IIE liclpgan Baily Ann Arbor, Michigan FUNDING THE UNIVERSITY 'U' investors predict drop in fund returns Tuesday, September 9, 2008 michigandaily.com * CAMPAIGN 2008 * limb exp less The ment a sign return Unive endow Tho endow 14.6 p years, percen ment memb Comm that re likely The billion by 9.8 the pi ended said a the 20 availat Board uled fo Flint c Wh orthre endow With markets going to be rough, slow going." He also said it was possible the ping, endowment country's economic woes could discourage potential donors from )eCted to bring in giving money to the University. "If they don't feel particularly money this year wealthy, they're not going to donate," he said. By ANDY KROLL Lundberg was the main speaker Daily Staff Reporter at yesterday's meeting of SACUA, the executive committee of the University's chief invest- University's primary faculty body. officer yesterday predicted He spent the bulk of his time ificant drop in investment explainingto committee members is this fiscal year on the how the endowment operates and rsity's nearly $8-billion what kinds of investments com- vment. prise the endowment's total value. )ugh the University's The ways U.S. colleges use vment has grown by at least their endowments have come ercent the past four fiscal under sciutiny this year by mem- and marked a return of25.4 bers of Congress, who have ques- nt last year, Chief Invest- tioned why growing endowments Officer Erik Lundberg told at universities nationwide aren't ers of the Senate Advisory being used to curb rising tuition. iittee on University Affairs Some politicians have urged uni- turns this fiscal year would versities to use at least 5 percent be in the single digits. of their endowment funds on uni- endowment, valued at $7.8 versity operations. as of May 31, had grown The University currently 3 percent since the end of spends about 5 percent of its revious fiscal year, which endowment each year. June 30, 2007. Lundberg In January, University officials final endowment figure for defended their management of 08 fiscal year wouldn't be the endowment in a letter to U.S. ble until the next University Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and of Regents meeting, sched- Charles Grassley(R-Iowa), who r Oct. 23 on the University's have led Congress's endowment ampus. investigation. In the letter, Uni- en asked what the next two versity officials wrote that the e years willlook like for the University had earmarked $1.4 ment, Lundberg said, "It's See ENDOWMENT, Page 3 JENNIFER KRON/Daly Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama spoke in a high school gynmasium in Farmington Hills yesterday, calling McCain's promises of change "empty words." In MichObamafiresback Oba Mc ma borrows from crowd packed into a high school gymnasium, asettingstarkly differ- -Cain's playbook ent from the stadium he filled at the Democratic National Convention in in local swing Denver. Obama fired back at John McCain, accusing the Republican By JULIE ROWE presidential nominee of adopting a Daily StaffReporter platform of "change" only because it has worked for Obama. MINGTON H ILLS - Just a Obana's campaign stops in fter his last visit to the state, Michigan came just days after John ratic presidential candidate McCain denounced Obama's plat- Obama returned to Michi- form in a visit to Sterling Heights sterday, holding town-hall while also promising to reform the ions here and in Flint. political process - both statements poke here to an enthusiastic that Obama scoffed at North Farm- ington High School on Monday. "When you've been supporting this current president, and you're not offering anything new, how is it that you're serious about change?" Obama said. "You're not - it's empty words." The Illinois senator's 30-minute speech was followed by a question- and-answer session with audience members - a campaigntrail format typically employed by McCain. Political Science Prof. Vincent Hutchings said Obama's campaign holds larger rallies because they support his type of candidacy and unite his supporters. Town hall meetings, he said, would require Obama to get to specific in his poli- cy and risk alienating some voters. "Part of his appeal is that he tries to move beyond partisanship," Hutchings said. "He is a candidate who avoids the very issues that divide people. Such a candidate, by definition, can't get too specific." As a result, Obama has been criticized as a candidate who gives good speeches without much sub- stance. Hutchings said Obama will need See OBAMA, Page 3 FARI week a Democ Barack gan ye discuss He s CONSERVATION ON CAMPUS New initiative aims to make I L campus buildings more efficient With energy savings in mind, 'Planet Blue' staff would upgrade about 30 buildings each year By ELAINE LAFAY Daily StaffReporter A new campus-wide energy project seeks to stem rising