LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 5, 2002 - 3
Former regents mixe
Harassing activity
0 rampant in Couzens
A male opened the shower cur-
tain of a female resident of
Couzens Residence Hall, Depart-
ment of Public Safety reports state.
The suspect was seen by several
people. Also, a resident of Couzens
reported that someone had drawn a
swastika and written a racial slur
on his door. DPS has no suspects
for the graffiti.
Wallets stolen
from a number of
campus locations
Nine people reported stolen wal-
lets in the past week, according to
DPS reports. All were left unat-
tended. Wallets were stolen from a
backpack in Angel Hall, a South
Quad Residence Hall men's room,
the Shapiro Undergraduate Library,
the reading room of the Harlan
Hatcher Graduate Library, the
Kresge Library, the Coliseum
Building and the School of Den-
tistry.
Student assaults
a Dental School
professor
A student assaulted a professor at the
Dental School after the student was told
he might be expelled, DPS 'reports state.
The professor was not hurt.
Vacuums stolen
from intramural
sports building
Two vacuums were stolen from a
closet in the Intramural Sports Build-
ing, according to DPS reports. DPS
has no suspects.
Windshield broke
from piece of ice
A car parked in a University lot
was damaged when someone threw
a piece of ice the size of a basket-
ball through the back window, DPS
reports state. DPS has no suspects.
Fire in Northwood
Housing started
by two children
Two children started a fire in North-
wood V on North Campus, according
to DPS reports. The Ann Arbor Fire
Department responded and extin-
guished the fire. DPS took the chil-
dren home.
Disturbance in
South Quad leads
to MIP citation
Two people were reported run-
ning through South Quad knocking
on doors and yelling, DPS reports
state. They were arrested for minor
in possession.
Microwave starts
fire in Alice Lloyd
A caller reported to DPS that a
microwave in Alice Lloyd had
caught fire. DPS instructed the
caller to pull the fire alarm and use
a fire extinguisher on the
microwave. A DPS officer respond-
ed and put out the fire.
Firecracker found
in Couzens Hall
A DPS officer found a firecracker
in the stairwell in Couzens residence
hall, DPS reports state. The fire-
cracker was taken as evidence.
Vehicle keyed after
* parking dispute
A car was keyed in a University
parking lot, DPS reports state. The
owner of the car had previously
engaged in an argument over the
parking space.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Rob Goodspeed.
By Kr Wenzel
Daily Staff Reporter
The University Board of Regents is current-
ly the only public university governing body
in the state that operates without committees
or chairs. Regent David Brandon (R-Ann
Arbor) plans to propose changes to the
bylaws at next week's meeting to add chair,
vice chair and committee positions.
Due to the vacancies in the presidential and
provost positions, the University may be in
need of some structure on the Board of
Regents.
"They're somewhat rudderless ... it would
be difficult to pick a new president when he
has this sort of unrest in front of him or her,"
former regent Gertrude Huebner said.
Former regent Philip Power said he thinks, "it is
probably wiser to elect a chair who has the confi-
dence of the board than merely rotating the posi-
tion arbitrarily."
Powers said that in his experience, committees
tend to make a board work better.
"They allow people who know a lot about some-
thing to consider the issue and speed things up,"
Power said.
Former regent Deane Baker said he thinks
these proposals are interesting, but not new.
"We did discuss it probably back in the mid '70s
and it was brought up again some time in the late
"80s," Baker said. "In both cases, the majority of
regents said no."
During Baker's tenure, he said the creation of a
chair would have changed the way voices were
heard on the board.
"The basis for logic was that there are eight
regents and the vote of each regent has the same
value of any other regent. At least in the terms
when we served, the Board didn't want to lessen
the input of each regent. There was really no poli-
tics involved," he said.
i on self-governance
At most large public universities, the governing Laro said he does not remember the board consid
boards have had some type of chair structure ering designating chairs or committees during th
implemented for years, time he served.
