September 1996

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redesigned with help from our readers. Last spring, some of you volunteered your time to give the magazine a close look and to tell us

what you thought. Students from a Carolina course in mass communications helped us organize several readers' groups, suggesting questions, writing transcripts, and helping analyze results. We asked about content,

tt

Sustainable Deve!opnrent

illusration, layout, and typography. We also

Frorn Nags Head to New Delhi, researchers

asked about some of those intangibles that give

and students seek an elusive balance.

a rnagazine its personality-elements of attirude

by Colleen Hoikes

and style.

What did we learn? Specific steps we can take to improve Endenuors and do a better job of telling the story of research and creative achievement at Carolina.

NI of our readers' groups recommended a more elegant and contemporary look for the magazine, with stronger photographs and more

.

we've tried to make the magazine more appealing and more conversational.

We know there's still room for improvement.

This is your standinp; invitatior.r to let us know what we can do to make Endeaaors the best it can be.

So sencl us your ideas.

The Editor

Cover illustration by Adom Brill

endeaz'ors

:.-...

3

Newsmakers

5

uralogue Do we need to be protected fiom the

illustrations. Many readers complained about the wpeface, which was difficult to read. And some felt that the magazine's stance and tone were too "institutional" and "safe."

We hope you like the changes. We're doing more with photographs and illustrations, and we've revamped the layout to engage the eye and create an active, energetic look. We've set the body text in Janson, one of the mosr legible, elegant qpefaces available. But most of all,

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Internet?

by Elizobeth Zubritsky

":

"I

Vita

Lilian Furst fled from Nazis.

As an adult she takes comfort in the power As a child

of words.

by Angelo Spivey

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill September 1996 Volume Xlll, Number

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\\/arren Norcl argues that

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Endeqvors is a magazine published three times a year by the Office of Craduate Studies and Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. !

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it'.s

unconstitlltional filr

the public school curriculut.n to igqnore religion.

by Angelo Spivey

Readers' comments, requests for permission to reprint material, and requests for extra copies should be sent to Editor, Endeavors, CB# 4'l 00, 307 Bynum Hall, University of North Carolina at Chapel

Hill, ChapelHill, NC 27599-4100

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Researchers exirminc the ir-rfluence of stress

phone: g1g1966-5625. email: endeavors@unc.edu

and drugs on the imtnune svsteln.

by Elizabeth Zubritsky

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Michael Hooker &1.

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Provost

A scholar connects with an often nrisunderstood culture.

Vice Provost for Groduote

by Angela Spivey

Studies ond Reseorch

Richard Richardson

Thomas J. Meyer ..fi.,'

Vir;:slrce

Srudents, teachers ancl prof-essionals terrm up to create

public-senice announcelnents that speak to kids.

by Marisso Melton

il_

Chancellor

i-i;r: Ph;';tr:r,,:li i,' rtf th;: Lir'l;r{: Snrdents in the School of Pharrnacy are learnine how to gi'r,e you the personal attention people once fbund at their

corner drugstore.

by Marisso Melton

Editor and Director, nformation ond Commu nimtbns, Graduote Studies and Research NeilCaudle

t

Assistant Editor Angela Spivey Writers

Colleen Haikes Marissa Melton

Elizabeth Zubritsky Designer Neil Caudle Assistant Designer

julia Bryan 01996 by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the United States. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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tures on the ocean boffom,

their eyes on the decks of

the material deteriorates. In the past, scientists have had to srudy gas hydrates fiorn

drill

ships in the past," Paull

says.

"But if you're not

eology researchers

an academic

fiom UNC-CH

they studied them at all.

But during their tirne spent on the international Ocean Drilling Project, Carolina researchers louncl way to krok z1t gas hydrares

have

confi rmed what scientists have suspected for about ten years: tiat eas hydrates, a

potential firel source for the next century exist ir-r abundance in the ocean floor offthe coast of the Carolinas. And since they exist there, says Professor of Geology Charles K. Paull, they probablv exist in similar condidons in other parts of the ocean. Previous scientific studies have estimated drat the amount of fossil-fuel carbon stored in existing gas hydrates may be twice the size of all known oil, gas, or coal deposits on earth.

Study ofgas hydrates has never been easy. Once removed fiom the high pressures and low temperaendeaz,ors

distance-iI

a

up ckrse.

Last fall, Paull spent almost two months with students Wally Borowski and Nanry Black on board the

470-foor R/V Joides Resolu-

tklt, tal<ng sediment cores to study the presence ofgas hydrates in the sea bottom. A specialized drill bit made ir possible to raise pressurized samples of the sedirnent to the surfhce while preserving the sea-floor pressure, and thus the gas hydrates

contained in the samples.

"People have seen gas l-rydrate disappear in lront of

prepared for it, what do you do?" \Vith the drill, Paull ancl his students were able to get an idea, for the first rinre, just

how much gas hydrate n-raterial was in dre Blake Outer Ridge, 180 nautical

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whether in the furure it is a resource that can be extracted. " The very presence ofsuch a large amount of gas hydrate gives geologists a new window on the earth'.s makeup and may even help predict changes in the atrnosphere. Metlane,

nriles offthe coasrs of ()eorgia and dre Carolinas.

which is the gas in rnost gas hydrates, rnakes up a firurth

As they drilled, they found as

of the earth's greenhouse insulation. Paull srys marine sediments may contain close to 10,000 times the amounr of medrane found in the atmosphere. These metlr ane-rich gas hydrates, he

rrruch gas hldrate as rhey expected and more, confirming scientific calculations that had never been tested.

tsut Prull caudons against assuming this t.neans that gas hydrates will be a luel source for the near future. "l dt-rn't rhink anyonc is saying that particular deposits th;rt we were drilling in are an irnmediate energy source," he says, "but we need to figure out what the characteristics of this type of deposit are, and

says, may

turn out to be one

of the most important factors in regulating the earth'.s clirnate.

The research O ce an

i

pan of the

Dri llhtg Proj e a, lirnde d

by the l',intional Sciettce

Foundntion

ntd l9

nttntries.

Marissa Malton

One problem with the wo Carolina researchers have found a substance that may help prevent alcohol dependenry.

Leslie Morrow and Leslie Devaud, scientists at the Skipper Bowles Center for

a

chemical signal affecting

nerves-that relieves

respond to much lower

withdrawal s)lnptoms in

doses.

alcohol-dependent rats.

The neurosteroid allopregnanolone has a calming effect in normal ra$, but Devaud, a research assistant professor in the Departrnent of Psychiatry, found that alcohol-dependent rats

"This increased sensitivity suggests that the

neuro-

steroid might be an effective ffeaffnent for alcohol withdrawal---even bener than the ones we have now,"

Morrow, an associate professor of psychiatry. says

Ifcontinued research confirms these ideas, Devaud and Morrow may have uncovered the brain's

Because allopregnanolone

intrinsic defense against

effect-rats

become more sensitive to it as they become tolerant to alcohol-it is potentially a safer and more effective

alcohol dependence: the changes created by alcohol consumption make the brah more receptive to a chemical signal that reduces the

treatrnent.

motivation to drink.

has the opposite

Ncohol Studies, have identifi ed a neurosteroid-

during the menstnral rycle.

current medications is that patients become tolerant to the treatrnent as they become tolerant to alcohol.

In fact, Morrow thinks the neurosteroid may play a protective role. The levels of allopregnanolone are higher in women than in men, while the rate of alcoholism is lower in women. In addition, women's levels of the neurosteroid, and their drinking habits, fluctuate

Manvw andDsuaud.were supponed by the I'latianal lnstirute on

Alnbol Abuse

Lafayette in Tbo Woilds

(LNC

Press, 1996) may

revive historical interest in the life and career of French aristocrat, political activist, and military leader in the American and French revolutions, Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette

creativity and intellect to enhance his own understanding of public affairs.

Kramer explores a facet of Lafayette's life that he says other scholars have neglected: Lafayette's association

with women intellecruals. He concentrates on tlreeGermaine de Stadl, Fanny

(17 s7 -1834).

