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At Piedmont Health Services on Monday morning, Dr. Carol Klein gave a four-year-old boy named Thomas his annual checkup: A clean bill of health and a book for being such a good patient.
As North Carolinians deal with the usual July heat wave, universities across the state are reaping the benefits of tighter control of their indoor temperatures.
Correction (July 8, 2010 3:45 p.m.): Due to reporting errors, an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated when Charlotte voters approved a half-cent sales tax in 2007 for construction of the LYNX Blue Line. The story has been changed to reflect this correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for this error.
College financial aid officers said the U.S. Senate missed an opportunity to protect students against risky private loans.
This week's Close up looks at student turned social activist Wooten Gough.
A mutation in the H1N1 virus is making it harder for health officials to treat patients with the flu.Three of the four patients infected with the mutated virus at Duke University Medical Center died Friday.Doctors are worried because the mutated virus is resistant to Tamiflu, the main drug used to treat the flu.Resistance to the drug is common in the seasonal flu, but rare in H1N1, said Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an infectious disease specialist at Duke.The patients at Duke represented the largest cluster of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu victims in the nation, Wolfe said.All four of the patients suffered from multiple ailments, which weakened the patients’ immune systems and their abilities to fight the virus. But it is still unclear what part the drug-resistant flu played in the deaths of three of the patients. “If you look at the cases that have occurred so far, they have occurred in patients that have been immunosuppressed,” Wolfe said, referring to the patients’ weak immune systems.The resistant flu strain is being tested by infectious disease clinicians at Duke but is not believed to have spread from patient-to-patient.Early detection of the mutation enabled the fourth patient to make a full recovery, Wolfe said.“Some viruses mutate, and people who have compromised immune systems end up getting the medication longer, so the flu virus becomes resistant,” said Carol Schriber, spokeswoman for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services.Because these mutations are common, the public should keep the situation in perspective, Schriber said.“We take it very seriously, but there’s no need to panic about it,” Schriber said.Officials were not concerned that Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 could be a big threat if there is another wave of the flu, which some have predicted could happen in January as students return to school.Doctors can prescribe Relenza, an alternative drug that treats the flu, to patients that are resistant to Tamiflu, Wolfe said. He said the key difference between the two drugs is the administration of the medications.Tamiflu is provided in pill form, which is easier for the average patient to take, but Relenza is a nasal spray, which can be problematic for asthmatic patients and flu-infected children.Mary Covington, executive director for Campus Health Services at UNC, said the University is not worried about the mutation because the majority of the cases can be treated with Tamiflu.Covington reminded students that the key to preventing the virus is to avoid exposure all together. This includes receiving the flu vaccine and practicing good hand hygiene.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
The Old Well logo has been a symbol of UNC for more than a century, but the placement of the symbolic landmark on a rifle has concerned some residents and students and prompted legal action.The Collegiate Licensing Company, which protects universities’ trademark rights, is taking action against the Historical Armory, a rifle manufacturer based out of Fort Collins, Colo. that specializes in national commemorative projects.The company designed a .22-caliber “Historic Orange County” rifle that includes, along with the Old Well, other significant icons such as the North Carolina and U.S. flags, a cannon and a deer.“When we hear of someone using one of our marks in an improper way, it is customary to take some sort of legal action,” said Derek Lochbaum, director of trademarks and licensing at UNC-CH.The Old Well logo is clearly a registered trademark of the university, said Mike McFarland, University spokesman.The project became a public controversy when Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton, a UNC-CH alumnus, discovered the use of the logo.In a recent interview with the (Raleigh) News & Observer, Chilton said he believed the rifle would send the wrong message.Kristen Pierce, a senior chemistry major, was also uncomfortable with the logo being put on a rifle.“Using the Well is using UNC,” Pierce said. “It’s associating us and our school with guns and violence.”Others didn’t think it was something to be concerned about.“I’m from Mississippi, and when boys turn 16, they get shotguns. Being from the South, I don’t think it’s the weapons that are the problem but the people behind them,” said Martha Wood, a senior chemistry major.Still others say the key issue is not using of the symbol on a rifle, but getting permission.“As long as they obtain University permission, I don’t see why they can’t,” said Anthony Dent, treasurer of the Tar Heel Rifle and Pistol Club.“To me, there would be no difference between the Tar Heel logo being on a calendar or on a rifle.”The Historical Armory did not return calls Thursday seeking comment.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
Higher education policy makers put UNC-system schools on a defined track Friday toward becoming carbon neutral by 2050.At its October meeting, the UNC-system Board of Governors approved a new policy that requires system schools to comply with certain standards of environmental sustainability on campus.The policy asks schools to make sustainability a key consideration in campus operations, planning, capital construction and purchasing practices. It also asks schools to become carbon neutral — net zero carbon dioxide emissions — by no later than 2050 and to work toward climate neutrality, which entails cutting emissions of gases other than carbon dioxide.“The policy is a recognition of the fact that universities need to be leaders in addressing societal challenges,” said Cindy Shea, director of the Sustainability Office at UNC-Chapel Hill.The policy’s guidelines are broad and give universities ample room to interpret the policy based on their specific needs, said Shari Parrish, an associate vice president for finance for the UNC system.It was created in response to recommendations made by UNC Tomorrow, which outlines ways for the UNC system to work for the benefit of the state.The board also was motivated by a state law passed in 2007 mandating the creation of energy-efficient programs that include standards for reductions in water and energy consumption.The law also called for campuses to decrease energy consumption by 30 percent and water consumption by at least 20 percent. Although the policy gives few concrete recommendations, it does recommend specific practices that they can use to become more energy-efficient.The only concrete requirement for universities is that they integrate sustainability principles into their construction projects, maintenance, transportation, and recycling and to work toward carbon neutrality.“This will make things more systematic,” Parrish said. “This is also a change in how we do business — how we design, plan and maintain from an energy-efficiency standpoint.”UNC-CH is already well on its way to becoming wholly compliant with the new policy. It adopted its own policy in 2005.“Many initiatives have already been integrated into campus operations,” Shea said.Climate neutrality is the most ambitious goal outlined in the system policy because it requires expensive changes such as building renovations and transportation changes, Shea said.More efficient systems will be implemented within buildings, residents will be provided with environmental education and renewable materials will be purchased for the facilities.Ninety percent of UNC-CH’s emissions come from heating and cooling buildings, Shea said.
