knot he hadn’t known was there...
With
the Blue Ridge mountains to the west and the beaches of the Outer Banks to the
east,
North Carolina has suddenly become The Destination for new
Latino immigrants...
James H. Johnson, Jr., director of
the Urban Investment Strategies Center at the
University of
North Carolina in Chapel Hill, explains that employers began
heavily
recruiting Mexicans to the state through informal networks in
traditional gateway border
communities like Los Angeles and Texas,
traditional Hispanic strongholds like Miami and
New York, and also
directly from Mexico.
http://www.hispaniconline.com/magazine/2002/july-aug/CoverStory/index.html
National
News Notes
Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the School of Public
Health, is
among the participants in the President's Economic
Forum in Waco, Texas. For more
information about the participants,
please see The New York Times story
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/13/politics/13BUSH-LIST.html
and a national
Associated Press story that originated from the
Dallas Morning News
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dallas/nation/stories/081302dnnatsummit.4b523.html
Researcher
Suzanne Levy was featured on the National Public Radio program,
"The
Todd Mundt Show," on Aug. 12 about a recent study suggests
that unhappy romantic
relationships during the teen years may lead to
unfulfilling relationships in later life. "The
Todd Mundt Show" is
locally broadcasted on WUNC-FM. To view to the program
online,
please visit http://toddshow.org/log/dailylistings/08122002.asp.
The
CNN program "Crossfire" featured a segment on Aug. 12 about the
recent
lawsuit against UNC involving the summer reading program. Guests
on the program
included Joe Glover, president of the Family Policy
Network, and Hussein Ibish,
communications director for the American
Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
To view the transcript, please
visit
http://www.reamweaver.com/cnn.com/r/TRANSCRIPTS/cf.html.cn.php3
The
Nation's Health, the newspaper of the American Public Health Association,
featured
a story about a recent study by UNC researchers about the N.C.
Health Choice program
for dental care among low-income children. This
study was the subject of a UNC news
release http://www.unc.edu/news/newsserv/research/mofidi060602.htm
Regional
Coverage
UNC administrator will head Tulane's public health
school
The Times-Picayune (Louisiana)
Tulane University has
named Dr. Pierre Buekens, a native of Belgium who
holds
administrative and teaching posts at the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, as
dean of Tulane's School of Public
Health and Tropical Medicine.
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/newsstory/hied09.htm
Triangle
leading lovers of N.C. into a new age
Miami Herald
Sweet, in all the
best ways. As in sweet tea (that's iced tea, heaps of sugar.) Sweet,
easy
accents -- not a long drawl like Georgia or Mississippi, but a
definite roll... That's right,
Raleigh and Durham -- with Chapel
Hill, the corner posts of the Research Triangle area --
are
entirely separate places. And whether you find Raleigh slightly slow or
delightfully
sweet, the three towns together weave Southern traditions,
sharp thinking and easy ways
into a region that has grown by nearly 40
percent in the past decade.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/living/travel/3817612.htm
Required
Islamic texts challenged at UNC
The Daily Texan (student publication at the
University of Texas)
The North Carolina House Appropriations Committee
approved a proposal that, if
implemented, could bar funding for
required religious courses and reading for incoming
freshmen at all of
the state's 16 public academic institutions.
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2002/08/12/3d57752f698a7
State
and Local Coverage
They flunked (Editorial)
It would have
been a worthy symbol. It would have been timely, a way to
demonstrate
that principle stands above all -- even when the principle
must stand for something that is
controversial or unpopular. But now,
the University of North Carolina system's Board of
Governors stands, or
rather sits, as a symbol of timidity.
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1633102p-1660051c.html
Academic
freedom? Sounds dangerous (Editorial)
Wilmington Morning Star
The
University of North Carolina Board of Governors isn't sure it believes in
academic
freedom. It's appointed a committee to study the matter.
Presumably the board will come up
with a carefully worded statement
after the General Assembly gives the university system its
money and
after the fall elections.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=WM&Date=20020813&Category=EDITORIAL&ArtNo=208130002&Ref=AR&Profile=1016&SectionCat=editorial
Chapel
Hill offers a lesson in inquiry (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The
controversy about a summer reading requirement for incoming students at
UNC-Chapel
Hill has become a well-publicized example of contrasting
views of both education and the
values of American society...
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1633112p-1660126c.html
(Note:
Lloyd Kramer is a professor of history at UNC-Chapel Hill.
He was a member of
the 1996 committee that recommended setting up a
summer reading program.)
Legislators vote for ignorance
(Commentary)
Charlotte Observer
Young Americans seeking a useful
college education should desire a keen understanding of
the faith that
attracts one-fifth of the world's population. Likewise, the citizens of a
nation
under attack by a warped and fanatic sect of that faith should
want an accurate view of who
hates them, and why.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/3852257.htm
(Note:
This column originally appeared in The Daily Reflector http://www.reflector.com/news/newsfd/auto/feed/news/2002/08/10/1029037071.24670.3449.0586.html.)
