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0 Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
michigandaily.com
MSA ELECTIONS
. MVP continues
election gains
Thrnout matches
last year's election at
around 9 percent
By MALLORY JONES
and JENNA SKOLLER
Daily Staff Reporters
The Michigan Vision Party won
a majority of open seats in the
Michigan Student Assembly's elec-
tion that ended at 11:59 p.m. last
night.
Voter participation in the elec-
tion remained steady over last year,
despite expectations from officials
that turnout would rise.
Fourteen different colleges held
elections for a total of36 open seats,
including 11 open LSA seats, seven
open Rackham seats and four open
Engineering seats. Students could
only vote for candidates in their
own college.
Of the 17 seats with available
results at 2:15 a.m. this morning,
11 were filled by MVP candidates,
two by Defend Affirmative Action
Party candidates and four by inde-
pendent candidates.
The remaining winners need to
be validated by election officials
either because the student won by
write-in voters or because voters
cast ballots for schools that were
not their own.
The 11 open LSA seats were
filled by nine MVP candidates, one
DAAP candidate and one indepen-
dent candidate.
Of the two open Business seats,
MSA Rep. Jason Raymond was
re-elected as an independent, and
MVP candidate Thomas Stuckey
filled the other seat.
LSA senior John Lin, message
chair of MVP, said last night's
gains show students approve of the
party's actions.
"We came out last year and we
said we would make the assembly
more efficient and more transpar-
ent," Lin said. "It's not there yet but
we're definitely on that track and
students have seen that."
Though election officials and
MSA representatives hoped for a
high voter turnout, 3,565 students
out of an eligible 39,671 students
- roughly 9 percent of the voting
population - cast ballots in this
election, according to MSA Elec-
tion Director Emily Winter.
See MSA ELECTIONS, Page 7A
CORTESY OF AARODAVIDMILLER
TOP LEFT Aaron David Miller with then-leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization Yasser Arafat during a visitfto Ramallah in 1998. TOP RIGHT Miller with former Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in Jerusalem in the late 1990's. ABOVE Miller, former President Bill Clinton and others during the opening session of the Wye River Peace Conference.
A life on both sides of the table
AT H LE TIC F AC ILITIE
. Soccer stadium gets
rezoning go-ahead
University alum
Aaron David Miller
has spent his career
negotiating for peace
ByJILLIAN BERMAN
Daily News Editor
WASHINGTON - In the first
chapter of his recent book "The
Much Too Promised Land," Uni-
versity alum Aaron David Miiler
sets the scene for the announce-
ment in Jerusalem of one of the
most historic Middle East peace
conferences.
For nine months leading up to
the 1991 Madrid Conference, Mill-
er dealt with "headaches of vary-
ing sizes" that accompanied the
formation of the first ever meet-
ing between representatives from
Syria, Israel, Lebanon and a joint
Palestinian-Jordanian delegation.
"There wrm no such precedent
for anything like that," Miller said
of the conference ho an interview
this summer.
As an adviser on the Arab-Israe-
li conflict to then-Secretary of
State James Baker, Miller played
a role in setting up the framework
for the historic meeting. But sit-
ting cross-legged and relaxed in
jeans and a blue blazer, Miller
joked that he had the most influ-
ence on American foreign policy
earlier in his career - while on the
tennis court.
"During a doubles match in
Cairo, (former Secretary of State
George) Shultz was my partner,
and I hit him in the back with one
of my serves," he said. "It was the
See AFTER THEY WALK, Page 2A
Pa
Com
hea
The
mission
nightt
Arbor
approv
ing of
of the1
cer con
a stadia
The
South
st City Planning prised of three fields - two for
practice and one for competition.
imission, proposal The stadium, for which prelimi-
nary construction has already
ds to City Council begun, will seat approximately
2,000 people and include grand-
By EMILY ORLEY stands, concession stands, a press
Daily StaffReporter area and restrooms.
