The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Thursday, April 8, 2010 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigasdaily.com Thursday, April 8, 2010 - 7A Fraternity brothers shave heads to raise money for cancer'patients Sigma Phi Epsilon raised $7,400 for pediatric cancer research By VERONICA MENALDI Daily StaffReporter While many students sacrifice their time and money for charity, one fraternity decided they would donate something a bit more per- sonal. Forty-one Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity brothers had their heads shaved by Noggins' barbershop volunteers yesterday afternoon to raise money and awareness for pediatric cancer. LSA junior Josh Palka, event organizer for Sig Ep, said so far, the fraternity has raised $7,400 for the St. Baldrick's Foundation - a California-based organiza- tion that works with volunteers who shave their heads in order to raise funds for pediatric cancer research. LSA freshman Charlie Zeller, chief of marketing for the event, said the fraternity has raised the money through optional personal donations. Many of the brothers have been raising money for the past month by contacting friends and family, in addition to bucket- ing outside the event for specta- tors who want to donate to the cause. The idea for the event came from one of their members who COLLISION From Page 1A the after-effects produced by the collision are captured by detectors, allowing researchers to analyze data long after the particles decay. Physics Prof. Bing Zhou said the particles in the beam must be held in the precise orbit by magnets in order for head-on collisions to occur, adding that one interesting event is observed about every 100 trillion collisions. "We're looking for whatever nature provides," Chapman said. "We're using the well-known equa- tion from Einstein. So if you put enough energy into the collision, you can make anything that nature manifests." The University is the largest con- tributor to the development of the ATLAS detector, one of the four detectors situated along the 17-mile stretch, Zhou said. The ATLAS serves as a general-purpose mea- sure of the particle collisions. Zhou said University research- ers helped design and operate the ATLAS detector at CERN and that muchofthe datagatheredby ATLAS is processed at the University. Chapman said the accelerator is currently running at low collision rates and will steadily increase once physicists and workers at CERN become more familiar with how it works. "At the moment, we're not look- ing at very many events of the inter- estingtype,"he said. "It willbecome very exciting when we get to higher collision rates and that is where the interestingphysics is." Chapman said reaching the LHC's full performance capacity is a step-by-step process. The current challenge is to ensure that every- thing is functioning properly. He added that.over the next few weeks, researchers will begin to ramp up the number of proton bunches - groups of positively charged par- ticles - ineach beam. Zhou said the ultimate goal of creating the high-energy collisions is to uncover features of the Stan- dard Model in particle physics that have thus far only been the subject of speculation. The model, she said, theorizes that all particles with mass are cre- ated from an interaction with the Higgs boson - a theoretical par- ticle that many researchers hope to detect through the LHC collisions. "Only when you have energy high enough ... can you recreate such a particle in the laboratory," Zhou said. Chapman said the discovery of the Higgs boson would require con- siderable preliminary analysisbut is feasible through the LHC. "The first thing we'll do is to look for those things we already know about," Chapman said. "Then (we'll) begin to look for things that are speculated but haven't been seen." Chapman added: "This machine is our best guess as to how to do that." LSA senior Andrew O'Brien, Engineering freshman Dominic Lefere, and LSA junior Blake Ivers get their heads shaved for a Sigma Phi Upsilon fundraiser for Saint Baldricks, an organization that raises money for pediatric cancer research. had participated in a similar event in his high school, Zeller said. "We were looking for a philan- thropic event to raise money for a charity that our fraternity could put on," he said. Palka said the fraternity does a lot of philanthropic work and found this form of community ser- vice to be the "ultimate way of giv- ing back." "Beingbald is going to show for a while after the event is over and will raise awareness for kids with cancer to a lot of people," Palka said. Thefraternityhopes tonakethis event an annual one, Zeller said. "We want Sig Ep to be known for putting on this event," he said.' "It's such a great cause and we want to be able to raise that money for something worthwhile." Palka said having his head shaved is going to take some get- ting used to but that the benefits for the charity outweigh the aes- thetics. "I'm sure it's going to be weird to feel my head and looking like a Q-tipbut a lot of (kids with cancer) don't get the pleasure of getting their hair grown back because of the chemotherapy," he said. "It's a small sacrifice for us." Palka said his cousin passed away at the age of four from can- cer and that participating in this event is a way to give back to those in need. Though he doesn't have person- al experience with pediatric can- cer, Zeller said it still hits "close to home" since his father had cancer several years ago and is now in remission. Zeller said he doesn't have any concerns about being bald for a while. "I'm over the fact that it might not look the best," he said. "Since it's for such a great cause hope- fully people will ask me why my head's shaved and I'll be able to tell them about it and raise even more awareness and possibly get even more donations." FIRES From Page 1A fatal blaze at the State Street house as a "homicide-type investigation." Chamberlain, however, said AAFD officials cannot offer an opinion as to the cause of the fires at this point. "There's no evidence to make a decision at this time," Chamber- lain said. The AAFD's decision will only arrive after a thorough departmen- tal investigation into the causes of the fires, according to Chamber- lain. That investigation started last Saturday when firefighters on the scenes used a trained dog to search for remnants of liquid accelerants that would have suggested arson, Chamberlain said. According to Chamberlain, the dog found no trace of accelerants. "The dog did not