Oops! Congressional “mistake” prompts NIH review

A mistake by a Congressional staff member ignited a review of research projects approved by the National Institutes of Health. But despite what U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) called “scientific McCarthyism,” it turned out Congress had not declared war on the NIH approval process.


UNC-Chapel Hill officials warn of “brain drain” — again

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill officials are once again voicing concerns over faculty retention. The “brain drain” concern is that other universities are “raiding” UNC-CH faculty with greater salary offers. UNC-CH officials say the university lost 53 professors to “raids” last year.


Why UNC-CH leftists are right to complain about Coulter’s visit

UNC-CH leftists are incensed about the decision to fund Coulter’s speech. Why should they pay — through their student fees — to support Coulter, whose views they find odious?

In other words, they’re sounding like conservatives, who’ve been objecting to their being made to support leftist causes through student fees for years.



Pillowtex: Don’t Forget the Benefits of Freer Trade

Why would our country’s leaders agree to trade deals that have resulted in the loss of so many jobs? International trade agreements involve costs and benefits for the American economy. Costs include the loss of jobs to countries that can manufacture certain products more cheaply than in the United States. But what are often ignored are the benefits of freer world trade.


Economic woes greater for universities, students outside N.C.

North Carolina’s colleges and universities are hardly the only ones in the nation affected by an economic downturn in their home state. A report released this summer shows how many public universities and colleges across the country received cuts, some substantial, in their budgets.


Policymakers mull proposals that would cut NC citizens’ access to UNC

Two ideas under discussion in North Carolina would make it more difficult for illegal residents of the state to be admitted to the University of North Carolina.
The first is a bill before the state Senate to extend in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and other noncitizens. Senate Bill 987, currently before committee, would amend the General Statutes to extend resident tuition status to any “individual who (i) has attended school in North Carolina for at least four consecutive years and (ii) has received a high school diploma from a school within North Carolina or has obtained a general education diploma (GED) issued in North Carolina.”


Human Capital Contracts: An Attractive New Way to Pay for College

A report from the Cato Institute suggests an alternative method for paying for higher education. As the need for new methods of finance is growing with the rapidly rising costs of higher education, and as student loans are beset with defaulting and graduates dealing with the uncertainty over being able to make fixed loan payments, the report argues, human capital contracts should be an attractive alternative.


To Please U.S. News & World Report, UNC Wants to Cut In-State Enrollment

The latest raspberry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to the state’s hoi polloi is that their kids aren’t good enough to fulfill Chancellor James Moeser’s vision of achieving “the best public university in the nation.” Thus UNC-CH wants to cut the proportion of students it enrolls from NC.


UNC’s Federal ‘Overhead’ Left Untouched — For Now

Last year, 15 universities comprising the University of North Carolina system (excluding the N.C. School of the Arts) received $123.6 million in what are known as “overhead receipts” from federal research grants. That money, which the UNC system prefers to call “facilities and administrative receipts,” is money given on top of the actual grant amount that is intended to defray the administrative and institutional costs in conducting the actual research.