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(04/28/06 4:00am)
Accusations of a rape at an off-campus party hosted by members of the Duke men's lacrosse team March 13 have spotlighted the tensions between Duke University and the city of Durham.
"During the course of the lacrosse scandal, our office has been very busy," said Sam Miglarese, assistant director of community affairs at Duke.
The Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership program seeks to address concerns through community outreach activities.
Duke officials want to increase their collaboration with other local colleges, in particular N.C. Central University, where the accuser, an exotic dancer hired for the party, is a student.
"There will be a renewed effort to make sure that these collaborations are more explicit," he said.
On April 17 two members of the lacrosse team were indicted on charges of first-degree forcible rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.
The accused, Reade Seligmann, 20, and Collin Finnerty, 19, both sophomores at Duke, are scheduled to appear again in court May 15.
Eugene Brown, a member of the Durham City Council, has lived in Trinity Park for 25 years, two blocks from the site of the incident and an area known for raucous parties.
"The lacrosse team was a ticking time bomb, and it has been that way for many years, and Duke has never done anything about it," he said.
In February, Duke purchased 12 houses in the neighborhood, including the house where the party was held, 610 N. Buchanan Blvd. The home was rented at the time by three team captains.
"That was a step forward," Brown said. "Otherwise it's pretty much been all rhetoric."
He said that the property purchases will not be enough to curb off-campus partying, and that Duke should pilot a housing policy modeled after a program at Wake Forest University.
The official off-campus housing policy at Wake Forest states, "Conduct or activity by members of the student body living in, or hosting functions at, off-campus locations that have the effect of unreasonably interfering with the rights of neighbors is prohibited."
Wake Forest's policy works because it makes off-campus housing a privilege, and until there are consequences for students who disturb the neighborhood, Duke students will continue to party, Brown said.
In Chapel Hill attempts have been made to restrict the spread of off-campus student housing. Proposed neighborhood conservation districts would restrict student-dominated housing types such as duplexes.
Colleges nationwide are struggling to form good community relations.
Philadelphia's premiere college, the University of Pennsylvania, has tried to improve the surrounding community, said Jacqueline Barnett, Philadelphia's secretary of education.
"The University of Pennsylvania buffers a neighborhood that is not economically viable and has struggled with a lot of issues around crime and unemployment," Barnett said. The college does collaborate with the community on many projects, she added.
She said there are occasional wrinkles, but the university is working with the community and home owners to find compromises.
Ed Turzanski, La Salle University's assistant vice president for government and community relations, said, "We do get the occasional calls - at times they can be frequent calls."
La Salle is located in the old downtown of Philadelphia.
The most common complaints are students being too loud and parties going on too late at night, he said.
Turzanski added that community members now think the university should purchase property to better control students who live off-campus. "It's interesting; years ago neighbors didn't want us to buy housing - now they're pleading with us to buy housing."
In Durham, where the controversy continues, officials are hoping the community will be able to move on soon, but active steps must be taken to make sure that happens.
"There's a need for significant and positive change," Brown said. "The status quo is not changing."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/25/06 4:00am)
Students in Georgia have been granted a new system of tuition predictability, a catchphrase cited often in North Carolina as a key to preventing unfair tuition hikes.
Starting next fall, the University System of Georgia will lock tuition for incoming freshman, guaranteeing students at the state's 35 colleges and universities a set tuition rate for four years.
The Board of Regents approved the new tuition plan April 18.The plan also promotes on-time graduation, as tuition will increase from the set rate if students stay more than four years.
Matthew Suber, vice president of the University of Georgia's Student Government Association, said that tuition will rise next year but that the fixed rate plan will help offset the increased cost.
"The Board of Regents issued a good compromise," he said.
The biggest bone of contention for students is the plan's inclusion of penalties for those who do not graduate in four years, he added.
But Suber said he understands why the board is encouraging students to graduate on time.
"Every semester they extend their education they prevent another student from entering," he said.
Suber noted that many students at UGa. are on scholarship and won't be affected. In Georgia, the state lottery supports the Helping Outstanding Pupils Educationally scholarship which covers the full cost of tuition for high school students meeting a minimum GPA requirement.
