The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Friday, October 9, 2009 - 7

The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, October 9, 2009 - 7

Action expected in lawsuit
filed by gay prof. against 'U'

From Page 1
The pretrial conference motion
also discusses the protective
orders on the case, in which both
parties are being instructed to file
motions under seal. So far, neither
party has adhered to the order.
Hammer's second motion is to dis-
solve the protective order. In an
interview yesterday, Hammer said
the motions would bringa greater
transparency to the case.
"These two motions - the pre-
trial motion and the motion to
dissolve the protective order -
are intended to bring the facts to
light and to hold the University
accountable after years of trying
to bury this case and avoid any sort
of public accountability," Hammer
said.
University spokesman Rick
Fitzgerald said in an interview

yesterday that he would not com-
ment on the motions.
"It wouldn't be appropriate to
comment ahead of the court ruling
tomorrow," Fitzgerald said. "We
need to let this play out."
A motion by the University in
2006 to have the case thrown
out claimed that the University
had no legal obligation to adhere
to its non-discriminatory policy,
because the policy only represent-
ed a "commitment" of the Univer-
sity.
However, after significant pres-
sure from faculty on campus,
the position was abandoned and
replaced by the position that the
University did not discriminate
against Hammer in denying his
tenure.
Fitzgerald admitted the change
in position had taken place, but
would not comment on why.

"We did change our legal strat-
egy in this case," Fitzgerald said,
adding that the University does
not discuss its legal strategy pub-
licly, especially in ongoing legal
matters.
Despite the lengthy process so
far, Hammer said he is commit-
ted to the case because he wants
to bring about change at the Uni-
versity..
"The primary values for fight-
ing this case is to establish some
degree of transparency and
accountability on the part of the
University," Hammer said.
Though he would not comment
extensively on the issue, Fitzger-
ald Said the University has poli-
cies in effect to safeguard against
discrimination. "The University
of Michigan clearly is committed
and remains committed to non-
discrimination," he said.

MUSADEQ SADEQ/AP
An Afghan security man asks local peaple to get out of the site of a blast in Kabul, Afghanistan on yesterday.
SolI 1u rce: Obama focuVsing
on al-Qaida, not Taliban


President will base
tough decisions
mostly on keeping
al-Qaida at bay
WASHINGTON (AP) - Presi-
dent Barack Obama is prepared to
accept some Taliban involvement
in Afghanistan's political future
and will determine how many more
U.S. troops to send to the war based
only on keeping al-Qaida at bay, a
senior administration official said
yesterday.
The sharpened focus by
Obama's team on fighting al-
Qaida above all other goals, while
downgrading the emphasis on the
Taliban, comes in the midst of an
intensely debated administration
review of the increasingly unpop-
ular war.
Aides stress that the president's
decision on specific troop levels and
the other-elements of a revamped
approach is still at least two weeks
away, and they say Obama has not
tipped his hand in meetings that
will continue at the White House
on today.
But the thinking emerging from
the strategy formulation portion
of the debate offers a clue that
Obama would be unlikely to favor a
large military increase of the kind
being advocated by the top U.S.
commander in Afghanistan, Gen.
Stanley McChrystal. McChrystal's

troop request is said to include a
range of options, from adding as
few as 10,000 combat troops to -
the general's strong preference - as
many as 40,000.
Obama's developing strategy on
the Taliban will "not tolerate their
return to power," the senior official
said in an interview with The Asso-
ciated Press. But the U.S. would
fight only to keep the Taliban from
retaking control of Afghanistan's
central government - something
it is now far from being capable of
- and from giving renewed sanctu-
ary in Afghanistan to al-Qaida, the
official said.
The official is involved in the
discussions and was authorized
to speak about them but not to be
identified by name because the
review is still under way.
Bowing to the reality that the
Taliban is too ingrained in Afghan-
istan's culture to be entirely defeat-
ed, the administration is prepared
to accept some Taliban role in
parts of Afhanistan,.the official
said. That could mean paving the
way for Taliban members willing
to renounce violence to participate
in a central government - the kind
of peace talks advocated by Afghan
President Hamid Karzai to little
receptiveness from the Taliban.
It might even mean ceding some
regions of the country to the Tali-
ban.
In Kabul yesterday, a suicide car
bomber detonated his vehicle out-
side the Indian Embassy and killed