Wright, and Cristina

Kramer, a professor of history says he attempts to portray tlle man as a mediator in many different realms: berween Europe and America, political ideals and romantic ideals, and men and women.

"There's a traditional image of Lafayette, in a lot of historical scholarship, that portrays him as a fairly superficial and mediocre person," Kramer says.

Kramer develops a different view of Lafayetterevealing a man who chose

Belgiojoso. All of them, Kramer says, were creative

his companions wisely, discussed politics

with

sophisticated political thinkers, and drew on

tleir

and politically involved, illustrating the overlapping public and private themes in Lafayette's life.

Kramer says that he first began writing about Lafayette in the decade after the end of the Memam war when cross-cultural political interactions had come under public scrutiny. He notes that Lafayette's experiences may carry a message for funericans about how to interact with other societies.

Lafayette "understood quickly that America's society and America's revolution were something different

Ahobollrm

Abohol and DugAlntse, and

Monmt ruently has bern awardtd n gftfro*The Fundaion of Hope to measure allnpregwmokne leuels

in bunan ahoholics.

Elirubeth Zttbrixky

US

loyd Kramer's

and.

anl. by the Gouemor's hutirute 0n

Houte ol Representatives Ad Collection

from what commonly existed in Europe," Kramer says.

The difference between Lafayeme's experience and

that of Americans in Metnam, Kramer says, was that Lafayette sought to understand and fit into the local culture, rather than try to change the people he commanded and defended.

Today, as new technology makes local and

worldwide

communication stronger, Faster, and more far-reaching than ever before, an eighteenth and nineteenthcentury cross-cultural mediator may still provide Americans some guidance in interacting with foreign societies and in promoting

political reform.

"What's most fascinating to me about Lafayette," Kramer says, "is his optimistic beliefthat political action is pan of the good life, and that it is possible through well-informed public action to reform and improve the

world."

Marbsa Mehon

endeaz,ors 4

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,,1 ,;.ln February 8, President Clinton sigted the rt:Teleclmrnunications Act of 1996, which includes the ", '". -'*i Corumunicationr Decenry Ad, designed to limit the "lbscene, harussittg and wrongful

utilization of telemmmunitations

facilities"-indudingtele,uision and the Intmtet. On June 12, a panel offederaljudga bhcked. utforcenurt of the lau.Endeavors inuited John Bittner, a profexor in the School of Journalitm and Mass Cunnuutication and the author of seaeral books, induding "Lau anrl Regulation of Elem'onic Media," attd Mary Ruth Coleman, a clinical associate projexor of special edtuatiut and codhcaor of the Stateutide Tichnical ,$sistance for GiJied Education the Frank Porter Graham Child Dnelopment Centery to comment. (nteruirw lry Elizabetb Ztbritrky.)

proyx at

John Bittner This law strips the average citizen of many of his or her First Amendment rights and attacks the most basic level of freedom ofexpression.

The limitations on the Internet introduced by this legislarion are more restrictive than the controls on the local hookby

5

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store or newspaper. The same literary or arristic material which in the public library could be interpreted as indecent,

is found

obscene, pornographic, and illegal if furnished on the Internet.

It is also dangerous because the line berween censorship ofart

and literature and the censorship of polincs is very very thin.

To attempt censorship over indecent rnaterial is a bottompit filled with fog. Who derermines what is indecent and pornographic? That has been a problem since the Republic was founded. The same nebulous definitions plague this law,s provisions to protect information providers. For example, one cannot be prosecuted ifone takes reasonable rneasures to prevent minors from accessing the information. Who defines less

reasonable?

In fact, this law exacerbares the problem by opening the door for state and local governments to enact and to enforce their own "complementary" restrictions. It creates a society where neighbors can surf the Internet, spy on each other, and report what they deem inappropriate or illegal ardsric, literary or political content to local enforcers.

Whenever sender and receiver consent to exchange information and are blocked by the law, then the legal foundarion has been built to censor our personal telephone calls. It is im-

portant to realize that the Internet is a personal, as well as a mass, fonrr o[ communicarion.

The Internet is new technology, which is always socially disruptive. Radio was socially disruptive. So were films and television. But the key is to learn to use them responsibly, not to let the government become involved in censorship.

There needs to be a new emphasis on the role ofvideo technology in the home. Parents will need to assume responsibility for the Internet, as they have assumed responsibility for the books their children read.

I'm not quarreling with the fact that young children need guidance in what they are exposed to during their adolescent years. In fact, as a sociery we have become trernendously lax in n.ronitoring the impact of television on our children. I'm not talking exclusively about children aggressively imitating the sex and violence they see on television; I'm talking about the general decline in educational levels, knowledge acquisition, and analpical skills caused by the amount of time television takes away from other intellectual activities.

The Internet has a tremendous potential to reverse that trend. If a parent is able to walk a child through all of the intellectual and cultural options available, then there is an opportunity to enhance the child's education and at the same rime engage in responsible parental intervention.

I support the ability of a parent to limit what comes into the home, whether through direct supervision or through the use of a device like the V-chip. I'm not opposed to technology and software that permit parents to enforce their own decisions.

However, there is a difference between a choice at the family level and one made by the pJovernment. Restricting the information that can be placed on the Internet may seem like a convenience or an aide for parents who can't be home to supervise their children. However, if we allow the government to rnake the decisions about what our children can be exposed to, then we also open the door for prosecution of parents who aren't there to monitor the controls.

We have important social problems, such as teen preâ&#x201A;Źinancy, drugs, and violence, to deal with. But the censorship in this bill, the direct attack on individual free expression, is not the solution to those problems; it's simply killing the messenger.

by

Mary Ruth

Coleman

This law is about protecting the children's right to

feel

in the environment around them and in the adults whom they encounter. The bill deals with the irresponsible use of the Internet or television to depict graphic and disturbing acts ofviolence and sex directed at children.

Since the early'70s, sudies have shown that children who watch violence on television incorporate rnore violence into their own play. Children who view sexually pornographic material may be traumatized severely by the images. When children ensafe.

This

sense of safety is based on trust

counter irnages depicting children in abusive and pornographic siruadons, it can be very darnaging because it erodes their trust in aduls, which is the basis for their sense of safety.

The problem is not-and the law does not prohibit-normal, healthy depictions of the body or sexual encounters. The law specifically addresses aggressive, offensive, or abusive images directed at children. As adults, we can make the distinction. We can pick and choose what we will view, and if we encounter pornographic material, we can cope with shocking and disturbing images.

But children are more r.rrlnerable, and the children who are surfing the Internet these days may be quite young. It's common for seven-year-olds to be using computers to ac-

on-line services. If these images are available, with no restrictions or controls to limit access, children may find cess

them inadvertently.

This law addresses the problem by requiring people who provide pornoppaphic material to limit access to it-by using subscription lisservers or credit card numbers, for example.

Such measures would provide a level of protection for children. And the law goes further; it grves us legal recourse, which we don't have now, to deal with the perpetrator if the material is intentionally directed toward children.

In addition, the law requires and encourages new technologies to screen violence and pornography, and these advances will give parents more control over what comes into their home.

The V-chip will allow parents to block violent or sexually explicit television programs based on a rating code. Though not required by the law, companies already are producing software

to do somedring similar; a program called SurfWatch maintains a list of Web sites containing pornography and blocks access to them.

It's very difficult for parents to have control over the Intemet, unless safeguards are built the system itself, because the Intemet is not tangible. Ifa parent doesnt want his child to read a particular book, he can decide not to buy the book and can remove the book from his home. The parent has a tangible level ofcontrol over the book, but the Internet is not the same, at least not yet. The Communications DecenryAct provides tangible ways to control what children are exposed to.

This legislation is not a blanket statement that says, "You can't put anything that might be moderately offensive on the Internet." It targets indecent or obscene comnents or images that are supplied"knowingtbat the recipient of tbe commmication is l8 or under." This law protects people who are intermediate distributors of information and may not know the content. It protects people who make a good-faith effort to restrict access by minors. These defenses and others have been provided.

