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Alternative arises on UNC ratios
Board of Governors members suggest a 'case-by-case' method
Alternate
non-N.C. student plan eyed
Two members of the state's higher education governing board have crafted a
plan that would allow individual UNC campuses to ask permission to bring in
additional out-of-state students.
Rules
proposed for UNC out-of-state cap
Members of governing group suggest tests for adding non-N.C. slots
WFU thinks
small to create products, Triad jobs
Nanotechnology center to be set up by December
Editorial:
Cost and the mission
A task force from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
has recommended a $300-per-year tuition increase for in-state students in
each of the next three years.
Alternative arises on UNC ratios
Oct. 24, 2003
The News & Observer
By Jane Stancill, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.
An alternative surfaced Thursday to the controversial proposal to raise the University of North Carolina system's 18 percent cap on out-of-state freshmen.
Two members of the UNC Board of Governors have suggested a policy that would allow each campus to come forward to the board with specific plans and justifications for exemptions to the cap. Under the amended proposal by Charlotte members Peter Keber and Addison Bell, each of the 16 campuses could ask for exemptions based on any reason -- not just for academically superior students.
The more open-ended policy would appeal to other campuses besides UNC-Chapel Hill, Keber said. That campus has been behind the push essentially to raise the limit on top out-of-state students from 18 percent to 22 percent. The idea has been politically explosive, generating negative reaction among legislators, taxpayers and students.
"If a campus has a need, they can apply to the board for an exemption within the 4 percent range for whatever reason," Keber said of his idea. "The board could make a decision on a case-by-case basis."
Campuses could ask for exemptions for out-of-state students, for example, if they promise to stay in North Carolina after graduation and go into teaching or nursing. That would help with the state's shortages in those professions, Keber said.
Or, Elizabeth City State University could request an exemption for out-of-state students within a 60-mile radius of the campus to recruit students from the Tidewater region of Virginia, Keber added.
"There's something in it for all the campuses," he said.
Other alternatives also are bubbling, with some members seeking to raise out-of-state tuition along with any change in the cap. Other members would like to see firm guarantees for more seats for North Carolina students.
Brent Barringer, a board member from Cary, said he likes the idea of deciding the issue on a campus-by-campus basis, but he has concerns about the amended proposal.
"I certainly don't want to open the floodgates for every campus to receive an exemption for whatever seems like a compelling reason at any given time," he said. "I'd want to see much higher hurdles in place before we move away from a very important cap of 18 percent."
UNC-CH Admissions Director Jerry Lucido stressed Thursday that the exemption would not take seats away from the sons and daughters of North Carolinians. The campus would add out-of-state students slowly as overall enrollment grows, he said.
"The pie is getting bigger," he said. "It's not a zero sum game."
Also on Thursday, the UNC Association of Student Governments, made up of student leaders from across the system, issued a statement opposing the admission of more out-of-state students.
N.C. State University student Jonathan Ducote said the student opposition -- along with the lack of public support -- "puts the university [system] on alert as it takes action on the out-of-state enrollment cap."
The Board of Governors is scheduled to take action on the issue next month.
Staff writer Jane Stancill can be reached at 956-2464.
Alternate non-N.C. student plan eyed
Oct. 24, 2003
The Durham Herald-Sun
By Eric Ferreri, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The Durham Herald Company.
DURHAM -- Two members of the state's higher education governing board have crafted a plan that would allow individual UNC campuses to ask permission to bring in additional out-of-state students.
The plan counters a controversial broader proposal currently under consideration that would allow all North Carolina public universities the same leeway to enroll more nonresident students without giving a reason.
The proposal headed to the UNC system Board of Governors in November would allow 15 of the 16 UNC campuses to enroll up to four percent more out-of-state freshmen each year beyond the 18-percent cap currently in place. The N.C. School of the Arts is the only school in the system exempted entirely from the enrollment cap.
But an amendment put together by board members Peter Keber and Addison Bell would substantially change the original proposal by giving individual campuses the right to request a lifting of the cap.
"There's certainly precedent for doing it that way," Keber said of his alternative proposal. "We have the campus-based tuition [approved] that way. It gives every campus a chance to come to the board and apply, based on their unique needs."
University campuses are currently allowed to bring their own proposed tuition increases to the board for consideration. On the enrollment issue, the board has made one exception, in early 2002, when it allowed North Carolina A&T University to exceed the 18-percent cap in enrolling out-of-state engineering students.