An online research database created by UNC-Chapel Hill will be implemented systemwide by the end of 2009 and could be bought by other university systems.The database, My Research@Carolina, centralizes research and grant processing by making it possible to access all the information in one place. It also provides researchers with more information about one another to facilitate collaboration on their projects, said Andy Johns, associate vice chancellor for research at UNC.The most popular component of the database, called Ramses, is a program that specifically helps researchers apply for grants.“Before the I’s are dotted and the T’s are crossed, before these grants are submitted, faculty applying for grants must go through Ramses first,” said Courtney Thornton, director of research of the UNC system.Stimulus The efficiency that Ramses offers is more important than ever before because funds allocated by the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in February are beginning to arrive in researchers’ hands. The funds have created a significant amount of research activity on the UNC campus and the database could help in centralizing all of the work, Johns said.“We’ve seen 886 additional grant proposals above the 4,400 we received for the entire year of 2008,” Johns said. With the stimulus funding, comes added skepticism from federal government officials curious about what type of research is being conducted and by whom. The University can use the database to provide regular updates of the research process. “Because of the additional scrutiny, we are required to report substantially more data about our grants and about our research,” Johns said. Across the systemWhile Ramses is being used by other UNC-system schools such as UNC-Greensboro and N.C. Agricultural and Technical State University, it is not yet implemented in schools with less of a research emphasis, such as Winston-Salem State University and North Carolina Central University, Johns said. The database was expected to be implemented across the UNC system in September, but officials missed the deadline and are now hoping to accomplish the task by the end of 2009. Contracting Ramses Ramses has garnered attention from other higher educational institutions and commercial enterprises. “When most people think of research administration, they think of Ramses,” Johns said. “We could do a better job of marketing all this.”The research database has been licensed to Ohio State University, Georgia Institute of Technology and the Tennessee public university system. Later this month, UNC-CH will announce a contract with a third-party distributor to license the entire suite of programs to academic and commercial entities, including Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte.Johns said the third-party distributor is necessary for UNC-CH to focus on providing quality management for its own faculty’s research. Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
At UNC-Asheville, Sylvia Farrington is the go-to person for campus safety, public health emergencies and natural disasters.Farrington was appointed interim director of emergency management last week — the most recent appointment in a string of emergency coordinator positions across the UNC system.The money for these positions largely comes from money set aside in the last few years for campus safety.The trend was prompted by a study on what UNC-system schools need to do to improve safety.The UNC Campus Safety Task Force, created in 2007 by President Erskine Bowles in response to the Virginia Tech shootings that year, made several recommendations to guide universities in making campuses safer.Farrington’s position reflects an increasingly proactive mentality in dealing with emergency crises.“In general, since the Virginia Tech shootings, UNC campuses have all taken a step forward in safety measures,” said Brent Herron, associate vice president for campus safety and emergency operations for the UNC-System. “What the task force did was to address issues and make recommendations to campuses about what they needed to focus on.”The task force’s suggestions are only a general guide, and individual campuses are largely free to interpret the suggestions as they see fit, Herron said.That’s what UNC-A did with Farrington’s position. It took the task force’s recommendation to have an emergency coordinator on campus and tweaked the position to fit the university and community’s needs by also making Farrington responsible for public health emergencies, such as flu pandemics.“That was UNC-A’s decision to combine all of those aspects,” Herron said.UNC-Chapel Hill hired Ron Campbell in August to be emergency management coordinator. He is primarily responsible for campus safety.Campbell was previously employed in emergency management in Guilford and Forsyth counties.Campbell said he views every part of emergency planning as being governed by four phases: preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.“Preparedness is ongoing,” Campbell said. “Plans must be kept current.”Campbell recently reviewed emergency plans for campus buildings such as Kenan Stadium and has also been preparing for large-scale outbreaks of the H1N1 virus.As of last week, more than 700 suspected cases of H1N1 had been reported on the UNC-CH campus since the start of fall semester.There are plans for a partnership with Orange County officials and a committee on campus to focus on the issue, Campbell said.Farrington, a 13-year veteran of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also is forging ties with the community around the UNC-A campus.“One of the things in my personal experience, is that it takes a community to prepare, respond and recover,” Farrington said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
