Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
House Republicans Try to Blunt Student-Loan Flap
Bloomberg Businessweek
House Republican leaders moved to seize the initiative for preventing college student-loan rates from doubling as they tried to blunt the political impact of President Barack Obama’s re-election pitch for the youth vote. …Boehner unveiled the legislation as Obama took his campaign this week to campuses in three battleground states: the University of North Carolina, the University of Colorado and the University of Iowa. He also appeared on the NBC show “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” to promote the plan.
Related Links:
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-04-25/obama-presses-on
-college-costs-as-romney-vies-for-youth-vote
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/04/26/Boehner-Let-Obamacare-
pay-student-loans/UPI-60871335427200/
Obama praises Senate student loan bill
United Press International
…Obama's remarks largely were a rerun of those he made Tuesday at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at the University of Colorado in Boulder, when he told the crowds he just finished paying off his own student loans eight years ago. "Now, the good news is, the Senate introduced a bill last night that would keep student loan rates from doubling. That's the good news. And what's also good news is some Republican senators look like they might support it," Obama said.
Obama “slow jams the news” with Jimmy Fallon (Blog)
Reuters (Wire Service)
Jimmy Fallon taped a special episode of his show in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, yesterday, where he was joined by President Obama, who, fresh from a speech to students at the University of North Carolina, made a dramatic entrance.
Longer breastfeeding cuts HIV transmission to babies
The Times of India
Scientists had revealed that giving daily antiretroviral drugs (ART) to HIV-infected moms or their breastfeeding babies for 28 weeks proved safe and effective for preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission through breast milk. It was an early results of a large-scale randomized study published in 2010 and led by researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
National Coverage
Colleges visited by Obama have varying records on student loan debt (Blog)
The Washington Post
This week, President Obama booked appearances at three flagship public universities to talk about college affordability and urge Congress to keep federal student loan interest rates at 3.4 percent instead of the usual 6.8 percent for another year. …When it comes to student loan debt, UNC is a school that bucks the trend. For the Class of 2011, just 35 percent of students borrowed money to pay for school. Their average debt was $15,472, lower than the national average of more than $25,000, according to the university. When you adjust that average for inflation, UNC says its 2011 graduates are taking on less debt than students who graduated a decade ago.
Can Obama rock the youth vote again? (Opinion Column)
CNN.com
…The president seems to be listening: He has focused this week on young people, with stops at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of Iowa in Iowa City. But amid this climate of economic gloom, even apocalypse, for millennials, Obama is rocking the campus vote … with the single issue of loans?
On Campuses, Obama Pitches Low-Cost College Loans
"Morning Edition" National Public Radio
President Obama on Wednesday visits students at the University of Iowa, where he'll again make a pitch for low-cost college loans. It's the last stop on a trip that's taken Obama to two other battleground states: Colorado and North Carolina. He's primarily reaching out this week to younger voters.
Related Links:
http://chronicle.com/article/PresidentParties-Focus-on/131679/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rich-williams/student-loan-rates_b_1452658.html
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/25/11397640-obama-slams-
representatives-using-their-own-words
President Obama Sings for College Affordability (Blog)
The New York Times
On Wednesday night, President Obama appeared on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” and participated in one of the show’s funnier features: slow-jamming the news. The president sang about the rising interest rates on Stafford loans, using a similar refrain he’d used earlier in the day at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Occupy Targets Student Debt As National Student Loan Debt Hits $1 Trillion
The Huffington Post
…At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tuesday Obama talked about his own struggles with student debt, saying he and the first lady were still paying back their lenders eight years ago. The appearance was part of a two-day tour of colleges with stops in Colorado and Iowa, states on the Democrats' must-win list. He's trying to get Congress to extend low-interest rates on college loans and he wants young voters to know about it.
Regional Coverage
Keep student loan rates down (Editorial)
The Tampa Bay Times (Florida)
…As the president explained this week in a speech to students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, "When a big chunk of every paycheck goes towards loan debt, that's not just tough on you, that's not just tough for middle class families, it's not just tough on your parents — it's painful for the economy, because that money is not going to help businesses grow.''
FCAT failure (Editorial)
The Miami Herald (Florida)
…As one testing expert told Herald education reporter Laura Isensee, staggering tests is bad education policy. “It’s far too much time to allow a secure test to be exposed to the entire state full of students and educators,” said Gregory Cizek, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
State and Local Coverage
Taking a load off (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
It never hurts, if you’re a president seeking re-election, to visit a college campus and offer up a plan to overcome the students’ arch-foe. At UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday, President Obama played up the Tar Heels and denounced … not Duke, but student debt. …He’s certainly right that student debt – an issue UNC has focused on in recent years – can be a serious opponent of students’ economic progress once they leave college.
