Fall 1990

Research and Graduate Education at The University

of North Carolina

at Chapel Hill/Fall 1990/Volume VIII, Number

1

Vantage Point Putting Undergraduates in the Research Picture

percent over the past four years. To keep pace, the scope of senior honors opportunities has

HE designation "research university" distinguishes Carolina from most other institutions of higher education in the United States. Nearly all colleges and universities teach undergraduates. Some colleges and most

also expanded: currently degree-granting curricula

universities offer graduate work of some kind.

But a much smaller number of institutions legitimately can lay claim to the title research university: an educational institution devoted not only to undergraduate teaching and graduate education, but also to the pursuit of pure and applied research on the cutting+dge. That Carolina bears this title proudly is not exactly front-page news for the readers of Endeavors, who with each issue become more aware of the enormous variety and high quality of research projects underway throughout the University.

As we think about Carolina as a research

unirarsity, what images are conjured up? Perhaps

a laboratory setting, with professors and their

in the sciences or medicine hunched over the latest high-tech instruments.

0r the solitary scholar in the humanities poring over arcane manuscripts in Wilson Library or a faraway archive. Look familiar? Wait a minute! graduate students

What's wrong with this picture?

What's missing from this admittedly caricatured image of Carolina as a research university are the hundreds of undergraduate students who also belong in this picture and for whom the term "research university" has a very special meaning. Undergraduate research may take the form of an assignment for an individual course, an admnced independent study project conducted under the guidance of a faculty member, assisting a professor in his or her laboratory or pursuing a senior thesis project of significant

in pursuit of graduation with "honors" or with "highest honorsl'This issue of Endeavors adds to the Carolina research

scope and depth

picture those undergraduate students whose imaginations are fired by their courses and the research they encounter there, and who are

determined to take their places within the larger community of scholars.

Robert C. Allen, Professor of kdio, Tela,ision and Motion Pictures and Asnciate Dean for Honors in

the College of Arts and

At least since the

Sciences

1920s one

of the primary

all undergraduate in the College of Arts

and Sciences offer their outstanding students a chance to do senior honors work, as do most of the undergraduate programs in the University's professional schools.

What's in it for the student? First, the chance to explore a topic or question in greater depth and at a higher level of sophistication than would be possible in a single course or semesterlong independent study. Second, the opportunity to work with a faculty member oneon-one over the course of an entire school year. Given the quality of our faculry he or she may well be doing ground-breaking work in the area of the student's interest. Third, the challenge of taking on a longterm project, and seeing it through from formulation of research question to final defense of the conclusions. Fourth, for some of our students who plan to continue doing research in graduate school, senior honors offers the best preparation imaginable. Even the students not bound for further research careers -those for whom senior honors represents

vehicles for undergraduate research has been the University's senior honors program, which allows academically proficient seniors to spend a part of their final year at the University engaged in original research under the guidance

their final major research endeavor-realize the great sense of accomplishment the thesis ex-

of a member of their major department faculty.

More than three thousand living Carolina alumni have capped off their undergraduate

academic credentials, but also someone moti vated to take on a maior challenge, capable of persevering through the frustrations and long hours that significant research always brings, and someone who is willing to have his or her work judged according to the highest standards.

careers at the University by participating in

senior honors. They are joined each year by approximately 200 new honors graduates, who successfully complete honors theses in one of the 49 departments, curricula, and professional schools throughout the University that offer senior honors opportunities.

More and more students are realizing just what an enormously rewarding experience senior honors can be. The number of students pursuing honors theses has increased by 60

perience brings. They also know that graduation "with honors" signals to a prospective employer that here is someone not only with excellent

From my point of view, senior honors is the best example of how the resources of a great research institution can be brought to bear directly and dramatically upon the undergraduate experience.

Having worked with these programs for three continued on page 20

A

il.D

Y

O.N

Public Interest Morehead Scholu Summer Internships

in Public Safety

0R Morehead scholars, the summer months bring not an hiatus but a change in venue for their education. Since 1974, the John Motley Morehead Foundation has arranged summer internships to supplement the academic pursuits of its scholarship recipients. The Summer Enrichment program aims to enhance students' leadership skills by exposing them to people and environments that they would not otherwise encounter in an undergraduate education. Participation in the program is voluntary but strongly encouraged;

the Foundation provides stipends to cover the students' expenses.

Morehead scholarships are awarded each year to approximately 60 high school seniors who have been nominated by their schools for "leadership, scholarship, character and physical

vigorl' says Charles E. Lovelace, Jr., Executive Director of the Foundation. "Fundamental to our philosophy is that good leaders are well' rounded individuals. I like to use the word catalyst-those who have been able to make things happen, who have positively enhanced the school for their fellow studentsl' The rising sophomore class of Morehead Scholars spends eight to 12 week as summel interns at law enforcement agencies throughout

the United States. Lovelace says the Foundation maintains relationships with approximately 25 police departments in urban locations "ranging from Seattle to St. Petersburg, from Stamford to Los Angeles and everywhere in betweenl' The public safety internships "expose students

to modern urban problems and law enforce ment's response to those problemsl' Lovelace explains. "lt gives them an opportunity to see the criminal iustice system from an angle that few students have an opportunity to [viev"]l' While most interns spend the majority of

As part

ol

his sunmer public

nfety internship, Morehead Scholar Kevin Markle took part in a tean that

evaluated the effectiveness of the Connunity )riented Police Enforcement/Police and Citizens Together Progran, designed to combat increased drug trafficking through citizen involvement

and the students. Often, the law enforcement agencies lack the staff or funds to complete

their time observing police procedures, some are asked to conduct research projects by their

these projects themselrres. ln some cases, police departments have modified their pro cedures and policies after analyzing data

supervisors. The proiects, which are based on the particular needs of the police departments, typically involve surveys or studies.

This arrangement mutually benefits the police

collected by interns.

For the students, the research may be their first encounter with social science research methodology. Moreover, Lovelace says that by

in

Stamtord, Connecticut.

collecting and interpreting data for the agencies, the students can "repay the department fol the excellent exposure that they have received throughout the summerl'

ln the summer of '89, a pair of

Morehead

scholars was assigned to the Stamford, Connecticut police department and another pair to the Barrow, Alaska department of public safety. The Connecticut team was asked to assess a program dCIigned

DE

RS

to combat the increasingly visible drug problem

Morehead scholars were stationed across the

in Stamford. ln December 1987, Stamford initiated the "Community Oriented Police Enforcement/ Police and Citizens Togethe/' (C0PE/PACI)

continent in Barrow, Alaska. The Alaskan team was assigned to the North Slope Borough

program, in ruponse to complaints about increased

Banish any images that name may conjure up of New York City's boroughs. The North Slope Borough covers more than 88,000 square miles. Barrow, North Americas northernmost

Department

drug trafficking, primarily of "crack" cocaine.

Prior to COPE/PACT, the police department's main weapon against the illegal drug trade was the "Special Services" squad. While Special Services continues to investigate drug transactions and arrest dealers, the squad also targets prostitution, gambling and organized crime activities.

C0PE/PACT, on the other hand, only concerns itself with narcotics use. By focusing C0PE/PACT solely on the spiraling drug trade on city streetg local officials hoped to relieve some of the vice squad's burden and make an immediate dent in illegal drug activity.

COPE/PACT uses the same surveillance and investigative methods that other squads use, but it also enlists the community's help. Citizens are asked to alert police to any observed or suspected drug use in their neighborhoods.

COPE/PACT is operated by regular Stamford police officers, working overtime in civilian clothes and unmarked cars.

The Connecticut team compared the lg88-89

of Public

Safety.

town, is the region's major metropolis, with 2,323 inhabitants. The borough also includes seven villages inhabited almost exclusively by

Inupiat Indians, ranging in size from 80 to 500 residents. Barrow is approximately 85 percent Inupiat, according t0 a team member.

The Alaskan team was asked to evaluate the relationship between the all-white police force and the native population. Since neither had any experience in social science methodology, they first had to teach themselves how to design and conduct a rralid survey. A team member explained that their biggest challenge was learning how to formulate questions "in unbiased language that was still understandable" to respondents, because "formal education varies considerably by age" in North Slope.

About 200 Barrow households and four villages participated in the survey. The sample

arrest records of C0PE/PACT with those of the Special Services squad and the regular police force. After selecting a random sample from police files of narcotics arrests and other drugrelated incidents, the two interns compiled demographic data about those involved. If = arrest occurred, the students noted who made â‚Ź

represents about 4 percent of the total North Slope population, and almost 6 percent of those aged 16 years or older.

Charles E. Lovelace, Jr., Executive Director

lohn Motley Morehead Foundation,

says

of

the

public

safety

internships give Morehead Scholars a chance to study the crininal justice system while thry enhance

their lwdership skilk.

an

the arrest and whether it was for possession sale of drugs. Alsq they checked police

for previous

arrests.

or

files

!

E

E

had ; for g in ;

The two interns found that COPE/PACT

been performing effectively, accounting slightly more than half of the total arrests

their sample. The number of arrests increased

E

after COPEiPACT began, but the Connecticut E team says that increase is most likely function of increased drug activity.

The two interns expect that this introduction

a

to

research techniques

will

'

prove useful. One

of the interns, computer science student Kevin Markle says the project showed him the importance of analyzing data in light of the Iarger context. "When a person reads our report, they're going to see that COPE/PACT work, but they probably won't really understand the whole drug picture in Stamford. It's easy to say 'the drug problem is black males age 16-20, so let's educate them or arrest them or whateverl But that's not the whole story because the guy [whom] thry hand their money over to is probably not one of themi' While the Connecticut team was orperiencing life in the shadow of the Big Apple, two other

During her stay in Alaska, Lisa Abbott enjoys the scenery in Denali National Park. As part of their Morehead internships, Abbott and her coresearcher Quaker Kappel interviewed Inupiat lndian viliagers. Abboft says interacting with lnupiat villagers was an experience of a lifetime.

To mitigate the language barrier and improve the response rate, the researchers decided to conduct the survey door-todoor, which proved to be an eyeopening experience. "This survey allowed us to get into people's homes and that was extraordinary' says Lisa Abbott, who along with Quaker Kappel made up the Alaskan team.

"We saw some shocking scenes: a lot of poverty, drugs, alcoholism. But also, some people welcomed us into their homes with open arms and talked to us for hours. We talked to one old whaling captain who was extraordinary. He had such a sense of history and traditionl' The Alaskan team also encountered some rather unusual obstacles due to the locale. For

â‚Ź

"2

O E

ffi

example, their sample includes many more women than men, because as their report states, "the survey was conducted in the first two weels of July when the weather was warm and the ice was breaking upl' Since the lnupiat

culture and economy revolves around whaling, this meteorological event meant that many men were out hunting and fishing and therefore unavailable.

But the remote location had its advantages, too. Some officials preferred that the students not conduct doortodoor surveys. When a pair

of barbers showed up in one village, however, the Morehead students found a ready audience;

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almost the entire population was assembled in one place, waiting to have their hair cut.

While the Alaskan team lacked the time and expertise to subject their data to rigorous statistical analysis, they did make some recommendations in their report based upon their raw data. The most pressing need, they argue, is for greater community education in the villages about the law and the police that enforce it.

According to their analysis and interpretation, the Alaskan team says that the data gathered reveals many of the misconceptions villagers had about the role of law enforcement agencies.

Some respondents said that they would call the police if they needed childcare or a ride. Many rural Alaskans, according to the data, did not know how t0 request police assistance in an emergency or how to file a complaint.

