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THE B-SIDE
~I1E*Midigan Di~
I Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, November 29,2007
michigandaily.com
BUILDING A BETTER BAG
OFF SIV FACBOOK G ROUP FALLOUT
LSA-SG
could oust
rep for being
in group
CHANEL VON HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN/Daily
Engineering senior Steven Agacinski talks to Art and Design senior Domonique Mayhawk about the Triport, a cart he helped design, in Pierpont Commons yesterday. The
Triport was designed as part of a challenge sponsored by the University's Tauber Institute for Global Operations. Seven student groups presented prototypes for bags that
could carry heavy loads with minimal user effort at yesterday's Integrated Product Development Trade Show.
StudentDarfur aidaffrtean
MSA rep. mocked
in group says he'll
quit assembly if
president doesn't
By SCOTT MILLS
and DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily StaffReporters
The student government for
the University's largest college
will decide next week whether to
oust Michigan Student Assembly
Rep. Kenneth Baker for being a
memberofan offensiveFacebook.
com group that he made public at
last night's MSA meeting.
LSA Student Government
voted last night in favor of hold-
ing a trial for Baker, which could
result in Baker's removal from
MSA.
Baker announced at Tuesday
night's MSA meeting that he
belonged to a private Facebook.
com group making fun of MSA
Rep. Tim Hull, who has Asperg-
er's syndrome. The group - "I
waste more time reading Tim
Hull's code amendments than I
do on Facebook" - was started
a little over a year ago by MSA
President Zack Yost. The descrip-
tion Yost wrote included a refer-
ence to Hull's Asperger's. It said:
"I'll give that kid a fucking dis-
ability he can write home about
if he keeps sending these code
amendments to everyone."
Because Baker was appointed
to his position as MSA represen-
tative, he serves on the assembly
at the leisure of his school's gov-
ernment - in this case, LSA-SG.
The group will try Baker for
violating an article of the LSA-SG
constitution that allows the body
to remove anyone from office for
"inappropriate actions that jeop-
ardize governmental affairs."
Hull has publicly called for
both Baker and- Yost to resign
from their positions on MSA, and
yesterday issued an ultimatum.
"If Yost doesn't step down,
and the assembly refuses to take
all the steps it can to remove
him, then I'll step down," Hull
said. "I don't feel comfortable
serving on a student government
where the president is someone
who attacked me about my dis-
ability."
Yost wouldn't disclose wheth-
er he would resign in the face of
Hull's comments but stressed
that Hull was an important mem-
ber of the assembly.
"Tim's one of the hardest
working and most principled kids
on MSA," Yost said. "I'd be sad to
see him go."
Baker said he would be willing
to resign if Hull personally asked
him to do so.
"If that's his honest desire, I'm
willing to do that," he said.
Some people attacked Baker
for revealing the group at a public
meeting more than a year after it
was created, calling the move
politically motivated. After Yost
made the group, Baker sent him a
Gmail chat message praising the
idea.
Baker said in an interview last
night that there were four mem-
bers ofthe Facebook group, but he
See MSA, Page 7A
Will Work For Food
hopes to start
chapters at other
schools
By CATHE SHUBERT
Daily StaffReporter
University student group Will
Work For Food has raised about
$3,000 in relief funds for Sudan's
Darfur region through its unique
formula for fundraising and advo-
cacy. It's also looking to expand the
model to other colleges and high
schools.
The group raises money by sell-
ing Will Work For Food T-shirts.
Buyers of the shirts then agree to
do one hour of work for $10 and
donate that money to help victims
of the bloody conflict in Darfur.
Estimates of the number of
people killed in Darfur range from
200,000 to 450,000.
Davidson said the funds raised
will go directly to relief efforts
through the American Jewish
World Service, an international
humanitarian group.
The group also helps students
contact their local congressmen
about the issue, either by phone
or with preaddressed postcards,
Davidson said.
This semester, Will Work For
Food has been focused on working
out the logistics of its group at the
University and finding a systematic
plan to expand the group across the
country.
"We want to perfect it for a large
university, because we know if we
get it to work here it should be able
to work anywhere," Davidson said.
Students from universities
across the country have contacted
Davidson to apply for a chapter of
the group at their own campuses.
