NEWS The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - 3 ON CAMPUS Exam study break festivities to take place at the Union The University Unions Arts & Pro- grams is sponsoring the "Great Union Study Break" tonight at 8 p.m. Activi- ties will include swing dancing, gin- gerbread house decorating and other stress-relieving activities. Dept. of Astronomy hosts free planetarium show Tonight at 5 and 6 p.m. the Department of Astronomy's Angell Hall Planetarium will show view- ers what the night sky looked like before environmental and light pol- lution. The planetarium is in 3118 Angell Hall. Food Gatherers to serve homeless at Hillel Volunteers in Action is looking for students to help prepare and serve food for the homeless from 3 to 7 p.m today at Hillel. Shifts are from 3 to 5 p.m. and 5 to 7 p.m. Drawing workshop to be held in Alice Lloyd Hall Arts on the Hill is offering a free figure drawing workshop in the Art Studio in Alice Lloyd Hall tonight from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Artists can draw live models. Instruction and limited supples are available. No experience is necessary. CRIME NOTES Mcard stolen from IM Sports Building Thieves stole a caller's Mcard from the Intramural Sports Building Sun- day at about 5:55 p.m according to the Department of Public Safety. There are currently no suspects. Vandals damage bike lock Vandals damaged a bike lock on a bike parked at the north side of a building on the 1500 block of Washington Heights at about 9:19 pm. Sunday according to DPS. .Trespasser found at University hospital A person was found trespassing at the University Hospital at about 1:05 a.m. yesterday. DPS officers escort- ed the person from the premises. THIS DAY In Daily History Leaders see issues with proposed summer trimester Dec. 13, 1961 - As University administrators consider the switch to year-round operations, some student leaders are worried that the proposed trimester system would leave their orga- nizations hard pressed for staffers and money over the summer. The new plan would create three tri- mesters of 15 1/2 weeks each, with the summer term running from mid-May through August. If the plan is approved, the University would be operating in full force all year round. What makes the plan problematic for some organizations is the proposal to split the third term in half, with a break in the middle of the 15 summer weeks. Michigan Union President Paul Carder, said the biggest problem for his organization would be keeping leader- ship coherent with the long mid-term break. He said it would be difficult to 'U' wins award from COLD AS ICE Ford Foundation for social justice work Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses chosen from a pool of 675 for $100,000 prize ANN ARBOR (AP) - The University's Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses have been selected as two of 27 higher education institutions to receive $100,000 grants from the Ford Foundation for com- bating prejudice. The grants, announced yesterday, are part of the foundation's two-year Difficult Dialogues initiative. It is part of a $12 million effort to combat bias against Muslims and Jews and other groups in the United States and Europe, the foundation says. The foundation says the projects seek to promote academic freedom and constructive dialogue on college campuses. Among the goals are enriching learning, encouraging scholarship and fostering dialogue about political, religious, racial and cultural issues, it says. The Michigan projects were selected from more than 675 proposals received by the New York-based foundation. "Colleges and universities are uniquely suited to expand knowledge, understanding and discussion of controversial issues that affect us all," said Susan Berresford, president of the Ford Foundation. "The selected projects illustrate the thoughtful and creative ways institutions are promoting intel- lectually rigorous scholarship and open debate that is essential to higher education," she said. At the Ann Arbor campus, the University and its Center for Research on Learning and Teaching seek to build understanding and dialogue between students and faculty about religious issues, said Jorge Balan, a senior pro- gram officer at the Ford Foundation. The Dearborn campus seeks to bring stu- dents, faculty and community members togeth- er to discuss ethnic, racial and political issues, Balan said. AP PHOTO Mike Berge uses an antique Zamboni from New York City's Madison Square Garden to resurface the ice at the Winter Sports Complex in Laketon Township, Mich on Friday. Ford, asked to continue ads in gay publications WASHINGTON (AP) - Gay and lesbian organizations asked Ford Motor Co. on yesterday to reinstate advertising for its luxury Jaguar and Land Rover brands in gay publications and to distance itself from an anti-gay group which had boycot- ted the automaker's vehicles. Ford officials met with leaders of the Human Rights Campaign, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and other orga- nizations in Washington, D.C., after the automaker said last week its luxury brands would no longer advertise in gay publications. The move came nearly a week after the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association canceled its boycott of Ford vehicles, which started in May amid criticism that the nation's No. 2 automaker was too gay-friendly. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said Ford was asked to "make a very strong statement" disassociating itself from the AFA while reinstating the Jaguar and Land Rover advertising in the gay press. Ford has said it did not make the decision because of the boycott or pressure from conservative Christian groups. It said Jaguar and Land Rover, part of Ford's Premier Automotive Group, cut back on its market- ing across-the-board because of difficult market conditions. The Premier Automotive Group posted a pretax loss of $108 million in the third quarter. Ford said in a statement it was "always willing to engage in construc- tive conversation with those interested in our policies, even with those who don't always agree with them. But only Ford Motor Company speaks for Ford Motor Company. Any suggestion to the contrary is incorrect." The automaker said that "during these budget-tightening times, our brands must make tough choices where to advertise and how to spend limited sponsorship dollars." The statement did not mention the AFA. Ford said last week its Volvo brand would continue to advertise in gay publications. The automaker has not advertised its Ford, Lincoln and Mercury brands in similar outlets. Ford Chairman and CEO Bill Ford said in a statement, "we value all people - regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and cultural or physical differences." Ford told gay rights leaders that it had not made any deal with the AFA to end the automaker's advertising of Jaguar and Land Rover in gay media, the groups said. HILTON Continued from page 1A Hilton asserted that his absence would not disrupt the project. "Michigan institutionally is committed to the Google project," he said. "It's not attached to any one person," he added. Milton Adams, vice provost for academic programs at the Univer- sity of Virginia, said he was excit- ed about the opportunity to work with Hilton because of Hilton's vast experience with informa- tion technology. Adams said the University of Virginia is devel- oping several projects that will depend on information technol- ogy, including a digital model of the Roman Forum and a database of letters, newspaper articles and other primary documents of the Civil War. Hilton said he's interested in working closely with Virginia fac- ulty to use technology to enact the university's academic mission. LUDACRIS Continued from page 1A bers criticized the planning that resulted in the losses. MSA Treasurer Devesh Senapati defended Lee and said organiz- ers had always known losses would be steep. "The Ludacris concert was not a financial scandal in any sense," Senapati said. Fox said the organizers gave the assembly the impres- sion that MSA would break even on the event. But Senapati maintained at the Dec. 6 meeting that was never the case. The assembly voted unanimously to approve a resolu- tion to fund the concert made it clear that there was a range of possible financial costs, Senapati said. After the Dec. 6 meeting, Fox looked through MSA's minutes to find Lee's estimate of a $5,000 loss. "There are just too many inconsistencies in what people are saying," she said. "I think this concert has shown this assem- bly that we need to have more financial responsibility." Walter Nowinski, who recently created an opposition party to challenge the ruling faction Students 4 Michi- gan, also spoke out against concert organizers at the Dec. 6 meeting. "Now they're changing their story," Nowinski said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. "MSA can do a lot of good, but it can only do good if the students can have trust in it. How can we expect students to trust MSA if the assembly members can't trust them?" Registration now open! Beginning a Advanced Taekwondo I Taughtby Grand Master Hwa Chong Learn self-defense and Olympic- style fighting Improve conditioning and flexibility Register online at www.umich.edu / -umove Taekwondo I - 5- 6 PM Tue, Thu CCRB- Rm#: 2275 Taekwondo II- 6- 7 PM Tue, Thu CCRB- Rm#: 2275 Also see www.umich.edu/-umtkd for more information 1 4 i '