While acknowledging the North Carolina A&T situation, Gretchen Bataille, the UNC system's senior vice president for academic affairs, said enrollment issues are usually dealt with on a systemwide basis. Bataille is the university's top adviser to the board's educational planning, programs and policies committee, which earlier this month agreed to send the original plan on to the full board for a vote. In crafting the original plan, a campus-by-campus approach wasn't considered, she said.
"We generally look at policies that go across the system, overarching policies," Bataille said. "In my recollection, I don't think we ever had the idea that this would go campus by campus."
Keber and Bell believe their plan makes sense and may be more palatable to North Carolina citizens. The policy now being considered has created a great deal of public debate and has some state legislators and others concerned about educational access for North Carolinians.
By allowing campuses to ask to enroll extra out-of-state students, the board would be able to look at each situation individually, Keber said. And the new plan wouldn't mandate that the additional enrollees specifically be "academically superior" students, as the current plan does.
As written now, the extra four-percent enrolled would have to be National Merit Scholars, National Achievement Scholars or hold some other similar distinction.
Not every university in the 16-campus system has the means to attract such heralded scholars, Keber acknowledged. But they may have other justifiable reasons to ease the enrollment cap, such as a need to attract students for nursing or teaching programs, he said.
"There are probably as many different reasons as there are campuses," Keber said. "In order to attract academically gifted nonresident students, a campus would have to have significant dollars. Only a handful of campuses have those dollars."
UNC Chapel Hill is one of those schools. Carolina has been a driving force behind the move to enroll more out-of-state students, which Chancellor James Moeser has repeatedly said would produce a "brain gain" for the university. Carolina is extraordinarily selective in its enrolling of out-of-state students. This fall, more than 11,000 out-of-state students applied for 635 slots.
The Chapel Hill campus also hopes the enrollment cap change is made in time to affect the admissions process for next fall's freshman class. It would work out that way if the board votes to change the cap at its Nov. 14 meeting.
But Keber's alternate plan may slow the process down. Keber expects to present the plan either to the educational planning committee Nov. 13 or to the full board the following day. Either way, board Chairman Bradley Wilson has said he hopes the board won't vote on the issue until it has fully considered any counter-proposals. If the board pushes its vote back to its next meeting, in January, it is unlikely that campuses would be able to benefit from a change to the enrollment cap until the 2005-06 class.
Wilson called Keber's proposal a "paradigm shift," a significant change that board members will have to consider thoroughly.
"I want everybody to have plenty of time to read it and understand it, ask questions and formulate an opinion," Wilson said. "It's a different approach than what the current proposal is. It's different enough that I don't want anyone to be surprised by it."
Opponents of the current plan say that by bringing in more out-of-state students, fewer North Carolinians have access to the state university system. While Keber's proposed changes could help ease that fear a bit, they probably won't make the criticism go away, Wilson said.
"Many people in general, not just legislators, just think the cap should not be changed, period," he said. "If you're in that camp, this proposal doesn't change that."
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Current policy: Only 18 percent of enrolled freshmen may be from out-of-state
Proposed policy: Fifteen system univerisities, exluding The N.C. School of the Arts, could enroll up to 4 percent more out-of-state freshmen each year, beyond the 18 percent cap
Counter-proposal: UNC system Board of Governors members Peter Keber and Addison Bell propose each university could individually ask permission to enroll additional out-of-state students
A vote on the issue could happen at the Board of Governors' Nov. 14 meeting, or could be pushed back until January.
WFU thinks small to create products, Triad jobs
Oct. 24, 2003
Winston-Salem Journal
By Richard Craver, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 journalnow.com
Wake Forest University is delving into the future of technology at its smallest level with the hope that its research will play a large role in creating innovative products and Triad jobs.
Nanotechnology is about improving the quality, strength and endurance of a product by engineering its materials at the atomic level, or nanoworld, as researchers call it. It is helping to produce the next generation of products, such as silicon chips, gigabyte disk drives, medical devices and fabrics.
Wake Forest researchers have been involved with nanotechnology for five years, but its efforts were given a major boost in August with the recruitment of a 15-member team led by David Carroll from Clemson University in South Carolina.
On Tuesday, Wake Forest will open the new home for its Center for Nanotechnology, an off-campus office on Deacon Boulevard that should be fully functional in December.
Local university officials declined to say how much they paid to recruit the scientists and set up the center, but they said that it represented "a high six-figure" investment, generated mostly from federal money.
