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NEWS: 76-DAILY
CLASSIFIED: 764-0557
ww.michigandaily. com
Thursday
March 22, 2001
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tudy to lobbies for more
decipher U M wcirC want tat- nnt police force but relies on the city for fire coverage. "All we're really seeking is<
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*women
By Lndsey Alpert
Daily Staf Repoter
While most female students don't
have to worry about menopause for
about another 30 years, University
researchers are attempting to find the
key to delaying its onset or eliminating
menopause altogether.
Researchers, provided with funding
rom the National Institutes of Health's
Institute on Aging, are testing a hypoth-
esis that the brain is really responsible
for menopause, instead of the traditional
belief that the ovaries are responsible.
"There had been a hypothesis pro-
posed by an animal researcher that said
menopause started in the brain," said
lead researcher Nancy Reame. "You can
take ovaries from an old rat and trans-
plant them in a young rat and the eggs
.thet to cycle again because the brain in
heyoung rat is directing the ovary."
While this doesn't work in women,
for the past four years the researchers
have been examining whether the brain
really is responsible for menopause by
looking at the production of the
gonadotropin releasing hormone. GnRH
is responsible for interacting with the
pituitary gland to secrete hormones in a
pecial rhythm that signals the ovary to
Wtimulate growth of a new egg each
month.
"We've learned what the regular pat-
tern and melody is and we know how it
changes in menstruation," Reame said.
"We measure these pulses over a 24-
hour period, and then compare it in the
younger women and older women. So
far we found that the older women have
a different signal and the pulses are
much stronger and bigger in younger
Somen.
Researchers speculate the differences
might be attributed to the sleep patterns
of the women test subjects. Both
younger and older women tend to sleep
for the same amount of time, but the
quality of sleep is different because
older women tend to have longer peri-
ods of light sleep.
To advance their study, the
4 esearchers are now recruiting women
tween the ages of 20 and 50 who have
no ovaries and are on hormone replace-
ment therapy.
"We need this third group of women
because they would lead us to the same
effect" Reame said. "This will help us
figure out the role of the ovary in terms
of the pulses"
Delaying or preventing menopause
would be beneficial to women in that
they would be able to have children at
older ages, be less susceptible to heart
*isease, heart attacks and osteoporosis
and lack negative side effects such as
hot flashes, depression and anxiety, but
there can also be negative effects of life
without menopause.
The incidence of breast cancer
would increase because of the correla-
tion between the length of exposure to
See MENOPAUSE, Page 2A
IVIUVVIO VVUJIL JLQLU. IIVL r - -d - --o r - --a.-
taxpayers, to pay for fire
coverage on campuses
By Louie Meiz~ish
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor and other Michigan college towns
are lobbying the state government to provide them
with increased funding for their fire departments.
Because municipalities receive no revenue from
tax-exempt institutions like the University, they
expect the state to fund part of the costs to maintain
their fire departments. The University has its own
"We have to carry a lot of extra capacity to cover
what is inside the campus borders," said Ann Arbor
Mayor John Hiefije.
Currently, Ann Arbor taxpayers have to make up
the $700,000 to $800,000 difference, he said.
Although a formula was devised by the state
Legislature in 1976 to appropriate funds to cities
with state universities, Hieftje said the state is fund-
ing only 40 percent of the amount recommended
for municipalities.
Hieftje and East Lansing City Manager Ted Sta-
ton, who testified yesterday before the Senate
Committee on Local, Urban and State Affairs, are
lobbying the state to provide more funds.
we would get closer to full funding, that we'd have
an approach that phased in full funding over time."
Staton said. "The last decade the funding has been
virtually flat while $3 billion in new state facilities
has been built,"he added.
Hiefte said the University is lobbying the state
for more funding on the city's behalf.
University Vice President for Government Rela-
tions Cynthia Wilbanks praised the efforts of Sen.
Loren Bennett (R-Canton), who introduced a bill
that would raise state funding to 60 percent of the
amount recommended by the formula.
But Kelly Chesney, spokeswomarr for the
Department of Management and Budget, said pro-
jections indicate revenue will be substantially lower
than last year and an increase in funding for the
Fire Protection Grant Program would not be possi-
ble. "This is going to be a lean year revenue-wise
and the administration does not support increasing
the fire protection grants "she said.
Chesney said although Gov. John Engler does
not support an increase in fire protection spending
this year, there had been substantial growth in
spending in recent years. "Since 1997 spending has
grown nearly 16.5 percent" she said.
Chesney emphasized that even with revenues
uncertain, the state is not slashing programs. "As
funding is tighter this year we are maintaining
spending across the board in the state," she added.
First professor
ae Sciences team.
By Anna Clwk
Daily Staff Reporter
DAVID KATZ/Daily
LSA-SG presidential candidate Adam Damerow and MSA independent presidential candidate Hideki Tsutsumi, Blue Party
representative candidate Ben Conway, U-Dems vice-presidential candidate Alicia Johnson and DAAP representative
candidate Agnes Aleobua have gone to great lengths to promote their campaigns for the election that ends today.
