Thursday, November 17, 2005

WHY MICHIGAN S BIGGEST CITY IS COMING UP S -TORT r...THE STATEMENT

News 3A Speaker offers a new
take on Abu Ghraib

Opinion 4A
Sports SA

Mara Gay: We just
don't give a damn
How Toledo started
the Michigan-
Ohio rivalry

4*Vaug

Blood Battle Update
VS.
1302 1297
pints pints
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One-hundred-ffteen years of editoralfreedom

www.michigandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 33 ©2005 The Michigan Daily

North
Quad to
preserve
Carnegie
Updated plans for
residential and academic
complex include fewer beds
than originally intended
By Anne VanderMey
Daily Staff Reporter
The University is slowly but surely
progressing its plans to revamp Central
Campus. Project directors will present
their master plan to the University Board
of Regents today, including informa-
tion about the upcoming North Quad
Residential and Academic Complex, but
details of the project are still "fuzzy."
North Quad will be the first new
residence hall built by the University in
almost 40 years, and administrators say
l its mix of residential and academic uses
puts it on the cutting edge of campus
housing.
Scheduled to open sometime in 2008
or '09, the new residence hall will replace
the Frieze Building on State Street. The
total construction cost of the project is
estimated at $132 million, plus a $5 mil-
lion demolition fee.
The building is expected to provide
housing for 460 to 480 students, slightly
less than the original goal of 500, and will
include at least as much classroom space
as is currently housed in Frieze. It will
provide a new home for the Department
of Communication Studies, the School of
Information and the Department of Screen
Arts and Cultures, as well as the Sweet-
land Writing Center and the Language
Resource Center. The Department of The-
atre and Drama, which currently operates
out of Frieze, will relocate to the Walgreen
Drama Center on North Campus.
Some residents have expressed concern
about destruction of the Frieze and the
attached Carnegie Library, which were
built nearly a century ago. Frieze will be
completely demolished, but to the satis-
faction of many community members,
much of the library will be preserved,
officials said yesterday. The interior of
the building will likely be redesigned as
a newer "library of the future."
The building will feature a diverse set
of high-tech facilities - with multiple
dining areas, classrooms, laundry, video
conferencing, lounges and faculty offic-
es, a student could potentially not set foot
outside the building for weeks.
"What we're doing is bringing hous-
ing and academics together in a really
exciting way," said Phil Hanlon, associ-
ate provost for academic and budgetary
affairs. "(It will) blur the lines between
the resident experience and the academic
experience."
Hanlon added that he hopes the build-
ing will provide communal space for stu-
dents and faculty from across campus, not
just those who live or take classes there. He
said adding the Sweetland Writing Center
and the Language Resource Center will
probably draw significant outside traffic.
The housing accommodations will
surpass those in all other residence halls
in comfort and technology, University
Housing Director Carole Henry said. She
added that she has worked with student
focus groups to try to gauge student pref-

erences, and as a result of student input,
North Quad will have more suite-style
See QUAD, Page 7A

MSA
loses

on

rap

show

Ann Arbor Office of Emergency Management Director Myron Blackwell shows off the city's new emergency mobile command unit
yesterday.

A 2 police,
Funds for mobile command
unit come from federal
homeland security grants
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily Staff Reporter

get expensive new van

"Just don't go taking it off to the lake for the
weekend."
- Mayor John Hieftje, joking with police officials at the
City Council meeting when van was approved

Student government loses more
than $20,000 due to poor ticket
sales, unexpectedly high cost
By Ashlea Suries
Daily Staff Reporter
There were about 400 vacant seats at this month's
Ludacris concert, hosted by the Michigan Student
Assembly, University Activities Center and Hillel earlier
this month.
While Hillel was spared by an agreement that it had
made with MSA guaranteeing the full reimbursement of
the $15,000 it had fronted for the event, UAC and MSA
felt the financial hit of unsold tickets and an unexpectedly
high event cost.
In July, Andrew Bilinsky, vice president of UAC
subsidiary Big Ticket Productions said that the esti-
mated cost of the concert was somewhere between
$85,000 and $90,000, but at $115,000, the actual cost
of the event was significantly more than Bilinsky's
mid-summer projections.
Bilinsky also said in July that he believed the concert
would generate a profit for all the sponsors involved.
But in reality, the event grossed a disappointing total of
$70,074, resulting in a major deficit that was hence shoul-
dered by the two main sponsors of the concert.
UAC, the primary sponsor of the concert, contributed
$60,000 and ended up losing $24,556 in total. MSA
invested $40,000 dollars in the event, losing a total of
$20,370.
MSA President Jesse Levine said that MSA "is not a
business but a programming board" and therefore never
planned to make money. Levine said the goal of the con-
cert was to bring together as many students as possible
from a variety of different backgrounds.
Prior to the concert, organizers had said the reason
they had chosen to bring acclaimed rap star Ludacris to
campus instead of the alternative rock musicians that the
groups-have brought in past years was chiefly because of
his "massive crossover appeal."
Another main justification for choosing Ludacris
was his recent activism concerning social-justice issues,
including his role in 2004's critically acclaimed film
"Crash." In addition to performing, MSA officials had
voiced hopes that Ludacris would participate in addi-
tional events concerning diversity and other social issues
when he visited the campus. After this failed to hap-
pen, Levine explained that MSA "didn't really expect
him to (stay), but had hoped that he would do some sort
See LUDACRIS, Page 3A

