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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Friday, November 20, 2009

michigandaily com

RO TN RRON7E

Higher ed.
funding may
fall further

ARIEL BOND/Daily
Cathy Schembechler admires the "Heart of a Champion" sculpture in honor of her late husband Bo Schembechler last night. The sculpture was unveiled in the Cardio-
vascular Center of the University of Michigan Hospital Miniature busts of Bo were given to some of Schembechler's former players as well as his wife.
ISN e Ion' reWO 'orrs
Russell relents onfird wrer

Regents approve
renovation projects,
master's program
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily News Editor
At the monthly Board of
Regents's meeting yesterday, Cyn-
thia Wilbanks, the University's
vice president for government rela-
tions, provided the regents with an
update on state funding.
Wilbanks told the regents that
although the news from Lansing
has been bad for
the state's col- NOTEBOOK
leges and uni-
versities in the past few months, it
appears that it could get even worse
in the coming months and years.
"Fiscal year '11 may be much,
much more difficult than the fis-
cal year '10 hudget," Wilhanks said
in an interview after the regents'
meeting yesterday.
Wilbanks said despite the state's
economic woes, investments in
higher education must be main-
tained if the state hopes to improve
its economy in the long-term.
"Policymakershave tomakereal-
ly difficult choices, and of course
the University's position is going to
be education spending," Wilbanks
said. "Education investments are
the best investments you can make.
Education is the key to the econom-

ic diversity of the state."
Many moving targets remain in
the state's current budget and the
budgets for the 2011 and 2012 fiscal
years, including a possible recis-
sion of higher education funding
this year, Wilbanks said.
"The fact is that almost every-
thing rightnow is a moving target,"
Wilbanks said. "Projections cur-
rently suggest a $1.5 billion or so
shortfall, so it's clear that the state
will need to set priorities."
REGENTS APPROVE $31.4
MILLION IN RENOVATIONS
The regents approved $31.4 mil-
lion in new funding for renovating
facilities and upgrading operations
at the meeting,
The largest of the projects,
which. is expected to cost $17.6
million, will be used to renovate
46,000 square feet of the Univer-
sity's Varsity Drive storage facility
and 6,800 square feet of the Ruth-
ven Museums Building.
After the renovations, specimens
from the museum's "wet" collec-
tion will be moved to the Univer-
sity's Varsity Drive storage facility,
while select items will be kept in
the teaching collection at the Ruth-
ven Museums Building.
The regents also approved a
project to renovate four laborato-
ries in the Edward Henry Kraus
Building for the estimated cost of
See NOTEBOOK, Page 7A

Apparel company
re-hires workers
after pressure from
0 activist groups
By CAITLIN HUSTON
DailyStaffReporter
When Russell Athletic Corpo-
ration announced this week that

it would re-hire 1,200 Honduran
workers who critics claim were
fired earlier this year because they
unionized, anti-sweatshop organi-
zations at universities across the
country rejoiced.
LSA senior Jody Schechter, a
member of Students Organizing
for Labor & Economic Equality,
was among those celebrating'
the company's sudden acquies-
cence.
"We have a word for that: jus-

tice," she wrote in an e-mail inter-
view with the Daily.
Since Russell closed the newly
unionized factory last Janu-
ary, the United Students Against
Sweatshops (USAS) coalition - of
which SOLE is an affiliate - has,
through its protests and activities,.
pressured 96 colleges and univer-
sities to discontinue their licens-
ing agreements with the company,
according to an article in The New
York Times.