Voter turnout appears
on rac wih lst ear
World-renowned diabetes expert
Alan Saltiel's recent appointment to the
Life Sciences Institute signifies the Uni-
versity's first step in putting together a
team of leading life sciences researchers
and teachers.
Saltiel is the first faculty member to
join the LSI, following the appointment
of co-directors Jack Dixon and Scott
Emr last October.
"I'm just really excited about the LSI,
and enthusiastic about its potential to be
a bridge for all the different aspects of
the life sciences at the University,"
Saltiel said.
Dixon called the hiring of Saltiel "a
special opportunity," even though the
LSI is not yet in a position to formally
recruit faculty. Dixon and Emr said they
heard Saltiel was preparing to leave his
position in the cell biology department
of Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical
Research's Ann Arbor division after its
merger with drug company Pfizer and
encouraged him to remain in the area.
At the time, Saltiel was also a Univer-
sity adjunct physiology professor.
"He's a world expert in diabetes;'
Dixon said. "That's an extremely impor-
tant disease that affects a large number
of people across the U.S and the world.
He has valuable connections with indus-
try. And he's a person of real high stan-
dards."
Emr echoed Dixon's enthusiasm.
"A major goal for the Life Sciences
Institute is to help establish links
between basic science research and the
clinical treatment of human diseases
like diabetes," Emr said in a written-
statement. "The appointment of Alan
Saltiel represents an important first step
in this direction."
Saltiel said he was impressed with the
opportunities the LSI offered when
Dixon proposed the position to him.
"Because we shared a vision for the
institute, and we have similar philoso-
phies of research, the opportunity to
work within the University of Michigan
was appealing," Saltiel said.
He added that he was especially
excited about being a part of the LSI at
such an early stage, and that he has
already begun diabetes research out of a
different office in the University Med-
ical School. "I can be one of the found-
ing scientists of the LS, and help shape
it's direction," Saltiel said.
The LSI is eventually expected to
consist of up to 30 faculty members, but
official recruitment has not yet begun
beyond a "few phone calls to certain
people to see what their interest level is
in this " Dixon said.
Construction has already begun on
the LSI at the corner of Washtenaw
Avenue and Huron Street. With an
expected opening date in 2003, the Uni-
versity hopes to attract the world's lead-
ing life science researchers and teachers
to work together in the LSI for the fur-
thering of progress in the field.
By Shannon Pettypiece
Daily Staff Reporter
After one day of voting, turnout in the Michigan
Student Assembly election appears to be headed
toward the record high numbers seen in last year's
campaign.
As of midnight, about 5,117 people had cast votes
in the MSA election, compared to 5,788 on the first
day of voting last year.
Overall, 8,393 people cast ballots last winter,
amounting to about 23 percent of the total student
body.
In the final hours of campaigning for seats on MSA
and LSA Student Government, the candidates are still
tirelessly working to gain support from students
despite the lack of sleep and stress they have been
under during the past weeks.
Michigan Party presidential candidate Doug Tietz
said his experience has been a difficult but rewarding
one.
"It's fun. Sure it will be nice to sleep a bit more,
but it is fun," said Tietz.
University Democratic Party representative candi-
date Alex McDonough said he is going into the final
hours of campaigning with a positive outlook on the
election.
"I'm super optimistic. We have had some good
wins in the past few days - we've gotten lots of
endorsements," said McDonough.
Incumbent MSA President Hideki Tsutsumi, who is
again running as an independent candidate, said he
remains hopeful about his chances for victory.
"I am confident that I'll win," Tsutsumi said.
"I'm getting a lot of good feedback from students
and I think they know that a lot of the attacks against
me are political."
See VOTING, Page 2A
iDashed dreams
Religion prof.
bids farewell
By Whitney Elliott
Daily Staff Reporter
To the dismay of many students, after the end of this
semester adjunct Prof. Norman Miles will no longer teach
the two religion courses that he created and has taught for
the past 26 years at the University.
For Miles, who also serves as the president of the Lake
Region of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, dedication to
his students is evidenced by the fact that he drives or flies
into Ann Arbor from his Chicago home weekly to deliver
his Friday afternoon lectures, Religion 310 and 312.
"I've been told that my services are no longer required. I
received a letter from Dr. (Donald) Lopez indicating that the
class I taught could be taught by people already on staff,"
Miles said.
Lopez, chairman of the Asian studies program, was out
of town at a conference this week and unavailable for com-
ment.
An adjunct professor's class will be given to a tenured
professor if a tenured professor who knows the subject as
well as the adjunct professor can be found to teach it.
Tenured professor Sherman Jackson will take over one of
SAM HULLENSMAU/Uaily
Jackie Stickney, an employee at the Kellogg Eye Center, eyes her watch and the
ticket on the car in front of her as she puts money in the meter yesterday.
Towing rises at
e-nd of se-mester
By Jacquelyn Nixon
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite the availability of bus ser-
vice on campus, LSA senior Tara
Edwards said it's more convenient to
drive her car to classes. She knows she
takes a risk by parking her car at
nowhere to park by the MLB or Frieze
Building, where the majority of my
classes are."
In recent years, city parking statis-
tics show September and March - the
beginning and end of the regular acad-
emic year - have a higher number of
towed vehicles as a result of outstand-
I I.