While the law is not fail-safe, and does limit freedom of speech, we need to decide what the trade-offs are, and this law begins the dialogue. The courts will have to decide how far these rules and exceptions should extend. In our counny, that's the way legislation works: it is defined as it emerges. Our civil rights legislation worked the same way. It's impossible for the legislators to anticipate and to account for every possible interpretation of the law. &

endeaz,ors

6

at the iclea that religionls too controversial a subject for American schools.

Sitting beside an array of papers ancl books on a couch in his office, War-

race are just too controversial. I-et's not bring them up.'

"Now we all know that that position'.s Nord savs. You aren't liberally educated if that'.s the kind of cduca-

unackr-rowledged, Norcl says,

ir-r

part be-

it's ternptine to see the issue as a culftrre war "berween the religious ftincause

nonsense ,"

ren Nord, lecturer in philosophy,

danrentalists who are anti-intellectual and everyboclv else-all right-thinking, rea-

tion you get."

points out that 20 years ago, womerrls studies and black studies were also ignored in the public school curriculum.

Norcl contends that public schools and universities today conre close to indoctrinating students agair.rst reiigion by almost completely ignoring it. In Relision and

sonable firlk." But, as Nord points out, "the u.orld's a lot more cornplicated."

Nord reviewed .12 high school text-

"YoLr can't saq

'Look, fernir-rism

and

AmErican Etl,ucatiott: Rethinkhtg n Nntiontt

I

Dilennna (LNC Prcss, 1995), Nord explains what he secs as deep political ancl constitutional problen.rs with pultlic

education.

endeaz'ors

'lhe problcrns are largely

books in American and world history economics, science, and horne economics. Religion was mentionecl only in thc history lrooks, where it was "exiled to the distant past." Nord argues drat even

though moclern secular education cloesn't openly attack religion, it sencls

the message that religion is irrelevant to understanding the world.

"There is no appreciation of the fact that there might be a problem in teaching students to think about economics or sexualiry or nature or psychology in entirely secular ways," he says.

.

at the sugges-

tion that it's hard to imagine thinking about economics in a religious way.

"Most people can't," he says.

Nord explains that economics courses usually teach that people are

"self-interested utility maximizers" who compete for limited resources.

Nord points out tiat this view stands "in some tension, if not overt conflict"

continues. "Neutrality doesnt iust mean that it's all right to teach students about religion, but that you'r e re quired to teach srudents about religion if you teach them things that are hostile to religion.

"Wrhereas once religion was common sense and indeed viewed as being reasonable, we now believe it's a mat-

not say, they don't know when theY

ter of private faith, that it's irrational, that it's superstitious, that it has nothing to do with our intellectual life, that it has no place in the academy. Well, is that neutral?" Nord asks. "That may be true, but is it neutral? Those are different questions."

for teachers, administrators, and school

Nord says. Organizations as different as the AmericanJewish Congress, the Islamic Society of North

neutral among different religions, and also berween religion and non-religion.

"Everybody agrees," Nord says, "that it's perfectly all right for students to be taught about religions in public schools, so long as it's done neutrally-the teacher can't indoctrinate or proselytize.

"My argrrment is a stronger one," he

not adequate, in Nord's view His ideal school system would require all high

felt that taking the course burdened their consciences.

Citing statistics from Gallup opinion polls, Nord points out that religion is not dead; 90 percent of Americans say they believe in the existence of God,

duce them to the maior secular voices arguing about the truth. \I/e leave the religious voices out.

Nord contends that ignoring religion also doesnt take the constitution seriously. He explains that, as the Supreme Court has interpreted the separation of church and state, govemment must be

films or literature written by people within various religious traditions.

dents who, because of religious beliefs,

that? No we don't. We only intro-

values, and traditions seriously."

Reynolds Foundation funds the seminars, some of which provide materials to be used in the classroom, such as

with an undergraduate minor in religious studies. He would exempt stu-

the truth," Nord says. "But do we do

that has public institutions?

board members. The Z. Smith

school students to take at least one course in religion, taught by someone

major different voices arguing about

a system

directs, has tried to help by offering free seminars addressing these topics

A national movement has begun to

teach people to overcome self-interest and work in cooperation for the common good.

While Nord acknowledges that it's not possible for teachers to cover every religious view of each subject, he suggests that textbooks should mention that there are religious alternatives to the secular views being taught. "A liberal education exposes students to the

No, it disenfranchises many people," Nord argues. "It doesnt take their ideas,

haven't been educated about religious traditions other than their own.

Carolina's Program in the Humanities and Human Values, which Nord

address the issue,

with most religious traditions, which

in

might be offending someone, and they

America, and the National EducationAssociation have agreed that religion should be included in the public school curriculum and that it must be taught neutrally.

Some historyand social studies textbooks have begun to include more information about religion. In 1989 North Carolina became the second state to require the smdy of religion in history and social science courses in kindergarten through the eleventh grade.

Nord agrees with the intentions of the requirement but says the execution of the plan has faltered because there's little money for educating teachers.

Many shy away from mentioning religion because they don't have a clear idea of what they legally can and can-

while 55 percent of them say religion is veryimportant in their life. "Now, how do we square that with the idea that reIigion and God are completelyirrelevant to everything we teach students about our contemporary culture?" he asks.

"Oftentimes the assumption is that anybody who argrres for taking religious ideas or values seriously must be a con-

servative, must be a fundamentalist,

must be out to preach and convert people," Nord says. "Well, there are a good number of those folks out there, but I'm not one of them. My argument is that there are plenty of good liberal and secular reasons for requiring studenB

to understand religion." In the end, he calls for educators and intellectuals to have

"a litde humility," to notbe "so convinced we've gotthe truth thatwe donteven have

to bring up the alternatives." E

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being placed in that environment became very stressful to the rats.

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oesn't it seem

The effects on the imrnune system were dramatic. "Less than an hour's exposure to an-xiety decreased many of the

as

though we're most likely to get sick when

immune systemls normal responses by about 90 percent," Lysle says. "That's on the par with a reasonable dose of

we can least affbrd to-when madly rving to lneet a crucial cleirdline at work or when the

in-

immunosuppressant d-g."

Such strong suppression leaves an animal, or a person, r.rrlnerable to in-

laws come to visit? People say stress makes us ill, but is it true?

And how does it happen?

-lhose are the questions

fections and helps explain why people under stress seem to catch every cold that comes tleir way.

that intrigued Donald Lysle, associate prof-essor of psychol-

The evidence for this effect is now overwhelming, according to

ogy, as he started his research in 1987 into the relationship

Lysle. "Nanrrally, the next question is: hr>w does it happen?" he says.

between psycholoElical processes and the immune system.

Back then, scientists were de-

Caitlin Caudle

"\4rhat exactly is stress changing to suppress the immune system?"

bating whether stress itself affects the immune system.

Some researchers argued that people's tendency to become ill during stressful periods is caused by indirect facrorslirck of sleep, changes in diet, or increased srnoking. Anirnal experiments had shown that stress induced by electric

shock depressed the immune system, but some scientists questioned whether the immune response was due to physical discornfort, not to psychological stress.

To address these issues, Lysle used rats to ser up siruations that more closely model the human experience without the confounding factors. "Our rats don't have access to alcohol," Lysle says. "And they don't smoke when they're stressed." He created a purely psychological stirnulusarxrety-by conditioning the rats to associate an unpleasant event with a particular environment. Eventually, merely

9

encleauors

or years, researchers have known that stress causes the body to release endorphins and enkephalins.

These substances are opiates related to morphine and heroin, which relieve pain and produce feelings of euphoria. To investigate a potential link between opiates and the immune system, Lysle teamed up with Linda Dykstra, a William Rand Kenan, Jr. professor of psychology and pharmacology, who has been studying the analgesic effects of opiates for more than 20 years.