17 people in the second major attack
in the city in less than a month. The
Taliban claimed responsibility.
Obama has talked positively
about reaching out to moder-
ates in the Taliban since he first
announced a new Afghanistan
strategy in March. It would be akin
to, though more complicated than,
the successful efforts in Iraq to per-
suade Sunni Muslim insurgents to
cooperate with U.S. forces against
al-Qaida there.
Obama has conferred nearly
every day this week on the war, and
continued that yesterday afternoon
with Vice President Joe Biden and
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham
Clinton.
On Wednesday, the eighth anni-
versary of the war launched by
President George W. Bush after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Obama and
more than a dozen officials in his
war council met for three hours to
focus on Afghanistan's neighbor,
Pakistan. Another of those larger
discussions - the fourth of five
currently scheduled - is set for
today, on Afghanistan. That meet-
ing also could feature the group's
first discussion of specific troop
options.
In the first two of the sessions,
which are taking place in the secure
Situation Room in the White House
basement, Obama kept returningto
one question for his advisers: Who
is our adversary, the official said.
The answer was al-Qaida, as it
was back in March.

BLOGGERS
From Page 1
Crispell said that he purpose-
fully did not cover topics that were
negative.
"I had a lot of negative things to
say," he said, "I didn't write about
how I didn't like my psych class for
example.
"I wrote about things I loved
about Michigan," he continued.
"There are a few negatives like
that at every school. I may have
mentioned I didn't like my large
lectures. But I think I was very
honest and gave a very accurate
depiction of campus life. I wrote
about being busy at meetings."
Blog entries from 2008 includ-
ed tips on the best places to study
and eat in Ann Arbor, things every
freshman should know, anecdotes
from University life, and firsthand
glimpses into clubs, performances,
campus activities and residence
hall life.
Though the University doesn't
host blogs anymore, Sanders said

admissions office officials "learned
a lot in the process."
While the University's admis-
sions office has gotten rid of stu-
dent blogs for now, other colleges
are embracing the nationwide
blogging trend.
David McOwen, communica-
tions manager for the MIT Office
of Admissions wrote in an e-mail
interview that MIT first began
using blogs five years ago and
today the site has 15 student blog-
gers.
McOwen wrote that student
blogs offer interested high school
students honest insight into the
MIT experience.
"Student blogs provide the
authentic, unfiltered view of what
it's really like to be a student at
MIT," he wrote. "It also gives pro-
spective students a chance to post
comments/questions to either the
bloggers or admissions staff."
Celena Chan, a sophomore at
MIT, wrote in an e-mail inter-
view that she never even consid-
ered attending MIT until she read
the student blogs on the school's

admissions site.
"What made me change my
mind was discovering the blogs on
the MIT admissions website," she
wrote. "The bloggers wrote about
all the crazy, cool things that went
on, on campus, and more impor-
tantly, they blogged honestly about
their journey at MIT."
Mike Hudak - a tour guide and
student blogger at Amherst - said
that student blogging is especially
beneficial for prospective students
who are unable to visit a school
before applying.
He said the only rule at Amherst
is "don't write about anything you
wouldn't say on a tour."
McOwen wrote in the e-mail
that MIT's admissions office
operates by a similar rule: that
the admissions office allows their
student bloggers free reign for the
mostpart.
"We don't give them assign-
ments or pre-screen their entries
unless they ask us to, so most of
the time we're just as excited as
the rest of our audience to read a
new post," he wrote.


MARATHONS
From Page 1
that they can have inthe field."
When a student at the Univer-
sity, Zlotoff was involved in a dual
degree program in Sociology and
Earth Systems Engineering. He
was also on the rowing team for
his freshman and sophomore years
and recently worked as a firefight-
er through AmeriCorps and the
United States Foreign Service.
While it seems that running 78
miles in five weeks should be an
undertaking for a seasoned veter-
an, Zlotoff ran his first marathon

just two years ago and has been
running ever since.
"The whole thing how I started
to get three marathons all at once
was the idea that if I'm going to
invest three or four months train-
ing for just one marathon, I might
as well do a couple while I'm in
shape," he said.
Zlotoff said there's not much
more to his training than running
a lot.
"I have a running group that
I run with from time to time, but
really you just go out and run and
as the marathon gets closer you
run more miles," he said.
With a goal of raising $2,500,

Zlotoff is more than halfway there.
He has created a website, www.
racingtoendrape.com, where sup-
porters can donate money or learn
where they candonate their time.
Inadditionto runningmarathons
for charity, Zlotoff is also working
with students at the E.L. Haynes
Public Charter School in Wash-
ington, D.C. as part of his self-pro-
claimed mission to save the world.
Zlotoff's marathon of mara-
thons begins on Oct. 18 at the
Detroit Free Press Marathon. He
will then return to D.C. for the
Marine Corps Marathon on Oct.
25 and finish with the Philadelphia
Marathon on Nov. 22.