identify any specific accelerant," Chamberlain said. AAFD officials also plan to con- duct further tests on evidence from the scenes of the blazes to see if accelerants were used, Chamber- lain said. She added that witness accounts of the fires will also play a big part in her department's inves- tigation. "We're trying to use all of our resources," Chamberlain said. But according to Chamberlain, the results ofAAFD's investigation won't be available for a while. "It's a huge investigation pro- cess," Chamberlain said. "After that investigation, we make a deci- sion." According to the AAPD ser- geant, the AAFD's ultimate deci- sion doesn't affect the police investigation. The AAFD "can say what they like, but they're not police investi- gators," the sergeant said. According to the sergeant, the police investigation will continue based on the assumption that the fires were arsons. "Given what you can surmise from what happened that night I would say any reasonable per- son could deduce what caused the fires," the sergeant said. "As far as we're looking at it, it wasn't an accident." FORD From Page 1A Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and the north coast of Alaska. "I think it shows maturity in politics when you can assess a situ- ation one day and assess it another day, and understand that things have changed and require a dif- ferent set of answers," Ford said. "I applaud the president for recog- nizing that the moment today and the set of facts and circumstances require a different set of answers." Before he was elected, Obama vehemently opposed offshore drilling, saying it should not be depended on to solve the energy problems in the United States. Once considered a viable candi- SCHUYLER From Page 1A the ethics policies of the companies they endorse every day. One member of the audience shrugged, saying "not really." But across the room, another student responded that she cared and a dia- logue began. Fitting in with Schuyler's inten- tion for the presentation, students began expressing their opinions about the pressing and complex issue of corporate ethics. Schuyler said companies are trying to "fig- ure out" whether consumers care about the corporate responsibility of companies they encounter regu- larly. "There is definitely starting to be that correlation between people who pick brands based on what they're doing good," she said. Schuyler used Toyota and Star- bucks to exemplify the impact of maintaining the appearance of a "do-good" corporation. She said that though Toyota had a massive safety recall and was slapped with the National High- way Traffic Safety Administra- tion's highest penalty for a failure to report a severe safety issue, a progressive and earth-friendly rep- utation has kept them afloat in the minds of consumers. "Because they weren't this company that was all-out to make money and forget everything else, they're getting a little bit more lee- way," she said. "What attaches to your brand does pay off." Schuyler also discussed how date to run for a U.S. Senate seat in New York this fall, Ford dropped out of the race last month, cit- ing pressure from the Democratic Party not to contest the spot cur- rently held by Democratic Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Ford, who served as congress- man for Tennessee's ninth con- gressional district from 1997 to 2007, cited potentially detrimental effects forthe Democrats as a main reason for deciding not to pursue a bid for the Senate. "If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary - a primary where the winner emerges weak- ened and the Republican strength- ened," Ford wrote in a March 1 op-ed piece in The New York Times. "I refuse to do anything that would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Repub- licans." But this wasn't the first time Ford made a play for a Senate seat. Ford ran for Senate in 2006 los- ing the election to Republican Bob Corker after Corker ran ads against Ford that many criticized as racial- ly charged. In his speech yesterday, Ford also promoted his desire for an open primary system, in which candidates would be allowed to run for office without having to declare themselves as Demo- crats or Republicans. He said that oftentimes those who do not affiliate with a party are unable to have their views heard because the majority of audiences tend towards columnists and talk show hosts who express opinions that are either extremely liberal or extremely conservative. "There is no doubt that those people deserve a voice, but they shouldn't drown out the rest of the country which I believe find them- selves situated somewhere in the middle," he said. Ford also spoke directly to current Public Policy students, encouraging them not tp be dis- suaded by political agendas that have hampered government's abil- ity to provide meaningful change to its citizens. "One of the challenges for this generation of public policy school graduates is to not be confined by, or not allow the current dogma or current conversation to limit your thinking about answers to big pub- lic policy problems confronting the nation," Ford said. LOANS From Page IA idea of the direct loan program and I brought that in and developed it with other colleagues to get it enacted, which we did," Butts said. "But we were never able to achieve the goal of transforming the stu- dent loan programs into one pro- gram that worked well for students and schools and taxpayers until the (recent overhaul) bill was passed." Butts said another key feature of the new legislation is its real- location of federal funding toward education and the increase in the amount of money available for grants. "One of the things that's most important about (the bill) isn't nec- essarily that direct lending is now in place, but the fact that it has redirected well over $60 billion to education programs and a variety of other things, particularly Pell Grants." Butts said. "Thatis a major accomplishment." The bill - together with the health care bill signed by Obama on the same day - aims to save tax- payers an estimated $61billion over 10 years by getting rid of bank sub- sidies. As outlined by the legisla- tion, the conserved funds will then go toward increasing student loans through Pell Grants, health care reform and reducing the national deficit. The legislation also eradicates the Federal Family Education Loan Program at colleges across the country and replaces it with the Direct Loan Program, allowing the federal government to give loans directly to students without banks serving