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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Monday, November 10, 2008]
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AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
After Neb.
ban, vocal
advocate to
press on,
Colorado voted down proposal
to end preferences in first blow
to Connerly's campaign
By NICOLE ABER
Daily Staff Reporter
Though the anti-affirmative action movement hit a
snag last week when Colorado voters rejected a ballot
initiative that would have banned the use of race- and
gender-based preferences, but the movement's has
vowed to keep the campaign alive by taking the issue
to other states in the future.
Colorado voters voted against Amendment 46 last
week, 51 percent to 49 percent, making Colorado the
first state in five tries to reject such a ballot initia-
tive.
But Ward Connerly, founder and chairman of the
American Civil Rights Institute, a nonprofit organi-
zation that leads the national anti-affirmative action-
campaigns, said the defeat won't affect his plans
down the line. He pointed to the fact that a similar
initiative passed in Nebraska, making it the fourth
state to ban the use of affirmative action. It joins Cali-
fornia, Washington and Michigan.
Connerly said he considered the Colorado loss an
anomaly, pointing to the fact that Barack Obama,
the first black presidential nominee of a major party,
was on the ticket. He said Obama's candidacy drew
an unusually large number of minority voters to the
polls.
"People were turning out to vote for Obama and
against the initiative, and who otherwise would not
be voting," Connerly said. "It was just a perfect storm
that occurred, especially given the amount of money
Obama put into the Colorado effort."
Since Obama's historic victory last week to become
the 44th president of the United States, Connerly has
said Obama's election proves that affirmative action
is no longer needed.
In Nebraska, officials at public colleges and univer-
sities are currently assessing how to comply with the
amendment. Officials at the University of Michigan
were in the same situation this time two years ago.
See AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, Page 7A
STUDENT-AT frfc tqADu to
Favors for faculty questioned
Audit shows profs on
review board given free
trips to bowl games
By ANDY KROLL
Daily News Editor
As a member of the official party rep-
resenting the University of Michigan
at the 2007 Rose Bowl, Ross School of
Business Prof. Thomas Kinnear spent
the game mingling with California-
based alumni, shaking hands and mak-
ing introductions.
He'd traveled to the Rose Bowl as a
member of the University's Advisory
Board on Intercollegiate Athletics, a
group comprised of faculty, alumni,
student-athletes and administrators
whotogether advise UniversityAthletic
Director Bill Martin on major financial
and policy decisions involving Michi-
gan athletics.
As a faculty member on the ABIA,
Kinnear also served on the board's
Committee on Academic Performance
(APC). The committee, made up of all
the faculty members on the ABIA and
one University administrator, reviews
the academic performances of student-
athletes whose grade point average
drops below the University's required
2.0 and decides whether they are eli-
gible to practice and compete in games.
Though APC members make decisions
in student-athlete eligibility cases, an
internal University audit obtained by
The Michigan Daily foundthattheAth-
letic Department paid for seven of the
10 committee members to attend the
2007 Rose Bowl. The audit suggested
that it "may appear to be a conflict of
interest" for the Athletic Department
to offer free airfare, hotel accommoda-
tions, tickets and meals to the faculty
members charged with overseeing the
eligibility of the University's student-
athletes.
According to the July 2007 audit, the
See FAVORS; Page 3A
PROTECTING THE BROWN JUG: MICHIGAN 29, MINNESOTA 6
RODRIGO GAYA/ita
Michigan football players hold up the Little Brown Jug trophy after their 29-6 win over Minnesota. The teams won't play again until 2011, meaning the second oldest trophy in college football
will reside at the University of Michigan until then. For more on the football game and results from other sports, read SportsMonday, Page1B.
LOCAL BUSINESS
BTB unveils vegetable oil-powered taxi
BUILDING A CLASS SCHEDULE
Busy students question
early athlete registration
Offering $2 rides,
burrito chain turns
old fryer grease into
promotional tool
By JILLIAN BERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
BTB Burrito's newest market-
ing device cruises the streets of
Ann Arbor, seats 14 passengers
and smells unmistakably like
french fries.
The Ann Arbor-based Mexi-
can food chain has rolled out
a red "party bus" that runs on
vegetable oil and is offering the
bus as an eco-friendly taxi. BTB
co-owner Adam Lowenstein
said converting the bus to run
on vegetable oil took about three
months and $4,000, but will pay
dividends in the long run.
"Basically, we don't pay for
gas," he said. "We produce this
waste product and we're paying
to get it picked up. But now, for
free, we're filtering and putting it
into the bus and riding it around
town."
Anyone can call for a ride on
the bus or flag it down from the
street. A ride on the bus, which
runs Tuesday through Saturday
nights from 5 p.m. until about 3
a.m., costs $2.
Lowenstein said students can
also rent out the bus for a ride to
concerts or other events outside
Ann Arbor.
Rishi Narayan, who owns
Underground Printing and has a
stake in the bus project, said he
and BTB co-owner Justin Her-
rick have long wanted to cre-
ate an environmentally-friendly
kind of transportation. But using
the remnants of tortilla chips to
power the bus has some conse-
quences, he said.
"We're running the bus on
used fryer grease," he said. "It
smells a little bit like french fries
if you're standing behind it."
Benny Thomas Blevins, the
bus's driver, said most of the calls
for the bus come before midnight.
While he tries to pick people up
immediately, he said during busy
periods it can be hard to keep
track of all the requests. It usually
takes between 15 and 20 minutes
See PARTY BUS, Page 7A
Student-athletes
will have first pick of
classes next semester
By TREVOR CALERO
Daily StaffReporter
LSA sophomore Lee Collins,
an Army ROTC cadet, wakes up
before sunrise three days a week
for physical training, leadership
training and infantry tactics and
land navigation.
But despite his busy schedule,
Collins receives no help from the
University when it comes to reg-
istration. He struggles to craft a
schedule along with the rest of the
student body.
That is, except for student-ath-
letes.
Under a new policy that goes
into affect this upcoming term,
athletes will receive priority over
non-athletes when registering for
classes, drawing criticism from
other students who struggle to
reconcile coursework with busy
extracurricular schedules.
Collins said the new policy is
unfair to people like himself.
"There are so many people who
are working very hard, paying
their way through college, there
is no special consideration for
them," Collins said. "(The policy
is) basically saying that the athletic
department is a step ahead of the
rest of the school."
Medical School Prof. Charles
Koopmann, a member of the Sen-
ate Advisory Committee on Uni-
versity Affairs, the faculty's main
governing body, said athletes run
into many issues with scheduling
because of their practice sched-
ules. SACUAunanimously passed a
resolution in support of the policy.
Koopmann said in an e-mail that
SACUA had heard of many athletes
who were forced to change from
rigorous courses of study to alter-
native routes because they had
difficulty registering for required
classes.
Fridays are typically travel days
for athletes, which often forces
them to miss class, he said.
"Not all professors at U-M will
See REGISTRATION, Page 7A
MAX COLLINS/Daily
BTB co-owner Adam Lowenstein stands beside the new BTB Party Bus, which seats
* 14. The bus, which costs $2 a ride, runs on used vegetable oil from fryers.
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