Published: May 18, 2013

By Dan Kane — dkane@newsobserver.com

Last July, a special faculty report into the academic fraud at UNC-Chapel Hill made waves by raising the possibility that athletes’ academic counselors steered them to bogus classes in the African Studies Department.

But cut from the report, days before its release, was a potential explanation of why a manager within that department would be involved.

“Although we may never know for certain, the involvement of Debbie Crowder seems to have been that of an athletics supporter who managed to use the system to ‘help’ players; she was extremely close to personnel in athletics,” earlier drafts of the report state.

The final version, released July 26, dropped that language for this: “Although we may never know for certain, it was our impression from multiple interviews that a department staff member managed to use the system to help players by directing them to enroll in courses in the African and Afro-American Studies Department that turned out to be aberrant or irregularly taught.”

At first, the authors, professors Steven Bachenheimer, Laurie Maffly-Kipp and Michael Gerhardt, couldn’t explain the change. But a request for emails and other correspondence related to the report showed when it happened and why: Faculty chairwoman Jan Boxill wanted it cut because it amounted to hearsay. She told the authors that other professors, whom she did not identify, raised that concern.

Boxill, a former academic counselor for athletes, sent an email to Chancellor Holden Thorp and others as the report was released. It mentioned “some slight edits on page 6,” which is where Crowder’s athletic ties had been recounted.

In an email message to The N&O, she said changes were made after comments from the Faculty Executive Committee, which she chaired.

The information about Crowder isn’t hearsay. The N&O had reported Crowder’s ties to the Athletic Department the previous month, and they were later acknowledged in an investigation led by former Gov. Jim Martin, who determined Crowder wasn’t specifically helping athletes. He had not interviewed her and provided little evidence to back his claim. Martin had received both versions of the faculty report.

Other UNC records given to an accreditation commission looking into the fraud connect Crowder and athletes. The university’s initial investigation, covering a recent five-year period, found nine bogus classes that appeared to have been set up by Crowder. Athletes accounted for all but eight of the 56 students enrolled, including 31 football players and eight basketball players.

Kane: 919-829-4861

via Report omitted Crowder’s athletic ties | Education | NewsObserver.com.

Updated: Fri 11:36 AM, May 17, 2013

The head of a university that remains under SBI investigation is stepping down.

Elizabeth City State University Chancellor Willie Gilchrist today says he is resigning and plans to formally retire June 30th.

Gilchrist’s resignation follows last week’s departure of university police chief Sam Beamon. The SBI says it’s looking into allegations of obstruction of justice and witness intimidation. ECSU says the investigation centers on how it handled a complaint of assault and sexual battery on campus.

Gilchrist, who has been at ECSU since 2007, said his decision is in the best interest of the university, the state system and his family. UNC President Tom Ross will soon name an interim chancellor, according to a news release.

Prior to ESCU, Gilchrist was superintendent for the Halifax County School system.

via ECSU Chancellor Resigns Amid SBI Probe.

By Michael Abramowitz

Friday, May 17, 2013

North Carolina’s health care providers soon will have a new state system for Medicaid reimbursement claims, but they have no idea yet who their Medicaid management partners will be.

N.C. Secretary of Health and Human Services secretary Aldona Wos on Thursday presented local health professionals with Gov. Pat McCrory’s vision for the future of Medicaid and gathered suggestions, questions and concerns about how to achieve a system that “makes people healthier in a predictable and sustainable way.”

McCrory already has opened the bidding process to private-for-profit entities to compete with the state’s award-winning not-for-profit community care (CCNC) management entity, a move that has concerned many health care providers. Wos said that having multiple management entities would make it easier for care providers to contract for management services and receive reimbursements more efficiently, “but how many is the right number… to keep the system successful and sustainable?”

She said the state has whittled the number to about 10 from which to choose, but said it will probably golower.

Wos did not present a new Medicaid plan, but outlined the administration’s general views and goals of providing the most effective care while reducing administrative costs through an efficient management system for services and cost reimbursements that will reduce the taxpayers’ burden. The DHHS operates under $20 billion budget, from which $13 billion goes to Medicaid, she said.

“The governor asked me to look at this carefully and make sure that North Carolina citizens’ needs are being met and the $13 billion is being efficiently spent,” Wos said.

After analyzing feedback already received, Wos cited common themes around which the department has started to build a framework for reform: simplifying the complex information management system for health care providers and patients, reducing administrative complexities and finding a way to treat patients as a whole by combining management of mental and behavioral health care with physical health care under one statewide umbrella, Wos said.

Even without a replacement Medicaid management system in place, the state will begin using an electronic one-stop provider billing system on July 1 and will require use of a one-stop electronic eligibility processing system on Oct. 1, Wos said.

Wos did not say, when asked, why the State Legislature turned down the federal government’s offer to fund 100 percent of its Medicaid program until 2017, then 90 percent thereafter. She and Medicaid director Carol Steckler were not allowed by their press secretary to answer questions about the 500,000 state residents not presently covered by Medicaid or any other insurance plan.

McCrory has said the new plan will not include eligibility for that portion of the population.