"People suspected that morphine alters immune func-

tion," Dykstra says, "But nobody had done a study to examine thoroughly the pharmacology of this effect."

Dykstra and Lysle conducted a complete series of experiments on rats to document morphine's effects on

the immune system. With the rats'very first exposure to the drug, the researchers saw profound suppression of immune cell activiry just as they had seen with stress. They knew the morphine was causing the suppression because the effect became stronger as the dose was increased. The role for opiates was clinched when the suppression was reversed by an antagonist, which selectively blocked morphine's activiry.

These days, Dykstra and Lysle are investigating the effects of long-term administration of morphine

post-doctoral fellow in immunology, showed that morphine does not suppress immune function unless the drug reaches the brain. In fact, Lysle and Dykstra have evidence to suggest that different types of immune cells may be controlled by different regions of the brain. f psychological stress can profoundly influence the

im-

mune system, what about personality traits? To look for such a connection, Lysle began research withJohn Petitto, who was previously a post-doctoral fellow in the Departrnent of Psychiatry.

and other opiates.

"There's some question whether chronic use of "Most of the work in psychoneuroimmunology has opiates protects individuals from immune suppres- focused on the immune system's response to a temposion or puts them at greater risk," says Dykstra. rary state, such as stress," says Petitto. "We want to know Some researchers believe that long-term use of if there are stable behavioral traits that influence the heroin keeps the immune system constantly sup- immune system, as well. pressed, which contributes to the high incidence of "There is anecdotal evidence, dating back to the 1950s, hepatitis and AIDS among intravethat certain types of AlisonshePherd nous drug users. cancer, like some LymphocyteActivity Following Stress melanomas,seemto On the other hand, some of the destructive immune effects subside over occurmoreoftenin rhe bars represent the time in patients who take methadone, an people with certain H activitv of lvmphocvtes,which opioid used to treat heroin addiction. By personality types,"

ef-

fects of several opiates, Dykstra

and

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tradiction and to better understand

the

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comparing the short- and long-term

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petitto says. ,,rt,s ffi;:Jj:":j,:HJ:;:"' manynewlymphocyreswere hardtopinitdoum,

"-u,

oxide,

ffi ;;"" ;;;ffit;

'*'i*il#

stimulus never had occurred.

ff":'#,t::':f[1{,*j:i',ffi;}'i'J::ff:

a

ing, and recurring,

-':::."..",

il # st.",,-r."" Stress

Lysre has discovered that nitric a gaseous signalling molecule produced by several types of cells, is involved in the process. When rats are

lji*;TlEt[[*"::,:I,I,''';l;

stressed rats indicates

.,,,",,::::::",,':-

ll**#,ff3*.:lii*i;;.."

Development lli:lfi'lT"ltil:X$,iii'1il44%

ol rhe asgressive (NC900) mice' ,r

@

]::iltl;-1.i:,,,

\

ef} endeaz,ors 10

ysle believes the research is helping to unravel the cornplicated interactions betweer.r

the brain ancl the irnmune system.

"What really ir.rterests me is that you can influence behavior and acmally observe systematic changes

in the immune

systen'r of a uery conrplex organistn-a

rat or A human," he says. "Son-rething very specific is happening, and it can be manipulated experitnentally. " A better understanding ofthese relationships rnay lead to irnproved treaur.reng

Lysle ancl Dysktra sav. For example, the studies on the immune effects of opiates could influence the clinical use of mor-

phine or lnethadone. "We may find that the

be

nefrts simply don't ourw'eigh

the risks," says Dykstra. "Or we m'ly find that sorne opiates cause problems and sonle don't."

Lysle is cautious about extending the research to develop treatrnents to boost

inrr.nune function during periods of "I'd alnrost be afraid to develop

stress.

such a therapy without further research," he says. "First, we really have to find out what these changes rlean or

what protective function they r.night serve. 'l'hey may be frrndamental to an animrlls normal

fu

rrctioning.

"We can find the stress-induced sup-

pression phenomenon mice,

ar.rd

in people, in

even in fish. In fish, it appears

to he rnedinted by a primitive systenl that involves opiates," l-re explains. "So, the systenr has remained during the Working with two lines of

n.rice,

one aggressive and one passive (selectively bred by -Jean-Louis Gariepy, assistant prof-essor of psy-

chology) Lysle and Pettito have found a link berween agression al.rd resistance to tumors.

Compared to non-selectivelv bred rnice, the aggressive nice have high levels of natural killer cells, u,hich target and destroy tumors, while the passive mice have low levels. When treated with a tumorcausins agent, only 44 percent ofthe aggressive mice cleveloped a tumor,

1

1

endealors

while all of the passive mice did.

Lysle cautions that the experiments to date have not established the relirtionship lretween aggrcssion and higher imnrune function; the

association may be coincidental.

However, the passive and aggressive breeds of mice provide an opportunity for the researchers to look

for a cause-and-ef-fect relationship and to examine the role of bel-ravioral traits in disease.

"Our work," says Petitto, "is the beginnine of a scientific confirmation of the clinical observations."

course ofevolution.

Ifthis

response did

rnore harm than good, the animals or the genes th21t control the effects shoulcl have been selected out of the populatitrn -but thev were not.

"We comrnr)nly think of stress and imrnunosuppression as bacl things, to be rrvoided," Lvsle says, "But it may be

that the body, which has evolved over millions of years, actually knows what it's

doing."

ffi

Linda Dykstra

has been appointed as

the new dean of the Graduate School, ejfectiue Septemlter'

1

.

iur

Sarl

Ernst has waited a long time to go to Iran. In 1978, ,s when the Iranian revolution broke out, he had already bought a ticket to fly there to do research for his dissertation in religious studies.

But, like many other Americans, he canceled his travel plans because of

-!

i

[e$GE]

,\;rlr;rr i; tj'ic il;:;r t:,:1"1

government, culture, and literature in most of West, Central, and South Asia, Ernst explains. Because of its wide use, Persian has one of the largest bodies of literature ofany living language. An example is the work of Rumi, one of the most-published poets in English.

Persian is not currently taught at LINC-CH nor at nearby Duke University, but Ernst and Bruce Lawrence, professor of religion at Duke, are proposing a fundraising effort to support a collaborative program in Persian

(]1."

tiitl r-n*Eir:i:.

s.-rlli)l'"ii = i;lr ,t .'tr,'.f t;r' Its r-i;"'ll ;nii 1i ;s :t t:qtttl tir:l"Sf.r :,1 rti.

t'rrllllr t'i'\\

story by

the hostile political situation. In 1996, Ernst, Chair of Religious Studies at UNC-CH, made his trip, this time for the First International Congress of Professors of Persian

Angela Spivey

Language and Literature.

He did see reminders of the political

studies. Such a course would enhance

of the late Ayatollah Khomeini and other leaders, and at the conference hotel these

Carolina's current Curriculum on Asian Studies, Ernst savs, and would help graduate students studying religion in South Asia. These students

photographs were joined by signs read-

need to know Persian to study the large

ing "DOWN WITH USA." fu guests of the Ministry of Islamic Culture and

collections ofPersian texts in lndia, Pakistan, and Europe.

Ernst is excited about the prospects of collaborating with Duke and working further with colleagues in Iran. "As it turns out, thanks to the contacts we've made, I'm going to publish some things there, and I think there's a good possibiliqv of going back," he says.

"Our Iranian friends feel, if we have conmon interests in language, culture, religion, and philosophy, why can't we get together and pursue these topics? We should not have to depend upon

tunnoil. Everywhere there were pictures

Guidance, conference participants were

well-treated-and well-chaperoned.

"We could go anlvhere we wanted, but they always wanted to accompany us to make sure everlthingwas okay. Itwas a slighdymixed feeling; on the one hand, they were taking care of us, on the other

hand, they just wanted to watch and make sure that we didn't get into any rouble," Ernst says with a laugh.