The team in Alaska also recommended that street officers be better educated about the Inupiat culture. "We observed a lot of intense racism and hatred on the streets by the police toward the Inupiatl' Abbott says. "The police administration doesn't feel that way, and they are working t0 correct it, but they have a long way to goi' The Alaskan pair say that widespread alcoholism and drug abuse appear t0 fuel this disharmony. Since the street officers spend much of their time handling public drunkenness

Quaker Kappel takes a break hon cleaning cages and recording observations of otters suffering hom exposure to oil spilled by the Exxon Yaldez. Belore beginning their public safety internships in Barrow, Alaska, Kappel and Lisa Abbott volunteered at the 0tter Rescue Center in Seward. Alaska.

and other alcohol-related problems, they become resentful of and frustrated with the villagers.

Both members of the Alaskan team speak enthusiastically about their internships and crash course in research methodology. "We didn't do any statistical analysisl' Abbott says,

"but in terms of interviewing techniques

and

learning how to formulate questions, it was absolutely invaluable. The interaction with the villagers was the best part. It was the experience of a lifetimel'

-Kathleen A. McMonow

ENI)

Another Star for the Stripes? a A

S the nation's capital, the District of Columbia is muci watched. While the Iadistricrs imponance cannot be oismissed, its residents' desires to make it a state, with all the attendant benefits and rights, is some times ignored. When the district in 1982 approved a constitution proposing the state of New Columbia, Congress did not comply. Sam Bagenstos, a UNC-CH undergraduate in political science, recently completed a senior honors thesis examining arguments for and against district statehood. 0ver the course of his re search, he examines the district's past and present and speculates about its future.

Working with Professor Thad Beyle, Bagenstos seela a variety of viewpoints in his research efforts, examining Department of Justice records and financial consulting group reports, as well as interviewing politicians and academicians.

He interviews staffers from the offices of Del-

mayor, and an 1820 charter gave the city control over property and the authority to enact laws.

Citizen complaints and government debt and dishonesty, however, Ied to a Congressional investigation of the district's government in 1874, which pronounced the government dictatorial and corrupt, says Bagenstos. Beginning in 1874,

the dishict was ruled by three commissionerstwo civilians appointed by the President and one Army engineer chosen by Army commanders.

"No element of home rule remainedl' says "For the next hundred years, the district was run at different times by this board of commissioners, Congress and a mayor appointed by the President. During this period, Bagenstos.

to Congress and an advocate of

interviars Professor Mike Seidman,

a constitutional law professor at Georgetown University, who has studied the issue extensively.

As a preliminary to his investigation of the district's present, Bagenstos studied the evolution of the dishict's current governmental structure.

The district is governed by an elected mayor and city council, but Congress has 30 days to approve or reject any legislation proposed by the mayor and city council. The district's history dates back to 1787, says Bagenstos, when a provision for a federally controlled district where Congress could meet was included in the Constitution. Congress chose the present site in 1790 and began meeting there in 1800.

lnitially, district residents were allowed some of home rule. Beginning in 1803, the district was governed by an elected city council and a mayor appointed by the President. In degree

1812, residents were allowed

to elect their own

In

1973, Congress passed the

rights shared by other U.S. citizens, imposes financial constraints on the district and uses the district as a political battleground.

According to Bagenstos, many question the morality of Congress's denying district residents the same voting rights as other U.S. citizens.

He explains that although district residents can vote for the President, they have no voting member of Congress. Residents of the district, for example, had no input into the Congressional decision to end the draft during the Vietnam War, yet the dishict had a higher Vietnam casualty rate per capita than any state. More over, unlike residents of Puerto Rico, who also have no voting representation in Congress, members of the district do pay federal taxes. In addition to the injustice, says Bagenstos, "in the world's most powerful democracy, the residents of the capital city are disenfranchised.

This is not good public relationsl'

state-

hood, and Stanford Parris (R-Va.), the ranking republican on the House District of Columbia committee and a strong opponent of statehood.

Bagenstos also

Bagenstos says.

District of Columbia Sel[Government and Governmental Reorganization Act; in 1974, district voters approved the Home Rule Charter.

'This charter, in effect todayl'says Bagenstos, "allows the residents of Washington to elect a mayor and a city council which have power to make laws. All laws adopted by the Council, however, must be submitted to Congress, which has 30 days to reject theml' After gathering information about the district's past, Bagenstos studies the present situation, examining arguments for and against statehood.

Pro-statehood arguments Bagenstos examines question the morality of the "taxation without representation" imposed by Congress. Congress currently denies dishict residents the voting

egate walter Fauntroy (D-D.C.), the district's delegate

the federal government had almost complete control over district affairsl' Limited home rule did not return until 1975,

Sam Bagenstos, honors student in political science, spent a year studying the debate over District of

Colunbia statehood.

Proponents of statehood, says Bagenstos, also question the morality of the significant financial constraints Congress places on the district.

These constraints include Congress's imposition of a building height restriction and its prohi

'-Tti *r;

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Eap;t-n rl,r

ii Ilii

+"ol1,i,,

!-nIMES have changed ln the i929 Report ol d the Presidenl. Lniversitt of \orth Carolina S. President Harn Woodburn Cha'e called the

University-then u onr-.urnprr, 46-building

facility-the state's "largest life insurance policy on its own prosperity to come.' While the Universit.v continues to make a major contribution to the state's future, its curlent Board of Directors has adopted a Mission Statement reflecting a much broader aim-to serve not onlv the slate, but the nation.

Julie Anderson, a UNC-CH undergraduate in political science. has documented changes suggestrng that over the past 60 years. the University has grown from a regional t0 a national instjtu-

tion. Working with Professor Thad Bevie on her senior honors thesis. Anderson spent numerous hours in the North Carolina Coilection of Wilson Library, examining records and compiling informatron. Anderson predicts that, if UNC CH is indeed becoming more of a national universitl: both the $ate's impact on the [lniversity and the Universitl"s impact on the state

will

have declined.

Anderson chooses two indicators of the $ates impact on the University': the percentage of UNCCH's budget that comes from state funding and state expenditure per student. She also selects three indlcators of the Untversrtvs impact on the state: the percentage of alumni in the state's General Assembly; the percentage of alumni that remain in*iate: and the percentage oi alumni on

the UNC-CH facultv For each of these indicalors, Anderson studies changes that hare taken place over a 60-year period, examining consecutive lenlear rntervals, starting with 1929 and ending with 1989

Anderson's analyses of the state's impact on the Ltniversity" are inconciusive. The percentage of LINC-CH's budget provided by state funding has decreased since 1929. but state expenditure per student has increased over the 60-year period. To determine lhe percentage of budget provided bv

state funding, Anderson uses total budget figures

and tallies federal and state appropriations per given 1'ear as found in the University s budget.

Says Anderson, "l found that $ate appropriations have generaliy declined over the years fiom making up a high of 64 percenl of UNC'Cll's receipts in 1928-1929 to making up onlv 38 percent in 1986-198i. the most recent year for which deiinitive figures are availablel' Anderson points out. however, that "state appropriations declined to a mere 20 percent in 1948-1949 and in 1986-198i appeal to be on an uPsling.'

This overall drop in the percentage of the

bjtion of a c0rnnrutel ittcttrte iar. Llutidinq hriqht restrictrons cut d0h'n ott tht' r'alLre oi pr0perlv. decteastnq the iintottttt ol properlr'tar the r'itv receives The lederal lat prchibitirtg the drstrict s

ffi

budget provided by state funding suggests the state's r0le in University finances has decreased,

d,i

savs Anderson. But sire points oul that the Depression and the end of a University building

spurt $â‚Źre likelv responsible for the huge decrease in state funding aiter 1929.

Anderson's study ol state expenditure per student, on the other hand. suggests lhat the state's role in University finances has increased.

According to Anderson, deriving accurate figures for the total number of students enrolled proved dlfficult. Occasionalh: the budget provided an enrollment figure and calculated expenditure per student. Often, however, the budget fitures for number of students enrolled did not match 0ffice of Admissions fiqures. In such cases. Anderson uses an avelage.

After coruerting all expenditure per student to 1929 dollan, Anderson finds that the expenditure dropped from $30i in 1929 to $85 in 1949. but has risen steadil.v since 1949. The 1987 fiqure was $546 in 1929 doilars, or $5,3i2 in

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The increased expenditure per student figures in University finances is expanding. This indicator must be rnterpreted rn conjunction with the decrease in percentage of state funding since 1929, says Anderson. More state m0ney c0mes t0 the University, but Anderson savs. private and iederal funds come in elen suggest the state's roie

faster.

Anderson's study 6f 15. University's impact on the state proved less equivocal-all her indicators suggest University impact is declining. The decreased percentage of alumni in ttre state's General Assembly is one of these indicators.

In studying the General Assemblq Anderson uses listings of ntembers found in Nruth Carolina

Gorcrnment-1585-19i9: A Narrative and Statistical llistory and the 1989 Legislative Directory.

The UNC-CH alumni directories allowed her to determine whether each member of the Ceneral Assembly was an aiumnus. For directory purposes, an alumnus is anyone who has completed one semester of coursework. Anderson finds that, in 1929. approximately 38 percent of the General Assembly were alumni fiom UNC-CH. The percentaqe of alumni remained close to 40 percent 1959, when it began a steady decline. By i989, only 22 percent of the Ceneral Assembly were []NC-CH alumni.

The decreasing number of alumni who remain

until

in-state further suggests that UNC-CH is becoming

until

1981,

mailing lists in the 1953 and

1975

alumni directories included alumni statistics for the years 1928 1944, 1948, 1953 and 1975. Using these figures. Anderson discovers a downward trend in the percentage of alumni living in North Carolina. Says Anderson, "ln 1928, a whopping 72 percent of alumni resided witliin the state's borders. By 1989, that percentage had steadily declined to 54 percentl' The decreasing number of alumni on the faculty also suggests that UNC-CH is becoming more of a national university. To derive her figures, Anderson uses the listing of faculty and their alma maters in lhe Record ol the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Anderson defines faculty as any level of professot. Says Anderson, "ln 1928-1929 nearly 40 percent 0f the professors were UNC-CH alumni, and this percentage has slowly but steadily declined to 30 percent in 1987-19881',

According to Anderson, her findings-especially those measuring the University's impact on the state-suggest that a lot has changed since 1929, when tuition for UNC's 2,626 resident liberal arts ,1929 dollars) per semesstudents was $47.16 (in ter. Not only have faculty and funding sources become more diverse, the University indeed fulfills its expanded mission to serve the state

and the nation,

more ol a national university. Although the

*Dottie Horn

General Alumni Association did not keep statistics

in the city.

Congress prohibits

r.ntrtinq a crrmmlrter tnt'onte tirx r:osts tlte

inconre earned

rii-slriit ,\ilL)0 6{)0 nrillion a veai 1() l0 l)ercenl ol its annrial lrLrdqrt-aeL.ordinq tl sorrre eslirrrates \1aior I S t'itirt tvpicailu imprrse a

this liu. savs Bagenstos, "hecause the Conwomen] who iive in outlying -qressrnen [and dislriris are sensitive to their constituents wh0 don t want to pav this extra [&\ burden]'

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its ability to exist. Bagenstos argues, however, that, because the payment partially compensates the district for taxes lost because of the high concentration of tax-exempt federal property in the city, the district is unlikely to lose the payment.

Even

if the payment were lost,

says Bagenstos,

the district would be a viable financial entity.

The payment has comprised a steadily decreasing percentage of the district's annual budget and currently accounts for only 17 percent of the budget. In addition, statehood would free the district to raise revenue by enacting a commuter income tax and easing building height restrictions. Estimates indicate that the income generated by the commuter income tax alone could compensate for the federal payment.

As Bagenstos studied these arguments against statehood and discounted them, he began to believe that a hidden reason underlies the adamancy displayed by many statehood opponents.

