Friday,January 13, 2006
News 3 FBI looking into
accusation of
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Opinion 4
Poet congratulates
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CAGERS LOOK FOR VICTORY IN CHAMPAIGN ... SPORTS, PAGE 8
One-hundredffteen years of editorialfreedom
Arts 5 The Hard Lessons
make Halfass debut
www.michirandaily.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 54
62006 The Michigan Daily
Lighting up
RODRIGOU GAYA/Daily
Rackham student Connie Pagedas works
with muscle cells in a lab at North Ingalls
Building yesterday.
Cuts
put ' U
grants
at ris
Scientists are worried that
eliminating $286 million
in federal budget could
jeopardize research
By Michael Kan
Daily News Editor
The University is bracing itself for a
scarcer year in science grants.
Last month, the government eliminated
$286 million from the 2006 budget of the
National Institutes of Health, the nation's
foremost provider for medical research
funding.
The NIH is a major funding source for
University doctors. Last year alone, it award-
ed a total of $368.1 million in grant and fel-
lowship money to the University.
University of Michigan doctors forecast
a grim fallout for medical research nation-
wide.
Scientists will likely spend countless
hours competing for grant money in lieu of
conducting research, and they say science
funds may be at risk of disappearing.
"Nationally we are going to see a real
drop in the advancement of science," Medi-
cal School Prof. Steven Goldstein said.
On Dec. 30, President Bush approved a 1-
percent reduction to nearly all government
programs in order to support the War in Iraq,
hurricane recovery efforts and flu pandemic
preparation. NIH's 2006 budget dropped to
$28.3 billion as a result.
Because of the budget cut, previously
awarded research grants will see a 2.4-per-
cent decrease in yearly funding, said Norka
Ruiz Brazo, NIH's deputy director of extra-
mural research. She added that NIH plans to
offer fewer grants this year, but she could not
See FUNDING, page 7
PAj
After 7-5
season,
will alums
drop ball
on fhnds?
Football's drop-off season
raises question of whether
alumni donations will too
By Ian Herbert
Daily Sports Editor
Go ahead. Blame Lloyd Carr. It's what
everyone else is doing.
With the Michigan football team coming
off its worst season in more than 20 years,
people close to the University are pointing fin-
gers every which way.
But what about fundraising? Does a win-
ning football team make a difference for
development? That's the million-dollar ques-
tion after a year that saw the football program
finish with a 7-5 record and a loss to Nebraska
in the Alamo Bowl.
Bob Groves, associate vice president of
development at the University, says it is a com-
plex issue. Happy alumni are giving alumni,
but whether a winning football season directly
affects donations is still up in the air.
"Always, when the team is playing bet-
ter and people are feeling good, when we're
undefeated, those things do buoy up people's
spirits and it's' a positive effect," Groves said.
"But to say that we are hurt by (a bad season), I
would say that's too hard of a statement."
How potential donors are affected by the
success of the football team might be difficult
to quantify, but how many alumni made the
trip to Alamo Bowl is not. The number was a
lot smaller this year than it has been recently.
Just over 5,000 tickets were sold for this
year's bowl game - down from 35,000 just
a year ago.
The Alumni Association organized a vari-
ety of tours of the city and major landmarks
for alumni who made it down to San Antonio.
It also held a pep rally, seminars and a tailgate
with drinks and food for alumni to mingle in
the hours leading up to the game. Separate
from the Alumni Association, University
President Mary Sue Coleman hosted her own
dinner for select donors, as well as a special
reception for Presidential Society members
- people who have given more than $15,000
to the University in their lifetime.
Turnout was down for all of the activities.
This year, only 20 people attended Coleman's
dinner and just more than 100 came to the
reception. Last year in Pasadena, Coleman
held a luncheon with 100 guests, and the
pregame tailgate attracted about 500 people,
according to Chacona Johnson, the associate
vice president for development who helped
coordinate Alamo Bowl activities.
The events organized by the Alumni Asso-
ciate also had a lower turnout than in the past.
Kurk Lutz, the event organizer for the Alumni
Association, said the week before the game
that they were expecting about 300 people for
the tour and just over 1,000 for their tailgate
- down from the roughly 1,300 and 3,500
who went to the similar events last year.
