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RALEIGH - N.C. State University Chancellor Marye Anne Fox is no longer a candidate for the chief executive's spot at the 15-campus University of Texas system. After discussing the position over the weekend with Texas representatives, Fox told NCSU trustees Monday that she would not be leaving Raleigh. "I have concluded that I will not be a candidate for chancellor of the University of Texas system," Fox said in a memo to trustees. "Accordingly, my name will not be on a list of finalists likely to be released this week by the University of Texas Board of Regents." The UT regents are scheduled to meet Friday to announce finalists for the job. Under Texas law, regents must name their finalists at least 21 days before making an appointment. Fox came to NCSU four years ago from Texas, where she had served as a vice president at the University of Texas at Austin. She confirmed to NCSU trustees two weeks ago that she was a candidate for the top job in the UT system and that getting the job "would be a tremendous honor for both me and N.C. State." But since then, Fox talked further with UT officials, and it became clear that "this wasn't going to be a good fit for her," Peaches G. Blank, chairman of the NCSU trustees, said Tuesday. Fox could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Although Fox and Blank talked about Fox's interest in the position several times during the UT job search, Blank said NCSU trustees never formally discussed any type of counteroffer with Fox. "It never reached that stage," Blank said. "Whatever conversation she had that led to this decision was a conversation between her and University of Texas officials. We, as trustees, did not talk with her about it." The University of Texas chancellor's job is similar to that of the University of North Carolina system president. The UT system has 15 campuses -- whose chief officers are presidents -- with 160,000 students, 84,000 employees and a $6.45 billion budget. In her letter to trustees, which was copied to NCSU deans and administrators, Fox said she was committed to NCSU and its future. "I pledge to continue to work with you to help N.C. State reach even greater heights despite the fiscal austerity we face," she said. Staff writer Tim Simmons can be reached at 829-4535 or tsimmons@newsobserver.com.
Among those being laid off are 27 library employees. Others include clerical workers, computer specialists, research technicians and service employees such as security guards. NCSU is apparently the first North Carolina public university to start significant layoffs in anticipation of budget cuts in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. As the General Assembly convened Tuesday to begin deciding how deep the reductions will be, NCSU officials said they were beginning their layoffs now to save money and spread severance costs across two fiscal years. "We're working on the assumption of a 5 percent cut," Chancellor Marye Anne Fox said. "We wanted to get started as soon as we could, so our people can get other jobs while they're still available. We think it's a plus for them, and it's necessary for the university." Forty-three NCSU employees governed by the State Personnel Act have been notified of their job loss. Those employees have certain rights under the act, including severance pay or priority for open jobs in state government. NCSU officials had no firm count of how many administrators and adjunct faculty members, who are exempt from the State Personnel Act, had been told their jobs were cut. Four library administrators had been notified, and more layoffs were in the pipeline, said Tim Lucas, director of NCSU News Services. "That number will rise in the coming weeks," Lucas said. With the state facing a $2 billion shortfall in the next fiscal year, state agencies, community colleges and universities are preparing for budget cuts in the range of 5 percent to 8 percent. Most are waiting until July 1 to start the layoffs. According to the budget proposed last week by Gov. Mike Easley, the UNC system would lose 1,070 jobs in a 5 percent budget cut, including 540 vacant positions and 530 filled jobs. Easley's budget also includes university expansion spending that would add 542 jobs -- if the money were provided by a lottery, a potential revenue source that has not been approved by the legislature. UNC leaders have said that they would spare tenured faculty when making job cuts and that staff support employees would feel the brunt of the crisis. They pledged to protect the classroom. Fox said NCSU deans are still searching for ways to minimize the impact on students, but she conceded that the university will have to enlarge class sizes and perhaps cut some course sections. By starting the layoffs to save money now, she said, the university will be forced to make fewer overall job cuts. Although the university aims to protect its core mission of education and research, losing staff support will hurt, she said. Such employees "provide a very important contribution," Fox said. "Although they're not in the classroom, their support for the classroom is vital." Rosalind Thomas, chairwoman of the NCSU Staff Senate, worried about the layoffs' effect on employees' ability to serve the university mission. "We recognize that it's painful," she said. "Because of the crisis, all state agencies, including us, have to do their part to reduce costs." NCSU policy on reductions in force provides for at least 30 days' notice before a worker's job is terminated. "It is painful," Fox said. "Whenever you're making these cuts, it's painful." Staff writer Jane Stancill can be reached at 956-2464 or janes@newsobserver.com.
