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0 Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, November 13, 2009
michigandaily.com
PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
FINANCING YOUR EDUC ATION
Gran hoim:
Bring back
Promise
Gov. urges students dents across the state and 6,096
University of Michigan students
to lobby legislators were set to receive money from
the Michigan Scholarship Pro-
to restore program gram next year. If maintained, the.
program would have cost the state
By NICOLE ABER approximately $100 million.
Daily StaffReporter Despite signing the higher edu-
cation bill into law, Granholm said
Michigan's governor is trying she is determined to restore fund-
to revive a political battle over the ing for the program.
funding of the Michigan Promise Granholm said the Michigan
Scholarship - a popular, merit- Promise Scholarship is not only
based program that was among meant to ease the burden of pricey
the casualties of a prolonged bud- tuition for students and families,
get fight in Lansing that ended late but also to improve Michigan's
last month. economic climate by educating its
In a conference call yesterday citizens and creating competitive
with college newspapers across employees to be retained by busi-
the state, Democratic Gov. Jenni- nesses in the state.
fer Granholm discussed the impli- "All of our manufacturing
cations of cutting the Michigan businesses and jobs are in cri-
Promise Scholarship and urged sis because of the global shift in
students across the state to rally manufacturing jobs as a challenge
against state representatives and to our auto industry," Granholm
senators to reinstate the program. said. "The way we will emerge is
Granholm signed the higher to diversify this economy and edu-
education bill for the 2010-2011 cate our citizens. And if we don't
fiscal year that included cutting educate our citizens we are not
the Michigan Promise Scholar- going to be able to diversify. We're
ship and general cuts to higher not going to be able to attract the
education at the end of last month.. best providers, the knowledge jobs
Throughout October, the state that we want."
operated under an interim budget The Michigan Promise Scholar-
that was adopted after state law- ship faces its strongest opponents
makers failed to pass a final bud- in the Republican-controlled
get at the end of September. state Senate, where legislators
Students eligible for the pro- have been hesitant to continue a
gram were set to receive $500 program that doesn't have a clear
to $4,000 - as determined by a source of funding.
standardized exam taken in high In the call, the governor said
school - over the course of four that despite the questions over
years to help cover some of their funding, education must continue
tuition costs. to be a central focus for support
More than 96,000 college stu- See PROMISE, Page 7
Students practice last night on the eve of "Vistaara," the 26th annual Indian American Students Association cultural show at Hill Auditorium. The event, which will begin
tonight at 7 p.m., showcases the efforts of 250 participants who have been practicing their routines since September. For more on the event, see Arts, Page 5.
PRESIDENTIAL OUTREACH
Coleman to visit China again
Trip marks continued
push by 'U' officials
to strengthen
relations with China
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily StaffReporter
University President Mary Sue
Coleman is heading back to China,
a trip that reinforces an ongoing
effort by University officials to
increase the school's international
outreach.
In an interview earlier this week,
Coleman said she will embark on
her second official trip to China
this coming June.
"I'm going to be going to China
again next June to solidify the rela-
tionship that we have there with
several institutions," Coleman said.
Over the last four years, the Uni-
versity has focused on strengthen-
ing its relationship with China. As
part of the initiative, Coleman trav-
eled to the country in 2005, and, in
2008, created The Task Force on
China, comprised of faculty mem-
bers interested in building stronger
relationships with Chinese institu-
tions.
This summer, Coleman plans
to travel to Shanghai Jiao Tong
University - where the University
has a Joint Institute in Engineer-
ing. The relationship was forged
between SJTU and the Universi-
ty's College of Engineering during
Coleman's 2005 visit.
Coleman said she feels SJTU has
emerged as the University's strongest
international entity and that collabo-
rations between the two universities
have been"extremely robust"because
of faculty involvement.
"That was really related in inter-
est from the faculty - really getting
something started on both sides
and the willingness of both institu-
tions to invest," she said.
Over the last few years, the Uni-
versity has wtorked to spread its
international presence through
the formation of institutes and
programs abroad and on campus.
Its most recent endeavor was the
opening of the, University's Confu-
cius Institute last week.
Coleman said she is "particu-
larly pleased" that the Confucius
Institute will be unique in its focus
on art and music, compared to the
other 60 institutes in the United
States that concentrate on language
and culture.
Referring to China, Coleman
said there's "a lot of activity going
on all over the place."
