NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, March 28, 2006 - 3
. ON CAMPUS
MSA environmental
commission to host
events on Diag
The Michigan Student Assembly's
Environmental Issues Commission is
sponsoring a series of events on the Diag
today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Among other
events will be a dunk tank in which pass-
ersby have the opportunity to soak vari-
ous corporate figures who are accused
of having poor environmental records,
including a giant Coke can that represents
the Coca-Cola company.
Award-winning
prof to perform on
flute
School of Music Prof. Amy Porter will
perform on the flute today at 8 p.m. in
Rackham Auditorium. Porter received
the 2006 Henry Russel Award from the
University, which recognizes distin-
guished scholarship and conspicuous
ability as a teacher. School of Music Prof.
Chirstopher Harding will accompany
Porter on piano. Admission is free.
Speaker to discuss
globalization in
emerging markets
As part of the Corporate Speaker
Series, sponsored by the William
Davidson Institute, Anurag Jain, leader
of Perot Systems' Business Process
Solutions, will be speaking on the chal-
lenges and opportunities of globaliza-
tion in Assembly Hall today from 4:30
to 6:30 p.m. Admission is free.
CRIME
NOTES
Wallet stolen from
exercise facility
A wallet was stolen from the Central
Campus Recreation Building Sunday
morning, the Department of Public
Safety reported.
Cell phone stolen
from West Quad
A caller reported Sunday morning that
a cell phone was stolen from inside West
Quad Residence Hall, DPS said.
Subject injures
finger, escorted to
MWorks
A subject injured his finger yester-
day at Bursley Residence Hall, and was
escorted to MWorks at the University
Hospitalfor treatment, DPS said.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
Campus brawl
erupts at Taco Bell
March 28; 1984 - Ann Arbor police
officials broke up a fight at the Taco Bell
restaurant on East University Avenue
early Saturday morning, involving 20
people, most of whom were students.
Several restaurant employees said
the fight resulted from racial ten-
sions, and is one in a series of recent
outbursts in crime at the restaurant.
No one was arrested in the incident,
which started after a white male stu-
dent threw a half-eaten burrito at a
black male standing at the counter,
said a witness who asked not to be
identified.
The witness said the burrito
assault prompted a heated argument
between the two men, who started
shouting racial insults at each other.
Friends of both men unsuccessfully
attempted to break up the argument.
"It immediately occurred to us
that this would be a racial fight,"
the man said. "It was clear (through
the shouting) that the burrito was
thrown because he was black."
Police arrived at the restaurant
at 3:18 a.m. after the parties had
already left, said Ann Arbor Police
Sgt., Harold Tinsey. The officers
classified the incident as a "food
fight" because no one wished to sign
a rcmnlaint
Alum gives $500k
for publications
Phil Power's donation
will go toward renovation
of Daily building
By Andrew Grossman
Daily Staff Reporter
Newspaper publisher Phil Power has
continued his family's tradition of giving
to the University with a $500,000 dona-
tion to help renovate the Student Publica-
tions Building.
The building houses The Michigan
Daily, the Michiganensian yearbook and
the Gargoyle humor magazine.
Power started at the Daily as a night
news editor in 1959 before becoming
editorial director in 1960.
In 1965 he started a newspaper company,
HomeTown Communications Network. By
the time he sold it in 2004 to media giant
Gannett Co., Power's company controlled
65 community newspapers and many other
publications, such as phone directories, in
Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky.
His latest project is the Center for
Michigan, a politically moderate think
tank that aims to find solutions to Michi-
gan's economic woes.
Power credits the Daily with provid-
ing the spark that launched him into the
newspaper business.
"I had a hell of a career," he said. "I
couldn't have it, wouldn't have done it,
without having been on the Daily."
Power's roots at the University run
deep. His parents are the namesake for
the Power Center for the Performing
Arts. Like his father, Eugene Power, he
served as a University regent from 1987
to 1998. The Power family has given
generously to other University causes as
well, including the University Musical
Society and the Knight Wallace Fellows.
During his time at the Daily, Power
helped advance the idea of a youth vol-
unteer organization that would become
the Peace Corps through a column he
wrote in 1959.
Eventually, that column reached Ted
Sorensen, a key advisor to then-Sen. John
F. Kennedy, who proposed the creation
of the Peace Corps at a campaign stop at
the Michigan Union in 1960.
The gift comes on the heels of a $3-
million donation from publisher Stanford
Lipsey, another Daily and University alum.
Nader
revisits
auto
safety
Former presidential
candidate criticizes
auto industry's failure to
improve vehicle safety
WASHINGTON (AP) - More than
40 years after "Unsafe at Any Speed"
shook up the U.S. auto industry, Ralph
Nader is returning to his roots.
The longtime consumer advocate and
former presidential candidate contends
the auto industry has failed to push for-
ward technology that will make vehicles
safer, cleaner and more fuel efficient.
Nader accuses the government of act-
ing as a "consulting firm" for U.S. auto-
makers. And he wants to open an office
in Detroit to monitor the industry that
helped propel him to fame in the 1960s.
"My indignation"level is rising again.
The gap between the government's
dereliction and these kinds of efficient,
safe, clean technologies has never been
greater," Nader said in a recent interview
with The Associated Press. "NHTSA's
now a consulting firm for Detroit."
Nader has refocused his attention on the
industry at a time when General Motors
Corp. and Ford Motor Co. are downsizing
due to growing health care and pension
obligations and intense competition from
Asian automakers.
Nader has urged the National High-
way Traffic Safety Administration to
improve a proposed roof crush standard,
calling it insufficient. Last August, he
urged the government to warn consum-
ers about Ford pickups and sport utility
vehicles under investigation for a defect
that may have caused engine fires.
And last month, he released a lengthy
report describing several missed oppor-
tunities to improve fuel efficiency and
safety in vehicles. The report by his
Center for Study of Responsive Law
argued that automakers have suppressed
technological advancements by suppli-
ers; insurance providers have failed to
offer incentives for safer vehicles; and
the government has been reluctant to
improve technology in its fleet vehicles.
"There's a huge backlog of practical
technologies for improving the safety
of motor vehicles, their fuel efficiency,
emission controls, ease of repair that
are piling up on the shelf and not being
implemented," he said.
Nader's critics are numerous, from
Democrats who still blame him for
Al Gore's defeat in the 2000 presi-
dential election to industry officials
who view Nader and his contempo-
raries as longtime adversaries who
fail to acknowledge the high costs of
some of the technologies.
NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson
defended the Bush administration's
progress in auto safety, noting that fatal-
ity rates have reached an all-time low and
seat belt use has reached new heights.
"They certainly suggest an agency
that is very, very committed to improv-
ing highway safety," Tyson said.
Tyson said on seat belt use, "it cer-
tainly would be helpful, with their voice,
if they could address some of the behav-
ioral issues which could have an imme-
diate impact on reducing the number of
serious injuries and fatalities that are
occurring on the nation's highways."
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