Amid these concerns, Universi-
ty of Michigan officials announced
in late February that its licensing
contract with Russell would not be
renewed.
Withdrawing the licensing con-
tracts proved to be an effective
tactic, as Russell Athletics stood to
lose millions of dollars in revenue
without the rights to sell the logo-
bearing apparel.
The company received criticism
See RUSSELL, Page 7A


Space utilization effort
saves millions for 'U'

Officials say better
use of campus
classrooms will help
long-term finances
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily News Editor
In an attempt to control costs,
University officials say they have
been focusing a great deal of atten-
tion on more effectively using
* classrooms. And a presentation at
the University's Board of Regents
meeting yesterday appears to
show that their work is really pay-
ing off.
Frances Mueller, project man-
ager of the Space Utilization Ini-
tiative, gave an update on the steps
she and campus leaders have been
taking to more efficiently utilize
existing space on campus spon-
sored by general fund revenue.
The plan is meant to be a more
fiscally sound alternative to rent-
ing spaces or building new facili-
ties.
The initiative - aimed at bet-
ter using existing space, elimi-
nating unnecessary construction,
leveraging the University's high-
est quality spaces and decreasing
the University's environmental
impact - was launched in Feb.
2007by University President Mary
Sue Coleman, Provost Teresa Sul-

livan, Timothy Slottow, executive
vice president and chief financial
officer, and Stephen Forrest, vice
president for research.
In an interview yesterday
morning before the regents meet-
ing, Mueller said new construc-
tion on campus paid for by the
general fund has fallen drastically
since the initiative was launched,
saving the University $185 million
in new construction costs.
Additionally, Mueller said the
University has been able to save
$7.5 million in annual operating
costs by cutting back on new con-
struction projects.
Though these savings do not
factor into the $100 million Cole-
man has called for to be eliminated
from the University's budget over
the next two years, there havebeen
realized cost reductions that will
count toward the $100 million goal.
Mueller reported that to date,
$10 million in energy savings have
been realized as part of the initia-
tive and that $1 million in recur-
ring lease expenses have also been
eliminated.
In an interview last spring, Sul-
livan said classroom spaces are
only used, on average, 50-60 per-
cent of the time between 8 a.m.
and 5 p.m. The goal set forth in
the Space Utilization Initiative is
to have the 527 general purpose
classrooms on campus used 70
percent of the time between those
hours, with each use utilizing 65

percent of the seats in the class-
room.
One of the biggest obstacles
in improving space utilization
has come in the form of rallying
departments and units to work
together to share their spaces with
each other, Mueller said.
"There's kind of been a reluc-
tance to maybe share space on this
campus because we're so decen-
tralized," Mueller said. "I think
there's justbeen abeliefthatonce
space got allocated to(departments
or units) it-was theirs indefinitely
and this is changing the culture
and the mindset to make everyone
realize that whatever space your
using ... it doesn't belong to you, it
belongs to the institution."
In the face of this reality, efforts
are underway to change the cul-
ture on campus and how units
think about their space, as opposed
to the space of other units.
"I think we've made a lot of
progress," Sullivan said. "There
is this sense of territoriality that
departments and schools have
about space adjacent to them.
Well, we're trying a new concept
now - that room belongs to the
University."
Mueller echoed Sullivan's
statement, saying at this point she
thinks most people understand
the reasoning behind the collab-
orative initiative.
"Some people may not be happy
See SPACE, Page 7A

Rackam student Ryan Smith and Residential College sophomore Jessica Ruff of Repower America encouraged students to write
letters to Michigan senators to help pass the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act yesterday on the Diag.
i0 GA U I
At S. Quad event, eX-Black
Panther talks pol ice brutality

Cleo Silvers
describes racial bias
in police practices
By MALLORY JONES
Daily StaffReporter
An eventlastnightin SouthQuad
brought stories of police brutality
against people of color to Univer-
sity students.

Cleo Silvers, an ex-Black Panther
and civil rights activist, spoke at an
event sponsored by the Michigan
Student Assembly Peace and Jus-
tice Commission, MSA Minority
Affairs Commission, the NAACP
and South Quad Minority Peer
Advisors.
Silvers, along with Luis Davila-
toro, a Washtenaw Community
College student who grew up in
New York City, answered ques-
tions from a crowd of about 50

students regarding the nature of
police brutality and effective ways
to combat it.
Silvers and Davilatoro painted
a vivid picture of random search-
es and unnecessary violence to
enforce unfair drug laws in New
York City neighborhoods heavily
populated by African-Americans
and Latinos.
"The history of policing is- all
about controlling the element in
See POLICE, Page 7A

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