Here is a sampling of links and notes about other Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
International Coverage
Gun defeat casts doubt on Obama agenda
The Authint Mail (Kashmir, India)
…The facts of the gun defeat appear to bode ill for Obama — after he wagered a chunk of his political capital to no avail. "The president has definitely led many to question his ability to create a legislative majority," said Kareem Crayton, professor of political science at the University of North Carolina. "It is not clear in a president's second term whether his turning to public pressure will be enough to convince members of Congress who are on the fence."
National Coverage
Stray dogs, not lone wolves — a new profile of jihadis (Opinion)
Fox News
…(Brian) Jenkins findings mirror those of Charles Kurzman, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and researcher at the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security. In a much-cited study published last year, Kurzman called the threat posed by homegrown Islamic terrorists “tiny.” His report, “Muslim-American Terrorism in the Decade Since 9/11” found that the jihadi message had little appeal to American Muslims, and that levels of both planned attacks and financial support for jihadist causes have declined since 9/11.
Few Athletes Benefit From Move to Multiyear Scholarships
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…Other athletic departments in the Atlantic Coast Conference have not adopted the change as quickly. Officials at the University of North Carolina, which offered two multiyear awards this year to its 463 scholarship athletes, sign them only at the request of coaches. (For next year, just nine of the Tar Heels' 105 current incoming recruits have received multiyear offers.)
Concussion Confusion
Inside Higher Ed
Zoya Johnson, a former gymnast at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, had her last concussion two years ago — and six others before that. She fell on her neck from the high bars. …"I didn't realize I had so many until I learned what a concussion was," she said here at the annual conference of UNC's Collegiate Sport Research Institute — and even after she found out, it wasn't her last. "I didn't realize I had five until I had [my sixth]."
UNC Turns MBAs Into Real Estate Moguls
Bloomberg Businessweek
A student-run investment fund at Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina is now the proud new co-owner of a condo complex in Atlanta. The fund partnered with Admiral Capital Group and Wood Partners to acquire Brookhaven, a 17-story condominium tower in the city’s upscale Buckhead neighborhood.
2 More Colleges Accused of Mishandling Assaults
The New York Times
Swarthmore and Occidental Colleges on Thursday joined the list of elite institutions accused of mistreating victims of sexual assault and harassment, and activists say they are preparing similar accusations against other well-known colleges. …In the past two years, such claims made about Amherst, the University of North Carolina, Wesleyan, Yale and others have led to a mix of lawsuits, federal complaints, investigations by the department, internal inquiries by the colleges, and revisions of their policies.
Related Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dana-bolger/sexual-assault-survivor-a_b_3104714.html
Regional Coverage
Hero runner's dad reflects on prayer in time of tragedy
The Boston Pilot (Mass.)
…After experiencing first-hand the events as two bombs exploded at the Boston Marathon, Dr. Joseph Stavas, 58, stopped at the St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in Boston's Back Bay on April 16 to pray and reflect on the crisis. He had planned on taking a flight home to Chapel Hill, North Carolina where he works as a physician at University of North Carolina's Center for Heart and Vascular Care, but stayed in town to support his daughter in media appearances later in the day.
Despite arrest in ricin case, lawmakers still on edge
The Republic (Tucson, Ariz.)
…And while the Boston Marathon killings and the ricin letters have increased awareness about threats and have had lawmakers and other government officials looking over their shoulders, they haven’t disrupted public activity to the degree that the 9/11 attacks or the so-called Beltway Snipers did, said Kareem Crayton, a political scientist and associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
Why terrorism isn't more frequent in U.S. (Opinion-Editorial Column)
The Capitol Times (Madison, Wis.)
While the horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon has brought concerns about terrorism back to the forefront of national attention, it is worth remembering that terrorism inside the United States is exceedingly rare. Over the past 40 years, about 11 people per year have been killed by acts of terrorism (excluding the 9/11 attacks). To put this in some context, over 122,000 Americans died from accidental injury in 2011, while 53,000 died from the flu and pneumonia. )David H. Schanzer is the director of the Triangle Center on Terrorism and Homeland Security at Duke University, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and RTI International.)
New Orleans levee risk studies by Corps already outdated; new studies
could guide future improvements, engineer says
The Times-Picayune (New Orleans, La.)
Complex risk studies developed by the Army Corps of Engineers to govern the rebuilding of the New Orleans area levee system in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina already are outdated, a civil engineer told the Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East on Thursday. …“It’s time to redo it,” said Rick Luettich, an authority member and a University of North Carolina marine sciences professor who helped designed one of the surge models used by the corps. “Bob has identified a lot of the nuts and bolts to be looked at.”
Study: College baseball players whiff on graduation more than football players
Al.com (Birmingham, Ala.)
The graduation-rate gap between college baseball players and all male students is now larger than the difference in football, according to a study released this week by the University of North Carolina's College Sport Research Institute. …North Carolina professor Richard Southall, one of the report's authors, said the study's three-year Adjusted Graduation Gap data shows college baseball has become a "de-facto minor-league system." Southall noted it's not surprising that Major League Baseball and the NCAA have explored a relationship that would allow MLB to fund scholarships.
