Friday, November 18, 2005
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Opinion 4
Zack Denfield predicts
an early end for the
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Arts 8 New conductor
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One-hundredfifteen years of editorialfreedom
www.michiandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 34 62005 The Michigan Daily
Avant
talks on
God,
life
Football co-captain
says God led him away
from partying lifestyle
By Stephanie Wright
Daily Sports Editor
Most sports fans have listened to ath-
letes thank God for their success on the
field. But few athletes display the same
level of dedication to their religion that
Michigan wide receiver Jason Avant
showed last night.
In front of a larger-than-capacity
crowd in a Chemistry Building audito-
rium, Avant spent 70 minutes speaking
about his rough childhood on the south
side of Chicago and how he came to
incorporate Christianity into his life.
Avant said his grandmother had
instilled Christianity in him at a young
age, but the "wild" temptations of his
Chicago neighborhood prevented him
from living out that faith until he came
to the University in 2002.
When he arrived in Ann Arbor,
Avant initially behaved according to the
hard-partying reputation of university
athletes. "I'm going to go here and get
my party on. I did everything my flesh
wanted to do," Avant said.
But Avant said he didn't "feel right"
going out to clubs and bringing women
back to his dorm room. After a semester of
partying, Avant followed fellow Michigan
football player Alijah Bradley to church.
Less than a year after than, Avant said he
turned his life over to Jesus Christ.
"I haven't been the same ever since,"
Avant said.
Avant punctuated his talk with shouts
of "Hallelujah" and "You gotta live
right" and concluded his speech by
imploring the audience to "give God a
chance."
See AVANT, Page 3
'UWon't
provid
student
U Central Campus master plan includes
several new parking structures, but none
for students, raising questions for some
By Anne VanderMey
Daily Staff Reporter
It's hard for students to find a parking spot in Ann Arbor,
and it's going to get harder.
University planners presented a Central Campus schematic
to the University Board of Regents yesterday that includes the
construction of several new facilities and the renovation of
FILE PHOTO more. But as the University expands, Ann Arbor has to find a
way to hold all of it.
"(Expansion) raises issues of transportation and parking,"
University President Mary Sue Coleman said. "But we have
a plan."
David Miller, director of transportation and parking, said
Sb that to address inevitable issues of capacity the University will
build one parking structure per year for the next-five years.
He also plans to further promote the environmentally friendly
"van-pool" program to transport staff to campus.
lans. The University will continue its policy of not providing
residents parking for students, Miller said, but will instead beef up the
nsporta- campus busing systems.
ir land "We're trying to get a culture where you can get around it,
e city's you don't need a car," said Hank Baier, associate vice presi-
law dent for facilities and operations.
permit To this effect the University has revved up busing programs.
mmis- Just last year, the University created an express service to and
ito real- from North Campus at peak times, created some new routes
as get and significantly extended its hours.
ise when But some students say it hasn't been enough. One common
den char- complaint among students is that there is no grocery store on
e pat- campus or near University bus routes, making it difficult for
plan for students without cars to buy affordable groceries.
taking Dan Merson, a graduate student in the School of Educa-
y paths tion, said the fact that he does not own a car makes his life
ially in difficult even though he lives near a bus stop.
"For me to do anything besides goto class, I have to try to
, Page 3 See CAMPUS, Page 7
The University's Central Campus as seen from the Goodyear Blimp in 2003.
Layzng the best campus plan..
There is obviously one
Medical Campus, and
it is easy to see that the
departments of LSA are all
in rough proximity. Perhaps
less visible is the fact that all
residence halls and parking
structures are on the periphery
of Central Campus. Did you also
realize that the public entities
of libraries and museums are
carefully placed throughout theA us
campus so as not to monopolize DING
any one area? There is a plan for OXv ARCH
the University, carefully crafted,
defined, revised and then redefined to make
the flow of the campus both fluid and dynam-
ic. Yesterday, the University Board of Regents
was reminded of the University's plans for
IL
Central Campus and the dozen or
so current and future projects that
are the stepping stones.
When we plan for the future,
we plan for perfection. When
we live in any place, that place
becomes the center of our world.