The year before saw even more guests
See DONATIONS, page 7
CAITLIN KLEIBOER/Daily
Engineering sophomore Chris VanDeusen takes a break outside for a cigarette. VanDeusen began smoking during his freshman
year.
Alarming number of students
start smoking freshman year
By Ashlea Surles
n a grave voice, University Vice President for
Student Affairs E. Royster Harper presented
a shocking pair of statistics to the University
Board of Regents at its meeting last month.
About 3 percent of incoming freshmen reported
smoking cigarettes when they came to the University,
Harper said.
But by the end of freshman year, the number of
smokers had leaped to an eye-widening 25 percent,
Daily Staff Reporter
she said.
After Harper read the numbers, a
murmur rose in the room among both
the audience and the regents, who
seemed stunned by the statistics.
University officials link the dramatic
increase to a variety of causes.
Robert Winfield, director of the Uni-
versity Health Service, said students
may begin smoking during their fresh-
man year as a result of increased alco-
hol consumption, the stress of being
away from home, heightened social
pressures and late nights that are part
of the college lifestyle.
"Colleg
is a tim
when p
experin
- Carol Tuc
UHS Educa
alcohol consumption of students transitioning from
high school to college may be a factor.
"Oftentimes smoking behavior travels with alcohol
behavior," Matney said
Carol Tucker, an educator for UHS, said "col-
lege is a time when people experiment," speculat-
ing that most people who smoke in college do so
socially and are not heavy smokers.
"Unfortunately, some become addicted," she said.
There is some dispute over the
accuracy of the numbers presented to
re the regents.
Kenneth Warner, dean of the School
e of Public Health, has done significant
research on smoking trends and said,
eople based on other surveys, that 3 percent
,, is far too low to be correct.
ient. "There's no way that's accurate," he
said, adding that he suspects freshmen
Aker, taking the surveys may have been reluc-
tor tant to report tobacco use.
There is also a discrepancy between
dates of the two surveys Harper used.
The 3 percent figure likely came from
the University's annual student life survey on fresh-
men who entered the University in 2004 - this year's
sophomore class, Matney said. The 25 percent figure
likely came from a University survey conducted among
See SMOKING, page 7
P
a.
"~ : P
,,
a
"When I talk to smokers about smoking they usually
say they smoke because it's a habit, they use it to take
breaks, and they do it socially," Winfield said.
Malinda Matney, senior research associate for the
division of student affairs, agreed that the increased
3%
of students
smoke
before
college
25%
of students
smoke after
freshman
year
Directors dodge
controversy with
Don't forget victims of
quake, relief worker says
'colored'
"Vagina Monologues"
production was under
charges of reverse
discrimination
By Carissa Miller
Daily Staff Reporter
cast
identifications."
Some cast members' self-iden-
tifications match their skin color.
Others don't. One cast member
identifies herself as pink.
"It's a very colorful production,"
Raynor said.
Written by playwright Eve
Ensler, the play is part of a larger
political movement, the V-Day
College Campaign, which aims to
.,tn violnea ainst women.
- Islamic Relief coordinator speaks
at fundraising dinner, the first of six
events to raise money for quake
By C.C. Song
Daily Staff Reporter
caused by the devastation.
He told how at one point during the mission, he
looked into a pile of debris and thought he saw a
face, only to discover that it was a rock.
"You think you see dead people everywhere,"
Shahid said.
Organizers said the main point of the dinner was
to remind students that relief efforts are ongoing
in response to the disaster that killed more than
79,000 people and left three million homeless.
"It's amazing how people didn't know where the
region is until the earthquake," said LSA junior
Sana Kazi, who helped organize the dinner.
Although the earthquake initially garnered inter-
national media coverage, the world stopped paying
attention as soon as the media stoned reporting
University of Michigan-Dearborn alum Misbah
Shahid can't forget the rubble.
Shahid went to Muzaffarabad, the capital of
Pakistani-controlled Kashmir, in November, just
weeks after an Oct. 6 earthquake that registered
7.6 on the Richter scale devastated large areas of
South Asia.
Shahid told his story last night in Rackham
There's an "all-color" cast for
tic venr'c nrnini n of"T et ci
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