SERIES
From Page 1
After evaluating several
options, staff serving on com-
mittees and representing units
throughout the office decided to
use Blackbaud Enterprise CRM
and Target Analytics to replace
the existing system.
Though purchasing and imple-
menting the new donor database
will cost "several million dollars,"
May said the new functions of the
system will be well worth the cost.
"It's not cheap," May said. "On
the other hand, if you keep track of
people and you get a few million dol-
lar gifts in the short period, you're
going to pay for it in no time."
May also said the new system
could help eliminate duplicate
"shadow systems" that exist at sev-
eral units across campus and hin-
der the office's ability to get all their
donor information into one central-
ized location.
"With all those shadow databas-
es, then you have inaccuracy of the
central records everybody depends
on," May said. "By spending several
millions of dollars, we're going to
try to save the base long term," May
said.
The new system will provide
greater flexibility to development
officers by allowing them to do
things the current system does
not - including simple customiza-
tion like donor title preferences and
more advanced functions that will
track donor interest areas.
May said that by having more
complete and up-to-date donor
records, development officers will
be able to target donors who may
have particular interests in cer-
tain projects. For instance, donor
records could track certain depart-
ments and organizations that alum-
ni were members of in an effort to
help raise money for those units.
"We're trying to personalize our
fundraising, and the best way we
know to do that is to have a system
where we can sort people by inter-

ests," May said, adding that virtu-
ally any interest could be tracked in
the new system.
With the current system, May
said the Office of Development is
only able to create highly person-
alized relationships with a small
fraction of donors.
"Right now, we're very personal
in our approach to about 25,000
of our alums and really in par-
ticular a little less than 10,000,"
May said, adding the develop-
ment office works closely with the
10,000because they are some of the
wealthiest donors.
With nearly 1.1 million donor
records in the current development
database, the development office
only has highly personalized rela-
tionships with less than 1 percent of
those in the system.
The new donor system is sched-
uled to be fully operational in 2012.
Elizabeth Woods, senior asso-
ciate director of marketing and
research for annual giving, said
the new system will allow annual
giving to better track and relate to
donors.
Joseph Gagliardi, senior associ-
ate director of annual giving, added
that the new system will allow the
annual giving office to more easily
track donor preferences like saluta-
tion requests and preferred means
of communications.
"It's going to open some new
doors for us to be able to account
for some of the information we
have from our donors," Gagliardi
said, adding he thought doing so
would lead to better relationships
with donors.
IMPROVING RELATIONS
The Office of Development is
also looking to improve donor rela-
tionships by creating donor stew-
ardship guidelines.
May said implementing stan-
dards will help build and maintain
relationships between donors and
developmentstaff.However, he said
it's too early to say exactly what the
standards will include.

"We have a whole team of people
University-wide who are working
on a stewardship program," May
said. "We don't know what those
standards (will be)."
Though specific standards
haven't been adopted yet, May said
they will likely include increasing
communication between staff and
donors, thanking donors for giving,
helping donors plan future gifts
and addressing concerns they may
have.
"For instance, if somebody
endows a scholarship with a
$50,000 gift or $100,000 gift, they
can expect that they're going to be
invited back to campus once a year,
that they can expect to get a letter
from the University saying 'this is
your student,' and we may even have
something where they can expect
to get a letter from the student,"
May said. "Just as an example."
Another way the office is work-
ing to improve relationships with
donors is through special events on
campus aimed at thanking donors.
Because the Michigan Difference
Campaign has been completed,
May said he viewed this year as an
appropriate time to focus on thank-
ing donors for their contributions.
"This year is the year to thank
people, so we're doing all sorts of
different activities and events," he
said.
At the same time, the Office of
Development is updating its wealth
screening records in an effort to
raise more money from donors.
By updating these records, devel-
opment staff will be able to more
effectively target individuals for
projects they are interested in and
for which they have the means to
make significant contributions.
THE NEXT CAMPAIGN
While seeking better relation-
ships with current donors and
updating information on potential
donors may help the University to
raise more money in private dona-
tions, nothing can top the level of
giving that occurs during a major

