6
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 27, 2008
Universities look to Facebook in emergencies
BY JOHANNA YUEH
STAFF WRITER
Colleges nationwide are starting
to tap into popular social network
ing sites to supplement emergency
response efforts.
In addition to cell phone and
e-mail alerts, some universities are
considering using sites like Facebook
and MySpace as another way to
reach students when a crisis hits.
“The reason we wanted to try
out Facebook was because stu
dents are now getting information
in nontraditional ways,” said Maj.
Jay Gruber, of the police depart
ment at the University of Maryland
at College Park.
“Social networks are what people
are using, and we need to be able to
leverage that technology' for public
safety.”
UNC officials and student lead
ers met over the summer and dis
UNC nutrition lab opens
Private, public
partnerships key
BY GREG SMITH
STAFF WRITER
The doors of a UNC-Chapel Hill
laboratory in Kannapolis opened
last week, signaling the onset of
groundbreaking research in health
and nutrition.
The Nutrition Research Institute
is part of the N.C. Research Campus,
a scientific complex that houses
projects by private businesses and
seven N.C. universities.
The philosophy behind the
research campus is to provide state
of-the-art laboratory' space for inter
disciplinary collaboration between
scientists and universities.
“It’s an experiment in how to do
science differently across different
disciplines,” said Dr. Steven Zeisel,
director of the NRI. “It’s probably
the new way that science needs to
be done.”
Zeisel has already moved into
the NRI and will begin work in
September. His first research proj
ect will focus on DHA, a fat in
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cussed the possibility of using social
networking sites, but they are more
focused with perfecting the exist
ing emergency response system
than exploring the new avenue.
“We’re trying to build pipelines
for sharing information any way we
can,” said Mike McFarland, direc
tor of University communications.
UNC student government lead
ers created a Facebook group last
week to publicize Alert Carolina,
the University’s emergency notifica
tion system. There is no University
sponsored group yet.
“We already have a great system
in place,” Student Body President
J.J. Raynor said. “People don’t
trust Facebook all the time and not
everyone is on there.”
Jess Kaplan, a senior psychology
major, said that she would join a
UNC emergency awareness group if
it was created, but that she doesn’t
infant formulas. He will work with
an expert psychologist on how the
nutrient affects brain development
in children.
However, before universities are
able to take advantage of the research
campus, administrative issues have
to be ironed out.
The brand new facilities are fac
ing challenges unique to the nature
of such a project, said Jana Harrison,
deputy director of the NRI.
“I think for us the biggest chal
lenge has been coordination,”
Harrison said.
“Obviously the benefit is that you
have all these new schools that you
can collaborate with, but there’s a
downside because everyone is used
to doing things a little differently.”
Harrison said everything from
setting health and environmen
tal standards to dividing utility
costs has to be coordinated with
UNC-Greensboro, N.C. Central
University and N.C. Agricultural
& Technical State University. Those
three schools use about 20 percent
of UNC-CH’s building.
Kannapolis was economically
devastated in 2004 when the local
company Pillowtex went bankrupt.
State 8 National
think it would alert students quick
ly enough to be effective.
“I think text messaging is more
efficient,” said Kaplan. “If you go
and sit down at a computer, it
could be hours after the emergency
happened.”
UM created an emergency
awareness Facebook group last
month. The group has photographs
of emergency staff performing
drills, videos of emergency man
agement and tips on what to do in
various situations.
Social networking sites might
not become the primary mecha
nism for alerting students, but
they could be useful for following
developments, especially because
their sites can often handle more
traffic than university Web sites.
In the hours following the
Virginia Tech shooting, the uni
versity Web site crashed because
“Kannapolis was classically a
company town,” Harrison said. “The
mill owned practically everything.”
Dole Foods Cos. owner and billion
aire David Murdock decided to create
a biotechnology campus that would
reinvigorate the city and aid research
in health and nutrition, she said.
“I would also say that the
(Research) Triangle is to some extent
an inspiration for him. He would
like (this) to become the Triangle for
nutrition,” she said.
Residents are excited about the
opportunities that the campus will
bring to the town long identified as
a manufacturing hub, said Karen
Whichard, Kannapolis’ communi
cations director.
