THE YEAR IN PH
OTOS Looking back on the Fab Five
The Statement, Page 4B The Statement,
age 6B
lltic4toan
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, April 2,2008
michigandailycom
STEPPING OUT
STATE ECONOMY
Toyota to
spend $100M
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the new
perts say region According to the Japanese auto-
maker's statement, the institute
l1 benefit from will hire 10 researchers this year
investment and add 20 more by 2010.
in~e~ment Michael Flynn, a research sci-
entist emeritus in the University's
3y CHRIS HERRING Transportation Research Institute,
ManagingNewsEditor said it is not "terribly surprising
to hear" that Toyota was pumping
ta announced yesterday money intothe struggling Michi-
would spend $100 million gan economy by establishing the
e next four years to develop institute.
tomaker's North American "Some might even ask why not
:h headquarters in Ann three months ago," he said.
- a move that could employ Flynn said the investment could
archers over the next four quiet the auto industry's naysayers
temporarily.
project would expand Toya- "The auto industry is in trouble,
rrent 100-acre, 500,000- but it's not going anywhere," he
-foot facility in the northern said. "By investing in the area, it
the city. helps to blunt the critics."
uro Kikuchi, a mechanical The move, which comes just
ering professor at the Uni- months before Toyota is slated to
and director of the Toyota open its 1,000 employee, $187 mil-
I Research andtDevelopment lion technical center innearby York
tories in Japan, will direct Township, could spur future busi-
institute. See TOYOTA, Page 3A
CLIF REEDER/Dail
LSA sophomores Dominick Young and Cordaye Ogletree perform at their probate for the fraternity Alpha Phi Alpha late last night. The probate serves to celebrate and
announce to campus new members of the fraternity. At last night's event on the Diag, the pair's performance included recitation of fraternity history, singing songs and
dancing.
Abstinence push
missing from'U'
RENEWABLE ENERGY
IN MICHIGAN
Last int s esatoutlte) cpraciclily of sustnble erergy sources.
Creation of jobs uncertain
While Harvard,
Princeton groups
gain speed, 'U
goes without
ByJILLIAN BERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
The University has student
groups for everyone from squirrel
enthusiasts to jet engine connois-
seurs, but there's one population
of students you won't find hand-
ing out quarter sheets on the Diag
- those who choose to remain
celibate until marriage.
While pro-abstinence groups at
some of the nation's most presti-
gious universities have garnered
media attention in recent weeks,
no such groups exist at the Uni-
versity of Michigan. Students here
claim that abstinence groups at
other schools have misled stu-
dents, paying more attention to
the negatives of sex rather than
the positives of celibacy until mar-
riage.
An article in the New York Times
Magazine published last Thursday
highlighted a group at Harvard
University called True Love Revo-
lution, which brings together stu-
dents who abstain from sex before
marriage.
Harvard student Janie Fre-
dell, the group's leader, said in
the article that her group's mes-
sage is especially important in an
environment where the "hook up
culture" dominates. According to
its website, TLR is not religiously
See ABSTINENCE, Page 10A
With industry in its
infancy, it's unclear
how renewable energy
will help economy
By ELAINE LAFAY
Daily StaffReporter
One of the centerpieces of
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's plan to
replace lost manufacturing jobs
- a bill passed last week by the
Senate calling for alternative ener-
gy sources for government build-
ings - has som6 experts doubting
whether the push for renewable
energy could lend to job growth.
Some are unsure about the eco-
nomic impact of Gov. Jennifer
Granholm's call for a 10-percent
increase in renewable energy use
by2015, because the strength of the
industry is unknown.
Trevor Lauer, vice president of
retail marketing for DTE Ener-
gy, said renewable energy jobs
wouldn't be stable until manufac-
turers of renewable energy tech-
nology moved their facilities to
Michigan.
"They produce the actual blades
and wind turbines in Michigan,
and that's where you see a large
percentage of manufacturing jobs
open up in Michigan," Lauer said.
An increase in the use of renew-
able energy throughout the state
would first bring construction jobs,
he said.