Hannah Gage, chairwoman of the budget and finance committee of the UNC-system Board of Governors, said she had discussed Georgia's new tuition plan with Jeff Davies, chief of staff to system President Erskine Bowles.
"We are waiting for the president to weigh in on the direction he thinks the policies should take," she said.
Both components of the Georgia tuition plan, fixing tuition at a set rate and increasing the financial penalty for not graduating in four years, are ideas that will be discussed by the BOG, Gage said.
A few years ago, the budget and finance committee discussed setting a fixed tuition rate, but the idea met too much resistance from individual campuses, she said.
UNC-system schools were concerned that it would not be possible to accurately project tuition for a four-year period.
"If you lock it in too low, the campus is in big trouble," Gage said.
But she said the idea of a fixed tuition rate will be debated again.
"It's an interesting idea, and I think it has a lot of appeal," she said.
The idea of increasing the financial penalty for not graduating in four years also is appealing to board members, she said.
"The low rate of the UNC system is predicated on the fact that you will leave in four years with your degree," she said.
Currently, the system does not do enough to convey that message to students and parents, she added.
"I think our message is very hidden and is not strong enough."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/21/06 4:00am)
It took almost a quarter of a century, but Laura Thomas' dream finally is nearing fruition.
The Accessible College Campuses for Everyone Site Surveys project, scheduled to be completed in July, began 23 years ago - with the work of Thomas, former director for disability services at UNC-Chapel Hill.
"The spirit of the project is Laura
Thomas' work," said Rachel Willis, professor of American studies and co-creator of the ACCESS project.
Thirty-one freshmen from two different first-year seminars have worked on the project, which studies the wheelchair accessibility of all 16 UNC-system schools. Students also performed site surveys last summer.
"It's caused us to look at our world through disabled eyes," said Erica Johnson, a junior English major who worked on the project.
When the data is fully compiled this summer, each campus will receive a grade for wheelchair accessibility.
Willis said the data should be seen as scores, not rankings.
"This is a constructive project - the goal is not to identify villains," she said.
The project aims to highlight the best practices on each campus, said Nick Neptune, a sophomore journalism and American studies double major who helped with the project.
Each UNC-system campus must comply with federal and state regulations that stem from the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Ellen Perry, co-director of advising and registration at UNC-Asheville, said all facilities on her campus incorporate the accessibility features mandated by the ADA.
"No question about it - they are required in all our buildings," she said.
Willis said her study could not begin to cover all the aspects of accessibility that the ADA regulates.
"This is not the ADA police," she said, explaining that the project only measured three aspects of accessibility: entrances, vertical access (elevators) and restroom functionality.
The restroom surveys, in particular, opened students' eyes.
"There was a lot of bathroom humor on this project," Willis said.
Michael Pierce, a UNC-CH facilities planner who specializes in accessibility issues, said the study should provide some valuable insights.
"Within the limited scope - I'm sure it would do a good job," he said.
Ongoing construction at UNC-CH is designed to be wheelchair- friendly, Pierce added.
"I am very confident that it is - I spend a lot of time to verify that it will be," he said.
Johnson said facility planners from across the UNC system constantly are seeking to ensure accessibility.
For example, Perry said recent renovations of the advising office at UNC-A included larger doorways and automatic opening buttons on the front entrance.
Johnson said facility planners welcome the ACCESS Project as a tool to spur improvements.
"They have students' best interests at heart - that's why they're in the jobs they are in," she said.
Neptune said the project should help inform potential students.
"We're here for the students in the future who may be interested in attending these campuses," he said.
Each UNC-system campus faces unique accessibility issues.
"Our campus is highly accessible - especially with the terrain of it," said Chris Stone, assistant director and learning specialist in disability services at UNC-Wilmington.
Stone added that the UNC-W campus lacks features such as brick walkways that often disrupt accessibility.
He said accessibility planning at UNC-W focuses on designing buildings that are accessible and convenient for all students, not just meeting the minimum standards.