At Michigan State University, the Board of "It seemed to work just fine," Laro said. "One
Trustees has a rotating chair position and of the virtues of not designating chairs is tha
committees that members say works effec- there is no hierarchy, and that kind of equality
tively. seemed to make for good harmony among mem
"The chair is the lead spokesperson for the bers of the board."
board, appoints the committees and of course Huebner said she did not think a chairperson o
works closely with the president," said Don committees were necessary when she was on th
Nugent, chair of the Michigan State Board of board. Current problems confronting member
Trustees. "I believe the system works really quite may warrant structural changes, she said.
well. With a board made up of all elected leaders "In my experience, committees usually slow
such as ours, the rotation system does serve a use- down the process, but this board is facing a totally
ful means of each having an opportunity regardless different political and economic situation," Hueb
of political affiliation." ner said. "We had a board that never voted politi
University regents have not seen the need to cally and never divided between Republicans an
create these types of positions until now. Democrats."
"During the time I served, the attitude and spirit Huebner said she thinks the current' boar
of the regents was a congenial one," Baker said. is "a great board and very diversified."
U.S. Tax Court Judge and former regent David
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New MSA allocation process
makes funding more efficient
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
David Godman,, chair of the
Michigan Student Assembly Budget
Priorities Committee, said the BPC
hoped last semester's change in
budget allocation would discourage
student groups from asking for
unreasonable amounts of money.
Goldman said under the new sys-
tem, which allows student organiza-
tions to apply for money three times a
semester instead of just once, groups
have begun to meet those expectations
- making the allocation process easi-
er.
The average student group
request last semester was $1,583 -
with some groups asking for
upwards of $8,000 - but MSA was
only able to hand out an average of
$314. While some groups continue
to ask for more money than MSA
can provide, Goldman said the first
cycle, approved on Jan. 23, was
successful because the average
request declined significantly.
"We had groups apply with the
specific costs they wanted," Gold-
man said. "They had receipts all
ready, they had everything planned
out perfectly, and when we see that,
we say, 'Wow, that's what we like to
see. That's organization, that's spe-
cific costs. We have no reason not
to give them that money."'
Goldman held a presentation for
student organizations, asking them to
avoid petitioning for too much money.
He said the presentation accounts for
part of the more precise requests.
years past
Due.atoschaliasti/gonsth
B wier 201 The average request
request was$1,861/grup.The
average mlo etion was $7/o up
V Winter 2000: Th verage...
request was $1.7S2/roup. The
average allocationwas.$499-
Due to such applications the
BPC, which reviews their requests
and recommends allocations before
MSA votes on them, was able to
grant a larger portion of the
requests. Goldman said all 94
groups that applied during the first
cycle received money, and 23
received full funding.
Anne Kennedy, the finance co-chair
of Dance Marathon, said her group
asked for the exact amount of aid they
hoped to obtain from MSA. The
equipment and rental costs of Dance
Marathon, a charity event where par-
ticipants dance for 30 consecutive
hours, can run as high as $20,000,
Kennedy said, but the group asked
MSA for only $2,000.
"If you ask for a ridiculous amount,
you're less likely to get how much you
want," she said.
MSA Vice President Jessica Cash
said because groups can apply for aid
three times a semester instead of once,
they will not run into problems if their
budget changes throughout the semes-
ter.
"Last semester, groups were able
to secure funding very early in the
year, but many of their program-
ming initiatives changed after the
developments following September
11," Cash said.
She added that new groups unfamil-
iar with the funding process can apply
for money later in the semester.
As a result, MSA can use the
money it receives from student fees
to more efficiently fund students'
activities. Goldman said under the
old system, MSA took into account
the unexpected changes in the orga-
nizations' budgets by over-allocat-
ing money.
"Last semester we had a significant
amount of money that groups didn't
use because, for whatever reasons,
they didn't put on certain events or
projects. That was money that was
wasted that could have been given to
other groups that would have used the
money," Goldman said.
