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www.mzichikandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 149 @2005 The Michigan Daily
Levin:
Bush
weak on
secunty
Senator criticizes
president for lack of
accountability
By Ben Beckett
For the Daily
In a speech at the University assailing
the Bush presidency, U.S. Sen. Carl Levin
saved his sharpest barbs for the adminis-
tration's response to Hurricane Katrina.
He said that the cycle of rewarding those
who had failed in their duties - such as
former CIA chief George Tenet - has
continued. Levin said that the president
recently praised Federal Emergency Man-
agement Agency Director Michael Brown,
despite "FEMA's deadly failure," for the
same reason he has praised other seem-
ingly-inept officials:
"The administration fears that if any-
one is demoted or fired, they will strike
back at their bosses," Levin said.
Brown has been relieved of his duties
as FEMA director, but Levin criticized
the administration for its lack of account-
ability toward national security. Speak-
ing in front of 200 students, faculty and
community members, Levin's speech
also touched on mistakes the government
made in handling major security issues
such as the war in Iraq and preventing-
Sept. 11. "Too often the response from
the administration has been a collective
shrug of the shoulders," Levin said, in
reference to Bush's handling of national
security issues.
When asked if by accepting responsi-
bility for mismanagement in the wake of
Hurricane Katrina President Bush was
beginning to take the notion of account-
ability more seriously, Levin responded,
"I've got to be hopeful, but I can't tell you
I'm confident."
The speech, which was delivered as the
Josh Rosenthal Education Fund Lecture
at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public
Policy, mainly reiterated previously stated
Democratic positions. Speaking before a
mostly friendly audience, Levin minced
few words regarding the current adminis-
tration's security policies.
Levin cited several issues that he said
he believed illustrated the administration's
lack of accountability including pre-9-ll
intelligence failures, and the failure to
find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Levin stated that these shortcomings were
the result of "incompetence," and that in
the Bush administration "the buck gets
passed and passed."
Levin also pointed to the fact that no
high-level officials have been reprimand-
ed for poor post-combat planning in Iraq
or for the mistreatment of detainees there.
After praising U.S. forces on duty in Iraq,
Levin said that, "the military's perfor-
See LEVIN, Page 7A
PALMER FIELD BOWLING
dim
State higher
ed budget
deal reached
By Julia F. Homing
Daily Staff Reporter
Under an agreement reached last
week between Gov. Jennifer Gran-
holm and the state Legislature, the
combined budget allocation for Mich-
igan's 15 universities and colleges for
the next fiscal year was set at $1.48 bil-
lion. The allocation marks an increase
from Granholm's proposed budget
this past February, but University of
Michigan officials say the school will
still receive $4 million less than last
year's original allocation.
Under the agreement, the Univer-
sity's Ann Arbor campus will receive
an allocation of $316.3 million from
the state. The budget for 2006 that the
University Board of Regents passed in
July was based on Granholm's origi-
nal funding proposal, which would
have provided the Ann Arbor cam-
pus with $314 million from the state.
While the recent agreement calls for
an increase over Granholm's propos-
al, it still marks a decrease from the
funiding level the University received
from the state last year.
The additional $2 million comes
from a funding allocation of *$2.5
million to be divided among the state
colleges. Granholm proposed the allo-
cation in order to keep state aid for
higher education at the same level as
it is in the current fiscal year.
Additionally, the Senate-proposed
floor funding program would ensure
that most schools would receive at least
$3,650 per student, and a funding model,
conceived by the House Fiscal Agency,
would determine how much funding is
received based on enrollment, degrees
given and research grants received from
the federal government.
State Budget Office spokesman Greg
Bird said availability of new revenues
from sales of parcels of land and addi-
tional enforcement of tax laws made
the increase from Granholm's original
proposal in February possible. "The
governor's big push all along was to
ensure that no university received a cut.
(Granholm) was adamant that univer
sities' funding may be maintained or
increased, but not cut," Bird said.
In addition to the $561,200 received
from Granholm's allocation of $2.5 mil-
lion to higher education, the University
will also receive $776,400 as part of the
state House funding model and will con-
tinue to receive the $8,104 per student it
received this fiscal year. As a result, the
state will allocate a total of $316.3 million
to the University for the next fiscal year.
State officials say they see this allocation
as an increase over this year's allocation
because of a mid-year cut from the state.
But University officials view this
allocation as a decrease from this year's
original allocation of $320.6 million.
University spokeswoman Julie Peter-
son said while the original allocation
for the current fiscal year was $320.6
million, in the middle of the year it was
decreased to $315 million and then
restored to approximately $318 million
by the end of the fiscal year.