Pierce said UNC-CH is developing Web-based maps, modeled off programs at N.C. State University and the University of Missouri, which will highlight the accessible and inaccessible aspects of campus.
Gretchen Bataille, interim chancellor at the N.C. School of the Arts, was the senior vice president for academic affairs for the UNC system when the ACCESS project began. She was responsible for ensuring the accessibility of all 16 system schools.
Bataille helped ACCESS project participants gain entry to the relevant facilities and faculty on each campus.
"We were cooperating with them because it's an important issue for students, faculty and staff," she said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/18/06 4:00am)
The N.C. State Ports Authority has found its diamond in the rough.
Last week the agency finalized the purchase of a 600-acre parcel of previously undeveloped land in Brunswick County, where it plans to build what will be one of the largest ports on the East Coast.
The new space will allow the state to bring in international shipping and larger cargo ships than it attracts now.
Located next to the Military Ocean Terminal at Sunny Point, the property jumped onto the N.C. State Port Authority's radar screen last fall when Pfizer Inc. put it up for sale.
Already zoned and cleared for construction, the site was a perfect find, said Susan Clizbe, communications manager for the authority.
"It's an exceptionally rare opportunity," she said.
The site is directly on deep water, so it will require a minimal amount of dredging, lessening both construction costs and environmental impact, she added. Construction of the new port is estimated to take 10 years and cost $1 billion.
The federal government is expected to fund about half of the $400 million needed to dredge the port, and the agency is looking for a private development partner to cover most of the rest of the construction expenses, Clizbe said.
The port will be able to take advantage of the growing market in container shipping, which is projected to double in the next decade, she added.
The nearby port in Wilmington is in the middle of multimillion dollar renovations, and local officials were taken aback when the agency announced its purchase of the Brunswick County property.
"This caught everyone here by surprise," said Jim Quinn, Mayor Pro Tem of Wilmington. "It will eclipse what we've got here."
Clizbe said that both the Wilmington port and the Morehead City port will continue to grow, noting that they will process noncontainer cargo.
Patrick Conway, a UNC economics professor, said the new port should bring the state a great deal of sea traffic, which would be accompanied by an increase in business.
New jobs will be the most tangible impact of the port's, Conway said.
"There are lots of effects, but employment is a good way of summarizing," he said.
Physical construction of the port could provide long-term employment for workers in Eastern North Carolina who traditionally rely on seasonal work, he said.
After construction is finished, the completed port will create additional jobs in the surrounding area, Conway said.
"The port itself will become a magnet for shipping and transport companies," he said, explaining that mailing and trucking companies will move into the area around the port to facilitate the flow of goods.
Although nearby ports such as Charleston and Norfolk also are expanding, construction of the new port will put North Carolina at the forefront of the East Coast shipping industry, Clizbe said.
"We will be in the top tier."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/17/06 4:00am)
As oil becomes more and more difficult to find and extract, the job market for UNC's geological science majors is producing its own geyser of opportunity.
Doug Hazlett,, chief geoscientist at Anadarko Petroleum Corp., an oil and gas extraction firm, said the job market in the petroleum industry, especially for oil exploration, will be strong for the next decade.
"I don't see a competing energy source coming on that's going to significantly change the market," he said.
About 450 students with graduate degrees in geology enter the job market each year, Hazlett said.
"Basically, there are more jobs needed to fill than there are candidates right now," he added.
Hazlett said about 10 percent to 15 percent of his company's new hires within the past 10 years have come from UNC because of its broad-based geoscience programs.
"UNC's been one of our best recruiting grounds," he said.
Broad programs expose students to a breadth of knowledge and ensure that new hires will be able to work across disciplines and remain valuable employees for several decades, he said.
Drew Coleman, director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Geological Sciences at UNC, said oil companies, which traditionally recruit graduate students, are beginning to show more interest in hiring undergraduates.
Hazlett said the market is such that petroleum engineers with a bachelor's degree have comparable employment and salary opportunities to geologists with master's degrees.