“The governor has said we are focusing on making our current Medicaid system more efficient and effective,” spokesman Ricky Diaz said. “His plan does not provide for any change in eligibility.”

When asked whether McCrory has factored the financial effect to his plan of leaving 500,000- 600,000 people out of the health care coverage equation, Diaz repeated that those people will not be eligible.

Health care providers in the east, like Dr. David Herman, CEO of Vidant Health System, which provides care under state law to 70,000 uncovered, non-paying people each year, were well aware of the challenges they face to continue providing quality care without reimbursement while keeping the system financially viable.

“Secretary Wos and I acknowledge there need to be changes in the health care system,” Herman said. “Our organization, however has particular challenges because of the demographics of eastern North Carolina. Dr. Wos has expressed that she understands that perhaps one size doesn’t fit all.”

Herman said his biggest concern about even small Medicaid funding changes is the effect they can have on Vidant’s ability to deliver on its mission, due to the wide variations in the payer mix.

“We can’t shift the cost of care to other payers the way providers in other parts of the state perhaps can,” he said.

Contact Michael Abramowitz at mabramowitz@reflector.com or (252) 329-9571.

via The Daily Reflector.

Jean Little helps the children with their after-school work at the Little Willie Center on Thursday, May 9, 2013. (Aileen Devlin/ The Daily Reflector)

Editorial

Friday, May 17, 2013

A shining source of hope and positive child development for 23 years, the Little Willie Center after-school program stands tall as one of this city’s most recognized faith-based support networks for families in need. And at the same time, the center is itself in the perpetual position of reaching out to the greater community for financial and volunteer support.

All this week, the center’s community development group has been hosting prayer vigils, health screenings and other events designed to further illuminate its mission and draw support. Those with the time and means to participate and help should seize the opportunity to do so.

The center has expanded its focus in recent years to include education service and workforce development for adults trying to improve their lives and the lives of their children. But the center’s long-standing core mission of “addressing the needs of latchkey children” in the West Greenville community has not changed since Renee Arrington founded the organization in 1990.

The center will provide its services at no cost, although parents are asked to volunteer and help in other ways. Instead of paid staff, the center uses volunteers from the community, East Carolina University and other groups.

“The community really owns the Little Willie Center,” said Marvin Arrington, chairman of the center’s board of directors.

After many years of operating out of a small house on West Fifth Street, the center is now located in the nearby Lucille W. Gorham Intergenerational Center, where it offers summer camps in addition to its after-school and other programs. While the larger location has allowed for some expansion in services, the center can serve only so many children at a time. That number is at 40 now, but Marvin Arrington will tell you there are always many more waiting for a spot to become available.

It should be noted that the Little Willie Center has been an inspiration to other community outreach programs that provide similar services to children and families in need. The Building Hope Community Life Center, Third Street Community Center, Operation Sunshine, the Boys & Girls Club of Pitt County, and numerous churches and other groups all do wonderful work deserving of support.

The Little Willie Center is certainly not the only local effort working to help today’s at-risk children develop into tomorrow’s positive role models and community leaders. But it should continue to stand as a positive role model for how that work can and should be done.

via The Daily Reflector.

Published: May 17, 2013 Updated 1 hour ago

By Tammy Grubb — tammy.grubb@newsobserver.com

DURHAM — A judge has continued the order sealing search warrants in the September death of a UNC-Chapel Hill student.

The search warrants were resealed May 14 for another 60 days in the death of Faith Hedgepeth, 19, a junior from Warrenton.

A judge said previously the documents were sealed to keep information confidential that only investigators and the suspects might know. Police did release some information in January about DNA evidence gathered from the scene.

Hedgepeth was found dead Sept. 7, 2012, in her Hawthorne at the View apartment on Old Chapel Hill Road. Chapel Hill investigators still have not released a cause of death.

Anyone with information should call the Chapel Hill Police Department at 919-614-6363 or Crime Stoppers at 919-942-7515.

Calls to Crime Stoppers are confidential, and callers may be eligible for a reward of up to $39,000. Written information can be sent to crimetips@townofchapelhill.org.

via DURHAM: Judge reseals warrants in UNC student’s death | Crime | NewsObserver.com.

Editorial

Published: May 16, 2013 Updated 12 hours ago

It was not encouraging when, during a forum in Reidsville on how to deliver Medicaid to North Carolinians, state Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Aldona Wos cited Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin as the reason Medicaid wasn’t expanded to include another 500,000 working class state residents.

The reason, of course, was the determination of Republicans in the General Assembly to take a stand against President Obama and the federal government’s offer to provide the money for additional people free of charge to the state. Turning down the offer, which will hurt hundreds of thousands of people and their families, was nothing more than an ideological and political stance, and it was a horrible decision.

Wos needs to be fully informed as to the state of Medicaid before she takes her show on the road, the intention of the show being to get community input, including comment from doctors, as to how the state can best deliver care.

Governor McCrory, in the name of saving money, wants to convert the delivery of Medicaid to three or four managed care organizations. They would run the show for a set price, and both the companies and doctors would share some financial risk if, for example, services wound up costing more than anticipated.