Gov. Mike Easley's responsibility for balancing the state budget does not give him the moral authority to tap accounts filled with what are, in effect, voluntary contributions to public causes. Yet that is exactly what the governor did when he raided the specialty license plate funds. To help close the state's projected $1.5 billion budget deficit for this year, Easley has had to reduce spending and tap all manner of trust funds that are filled with tax revenue earmarked for special causes. As the manager of the budget, Easley clearly has the authority to transfer tax funds budgeted for highways, for example, to the General Fund to pay for schools or medical costs. Easley also had the authority to renege on state promises and to stop planned payments of state funds to local governments. It may be up to a court to decide if Easley had the authority to go one step further and take local government tax revenues, collected by the state Department of Revenue. There should be no doubt, however, that Easley does not have the legal or moral right to take funds that citizens pay voluntarily to state government to underwrite public causes such as museum operations or animal spaying. This spring, Easley has seized more than $285,000 generated from the sale of license plates, Journal Raleigh reporter Dana Damico reported last week. That is money that citizens paid above the normal costs of a license plate so that special causes - such as land preservation and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum in Hatteras - would be helped. More than 67,500 motorists display the tags, some paying $10 to $30 above the regular charge. Because a portion of the cost is directed to the group featured on the tag, many car owners buy the plates to support their alma maters or pet projects. When a driver pays $20 for the Animal Lovers "I Care" tag, for example, $10 is supposed to be used to promote spaying and neutering. For Easley to grab this money is a betrayal of public trust. These car owners have already paid their legal share of taxes. If they pay an extra $10 to help spay or neuter pets, that money should be spent for that purpose. If Easley takes these funds, where will he look next? To contributions to the University of North Carolina campuses? By pocketing funds that private citizens freely gave to their special causes, Easley has hardly put a dent in the deficit. But he has undermined the credibility of the specialty plates program. In the long run, state government will lose more than it gains because motorists will choose not to donate to these causes through the license plate program. No one wants to be duped into paying extra taxes, yet that is what the governor has done to a lot of conscientious citizens.
What's that smell? asked my 7-year-old son, David, as we approached the town of Smithfield, Va., world-renowned for its hams. I had opened the windows to see if what I'd heard was true. "It smells like sausage pizza," said David. I inhaled deeply. The scent was unmistakably porcine, though slightly acrid. Were those patented porkers smoking even on a Saturday afternoon? Smithfield -- home of the Fortune 500 Smithfield Foods, the world's largest hog producer and pork processor -- is a consummate company town. The town water tower has a large ham emblazoned across it. As you drive in, a sign directs the hog trucks to the packing plant rather than through the heart of this historic hamlet of 6,000 or so. The town is not named for John Smith of Pocahontas fame, although he was active in these parts, but for one Arthur Smith IV, who donated land for a town on the Pagan River back in 1752. The town will be celebrating its 250th anniversary this year, complete with a parade and a giant ham biscuit eight feet across. USA Today recently selected the Smithfield Inn's ham biscuit as the "Number One Plate in Virginia." These people are serious about their biscuits. Jamestown, Yorktown and Williamsburg (across the James River) might have their archaeological digs, re-creations and re-enactments, but this is the real old Virginia. Isn't it? Observing the swell of cash-in-hand visitors crowding into those other towns and Virginia Beach, the people of Smithfield must have yearned for a piece of the tourist pie. "That's all there is anymore downtown," said a docent at the Isle of Wight (County)Museum a bit wistfully. Tourist stuff. Strolling down the tidy Main Street, one passes the requisite Christmas-all-year-long store and shop after shoppe of antiques, shabby-chic accessory vendors and ham specialty stores. The pig motif is omnipresent. You'll find iron piggy banks, hand towels with pigs, piggy ice cream scoopers, pig-shaped soap, etc. Although its gift shop caters to the town motif, the Isle of Wight Museum showcases historic Smithfield. A life-size cutout of P.D. Gwaltney, one of the most famous purveyors of