Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Feb. 20, 1992, edition 1 / Page 3
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The Daily Tar HeelThursday, February 20, 19923 university UUbriefs Rams Club gift to aid 'j. libraries, preservation A $600,000 portion of a gift from the .'' Educational Foundation will be used to help the Academic Affairs Library and - historic preservation efforts at UNC. The funds are part of the foundation's " $3.65 million donation to the - University's Bicentennial Campaign. . The pledge is believed to be the largest '. ever from a campus athletic organiza tion to an academic fund-raising drive, - and is the second-largest contribution to the campaign. Chancellor Paul Hardin will direct $300,000 each to the library and a his toric preservation fund. "The foundation's generosity will help strengthen the library and also help . . refurbish some of Carolina s most his- : torically significant buildings," he said "Educational Foundation members are ." among the most ardent supporters of ' academic programs at the University. It's only fitting that this portion of their c'gift will help meet such important aca r . demic and historical needs." The pledge to the Academic Affairs 'Library will count towards a National : Endowment for the Humanities chal- ' . lenge grant that will support the general humanities collection, special collec tions and conservation laboratory and 'preservation projects. By raising $3 million in private support, the library is v. eligible for $750,000 from the NEH, bringing the total to $3.75 million. .. Historic renovations on campus will -'.include the restoration of Old East, the nation's first state university building v A private gift will pay part of the cost of restoring Old East to its appearance in 1848. , . Another $2.3 million Educational . ' Foundation pledge will help construct a new facility in the Kenan-Flagler School of Business. UNC is more than halfway to its ' $320 million Bicentennial Campaign goal, with $173 million in gifts and pledges to date. Fellowships will honor late English professor A $32,000 gift from an Atlanta busi nessman will help fund three faculty ' fellowships honoring the late Lyman . . Cotten, a professor emeritus in English, C.KnoxMassey.a 1959UNCgradu- -, ate, was one of the students Cotten .. influenced. Cotten died last year at the age of 82. The fellowships will be administered , - by the College of Arts and Sciences . Institute for the Arts and Humanities. ,. They are the institute's first fellowships to honor a former professor. . . The fellowships offer faculty mem bers a seminar away from departmental , responsibilitiestolearnmoreabouttheir . . field and revitalize their teaching skills. Gilbert Joseph and Melissa Bullard, both history professors, will be the first , faculty members to hold the new fel ... lowships in fall 1992 and spring 1993, . respectively. Cotten taught at UNC from 1940 to 1974, specializing in Victorian poetry. Among the students in his English ; classes was Washington Post columnist Edward Yoder. Schoolchildren board ;: Morehead's space bus 5; Space Bus, a new children's show I offered by Morehead Planetarium, will ', open Feb. 29. ? The show tells the story of elemen t tary students who take a field trip through ", ; the solar system on the space bus, learn ' : ing about the planets during their ad J ventures. : "The main thrust of the show is to ; point out how amazing and special our own planet Earth is when you compare '' ; it to the other planets," said Geoff Holt, -' the show's producer. ? The show also features video foot " age, including a trip across the surface !; of Mars. 5 ' "Space Bus" is intended for a slightly older audience than the planetarium's ' ; usual children's program. It is suited for jv children in 2nd through 5th grades, al ii ; though younger children should enjoy j ; the show. V "Space Bus" will be shown on week 5 ; days at 1 1 a.m. and 4 p.m. and at 4 p.m. j ; Saturday and Sunday. I. ' jj Ackland will sponsor jazz improv workshop i, J The Ackland Art Museum will spon- ' sor a jazz workshop featuring Triangle J- vocalist Nnenna Freelon March 8. : The workshop is free to the public ' and will focus on the theme of improvi 1 sation. Audience participation and re sponse will be encouraged. Freelon, who moved to Durham with ' her husband in 1979, has an album due out in May. She won several awards at the Musicfest USA Competition in Philadelphia in 1989, including a Gold Award for Jazz Combo, the American Heliz "Best in Fest" award and the Musicfest All Star Award for TopSolo ist. In addition to jazz, Freelon's reper- toire includes spirituals, blues and tra ditional