The University is exploring the
possibility of developing joint proj-
ects with Chinese universities that
would take place at the North Cam-
pus Research Complex, which is
scheduled to open officially this
spring. University Vice President for
See CHINA, Page 3
Testimony continues in
Whistleblower lawsuit
'U' holds first forum on smoke-free campus
McGee and others
differ on details of
lab radiation incident
By DYLAN CINTI and
STEPHANIE STEINBERG
DailyStaffReporters
Yesterday marked the third day
of trial in a wrongful termination
lawsuit brought by a former gradu-
ate student against the University's
Board of Regents,
Robert McGee, 54, is suing the
regents under Michigan's Whistle-
blower's Protection Act for alleg-
edly being terminated from his
graduate research student assistant
position after filing allegations of
safety violations against the pro-
fessor he was working for.
McGee testified Tuesday morn-
ing at the Washtenaw County
Circuit Court, speaking to the sev-
en-member jury about the griev-
ances he suffered throughout the
process.
McGee alleged in detail that
Assistant Prof. Michael Hartman,
who works in the nuclear engineer-
ing and radiological department,
violated safety codes and put him at
risk of exposure to Cesium 137 - a
highly radioactive isotope.
On Feb. 16,2008, Hartman asked
McGee to assist him ilBinstalling a
door in Nuclear Engineering Prof.
Kimberlee Kearfott's laboratory,
located adjacent to his Neutron Sci-
ence lab on North Campus.
Because it was a Saturday, Hart-
man and McGee were the only two
people in the lab. McGee agreed
to help, but was concerned about
entering the lab because Kearfott
had previously told him that her lab
had restrictive access.
Before entering Kearfott's lab,
McGee asked Hartman if the Uni-
versity's Radiation Safety Services
and Kearfott knew they were going
in the lab. According to McGee's
testimony, Hartman replied, "RSS,
what a joke" and then stated RSS
and Kearfott both knew about their
entrance.
The two then entered without a
survey meter or dosimeter - two
safety devices that detect radiation.
The men found they could not
install the door as planned, but
Hartman walked further into the
lab toward the area with the Cesi-
um.
Prior to the incident, McGee said
Kearfott had told him that she had
concerns her safety equipment did
not always function properly. With
this mind, McGee said he had "no
See LAWSUIT, Page 3
Students express
concern that official
didn't know how
policy came about
By ELYANA TWIGGS
Daily StaffReporter
University officials held the
first public forum last night to dis-
cuss the University's decision to
make campus entirely smoke free
by July 2011.
Ken Warner, dean of the School
of Public' Health, told students,
faculty and community members
that the University will be going
"cold turkey" when it comes to
smoking on campus.
Warner spoke in Palmer Com-
mons as part of a presentation from
the Smoke-Free University Initia-
tive, which aimed to announce for-
mally the University's plan to ban
smoking on campus. According to
presenters, this informational ses-
sion is just the beginning of the
"implementation process."
"Regents are in support of the
policy," Warner said. "We are
striving to make sure that all
(implementation) subcommittees
have smokers and nonsmokers on
them."
"It is not an attempt to ostracize
smokers or make them feel bad
ARIEL BOND/Daily
Engineering freshman Andrew Covert smokes a cigarette outside of Palmer Commons yesterday afternoon to protest the
campus-wide ban on smoking that was being discussed inside. The ban is set to take effect in July 2011.
about themselves," he added.
The main concern addressed
at the session was how this large
change in campus policy will be
regulated - more specifically,
what to be done to people who
don't comply with the regulation.
Simone Himbeault Taylor, asso-
ciate vice president for student
affairs, said students who break
the rule won't be punished with
tickets, but they'llbe offered cessa-
tion workshops instead.
"Our general philosophy isn't to
be punitive but to level educational
opportunities," she said.
Taylor said that this would allow
the rule to be enforced while still
respecting students' rights.
"There are choices that students
need to make,"she said. "The objec-
tive is not to take a law-and-order
approach to' this. The objective
is helping them make thoughtful
choices about their own lives."
Warner said non-compliance
won't be an issue. He cited a recent
study, which found that there was
a 97-percent compliance rate at
four universities where similar ini-
tiatives have already been imple-
mented. However, he added that
the other 256 colleges where the
initiative was implemented haven't
been studied.
Warner said that although the
policy has been successful at other
universities, the origins of the poli-
See SMOKING BAN, Page 7
WEATHER
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