Monday, November 14, 2005
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MICHIGAN S LOCOMOTIVE ROLLS THROUGH INDIANA ... SPORTSMONDAY
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Blood Battle Update
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www.mifhirandaiy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 30 ®2005 The Michigan Daily
Team
vies for
piece of
*Big Ten
MichigmnOhio State
wi nner could play h Fiesta,
Sugar or Orange bowl
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Editor
At the press conference after
Saturday's football game, no one
really wanted to talk about Indi-
ana. After all, that just seemed
silly. With Ohio State looming on
the horizon, the interest was on
how well-prepared Michigan was
for the Buckeyes.
The bottom line: The winner of
next Saturday's football game will
get at least a share of the Big Ten
Championship if Michigan State
can pull off an upset win over Penn
State. So what seemed like a long-
shot four weeks ago - when Mich-
igan was 3-3 and near the bottom
of the Big Ten standings - is now
tantalizing.
Because the Rose Bowl is the
national championship game this
year, the Big Ten champion's des-
tination is still up in the air. The
conference winner could play in
the Fiesta, Sugar or Orange bowl.
Carr admitted two weeks ago
that he would use at least part of
the bye week to prepare for Ohio
State. This week, he made another
shocking admission.
"I don't think you ever stop
thinking about them," Carr said.
After hearing Carr's comments,
Michigan quarterback Chad Henne
said, "I certainly don't." And good
luck getting any Michigan player to
admit he's been sneaking peeks at
the team from Columbus.
"Film study and all that stuff
starts on Ohio State this week,"
defensive tackle Gabe Watson said.
"So we had to focus on Indiana first,
and now that we got that out of the
way, we can focus on Ohio State."
Watson pointed out the obvious
when asked for specifics about
the Buckeyes. He said Troy Smith
- Ohio State's mobile quarterback
who last year rushed for 150 yards
and one touchdown and threw for
another 240 yards and two touch-
downs against the Wolverines
- was "real good." Wideouts Ted
Ginn Jr. and Santonio Holmes are
"key players who can spark the
offense," he added.
In all, Michigan has 10 players
on the roster who hail from the
Buckeye state - Ohio State has
just one player from Michigan.
Most participants know what the
game means. The rest will find out
soon enough.
"It was a new experience. The
crowd was overwhelming," Henne
said about last year's battle in
Columbus, where he was a fresh-
man starter in a 37-21 win for the
Buckeyes. "Last year, it came down
to the Big Ten Championship, and
this year there's a chance. The
rivalry is just a great rivalry. It's
See BCS, Page 7A
As heating prices
rise,
students bundle up against the cold *0
Heating bills
expected to jump 46
percent this winter
By Christina Hildreth
Daily Staff Reporter
With winter just around the corner
and the ailing energy market scrap-
ing to stockpile natural gas for the
winter, students who live in poorly
insulated rental houses are dialing
down their thermostats in hopes of
avoiding big utility bills.
"Last winter we kept the house at
50 degrees, trying to keep the bills
down somehow," said LSA junior
Allen Weiss, who lives in an off-
campus rental house.
But when the icy weather arrives
this year, dodging high bills may be
unavoidable.
The price of natural gas - the
fuel that heats most Michigan homes
- has clambered to unprecedented
heights since Hurricanes Katrina
and Rita decimated natural gas
wells in the Gulf of Mexico, para-
lyzing a supply already strained by
ever-increasing demand. Southeast
Michigan's natural gas supplier DTE
Energy estimates the average resi-
dential heating bill this winter will
be 46 percent higher than last year
- a jump from $164 to $240 per
month.
In response, the Michigan Public
Service Commission, which regu-
lates gas and energy prices within
the state, issued emergency rules last
month to help consumers avoid shut-
offs and stay toasty in cold weather.
Effective Nov. 1 through Mar. 1,
residential customers have five extra
days to pay heating bills. Utility
companies also cannot cancel ser-
vice or charge late fees for failure to
pay an estimated bill by the due date,
as long as they pay the minimal fee.
Other new rules protect the elderly
and poor from winter shutoffs.
MPSC also offers a budget pay-
ment plan to help customers distrib-
ute costs over the course of a year.
The plan does not erase the winter
cost spike but can lessen its drain on
monthly finances, said Judy Palnau,
spokeswoman for MPSC.
Len Singer, spokesman for DTE,
urged students who anticipate trou-
ble paying high bills to contact their
utility company as soon as possible.
