8A - Thursday, December 4, 2008

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com *

Automakers seek support
for bailout on Capitol Hill

Study: State gets an'F'
for college affordability

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Execs to discuss deal
before Congressional
leaders today
WASHINGTON (AP) - Imper-
iled automakers and their union
worked feverishly yesterday to sell a
skeptical Congress on a $34 billion
aid plan, promising labor conces-
sions' and restructuring. The Sen-
ate's Democratic leader said there
still weren't enoughvotes to tap the
$700 billion federal bailout found to
prop up the founderingfBig Three.
One day before the chiefs of the
auto companies return to Capitol
Hill to make their urgent cases for
loans, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said
the money was unlikely to come
from the Wall Street rescue fund.
"I just don't think we have the
votes to do that now," Reid told The
Associated Press in an interview.
The White House called the tim-
ing of his comments "interesting"
coming on the eve of high-stakes
congressional hearings Democrats
demanded. '
"It's not hospitable," said Dana
Perino, the White House press sec-
retary.
In Capitol Hill meetings, indus-
try officials said the collapse of one
or more of the Big Three carmakers
could greatly worsen the nation's
recession and undermine the com-
panies' ability to survive.
"We're on the brink with the U.S.
ANDERSON
From Page 1A
son was a generous, dedicated and
passionate doctor who was a great
friend to everyone he treated.
"He was kind of a throwback to
the old family doctor," said Terry
Smith,' a retired minister from
First Congregational Church. "You
could just go in and talk to him, and
there wasn't any hustle to get you
out."
Many members of First Congre-
gational Church and the communi-
ty where he lived on South Seventh
Street said he was happy to provide
his medical expertise to anyone
who came to his door.

auto manufacturing industry. We're
down to months left," Chrysler's
vice chairman, Jim Press, told the
AP in a separate interview. "If we
have a catastrophic failure of one of
these car companies, in this tender
environment for the economy, it's a
huge blow. It could triggera depres-
sion."
The United Auto Workers union,
scrambling to preserve jobs and
benefits, agreed at an emergency
meeting in Detroit to allow the com-
panies to delay payments to a mul-
tibillion-dollar, union-run health
care trust and to scale back a jobs
bank in which laid-off workers are
paid most of their wages. The con-
cessions could help mollify some
lawmakers who have criticized the
union's benefits as too rich when
compared with those of workers
at foreign-brand auto plants in the
U.S.
The Bush administration and
auto-state Republicans and Demo-
crats are pushing to help the auto-
makers with aid from a different
source: a previously approved $25
billion program that's supposed to
be used to help them produce more
environmentally advanced vehicles.
Environmentalists - and a num-
ber of powerful friends in Congress
- are vigorously opposing that idea.
Reid said the administration
could act unilaterally to use a por-
tion of the Wall Street bailout pro-
gram for loans to the automakers,
but the White House has consis-
"He's one of a dying breed - the
last kind of 'your home physician;'
a doctor that would, in this day and
age, would still go to your house,"
said Michael. "You could stop by
his house. His door was always
open, never said, no to anybody."
Numerous people at the service
said Anderson often provided his
medical services at no charge when
patients visited his home.
Darcy Crain, an associate min-
ister at First Congregational, said
Anderson established a program to
provide free free physical exami-
nations to high school students
while he was a resident at Hurley
Medical Center in Flint.
"He was not mechanical. He
was a caring kind of doctor," Smith

tently resisted that approach.
"There's talk going around now
that the Bush White House may ask
for" the second $350 billion install-
ment of the $700 billion financial
industry rescue fund, Reid said.
But if Bush's team doesn't act, he
said, "I think that we are probably
going to have to try to do some-
thing" in Congress.
Reid said he would rely on Sen.
Chris Dodd, D-Conn., chairman of
the Senate Banking Committee, to
determine what kind of legislation
would be appropriate.
The autoworkers' concessions are
"a step inthe right direction," he said.
"I think it's too bad that negoti-
ated contracts between labor and
management are going to have to be
changed," Reid said. "But its obvious
to everyone-asstrongofaunionguy
as I am - it's obvious that there has to
be some changes made."
Ahead of Thursday's televised
hearings, GM's president and chief
operating officer, Fritz Henderson,
met with congressional aides and
said bankruptcy for his company
would further erode consumer con-
fidence. About 25 auto dealers also
combed through House and Senate
office buildings, lobbying for the
bailout package.
General Motors Corp., Chrysler
LLC and Ford Motor Co. submit-
ted three separate survival plans to
Congress this week after flunking
their first attempt to persuade law-
makers to throw them a lifeline.
said.
UHS Director Robert Winfield
said Anderson was also working
part-time at the University Hospi-
tal's faculty practice site in eastern
Ann Arbor.
Former Michigan football coach
Lloyd'Carr, who once worked with
Anderson, said people used to joke
that Anderson was the poorest
doctor in Ann Arbor because he
worked for the Athletic Depart-
ment at a lower pay rate than what
the average doctor would make.
"If any of us didn't feel well or
had the flu or our kids were sick, we
had the comfort of knowing that
he was going to drop what he was
doing," Carr said. "He was a tre-
mendous asset in this community."

