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 TOMORROW 37 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILYCOM U.S. Rep. John Dingell hosts a Facebook town hall. MICH IGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE WIRE INDEX NEWS ............... Vol. CXX, No.131 SUDOKU............. 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