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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Thursday, September 20, 2007

michigandaily.com

Students to
march on
La. town
today
Thousands expected to protest
alleged racism
From staff and wire reports
Several University of Michigan students will join a
massive march in Jena, La. planned for today in sup-
port of six black teenagers jailed in the December
beating of a white classmate.
The students, members of the pro-affirmative
action group By Any Means Necessary, were in the
middle of a bus ride yesterday that they estimated
would take at least 18 hours.
"We all know what we're doing and why we're
doing it," said Liana Mulholland, an Art and Design
sophomore.
At the center of the protests are a group of black
teenagers who have come to be called the Jena Six.
Racial tensions that began simmering at Jena High
School more than a year ago, when a black student
expressed interest in sitting under a tree where whites
usually congregated.
The next day, three nooses werefound hanging
fromthe tree; that led to the suspension of three white
students and later reports of fights at the school, cul-
minating in December's attack on white student Jus-
tin Barker, who was knocked unconscious, his face
badly swollen and bloodied.
While one of the six black students was booked as
a juvenile in the beating, five were charged as adults
with attempted second-degree murder, which could
have meant 50 years in prison for each. There fol-
lowed protests that the charges were racially moti-
vated and overblown. District Attorney Reed Walters
has denied the accusation.
The charges have since been reduced for all but one
of the defendants.
The University students traveling to Jena are bring-
ing with them a letter supporting the protest signed
by Michigan Student Assembly President Zack Yost
and 13 other MSA members.
"Although I wasn't able to take the trip, the least I
could do was sign my name on the letter," Yost said.
"I wanted to show that the University of Michigan is
a politically active campus and that the students do
care about racial issues. From researching about the
events in Louisiana, there are clearly some unfortu-
nate racial injustices."
Today's march is expected to draw thousands,
See JENA, Page 7A

FILE PHOTO BY STEVE KA
Shakey Jake, who died earlier this week, was a city icon who had friends and fans all over Ann Arbor.

AN/Daily

Remembering a legend

Sha
ar

By,
Whe
friends
stories
alive.
For
who di
age 82
nearly
Arbor.
You
streetc

.key Jake was city, playinghis old two-string
guitar with a huge tip bucket
n Ann Arbor by his side. But that wasn't the
only that made him a beloved
mainstay city icon.
"I remember one thing my
JOE STAPLETON father said about Jake," Ann
For the Daily Arbor resident Ingrid Ault
said. "He never had anything
n a man dies, his negative to say."
always want to tell For years, Shakey Jake
from when he was walked around Ann Arbor in
a bright, colorful polyester
Shakey Jake Woods, suit and top hat. He always
ed earlier this week at wore sunglasses, which made
, that group included his grin stand out even more.
the entire city of Ann When someone walked by,
Jake would often flash that
could find him on huge smile and ask, "You on
corners all around the the move?" Those who knew

Jake would usually reply,
"Yeah, I'm on the move."
Those who didn't know
Jake would usually tense up,
and mumble something about
not having any money.
Jake considered himself
a working man, though. His
music was his work.
"You name-it, I can play it.
I taught it all to myself, it ain't
hard," he told The Michigan
Daily in 1998. "I walk down
the street and play it all day.
It's part of my job."
His office changed each
day. Sometimes he was sta-
tioned outside the Espresso
Royale on Main Street, and
See JAKE, Page 7A

ENCOURAGING INVENTORS
Patents
rising,
but'U'
not tops
MIT, Stanford
heavyweights of tech
transfer program
By DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily StaffReporter
The University's Office of Technology Transfer
has a goal: join Stanford University and the Massa-
chusetts Institute of Technology as one of the best
offices of technology transfer in the country.
The University of Michigan's tech transfer
office handled 329 new technologies in 2005, the
most recent year for which data was available,.
University of Michigan's office receives about one
invention idea per day - a number that University
officials say continues to rise.
The technology transfer office is responsible for
taking something discovered or invented by fac-
ulty and staff at the University and marketing it.
Part of the process involves deciding whether
the product is worth presenting to companies.
When a professor at the University discovers or
creates something new, the professor has to fill out
a disclosure form from the office before releasing
it publicly.
After that, the office reviews the sheet. If staff-
ers think the disclosure is worthwhile, the tech
transfer office works with the United States Patent
and Trademark Office to ensure that the discovery
isn't unfairly copied. The idea is then introduced
to companies that might be interested in produc-
ing it.
The number of possible patents produced bythe
University has been growing in the last few years,
said Mark Maynard, marketing manager at the
tech transfer office. The more new inventions that
go through the office - called disclosures - the
more patented products that come out of the Uni-
versity.
"I think we've gotten better at our job," May-
nard said. "My sense is that the reputation wasn't
stellar in the past. Now we're easily in the top ten
in the country."
See TECH, Page 7A
UNIVERSITY RESEARCH
Med. School
gets largest
grant in history
By ANGELA GERMAINE
For theDaily
The National Institutes of Health announced
yesterday that the University Medical School
will receive a $55 million grant, the largest in the
school's history.

The grant will serve two main purposes:
expanding infrastructure and improving educa-
tion in applicable, real-world clinical research.
The grant - officially titled the Clinical and
Translational Science Award - emphasizes cre-
ating and expanding a framework for research
involving real subjects rather than controlled
laboratory research. Clinical research, as opposed
to lab research, is considered more effective for
developing treatments and therapies that will
benefit public human health quickly. A great por-
tion of the money will also go toward training and
recruiting people at the University to do clinical
research.
Although the grant and its award money will
be controlled by the University's Michigan Insti-
tute for Clinical and Health Research, some of
See GRANT, Page 7A
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Group aims to help student start-ups

MPowered plans to
get students in touch
with capital, advice
By KAREY QUARTON
For the Daily
Students trying to start their
own businesses now have a new
resource.
Creators of a new student group,
called MPowered, are hoping to
help students entrepreneurs net-
work with potential investors, get
advice from faculty and under-
stand the mechanics of running a
business.
MPowered Vice President Isra-
el Vicars said the group - which
is teaming up with the Detroit
Chamber of Commerce - will help
encourage the brightest University
graduates to stay in Michigan.
"We're partnering with the
Detroit Chamber of Commerce and
outside venture capitalists because
they want to see Michigan's econo-
my grow," he said. "They believe in

the potential of student entrepre-
neurs to create new kinds of eco-
nomic opportunities."
Not everyone is quite as optimis-
tic about the program.
Business School Prof. Thomas
Kinnear said that other groups
with similar goals have come and
gone, and that the group's biggest
challenge will be to create a lasting
support system.
Student entrepreneurship can
positively impact Michigan's econ-
omy in the long-term, he said, but
some of the services offered by
MPowered have been available to
Business School students through
the school's Zell Lurie Institute for
some time.
"The current group is very com-
mitted," Kinnear said. "The ques-
tion is whether they can create
a structure that allows them to
remain active in the next five, 10,
20 years. If they do that, we'll all be
very happy."
Engineering junior Ashwin
Lalendran, president of MPow-
ered, said upcoming events like
See BUSINESS, Page 7A
INDEX NEWS........
Vol. CXVIII, No. 13 SUDOKU.....
(02007 The Michigan Daily OPINION....
michigandai y.corn

MPowered plans to hold events like golf tournaments so students can network with professors.
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