If the City of Ann Arbor's fleet of vehicles
were composed of battleships and U-boats, it
just added a destroyer.
The city recently bought a mobile command
unit, at the cost of $93,000, thanks to grants
from the U.S. Department of Homeland Secu-
rity.
"It's basically a big, modified R.V.," said
Myron Blackwell, director of the city's Office
of Emergency Management.
The vehicle contains a large LCD television
monitor, DVD player, VHS player, refrigerator,
microwave, onboard toilet, sink, coffee maker
and power generator.
"It's beautiful," outgoing Police Chief Dan-
iel Oates said.
In addition to these luxuries, the command
center has seats with storage space, power out-
lets that can be used to charge officers' radio

batteries and conference tables that can be
used for strategic planning at an event.
Blackwell said the idea is that if police offi-
cers or other people responding to an emergen-
cy need to be at a scene for extended periods
of time, the command center will essentially
serve as an office on wheels.
"Most cities (of Ann Arbor's) size typically
invest in this type of thing," Oates said.
The LCD screen can monitor the news or
the weather channel, or be plugged into a com-
puter to give a presentation.
Blackwell said that the vehicle will be used
by the Ann Arbor Police Department, OEM,
Ann Arbor Fire Department and other offices
dealing with public safety.
The AAPD took the vehicle out for the first
time at last week's football game for a test run

to assess equipment needs.
Blackwell said the vehicle will be used at all
home football gamesand other large events,
like the art fair, in order to monitor large
crowds and be better prepared to respond to
potential emergencies.
Blackwell said the van could serve several
other purposes. For example, police could
plug a computer into the monitor and pres-
ent the floor plans for a school to a S.W.A.T.
team before responding to a shooting. The
fire department could take advantage of news
helicopter footage by monitoring a fire on the
television screen and deciding which route to
approach the fire from.
Blackwell said a mobile command center
was not a top priority for the city, but after
See POLICE, Page 7A

Prominent physicist will be winter grad speaker

Freeman Dyson, former Princeton
University professor and popular author,
will speak at Crisler Arena next month
By Karl Stampfl
Daily Staff Reporter
Trekkies, rejoice.
This year's winter commencement speaker, former Princeton
University Prof. Freeman Dyson, was the inspiration for a classic
episode of "Star Trek: The Next Generation."
In the episode, retired engineer Scotty is found after crash-land-
ing on an abandoned Dyson sphere, a cloud of asteroid-sized space
habitats that Dyson first proposed in 1959.
Dyson spheres also famously appeared in Robert Silverberg's
novel "Across a Billion Years" and Larry Niven's "Ringworld."
The winter commencement ceremony will take place on Dec. 18

at 2 p.m. in Crisler Arena and Dyson's appointment
as speaker is pending formal approval by the Uni-
versity Board of Regents at their meeting tomorrowt
afternoon.
Besides being fodder for science fiction and an 4
avid fan of the genre, Dyson is also a physicist/
mathematician who has made significant contribu-
tions to the field of quantum electrodynamics and
has worked on ferromagnetism, nuclear reactors
and astrophysics.
Don't forget the 81-year-old Dyson's degree
from Cambridge University and service as a civil-
ian scientist in the Bomber Command of the Royal
Air Force
And he has six children and 14 grandchildren.
And he theorized the creation of a genetically
engineered tree capable of growing on a comet.
And he's published several popular books that reflect his sense of

futurism and imagination in science.
Think he'll find anything to talk about?
But despite Dyson's success, few University stu-
dents know who he is.
Engineering senior Brian Albus said he has never
heard of Dyson, but the lack of a household name as
commencement speaker did not bother him.
"I didn't really expect anything too nice because
I'm graduating in December," Albus said. "You
usually get the big-name speakers when you gradu-
ate after the full year."
John Seely Brown and David Davis were the
April commencement speakers last year and the
year before.
Dyson Commencement speakers are chosen from a list
of University honorary degree recipients.
Along with Dyson, who will receive his 22nd
See DYSON, Page 7A


Anti-Coke protest at Fleming fizzles out

Student protesters who had
planned to block Coleman from
entering office leave early
By Eljyot Saini
Daily Staff Reporter
The efforts of the Coke Coalition have been
thwarted once again - but this time by its own
members.

Coalition members abandoned the protest at
about 7:45 a.m. - 25 minutes before Coleman was
seen walking through the front door of the Fleming
Building.
Ula said she and the three other members decided
to forgo the planned rally because they felt it would
not be effective with so few people present.
Clara Hardie, another member of the Coke
Coalition present yesterday, said organizers did not
expect more than 10 people at the event because of
the lack of publicity.

the campaign everyday."
The event also was disbanded because the mem-
bers present thought they saw Coleman walk into
another building, Hardie said.
Last June, the University's Dispute Review
Board determined that significant evidence existed
regarding alleged human rights violations by Coca-
Cola in Columbia and India. The DRB had ordered
an independent third-party investigation into the
allegations and set up deadlines for Coca-Cola to
adhere to while it attempts to renew its contract with

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