Mike Ayling, president of MLA Resources Inc., an energy industry search firm, said there is so much competition for new employees that even the largest oil companies can't fill staffing needs.
Ayling's company completes an annual survey of geologists' salaries.
He said the average starting salary for geologists has risen about $30,000 in the past five years, from about $50,000 to as much as $80,000.
Petroleum engineers with bachelor's degrees are also being offered $5,000 to $15,000 in signing bonuses, Ayling said.
Coleman said that the petroleum industry saw a hiring blitz in the '70s but that people hired in the '80s generally lost their jobs, creating a generation gap in the industry.
"They recognize that they have a problem: The people working for them are all getting old very fast," he said of oil companies.
Still, Ayling said that many geoscience professors are sour on the oil industry and that it can be difficult to get students interested in the petroleum field.
He said he does not understand the impulse to funnel students into environmental work. "I don't know anyone who's more interested in the environment than petroleum geoscientists."
UNC alumnus Andrew Mehlhop, now a geology team leader for Anadarko, said the oil industry is a good option for young geoscientists.
"The money is great," he said.
Mehlhop said that although he did not originally seek out a job in the petroleum field, he has been satisfied with his career.
He has spanned the globe, exploring for oil and gas in Kansas, Oklahoma, Canada, the Gulf of Mexico, Nigeria, Mozambique, Indonesia and India.
"The opportunity to travel is a great thing about being part of the oil industry," he said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(04/13/06 4:00am)
The stock image of a military base involves concrete, guns and bombs. But a new study could reveal a different aspect of military lands - their function as wildlife havens.
"What's ironic is that they harbor all of these endangered species because they're protected from development," said Aaron Moody, UNC-Chapel Hill geography professor.
Moody is the principal investigator in a collaborative study, in which scientists from multiple universities will map the habitat of several endangered species in the Fort Bragg area.
Moody said the study, a partnership between UNC-CH, N.C. State University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Duke University, will create models showing what land is most valuable to endangered species, thus helping the military determine the best land to purchase.
Since the mid-1990s, the military has sought to conserve land around Fort Bragg through the Army Compatible Use Buffer program.
The program buys parcels from private landowners to increase the protected habitat of species such as the red-cockaded woodpecker, which inhabits the longleaf pine forests surrounding Fort Bragg.
"It started at Fort Bragg as an effort to manage the important habitat of the longleaf pine forest," said Bob DiMichele, public affairs officer at the U.S. Army Environmental Center.
Virginia Tech researchers are collecting data on the red-cockaded woodpecker, while N.C. State scientists are tracking the movement of endangered butterflies and amphibians, Moody said.
Duke faculty are creating mathematical models of the wildlife dispersal in and around Fort Bragg, and UNC-CH faculty will combine all the data collected to create models that map habitat connectivity, he added.
Moody said the project has been a long time coming.
His team began submitting research proposals in December 2004, and funding was approved in October 2005, Moody said.
Monetary funds for the project are being channeled through the Pentagon as part of the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program, which is a joint venture between the U.S. Departments of Defense and Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.
In the next five years, the project will receive about $1.6 million in federal funds, Moody said.
Conservation efforts at Fort Bragg have seen success, said Jeffrey Walters, a Virginia Tech biology professor who is involved in the study.
The base has scheduled a ceremony in June to celebrate the recovery of its red-cockaded woodpecker population, Walters said.
"That's pretty good for a bird that everyone thought would go extinct 15 years ago," he added.
DiMichele said the longleaf pine forest is worth preserving. "I've walked some of these tracts and it's like - wow- it's like God's park."
Moody said the project will reveal an unseen side of military installations.
"It's sort of an untold story about the richness of the flora and fauna on military lands," he said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(03/24/06 5:00am)
Young boys who have difficulty in school often are diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, but the stereotypes surrounding the disorder are changing.
Two announcements this week question who exactly is affected by the disorder and what side effects they might experience.
On Wednesday, the pediatric advisory committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rejected recommendations that Ritalin and other popular ADHD medications be required to carry "black-box" warnings.
Another committee had supported the warnings because of concerns about cardiovascular and psychiatric side effects.
