The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 - 7

. CFO Slottow says the University
is fixing maintenance backlog

From Page 1
For the event, which will take
place amid the ongoing construc-
tion at Michigan Stadium, Sullivan
said all elevators and bathrooms
would be ready in time, but that the
stadium's new club suites would not
be ready for use.
"We understand that a lot of fac-
ultymay want to come to graduation
this year," she added with a laugh.
Sullivan also talked about pro-
posed changes to the grievance pro-
cedure for resolving faculty disputes,
noting that it is currently under
review by Law School professors
who areexaminingitslanguage.
Sullivan discussed faculty pro-
motions too, telling SACUA mem-
bers that she would begin reviewing
recommendations for promotions
after spring break.
The promotions process involves
a series of sessions during which
Sullivan will meet with two faculty
reviewers. The reviewers who aid
Sullivan in the review are selected
by the Office of the Provost and are
senior faculty members.
Afterreviewingthe case, Sullivan
will occasionally speak with a dean,
especially if the review committee
was not persuaded by a dean's point
of view.
CFO TIM SLOTTOW
DISCUSSES BUILDING
MAINTENANCE
Tim Slottow, executive vice
president and chief financial offi-
cer for the University, also spoke
MFORWARD
From Page 1
functioning as an actual student
government.
"We want to give students
another, better choice in the
March elections, and what that
means is focusing on advocacy
and representation," he said. "It
means more work on tuition, the
Good Samaritan policy, gender-
neutral housing - the issues that
need to be addressed and need to
be addressed soon."
According to the press release,
the party's members plan to
announce their slate in a mass
meeting this Wednesday night.
Ambreen Sayed, MSA chief of
staff, insisted the combined expe-
rience of its members distinguish-
es MForward from current and
former party initiatives in MSA.
"The group we've composed
has seen the best and the worst of

Taliban steps
up attacks
in Marah
stronghold

ANNA SCHULTE/Daily
University Provost Teresa Sullivan speaks to the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs - the leading faculty govern-
ing body - yesterday. Sullivan discussed the proposed state budget and the Michigan Promise Scholarship, among other topics.

at yesterday's SACUA meeting.
Slottow explained the process for
determining which buildings on
campus are most in need of main-
tenance.
He said University officials use
a one-to-four scale to judge which
buildings are in need of the most
repair. A building rated a one is
deemed to potentially place the
MSA," said Sayed, who will run
for re-election as an Engineering
representative in March. "Our in
depth knowledge will help us to be
effective and more responsive to
the student body."
LSA junior Chris Dietzel, who is
also running for representative as
a partof MForward, said the desire
for more thorough communication
with students was a primary rea-
son for the party's formation.
"Havingexperience withgroups
on campus, I know that students
have a lot to say but don't always
realize how they can voice their
opinions," said Dietzel, who is also
president of the campus group Do
Random Acts of Kindness.
"My hope is that I can serve the
organizations I'm a part of through
MSA, and that I can bring student
voices to the assembly and make
sure that they're heard," he said.
According to the press release,
MForward will comprise leaders
from organizations like Fighting

building's inhabitants in extremely
dangerous situations if the build-
ing goes without repair.
Slottowsaidthe Universityis cur-
rently working on trying to fix the
backlog of deferred maintenance for
many Universitybuildings.
He said the Facility Condi-
tion Index allows buildings to be
assessed for their conditions and
Obstacles Knowing Ultimate Suc-
cess, the Indian American Student
Association, Dance Marathon at
the University of Michigan and the
Student Athlete Advisory Council,
in addition to DoRAK.
"We think diversity of the
organizations we represent is as
important as the diversity of our
members," Armstrong said.
He added that he and fellow
party members intend to work
more closely with the Student
Association of Michigan, a collec-
tion of student governments from
campuses across the state.
Armstrong said that the party
intends to pursue legislative goals,
like reforming MSA's funding pro-
cess, in addition to channeling stu-
dent voices into new legislation.
"We're hoping to work with the
treasurers from different student
and administrative organizations
to figure out how we can fix our
funding," he said. "We know we
can streamline a lot of the money

