Scientists at UNC-CH, Duke and N.C. State prepare hundreds of requests they hope will snare some of the coming federal stimulus money aimed at kick-starting academic research, the N&O reports.

UNC President Erskine Bowles today released the following statement on the preliminary 2009-11 state budget released today by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education:

We understand completely the severity of this recession and the extremely difficult choices the House is being forced to make to balance the State budget. North Carolina is no different than every other state in the union. While we are grateful that the proposed budget cuts are less than those in other states like Florida, there should be no question in anyone’s mind that the $337 million reduction in state funding proposed for our public universities would have a severe and lasting negative impact on student access and the quality of education our universities can offer our students.

_ACCESS:_ Student access to a public college education would be severely restricted in North Carolina. In addition to increasing tuition for every UNC student by $256 (10.3% on average)—thereby pricing higher education out of the reach of many North Carolina families—the draft House budget would also reduce funding for need-based aid available to North Carolina families by over $24 million. As a result, we would be unable to provide aid for over 9,700 eligible students. Inadequate need-based aid would not be the only added barrier to a UNC education.
The draft House budget also proposes to cap our 2010-11 enrollment at current levels, resulting in thousands of North Carolina students from every walk of life being denied admission to a UNC campus.

_QUALITY:_ The net funding reduction of $337 million proposed by the House equates to an 11.1% budget cut. If cuts of that magnitude are implemented, students on every UNC campus can expect to see 1) larger classes; 2) less student advising and counseling; 3) higher faculty/student ratios; 4) lower retention and graduation rates; 5) delayed classroom upgrades and laboratory renovations; 6) fewer security personnel; 7) reductions in library services; and 8) reductions in maintenance.

_STIMULUS:_ House fiscal staff have indicated that any federal stabilization funds applied to the proposed education budget would simply be used to offset state funding, which is completely contrary to the whole purpose of the President’s stimulus package aimed at preserving educational access and quality. In fact, the federal legislation requires that states use the funds “in such a way as to mitigate the need to raise tuition and fees for in-state students.”

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – North Carolina’s championship basketball team is meeting with the president at the White House.

President Obama is scheduled to meeting the Tar Heels on Monday for a photo op and greeting session.

Obama is a basketball fan and picked the Tar Heels to win the title in his March Madness bracket selections. During his president campaign, Obama also played a pickup game in Chapel Hill with members of the team.

The Tar Heels are being praised on the floor of the U.S. House.

President Obama has nominated Robert S. Adler, a professor of legal studies and ethics at UNC, to be commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Retired Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) is visiting North Carolina and will speak on the issues of illegal immigration, Amnesty, and in-state tuition for illegal aliens on Tuesday April 14 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the UNC Chapel Hill Campus’s Bingham Hall room 103.

“Congressman Tancredo has been one of the leading voices in America speaking out for secure borders and immigration enforcement,” said William Gheen of ALIPAC who plans to attend the event. “It is significant he will speak on the issue of in-state tuition for illegals because the defeat of HB 1183 here in NC in 2005 set off a series of defeats for such legislation nationally.”

William Gheen and Americans for Legal Immigration PAC (ALIPAC) are inviting NC Lawmakers, press contacts, and concerned citizens to attend the Tancredo event which is being organized and sponsored by Youth for Western Civilization.

ALIPAC announced a national campaign to defeat in-state tuition for illegal immigrants bills in six states in March. The groups has since played a key roll in defeating this legislation in Colorado, Arkansas, and New Jersey. ALIPAC activists from across America are lobbying against a bill (HB 2939) in Oregon today.

“We want to show our support and our thanks to Tom Tancredo and Youth for Western Civilization for addressing these important issues that are of great interest to the American public,” said William Gheen. “The pro immigration enforcement side is winning again and again in the states because approximately 80% of Americans favor enforcement over Amnesty.”

For more information about this event or these issues please visit www.alipac.us

RALEIGH, N.C. — The N.C. Senate’s budget proposal contains a provision that could move North Carolina’s public television network into the jurisdiction of the UNC School of the Arts.

The provision, which was inserted by Sen. Linda Garrou, D-Forsyth, has surprised people affiliated with both the TV network and the school.