The burden is on the FDA advisory boards to conclusively link reports of cardiovascular deaths to the stimulants in ADHD medication and to provide clinical proof that more stringent warning labels are needed, said Ann Smith, director of public affairs for Medco, a pharmacy benefit managing company.
Medco released its own study Tuesday, detailing the significant growth in ADHD treatment among adults aged 20 to 44.
"ADHD used to be considered a childhood or adolescent medical condition - it was something you outgrew," Smith said.
Now about 50 percent of children with ADHD continue to take medication into adulthood, she said.
Student Health Service at UNC treats many students for ADHD.
"It is prevalent on the campus," said Dr. Allen Hamrick, associate director of Counseling and Psychological Service.
But he added that the use of ADHD medication on campus has not increased significantly in the eight years he has worked at UNC.
Student Health aims to fully inform all students who seek treatment for ADHD, he said.
Hamrick said the drugs are highly controlled by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, making it illegal to sell or trade them.
ADHD medication also is highly abusable, he said, adding that if a student's drugs are stolen, they cannot be replaced before the prescription is scheduled to be refilled.
Student Health only gives ADHD medication to students who have been fully tested by community experts, he said.
In addition to growth among adults, Smith said ADHD medication is being sought out by more women than in the past.
Twice as many young boys as young girls are diagnosed with ADHD because boys are more likely to display the hyperactivity component of the disorder, she said.
But because the disorder is underdiagnosed in young girls, there has been a surge in young women seeking treatment once they enter college or the workforce, she added.
Also many parents realize that they themselves have ADHD after recognizing that their behavior mirrors their children's symptoms, Smith said.
"I think you will continue to see a rise in these drugs - especially as new drugs come to market," she said.
The trend of more adults using the drugs is a positive development because untreated ADHD can lead to failure in jobs or relationships, said Bryan Goodman, deputy direction of communications for Children and Adults with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder.
"I think people are realizing that this is a disorder that lasts a lifetime," Goodman said.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(03/21/06 5:00am)
Following the recent publicity blitz for David Horowitz's book, "The Professors: The 101 Most Dangerous Academics in America," the debate about the need for an academic bill of rights is gaining momentum.
Horowitz and other supporters believe legislation is necessary to protect students from indoctrination by overtly liberal professors.
Sen. Hugh Webster, R-Alamance, sponsored such a bill in the General Assembly last March.
"There are some people in universities, particularly in the public university system, who violate academic freedom and actually quash academic expression and free thinking," Webster said.
He said that the Senate's leading Democrats have blocked the bill's passage. The earliest this issue could be brought up again is during the short session, which begins in May.
"It will continue having trouble getting heard in committees and getting passed until enlightened people take control of the legislature," Webster said.
But other experts say legislation is not the most effective way to protect academic freedom.
"I don't think anything will be accomplished by the General Assembly or Congress trying to legislate this issue - it has to come from within," said George Leef, executive director of the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy.
Jamie Horwitz, spokesman for Free Exchange on Campus, said his organization is bringing together students and teachers nationwide to fight the bills.
"I think the students lose out," he said. "It prevents an honest and open discussion."
Such legislation also would have a disproportionate effect on non-tenure-track professors, said Martin Snyder, director of external relations for the American Association of University Professors.
"People who don't have due process protection are going to self-censor," he said. "Professors are going to feel vulnerable; they're going to hold back."
But Leef said some tenured professors are taking advantage of position of power.
"Some professors use their classrooms to propagate their political ideas - from what I've seen, it's done by far left-wingers."
Kris Wampler, a UNC Student Congress representative and a vocal libertarian, said he supports an N.C. academic bill of rights.
"A lot of professors - the vast majority are Democrats - a lot are of the persuasion that they need to impart their views to students."
But Snyder said there is no evidence to support the claims of widespread political bias on a national level.
"They need to explain why students don't all come out of college screaming liberals," he said.
"It all sounds very noble and who could object to that - it's all apple pie and motherhood - but in reality they're trying to institute a government-sponsored affirmative action program for conservative ideas."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(03/10/06 5:00am)
When it comes to mental health services, North Carolina receives an almost failing grade.
