The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday, February 2, 2010 - 7
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, Fehruary 2, 2010 - 7
SACUA
. From Page 1
expected Slottow to sign the letter
needed to move forward by the end
of the week.
According to state statute, the
committee is supposed to be com-
prised of two students, two mem-
bers of the faculty and two staff
members - each elected by their
respective groups biannually.
However elections of commit-
tee members have not followed
the statute's requirements. In fact,
faculty elections haven't occurred
since 2000.
And while staff have held elec-
tions, non-union and union staff
voted separately - meaning each
staff only has a say in one of the two
staff seats.
At the same time, MSA had been
appointingstudentstoholdtheposi-
tions, instead of allowing students
to elect them directly. According to
lawyers interviewed by The Michi-
gan Daily last fall, MSA's appoint-
ment procedure did not fall in line
with the statute that created the
oversight committee. In December,
MSA decided to put two candidates
for the committee on the ballot for
the elections in the spring.
COLEMAN DEFENDS 'U'
TUITION LEVELS
Speaking before the SACUA yes-
terday, University President Mary
Sue Coleman announced that she
would be attending Democratic
Gov. Jennifer Granholm's State of
NCAA
From Page l
ing the University for the NCAA,
instead only saying that she was
grateful for her position at the Uni-
versity.
"You know, newspaper people
* will speculate," Coleman said with
a laugh at the time. "I'm very happy
here. Very, very happy."
And while she didn't throw her
name into the running when she
talked with The New York Times
TEXTING
From Page 1
nant, and Gonzales said he worried
that if she had not been as far along
in her pregnancy, then the accident
could have killed the baby.
"Little Abigail had no problems
when she was born, but had my
daughter-in-law been two-months
pregnant, maybe the force from
the crash could have been fatal
to Abigail when she was a fetus,"
Gonzales said. "That's what really
inspired me to do this."
Gonzales said he hopes the law
will eventually become a primary
offense, but he's satisfied with the
legislation's current progress and
sees it as a starting point for future
changes.
"At least we can ban texting," he
said. "It will be a secondary offense,
but at least we can get something
out of it and we can make it better
over time."
State Rep. Pam Byrnes (D-Lyn-
don Twp.) said that if the bill is
passed, in the future, texting will
likely become a primary offense,
which is similar to the progression
HAITI
From Page 1
at the airport in one hour.
Once he was on the plane head-
ing towards Haiti, Soong and his
crew members were told that if
they did not land by 1:30 p.m., the
military air traffic controls would
direct them back to Miami.
"We circled many times over
Port-au-Prince. It was 1:29 and our
hope was starting to fade, and then
we felt the landing gear go down
and the airplane slowed down.
And we were going in, we made it
in," Soong said, explaining that the
abundance of planes trying to land
caused delays on the runway.
, While the plane ride was a jour-
ney in itself, Soong said it was on
the ground in Port-au-Prince where
the real experience began.
The University of Miami four-
tent field hospital that Soong
worked at in Port-au-Prince was
located next to the Port-au-Prince
airport - where there was always
air traffic coming in and out of the
U.N.,: Goals for
gas emissions
are insufficient
University President Mary Sue Coleman speaks to SACUA yesterday about possible state cuts to University funding.
the State address in Lansing tomor-
row night.
Coleman said that she wasn't
entirely sure what would be pro-
posed during the address, but she
would be listening very closely for
any changes or updates regarding
the state budget and its appropria-
tions for higher education.
Coleman said she would be very
vocal in response to any cost cut-
ting for the University's budget.
Later in the meeting Prof. Wayne
Stark, who teaches Electrical Engi-
neering and Computer Science and
in October, Coleman did tell the
paper that the next NCAA president
should be a university president
from a school with a Division 1 ath-
letic program.
"I am deeply engaged at the Uni-
versity of Michigan," Coleman told
the Times in October.
Last month, The Associated Press
reported that the NCAA search
committee intends to have a suc-
cessor named by this summer and
in place before the start of the next
academic year.
Those currently being reported
of Michigan's legislation regarding
seatbelt use.
