^H STEM CELLS, RONTIER OF HOPE , .. ,,, tY i ,.. Taylor Lewan upstages Darryl Stonum as the most entertaining Wolverine during Monday's presser. )PAGE 8A j. 5IA~L Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday, September 29, 2010 michigandaily.com N ANCING YOUR ED CATION Lansing to slash higher ed. funding 2.8 percent If Granholm signs decrease will result in about a $9 million loss for theUniversity. budget, 'U' projected Down from the current fiscal year, next year's budget will allocate to lose $9 million in about $1.567 billion toward higher ERIN KIRKLAND/Daily Artist Richard Wolk restores the mural on the corner of East Liberty and South State streets yesterday. Wolk was the original painter of the mural that features cultural icons like George Orwell and Woody Allen and has become a landmark for the city. T HE POLITICS OF H IG HER EDUCATION orjf NRC rankings turn from much-awaited much-c riticized stal Pub will se ing fro higher the Mi Pen nifer a i education. The 2009-2010fiscal year to appropriations budget appropriated about $1.612 billion for the state's public universi- By MIKE MERAR ties and colleges, State Rep. Rebekah Daily StaffReporter Warren wrote in an e-mail interview with The Michigan Daily on Mon- ric universities in Michigan day.This represented 3.63 percentof ee a 2.8 percent cut in fund- the state's total budget for the 2009- tm the state, according to the 2010 fiscal year, which was $44.4 education budget passed by' billion, according to Warren. chigan legislature Tuesday. The cut in funding is part of an ding Democratic Gov. Jen- effort to minimize the state's $484 Granholm's signature, this See BUDGET, Page 2A New methodology paints hazy picture of how 'U' compares By KYLE SWANSON Daily News Editor The National Research Council publicly released it's most recent setofrankings for Ph.D. programs across the country in a press event this afternoon. While the rankings - which are released approximately once each decade - have tradition- ally carried a great deal of weight within higher education, some leaders in the field are criticizing this year's rankings, arguing that they don't say much about the change in the quality of Ph.D. pro- grams across the country. A major reason for the criticism stems from a dramatic change in the methodology used to calcu- late the rankings - which delayed the release of this most recent set of NRC rankings by three years. In addition, critics are concerned that the new system presents the rankings in ranges, instead of as a single numeric rank for each pro- gram at each institution as was the case in the past. With the new methodology and the new format for presenting programs' rankings, it is increas- ingly difficult for even higher education officials to say with confidence whether their pro- > Inside News To see an infographic of how the V'stacks up, see Page 5A. grams have improved or declined relative to the last NRC ranking, which was released in 1995. In 1982, 87 percent of the Uni- versity of Michigan's Ph.D. pro- grams were in the top quartile nationally. That prestigious per- centage fell in the 1995 rankings, See RANKINGS, Page 3A ACTUAL PROJECTED = 320 N _0 315 310 305 S2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 FISCA L YEAR ICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY MSA pres. responds publicly to criticism for the first time Ass't AG for Mich. has criticized " Armstrong on his blog By ROBIN VEECK Daily StaffReporter Michigan Student Assembly President Chris Armstrong pub- licly responded to verbal and cyber attacks levied against him for the first time at last night's MSA meet- ing. "I will not back down. I will not flinch. I will not falter. Iwill not suc- cumb to any unwarranted attacks. What Iwill do is Iwill carry on with the utmost pride and vindication," Armstrong read aloud to the assem- bly from a written statement. "I, along with the rest of this assembly, were elected to this body to repre- sent the University. And nothing said about us, or regarding our personal merits, will waive our commitment to serve the student body." Though Armstrong opted not to specifically address any personal attacks, he has recently been the tar- get of a blog called Chris Armstrong Watch. The blog, created by Andrew Shirvell, an assistant attorney gen- eral for the state of Michigan, has accused Armstrong of advocating a "radical homosexual agenda." Shirvell has posted on his blog regu- larly since April to criticize Arm- strong, his friends, family members and other members of MSA. In addition, Shirvell has shown up at events on campus criticizing Armstrong, including the first MSA meeting of the semester. Armstrong said in an interview after the meeting that he wanted to See ARMSTRONG, Page 3A Microsoft representative Tony Franklin discusses the benefits of using Microsoft for the University's IT system yesterday. Microsoft pitches to do IT for 'U' LIVING NEAR CAMPUS In off-campus housing, it appears bed bug wave has hit Ann Arbor University Housing: No recent incidents reported in res. halls By STEPHANIE BERLIANT Daily StaffReporter In recent months, bed bugs have been making their way across the United States, starting on the East Coast and now the bed bug wave has reached Ann Arbor. Bed bug breakouts have report- edly occurred in at least two units of Corner House Apartments, locat- ed on the 200 block of South State Street, the Muriel Lester Coop- erative House, located on Oakland Avenue and an apartment on Arch Street. Representatives from Lester Co-op and the Arch Street apart- ment had not returned phone calls seeking comments by press time. Amy Khan, the vice president of CMB Property Management, which manages Corner House Apartments, said that after one residence report- ed a possible infestation on Sept. 20, a pest control company began treat- ment the next day. Other residences were inspected and treatmentbegan on a total of four residences. Resi- dents of the building say there may See BED BUGS, Page 3A Microsoft, Google competing to be new 'U' provider By ELYANA TWIGGS Daily StaffReporter Many current students forward their University e-mails to different web mail systems, favoring a more cohesive model. Yesterday, Micro- soft officials made their pitch as to why the company should be the go-to solution for the University's IT needs. Nine representatives from Microsoft presented their ideas to support the University's initiative to rejuvenate its information tech- nology infrastructure last night in an East Hall auditorium to a crowd of about 25 students and professors. The presentation was hosted by NextGen Michigan - a strategic team within the University work- ing toward the overhaul of the IT system - and showcased Microsoft Product Suite as a possibility for a new, collaborative system for online student resources. This Microsoft program would replace the existing University Internet resources that are currently available to students like CTools and ITCS Webmail. In addition to Microsoft, the University is considering proposals from Google, which will be making its pitch on Oct. 7. Lynn Johnson, professor and assistant dean of Informatics and Innovation in the School of Den- tistry, said that through employ- ing a new IT system the University hopes to become the leading insti- tution of 21st-century information technology. The initiative started this semester and will be imple- mented within three years, John- son said. "We want to go with the vendor that has a strong relationship with the University already," Johnson told the crowd before the Microsoft representatives took the floor. See MICROSOFT, Page 3A WEATHER HI: 70 GOT A NEWS TIP? NEW ON MICHIGANDAILYCOM Call 734-763-2459 or e-mail The story behind the Daily's special nameplate today. TOMORROW LO: 48 news@michigandaily.com and let us know. MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE EDITORS INDEX NEWS 2.......................,........ 2A CLASSIFIEDS...... Vol. CXXI, No.17 OPINION ............................4A SPORTS... 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