iC i IZ a i l Ann Arbor, Michigan Tuesday, December 1, 2009 michigandaily.com REMEMBERING MUMBAI FA CULT Y SENAT E A SSEMBLY Sullivan discusses 'U'budget challenges Provost s s "interested in learning abuut the budget," she said. "I know that it increasing student makes some people's eyes roll to the back of their head. But in the body size not the current situation, it's much moire important for the information tobe solution to problems out there." Since 2002, the University has By STEPHANIE STEINBERG reduced recurring general funding Daily StaffReporter expenditures by about $135 million. The University plans to continue to University Provost Teresa Sul- use cost-reduction strategies that livan highlighted the budget chal- are currently in place to cut another lenges facing the $22 million in fiscal year 2010. University dur- NOTEBOOK Sullivan said the University has ing the recession an advantage in dealing with cur- at the Senate Assembly meeting rent budget challenges because the yesterday. state of Michigan entered a period The talk was one of 25 presenta- of economic difficulty before the tions about the University's budget, rest of the country. that Sullivan and Phil Hanlon, vice "We've been at it for a while, and provost for academic and budget- we've had the chance to phase in ary affairs, gave to various groups changes over a few years, rather of faculty members this semester in than having to make significant an effort to educate the University cuts in a single year," Sullivan said. community about budget issues, Despite the University's cost according to the address. containment efforts, Sullivan said "We want to make the budget decisions made at the state capital more transparent and we want to will always impact the University. invite the stakeholders to become "We have been, and will contin- more engaged in thinking about ue to be, affected by what happens it," Sullivan told the leading faculty in Lansing," she said. governing body. Sullivan noted that much atten- Sullivan acknowledged that the tion has been given to the fact that budget is not always an exciting state appropriations have been topic, but that it's important to talk shrinking. Over the last 10 years, about so the public knows where state funding to the University has the University stands in these tough decreased 10 percent. economic times. "Looking at our overall budget "I know that not everybody is See SULLIVAN, Page 7 The Indian American Student Association commemorated those who died in the Mumbai terrorist attacks one year ago by hosting a vigil on the Diag last night. At least 166 people died in the shooting and bombing attacks. LSA freshman Tulsi Patal (right) was among those who paid their respects to the victims last night. ' reprt details progress Of its e-n vironme ntal efforts Officials say data will help set realistic goals for future By JENNA SKOLLER Daily News Editor Despite a 9-percentspike in pop- ulation and an 11-percent increase in building area, energy use has remained nearly constant over the past six years for the University, according to a report released by the Office of Campus Sustainabil- ity yesterday. The 2009 Environmental Report - one of the tasks del- egated to the new office created by President Mary Sue Coleman in October - tracks the University's environmental efforts on campus. The report describes campus sustainability initiatives and cam- pus energy, water and land use in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30. It emphasizes strides the University has taken in its effort to increase energy efficiency. The University used a total of 6.5 trillion British thermal units last year, which is equal to the average energy used over the past six years, according to a press release published by the Univer- sity Record. "It's a significant accomplish- ment, and we hope to continue to hold the line - and perhaps even decrease energy use - in the future. That's the goal," Terry Alexander, executive director of the Office of Campus Sustainabil- ity, wrote in the release. Alexander wrote that updates to "old, energy-wasting" cam- pus buildings and the individual efforts of students, faculty and staff accounted for the energy effi- ciency. In the coming year, the Office of Campus Sustainability will outline sustainability goals by analyzing environmental monitoring data See REPORT, Page 3 ANN ARBOR PU IJC SCHOLS After millage fails, AAPS asks for help to solve deficit Series of community After a millage failed in a county-wide vote in November, forums planned officials from the school district are planning a series of forums to discuss cuts for the public to discuss how to mend the budget gap they are By DYLAN CINTI currently facing. DailyStaffReporter The district projects cuts in state funding could range from Ann Arbor Public Schools are $4.8 million to $8.7 million for turning to the community to help this year, and up to $20 million for plan for what officials are portray- the next school year, AAPS Super- ing as a major budget deficit that intendent Todd Roberts said. could result in employee cuts. In the county-wide vote on the millage early last month, voters rejected a property tax increase that would have provided AAPS with approximately $11 million in additional revenue per year. The Regional Enhancement Millage was proposed by the Washtenaw Intermediate School District - comprised of 10 school districts including AAPS - to help deal with mounting budget shortfalls. The millage received a majority of votes in Ann Arbor, but See MILLAGE, Page 7 Salvation Army kettle stolen from outside Nickels Arcade, officials say AAPD cites economy in theft that occurred' Saturday afternoon By DARRYN FITZGERALD DailyStaffReporter A theft this weekend put a bit of a damper on the usual post-Thanks- givingholiday cheer. An unattended Salvation Army Red Kettle charity bucket was sto- len from its post in front of Nick- els Arcade Saturday afternoon, the Ann Arbor Police Department reported. According to Major Dianna Williams of the Salvation Army Ann Arbor Corps, a male bell ringer reportedly left the kettle unattended at around 2:20 p.m. to take a 15-minute bathroom break during his eight-hour shift. The amount of money inside the bucket at the time it was stolen is unknown. Williams said this isn't the first time this particular bell ringer has been pestered by people in the area. "We've called the police for him JED MOcH/Daily before," Williams said. "This whole A Salvation Army bucket was stolen Saturday afternoon from outside Nickels Arcade, last week there have been some the location seen above, according to Ann Arbor Police Department officials. people - we don't know if they they decided to do something while tor stole the locked bucket, leav- are homeless or college pranks, he wasn't there," Williams said. ing behind the padlock that had but they have been harassing a bell Though the lid of the donation secured it to the post. ringer." bucket was locked and the bucket "None of our bell ringers have "It escalated to the point where was locked to a post, the perpetra- See KETTLE, Page 3 THE EVOLVING T EXTBOrK MA rKEtTk Chegg.com offers reiltal textbooks New business model for textbook sales could challenge Ann Arbor booksellers By STEPHANIE BERLIANT Daily StaffReporter The list of reasons for Ann Arbor booksellers to be worried justgot a little longer. Chegg.com, a new online text- book company, claims it will soon put campus bookstores out of business by not selling books to students, but instead renting them to students. The company is the one of the larger companies using a relative- ly new business model in which students rent textbooks for the semester. A number of sites, like bookrenter.com and campusbook- rentals.com, offer similar servic- es. Aayush Phumbra, co-founder and senior vice president of opera- tions at Chegg.com, said the idea for the company came from his experience as an undergraduate when he felt he paid too much money for books and got too little when he sold them back. Phumbra said Chegg.com's busi- ness model mitigates this problem See TEXTBOOKS, Page 7 WEATHER HI: 45 TOMORROW L: 34 GOT A NEWS TIP? NEW ON MICHIGANDAILYCOM Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail UHS announces it will hold HINt FluMist clinics. news@michigandaily.com and let us know. 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