then the proper maintenance or
corrections to be done.
"We are trying desperately to
reduce deferred maintenance,"
Slottow said. "It's going in the right
direction over time."
"We use the FCI to identify what
buildings are the worst and also to
pick up what the overall trend is
across campus,"he added.
we receive in order to use it more
effectively."
Sayed said she was confident
that if elected, the party will make
effective and meaningful changes
no matter what the specific legis-
lation is.
"We have a hard-working group
of people who like to think big, yet
be very pragmatic with the solu-
tions we create," she said. "I think
we're going to set and keep the
bar high with whatever comes our
way."
According to Armstrong,
because elections will be held in
March, the next several weeks will
be critical to MForward's efforts
to make its presence known and
garner support from the student
body.
"The campaign leading up to
the election is a way for us to con-
nect with leaders and students on
campus," he added. "We want to
foster an environment that will aid
MSA in the years to come."

Taliban fighters
moved into Marine
compound and
opened fire
SMARJAH, Afghanistan (AP)
- Taliban fighters stepped up
counterattacks against Marines
and Afghan soldiers in the militant
stronghold of Marjah, slowing the
allied advance to a crawl despite
Afghan government claims that the
insurgents are broken and on the
run.
Taliban fighters appeared to be
slipping under cover of darkness
into compounds already deemed
free of weapons and explosives,
then opening fire on the Marines
from behind U.S. lines.
TwoNATOservicemembersdied
Monday from bomb strikes in Hel-
mand, but neither was part of the
Marjah offensive, military spokes-
man Sgt. Kevin Bell said. NATO did
not provide their nationalities.
Also yesterday, NATO said
five civilians were accidentally
killed and two wounded by an
airstrike when they were mistak-
enly believed to have been planting
roadside bombs in Kandahar prov-
ince, east of the Marjah offensive.
The airstrike happened one day
after 12 people, half of them chil-
dren, were killed by two U.S. mis-
siles that struck a house on the
outskirts of Marjah. Afghan offi-
cials said yesterday that three Tali-
ban fighters were in the house at
the time of the attack.
On the third day of the main
attack on Marjah, Afghan com-
manders spoke optimistically Mon-
day about progress in the town of
about 80,000 people, the linchpin
of the Taliban logistical and opium
poppy smuggling network in the
militant-influenced south
Brig. Gen. Sher Mohammad
Zazai, commander of Afghan
troops in the south, told reporters
in nearby Lashkar Gah that there
had been "low resistance" in the
town, adding "soon we will have
Marjah cleared of enemies."
Interior Minister Hanif Atmar
said many insurgent fighters had
already fled Marjah, possibly head-
ing for Pakistan.
In Marjah, however, there was
little sign the Taliban were broken.
Instead, small, mobile teams of
insurgents repeatedly attacked U.S.
and Afghan troopswith rocket, rifle
and rocket-propelled grenade fire.
Insurgents moved close enough to
the main road to fire repeatedly at
columns ofmine-clearingvehicles.
At midday at least six large gun-
battleswereragingacrossthetown,
and helicopter gunships couldn't
cover all the different fighting loca-
tions.
Allied officials have reported
only two coalition deaths so far
- one American and one Briton
killed Saturday. There havebeen no
reports of wounded. Afghan offi-
cials said at least 27 insurgents have
been killed so far in the offensive.

