ARTPS
Daily Arts previews a number of events on the schedule
0 he da f - b.ae . ' at the Ann Arbor Film Festival this weekend. PAGE 7
d dMichigan hockey takes on Bemidji State in its NCAA
P E0 first-round matchup tomorrow. PAGE 9
~Ie 1Nid igan &xi p
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Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, March 26, 2010
michigandaily.com
MSA ELECTION RESULTS
MForward's
Armstrong
elected MSA
president
Students from public colleges around the state rally in Lansing yesterday to protest cuts to state funding for higher education.
Students from 'U,' other public
universities rally for higher ed.
Student turnout at
14 percent, highest
it's been in years
By ELYANA TWIGGS
Daily StaffReporter
LSA junior Chris Armstrong
snd Business. Srhooi junior
Jason Raymond of MForward
were elected Michigan Student
Assembly president and vice
president last night, according
to unofficial election results dis-
tributed late last night.
Armstrong and Raymond
won by more than 1,000 votes -
beating out the Michigan Vision
Party's Ian Margolis and Tom
Stuckey - in an election with
a student voter turnout of 14
percent, the highest it's been in
years.
Students also voted to pass a
new constitution drafted by Stu-
dents 4 Progressive Governance,
which will alter the structure of
MSA.
Throughout the campaign
MForward promised to estab-
lish a more unified student gov-
ernment where students can see
direct results yielded through
representative's passion and
advocacy. MVP's platform was
TYPE-INVOTES
Ourfavorite write-incandidatesfor
MSA president and vice president
Capt'n Crunch and Count Chocula
Mickey Mouse
Albus Dumbledore
Batman andCoant Chocula
Petet Griffin and Adi Sold'
Denard Robinson and Tate Forcier
Johnny Walkertand Jim Beam
Pinball Pete
larack Obam
ChanlieBnown
focused on achieving what Mar-
golis called "tangibles" for stu-
dents by offering events like pep
rallies or concerts.
After hearing the results,
Armstrong's satisfaction could
be heard in a jittery phone inter-
view.
"I am overwhelmingly aston-
ished," Armstrong said. "I am sb
humbled by the fact that the stu-
dent body voted for us. It's really
hard for me to put into words
how incredibly elated I feel."
Despite a problem with a ran-
domization feature on the MSA
voting website which may have
See ARMSTRONG, Page 5
Demonstration at
state Capitol aimed
to show opposition
to state funding cuts
By DEVON THORSBY
Daily StaffReporter
Between 300 and 400 students
from public universities across
Michigan rallied in Lansing yes-
terday to show state representa-
tives and senators their concern
over decreased state funding for
public colleges.
The Student Association of
Michigan, a combination of stu-
dent governments from public
universities in the state, organized
the demonstration in which stu-
dents marched outside the Capitol
building and met with individual
legislators to discuss cuts in state
funding for higher education.
Part of the reason for the rally
was to show opposition to a bill
that passed in the state Senate on
Tuesday that calls for a 3.1 per-
cent cut in funding to public uni-
versities and community colleges.
The bill has now been sent to the
House Appropriations Commit-
tee.
Business School junior Alex
Serwer, a Business School rep-
resentative for MSA, said one
of the major goals of the rally
was to lobby to stop cuts in state
appropriations that are expected
to appear in the upcoming state
budget.
He also said the rally focused
on asking legislators to bring back
the Michigan Promise Scholar-
ship, which was cut from the 2010
fiscal year budget. In her budget
plan last month, Democratic Gov.
Jennifer Granholm proposed a
new version of the scholarship
that gives a $4,000 tax credit to
students who choose to work for
one year in Michigan after gradu-
ation and who go to a state univer-
sity.
LSA sophomore Amanda
Caldwell helped to organize the
University's participation in
the rally by arranging meetings
between students and legislators
in their offices. She said other
See RALLY, Page 3
MICHIGAN ECONOMY
Data:A2
protected
from state
jobs woes
Expert says city's
diversification of
industry aids
unemployment rate
By LINDSAY KRAMER
Daily StaffReporter
While Michigan is still grap-
pling with the worst unemploy-
ment rate in the country, the City
of Ann Arbor has managed to ride
the wave of the recession with a
lower unemployment rate than
the rest of the state, due largely
to the city's focus on a technol-
ogy-based economy rather than
one rooted in the manufacturing
industry.
In January2010, theunemploy-
ment rate in Washtenaw County
was the lowest in the state at 9.3
percent, while the unemployment
rate for the entire state of Michi-
gan was 14.3 percent, according to
new statistics released by Michi-
gan's Department of Energy,
Labor & Economic Growth.
Much of the success of Washt-
enaw County, and specifically
Ann Arbor, in maintaining a rela-
See JOBS, Page 3
WEATHER HI: 53
TOMORROW LO: 37
DANCING FROM THE GRAVE
MSA holds first
election for DPS
Oversight Cmte. in
more than a decade
Students perform in the Greek Variety Dance cometition last night.
GR EK I
AAFD, Office of Greek Life team
up for surprise fire drills at houses
Assembly had been
appointing students
to committee
By STEPHANIE STEINBERG
Daily News Editor
LSA freshmen Ellie Howe and
Hari Vutukuru have become the
first two students to be elected
to the Department of Public
Safety Oversight Committee in
more than a decade, according
to Michigan Student Assembly
election results published late
Thursday night.
Their election comes after
MSA revamped its election pro-
cedure for student represen-
tatives to the oversight body
following an article in The
Michigan Daily that quoted inde-
pendent lawyers saying that the
assembly's previous election pro-
cess appeared to violate state law.
The two candidates who were
elected - Howe from the Defend
Affirmative Action Party and
Vutukuru from the Michigan
Vision Party - were the only
two in the running. LSA senior
Deandre Hicks, from DAAP, was
originally on the ballot but with-
drew his candidacy Wednesday
morning.
During this year's spring MSA
elections, students at the Uni-
versity could vote for two stu-
dents to serve as representatives
on the DPS Oversight Commit-
tee - a committee with student,
staff and faculty members who
address citizens' grievances con-
cerning the campus police. In
order for the University to have a
campus police force, a Michigan
state statute mandates the Uni-
versity to have an oversight com-
mittee for the campus police.
Since 1999, MSA has appoint-
ed students to serve on the com-
mittee. But independent lawyers
told the Daily last November that
MSA was violating thge statute
because it calls for the student
representatives to be elected to
the committee - not appointed.
After MSA looked into -the
matter, representatives decided
that the assembly was not follow-
ing the statute and that election
See DPS, Page 5
Fire simulations
at fraternity and
sorority houses aim
to teach fire safety
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
Members of some fraternities
and sororities on campus have
been getting a bit of a startling
study break recently.
As part of a new initiative to
educate residents of fraternity
and sorority houses at the Uni-
versity, fire safety officials from
the Washtenaw County Chapter
of the American Red Cross and
the Ann Arbor Fire Department
have been visiting the houses
and conducting surprise fire
simulations.
The fire drills and feedback
sessions are part of a recent
collaboration between the Red
Cross, the AAFD and the Univer-
sity's Office of Greek Life to test
Greek houses' ability to evacuate
safely in case of an emergency.
Jim Rampton, community
disaster education coordina-
tor for the Washtenaw County
Chapter of the American Red
Cross, said the initiative was
developed because of the 2008
See FIRE DRILL, Page 3
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