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. TODAY'S HI: 20 WEATHER LO 35o:1 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michgandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILY BLOGS Post your NCAA predictions MICHIGANDAILY.COM/THEGAME INDEX NEWS....... VolCVIINo.07 S U D O K U.. c2007 The Mrchigan Daily michigurduily.com OPINION.. .2 ARTS ............... ..3 CLASSIFIED........ ..4 SPORTS..............