pork, greets you as you walk into the main space. His "pet ham" is encased in glass nearby. Originally cured in 1902, this wily ham somehow escaped shipping and turned up several years later. A man unafraid of a gimmick, Gwaltney decided to keep it and see how long it would last. The pet ham became Gwaltney's mascot and was featured in "Ripley's Believe It or Not" as the world's oldest ham. Gwaltney even insured it for $5,000. Now, brown and petrified, it's celebrating its 100th birthday as a ham this year. Hmmm. Smithfield hams keep indefinitely without refrigeration. They are dry-cured, salted, smoked and aged from nine to 12 months. Genuine Smithfield meats -- declared so by the Virginia legislature in 1926 -- are hogs raised in Virginia or North Carolina and cured within the town limits of Smithfield. Originally, they were free-range porkers who dined on the abundant supply of peanuts in these parts. Hams have been shipped worldwide from Smithfield since Colonial times. One old newspaper article in the museum refers to Smithfield hams as "the aristocrat of the Virginia table" and gives well-heeded directions on its consumption: "The thoughtful host will slice Smithfield ham so thinly that he can see the knife through the ham. If he does so, the taste buds of his guest will not be overpowered; they will be delicately aroused." I think back to that holiday ham my Virginia mother-in-law graciously sent my Ohio mother years ago. My mother soaked that ham for a day, tasted it, then soaked it again. Finally, she pronounced it inedible and threw it away. It's very salty stuff, as even the waitress at the Smithfield Inn will tell you. Elsewhere in the museum you'll find the ubiquitous arrowheads, glass beads and pottery fragments. What you'll also find out is that this town has a sense of humor about itself. Swine versions of famous paintings hang above Gwaltney's head. There are dancing pigs a{acute} la Keith Haring, a squealing pig in the style of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" and a Tiffany pig. Elsewhere in the museum I found Mona Lisa with a pig's face and a pig skipping across Monet's water lily bridge. Unlike most of the surrounding Tidewater towns, Smithfield managed to avoid destruction in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and the Civil War, though there was a skirmish that sank a Yankee boat. Locals might tell you with a wink that the generals didn't want to threaten their supply of ham. Most of the older, 18th-century homes are spread out along the Pagan River, and later houses fill in the spaces. Follow the self-guided walking tour -- the brochure's available at the visitors center in the 1750 Old Courthouse -- and you'll find a slew of gingerbread Victorians, Colonials, Federals and Georgian styles dating from 1730. But this is Hamtown. The processing plants are not tucked away discreetly in the countryside. While you may relish the sunset over the river as you nibble your ham delicacy at Smithfield Station's outdoor restaurant, the processing plant is the backdrop. It can be clearly seen and smelled from most vantage points in town. Still, if it weren't for the ham industry, Smithfield would probably be a place where you merely slow to 25 mph for a minute. "He's done a lot for Smithfield," the docent told us of Joseph Luter III, the CEO of Smithfield Foods, who is also known as "boss hog." Once a regional company, Smithfield Foods is now multinational with revenues in excess of $6 billion. Okay, so there's that little matter of the $12.6 million that Smithfield Foods was fined for violating the Clean Water Act by polluting the Pagan River, but that's all offal under the bridge. The processing plant now feeds directly into a wastewater treatment plant, and the company proudly proclaims its environmental achievements in a glossy brochure and online, complete with bird calls. They're even working on a project with North Carolina State University that would "harvest the energy value of hog manure to create green electricity." A Smithfield native, Luter seems commited to an Americana version of his home town. A stately and impressive new Smithfield Foods headquarters overlooks the grassy islands of the river. The company also helped fund a Main Street beautification project that added lifelike metal sculptures around town. In front of the local newspaper office, Ben Franklin contemplates the Constitution, while Thomas Jefferson proofreads the Declaration of Independence outside the Smithfield Center and Robert Frost puts the finishing touches on "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" at the entrance of the new theater, both partly funded by the company. As the founders and poets ponder, real-life fishermen pull out croakers along the river, and the marina fills with boats and diners. All in all, it's a pleasant place. If you like ham.