Prolessor Thad Beyle discusses undergraduate research with political science honors students Julie Anderson and San Bagenstos. Undergraduate research is valuable, Beyle says, partly beause undergraduates ask questions sometimes overlooked by nore experienced researchers. He has used undergraduate research in lectures and repfinted it in his newsletter, Inside Politics: NC.

In addition, statehood advocates protest

the

district's serving as a battleground for national political forces, says Bagenstos. Hoping to bolster support from constituents at home, members of Congress control district legislation by aftaching amendments to the annual District

of Columbia Appropriations Bill. Through such an amendment-the Hyde Amendment-Congress prohibited the spending of any federal or

municipal money for abortions for the 1988 and 1989 fiscal years, overriding legislation adopted by the mayor and city council to use municipal money for abortions.

These three issues-Congress's denial of district resident voting rights, imposition of financial restrictions, and use 0f the district as a political battleground-are the main arguments

for statehood, according to Bagenstos. Those opposing statehood, Bagenstos explains, argue that statehood is incompatible with the constitution and infeasible. After studying these antistatehood arguments, Bagenstos concluded

that none is wholly valid.

The first constitutional issue raised by statehood opponents involves ownership of district land. According to Bagenstos, many claim that if the federal government forfeits this land-

in 1788 for the purpose of creating a federal district-ownership would seceded by Maryland

revert

to

Maryland.

Bagenstos, however, cites the majority of constitutional law professors, who claim that

Maryland unconditionally gave up the land.

Even if Maryland does have a constitutional

claim, says Bagenstos, a survey of the Maryland state legislature indicated that they were overwhelmingly against incorporating the district into Maryland and would willingly relinquish the land.

The other constitutional issue raised by state hood opponents involves the 23rd Amendment to the Constitution, passed in 1961, which gives district residents the right to vote in presidential elections, says Bagenstos. If the district becomes a state, a small area in the middle of the

capital-the National Capital Service Area-will remain federal property and, unless this amendment is repealed, retain these three electoral votes. Says Bagenstos: "Since the White House

[would be] the only residence within the National Capital Service Area, statehood opponents argue that the federal district's three votes would be at the disposal 0f the President and his [or her] familyl' According to Bagenstos, the amendment poses a problem, but is not a valid argument against statehood: "D.C. should become a state now; the 23rd Amendment can be repealed laterl' The other main argument against statehood is that it is infeasible-the district does not have a sufficient revenue base to survive as a state. Opponents argue that the district would lose its annual payment-averaging $400 million or more-from the federal government, cripplint

"The one thing that really stood out in my mind is that no one really said what they meant. I got a strong feeling that they're arguing against this and they say that X, Y and Z are the reasons we shouldn't have this, but I think there's a different reason, and I think it's the demographic composition of the district. In 1970, Senator Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) said,

'The district is too black, too liberal, too Democratic and too urbanl He said that's why people don't want it to be a state. I think thafs basically rightl' says Bagenstos.

Bagenstos speculates that,

if the district

were

to become a state, it would elect two AfricanAmerican, liberal Democrats as senators. With the balance of power so precarious in the

a lot of people who do not want two new liberal Democrats in the Senate, Senate, there are says Bagenstos.

And yet, says Bagenstos, the threat posed by two more liberal senators is marginal. Bagenstos believes an underlying racism goes beyond a fear of upsetting the Congressional power balance. "[The state's] governor would be black, there's virtually no doubt about itl'Bagenstos

'A lot of what statehood opponents say implies, 'These people can't govern themselvesl

says.

You even actually read those words sometimes.

The way people talk about statehood reminds me of what people said and continue to say about independent republics in Africa. The way people talk about this betrays a racist impulse

that scares mel' Dispute over control of the district has been around since shortly after its inception and, speculates Bagenstos,

the next

far

nation's flag

is unlikely to end within

decades. Yet, he predicts that the

will

one day have New Columbia

as its newest star.

-Dottie Horn

The Rhodes to Success

HE paths chosen by classics honors student Ryan Balot have been paved with golden erudition. He has, indeed, been a superior scholar as he wends his way through UNC-CH. As the final testament to his hard work, he has been awarded the prestigious

"found himself pigeonholed very often as rather conventionall' Balot believes on the other hand that Sophocles takes the orthodox legend and examines the implications of the old code of conduct for the character Electra. Scholars have traditionally believed that Sophocles condoned the matricide, concluding that Electra's state at the end of the play is unmitigated bliss.

"Sophocles' Electra", says Balot, "is the more

Rhodes Scholarship, enabling him to study at Oxford University.

Among the more interesting routes Balot took was with classics professor Edwin Brown, a journey that began in Balot's first year and

proper kind of tragedy according to Aristotle it depicts the tragic heroine's change fuom eutuchia, or a state of good fortune, to

because

eventually led to a National Endowment for the Humanities Younger Scholars Grant, a project he completed during the summer between his junior and senior years. This project was the

dystuchia, a state of ill fortune, rather than the reversel' Centuries of critia and scholars have failed to make this connection, says Balot: "Though many of the characters in the play believe they're justified in their actions, Sophocles gives subtle hints that he himself did not see

largest he undertook until his honors thesis on Epicurean theories of friendship. Brown remembers the beginnings of their relationship: "That was an intermediate level Greek course. I may say he was the leading light in that class alreadyi'Together with the students in the class that spring, Brown read the fifth century sc. Greek playwright Euripides' play Electra.

Balot was already familiar with another Greek dramatist, Sophocles, and his version of the same story; immediately, he began to draw comparisons. "l discovered there might be some kind of dialogue between the two playsl' says Balot, "concerning the issues of justice, involvement of the gods and guilti' In the end

he decided t0 concentrate solely on Sophocles because, he says, "Euripides

is easier to under-

stand and I wanted to tackle the more difficult workl' Balot parlayed his insight into a larger pmject on the eve of leaving for a year abroad

Ryan Balot

will continue his work on ancient

at 1xford University nert

yeil

texts

as a Rhodes Scholar.

Among the substantial essays he completed at UNCCH, his work on Sophocles'Electra was financed by a National Endowment for the Hunanities Younger Scholars Grant.

Brown, "as Ryan read the Sophoclean play and steeped himself in the rich literature of his Electra. We discussed the problems he was meeting, and the new level of insight he hoped he was gainingi' Among the issues Balot examines is the question of how Sophocles may remold the

in Athens and Rome. While overseas, he planned his research strategies and conducted as much research as possible in addition to the study and activities associated with the programs

very tradition of Orestes, the character who commits matricide. Balot went to the original text and to the plethora of criticism amassed over the years. When one worls with ancient texts, there is the rather obvious problem of dealing with centuries of commentary and criticism as well. Since antiquity, readers have

abroad. When he returned, says Brown, "he was here in Chapel Hill practically the next

interpreted Sophocles' f,/ectra, according to Brown, "as a sort of field day of matricide-as

day, ready

to go to workl'

For ten weeks the two worked closely, unravelling the play's knotty problems. "We met at least weekly throughout the summerl' says

if the murder of one's mother could ever be downplayed in Greek culturel' Moreover, because Sophocles is considered to be the classic among Greek tragedians, he has, in Brown's opinion,

any justice in the matricidel' One such subtle clue that Balot points out is the reading of the Delphic oracle. At the play's outset, the oracle tells Orestes, according to Balot and Brown's translation: "The vengeance

which is right is for me to accomplishl' The problem lies in Orestes' interpretation of "for me" as referring to himself, when actually it refers to the god Apollq meaning the oracle was quoting the god. 'As usuall' says Brown, "the person who wanted the oracle to give a seal of approval for what he felt had to be done, misread it for his own endsl' Brown explains that centuries of readers have misinterpreted the oracle as well: "We have all gone along with Orestes and his interpretation of the oracle, supposing that he knew better Greek than we do. But there is nothing more typical than that Greek oracles should prove t0 have been misunderstood by their recipientsi' Brown finds Balot's work extraordinary. "l believe Ryan has written up an interpretation of Sophocles' Electra which, if it recommends itsell will fundamentally alter the appreciation of that playl'

-Lisa

Blansett

The Art of Science

IOLOGY honors student Scott Clarke and Morehead Scholar Teresa 0oley have learned a great deal more about scientific

enquiry than what it takes to cut up an insect.

When undergraduates work in Dr. Walter Bollenbacher's laboratory which focuses on neurosecretion and its control of insect development, they acquire skills that will help them in all areas of their lives. "What they take out of the lab can be applied to a personal issue, a political issue and, if they choose, a scientific issuel' says Bollenbacher.

Bollenbacher has seen promising biology students g0 t0 careers other than university research because, he says, they never learn the thrilt of discovery or the fun of designing an experiment and of challenging themselves creatively and technically. In fact, he says few undergraduates are given the opportunity to erperience the research culture through participation in a proiect in a laboratory setting.

To counteract this, Bollenbacher runs his laboratory a little differently than most. "My goall' sap Bollenbacher, "is to expose the student to the research environment, to give them an opportunity to be involved in a project in which they can learn to run a series of controlled experiments, interpret the data, and

write up the results in some form that communicates understandingl' He has found that undergraduates are often daunted by the huge body of knowledge amassed before them. They wonder, sap Bollenbacher, "How do I begin to conduct meaningful experiments without having a grasp of this body of knowledge?" Bollenbacher worls to "get them through that anxietyl' so that they can take the first step. Once undergraduates do that, according to Bollenbacher, chances are good that they will succeed and even get hooked on science.

Clarke and 0oley are definitely hooked.

Clarke has decided to continue research for a year at Duke University before entering medical school there; 0oley will work this summer at the National Institutes of Health conducting

Scott Clarke, an honors student in the biology depafiment, spent nearly a year purifying WH, prothoracico tropic hornone, as part of his honors thesis research in Dr. Walter Bollenbachels laboratory. Clarke will work at a Duke University laboratory for a year before attending nedical school there.

AIDS research and will begin graduate school at Cornell University in immunology in the fall.

While the two undergraduates worked in the

biology department's honors symposium. He worked on purifying the prothoracicotrophic hormone, or PITH, a neurohormone in the insect's brain which regulates growth and meta-

same laboratory conducting research on the tobacco hornworm, Manduca sexta, they had very different tasks that would ultimately achieve similar goals. Clarke's efforts went into crafting an honors thesis based on his research in the laboratory and presenting that work at the

morphosis of the insect from a larva, to a pupa, t0 an adult. "Purification of this hormonel' says Clarke, "is really difficult because it's pro duced by just eight neurons in the insect brain, making it present in minute quantitiesl' To

isolate the hormone, the insect brains are

DEAYOBS

they're located in the brainl' says 0oley. Working with cross sections of the brain, Ooley hybridizes DNA from lhe Bombyx PITH gene, labelled

removed and then ground up. "Somewhere in that mixture of proteinsl' says Clarke, "is the hormone, a tiny fraction of the whole mixturel' The mixture is then subiected to a series of chromatographic separations that yields a highly purified sample of the neurohormone. The process took Scott an entire summer and an academic year to complete, much longer than he had anticipated. He seems calm when he explains how long the process takes, but readily admits this stumbling block has caused a great deal of frustration because it held up work on his thesis. "l'm having to write my honors thesis and worry about my stuff in the lab at the same timel' he says.

