EIie Midigan &aiI
)NE-HUNDRED-NINETEEN YEARS OF E
IL FREEDOM
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
michigandaily.com
CREAMED CORN CONSTRUCTION
UNDERAGE DRINKING
Bill to alter
MIP laws
proposed
KRISTA BOYD/Daily
To celebrate Greek Week, members of the Team Iron Man pose with their winning canned food sculpture. The Canned Food Castle contest pitted members of campus sorori-
ties and fraternities against one another to see who has the greatest architectural prowess with creamed corn, green beans and crushed tomatoes. To compete, members of the
sorority and fraternity groups had to bring in a minimum of 250 cans to build their castle. The entries were then judged by kids from the Peace and Neighborhood Center.
ANN ARBOR'S NATIONAL BOOKSELLER
Tough day ahead for Borders
Plan would protect
underage drinkers
who bring sick
friends to hospital
By BENJAMIN S. CHASE
Daily StaffReporter
Under current Michigan law,
underage party-going students
who bring a drunk friend in need
of medical attention to a hospital
are fair game to be charged with a
minor in possession.
But state Sen. Liz Brater
(D-Ann Arbor) introduced a bill
in the Michigan Senate last week
that could change that.
Senate Bill 408, which is being
considered by the Senate Judi-
ciary Committee, would protect
minors who seek help for individ-
uals in need of medical attention
as a result of excessive alcohol
consumption - regardless of age.
Though Brater said she hopes
the bill will help save lives and
keep minors from fearing the
repercussions of calling 911 or
taking a friend to the hospital, she
added the bill is not designed to
excuse underage drinking.
"The bill is very narrowly con-
structed. It physically allows a
safe harbor for a minor in pos-
session who goes for medical
assistance for another minor in
possession in need of medical
assistance," Brater said. "It in no
way allows underage drinking
and it does not condone underage
drinking."
Though this is Brater's second
attempt to get the bill through
the Michigan legislature, it
comes several months after 134
college presidents and chancel-
lors expressed their support for
the Amethyst Initiative - which
called for a reconsideration of the
national drinking age of 21 - as a
means of cutting down on under-
age binge drinking.
According to the U.S. Depart-
ment of Health and Human Ser-
vices, more than 1,700 college
students between the ages of 18
and 24 die every year from alco-
hol-related causes. The statistics
also show that more than 12 per-
cent of people between the ages
of 18 and 20 have alcohol depen-
dencies.
Brater said the bill is not
designed to encourage minors to
drink, but rather to protect those
who make the mistake of consum-
ing too much and putting them-
selves in a potentially dangerous
situation.
"We want to make sure that
people in need of medical care are
able to receive it," Brater said.
Dr. Jeffrey Desmond, the emer-
gency medicine service chief at the
University of Michigan, told the
Daily in2007that University Hospi-
tal does not have a policy of contact-
ing police when underage drinkers
seek medical attention. Desmond
added that police are only contact-
ed if there is evidence to suggest
See DRINKING, Page 7
Company expected to
release weak fourth
quarter report today
By MATT AARONSON
Daily StaffReporter
Ann Arbor-based book giant
Borders Group Inc. will release its
fourth-quarter earningsreport after
the market closes this afternoon.
Anticipation for the report is high
in the midst of financial turmoil for
the once-dominant retailer.
Borders management will
address investors and analysts in a
conference call tomorrow at 8 a.m.,
where it is expected that officials
will outline the company's new
business strategy.
Already facing sliding sales and a
daunting debt load, Borders tried to
find a buyer and failed last March.
In early January, shortly after
revealing that sales for its usually
stellar 9-week holiday period were
down 11.7 percent from the previ-
ous year, the company replaced its
CEO and a number of other high-
level managers.
With the economy working
against them, the new team has
so far struggled to turn things
around.
Since the beginning of the year,
nearly 900 Borders employees
have lost their jobs. The company
has also announced several store
closings, including high-profile
locations in Chicago on Michigan
Avenue and in downtown Detroit.
Borders Group stock, which
traded mostly in the $20 to $25
range between 2004 and 2006, has
been on the decline since. The stock
closed at $.65 per share yesterday,
and is facing the possibility of del-
isting from the stock exchange.