Rep. Aldo Vagnozzi (D-Farm-
ington Hills) cosponsored a bill in
the state House of Representatives
last year that would require that
10 percent of energy come from
renewable sources.
"We'd have to build facilities and
things like that which would create
construction jobs and the ongoing
job of running the systems," he
said.
But Lauer said the everyday
maintenance of renewable energy
facilities would ultimately create
fewer jobs than a traditional power
plant would.
"There are more moving parts
and pieces and a higher reliance on
skilled trade involved with a con-
ventional generating resource than
a renewable resource," he said.
Danielle Korpalski, an environ-
mental associate for Environment
See ENERGY, Page 10A
ONE ESTIMATE
A coalition pushinggreen energy
in Michigan compiled estimates of
potential job growth from the imple-
mentation of certain technologies.
2,281
Number of jobsthat could comefrom
bioenergy
6,644
Numberofjobsthatcould comefrom
solar energy
24,350
Number of jobs that could comefrom
wind energy
soURcE:BLUEGREEN ALLIANCE
MICHGAN STIJIEN AS EMY L
UHS director: Health
care should be required
A CAMPUS PUZZLE
APRIL FOOLS
Bursley residents get
prank messages
At meeting, assembly
discusses merits of
insurance mandates
By DANIEL STRAUSS
Daily StaffReporter
Speaking at last night's Michi-
gan Student Assembly meeting,
Robert Winfield, director of the
University Health Service, sup-
ported the idea of requiring all
University students to have basic
health insurance.
MSA has asked the University
to explore the specifics and feasi-
bility of such a plan. UHS is study-
ing the idea.
During the meeting, Winfield
said about 20 percent of college
students nationwide are unin-
sured, but that those numbers are
skewed when split between public
and private universities. He said
62 percent of the nation's private
colleges and universities require
that students have health insur-
ance while just three percent of
public colleges and universities
do.
"We're seeing a significant
number of out-of-state students
coming with underinsurance
- grad and undergrad," Winfield
said.
The University doesn't require
students to have health insurance,
but it offers an insurance plan that
costs $2,183 per year. That cost has
increased noticeably in the past
decade. In 1998, it was $621.
If insurance coverage was
mandated, the plan would
increase the estimated cost of
attendance for all students. This
means health insurance could
be paid for by financial aid. Stu-
See MSA MEETING, Page 7A
E-mail tells
dorm-dwellers to
leave asbestos-
ridden hall
By LINDY STEVENS
Daily StaffReporter
April Fools' Day is a time to be
on the lookout for mischievous
friends pulling harmless pranks.
But for Bursley Hall residents, it
was a time to be on the lookout for
another place to live - or so they
thought.
An e-mail sent to Bursley resi-
dents at about 3:10 a.m. yester-
day notified them that a "severe"
asbestos problem in the dorm
would force officials to cjose
it for repairs at the end of this
week. The message, sent from
Hall Director Carolyn Burns' e-
mail address, had a subject line of
"Urgent Housing Information."
In an e-mail interview, Uni-
versity Housing spokesman Peter
Logan denied that Burns sent the
message and called it "deliber-
ately false."
"It was nothing more than an
April Fool prank" meant to con-
fuse residents about "a problem
that does not exist," Logan said.
The e-mail advised residents
to keep their windows open and
wear protective masks to avoid
exposure to the asbestos. The
message said "90% of the.(dorm's)
pipes were found to contain
asbestos on the outside, and 50%
on the inside as well."
Around 3:50 a.m., less than
an hour after the first message
was sent, students received a
second message from Burns'
address, telling residents not to
be alarmed, and that the earlier
See ASBESTOS, Page 3A
Rn RNcr/nailr
Pranksters turned the Cube in Regents' Plaza into a Rubik's cube yesterday. Anoth-
er Rubik's cube appeared on North Campus.
WEATHER
TOMORROW
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MICHIGANDAILY.COM/THEGAME
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Vol. CXVllNo.126 OPINION..... ....................4A SPO RTS.........................8A
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