as middlemen. Butts called this a historic piece of legislation for the country and a "transformational moment in the history of financing student finan- cial aid." He compared it to past student aid initiatives that are still in place today like the establish- ment of the National Defense Stu- dent Loan Program - now known as the Perkins Loan - in 1958, the work study and supplemental grant program founded in 1965 and the Pell Grant program established in 1972. Margaret Rodriguez - senior associate director of the Univer- sity's Office of Financial Aid - worked in the Office of Financial Aid while Butts was in Washing- ton developing the pilot program. After he successfully launched the program and secured a spot for the University among the 100 schools chosen for the initiative, Rodriguez took on the role of implementing the program on campus. Rodriguez said for many years, she and her colleagues were work- ing toward incorporating a direct student lending system to the financial aid process for University students. "Many of us in the financial aid office at the time had advocated for the program because we felt it was a better way to provide fed- eral loans to students and certainly cheaper for the taxpayers," Rodri- guez said. While the University won't be seeing many changes in terms of student lending as a result of the bill, Rodriguez said students will still benefit from increased funding for the Pell Grant program, as well as the expansion of eligibility. The Department of Education recently issued a payment schedule for the Pell Grant program that will go into effect in the fall, she said. "We're going to see some imme- diate benefits from that," Rodri- guez said. Edie Goldenberg, a Public Policy professor, wrote in an e-mail inter- view that the increase in funding for Pell Grants will provide assis- tance to universities who are cur- rently using money out oftheir own budgets to give more financial aid to students. "Universities that were meet- ing financial need with internal resources should experience some relief in their financial aid dollars," she said. The legislation also includes the Income Based Repayment Plan, which will allow students who enter a job in the public service sec- tor to pay a maximum of 15 percent of their income toward loans, with any remaining debt being forgiven following 10 years of work. Rodriguez said she thinks the program will play an important role in allowing students to chose a career based on interest, rather than selecting one based solely on salary in order to pay off student loans. "I certainly do think it will be an effective initiative and that it is a wonderful option to be able to offer students who are repaying their loans so that their employ- ment choices can be made with less regard to what their student loan burden is," Rodriguez said. Ultimately, Rodriguez said she thinks this has been something that students and policy makers have been anticipating for years and she was happy to see it finally pass through the United States Senate. "I think it has been a long time coming," Rodriguez said. "I think the House was very forward-think- ing in passing this legislation last fall, and we're glad that it was able to be passed through the Senate." Pamela Fowler, executive direc- tor of the University's Financial Aid Office, mirrored Rodriguez's sentiments and said she is glad to finally see the bill become law after working toward it over the years. "We have worked long and hard since the Clinton administration, when this program began, to have the direct loan program nation- wide," Fowler said. "For those of us that have been working really hard to support the direct loan program, we're ,very happy that this has finally come to pass." The switch from a bank-centric system to direct loans means the legislation will be detrimental to banks as they begin losing profits they previously garnered from the student loans, according to Gold- berg. And while bank executives will be upset with those lawmakers who helped pass the legislation, it will ultimately be a positive situa- tion for the nation, she wrote. "The losers here are the banks, which were realizing profits while the federal government was assum- ing the risk," Goldenberg wrote. "Major banks will not be happy with the Democrats, but they already tend to support Republi- cans anyway." Despite angry responses from some Republicans and other oppo- nents of the legislation, Butts said he thinks the legislation will even- tually gain support all around, much like the Pell Grant program did in the 1970s. "I think it's going to provide a good, stable source of funding for federal student loans and that ... this program will gradually have the support of all the participants in higher education," Butts said. TOREHAN SHARMAN/Daily Shannon Schuyler of PriceWaterhouseCooper talks to students at the Ross School of Business yesterday. Schuyler is the man- aging director of corporate responsibility at the firm and a University alm. the issue of brand-responsibility holds a great deal of importance on both the corporate and indi- vidual level. In an interview before the pre- sentation, Schuyler said that new graduates entering the workforce are a brand in themselves. "People need to be savvy to have their own brand and figure out what that is," Schuyler said. She added that new graduates need to have an "unwavering" foundation of ethics and realize that every member of a company is responsible and important. "You do make an impact," she said. "One person can make a dif- ference." Schuyler said she recommends that young talent understand how much power they truly have, but warns against "flaunting" it. "You have to know that you have that power going in," she said. Schuyler said one of the main reasons corporations are spend- ing more of their resources on their philanthropic endeavors is to attract young talent. "We know that 92 percent of undergrads specifically look for a company that is socially responsi- ble. We know that MBA's will take up to $14,000 less to join a company that is responsible," Schuyler said. "We know that 4 out of 5 employ- ees will stay longer if we do these things." She explained that corpora- tions are beginning to change their ethics policies and are altering their strategies to be more geared towards philanthropy. Aside from appealing to a more socially con- scious talent pool, Schuyler said corporations are taking on more responsibility simply because it's the right thing to do. "It makes sense that we're giving back," she said.