Friday, February 4, 2005 News 3 Asian leaders on campus this weekend - !. a 1 a Weather Opinion 4 Sports 8 Jeff Cravens knows what's wrong with Kansas Icers prepare for weekend showdown against Michigan State £Iii H%60 tOW-20 TOMORROW: One-hundredfourteen years ofeditorialdfreedom www.michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 74 02005 The Michigan Daily Injury ends Reid s career By James V. Dowd Daily Sports Writer Senior linebacker Lawrence Reid will no longer be playing on the football team due to health concerns, coach Lloyd Carr announced during Wednesday's national signing day press conference. Reid was a candidate for the 2004 Butkus Award, which is given to the nation's top linebacker, and won the 2003 Roger Zatkoff Award for being Michi- gan's best linebacker. .;. r The injury will end Reid's football career. "Reid played the last half of the season with a lot of discom- fort, a nerve prob- Reld lem," Carr said. "The doctors have advised him not to play, so Lawrence will not be competing any longer." Reid's discomfort was caused by the atypical bone structure of his spinal cord. After meeting with doctors several weeks ago, Reid felt it was in his best interest to stop playing football. "I had a doctor's appointment a few weeks ago, and he suggested that I not play anymore," Reid said. "I decided to leave the team, and I am just looking forward to get- ting my degree." While the injury reached its pinnacle this fall, the condition has existed since Reid was born. "It was just something that was there and got worse as the years went by," he said. "There is nothing that they can do for it." Despite the injury, Reid's 2004 season was a successful one. Reid finished the year tied for second on the team with 70 tackles. He also intercepted a pass against Notre Dame and scored the first touchdown of his colle- giate career on a five-yard fumble recovery against San Diego State. Reid recorded five tackles, including one sack during the Rose Bowl game against Texas on Jan. 1. During the 2003 season, Reid received an All-Big Ten honorable mention after leading the Wolverines with 82 tackles. After recov- ering from a blood clot that ended his 2002 season after just five games, Reid made 25 consecutive starts at inside linebacker and emerged as one of Michigan's key defensive players. Reid will remain at the University to fin- ish his degree in sociology, which he plans to complete in December 2005. "I don't have any specific (career) plan," Reid said. "I am just finishing my degree, and I will go from there." Because he will be on campus next fall, Reid has plans to stay involved with the foot- ball team but is unsure if he will continue his association with the game after this year. "I don't have plans to (stay involved with football) right now - but that could change with time," Reid said. "But I will definitely stay with the team until I grad- uate next fall." ' given top credit rating Only two other public universities have AAA rating By Jonathan Cohen Daily Staff Reporter Standard and Poor's Rating Services, one of the world's leading providers of credit ratings, moved the University's credit rating from AA+ to AAA, the highest possible rating, yesterday. The AAA rating indicates the Univer- sity's strong financial management, and will save University dollars for future capital investments such as the upcom- ing North Quad building project. The University is one of three public universities with a AAA rating, includ- ing the Universities of Virginia and Texas. The Standard and Poor's rating is highly regarded by all financial insti- tutions and is sure to save the Univer- sity money, Business School Prof. Nejat Seyhun said. "These ratings will reduce our cost of debt in the market. This will reduce expenditures over the long run, freeing up money for academic priorities," said Timothy P. Slottow, executive vice pres- ident and chief financial officer. "The upgrade also sends a signal to all Uni- versity stakeholders about our success- ful ongoing focus on financial controls, budget discipline and 'best practices' in financial management," he said. The University can borrow money at slightly lower costs because of this rating upgrade, said Business School Prof. Dennis Capozza. "The higher the bond rating, the lower the cost of borrowing." Seyhun estimates that between 2/10 to 3/10 of a percent of future borrowed money will be saved. These figures cor- respond to annual interest savings of $100 to $200 thousand dollars. The credit rating indicates the Uni- versity's fiscal responsibility, Univer- sity spokeswoman Julie Peterson said. "It's a sign of how careful we are with our public resources." According to the Standard and Poor's report, the rating was mainly based on the University's ability to maintain a strong financial and academic record despite a recent cut in state funding. Other factors that were taken into account included: the University's national reputation for excellence in academics and research, strong finan- cial liquidity, the $4 billion endowment and a strong record of fundraising. Faculty senate in Wisc. passes JOEL FRIEDMAN/Daily Dave Foreman, author of "Rewilding