UNC considering efficient buying program
By Ross Maloney | December 2The UNC system has signed on with a local company that allows universities to order supplies online and through a centralized system that helps them save money.
The UNC system has signed on with a local company that allows universities to order supplies online and through a centralized system that helps them save money.
With the departure of N.C. Senate Majority Leader Sen. Tony Rand, D-Cumberland, a vacancy will open in the N.C. General Assembly that could have a significant impact on the UNC system.
Bluetooth devices, iPhone’s and all things cellular were in use as about 15 doctors and medical students called around the community to rouse support for President Barack Obama’s health care reform. The phone bank at Jessee’s Coffee & Bar in Carrboro was organized by Dr. Stephen Gamboa, clinical instructor at UNC School of Medicine, along with Organizing for America, the local chapter of the Obama-affiliated volunteer campaign.
By Ross MaloneyStaff WriterNorth Carolina’s private colleges and universities across the board have seen steep declines in financial contributions in the last year.All 36 private college institutions in the state have seen a decrease in those contributions, known as endowments, since 2008, said Hope Williams, president of N.C. Independent Colleges and Universities.Because they are not funded by state tax money, private universities depend more on endowments than UNC-system schools, Williams said.
Two state legislators are drafting a bill that would keep undocumented immigrants out of N.C. community colleges — only a month after they regained the right to enroll.N.C. Rep. Wil Neumann, R-Gaston, and N.C. Rep. Pearl Burris-Floyd, R-Cleveland, have recruited 52 other Republicans to support the bill and are hoping to gather Democrats too.“We need to get to the magic 61,” Burris-Floyd said, referring to the need for a majority in the 120-member House.If they gather enough support, the bill will be introduced in May 2010, at the outset of a new session.
The N.C. Community College System is backing the UNC Board of Governors’ plan to encourage students to pursue two years of community college before transferring to four-year universities.Administrators at N.C. community colleges said an increasing number of students are enrolling with the goal of transferring to UNC-system schools, showing that the board’s plan of accepting better prepared students is already in motion.
The U.S. Census Bureau found earlier this month that 17 percent of North Carolinians are currently without health insurance.Supporters of health reform on a national and university level say this finding backs their position.Adam Linker, a health policy analyst with the N.C. Justice Center, said that the state’s uninsured rates are higher than the national average of 15 percent partially because of high rates of joblessness.
PBS’s “Roadtrip Nation” will make a pit stop at UNC-Chapel Hill on Friday, Oct. 16.The show, beginning its sixth season, is including UNC-CH on its fall tour along with other East Coast universities. The premise of the series is to inspire college-age students to pursue their passions and talents.“As a generation, we need to need to get back to focusing on individuality. Self-construction rather than mass production,” the show’s online manifesto proclaims. Central also is the notion of weeding out what they refer to as “the noise.”
Today is the eighth anniversary of Sept. 11, yet the commemorative events and public reflection of the past eight years are largely absent.On the first anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, there was a campus vigil attended by thousands of students, multiple memorial ceremonies and commemorative structures and artwork. In 2006, five years after the tragedy, there was a memorial service held on campus, a silent 5K run and thousands of small American flags placed on the lower quad.
The national heath care debate came to UNC on Wednesday as supporters and opposers of President Barack Obama’s came to aggressively promote their sides.U.S. Rep. David Price, D-N.C., spoke at the forum hosted by the UNC Young Democrats regarding realities and rumors of the proposed changes in health care legislation. Price seemed intent on making sure the audience left with an accurate understanding of the reforms, despite interruptions that sometimes escalated to heckling.