"I think that it probably should
be a primary, but I don't think you
could get the majority of the peo-
ple to make it a primary offense,"
Byrnes said. "It's about giving peo-
ple a period of time to adjust to it, so
I would expectthat in years to come
it will become a primary offense."
Byrnes also said texting while
driving is an issue many legislators
are concerned about and willing to
support as it makes the eventual
move to federal legislation.
"We also know thatthere's going
to be federal regulations at some
point in time that will require that
we do this to receive our federal
transportation dollars," Byrnes
added. "So we're just trying to be
proactive and make sure we have
legislation that enforces the tex-
ting while driving."
State Sen. Liz Brater (D-Ann
Arbor) said she's supportive of the
bill, adding that legislation of this
nature is often hard to pass.
"It's better than the current sit-
uation," she said. "At least it sends
a message that this is an illegal
activity that cannot be tolerated."
airport, even throughout the night,
Soong said.
The procedures that were con-
ducted at the field hospital were
mainly orthopedic. And while
Soong specializes in ophthalmolo-
gy, he helped with surgeries, ampu-
tations and whatever else he could.
"I did radiology, putting casts
on, reducing fractures, amputa-
tions, taking bed pans out, sweep-
ing the floor," Soong said. "There is
absolutely no space for egos or not
wanting to do anything. It was just
so crazy you had to help out."
Soong said shortages in medical
equipment led volunteers to impro-
vise. A flashlight was used as light
during operations and a hypoder-
mic needle was wrapped around a
broken pair of microscopic goggles
to hold them together.
Even toothpaste served another
purpose for the people in Port-au-
Prince.
"Interestingly, when I was down
there I saw people with white
toothpaste on their upper lip,"
Soongsaid. "Toothpaste was a very
popular commodity because the
is a member of SACUA, questioned
Coleman regarding a dispropor-
tionate increase in tuition rates
relative to inflation.
Stark asked Coleman if a decel-
eration of tuition increases could be
possible, fearing that some middle-
class families would become unable
to afford tuition in the future while
not qualifying for financial aid.
Coleman defended the Univer-
sity's tuition increases, saying she
believed they were less than the
higher education inflation rate - a
measure of cost increases for col-
as candidates for the post include
University of Georgia President
Michael Adams, who hasn't yet
definitively denied his interest.
"We're Georgians. We love it
here," Adams told the AP of his fam-
ily. "My family is happy here, and if
the regents will let me stay, I expect
to be here. Is that clear enough?"
Penn State University President
Graham Spanier is also rumored to
be on the short list of candidates,
though he has denied he is being
considered.
Uiversity of Miami President
State Sen. John Gleason
(D-Flushing), member of the Sen-
ate Committee on Transportation,
said he is worried that making the
law a primary offense would cause
drivers to earn high numbers of
bad driver points, which would
lead to high fees and fines.
"I really have mixed emotions
on it," he said. "We have a bad driv-
ers fee where if you collect so many
points you get a $1,000 fine. So
this is a rather new law and I'd be
concerned about more people that
would qualify for the bad driver's
fee."
Despite the penalties for drivers,
he said he views the law as impor-
tant to teaching about the value of
driving safety.
"We have really a tremendous
learning opportunity," Gleason
said. "I don't want people to start
getting tickets on the new law. I'd
like to see it kind of get eased into
place, but thatcan be accomplished
just by advising and warning peo-
ple about the offense."
Kinesiology junior Lara Hitch-
cock echoed Gleason's sentiments,
adding that the legislation would
be important for educating driv-
mint in it took care of the stench of
the corpses. It was everywhere."
Soong said crime also hindered
doctors' ability to provide neces-
sary help.
"Things were really scant and
people were coming in and steal-
ing medical supplies, and the local
prison had broken down so all of
the violent characters escaped," he
said. "They were out in the street,
and there were a lot of gangs."
The situation was so bad that
Soong said the scene at the field
hospital was like a war zone. He
added that doctors employed a tri-
age system, often being forced to
treat those with "medium inju-
ries" before those with less severe
injuries because they had a better
chance of saving them than those
with more serious injuries.
"That's the triage system," Soong
said. "Just like in civil war. And it
was very much like civil war."
