Brooke Elliott

On Feb. 10, students at UNC will ring in the Lunar New Year — a holiday that predates the Jan. 1 New Year's celebration by more than 1,000 years.

“The absolute most important, main thing is that we’re providing access to the faculty and staff in a way that gives them a partition — that is, the institutional partition — that has some protections beyond just using a commercially-available free tool,” said Michael Barker, vice chancellor of ITS.

Members of the UNC Board of Trustees called for "a full and open explanation to the entire University community" in a Nov. 3 letter regarding the N.C. General Assembly's decision to limit distinguished professorships to STEM fields.

This fall, Provost Christopher Clemens commissioned the UNC Generative AI Committee to help faculty and students adapt to the widespread use of generative artificial intelligence online.

Faculty Chair Beth Moracco, Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz and Provost Chris Clemens led the Faculty Council on Friday in a discussion about campus safety following a shooting on UNC's campus on Aug. 28.

Jada Edmark, a junior nursing student at UNC, said she is already paying $600 for this semester’s textbooks, and two of her classes have yet to announce their required materials.

Last week, UNC hosted its second annual Diplomacy Week, featuring discussions with notable diplomats, a policy brief competition and a screening of the award-winning documentary, “Beethoven in Beijing.”

Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz attended a Faculty Council meeting on March 24 to answer questions and to affirm the university's commitment to its principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion.

According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, most college students find the first six weeks of their first year to be a common time to consume alcohol. This holds true at UNC, where the majority of alcohol violations occur in traditionally first-year residence halls.

At 4:40 p.m. on Monday, an individual reported the theft of their electric scooter from Kenan Stadium. This incident is one of the latest in an upward trend in crime on campus: reports of stolen property rose to 92 incidents in the 2021-22 academic year from 55 incidents in 2018-19 — an even larger increase from just 5 in 2014-15.

Sylvia X. Allen spent her life breaking barriers and using her talents to further justice and love: she was not only the first Black woman to graduate from Carolina Law, but also a prosecutor, an assistant attorney general, a community leader, and a mother of eight children. On Nov. 4, 2022, UNC faculty and students gathered to witness the unveiling of Allen’s portrait, which will hang in the law school beside portraits of other distinguished alumni. The UNC School of Law commissioned artist Robin Wellner to create the portrait after alumni Diana Florence (‘95) and Scott Peeler (‘97) established the Sylvia X. Allen Scholarship Endowment Fund in 2021.

The Heels Care Network at UNC hosted its “Mental Health, Spirituality and Faith: How Do They Connect?” event on Monday — the first in a series of mental health seminars that will be held this semester. The Heels Care Network is a University platform that seeks to help UNC students find resources including therapists, peer support and free guides about managing mental health in college. The University launched it last month.

Last Thursday, the Chancellor’s Committee to Review History Commission Resolution discussed and revised a report drafted by its chairperson, Mike Smith, to evaluate the criteria for renaming several buildings on campus. The renaming process has been ongoing since June 2020, after the UNC Board of Trustees lifted a 16-year moratorium on renaming buildings, monuments, memorials and landscapes. The 10 buildings under review were named for white supremacists and supporters of the Confederacy during the Civil War.

Acclaimed historian and Georgetown University professor Marcia Chatelain delivered UNC’s 2022 African American History Month lecture Wednesday. Chatelain, who delivered the lecture during a virtual webinar, spoke about her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America,” which explores the relationship between McDonald's and Black entrepreneurship. "A cultural product like McDonald’s, which is consumed in the United States and around the world, on one hand is accessible and enjoyed by all people, but in its own way can signify Blackness," Chatelain said.

In 1976, the first Southeastern Gay Conference in the United States was held on UNC's campus. More than four decades later, the Carolina Pride Alumni Network has raised over $90,000 to preserve the history of the University’s LGBTQ+ students, faculty and staff through “The Story of Us,” a collaboration with the Wilson Library and the Southern Oral History Program.

Kellen Hoxworth, a professor at Florida State University, led a discussion at UNC called “Dave Carson’s Brownface Empire” on Monday to discuss the performances of Dave Carson, a comedian who built his career upon stereotypical depictions of South Asian men and women during British colonial rule of India.

This semester, UNC Campus Recreation and Special Olympics North Carolina hosted a Unified Kickball League, an opportunity for Special Olympics athletes and UNC student volunteers to participate in intramural kickball games at Hooker Fields. “Kickball is a sport that we first offered back in 2016 or 2017,” said Tori Hooker, senior assistant director of sports programs at Campus Recreation. “I worked with the Special Olympics coordinator of Orange County to get it up and running, and we’ve been offering it ever since. It’s been something that’s very close to my heart, and I enjoy seeing it come to fruition.”

On the afternoon of March 12, the announcement that school would be closing due to COVID-19 crackled through the speakers. Elation filled the air. Students were thrilled to receive extra time off school just before spring break, allowing them to catch up on their coursework, unfinished Netflix series, and much-needed sleep. As the days stretched on, however, and online schooling was extended to the end of the school year, students began to miss the connection to their peers that school provided.

Little Rock, Arkansas, known for its historic place in the desegregation of American public schools, is once again facing a crisis of educational rights. A decision made by the governor-appointed Arkansas Board of Education threatens students’ rights to an equal education for all. The proposed motion to reconstitute the Little Rock School District into two administrative systems, one for failing schools, which are often impoverished and underfunded, and another for succeeding schools, which are often affluent, jeopardizes the progress made since the Little Rock Nine boldly ascended the steps of Central High in 1957.

Almost two hundred years ago, the Irish came to America in ships and on foot, holding only what belongings they could carry. “I believe there is neither Employment nor food–the people is in a starving state and dying in hundreds and the streets of Belfast, crowded Every day with people [going] out to America [sic],” immigrant William Dunne wrote in a letter to his nephew, John Curtis, which is stored on the Historical Society of Pennsylvania site.