Tuesday, November 11, 2008 Ann Arbor, Michigan michigandaily.com THE ECONOMY AND THE 'U' Faculty focused on retirement accounts Group handling 'U' pensions says number of callers is up 60 percent from last year By STEPHANIE BERLIANT Daily StaffReporter Despite the massive losses suffered on Wall Street in the past six weeks, the retirement plans for Uni- versity faculty and staff have weathered the economic storm fairly well, officials said. Faculty members across the country are concerned about the value of their retirement accounts as the country's economic state has worsened. Jennifer Compton, a spokeswoman for TIAA- CREF, a national financial corporation that handles retirement investments for faculty members, said * calls to the company from concerned clients have increased 60 percent nationwide from last year at this time. Here in Michigan, Todd Kephart, a retirement account adviser for TIAA-CREF based in Ann Arbor, said he has received several panicked phone calls, . particularly during the week of Oct. 6, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped about 11.5 percent. But he said very few of his clients have asked for drastic changes to the way the investments that make up their retirement accounts are handled. Kephart said he attributes the small number of dev- astating losses to his clients's retirement plans to the array of investments that make up their retirement accounts. A typical client's portfolio, he explained, contains a combination of stocks, bonds and commer- cial real estate, with the average portfolio including about 30 to 40 percent in stocks. He said that because of this strategy, the stock market's decline has "certainly made an impact,but it shouldn't be tremendous." Kephart said the faculty members most concerned about the economic downturn were not those who plan to retire in three or four years or even those who have been retired for a few years, but instead those who have just announced their retirement or retired last year. "A lot of people are asking, 'Did I make the wrong choice?'" Kephart said. But Kephart said in every one of these cases that he's seen, the faculty member was still able to stay retired or retire as planned, perhaps by slightly tight- ening their budget for the near future. He said much of the worry has come from anecdotal See RETIREMENT, Page 7A A group of students enjoy a free hypnotism session during a UMix event at Pierpont Commons last month. UMix, which the University has sponsored for the last three years, offers a tive to bars or parties for students seeking alcohol-free entertainment. Between 400 and 600 students participate in UMix events, which are held roughly once per month. GOOD CLEAN FUN Many colleges now have alcohol-free programs, like Michigan's UMix By JILLIAN BERMAN Daily StaffReporter On the Friday night before the Mich- igan-Michigan State football game three weeks ago, thousands of students wandered from bar to bar and party to party, enjoying the start of the week- end. Meanwhile, a group of about 500 students was partying in the Michigan Union at a get-together sponsored by the University. In the place of alcohol, there was a movie, free food and kara- oke. The University of Michigan's UMix program serves as an alternative for students looking for alcohol-free enter- tainment, hosting between five and six events per semester from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Friday nights. The program, which has been running for three years at the University, draws between 400 and 600 students to the Union for each event, officials said. University Librarian Paul Courant, an expert on higher education, said programs like UMix are part of a larg- er trend of colleges responding to an increase in binge drinking among stu- dents. "There is certainly a sense in the student affairs community that there's more binge drinking,more heavy drink- ing and more days on which people drink. With the advent of cell phones, the party can move quickly and out of control," he said. "Education institu tions are taking more responsibility for at least trying to give students who might be uncomfortable with drinking opportunities that are a good alterna- tive." Penn State University was among the first schools to start offering students an See ACTIVITIES, Page 7A SACUA delays vote On perks resolution Profs on advisory board given free trips to bowl games, audit showed By ANDY KROLL Daily News Editor The University faculty's govern- ing body delayed until next month a vote on a resolution urging University President Mary Sue Coleman to stop the Athletic Department's practice of offering to pay for bowl game trips for faculty on a student-athlete oversight committee. The resolution, proposed by physics Prof. Keith Riles, pertains to an inter- nal University audit from July2007 that says there "may appear to be a conflict of interest" with the Athletic Depart- ment's practice of offering to pay for airfare, hotel accommodations, ticket costs and meals for faculty members who serve on the Academic Perfor- mance Committee (APC), which rules on individual student-athlete eligibility cases. Riles wrote in an e-mail that the vote was pushed back to the Senate Assem- bly's December meeting because little time had passed since he proposed the resolution at the Oct. 27 meeting. He said the Senate Assembly had invited Athletic Director Bill Martin to attend the meeting to discuss the prac- tice. The audit, recently obtained by The Michigan Daily, says the Athletic Department paid the expenses of seven of the 10 APC members for the 2006- 2007 academic year to attend the 2007 Rose Bowl "as guests of the Athletic Department." Although the Assembly's executive committee, the Senate Advisory Com- mittee on University Affairs, unani- mously agreed upon the audit's release that the practice should be reviewed, no action has been taken apart from Riles's resolution. University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said University Provost Teresa Sullivan has taken the audit's findings "under advisement." How- ever, Sullivan, who oversees all aca- demic issues at the University, has no plans to change the practice, Cun- ningham said. FOOT SOLDIERS IN THE BLOOD BATTLE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY In campus talk, congressman will discuss role of engineers in society Ehlers to focus on how math and science can solve society's problems By VERONICA MENALDI Daily StaffReporter U.S. Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Grand Rapids) will deliver the second annual James R. Mellor Lecture today at 4 p.m. in the Chrysler Center's Chesebrough Auditorium on North Campus to discuss the role of engineering in society and how it can benefit the public. Ehlers's speech, titled "Our Planet's Overlooked Resource: Engineers," will focus on how engineers and their work can solve problems in today's society. Kavan Chapman, Rep. Ehlers's press secretary, said Ehlers "is going to be talking about what engi- neers do outside of normal workplace activities and basically saying that (the public) should be benefiting from them a lot more than we are." Ehlers has represented Michigan in the House of Representatives since 1993 and, before that, served as a state senator and president pro tempore in the Michigan Senate from 1985 to 1993. He currently serves on four House committees: the Committee on House Administration, the Com- mittee on Education and Labor, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Commit- tee on Science and Technology. Chapman said Ehlers has been a "long time advo- See LECTURE, Page 7A Nancy Choi, an Office of Admissions employee, gives blood at the Union yesterday for the 27th Annual Blood Battle. Michigan hasn't won the competition against Ohio State in five years. The schools hope to collect 2,400 units this year. WEATHER HI: 47 TOMORROW LO: 44 GOT A NEWS TIP? 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