Are the cases of Butch Davis and Bonnie Yankaskas similar? Were the two UNC-Chapel Hill employees, each quite well-regarded in their respective fields, treated equally?

Should they have been?

News & Observer Executive Editor John Drescher raises these points in a recent column comparing the way UNC-Chapel Hill Holden Thorp dealt with two high profile cases.

One: Butch Davis and the UNC football situation. The other: Bonnie Yankaskas, the epidemiologist harshly sanctioned by the university because a cancer research database she oversaw was infiltrated by a hacker.

As Drescher points out, there were plenty of similarities between the two cases, and yet, the results were quite different.

Read on.

How much information should be made public as N.C. State searches for its next chancellor?

All of it, argues John Drescher, the News & Observer's executive editor.

Writing over the weekend, Drescher argues that the ongoing chancellor search should be an open process and the identities of finalists should be announced before any decision is made. 

Generally, universities are reluctant to publicly identify candidates for top positions like the NCSU chancellorship. The basic argument is that high-quality candidates will be reluctant to even apply if they know their interest will be broadcast to the masses. After all, what happens to them at their current job if their bosses find out they're shopping around?

But Drescher argues that NCSU would be best served with an open process in part because public scrutiny - by media and others - could shake out a significant blemish on a candidate's resume, thus helping the university avoid an embarrassment down the line.

What do you think?

News & Observer Executive Editor John Drescher (left) writes in his Editor's Blog that the paper has been effectively "fired" by WRAL from their joint weekly TV show, "Headline Saturday."

WRAL and The N&O joined forces in 2002 to put on the weekend news discussion program. It was hosted by David Crabtree and featured an N&O editor and reporter, along with two other guests.

The show will go on, but it will no longer be affiliated with the N&O. You can read all about WRAL's decision at Drescher's Editor Blog.