The Michigan D
BUILDINGS
From Page 1

aily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, September 9, 2008 - 7

The Chemistry Building, for
example, cost the University
$4.1 million dollars in the fis-
cal year 2008 - one of the most
expensive on campus. It was one
of the first buildings selected for
upgrades.
The changes to the Chemistry
Building included fitting some
teaching labs with occupancy
sensors for fume hoods - a proj-
ect estimated to save $200,000 a
year.
Planet Blue teams also reduced
fan usage inthe Institute for Social
Research building on Thomp-
son Street. That project will save
$80,000 a year. The relocation of
computer servers in the Fleming
Building is expected to save about
$97,000 a year.
Only buildings financially sup-
ported by the University's general
fund are eligible for upgrades by
Planet Blue. Athletics facilities,
University Hospital facilities and
University-owned housing don't
receive general fund money and
must pay for their own renova-
tions.
But Planet Blue's project man-
ager Kris Kolevar, said he was con-
fident these departments will ask
for consultations. Athletic Direc-
tor Bill Martin has already asked
Planet Blue to renovate some
sports facilities.
An education campaign about
reducing personal energy-use hab-
its was added to Planet Blue after a
University study found most peo-
ple on campus were unaware of
efforts to make University build-
ings more energy efficient.
"When people are more aware
of what the impact is that they can
TEXTBOOKS
From Page 1
S resources with the links to the
library. It can help students find
cheaper books online at several
different online bookstores while
also letting them know when the
books are reasonably priced at the
bookstores."
The vebsite lists the books nec-
essary for a given course, indicat-
ing whether they are required or
optional and also listing the prices
for new and used editions at-sev-
eral local and online bookstores.

have on carbon dioxide emissions
and costs, they are more willing to
participate in solutions," Kolevar
said. "We're really involving peo-
ple in the building because they
know how the building is used all
day long."
Richard Robben, director of
Plant Operations, said Planet
Blue used the results of the study
to shape other aspects of how
the pilot initiative reached out to
University employees, including
making sure they have support
from high-level administrators for
Planet Blue projects.
"We make a point of reaching
out the deans and chairman of the
department," he said. "The study
also encouraged the idea of rein-
forcement, occupant education on
projects and telling people what is
in it for them."
Anuja Mudali, a Planet Blue
spokeswoman, said one of the
goals was to instill an energy effi-
cient mentality that would last
long after Planet Blue's three-year
run.
"It's a matter of convenience
for most people," she said adding
that people will be more likely to
recycle if bins are located in the
room they happen to be in at the
time.
Besides trying to persuade
people to make some of the
more difficult changes in life-
styles - like wvalking downstairs
to recycle paper - Mudali said
they would also strive to make
energy-efficient behaviors more
convenient.
But the outreach program does
not target undergraduates because
they're only on campus for four
years.
"Faculty and staff, graduate
students - they're static," Kolevar
said.
The website also indicates
which textbooks are available in
the University's libraries, poten-
tially eliminating the need to pur-
chase some textbooks altogether.
Another new site, Uloop.com,
which was launched in 2007,
provides various search features
that allow users to locate a book,
contact the seller and meet in
person on campus to purchase
the book.
According to Uloop co-founder
Ryan MacCarthy, more than 4,500
University of Michigan students
are registered on the site. Nation-
wide, more than 70,000 books

As governor of Alaska, Palin
billed state for nights at home

Republican vice


presidential nominee
and family charged
more than $60,000
By JAMES V. GRIMALDI
and KARL VICK
The WashingtonPost
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska
Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpay-
ers for 312 nights spent in her own
home during her first 19 months in
office, charging a "per diem" allow-
ance intended to cover meals and
incidental expenses while traveling
on state business.
The governor also has charged
the state for travel expenses to take
her children on official out-of-town
missions. And her husband, Todd,
has billed the state for expenses and
a daily allowance for trips he makes
on official business for his wife.
Palin,who earns $125,000 ayear,
claimed and received $16,951 as
her allowance, which officials say
was permitted-because her official
"duty station" is Juneau, according
to an analysis of her travel docu-
ments by The Washington Post.
The governor's 'daughters and
husband charged the state $43,490
to travel and many of the trips were
to and from their house in Wasilla
and Juneau, the capital city 600
miles away, the documents show.
Gubernatorial - spokeswoman
have been bought and sold through7
the site. MacCarthy said the aver- c
age used textbook on Uloop costs P
$37, a paltry price compared to the
national average of $102 for a new t
textbook. t
The University's planned web-p
site, to be called UBook, is slated
to. launch next semester through'
the CTools website. It will feature l
a tool for students to search text- t
book lists for specific courses, and t
also allow students to arrange toZ
buy and sell used textbooks froma
each other.V
The site comes after a recom-o
mendation from the University's'

