DUELING PERSPECTIVES With the Michigan Student Assembly election only a day away, the two major parties argue for why they deserve your vote. U SEE OPINION, PAGE 4 Wie t1idIgan Bai Ann Arbor, Michigan Tuesday, March 17, 2009 michigandaily.com CHRIS DZOMBAK/Daily The three presidential candidates in this week's MSA election, the Defend Affirmative Action Party's Kate Stenvig (left), the Michigan Vision Party's Abishek Manhanti (center) and the reMichigan Campaign's Gibran Baydoun (right) debate last night at Palmer Commons. MSA candidates talk platforms Despite heated race, few sparks fly in debate last night By JENNA SKOLLER Daily StaffReporter At a debate last night in advance of the upcoming Michigan Stu- dent Assembly elections set to take place tomorrow and Thursday, the audience of about 100 people was split down the middle. In support of their respective presidential and vice presiden- tial candidates, ReMichigan's red shirts sat to the right, Michigan Vision Party's green shirts sat to the left and the Defend Affirma- tive Action Party sat in the front of the Palmer Common's auditorium during the nearly two-hour event that included a discussion of each party's plan to reform MSA. The presidential candidates - DAAP's Kate Stenvig, a Rackham graduate student, MVP's Abhishek Mahanti, an Engineering junior and reMichigan's Gibran Baydoun, an LSA junior - took questions from debate moderator Prof. Scott Page, a former MSA president from 1984-1985. Though Page asked the candi- dates questions about their quali- fications and managerial styles, one of the most apparent themes in the debate surrounded the Stop the Hike Campaign, an initiative to freeze tuition at the University. The candidates had a minute and a half to answer Page's ques- tions, which were collected from interested students. There were no rebuttals, but Page was permitted to ask follow-up questions. Mahanti said that though he thinks tuition is too high, a tuition freeze might not be the answer because of possible future reper- cussions. He said MSA should take advantage of its potential to help students with issues like finding affordable textbooks and getting financial aid. "if we do freeze tuition, it might jump up later, itrnightnot; we don't exactly know what the repercus- sions may be," he said. "But when it comes to financial aid, it's some- thing that we have to hold Provost (Teresa) Sullivan to when she says that financial aid will increase if tuition increases, at the same rate." See DEBATE, Page 7 ACADEMIC FREEDOM $35 Faculty push for more protection -~$25 Report from faculty Thursday. a professor from the University of nade outside of his official duties, V Members of the faculty group Wisconsin at Milwaukee who crit- like in a public newspaper, the o $20 body asks 'U' to the Senate Advisory Committee icized his superiors for mishan- court said his rights may have been on University Affairs discussed dling a federal grant. Shortly after protected. $15 change policy before submitting a letter to the regents his criticism, the University of In their report, SACUA mem- at one of its meetings earlier this Wisconsin at Milwaukee returned bers have written that the Renken Q $0 problems arise month. The group decided to draft the grant money and Renken's pay case, among others, demonstrates $Z a report to the regents on the topic was cut. the need for action by the Univer- By AKSDJF KALSDFJ k Daily News Writer Professors at the University need greater academic freedom rights. Or so say members of the University's top faculty body in a report that will be submitted to the University's Board of Regents on in response to several recent court cases in which professors' right to speak out publicly against the University they work for have been brought into question. One recent case SACUA mem- bers will use as an example in their report to the regents will be Ren- ken v. Gregory. The case involved Renken sued the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, claiming his right to dissent was protected by the First Amendment. How- ever, the court ruled that because Renken's comments were made in connection to his official duties at the university, his rights were not protected. Had his comments been, sity of Michigan. "We have come to believe quite strongly that Michigan needs to preempt these developments by shifting away from the First Amendment to a reassertion of aca- demic freedom within the institu- tion," SACUA members wrote. See PROTECTION, Page 3 ENGINEERING A NEW AGE Students connect Kenyans to the Web UNIVERSITY SENATE ASSEMBLY Coleman:'U'will grow despite economic woes Engineering students install satellite Internet connections in rural Africa By MALLORY BEBERMAN Daily StaffReporter As they watched Kenyan commu- nity members search the Internet for the first time, three University graduates learned there is nothing more satisfying than impacting the lives of others through one's own hard work. Last November, three graduate students from the College of Engi- neering traveled to remote loca- tions in Kenya to establish Internet connections using their own satel- lite-system designs. The trip was the result of the work done by 25 students in the aerospace system design classes taught by Thomas Zurbuchen, pro- fessor of aerospace engineering and atmospheric, oceanic and space science. In the classes, students were challenged to design a satel- lite-based system that would bring Internet to rural parts of the world. Kelly Moran, who graduated in December with an Engineering master's degree, was among those who ventured to Kenya. She said the class first focused on See INTERNET, Page 3 Budget process is on schedule, says University president By KYLE SWANSON Daily StaffReporter University President Mary Sue Coleman delivered her annual update to the faculty's top governing body yesterday, at the Senate Assembly's monthly meeting in Palmer Commons. . Coleman touched on a wide range of issues, including the University's announcement that it would purchase the former Pfizer Inc. complex on North Campus, its budget planning, and its recently completed fund development effort, The Michi- gan Difference Campaign. Talking about the University's budget, Coleman said everything is on schedule and should be ready to present to the University Board of Regents in June. Coleman said the University is continuouslyworkingtoimprove, despite tough economic times. "I'm not satisfied trying to just keep us where we are," she said. "We have to come out of this recession stronger than we went in." Coleman indicated she is opti- mistic about how state funding and stimulus money will help the University next year. "With everything else going on, what we do in terms of edu- See SENATE ASSEMBLY, Page 3 WEATHER H I: 54 TOMORROW LU 3) GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news omichigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Anatomy of the Endowment series. EDITORSPAGE.BLOGS.MICHIGANDAILY.COM INDEX Vol CXIX, No. f 02009 The Michigan Daly michioaily.com N EW S ................................... 2 SUDOKU..............................3 OPINION..............................4 ARTS .................................... 5 CLASSIFIEDS .........................6 SPORTS ................................ 8