NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 764-0557 www. mhigandailycom U sees 1 By Lindsey Alpert $653.6 im Daily Staff Reporter "This is dollars an As Olympic and world records are being assistant t shattered, the University has broken a record of The Un *ts own. Fiscal Year 2000 brought a 44.6 per- tution in t cent increase in research awards, the highest by the Na increase ever. eight year The awards, received from the federal gov- This ye ernment and external institutions, totaled versity V Athletic *Dept. debt less than .expected By Lisa Koivu Daily Staff Reporter After projecting the fiscal year 2000 budget deficit of $2.6 million earlier this summer, the University's athletic department reported yesterday that the true operating deficit for the year was $1.45 million. The department has been working with a deficit since 1998. Athletic Director Bill Martin said the deficit is a result of three main events. "Our radio contract for football and basketball games went belly up and the "We made up broadcaster owed us $2 million. Also, our royalties for some of the from merchandise and the donations to the depart- money by ment were down," Martin *having our At the end of the fiscal year, the athletic depart- expenses ment had less than $3 mil- lion in royalties, down 20 under budg fet percent, from the year before and down 98 per- - Bill Martin cent from fiscal year University Athletic Director 1998. Martin said that although income is down, the deficit is not a result of extreme spending by the depart- nent. "We made up for some of the money by having our expenses under budget," Martin said. Expenditures in the department have decreased 2.1 per- cent this past year and were down 2.6 percent the year before. Jason Winters, chief financial officer for the athletic department, said in a written statement that the department worked to decrease the deficit by nearly half. "When we recognized the shortfalls associated with licensing and the radio default, we reduced discretionary 'pending, did not immediately fill open positions and eferred what we could reasonably push off into later peri- ods," Winters said. Winters said that the athletic department is not in horrible shape. "On a balance sheet basis we are in great shape. Debt lev- els are modest and we have almost $40 million in endow- ment funds, including $10 million of unrestricted reserves," Winters said. At the University Board of Regents meeting in July, Martin presented his an estimate for the fiscal year 2001 udget, in which he predicted an operating deficit of 2.05 million. Last April, University President Lee Bollinger donated $3 million to the athletic department, but that money will be counted as a part of the budget for fiscal year 2001. Little tequila makes for igher pnces One hundred nine years of'editorzzlfreedom Thursday September 21, 2000 neae research spendg I illion. s the largest amount of an increase in nd percentage," said Lee Katterman, o the vice president of research. niversity has been ranked the top insti- the country for research expenditures tional Science Foundation for the past rs. ear should be no exception said Uni- ice President for Research Fawwaz Ulaby, who will present the data at the Board of Regent's meeting today. "Every year the faculty submit proposals and this past year we submitted about 3,600 pro- posals, of which roughly 1,500 were accepted," Ulaby said. The number of proposals written this year resembled numbers from previous years, but a greater percentage 6f proposals were accepted. "It does signify a first rate research commu- nity," Ulaby said. "This shows the quality of the faculty teams and how well they are received and recognized." University President Lee Bollinger also expressed his pleasure with the increase in research funding. "It is immensely gratifying to see the excel- lence and productivity of our faculty recog- nized through this large increase in new research grants," Bollinger said in a written statement. "The University's research enter- prise serves our students through exposure to innovative thinking, benefits, the health and well-being of the public, and augments eco- nomic growth." "The money will go to support graduate stu- dents, research staff and creates opportunities for undergraduates to participate in projects," Ulaby said. See RESEARCH, Page 2A Female reports forced sex in Alice Lloyd By David Enders Daily Staff Reporter A student in Alice Lloyd Residence Hall was raped Tuesday night, accord- ing to Department of Public Safety reports. The woman, who made a report to police after receiving medical treat- ment at University Hospitals, refused to tell police the name of the alleged rapist, whom she said was her ex- offer dii 9medical By Jeremy W. Peters Daily Staff Reporter Though no single, dominant issue has emerged in this election year, boyfriend. According to DPS reports, the man entered the room at around 9:30 p.m. and forced the woman to have sexual intercourse. DPS is investigating, and it is unclear whether they have identified the ex- boyfriend and whether he was a student. "They are not releasing any infor- mation," said University spokeswoman Julie Peterson. See RAPE Page 7A ites Eerent p lalns history," said Gil Omenn, Vice Presi- dent for Medical Affairs at the Univer- sity. Indeed in its 35 years, Medicare has done more than any other federal pro- BRAD QUINN/Daily Music sophomore Tony Muka registers to vote yesterday during the Voice Your Vote Task Force's free Guster concert. Students regist asdeadline loom-s health care - particularly prescription drug benefits - has undeniably settled in the forefront of the Ameri- can political consciousness. At the heart of the health care debate lie two conflict- ing views on government involvement in repairing a system that leaves many without coverage. Medicare, the federal med- ical insurance program for Part one in a six-part series: HEALTH CARE gram to improve the health of Americans. Medicare was passed into law as part of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society program and covers roughly 80 percent of med- ical costs for those enrolled. Most would argue, how- ever, that despite its success, Medicare is outdated and unable to keep up with the rising costs of health care - especially pharmaceuti- By Yael Kohen Daily Staff Reporter More than 1,000 students registered to vote , yesterday while Guster played to a crowd of 2,500 at Hill Auditorium yesterday afternoon. The concert, organized by the Michigan Student Assembly Voice Your Vote Task- force and the University Activities Center, is the most recent in a string of activities aimed at making it easy for students to sign up amid the new rules and regulations they face in the registration process. To participate in the Nov. 7 election, vot- ers must be registered by Oct. 10. Voters can register at a county clerk's office, at a secretary of state branch office, when filling out a driver's license application form or by a mail-in voter registration form. In Michigan, there is no online registra- tion because forms require a signature. But unregistered voters can print the online form and mail it in. Brad Whitman, director of the Informa- tion and Voter Registration Division at the state Bureau of Elections, said there are some restrictions voters should be aware of before Election Day. First-time voters who did not register in person cannot vote by absentee ballot and can only cast a ballot at the voting precinct printed on their voter registra- tion card. A first-time voter is someone See VOTERS, Page 7A nearly 39 million Americans 65 and over, is the focus of those seeking to overhaul the system. "Medicare is not broken. It is one of the most successful programs in U.S. cals, which it does not cover. "It's real progress that both candi- dates are talking about doing some- thing about prescription drugs. It's- a See HEALTH CARE, Page 7A Swing it! Life science opens minds By Lindsey Alpert Daily Staff Reporter in area bars By Lizze EBrle For the Daily The impact of international affairs rarely spreads to the streets of Ann Arbor, but a recent worldwide shortage of tequila has had a direct effect on local bars in terms of prices and avail- ability. "I'm paying double what I was paying in Janu- ary," said Rick Buhr, owner of Good Time BRAD QUINN/Daily Law third-year student Chris Birkel (left) and LSA junior Azikiwe Peters watch sports at the Brown Jug, which has increased tequila prices recently. grown in Mexico. The problem has developed in the past five years as demand for premium tequilas increased, said Jim Macielak, spirits brand manager of the J. Makins steps toward a cure for cancer, a vaccine for AIDS, new surgical procedures and many other medical advance- ments could be in the Universi- ty's future. Designers of the Life Sciences Initiative hope to create an arena of intelligence, innovation and collaboration that might bring the University and the world one step closer to unlocking many of LIFE EL.CI ENCE Second in a three part series r f