But he found that, in general, Iranians have warm feelings toward Americans as individuals. "We were treated very kindly everywhere we went----on the street, in airpors, random encounters in stores," Ernst recalls. "Iranians, like people in many countries with troubled political histories, make a distinction between the

people and the govemment," he says.

Thousands oflranians have studied in the

United States, and about half a million Iranian immigrants live in this country now. "There are manylranians who have a

very personal connection with America

in their own lives," Ernst explains.

"In fact, one day during the confer-

ence,

I

heard two Iranians tell me,

'America is my second home."'

!x.: tl.t :2

7:{,,{ t&

!'

dli

Carl Ernst

At the conference, linguists and proof Persian from more than 30

fessors

countries discussed the status of the Persian language. Persian is spoken today

by

nearly 40 million people, but only about 20 American universities teach it, Ernst says. Most of these schools include

Persian as part of Middle East studies programs, which are carried out with an eye to national foreign policy and are often colored by political questions. But Ernst maintains that it's also important to study Persian as part of the humanities.

For much of the past thousand years, Persian was the major language used in

At right, a page from a recent calligraphic edition of the collected poems of Hafiz. Persian has one of the largest bodies of literature of any living !anguage.

getting political officials to like each other first," A

indings fron.r Carolina research in the National Television Molence Srudy have already rnade their way into the classroom-and into the hot lights of a student video pro-

duction team.

The research Efoup teamed up with

fp\r-rrNc THE

MpssAGtr

studens Iiom an undergraduatevideo procluction course to finance work on model public serr.ice announcernents (PSAs) to be used in the second year of the National

pened to mention it to Brown, who was

looking for

a wav to slightly change existing PSAs for fururc testing. At the beginning of the sprinq sernester Brown approached Richarcl Simpson, professor of journalism and mass cornrnunication, who teaches a course called "Corporate Video," and requested the help of his srudents in creatir-rg a new video instead.

The course, team-taught by Simpson

and Bruce Ourran,

professional

videographer and a public infonnation manager at Glaxo Wellcome, challenges students to create PSAs for "real" clients

perpetrator, death ofan innocent bystander, and a peacefirl solution, where the perpe-

trator walks away." With several different enclings, he says, the team can test audience reactions to several different content elements in the PSA. The finished product will be used by the research team in the second year of the study. Since current findings show

Teler.ision Molence Study. Thc project branches wide, cncompassing srudent actors fromChapelHill High School, gracluate studenE to assist the crew, professional videographers to supervise the shoodngl, and top-of-tle-line carneras loaned ffom pham.raceuticul companv Glaro Wellcome.

A srudent who knew ofthe class hap-

"We wanted to show four principal outcomes," says graduate student Greg Makris, a member of the research team who helped the crew on shooting days.

"Death of tl-re victim, death or injury to the

who finance the producdon and expect a fi nished, professionalJooking product.

The students take rhe PSA frorn the beginning to the encl of proclucrion, leavins onlv d're final polish to a professional production house. "They come into class at the beginning of the semester saying, 'Oh, a thirty-second PS{ we'll whip that out in two weeks,"' Simpson says. "Then they st:rrt seeing how involved it gets."

The anti-violence PSA project, by undergraduates Kristi

rnanned

Daughtridge, Jennif-er Barber, Matt Kryder, and Arny Reavis, proved more

complicated than other classmates' In addition to the shooting-day

pro;'ecs.

complications ofnoisy chain saws and sudden downpours, rhe studen8 had to create several versions of the same PSA.

that attirudes toward violence tend to have solidified by the late teens, *ris yearls

test audiences will be slighdy younger than those used in the first-year srudy, the average age being eleven or twelve.

Audience members will fill out a questionnaire describing tleir own exposure to violence ancl may be grouped for test-

ing accordine to their answers.

Brown says she is pleased with the

way the project involved different branches of the University community.

Reavis, one of the four undergraduate crew members, agrees. "Everybody had diff-erent kinds of experience," she says, "I'd never been involved with the whole process." She discovered, during this project, just how rnuch work goes into a piece before the cameras roll. &

endeaaors I4

n tl.re days of the crlrner clrugstore, u.her-r soft drinks c,rrne fl-on.r socla

is a firr.n believer in this new approach. (llisson remodeled his 100-

the School,

mation, people ere still demanding

year-old pharr.nacv in Nashville, North Car,rlirra to Provitlc thur priv:lle Jrc:ls for consulting u'itl-r custotners about medications rrnd health-care products.

Iior exatnplc, Glisson and his technicians sit dour.r u,ith anyttne buyir-rg blootl glucose rnonitors, showing the patient how to iissemble and usc the clevice. "\ltid'rout question it costs more to do it this way," (]lisson says. But, lre sa1's,

tlre personrrl touch whcr) it contcs to

the practice pays offin goodwill from his

thcir health. Antl chansing itleas about the structure ofthe health carc s) \lcrn are lt':rdirrg phartnrcists t,, a

cLlstomers.

fountains, tl-re pl-rannacist rnieht have bccn a part ofthc neighborhootl lrnclscape : a kindli,,, trusted figurc w}ro krrew your familv and your rneciical historr'. \\''ho rnade mcdicines and hcalins seerr a little like magic. But tl-rc profession has evolr,ccl u,hile one thing renr'.rins colrstant: public trust.

In an age ofcost-cutting and auto-

kind of "high-tech, hieh-touch" prirctice, says Kevin Alrnond, assist:rnt

everal trcncls are c{riving such changes in the phzrn.r-racist'.s ro1e, accordinq to Nmond and others.

of the UNC-CH School of

As managed-care organizations expzrnd

ln this epproach, Almontl

their influence in the U.S., l-realth-care

dean

Pharnracy.

says, c()unseling takes precedence over distribution; anr[ pharmacists, phr,rsic'1r.t, and health profcssionals

pool their expcrtise to provitle drug tl.rerapv to patients. The tern.r rnany use to describc this approach is "pharrr;rcerrtic:rl care."

Gar-v (ilisson, a l9TU graduate

of

pr< x,i

clers arc emp['rasizing cost-effici ent

trc2rtnlent. l)rugs can be packaged bv robotic dispcnsers or technicians nruch less expensively than by a ftrlly trained pharrnacist, says Mtlliam H. Campbcll, dean of the UNC-(IFI School of Pharr-nacy. 'Ib the cxtent th:rt machines arttl technicians can replace a pharrnacistt From the Nodh Carolina Collect on, UNC CH library

activities, thev should, Campbell says, arlding. "Counting and llotrring are irnportant tasks that require a pharrnacist'.s oversight, but not necessarily the pharmacistl execufi<>n of the task."

u'or-rld be most suitable. Ile would like to see Nord'r Carolina phannacisrs work-

The role of dre pham.racisthas evolved rvith drug development over dre last 25 vears. Dmgs have become stronger, rnore

Pharnrrrcy, tiese chanqes :rre creatinq a need for nerv research, development, and

specialized, and certainly more numerous.

Dmg therapy, Oampbell

savs, is the rnost

conlmon mode of care in An-rerica.

Hhereas only one out of ten people may he hospitalized or see a doctor in a year. the average person may get six prescriptions filled over a year's time, and r.r,ill cnter a cornnrunitt, phannacv everv I

ing rnore closelv with other health care practitioners to initiate ancl modily drug therapv. In the UNC-CH School of

education.

Nons with chanqes in

tl-re

Excellence in Pharmaceurical Care, stepping up efforts ro prepare students for the char.rsins ftrture of the health c:rre professions. Plans sram include:

.

roles of

phamacists and neigll.rborhood pharrnacies, the dru61 industry is changing, too.

Sorne dmg companies :rre developin6l vertically, Campbell savs, purchasing insurance companies and clistributorships to form what he calls "pharmacy ben-

3 clays.

And the benefits of drug therapv over more "invasive" procedurcs. Nnrond srys. include lower cost, less interrup-

tion to everydav activiw,

will help funcl the schoolt Prograrn of

. .

A database laboratory that would idend[, and evaluate databases valuable to pharrnaceutical research.