"Don't wait till a disconnection
notice comes in the mail or someone
shows up at the door for payment.
We can work with customers for bill
paying arrangements," he said.
Even with MPSC and DTE's
programs, some students said they
see little chance to circumvent high
bills.
"What are you going to do about
it? Even if prices are bad, you have
to pay them. It's the market value,"
Weiss said.
Yet natural gas's soaring price tag
does not immediately affect many
students. Students living in residence
halls and most apartments near cam-
pus do not pay for heat, which is fac-
tored into rent or housing costs.
That means University housing
See HEAT, Page 7A
1eeuing your spending
Tips for students to keep energy costs
from burning a hole in their wallets
D
D
r
Dial down the thermostat.
For every degree, you save 3
percent on your bill
Ask your landlord to "winter-
proof" your house by caulking
windows and sealing doors
Turn down your water heater.
Experts say 120 degrees should
be enough for most people
EMPOWERMENT THROUGH EXPRESSION
Monologues'
looks for all-
minority cast
Producers hope new
method will remedy
play's inherent biases
By Carissa Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
Calling all women of color.
"The Vagina Monologues"
wants you.
That's the message students have
heard in the past weeks, as the annu-
al show has opted to bring women of
color center stage, while planning to
leave many white women behind the
curtains.
Late last month, producers and
directors of the show announced their
intention to push for an all-minority
cast. Some students have deemed the
new casting policy reverse discrimi-
nation, but supporters of the show
say they view the change as a way to
rectify biases of the show and reig-
nite interest among the student body.
"The Vagina Monologues" is
a play written by playwright Eve
Ensler that attempts to address topics
relating to violence against women.
The play is part of the V-Day College
Campaign - a political movement
to stop violence against women.
University alum Carol Gray, who
directed the famous play last year,
said that the majority of women who
audition for past monologues have
been white.
"By seeing white people in the
show, (women of color) come to think
they're not welcome or not part of the
community," Gray said. "People have
probably refrained from purchasing
tickets or participating because of
this feeling."
This lack of diversity, she said, is
the result of a lack of distribution of
audition notices and informational e-
mails targeting minorities.
But many other students who
participated in previous shows
said women of color have stayed
away from the play because they
believe the script portrays minor-
ities negatively.
A major problem with the script
for some is that many of the roles
for women of color deal with sex-
ual violence.
And because few women of color
audition for the show, minorities gen
erally assume these more traumatic
roles, while monologues dealing
with more positive subjects such as
liberation and beauty are filled by
white cast members. Women of color
are thus portrayed as only constant
victims of sexual violence and never
in a positive light, the producers and
directors said.
Because the national V-Day
organization prohibits groups from
modifying the script, producers of
this year's show said the only way to
remedy the bias of the show was to
push for an all-minority cast.
"We can't change the words of the
script, but we can change the way the
words are presented," said Lauren
Whitehead, director of the show this
school year. "The script is flawed in
its attempt to give all women a voice
because it seems to give certain
women certain voices. I often won-
der why angry vaginas can't be white
and happy vaginas can't be Asian,"
she said.
See VAGINA, Page 7A
EUGENE ROBERTSON/ Daily
Dancers perform at "Kalakriti: Empowerment Through Expression." presented by the Indian Ameri-
can Students Association at Hill Auditorium on Friday.
Tackling diversity beyond the
'U'
New center to
explore institutional
diversity, examine its
value and how to use it
By Karl Stampfl
Daily Staff Reporter
level, but will also reach beyond the
issue of race-based admissions to
business, K-12 education and other
areas.
Since 2003's U.S. Supreme Court
victory concerning the law school's
admissions policies, the University
has been a national leader for promot-
ing diversity in higher education.
"It was expected by many people
around the nation that we would
continue in this leadership role and
expand it beyond the issues raised in
the court cnes." Monts 'sid in an e-
"The center can take the University and
higher education to a new level to deal with
diversity."
- Lester Monts
Senior vice provost for academic affairs
The inevitable fate of the United
States is a more diverse society - by
2050 the country's population will
nnly he hetmeen 50 to 60 nercent
diversity and creating inclusive
communities.
The center plans to offer a fellows
nroeram and snonsor colloauia for
Gurin has been on the Univer-
sity faculty since 1996 and has also
served as chair of the psychology
denartment for 10 years and as inter-
1 mrnm
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