46F 46F Ic I an 1 IV 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 TOMORROW HI: 62 GOT A NEWS TIP? LO: 46 Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. UGANDAILYCOM INDEX NEWS.........2 SUDOKU.................S ne's list of top college presidents. Vol. CXX, No. 47 OPINION ............................4 CLASSIFIEDS....... .....6 ILY.COM/BLOGS/THE WIRE 02009 The Michigan Daily ARTS ........S.................5 SPORTS. . .....,.....8 michigandoily.com " " "