Though it was difficult to deal
with most of what he saw in Haiti,
Soong said some stories from the
trip did have happy endings. When
a baby was born at the field hospi-
leges and universities.
She explained that students are
getting an excellent education and
college experience for the tuition
cost, adding that she is working
very hard to continue cost cutting
while maintaining quality.
Coleman said while she could
decrease tuition rates "tomorrow,"
it would require her to cut pro-
grams for students, increase class
sizes or decrease faculty salaries.
-Sabira Khan contributed
to this report.
Donna Shalala, who served as the
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human
Services for eight years under Presi-
dent Clinton, has also been reported
as a possible candidate.
"I am not a candidate and really
have no interest," Shalala told the
AP in an e-mail. "I amsure there are
good candidates."
University of Hartford President
Walt Harrison may be one of those
candidates. He is one of the only
names being rumored as a candi-
date who has reportedly expressed
interest in the position.
ers.
"I think I'd be in support of it
because I've tried texting while
driving and it's pretty difficult,"
Hitchcock said. "And there's times
when I'm texting and I obviously
should be paying more attention to
the road rather than texting."
In regards to it being a second-
ary offense, Hitchcock said that
texting could likely be the cause
of the primary offense in the first
place.
"If you're getting pulled over for
a traffic offense in the first place,
then obviously texting is affecting
your driving," Hitchcock said.
Business sophomore Solomon
Ravich said he thinks cell phone
regulation is important to prevent-
ing accidents and increasing driver
safety. Ravich added that in his
home state of New York, the use
of cell phones while driving is pro-
hibited without a headset device.
"Texting while driving is way
worse than anything you can
do," said Ravich. "It takes your
attention completely away from
driving...I'm in support of (the leg-
islation) because it would reduce
accidents and help safety."
tal, Soongsaid all the surgeons took
a short break from their surgeries
and applauded the happy moment.
"The other surgeons at the
other areas stopped their surger-
ies for about two minutes and they
clapped," Soong said. "Everybody
was just yelling and then back to
the heavy stuff again, so, ups and
downs. Within a minute or two,
you have ups and downs of emo-
tion."
The field hospital was in an area
that consisted of many other field
hospitals, from countries all around
theworld--includingChina,Korea,
Portugal, Peru, Czech Republic,
Qatar and Israel.
"There's a lot of hugging", Soong
said. "They will come up to us
medical guys saying 'bless you' and
we'll hug them, like a hug-fest. It
was like you could see how good
humanity can be when there is a
need."
Soong arrived back in Ann Arbor
last week, but he said his experi-
ences in Haiti still remain fresh
in his mind, and that he hopes to
return to Haiti as early as March.
Official says goals
won't do enough to
fight global warming
UNITEDNATIONS (AP) -The
greenhouse gas goals announced
by the nations responsible for
most emissions are insufficient
against the disastrous effects of
climate change, a U.N. official
said yesterday.
Janos Pasztor, Secretary-Gener-
al BanKi-moon's top climate advis-
er, said the goals, submitted to the
U.N. as part of a voluntary plan to
roll back emissions, make it highly
unlikely the world can prevent
temperatures from rising above
the target set at the Copenhagen
climate conference in December.
"It is likely, accordingto a num-
ber of analysts, that if we add up
all those figures that were being
discussed around Copenhagen,
if they're all implemented, it will
still be quite difficult to reach the
two degrees," Pasztor told the
Associated Press.
The "two degrees" refers to the
Copenhagen target of keeping the
Earth's average temperature from
rising two degrees Celsius (3.6
degrees Fahrenheit) above prein-
dustrial levels.
"That is the bottom line, but
you can look at it negatively and
positively. The negative part is
that it's not good enough," he
said. "The positive side is that for
the first time, we have agoal, a
clear goal that we're all working
toward, and we know what the
commitments are. ... Before we
would just talk."
Pasztor said some 50 nations -
includingChina, the United States
and 27-member European Union
- sent intheir commitment letters
by the Feb. 1 deadline set at the
Copenhagen climate conference in
December. More such letters were
expected to continue trickling in
over the next several days.
The commitmentletters,which
largely reaffirm previous pledges,
were intended to get an idea of
how far the nations most respon-
sible for global warming might
be willing to go, toward a legally
binding pact.