Many doctors seem to prefer a setup such as Community Care of North Carolina (CCNC), a network of doctors that focuses on preventative care and monitoring those with chronic illnesses, the aim being to keep them out of emergency rooms and more expensive care. Under McCrory’s plan, CCNC wouldn’t continue, unless it wanted to be one of the bidders for services.

CCNC seems to work well. The state would do well to encourage its expansion.

Carol Steckel, state director of Medicaid, said CCNC needed to include mental health care. Doctors have advocated that the program be expanded to do that, and that hospitals be drawn into the mix as well.

In any case, by going out and talking to people, Wos has a chance to get some meaningful feedback and it’s hoped, to take some of the ideas back to the governor, who should remain at least somewhat flexible.

Unfortunately, McCrory’s representatives, Wos and Steckel, are apparently limited in what they can say. When, on Wednesday in Durham, a professor of medicine at UNC-Chapel Hill said the decision not to expand Medicaid was “bad from a public health standpoint,” all Steckel would say was, “We hear your opinion about the Medicaid expansion. Let’s talk about how we can improve the existing Medicaid program.”

Getting input about Medicaid from different areas of the state is a good idea, but it will prove a productive idea only if Wos and Steckel do more than listen.

via DHHS leader Wos should listen before changing Medicaid | Editorials | NewsObserver.com.

Posted: May 16, 2013 6:27 PM EDT Updated: May 16, 2013 6:31 PM EDT

By Alex Freedman, Weekend Anchor

Gov. Pat McCrory is keeping the ball rolling on his proposed restructuring of our state’s Medicaid program, potentially putting a large portion of it in private hands.

The Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Aldona Wos, is touring the state answering questions about what they’re calling the “new framework.”

Wos visited East Carolina University’s Heart Institute Thursday for a question and answer session with local health experts.

“$36 million a day for the state of North Carolina is how much we spend on Medicaid right now,” said Wos during her presentation.

The state spends $13 billion a year on the Medicaid program and Gov. McCrory hopes to make it more cost effective by replacing the current non-profit organization that runs Medicaid with multiple for-profit healthcare management companies he’d dubbing “Comprehensive Care Entities.”

The CCE’s will bring together what McCrory calls the “silos” of healthcare: Mental and Physical Health, along with Substance Abuse.

Opponents question how a for-profit company will keep costs down and, more importantly, keep profits in North Carolina. Under the new framework, DHHS would take applications from healthcare management companies hoping to become a CCE, even applications from out-of-state companies.

Wos says she hopes North Carolina based management companies will “step-up to the table” so the department will not have to rely on out-of-state companies.

Al Delia, current Director of the Office of Health Access at the Brody School of Medicine, says there is still work to be done.

“I think a lot of the details still have to be worked out,” said Delia, “We have too many silos in North Carolina so I think that aspect of the plan that they put forth is right on target.”

The new framework is projected to roll out in 2015.

via Sec. Aldona Wos talks Medicaid ‘framework’ – WNCT | 9 On Your Side Greenville NC & Eastern NC News.

By Amanda Albright

Updated: 16 hours ago

Drew Moretz, a lobbyist for the UNC system, has fielded tough questions from legislators about how state money is being used on college campuses.

“We want to make sure they feel there is a return on investment,” he said.

Moretz said he emphasizes the economic impact of the UNC system — such as the number of people it puts to work post-graduation — when lobbying legislators.

But when economist Mike Walden gave a presentation last year to higher education leaders about the UNC system’s economic impact, several Republican legislators called his findings a ploy for public support.

Walden, an economics professor at N.C. State University, found that the UNC system’s teaching function benefited the state by $6.1 billion in 2009 and out-of-state students’ spending totaled $400 million.

The controversy surrounding his analysis reflects a larger debate in the state and nationwide as to whether public higher education provides an economic return on investment.

With some North Carolina leaders doubting education’s viability and less state money available, investments in the UNC system have dropped dramatically.

In 2011, a cut of $414 million caused UNC campuses to eliminate 3,000 positions and hundreds of course sections, and McCrory’s 2013-14 budget proposal includes another $139 million cut to the system.

The legislature will release its final budget next month.

Harry Leo Smith Jr., a businessman and one of 16 new appointees to the UNC-system Board of Governors, said the legislature has been reluctant to fund higher education for political and economic reasons.

“It’s a culmination of ideology and the recession,” Smith said. “When the checkbook’s empty, you’re supposed to ask a lot of questions.”

But Joe Hackney, a Democrat and Speaker of the N.C. House from 2007-2011, said the reduced investment in higher education can be attributed to Republican control of state politics.

“They’ve always been more skeptical of the value of the university system and a little more hostile to some of the things that go on at universities,” he said.

Hackney said the UNC system has provided longstanding economic benefits to the state by employing a wide range of disciplines, including medicine, public service, science and research.

Smith said the state should evaluate its investment in the UNC system through schools’ job attainment rates and graduation rates.

“There has to be some accountability to performance,” he said. “You can break it down college by college — who is doing the most with the money they get?”

Schools have to balance measures of economic impact with soft outcomes such as critical thinking, Smith said.