The kind of anxiety that accompanies delays is part of the game, according to Bollenbacher, and learning to deal with such frustration will contribute to the overall experience gained in the laboratory. "Science isn't iust going into the labj' he says, "and playing with test tubes; it's frustration, it's anxiety, it's depression and it's success. It's all the things we experience in our personal lives, except in the lab it happens

with digoxigenin, to RNA in brain cells. 0oley explains: "The Bombyx big PITH cDNA is in a plasmid, a small ring of DNA that can replicate

in

certain cells. The plasmid containing the cDNA is cut with a restriction enzyme to make it linear. This allows us to generate a copy of the cDNA that incorporates digoxigenin labeled dUTP. The digoxigenin labeled cDNA is used as a probe to hybridize with cross sections of the brain. RNA in the cells in the brain which make the hormone will hybridize with the probe cDNA. An antibody that recognizes digoxigenin labeled cDNA is then used to bind the digoxigenin labeled cDNAI'The antibody has been tagged with an enzyme which can be made to

turn a color, indicating where the digoxigeninlabeled cDNA has hybridized. "lf the Bombyx PTTH DNA sequence is similar, the DNA will hybridize with the RNAI' says 0oley. She then incubates the brain sections with an antibody directed against digoxigenin. The antibody has an enzyme which can be "color-reacted" to

with inanimate objectsl'

is in the brain section. To the hybridized DNA she can then attach an antibody with a florescent tag, which will reveal exactly where the DNA sequence falls in the brain section. She is then able to visualize small blue circles on both sides of reveal exactly where the DNA

Despite the obstacles, Clarke pushes forward.

After purification of the protein, he begins the production of antibodies

to it. "The

antibodies

are important because they can be used as probes to study regulation of the hormone's production and releasel' says Clarke. To make the antibody probes, the purified hormone is injected into a mouse. The hormone is foreign t0 the mouse's immune system, s0 the immune system produces antibodies that recognize and attack the hormone. An analogous situation, says Clarke, is "when you get a virus and your

Biology researcher Tercsa )oley takes a look at insect

body's immune system respondsl' The antibodies, present in the mouse's serum-a component of blood-or obtained in vitro lrom mouse immune

"Keeping

cells, are harvested and then used to investigate the biology of the hormone. A flourescent tag can be attached to the antibodies so that they find the insect hormone in a tissue, showing the researcher where that hormone is. "We can see when and where this hormone is being releasedl' says Clarke.

As part of his honors presentation, Clarke was asked what are the practical applications

of his work. He is quick to emphasize that research is conducted with knowledge as the goal, instead of an immediate societal problem.

"Sometimes in basic research it's hard to define a practical appticationl' says Clarke. With insects, there is the possibility of eventually contributing to methods of controlling them using environmentally innocuous strategies. 0r, perhaps an understanding of how the neuro hormones are made and work in invertebrates will contribute to understanding their production and actions in vertebrates, particularly humans.

bnin

sections with

Dr. Walter Bollenbacher.

So

taken by her resurch experience in Bollenbachefs laboratory, she will attend graduate school.

in mind that you have to be careful with analogies from invertebrates to vertebratesl' says Clarke, "the system in which the hormone is produced is analogous to our own hypothalmic hypophyseal neuroendocrine systems.

Sq the research may have some sort of relevance for looking at development and/or functional disorders in higher animalsl' According to Bollenbacher, while Clarke did

not succeed at all his research goals while in the lab, Clarke has realized that he possesses a scientific inquisitiveness that he is now determined to develop, and thus perhaps he succeeded after all.

0oley examines the PITH hormone, toq but she is not purifying it, atthough she does use antibodies to find it. "My work is called ln silu hybridizationl' says Ooley, "using a DNA fragmentl' She is indirectly comparing the PITH from the commercial silk moth, Bonbyx nori, with the PITH of Manduca sexfa. 'We're trying to see the similarities between the two neuropeptides and to find in uactly what neurons

the brain, which reveal the few neurons that make the PITH. "They're perfectly round, and symmetrical, so I know they're not some kind of iunkl' says 0oley. She has found what she was looking for, sequence homology between lhe Bombyx and Manduca PITHs and the neurons that make these peptides.

As Bollenbacher predicted, she is hooked by the thrill of discovery. Ooley has now begun a scientific odyssey that she hopes will end in a research university-she wants t0 be the professor sharing with students the thrill of discovery. She has also learned something from

Bollenbacher that she says she never found in the other laboratories: "He has helped me Iearn how to think; how to ask a valid question and how to answer it myselfl' While there have been frustrations associated

with Clarke's and Ooley's undertakings, both feel that they have succeeded. But success is measured differently in Bollenbacher's laboratory.

"Sometimes the greatest insight, the greatest successes come from the most traumatic failuresl'

says Bollenbacher. He tries

to teach his stu-

dents, he says, "the experimental outcome isn't the important thing-it's the learning process you go through which is most importantl'

-Lisa

Blansett

10

ln this issue d*oted to undergraduate Chapel

Hill

U N C-CH jou

in

Reports feafures the work

research,

Chapel

ol lour

rnalism majws.'lfua senior; enrol led

Prafessor Brenda Puvell's coursq Sociological

H

for Journalists, wrote the stories junior and one senior enrotled in

Techniques and one

Professor Rich Beckman's coursg Color Photo journalism, took the photographs.

very p00r, organic chemists need ideas on how to improve this synthesis and make it a much more practical systeml' Furthermore, work in

this area has applications outside academic

Through the Loollag Glarc

laboratories, since research may be used by the pharmaceutical industry in the synthesis of organic molecules. "lt would be primarily uled

in

/t I \rf

HILDREN who put their shoes on the wrong feet and then stomp awkwardly 'learn .roun"a the house quickly a basic principle called chirality-although the leet are

synthetic organic chemistrfi' sayr Brookhart, "in the synthesis of small amounts of mate rials. These organometallic molecules are fairly valuable compounds so we're not talking about using them in multiton syntheses. We re talking

minor images of each other, they are not superimposable This principle of chirality finds many applications in the molecular world of organic chemistry. Based on the Greek word foi "hand" (cierr), chirality means "handednessl'

about synihetic scales that might be useful for making pharmaceuticalsl' Despite possible

in

reference to that pair of non-superimposable mirror images constantly before us. Oina Stenart, a UNC{H senid maioring in chemistry spent six months rcsearching and orperimenting with chiral molecules*molecules that, like feet and

of most

hands, are non-superimposable mirror images.

Stewart's research, undertaken as a senior honors thesis, concentrates 0n how to make a common lab technique more efficient. She ir

determined, with alreadi e,yi$ting sets of equip.

trying to optimize a synthesis done in the '60s in which chiral molecules that have identical physical propertieq enantiomers, are first converted into chinl molecules that have differcnt physical properties, diastereomers, then converted back into enantiomers. Slewart says she hones to make this common process more productive

"by increasing the yield, by altering the reaction conditions and solrcnts used, and by monitoring the reaction with infrared spectroscopyl' Instead of relying on visible changes which may not occur, Stewart will use infrared spectroscopy to determine when the reaction is, as closely as posible complete.

If

Stewart's research uncovers

a better way to

run the synthesis, other chemists would benefit from time saved and from a more fruitful lab oratory technique. "Right now, the yield for one step is 'rery lowi'Stewart says. "You get 30 percent of one enantiomer and percent yield

ll

of the other. If I can alter the reaction condi-

Stewart's work "involves

a synthesis of a known

compound for which the literature synthesis is

reputation of UNC.CH's chemistry department, I came to Chapel Hilli' Stewart says.

During hersecond year at UNC-CH, Stewart

met Brookhart, then her organic chemistry professor. In her junior year, Stewart asked

if she could work on an optimization.

He suggested the chiral molecule sequence, plovided her with articles and reprints of pubBrookhart

applications for researchers inside and outside of academia, Brookhart maintains that the primary purpose of Stemrart's research, like that undergraduates in chemistry is to gain work crperience in a research labomtory.

When undergraduate students enroll in Iaboratory sections of organic chemistry they participate in a process that is basically prs

ment and proeedures, But; uplains Brook'hart,, â‚Ź "this is not the way research works. Doing research is basically doing something that's not been done hfore; you harre the plan but it doesn't always work out the way you want it to work out, The student is exposed to how one Aina Stsvatt, a senior chenistry najor, uses a conceirres a research ptoblem, how one plans syringe tahnique to tftnsfu an air-sensitive conpound ta a reaction flask.

which often involws changing plans or discorering pitfalls and trying to work around them. ln addition, students are exposed to modern research equipment-all the modern kinds of research tools that one uses. One advantage of a big school over a smaller college is that if undergraduates decide to do research thry get thrown into a very active research group, using stateolthe-art equipment. Some times students harry insufficient tirne to really accomplish or complete projects, but they are exposed to what it's like to design and carry through a project. I think Cina is going to work in industry for a year or two after gradu. ation, but she'll get a good feeling for what it would be like to come to graduate school, and

tions and increase the yield, that has some practical significancel' Stewart's faculty adviser, Maurice S. Brookhart, agrees that Steunrt's work is important for this and serreral other reasons. Brookhart, a chemistry professor at UNC{H, says that because

decirion on that earJy experience and on the

Acquiring a feel for the laboratory is some thing Stewart has done since high school.

While a student,at the School of Science and Math in Durham, Stewart came to Chapel Hill one afternoon a week to work in a biochemistry lab. "lt was hom that uperience that I became extremely interested

in chemistry. Basing

my

lications

to

read and talked with her about her

research focus.

"Usually a faeulty memberhas space for an undergraduatell Brookhart says. "When I first arrived 20 years ago, I did most of my research

with undergraduates, and I was in the lab and gave them direct supervisionl' Brookhart said

he still spends time in the lab on a regular basis watching experiments being done, but he does, not aetually do hands-on research himself.

"What I do now is usually ask a graduate student ot post-doc to take an undergraduate under ,his or,,her wingji Brookhart says.

Stelvart work under ihe direct guidance of graduate studenl Wayne,Chandler. He sap teaching undergraduates the ropes benefits them all. "l show them the basic techniques and how to use the equipment, and from there I let them think

for themselvesl' Stewart sap she nowspends more time talking

with her fatulty adviser, Brookhart-providing him with progess reports and receiving sug-

E.II

II .'8.A.Y

will

also inhibit this unwinding of duplex DNA. After making a radio-labeled DNA substrate and using it in reactions to which a helicase is

I Reports

added, Ghate separates and analyzes the products

gestions about areas to examine next and advice on how to overcome difficulties. "ln chemistry there is daily contact between faculty members and studentsl' says Brookhart. "ln contrast,

in writing humanities theses students

of the reaction. Ghate found that several drugs do affect the behavior of helicase Il, one of several helicase proteins found in the bacteria E. Coli, a bacterium commonly used in research.

Matson says that Ghate's research is one important facet 0f the helicase research taking

molecular-cellular biotogy, is no newcomer to research. She gained an early appreciation for the biological sciences from her physician father. She has also investigated the function of proteins in the heart as an intern at the

in

place

hale contact with the director on a much less

National lnstitutes of Health

frequent basis; students write something and the faculty member occasionally gives feedback.

With chemistry it's a daily give and take with the latest results discussed and analyzed; the project is guided very much by what your last

land. A senior biology maior, Ghate plans to enter medical school after graduation.

A more immediate goal for her involves continuing her research, under adviser Steve Matson, an a$soiiate professor of biology and a member 0f the UNC-CH genetics curriculum.

Matson, whose lab is funded by the American Cancer Society and the National lnstitutes of Health, became interested in the involvement of helicase proteins in DNA metabolism as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University School of

experiment told you. Undergraduate researchers, like all researchers, run into difficulties. You have to somewhat narrow your focus in terms of being realistic about what an undergraduate can accomplish. Not every undergraduate is going to complete the project to the point where a paper is going to appear in a journali' Despite its difficulties, Brookhart likes to stress the many benefits

research.

of undergraduate

"lt is sometimes useful to give an

a speculative proiecti' he says. you get a breakthrough then that's great; if you don't the student still learned a lot of the research techniques and a lot about designing a research problem. The chances of failure are high, but if the student is successful it could be the springboard for a totally new research undergraduate

"lf

projectl'

-Jeff

Bethesda, Mary-

lab.

student researcher

in

Matson's lab. Collective

research efforts and recent findings place Ghate's research, says Matson, in a much

stronger position, in terms of biochemical evidence for a direct effect on the unwinding reaction catalyzed by this helicase.

