Where the Wii has failed Keeping quiet about the Olympics A plea for Nintendo to stop making hardware Arts, Page s Why a boycott's a bad idea Opinion, Page 4 ONE HtNDRED-EIGHTEEN'YEARSOF EDIT01RIAL1FREEDOM Ann Arbor, Michigan Tuesday, April 1, 2008 michigandaily.com RENEWABLE ENERGY IN MICHIGAN Second in a three-part series about making sustainable energy sources a reality Experts see promise in biofuel production Producing energy from plants like switchgrass could help revive state's economy By ELAINE LAFAY Daily Staff Reporter With the Michigan Legislature reviewing bills calling for 10 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources by 2015, some experts say bioenergy could fuel the state's effort to reach that goal. Sen. Glenn Anderson (D-Westland), who spon- sored the Senate bill, said Michigan must reduce its reliance on fossil fuels because of th'eir limited supply and negative environmental effects. He projected that "by a certain date," up to 15 percent of Michigan's energy could come from renewable sources. While the greatest potential source for alter- native energy is wind, Anderson said, bioenergy research also shows great promise. "There are a lot of things that are currently in the process for bio- mass," Anderson said. "I do believe that it is a direc- tion we need to be moving in." Bioenergy, which contains energy stored from the sun, comes from plant and animal byproducts like garbage, crops, manure and wood. Cellulosic bioen- ergy comes from plants like willow and switchgrass, a prairie grass, that aren't used in food production. Anderson said bioenergy was a source Michigan needed to incorporate into its "general equation," but that for alternative energy as a whole, it was too soon to rely entirely on it. Danielle Korpalski, an environmental associ- ate for Environment Michigan, an organization See BIOENERGY, Page 3 A TWIST ON GREEK WEEK Taylor ' retrial to start today Jury was deadlocked in first trial over Dickinson's death By JOE STAPLETON Daily Staff Reporter The retrial of Orange Taylor III, a suspect in the alleged rape and murder of Eastern Michigan Univer- sity student Laura Dickinson, is set to begin today, five months after the initial case was deemed a mistrial because the jury was hopelessly deadlocked after three days of deliberations. Dickinson, 22, was found dead in her dorm room Dec. 15, 2006. Taylor, a 21-year-old from Southfield, is charged with open counts of murder, which means the jury could charge Taylor with either first- or second- degree murder if he's found guilty. Several Eastern Michigan administrators came under fire after the incident for initially telling Dickin- son's parents and the media that no foul play was sus- pected in the incident. After it was announced that Dickinson had been found naked from the waist down, with a pillow over her face and semen on her thigh, an independent inves- tigation and a U.S. Department of Education report found that the university had violated a federal law requiring full disclosure of campus security issues. The findings led the school's Board of Regents to fire then-president John Fallon. Vice President for Student Affairs Jim Vick and Public Safety Director Cindy Hall were also forced to resign. The retrial was set to begin yesterday, but jury selec- tion lasted the entire day because the pool was so large, at about 100 prospective jurors. Judge Archie Brown, who presided over the firsttrial, will hear the case at the Washtenaw County Trial Court on East Huron Street. During the first trial, the prosecution argued that Taylor snuck into Dickinson's dorm room, raped her and then killed her. See RETRIAL, Page 3 CLIF REEDER/Daly Ricky Winowiecki, a senior in the College of Engineering, and Lisa Goldman, an LSA freshman, play Twister on the Diag as part of Greek Week, which aims to raise money for charitable organizations. Each round began with multiple contestants who were progressively eliminated as they lost balance. SACUA may evaluate independent studies Nadine Hubbs, a Women's Studies and School of Music professor, listens in during a talk about gender and class in popular music at the Michigan Union yesterday. In talk, profs tie popular film, music to academics Country song. "Redneck Woman" deconstructed as cultural symbol By PHILIP GUICHELAAR Daily StaffReporter Last night, a University professor used country music star Gretchen Wilson's popular song "Redneck Woman" to help explain what she calls the "virile female" in country music. The description, an attempt to analyze the cross-cultural ties between gender, class