e ic1 i n 4:3al1m
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Friday, April 16, 2010
AN ANN ARBOR TEA PARTY
michigandaily.com
Endowment
payout rate
may change,
officials say
SA M WOL SON/Daily A photo slideshow from the Tea
Ann Arbor resident James Parisha (left) argues with Ann Arbor resident and Tea Party member Brian Noonad at a Tea Party pht a t t
rally held in the Diag yesterday on Tax Day. N na ataTa Party at A 11
SOAR FR E NTS
U signs preferred admissions
agreement with GrandVal
Decision comes
amid increasingly
complex budget
situation for the 'J
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily News Editor
GRAND RAPIDS - In areport
given at the University's Board
of Regents Meeting yesterday,
University officials hinted that
they maytbe considering a change
to the annual payout from the
University's
endowment.
And while 4
officials say
they're in:
the process
of reviewing - '
the endow-
ment's pay- KYLE SWANSON
out policy,
they said it
hasn't yet A(diinistra n
been decid-
ed whether any change would
be made or if a change would
increase or decrease the endow-
ment's payout.
In a routine report to the
Board of Regents, Regent Kath-
erine White (D-Ann Arbor)
said the board's Finance, Audit
and Investment Committee was
reviewing the payout policy to
determine how effective the cur-
rent payout rate was.
"We also reviewed our endow-
ment spending rule," White said
in her report, adding that all
eight of the regents were pres-
ent for the committee meeting.
In addition to the regents, several
University officials were present
at the meeting, including Univer-
sity Provost Teresa Sullivan, Vice
Provost Philip Hanlon, who will
succeed Sullivan as provost in
July, and the University's Chief
Investment Officer Erik Lund-
berg.
The University currently oper-
aces under' a five-percent annual
payout rule, meaning that each
year five percent of the seven year
rolling average of the University's
endowment value - determined
by calculating the mean of the
endowment's past 28 quarters'
actual value - is allocated to the
University's budget.
The process, which was adopt-
ed in 2006, replaced a three-year
rolling average process as a way
to insulate the University from
market volatility and to pro-
vide steady and reliable fund-
ing streams to the University's
units. According to the Univer-
sity's Office of Public Affairs
See ENDOWMENT, Page 2
Regents also hear
from LEO, OK Ford
9 estate transfer
By JOSEPH LICHTERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
GRAND RAPIDS - The
presidents of the University of
Michigan and Grand Valley State
University signed a doctoral phar-
macy preferred admissions agree-
ment yesterday.
University President Mary Sue
Coleman and
GVSU President NOTEBOOK
Thomas J. Haas
officially launched the Pharmacy
Preferred Admission Program at
the University's Board of Regents
monthly meeting. The agree-
ment will allow a select few GVSU
freshman to receive . preferred
admissions to the University of
Michigan's doctoral pharmacy
program.
The College of Pharmacy will set-
aside up to eight spots each year in
its PharmD doctoral program for
GVSU students. The positions in the
four-year program will be awarded
to GVSU freshman who complete
pre-pharmacy courses, maintain an
acceptable grade point average and
score high enough on the Pharmacy
College Admission Test.
The students will also have to stay
in regular contact with a pre-profes-
sional advisor, obtain a year of health
care work experience and do a cer-
tain amount of community service.
See REGENTS, Page 3
UNIVERSITY HOUSING
New 'U' social networking tool to aid
incoming students find roommates
Pilot program allows
students to find
more compatible
roommates online
By MICHELE NAROV
Daily StaffReporter
After listening to her friends
recount horror stories about
their college roommates, incom-
ing freshman Alyssa Handschuch
was relieved to meet someone she
wanted tolive withviathe group for
accepted students at the University
of Michigan on Facebook.
"This year one of my friends is
stuck with someone she had no
desire to room with," she said. "I
didn't want to be put in that situa-
tion."
With the increased prevalence of
Facebook and other social network-
ing sites, incoming freshmen now
have the choice to look for room-
mates online, instead of leaving
their housing decisions in the hands
of the University.
University Housing is currently
in the process of testing a social net-
working tool to help students find
roommates without resorting to
sites like Facebook or uroomsurf.
cm - a site that matches incoming
students based on certain criteria.
About a year and a half ago, Uni-
versity Housing officials started to
create a new website to provide stu-
dents more choices inselectingtheir
roommates. The pilot program was
offered for the first time this year to
incoming Mary Markley Hall resi-
dents.
Currently, University Hous-
ing offers incoming freshmen the
option of being matched with a
random roommate or requesting a
See WEBSITE, Page 3
GOVERNING TIE GREEKS
Councils aim to increase joint programming
University alum and Michigan Lt. Gov. John Cherry speaks yesterday at an education policy conference on campus.
Lt. Gov. talks reforms for
Sa nt
duca low fundimg teven
Despite difficulties
in the past, Greek
councils will hold
service day together
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
Though the Multicultural
Greek Council and the Interfrater-
nity Council fall under the same
umbrella of Greek Life on campus,
collaborative efforts and projects
haven't been amajor priority - until
recently.
LSA senior Alejandro Moreno-
Koehler, outgoing president of
MGC, wrote in an e-mail interview
that co-sponsoring events is "theo-
retically easy" since the two active
executive boardswould be involved,
but past difficulty in implementing
collaborative events suggests oth-
erwise.
"The reason this answer is not
simple is because many individu-
als on both sides really do not know
much about each other," Moreno-
Koehler wrote. "Due to this lack of
information on both sides, imple-
menting and sponsoringevents with
IFC has beendifficult."
Moreno-Koehler added that
another issue with co-sponsorship
is the disparity in the size of the two
councils. MGC has fewer available
members to commit to events than
IFC.
He wrote that, on average, an
MGC chapter ranges from 5 to 15
active members with the largest
organization - Omega Gamma Pi -
having 36 members.
Engineering junior Michael
Friedman, president of IFC, wrote
in an e-mail interview that IFC
chapters average about 63 active
See COUNCILS, Page 3
Profs. also discuss
changing focus of
education system
By SCOTT SUH
and LILLIAN XIAO
Daily StaffReporters
University students and faculty
gathered over the past few days to
discuss the current state of Amer-
ica's public schools as part of the
two-day Annual Jack L. Walker
Conference.
The event, called "Education-
al Inequality in Michigan - An
Inequality of Opportunities,"
began with a panel discussion fea-
turing guest speakers and Univer-
sity professors on Wednesday, and
Democratic Lt. Gov. John Cherry
gave a speech on the state's educa-
tion system yesterday.
Named in honor of the late Uni-
versity professor Jack L. Walker,
who was instrumental in creating
the annual forum on campus to
discuss issues regarding educa-
tion, the event touched on a wide
variety of topics, from adoles-
cent literacy to higher education
financing.
Presentations and discussions
extended beyond issues within the
state to those at the national level
as well.
Cherry spoke on the second
day of the conference in the Busi-
ness School's Blau Auditorium
about changing the state's funding
structure to increase the possibil-
ity of post-secondary education for
See CHERRY, Page 2
WEATHER HI: 51
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