'tars One hundred tenyears of edimnorifeedom tYi NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 764-0557 ww.michigandaily. com Thursday March 22, 2001 _... .. . .... . . . .. 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< fire funds a process by which agingo *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.