Nonetheless, the harassment
tactics and the huge number of
roadside bombs, mines and booby
traps planted throughout Mar-
jah have succeeded in slowing the
movement of allied forces through
the town. After daylong skirmish-
es, some Marine units had barely
advanced at all by sundown.
As long as the town remains
unstable, .NATO officials cannot
move to the second phase - restor-
ingAfghan government control and
rushing in aid and public services
to win over inhabitants who have
been living under Taliban rule for
years.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai
approved the assault on Marjah
only after instructing NATO and
Afghan commanders to be care-
ful about harming civilians. "This
operation has been done with that
in mind," the top NATO command-
er, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal,
said yesterday.
Despite those instructions,
NATO said two U.S. rockets veered
off target by up to 600 yards and
slammed into a home Sunday out-
side Marjah, killing 12 people. Six
children were among the dead, a
NATO military official confirmed
Monday, speaking on condition of
anonymity because theinformation
had not been formally released.
In London, Britain's top military
officer, Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock
Stirrup, called the missile strike a
"very serious setback" to efforts to
win the support of local communi-
ties, who are from the same Pash-
tun ethnic group as the Taliban.
NATO said the Kandahar air-
strike was ordered yesterday after
a joint NATO-Afghan patrol saw
people digging along a path "and
believed that the individuals" were
planting a roadside bomb. When
they realized their mistake, troops
flew the wounded to a NATO hospi-
tal, the statement said.
"We regret this tragic accident
and offer our sympathies to the
familiesof those killed and injured,"
said Maj. Gen. Michael Regner, the
NATO command's deputy chief of
staff for joint operations. "Our com-
bined forces take every precaution
to minimize civilian casualties, and
we will investigate this incident to
determine how this happened."
About 15,000 U.S., Afghan and
British troops are takingpartinthe
massive offensive around Marjah
area - the largest southern town
under Taliban control.
The offensive is the biggest joint
operation since the 2001 U.S.-led
invasion of Afghanistan.
The main attack began before
dawn Saturday when dozens of
helicopters dopped hundreds of
Marines and Afghan soldiers into
the heart ofthe city.Although there
was onlyscattered resistance onthe
first day, Taliban fighters seem to
have regrouped, using hit-and-run
tactics to try to prevent the Ameri-
cans and their Afghan allies from
gaining full control of the area.
The Taliban snipers appeared
highly skilled at concealing them-
selves.


REGENTS
From Page 1
building's partial renovation, the
Museum of Zoology's "wet" col-
lection will be moved to the site
for storage and it will be available
for the University community to
access.
The project will also renovate
part of the Alexander G. Ruthven
Museums Building.
Renovations for both projects
are scheduled to be completed by
the summer of 2012 and will be
FALSE ALARMS
From Page 1
cy," Lugin wrote in the e-mail.
"Complacency that may result
in residents being less willing to
evacuate in the event of an actual
fire."
LSA sophomore Michelle
Beckwith - who has lived in
West Quad for the past two years
- said she is genuinely frightened
when a fire alarm goes off in light
of a real fire that occurred in West
Quad last year.
"It's kind of a problem. I lived
here last year and we had them,
but this year it's definitely more
ridiculous and I'm always afraid
it's a real fire since we did have a
real fire last year," Beckwith said.
"So now it's hard for me to go 'Oh
it's just a fire drill.' Fire alarms
freak me out. I take off running, I

paid for through the University's
investment income.
If regents approve the recom-
mendation submitted by Timo-
thy Slottow, the project will be
issued for bids and will be able
to be awarded, provided the win-
ning bid is within the approved
budget.
UPDATE ON UNIVERSITY
REACCREDITATION
Though no action will be
required on the topic, the regents
will also hear an update on the
don't even put shoes on."
Beckwith said the fire alarms
have been disrupting the sleep-
ing habits of both herself and her
friends, who are growing frus-
trated from the sleep depriva-
tion.
Beckwith agreed with Lugin,
noting that with the increased
number of false alarms, many
West Quad residents opt not to
evacuate because they know there
isn't an actual fire.
"What really bothers me
though is when people call it a fire
drill," Beckwith said. "We haven't
had a fire drill since September.
But people keep calling them that,
but it's not a fire drill. This is not
preparing us for a fire at all, this is
doing the opposite."
Resident Advisor and LSA
senior Dominick Young is also
concerned about students ignor-
ing the alarms and said that every