But David Ayers, a professor at UNC-Greensboro, said increasing emphasis on the economic impact of education is damaging.

“The legislature is trying to choose for them, and is pushing them in the direction of job training,” Ayers said.

Sen. Jeff Tarte, R-Mecklenburg, said universities need to educate students and prepare them for careers.

“You don’t want to invest in a system where nobody graduated or had an interest,” he said.

Ayers said the return on the investment in a liberal arts education cannot be measured monetarily.

“It’s pretty clear that when states invest in education systems, their graduates become more productive citizens and become leaders, and overall the economy improves.”

Contact the desk editor at state@dailytarheel.com.

via The Daily Tar Heel :: NC leaders evaluate economic impact of investment in higher education.

By Michael Abramowitz

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration today will detail its alternative to the federal Medicaid expansion plan he and the state Legislature rejected under the Affordable Care Act.

Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Aldona Vos and state Medicaid director Carol Steckel will outline and discuss the governor’s plan with health care providers at 1:15 p.m. at the East Carolina Heart Institute at East Carolina University, 115 Heart Drive, a DHHS official announced.

Vos and Steckel will seek creative and innovative ideas as the plan’s details are finalized, the governor’s spokespeople said.

“The Partnership for a Healthy North Carolina” is McCrory’s proposed Medicaid framework for a network of behavioral and physical health care services for North Carolina’s children, older adults, people with disabilities, people with mental illness and low-income families, the governor’s staff said in a prepared statement last week.

Republican legislators in March rejected the ACA plan that offers states the opportunity to voluntarily participate in expanded federal Medicaid coverage paid by the federal government.

“Before considering Medicaid expansion, we must reform the current system to make sure people currently enrolled receive the services they need and more taxpayer dollars are not put at risk,” McCrory said when he signed the bill.

When he announced his alternative plan on April 3, McCrory said it calls for providers, recipients, taxpayers and the state to come together to implement a coordinated-care model of delivery to bring long-term predictability, sustainability and efficiency to the program.

“We’re bringing all partners together to improve care, customer service and efficiency, but most importantly, to deliver right care at the right place at the right time to improve results for our state’s most vulnerable citizens,” McCrory said.

The state tour featuring Vos and Steckel, which was in Durham on Wednesday, ran into some controversy last Friday when Vos told an audience in Reidsville that the decision not to expand the state’s Medicaid program came from state Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin. Goodwin fired back, saying that statement was untrue.

As soon as the tour was announced, the N.C. Medical Society issued a statement expressing skepticism about the governor’s plan.

“We’re interested in learning more about the details of the governor’s proposal,” the statement said. “However, if the administration’s idea of reform is bringing in out-of-state corporations so they can profit by limiting North Carolina patients’ access to health care and cutting critical medical services to our state’s most vulnerable citizens, that is not change we can support.”

Contact Michael Abramowitz at mabramowitz@reflector.com or 252-329-9571.

via The Daily Reflector.

Published: May 15, 2013 Updated 14 hours ago

By Jane Stancill — jstancill@newsobserver.com

CHAPEL HILL — A task force on UNC-Chapel Hill’s sexual harassment and assault policy will look to a recent agreement between the U.S. government and the University of Montana over that campus’s response to sexual assaults.

The settlement, announced last week, requires the University of Montana to do an overhaul of its sexual assault policies and procedures, including educating the campus on harassment and sexual violence, creating a tracking system for complaints, conducting annual campus surveys and requiring better response by campus police. The agreement followed a yearlong federal investigation prompted in part by high-profile sexual assault cases involving football players.

Federal officials have said the Montana agreement provides a blueprint for reform at campuses across the nation.

UNC-CH, itself under federal investigation for its reporting and handling of sexual assault cases, has undertaken a review of its policy by a 22-member task force that includes faculty, staff and students.

The panel started its work Wednesday, when a university-hired consultant, Gina Smith, said UNC-CH is at the forefront of a changing national conversation about sexual misconduct on college campuses.

“You are there and you are emerging as national leaders,” she told the group, “and this task force is one example of it.”

The five women who filed a federal Title IX complaint against UNC-CH have argued that the current policy was written by a few administrators without input from students and those with expertise in sexual violence. They have said the policy is hard to understand and too focused on compliance.

Smith said just meeting standards isn’t enough. The university has to be sure to tend to the needs of individuals who face personal and emotional crises during such experiences, she said.

“Compliance is the floor,” she said. “We want the well-being of our students to be – the sky is the limit.”

A varied task force

The new task force includes a cross-section of faculty, students and staff who regularly deal with sexual harassment and assault, including counselors and coordinators who handle rape prevention education, student complaints and investigations. There is a law enforcement representative and a university attorney, as well as a professor who does research on violence against women, a member of a feminist student group and the director of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer center on campus.

Christy Lambden, student body president, said the diversity of the group should give people confidence about its deliberations.

“From my understanding of the way that the policy was being written previously, this is a much more diverse group writing this policy now and it’s a much bigger group,” Lambden said. “Whether we reach the same conclusion or a different conclusion remains to be seen, but I certainly think that there will be more trust and faith in the process because we do have that big a group with more constituencies represented.”

