LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 22, 1996-3A a7 . F. y ,' , >: ,,; : . ...._...._...__....__ _.. Regents reassess intellectual property bylaws :1 Commencement tickets available A limited number of tickets for the * versity's Spring Commencement on May 4 will be available for non-gradu- ating students, faculty, staff and the general public. The tickets will be distributed from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. May 2-3 at the Michigan Union Ticket Office, located on the lower level of the Union. Each indi- vidual may purchase up to two tickets for the ceremony. Greek system members raise money for Washtenaw Literacy 1Members of the Greek system have been. eating Domino's Pizza all year long to raise money for Washtenaw Lit- gracy, the county's literacy agency. This year, more than $1,500 is scheduled to be donated by the pizza company. omino's Pizza donates 50 cents of ry large pizza ordered by a member of the Greek system to the charity or organization the Greek system desig- nates. More than 3,140 pizza orders qualified for the program. The three fraternities that topped the list-of pizza orders were Phi Sigma Kappa, Fiji and Beta Theta Pi. Delta zeta, Alpha Epsilon Phi and Alpha Phi were the top three sororities. The "Piece of Pie" program is in its nd year at the University. Hunger Coalition sponsors campus food drive for needy Instead of throwing away unopened cans, of food and letting valuable re- sources go to waste, students now have an easy way to unload unwanted canned ds during this year's move-out and i~elp the needy at the same time. The Hunger Coal ition and Food Gath- erers are sponsoring a food recovery programthis yearto benefit Ann Arbor's needy families{ Students who have sur- plus nonperishable canned goods are. urged to donate them to the campus food drive. From April 29-May 3 and May 6- 10, canned goods may be dropped off from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the First Baptist Church of Ann Arbor, 512 E. Huron ,or the First United Methodist Church of Ann Arbor, 120 S. State St. For information on disposing of refuse, reusables and recyclables, call 764-3442, or the City of Ann Arbor's 24-hour information line at 99-GREEN. Regents approve sale of 'U' property The University Board of Regents ap- 'ved the sale of two pieces of Univer- sity property Friday, formersitesofShady Trails Camp and Camp Filbert Roth. Shady Trails Camp, located on 26 acres of land in Omena, Mich., along Grand Traverse Bay, provided a sum- mer program for children with speech and language impairments. The land was originally purchased in 1949 from the camp's founder, John Clancy, with the understanding that the camp would operated to provide services to those h communicative disorders. 4n accordance with the wishes of carie Clancy Hagerman, Clancy's aughter, funds from the sale of the bpd will be used to establish an endow- ment fund in her parents' names. The John and Grace Clancy Endowment Fund will benefit the University's Com- municative Disorders Clinic. Camp Filbert Roth, the University's *estry and Natural Resources sum- ier field camp, was closed in 1988 and its activities were transferred to the University's Biological Station. The property consists of 214 acres located in the southwestern section of the Up- per Penninsula. Proceeds from the sale of the land will go to the School of Natural Re- sources and Environment, which has maintained the land. - From staff and wire reports By Jeff Eldridge Daily Staff Reporter The relationship between University research and corporate America was reassessed at Friday's meeting of the University Board of Regents. The regents voted to change Regents' Bylaw 3.10, which covers the distribution of research profits when the rights of a discovery are sold to a private corporation. The bylaw changes will give a greater amount of money to the inventors, with the intention of pro- viding a stronger incentive for research initiatives. Under the new policy, one-third of profits will go to the inventor, one-third will go to schools and colleges, and one-third will go to the inventor's research and the associated department's units and sub-units. "We have a fairly generous distribution plan," said Assistant Vice President for Research Marvin Parnes. "There are few that provide more to the inventor." Parnes said the changes are designed to foster the movement of academic research to the cor- We h porate realm, a process known as technology transfer. f Vice President for Research Homer Neal said the changes distibu in Bylaw 3.10 stem from an examination to see if there is- "anything in (the University's) Assistan policies or practice that might inhibit (its) faculty from en- gaging in technology