Research like that Ghate participated in may lead to sophisticated studies using mammalian

Medicine.

"Nine years agol' Matson says, "l worked in a lab that was investigating DNA replication using a bacteriophage system. I became intrigued with demonskating that a particular

cells. "l am convinced that multiple helicases, performing multiple roles, exist in mammalian cells just as they exist in E. colil' says Matson.

There have been crude studies of helicase enzymes in mice, but more complex research into drug interactions with helicase enzymes is needed to give researchers a clearer understanding of how helicases function. lVith the use of mammalian cells, re$earchers may be able to understand how some drugs used in chemotherapy work, as well as how to develop

protein had helicase activity. Subsequently, I became convinced that helicases play a fundamental role in the celll' Separation of the two DNA strands is an essential function in DNA rElication and repair, Based 0n this finding, Ghate became interested in finding out whether drugs used as chemotherapeutic agents that inhibit cell growth

Eckard

new drugs.

To be successful, :in the',lab',r.0hale''learrcd t0 deal with disappointment. "sometimes I can put in a whole.week of work and do one thing

The Long Unwlndlng Code

aI S U

in his

Although Matson started studying helicase II in his lab in 1983, it was in 1988 that he became interested in the effects of anti-tumor drugs on these enzymes. Ghate began to work exclusirely in this arear in,lg89;ibxilding 0n background work done by Jim George, a graduate

wrong, and that's a whole week of work gone.

Sometimes I have to run a'te$t'five times to get publishabte datal' says Ghate, who readily

TUDYING anti-tumor drugs', effects on the oroteins that interact wittr nnn hkes an

expert. Undergraduate researcher Sujata Ghate is developing the necessary expertise in work done for her senior honors thesis in which she explores unknown areas of DNA replication and repair. Conducting tests that one day may advance cancer treatment, Ghate analyzes the effects of anti-tumor drugs-donated

admits that research can be a frustrating and monotonous experience. Being successful in the Iab takes time, energy, direction and commit-

by Glaxo, lnc.-on the behavior of helicase enzymes. The helicase enzymes, also called unwinding enzymes, catalyze the disruption of the hydrogen bonds that hold the two strands of duplex DNA together, splitting the two strands like the pull tab on a zipper, thereby participating in all aspects of DNA metabolism, including DNA replication, repair and

and encourages it. Says Matson, "We believe that undergraduate research is one of the most important things we doi'

recombination.

Ghatq who last spring won the Wilson Award for excellence in undergraduate research in

ment, says Ghate, but "coming up with meaningful data makes it all worthwhilel' The Department of Biology agrees that undergraduate research

{_,

-Sanserae M. Smith

Sujata Ohxeadds an antitumar dn{ t0 a leaclion mi*ure contaiaing radlslabsledDNA and helicare ll. Ghate has shown thit sareral common anti-tumor drugs inhibit tne E m/l helicase urnvinding of dupla DNA catalyzd

I

is a rewarding experience

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Going with the Flow

EVERAL miles down the road from UNCCH is New Hope Creek of Duke Forest, a medium-sized stream of the sort often regarded as uniform in ecological makeup. In truth, however, the banls of this and other streams act as borders for a complex community structure of microhabitats and microorganisms -exactly the environment that is of interest to researchers such as Bonie Brown and Sharon Cucchi, undergraduates in the biology department. Both Brown and Cucchi were awarded

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Parents' Council Undergraduate Research Awards

-Brown for $430 and Cucchi for $350-to help support this research done as senior honors theses. Working with biotogy professor Seth Reice, chair of the Ecology Curriculum, the two are examining a small section of New Hope Creek to understand the various physical influences that cause macroinvertebrate species, called benthos, to select particular stream habitats.

"This study is exciting from a community structure standpointl' Reice says. "lt will help us explain why we have so many different

New Hope Creek in Duke Forest is the site of a complex community structurc of nicro-habitats housing a wide variety ol organisms. Bonie Brown and Sharon Cucchi of the biology department study the distribution and abundance of nayflies, or benthos, nicroorganisms with preferences for specific stream environments.

types of animals in streams. One of the basic reasons is that the stream has many, many different kinds of microhabitats, for which many organisms are specifically adapted. So much of our work is a matter of trying to be quite specific in analyzing what affects the distribution

and abundance of organisms-which is, after all, the fundamental question of all ecologyl' To attain the required specificity, Brown and Cucchi employ a base methodology that involves laying a series of bricks in the stream to act as regulated substrates on which the benthos can colonize. "What we're interested in is how,

if we change the flow of the stream over certain areas, it will affect where the benthos colonizel'Cucchi explains. "To examine this, we both set out five sets of bricks, each of which was made up of three rows. Each row was five bricks in length, and set out in varying degrees of height and spacing. Every two weeks we took out one set for examination. I manipu-

lated the substrate height with my test group, and Bonie manipulated the spacing between the substratesl' The differences in height and spacing, Cucchi explains, produce two main factors for analysis: differing types of stream flow both over the top of and between the substrates, and varying levels of algae build up onto them. Together, the factors provide indications why the benthos choose to colonize on specific substrate areas and not on others.

"When you're doing a study over a fairly broad scale, you tend t0 group a lot, and to aggregate a variety of different microenvironments

and flow typesl' Brown explains. "Yet with the many variables introduced by differing factors such as rocks and depth, the fact is, a stream is a constantly changing environment, in which at any one time there are many different micro

environments present. We realized that different types of flow were extremely important in influencing the structure of the stream communityl' "Structurej' Brown explains, refers to the types of species actually present in various Iocations, as opposed to the function of those It is in the study of this structure, she says, that researchers might be able to infer why certain species exist and what are their species.

functions.

"We found in the end that height proved to be the greater factorl' says Brown. "None of my bricks, which varied in spacing, showed as great a concentration of algae as Sharon's did.

This wasn't so much because of flow, but rather because the closer the bricks were to the sun, the more algae were able to accumulate on top of them. For Sharon, there was a greater population continued on page 20

AYOR

E.lll

r3

The Mvsterious Death of the Florida State Service Thx ; I I

N

1986 Florida discovered

it

was facing

a

serious financial dilemma. That year, state ;90s, Florida financiers found that during the would have to spend $52.9 billion to keep pace with a population expanding at the rate of 900 new residents daily. Money would be needed for health care, education and upgrading of infrastructure components such as state roads and highways. 0fficials also realized that the state was not in the business of making money: Florida ranked 48th in state and local taxes.

Though accounting for 84 percent of Floridas general revenue, the state sales tax applied to only 18 percent of the total transactions actually taking place. Eighty-one percent of the state's jobs, meanwhile, were oriented toward servrce businesses, an untaxed category whose con-

was repealed December 11 of the same year.

Accordingly, Best analyzes what made the state service tax fail, as well as what could be done to insure its future success elsewhere.

To examine the mysterious death of the Florida service tax, Best pursues his research

into three main avenues. First, he examines the role the media played in the eventual defeat of the tax, particularly with respect t0 advertisers who themselves became subject to service taxation. Second, he views the role of government elites, whose shifting stances on the tax created for the public an image of confusion and negativity. And finally, Best analyzes the role of the many interest groups connected with service professions who lobbied either for or against the tax.

tinued growth signalled a like shrinkage of general revenue

in

years

to

come.

Floridas response to this impending crisis,

Best. An undergraduate in the political science department working with Professor David Lowery chair of the political science department, Best says, "The tax had a lot of things going for it.

Yet as Best makes clear, the tax failed abysmally. Signed into effect July 1, 1987, the tax

to black out certain national advertise ments in Florida, with printed statements across the screen such as, "While the rest of the country is seeing a national advertisement, you will not because of a boycott by advertisers protesting the Florida ad taxl'

agreed

negative television and newspaper coverage conspired to turn public opinion against the taxl' Best says. "But polls of Florida residents reveal that opposition to the tax was overwhelmingly high before daily or even weekly coverage

It was very similar to a sales tax, so in terms of administration and collection there should not have been the problems with implementation a new tax would have had. Yet it was also more progressive than a sales tax, for several reasons. First, as people get wealthier a larger percentage of their income tends to go toward services. Second, the tax promised to be more

periodi'

backtash from advertisers: the American Association of Advertisers and the National Association of Advertisers threatened to organize a boycott of the state, and take it t0 court if the decision was not reversed, Best says. After the July I passage of the tax, all three maior networls

Yet in spite of the obvious pressures such actions would have had on the media, Best contends that the media did not wield the sort of influence on the public others have supposed.

"Many groups and individuals attempted t0 place the blame on the media, suggesting that

a

short-lived attempt at imposing a controversial S-percent tax on nearly all services, is the subject of an honors thesis by a Parents' Council Undergraduate Research Award recipient, Sam

stable during business cycles. Tladitionally, as the economy slumps, most sales taxes slump with them, the result being that at the time the state needs the most money it gets the least. With services, however, business tends to remain relatively stable throughout a depressed

In looking at the media and their presentation of facts in the service tax debate, Best explains that a crucial factor was the service tax levied against advertisers. "For the first time, as ads were taxed, it became more difficult for tele vision shows and newspapers to attract those adsl' Best explains. The result was a swift

beganl'

San

Best of the

political science department researches

the 1987 Florida Service Thx-a controversial anendment that was repealed only six nonths after passage into law.

Best further explains that a content analysis he conducted of the St Petersburg Times and the Tanpa Tlrbune supports his hypothesis that the medias role in the lifespan of the service tax was negligible. "l coded all the articles on a wide range of variables, from editorial slant all the way down to headline and article location on the actual news pages. We expected to find that the papers had a negative slant. But surprisingly, we found that the coverage was split.

As anticipated, the Tlibune was firmly against the tax, but the Times came out in supportl' According to Best, the general reader was left continued on inside back cover

EII

Depression By Degrees

HETHER the Monday blues or anxious feelings about anticipated problems,

I U depressed moods are a universal perience.

ex-

In fact, sad and hopeless feelings

are

s0 common that "l'm depressed" has become an oft-repeated catchall.

Mental health professionals, however, define depression more precisely. Sad and hopeless

feelings-what they call depressed mood-are only one component of clinical depression, a diagnosis based on an individual's having met a specific number of criteria for a certain period of time. In addition to depressed mood, these criteria include weight loss, sleeping di[ ficulties, memory and concentration problems, motivation loss and a thinking pattern that interprets events negatively. While everyday life stresses routinely provoke such symptoms, clinical depression differs from more ordinary responses t0 stress in the severity and persistence of the symptoms. In addition, clinical

in different ways depending on swerity and persistence-a major depressive episode designates an acute period of severely impaired functioning, while dysthymia refers to a more chronic, moderate form of depression. depression is defined

Jill Shaw, underpsychology, have recently

Stephanie Hennings and graduate students

in

completed research projects examining factors

that might be associated with depressive symptoms. Enrolled in the psychology department's honors course, Hennings and Shaw met weekly throughout their senior year with other honors students and Professor Paul Shinkman t0 report progress on their independent research projects.

Undergraduates Jill Shaw and Stephanie Hennings work with Associate Professor Linda Craighead independent investigations of factors associated with depression.

a range of depressive symptoms, from less to

of their interest in depression, both Hennings and Shaw chose to work with Asso

hypothesized that "femininity'l-a measure of

more severe. Hennings studied the relationship between parental characteristics and depressive

sex-typed characteristics-would correlate with behaviors some psychologists consider typical

ciate Professor Linda Craighead, much of whose research has focused on depression.

