The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 7A
INPUT
From page 1A
Sullivan said the sentence was
"far too generic" and said she did
not want to tie the administration
to a policy that might not work in
every instance.
In response, SACUA Chair
Charles Smith, a professor in the
pharmacology department, asked
Sullivan if she could come up with
language that would work in every
instance. She said she doubted it.
Some SACUA members ques-
tioned whether Coleman even under-
stood the sentence in question.
"It is a simple idea," Smith said
in an interview last week. "When
the University was contemplating
some sort of major expenditure,
they would consult the faculty. But
it was interpreted by the president
to give us the position of giving
approval, and that's not what the
statement said at all."
Instead, the SACUA board mem-
bers said they simply wanted the
FORUM
From page 1A
the winter to brainstorm ways to
keep the University diverse. It met
with other universities where affir-
mative action is banned - like the
universities of California, Texas
and Georgia - to come up with rec-
ommendations on how to maintain
diversity while still staying within
the new legal restrictions.
Monts and Assistant Gen-
eral Counsel Maya Kobersy both
stressed that one of the main strat-
egies the University is employing in
order to continue to promote diver-
sity is educational outreach to pub-
lic high schools.
Other ways the University is
reaching out to would-be applicants
include entering into partnerships
with high schools and launching
summer programs.
PresidentColemanhas alsogiven
commencement addresses at sev-
eral high schools. Over Fall Break,
the University is sending a group
of students to interview and talk
with students and administrators
at universities without affirmative
action programs so they can come
back with ideas on how to shape the
University's outreach programs.
Gurin pointed out that promot-
ing diversity at the University was
administration to consult them
about spending decisions regarding
large amounts of money.
"And my perception is that they
do that pretty much," Smith said.
By the end of the meeting,
though, Sullivan agreed to work
with Coleman to find language that
would be acceptable to both the
administration and the faculty.
Smith says the faculty's request
is simple.
"We want to know when the
University is planning some sort of
major expenditure," he said. "The
way that the University spends
its money. affects the overall well-
being of the University."
University spokeswoman Kelly
Cunningham said in a written
statement that the faculty plays
a key role in advising University
administrators.
"We have no examples of instanc-
es when the faculty is not involved
or consulted," she said. "Faculty
serve on committees to advise the
administrationthroughout alllevels
of the University."
about more than just achieving the
right racial balance in Ann Arbor.
"Our leaders must come from all
sectors of society," she said.
One of the biggest problems the
University faces in trying to avoid a
drop-off in minority enrollment is
that it might be perceived by admit-
ted students as hostile to minorities
because of Proposal 2.
"We need to figure out how to
convert our admits into enrollees,"
Monts said.
But Monts and other speakers
were careful to point out that it's
not yet clear what Proposal 2 meant
for the number of minority stu-
dents in this year's freshman class,
because the University doesn'thave
final enrollment numbers yet.
"We think we did fairly well,"
Monts said. "But we'll have an accu-
rate count in a few weeks."
State Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann
Arbor) opened the forumby talking
about another issue that has been
at the forefront of the University's
attention in the last few weeks:
Michigan's budget crisis.
Brater said the current budget
negotiations were something she
couldn't ignore, even at an event
about Proposal 2's effects on the
University of Michigan.
"It's like having a death in the
family," she said. "I can't ignore it."
EMMA NOLAN -ABRAHAMIAN/Daily
Christen McArdle, the executive director of the Ann Arbor Film Festival, says the
testival wont be shut down.
FILM
From page 1A
controversial for their supposed
pornographic intent. Former state
Rep. Leon Drolet (R-Clinton Twp.)
singled out the films "Booby Girl"
and "Chests" as "pornography so
bad, no one will buy it."
"Booby Girl" is a comical, ani-
mated story about adolescent girls
struggling to feel comfortable with
their body. "Chests" explores mas-
culinity and machismo and con-
tains no sex.
The state legislature placed
restrictions on MCACA's funding in
1996 over concerns that the council
would fund works showing sexual
acts and desecration of the flag or
religious objects.
The Mackinac Center for Public
Policy, a Michigan-based libertar-
ian think tank, lobbied the state
government last year to cancel
funding for the festival altogether.
Mike LaFaive, the center's direc-
tor of fiscal policy, wrote an essay
describing the festival as a "cess-
pool of silliness."
LaFaive said in aphone interview
DONATIONS
From page1A
above and 14 gifts of $10 million to
$25 million.
Every one of the top 10 single
gifts to the University was given in
the last 10 years.
May said news of a major dona-
tion - whether to the Univer-
sity of Michigan or other schools
nationwide - encourages alumni
to give.
yesterday that the public should
bear the responsibility for funding
the film festival if it believes the
event has value.