transfer." A panel is slated to review the policy changes in 1998. A year later, a report will be made to the regents about the effects of the changes in the intellectual properties bylaws. Regent Nellie Varner (D-Detroit) cautioned that ave a onerous Pion plans" - Marvin Parnes nt vice president for research the changes in policy should not diminish the University's extensive projects in less-profitable social science research. "Those are not the type of areas where you can have tech transfer," Varner said. Regent Shirley McFee (R- Battle Creek) said the changes will achieve the plan's intended goals. "I really consider what Regent Philip Power (D-Ann Arbor) also strongly backed the revisions. "The substance of this policy I think repre- sents a significant improvement on what we've done in the past," Power said. Issues surrounding research endeavors arose later in the meeting when Neal delivered the annual report on University research projects. "The research university has a future that is presently uncertain," Neal said. He said larges scale research programs could be jeopardized by federal funding cuts. "Research expenditures continue to grow, but our concern is what's going to happen in the next few years," Neal said, noting that increased federal lobbying efforts may help improve funding issues: "It does raise the question of what we should be doing to try to influence what will happen." we're looking at here is a step to encourage re- search, encourage commercialization," McFee said. A2 ma~rs Earth Day with festival By Jeff Cox For the Daily Animals, alternative-fuel vehicles and water filtration were the highlights of Ann Arbor's annual Earth Day Fes- tival, held yesterday at the Leslie Sci- ence Center. More than 300 children and adults came to the festival, now in its fourth year. "Every year we have done it, it has grown in numbers," said Rebecca Kanner, an environmental educator at the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor. The festival also included exhibits on solid waste, energy. air, water, trees and wildlife. "We are here as a celebration of Earth Day. We are trying to educate the pub- lic (about the environment)," said Nancy Stone, an employee of the Ann Arbor Solid Waste Department, who ran the solid waste exhibit. "I think there is a greater understanding that the environ- ment needs to be helped." Many adults flocked to the alterna- tive-fuel vehicles exhibit, which dis- played prototypes of cars that ran on batteries and natural gas. "The future is going to show a mix- ture of different vehicles," said Rose Lucas, a representative of Detroit Edison, who displayed one of the company's electric cars. The Personal Community Vehicle, built by the Trans2 Corporation, also got a lot of attention. Members of the public drove the PCV, which looks like across between a golfcart and a Porsche. All the exhibits geared their displays toward children. "I'm here to educate and hopefully plant a few seeds," said Ted Hejka, an employee of the Ann Arbor Water Plant, who was working a the water exhibit. Models of water fi1- tration systems were set up so children could see how clean drinking water ik made. Some exhibits were more serious in nature. At the energy exhibit, there were aerial pictures of Ann Arbor taken iin 1983 and 1993, so that people could sep how much Ann Arbor has grown in 10 years. "(City growth) is definitely a poten- tial threat to the quality of life here iii Ann Arbor," said Robert Black, cd- chair of the Ann Arbor Energy Corn- mission. "What we are trying to do here is get people to understand that every- thing they do has an impact on the environment." The festival also had scheduled events, such as an endangered-species presentation by the Species Survival Center, where children had the chance to see several endangered species, iii- cluding a two-toed sloth and a40-poun* python. While the presentation emphasized the fact that these animals' habitats are being destroyed at a rapid rate, the chil- dren couldn't help but give most of their attention to the animals, not the speaker. "My favorite animal was the snake. I liked its spots," said 6-year-old Sarah Bentley of Ann Arbor. NOPPORN KICHANANTHA/Daily Steve Marsh from Ann Arbor's Species Survival Center holds up an endangered American alligator to a crowd that had gathered for the Earth Day Festival at Leslie Science Center yesterday. Environmentalists warn of cutbacks, DETROIT (AP) - With budget cuts and debates linger- ing over how much protecting the environment should cost, its defenders in Michigan and across the nation anticipate a somber Earth Day. Despite a new environmental book prepared by the U.N. Environment Program to mark the 26th annual Earth Day. conservationist