DEBORAH NEFFA

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How to stay in shape

By DEBORAH NEFFA | November 20

Leading a healthy lifestyle full of exercise and good eating habits is difficult all year round. But when cold weather hits, staying physically active and fit can become significantly harder for students, especially with the sinfully tempting food selection lining your dinner table during the holiday season. To keep the 8-pound turkey from becoming an 8-pound gut, several local health experts weigh in on how to stay fit during the winter. Physical health

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Perilous world of music downloading

By DEBORAH NEFFA | November 13

You walk into a music store with no more than a ball of lint in your pockets, and you spot the latest CD by your favorite artist. Taking the CD without paying is too risky, and the reward is not worth getting caught for stealing. So you go home and download it illegally instead. But while downloading and sharing music illegally can be downplayed as a norm among college students, you should be more cautious next time you turn to the Web for tunes.

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Franklin Street festivities draw out-of-towners

By DEBORAH NEFFA | October 31

Once a year Chapel Hill opens its streets to flocks of unfamiliar faces who come to celebrate one of the biggest Halloween festivals in the Southeast. Among the 70,000 people who typically gather on Franklin Street are students from colleges and universities all over the state who put their school pride aside for an evening of costumes, fun and tradition. Tiffany Wong, a junior at N.C. State University, said she has been celebrating Halloween in Chapel Hill since she was a freshman. She said she makes sure to return each year to keep the tradition alive.

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Roommates can drive each other nuts

By DEBORAH NEFFA | October 16

After the parents have driven away and the boxes are long unpacked, dorm roommates stop being polite and start getting real. Whether it's dealing with loud music and late-night TV shows or being "sexiled" every night, roommate conflicts are never easy to resolve, and some UNC students deal with them every day. Junior Maggie Niemczyk said roommate differences last year often left her sleep deprived. She said her roommate would do laundry or want to talk at random hours in the morning. "She woke me up at 4 a.m. to tell me that it bothered her that I had a bicycle," Niemczyk said.

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RAs look to find balance

By DEBORAH NEFFA | September 19

The balance between fulfilling their responsibilities and enjoying their college experience can be a delicate one for resident advisers. Those pressures came to a head this week when several RAs were fired after an incident at a mandatory retreat. Twelve RAs were sent home and then disciplined further for their involvement in an incident involving alcohol during the event.

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University folklore not quite fact

By DEBORAH NEFFA | August 21

Have you heard how Silent Sam got his name? Legend has it that the bronze Civil War soldier statue in McCorkle Place, got his name because he only fires when a virgin walks by. Not quite. Its creators said Silent Sam, built in 1913, was not given ammunition to represent peace. For two centuries, students have kept UNC's traditions alive through folklore and myth, many of which blur the line of fiction and truth. The Old Well, which was renovated in 1897 to look like the Temple of Love at the gardens of Versailles, for example, is rumored to grant academic success.

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Fallen alumni memorialized

By DEBORAH NEFFA | April 13

As a naval aviator for 20 years, flying during the Korean and Vietnam wars, UNC alumnus Thomas Bryan did his part to serve his country. Bryan returned to campus Thursday to honor 787 of the fallen soldiers and Tar Heels who will be remembered permanently through a new memorial, which was dedicated between Phillips and Memorial halls. "It's important so the reason they gave their lives for will not be repeated," said Bryan, who graduated from the Naval ROTC program in 1946, just six years after the program's inception at UNC.

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Students enraptured by Magness' teaching style

By DEBORAH NEFFA | April 11

While some people have a hard time memorizing a five-minute speech, professor Jodi Magness can talk passionately about religious studies for more than an hour - without using so much as a note card. About 200 students, some of whom resorted to sitting on the floor of Murphey 116, listened intently Tuesday as Magness narrated a tale about the Roman siege of Masada, a site of ancient palaces in Israel. And although many typically consider history lectures dry and trite, Magness' unique teaching style of using vivid anecdotes kept students on the edge of their seats.

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Reed named to new post

By DEBORAH NEFFA | March 29

Dan Reed, a man of many titles, just picked up two more. The director of the Renaissance Computing Institute has been named senior adviser to the chancellor for strategy and innovation and will become executive director of an expanded institute. Reed, who founded RENCI in 2004, will assume his new post this weekend and will work closely with University officials to develop new multidisciplinary research initiatives and oversee the expansion of RENCI.

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Student creates cultural study abroad Web site

By DEBORAH NEFFA | March 26

When junior Jennifer Andrews decided to study abroad in Madrid, Spain, one of her central concerns was how being a minority would affect her experience overseas. "I tried to research the experiences of minorities abroad and why we were so underrepresented," said Andrews, who is black. "However, I found that there was a lack of information available." As a result, Andrews said she decided to develop a Web site catered specifically to minority students at UNC.