Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Opinion 4 Sam Singer won't
vote for Hillary
Arts 8 Huffman soars in
Transamerica
Sports 10 Matt Singer: Get
ready for Turin
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Oane-hundredsifteen years of editorial freedom
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www. mckandaily. com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXVI, No. 70
62006 The Michigan Daily
Tangled wires
Absentee
parents to
factor into
aid package
Students with non-
custodial parents may
see University aid
allotment shrink
By Christine Beamer
Daily Staff Reporter
LSA senior Hannah Roberts has
not had contact with her father in
a decade. When she filed for finan-
cial aid four years ago, she knew her
mother would be solely responsible
for paying her college tuition bill.
But if Roberts were applying this
non-custodial parent has, the higher
the expected family contribution will
be, decreasing the amount of finan-
cial aid offered.
The University is one of six public
schools nationwide that will require
this form for undergraduates, and the
only public school in Michigan to use
the profile.
"We firmly believe that parents
divorce one another but not their
children. Therefore, an expectation
of support (from a non-custodial par-
ent) is reasonable," said Financial
Aid Director Pam Fowler.
However, some non-custodial par-
ents are unwilling to provide support
for their children.
Roberts said the
year, a new Uni-
versity require-
ment would count
her non-custodial
father toward the
family's estimat-
ed contribution,
potentially driving
her financial aid
down.
Starting in 2006,
paying for col-
lege will become
the responsibility
of both biological
parents, regardless
of the situation.
The University
is implementing
a form called the
CSS/Profile, put
out by the College
Board, to help uni-
versities decide
how to distribute
their non-federal
financial aid.
"If one parent
isn't going to
be contributing
anything, they
shouldn't have
to submit info.
It could end
up in someone
not having
financial aid."
-Keenan Patterson
Engineering sophomore
required forms
could create prob-
lems for students
in her situation.
"My father makes
a lot of money, but
I don't see it, so
reporting it would
hinder my financial
aid,' Roberts said.
Roberts also
added that it would
be emotionally
stressful for her,
and other students
in her situation, to
contact their non-
custodial parents.
"It would be an
incredibly emo-
tional process that
I don't want to deal
SA lags behind in wireless coverage
By Michael Kan
Daily Staff Reporter
Something's missing in most of
LSA freshman Lauren Boumaroun's
classrooms. That something - wire-
less Internet - is preventing her from
obtaining notes during lectures.
"Many classrooms and lecture
halls are limited in wireless access,"
Boumaroun said. "And sometimes
it's nice to be able to access the Inter-
net during class to get lecture notes
and such."
Like many students on cam-
pus, Boumaroun carries a laptop
equipped to receive wireless Inter-
net access.
From the Business and Law Schools to
North Campus, the University has cov-
ered the interiors of many of its buildings
with wi-fi hotspots. The hot spots are less
common in LSA buildings.
Although wireless coverage is
First in a three-part series about
the University's wireless Internet
coverage
slowly expanding, budget cuts and
the size of LSA's footprint on campus
have hindered the school on its path
to achieve complete wireless internet
access over its buildings.
How wireless are we?
Both Intel and the Princeton
Review conduct annual surveys to
rate which colleges in the nation are
the most wireless. On both surveys,
the University is unranked.
Despite the lack of complete cov-
erage, University administrators hail
the progress that has been made on
the wireless front. They say the col-
leges with the greatest need for the
technology can access wireless Inter-
net anywhere in their buildings.
See WIRELESS, page 7
All entering freshmen will be
required to fill out the form in addi-
tion to the FAFSA. In addition to
requiring the family unit, defined as
the people the student lives with, to
report their income, it includes a non-
custodial parent section.
This form requires non-custodial
parents to report their income and
assets.
The non-custodial parent's assets
and income are then factored into the
University's decision on how to dis-
tribute non-federal funds.
The more assets and income a
with right now,"
she said.
Engineering sophomore Keenan
Patterson also has a non-custodial
parent who doesn't contribute to his
tuition.
"If one parent isn't going to be
contributing anything, they shouldn't
have to submit info," Patterson said.
"It could end up in someone not hav-
ing financial aid."
The profile assesses the non-custo-
dial parent for a contribution regard-
less of the parent's involvement with
the child.
Requiring non-custodial parents
to report their assets and income in
See AID, page 7
Coleman takes
on publishers
over Google
WHAT IS POP QUIz, ALEX?
The wait is over:
Int'l studies minor
finally approved
University President
advocates digitizing
University libraries to
reluctant publishers
By Gabe Nelson
Daily Staff Reporter
Using strong rhetoric, University
President Mary Sue Coleman reaffirmed
her support for the controversial Google
Book Search project yesterday. And she
did it in front of an audience that is hos-
tile to the project - the American Asso-
ciation of Publishers.
Google aims to copy every volume
in the University's libraries along with
those of several other libraries, and
make the texts searchable online.
At the association's conference in
For a complete transcript
of Coleman's speech, see
www.michigandaily.com.
library marks a step forward for schol-
arship because it embraces the modern
technology preferred by today's genera-
tion of college students, Coleman said.
"Search engines have genuinely
reshaped our world," Coleman said.
"When students do research, they use the
Internet for digitized library resources
more than they use the library proper."
Five of the AAP's member companies
filed a copyright-infringement lawsuit
against Google last fall.
Coleman said despite the University's
commitment to digitization, it will con-
tinue buying books at the usual rate and
its print libraries will retain their impor-
tance.
After two and a
half years of work,
LSA-SG succeeds
in creating minor
By Dylan Saunders
Daily Staff Reporter
Students looking to broaden
their horizons will soon be able to
minor in a new area: international
studies.
The University's Curriculum
Committee approved the creation
of the minor last week. The minor
will be available to students begin-
ning this fall.
The University is the last school
in the Big Ten to implement such
a minor.
"In the globalizing world like
the one we live in, it's crucial that
kind said.
In order to complete the minor,
students will need to obtain 18
to 21 credits. Students will be
required to pick both a geographic
emphasis and a thematic empha-
sis. There will be several options
for students looking to select a
thematic emphasis. They include
human rights; gender and sexual-
ity; global health; race and ethnic-
ity; and international conflict and
security.
"The thematic emphasis will be
the lens through which students
will focus their studies," LSA-SG
Vice President Paige Butler said.
The minor will operate out
of the Center for International
and Comparative Studies, which
opened its doors last year and is
part of the University's Interna-
tional Institute. The International
Institute is responsible for research
I f