and popular music in academic work, was just one of many examples professors gave last night to explain how the three genres intersect. Nadine Hubbs, a professor in the School of Music and Women's Stud- iesDepartment,joinedMichaelBer- trand of Tennessee State University and Sherry Ortner of the University of California at Los Angeles in read- ing scholarly essays before a medi- um-sized Kuenzel Room crowd in the Michigan Union. Between reading her essay, "Musical Cross-Dressing as Class Rebellion: Gretchen Wilson and the Country Rhetoric of the 'Vir- ile Female,' Hubbs played clips of the song. About 40 people, mostly middle-aged women and female students, attended the forum. The two-hour presentation resembled a typical humanities lec- ture, with several students fervent- ly taking notes, others nodding off and one woman finishing a sudoku puzzle. See ARTS, Page 7 Wi st und The mittee discuss ating a grams" would sity's i indepe studies The these ies pro of arti Arbor demic athlete coursec John Hagen erally: work tc The the nu enrolle ture, S elor of increas after th Sport major athlete standa Phat Smith,, th academics for for the creation of a task force to evaluate the University's special udent-athletes programs and all general stud- ies programs offered by different er fire, profs take schools or colleges. a closer look The response to Smith's pro- posal was mixed among members of SACUA. Biology Prof. John ByANDY KROLL Lehman, the group's secretary, Daily News Editor said such a task force would be a "political hot potato" and would Senate Advisory Com- need the backing of the entire on University ,Affairs Senate Assembly, which is the ted the possibility of evalu- larger body of University faculty ll "special academic pro- members from which SACUAs yesterday, a decision that members are elected. expose all of the UniVer- "You always run the risk that ndependent study courses, somebody is going to stonewall, ndent majors, and general or close ranks," Lehman said. programs to new scrutiny. "What you have to do is you have heightened attention to to empower whatever task force courses and general stud- it is with the full authority of the grams comes after a series Senate Assembly, which gives it cles published in The Ann the ability to call University offi- News, claiming that aca- cers before them and hear their advisers steered student- testimony." s into independent study Lehman said that if SACUA staughtbyPsychologyProf. did create a task force to evaluate Hagen. The articles said these programs, it would need to graded these courses lib- carefully choose who worked on and required little course- the taskforce to ensure that the o earn a passing grade. evaluations would be considered series also claimed that substantive and unbiased. mber of student-athletes "If you properly craft the mem- d in the College of Litera- bership in a way that these are cience and the Arts's Bach- perceived as very even-handed f General Studies degree people and you give them author- ed over the past 10 years ity they need, you wind up with e Division of Kinesiology's some report coming forward that Management program, a has credibility with the faculty once favored by student- and the community at large," he s, implemented tougher said. "If you don't do that, it's just rds. going to be regarded as some kind rmacology Prof. Charles of whitewash." chair of the SACUA, called See SACUA, Page 3 classical Studies Prof. David Potter, the incoming chair of the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, suggested that SACUA take a closer look at some of the University's independent study courses during a meeting yesterday. SACUA'S NEW CHAIR The committee, the executive board of Senate Assembly, which is the main faculty goverving body at the University, selected new leadership yesterday. Classical Studies Prof. David Pallet wbose curtenttterm as vice-chair etds April 30, won the chairmanship of the committee by a 4-3 margin, replacingPharmacology Prof. CharlesB. Smith. Engineering Prof. Michael Thouless will replace Potter as vice chair of the commit- tee after a 6-1victory. WEATHER H i:45 TOMORROW LO:27 GOT A NEWS TIP? call 734-763-24s9 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILY BLOGS 10 Reasons the Kids' choice Awards are sweet MICHIGANDAILY.COM/THEFILTER INDEX NEWS .................................2 ARTS...................5 Vol.CXVi,No.125 SUDO KU..............................3 CLA SSIFIEDS....................6 @2008The Michigan Daily OPINION ................. 4 SPORTS.............................. 8 michigandailyxvom