African-American song. She : often performs without instrumental ; accompaniment or amplification. The March workshop will be held in ' conjunction with the current exhibit "Who'd A Thought It: Improvisation in t African-American Quiltmaking." Politics ByAnuradhaSeth Staff Writer Political tensions threatened an at mosphere of international understand ing during the planning stages of this week's International Festival, said a spokesman forthe Association of Inter national Students. The festival's theme, "Diverse in Culture United in Spirit," was chal lenged when Foreign Student Adviser David Austell asked Arab-American Association members not to air a movie because of its political nature. "Stolen Freedoms," a film recom Author Vonnegut gives humor, insight at Duke By Dana Pope Assistant City Editor Students, faculty and others came in from the rain at Duke University Tues day night to get an anecdotal uplift from popular American author Kurt Vonnegut. Vonnegut, best known for works such as "Slaughterhouse Five," brought his special brand of humorto Page Audito rium and covered a variety of topics, including censorship, education, illit eracy and transcendental meditation. Before Vonnegut began his speech, he took time to remember another fa mous American author. Alex Haley's book "Roots" should be considered one of the most influen tial books in American history, he said. "(Roots) radically educated us in a way we very much needed to be edu cated," he said. "(Haley's death) was a terrible loss for this country. He was a great man, and of course, he was part Irish." Vonnegut compared writing to ski ing and said his books focused on nor mal people. "Intuitively, reflectively, it's like skiing down a mountain slope with no time to think," he said. "I wrote again and again and again about ordinary people who have tried to behave de cently in an indecent society." Vonnegut mentioned a letter he had received from a pregnant woman who was concerned for her child growing up in an "indecent society". He replied by saying that his life was made better by meeting people who were saints and lived decently in an indecent society. "I hope as many of you out there are, or will become, such saints forherchild," he said. Vonnegut also said he had received letters from readers in the former Soviet Union concerning censorship of his books. "They were told my books had all been burned up, and I got letters saying they had copies of my book over there, if I wanted to see what they were like," he said. Vonnegut also spoke about the revo lutionary change in American civil rights. Certainly, the most extraordinary change in this country in my lifetime is the decline in racism," he said. "Believe Art exhibit at Horace Williams House spurs bride By Jennifer Brett Staff Writer When Julie Wyne became engaged. she and her fiance planned to hold their wedding reception at thehistoric Horace Williams House on Rosemary Street. But a controversial art exhibit dis played in the house prompted Wyne to' change her plans and move the Feb. 15 reception to the Siena Hotel. The exhibit, by Hillsborough artist Sudie Rakusin, includes paintings of scantily clad and bare-breasted women. I have no problem with the gallery showing the paintings," Wyne told The Raleigh News and Observer last Satur day. "I do have a problem going into the house in my virginal ivory wedding gown with my new in-laws." But Rakusin said Wednesday her art was perfect for a wedding reception. The art reflects the empowering of women and the healing that can go on when we feel connected with nature and animals," she said. "The paintings are full of life. The pageantry is wonder ful." Rakusin said she regretted Wyne's cancellation, but she failed to under stand the problem. The people who were offended are not living in abundance; they're living in limitation, she said. I guess I see beauty where others don't." House Administrator Diane Day said she was surprised by the objections. A committee of artists and art experts meets several times a year to decide what to display in the house, she said. Our policy is that once a show is hung, it's up for good," Day said. "That policy is not going to change." Day said she dealt with Anne Wyne, the mother of the bride, and that Julie Wyne received a full refund. Our primary responsibility is to op erate as a cultural center," Day said. disrupt mended by the Arab-American Asso ciation, exposes human rights viola tions against children in Israeli-occupied territories. AIS President Victoria Muse said, "This created conflict, because David felt the movie was not a correct repre sentation of the entire Arab popula tion." The conflict occurred at an Interna tional Student Advisory Council meet ing to set guidelines for the festival. Austell said he believed after a long discussion, all parties were satisfied with his decision. 