One person frequently mentioned as a front-runner -- Marye Ann Fox, 54, the chancellor at North Carolina State University -- told her board of trustees Monday night that she is committed to staying in North Carolina. In a memo, Fox said she had spoken to representatives close to the Texas search over the weekend and concluded that she will not be a candidate, nor will her name be on the list of finalists expected to be announced this week. A spokesman said Fox was not available for comment. With her withdrawal, front-runner status shifted to Mark Yudof, 57, president of the University of Minnesota and a former UT-Austin provost and dean of the School of Law. Sources close to the search also have said a woman from the University of California System is high on the candidate list. Yudof has not returned calls from the Austin American-Statesman nor confirmed any interest in the job. For the past 10 years, his name has surfaced repeatedly for top jobs at UT. In 1992, when he was Law School dean, Yudof was runner-up for the UT-Austin presidency. When that job reopened in 1997, Yudof had already accepted the top spot at Minnesota and opted to fulfill that commitment. In 2000, he asked not to be considered for UT System chancellor. That April, Dan Burck was hired to fill the chancellor's job on an interim basis. Burck, now 69, has announced that he will step down by August 2003, and regents are working to name his successor this summer. Like Yudof, Fox had ties to UT-Austin, holding faculty and administrative posts here for 20 years. She was a UT vice president when she left for North Carolina State in 1998. "I am committed to N.C. State University and am honored to serve as its chancellor at a time when our momentum and aspirations remain strong," Fox, a research chemist, wrote in the letter to North Carolina State trustees. Several UT regents expressed disappointment at Fox's withdrawal; others said they wouldn't discuss any of the candidates until Friday. It's not unusual for aspirants to withdraw at this stage of the search, UT System Regent Cyndi Taylor Krier said. "This is really the time when candidates have to decide are they serious about it, because it is likely to become public knowledge and could impact upon the jobs they have." Fox's withdrawal doesn't necessarily make the choice harder, Krier said. "I tend to try to look at things positively," she said. "Maybe it makes things easier." Texas law requires boards of regents to name chancellor finalists at least 21 days before anyone is appointed to the position. Charles Miller, the chairman of the UT System regents, has cut a European trip short and will take part in Friday's conference call among the regents. They could name one or more finalists. Janet Jacobs can be contacted at jjacobs@statesman.com; 445-3698
A former Texas research chemist who is now the chancellor of a North Carolina university said this week she is not a candidate to replace retiring University of Texas System Chancellor R.D. "Dan" Burck. In a memo written Monday to her board of trustees, Marye Anne Fox said she is committed to North Carolina State University. UT System spokesman Monty Jones said he didn't have any information about Fox's memo and would not confirm or deny that she had been a candidate. "No one has been officially named as a finalist," Jones said. "Various names have been printed by some newspapers. That's just reporters coming up with that. We haven't responded to any of the speculation." Fox's memo, however, indicates she had been in the running. "Having discussed over the weekend the position with representatives close to the search, I have concluded that I will not be a candidate for chancellor of the University of Texas System," Fox wrote. "Accordingly, my name will not be included on a list of finalists likely to be released this week." The short memo said she would continue her work in North Carolina. "I am committed to NC State University and am honored to serve as its chancellor ... ," Fox wrote. "I pledge to continue to work with you to help NC State reach even greater heights despite the fiscal austerity we face." As a chemist, Fox began her career at Texas' flagship state university campus in 1976 and rose to vice president of research before she left for North Carolina in 1998. Burck, 69, was named chancellor of Texas' 15-institution system in October 2000. He announced in August he would step down no later than August 2003. The former oilman, who joined the UT System in 1988 as vice chancellor of business affairs, said he wanted to spend more time with his family.
Do you worry about who might be learning things about you when you shop on the Internet? Are you concerned about the security of the information you give out online? Do you want to see stronger regulations to protect your privacy? These are the questions that researchers led by Annie I. Anton, an assistant computer science professor at N.C. State University, are asking as part of an online survey on Internet privacy. You can take the survey at http://www.theprivacyplace.org. Results will be posted later this summer.Q. What prompted you to conduct this survey? A. Research is needed to address how we as a society use, value, and protect citizens' personal information. From the perspective of system design, software engineers need methods and tools to enable them to design systems that reflect those values and protect our personal information accordingly. Policy makers need mechanisms to ensure that systems comply with information technology policy, especially since it appears that government regulation may be inevitable within the next 5 to 10 years. This survey will enable us to establish a privacy values baseline to aid policy makers as well as software developers. Q. How common is it for e-commerce companies to violate their own privacy policies in collecting information on customers? A. Our preliminary studies show that it is more obviously observable at new or less established Web sites. Our research team at N.C. State is currently developing tools to systematically evaluate whether a Web site is aligned with and in compliance of its governing privacy policies. Q. What is it they are trying to find out in these cases? A. Generally, these sites are interested in your browsing habits (e.g. how long you browse specific Web pages, the trail or path that you take while surfing, your purchasing patterns and interests, your credit card number, the times at which you visit specific Web pages), your computer's operating system, as well as your IP address, just to name a few. Q. How might this information be harmful to customers, and how might it be helpful? A.The potential for individuals to incorrectly infer things about us when we visit the Web may be harmful. Additionally, when transactions are stored and exchanged using e-commerce systems, personally identifiable information such as credit card numbers, electronic receipts, and purchase orders become more widely accessible and potentially vulnerable. Many Internet users are concerned about their privacy and the security of online transactions. In contrast, other individuals value sites that are able to offer a personalized browsing experience due to the information that they collect about visitors to their Web site. Q. What is it you hope to learn from the survey? A.We hope to establish a practical privacy values benchmark and instrument that IT professionals and policy makers can use to reason about the privacy implications of new IT requirements (and technologies) or the technology implications of proposed policy. Q. Are there steps consumers can take to close off some of the information these sites attempt to collect? A. Yes. The easiest step that those concerned about their privacy can take is to set their Web browsers so that cookies from third party Web sites, for example, are not accepted. A cookie is information that a Web site puts on your hard disk so that it can remember something about you at a later time.
