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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Friday, January 23, 2009

michigandaily.com

SALMONELLA OUTBREAK
Res halls
bring peanut
butter back
Peanut products which are managed by AVI Food
Systems.
pulled Monday, Residential Dining Services
staff received an e-mail on Mon-
back on shelves day from University Housing
administrators advising them to
yesterday suspend the use of peanut butter
products and to instruct all greet-
By JENNA SKOLLER ers, cashiers and supervisory staff
Daily StaffReporter to explain the situation if custom-
ers have questions.
America's favorite sandwich "There is information coming
was missing its better half. from the FDA directing the pub-
Peanut butter products were lic to refrain from purchasing and
pulled from the dining menus of consuming peanut butter," the
residence halls and retail opera- e-mail said. "That alone can create
tions across campus Monday in concerns even for those products
light of the recent national out- deemed safe."
break of salmonella, though none The e-mail also instructed
of the brands used in University staffers to post signs at the greeter
cafeterias were linked with the and cashier stations and on vend-
bacteria. Yesterday, University ing machines to explain the situa-
Housing decided to put the pea- tion and to assure customers that
nut butter products back on the all products sold haven't been
its shelves because the brands recalled.
the University uses to get these The University restored the
products were not linked to any peanut products yesterday after
problems in the Food and Drug the FDA and the Centers for Dis-
Administration investigation of ease Control traced sources of
the outbreak. the salmonella outbreak to a pro-
Peanut butter products were cessing plant in Blakely, Georgia
also removed from the vending owned by Peanut Corporation of
machines in the residence halls, See PEANUT BUTTER, Page 7

University administrators watch a presentation about the University's research funding at the Board of Regents meeting in the Fleming Administration Building yesterday
Research funds hit high mark

$876 million total
the highest in
University history
By KYLE SWANSON and
MALLORY JONES
Daily StaffReporters
Continuing a trend of the Uni-
versity's insulation from the state's
and country's economic troubles,

research funding at the University
reached an all-time high last year
and is expected to set a new record
this year.
In his annual report to the Board
of Regents yesterday, Vice President
for Research Stephen Forrest said
the University's research funding
increased by 6.4 percent, to a total
of $876 million.
That number sets the Univer-
sity's total funding for research
above those schools it considers to

be its peers, including Stanford Uni-
versity, the University of California
at Berkeley and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Federal funding to the Univer-
sity of Michigan increased by 2.7
percent - to $611 million - while
business contributions to research
jumped 11 percent from last year, to
$43 million.
Despite the record-setting
amounts spent on research, For-
rest said he expects an additional 6

percent increase in funding for the
2009 fiscal year. Research funding
currently accounts for nearly one-
third of the University's non-hospi-
tal budget.
While the currenteconomic crisis
and new federal and local govern-
mental priorities have shifted focus
toward energy research, Forrest said
the University's long-term planning
already places it at the forefront of
this emerging research field.
See RESEARCH, Page 7

BOARD OF REGENTS MEETING
Crisler renovations pass

50,000-square-foot,
$23M facility gets
unanimous go-ahead
By KYLE SWANSON
DailyStaffReporter
The University Board of Regents
voted unanimously yesterday to
authorize the Athletic Department
to move forward with plans to con-
struct a new practice facility next
to Crisler Arena.
The 50,000-square-foot facility
is expected to cost more than $23
million and will be paid for with
Athletic Department funds and
private donations. The new facil-
ity will include two new basketball
practice courts, team locker areas,

strength and conditioning space,
athletic medicine space and coach-
ing and staff offices.
At yesterday's meeting, Univer-
sity President Mary Sue Coleman
said the facility is a necessary addi-
tion to the athletic campus.
"There's been a lot of planning
for this," she told the regents. "I
think the need is well established."
RegentLaurenceDeitch(D-Bing-
ham Farms) added to Coleman's
comments, saying the addition has
been needed for some time.
"It's long overdue," he said.
Athletic Director Bill Martin
was present at the meeting, but did
not speak about the proposal. In a
statement released after the meet-
ing, Martin said he was thankful
for the regents' approval.
"I am truly appreciative of the