University's re-accreditation pro-
cess. The University must com-
plete the re-accreditation process
every 10 years in order to 4ualify
for federal aid. The last re-accred-
itation process was completed in
2000.
As part of the process, the
University completed a self-
study report that focused on the
five topic areas required by the
Higher Learning Commission
- the University's mission, its
preparedness for the future, the
in-class experience, out of class-
room engagement and applica-
time an alarm is pulled, students
should react as if it were an actual
fire.
"The more that it happens, the
more and more students are less
apt to actually evacuate the build-
ing which is a problem because
every time the fire alarm is pulled,
we need to treat it like it's the real
thing," Young said.
Young added that it's impor-
tant for anyone who knows who
is pulling the alarm to come
forward, because of the serious
nature of the issue.
LSA freshman Daniel Zamler
said in response to the increase
in the number of false alarms, he
and his roommate have covered
the fire alarm light in their room
to stop the alarm from going off
for an extended period of time.
"I mean it's obviously been
waking me up at like 4 o'clock in
the morning three or four times

tion of knowledge.
The HLC gives those schools,
which will likely be reaccredited
the opportunity to do an addi-
tional study on a special topic of
their choosing. Because the Uni-
versity falls into this category,
University officials conducted a
study on internationalism at the
University.
The process will conclude later
this year, when a 13-person team
from the HLC visits campus from,
Mar. 15-17 to interview top admin-
istrators and other representatives
from the University.
now which is unpleasant," Zam-
ler said. "We had to actually
tape over the fire alarm light in
our room, because one time they
couldn't shut off the fire alarm for
six hours or something."
Zamler said he has also noticed
a decline in residents actually
evacuating during the alarms.
"The whole building is techni-
cally supposed to evacuate, but
it has become kind of a mundane
thing that kind of pisses people
off, so not a lot of people actually
go outside," Zamler said. "That
would be bad if people thought
there was a fake fire and there
actually was one."
According to Lugin's email,
pulling a fire alarm is a violation
of University Policy and Michi-
gan State law. It's a misdemean-
or punishable by imprisonment
for up to a year or fines of up to
$1,000, according to the e-mail.


HODES
From Page 1
and most people don't get to see a
doctor in their life, he said.
Hodes said one of the biggest
problems he faces is not always
having access to advanced medical
equipment, forcing him to make do
with the bare minimum necessary
to treat patients.
"In Ethiopia, I started giving out
chemo(therapy) on my front porch,"
Hodes said.
Due to limited options for medi-
cal care in Ethiopia, Hodes said he
usually sees very advanced cases of
illnesses like Hodgkin's Lymphoma
and spinal tuberculosis. Among
other resources, Hodes said he uses
generic drugs bought from India to
treat his patients.
Hodes said his work focuses on
getting his patients to hospitals
where they can be operated on, if
surgery is needed. He works closely
with hospitals in Ghana that oper-
ate for free and with a hospital in
Cochin, India, sending patients to
hoth so they can receive the treat-
ment they require for free.
At his practice, Hodes sees about
20 to 25 patients a day. He said he
does not advertise his work, but
people from all over the country

travel long distances to see him.
"I got one (patient) the other day
that came from about 400 miles,"
Hodes said. "They just assume that
I'm in town and take thebus from all
the way across town to come see me."
Hodes said one of the main issues
facing patients in Ethiopia is the
lack of medical care available for
patients in the early stages of many
diseases and malnutrition.
He cited iodine deficiency spe-
cifically, noting that if children
in Ethiopia had readily available
access to iodine they would be able
to raise their IQ by 7 percent.
Though he is mostly concerned
with finding solutions as fast as
possible for his patients, Hodes said
his long-term goals include hav-
ing surgery more readily available
in Ethiopia, adding that he doesn't
see himself returning to the United
States to live permanently for at
least five years.
"Right now a lot of things are
takingoff," Hodes said.
Hodes encouraged students to do
the same, emphasizing the impor-
tance of taking time to do service
ahroad.
"There is a big world out there,
(students) should get out and do
some work outside of Michigan
and outside of the United States,"
Hodes said.

he wire
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