China has pledged to reduce
its emissions growth - not make
absolute cuts - by up to 45 percent
from 2005 levels by 2020. India
also pledged to reduce emissions
growth by up to 25 percent from
2005 levels by 2020.
The United States stuck to
President Barack Obama's pledge
to cut its absolute carbon emis-
sions by about 17 percent by 2020
below 2005 levels.
Debate over int'l.
adoption grows
in wake of quake
Groups urge
moratorium on
adoption from Haiti
after 10 are arrested
NEW YORK (AP) - The
debate over international adop-
tion, already a bitter one, has
intensified in the aftermath
of Haiti's earthquake and the
arrest of 10 Americans for try-
ing to take children out of the
devastated country without per-
mission.
Some groups are urging a
long moratorium on new adop-
tions from Haiti, saying there
is too much chaos and too high
a risk of mistakes or child traf-
ficking. Other groups fear any
long-term clampdown will con-
sign countless children to lives
in institutions or on the street,
rather than in the loving homes
MARKLEY
From Page 1
them that he was "expecting
strippers for a show."
The officer and the advisorlater
entered the floor study lounge,
where they found the group sit-
ting around in a circle, according
to Logan. But "there were no out-
siders that they could determine
present," Logan said.
Logan said the officer warned
the group that strippers were not
permitted in the lounge, as that
would be a "violation of Commu-
nity Living Standards."
Logan said Housing's Commu-
nity Living Standards state that
"behavior that is disruptive to
orderly community living is pro-
hibited" in the residence halls.
This behavior "includes but is
not limited to streaking, nudity
and sexual activity in common
areas," Logan said.
Therefore, Logan said if a "strip
tease in the community lounge"
had occurred, that would have
constituted a violation.
Though Logan couldn't con-
firm that strippers were in the
residence hall, Bidwell said he
was part of a group that walked
them to a friend's room.
"We met them atthe front door,
walked themin and then everyone
started going crazy," he said.
Bidwell said the group then
moved to the study lounge
because the original room, which
contained 12 to 15 of his friends,
was too small.
Because they were discovered
in the lounge, Bidwell said the
group moved to another room on
of adoptive parents.
Chuck Johnson, chief operat-
ing officer of the National Coun-
cil for Adoption, said the arrests
of the 10 U.S. Baptists would
probably undercut his organiza-
tion's push to expand adoptions
from Haiti as soon as feasible.
"It was a critical mistake -
the Haitian government has
been very clear they did not
want any children leaving with-
out its express permission,"
Johnson said yesterday. "Maybe
the Americans thought they
were helping 33 kids, but now
there's going to be a much slow-
er process and maybe even a ban
on future adoptions - and that
would be a tragedy."
The Americans, arrested Fri-
day near Haiti's border with
the Dominican Republic, were
being held in a police headquar-
ters in Port au Prince while Hai-
tian and U.S officials discussed
their fate.
the floor. They were discovered
again and then were forced to
return to the original room.
Bidwell said he and his friends
do not know what the conse-
quences of their actions will be.
"We don't really know if we're
in trouble for it yet; we don't think
so," he said.
Logan said with the informa-
tion he has heard thus far, there
were no violations of Community
Living Standards. Because there
is no incident report on file, "there
was essentially no incident," he
said.
LSA freshman Chris Miller said
he knew of the incident, because
he heard "a big ruckus" coming
from the floor when he returned
to his neighboring hall late that
night.
Miller also said news of the
incident traveled quickly to oth-
ers in the dorm.
"Word had gotten out, and
everyone was talking about it," he
said.
LSA freshman Michael Harri-
son said he heard students talking
about the incident over lunch, and
while he thinks it is "hilarious,"
he added that he also thinks it's
inappropriate.
"Realistically, should there
be strippers in a dorm hall? No,
that's not courteous to other
members of the opposite sex,"
Harrison said.
Ryan Eskuri, LSA freshman
and Markley resident, also said
the act was not considerate to
others.
"They should be respectful to
everyone living here and not just
be so selfish and want to be plea-
sured by a stripper," Eskuri said.
he wire
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