‘Embrace the tension’

Already, differing opinions began to emerge Wednesday. Several members said there should be some recognition that women are disproportionately affected by sexual violence and that a “fair and balanced” standard may not work in a society where men and women are not always treated equally.

Smith told task force to “embrace the tension” and the group’s chairwoman, Christi Hurt, said disagreements will provide a “creative force” to the discussions.

“It means we’ve got the right people in the room,” Hurt said.

Lambden, the student body president, said the revision of the policy is a recognition that change is necessary.

“There is an understanding that the university has messed up,” he said, “and that now we are doing our best to fix that and move forward.”

Stancill: 919-829-4559

via CHAPEL HILL: Rewrite of UNC-Chapel Hill sexual assault policy begins | Education | NewsObserver.com.

Chapel Hill, N.C. — A 22-member task force began Wednesday the intricate process of examining how the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill handles campus sexual assault cases and how administrators can improve that system.

Student protests in recent months prompted Chancellor Holden Thorp to appoint the task force. The protests followed the filing of a complaint with the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights.

Five women asked federal investigators to look into what they called an atmosphere of sexual violence at UNC-Chapel Hill. Their complaint accuses the school of under-reporting sexual assault cases for 2010 in an annual report to the federal government on campus crime and alleged that campus officials have created a hostile environment for students reporting sexual assault.

“We know these issues are emotionally charged and incendiary. I’d ask you to try to take emotion out of this process so we can fully and fairly identify these issues,” Gina Smith, a nationally recognized expert on sexual assault cases, told the task force.

UNC-Chapel Hill has hired Smith to help it strengthen its policies regarding campus sexual assaults.

“(Victims) are not being treated fairly (and have) a perception of feeling judged or isolated, not having right support, before, during or after the process,” she said.

Smith has held several campus conversations in recent weeks to solicit feedback from students and staff, and the task force will take those ideas into account. The group also has set up an online suggestion box to gather input.

“We must not judge,” Smith, a former prosecutor, told the panel.

The group plans to meet weekly through the summer, with the goal of presenting recommendations to administrators when students return to campus in August.

“We’re going to have very different perspectives on what a policy should do and who we’re accountable to,” said task force member Sarah-Kathryn Bryan, a rising junior. “I think that, as long as we have a solid policy with administration and staff, who are well-trained and accountable to upholding policy, then we’ll be able to move forward with a campus that doesn’t support rape culture.”

Reporter: Renee Chou

Photographer: Tom Normanly

Web Editor: Matthew Burns

via Panel starts examining UNC-CH’s handling of sex assault cases :: WRAL.com.

By Kristin Zachary

Thursday, May 16, 2013

A Peeping Tom video filmed about eight years ago in a purple and gold locker room will be an embarrassment and breach of security if an investigation determines it recorded at ECU, an official said.

The footage was brought to the attention of East Carolina University police in November, and an officer is investigating to determine if it was filmed in a campus locker room, ECU police Lt. Chris Sutton said at a Wednesday news conference.

Sutton would not elaborate on the investigation process but said “there is some urgency to it.” He said there is no current threat at ECU and he is confident in the security measures now in place.

The video appears to be at least 8 years old, university spokeswoman Jeannine Hutson said on Wednesday.

“There have been some renovations on the athletics campus since the video was shot, so it may or may not be our campus,” she said. No one has been identified from the video.

“They’re still determining if this occurred on our campus and what victims can be identified, if any,” Hutson said.

The footage was part of a collection removed from the Ayden home of LaDarryl Strong, 33, after he was arrested on peeping charges last year outside Five County Stadium following a Mudcats game.

Strong, of 169 Snow Hill St., Ayden, posed as a janitor and sneaked into a visitors’ locker room after a game between the Mudcats and the Wilmington, Del., Blue Rocks on April 10, 2012. Officials with the Zebulon Police Department said Strong filmed players undressing.

Officers recovered eight videos, a small camera, 15 grams of marijuana and paraphernalia from his vehicle. At his home, investigators seized 20 computers and other media devices.

Strong was charged with felony secret peeping, first-degree trespass, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. He agreed to plead guilty on March 8 to misdemeanor secret peeping in Wake County. He was sentenced to 36 months probation.

The possibility one of Strong’s videos was recorded on ECU’s campus is serious, Sutton said Wednesday, but the investigation will take time as officials have reviewing at least 400 videos from the Ayden home.

“I can’t say that they may have been on ECU’s campus,” Sutton said about the videos, “but we had to review them to be certain.”

It was not clear if Strong has any connection with ECU, but university officials confirmed he did not attend ECU and is not a current or past employee.

Investigators at ECU continue to work on the case but are not at a point of making a final report, Sutton said. He said he does expect security procedures to be reviewed following the investigation.

If the video is determined to have been taken on ECU’s campus, it would be an invasion of privacy, Sutton said, and “there would be some level of embarrassment … it would feel like some layer of security had been breached.”

Security measures taken eight years ago differ from those taken today, he said, with efforts now “more stringent and heightened.”

Contact Kristin Zachary at kzachary@reflector.com and 252-329-9566. Follow her on Twitter @kzacharygdr.

via The Daily Reflector.