State and Local Coverage
Holden Thorp says athletics ‘can overwhelm’ chancellor
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp, consumed by more than two years of sports-related scandals, has told his successor that dealing with intercollegiate athletics is the most important part of the job. “That’s not right that it’s that way,” he said in an interview Thursday. “We should try to figure out a way to change that. But for the time being, if you’re running a school that has big-time sports, if there’s a problem, it can overwhelm you.”
Related Links:
http://www.news-record.com/blogs/1036741-87/bog-athletics-report-outlines-academic
http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/04/18/2834915/honored-unc-employee-talks-of.html
UNC Campus Update:
http://www.unc.edu/campus-updates/role-of-athletics-at-unc-subject-of-april-19-rawlings-panel/
Afro-Puerto Rican Music Group Brings Bomba And Plena To The Triangle
"The State of Things" WUNC-FM
When Juan Gutiérrez arrived in Harlem from Puerto Rico in the early 1970s, he had hopes of becoming a professional concert musician. But soon enough he started longing for a community that embraced and celebrated his roots. He stumbled upon many Afro-Puerto Rican musicians of the genres, bomba and plena; and he was moved to create Los Pleneros de la 21. And Los Pleneros have been going strong for about three decades. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Sonja Haynes Stone Center is hosting the collective for workshops and performances this weekend.
Related Link:
http://www.heraldsun.com/lifestyles/entertainment/x609283806/ENTERTAINMENT-BRIEFS
Is the Triangle becoming the hub for "big data" innovation? (Blog)
The Triangle Business Journal
For all the researchers we have in our universities including UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke and North Carolina State University, this really is fantastic news. A new collaboration called the National Consortium for Data Science (NCDS) aims to make North Carolina a national hub for data-intensive business and data science research. the main players? Almost all of them are from the Triangle.
Another budget hit for N.C. safety net?
The Charlotte Post
…Amanda Sheely, assistant professor at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Social Work, says efforts at the national and state level to curb budgets are prompting lawmakers to be shortsighted. “We have a government that's really worried about ‘immediate balancing budget,’” she says, “instead of looking at the long-term impacts of these short investments.”
Winning Ethics: National Competition Comes To Chapel Hill
WUNC-FM (Chapel Hill)
…The High School Ethics Bowl was created, in part, to encourage this kind of critical thinking. “You really have to work to do your best,” said Jan Boxill, the chair of the philosophy department at UNC-Chapel Hill and the director of the Parr Center for Ethics, the sponsor of the National Ethics Bowl. “In this case, you have to be able to present it, as well. But one of the things that doesn’t succeed is just rhetoric.”
What everyone should know about the South (Column)
The News & Record (Greensboro)
John Shelton Reed knows a thing — or two —– about the South. …See, Reed is what you call an expert on the South. He’s a Tennessee native and a sociology professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who helped create the university’s Center for the Study of the American South and the quarterly Southern Cultures.
Moody’s affirms strong ratings for UNC Hospitals, Rex Healthcare bonds
The Triangle Business Journal
Moody’s Investors Services affirmed the strong ratings it holds on the bonds of UNC Hospitals and Rex Healthcare. UNC Hospitals received an Aa3 rating, one rung below the highest rating Moody’s has, covering $286 million of debt. Rex received an A1 rating, those “judged to be upper-medium grade and are subject to low credit risk,” according to Moody’s, covering $120 million of debt.
Legislators’ ‘fixes’ for public education may inflict irreparable damage (Editorial)
The Star News (Wilmington)
…At the same time, another bill making its way through the legislature would limit preschool slots to families at or below the poverty level. Yet early education has been hailed as an equalizer in a number of credible studies, including some conducted by well-regarded researchers at the University of North Carolina and Duke.
Documentary contrasts Detroit and Dubai
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Detroit has been the subject of documentaries with varying focus on its abandonment and resurgence, but “I Have Always Been A Dreamer” looks at the city in a different light. The former boom town’s status today is juxtaposed with mid-boom Dubai, the shiny, always-being-developed city in United Arab Emirates that was once just desert. The 2012 documentary by Sabine Gruffat will screen Tuesday at the Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill as part of the Ackland Film Forum. The forum is a collaboration with the UNC Ackland Art Museum and various UNC departments to showcase film. Films are chosen by Ackland staff and UNC faculty.
Issues and Trends
Appalachian State Chancellor Peacock resigns
The Associated Press
Appalachian State University Chancellor Kenneth Peacock has announced his resignation after nine years on the job. In a statement on the university's web page, Peacock said it was a difficult decision, but he also said he believed the time was right for the school and for him to make the change for his family.
Students For Education Reform Rally In Raleigh This Saturday
WCHL-FM (Chapel Hill)
UNC students, joined by others from colleges across the state, are rallying to improve education at a local, state, and national level. …There are four chapter of the SFER in North Carolina: UNC, Duke, Wake Forest and East Carolina. All will congregate in Raleigh Saturday.
Students' Prior Criminal Histories Don't Predict Future Misconduct, Research Finds
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…Some institutions, including the University of North Carolina system and the University of Virginia, have considered investigating students' criminal backgrounds in the wake of a tragedy. But the practice of admissions screening and background checks aren't effective tools in predicting future misconduct, says Peter F. Lake, director of the Center for Excellence in Higher Education Law and Policy at Stetson University.