Related Link:
http://www.the-dispatch.com/article/20120426/Teen/304269994/-1/NEWS?Title=
Students-appreciate-Obama-s-visit-to-UNC-Chapel-Hill&tc=ar
Obama's message well received by students, but will their votes follow? (Editorial)
The Star News (Wilmington)
Talk about preaching to the choir. President Barack Obama had little trouble revving up the crowd at UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday by pushing affordable education, an issue of significant concern to students and their parents who are being asked to bear more and more of the cost of a college degree.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/26/2024750/steve-clark-student-
loan-risks.html#storylink=misearch
Amendment's Impact On Hospital Visits, Medical Decisions Debated
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
…So who's right? Here's the thing: according to UNC law professor Maxine Eichner, unmarried couples don't currently have any specific protections in this area. Only family members are automatically granted the right to hospital visits or medical decisions. You can give those rights to other people – like a domestic partner – but you have to fill out paperwork in advance. The problem, says Eichner, is that very few people do that.
Family Law Experts Speak Out Against Amendment One
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
With Election Day less than two weeks away, family law experts from every law school in North Carolina have made a statement condemning the vague nature and potentially harmful implications of Amendment One, the anti-gay marriage amendment that’s on the May 8th ballot. Maxine Eichner is a family law professor at UNC – Chapel Hill. She signed the statement which was then endorsed by North Carolina State Representative Rick Glazier and State Senator Josh Stein.
Focus on freedom and fiscal responsibility (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As a member of a coveted political demographic – a young, involved conservative in North Carolina, a swing state – I have just one question for the Republican Party today: Why isn’t there a presidential candidate who wants my vote? (Will Doran, a senior at UNC-Chapel Hill, is a columnist and editorial board member with the Daily Tar Heel.)
Remembering Doris Betts
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
North Carolina lost one of its most beloved writers and teachers this week. Doris Betts died of lung cancer at the age of 79. She was the author of six novels, three collections of short stories as well as other works and she taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for decades.
Related Link:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/04/26/2025053/the-palette-is-minus-
some-colors.html#storylink=misearch
Professor’s book explores the art of DJ culture
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As a classically trained violinist and music scholar, UNC-CH professor Mark Katz might seem an unlikely choice to champion hip-hop and DJ culture in the hallowed halls of academia. But Katz’ new book, “Groove Music: The Art and Culture of the Hip-Hop DJ,” is likely to change a lot of perceptions. The result of five years of intensive research, the book aims to bring the art of the hip-hop DJ – sometimes called turntablism – to students, scholars and anyone else interested in this musical form.
Issues and Trends
LeRoy Walker was one of the Triangle’s greats (Column)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…The three academics are synonymous with the universities that served as their home bases – (LeRoy) Walker with NCCU, (John Hope) Franklin with Duke and (Bill) Friday with UNC-Chapel Hill. It’s impossible to think of those institutions without considering their contributions or those of the late Duke President and N.C. senator and governor, Terry Sanford, who died in 1998.
Sen. Hagan – Some for-profit colleges use tax dollars to deceive (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Fayetteville Observer
…Instead of using government funds to educate GIs and prepare them for civilian careers, though, many for-profit institutions use federal dollars to bankroll deceptive advertising, marketing and recruitment campaigns. A recent federal study showed that the top for-profit colleges spent 23 percent of their budgets on advertising, marketing and recruitment. Yet the entire University of North Carolina system spends just 1.3 percent of its budget for the same purposes.
Related Link:
http://www2.statesville.com/news/2012/apr/25/college-marketing-
spending-irks-hagan-ar-2207723/
UNCG may cut 42 programs
The News & Record (Greensboro)
UNCG’s provost is recommending the university eliminate 42 academic programs as part of a review designed to free up resources. Among the bachelor’s degree programs on that list are environmental biology, applied math, financial economics, and community youth sport development.
Campbell medical school gets go ahead, hopes to address physician shortfall
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…Campbell joins established medical schools Duke, Wake Forest, UNC-Chapel Hill and East Carolina University as accredited med schools in the state. According to data from the American Association of Medical Colleges, those four schools currently enroll roughly 2,000 students, meaning that with an eventual goal of 600 students, the state’s capacity to produce doctors could rise nearly 30 percent. That goal would give Campbell University the second-highest enrollment in the state after UNC.
Related Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2012/04/25/new-medical-school-can-now-recruit.html