Two
cheers for UNC's academic freedom (Editorial)
It's a sad day for a once
proud and free university system when its overseers can be cowed
by
petty bigotry. How else to explain the UNC Board of Governors' craven bumbling
Friday?
http://www.herald-sun.com/archives/URNDetail.cfm?URN=0396810194
(Note:
The Chapel Hill Herald requires free registration to view
archives.)
Understanding Islam is crucial (Opinion-Editorial
Column)
Greensboro News and Record
As a Tar Heel student, I am proud
UNC-Chapel Hill selected "Approaching the Qur'an" for
its freshmen
summer reading program...
http://www.news-record.com/news/opinions/letters/ilias13.htm
Professor
defends controversial book
When a UNC faculty committee charged
with selecting a book for UNC's summer reading
program needed advice on
religious issues, it turned to Carl Ernst. For 10 years, Ernst
has
taught courses in Islamic studies at Carolina, and was the only
faculty member in the religious
studies department until UNC added a
second such scholar recently.
http://www.herald-sun.com/archives/URNDetail.cfm?URN=0396810162
(Note:
The Chapel Hill Herald requires free registration to view
archives.)
Religion in college (Letter to the Editor)
Both the
state House Appropriations Committee in voting strongly against the
UNC-Chapel
Hill freshman program requiring the reading of Michael Sells'
"Approaching the Qur'an" and
the UNC Board of Governors voting weakly in
favor of academic freedom (news story, Aug.
10) miss one issue
entirely: a college is not a public elementary or secondary school!
http://www.newsobserver.com/editorials/story/1633111p-1660056c.html
McColl
to chair nonprofit managing UNC's endowment
Business
Journal
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill officials have
set up a not-for-profit management
company to invest the school's $1
billion endowment and the endowments of any other UNC
System schools
that want investment help. UNC Management Co. began operations July
1
with retired Charlotte banker Hugh McColl Jr. as its first board
chairman.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2002/08/12/story1.html
Universities
inject grant cash into economy
Business Journal
Amidst a troubled
economy, dried-up private equity markets and corporate cutbacks,
the
Triangle's three research universities pumped $1.3 billion worth of
grant money largely into
the local economy during the 2001-2002
academic year. All of that spending was thanks
to federal, state and private
grants received by the University of North Carolina,
Duke
University and North Carolina State University.
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/stories/2002/08/12/story3.html
Want
a Morehead? Go for it
Charlotte Observer
For the first time in the
51-year history of the Morehead Award, N.C. high school seniors
can
nominate themselves for the prestigious scholarship to UNC Chapel Hill.
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observer/news/local/3852301.htm
(Note:
This originated from a UNC News Services release
http://www.unc.edu/news/newsserv/univ/selfnom081202.htm.)
Danger
of marine microbe up for debate
Wilmington Morning Star
Something
smells a little fishy to an environmental watchdog group headed by
Robert
Kennedy Jr... Institutions that received federal funding to
study the microbe include the
University of North Carolina at
Wilmington, UNC-Chapel Hill, N.C. State University
and several
institutions in Maryland and Virginia.
http://www.wilmingtonstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=WM&Date=20020812&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=208120306&Ref=AR&Profile=1004&SectionCat=Local
Stick
and Teresa Williams begin a new life
The inviting settee is gone from the
front porch of the home in Ironwoods that Richard
"Stick" Williams and
his wife, Teresa, bought when they moved to Chapel Hill 12 years
ago.
The couple and their three daughters are gone as well, having
moved on to a new life in
Charlotte, the town where the marriage began
and the girls were born.
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/08/11/town01.html
(Note:
Williams is the vice chairman of the UNC Board of
Trustees.)
NPR correspondent, author to speak at
UNC
National Public Radio senior correspondent Juan Williams --
author of the nonfiction best
seller "Eyes on the Prize: America’s
Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965" -- will serve as the
guest luncheon
speaker for an Aug. 30 conference involving national experts in civil
rights
and education policy.
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-256290.htm
(Note:
This is a UNC News Services release
http://www.unc.edu/news/newsserv/univ/civilrights080702.htm.
Other pick-up includes
The Chapel Hill News.)
UNC
students to immerse selves in South African culture
Seventeen University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill sophomores and juniors will
spend the
upcoming semester in Cape Town, South Africa, studying the
country's
conflicts, culture and politics and serving internships at
agencies throughout the city.
http://www.chapelhillnews.com/Issues/2002/08/11/town00.html
(Note:
This is a UNC News Services release
http://www.unc.edu/news/newsserv/univ/burchsafrica080102.htm.
Other pick-up
includes The News and Observer.)
Issues
and Trends Affecting Carolina
Chapel Hill Transit rearranges routes to
improve service
Chapel Hill Transit is shuffling its timetable on
Aug. 19 to extend service to a new park-
and-ride in Carrboro and beef up its
offerings in several other parts of the area. The
single biggest change
involves the C route, which links Carrboro to the UNC campus
and the
hospital’s Family Practice Center off Manning Drive.
http://www.herald-sun.com/orange/10-256266.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
cathleen_keyser@unc.edu or mike_mcfarland@unc.edu