Sharon Leighow said yesterday that
Palin's expenses are not unusual
and that, under state policy, the first
family could have claimed per diem
expenses for each child taken on
official business buthas not done so.
Before she became the Republi-
can Party's vice presidential nomi-
nee, Palin was little known outside
Alaska. Now, with the campaign
emphasizing her executive experi-
ence,herrecord asmayorofWasilla,
as a state oil-and-gas commissioner
and as governor is receiving intense
scrutiny.
During her speech at the Repub-
lican National. Convention last
week, Palin cast herself as crusader
for fiscal rectitude as Alaska's gov-
ernor. She noted that she sold a
state-owned plane used by the for-
mer governor. "While I was at it, I
got rid of a few things in the gover-
nor's office that I didn't believe our
citizens should have to pay for," she
said to loud applause.
Speaking from Palin's Anchor-
age office, Leighow said that Palin
dealt with the plane and also
trimmed other expenses, including
foregoing a chef in the governor's
mansion because she preferred to
cook for her family. The first fam-
ily's travel is an expected part of
the job, she said.
"As a matter of protocol, the
governor and the first family are
expected to attend community
events across the state," she said.
"It's absolutely reasonable that the
first family participates in commu-
Textbook Task Force, which was
ommissioned by the Office of the
Provost in 2007.
Brenda Gunderson, chair of the
ask force and a senior lecturer in
he statistics department, seemed
pleased with UBook's progress.
"The work of the Textbook
Task Force is on target to estab-
ish a fully operational system
hat will help reduce the cost of
extbooks, beginning in Winter
Term 2009," Gunderson said in
an e-mail interview. "Significant
work has been completed on vari-
ous pieces of the planned suite of
Textbook Tools."

nity events."
The state finance director, Kim
Garnero, said Alaska law exempts
the governor's office fromelaborate
travel regulations. Said Leighow:
"The governor is entitled to a per
diem, and she claims it."
The popular governor collected
the per diem allowance from April
22, four days after the birth of her
fifth child, until June 3, when'she
flew to Juneau for two days. Palin
moved her family to the capital
during the legislative session last
year, but prefers to stay in Wasilla
and drive 45 miles to Anchorage
to a state office building where
she conducts most of her business,
aides have said.
Palinrarelysoughtreimbursement
for meals while staying in Anchorage
or Wasilla, the reports show.
She wrote some form of "Lodg-
ing - own residence" or "Lodging
- Wasilla residence" more than 30
times at the same time she took a
per diem, according to the reports.
In two dozenundated amendments
to the reports, the gqvernor deleted
the reference to staying in her home
but still charged the per diem.
Palin charged the state a per
diem for working on Nov. 22, 2007
- Thanksgiving Day. The reason
given, according to the expense
report, was the Great Alaska Shoot-
out, anannualNCAAcollegebasket-
ball tournament held in Anchorage.
In separate filings, the state was
billed about $25,000 for Palin's
daughters' expenses and $19,000
Like Uloop, students will not be
able to conduct transactions onthe
University's site. Instead, students
will use the site to arrange an in-
person exchange.
Several students were happy to
hear of the University's project.
Gary Suen, a graduate student
in the School of Information, said
he would prefer to use UBook,
rather than a comparable private
website.
"I would use the CTools site
because with places like Amazon
and Half.com, you are not sure
who are the buyers," he said.
LSA sophomore Cassie Shamey

for her husband, Todd Palin.
Flights topped the list for the
most expensive items, and the
daughter whose bill was the high-
est was Piper, 7, whose flights cost
nearly $11,000, while Willow, 14,
claimed about $6,000 and Bristol,
17, accounted for about $3,400.
One event was in New York
City in October 2007, when Bris-
tol accompanied the governor to
Newsweek's third annual Women
and Leadership Conference, toured
the New York Stock Exchange, and
met local officials and business
executives. The state paid for three
-nights in a $707-a-day hotel room.
Garnero said the governor's office
has the authority to approve hotel
stays above $300.
Asked Monday about the official
policy on charging for children's
travel expenses, Garnero said: "We
cover the expenses of anyone who's
conducting state business. I can't
imagine kids could be doing that."
But Leighow said many of the
hundreds of invitations Palin
receives include requests for her to
bring her family, placing the defi-
'nition of "state business" with the
partyextendingthe invitation.
One such invitation came in
October 2007, when Willow flew to
Juneau to join the Palin family on
a tour of the Hub Juneau Christian
Teen Center, where Palin and her
family worship when they are in
Juneau. The state gave the center
$25,000, according to a May 2008
memo.
said she thought the Univer-
sity project was a good idea, but
expressed some concerns about
how late book lists have been
released in the past.
"They should bereleased atleast
a month ahead of time," she said.
The Textbook Task Force rec-
ommended that professors make
their booklists available to stu-
dents at least six weeks before
the start of the 'term, especially
for courses that use a particularly
expensive book.
But there are no plans to make
this practice mandatory for pro-
fessors.


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