"The question of whether or not
it's anassetis different fromwheth-
er or not it should be state-funded,"
LaFaive said.
Festival planners have $190,000
of the $350,000 they hope to even-
tually raise, McArdle said.
The group has started a fundrais-
ing drive aimed atraising$75,000by
the end of the year. Called "endan-
gered," it compares the film festival
to endangered species like the giant
panda and the mountain gorilla.
McArdle said she's trying to
receive grants from alternative
sources, including the American
Film Institute and the Sundance
Institute, the sponsor of the Sun-
dance Film Festival.
"The festival is living hand-to-
mouth," she said. "We're raising
our paychecks one week at a time,
pulling out all the stops in looking
for grants."
"There are legislators who obvi-
ously don't see the value in what we
do," McArdle said. "Getting shut
down is not an option."
"When Steve Ross made his com-
mitment of $100 million to name
the Ross School of Business, all
kinds of other wealthy alums had to
say to themselves, 'If Steve Ross is
going to give that kind of gift, then
I need to stretch myself as well,' "
May said.
Since its inception, the Michigan
Difference campaign has received
more than $2.6 billion.
Last year, the University brought
in $425 million in gifts, gift pledges
and bequest intentions.
CARS
From page 1A
in social sciences, the main reason
is its location near the headquarters
of the three largest American auto-
makers.
Numerous studies suggest that if
all the cars in the country switched
from burning fossil fuels to running
on electric power, more than 80
percent of the electricity demand
from the vehicles could be met by
making use of the idle generation
capacity from power companies.
This is one reason the Department
of Energy is looking into producing
these cars.
DTE Energy spokesman John
Austerberry said in an interview
that it takes DTE 12,000 mega-
watts of power to generate electric-
ity on the hottest day of summer
when demand is greatest but that
the company usually produces
much less energy on a daily basis.
If DTE only needed to produce
7,000 megawatts on a 60 degree
day in October, the idle generation
capacity that could go to powering
PHEVs could be as much as 5,000
megawatts.
Austerberry said electricity
demand drops at night - leaving
plenty ofsurplus energy to recharge
the batteries of electric cars.
These claims are based on the
assumption that there would be a
very low initial demand for PHEVs,
he said.
Kolevar said he recognizes that
there will be a lot of challenges in
getting PHEVs on the road, but the
benefits are apparent.
Plug-in electric vehicles have
the potential to drastically reduce
carbon tailpipe emissions, but one
concern of implementing this tech-
nology is the potential demand
for energy it would cause. If the
majority of people were plugging
PHEVs into the grid, the demand
for power could rise so much
that more coal and oil-dependent
power plants would have to be
built, offsetting the environmen-
tal benefits.
But the demand for energy is
growing at a rapid rate in the United
States, and more power plants willbe
built regardless of whether PHEVs
are factored into the equation.
Austerberry said DTE is con-
sidering building a second nuclear
power plant and Consumer's Ener-
gy will likely build another coal
plant to meet the energy demands
of the future.
As more consumers want to see
their power coming from renew-
able sources, wind and solar energy
is starting to become more appeal-
ing to electric companies as well.
Austerberry said it would be a
combination of all these things that
would allow DTE to meet the ener-
gy demand.
This is another reason why the
"zero-impact" vehicles are looking
more attractive.
Kolevar said rising oil prices are
driving the administration's inter-
est in PHEVs.
"When gas prices increase, the
focus on alternative technologies
will increase correspondingly,"
Kolevar said.
The Michigan Memorial Phoenix
EnergyInstitute will lead the study,
which will be conducted over the
next two years. The institute will
also allocate portions of the grant to
various University departments.
Although the auto industry has
been criticized for sabotaging the
success of the electric car, Kolevar
said the industry is willing to push
this technology forward.
The University's Energy Insti-
tute and Transportation Institute
will work with GM and Ford to
explore technological obstacles to
the optimal construction and per-
formance of plug-in hybrid vehicles
and how to make them affordable
for the average consumer.
The Institute forSocialResearch
will help tackle a critical problem
with getting this technology on
the market by conducting surveys
on the attitudes potential custom-
ers have concerning PHEVs to
see how a hybrid electric vehicle
should be crafted so people will
buy them.
The Center for the Study of Com-
plex systems will conduct research
to develop economic models for
the sales and distribution of these
vehicles.
Initial findings of the study will
be presented at the Detroit Auto
Show in January of 2008, and the
final results of the study will be
published in 2009.
Phoenix Energy Institute spokes-
woman Adrienne Losh said the
results will detail the concept for
the optimized PHEV, an analysis
of varying consumer perspectives
about PHEVs, multiple economic
models for the PHEVs to succeed
on the market.
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