Mark Burns offers an apology to Louie Caporusso, who has more than proven his worth ' since Burns's Jan. 26T kY A " s b column chastising him. PAGE 5 9PG Ann Arbor, Michigan Tuesday March 16, 2010 michigandaily.com GLUE, GRIDS AND GRADES CONNECTING ANN ARBOR ty Council makes push for Google Fiber in A At meeting, council 3) said Ann Arbor must find a way to distinguish itself from the passes resolution competition. If selected as a trial location, voicing support Ann Arbor will take all legal mea- sures to ensure the safe installa- for project tion of the network, according to Taylor. By DYLAN CINTI "The city is firmly behind this Daily Staff Reporter effort," Taylor said. Taylor added that City Coun- City officials are one step clos- cil's approval of the measure is er to convincing Google to bring important because Google will its ultra high-speed Internet net- consider community support in work, known as Google fiber, to its evaluation of potential sites. Ann Arbor. At last night's meeting, Mayor At its meeting last night, Ann John Hieftje said there is a "tre- Arbor City Council unanimously mendous amount" of support for approved a resolution to urge that Google Fiber around the commu- Ann Arbor become a trial location nity. for the project. Google Fiber for In addition to support from Communities aims to construct City Council, there has been a high-speed, fiber-to-home net- an effort to bring Google fiber work that will provide Internet to Ann Arbor by gaining grass- services 100 times faster than roots support. A local advocacy most are accustomed to, accord- group called A2 Fiber has estab- ing to the project's website. lished both Facebook and Twit- Ann Arbor faces stiff compe- ter accounts for members of the tition from many other cities, community to voice their sup- including Topeka, Kan., whose port. A2 Fiber has almost 12,000 mayor changed the city's name to Facebook friends and 658 Twitter "Google" for the month of March, followers as of yesterday. The Baltimore Sun reported. Lisa Raycraft, a member of Google has not specified how A2 Fiber and marketing com- many trial locations it will select. munications specialist at the For that reason, Councilmem- University, said in an interview ber Christopher Taylor (D-Ward See GOOGLE, Page 3 Nora Leon, a Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning junior, works on her midterm project, which was to construct a model for a new athletic center. Faculty staff, students talk '- m Forums part of reaccreditation process conducted every 10 years By SUZANNE JACOBS Daily StaffReporter In a series of meetings yes- terday, members of the Higher Learning Commission - the organization responsible for con- ducting the University's reac- creditation assessment - heard feedback from members of the campus community as part of the process. Students, faculty and staff at the University spoke yesterday with members of the HLC in open- forum style meetings to discuss their experience at the University. The reaccreditation process, which happens every 10 years, requires the University to file an internal report and for members of the HLC to visit campus. The assessment evaluates the Uni- versity on five criteria: mission and integrity, preparedness for the future, student learning and effective teaching, application of knowledge and engagement out- side of the classroom. The HLC's visit began yesterday and will end tomorrow. Though the meetings were open to the public, members of the press were not permitted to attendthe forums. University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham told The Michi- gan Daily that the meetings were closed to members of the press because the forums were designed to provide a private, confidential atmosphere for faculty, staff and students to raise concerns. Cunningham added that repre- sentatives of the University would also not be sitting in on the meet- ings in an official capacity, as a way See REACCREDITATION, Page 3 COMPUTING ON C A MPU S At meeting, CIO says 'U' is revitalizing its IT services CAMPUS WEAR-HOUSE Patterson tells SACUA 'U' is middle of the road for IT ByANNIE GORDON THOMAS Daily StaffReporter Laura Patterson, associate vice president and chief information officer at the University, spoke to the leading faculty governing body yesterday about the future of information technology at the Uni- versity. Patterson told members of the Senate Advisory Commit- tee on University Affairs that the University hopes to improve the technologies used to sup- port administration, learning and especially research at the Univer- sity through a new program called Next Gen Michigan. She said University offi- ials thought up the program in response to the "decentralized" nature of information technol- ogy at the University, adding that the University has not offered much technological support for researchers. "We, in some ways, have almost missed a generation of computing," Patterson said. Patterson noted that other universities have surpassed the See SACUA, Page 3 UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION University fills vacant posts ANNA SCHULTE/Daily School of Music, Theatre & Dance Costume Stock and Wardrobe Manager Renae Skoog gives a tour of the Costume Stock Ware- house yesterday. The 6,000-square-foot space houses more than 30,000 costumes and is "bursting at the seems," Skoog said. in Office of General Counsel Onregents' agenda, degrees for Obama, others Gloria Hage left the 'U' to take over as general counsel at Eastern Michigan By KYLE SWANSON Daily NewsEditor University officials announced yesterday that two vacancies in the University's Office of the General Counsel have been filled. According to a press release distributed by the University yes- terday attorneys David Masson and Margaret Marchack will fill the posts, both called associate vice president and deputy general counsel. Marchack's and Masson's appointments are pending approv- al from the University's Board of Regents. Masson, who has worked for the University's Office of the General Counsel since 2000, was promoted to the post of associate vice presi- dent and deputy general counsel. The position was left vacant after Gloria Hage - who worked in the role and was interim associate vice president and deputy gen- eral counsel at the University of Michigan Health System - left the University to become the general counsel for Eastern Michigan Uni- versity on March 1. In his new role, Masson will be responsible for aiding Vice Presi- dent and General Counsel Suellyn Scarnecchia in running the Uni- versity's legal operations from the See GENERAL COUNSEL, Page 3 At monthly meeting, regents will also talk construction By KYLE SWANSON Daily News Editor At their monthly meeting this Thursday, the University's Board of Regents will be asked to approve a recommendation from University President Mary Sue Coleman to award six honorary degrees at this year's spring com- mencement - including one for President Barack Obama. Obama is set to deliverthe com- mencement address at this year's graduation and, once approved by the regents, will receive a Doctor NOTEBOOK of Laws degree while on campus. Obama will be the third sitting president to deliver a commencement address at the University. In addition to delivering the commencement address at the Naval Academy last-year, Obama spoke at the University of Notre Dame last spring, where he was given an honorary degree, and at Arizona State University, where he was not given an honorary degree. Arizona State Universi- ty's decision not to award Obama an honorary degree drew criti- cism from many, but school offi- cials stood firm in their beliefs that Obama had not accomplished enough as president to warrant an honorary degree. See REGENTS, Page 3 WEATHER HI: 60 TOMORROW LO:34 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Daily Arts's guide tothe latest video games. 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