Seen on the side of Starlight Cafй located in downtown Greenville is the new public art that was put together by N.C. artist Jan-Ru Wan and local textile manufacturer Parrot Canvas Co. (Aileen Devlin/ The Daily Reflector)

By Michael Abramowitz

Thursday, May 16, 2013

A Taiwanese artist and former East Carolina University professor discovered a strong sense of community during her stay in Greenville, prompting her gift to the city, officials said at a Wednesday ceremony unveiling her artwork.

A three-dimensional textile mural, called “Home” by artist Jan-Ru Wan, was showcased on a wall at the corner of South Evans and Fifth streets prior to a gathering of city officials and shoppers at the opening of the Uptown Umbrella Market at Five Points Plaza.

The work is the result of a partnership between the artist and local textile manufacturer Parrott Canvas Co. It was unveiled by the Public Art Collaborative’s Art-Force program co-directors, Janet Kagan and Jean Greer.

The nonprofit Art-Force organization, based in Chapel Hill, works to stimulate economic development by bringing together artists and designers with entrepreneurs, small businesses, educational institutions and local agencies to boost artistic design and production.

By matching artists with small manufacturers across the state, Art-Force aims to reaffirm a community’s connection to place, Kagan and Greer said.

“Art-Force believes communities can use artists’ imaginations to retool manufacturing and assist communities in an economic transformation,” Kagan told the audience.

“The purpose of the Greenville alliance is just that — to develop new products for Parrott Canvas with the imagination of artist Jan-Ru Wan, bolster the company’s workforce and, ultimately, stimulate the town’s overall vitality,” she said.

Greer said “Home” is the artist’s depiction of the flowing Tar River, spotted with homes, industries and other local features.

“The artist was on the ECU faculty for four years and got to know the city very well,” Greer said. “The idea of her piece is that whatever happens in a city — the clouds change and the people change — you still have a place called home.”

The artwork was created for the city as part of a grant awarded by ArtPlace America to the PAC Art-Force Program.

The project allied Wan with Parrott Canvas to design new products and demonstrate their partnership in a public context.

“All the credit goes to the artist for the whole creation,” company President Mickey Parrot said.

“We also worked with Jan-ru to get an artist’s take on some of the products we make and will eventually be marketing,” he said.

The team’s products — a collection of pieces, including cross-body bags and a set of baskets — will be on display in the windows of the Pitt County Arts Council at Emerge at 404 S. Evans St. and will be available for sale at Parrott Canvas.

In creating the mural, Wan chose to use the same materials — lightweight indoor/outdoor fabrics — that are featured in her designs for the manufacturer.

“Home” will stay for two years at its present location before being transported to another location in the city for display, Greer said.

Contact Michael Abramowitz at mabramowitz@reflector.com or 252-329-9571.

via The Daily Reflector.

Jonathan Gibby for NBC News

Steve Heiss stands with fellow graduates before participating in commencement ceremonies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on May 11, 2013.

Allison Linn NBC News

May 15, 2013 6 hours ago

The members of the class of 2013 entered college under the gloom of the Great Recession, came of age in an era of economic uncertainty and are graduating into a job market still scarred by high unemployment.

It’s a situation that many graduating seniors say has had a profound effect on their lives, influencing everything from where they went to college to what they now plan to do with the rest of their lives.

“Basically, I feel like it’s always been in the back of my mind,” said Alison Ritrosky, 21.

She’ll be graduating from the University of New Hampshire in Durham this month with a degree in teaching, and she plans to go straight into a graduate program. The extra education will push her student loan debt up to around $65,000, but she thinks it’s the only way to ensure a good, well-paying job.

“Personally, I feel like I have no option,” she said.

Many graduating seniors say the recession and recovery has been a reality check, teaching them that the economy can falter and jobs aren’t guaranteed even if you have a college degree.

“Moving forward, I guess I’m not as innocent as maybe other college graduates have been in the past,” said Steve Heiss, 22, who graduated from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with degrees in accounting and business administration last weekend.

When Heiss entered college in 2009, seniors were having job offers rescinded. A stock ticker mounted in the school’s atrium seemed often to be ominously in the red.

He chose an accounting major in part because it seemed like the one field where companies were still hiring. The plan paid off, and he secured a job with a major consulting company last November. He starts in late summer.

After watching older students go through the turmoil of the recession, Heiss said he doesn’t take for granted that he will have a way to pay off approximately $30,000 in student loan debt.

“I’ll say this: I’ve never felt more grateful to have a job,” he said.

The good news for the college class of 2013 is that the job market seems to be gradually improving. Students like Heiss report that more recruiters have returned to campus, and the national unemployment rate is ticking back down.

The bad news for young workers is that competition remains extremely tough. The unemployment rate for 20- to 24-year-olds was 13.1 percent in April, far higher than the overall unemployment rate of 7.5 percent.

Experts say a college degree should at least give the class of 2013 an edge over peers who didn’t go to college. A Pew Charitable Trusts analysis of government data through 2011 found that 21- to 24-year-olds with a college degree saw smaller drops in employment and wages than their peers with less education.