According to Craighead, major depression affects from four to nine percent of the female population and from two to three percent of the male population at any given time. Less

symptoms. Shaw studied whether standard Christian religious beliefs and behaviors were

of the ideal parent-high care and low

Because

severe depression

is even more common. Hen-

nings and Shaw studied factors associated with

in their

over-

symptoms.

protection. Furthermore, she postulated that college students who rated their parents as possessing this combination of high femininity,

In her research, Hennings examined the relationships between self-reported depressive symptoms and students' perceptions of their parents' behaviors and characteristics. She

high care and low overprotection would report less depressed mood.

To test her hypotheses, Hennings administered a series of questionnaires to 38 male and 51

associated

with an absence of depressive

E.A.Y

female undergraduate students enrolled in intro ductory psychology courses at UNC-CH. Each participant rated themselves on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and rated both parents on the Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) and the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI).

The CES-D, a self-report measure of depression, consists of 20 statements describing feelings and behaviors associated with depression, such as "[ was bothered by things that usually don't

bother me" and "l felt that everything I did was an effortl' For each statement, respondents rate how often they felt that way during the

15

Hennings's data showed another important association, but only for the opposite-sex

parent-femininity was negatively correlated with overprotection. Thus, males who perceived their mothers as more "feminine" rated their mothers lower on overprotection, while females who perceived their fathers as more "feminine"

undergraduates enrolled in introductory psychology courses at UNC-CH. Shaw's Religiosity Scale, adapted from the psychological literature, measured adherence to

rated their fathers lower on overprotection.

Craighead provides a possible explanation for this finding: children may feel better understood by same-sex parents. Oppositesex parents may need greater interpersonal sensitivity ("femi-

standard Christian beliefs, church attendance, participation in religious activities, and Bibl+ reading. Nothing in the literature, however, gauged religion's function in an individual's life, prompting her to develop the Religious Efficacy

ninity") in order to be perceived by children

Scale.

as

past week on a four-point scale ranging from "Rarely or None of the Time" to "Most or AII

providing care rather than overprotection.

Hennings also found that, for both males and females, parental femininity correlated with

of the Timel'

parental care. Thus, parents rated high on

Scales such as the CES-D measure depressive symptoms, but Craighead points out that they measure a range of depressive experiences,

femininity tended to be rated high on care.

According to Craighead, this finding supports previous research that suggests the benefit of

from mild t0 more severe, and do not provide

"femininity" in interpersonal relationships.

enough information to accurately diagnose

Studies conducted on marital and roommate relationships have found that the partners and

clinical depression.

Using the PAQ, Hennings measured respondents' perceptions of their parents' sex{yped characteristics. The sex{yped characteristics used in this study have been rated as desirable qualities more typical of one sex than the other.

The PAQ s "masculine" sex{yped characteristics are instrumental (such as independence, competitiveness and sellconfidence), while the scale's

"feminine" sex-typed characteristics

are

expressive (such as awareness of the feelings of others, kindness and gentleness). These char-

acteristics are not exclusive: a person can be rated high on both femininity and masculinity.

Using this scale, Hennings assigned each parent a score 0n masculinity and femininity.

In addition, Hennings used the PBI to assess respondent's perceptions of their parents' attitudes and behaviors toward them. Based on the respondents' perceptions, parents were rated on

two qualities: care (as opposed to indifference or rejection) and overprotection (as opposed t0 the encouragement of autonomy and independence).

After subjecting her raw data t0 statistical analysis using Statistical Analysis System (SAS) programs, Hennings found that none of the parental variables-masculinity, femininity, care,

or overprotection-correlated with depression in males.

For females, however, maternal masculinity and maternal care were negatively correlated

with depression, while maternal overprotection was positively correlated with depression. Thus, women who perceived their mothers as either more "masculine" or as exhibiting higher care reported fewer depressive symptoms. Women who perceived their mothers as more overprotective reported more depressive symptoms.

Religious Efficacy Questionnaire and adminisit, along with the Religiosity Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), t0 67 tered

producing a desired outcome. Shaw was interested in individuals' perceptions about how effective religious beliefs and practices are in helping them improve the quality of their life.

Shaw's scale asls respondents to rate the

roommates of more feminine individuals report greater relationship satisfaction. Hennings' finding that parental femininity correlates with parental care suggests to Craighead that "the

children feel more positively bonded to parents perceived as more femininel' The parent-child relationship thus seems another relationship in which the "femininity" of one individual benefits the other person in the relationship.

Much of Craighead's research has focused on sex roles, and Hennings' project replicated and extended work done by Craighead s previous honors students. Such mutual interest of adviser and advisee can be advantageous: Craighead and Hennings hope to publish iointly the results of this project.

Jitl

Shaw, on the other hand, started

with

Shaw's Religious Efficacy Scale focuses on an

individual's outcome expectancy-their perception of the efficacy of a specific behavior in

a

to which statements such as "Reading the Bible helps me improve the quality of my life" are true for them.

Finally, Shaw uses the BDI, a sellreport measure of the respondent's current level of depressive symptoms. For each of the BDI's 2l items, the respondent chooses one of from four to six statements which best describes the way the respondent feels at the present moment.

For example, the respondent chooses one of following statements as most apt: "l don't feel disappointed in myselfi' "l am disappointed in myselfl' "l don't like myselfl' "l am disgusted with myselfl' or "l hate myselfl' After subjecting the data to statistical analysis using SAS computer programs, Shaw found that neither religiosity nor religious efficacy cordegree

related with depression. According to Craighead, some previous studies have yielded different

personal observation that she hoped to empiri-

findings, but, as a whole, existing research sug-

cally explore. Noting that some Christians had depressive symptoms and others did not, she wondered if varying levels of adherence to Christian behaviors and beliefs were related to depression and, more specifically, if the role religion serves in an individual's life relates to

gests that no consistent relationship

depression.

correlated highly with religiosity. Thus, individuals who reported greater adherence to Christian beliefs and practices indicated they felt those beliefs and practices helped them to

Shaw defines these two separate concepts as religiosity and religious efficacy. Religiosity measures the extent to which a person adheres to standard Christian beliefs and behaviors, while religious efficacy, a concept Shaw devised, refers to an individual's expectations about the efficacy of their religious beliefs and behaviors.

Shaw hypothesized that both religiosity and religious efficacy would correlate negatively with depression. She further postulated that religiosity would correlate positively with

uists

between religiosity and mental health. Shaw's work is one of only a handful of studies that address the specific relationship of religion to depression.

Moreover, Shaw found that religious efficacy

improve the quality of their life.

While "l'm depressed" commonly refers to an array of everyday emotional ills, depressive symptoms can become much more persistent and severe. Hennings and Shaw's research sheds light that may help prwent and treat

both mild and severe depressive symptoms.

religious efficacy.

To test her hypotheses, Shaw created the

-Dottie Horn

EIII'E

l6

AYORS

0n Southern Soil AMEY Carson and Clay Hodges take on subiects that reach deep into the red clay

of the Southern United States. While each of these Parents' Council Research Awards recipients has written his honors thesis on different people, conflicts and historical eras, both undergraduates examine racial issues

in

the

South. Carson has opened a new area of historical research by examining problems faced

by Creek lndians as settlers came to Alabama, establishing political and economic structures that shut out the Native Americans. Hodges'

work focuses on the more recent and still sensitive question of school integration in Charlotte, North Carolina and one judge's efforts to change the system.

Carson and Hodges conduct their research as part of the UNC-CH history department's rigorous honors program. The program features

a yearJong class for all students writing honors theses. Students work closely with a faculty adviser who specializes in their area of interest, as well as with the program's director, Dr. Lawrence Kessler. "The program is highly structuredl' says Kessler, "but it's flexible enough to meet the different needs of studentsl' Because of this, the program is able to nurture future historians. 'As historiansl' says Dr. John Semonche, Hodges' adviser, "our idea is to communicate some of the mechanics as well as some of the excitement of historical inquiry. We're only able to do that in a limited way with the last number of undergraduates who take history coursesl' The honors program offers students who have a grade point average over 3.2 as well as the desire to complete a substantial research and writing project the chance to distinguish themselves.

The dedication and enthusiasm students exhibit translates into a superior learning experience. "You can see in the way students converse about what they've done that they

find it a fun project; it has really been a labor of lovel' says Kessler. In the process, students are able to perfect the techniques they have

been asked to learn throughout their university careers. "The prolect brings to bear the skills students should have been learning

in college-

writing, organizing and interpreting, as well as how to read materials and how to engage in researchi' says Kessler.

At first,

Hodges met the challenge

with some

"l

wasn't intimidated by the projectl' says Hodges, "but I did not feel I was extremely trepidation.

qualified for this intense scholarship and researchl' As he worked, however, his excitement and self-confidence grew, and he completed a thesis for which he was awarded honors.

In the process he learned a great deal about research and how to approach a subject. "l found that my original approach was completely off-basel' admits Hodges. He had hoped to find that Judge James McMillan had been won over to the cause of civil rights by a clear, definable event or series of events. His first approach led him onto slippery ground, says Kessler, because it is difficult to determine what influences a person to make a particular decision. McMillans decision in Swann vs. CharlotteMecklenburg Board of Education 0969, 1970), while less well known than Brown vs. Board of Education (1954), was the one that gave practical meaning

to integration by requiring busing in

Charlotte.

"The Brown decisioni' says Hodges, "had said that segregation is illegal, but it never made any concession on [how or] when integration could be achievedl' McMillan's decision to force busing came as a surprise to many in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area as he had been considered, according to Hodges, "conservativel' Hodges' original query focused on what would push a conservative thinker into making a liberal decision, but he learned from his several interviews with the Judge and other players in the case that the process is much more complex. "[t definitely wasn't]' says Hodges, "as cut-and-dried as I'd hopedl' Long before McMillan became a judge racism was pernicious yet, t0 some whites, inevitable and invisible. Growing up in Robeson County,

At the North Carolina Collection, Clay Hodges collects background infornation on UNC-CH graduate Judge lames McMillan. Hodges also interviewed

McMillan

in

the judge's chanbers

in

Charlotte,

North Carolina.

McMillan never had occasion to question why he could play with Native American and African American children at the local swimming hole, and yet those children were never in his classes in the fall. "He just assumed it was a fact of

lifel'

says Hodges.

McMillan was raised in the same way many other Southern whites were during the time, but Hodges decided that the seeds for a decision that seemed to go against McMillan's past experiences were present throughout the ludge's life. "l think that he was as liberal as an

o.R.3

&year-old boy, as he was as a law student, and as a S5-parold newly appointed judgel' says Hodges. But according to Hodges' interpretation, it took the issues presented in the Swann case

to bring these liberal ideas to the forefront.

McMillan found that it was not fitting or right that children be denied equal, integrated education, a decision that has less to do with liberal or conservative ideologies and more to do with basic human rights. "l think one of the greatest things about McMillanl' says Hodges, "is that he showed a great deal of strengh of resolve by standing up to the pressure So many of the judges in that period also believed that education should be equal and integrated, but they were scared to act on iti' Among the things Hodges found satisfying during his research was the opportunity to speak to those people involved in the case.

"My research has involved people who were right there in the action; I think that I'm distinctira in the honors class because of that approachl' he says. His quest to capture living history took him to Charlotte, North Carolina,

for several interviews.

In addition to speaking to McMillan, Hodges also spoke to William Poq the man who was head of the CharlotteMecklenburg Board of Education, and who was at the time against busing as a means of school integration. Interviewing Poe, says Hodges, "really focused my thesisl' Hodges admits that he had fallen prey to a onesided account of the case "l was just in this proMcMillan mentality that wasn't answering questions or delving into the complex issues on both sides. Mr. Poe provided an

alternative outlook on the situationi'

says

Hodges.