North America: A Vision for the 21st Century," signs his book after speaking at the Dana Building yesterday. Conservationist: larger wildlife preserves needed divestment b'ill By Tom Szczesny For the Daily Nobody enjoys approaching a dead animal at the side of the road. But where most people's disgust is at the sight of rotting flesh, Dave Foreman sees the sign of a much more destructive force: humans. As encroaching humans shrink the habitat for many of the globe's wildlife, the world's entire ecological order grows increasingly unstable, Foreman said. Foreman, a renowned conservationist, spoke on this topic before a mix of concerned citizens and students at the Dana Natural Resources Building yesterday after- noon. In presenting the ecological implications of cur- rent environmental policy, Foreman outlined the dire consequences that might result if it is perpetuated. As a solution, Foreman also advocated a system of expanded wildlife preserves to protect the world's ecosystems. Foreman's current vision was inspired in part by a visit to the University in 1989, when he met Michael Soule, a professor in the Natural Resources Department at the time. "This is the birthplace for who I am as a con- servationist in the last 15 or 16 years," Foreman said. Foreman's position as a prominent conservationist has been cemented over the last three decades. As the author of several books and the former editor of numer- ous environmental action magazines, Foreman rose in stature to claim a seat on the board of some major advo- cacy groups, including the Sierra Club. His reputation eventually earned him a nod as one of the top 100 cham- pions of conservation in the 20th century by Audubon Magazine, an environmental magazine. Foreman is currently the director and a senior fel- low at the Rewilding Institute, what he describes as "a conservation think tank advancing ideas of continen- See PRESERVES, Page 7 Karl Stampfl Daily Staff Reporter Tobacco companies and apartheid South Africa are two institutions from which many universities, including the University of Michigan, voted to withdraw investments. Members of the University of Wisconsin at Platteville's Faculty Senate hope to add the state of Israel to that list. On Jan. 25, the senate voted to rec- ommend that the University of Wiscon- sin system divest from companies that provide the Israeli army with weapons and other supplies. The senate recommended that the Board of Regents remove investments from six companies - Catepillar, General Dynamics, General Electric, Lockheed Martin, Northrop-Grunman and Raytheon - from the university's trust fund. There were two reasons for the rec- ommendation, said Mark Evenson, UW-Platteville's faculty senate chair- man. "First, we don't want to be mak- ing money off human rights offenses," he said. Evenson said the Israeli army has been accused by many groups of war crimes against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The second reason involves language in UW's policy that prohibits holding investments in companies that deal with organizations that discriminate against certain groups on the basis of race, reli- gion or ethnicity. Evenson said Israel would fall under that category. "I think it's both symbolic and practi- cal," he said. "Frankly, the holdings in these companies are not huge. It really won't change the U-W trust fund." The decision to recommend the Wis- consin system divest from Israel was passed by a vote of 7 to 6, with one See DIVESTMENT, Page 7 Committee may change way student groups work with 'U' By Rachel Kruer ger exist because it deals only with the process of policy- Daily Staff Reporter making and not implementation, Varner said. SOAR's ideas have not been approved yet. First, Wilson After working at the University for 10 years, Director of and Varner with the collaboration of others have developed Student Activities and Leadership Susan Wilson noticed tentative recommendations. They will seek input from the that student organizations kept encountering the same prob- campus over the next several weeks, and then they will turn lems. Unclear as to what resources were available to them, in a report with recommendations to Dean of Students, the logistics of the University's insurance policy and their Sue Eklund. She and Vice President for Student Affairs financial obligations, student organiza- E. Royster Harper will then add their tions kept making the same mistakes. « input, Varner said. When the problem did not go away Not one single event "By then we hope there will be a with time, Wilson said she felt she had p t few surprises because of the breadth of to do something. precipitate the idea input and publicity," Eklund said. "I felt I wasn't doing my job as best as behind SOAR - 1t No specific organizations on campus I could," she said. b hn-it voiced complaints that resulted in the Wilson has been instrumental over was a critical mass." formation of SOAR. Instead, Wilson the past 18 months in creating the Stu- said, it was the accumulation of many dent Organization and Recognition difficulties student organizations were Advisory Committee, a group of stu- - Susan Wilson facing. a' -~ 17