But even when some college seniors land a job, it’s not their dream gig.

Courtesy Elizabeth Phan

Elizabeth Phan is grateful to have a job but would like to find a career-track position.

Elizabeth Phan knows how fortunate she is to have a well-paying sales job with an upscale retailer. But Phan, 22, would be happy to be earning half of what she does now if she could snag a career-track job in the financial industry.

Even when she applies for entry-level positions, Phan said she finds herself competing against people who are much more experienced but also are desperate for work.

“I have been looking for a while and it is getting quite frustrating, but I know I’m not the only one so that’s helping,” she said.

Phan will graduate this month from the Fashion Institute of Technology, part of the State University of New York, with a degree in international trade and marketing.

She started her college career in 2008 at a much pricier private school, but the financial crisis made her question whether the approximately $40,000 cost was worth it.

She left that school, moved to New York City, started at community college and eventually earned her degree at FIT. She’d like to get a master’s degree, but she doesn’t want the student loan debt.

“I refuse to take it on,” she said.

Simeon Bochev also might have taken a different college path if it weren’t for the recession.

When the housing market was hot, Bochev’s mother had invested in a vacation property in Colorado, figuring that she’d use the profits for his college education. Instead, the housing bust wiped out much of the home’s value just as Bochev was due to start school.

At the time, Bochev was deciding between University of Texas at Austin and George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Courtesy Simeon Bochev

Simeon Bochev took a different path because of the recession, but he’s not unhappy about it.

The stark difference in costs made it easy to decide to go to Austin to study engineering. But even with lower tuition costs, it was a struggle. He worked as a resident assistant and took paid internships. To help, his mother lived paycheck to paycheck.

Bochev, who immigrated with his parents to the United States from Bulgaria when he was just a baby, said his lifelong dream is to be the U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria. He figures that if he had gone to George Washington, he would have done political internships and ended up with a government or think tank job.

Instead, he got a bachelor’s degree in engineering and then took on $18,500 in student loan debt to finance a yearlong graduate program in finance. He’ll graduate this month and has accepted a job with a major consulting firm.

Bochev also has committed to starting his Master’s in Business Administration at Harvard in 2017. He said he hopes the MBA will provide a transition into public policy, putting him back on track to that ambassador job he had set his sights on.

“I don’t think I gave up the dream,” he said. “I just took a longer way around to it.”

via Innocence lost: Class of 2013 comes of age in a weak economy – NBC News.com.

By Kristin Zachary

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Police are investigating the possibility a video was recorded in an East Carolina University locker room by a Peeping Tom who filmed players undressing last year after a Carolina Mudcats game.

LaDarryl Strong, 33, posed as a janitor and sneaked into a visitors’ locker room at Five County Stadium after a game between the Mudcats and the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks on April 10, 2012.

Officials with the Zebulon Police Department said Strong, 169 Snow Hill St., Ayden, filmed players undressing. He was arrested in the stadium parking lot, and officers recovered eight videos, a small camera, 15 grams of marijuana and paraphernalia from his vehicle.

At the time of his arrest, Strong was employed with Lenoir County School System as a technology assistant in a Kinston school.

Investigators searched his Ayden home and seized 20 computers and other media devices. Strong was charged with felony secret peeping, first-degree trespass, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

The Zebulon chief said at that time he expected officers to find other crimes on the recovered videos and called the incident a “very bold” crime that a first-time offender would not attempt.

Strong was convicted March 8 in Wake County of a misdemeanor count of secretly peeping and was sentenced to 36 months probation, state records show.

ECU was notified that one of the videos recovered from Strong’s home might have been filmed in an ECU locker room, Lt. Chris Sutton said Tuesday.

Information about when the notification was received was not immediately available, he said, but the investigation is in an early stage.

Sutton said his department already has contacted the District Attorney’s Office and will work in collaboration if it determines a crime has occurred.

“This is probably going to be an investigation that will take a little longer,” he said.

Contact Kristin Zachary at kzachary@reflector.com and 252-329-9566. Follow her on Twitter @kzacharygdr.

via The Daily Reflector.

Published: May 14, 2013

By Jane Stancill — jstancill@newsobserver.com

CHAPEL HILL — A task force will begin to review UNC-Chapel Hill’s policy on sexual assault cases Wednesday – four months after several women filed a federal complaint against the university and more than a year after campus leaders with expertise in sexual violence expressed concerns about the university’s policies and procedures.

At its first meeting on Wednesday, the 21-member panel of administrators, faculty, staff and students will hear from a nationally recognized consultant on sexual misconduct who has spent months meeting with groups on campus. The consultant, former Philadelphia sex crimes prosecutor Gina Smith, was hired by UNC-CH for $160,000 for eight months of work, a university spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Smith will give an overview on federal expectations for sexual assault policies and tell the panel about suggestions she’s heard from a variety of people at the university.

Then the panel will get to work, meeting weekly during the summer to come up with recommendations for a revised policy, said Christi Hurt, chairwoman of the task force and interim Title IX coordinator, who is on leave from her position as director of the Carolina Women’s Center.

