, iC i1 an4,. ai l Ann Arbor, Michigan Friday, March 12, 2010 michigandaily.com NCAA INVESTIGATION Coleman dodges NCAA question at fireside chat CATWALKING FOR A CAUSE Coleman: 'Both I and the AD take this very seriously' By JOSEPH LICHTERMAN and KYLE SWANSON Daily StaffReporter and Daily NewsEditor At an intimate meeting with about 50 students yesterday, Uni- versity President Mary Sue Cole- man discussed a wide range of issues including the NCAA's recent allegations against the Michigan football program. At the gather- NOTEBOOK ing, which was one of Coleman's monthly fireside chats where students are invited to discuss campus issues with her, one student brought up the NCAA investigation and recently announced set of allegations, ask- ing Coleman if the University had a zero tolerance policy for major violations of NCAA rules. The charges, which were announced last month, include allegations that the football pro- gram violated rules regarding the number of coaches that can work with student-athletes, exceeded the limit of allowable practice hours and that Michigan football he wre Or ourrnews blog: PresidertlCsleman, Vice President for Student Affairs Harper stopped forspeedingonheirway toNorth Campus. coach Rich Rodriguez did not pro- mote an "atmosphere of compli- ance," among other allegations. Coleman did not explicitly address the student's question regarding the investigation, and said the rest of the process needed to play out first. The University has 90 days from when they received the allegations to respond and Uni- versity officials will also appear before the NCAA's Committee on Infractions in August. "These are allegations and I think we need to let the process play out," Coleman said. "I do think it does matter whether there was intent or not. ..don't know that yet." However, Coleman did say she wouldn't try to dodge any allega- tions that prove to be true. "We are not going to make any excuses. If there are things that we've done wrong, then we'll make sure that we correct them," she said. "We are still going through the process. Both I and the AD take this very seriously." Coleman continued by saying the football coaches also take the See COLEMAN, Page 5 EMILY CHIU/Daily Campers from Special Days Camp. a camp for children with cancer and their families, mulch a fashion show sponsored by Cancer Awareness Week yesterday. 70 percent of Bi House suites sl o 00sao Officials say if financing threshold is reached, project would fund itself By ANNIE GORDON THOMAS Daily StaffReporter With about six months left until the start of football season, athlet- ic department officials say they've sold 57 of the 81 new suites in Michigan Stadium, which will be unveiled for the first game of the upcoming season in the fall. But Joe Parker, senior associate athletic director for development, said he isn't concerned that all of the suites haven't been sold yet. According to Parker, the 57 buyers' first year's payments have been collected. Four of the 57 buyers have also already paid their contractual commitments - which span a minimum of three years - in full. According to a Feb. 12 Detroit Free Press article, 2,822 commit- ments have been made to purchase the new club seats being built. About 3,000. indoor and outdoor club seats are available on the east side of the stadium and run from about $1,500 to $4,000 each in addition to the price of a season ticket. In place of the old press box, 704 "chair back" seats are also available for $2,000 each. "We're only right now in March and have roughly half of a year to secure commitments before the first game of the 2010 season," he said. According to Parker, when the athletic department reaches the point at which they've sold 70 per- cent of the suites and club seats, the project will have paid for itself. See SUITES, Page5 DESTRUCTING REALITY GETTING AROUND MICHAG University Research Corridor to study transportation issues 'U,' MSU and Wayne State to host transportation summit in Detroit By CAITLIN HUSTON Daily StaffReporter Researchers from universities across Michigan are hoping to revitalize transportation in the state that's famous for its once illustrious auto industry. The University Research Cor- ridor - an organization composed of administrators from the Uni- versity of Michigan, Michigan State University and Wayne State University - is starting a new multi-disciplinary consortium that will work toward formulating solutions for transportation prob- lems in the state. The new program, called Transforming Transportation: Economies & Communities, will host a summit in Detroit this October, in order to jumpstart the brainstorming process. Matt Seeger, chair of the Department of Communication at Wayne State University, said the goal of the consortium is to bring together a group of scholars inter- ested in addressing transportation problems in the state. Seeger said the state's transpor- tation challenges are multi-facet- ed and that solutions that focus on just one area won't be successful. "It's not a technological fix by See TRANSPORTATION, Page5 EMILY CHIU/Daily LSA sophomores Soumya Gowda and Vishal Shah and Ross School of Business sophomore Karan Saxena visited the Work Gal- lery on State Street yesterday to see an exhibit called "Dis illusion," which looks at the line between illusion and reality. STUDENT START-UPS Students launch grocery delivery service Dearborn student gov. pushes U' to divest funds from Israel Ann Arbor Grocery Delivery aims to slim down students' food bills By VERONICA MENALDI Daily StaffReporter Two students are trying to make it easier for students without a car to get much needed groceries with- out relying solely on stores close to campus like White Market and Vil- lage Corner. Started in November 2009 by LSA freshmen Lukas Garske and Michael Zhang, Ann Arbor Gro- cery Delivery is a new student-run business that offers students same- day grocery deliveries at a smaller markup than local grocery stores, the students said. The business was developed last semester and started deliver- ing last month. Garske and Zhang are currently running the business single-handedly, though Zhang said once they get more costum- ers they plan to hire an additional driver. ' Zhang said he's been wanting to start his own business for a while. Though a grocery delivery service wasn't his original idea, he decided it would bea good investment after conducting some research. "This business idea actually pro- vides a service that is really need- See GROCERIES, Page5 MSA officials, students say similar resolution unlikely in Ann Arbor By NEETHI SRINIVASAN For the Daily Vice President Joe Biden and special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell visited Israel earlier this week to hold an open discussion on Israeli-Palestinian relations. Though these peace talks are often brokered on an international stage, political action regardingthe dispute in the Middle East has recently entered a local forum. The student government at the University's Dearborn campus unanimously passed a resolution last month, asking the Univer- sity's Board of Regents to form an advisory committee to inves- tigate what they view as unethi- cal investments of endowment funds into companies that support Israel. But according to University officials and students involved in the issue here in Ann Arbor, it doesn't seem likely that a similar resolution will be passed in the Michigan Student Assembly any See DEARBORN, Page5 WEATHER HI 53 TOMORROW Lo 40 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 ore-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Daily Arts guide to concerts this weekend. MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE FILTER INDEX NEWS ............. Vol. CXX, No.l08 AP NEWS....... 072010 The Michigan Daily OPINION........ wichigondaily.com ................2 CLASSIFIEDS. . . b......... 6 ................3 A R TS ................ ........ ..... ...7 ................4 SPORTS.. . . ..........9 t a #.