IMRAN SYED: RED AND YELLOW
MAKES ORANGE. SO WHAT?
OPINION, PAGE 4
NFL DREAM ING UNE OF FAITHFUL FANS GREETS
CUTPSE AT THE BUOND PRG
BREA STON TRIES TO MAKE THE GRADE AT COMBINE SPORTS, PAGE 9 ARTS, PAGE 5
I e fidIgan Bai3j
Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.michigandaily.com
Tuesday March 6,
THE UNIVERSITY'S LOBBYING SHOP
As state
funds drop,
'U' hits Hill
Federal lobbying by BIG TEN OF INFLUENCE
colleges has Money spent on lobbying last year
increased by the Big Ten universities
School Amount Spent
By GBE NELSON
BGB NESN Northwestern $020000
Daily News Editor
Wiscnin 40,000
WASHINGTON - Tucked like Mcgn $420,000
a janitor's closet into the corner of
a generic hallway, the University's Michigan State $3900000
lobbying office in Washington University
D.C. is easy to miss. The fifth floor Ohio State $20000
suite's reception area has no flash University
or flair, just an old television set Purdue $10,000
tuned to CNN. owa $160,000
As the real estate adage says,
though, what matters is location, Penn State $160,000
location, location - the building ins 10000
stands just three blocks from the
U.S. Capitol. Minnesota 80,000
More than 500 miles from Ann Indiana $20,000
Arbor, four University lobbyists soURCESENATEOFFICEtOF
work to make the University's voice PUBLIC RECORDS
heard on Capitol Hill and protect- -
the hundreds of millions of dollars year. A 2003 reporcbythe Chronicle
in federal funding the University of Higher Education placed the Uni-
receives each year. versity 19th among colleges in fed-
Faced with declining state fund- eral lobbying expenses. The first,
ing, the University has become the University of California system,
increasingly dependent on govern- spent $1.24 million, accordingto the
ment research funding to produce report. The same year, the Univer-
technology that will generate rev- sity spent $360,000.
enue for the University. The rise of lobbying by colleges
The University received more in Washington D.C. over the last 15
than a billion dollars of federal years reflects the extent to which
research funding over the last two higher education has come to mir-
years - compared with about $650 ro bigbusiness.
million in total appropriations from That's small change, though,
the state of Michigan. compared with what many cor-
According to mandatory filings porations and trade groups spend
with the Senate Office of Public trying to win over lawmakers. The
Records, the University and the National Association of Manufac-
University Health System spent a turers, the largest industrial trade
combined $420,000onlobbyinglast See LOBBYING, Page 7
TAXICAB HIT AND RUN
Charges against
student dropped
Students study in the Stephen M. Ross Academic Center last night. The center is aimed at student-athletes, but University administrators say it
may eventually open to all students.
A year later, Ross Center still
mostly just for athletes
By EMILY BARTON
Daily StaffReporter
LSA senior Janee Kronk needed to use a printer this fall,
so she and a friend headed down State Street to the year-old
Stephen M. Ross Academic Center.
When she got to the building's front desk, though, she was
turned away.
The problem? Kronk, a co-president of the University's
rock climbing club, isn't a student-athlete.
"I'm sure that they want to avoid overcrowding," she said,
but added she was frustrated that she was shut out of the
building.
When the Ross Center first opened last year, University
officials spoke of eventually letting the all students use the
building. That hasn't happened yet, though Ross employees
don't always enforce the athletes-only rule.
Associate Athletic Director Shari Acho said the center is
at full capacity.
"We're really utilizing the facility," she said. "It would be
difficult to open it up."
Acho said she fears having to turn athletes away from the
building - which is funded by the Athletic Department - if it
were opened to all students. She said there are no plans to let
students outside of the athletes use the building during peak
evening hours, but that the University might consider open-
ing it during the day. She said the University won't make any
changes until next school year.
Yesterday afternoon at about 12:30, the front study lounge
area of the Ross Academic Center was deserted. A woman
behind the front desk was not checking identification or
enforcing the sign-in logs spread out across the counter.
Downstairs, about four or five students sat at computers in
the computer lab.
Later on, around 4:30, the atmosphere hadn't changed. A
few more students sat at computers in the basement area, but
there was still a sense of emptiness.
See ROSS, Page 3
Friend tells police
he took taxi during
cabbie's pit stop
By JESSICA VOSGERCHIAN
Daily StaffReporter
A rollercoaster three weeks for
School of Dentistry student David
Heys ended Wednesday when
charges against him related to the
theft of a taxicab were dropped
after his friend took responsibility
for stealing the taxi.
Heys was accused of hijacking a
Yellow Cab taxi and driving it into
University alum Aaron Eleby on
State Street early on the morning
of Feb. 10.
The driver of the taxi told Ann
Arbor police that after.he picked
up Heys and another man from a
bar, Heys put his hand in his jacket
pocket as if he had a gun, ordered
the driver out and then drove away
with the taxi.
Police said the other man in
the cab admitted to stealing the
taxi but contradicted the driver's
account. The suspect told police
that the driver left the taxi to talk to
See TAXICAB, Page 7
WITH PHOTOS, FIXING DETROIT
Student aims to
solve problems by
letting citizens
document them
By EMILY ANGELL
Daily StaffReporter
A white UNICEF tent sits
nestled in the lush green moun-
tains of Gurthama, an outpost in
the Pakistani-controlled region
of Kashmir. Its canvas sides are
sprinkled with holes and stains.
The tent is just a few feet away
from a makeshift graveyard
where children often play.
This is how School of Social
Work student Shenaaz Janmo-
hamed described the place she
called home for a month last
summer. During that month, she
helped children document their
lives using photographs follow-
ing a 7.6 magnitude earthquake
that devastated the area in Octo-
ber of 2005.
As part of a method called Pho-
tovoice, Janmohamed gave local
children cameras to document
damage.
By sending photos directly to
government officials and poli-
cymakers, Photovoice aims to
force policymakers to address
the social issues they may other-
wise ignore, Janmohamed said.
Because the Kashmir program
was a test run, those photos
weren't sent to officials.
Janmohamed has begun apply-
ing Photovoice to Detroit neigh-
borhoods, where she hopes to
highlight local environmental
justice issues.
Janmohamed recently passed
out cameras to Detroit mothers,
who have taken photos of lead
piping and garbage that often lit-
ters residential neighborhoods.
The technique was developed
in 1992 by Caroline Wang, an
assistant professor in the School
of Public Health and popular-
ized by the 2004 film "Born into
Brothels."
"Using Photovoice makes it
easier for policymakers to under-
stand what is really happening in
their own cities and towns," Jan-
mohamed said.
Kerry Clare Duggan, a gradu-
ate student in the School of Natu-
ral Resources and Environment,
has researched environmental
justice in Detroit and said using
Photovoice in the city could help
the struggling city.
See GRAD STUDENT, Page 7
A young woman holds one of the cameras School of Social Work student Shenaaz Jan-
mohamed distributed to children in Kashmir to document earthquake damage in the
region. Janmohamed hopes to replicate the program in Detroit.
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