“The development of this task force acknowledges that we always have miles to go before we sleep,” said Hurt, who worked for a decade on a statewide sexual assault coalition in the state of Washington. “The university is willing to put resources and energy behind making sure that we are taking steps in the right direction to make it a safe campus for everyone.”

She said the panel will be open to fresh ideas as it works to come up with revisions. Hurt will blog weekly about proposals; an online suggestion box will collect public input.

“We’re trying really hard to make this a process that people can engage with and help tell us their interests and concerns as we go,” Hurt said, “so that we are flexible about how we move forward.”

The appointment of a broad-based review panel follows widespread media attention about UNC-CH’s handling of sexual assault cases. In January, five women – students, a former student and a former administrator – filed a federal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that the university mishandled sexual assault cases and violated the students’ rights under the federal Title IX gender equity law.

A federal investigation of UNC-CH is underway, and across the nation, other campuses are fighting similar battles after similar complaints.

‘Different conversation’

Andrea Pino, a rising senior at UNC-CH and one of the federal complainants, said the new task force is a validation of students’ concerns about UNC-CH’s policy, which she said is legalistic, complex and overly focused on compliance.

She said students had complained about UNC-CH’s policies last year but got nowhere with the university.

“It was very much, you know, ‘we’re in compliance, your concerns are being heard,’ but nothing was being done,” said Pino, who has talked publicly about being raped last year. “And then when we filed the complaint, it became a whole different conversation.”

In late 2011, a staff committee focused on education around sexual assault and relationship violence wrote to Chancellor Holden Thorp offering help with a revision of the university’s policy, required under federal guidelines issued in the spring of that year. The letter expressed concern about the policy and a lack of training for people who hear sexual assault case proceedings.

“As an institution, we should not simply adjust current policy to comply with the minimum standards set forth by Title IX,” said the letter, signed by 15 staffers. “Rather, we should create policy and procedures that will serve our students well. We want a policy that will help survivors get the help and support they need and that will hold perpetrators appropriately accountable.”

One of the signers, Melinda Manning, an assistant dean of students, eventually left the university and signed on to the federal complaint.

The policy was ultimately revised in August of last year. University spokeswoman Karen Moon said student affairs administrators, with “many other members of the campus community,” worked to strengthen the campus process for responding to allegations of sexual assault. Several new staff positions were created.

“University officials believe the current revised policy reflects a commitment to a fair, respectful process that complies with federal guidelines and is fair and supportive of the students involved,” Moon said in a statement. “However, the campus conversations that have taken place throughout the past academic year, including those led by Gina Smith last semester, have provided additional feedback for the new task force starting its work this week to consider.”

A whole new look

So now the policy will get a thorough look by the 21-member panel that includes some of the same people who offered their expertise more than a year ago.

Pino said she’s hopeful because the task force includes counselors, professors and academic advisers who encounter students – and rape survivors – daily.

“It just shows you how different things are now,” she said in talking about the makeup of the group. “By filing a complaint we created a conversation that never would’ve happened.”

Members of the UNC-Chapel Hill task force

• Christi Hurt (chair), interim Title IX coordinator and currently on leave as director, Carolina Women’s Center

• K.E. Akin, graduate student

• Kiran Bhardwaj, Graduate and Professional Student Federation president

• Sarah-Kathryn Bryan, undergraduate student

• Alice Dawson, senior assistant dean, Academic Advising Program, College of Arts and Sciences

• Jayne Grandes, investigator, Equal Opportunity/ADA Office

• George Hare, deputy chief, Department of Public Safety

• Robert Joyce, Charles Edwin Hinsdale, professor of public law and government, School of Government, and chairman, Student Grievance Committee

• Christy Lambden, student body president

• Rebecca Macy, L. Richardson Preyer Distinguished Chair for Strengthening Families, associate dean for academic affairs and associate professor, School of Social Work

• Sandra Martin, professor of maternal and child health and associate dean for research, Gillings School of Global Public Health

• Laurie Mesibov, ombuds, University Ombuds Office, and professor of public law and government, School of Government

• Allen O’Barr, director, Counseling and Wellness Services

• Terri Phoenix, director, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer Center

• Robert Pleasants, interpersonal violence prevention coordinator, Campus Health Services

• Kelli Raker, rape prevention coordinator, Dean of Students Office, Student Affairs

• Ew Quimbaya-Winship, deputy Title IX coordinator/student complaint coordinator, Student Affairs

• Desiree Rieckenberg, senior associate dean of students, Dean of Students Office, Student Affairs

• Kara Simmons, associate university counsel

• Anna Sturkey, undergraduate student attorney general, Student Government’s representative, Committee on Student Conduct, and a member of the Sexual Assault Policy Response Team

• Amy Tiemann, community member and a Chapel Hill author and educator focused on issues of parenting, child safety, politics and culture

• Ann Penn (ex officio), director, Equal Opportunity / ADA Office

• Winston Crisp (ex officio), vice chancellor for student affairs

Stancill: 919-829-4559

via CHAPEL HILL: Review of UNC-CH’s sex assault policy begins Wednesday | Education | NewsObserver.com.