A modeling laboratory to provide computer sirnulations of cost-benefit and cost-efTectiveness research.

A database for measuring disease rates, and fbr evaluating effectiveness of specific pharmaceutical care interventions. . Managed-care case studies for undergraduate pharmacy students to learn principles rnd practices tll' pharmaceuti-

and

cal care.

.

treatrnent in t>nels ou n homc instead of a n.redical care facility.

But drug therapv has potential drawbacks, such as illness due to failure to take nredicine, or ad-

Developrnent of new ways to teach problern-solving and

verse interirctions rvith other drugs. For all clf these reasons,

ment of distance-learning programs.

. A telecornmunications center

it. During a late-Januarv Career

Day, Campbell found that the 70 or more in

health-care professionals in the state through clevelop-

fu-

communicatior-r with consumers. Teaching thern, fbr instance, how and when to take the drug, zrnd what not to take u'ith

lth-care orqa n izations

North Carolina and other

hands-on

trrre, Carrrpbell savs, must be skillecl in what he calls "cognitive serl.ices"-

he:r

tearnwork skills to assist students in working with other health-care professionals. . Extensi()n of the prograr-n ro the 7.000 pharnr:rcisrs in

wry

Campbell sAvs, a ne\ r approach to pharrlacy care is needed. he phar:rnacist of the

tervier.r'i

for the ;rro-

np1

srudents were seeking people "who Are con.rfortable talking to patienrs, explain-

ing to then.r effective use of medications, and helping the patient achier.e the mtrximum benefit lrom drug therap1.," he savs.

Costs and consequences of drug misaclventures could be substantially reduced, Campbell says, with increasecl communication between pharmurcist and consumer.

In addition, Carnpbell says pharmacists should take a more active role in monitorinpl drug therapy, rnakinpl necessary changes, ancl consulting lr.ith the physician on what kincls of rnedicarions

efit-managernent companies," to be incorporatecl into a managed-care envi-

ronment. Other firms, like Glaxo Wellcome, are cleveloping horizontally, concentrating on research and discovery

of new clrugs. Companies in the latter group lc.rou' that eft-ectiver.ress of their products depencis on proper use by the

pxticnt. and therefirrc pr()per paricnr education bv the pharrnacist. Carnpbell savs that tlis interest hzrs led to a narural partnership between (llaxo-\{rellcon.re and the LII\TC-CH School of Pharmacy. s tl.re

School of Phanuacy uses

state and privare funcls to build the Beard HallAnnex, expanding teaching and laboratorv space, a

$l million gift from

in the Beard Hall Aruex to provide interactive audio and video ffansrnissions to all Intemetusers. Creation er systenl will be a big step towartl wl.rat Carnpbell rerms a "pharrnaceutical care classroom without

of such

walls."

H. Garland Hershey, vice provost for health affairs, says Can.rpbell and his collerrg;ues have placed the school in a strong position to meet the state's health care needs. "A new curriculurn, emphasis or-r phan-naceutical care, and placernent of our students out into the communiry all represent academic re-engineering at its best," Hershey says. "North Carolina will be *'ell served by the graduates of our

School of Pharn.rary." ffi

Glaxo Wellcome

endeaz,ors l6

or clecedes, r'r'c'vc herrrcl lbout the perils tlf rarnpant clevelclllment that experts saicl r.l,crc "ut.tsustainable." Poverrv, we learncd, blights x qttarter of tl-ie globe. Diseases or.erwhelm healtl-r clirrics and clivert ftlnds rreecled fbr econolnic gro\\'th. ,'\r.rrttngl natiolls' conflict arises over u'ealth, consLrnrl)ti()n rlttes, and res()urccs. llut the solutions have ner.er been as clerrr as the problerns. !\'l-ren it cottres

to develripnrent, what docs "sustrlin.tble" ttreatl?

'I'he terrn "sustaitrable developrncnt" surfaced at the LTnitecl Nations (lont-e rcnce on the Humirn Environttreut in St<lckholrn irt 1972. Bnt it u'asn't

unril 19U7 that:r u,'orkingdefinitiorr ettrerqecl. That 1,s2r-, tl're \\Iorld (lornlrission on Eni'ironnrent and Devclopmcnt issuecl Otrr Oottrrtton F-trttrre, which dcfincd sustainablc cleveloprtrent as thc lreans to satisfy the nee cls of prescnt gencrations u,ithout cotttprrtrt-rising- the rcsortrccs of futurc genef':ltirlns. Sustainallilin, tl-re (lotnmission argrted, includes not only ecolloillic antl social clcveloprtrertt, but elso a cottttttitnrent to the needs rlf the poor antl a recogtritior-r of the phvsical linritrrtions of thc carth.

Tl'resc ideas fbuncl their nrost rlramatic fortrn.r at the 1992 Earth Surrtmit in Rio DeJaneiro. J'his largest-ever Ineeting of w'orld leaclcrs y'ielded a statemcllt of principle errdorsed bv lTU go\rernments.

Todal', u'tlrries altolt sustaittability rcsonrrte closer and closer to honrc.

"I tl-rink peoplc are st2rrting to wakc up ancl say,'MY qualiw of life is g,rinu do\\'n,"' sa1's I)ar.id Bror'r'er, research ltrofcssor in the Departrnent tlf (liw antl Reqion:rl Plarrning. "'lhat includes tlings like cnvirclnrncntal degradatirln, consesrion, poorlv designed cities, and'.r lack of hurnan dignitv."

As its clcfiniticin h.ts brorrdened to etnbrace ecology, econollly, and eqtritv, sustrrinable clevelopnrent seell-ls to include more thall it excludes. ,\cross ('er)lpus. Bror,r er srtr s. qttesliotts ,,f' sttstaitllbi)iq art slrowing trp everyu.here, c()nnectil)g disciplines in neu' u'ays. Tl.ris article offcrs ,r brief tour of (larrilinrr's work ir.r sr.rstaitrable dcvelopment, rlt home ar.rcl allroad.

17

entleai'ors

,

ustainabiliry is not just an issue fbr developing nations, according to ' Frances Lynn, director of the LNC-CH Envirorunental Resource Program in t}re School of Public Health.

With funding from the

Mary

Rer.nolds Babcock Foundation, the ERP 1992 launched a five-year program ro evaluate and promote sustainable devel-

n

opment in North Carolina. The ERP put together a series of regional workshops and a two-day conference drawing 200

cost, and you are also building capacities in tie won-ren themselves. You are assisting them not only to pool resources for mutual benefit, but also to collectively address other problerns in the horne,

North Carolinians liorn nonprofit pgoups, goverrurent, and private cornpanies. ERP has also compiled a casebook of "sustainable" organizations and has published a

workplace, and comrnunity."

set ofindicators for assessing how "sustainable" the state is.

With a five-year granr fiom tlle Ford Foundation in New Delhi, Noponen is

"People have a hard time ifyou presenr an overarching vision," L1,.nn says. "You have to show thenr how they can move

forward in concrete steps."

C)ne example from the casebook is a Danish co4toration whose North funerican subsidiary is in Franklinton, N.C. Novo Nordisk BioChem, Inc., produces an enzvme that cuts the use of chlorine by 30 percent in the pulp and paper industry. The company also reuses production wastes by treating them with lime and heat and offering them to local farmers as ferrilizer.

"Products that support sustainable will be in demand," says CEOMads Ovlisen, in the ERPcasebook. developrnent

"I

see no

altematives."

Gina Sanguinetti, a second-year nraster's student in environmental science, assisted in sily5

{.r.

organizing the conference. She

ERP'.s conference allowed

Carolir.ra leaders ro come up

with

North a set

of

sustainable development principles specific to the state.

"Companies are aware thattie people, the consumers, want things that are envi-

ronmentally foiendly, " Sanguinetri

says.

"And for their own public image, thev are aruious to tap into that."

studying how SEWAs assistance with

'

elzi Noponen left for India l5 years ago as a master's student

.at the Universiry of Califomia at Berkeley. Now, as an assistant professor

credit, cooperatives, and labor issues has ]00 of the members over time.