'The film had a strong political con me, this can very easily start up again." A native of Indiana, Vonnegut attrib uted some of his success to the public school system in Indianapolis. "The public schools in Indianapolis were better than any university I subse quently attended," he said. Vonnegut also suggested his "quick fix" plan to improve education in America, including reducing class sizes to 18 students and treating teachers fairly. "Teaching is the noblest of all pro fessions and the most important, espe cially in a democracy, and if any of you become teachers, then God bless you," he said, earning loud applause from the audience. Redistributing government spending was another topic Vonnegut touched upon, specifically mentioning the B-2 Stealth Bomber. "We can't afford $1 billion bomb ers," he said. "You know those big, black boomerangs we bought that are supposed to be invisible? We conducted some experiments, you know, and by God you can still see them. That's a big disappointment." Illiteracy is another problem facing America, Vonnegut said, adding that he thought reading was a difficult skill to master. "It is an elitist skill, and we can't expect everybody in a democracy to read extremely well," he said. "If they can read a little bit, then God bless them. It's a miracle for anybody to do it at all." Vonnegut said "alliteracy" was often worse than illiteracy. He defined alliteracy as a condition in which a person is able to read, but does not. Transcendental meditation was popu lar in the 1960s, Vonnegut said, and he proceeded to teach the audience how to meditate. But he added that reading was better than far-eastern meditation. "Those of you who are participants in western civilization and are literate are already meditators, and I suggest to you that our form of meditation is supe rior to that of the Orient," he said. Giving up reading in exchange for television would be a disaster for soci ety, Vonnegut added. "If we are going to give up the book and turn it all over to cathode ray tubes, it may be the cultural disaster of the very first order," he said. to change reception plans '':: JfW ' V:., "Summer Solstice," by Sudie Rakusin, is on display until Saturday "Anyone who comes here is fully aware of what we do, and so was Mrs. Wyne, but she saw fit to go to all the newspa pers and make a big deal about it." This is the first time art has caused a festival tent, and we felt that we'd de-emphasize politics during the festival," he said. "It could be more appropriately shown at a later date." But Samara Hamze, a member of the Arab group, said although she under stood why the film might threaten the festival's objectives, she could not ac cept the committee's initial reasons for not airing it. "What pissed me off was their first objection that the Israelis didn't have something prepared, and (the Arab Americans) did," she said. "Just be cause the group on the other side of the coin hadn 't got stuff prepared isn 't good Strokin' the strings Sophomore Doug Largent plays the bass of UNC's Jazz Band, which will perform DTHKathy Michel problem at the house, Day said. 'This show isn't risque," she said. "There's actually very little nudity. It's an excellent collection of rare, beautiful work." 1 1 ' --.IsjLi planning stage enough." The groups eventually reached a com promise with Arab-American Associa tion members agreeing to air a less controversial film, "Arabs a Living History." TJie film will run today. The association plans to air "Stolen Free doms" during Race Relations Week. Austell said the decision to avoid political issues during International Festival Week was a first. "In the past, we've had political is sues discussed during the International Festival, and we'd try to givea balanced approach to different issues," he said. "But this time we decided to emphasize DTHDebbte Stengel Monday afternoon in Hill Hall. Largent is part Saturday with Rick Lillard and Tim Eyerman. Researchers at UNC study link between protein, heart beats By Jenny Mclnnis Staff Writer Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine are studying calcium chan nels in order to understand more fully Irregular heartbeats and the role chan nels play in heart attacks. Robert Rosenberg, assistant profes sor of pharmacology and physiology, said calcium channels were proteins in the surface membranes of all heart cells. The proteins open and close chan nels. An open calcium channel allows calcium ions to flow freely, he said. When the channel is closed, the ions( are not able to