More spite for speakers

No love was lost last year for a graduation speaker who studied ants for a living. Indeed, Harvard professor E.O. Wilson set the bar low. As one dailytarheel.com comment courtesy of “Grad” attested, “Anything is better than what we had this past spring … DEC 2

Is Occupy moving in?

On Nov. 13, police raided a vacated business space on East Franklin Street to clear out anarchists and occupiers. The scene was otherworldly. NOV 21

Four choices, three years later

Three years ago today, the crowd in Top of the Hill suddenly exited the bar and took to the street en masse. NOV 8

Don’t knock it until you try it

I’m a fan of new things and I’m a fan of porn, but I can’t claim to be a fan of The New Pornographers. That doesn’t mean I think the indie rock band is a bad choice for tomorrow night’s Homecoming concert. Having never taken the time to listen to them, I’m indifferent. OCT 28

The audacity of the fee increase

I don’t think the athletic department is intentionally trying to spit in the face of the campus community. OCT 13

The real concern about Facebook

There were two major developments for the social media site Facebook in September. The first was the introduction of a number of changes and new features. You probably heard about those, either from the f8 conference where Facebook announced them, or from the now-traditional backlash the changes brought. OCT 7

Reading into your sensitive side

Putting yourself in someone else’s shoes can be as simple as putting your nose in a good book. Or even a bad book, evidently; Twilight was used as part of a recent study investigating the link between reading fiction and empathy. OCT 4

A strange, but true, show about you

It’s hard to pin down what exactly WOODS.TV is. It’s divided into episodes and seasons like a television show. It looks like an experimental art film. It’s been described as a kind of video diary. SEP 20

Following up on my records request

Dear UNC Public Records Office, Thank you for your prompt response to my records request of Sept. 1. To be frank, I was surprised to get a response at all, as I was unsure whether or not Chancellor Holden Thorp actually keeps a dream diary. SEP 13

Edit: Get a clue, Sherlock

With work falling somewhere between scholarly research and fan-fiction, groups across the world are keeping Sherlock Holmes alive, even if he never was to begin with. These societies, such as the Baker Street Irregulars, find it fun to act and write as if Holmes were an actual historical figure. For some people, it’s strange to see so much time and energy spent pretending a fictional character is real. SEP 6

A degree in four minutes, not years

Budget cuts have reduced the University to nothing but a single professor operating a Twitter account. He alone must provide a full education through bite-sized summaries, lessons and assignments. Getting a degree now only takes four minutes, not four years. Through some cosmic joke, I’m the aforementioned final professor. Here’s your new curriculum: SEP 1

Better know a DJ: Sound Cartel

Marshall Jones and DJ Nugz of Sound Cartel have been a part of the house music scene for more than 20 years combined. JUN 3

UNC shooter drill near perfect

Although officers were prepared to encounter fake gunmen with hostages and chemical weapons in Wednesday’s shooter-on-campus drill, they were flustered by a real student journalist with a recorder.

An officer held a gun to the back of senior Will Gorham and forced him to the ground as he walked along the boundaries of the site, assuming he was part of the drill.
APR 22

Vote on Wendy’s in Union draws ire

Years of planning for a late-night dining option on campus could be contested during today’s vote on whether to bring a Wendy’s fast food restaurant to the Student Union.

UNC administrators say Wendy’s represents the best option for a profitable, late-night dining service.
APR 13

Students recall CTOPS as fun

Summer’s coming up, and that means ... more freshmen.

Summer school students on their way to class will once again be weaving through confused looking new students wearing lanyards and standing around in the Pit.
APR 12

Explore N.C. in the summer

Whatever you’re doing and wherever you are this summer, stay moving.

Not that Chapel Hill isn’t a great place to be for the summer — everyone should experience sunsets at Maple View Ice Cream, day-long trips to play pick-up basketball at Woollen Gym and sneaking into pools you don’t belong too.

And many of us students will be tied down with jobs and internships.

GenerAction Week launches service activities

GenerAction Week, which begins its series of service events today, seeks to become not just a yearly UNC staple but something that sticks with students every day of the year.
APR 4

More woes at UNC research facility

UNC says it has committed itself to cleaning up problems at its off-campus Bingham Facility, but final solutions could take months — and new problems are cropping up in the meantime.
MAR 31

Kingston performance to end GenerAction week

An outdoor, Sunday afternoon concert with Sean Kingston will cap off UNC’s inaugural GenerAction Service Week.

Tickets, which go on sale Friday, will be half price for UNC students participating in the service events the week prior to the April 11 concert.

GenerAction, which operates under the nonprofit umbrella of the East African Children’s Education Fund, is a social movement looking for creative ways to engage high school- and college-aged youths in social action and volunteerism.

MAR 25

Carolina HOPE hosts pornography discussion in UNC residence hall

A group of students in Connor Residence Hall on Monday night kept on their clothes but began stripping away some of the stigma surrounding pornography.

The talk among 13 students — mostly women ­— was organized to discuss the influences of porn on society and culture that we might not notice because it’s so rarely talked about.

It didn’t solve any of the moral or social dilemmas surrounding pornography, but it was a first step.

MAR 22

Tips for keeping comic collections safe

One of the best things you can do to protect your stuff is to keep it covered with a thin plastic sheath.

When it comes to comic books, that is.

Preserving comic book collections was among the topics discussed Saturday by a panel of comic businessmen, collectors and academics.

Trees: friend or foe?

I was willing to consider two trees falling on campus in the last few weeks bad luck.

But with another rash of uprooted timber over at Duke University, I’m beginning to get suspicious.

One tree blocked traffic on Duke’s West Campus, and pedestrians and motorists reported almost being hit by other falling trees.

Here at UNC, two students were hit on Nov. 2 by a large pin oak near Mitchell. And a second tree fell Wednesday, breaking a classroom window in the process as an obvious act of protest.

DEC 8