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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Thursday, September 6,2007

michigandaily.com

SEDWARD GRAU 1939
Former provost dies at 68

Gramlich served on
Fed, warned of
sub-prime collapse
By KELLY FRASER
Daily News Editor
Economist Edward Gramlich, a
longtime University professor and
administrator, died of leukemia
yesterday morning in a Washing-
ton, D.C. hospice. He was 68.
In a career at the University
that spanned four decades, Gram-

lich helped create the Ford School
of Public Policy and served as its
first dean. After a stint as a gover-
nor of the Federal Reserve Board,
he returned
to the Univer-
sity to serve as
interim pro-
vost from 2005
to 2006.
Colleagues
said Gram-
lich's role in GRAMLICH
the expansion
of the Institute
of Public Policy Studies into a full-

fledged School of Public Policy was
integral.
"We wouldn't have made it
without Ned," said Public Policy
Prof. John Chamberlin, who was
friends with Gramlich. "The Uni-
versity does not create schools
often. That is a sign of his leader-
ship."
Gramlich predicted the prob-
lems caused by sub-prime lend-
ing long before the issue began to
draw headlines. During his time at
the Federal Reserve, he called for
increased regulation of the hous-
ing loan industry. But policymak-

ers didn't heed his warnings.
"If the Fed had gone his way a
couple of years ago, things would
be very different today," said Pub-
lic Policy Prof. Paul Courant, who
preceded Gramlich as provost.
That sort of foresight is exactly
what Gramlich's colleagues had
come to expect.
"Ned had a talent for getting to
interesting problems first," said
Courant, who played weekly ten-
nis matches with Gramlich when
the two were starting out as Uni-
versity professors in the late 1970s
See GRAMLICH, Page 7A

CORN KING

Construction on the planned luxury boxes for Michigan Stadium will begin in
November, but a lawsuit challenging the plan's legality isstill pending.
Will the Big
House stay
te biggest?

Administrators
won't discuss
contingency plans
By ARIKIA MILLIKAN
and GABE NELSON
Daily StaffReporters
Despite the federal lawsuit chal-
lenging the legality of the planned
renovations to Michigan Stadium,
Athletic Department officials
said construction will begin after
the home football season ends in
November.
If the University loses the suit
and doesn't rework its plans, the
Athletic Department could be
forced to replace thousands of reg-
ular seats with wheelchair-acces-
sible seating, eliminating the Big
House's status as the largestcollege
football stadium in the country.
Other options could allow the
department to maintain the stadi-
um's size supremacy even if it loses
the suit, but University officials say
they won't speculate about possible
changes to the project.
The University Board of Regents
approved in June the final compo-
nent of a plan to overhaul Michigan
Stadium, adding luxury boxes, pre-
mium seating and a new press box
on top of the stadium bowl. Seats
and aisles in the bowl would be
widened and new concessions and
restrooms would be added to the
main concourse.

The $226 million project is slat-
ed for completion by the beginning
of the 2010 football season.
The proposal passed despite
a lawsuit by the Michigan Para-
lyzed Veterans of America, which
is arguing that the project violates
the Americans with Disabilities
Act because it doesn't make 1 per-
cent of all seats in the Big House
wheelchair-accessible.
A trial is tentatively set for Sep-
tember 2008.
If the University loses the case
against MPVA after construction
begins, the Athletic Department
would have to rework the plans to
meet ADA standards.
Because one wheelchair-acces-
sible seat takes up as much space as
about 12 regular seats, the stadium
would lose about 4,000 seats in the
bowl if the Athletic Department
were forced to alter its plans, said
Associate Athletic Director Jason
Winters. At that point, the stadi-
ums at Penn State and Tennessee
would have larger capacities than
the Big House unless the Athletic
Department devises a way to offset
the loss of those seats.
Winters and University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman refused to
comment on any contingency plans
the University has in case it loses
the suit.
"It's just impossible for me to
deal with hypotheticals," Cole-
man said in an interview yesterday.
"We're in very productive discus-
See STADIUM, Page 7A

Karl Neuvirth, the self-proclaimed "Corn King," prepares his latest corn harvest for the Ann Arbor Farmers Market in Kerrytown. Neuvirth has been selling fruits and
vegetables at the Farmers Market for more than 50 years. The Farmers Market runs from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every Wednesday and Saturday until December.
Third in a five-part series
AT SOME SCHOOLS, BOOKS FOR RENT

University of
Michigan task force
says program is too
expensive
By CHRIS HERRING
Daily News Editor
At about 25 colleges nationwide,
rental programs allow students to
obtain their books each semester
for a nominal fee - less than $100
per term in many cases - before
returning the books at the end of
the semester.
While many schools that use
rental programs are community
or junior colleges, some four-year
colleges are also using the system,
including Southeast Missouri
State University, Eastern Illinois
University and seven schools in
the University of Wisconsin sys-
tem, but not the flagship campus.

Larger schools like the Uni-
versity of Michigan have avoided
the program, likely due to high
start-up costs. Southern Illinois
University at Edwardsville, with
an enrollment' of nearly 13,500
undergraduates, is the largest
school in the country with a rental
program.
The cost of starting a univer-
sity-run textbook rental program
varies depending on the size of the
institution.
At the University of Wisconsin
at Eau Claire, where a textbook
rental program was revamped
back in 2000, a school official
confirmed that $6 million was
spent to cater to about 10,000
undergraduates. Students there
pay $84 a semester to rent their
books.
In 2005, when Illinois state
legislators ordered each public
university to research the cost
of developing a rental program,
officials at the University of Illi-

Coming tomorrow:
What the government is doing to
fight high book prices
nois at Urbana-Champaign - a
campus of about 20,000 under-
graduates - estimated a rental
system would cost $12 million if
implemented.
For a school the size of the Uni-
versity of Michigan, the start-up
cost would likely be about $15 mil-
lion - too high a price, according
to Gretchen Weir, assistant vice
provost for academic affairs and a
member of the University's Text-
book Task Force. Weir said the
committee has discussed rental
programs as a possibility, but it
found the undertaking too expen-
sive.
"Given how decentralized and
large the University is, it is not fea-
sible for us to do that," Weir said.
See RENTAL, Page 7A

SCHOOLS WITH RENTAL
PROGRAMS
Southern Illinois University at
Edwardsville
13,460 undergraduate students
Cost to each student:$144.40 per
semester*
Southeast Missouri State
University
10,477 undergraduate students
Cost to each student:$91.65 per
semester"
University of Wisconsin at Eau
Claire
10,031 undergraduate students
Cost to each student:$84 per
semester
'Rental priceatis basedona15credit
schedule
"Rental price is based off a five class
schedulae

FLJLBRIGHT PROGRAM
Only Ph.D students
eligible for endorsement

'U' says it can't
interview undergrads
or other grad students
By LAYLA ASLANI
Daily StaffReporter
Only University of Michi-
gan doctoral students - and not
undergraduates or other graduate
students - will be able to earn an
official University endorsement in
the Fulbright Program this year.
The change may put some at a
disadvantage in the competition to
win the prestigious grants, which
are sponsored by the U.S. State
Department and send students

and young professionals abroad
for learning, research and teaching
opportunities.
To earn an endorsement, stu-
dents must go through an inter-
view process. Because a record
number of students are expected
to apply for the Fulbright this year,
the University anticipates that it
won't have the resources to accom-
modate every interview request.
This year, 283 students have
started an electronic Fulbright
application at the University, said
Amy Kehoe, an academic program
officer at the University's Interna-
tional Center. Two years ago, the
University only received about 100
applicants.
See FULBRIGHT, Page 7A


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