Hodges is pleased that he relied heavily on first hand accounts, noting that he was able to get at some of the motives and examine some of the more personal issues not recorded in court dockets or newspapers. He is careful to

note, howerrcr, that interviews twenty years after the fact need to be placed in proper context.

Regardless of the pitfalls associated with re search based on oral history, Hodges says he thoroughly enjoyed tapping another source besides the books and manuscripts found in libraries.

Written torts provide honors student Jamey Carson with his only access to nineteenthcentury Alabama. Carson conducts research in

the pages of printed history at the Alabama State Archives, the University of Alabama and the senate and session logs of North Carolina.

Carson was attracted to such research by Dr. Peter Walker, his adviser, during a course on the Old South taught by Walker. Carson discorcred in the course of the class that little work had been done in the lield of Southern Indian history and set out on what Walker says was ferra incognita; Walker reserves high praise for Carson's research. For his work, Carson sharu in the department's Ryan Prize for Outstanding Honors Thesis. Moreover, he has recieved

a scholarship for graduate study

at

lLlane University.

While it is true that Indians left few or no written records, Carson was able to gather the historical records left by others and interpret what happened to the Creek Indians. From let-

t7

ters, court records, and "anything that had any mention of Creelal' Carson discerned a clear, if complex, pattern of dorelopment and its effects on the rise of anti-lndian legislation.

ln looking at the period from 1818 to 1836, the period in which Creeks were gradually wiped out or sent elsewhere, Carson found three distinct periods. "The first period, l8l8 to 1825, can be characterized as a period of substantial governmentsubsidized growth; the [federal] government built roads and bridges, it surveyed or explored waterways and built schoolsl' During this time, there was little prirate enterprise as the federal government dictated the course of expansion. Concomitant with the end of government-fostered growth, legislation against the Creek Indians was passed. "l established that Alabama had to build itself up to a certain extent before it could turn on the Creek Indians, because the Indians were a fairly powerful groupi'says Carson. Most leg islation against the Creeks was passed between 1826 and 1831, constituting the second period in Carson's scheme. He calls this second period "the law periodl' There was little economic growth during the law period, but legislation, all semblance of the tribal authori$' These actions left the Creels splintered, unable to coalesce

says Carson, "destroyed Creeks, including

into a force that could hold off white opansion.

The third period, from 1832 to 1836, is one "of tremendous economic growthl' sap Carson.

Indian lands had been opened through legislation to settlers, and the settlers, says Carson,

"had accumulated enough money ortr the years [of government-sponsored growth] to start building their onn private companiesl' The transition from a government-held economy to a privately held one paralleled the political changes in the state. "During the first periodl' says Carson, "the state was always saying, 'We've got to get rid of the Creeksi but it never did anything about itl' During the second period, however, the same legislation was

brought forth and passed. "l think it reflects some sense of confidence in the [state] government that they can now do something about the Creekl' says Carson, Finally, in the third period, while little legislation was passed, the

Creek dispersed quickly, leaving room for the white political apparatus.

0n

another lwel, Carson investigated letters

from private citizens. "The [sentiments orpressed in these] letters did not change orrer the course

of l8l8 to

1836. Most of all, there was a sense of terror throughout the periodl' The Creeks

in the beginning, fiercely defended their land and culture. Settlers on the frontier feared had, Janey Carson conducts sone of his rcsearch on Alabana's Creek lndians in the Southern Historical Collation at UNC-CH. He will soon be a gnduate student in history.

continued on inside back cowr

E.T

l8

I)

Camping with the Loggerhea-d Sea Turtle ROM May to August on North Carolinas Bear Island, the late night and early

morning bring mysterious visitors to the island's beaches. These are the loggerhead sea turtles, creatures three to four feet long whose nesting habits compel the females to ascend the shore to lay and bury their eggs before returning to the sea.

Despite its straightforward manner, the female loggerhead's nesting process at Bear Island has become increasingly difficult during the past several decades, prompting researchers such as TYacey Langhorne, an undergraduate in the biology department, to examine more closely the factors surrounding nesting and egg-laying.

Working with UNC-CH Professor Charles Peterson, a population biologist at the Institute of Marine

Sciences in Morehead City, Langhorne spent three months in the summer of 1989 involved with a team that collected information on loggerhead nesting and hatching activity. She has analyzed these 1989 records as well as previous ones made since 1975 by researchers

at Hammocls Beach State Park on Bear Island.

The study, she says, indicates a shift in the preference that loggerheads exhibit for nesting locality on the island. As late summer approaches, turtles shift

their nesting activity

o I Professor Charles Peterson and undergraduate research assistant Tracey Langhorne at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City conducted a year-long research project on the nesting habits of the loggerhead sea turtle. Langhorne is one of several students working with Peterson as part of a sumnerJong progran in

marine ecology.

away from the northeast towards the southwest.

"0n July 28,

1978 the Federal Endangered

Species Act classified the loggerheads as threat

enedl' says Peterson, a member of the National Academy of Sciences panel on Sea lLutle Conseryation, which reports that at least 11,000 sea turtles, and possibly three to four times that number, are killed as a result of shrimp fishing each year. During loggerhead nesting season,

the turtles congregate offshore in the same region that shrimp boats pahol. The loggerheads get caught in the fishing nets and many are drowned or killed by stress. According to Peterson, the high death toll may have an especially significant impact on the already limited sea turtle population of North Carolina, which marks the northern limit of traditional

nesting grounds. "Although it's largely speculative, the assumption is that to some degree the loggerhead is faithful to the general vicinity in

which it nests. That has the implication that if we don't protect our turtles locally, we may have a localized extinction of the turtles that have historically used North Carolina beachesl' In addition to the problems presented by shrimp boats, however, Langhorne says that there is a somewhat less obvious factor that may affect the loggerheads, and which motivated a study of the turtles' nesting habits-a study of the sort that the National Research Council cites as critical in the effort t0 protect loggerheads and other sea turtles. This factor is recreational use. Because loggerheads lay their

at night, Langhorne examines an activity that takes place after dark, namely, camping.

Focused on a small area of the northeast side of the island, known both as Bear Island and Hammocks Beach, the study addresses the general issue of how camping on coastal barriers may affect sea turtle reproduction. The entire island is approximately three miles in length and one and one-half miles in width. Roughly one-half of the island's area is open to camping, and one-half is maintained as a pristine environment for wildlife. While not a direct physical threat, campers create nighttime noise and light that can frighten the loggerheads away from the beach, causing them to seek new nesting spots. "This detay in nestingl' says eggs

o

Peterson, "subjects the females

l9

to risk of

mortalitv before eg{s can ultimately be laidl' Langhorne explarns that a comparison between

the camping area and wildlife environment provides one means of assessing the effects of campers on turtle nesting. Since 19i5i' Langhorne says, "records have been kept on a varietv of the observations made of loggerhead nestinq and hatchinq activities, such as where and when the nest was made. There have even been records kept on 'false crawlsl when a lurtle comes onto the beach but retreats into the water before laying eggs.' Some false crawls are caused when people fnghten turtles.

Lanqhorne says she decided "to assemble these data to determine if the camping at Hammocks Beach was affecting the turtles.'

In spite of various gaps in data taken over the past 15 vears. Langhorne and Peterson have arrived at several conclusions. Most obvious is

the shift that turtles make as summer pr0gresses from the northeast section of Bear Island to the southwest to nest and lay eggs. ''Comparing the May-.lune nesting period to the Jull-August nesting period, the proportion of all nests completed in the southwest segment grew from 57 to 7l percent,' Langhorne savs.

These numbers, according to Langhorne. are paralleled by a seasonal rise in the number of campers recorded at Hammocks Beach in five of the six years for which data 0n sea turtle nests are available and recorded bv location. ''The average number of overnight campers in

the Mav-June period was l5.9, she says, ''whereas the average in July August was 18,81' Despite what may appear to be a relationship between the seasonal rncrease in campers and the late-summer shift in Ioggerhead nesting sites arval'from the camping areas. Langhorne and Peterson c0nclude that the effect of campers on loggerheads is most likely nil. Using data from 19ii, 19i9, 1980 and 1989 on the number of nightly campers on Bear Island and the percentage of nesting attempts that were successfully compieted during those same nights.

Langhorne uses a 'linear regression analysis]'

Out

of the Classroon

to examine whether it is feasible to establish a fishery for the soft-shell clam in Pamlico Sound.

The clam, which is the second most important

Summer at the Institute of

Marine Sciences For the undergraduate summer interns at the Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, business as usual is a dramatic leap out of the campus environment. With prolects ranging from papers and presentations on original research findings to mass-scale experiment preparation, students immerse themselves

in a hands-on world

of scientific research quite different from any they have seen or perhaps expected.

"The purpose of the program is two-foldl' says

population biologist Charles Peterson, who for the past 14 years has written suppofi for undergraduates into his grant proposals as a means of funding summer internship opportunities. "0n one level, students provide me with help on projects. As the most intense biological period, the summer is often my most intense time of work.

But on another level, I have a philosophical commitment to show students the full process of doing science, specifically marine ecology, so that they can learn things they never would learn in the classroom. And, if students are considering science as a career, they can see firsthand what scientists really doi' The summer begins with a broad overview of the proiects conducted by the various faculty members, postdoctoral students, qraduate students

and technicians at the lnstitute, Peterson explains. "l give students guidellnes about the sorts of things they might envision doing, and the sorts of things we encourage them to do. Then I ask them to take a couple of weeks to work with me to select a component of our larger projects that will be uniquely theirs for the summerl' These individual proiects, which range irom l}acey Langhorne's work on the loggerhead sea turlles (see adiacent article) to Jennifer Lipfert's study of lhe Macona bathica's feeding methods, represent

fishery catch in Maine after lobsters, thrives here in North Carolina, and yet is neither harvested nor marketed, Peterson says. "First, Chris will learn enough about the clams ecology to know when and where it can be harvested naturally; second, he will examine whether aquaculture can be done with iti' The questions, Peterson says, involve a number of experimental manipulations of estuarine bottom environments that could make the animal more abundant and more attractive to fishermen leasing that estuarine botton for aquacultural activities.

The independent project is an equally valuable opportunity for Jennifer Lipfert. A junior biology major, Lipfert is studying Macoma balthica, a clam that chooses between two methods of feeding. "The clams have a choice of whether to extract food in suspension from the water, or whether to lacuum up food that's been deposited on the sea floorl' Petsson says, "The questions we're asking concern what factors determine the way the clam decides to feedl' The major factor, Peterson says, is water florry: when the current moves rapidly, "the flux of suspended foods increases thercby increasing the profitability of this mode 0f feedingl' These, Peterson says, are questions Lipfert will design experiments to answer.

The results of such projects. says Peterson, offer rare opportunities for undergraduate students to see the many sides of a research proiect from beginning to end. 'The students receive the experience and the responsibility of designing a

project, collecting the data, analyzing the data and writing them upl' Peterson says. "ln addition, at the end of the summer each student gives that information verbally in a 20-minute presentation to the whole university community here. As with their writeups, this is done in the proper scien-

tific format: they outline the question they asked,

oi the student's time at the Institute. The remaining time, says Peterson, is spent assisting with ongoing, longer-term proj-

the materials they used and how they went about

ects. Nwertheless, the individual proiects are the core of the students' summer erperience.

data

approximately on*quarter

For Chris Sanchez, a UNC-CH junior biology major, this individual work provides an opportunity

answering that question, the hard data they have as results, and then their interpretation of that

in light of what else is knownl' -David Anthony

a statistical lest measuring the effects of an increasing density of campers on turtle nesting success. The test result revealed lhat there was

no relationship.