Carroll, the chairman of Wake Forest's Nanotech Department and an associate physics professor, is leading the group of graduate students and post-doctorate researchers. The university is paying Carroll's salary, and his team is compensated mostly through research grants.
"Wake has been hugely successful in its medical and life-sciences developments," Carroll said. "We're hoping to add another level of success with our efforts and bring in grants that will pay the university back for its investment in us."
Carroll's research team has developed light-emitting diodes that became high-resolution display screens for Nokia cellular phones. It has enhanced medical devices that aid in monitoring implants and organs, as well as ensuring that proper dosages of pharmaceuticals are released into the body.
"Nanotechnology can help plastics perform better at the nanotech level, such as enabling plastic soft-drink bottles to hold the carbonation in the drink longer or a car dashboard that won't melt," Carroll said.
Nanotechnology centers typically require about $1 million in yearly financing, according to analysts. Most of the Wake Forest center's grants come from the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation and industrial partnerships. The foundation said that the projected spending on nanotechnology initiatives in 2004 by 10 federal agencies would reach $849 million.
Carroll said he is already discussing the team's ideas with two Triad textile manufacturers, such as using nanotechnology to allow their fabrics to regulate body temperature.
"We can make a manufacturing impact because we can help local manufacturers differentiate their products and enable them to stave off Asian imports," Carroll said.
The reputation of Carroll's team has impressed Wilbur Ross, the new chairman of Burlington Industries Inc.
Ross said that a primary reason why his private-equity firm WL Ross & Co. is purchasing bankrupt Burlington for $614.1million is its Nano-Tex affiliate. Nano-Tex's nanotechnology research has already produced stain-repellent fabrics for pants, shirts and footwear.
"We're delighted that a major nanotech center will be located close to Burlington," Ross said. "We're certainly enthusiastic about the possibilities of nanotechnology in the textile industry and we expect to work with the Wake center because they will be producing cutting-edge innovations."
University and community officials say they believe that nanotechnology could play a pivotal role in differentiating Wake Forest and the Triad in a highly competitive biotechnology and life-sciences market. Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University also have a focus on nano-technology research.
"We believe our center will be competitive with those universities in the number of grants earned and research articles produced," Carroll said.
The center will complement Wake Forest's strengths in biotechnology, life-sciences and health-sciences research, said Rick Matthews, the chairman of the university's physics department.
"It has the potential to translate not only into well-paying jobs at the center, but also help provide a new avenue for start-ups and spin-offs that can help the Triad through a challenging transition," Matthews said. "The center also will make Wake Forest a more attractive university for biotechnology and technology research."
Angelos Angelou, the founder of consulting firm AngelouEconomics, considers the recruitment of Carroll and his team as a coup. The firm has been conducting a nine-month study of economic prospects in Northwest North Carolina, and Angelou recently suggested that nanotechnology would be a good economic-development tool for this area.
"The fact that the entire program is coming establishes Wake Forest as one of the top 15 to 20 nanotechnology programs in the country," Angelou said.
"Nanotechnology touches on about every industry in terms of product development. It may have fewer than 20,000 people working in the industry now, but it is projected to be a $1 billion industry by 2015," he said.
Even though Carroll grew up in Winston-Salem, he said he initially was cautious about uprooting his team from Clemson to start a center at Wake Forest.
"I had never considered Wake at first because it was known mostly for its undergraduate expertise in science," Carroll said. "But they proved me wrong in terms of its scientific focus and research, as well as its medical research. There's a commitment to performance and ethics here that really impressed me.
"Once word got out that we were considering a change, we had offers from several other universities. But our staff had a unanimous feeling that Wake Forest was the place for us to be."
Gayle Anderson, the president of the Greater Winston-Salem Chamber of Commerce, said that Wake's nanotechnology center adds to the breadth of life-science experts in the city.
"Particularly important is the level of federal-grant support these researchers have and the fact that they are internationally acclaimed," Anderson said. "This is one more example of why our community is focused on life sciences/biotech as a key growth factor for our future."
Angelou cautioned that nanotechnology is in its embryonic stage. "It is probably five to seven years away from the mass commercialization of products involving nanotechnology in the U.S. market," he said. "But people who work in the field should approach six-figure incomes or higher, and there should be spin-off opportunities from the research."
Carroll said that the Wake center will reach out to the educational community so local residents could benefit from nanotechnology through job-retraining efforts.
"We're here to help," Carroll said.
Rules proposed for UNC out-of-state cap
Oct. 24, 2003
The Charlotte Observer
By Diane Suchetka and Sharif Durhams, staff writer
© Copyright 2003 The Charlotte Observer.