The National Alliance on Mental Illness awarded North Carolina a D-plus for its mental health services as part of a study released last week.
"That was very generous of them, because right now North Carolina is doing a terrible job," said Gary Gaddy, board member of the Orange County chapter of the alliance.
"People who need these services don't hardly know where to turn," Gaddy said.
North Carolina's grade was just above the national average, a D.
"I'm at a loss for words," said Dick Oliver, team leader for the local management entity of N.C. Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services.
But Benjamin Staples, executive director of NAMI N.C., said the aim of the ranking is not to criticize but to raise awareness.
"The primary goal of the rankings is to put mental health services on the discussion list," he said. "We really need to talk about these things."
North Carolina is five years into reforming its mental health system, he added.
"We're expecting good things from mental health reform," Staples said.
The state is in the process of privatizing mental health services by moving many programs from community centers to managed care, he said, adding that the transition is difficult, but holds potential for improvement.
"If we do it right, I think there will be benefits," he said.
State officials acknowledge that reforms will take time to implement.
"It may appear that there's a lot to be done, because there is a lot to be done," Oliver said.
Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, said that the state's plan is designed to institutionalize fewer people but that the reality is that more people are in need.
"Institutions are full," she said. "We're supposed to remove people from those institutions and that hasn't worked."
Gaddy said North Carolina created an excellent concept of mental health reform, but it was executed horribly.
The idea was to provide more choices for patients, allowing private centers, nonprofits and for-profit doctors to offer mental health services which previously had been the sole responsibility of state centers, he said.
But because of budget crises, funding for community providers was cut at the same time the state was attempting to decentralize services, he added.
"They have reduced the number of beds in hospitals - this hampered local service providers," Gaddy said.
Kinnaird said there aren't enough funds on the local level to ensure services can be accessed.
"We aren't serving people in the community, which we know is better for them," she said.
"Every county and every agency is struggling - they're so short of funds," she added.
A lack of funding is especially evident in hospitals around the state.
Staples said most hospitals do not have psychiatric units because the units are not properly reimbursed by the state and thus do not generate money for the hospitals.
"Without enough money in the system, people don't have treatment options - they wind up in the emergency room," Staples said, adding that sometimes, patients even end up on the street.
"This puts them into the criminal justice system, which is not a good place for care."
But the future of mental health care in North Carolina is not hopeless, Staples said.
"People in the state of North Carolina care about this issue - there's a reason we're discussing this," he said.
"People are interested in seeing positive change; that's encouraging."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(02/21/06 5:00am)
The federal government's practice of negotiating with individual states on No Child Left Behind standards came under fire last week by the Harvard University Civil Rights Project.
The project released a report, part of a larger study started four years ago, claiming that bargains made by individual states render obsolete the goal of national educational benchmarks.
"There are no clear, uniform standards anymore," said Gail Sunderman, a senior research associate at the civil rights project and author of the report.
States request changes in order to correct problems with NCLB, she said, but the process raises questions of legitimacy and fairness.
"The whole system is losing any kind of meaning," Sunderman said. "It's what each state can negotiate."
There are no clear guidelines for approving states' requests, and an exception granted to one state does not guarantee approval for another state requesting the same exception, she added.
The specific combination of changes negotiated by each state varies, but broad patterns have emerged, she said.
The changes tend to benefit districts that serve a white population while disparately affecting minorities, Sunderman said.
North Carolina has requested many amendments to the original legislation, said Belinda Black, the state's NCLB coordinator.
The U.S. Department of Education has responded to the state's requests and has offered additional flexibility, she said.
Black said North Carolina is in the process of applying to implement a growth model next year, a new plan proposed by the U.S. Department of Education.
Using the growth model, the state would be able to track the progress of individual students and use that growth to meet yearly progress benchmarks, rather than relying on numerical benchmarks.
Education activists say the success of NCLB might be compromised by such state-specific negotiations.
"I think it will dilute the influence of NCLB that folks thought it would have," said Lindalyn Kakadelis, director of the N.C. Education Alliance.
