Thursday, September 23, 2010 michigandaily.com

Ann Arbor, Michigan

MIDWEEK MAIZE AND BLUE

ELECTION 2010
With election
near, student
groups start
gearing up

SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily

Students gather at Ingalls Mall yesterday to watch ESPN's SportsNation live in Ann Arbor as part of its Big Ten tour.

C AM PUS C RIM E
After police chase, Detroit man
crashes into campus bookstore

Wolverines for Rick.
Snyder joins more
traditional orgs. to
get students to polls
By BETHANY BIRON
Daily StaffReporter
With just more than a month
until the midterm election, politi-
cal student groups on campus
have been developing strategies to
mobilize students around specific
candidates and emphasize the
importance of voting.
After the August primaries,
which saw Democrat Virg Ber-
nero and Republican Rick Snyder
emerge as their party's gubernato-
rial candidate, groups like the Uni-
versity's chapters of the College
Republicans and College Demo-
crats have been campaigning for
their respective candidates and
informing students about their
policies and goals for the state.
In addition to these groups,
students and Public Health and
Medicine Prof. Victor Strecher

created Wolverines for Rick Sny-
der last month. The group's goal is
to inform campus about Snyder's
incentives to change Michigan
and defy partisan divergence.
Strecher, a personal friend of
Snyder, said his primary role as
adviser to the group is to increase
voter turnout in favor of Sny-
der and help students within the
group develop campaign strate-
gies.
"(Snyder) is a very bright guy
who's also very warm," Strecher
said. "He's very caring; he's very
passionate. And he wouldn't be
running for governor unless he
felt Michigan has a chance at
rebuilding itself and becoming an
amazing state. "
Strecher said Snyder's moder-
ate viewpoints make him likeable
to both Democrats and Republi-
cans, and this is reflected by the
diversity of the group.
"We are a bunch of people from
very different political persua-
sions who all got together to say
we're tired of the status quo," Stre-
cher said. "We really are worried
about Michigan and we'd love to
See ELECTION, Page 5A

Front window of
Michigan Book &
Supply smashed
By LILLIAN XIAO
Daily StaffReporter
A Detroit man drove a vehi-
cle stolen from the Ann Arbor

Transportation Authority into
the Michi-
gan Book First seen on
& Supply
store on the
corner of
State Street and North University
Avenue in the early hours of the
morning on Wednesday, Univer-
sity Police reported.
Department of Public Safety

spokeswoman Diane Brown said
in an interview yesterday after-
noon that only the driver of the
stolen vehicle - a Ford Explorer
SUV - was injured, adding that
medical personnel escorted the
man to the University Hospital
for blood tests for drug and alco-
hol consumption.
An AATA staff person reported
the vehicle stolen at about 6:15

a.m. yesterday to the Ann Arbor
Police Department, Brown said.
The incident was broadcast over
police radio and recognized by a
DPS officer on Hoover Street near
State Street.
Brown said the officer
approached the vehicle going
northbound on State Street and
confirmed it was the stolen vehi-
See CRASH, Page 6A


THE POLITICS OF HIGHER EDUCATION
'Often downplaying rankings,
'U' opts to stress latest release

RECYCLED BEAUTY

The Times Higher
Education rankings
put the University
15th in the world
By KYLE SWANSON
DailyNewsEditor
Though University officials say
they don't place much stock in
how well the University fairs in
higher education rankings, they
say they're happy to be near the
top of the list in a set of rankings
TECH-SAVVY ANN ARBOR

released last
week.i
The Times'
Higher Edu-
cation rank
ings - highly
anticipated
among higher KYLE SWANSON
educationoffi- Covering the
cials - places Adrtiiisri
the University
as the 15th best in the world. Har-
vard University claimed the top
spot in the rankings.
The University's ranking is
vastly better than its spot in the
popular U.S. News and World

Report rankings, which named
the University the 29th best in
the United States this year. The
University had previously ranked
higher - falling from 24th in
2006, to 26th in 2009 to 27th in
the 2010 rankings.
"While University officials are
pleased that U-M consistently is
ranked as one of the nation's finest
universities by U.S. News & World
Report, they also note that this
type of strict ranking of schools
is not the most accurate measure
of the quality of an institution,"
a press release issued at the time
See RANKINGS, Page 6A


A2 currently fourth in Google Fiber race

LSA freshman Pearl Somboonsong admires Pi Benio's art installation, "Flotsam" at the Residential College Art Gallery yester-
day. Benio's art installation is made up of recycled clothing that she cuts up, boils, and processes in a Hollander beater.
CREDITS FOR CLUBS
Campus ensembles adjust to
shift in policy enforcemnent

G
pl
wi
the

oogle officials access to today" to AnnArbor
isn't going to die down any time
an to announce soon, Ann Arbor officials and
students say.
inning cities by According to fiberforall.org -
a website that advocates for all
end of the year internetusersohavefiber-optic
service - Ann Arbor is trailing
By LIZZY ALFS behind another Michigan city:
Daily StaffReporter second-place Grand Rapids.
Google is currently tracking the
of an estimated 1,100 popularity of Google Fiber for
ations to Google to be the Communities through support
ity for Google Fiber, Ann for the project on social media
currently ranks fourth in sites like Facebook and Twitter.
unity support levels. Though the company is keeping
I the hype surrounding track, Google has not specified
ng the high-speed, fiber- whether this support will con-
ne network that Google tribute to its city selection.
is "100 times faster than Google officials plan to
most Americans have announce the cities chosen for

the Google Fiber for Communi-
ties - the official name for the
Google Fiber pilot project - by
the end of the year. The aim of
the project, according to the
its website, is to "learnlessons
from this experiment that will
help improve Internet access
everywhere."
Cities were able to apply to
become a trial location for the
projectin March, andAnnArbor
was abuzz when the University,
city officials, DTE Energy and
Ann Arbor SPARK - a company
that helps and promotes entre-
preneurs -combined efforts to
apply for the opportunity.
Ann Arbor Chief Financial
Officer Tom Crawford said the
See GOOGLE, Page 5A

Out
applic
pilot c
Arbor
COMM
And
bringi
to-hoc
claims
what

All students in glee
clubs, marching
band must now sign
up for class credit
By JENNA SIMARD
For theDaily
The University's School of
Music, Theatre & Dance has
begun to heavily enforce a policy
that requires students who are

members of University-affiliated
ensembles to register for their
group as a class.
Though it's always been the pol-
icy of the School of Music for stu-
dents participating in ensembles
like the Michigan Marching Band
and Women's and Men's glee clubs
to register for those courses, this,
year the school is beefing up its
enforcement of the policy. In the
past, students registered for the
maximum number of credits or,
who were paying for their courses
per credit-hour were often excused

from the requirement to register.
"It is the policy of the Univer-
sity that students participating in
credit-bearing courses must enroll
in those courses," School of Music
Dean Christopher Kendall wrote
in an interview. "Ensembles listed
in the studenthandbook and on the
class schedule are credit-bearing
courses taught by faculty or GSIs
under the direct supervision of fac-
ulty."
Kendall added that the school
is working with students to make
See MUSIC, Page 6A


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