Davidson and LSA junior Josh
Cohen, the group's co-founder, said
they hope to implement similar
programs at places like Ann Arbor's
Pioneer and Community high
schools, Michigan State University
and Wayne State University.
Ruth Messinger, president of
AJWS, will deliveralecture tonight
sponsored by Will Work For Food
which highlights stories from her
travels in Darfur. It will take place
at 7:30 p.m. in Hutchins Hall at the
Law School.
As the brutal conflict in Darfur
rages on for a fifth year, the possible
impact of student involvement or
aid becomes even more important,
said Messinger, a leading advocate
for ending the crisis in Darfur.
She praised Will Work For Food
for its efforts to increase awareness
about the Darfur crisis and said the
See DARFUR, Page 7A
On Facebook, group Za's closed after fire
' takes on Facebook breaks out in basement
MoveOn.org pushes
to get rid of new
feature that tracks
user web purchases
By ZOE BAMBERY
DailyStaffReporter
No good advocacy campaign
is complete without a group on
Facebook.com - even when the
campaign is taking on Facebook
itself.
Liberal advocacy group
MoveOn.org is using Facebook to
campaign against the network-
ing site's newest marketing fea-
ture. The group has launched a
campaign against Facebook Bea-
con, which tracks Facebook users
when they purchase items from
44 online retailers including
Fandango, Hotwire and Over-
stock.com.
If the user doesn't click a but-
ton denying the site permission,
Facebook Beacon either displays
this information on the site's
News Feed, a feature thatupdates
users on their friends' activities,
or places the purchaser's profile
picture next to the purchased
item as an advertisement.
MoveOn, which focuses its
campaigns on privacy and media
reform, has an advertising page
on Facebook with more than 845
users listed as fans. It also has
a Facebook group dedicated to
protesting the Beacon feature.
The group, which has more than
30,500 members, urges members
to sign MoveOn's petition against
Facebook Beacon, saying the fea-
ture violates consumers' privacy.
Facebook spokeswoman Malo-
rie Lucich said in an e-mail that
44 websites are currently par-
ticipating in Beacon, and the site
plans to add more.
"Facebook wants to give users
the stories that they'll find the
most interesting and relevant,"
she said. "The interesting actions
users and their friends take hap-
pen both on and off of Facebook.
Depending on the privacy set-
tings of everyone involved, News
See FACEBOOK, Page 7A
Ow
whi
6a
Lunc
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were tr
day, wb
baseme
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ing In-
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said th
12:45 p.
tibles -
er and t
water h
Ann Ar
burnini
the thi.
the buil
Thes
houses
whichv
ners don't know There was extensive smoke
damage throughout the building.
en E. University The fire was discovered by Za's
employee Bo Stover, an LSA senior,
fe will reopen who said he was taking out the
trash when he saw smoke coming
By JULIE ROWE out of the basement from under the
DailyStaffReporter door.
"The smoke was pouring out
htime patrons at Za's Ital- of the basement," Za's manager
e on East University Avenue Renee Marino said.
eated to a surprise yester- Stover told Marino about the
hen a fire in the building's smoke as soon as he saw it. She
nt forced the evacuation of immediately called the fire depart-
taurant and the neighbor- ment and evacuated the restau-
N-Out Pizza convenience rant, which was about 75 percent
full because of the lunch rush.
rt Vogel, a battalion chief "We're lucky it didn't happen
nn Arbor Fire Department, at night," Vogel said. "The whole
e fire, reported at about building would have gone up in
om., was caused by combus- flames."
specifically, a plastic cool- LSA freshman and Za's employ-
owels - left too close to the ee Jennifer Elledge said she con-
eater. Reka Farrackand, an tinued cleaning tables after she
'bor fire inspector, said the heard about the fire.
g cooler was responsible for "I wasn't sure if it was serious or
ck black smoke that filled not at first," she said. Elledge and
ding. other employees then helped cus-
second floor of the building tomers box up their meals.
offices and a ballet studio, Several flammable items -
were also evacuated. See ZA'S, Page 7A
A firefighter stands outside Za's Italian Cafe on East University Avenue yesterday
after putting out a blaze that caused the building to be evacuated. An official said
the fire started with towels left next to a water heater in the restaurant's basement.
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