The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, October 13, 2010 - 5A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, October13, 2010 - 5A
BELAYING WITH A BRUSH
Officials to e-mail campus
about file sharing
New federal law
mandates 'U' send
e-mail once a year on
illegal file sharing
By KYLE SWANSON
Daily News Editor
University officials are final-
izing plans to send out an e-mail
notice to all students, faculty and
staff tomorrow to warn against
the dangers of peer-to-peer file
sharing.
The mass e-mail is being sent
to all members of the University
community because of a new law
that went into effect this sum-
mer. University officials have
stressed that the law is the only
reason for the e-mail and that it
is not meant to target any indi-
vidual for activities they may, or
may not, take part in.
The Higher Education Oppor-
SERVICEWORLD
From Page 1A
Peace Corps circulated half a cen-
tury ago.
ServiceWorld's declaration is
available for students and others
to sign online and on campus this
week, and highlights the value of
international service. The petition
states, among other things, that
the signer is "ready to serve and
support ServiceWorld's bold agen-
da to expand volunteer opportuni-
ties for individuals internationally
... to learn about global problems
and help find more effective ways
to solve them."
Sibley, who is currently in Ann
Arbor to help with ServiceWorld's
part in the University's Peace
Corps 50th anniversary celebra-
tion, said the organization's main
objective is to increase the number
of Americans volunteering abroad
tunity Act requires the Univer-
sity to send an e-mail message to
members of the University com-
munity at least once a year to
provide information about illegal
file sharing and copyright viola-
tions. The law also mandates
that colleges include three pieces
of information in their communi-
cation to students, staff and fac-
ulty.
First, the law requires the Uni-
versity to warn about the penal-
ties - both civil and criminal
- that could result from illegal
file sharing. Additionally, the
University must include a sum-
mary of what those penalties
could include and provide infor-
mation about its policies regard-
ing copyright infringement and
illegal file sharing.
A standard form is available
for postsecondary institutions
to use in crafting their annual
notice. But in an interview last
week, Jack Bernard, an assistant
general counsel for the Univer-
each year. The ServiceWorld pro-
gram sends volunteers to work on
a variety of issues including health,
agriculture, women's rights, the
environment and education.
"Our goal is to see the U.S. send
100,000 American volunteers
abroad each year," Sibley said in a
phone interview.
ServiceWorld's plan, accord-
ing to Sibley, consists of four main
efforts to increase volunteer par-
ticipation abroad and to strengthen
America's international relations.
These efforts include doublingthe
number of participants in the Peace
Corps, expanding the Volunteers for
Prosperity program, creating short-
er-duration service fellowships and
establishing an international social
innovation fund.
In a promotional video, the
organization said that if it achieves
these ambitious aspirations, it can
reach its goal of sending 100,000
volunteers abroad from a plethora
dangers
sity, said the University decided
to craft its own unique message.
"Our objectives are really edu-
cational," Bernard said, explain-
ing that University officials
didn't want to be seen as target-
ing any specific members of the
campus community.
"This notice is just a federal
requirement and it is not maaking
any assertions whatsoever about
the individuals who receive
it," Bernard said in a statement
issued earlier this week.
However, University officials
have every intention to do what-
ever is necessary to comply with
the Higher Education Opportu-
nity Act, since federal funding
could be stripped if the Univer-
sity fails to comply with it.
"The HEOA makes all federal
funding to an institution contin-
gent on its good-faith compliance
with the HEOA, which is why the
University is sending this mes-
sage to all its constituents," Ber-
nard said in the same statement.
of different programs.
"Fifty years ago the only real
way for volunteers to go abroad
was through the Peace Corps," Sib-
ley said. "Now many, many multi-
national corporations are involved."
Representatives for Service-
World will be promoting the dec-
laration at various Peace Corps
anniversary events, including the
national and student symposiums
on Oct. 13 and 14 as well as during
tonight's 2 a.m. celebration on the
Michigan Union steps that aims to
celebrate Kennedy's original call to
students. ServiceWorld's declara-
tion is also available on its website.
"It's a call for expansion and a
new strategy of international ser-
vice," Sibley said. "We really want
to get individuals to sign support-
ing the agenda to send more people
abroad each year. It's a better way
ofshowing the world the American
people. It's a great diplomatic way
to do it."