If any N.C. public university wants more than 18 percent of its freshmen to come from outside the state, it should have to plead its case before the UNC Board of Governors, the group that oversees the 16 UNC campuses.
And the universities should have compelling reasons, related to their mission, to raise the percentage.
That's what two members of the Board of Governors are saying.
Next month, they'll ask all 32 board members to approve their proposal.
The two board members, Addison Bell and Peter Keber, are responding to a controversial plan now before the Board of Governors that would raise the portion of out-of-state freshmen all UNC campuses can enroll to 22 percent.
The plan would allow each of the 16 schools to increase the percentage over five years. (Two schools -- N.C. A&T University and the N.C. School of the Arts -- already have exemptions.)
The new nonresident slots would go to "the most talented and academically gifted students" including National Merit Scholars and talented black and Hispanic applicants.
Those in favor of the plan say giving more seats to non-North Carolinians would bring hundreds of bright minds to the state's talent pool and could help raise UNC's stature nationally. It will also ensure cultural and geographic diversity, they say.
Those opposed say it would leave fewer seats for the children of North Carolina, whose parents pay the taxes that built the campuses and keep the schools running. And, some say, it's designed specifically to help UNC Chapel Hill -- highly competitive and considered one of the best public universities in the country -- become even more prestigious.
The new proposal, Keber says, would allow schools to raise the cap for other reasons that would benefit the state. An example, he said, would be admitting more out-of-state nursing and education majors who would agree to work in North Carolina after they graduated.
"I want people to lay out a case of why this is good for their campus and why it's good for the people of North Carolina," Keber said.
"I think it would help the people understand what is going on here."
Bell calls the original plan a "political disaster" that has put the board in the crosshairs of public school superintendents and lawmakers who want more local students admitted to the state's top campuses.
The plan, Bell predicts, would anger enough lawmakers that the House and Senate would end up overruling the Board of Governors and reinstating the 18 percent cap.
He also notes that UNC Chapel Hill is getting about one-sixth of a $3.1 billion bond package that's designed to help all 16 UNC system campuses add new spots for students.
"It's a difficult argument to me to go to the citizens of North Carolina and say `thanks for the half a billion you spent so we can increase our freshman class,' " then go out of state to get students, Bell said.
Admissions officers estimate the plan that the board was initially considering would mean 1,000 more out-of-state students in the 180,000-student system.
Chapel Hill isn't the only school that might welcome more out-of-state students. East Carolina University, Elizabeth City State, N.C. Central and UNC Asheville all bumped against or exceeded the 18 percent cap in 2002.
In a split vote last week, members of the UNC Council of Student Body Presidents decided to oppose the initial plan.
The board is expected to vote on the issue at its Nov. 13 meeting.
Editorial: Cost and the mission
Oct. 24, 2003
The News & Observer
© Copyright 2003 The News & Observer Publishing Company.
A task force from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has recommended a $300-per-year tuition increase for in-state students in each of the next three years. And while tuition there may be relatively low compared with what it is at similar institutions, the fact is that tuition and fees have gone up 74 percent at UNC-CH over the last five years. (At N.C. State University, the boost has been 65 percent.) The greatest share of the increase would go to faculty salaries. A slightly smaller share would go to financial aid. Other schools in the 16-member system might well follow the Chapel Hill lead.
It's true that faculty pay in the system has stagnated in recent years -- an unhealthy trend. Still, now is not the time for another tuition hike, at Chapel Hill or elsewhere in the UNC system.
Manufacturing jobs have been lost in dramatic numbers in this state. Another tuition increase, after so many, would be a bad practical decision in terms of how it would affect people and a bad symbolic decision in terms of the university's vow to be "the people's university." And, this is a university system that has been supported by taxpayers in a robust fashion throughout its history.
If, however, the Chapel Hill campus and the system feel a critical need for more revenue, an important step could be an independent performance review on some scale to determine if the system and individual campuses are using available resources and personnel in the most beneficial way.
Such a study might well show some branches of the system operating on close margins, and with a need for more revenue from the General Assembly (the preferable source) or, yes, from a tuition increase. But the case for such would be stronger after efficiencies had been underlined.
The university has for all the years of its existence had a covenant with the people of this state, that expenses would be held down to provide opportunity for the sons and daughters of North Carolina to attend college. That covenant has been of benefit to many individuals and many families, and in the long run, to the state itself.