So we dream of an Eden and
plan accordingly. After all, who
dreams of mediocrity? For cit-
ies and towns, the dream of the
TIN future resides in their Compre-
VALL hensive Plan. Localities map out
TECTURE their destinies in five-, 10- or 20-
year chunks that outline the path
toward improvement. These plans are hard to
carry out because they are not fixed and not
the law. In the meantime, though, people are
trying to live in the city and do their business
oblivious to anything but their own p
Investors, developers, contractors,
and businesses owners, as well as tra
tion authorities, all have ideas for the
that may or may not coincide with th
agenda. So the plan gets enacted into
via zoning regulations with building
procedures along with a planning coi
sion board. Along the path from plan
ity, much of the zest and exciting ide
diluted. In 20 years, there is no surpr
the city doesn't look at all like the E
tered a score of years prior. Thus, the
tern continues with another 20-yearI
improvement and so on. This is also,
for granted the plan is valid, for man
to oases often lead to mirages, espec
the city planning world.
See DINGWALL
Economists forecast
more inflation, but
robust growth in '07
By Bo He
Daily Staff Reporter
Despite a temporary, unexpected increase
in inflation, overall economic growth for 2006
and 2007 will still be healthy, University econ-
omists said yesterday.
Yesterday morning, experts from the busi-
ness world and distinguished professors from
academia converged at the Rackham Graduate
School for the 53rd annual Economic Outlook
Conference. The conference, sponsored by the
Research Seminar in Quantitative Economics,
is attended by scholars from all over the nation
and lasts until this afternoon.
Economics Prof. Saul Hymans, director of
RSQE, presented the outlook report and fielded
questions from the attending experts. The new
economic forecast from Hymans and two other
economists predicts slightly weaker fiscal years
for 2006 and 2007 compared with this fiscal
year but still robust growth as a whole. Over-
all economic growth, measured in real GDP,
up through the third quarter of this fiscal year
was observed at 3.6 percent, while economic
growth for fiscal year 2006 is predicted to be
3.4 percent.
The focus of the conference is the new U.S.
Economic Outlook Report, published yester-
day. The conference also addresses any con-
cerns raised by the attending experts regarding
the soundness of the forecast.
Hymans expressed pointed concern over
the disconcerting trend of increasing inflation.
For the last two years, inflation has hovered
around 2 percent. However, this year inflation
William Dunkelberg, professor and former
dean of the School of Business and Manage-
ment at Temple University, said, "The savings
rate has continued to stay negative for the past
two fiscal years, showing us that consumers
will spend whether they are happy or sad."
Even though inflation is its top priority, the
Fed does not usually try to fight spikes because
of inflation's volatile nature due to its reliance
on energy and food prices, whose patterns
Hymans said are often unpredictable. "The sud-
den and large movements of food and energy
prices are often due to certain external circum-
stances that are very specific to the situation
rather than fundamental macroeconomic prin-
ciples," he said.
The outlook report noted that another problem
sneaking up on the U.S. economy is the rapidly
increasing current account deficit, attributed to
spending on the Iraq war. The deficit has sharp-
ly risen from $486 billion at the start of fiscal
year 2004 to its current amount of $749 billion
and is predicted to balloon to $826 by just the
second quarter of fiscal 2006.
With any forecast, even one given by some-
one as renowned as Hymans, there are always
external factors that can alter the accuracy and
validity of the predictions. First, there are geo-
political risks that come with President Bush's
war on terrorism. This fiscal year has been
filled with major terrorist attacks taking place
from England to India to Jordan.
These events lead to spiking crude oil prices,
which in turn push inflation to an unreason-
able level. The price of oil has clearly shown its
unstable nature, rising from $31.18 at the start
RYAIN WEINLX/ Daily
Ann Arbor community members supporting transgender rights gather outside the Fleming Administration Building before speak-
Ing at the University Board of Regents meeting on behalf of the transgender community yesterday.
LGBT groups protest regents
delays on bylaws outside Fleming
By Kelly Fraser
Daily Staff Reporter
Carrying a simple white homemade banner
reading "Transgender Day of Remembrance
2005" and chanting "Amend the bylaws,"
members of the transgender community and
their supporters rallied outside the Fleming
Administration Building while the University
Board of Regents met yesterday afternoon to
"I am not sure the University is proud of me being
here."
- Sebastian Colon-Otero
Public Policy graduate student
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