With hundreds of layoffs expected at public campuses in the coming year, it would have been unseemly for universities to send busloads of professionals across North Carolina to eat barbeque, learn folk dancing and tour hog farms. N.C State and UNC-Chapel Hill cancelled their statewide faculty bus tours, originally scheduled for last week. For several years, the universities have operated the summer tours to introduce new faculty to the culture and history of North Carolina. The tours are generally financed with private donations, yet NCSU and UNC-CH officials said the statewide faculty jaunts would have send the wrong message at a time when universities are facing significant budget cuts. The UNC-CH tour would have cost about $65,000 for 36 faculty and administrators; the NCSU tour was budgeted for about $24,000 for 34 people.
Dr. Denis S. Jackson of Fuquay-Varina has been named assistant vice chancellor for extension and engageent. Jackson earned his bachelor's degree in 1967, master's in 1971 and doctorate degree in 1988, all from N.C. State. He has served in various positions there since 1971, including the past eight years as assistant vice provost for continuing studies and director of the Encore Center for Lifelong Enrichment.
I'VE JUST TOSSED away another losing lottery ticket. This one would have fetched the tidy pretax annual sum of $80 million. When the jackpot builds up once more, I'll probably try it again. I'm trying to make it clear, before I start to talk about reparations for slavery, that I'm not above developing an interest in money I didn't earn. If the group headed by Charles Ogletree, the Harvard law professor, can get me a few mil as compensation for the fact that my great-grandparents (and many generations of their ancestors) made unrequited contributions to the development of the country, I'll take it. So why have I hesitated to become a full-fledged advocate of reparations? In part, I suppose, because I have no way of figuring out - even of thinking about - what the American people owe me for my grandparents' unpaid labor. Or my parents' undercompensated labor. Or the jobs I couldn't get, or the income I was denied based in large measure on race. The whole reparations idea starts to sound like an appeal to national guilt, but an appeal that requires me to assume the victim's role. That's one hand. Here's the other: There are problems that black Americans suffer that have their deep roots in slavery and racism. It doesn't seem reasonable that the thing to do about this legacy is ... nothing. Which is why I'm glad I ran into James P. Comer the other day. The Yale University professor of psychiatry and extraordinarily successful public school reformer was at North Carolina State University, where the two of us were among the school's commencement honorees, when I broached the subject of reparations. It's something he's thought about. Listen: "My feeling is that we need an approach that is fair to everybody - that allows the larger society to get off its unproductive guilt-and-defense response and that allows African Americans not to feel victimized, while at the same time making it possible to address the problem that was created by the conditions of slavery. "The problem manifests itself in underachievement and underpreparation in all the things that require high levels of development, and overrepresentation in such things as criminal activity and dependency. This is largely the aftermath of slavery, the failure of African Americans to have access to the same political and economic situation as everybody else when everybody else had it." And what would he do about it now? He would enact legislation to allow black taxpayers to direct up to 95 percent of their federal income taxes directly to a series of foundations set up specifically to help those blacks who have been most hurt by slavery and its legacy. These black-run foundations would have two main focuses: educating young people for work, family life and citizenship, and promoting economic development and economic access for the rest of us. Here, as they used to say, is the beauty part. The proposal wouldn't take any money out of the economy, but merely redirect it as you might designate all or most of your United Way contribution to the Girl Scouts. And, says Comer, "it would be in the interest of all of America. It's important to the health of the entire society not to have another generation of non-mainstream and nonproductive - even counterproductive - African Americans. It simply costs too much, economically, socially and civically." One problem with his proposal would involve choosing which foundations and which leaders would become custodians of black America's redirected taxes. Comer says it is the sort of problem private foundations have to deal with all the time. "We'd have to have the same sort of process - very careful selection of directors and officers, a careful development of a set of criteria based on the understanding that the purpose is to bring our people into the mainstream of society. It would be important to pick people who have a track record for solid work in this area - perhaps people who head similar organizations right now." There might also be the logistical problem of determining which taxpayers would qualify to have their income taxes diverted. Perhaps the way around that would be to make the entire matter voluntary and nonracial from the taxpayers' viewpoint. That is, any taxpayer could designate up to 95 percent of his taxes for the foundations. Presumably virtually all African Americans would so designate, but a great many others might as well. Comer may not have a perfect proposal, but I'd sure love to hear it discussed.