express skepticism over what future ef- forts will be made. "The mood is somber this year," Alison Horton, director of the Sierra Club's Michigan chapter told The Detroit News for a story yesterday. "We don't seem to be in as much of a celebratory mode." In Michigan, one move that is dimming the hopes of environmentalists, is the transfer of power from the Depart- ment of Natural Resources to the Department Environmen- tal Quality, which regulates dumping, hazardous waste and development of wetlands. State officials maintain the move was a matter of effi- ciency, but environmentalists argue the transfer of duties was an attempt to relax regulations. Legislators also passed a measure that its opponents dub a polluter's "secrecy law." Environmentalist say they now must figure out solutions to tougher problems - such as increasing use of energy and the pollution caused by burning coal, oil and gasoline - while striking a balance with economic concerns. Carol Browner, chief of the U.S. Environmental Protec- tion Agency, said just last week that there does not have to be a choice made between protection and economic growth. "We can have both." she said. Students build steel bridge By Jeff Cox For the Daily The University's already highly lauded College of Engineering got a boost in prestige April 12 when the Civil Engi- neering Steel Bridge team won the North Central Regional Steel Bridge competi- tion held at Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Mich. "This is the second year in a row that we have won regionals," said Rick Hutter, an Engineering senior and cap- tain of the team. "Last year was the first year that we have ever won," said Bill Sharp, an Engineering senior who captained the team in the 1995 competition. Four other schools participated in the regional competition'this year in addi- tion to the University. The contest is held at one of the five each year. The University hosted the competition last year, and Michigan State will hold it next year. The team, formed five years ago, pres- ently consists of four members who are Interested in writing for the Summer aIy? Please call 76-DAILY NOPPORN KICHANANTHA/Daily Engineering seniors Brian Keeler (left) and Rick Hutter (right) and Hutter's wife Marcia (middle) are part of a group of civil engineering students that designed and built this award-winning steel bridge, which weighs only 100 pounds. all Engineering students. "At first it went slow, but once we got some help with the computer program (used to design the bridge) we rolled right through it," Hutter said. "All the guys had a lot of fun with it." The team had little outside help - only with the welding of the bridge and with the design software. "We design, fabricate and construct the bridge solely as students," Hutter said. Last week's victory at Michigan Tech is their ticket to the national competition, which is scheduled for May 24-25 at the Correction State Rep. Mary Schroer (R-Ann Arbor) said, "This should not deter the quest for diversity." This was incorrectly reported in Friday's Daily. What's happening in Ann Arbor today State University of New York in Buffalo. "The first two teams in the regional competition go to nationals," Sharp said This means that, as the second place team, Michigan State will be competing against the University's team in Buffalo. There are 12 regions in the nation that participate, Sharp said. Last year about 32 or 33 teams attended. "We are expecting 30-40 bridges (at the competition)," Hutter said. Each bridge is judged based on crite- ria including construction speed, light- ness and aesthetic appearance. "The bridge must span 18 feet and be 3 1/2 feet wide," Hutter said. The Uni- versity team's bridge is 19 feet long, but weighs only 96 pounds. "The bridge has to support 2,500 pounds," Hutter said. If the bridge is able to support the weight, its deflection, the final factor in the competition, is calculated. "Deflec- tion is the amount the bridge sags below its initial height," Hutter said. INTERNET I I wi l Tbe -sday April23. -- T - - -- - - ' The"of. will be published Display sales 764-0554. The - - * - for this semeste / Thank you for a "-term! / __ t THE CANDRU is a tiny parasitic fish that swims into one's urinary tract and extends its spines into the walls of the urethra, causing excruciating pain. Once there, . r GROUP MEETINGS -J Archery Club, meeting, 930- 0189, Sports Coliseum, 8:30- 10:30 p.m. rJ Burning Bush Campus Ministry, EVENTS ~J "Bible Study," sponsored by Laymen's Evangelical Fellow- ship International, Angell Hall, Room G-144, 7 p.m. Commons, 763-INFO, info@umich.edu, UM* Eventson GOpherBLUE, and http:// www.umich.edu/'-info on the World Wide Web EQ Engdlish Crinicio nn Board Peer I ' I