energy costs by making buildings more efficient and educating building occupants about ways to better conserve energy. Planet Blue, which was officially launched this fall, is headed by the University's Facilities and Operations department. It includes three teams comprised of engineers, mechanics, plumbers and building managers. Since the pilot program began in October of last year, each Planet Blue team has aimed to upgrade ten Univer- sity buildings per fiscal year. The goal of the program is to decrease the $111 million the University spent on utili- ties in the fiscal year 2007 by about 10 percent. A major aspect ofPlanet Blue involves upgrading a building's facilities such as fitting it with dual-flush toilets or faucets with lighter water flow. Teams also plan to install motion sensors to decrease lighting costs and reduce the amount of time fans run. But before making these upgrades, Planet Blue's leaders first choose which buildings to renovate - a decision based on which buildings are the most expen- sive to run and are the least energy effi- cient. The decision to upgrade a building is also based on whether the benefits of the new improvements will outweigh their costs over a span of eight years. See BUILDINGS, Page 7 Miriam Lindsey, the owner of the Nawnie's Dog Gone Hot Dog stand, would be able to keep dishing up food on Ann Arbor's sidewalks if the City Council passes an ordinance- revision it reviewed yesterday. City Council OKs draft of plan to let street vendors stay THE TEXTBOOK MARKET Private sites fill information void Proposed code revision follows attempt to crack down on sidewalk stands By SARA LYNNE THELEN Daily StaffReporter After three months of uncertainty, it appears the city's street vendors will be allowed to continue dishing up food on the city's sidewalks. Ann Arbor City Council unanimously approved a draft of a revision to city code last night that would allow food vendors to stay on city sidewalks as long as their carts aren't motorized, pulled over curbs or left unattended. Local food vendors were almost banned from the city in March when city coun- cilmember Stephen Kunselman (D-Ward 3) attempted to revive a long-dead city ordi- nance from the 1940s prohibiting carts and trailers on public sidewalks. Kunselman said he wanted to start enforcing the 1947 law because some ven- dors were blocking public signs and aban- doning their carts overnight. After several vendors argued against the ordinance, the council agreed to grant yending permit holders an extension while city officials reexamined the ordinance. Kunselman said drafting a fair and enforceable policy has been difficult for city officials. "This certainly is something that took staff more time than they thought it would," he said. "It is contentious, with people thinking that we're running vendors out of town, but that's not happening by any means." Local vendors said they thought the new rules outlined in the new draft were a fair compromise. "It was kind of a sigh of relief to know that it wasn't a push to get rid of vending," said Robert James, owner of the Top Dog lunch stand. "I'm confident that they would See VENDORS; Page 3 While University works on program, new sites compile course reading lists By KYLE SWANSON Daily StaffReporter Foryears,theMichiganStudent Assembly and University officials have promised to build a system allowing students to view read- ing lists early and shop around for the best deals on textbooks. Though a University-sponsored textbook exchange website is nearing completion, several inde- pendent book exchange websites have popped up to help students looking for cheap books. The sites include many of the same features the University plans to include on its site, which will be hosted on CTools, includ- ing the ability to view books by course. One such site, mtextbooks. com, debuted this semester. The Ann Arbor-based site compiles the information from book lists posted on academic departments' websites. Creator Jim Burden said he developed the site to make it eas- ier for students taking classes in different departments to find all their textbook information in one place. "I think the website can help students in a lot of ways," Burden said in an e-mail interview. "It "''i OtLL/Daii can promote the University's own School of Dentistry graduate student Abbie Walker shops for See TEXTBOOKS, Page 7 books at Michigan Book and Supply on State Street yesterday WEATHER HI:70 TOMORROW LO: 47 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILY BLOGS Steven Spielberg's copyright infringement dust-up MICHIGAN DAI LYCOM/THEFILTER INDEX NEWS.......... Vol. CXIX, No.6 OPINION..... ©2008 The Michigan Daily ARTS ............ michigandaily.com . 2 CROSSWORD. . .......6 . 4 CLASSIFIEDS.... .........6 .............5. SPO R T S ................. ..............8 A