During the 1990s about 116,000 more people left Louisiana than moved in. Many were outstanding high school graduates, college students and recent college graduates. In the fourth in a series of monthly installments, The Advocate looks at some of the area's brightest young leaders and why they flee. Louisiana is losing many of its best college students to other states, and most of them probably will never return. They are budding doctors, engineers and computer experts, bright and ambitious students who help form a state's future. And they are united by this sobering assessment: Leaving Louisiana is the best way they can blossom, academically and professionally. Erin Hanover, a National Merit finalist at St. Joseph's Academy who attends Texas A&M, spoke for many of her talented peers in one simple declaration. "I felt there was opportunity elsewhere," Hanover said. Louisiana is not only losing a staggering amount of talent to places like Harvard, MIT and Duke. It is also losing high-achievers to Texas A&M, the University of Texas, the University of Georgia and lesser-renowned schools. Chris Carlin, a graduate of Catholic High School in Baton Rouge, figures he could have attended LSU for next to nothing. Instead, he will face around $60,000 in debts by the time he finishes Texas A&M, where he is studying to be a computer engineer. "Sometimes it is worth it to pay a lot," Carlin said during a chat at A&M's Memorial Student Center in College Station. Even more disturbing is the news that many of the most sought- after students who flee their home states will not be coming home. Fewer than one in four aspiring scientists, engineers and others who attend an out-of-state college 23 percent return to their home state, a study last year by the Southern Technology Council concluded. Those are some of the most coveted students that any state produces. Science and engineering jobs alone are expected to increase four times faster than other occupations by 2008. "If they don't stay in college, you can almost kiss them goodbye," said Denis Gray, a psychology professor at North Carolina State University and one of the authors of the report. "And if that group is the best and brightest, you can have a real problem there," Gray added. Suresh Chanmugam, 28, kissed the state goodbye years ago. Chanmugam, who was valedictorian at Baton Rouge High in 1991, recently launched a computer software assistance firm in Seattle. He relishes Louisiana's people, food and history. Earning a living is something else. "Finding interesting, challenging jobs it's not so easy in Louisiana," Chanmugam said. Many of this year's National Merit finalists who attend high schools in Baton Rouge have reached the same conclusion. The award is a nationally recognized sign of academic excellence. Winners generally fall into the top 1 percent of more than 1 million students tested on math, writing and other skills. Baton Rouge High, St. Joseph's Academy and Episcopal High produced a total of 27 National Merit finalists this year. At least 15 will attend schools out of state. Emily White, 17, is one of them. She is a National Merit finalist who graduated with honors from Episcopal High earlier this month. White wants to study politics and drama. She might go to law school. She plans to do her undergraduate work at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va. "I want to get out," White said. They are often the sons and daughters of parents who graduated from LSU or other Louisiana schools. But these same students are willing to travel a long way from home, fight for scholarships and take on huge debts to attend schools they consider better than anything at home. Schuyler Houser, 22, just finished serving as president of the student body at Texas A&M, only the third woman to hold the job. She is from Thibodaux. Her parents are from New Orleans. "I love Texas," Houser said. "I am proud to have half-adopted this state." Karen Chao, who graduated from Baton Rouge High, is studying bioengineering at Rice University in Houston. Chao picked Rice over Tulane University because she felt there would be better job opportunities in Houston than in New Orleans. Last summer she tried to find a research job in Baton Rouge but struck out. This summer she will take part in one of the nation's top biomedical research internships at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "I just wouldn't have that opportunity in Baton Rouge or anywhere else in Louisiana," Chao said in an e-mail response to questions. Returning to the state, she said, is unlikely. "There aren't many job opportunities for bioengineers in Louisiana," she said. "Louisiana is behind other states in so many areas." State education officials and national groups do not generally keep track of exactly what kinds of students leave their home states for other colleges. Some, including former LSU Chancellor James Wharton, dispute the notion that Louisiana is losing an inordinate number of bright students. Wharton cited 1998 figures that showed only 1 in 10 students left the state, the second lowest percentage in the nation. But those figures apply to all students, not a state's highest achievers. Widespread anecdotal