WwE ffiid~igan B4atty Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday, September 10, 2008 michigandaily.com UNIVERSITY HEALTH CARE Care costs create dilemma for 'U' Administration must balance rising costs with quality, in competition for top faculty By JACOB SMILOVITZ Daily Staff Reporter With high health care costs plaguing colleges and businesses across the country, University officials are searching for a remedy to its own increasing health insurance bills. The major challenge facing the administration is figuring out how to pay the escalating bills while remaining competitive with its peer institutions in attracting the best faculty and staff by offering high- quality benefit plans. "We're trying to curb the rate of increase and not do anything that would jeopardize our competitive position," said David Reid, Director of Communica- tions at University Human Resources. In 1997, health care costs accounted for about 7 percent of the University's total operating budget, according to the University's Benefits Stewardship website. Today that figured has increased to 9 per- cent and is projected to stand just under 12 percent by 2017 and 15 percent by 2027. Laurita Thomas, the University's Associate Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer, said the substantial drain on the overall budget for healthcare could soon affect tuition prices at the University. "If you're spending 15 percent of your operating budget, than we have to continue to raise tuition at a much higher rate than would normally be appropri- ate," she said. The most recent solution proposed by the Uni- versity to combat the mounting health care costs, announced in a press release distributed this week, is to increase the percentage of health care costs paid by University employees and retirees from 20 per- cent to 30. percent, which would decrease the Uni- versity's financial responsibility from 80 percent to 70 percent of the total costs. Thomas said that while the University under- stands the cost increase "has an impact on families," they are necessary to sustain the academic programs and faculty. See HEALTHCARE, page 7A Engineering senior Jeff Rogers, right, of the Michigan Solar Car Team speaks with LSA freshman Nick Meyer, left, in front of the award-winning solar car at the 2008 Energy Fest on the Diag. With reen ec s ens rush to environmental programs Enrollment in University's Program in the Environment has increased tenfold since 2003 By SUZYVULJEVIC Daily StaffReporter As the green movement gathers more momentum, students are jumping on the bio-diesel bandwagon and enrolling in the University's environmental aca- demic programs in record numbers. Robert Owen, director of the University's Pro- gram in the Environment, attributed the increased enrollment in PitE to a "much greater environmental awareness among students and a feeling of steward- ship and responsibility." PitE, which is offered through LSA, began in 2002 as an attempt to consolidate environmental education taking place in other programs scattered on campus. In just six years, enrollment in the programhas grown tenfold from 35 students working toward majors and minors in 2002-2003 to 333 students by the end of 2007-2008. In addition to the program's core requirements, students also select an environmental specialization and conduct field research in that area, Owen said. Meanwhile, The Erb Institute for Global Sustain- able Enterprise predicts that its graduating class of 2010 will be twice as large as it was in 2005. It also announced in July that its 2007-2008 academic year enrollment increased by 30 percent from the 2006- 2007 numbers. The rise in enrollment in PitE, Owen said, can be credited in part to increased media coverage and the program's appealing flexibility. "Many students initially became informed through media," Owen said. "Environmental courses aren't particularly common in high school so the Internet seems to be the main source of news." Students enrolled in the University's environmen- tal programs say that the Internet is a major factor in generating interest in environmental issues and edu- cation. See GREEN, page 7A STUDENT ENTREPRENEURSHIP Campus target of marketing blitz Students use guerrilla advertising to promote new social networking site By CHARLES GREGG-GEIST Daily StaffReporter At 4 a.m. on the first day of class, while most students were enjoying one last night of good sleep before the start of the school year, Engineering seniors Jason Bornhorst, Dheeraj Sanka and Brent Traut were wide awake, loading white folding chairs into a trailer attached to Bornhorst's car. The chairs, spray painted with the mes- sage "your neighbors could be sitting here," were the beginning of what the three friends call a "guerrilla marketing campaign" for the social networking website they founded this summer, CampusRoost.com. The website. aims to help students meet and interact with their neighbors. The big- gest difference between CampusRoost and other social networking sites is that instead of each user maintaining his own page, there's one for every residence - or roost, as they're dubbed on the site. But like every social networking site, its strength is in numbers. To promote their product, the trio spent the morning scatter- ing the chairs on front lawns, porches and in classrooms across campus. "We'd just stop in the street, and Dheeraj and I would get out, and just put them on houses, and then we'd go to the next street," Bornhorst said. "It took us all night." Many students have paid particular atten- tion See CAMPUSROOST, page 7A Michigan Student Assembly members gathered for their first meeting of the year last night in the Michigan Union. GAVELING INA NEW YEAR CAMPUS CRIME Student robbed south of campus Michigan Student Assembly to consider anti-highrise resolution By MATT AARONSON Daily StaffReporter Michigan Student Assembly Presi- dent Sabrina Shingwani was enthu- siastic at the body's first meeting last night. She reminded the assembly of its responsibility to the University com- munity. "Know that it is your privilege to rep- resent 40,000 students on campus," she said, adding "It's up to you to define this year on the assembly." MSA Vice President Arvind Sohoni provided similar encouragement, urg- ing members to get involved and focus a particular issue or committee. HIGH RISE OPPOSITION Sohini and Student General Counsel Michael Benson proposed a resolution against the planned student high-rise on the corner of South Forest Avenue and South University Avenue. The projected, now called 601 Forest, has drawn outcry from city residents and local business owners who say that at. 25-stoiies the complex is too tall for the area. The Ann Arbor City Council is cur- rently reviewing the construction pro- posal, and Councilmember Sabra Briere (D-Ward 1) had requested MSA's input. The proposed resolution.states that the assembly "formally disapproves of See MSA, page 7A Police: man with gun demanded student's wallet in early-morning mugging By SARA LYNNE THELEN Daily StaffReporter University Police issued a campus crime alert Tuesday after a University student was robbed at gunpoint early Sunday morn- ing at his home south of Central Campus. According to the alert, the student was sitting on his porch on Oakland Avenue near East University Avenue and Arch Street when a stranger approached him, brandished a handgun and asked for his wallet. The man left the scene on foot at around 3 a.m. after the student gave him money. The student was not injured. The sispect is described as a 6-foot-3, 195-pound white male about 30 years old. He was last seen wearing a grey See ROBBERY, page 7A WEATHER HI: 71 TOMORROW L: 49 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. ON THE DAILY BLOGS Michigan hockey's new alternate captain MICHIGAN DAILY.COM/THEGAME INDEX NEWS... .............. 2A SUDOKU............................IA Vol. CXVIll, No.7 OPINION............ .......4A CLASSIFIEDS.. . ..........6A 207 TheMichiganDaily SPORTS ........... 5A THE STAT E M EN.T......B.........B michigonduilycom 4 A