LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Thursday, January 23, 2003 - 3A Students asked to contribute their meals to Iraqi civilians Student smoking marijuana reports himself to police By Carmen Johnson Daily Staff Reporter A person in Mary Markley Resi- dence Hall contacted the Department of Public Safety early yesterday morn- ing to request that an ambulance trans- port him to the emergency room at University Hospital because he thought he had smoked too much marijuana. DPS complied with the student's request. Missing medical instrument found DPS officers received an unfounded report Tuesday, when a person working at the A. Alfred Taubman Health Care Center reported she believed her stetho- scope had been stolen. The person later called DPS again to tell officers she had located the stethoscope in her office. Man's 'unusual' acts cause arrest A University student calling from the Chemistry Building reported Tues- day afternoon that a man acting in an "unusual manner" had entered a room in the C.C. Little Science Building while she was studying. The man's behavior caused the woman to leave the building, DPS reports state. Officers were able to locate the non- University affiliated suspect, who was arrested on outstanding warrants from the Ann Arbor Police Department. DPS reports did not elaborate on what the man's unusual behavior consisted of. Patient's hair pulled during fight A caller from University Hospital requested immediate assistance from DPS officers Monday morning after one patient assaulted another patient. DPS reports state that, upon the offi- cer's arrival, they discovered the two patients on the floor with one patient pulling the other's hair. Filing cabinet raid ends in $1.59 loss A woman working in the Taubman Health Care Center told.DPS officers Monday she believed someone has been periodically ransacking a filing cabinet in her office. According to DPS reports, although the woman always locked her cabinet, she contin- ued to return to find the cabinet unlocked and its contents misplaced. The reports state that the woman finally contacted DPS upon discover- ing that a single use packet of allergy medication had been stolen from the cabinet. Officers determined that the medication's value is $1.59. Officers find fire after alarm sounds DPS officers determined that a flam- ing wastebasket activated the South Quad Residence Hall fire alarm at 6:18 a.m. Saturday morning. Officers believe the fire, located on the seventh floor, started when hot ashes were dropped in the basket. Catering truck takes on building - and wins A University catering truck collided with the building adjacent to a lot at 300 Hill St. at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. Accord- ing to DPS reports, the truck scraped the side of the building. The building's cop- per siding was torn away, but the truck did not sustain any damage. Person asleep in stacks escorted from grad library Staff members at the Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library informed police that a man was found sleeping in the build- ing's north stacks after it closed last Thursday morning. The staff members said the man had been found sleeping in the same area multiple times. DPS officers woke the man, who was identified as a University student, and escorted him from the building. Leather chair stolen from room New door locks did not stop unknown suspects from stealing a black leather chair from a student's room in East Quad Residence Hall, a University student reported to DPS. The chair, which the student believes was stolen sometime between noon and 2 p.m. Jan. 16, is valued at $70. Unwelcome guests * asked to leave A man attending a weekend conven- Anti-war rallies may inspire a community to protest a war in Iraq, but the diminishing possibility of a peaceful resolution is stirring students to aid the people who would be immediately affected by war - Iraqi civil- ians. During this week, students with a meal plan can contribute to relief work in Iraq without actually donating cash by sacrificing one meal credit, and giving funds for the meal to Life for Relief and Development, a Southfield- based charity organization. The Muslim Students' Association, which has been involved with anti-war events on campus, organized the drive. The group want- ed to balance out their protests for peace with humanitarian work, MSA executive board member Rima Makhiawala said. "Most Iraqis are victims of their govern- "Most Iraqis are victims of their government and the sanctions placed on them" - Rima Makhiawala MSA executive board member ment and the sanctions placed on them since the Gulf War," Makhiawala said. "And now it's unfortunate that people who don't have any connections with what our government is trying to get rid of will suffer with war." MSA is hoping to raise $3,000 through meal donations for the non-government organization Life. Life is working to coordinate with U.N. charity organizations in Iraq and Syria and with the U.S. government to provide blankets, water, tents, medicine and baby formulas in the event of war. "As we speak we are trying to get the right materials to people who are needy," Life Pres- ident Khalil Jassemm said. "A war would not only result in the deaths of millions of Iraqis but it's estimated that four million Iraqi peo- ple would be displaced and without homes." Although relief is needed, it has become dif- ficult to obtain charity licenses through the U.S. government to help in Iraq, Jassemm said. Students who donate their meals will give up their dinners on Feb. 13, but Makhiawala said students seem happy to help the cause. "Some students are turned off by political actitives, but people are always drawn to humanitarian issues," Makhiawala said. "I think a lot of the student body really want to get involved." LSA student Shefali Kathari donates a meal to an Iraqi family yesterday at East Quad. ENDOWMENT Continued from Page 1A "That money is there forever for the dean or the department to use," she said. "The beauty of an endowment is that it is a gift of longevity. It will last as long as the University lasts." The first donation intended for the University's endowment was made in 1898 by Elizabeth Bates, a physician from Port Chester, N. Y. Although she did not attend the University, Bates left money for the Medical School because it was one of the few at the time that educated women. In the past year, the University's endowment funds fell 4 percent from $3.4 to $3.3 million. This drop succeeded a 6 percent fall in the previous year from $3.6 million to $3.4 million. Lundberg said that while the University enjoyed considerable financial success during the bullish market of the late '90s, it shifted its investments when stocks began to dip to maintain its fiscal holdings. In 2000, the endowment fund jumped from $2.5 to $3.5 million and has preserved most of its gain despite the current recession. "What's important when you look at investment returns is to look at them for a long period of time," he said. "When the market turned bear, the University did a good job of holding onto its gains." Lundberg added that although the endowment fund has suffered only minimal losses, the University will still need to restrict its spending because of the significant reduction in state funding anticipated for next year. While Michigan has preserved much of its revenue, other universities have not been so fortunate. According to a recent study by the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the wealthiest colleges have suffered the greatest losses. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology lost 12.6 percent of its holdings while the University of Cali- fornia lost 10.7 percent. ACLU Continued from Page 1A Dearborn mandates the 30-day waiting period in order to maintain a safe environment during protests, Dearborn city spokeswoman Mary Laundroche told the Detroit Free Press. The advanced notice allows the city to adequately staff the events without working their employees over- time or using police from outside of Dearborn, she said. The city is especially concerned about automobile accidents involving protesters. "It's a balance between protecting the rights of citi- zens to have free speech while at the same time pre- serving public safety," Landroche said. Hamad said the city has been subjective in the approval of permits. "The ordinance can be subject to a selective approach that may be politically influenced. A city ordinance should be applicable against all situations," Hamad said. The ACLU filed for a motion for a preliminary injunction, but a hearing date has not yet been set. The ACLU decided to challenge this order now to enable groups to protest in the immediate future, Stein- berg said. "We know of several groups that would like to protest against the invasion of Iraq," Steinberg said. "Our clients do not want to break the law. If need be, we will file for a temporary restraining order and request an emergency hearing," he said. ADMINISTRATORS Continued from Page 1A "I remember my freshman year feeling completely lost as to what to do with my time here," LSA sophomore Amy Keller said. "I really didn't get much guidance, so I felt as if I had to do most of the reaching." Keller added that she sometimes thinks administrators do not always make the best decisions given students' needs. "I do feel that sometimes this University is run like a busi- ness;' she said. "It's common knowledge that some professors are hired purely for their research capabilities, especially with, our new Life Sciences Initiative, and not necessarily for their, teaching capabilities. The research that they do, alone, is enough to put (the University) on the map, but is it necessarily fulfilling my undergraduate experience?" But Keller, a member of the Michigan Roundtable and the executive vice president of the Residence Halls Association, said many of her negative feelings about the University's; administration were dissolved after she became more involved in student groups. "Once I found myself in an organization, and met many people on the administrative level, I didn't feel so lost in the crowd," she said. University officials say they are doing everything they can: in order to help students like Keller, who want more interac- tions with the people leading them. Due to the size of the student body, officials said not all: interactions can be personal. Officials are turning to other forms of communication, such as online surveys and e-mail, to gain student insight. Still, University administrators do set up fixed times for stu- dents - like the Michigan Roundtable, the monthly fireside chats led by University President Mary Sue Coleman and Open House sessions held at various venues. "Each session is different as students bring a variety of' issues Coleman said about the fireside chats. "I find the stu- dents are very open and willing to talk about all sorts of issues - problems with classes, or coordination of issues. We have talked about careers and indecision about majors. I enjoy, these sessions very much." But attendance at each fireside chat is limited to only a ran-, dom selection of students and Coleman said her busy schedule keeps her from holding more. Vice President of Student Affairs E. Royster Harper said she understands students' frustrations with Univer-, sity administrators. But she added that she does not feel; administrators always need to be visible in order for, students to feel comfortable in the University commu- nity. "We are not where we want to be. We do not see every student every -semester, and we know that," Harp- er said. "But sometimes, you just don't need an admin- istrator." INDEX Continued from Page 1A But Bullard said sponsors are willing to pay a high premium to get the information a few min- utes before everyone else because the data has an important impact on the markets. "The only conceivable value provided to these people is their ability to front-run the mar- ket with that information," he said. The monthly release of the surveys, which include the consumer sentiment index and the index of consumer expectations, always draw the national spotlight. According to experts, two-thirds of the U.S. economy is fueled by consumer spending and consumer sentiment and consumer expectations have the potential to either buoy or dent the financial markets. But one of the subscribers, Jim O'Sullivan,; the U.S. economist of investment bank UBS Warburg, said he was skeptical about how large an impact the surveys have on markets when there are so many other factors influencing them daily. "There are a lot of numbers out there that the government provides, it's just an extra one;" he said. O'Sullivan said receiving the data early is not the sole reason for subscribing to the surveys; having access to the complete set of historical data that the surveys produce is also useful for conducting further analysis. Critics said the University should not limit the information to its subscribers. "I am surprised that the University of Michigan would opt to release such an impor- tant number to a selected group of people ear- lier," said Randall Poe, the communications director of the Conference Board, a non-profit organization that conducts the Consumer Confidence Index, similar to the University's surveys. But O'Sullivan said the practice is the only way for the University to fund the research. "If it didn't charge people to get it early, then why would anyone pay; if nobody paid, how would it operates and it wouldn't exist," he said. Roger Farmer, an economics professor at the University of California at Los Angeles, said the University of Michigan is not alone in giv- ing special privileges to sponsors. "I don't think it is unusual. It's just like the forecasting project at the business school here, which only allows the sponsors to receive the information from the university,"he said. "We are absolutely not making a profit. The surveys basically receive just enough funding from the sponsors to pay for the cost of con- ducting the research," Swanbrow said. "We have no plan of changing the way the surveys are funded or changing the way it is released." U MI The Mystic Tan booth is the latest in sunless tanning Technology. This amazing new technology produces a natural looking tan without the use of LV rays. 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