0ther tests confirmed these findings. "ln additional attempts to test the degree of influence r-rf camper presence on sea turtle nesting success, \r'e utiIzed data taken on nights during the full moon when camping was prohibited and compared these data to those from nights lust before and just after the full moon with no prohibition on campinql' savs Langhorne.

The test results. she says, "indicated the complelion of 0,58 nests per night in the presence of campers. compared to 0.47 nests per nitht

without campers-a statistically insignificant difference.' Explains Peterson: "lt turns out thal there is no difference in hatching success between the northeast and the southeast segments of the island.'

Rather than presenting an analvtic dead end, however, the results of Langhorne's analysis lead to the study of the consequences of the loggerhead s nesting patterns. 'By connecting information obtained lrom the analysis of the relationship between camping intensity and nesting activity, and comparing thrs to incuba-

tion patterns as well as hatching success

rates,

we hope to draw further conclusions]' says Langhorne. "0ne question that we're posingl' Peterson adds, "is does the location in which the eggs are placed have any significant effect on the time it takes those eggs t0 develop?

And, does the length 0f time that eggs develop imply a difference in survivorship?" The paper Langhorne and Peterson have written on her research at Bear Island will be sent out for publication, thereby contributing to the knowledge of the threatened loggerheads.

-David Anthony

ilvoRs

20

Undergrads in the Research Picture continued from inside front cover

years

noq I can attest to their high

standards

and, consequently, to the remarkable quality of undergraduate research being conducted throughout the Universig. For example, roughly half of all honors theses in biology result in coauthored scholarly publications. Faculty routinely tell me

that they see masters-level work in senior thesis projects. The articles that follow on honors and other students who do research at Carolina will give some idea of the imagination, thought, and just plain hard work that go into a successful undergraduate research undertaking.

Several of these articles profile students

Sq I salute the students whose contributions to the Carolina research community are celebrated in these pages as well as the hundreds of other undergraduates who every year take full advantage of the fact that they chose to attend one of the premiere research universities in the country. Their work is evidence that, at Carolina at least, the terms "undergraduate education" and "research" are not mutually exclusive. Rather the latter can be and, for decades, has been an important component of the former.

-Robert C. Allen

Professor of Radio, Television and Motion Pictures and Associate Dean for Honors in the College of Arts and Sciences

whose thesis research has been supported by undergraduate research awards. In 1987 the University's Parents' Council made a grant to the Honors Program to launch a twGyear prG gram of grants to individual students to help defray expenses connected with honors thesis research. In applying for these grants, students describe their projects, explain their importance, prepare research budgets and secure the endorsement of their thesis adviser. Over the past 2t/z years, more than 30 students have received awards ranging from $100 to $500.

Last year, an alumnus of the University made possible the extension of the program for another two years. Undergraduates have used grants t0 purchase laboratory equipment and supplies, to travel to libraries and archives, to conduct field research in the social sciences and to buy artistic supplies for those whose research takes the form of a creative proiect.

Finally, our picture of undergraduate research also needs to include this last group of students-

in the arts,

music, speech, film, theater and other disciplines whose theses may take the form not of a bound volume but of a piece of sculpture, original musical composition, those

experimental

film or theatrical

performance.

The quality of creative theses is just as high

as

research projects. Several recent theses in the English Department's creative writing program,

for example, formed the basis for published novels or collections of poetry. One of the most effective demonstrations of the intenelationship between research and creative work I have ever seen was provided last year by Patty Griggs, now an honors graduate in Speech Communication. She researched the problem of homelessness through the standard academic literature, then interviewed homeless people in the area. These interviews became the basis for a thesis performance piece Griggs wrote and enacted. It was more powerful and thoughtprovoking than any more traditional analysis of the problem I have read.

Going with the Flow continued from page

12

of animals as food increased. But for me it just didn't work as well-my animals simply didn't colonizel' Accordingly, Brown explains, the naked brick were simply not attractive enough to the benthos for colonization.

"Without sufficient algae growth, they seem to have been deemed too foreign, and too homo geneous for colonizationl' she says.

Cucchi explains that in testing the accumulation of algae, she and Brown examined the concentration of chlorophyll A in their samples, and its relation to the abundance of algae. "We took five subsamples from each sidej' she says.

"Then at the lab we would filter the sample for impurities such as sand, let it dry, and then extract the chlorophyll from the algae with hot ethanol. After that we take a spectrophotometer reading at two different wavelengths, to determine through a specific equation, what is the exact concentration of algaei' Brown also explains, however, that stream flow was by no means an unrelated factor in the preference the benthos exhibited in colonization location. Upstream from Cucchi's set of test bricks, Brown's bricks were set closer to a turbulent riffle zone of the stream, in which the water flow was considerably stronger than in Cucchi's test area. This, Brown says, may have been a factor of equal importance to the collection of algae on the higher bricks Cucchi utilized as her substrate test.

Cucchi further explains that the controlled experimentation she and Brown conducted in artificial stream channels added to the hypo

thesis that flow was a primary factor in the choice the benthos made for colonization. As in the experiments at New Hope Creek, Cucchi and Brown divided their test manipulations between height and spacing. Here, however, in the absence of sunlight and food production, flow was better isolated as its own cause for benthos colonization. "l took three channels, each about three meters in length and filled with about ten centimeters of water, and laid a base layer of small pebblesl' Cucchi says. "Then in two I added seven rows of rocls, of two different heights-one very tall, and one very shorti' Following this, Cucchi introduced 35 mayflies from New Hope Creek into the channel environment, which was further broken up into sections ten centimeters in length in order to monitor where the benthos colonized. "We set the bugs in at the beginning of the channel, so they had the option as to where they settledl' Cucchi says. "We gave them a 24 hour test period. If they didn't care for the environment and didn't colonize somewhere, they were swept

to the back of the channell' At this point, she explains, the mayflies can be retested or simply removed from the artificial stream.

Cucchi explains that for her test group 0f three channels, the least amount of benthos colonization took place in the channel without

the rows of rocks, while the greatest amount took place in the channel with the highest rows. The channel with the low rows, meanwhile, showed a moderate amount of settle ment, primarily in the initial sets of rows.

This, she says, indicates the influence of stream flow in the sort of environment organisms such as benthos choose for habitation.

For Brown, however, the tests produced less dramatic results. Using a uniform height, Brown manipulated the spacing of her groups of substrate rows between distances of 27 centimeters and three centimeters. "l found that the benthos would colonize immediately, in the substrates closest to where we introduced them, and usually on the substrate underside. They were just looking for coverl' The results of the study conducted by Cucchi and Brown are then as expected: a collection of sometimes overlapping findings that map the many-faceted stream environment. As Reice says, "The work they're doing represents the first steps in translating a theoretical distribution -a theoretical set of causal relationships-into a demonstration that what the stream environment consists of really does matter to organisms.

The work is not complete or perfect, but we're much further ahead than we were eight months agol'

-David Anthony

Florida State Service lhx continued from page

13

in a state of confusion, unable to fall back on his or her prior political beliefs, because there was no clear party line. The service tax re mained a bi-partisan issue oriented along interest group lines.

The message put forth to the public by government elites was equally muddled, Best says. "l did two case studiesl' he says. "l did one on Governor Robert Martinez, and the other on Speaker of the House John Mills. I took several trips down to Tallahassee to interview rarious officials, and found that the rhetoric of each was not so much in the interest of the state as it was in the interest of themselves and their respective political careersl' As a primary example of the suspect role of government elites, Best cites the chameleonlike attitude Martinez exhibited touard the tax.

"0riginally Martinez came out for the tax, which he didn't have to dol' Best says. "The bill would have passed without his signature.

But he signed and stood with it publiclyl' By late September of 1987, however, Martinez found his approval rating had dropped to a meager 12 percent; soon after, he abandoned his support of the tax and asked the legislature to repeal it when they met in special session and consider budget reforms before considering any new taxes. "l finally came to the conclusion that Martinez's decisions were based on the polls, not the welfare of the statel' Best says.

The actions of Mills, a staunch supporter of the tax even after the shift by Martinez, were much the same, Best says. In response to the governor's requested budget reforms, Mills invoked what Best describes as a "government by punishment techniquei' With the help of confidential sources, Best learned that Mills outlined a budget plan wherein districts opposed to the service tax received cuts "dramatically out of proportion" t0 existing information on financing or population. ln addition, the public debates Mills arranged on the tax were heavily loaded with proponents, to the extent that op posing groups were given incorrect information about meeting times and places. Again, political self-interest was found to prevail over public welfare.

Best's investigation of the service tax debate was centered around a questionnaire he mailed to lobbyists connected with interest groups on

both sides. "l was attempting to find out facts such as who supported the tax, what actions they took to support their position, if they were united as interest groups, and so on. In other words, was it a loud outcry from isolated minorities that influenced the legislature toward

repeal, or a cohesive voice?" Best explains that although the results 0f this third section of his inquiry into the Florida tax were partially inconclusive due to the anonymous nature of the format he offered, they did reveal certain insights. "Over 40 percent of those responding said that they thought extending the sales tax to certain services was the best answer to the state's financial crisisl' This was a big surprise, says Best, but also a supporting piece of evidence that the service tax failed due less to the public's distaste for such a burden than to factors such as the duplicitous role of government elites that served to

divert public attention from the relative pros and cons of the tax. This, says Best, is the most important lesson to take away from the demise of the Florida service tax: its implementation in other states is not only feasible, but probable.

-David

Anthony

Endcavors Research and Graduate Education

at the University

of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Fall

1990

Volume VIII, Number I Endeavors is a magazine published fout times a year

by the Office of Research Services, a division of the Graduate School of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Each issue ol Endeavors describes only a few of the many research proiects undertaken by faculty and students of the University.

Requests

for permission to reprint material,

readers'

comments and requests for extra copies should be sent to Editor, Endeavors,0ffice of Research Services,

CB# 4100, 300 Bynum Hall, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-4roo (919/966-5625).

Chancellor: Paul Hardin Provost: J. Dennis 0'Connor Associate Provost and Dean of Research:

Mary Sue Coleman Director, 0ffice of Research Services: Tom K. Scott

Southern Soil continued from page

17

Editor-in-Chief: Tom K. Scott

retaliatory raids and expressed their anxiety in correspondence with friends, relatives and officials. While these letters were from white settlers, Carson also tried to get a sense of the Creek's perspective. "They were upset by

Assistant Editors: David Anthony

Lisa Blansett Dottie Horn Scott Lowry

a lot of prob

lems; there was corruption in the leadershipl' says Carson. They fell prey to the likes of Benjamin Hawkins, a white man who wanted

to "civilize" them, teaching them to

Kathleen Photographer:

anxious to leave the state or into very small groups who rose up to fighti' In the end, most

of the Creels and their civilization were Those distant Creek Indians and Alabama settlers have been dead for more than 150 years; the Swann case was effectively resolved in 1974, yet the events of these historical eras

Nancy Ahrens Margaret Boebel

@ 1990 by the University of North Carolina at Hill in the United States. All rights reserved.

Chapel

No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

stands

in Barrow, Alaska in front of a traditional whaling boat. Used

for spring hunting, boats are made by stretching sealskin over a frame. As spring approaches the wave action and the break up of ice cause the tower-like configurations visible on the ocean surface.

How

different races treat or view one another is still very much a part of our social fabric and the battles for equal rights continue today. By looking at the past, both Carson and Hodges reveal

the present.

-Lisa

Owens

Cover: This bowhead whalebone

decimated.

still be felt.

Will

A. McMorrow

Design: UNC Design Services

weave, to

produce the commodities necessary to function in the emerging Alabaman economy. After a treaty was signed in 1832, "the Creels could not face the 25,000 settlers and collapsed into either poverty-stricken groups who became

have implications that can

Managing Editor: Brenda Powell

Blansett

Photo courtesy of Quaker Ifuppel and Lisa Abbott

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