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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Thursday, January 29, 2009

michigandaily.com

HATCHER'S TOP SHELF

STATE GOVERNMENT
'U' alum
set to take
reigns of
state GOP

CHANEL VON HABSBURG-LOTHRINGEN/Daily
For a slideshow of some other finds in [he Special Several types of old bibles, some of which date back to the 1890s, sit safely on the shelves of the Special
Collections Library, go to michigandaily.com. Collections Library, located in Hatcher Graduate Library. The Special Collections Library holds 7 million
volumes of books and serials, as well as one of the world's leading collections of electronic resources.
FIGHTING ILLEGAL FILE-SHARING
RJAA dro1"ps C'John D -oe' lawsuits

Weiser, a former
ambassador, says he
can rebuild party
By JACOB SMILOVITZ
Managing News Editor
The challenges facing the next
head of the Michigan Republican
Party appear daunting.
That person must stymie the
tide of Democratic support in the
state following President Barack
Obama's overwhelming vic-
tory among Michigan voters in
November. And that person must
also do that fast enough to give
the GOP a chance to take back the
state's governorship in 2010.
But the University alum now
in position to take the reigns of
the Michigan GOP says he's up to
challenge.
Ambassador Ronald Weiser,
who spent his undergraduate
years at the University before
graduating with honors from
the Business School, approaches
the job with the precision and
straightforwardness of an entre-
preneur.
"It'slike a business thatis being
run really well but isn't making
money - you have to change it,"
Weiser said in a phone interview
last night. "Our profit is wins, and
we haven't had many lately.
"So, we're going to have to

change what we've been saying
and what we've been doing," he
said.
Weiser all but locked up the
chairmanship when former State
Rep. Jack
Hoogendyk
(R-Texas Twp.)
announced
earlier this
week that he
was dropping
his bid for
the position.
Michigan WEISER
Republicans
will officially choose a new chair-
man when they hold their state
convention in Lansing from Feb.
20 to Feb. 21.
In a phone interview lastnight,
Hoogendyk said he felt it was the
right time to leave the race.
"Looking at the landscape of
the whole picture, I just felt that
it was the right thing for me to do,
for myself, for my family and for
the party," he said.
Hoogendyk -said Weiser must
focus on the issues that are the
"hallmarks of the Republican
Party" - limiting the size of gov-
ernment and raining in runaway
spending - if he hopes to revi-
talize the Republican base in the
state.
Weiser agrees,sayingthatwhen
Obama was rallying Democratic
support in the state before the
See WEISER, Page SA

Seven of the cases
involved students
at the University
By AMY MUNSLOW
Daily StaffReporter
Folowing through with its new
strategy for curbing illegal music
downloading, the Recording Indus-
try Association of America has

dropped pending lawsuits against
seven students at the University.
Charges were also dropped
against students at the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte,
North Carolina State University
and Rhode Island College.
Jack Bernard, the University's
assistant general counsel, said he
was glad to hear that the RIAA had
dropped the lawsuits.
"I'm all for it," he said. "(The
RIAA) said they weren't going to

pursue college students anymore,
and it looks like they are sticking to
their statements."
The RIAA has t dropped all of
the cases without prejudice, which
means that the group retains the
right to sue the students at a later
date.
In past cases, immediately after
filing a lawsuit against a Univer-
sity of Michigan student, the RIAA
would issue a subpoena to the Uni-
versity, giving it 30 days to disclose

the individual's identity, Bernard
said.
Throughout the five years of
the RIAA's litigation strategy, the
trade group relied on the Univer-
sity to pass along settlement offers
to students whom it accused of
file-sharing. Students could then
decide whether to settle by pay-
ing fees to RIAA, fight a lawsuit in
court or do nothing in hoping that
it would not sue.
See RIAA, Page 5A


THE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
New project
. lets blind enjoy
library's riches

