Unsustainable scholarship: How private companies control research in higher education

Junior Biology Major Dipa Desai sifts through books in the stacks in the SILS Library in Manning Hall. The School of Information and Library Science just announced that it is offering a 5-year masters program. SILS is the number one information and library science school in the country.

By Preston Lennon

Academic research is a staple of university libraries. Faculty depend on it for their own research, and students need it for their studies. But because of private publishing companies, who play a confusing and controlling role in the process of research creation, UNC Libraries is sounding alarms about the system's flaws. 

The publishing companies make money by selling research journal access to university libraries in confidential deals. UNC Libraries said there's an imbalance in the process, because tax payers subsidize research authoring, then subsequently have to pay again for research access. 

Rebels against the publishing giants advocate for open access — publishing online for free without paywalls — and say that continuing to buy into publishers' demands will impair scientific progress.

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Local schools face measles threat, even with high vaccination rates

By Elizabeth Holmes

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report last month confirming over 1,200 individual cases of measles in 31 different states since the beginning of the year, the highest number of cases reported in the U.S. since 1992. And the effects are being felt all over the country, including in Chapel Hill. Tracy Sanders, lead nurse for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, said despite the district’s history of high vaccination rates, health officials are monitoring measles closely to prevent outbreaks and potential quarantines of affected students.  State law requires that every child be vaccinated against several diseases, including measles whooping cough, but there are a number of exemptions available. Although personal or philosophical beliefs against vaccinations do not qualify as legal exemptions, there is no formal process of verifying whether a religious statement is truly applicable to a student. 

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UNC gamers offer female perspectives about harassment while playing online

By Maddie Ellis

“It’s hard to have a discussion because video games are so new, but hyper-sexualization of women and sexism are so old." Female gamers from UNC talked to us about the harassment and sexism they experience while online. A constant barrage of sexual comments, reporting female users as bots or inappropriate to get them removes and other tactics are just the beginning of what these women have to deal with.

DTH Photo Illustration. A woman sits in an alley, alone, while a man on his phone walks by paying no attention to her.

The underreported trend of sexual assault during study abroad programs

By Elizabeth Thompson

While sexual assault on campus has become part of public discourse in recent years, sexual assault while studying abroad has not. An issue that impacts the lives of UNC and other college students goes largely unreported and unacknowledged due to language barriers, lack of available resources and other isolating factors of the abroad experience. UNC Study Abroad and the Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office both offer resources and trainings to help students deal with and avoid sexual violence abroad. But, is it enough?

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