Every state except
California received
a failing grade
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily StaffReporter
The state of Michigan received
a failing grade in college afford-
ability study released Tuesday.
The study, published by the
National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education, gave F's
to 48 other states, with California
receiving the only passing grade. It
received a C.
Titled Measuring Up, the study
found that families are dishing out
a greater portion of their income
to pay for their kids' college educa-
tions. It said low-income families are
impacted the most by rising tuition
rates, with the average allocating 48
percent oftheir incometo pay tuition
for four-year public colleges.
The number of flunking states
increased from two years ago,
when the study placed 43 states on
the failing list.
While University officials agreed
rising tuition and college costs are
a concern, they were skeptical of
the report's grades.
"When you give 49 out of SO
states a failing grade, maybe there's
something wrong with the way it's
calculated," said Michael Boulus,
JOURNALISM
From Page 1A
lic after having asked listeners to
e-mail their own thoughts on the
auto industry's potential collapse.
He attributed this new interaction
between the public and the media
to the rise of new communication
technologies.
"Now it's much easier to connect
with the audience in an interactive
way," he said.
Of course, new advances in
journalism-related technologies do
come with a few pitfalls the poten-
tial pitfalls, Duffy added.
"Every time there's a new tech-
nical ability, our boss says, 'That's

executive director for the Presi-
dent's Council, a lobbying group for
the state's public universities.
With a decrease in taxpayer
aid, Michigan public universities
have increased tuition costs over
the past several years. In 2006,
the University raised the under-
graduate tuition rate 12.3 percent
for in-state students. In the 2008-
2009 academic year, the University
increased tuition 5.6 percent.
To combat rising costs, the Uni-
versity Board of Regents approved
in June a 10.8 percent increase in
undergraduate financial aid for
this year - granting $107.6 million
from the general fund for financial
aid compared to the $99 million
allocated the previous year.
University Provost Teresa Sul-
livan said in a video posted on
CTools that the University real-
izes families are facing unforeseen
financial problems due to job loss,
foreclosures and business declines.
In the video, Sullivan urged stu-
dents to seek financial help from
the Office of Financial Aid to alle-
viate tuition costs.
"We know some students will
need additional assistance to cover
their costs, and the University
should be the first place you turn
to for loans and advice," she said in
the video message.
Cynthia Wilbanks, the Universi-
ty's vice president for government
relations, said the state has worked
great - do that too!"' he said.
"So there is this burn out (among
reporters). Its just go, go, go. What
suffers, then, is the reporting."
Another topic raised during the
discussion was the future relation-
ship between the media and the
incoming Obama administration.
Duffy said he thinks most politi-
cians go into office thinking they're
going to be close to the media, but
that they usually get burned after a
long campaign that exposes the risks
with being too open with the media.
Public Policy junior Sarah
Pendergarten, who attended the
forum, said she enjoyed the debate
between the panel members who
all represent some of Michigan's
most venerable media outlets. ,

hard to increase financial aid to the
University, but state support has
declined in dollars and overall per-
centages.
"The state as a whole has faced
some pretty dramatic economic
problems, and the colleges and uni-
versities have not been immune to
the resultingcuts taking place," she
said.
Wilbanks said the fact that so
many states have fallen into the
same category as Michigan is
troubling.
"Unfortunately, 48 states are fac-
ing similar situations with respect
to state revenues," she said. "The
universities are working harder and
harder to reduce their costs in order
to minimize the amount of tuition
increases necessary to provide an
excellent education."
Wilbanks noted the University has
increasedits privatesupportthrough
fundraisers such as the Michigan
Difference Campaign, which has
raised more than $3 billion.
Boulus added that the Uni-
versity's tuition is increasing
mainly because the state has cut
financial support for seven consec-
utive years.
"State appropriations have been
going down considerably," Boulus
said. "We owe to our students the
best education we can provide for
you. We put our students first, and
we're not getting the support from
the state."
She added that she appreciated
the panel members's willingness to
discuss issues of concern to those
in the audience.
"It was really focused on what
the audience wants, like if they see
that a lot of people are looking at
the Big Three auto company sto-
ries online, then they'll play those
more prominently on TV and inthe
news," she said.
Taryn Hartman, a University
alum now working at a Detroit-
area newspaper, said she found the
forum interesting, but added that
it did little to answer the questions
she has as a young journalist.
"How much longer are we
gonna have hard products that we
can hold in our hands?" she asked.
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