At UNC-Asheville, Sylvia Farrington is the go-to person for campus safety, public health emergencies and natural disasters.Farrington was appointed interim director of emergency management last week — the most recent appointment in a string of emergency coordinator positions across the UNC system.The money for these positions largely comes from money set aside in the last few years for campus safety.The trend was prompted by a study on what UNC-system schools need to do to improve safety.The UNC Campus Safety Task Force, created in 2007 by President Erskine Bowles in response to the Virginia Tech shootings that year, made several recommendations to guide universities in making campuses safer.Farrington’s position reflects an increasingly proactive mentality in dealing with emergency crises.“In general, since the Virginia Tech shootings, UNC campuses have all taken a step forward in safety measures,” said Brent Herron, associate vice president for campus safety and emergency operations for the UNC-System. “What the task force did was to address issues and make recommendations to campuses about what they needed to focus on.”The task force’s suggestions are only a general guide, and individual campuses are largely free to interpret the suggestions as they see fit, Herron said.That’s what UNC-A did with Farrington’s position. It took the task force’s recommendation to have an emergency coordinator on campus and tweaked the position to fit the university and community’s needs by also making Farrington responsible for public health emergencies, such as flu pandemics.“That was UNC-A’s decision to combine all of those aspects,” Herron said.UNC-Chapel Hill hired Ron Campbell in August to be emergency management coordinator. He is primarily responsible for campus safety.Campbell was previously employed in emergency management in Guilford and Forsyth counties.Campbell said he views every part of emergency planning as being governed by four phases: preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation.“Preparedness is ongoing,” Campbell said. “Plans must be kept current.”Campbell recently reviewed emergency plans for campus buildings such as Kenan Stadium and has also been preparing for large-scale outbreaks of the H1N1 virus.As of last week, more than 700 suspected cases of H1N1 had been reported on the UNC-CH campus since the start of fall semester.There are plans for a partnership with Orange County officials and a committee on campus to focus on the issue, Campbell said.Farrington, a 13-year veteran of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, also is forging ties with the community around the UNC-A campus.“One of the things in my personal experience, is that it takes a community to prepare, respond and recover,” Farrington said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
In the midst of heavy budget cuts and limited resources, North Carolina Central University is dealing with the largest enrollment increase in its 100-year history.
This football season, fans are seeing a new look on an old favorite — beer.Anheuser-Busch officials said that they unveiled “Fan Cans” in time for the 2009 football season — Bud Light beer cans decorated with school colors.The sales campaign was expressly timed to coincide with the kickoff of football season, said Carol Clark, vice president of corporate social responsibility for Anheuser-Busch InBev.There are 26 different color combinations that represent different universities across the nation, including UNC-system schools East Carolina University and N.C. State University. UNC-Chapel Hill is not one of the universities represented in the line of themed cans.But some of those schools worry that the sales campaign makes it appear as if they support underage drinking.Boston College, Texas A&M University, and the University of Iowa, among others, have asked to be removed from the program.They want the company, Anheuser-Busch, to take cans in their school colors off the shelves and stop advertising the themed cans around their campuses, citing copy infringement laws and the potential of encouraging underage drinking. John Dunn, director of public affairs at Boston College, said the school sent a formal complaint, asking to be removed from the program on the basis of copyright violations well before the themed cans appeared on the market.While that is their legal basis for their opposition to the program, the school also considers the themed cans inappropriate, he said.“It ran counter to the collective efforts of colleges and universities nationwide to combat underage drinking,” Dunn said.The pressing concern facing school administrators and health officials at the University of Iowa is whether the themed cans will promote an increase in underage drinking among its student population, said Tom Moore, media relations coordinator at the university.The use of school colors on beer cans creates the perception that schools are endorsing alcohol consumption, Moore said.But ECU officials said that they do not mind being represented on the cans and do not consider the program to be a violation of copyright laws. The Bud Light cans do not carry the university’s logo, and other universities share the same colors as ECU, stated John Durham, the school’s executive director of university communications, in an e-mail.ECU Student Body President Brad Congleton also expressed doubt that themed cans make student underage drinking any more likely.“They’re going to drink regardless,” he said.However, Jim Ceresnak, student body president at N.C. State University said he didn’t think the themed cans specifically targeted students, a group that is largely underage. “Students aren’t the only people that enjoy the athletic, tailgating experience. The majority of people that come to the games are alumni,” he said.Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