Construction on the site began
Ann Arbor Planning Com- last May after the Board of Regents
n voted unanimously last approved the project. Troy-based
to recommend to the Ann architectural firm Jickling Lyman
City Council that the body Powell Associates, Inc. designed
e the annexation and rezon- the plan for the building and the
12.5 acres of land at the site Athletic Department provided the
University of Michigan soc- $6 million in funding.
mplex for the construction of The University petitioned for
um. the site to be rezoned for public
complex, located at 2323 land because of the variety of zon-
Main St., is currently com- See SOCCER STADIUM, Page 3A
Asp
W
a
sembly officials port of gender-neutral housing at
its weekly meeting last night, in
ill lobby 'U' to an effort to influence University
.ing Housing to better accommodate
mend housing transgender students in the resi-
dence halls.
regulations The resolution - authored by
Business Rep. Alex Serwer, LSA
y JENNA SKOLLER Rep. Chris Armstrong, LSA Rep.
Daily News Editor John Oltean and Engineering Rep.
Pat Pannuto - calls for the LGBT,
Michigan Student Assem- Peace and Justice and Campus
ssed a resolution in sup- Improvement Commissions to
work with the Spectrum Center to
lobby the University for a gender-
neutral housing option by next fall.
University Housing currently
assigns housing by birth gender
unless students have undergone
sex reassignment surgery, accord-
ing to the University Housing
website. Students seeking gender-
neutral housing are given excep-
tions on a case-by-case basis,
though the University doesn't
guarantee accommodations.
"Housing's policy of assignment
according to birth gender until sex
reassignment surgery ignores the
needs of transgender-identified
students who have not pursued sex
reassignment surgery," the resolu-
tion stated.
The resolution follows an initial
gender-neutral housing proposal
from the Spectrum Center Stu-
dent Advisory Board introduced
last April. In the beginning of this
See GENDER-NEUTRAL, Page 3A
M SA backs gender-neutral housing
B
The
bly pay
WORLD AIDS DAY 2009
Peace Corps event highlights
impact of HIV/AIDS abroad
Peace Corps official
recounts his experiences
with disease in Namibia
By BETHANY BIRON
Daily StaffReporter
Yesterday marked the 21st annual World
Aids Day, held every Dec. 1 to draw aware-
ness to the deadly disease that afflicts 33.4
million people worldwide.
To commemorate the day, the Univer-
sity's Peace Corps office invited a panel of
University graduate students and former
Peace Corps volunteers to speak about
their experiences dealing with the HIV/
AIDS crisis overseas.
At the event, held last night at the Uni-
versity International Center, Alex Pompe,
a Rackham graduate student and the Uni-
versity's Peace Corps campus coordina-
tor, spoke about his experiences as a Peace
Corps volunteer in the southern African
country of Namibia.
"It's a tremendous opportunity to be able
to go somewhere for two years. And you're
going to be taken care of while you're there
and you're going to be given the chance to
make meaningful impact on people's lives,"
Pompe said. "And at the same time you're
going to be receiving so much culturally."
Pompe worked in Namibia from 2006 to
2008, helping to teach children and young
adults about HIV/AIDS and malaria aware-
ness and prevention.
"(HIV/AIDS) manifests itself in almost
every facet of a Namibian's life," Pompe
said, explaining that many of his students
were born HIV positive and were unknow-
ingly carrying the disease.
"These are people who hadn't made a
decision in their life that led to them devel-
oping the disease," Pompe said.
Pompe said he would try to educate stu-
dents about HIV/AIDS by integrating math
problems using real-world examples based
on infection rates in his village.
See HIV/AIDS, Page 3A
AARON AUGsBURGER/Dail'
For a full story on the carolersd 9 J ersity medical students carol oustide U.S. Rep. John Dingell's (D-Dearborn) office in
efforts, visit the Daly's news blog at Ypsilanti to mar World AIDS Day. The students rewrote the words to 'Jingle Bells and
michigandaily.com/blogs/The Wire th.. grppularcarols to protest prooisions of health cae reform legislation that could pre-
michganailycnmblns/Ih Wie.vent generic drues that treat HIV/AIDS and other diseases from entering the market.
x
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