RENOVATING CAMPUS BUlIDINGS
Dennison rooms to
become office space

0 Library can now
turn centuries old
books into Braille
By A. BRAD SCHWARTZ
Daily StaffReporter
Armed with digital versions
of most of the publications in its
collection, the University Library
has developed new means for the
blind and other disabled persons
to enjoy the fruits it has to offer.
As part of a partnership
between the Google Book Library
Project and University Libraries
to digitize the University's collec-
tion, Google has been scanning
* images of a large majority of the
Libraries' materials to later be
put online and shared with stu-
dents and subscribers around the
globe.
But officials at the Hathi Trust
Digital Library, formerly known
as MBooks, are in the process of

making all those books available
to people whose disabilities had
prevented them from getting the
most out of their library experi-
ences.
"It's like we've given all of
these people a library card," said
Jack Bernard, assistant general
counsel and chair of the Univer-
sity's Council for Disability Con-
cerns.
Bernard said that making
printed books accessible to those
who are unable to use them was
one of the goals of the University
Library's partnership with the
Google Book Project.
"We decided, as part of this
project, that one of the great
things that we could pursue is
making our library immediately
accessible to our patrons with
disabilities by having the books
in a digital forimat," Bernard
said.
Once the books are digitized,
students who have registered
See BOOKS, Page SA

Dr. Benjamin Reubinoff presents the A. Alfred Taubman Lectureship on stem cell
research yesterday in the Biomedical Science Research Building Auditorium.
Doctor shows researchers
new stem cell techniques

In Taubman Lecture,
Reubinoff discusses
cures for disorders
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily StaffReporter
In the wake of the loosening of
Michigan's steim cell research reg-
ulations, the University's Taubman
Institute brought in Dr. Benjamin
Reubinoff, a leading embryonic
stern cell researcher from Israel, to
discuss his cutting-edge research
methods.

With the auditorium of the Bio-
medical Science Research Build-
ing full of doctors and researchers,
including University President
Mary Sue Coleman, Reubinoff gave
the 2nd Annual Alfred A. Taubman
Lectureship on how therapies dis-
covered through embryonic stem
research could one daytreat neuro-
logical disorders.
During the lecture, Reubinoff
discussed how he and his team of
researchers developed new stem
cell lines that are derived from
human embryos. In the wake of
the passage of Proposal 2, a con-
See STEM CELLS, Page SA

Revamped area will
soon provide
permanent space
for three groups
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily StaffReporer
For many students at the Uni-
versity, having a class in the
Dennison building can be an
excruciating experience. Howev-
er, a project currently underway
could alleviate some students'
frustration by eliminating some
classrooms from Dennison Hall.
In an interview this week, Pro-
vost Teresa Sullivan said plans
are in the works to renovate the
fourth floor of Dennison and con-
vert the floor into office spaces.
The University's Board of
Regents has not yet approved
the proposal, but if passed, the
renovation will begin as soon as
the semester ends and should be
completed this summer.
The Graham Environmental
Sustainability Institute, the Cen-
ter for Global Health and the Stu-
dent Sustainability Initiative will

all be located in the new office
space. Currently, thethreegroups
arelocatedintemporary orleased
spaces that don't meet their cur-
rent needs, Sullivan said.
"These places have inadequate
space," Sullivansaid, commenting
on a visit to the Student Sustain-
ability Initiative. "It had so many
students mit Ithought we weren't
going to have any oxygen."
Sullivan said the move would,
in the long run, save the Uni-
versity money and improve
student's overall educational
experience.
"It won't hurt the educational
program," she said. "In fact, itwill
make it better because nobody's
going to have to teach or learn on
the fourth floor of Dennison any-
more."
Sullivan added that new class-
rooms at the Ross School of Busi-
ness building, Museum of Art and
North Quad would compensate
for the loss of classrooms at Den-
nison.
"These classrooms are terrible
classrooms; they're flat, they're
not technology-enhanced; they're
noisy," Sullivan said of classrooms
in Dennison. "We can replace
See DENNISON, Page SA


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