evidence and studies by Gray and others suggest many of the state's brightest young leaders are leaving and not coming back. In some cases Louisiana's four-year-old college scholarship program the Tuition Opportunity Program for Students helps the state keep good students. The best can qualify for up to $15,000 during four years. Some top students and their families opt for TOPS so they can save money for an expensive graduate school. Nearly 62,000 students have won $313 million in TOPS assistance since the 1998-99 school year. But more than 8,000 students who qualified for TOPS, including many of Louisiana's brightest, declined the offer. Many attended out-of-state schools. "Unfortunately there are some students who receive a full ride, all their expenses paid, to an out-of-state institution that can't be matched by our (aid) packages," said Jack Guinn, executive director of the Office of Student Financial Assistance. TOPS is largely designed to help rank-and-file students pay for college. A growing number of Southern states are taking a different tack: Lures to keep their best students. Georgia's Hope Scholarship Program pays students' tuition, mandatory fees and a $150-per-semester book allowance. Students have to graduate from high school with a "B" average and keep a "B" average in college. Nearly 590,000 students have won Hope Scholarships since 1993. The aid cost the state $1.5 billion, all from Georgia Lottery proceeds. Three out of four Georgia students who scored 1500 or higher on the Scholastic Aptitude Test another national barometer of academic skills attend in-state schools, up from fewer than one out of four before the scholarships were offered, The Chronicle of Higher Education reports. Companies look for an educated work force in deciding where to locate, Georgia Gov. Roy E. Barnes noted recently. "By keeping our best and brightest here in Georgia, we can provide one," he said. Schools whose reputations resonate from coast to coast often trump TOPS. Stephanie Holden, who used to live in Baton Rouge, attends the Harvard Business School. "Education is so valuable," Holden said. "Unfortunately it is not the most important thing in the South." Episcopal High School graduate Kurt Chauviere, who is studying medieval history at Harvard, will work this summer as an intern for a member of the British Parliament. Not long ago he helped conduct a seminar on democracy in Prague. "The kinds of jobs I am interested in just don't abound in Louisiana like they do in New England and the West Coast," Chauviere said. Sourav Sengupta, who graduated from Baton Rouge High, attends Duke University. Sengupta, who plans on a career in medical research, did not apply to any schools in Louisiana. "The biggest difference is there are opportunities to be had that you can't get in state," Sengupta said. The University of Texas and Texas A&M are popular choices with high achievers from Baton Rouge. Students in Louisiana are the most receptive among all the states that border Texas, said Edward Funkhouser, executive director of the Texas A&M Office of Honors Programs and Academic Scholarships. UT's new-found status as one of the "public Ivys," is a big plus, said Bruce Walker, director of admissions. Both schools are also known for their national job-hiring networks. Mary Anne Wegenhoft of Brusly, a 4.0 student studying animal science at Texas A&M, has likely left Louisiana for good. "I think the quality of education I am getting here is better than LSU," Wegenhoft said. Adam Tate, 24, was a National Merit finalist at Catholic High, where he graduated in 1995. Tate and others were being recruited by LSU officials on the same day he got his financial offer from Texas A&M, where he earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering. Scholarships saved him roughly $32,000 in out-of-state fees. Tate's family spent about $12,000 for tuition, room and board. "$12,000 over four years," he said. "That's pretty cheap." Tate is working on his master's degree in computer engineering at the University of Texas. Austin's reputation as a new high-tech mecca played a key role in his choice. "A lot of work in my field is not in Louisiana," he said. LSU is a comfortable local option. Its Honors College appeals to lots of bright students. Tulane, the only state school that shows up on many lists of the nation's Top 50 schools, also makes some of the wish lists. But less than 10 percent of the private school's student body is made up of Louisiana students from outside the New Orleans area. Michael Dasgupta, a National Merit finalist who graduated this month from Episcopal High, considered both but ruled them out. "I feel that in other states there will be better higher education and job and career opportunities," Dasgupta said. He plans to attend the University of Texas. Kathryn Pittman was a National Merit finalist who graduated from St. Joseph's Academy earlier this month. Pittman's early list included Texas A&M, Emory, the University of Virginia, the University of North Carolina, Duke, Vanderbilt and the University of Georgia. Pittman chose Wake Forest. "I have always wanted to go away," she said. Tony Chen, who graduated from Baton Rouge High this month, is