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Ann Arbor, Michigan
www.michigandaily.com
Friday January 12, 2007
Duderstadt: End
ticket tax breaks
Loss of exemption
could endanger
Big House
renovations
By KIRSTY MCNAMARA
Daily StaffReporter
A tax provision that allows
Michigan football and hockey
fans to deduct up to 80 per-
cent of the donation required
to buy season tickets has
recently come under fire.
Former University Presi-
dent James
Duder-
stadt, a
memberk
of the 19-
member
Secretaryof
Education's
Commis- DUDERSTADT
sion on the Future of Higher
Education, said he is worried
not only about the reliance of
the University on tax-deduct-
ible donations, but also about
a profit-seeking attitude in
college athletics that he said
seems to be driving many
large institutions - including
the University.
The debate surfaced in
December 2006 when the
Senate Finance Committee
discussed tax breaks for col-
leges and universities. Part
of Duderstadt's testimony at
the hearing on the subject
focused on tax deductions
that help subsidize the cost of
season tickets for collegiate
athletics.
When fans purchase tickets
to athletic events, they also
pay for the right to buy that
ticket. This "right to purchase
tickets," also called a required
seat donation, is automatically
included in the cost of season
tickets.
Although the two separate
fees aren't always obvious, the
separation of the right to pur-
chase tickets and the cost of
the ticket becomes important
when paying taxes. A 1988
law considers the purchase
of the right to buy tickets to
collegiate athletic events to
be a charitable donation. As a
result, 80 percent of that fee is
tax-exempt.
This exemption is impor-
tant at institutions with big-
time sports teams like the
University. It can make the
difference for sports fans
between buying season tick-
ets for a college team and a
professional team.
Jason Winters, the Athletic
Department's chief financial
officer, said the required seat
donations are key to maintain-
ing a 25-sport athletic pro-
gram. He said money earned
frommajor sports like football
and hockey help fund sports
that don't make any money,
like golf and field hockey.
"The seat donation was
created about three years ago
whentheAthletic Department
was in a financial crisis," said
University CFO Timothy Slot-
tow. Instead of cutting sports
or increasing stadium adver-
tising, the University Board of
Regents decided to require a
See TAX BREAK, page 7
Disabled veterans ask
state to halt 'U' funds
Group says unlikely that the state legisla-
ture would deny the Universi-
stadium plans ty funding, the state has taken
similar steps in the past.
don't meet In 2005, the Michigan
Department of Transporta-
standards tion in 2005 refused to grant
the Detroit Department of
By ALESE BAGDOL Transportation $7 million
Daily StaffReporter untilitrepaired broken wheel-
chair lifts in some of its buses.
The University Athletic Whether the University is
Department has encountered following ADA regulations
another obstacle in its quest to depends on the interpretation
renovate Michigan Stadium. of the law's wording.
The Michigan Paralyzed According to the ADA,
Veterans of America - which when renovating or altering
had already petitioned the a public building that accom-
University to update its hand- modates more than 300 peo-
icapped-accessible seating in ple, the owners are required
November - this week asked to upgrade the building to
the state legislature to with- ADA standards.
hold funding from the Univer- Michael Harris, execu-
sity until it complies with the tive deputy director of the
federal guidelines set forth in Michigan Paralyzed Veterans
the Americans with Disabili- of America, said the Athletic
ties Act. Department's plan to upgrade
About $320 million in the seating bowl of Michigan
annual appropriations are Stadium qualifies as a reno-
at stake. Although it seems vation, not as a repair, which
does not require compliance.
In addition to the installa-
tion of luxury boxes, which
will be handicapped acces-
sible, the Athletic Depart-
ment plans to widen seats and
aisles.
Consequently, to comply,
1 percent of Michigan Stadi-
um's capacity, or about 1,000
seats, would have to be acces-
sible to wheelchairs after the
renovation. These seats would
also need to be dispersed
throughout the stadium, with
various prices and locations,
Harris said.
