The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 3 The Michigan Daily michigandailycom Tuesday, March 17, 2009 - 3 NEWS BRIEFS DETROIT GM to close midsize-car factory for three weeks General Motors Corp. will tem- porarily close a midsize-car fac- tory near Pontiac, Mich., for three weeks due lower demand for its products, a company spokesman said yesterday. GM's Orion Township plant, which makes the Pontiac G6 and Chevrolet Malibu, will close the weeks of March 30, April 6 and April 13 to "align production with market demand," spokesman Chris Lee said. The factory has about 3,200 hourly workers who will get state unemployment benefits and sup- plemental pay from the company that total about 85 percent of their base pay. The closure is specific to the Orion plant's products and not part of alarger company production cut, Lee said. NEW YORK If government gets way, Ruth Madoff will get nothing Prosecutors probing Bernard Madoff's massive fraud are deter- mined to leave his wife with almost nothing after telling a Manhattan court that they consider more than $100 million in assets, most of it listed in her name, the fruits of her husband's crimes. The government even includ- ed a $39,000 Steinway piano and $65,000 in silverware, both owned by Ruth Madoff, in items it said it will try to force the Madoffs to for- feit. The list was in a three-page document filed in U.S. District Court late Sunday. Brenda Sharton, a lawyer with a Boston firm representing several burned investors, said the govern- ment's aggressive approach with Ruth Madoff isn't surprising. "I don't think it's unusual ... given the magnitude of the fraud," she said. "It would be unusual if they didn't go after whatever assets they can get." WASHINGTON Obama plans boost in lending for small-businesses Seeking to counter a chorus of unhappy Republicans and nervous Wall Street investors, President Barack Obama and his economic team are taking a cheerier tone while making billions in federal loans available to the nation's struggling small businesses. Obama and Treasury Secre- tary Timothy Geithner yester- day planned to announce a broad package that includes reduced small-business lending fees and an increase on the guarantee to some Small Business Administration loans. A day earlier, the president's adviserssaidintelevisioninterviews that they remained confident in the nation's economic fundamentals, at times adopting upbeat rhetoric the president once mocked. "The fundamentals are sound in the sense that the American workers are sound, we have a good capital stock, we have good tech- nology," said Christina Romer, who heads the White House Council of Economic Advisers.d. In report, faculty members call for greater protections From Page 1 The report calls on the regents and University admin- istrators to create a policy that will extend faculty members' academic rights to include the freedom of speech as defined in this circumstance. "We recommend that the Uni- versity ... expand the definition of academic freedom to cover speech 'on matters of public concern as well as on matters related to pro- fessional duties and the function- ing of the university,' " the report said. According to the report, such a change would protect faculty members from a possible aca- demic freedom issue, like the one at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee in the future. "Such a change would have the benefit of discouraging routine use of administrative discipline against professors who raise internal criticisms against this university's policies and their implementation," SACUA wrote. Although the full report is posted on the regents' website, the regents will not officially receive the report until their monthly meeting on Thursday afternoon. Classics and Law School Prof. Bruce Frier, who helped draft the report to the regents, said earlier this month that the report was meant to notify the regents of the issue, but that he didn't expect the regents to take action on it. "It really is just a courtesy to the regents," he said. "It's not that I think anyone really expects the regents to do anything (about this) themselves." Frier said SACUA wanted to bring the issue before the regents now, while the issue is not of immediate concern, to avoid the perception that the report had any ties to a situation on campus. "We wanted to proceed now before there was a controversy so it would not seem that when a controversy eventually occurred it was coming up in the context of some specific debate," he said. SACUA has already met with the Office of the President, Office of the Provost and the Office of the General Counsel on the issue. University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham said the University doesn't believe this is a topic of concern or that anythingneeds to be done about the issue. "Our commitment to pro- tecting faculty free speech is as strong as ever," she wrote in an e-mail. "(The court cases) do not change our