capital campaign.
The University has undergone
five major capital campaigns in its
history, with the first in the 1950s
and the most recent finishing at
the end of last year. Both the capi-
tal campaign of the 1990s and the
one that ended lastyear set national
records forthe mostraisedby apub-
lic university at the time $1.37 bil-
lion and $3.2 billion, respectively.
In capital campaigns, it is not
uncommon for individuals to com-
mit multi-year pledges, meaning
they will continue to make pay-
ments on a gift to the University
after the fundraising campaign has
ended.
This was the case with the last
campaign and is one reason May
said it would be inappropriate to
comment on when the next capi-
tal campaign would be, though
he admitted planning for the next
campaign was underway.
"I'm trying to get us ready for
(the next campaign)," May said. "I
don't know how to say this, but I'm
tryingnotto get a headline thatsays
'University of Michigan planning a
campaign,' because that comes off
as disrespectful."
In an interview earlier this year,
University President Mary Sue
Coleman said another capital cam-
paign would be launched in a few
years.
"Getting that philanthropic sup-
port is critical to keeping the Uni-
versity at the high level that it is, so
there'll be another campaign in a.
few years," Coleman said.
Coleman stressed that even
though the University may not cur-
rently be in a major campaign, the
Office of Development is still work-
ing hard to raise private support for
the University.
"When we finish a campaign,
that doesn't mean we stop fund-
raising. Full speed ahead," Cole-
man said with a chuckle. "We keep
raising money every year. We don't
stop."
In her State of the University
address earlier this week, Coleman
praised the efforts of the devel-

opment office during the down
economy, but said that donations
were falling because of the current
economy.
"Our donors have been remark-
ably generous in recent years," she
said. "But donors' investments have
decreased just as have ours, and
private support for the University
declined 22 percent this past fiscal
year."
The development office raised
about $340 million in the last year
of the Difference campaign. But
May says that annual fundraising
revenue will fall to about $268 mil-
lion for this past year.
May said the combination of the
Michigan Difference Campaign's
conclusion and the decline in the
economy were to blame for the drop
in revenue.
"We've got the double whammy
of the campaign ending and the
economic downturn," he said, add-
ing it's not unusual for either factor
to cause a decrease in giving. "It's
actually quite normal to be off after
a campaign and quite normal to be
off in an economic downturn."
Major gifts from donors - like
bequests and life income gifts -
have drastically decreased from the
last fiscal year. Bequest expectan-
cies declined from about $71.5 mil-
lion in 2008 to$61 million in 2009.
Similarly, more than $15 million in
life income gifts were received in
2008 but dropped to nearly $5 mil-
lion in 2009.
Despite the recession, the devel-
opment office will continue its
ongoing fundraising. May said staff
will continue to raise money for
projects that were priorities in the
last campaign such as construc-
tion of the C.S. Mott Children's and
Women's Hospital and a new addi-
tion to the Law School. The office
will also focus on raising money for
endowed professorships and schol-
arships.
"So far we've continued to sta-
bilize our investment in fundrais-
ing because we're in it for the long
run," May said. "We always have to
do fundraising. You just don't stop it

and start it. You have to kind of keep
it going as steadily as possible."
The economy has affected each
unit at the University differently,
causing each to tailor its fund-
raising strategies. One unit, the
Intercollegiate Athletics Develop-
ment Office -which fundraises to
support the University's 25 varsity
athletic teams - has focused its
efforts on raising money to fund
the construction of new athletic
facilities.
Joseph Parker, senior associate
athletic director for development,
said the athletic development office
has been working to secure com-
mitments for the 82 new luxury
suites being added to Michigan Sta-
dium, as the change in the economy
has caused members to shy away
from asking donors to contribute
large sums to the department.
"It's not the appropriate time in
many cases to have deep dialogue
about a major gift commitment, so a
lot of our focus in the last 12 months
has been on the stadium project,"
he said.
THE FUTURE OF THE OFFICE
Though the current economy
may have short-term effects on
the University's fundraising, May
said the long-run evolution of
development operations is more
important.
"I hope that we continue to trea-
sure our relationship with the hun-
dreds of thousands of donors that
this University has had," he said.
He added that he wants to see
the Office of Development staff
come up with "exciting" and "vital"
ideas that incorporate the Univer-
sity's resources to motivate people
to donate.
"I think we need some ideas that
are totally out of the box in terms
of it may be a new center for some-
thing, it may be a new way of teach-
ing, it may be a way of learning, it
may be a new way of engaging peo
ple in other parts of the world," he
said. "Something that we don't have
a paradigm for yet."