"Historically, the Univer-
sity has always put us in the
less popular locations so they
can say 'we've accommodated
the wheelchair users,' " Har-
ris said.
University spokeswoman
Kelly Cunningham said the
upgrade to the seating bowl
will meet ADA regulations
because it is only a repair and
not a renovation or alteration.
See BIG HOUSE, page 7
LSA sophomore Manal Peracha (left) and Pharmacy student Maie Saif (right) at the Michigan League yesterday. They traveled to Saudi Arabia
over Winter Break to make the Hajj.
STUDENTS ON A
JOURNEY OF FAITH
For first time in
decades, Hajj falls on
Winter Break
By DREW PHILP
Daily StaffReporter
Imagine being at a crowded rock
concert. Your favorite band is playing
that one song, and everyone knows the
words. You sing your heart out. Every
syllable resonates within every inch of
your flesh and every bit of your soul. The
entirety of the heavens and earth seem
to be singing along with you. You know
what every word means,,and you know
their meaning.
Now imagine two million people.
People of all nationalities. They speak
different languages. It's hot and crowd-
ed. They are all in the same place for one
exhilarating reason. Instead of singing,
though, everyone is praying.
But a rock concert cannot compare to
one of the largest religious gatherings
in the world. In this scene, everyone is
Muslim, and everyone is undergoing the
Hajj - the pilgrimageto Mecca required
of every Muslim with the means and
health to undertake it.
See HAJJ, page 7
Inboxes across campus are being flooded with unwanted e-mail. Rest
assured, though, University techs are trying to fend off the .
Attack of the spam mail
Unwanted
e-mail on the rise;
dormant groups to
face ax
By MICHAEL COULTER
Daily StaffReporter
Although spam has
always been an annoyance
to students, over the last two
months the amount of junk e-
mail being sent to mail.umich.
edu inboxes across campus
has dramatically increased.
Online shopping around
the holidays has led to the
increase in spam, according
to Amy Brooks, director of the
University's Computing Envi-
ronment.
Students who provide
their e-mail address to cam-
pus groups also risk making
themselves easier targets for
spammers.
Spammers often acquire
the e-mail addresses of stu-
dent groups from the Uni-
versity's online directory
and then send spam to all the
group's members. Because
the group e-mail list remains
online until the owner deletes
it, spammers can continue
sending junk e-mail even if
the group is no longer used.
Information Technol-
ogy Central Services is cur-
rently developing a program
designed to repair the dam-
age caused by outdated e-mail
lists. ITCS's Group Expiry
Policy will require that group
owners renew their e-mail
lists every year. If no one
responds to the notice after a
* Put yourself on the Do Not 0 Delete dormant groups
Spam list Ask to be unsubscribed from
" Set upa spam filter groups
* Restrict sending privelages on 0 Create a seperate e-mail
HOw TO
AVOID SPAM
groups you own.
account for potential spam
year, ITCS will delete the list.
The policy has already been
approved by the ITCS gover-
nance board in charge of proj-
ects, Brooks said.
"It will probably be imple-
mented over the summer," she
said.
ITCS has also proposed a
project called the Penalty Box.
The program would detect e-
mail addresses that have sent
large numbers, of messages
to university addresses over
an extended period of time.
Those individuals would be
put in the Penalty Box, which
would limit the amount of e-
mail they can send each day.
"The idea of the program
is that they will give up after
retrying so many times and
go somewhere else," Brooks
said.
Brooks said she expects the
Penalty Box to go into effect at
the end of the term.
Debra Steiner, manager of
Consulting Services for ITCS,
said her office has received
168 calls about spam mail
since September, which is
worrisome but not severe, she
said.
Most students have already
taken advantage of resources
like the Do Not Spam list
and spam filters, Steiner said.
While some spammers have
developed ways to prevent
being filtered by the Do Not
Spam list, the University is
trying to stay a step ahead,
Brooks said.
"Hopefully, the new pro-
grams in development will
provide students with more
protection," she said.
TODAY'S
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of Martin Luther King Day. THE EDITORS
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