fundamental philoso- phy and commitment to faculty free speech and academic free- dom." In an exclusive interview yes- terday, Provost Teresa Sullivan said she didn't yet know enough about the issue to choose a side. "I don'thave a sufficientunder- standing of (the cases)," she said, adding that she would need to review a legal memorandum on the issue first. Sullivan said that while there isn't time to review the issue right now, she may look into it over the summer. "I think that right now we don't have time to get a complete legal memorandum on this," she said. "I'd like to see if General Counsel can help me with that in the summer." President Mary Sue Coleman addresses the Faculty Senate Assembly yesterday to discuss the affairs of the University. SENATE ASSEMBLY From Page 1 cating our students is absolutely critical," she said. "We do believe the University of Michigan will be well-positioned." Although the University may receive additional money from the federal stimulus package, Coleman said the University would not use that money for recurringexpenses. "We will not pay ongoing expenses of the operating budget - that will have to be paid forever - with one-time money," she said of the stimulus funds. Coleman stressed how impor- tant faculty members were to the success of the Michigan Differ- ence campaign. The ,campaign, which ended at the end of last year, set the record for the largest fundraising effort of any public university in the United States. "As I review what's happened in the campaign, I am always reminded of the participation INTERNET Vermont considers From Page 1 of the faculty and how much of our faculty ... made what I con- sider to be unbelievably gener- ous donations to the University," she said. Coleman also discussed the University's plans to purchase the Pfizer's former Ann Arbor complex, saying the purchase will advance the University's mission and will help stimulate the econ- omy. "(This will) permit the Univer- sity to do things it couldn't even have dreamed of," she said: "(It will) change the shape of the Uni- versity." University officials announced in December they would purchase the former Pfizer complex on North Campus. The University is currently in the due diligence pro- cess in considering exactlywhat to house in the facility. The closing on the Pfizer deal is also expected to be announced in June, barring any unanticipated complications. Another new addition to the University that Coleman dis- excited and really happy," she said. "They thanked us over and over." Joan Ervin, a graduate of the College of Engineering, also trav- eled to Kenya. "You could feel that they under- stood that this could really change their lives," Ervin said. "They wanted to learn how to do every- thing for themselves." Trisha Donajkowski, a fellow graduate of the College of Engi- neering and the third of the trio to go to Kenya, said the system is comprised of a satellite dish, a solar panel, batteries and "electronics that manage the modem and wire- less router. She added that the sys- tem is operated by a combination of solar energy and battery power to account for the many locations without electricity. Ervin said the system works by transmitting a signal from the computer to a satellite dish. The satellite dish then relays the sig- nal to a ground station in Europe where the desired information is retrieved and sent back to Africa via the satellite. "Basically we are bypassing all the infrastructure that is usually required," Zurbuchen said. He said the system was installed to create a type of Internet cafe, cussed is the recently formed film office. The new office will handle the influx of requests from film studios to film on campus, as a result of the state's 40-percent tax incentive for the film industry. Coleman specifically talked about the recent filming of Betty Anne Waters - starring Hilary Swank and Minnie Driver - that filmed on campus over spring break. The filming allowed hun- dreds of students to serve as extras and learn more about the film production process, she said. On March 25, the University will launch a new website to high- light the University's accomplish- ments and ongoing work, Coleman said. "(It will be) a one-stop shop (with) easy to find information about events that are of interest... particularly to people involved in some of our funding," she said. - Shruti Gandhi contributed to this report. where community members could gather to surf the Web. Since the engineers left Kenya in November, Moran said "everything is really working well. They really haven't had many major problems that we've heard of." She said government officials are able to use the Internet to send documents faster than in the past. She added that citi- zens have utilized the Internet to learn about education, obtaining a visa, agriculture and disease prevention. All the students involved agreed that connecting Kenyans to the rest of the world through prod- ucts of their own labor