But while questions continue to be raised about the specifics of the law, Thomas James, dean of the UNC School of Education, said the intentions behind NCLB were good.
"I think the federal government is right in presenting a law asking to raise the educational achievement of all children - the devil is in the details."
Incentives are one such detail that he would like to see included.
"It's set up to punish; it's not set up to enable," James said. "All it does now is give them a test and tell them they've failed."
Full funding for the law also is needed, he said, naming economic recession and the Iraq war as obstacles.
Major revisions to NCLB might be possible when the law comes up for reauthorization in 2007.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(02/15/06 5:00am)
UNC-system President Erskine Bowles is placing special emphasis on a set of recommendations passed Friday to reduce the cost of textbooks at system schools.
And though the recommendations are just that, Bowles said he wants to see progress.
"If we don't see some action in the next year, then I'm going to come back and recommend that we make them requirements," he said at Friday's Board of Governors meeting.
Bowles even suggested that approval of tuition requests could be contingent on whether campuses show any progress on implementing the recommendations.
Jeff Davies, Bowles' chief of staff, confirmed that the president wants each campus to investigate options for lowering the cost of textbooks.
But BOG member Ed Broadwell said that he doubts Bowles specifically was trying to tie the recommendations to tuition requests, but that he simply is urging cooperation.
"We'd really like to be sure this is being worked on," Broadwell said.
The recommendations include encouraging professors to turn in textbook orders on time, increasing buyback opportunities and considering textbook rental programs.
John Jones, director of UNC-Chapel Hill Student Stores, has been tapped by the board to develop a UNC buyback consortium that would allow used books to be sold between system stores, increasing the market for used books.
Students would reap double benefits: more opportunity to sell back books at higher prices and a greater availability of used books.
"We'd be able to pay more money to students," Jones said.
The consortium is a just recommendation for now, but Jones said he is prepared to begin working on the project.
In addition Bowles wants campuses to consider textbook-rental programs, an idea he pushed even before he took office in January.
According to the board's recommendations, an analysis of potential rental programs must be sent to the president when tuition increase requests are submitted for the 2007-08 academic year.
"If we could save some money on textbooks, that would help if we need to increase tuition again next year," Davies said.
Judith Wegner, chairwoman of the faculty, said a rental program would not be cost-effective at UNC-CH. "It's not very feasible here given the size of the campus and the complexity of the offerings."
Brenda Killingsworth, chairwoman of the system's faculty assembly, said some schools already have seen success.
She said UNC-Wilmington achieved impressive results by coordinating a campaign designed to educate faculty on how to cut textbook costs.
"We took a proactive approach," said Michael Clarke, UNC-W's campus bookstore manager.
Clarke said he focused on improving communication between his store and the rest of the university. For example, he sent thank-you cards to faculty members, telling how much money students saved because of on-time book orders.
Last spring UNC-W paid students $281,935 for used textbooks, a 56 percent increase from the previous year. And more than 80 percent of faculty turned in book orders on time for the fall semester.
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(02/10/06 5:00am)
Community colleges sometimes are treated as the neglected step-children of higher education. But U.S. Rep. Brad Miller, D-N.C., is taking steps to ensure they get the attention they deserve.
Miller partnered Wednesday with three fellow congressmen to create the community college caucus, a bipartisan group that will focus on the importance of community colleges.
Reps. Mike Castle, R-Del., David Wu, D-Ore., and Roger Wicker, R-Miss., will join with Miller as co-chairmen of the caucus.
"It will be a point of contact between us, those of us in the House who are sympathetic to community colleges and their national organization," Miller said.
Community colleges are hugely important for job skills, especially for manufacturing workers, he said.
"Community colleges are where employers will go to develop curriculum to make sure their workforce will have the skills they need," he added.
In an evolving economy, community colleges provide a vital resource for retraining workers and offer a low-cost, close to home education, Miller said.
The caucus could help bridge the gap between community colleges and federal funding sources, said Martin Nadelman, president of Alamance Community College.