headed for the University of North Carolina, whose academic reputation has skyrocketed in recent years. Chen was one of Baton Rouge High's 15 National Merit finalists this year. "I wanted to go out of state," he said. "Time for a change of environment." Chen wants to major in biology and minor in Latin. He hopes to be a doctor. Returning to the state is unlikely. "I want to see what the rest of the world is like," Chen said. Joy Guerin, who just graduated from Baton Rouge High, plans to stay in state for college then take off. Guerin was a National Merit finalist and National Achievement finalist, the latter an award that recognizes top-flight black students. She just finished a stint as editor of her high school newspaper, "Campus Currents." Guerin is hoping for a career in music. "She will have more opportunities out of state," her father Joseph said. Joy, who plans to attend Loyola University in New Orleans, agrees. "I just don't see Louisiana as a bustling music mecca," she said. "I prefer something on the East Coast." LaKedra Pam, another National Merit and National Achievement finalist at Baton Rouge High, wants to be a trauma surgeon. Pam turned down lucrative offers from Tulane and LSU to attend Emory University in Atlanta, which offered a deal that covered her room and board, books, transportation and a personal stipend. Earlier in the family's college hunt, Pam's mother Lois hoped her daughter would stay close to home. Emory's package made the choice easier. "We couldn't argue with that at all," Lois Pam said. One trend was clear: Lots of former classmates have fled their hometowns for places like Austin, Dallas, Denver and Birmingham. Sandy Fishel, 29, who graduated from Baton Rouge High and Florida State University, is a human resources manager for GSP Marketing. She oversees the hiring, firing and job evaluations for about 200 workers in her firm's Clearwater, Fla. office. "I like it a lot," Fishel said. "Right now I don't see myself coming back." Robert S. Walker, a graduate of Baton Rouge High and LSU, has been a software engineer in Austin for less than two years. Returning to Louisiana is unlikely. "There isn't the industry here that you can pursue in Austin or Dallas," he said. Interviews with other transplants around the country turned up similar comments. Ben Kennedy, a graduate of Baton Rouge High and Duke University, is a consultant who also lives in the Washington area. He does strategic research for companies. "I don't see the same career opportunities that I do in Washington," said Kennedy, 23. Louisiana is a hard place to launch a career, said Cregan Laborde, a graduate of Jesuit High School in New Orleans and Vanderbilt University. Those in traditional fields like medicine and oil can make inroads, he said. "If you are not in any of those areas, you are out of luck," Laborde said. Baton Rouge expatriates usually have fond memories of their time here. Many have families in the area. Returning to the state for good is not in the offing. "I am really glad I grew up in Baton Rouge," said Matt Harris, who works in the Washington, D.C. area. "It is a great place," he added. "But as far as some place to do my 20s? Not a chance."
Top job in Texas passes Fox by
Durham Herald-Sun (AP version),
WTVD (ABC)
N.C. State will lay off 50 workers
Durham Herald-Sun,
WRAL-TV
University officials say the jobs fell victim to the state's budget difficulties, and they say more layoffs are in prospect.
RALEIGH - N.C. State University has notified about 50 employees that their jobs will be terminated because of the state's budget crisis, and campus officials say more layoffs are on the way. EDITORIAL: Easley's Raid
Hamburg, Virginia; In Fragrant Smithfield, a Taste of Life in the Pig City
UT chancellor front-runner out of running
Candidate says she is committed to staying put in North Carolina
University of Texas System regents will meet Friday to decide on finalists for chancellor, but the field of candidates has narrowed. Carolina academic off UT list: Researcher doesn't want chancellor job
Establishing demands for privacy on internet
FOOTNOTES: NCSU, UNC-CH cancel tour
PEOPLE: NC STATE UNIVERSITY
Here's an alternative to direct reparations
Albany Times Union,
Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press,
Deseret News (Salt Lake City) (05/28),
Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator (05/28),
Orange County (Calif.) Register (05/28)
Bright Flight Top students leave; many don't return
Fleeing collegians say La. 'behind other states'
Just who are all these bright, ambitious students who are fleeing the state? Most love Baton Rouge, relish the hustle and bustle of a football weekend and adore the local food. High-schoolers expect more outside the state.
> Talk to the best high school students in the area and two schools come up over and over: LSU and, to a lesser extent, Tulane. State schools north of Interstate 10 rarely are mentioned. Young transplants say they're not coming back
Earlier this year the Baton Rouge High Class of 1991 held a reunion. The gathering included a Friday night dinner at Brunet's Seafood Restaurant, a Saturday crawfish boil on False River and a dance at the Sheraton Hotel.