uncnews.unc.edu

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

National Coverage

Truth and Nonsense About Mortgage Lending, the Housing Collapse and Homeownership
The Huffington Post
... Written by a trio of researchers from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Regaining the Dream focuses on a study of a North Carolina-based project known as the Community Advantage Program (CAP), aimed at promoting sustainable lending to low and moderate-income communities.

State and Local Coverage

UNC AD interviews have begun
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
The university search committee seeking North Carolina's new athletics director has begun interviewing candidates. Committee chairman Lowry Caudill would not state how many people the committee has spoken with, and there remains no timeline for the hire. "We are narrowing it down to serious candidates, and having the conversations we need with them," he said at the committee's meeting Wednesday morning.

White coats, and a white hat (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Even before the ceremony began, we were all feeling good about humanity. Memorial Hall on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus was pretty full last Saturday at noon, with the families of 170 or so first-year medical students attending the "White Coat Ceremony," in which those students are given their lab coats by faculty members. It is a somber ritual. Looking over the doctors-to-be (and this is where humanity comes in) one had to feel optimistic, as they were young, bright, eager, and so committed to a long journey. Dr. Bill Roper, the dean, and his top guns made it clear in their early remarks that personal character was a factor in admission.

Debt's burden (Editorial)
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
... At UNC-Chapel Hill, 31 percent of graduating students have debt, and it averages $16,000 per student. Consider the bite, the long-term bite, that will take out of a starting teacher's earnings, for example. And to boot, the grads are entering an anemic job market. While some schools, notably UNC-CH, have financing plans for the most disadvantaged students that will leave them debt-free, the truth is that middle-class families find it increasingly difficult to pay the bills of a university education.

Bloomberg to speak at UNC commencement
The Carrboro Citizen
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is scheduled to speak at UNC’s spring commencement on May 13, 2012, UNC officials announced Monday. Bloomberg, who was first elected mayor of New York City in 2001, will also receive an honorary doctor of laws degree from UNC.
UNC Release: http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4787/68/

UNC Student Congress Denies Funding To Bring Coulter To Campus
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
The UNC Student Congress denied a funding request of $20,000 by the College Republicans on Tuesday night to bring political pundit Anne Coulter to campus this year. Several members of Student Congress thought the cost for this single event was simply too high, with the $20,468 dollar request comprising nearly 13 percent of their yearly budget.

UNC housekeepers to get briefed on management report
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC housekeepers are expected to get a first look today at a long-awaited report from a consultant hired in March to examine problems in the university’s Housekeeping Department. According to a student group working with housekeepers to resolve ongoing issues between workers and management, PRM Consulting Group will go over the 90-page report today during each of the university’s three housekeeping shifts.

Issues and Trends

Ross backs campus athletics
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
As the Atlantic Coast Conference works to add two schools to the league, and as NCAA and UNC-Chapel Hill officials consider football program sanctions, Tom Ross, president of the UNC system, maintains that decisions about athletics are best made at the campus level. The head of the 17-campus University of North Carolina system sat down with editors and reporters at The News & Observer this week to talk about that and other challenges in higher education.

Going Off on Online Rankings
Inside Higher Ed
Complaining about the U.S. News & World Report college rankings while simultaneously coveting a higher slot is a time-honored tradition in higher education. And now for-profit colleges are getting into the game. For-profits were included in the U.S. News “Best Colleges” list this year, although most did not meet the criteria to be ranked. Some for-profits, however, will be ranked in the first ever U.S. News comparison of online institutions.