He added that despite the benefits of
the new system, holding three funding
cycles requires more dedication from
the BPC because the committee has
more applications to review.
MSA President Matt Nolan said stu-
dent groups have praised the new allo-
cation system.
"We've gotten very positive feed-
back from groups regarding the new
funding cycles, and hopefully it will
continue to prove to be easier for stu-
dent groups,"he said.
Applications for the next funding
cycle are due on Feb. 7.
JONATHON TRIEST/Daily
Despite the chilly temperature, some people opted to walk down State Street
rather than drive.
Party-goingattitude
decreases as students
enter the work force
By April Effort
Daily Staff Reporter
Memories of keg parties, dancing,
drugs, drinking games and loud music
become distant memories upon gradua-
tion, according to a new University study.
Results of this year's Monitoring the
Future study, conducted by the Institute for
Social Research, showed that partying,
drinking and drug use declined among
students when they reach 30 years old.
The study states that 52 percent of
men and 48 percent of women at age 18
went out in the evening three or more
times a week. But by the age of 31 or
32, only 15 percent of men and 11 per-
cent of women still go out that often.
The decrease in partying as well as
drug and alcohol consumption is corre-
lated with age and adult responsibili-
ties, such as marriage and children.
While participants in the study demon-
strated sharp decline in substance use
after marriage, parenthood proved to
have an even greater effect.
The study also indicates that high
school students who frequently go out
in the evening are more likely to abuse
drugs. This period also proved to be an
important time for setting values dur-
ing the college years.
ISR social psychologist Jerald Bach-
man said he hopes the study's findings
will be used to develop drug and alcohol
prevention programs for young adults.
He said students should have something
else to do other than just hang-out.
"Implications for prevention may be
to continue the quest for youth to
spend their time tutoring younger chil-
dren, being care-givers for the dis-
abled, and volunteers in the
community," Bachman said.
Tom Hedrick, vice chairman and co-
founder of Partnership for a Drug-Free
America, said the results from the
study are invaluable.
"I can say without equivocation that
Monitoring the Future is the most
important benchmark in terms of what
trends are happening in substance
abuse and why they are occurring,"
Hedrick said. "(It) gives us a bench-
mark and a report card on how we are
doing in the substance abuse field."
Since the Monitoring the Future
study began in 1975, it has provided 25
years of data on more than 38,000 stu-
dents in public and private secondary
schools throughout the United States.
Bachman and his co-authors ana-
lyzed and published the data in their
book, "Decline of Substance Use in
Young Adulthood: Changes.in Social
Activities, Roles, and Beliefs."
The challenge is sorting through a
number of explanatory pathways for
substance abuse, Bachman said.
"Part of it is simply the teaching.
Most religions discourage substance
abuse and encourage other religious
activities," Bachman said.
"I hope that our results help to
inform a broad range of people in
society - including parents and
policy makers - about what Amer-
ican young people are like and how
they are changing," said University
social scientist Lloyd Johnson in a
written statement. Johnson also is a
co-author of Bachman's book. "I
particularly hope that our results assist
educators, professionals, and legisla-
tors to develop more effective pro-
grams and policies," he added.
Correction:
Yesterday's Daily should have reported that the Graduate Employee Organization extended its contract for another
two weeks.
THE CALENDAR
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
EVENTS
Fraternity Recruitment;
Sponsored by the Inter-
fraternity Council, 7:00-
10:00 p.m., For more
"Killing Indians: Myths,
Lies, and Exaggerations";
Lecture by screenwriter,
author and poet Sherman
Alexie, A book signing
1636 International Insti-
tute, School of Social
Work Building
"A Guide to the Bod-
hisattva Wav of Life":
SERVICES
Campus Information
Centers, 764-INFO,
info@umich.edu, or
www. umich. edu/-info
S.A.F.E. Walk, 763-WALK,
11
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m