At the annual meetingscheduled
to be held in May, shareholders will
be asked to approve a reverse stock
split, which would consolidate
individual shares to increase value
See BORDERS, Page 7
THE STUDENTS' ADMINISTRATOR
After long search, 'U'
names dean of students
Valuing flavor, Comet Coffee
hones its craft one cup at a time
Year-long process
ends with selection
of former U. of
* Oregon official
By CAITLIN SCHNEIDER
Daily News Editor
More than a year after it began
searching for a new dean of stu-
dents, the University named Dr.
Laura Blake Jones to the position.
Pending approval by the Board
of Regents - simply a procedural
step - Blake Jones will become
the associate vice president for stu-
dent affairs and dean of students.
Blake Jones is
currently the
interim dean of
students at the
University of
Oregon.
In a press
release, Vice
President for BLAKE JONES
Student Affairs
E. Royster Harper said Blake Jones
is well prepared for the job.
"Dr. Blake Jones brings a wealth
of experience in student affairs and
leadership," Harper said. "Michi-
gan students and the University
will benefit from her previous
involvement in emergency and
critical incident management, stra-
tegic planning and diversity educa-
tion and support."
The selection of Blake Jones fol-
lowed a second round search by the
advisory committee, which failed
to find a candidate to fill the spot
last year. At the time, a number of
candidates visited campus to inter-
view, but no hire was made.
The committee resumed its
efforts in October with the help
See DEAN, Page 7
EXPLAINING THE RECESSION
In subprime lending meltdown, 'U'
professor faults statistical models
Each cup ofjoe at
Nickels Arcade shop
is made to order
By ANNIE THOMAS
Daily StaffReporter
Joining the ranks of specialty
stores in Nickels Arcade, a recent-
ly opened coffee shop is brewing
something new for Ann Arbor and
taking the city's mass-produced
coffee scene head on.
Touching on his 16 years of
experience asa barista, Ann Arbor
native Jim Saborio, owner of two-
week-old Comet Coffee, brings an
individual focus to his new estab-
lishment, brewing each cup as
customers order it.
"Comet Coffee is just about tak-
ing a real quality focus on coffee
and not making any compromises
in terms of that," Saborio said.
Compared to traditional coffee-
brewing methods, Saborio takes
more of a scientific approach,
using Asian traditions to hand
brew each cup to perfection.
Inthetealwalledshoplastweek,
Saborio said that even though he
isn't completely sure of the exact
method behind the Asian brewing
concept, he improvises and learns
along the way.
The coffee is prepared using
water at precise temperatures and
filtered through porcelain cones
imported from Japan. According
to Saborio, the concept of brew-
ing each cup individually allows
Customers near the recently opened Comet Coffee in Nickels Arcade.
Reliance on hard
data painted
inaccurate portrait
* of loan applicants
By VALIANT LOWITZ
Daily StaffReporter
One University professor claims
he has identified a main culprit of
the housing collapse at the center
of the country's current economic
crisis.
In a study, Uday Rajan, an associ-
ate professor of finance at the Ross
School of Business, found that the
statistical models used by banks to
assess which loan applicants may
default on their loans played a para-
inount role in undermining many of
this country's financial institutions.
In determining which loan appli-
cants would likely default on their
loans, Rajan found that many of
these models relied too heavily on
'hard' information (credit scores,
etc.) as opposed to 'soft' informa-
tion (situational factors in the appli-
cant's life).
Rajan's study concluded that
models tended to rely so heavily on
hard information because it was
thought to be more credible than soft
information when risky loans were
repackaged and sold to investors.
See SUBPRIME, Page 7
the coffee to hold its more subtle
flavors.
The process begins by grind-
ing the beans and placing them
in a wet paper filter. Inside of the
porcelain cones Saborio uses hot
water heated to 204 degrees, a
temperature he says home coffee
brewers rarely reach, and pours it
slowly over the grounds.
At first only a little water is
poured over the grounds, allowing
the water to infuse with the coffee
preventing a weak cup. A stream
of the water is then poured over
the grounds, stirring the coffee as
it slowly drips into the cup below.
From bean to cup, the process
takes about four minutes. Because
of the individual brewing meth-
od, the coffee has no hold time
between creation and consump-
tion. This is where the store most
radically differs from mass brew-
ers - including Starbucks - who
hold coffee for up to 24 minutes.
"Most coffee shops will take
coffee and put it into some ther-
mal carafe or something that holds
it at a certain temperature without
adding heat," Saborio said. "I find
that within 15 minutes a lot of the
more delicate notes in the coffee
will start to wither away."
Looking at the coffee in the fil-
ter, Saborio explained that coffee
aficionados can read signs about
See COMET, Page 7
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