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Ann Arbor, Michigan
UNIVERSITY ENDOWMENT
fter '09
losses, '10
financials
awaited
In June, CFO Slottow predicted
an 11.5% growth for endowment,
which fell by 21% last year
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily News Editor
The University will be publicly releasing the lat-
est estimate of its endowment value on Thursday at
the Board of Regents meeting, a highly-anticipated
announcement following the fund's dramatic drop in
value for the 2009 fiscal year.
The numbers that will be announced on Thursday
offer a freeze-frame of the endowment's total value as
of June 30, 2010 - the end of the University's 2010 fis-
cal year.
Last year, the University's endowment portfolio
fell by $1.6 billion, dropping from an all-time high of
$7.6 billion to $6 billion. The 21-percent drop hurt the
University's investment portfolio, but the loss on the
endowment was less significant than at some peer
institutions.
University spokeswoman Kelly Cunningham con-
firmed the returns and market value data for the
endowment and the University's investment portfolio
for the 2010 fiscal year are set to be released on Thurs-
day, but said that no details could be released prior to
the regents' meeting.
"It's my understanding that the annual report on
the University's investments will be presented to the
Board of Regents at Thursday's meeting. Among other
things the report will discuss the investment perfor-
mance of the endowment funds including total value
as of June 30,2010," Cunningham said.
However, in June, Tim Slottow, the University's
executive vice president and chief financial officer,
wrote in a communication to the regents that he pre-
dicted the endowment would post 11.5 percent growth
for the year. If that prediction held true, it would mean
the University's endowment would grow from $6 billion
See REGENTS, Page 3A

Tuesday, October 12,2010

michigandaily.com

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t
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TOP LEFT: Students walk through a symbolic closet on the Diag as part of National Coming Out Day yesterday. TOP RIGHT: LSA senior Mical Degraafftstands next to the door on the Diag yester-
day. BOTTOM: Students at the GlowLight Vigil near the Cube last night. The vigil aimed to show solidarity in the face of recent incidents of bullying against members of the LGBTQ community.
With spotlight on bullying, campus
celebrates National Coming Out Day

Vigils, Diag event
highlight issues facing
LGBTQ students
By VERONICA MENALDI
Daily StaffReporter
Students across campus commemo-
rated National Coming Out Day yes-

terday amidst heightened national and
local attention regarding the challeng-
es facing young LGBTQ students.
In addition to a Diag rally that fea-
tured a closet door that students sym-
bolically walked through and vigil
events that took place yesterday, there
are other events planned throughout
the week - dubbed National Coming
Out Week - including lectures regard-
ing LGBTQ issues and Michigan's Next

Top Drag Superstar Auditions.
In the past few months there have
been a rash of teen suicides that came
after the victims experienced bully-
ing based on assumed or actual sexual
orientation. The trend gained height-
ened media attention when Rutgers
University freshman Tyler Clementi
jumped off the George Washington
Bridge last month after two other Rut-
gers students filmed him having a sex-

ual encounter with another male and
broadcast it online.
The issue of cyberbullying has also
hit closer to home for the University
community after Michigan Student
Assembly President Chris Armstrong
became the target of a blog written by
a Michigan Assistant Attorney Gen-
eral Andrew Shirvell, which accuses
Armstrong of promoting a "radical
See COMING OUT, Page 3A

! (ACADEMIC FREDOM LECTUJRE
Distinguished prof.: Faculty must
\ stand together in face of lawsuits

Olivas: Students
finding suing profs.
an 'attractive' option
By CAITLIN HUSTON
Daily StaffReporter
In a climate in which more and
more students are suing professors
over grades, inappropriate course
material and other issues, Michael
Olivas, the director of the Insti-

tute for Higher Education Law and
Governance at the University of
Houston, discussed in a speech yes-
terday the importance of sustaining
academic freedom for faculty in the
face of student lawsuits.
His lecture called, "God, Grades,
and Sex: The Developing Law of
the College Classroom," is the 20th
annual University of Michigan
Senate Assembly's Davis, Markert,
Nickerson Lecture on Academic
and Intellectual Freedom.
The Senate Assembly established

the lecture series in 1990 as a trib-
ute to three professors after they
refused to testify in 1954 to the
United States House of Representa-
tives Committee on Un-American
Activities. Two of the professors
were terminated and one was sus-
pended but then re-instated when
they refused to testify.
As he introduced Olivas, Univer-
sity Provost Phil Hanlon recognized
Chandler Davis among the audience
as one of the three professors.
See LECTURE, Page 3A

Medical marijuana joints at MedMar dispensary in Ann Arbor last month.
Though legal, medical pot
industry hard to navigate

AATA nets grant to revamp transit hub

Patients, doctors
and distributors
still learning ropes
By SUZANNE JACOBS
Daily StaffReporter
Two years after Michigan vot-
ers approved the Michigan Medical
Marijuana Act, the state's medical

marijuana industry is still slowly
getting on its feet.
The ballot initiative passed in
November
2008 legal- Medical Marijuana
izedthe use of
marijuana to !
treat medical
conditions. But, qualifying patients
can't just walk into their local phar-
macies and pick up a prescription
for the drug. Instead, they have to

go through a slew of steps including
registering with the state, deciding
how to get the medicine and figur-
ing out for themselves how to dose
the medicine.
And because of federal drug
laws, they face obstacles at every
step of the process.
The Drug Enforcement Agency
classifies marijuana, along with
GHB, heroin and LSD, as a sched-
See MARIJUANA, Page 3A

Az
U.
fede
City
for th
Author

officials praise the Blake Transit Center at a press
conference yesterday afternoon and
S. Rep. Dingell's lauded United States Congressman
John Dingell (D-Mich.) for secur-
help in getting ing a $1 million federal grant for the
. project.
ra undsfor city Several people involved in the
project spoke about the potential
By NICOLE ABER benefits of the renovation like cre-
Daily NewsEditor ating a station that will better serve
Ann Arbor residents who use the
leaders discussed plans city's public transportation system
e Ann Arbor Transportation and revitalizing the downtown area
rity's upcoming renovation of to better serve local businesses.

Located at 331 S. Fourth Ave., the
Blake Transit Center is one of the
main hubs of the city's public trans-
portation system, with 5,000 people
using the center on a daily basis,
according to Charles Griffith, secre-
taryoftheAATABoard of Directors.
Built in 1987, the building is due
for an update, Griffith said. This,
coupled with the need to accommo-
date an increased number of AATA
riders, is the main reason behind the
planned construction, he said.
See AATA, Page 3A

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