Her studies with Paula Kantor, a doctoral student in the Deparnnent of City and aff-ected

in LrNC-CH's Deparnnent of Ciry and Regional Planning, she is helping her

Regronal Plaruring, have found that members who took low-cost loans from SE\AA Bant had fewer stresses.

graduate stuclens rlake their own joumey to the subcontinent to engage u,omen's groups in susainable development.

Noponen is also using pictorial diaries to help evaluare SEWAb credit programs.

Noponen has a special interest in the wornen of lndia, especially those in what she calls the "infonnal economy." In this sectot wornen are engaged in a variety of small-scale enterprises such as stitching garments, rolling cigarettes, taking in laundry gathering scrap paper to sell to

Since most of the w<lmen lack literacy and number ski-lls, pictures allow them "ro keep track oftheir own change, reflect on it, and act on ig" she says.

paper vendors, and building kites.

To help women establish credit for their microenterprises, Noponen works with rhe Self Employed Wbmen's Association (SEWA) in hrdia, whosemembers are very poor women workers, the most disenfranchised in society. The SEWA banl< offers low-interest loans for groups of wonten, helping them establish credit.

"The self-help group philosophy rnakes it possible," Noponen says. "You reach greater numbers of women at lower

he techniques used by Helzi

Noponen help docurnenr ., women's equity in the society and its economy-key factors in sustainabiliry.'fhe I 995 United Nations Development Programme'.s Human Dethat women and girls do two-thirds of the world's work, uelopntent Repott found,

endeaz,ors l8

earn only ten percent of its income, and olr'n only one l)ercent of its properry.

women inZaire, and on the politics of democratization in Afiica more generallv. Issues t-,f development are pertinetrt to all of these concerns.

She says that n'rany developrnent projects havent been successful because they impose outsiders' assumptions of women's roles onto an Akican colnmunity. For instance, a Progr:ur would try to introduce a farming techrique to men, but it was the u'omen who PrimarilY worked the fields, Newbury says.

"It was easv to see that very often these projects totally ignored the role of wornen in production," she says. "If a persor.r

valuable in itself but is also the surest way to contribute to economic growth and

of doing more harm than goocl."

overall development."

With the same principle in mind, nvo faculty members in the School of Social Work-Dorothy Gamble, clinical assistant professoq and Marie Weil, professor and director of the Con-rmunitv Social

Noponen to initiate the Women in Sus-

tainable Developrnent Project. The project's inaugural event-a three-dav international forum held May 16-18 with multiple sponsors-drew more tltan one hundred women and men lrom Asia, A1:

rica, Latin Arnerica, Canada and thc southeastern United States.

The project's plans include an annual

international training institute for women leaders and new developrnent workers, which will include LNC-CH graduate students in curriculum clevelopment and evaluatior.r'

l

hen one lives in Africa," Catharine Newbury says, "one becornes aware of

how important the relationship of people and land and rcsources is to dailv subsistence."

Newbury associate professor of Political science, has focused her research on the roots of ethnic strife in Rwanda, on agrarian change and its effects on

19

endea'l,ors

nrary healthcare providers.

James Lea, INTRAH pnrgram director, savs the therne of sustair.rability runs deep through the programs. Regional professionals staff INTRAH's offrces' They survey existing health care programs, make plans for improved health care delivery ancl training, and set up a naLional standar.l in crre.

trying to encourage changes does not understand the culmre in u'hich he or she is working, there is a good chance

"Investing in wor-nen's capabilities and empowering thetn to exercise their choices," the report states, "is not only

\trrork Program-collaborated with

traininEJ and technical assistance to pri-

hilip Berke, associate pro[essor in the Deparnnent of Cig, and ReEfonal Planr.ring, is in the midst

ofa three-year project sponsored by the New Zealand Foundation for Research, Science, and Technologv.

Collaborating with resource planning researchers, Neil Ericksen and Jennifer Dixon from New Zealand, Berke is ex-

improve health-

arnining results of the 1991 Resource Management Act, which requires landuse plans with sustainability as a goal' "In the United States we place ggeat

some of the world'.s most

emphasis on repSrlating econon.ric activi-

irnpoverished regions.

The U.S. Agency for International Development awarded NTRAH a $55 million federal contract to conrintre its service through an expanded program, PRLVIE, so named because it delivers

ties," Berke says, "but in New Zealand thev lre interested in [imiting governrnent intervention. They are promoting a fiee market econom)', but paying careful attention to assuring that development outcornes are sustainable."

in 1979, LNCCH's Prograrn for International Tiaining and Health (INTRAH) ince its inception

hirs been seekingrvays to

care practices

ir-r

THE CASE OF NACS HEAD

a( Courtesy of the town oi Nags Head

n Decenrber it's hard to irnagine the crowds. The beach is quiet, empry, fringed with seagrass. Only about

2,000 people live year-round in the town of lrlags Head. But the midsummer's heat transforms this stretch of sand in the North Carolina Outer Banks, and some 40,000 visitors converge, setde, then depart.

For lr{ags Head, the throng brings u,ith it uncommon risks. The island, which divides the warers of dre Roanoke Sound and the Adantic Ocean, is easy prey for sromls. And then there are the

natural preserves firr rare species of wildlife. In places like Nags Head, rhe pressures ofgrowth pose a challenge: how do you sustain both developrnent and the natural environment?

For David Brower, the answer is a kind of balance that looks roward the long term u.ithout sacrificing the present.

"Sustainable development is that which a]lows presenr generarions ro meet their needs without ffustrating the abiliry r>f fi.rrure generarions t() rneer

their needs," he says.

Brower,

a

research professor in the

Departlnent of City and Regional Planning, has becorne regarded as a lurninary in sustainable land use and

environmental planning. f,ast year, Mce President Al Gore praised him as a

leader in the field.

Brower has a way of bring-ing the ab-

stractions of sustainable developrnent down to eart]r.

"A truly sustainable community shoulcl be a place

with some charnr, some

beauw, where it's firn to be," he says.

Nags l{ead, he sa}s, is an example of a

comrnunity thar has adopted sustainable policies because of physical restrainrs.

Only last summeq Flurricane Felir threatened the tou,n. A volunary evacuation spoiled the end of high season fbr loca] businesses, but as the storms shifted out to sea, i{ags Flead itself avoided physical harm. Tourists returned.

Long-term residents remember rnuch uorse. 'fhe Ash Wednesday storm of 1962 almost cut an inlet. f'he Flallorveen storm of 1990 wiped out a main artery of roads, cutting off access to 20 houses.

Air Force and a veteran ofdrree wars, he seems ro untlerstand the art of calcul:rted

ris[s, including those of building on

a

Nags [ lcad beach.

With hurricanes' history of destruction, Nags Head analyz.ed the high risk

areas. 'Ihe findings were rlisconcerting: more than 60 percent of dre tax base was in dre danger zone.

"What does the govenurentdo.rvhen its tax base is destroyed?" asks Gary Ferguson, the director of planning.

o

uranage hurricane risks, Brower and Bruce Bortz. to\4,n planner, created a plan, "Hurricane and Storm .Vlitigation and Reconstruction," which the Board of Cornnlissioners passed as an in 1988. The plan established pararnerers rhar would guide discussi<lns about whether ro rc'iluild a structure.

"It's the French concept of triage * letting rhose too far gone go,', Ferguson says.

The plan was so successful that ir was selected as the recipient of the 1990 Lesislative Award at the National Hur-

ordinance

on Bryan, rhe mayor of Nags Head from 1978 to 1991, recalls the Halloween storrn all too well. In one night, the ocean stole 90 feet liom in front of his house, and in 22 years, a total of 200 feet before the encroaching tides forced him to move the home farther inland. ricane Conference. "when we built the house tn 19?3 "The bottom line," Brower says, ,,is people asked whv was ir so far from the that they [Nags HeadJ looked at the fuwnter," Brvan recalls as he raises his ture to r"" *hr, it held for thenr antl clear blue eyes. A fonner coionel in the tr"ied ro adapt.,, fX

Collem Haikes

As a child, she fled n

1971,

the Nazis. As an adult, she finds home in the power of words.