efforts of all involved to start this
project," he said. "I can't wait to
get the shovel in the ground and get
started on this project."
Crisler Arena's game court is
currently the only practice court for
the men's and women's basketball
teams. Martin said the addition
will provide more flexibility for the
teams' management and athletes.
"It's an exciting day for both
the men's and women's basketball
teams," Martin said in a statement.
"The facility will allow our student
athletes to practice later in the day,
giving them more flexibility in
scheduling their academic classes."
Women's Basketball Coach Kevin
Borseth said in a written statement
that he was excited for the new
facility.
See CRISLER, Page 7

STUDIO 4 CONTROVERSY
UAAO looks to mediation
to solve Studio 4 dispute

Edward Vielmetti invented a new service that lets people check how many spots are available in a structure from their phone
New system allows people to
check parking space availability

Asian American
student group
unsure if night club
will join in process
By MATT AARONSON
Daily StaffReporter
The United Asian American
Organizations have gone to the Uni-
versity's Office of Student Conflict
Resolution to open a mediation pro-
cess with management from the Stu-
dio 4 nightclub. The club is located
on 4th Avenue in Ann Arbor.

Leaders of the Chinese Stu-
dent Association and the Filipino
American Student Association
- two groups included in UAAO
- claim that the club's managers
broke a revenue-sharing contract
and used racial profiling to deter-
mine the amount of money they
would receive from a fundraiser the
groups were holding at the club on
Nov. 8 of last year.
Ravi Bodepudi, co-chair of the
UAAO, said nobody from the orga-
nization has been in contact with
anyone fromStudio 4 since just after
the incident. He said there are plans
to meet with the OSCR this week to
discuss a course of action.

OSCR, part of the Division of
Student Affairs, offers conflict
resolution services to anyone with
a University affiliation. All parties
must consent to the process.
Laura Misumi, UAAO's other co-
chair, said that for her, their activ-
ism after this incident was about
"creating awareness of student
empowerment."
Bodepudi had doubts about the
effectiveness of mediation.
"We're not really sure if an apol-
ogy would be enough," he said.
OSCR representatives said that
they could not disclose informa-
tion about any specific mediation
See STUDIO 4, Page 7

Anyone can call, the approximate amount of open
spaces in that area by calling the
find out where parking availability line at (734)
272-0909. It's even possible to
open spots are receive a call back from the opera-
tor when the structure selected
By EMILY ORLEY has less than 10 spaces left.
For The Daily "I walk past those parking struc-
ture signs everyday," Vielmetti
For those lucky students who said. "I know that there are people
have cars in this blistering winter, who complain about not being able
one of the few major difficulties is to find a place to park who have
finding a parking space near their plenty of places for parking."
classroom building. However, this Vielmettisaidtheinitialthought
task is usually easier said than came to him practically by chance,
done - until now. but it quickly turned into an inter-
Ann Arbor residents Edward esting concept.
Vielmetti and Fred Posner recent- Since the Ann Arbor Downtown
ly came up with the idea to create Development Authority already
real-time parking availability that had a website that provided space
can be accessed directly from any availability, all Vielmetti had to
touch-tone phone. do was create a way to access the
Anyone can select a parking website's data from your phone.
structure and instantly receive Vielmetti said Posner was able

to develop the phone service inless
than a day.
And even though the service is
already up and running, Vielmetti
said their project is far from com-
plete. They're hoping to expand
the idea to other forms of trans-
portation, with the next step being
real-time bus notifications.
"As soon as we built the phone
thing for the parking structure,
the bus thing just looks really obvi-
ous," Vielmetti said.
This time of year, having infor-
mation about the buses saves peo-
ple time and allows them to stay
warmer. Instead of having to wait
outside for a long period of time or
chase down a bus that is just pull-
ing away, with Vielmetti's new
invention, people will be able to
anticipate bus arrivals.
However, the city's website that
See PARKING, Page 7


TODAY'S H 1:16
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