While state officials compare the
allocation for the next fiscal year to
the $315 million figure and see an
increase of 0.4 percent, University
officials insist that this new allocation
See BUDGET, Page 7A
Students go bowling at the Kinesiology Festival at Palmer Field yesterday.
Students travel to Ecuador to aid community
'Quito Project' aims to
help poverty-stricken town
with medical care and aid
By Carlssa Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
In Chillogallo, a village of less than 4,000
located in Quito, Ecuador, sickness, alcoholism
and hunger prosper.
Children are poorly educated, malnourished
and often abused, and parents struggle to make a
decent living. Families are forced to live in dirt-
covered homes with only one room.
This is the picture University physicians and
students were faced with and ultimately motivated
by when they arrived in Quito this summer to
begin a three-month-long volunteer project.
The Quito Project - led by second-year Medi-
cal student Bina Valsangkar - sent 18 University
students and two University physicians to Quito,
to provide medical treatment, tutor children and
construct community facilities.
Valsangkar, who became aware of Quito's detri-
mental conditions through her undergraduate vol-
unteer work, founded and instituted the project last
year with funds received from University grants,
private donations and through fundraising.
From May to August, Quito's physicians and
medical students ran a free health clinic where
patients received necessary medical care and
medication, as well as vitamins, soap, oral care
and clothing. University Spanish undergraduates
also tutored local children in math and reading
and gave talks on nutrition and dental hygiene.
In addition, University Engineering students
- in cooperation with an Ecuadorian engineer -
spent the summer building a community shower
in Quito, a project costing more than $2,300.
"We make a serious effort to include the com-
munity in our projects," Valsangkar said. "We
"I think people go into experiences like this to try and help
and impact others, but I think I came out of this much
more impacted by them."
- Lindsey Worcester
LSA junior
get to know them, talk to them, they help us with
some of the work and most importantly, we try to
give them an active role in their own health and
education."
Valsangkar added that often, community mem-
bers would thank Quito's participants with the
phrase, "Dios le pague," which when translated in
English means "God will pay you."
"We are working with them - it's a partner-
ship," Valsangkar added. "I think the community
members sense that because they really appreciate
our work."
University alum and Engineering graduate
Heejung Hong, who assisted in the construction
of the shower, said she became involved with the
Quito Project because of its unique student base.
Although she was an Engineering student, Hong
said the trip allowed her to learn a great deal more
about construction than she expected.
Hong added that members of the community
were very helpful to the engineers.
See QUITO, Page 7A
A2 residents link
up for world peace
RC prof fights for
free speech with
panel discussion
About 30 people
create human chain with
activist Alan Haber
By Amber Colvin
Daily Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor residents and University
students linked up with famous activist
Alan Haber yesterday afternoon, form-
ing a human chain for peace in West
Park.
Haber, a University alum and life-
long Ann Arbor resident, founded
Students for a Democratic Society in
1959. The group garnered nationwide
attention in the 1960s for its move-
ments against the Vietnam War, rac-
ism, poverty and imperialism. Even
hand connections ever since to create a
culture of peace and nonviolence in the
city and around the world.
"The world is full of struggle and
people trying to find their freedom,"
Haber said. "All of us can do some-
thing to make peace in the world."
From about 2 to 3 p.m. approximately
30 participants in the ring shared their
thoughts on their opposition to war in
Iraq and the need to aid the victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
Rich Birkett, the primary author
of last fall's successful Proposal C,
which legalized medicinal marijuana
in Ann Arbor, spoke about the paral-
lels between the Vietnam War and the
war in Iraq.
He said it was notable that both wars
were started under false pretenses. But
MCRI supporter
Carl Cohen celebrates
50th year at 'U'
By Olga Mantilla
Daily Staff Reporter
Whether the First Amendment
is consistently upheld at a univer-
sity that's home to frequent strikes
and political rallies depends on
who you're talking to.
To RC Philosophy Prof. Carl
Cohen, the University still has a
long way to go.
A controversial figure who has
taught at the University for five
oppressed a day in his run at the
University, but added, "I'm prob-
ably one of the bolder ones."
The day-long celebration spon-
sored by the RC took off with a
public panel discussion on the
First Amendment, led by Wayne
State University Law School Dean
Frank Wu, University of Virginia
Law School Prof. Kim Forde-
Mazrui, U.S. District Court Judge
Avern Cohn and current RC senior
Samantha Woll. Cohen acted
as moderator for the discussion.
Panelists said the importance of
free speech has shaped Cohen's
five decades at the University's
Residential College, where he has
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