flow. "It's a barrier, and there are doorways in the barrier that can open and close." Calcium ions are an important regu lator of many different functions, in cluding those of the heart, he said. The heartbeat is the contraction of calcium is. "Calcium ions are a trigger for the heartbeat. The more calc ium, the stron ger the heartbeat," he said. "The less calcium, the weaker the heartbeat." Calcium channels also help control the rate at which the heart beats, Rosenberg said. "How fast the heart beats is determined by how active the calcium ions are." When damage occurs because of a heart attack, for example, it causes an abnormal situation that leads to cal cium channels opening at the wrong time, he said. This causes the heart to beat irregularly. Arrhythmias, which are heartbeat social and cultural issues." Muse agreed with the board's final decision. "The movie was too political for this kind of setting," she said. "We want people to get along and not let politics get in the way of international understanding and appreciation of all cultures." Politics are for the bureaucrats, and the festival is for the people, she saidi DianaLevy, international centerpra gram coordinator, said the object of the week-long festival was to reflect the growing spirit of world cooperation, as See FESTIVAL, page 5 j Income tax ! help offered to students ! By Brendan Smith j Staff Writer The tax man cometh. But students and area residents need not face the Internal Revenue Service alone. Two local organizations, a fraternity and a group of retirees, provide the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance pro gram for people who want free help completing their tax returns. ; Beta Alpha Psi, the University's pro fessional fraternity for master's of ac-' counting students, has about SO mem bers who have vol unteered for the VITA program, said Lauren Brooks, co-coordinator of the program. ' The IRS provides information and training packets for volunteers, who must take a test before being admitted to the nationwide program, Brooks said. In the past, Beta Alpha Psi's VITA program operated out of Carroll Hall, but the program's office has moved to Carr Mill Mall, Brooks said. "We decided to move it off-campus this year to reach more of the commu nity," she said. About 30 people per week have vis ited the office since its opening Feb. I , and Brooks predicted an increase in customers as the April 15 tax deadline drew near. : Student volunteers are will ing to help anyone with their returns, but they are not qualified to handle very difficult returns. Brooks said. Volunteers are trained to complete 1040 EZ, 1040 A and 1040 federal tax returns and state returns. "It's really meant to be a community service," Brooks said. "It's nice that we can help out in an area that's suited to our talents." The Retired Senior Volunteer Pro gram also has VITA-trained volunteers who staff seven local sites, said Kathy Mangum, RSVP director. More than 650 people took advan tage of RSVP tax services last year, Mangum said. "It's for anyone with a low- to m iddle income who cannot afford professional help," Mangum said. RSVP is a sponsored by the Orange County Department of Aging. Orange See TAXES, page 5 irregularities, therefore could be con trolled by the calcium channels, he said. : "Calcium channels are absolutely crucial for the normal function of the heartbeat and play a role in the func tion of arrhythmias." "The heart is a complex structure," Rosenberg said. He said he hoped to simplify the study of the heart by analyzing indiv idual proteins that were important forcontrolling the heart rate, and then figuring out how all the pro teins worked together. "Breaking down the proteins into a smallblockandthenputtingthe blocks together can help us to understand the whole puzzle," Rosenberg said. Jim Loehr, a pediatric cardiologist at UNC Hospitals, said arrhythmias could be stopped with surgery or with electricity. Electricity is used in more special ized centers, he said. Rosenberg said researchers were now focusing on trying to understand how the calcium channel worked. "We are hoping a clinical cardiolo gist may read our findings and take our knowledge and apply it to a clini cal setting." Loehr said some arrhythmias could be life threatening. However, "a lot of them are just irritants," he said. Rosenberg agreed arrhythmias could be fatal. "This is one of the reasons why we are studying it. "A minor heart attack can set up an arrhythmia that can kill you," he said. "We're trying to work out a cause of cardiac arrhythmias."
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Feb. 20, 1992, edition 1
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