“I think they’re hopeful and start
ing to view the campus as part of
their community,” she said.
Whichard said that the univer
sities alone will hire 415 people in
the first 24 months in operation.
“(The city is) getting new pro
fessionals, creating new opportu
nities,” she said. “And that ripples
throughout the community.”
Contact the State & National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
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it was overwhelmed by the high
volume of visitors.
Right now, only UM campus
police officials are allowed to post
items on the group’s main discus
sion area, but Gruber said he hopes
to open up another discussion sec
tion for students to exchange infor
mation and resources in the after
math of a crisis.
However, that raises some con
National and World Nows
FROM THE
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Romney critical
of Biden’s record
DENVER (MCT) He may or
may not be John McCain’s running
mate, but former Massachusetts
Gov. Mitt Romney on Tuesday
gave a strong preview of how he
might attack Barack* Obama’s
presumptive Democratic running
mate, Joe Biden.
During a luncheon with report
ers Tuesday in Denver, Romney
went right at Biden’s purported
strength, his long record in for
eign policy. He said Biden’s been
“wrong for 30 years.”
As for his own prospects,
Romney was tight-lipped.
Florida’s voters
still want McCain
MIAMI (MCT) - Anew
poll shows Barack Obama trail
ing John McCain 47 percent to
43 percent in Florida, even as
Obama spent millions in the
state trying to introduce himself
on local TV, while McCain has
yet to spend a dime.
The statistic gives McCain a
slightly stronger edge than he
had in July, but the poll shows
Florida voters want a Democrat
in the White House by a 44 per
cent to 39 percent margin and
consider the economy the most
important election issue.
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cerns about the possibility of mis
leading rumors being circulated on
social networking sites.
The University of California
at Los Angeles is working with
MySpace developers on creating a
similar program, but its site won’t
allow user comments.
David Burns, emergency pre
paredness manager at UCLA,
wants to reserve the MySpace
Pakistan leader’s break from coalition
government could cause instability
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan
(MCT) Former Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif pulled
his party out of Pakistan’s coali
tion government and joined the
opposition Monday, a blow to
chances for political stability in
the nuclear-armed country.
The dramatic break came one
week after Pervez Musharraf
resigned the presidency under
pressure and amid a grow
ing Islamist insurgency, which
threatens Pakistan’s stabil
ity and that of neighboring
Afghanistan.
The attempt to create a
Gunmen ambush
U.S. diplomat
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (MCT)
Gunmen opened fire on a vehi
cle carrying the top U.S. diplomat
in the volatile northwestern city of
Peshawar on Tuesday. But consul
general Lynne Tracy was unhurt
as were the other two U.S. con
sular employees.
Gunmen leaped out of a Toyota
Land Cruiser jeep, which blocked
her vehicle, and sprayed it with
bullets from automatic weapons,
NWFP police chief Malik Naveed
Khan said.
“The people never pursued
her,” Khan said. “It’s early to say
(who was behind it), we are look
ing into all aspects.”
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page for official information only
in order to prevent misinformation
and the leaking of victims’ names.
“Once you open comments, you
have to staff the page to monitor,
edit or pull content from the site,”
Burns said. “We simply don’t have
the staffing to do that in a crisis.”
Contact the State £2 National
Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.
national unity government
began after democratic elections
in February in which no party
won a majority. However, the
coalition, under AsifAl Zardari’s
leadership, was always fragile,
held together in part by a com
mitment to ousting Musharraf.
After Musharraf resigned to
avoid impeachment, there was
little to hold them together.
The government won’t fall for
now, but the Pakistan People’s
Party will have to rely on the
support of new partners, includ
ing a party that was close to
Musharraf.
Georgian regions
formally accepted
MOSCOW (MCT) - Russia
on Tuesday formally recognized
the independence of the tw o
Georgian regions that its military*
now occupies, further inflaming
relations with the U.S.
The announcement by
President Dmitry Medvedev, in
disregard of repeated U.S. warn
ings, confirmed Russia’s return
to the world stage as a military
power willing to use force to
recapture former Soviet territo
ries. It raises the prospect that
the two breakaway areas, South
Ossetia and Abkhazia, eventually
will join the Russian Federation
or operate as satellites.