Leaders at UNC-TV oppose the idea, calling it ill-conceived and unworkable. They say that the primary mission of the network is journalistic and educational, and that it would not fit under the School of the Arts, a small university focused on performance and entertainment.

“I hope this one dies a natural death,” said Betty McCain, the chairwoman of UNC-TV’s board of trustees.
The provision appears as a single paragraph in a 200-page budget document, which received its final approval yesterday in the Senate. The $20 billion budget plan for fiscal year 2009-10 now moves to the N.C. House, which is expected to make many changes.

The provision would direct the UNC board of governors to “study the feasibility” of transferring UNC-TV to the School of the Arts. It also would require the board of governors to “develop a plan to implement such a transfer.”

Currently, UNC-TV is not affiliated with any single university. It reports directly to the board of governors, which oversees the entire UNC system.

Garrou, the Senate’s chief budget writer, gave little indication yesterday of what the transfer would achieve or why she put it in the budget.

“The School of the Arts is such a wonderful treasure for the state. I look at public television and I see that also as a treasure,” she said.

And she said that the study would look at “enhancing the opportunities for both UNC-TV and the School of the Arts.”

Garrou, of Winston-Salem, has long been a strong advocate in the General Assembly for the School of the Arts, which is located in her legislative district.

A spokeswoman for the school said yesterday that the school did not request to take over UNC-TV, and that the school was not even aware of Garrou’s provision until after the Senate budget was publicly released this week. The school will not take a position on the proposed transfer of UNC-TV until a study is done, the spokeswoman said.

UNC-TV leaders struggled yesterday to understand why such a transfer would be desirable.

“I’m in that old school that says if it isn’t broken, then what are you trying to fix?” said Ashley Thrift, a lawyer in Winston-Salem who is on the UNC-TV board of trustees.

As a resident of Winston-Salem, Thrift said that he appreciates the School of the Arts and has nothing bad to say about it. But he believes the cultures of the two institutions are very different. UNC-TV’s mission of providing educational programming for children and informational public-affairs shows is very different from the mission of the School of the Arts, a small conservatory that educates students in film, design, drama and other arts.

“This just came out of left field,” Thrift said.

McCain said that Garrou did not consult with her about the proposal.

“Somebody has gotten to Linda and told her it was a wonderful idea, and I don’t know who that somebody was. But I can tell you it was not I,” McCain said.

McCain said that keeping UNC-TV as a separate entity would preserve its editorial integrity and independence. And she also said she is concerned about recent financial difficulties at the School of the Arts.

UNC-TV’s headquarters and studio are located in Research Triangle Park, about 90 miles away from the School of the Arts campus.

Garrou’s provision was not publicly debated this week as the Senate budget moved through committees and was passed on the Senate floor. Democrats supported the budget, while most Republicans opposed it.
Advocates for open government have criticized the legislature’s use of so-called “special provisions” – items that are inserted into the budget but that apparently have nothing to do with raising or spending money. Such items often make policy changes without getting a full public hearing.

UNC-TV first went on the air in 1955 and has operated as North Carolina’s public television station ever since. Its annual budget is about $28 million, and it receives both state and federal money.

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama has called University of North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams to congratulate the Tar Heels on their NCAA championship.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says Obama called Williams from Air Force One on Tuesday. Gibbs also says Obama thanked Williams for “vindicating him in front of the entire country.” Obama picked UNC to win the championship in his much-watched basketball bracket.

UNC on Monday defeated Michigan State, 89-72, to win the school’s fifth NCAA basketball championship.

Gibbs says Obama looks forward to welcoming the entire UNC team to the White House soon.

RALEIGH, N.C.  – Lawmakers elected two failed candidates in last year’s race for state treasurer for seats on the University of North Carolina Board of Governors.

State Democratic Party chairman David Young of Asheville, Republican Bill Daughtridge of Rocky Mount, and six others were elected Wednesday to eight House appointments to the board that oversees the state’s 16 public universities. Three others were in the contest, including Willis Whichard of Chapel Hill, a former state Supreme Court judge and former dean of the Campbell University law school.

The Senate elected eight nominees last week.

Daughtridge was in the state House for six years before the Republican ran last year for treasurer, a race won by Democrat Janet Cowell.