"If Congress realizes how important we are to retraining workers, there might be some money there," he said.
The state does not provide a lot of money to support job training programs, although the economy depends on community colleges to retrain workers, he added.
In order to garner bipartisan support, the focus of the caucus was shifted away from the contentious issue of funding and more toward raising awareness, Miller said.
"I think funding is an important issue; I certainly will be talking about it," he said.
National education experts are optimistic that the caucus will produce positive results.
"We're extremely encouraged by the creation of the caucus," said David Baime, vice president for government relations for the American Association of Community Colleges.
"We hope this will create greater visibility and focus on our institution in Congress," he said.
The caucus should create improved congressional policy regarding community colleges, although it is too early to know what specific legislation could be involved, he added.
The association is working closely with members of Congress and their staff to help make the caucus an effective policy-making apparatus, Baime said, adding that the caucus has been in the works for about nine months.
The bipartisan nature of the caucus will be helpful, Nadelman said.
"We're not a political football," he said. "We're an entity both sides of the aisle feel is important."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/30/06 5:00am)
In the wake of the worst hurricane season on record, legislators are scrambling to revamp the nation's flood insurance program.
But proposed changes could do more harm than good to the poorest regions of North Carolina, says U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C.
"I strongly support efforts to make responsible reforms to strengthen and improve the program; however, we must fully understand the impact of any change before its implementation," Dole said in a press release last week.
The program, which is authorized to borrow $18.5 billion, could run into problems in February, when officials have projected this funding to run dry.
Funds are scarce because of the $23.5 billion in claims the Federal Emergency Management Agency received after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The current program mandates that residents in a 100-year flood plain purchase flood insurance. One proposal would extend this requirement to all residents in a 500-year flood plain.
Properties in a 100-year flood plain face a 1-in-100 chance of flooding in any given year; properties in a 500 year flood plain face a 1-in-500 chance of flooding in any given year.
"Recent storms have shown that damage exceeds the area of a 100-year flood plain," said Phil Letsinger, National Flood Insurance Program coordinator. "We've seen this in North Carolina, especially with Floyd in 1999."
But if the insurance requirement is extended to cover the 500-year flood plain, 15 to 20 percent more North Carolinians would have to purchase flood insurance, Dole said in a press release, adding that many of those residents live in poor areas of eastern North Carolina.
Other proposed changes also could have adverse effects on residents in that area of the state.
One proposed reform would remove families with four or more claims of $5,000 or more from the flood insurance program.
Most of eastern North Carolina no longer would qualify for flood insurance if that standard is used, Dole said in a press release.
Another proposed reform would raise the cap on premium increases, which is set at 10 percent per year, to 25 percent per year.
"Senator Dole supports a more reasonable increase," said Katie Norman, a spokeswoman for Dole.
Norman also said Dole wants to increase the penalty for banks that sell mortgages to uninsured homes within flood plains and include flood insurance in mortgage payments.
Including flood insurance in mortgage payments would make the insurance tax deductible, reducing its cost and ensuring a steady stream of income into the insurance program, she said.
Extending insurance to 500-year flood plains also could pose problems for states without up-to-date maps.
In previous years, the National Flood Insurance Program has not had enough money to keep all maps updated and revised, said George Riedel, deputy executive director for the Association of State Floodplain Managers.
FEMA increased its efforts to stay up to date three years ago when it allocated $200 million to a map modernization effort, he said.
Despite these efforts, FEMA reported at the Senate hearing that only 25 percent of 500-year flood plains currently are mapped.
North Carolina has up-to-date 500-year flood plain maps, but Dole said in a release that she is concerned how the proposals would work in other states.
"We would need to know how and if other states with less sophisticated maps would be able to implement this policy."
Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
(01/11/06 5:00am)
As tuition costs continue to increase, student budgets could be squeezed even tighter by proposed congressional legislation that would cut billions from student loan programs.
(10/11/05 4:00am)
A small child reaches out to stroke a sheep's wool, marveling at its softness.
(09/28/05 4:00am)
This fall, Harvard Law School unwillingly will allow military recruiters back on campus.