Lilian Furst came to

Anrerica to begin a visitinq profes-

sorship at Dartmoutl.r Oollege, u'hich had iust begun accepting fcrnale students. IIer frrst paycheck was tnatle

out to "Williar.n Furst." Evidently it l-radn't occurrecl to anyone that ;r

woman rnight be teaching Dartmouth.

Fr-rrst,

England since she

at

who had livecl irr

\\'zis seven years

old,

was astonishecl at this attitude. "l was invited tt, a consciousncssraising session of faculty wives and other

v ',it.$

women, and I dicln't kr.row what that meirnt." In the same breath, sl-re continues dryly, "I hacl heartl in England of self-raising flour, but I l.ratl never hearcl of consciousness raising."

1k.ll

Iiurst, now Marcel Baurillon profbssor of conrparative literature at LNC-CH, says, "I never heard or sr-rspected that wornen were intellectuallyinfcriorto men, because I salr' in my parenLs' tr-rarriag;e a parrnership." Furst's parenrs, bodl physicians and det.rtiss, often consr'rltcd each

other on cases. Their practice flourished in Vienna, Ar.rstrizr, where Furst was llorn, until the Nazi occ-upation forcetl thctrl to flee

in

1938.

Furst recentlv lectured at Rice Universiw in Texas about what it's likc to "live exile."

"Not living in exile," she says, "but life a.r exile. You see, the worlds that I knew, the world of Meru.ra, even the England that I knew-thev hirve gone. I krokecl up exile in thc clictionary and it saicl, 'banishment froltl one'.s native or honreland.' But I don't hzrve a native homeland."

Her first distinct melnory is of the Nazis' tnarch into Vienna. She was six years,rltl. She rememhers lertnirlg out of the wir-rclou' of her parents' apartr-nent to

military bancls, and rnotorcades. She couldnt understand what

see the soldiers,

21

endeaz,ors

t

it all meant, but

she knew tl'rat her parents u,ere anxious. She felt uneasy, not knowilrg what to expect.

Six months later, a law was passed

barringJews lrorn l)racticing anv profession. This, together with the arrest of ru,o o[ Furst'.s uncles, convinced her parents that they would have to leave the country. In Horne is Sorneuhere Else: Autobiograph.y in Tuo trzai'e-r (State Universiw of New York Press, 1994), Furst u'rites about her memories, alternafing her account with one her father wrote.

Furst's uncles, who were wealthy, g;ained release from prison ancl perrnission to leave Austria by rnaking a donation to the Nazi party. Furst's farnily then rnoved into her uncle's house. Like n.rany others, they could not get a visa to another country.

"No

one wanted us," Furst writes.

nally England granted thern a visa. The country was willing to accept 40 Austrian dentists.

"I trusted my parents to look after me," Furst says. "It was only in writing

this book that I discovered how fiightened I had been. fu I was writing this in my house, safely in Chapel Hill and holder of a U.S. passport, I found rnyself says, almost in a whisrelivecl that fear."

She describes writing it as "gripping,

trembling," she per.

"I

obsessive."

"I didn't want to teach, I just wanted to go on writing once I started. It just sort of rumbled out." Furst says she realized that her childhood fear was pardy

thought I woukl never finish writing this book," Furst says with a smile. She holds up a cctpy of All is Thrc: The Claims atul Sn'otegies of Realist Ficribz, publisl'red in 1995 by Duke University Press. "Butit fasc-inated rr.re. I keptcoming back. I have this frrndan-rental interest in how writers use words. I teach litera-

Furst writes.

FIer parents decided to escape illeeally'. They took a train late one December night to Cologne, a to\\.n near the north\r'est borders of Gern-rany, Hol-

every port. When we traveled

throughout this country,

to

say,

I kept having

'Well, I need to stop ancl call

so

and so who now lives here."'

to Chapel Hill, where

hornc. but first "the most important thing is to brew a larpJe arrount of very

house almost on impulse. "I feel at home nora,' in my house, and that's why I spend so much tirne drere," she says. "I have rnv r.notherls firnriture fiom Menna there,

ar.rd I think there in words."

Furst starts work in thc mornings, at

thern to Belgium fbr all their (lerman

nate rne."

rnone)'.

She devotes many afternoons to teaching, which often benefits lion.r her cxcitement lbout her current writirrq project. A course she teaches on meclicine in literarure g'rew out of a book she drafted last year. "If I were just teaching the same old courses, it would get very dull," she says. "And once a teacher beconres boring, I tl'rink it'.s time for that

begar.r to sno\4,. 'lhev reached the Belgian borclcr in darkness.

Furst u'rites, "The driver u.alked us quite a way, wading through cleep snou', to a railroad bridee. Or.rr guide tolcl us to mn across the bridge u.hen he blew a u'histle; there would be a Belglian to lrleet us at the other encl. We took the enorrnous risk: what if there had been no orle therc?"

Someone \\.as there. He led then.r a couple of hundred vards to a famhouse, tclling thenr the 1,11,s1. in Belgiurn. Thcy scraped bv fbr a few'months there. Fi-

lr'as worse than a sailor who has a wife

is a great power

tempts to find an escape route, they n-ret nran in a restaurant who agreed to take

it

I

in

ture because I love u,ords,

a

Durins the four- to five-hour drive,

would ask me, 'How come you ended in Dallas?' and I said, 'I havent ended yet."'

One constant, though, has been her students. "My students are my family," she says. "My father used to tease me that

In 1986, chance to teach in UNCCH's long-established comparative literature curriculum brought Furst

strong, fiesh-ground coffee," she says.

She composes in longhand, then types ancl edits using a lap-top computer. "I don't have a large computeq" she says.

"I don'twant a house god thatwill domi-

land, and Belgium. After several at-

"I answered, 'Oh, I have a house in Dallas, but I don't feel it is home.' People

says.

ety over her work, however, she feels in control of it. "I

ther came home with the news that temples were on

walks with toothbrushes. Later thev learned the police hatl gone to their fbrmer apartment that night to arrest thenr. "The oppressiveness of that day is mv second totally clear memory"

a

responsible for her adulthood bous ofinsomnia and anticry. She has litde anxi-

ne November day Furst's fa-

fire,Jewish shops were being looted, ancl Jeu's'were being n.rade to scrub the side-

didn't stay in one ;rlace for long. After

year at Darnnouth, she taught for two years at the University of Oregon. Then, while based at the University of TLxas for eleven years, she held visitingappointrnens at Case W'estern Reserve University in Cleveland, then Sanford, Harvard, and the ColJege of Wlliam and Mary.

"When I was in Cleveland, somebody asked me, 'Where is your home?"' F'urst

person to nrove on. Doing research is like keepir.rs

fi

t intellecrually."

Furst left England because the Urritetl Strrtes hcld nrore opporrunides in comparative literature. "I had realized if I stayed in frnglancl, I u,ould set stale and fiustrated," she says. For years, Furst

she

bought

a

town

and I have the rugs and all those tlings."

But the culture here is "in many ways

sdll very foreign to me," Furst says. She doesnt understancl the fascination with football and basketball, and she's notused to the inforrr-ral clothes.

"I've never owned a pair of jeans and sneakers and don't intend to," she says.

"There arc two things left from rny being bom in Menna-my love of coffee,

and my love of nice clothes." Flolding out her hand, she sAys, "I still wear my little watch that I got when I was si-x. And here is my nrother's ring. So I have all these things lron.r my past life."

And she also has her lrooks. After last winter's ice stonrr, sl-re didn't mind being "r-narooned in the l-rouse." It gave her time to read. "I felt badly about missing

I quite enjoyed it," she says.

"Books are zrlways triends to me." ffi class, but

enrleaz,ors

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