The state medical examiner’s office released an autopsy report Thursday morning on the death of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill junior Courtland Smith, who was shot by an Archdale, N.C. police officer Aug. 23.
Smith told a 911 officer that he had a gun and was suicidal, the (Raleigh) News & Observer reported. Smith’s blood-alcohol content was .22 when police pulled him over on Interstate 85 just south of Greensboro. The report also states that Smith had talked to friends about suicidal ideas on the day he died.
The report leaves plenty of questions unanswered about the sudden tragedy, which has had an impact on UNC’s greek community. Smith was the president of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity at UNC. The News & Observer reported that Smith’s parents told the parents of another fraternity member that no gun was found in his SUV, and the report does not state that Smith was armed on the night he was shot.
Despite requests from the News & Observer and other media organizations, a Randolph County judge refused to release video recordings of the incident that were captured on a police car’s dashboard video camera. The officer involved in the shooting, Jeremy Paul Flinchum, has been placed on leave, pending the completion of an investigation by the State Bureau of Investigation.
For the past three years, the University had held steady at No. 8. Its new rank represents the lowest spot Duke has held in at least a decade–peaking at No. 4 in 2003. Harvard and Princeton tied for the top spot this year, with Yale coming in at 3rd.
Although popular among prospective students, the much-touted rankings have come under fire in recent years from critics who question their value.
The placement puts Duke between Wheaton College at 103 and Cornell College at 105. Neighboring University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill was ranked 68.
Topping the list is the United States Military Academy, followed by Princeton University and the California Institute of Technology in second and third, respectively. Duke’s placement this year dropped from 80th on Forbes’ list last year.
The magazine based its ratings on a set of criteria, including student satisfaction with courses based on ratemyprofessor.com, alumni salaries, graduation rates, professors receiving awards and student debt load.
Traditionally ranked in the top 10 of American colleges, Duke has been at the top of college rankings for years but has recently seen fluctuations. In its annual ratings, U.S. News & World Report placed Duke 8th in the nation for 2009 and 13th in the world in its first rankings of world colleges last November.
Duke was ranked No.13 in the U.S. News and World Report’s “World’s Best Colleges” rankings, which was released last Thursday. The University came behind No.1 Harvard, No.2 Yale, No.5 Caltech, No.8 University of Chicago, No.9 MIT, No.10 Columbia, No.11 University of Pennsylvania, and No.12 Princeton.
It shares the No.13 spot with Johns Hopkin University, and is ahead of No.15 Cornell, and No.17 Stanford.
These rankings differ from the U.S. News National University rankings, released annually in late August. Duke was ranked No.8 in the national rankings last year, sharing the spot with University of Chicago and Columbia.
Students who were planning to study Spanish in Mexico will now learn language and culture from afar—the program has been moved to Duke’s campus in Durham, according to Duke’s Preparing for Pandemic Flu Web site.
The DukeEngage program in Tucson will still be held, but students will not travel to Mexico during the program, DukeEngage Director Eric Mlyn wrote in an e-mail to students signed up for DukeEngage programs and their parents.
“We will continue to monitor this situation closely and will be in touch if any significant changes in programs or schedules occur,” Mlyn wrote. “Please be assured that all decisions will be guided by the latest recommendations of public health officials and by our concern for the health and safety of our participants.”
Several other universities have canceled Mexico programs in response to swine flu as well, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. In the Triangle, North Carolina State University canceled its summer study abroad program in Mexico, News14 reported.
There are now 141 confirmed cases of swine flu, also known as H1N1, and one death from the virus in the United States, the CDC reported Friday morning. Worldwide, there are at least 331 cases, according to the World Health Organization’s Web site.
Main West Quadrangle was unusually empty this morning, as students stayed in bed thanks to Duke’s decision to cancel classes because of the winter weather.
About three inches of snow fell across the Triangle region, the (Raleigh) News & Observer reported, canceling classes and closing offices throughout the area.
Down 15-501, however, Tar Heels were not so lucky. Only classes before 10:00 a.m. were canceled at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Duke will resume normal operations at 3 p.m. today, according to the DukeToday Web site, and classes will proceed as scheduled tomorrow.
Temperatures will drop to the mid teens overnight, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in its forecast for Durham, and Tuesday will be a cold day as well.
By Friday, however Duke should be experiencing warmer weather, as the highs climb back to the 60s.
As The Chronicle previously reported, Duke’s donations are down by about 20 percent for the 2009 fiscal year. But the University’s fundraising performed well against its peers for the previous fiscal period. According to a list compiled by the Council for Aid to Education, Duke ranks 13th out of the top 20 college and university [...]
At about 5 a.m. Monday morning, Chapel Hill’s Department of Public Safety announced that they were unable to verify the bomb threat to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Pit area, The Daily Tar Heel reported. All buildings in and surrounding the Pit were searched.
Alert Carolina, UNC’s alert system, states that the University [...]