was a life- changing experience. "I guess just my favorite thing was just that I could do something that I love," Donajkowski said. "I could apply engineering in a way that seemed like it mattered." Ervin said the experience. has made her realize what kind of work she wants to do in the future. "I think all of us are excited that we got to work on something that we actually went and built and implemented it and saw the effects of our work," she said. "It got us all fired up about doing something similar in the future." same-sex marriage Lawmakers to hold hearings on bill that would allow same-sex marriage MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Nine years after it played host to a bitter fight over civil unions, Vermont's Statehouse is again a gay rights battleground. More than 200 same-sex marriage opponents, cheering and wearing buttons that read "Marriage - A Mother & Father for Every Child," converged Monday on Montpelier as law- makers began a week's worth of hearings on a bill that would allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. If approved, Vermont would join Massachusetts and Con- necticut as the only U.S. states that allow gay marriage. The measure would replace Vermont's first-in-the-nation civil unions law with one that allows marriage of same-sex partners beginning Sept. 1. Civil unions, which confer some rights similar to marriage, would still be recognized but no longer granted after Sept. 1. Supporters cast the debate as a civil rights issue, saying a civil unions law enacted by the state in 2000 has fallen short of the equality it promised same-sex couples. Its appeal has declined, too: In 2001, the state granted 1,876 civil unions, compared with only 262 last year. Passing a gay marriage bill "is one of the most important civil rights issues of our time," said Greg Johnson, a Vermont Law School professor who testified before the state Senate Judiciary Committee on Monday. While the bill won't guaran- tee federal benefits, supporters say it would provide societal recognition, improve access to health benefits and eliminate one of two obstacles to federal protections such as Social Secu- rity survivor benefits. all areas around the world in need of the Internet but eventually cen- tered its attention on Africa. "We focused a lot on the ground system, how we could design a low-cost system that's very easy to deploy, easy to transport and sim- ple to use," Moran said. While the students never imag- ined their designs wouldbe applied to real-life scenarios, last summer the program's sponsor, Google, decided to turn their prototype into reality. Moran said after hearing about Google's plans to finance their trip to Kenya, "we were just blown away, we couldn't believe it." Once they knew their systems would be used, Moran said real- life conditions like heat and dust had to be taken into consider- ation. Moran said the Kenyan commu- nities they helped received them with open arms. She added that as she and her team entered a site, residents would run alongside the trucks and offer to help with the assembly process. "They were really eager, really Tuesdays Are South Of The Border Corona/Des Equis Specials All Night $2 Te jmi fa ,S tfn Ks=e ,A,- vodko Drink 25% Off Mexican Fare ,& NO COVER I'mmobr Rnrnti 4mmmeal4mm4m 1A *a% dummu -m I TEHRAN, IRAN Former president - s pulls out of Iranian 310 M ~WdSt. M Imm734%0100 - toud uxt to eMaywd w4I S1We presidential race Iran's most prominent reform- ist, former President Mohammed Khatami, pulled out of the race against the country's hard-line president yesterday, saying he didn't 7 3 2 4 want to split the pro-reform vote in upcomingelections. 2 1 3 Khatami's entry into the race against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a month ago boost- 8 3 4 7 ed the hopes of some among the reformists, who favor improving 5 6 9 ties with the West and liberalizing Iran's conservative Islamic gov- 4 7 5 ernment. But two other prominent reform- ists entered the race for the June 12 electionafterKhatami. Oneofthem, former Prime Minister Mir Hos- 9 8 sem Mousavi, is a former hard-liner who Khatami has said has a better chance of siphoning conservatives' votes. With Khatami pulling out, Mousavi is now seen as the leading 3 reformist candidate. - Compiled from Daily wire reports Accounting M.S.A. Biology M.S. Biostatistics M.S. Business Administration. M..A. CellandMolecular Biology M.S. Communications M.S. Corputer information Systems M.S. CriminalJustice M.. Education M.Ed. M.Ed. - Reading/Language Arts, School Counseling, or Special Education ducational Specialist in Leadership Ed.S. Engineering M.S.E. English M.A Health Admninistration M.H.A. Health Sciences M.H.S. Medical and Bioinformatics M.S. Nursing M.S.N. Occupational Therapy M.S. Physical Therapy D.RP.T Physician Assistant Stud is M.PA Public AdmnistrationM dA Social Work M.S .W Taxation M.S.T EXCELLENTCHOICE. 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