CHINA
From Page 1A
establish collaborative research
efforts, to cultivate exchanges of
faculty, medical residents, fellows
and other researchers, and to com-
plete large scale clinical trials and
other kinds of research - all in the
pursuit of discovering new ways to
prevent, treat and cure pulmonary,
cardiac and liver diseases," Pesco-
vitz said.
However, her comments quickly
shifted to defending the University
Medical School's broader ties to
Chinese universities.
"If we want to fulfill the Univer-
sity of Michigan Medical School's
vision of creating the future of
medicine - if we want to become
a leader in global medicine - we
must deepen our understanding of
disease and its impact, not only on
individuals and communities, but
on nations worldwide," Pescovitz
said. "And to do that successfully,
we must invite global perspectives, .
we must invite global ideas into our
laboratories and into our offices." .
Pescovitz told the members of
the audience gathered in the Bio-
medical Science Research Building
auditorium that not only will col-
laboration help advance the work
of UMHS in the future, but it has
already helped position UMHS as
CLINIC
From Page 1A
advise, and we can .provide aca-
demic materials."
Students working at the clinic
will have an opportunity to both
learn about and advocate for the
rights of victims of human traf-
ficking. As defined by the Office
to Monitor and Combat Traffick-
ing in Persons, human trafficking
includes "the activities involved
when someone obtains or holds a
person in compelled service" like
forced labor, debt bondage, sex
trafficking or involuntary domes-
tic servitude.
Zacatecas was chosen as the site
a world-class system.
"I cannot think of one thing that
we do or one success that we have
had as a University or as a health
system that doesn't require team-
work or collaboration," Pescovitz
said.
She went on to say that expand-
ing University collaborations to
Chinese universities is a logical
step because of deep partnerships
already in place with institutions
in the country.
"What better place to start with
than in China?" Pescovitz said.
"After all, China is a country with
which we already have a long-
standing and successful series of
relationships."
Pescovitz went on to detail the
statistics of the University Medical
School's partnerships in China.
"To date our medical school has
19 departments that already are
engaged in active collaborations
with 31 different Chinese univer-
sities," she said, adding that the
Medical School has co-authored
more articles with Chinese
researchers than with researchers
in any other country.
"This rich history and strong
foundation make China a natural
choice for the next generation of
collaborative discovery, and we
feel so extraordinarily fortunate to
have found the perfect partner in
Peking University Health Science
Center," Pescovitz said.
However, not all in attendance
were as supportive of the Univer-
sity's relationships with Chinese
universities.
Though no demonstrations
were made during the event, some
who have advocated for a more
limited relationship with Chinese
institutions were in attendance
and stayed after the event as offi-
cials stood for photographs.
Pre-empting any sort of scene
that protestors may have other-
wise made, a UMHS communica-
tions employee read a statement on
freedom of speech at the beginning
of the event.
"The University of Michigan
strives to create a truly open forum,
one in which diverse opinions
can be expressed and heard," the
employee told the audience. "Pro-
testors must not interfere unduly
with communication between the
speaker or artist and members of
the audience."
She continued: "If the host of
this event or an University rep-
resentative believe a protestor
is interfering unduly with the
speaker or performer's freedom of
expression, those protestors will
be warned. If the warnings are
not heeded and the interference
continues, then the individuals
responsible may be removed from
the building."
FRIEND THE DAILY ON FACEBOOK
for the future clinic in part because
the University's Law School has
worked with Centro de los Derechos
del Migrante in the past. Details of
the project are still being discussed,
and it has not yet been determined
when the group will travel to Mex-
ico or how long it will take to set up
the new clinic, Weill said.
Ideally, the students and fac-
ulty will raise awareness of human
trafficking problems in the area,
train local private attorneys to rec-
ognize specific examples and teach
them how to take action, she said.
Since laws addressing human
trafficking are relatively recent,
many within the legal commu-
nity are not aware of their specific
implications. Because of this, Weill
said, educating upcoming lawyers
on this issue is important.
"A lot of times,.because the law
is so new, people who have been
in practice for a while don't know
much about how it works - they
don't have training in trafficking
law," Weill said.
According to Weill, clinics like
the one at the University allow law
students to work under licensed
faculty members on actual cases,
thus gaining practical experience
in the field. They generally accept
clients who can't afford a private
attorney or cases that private
attorneys would not accept for eco-
nomic reasons.
"They fill a need that isn't being
addressed," she said.
HOUSING
From Page 1A
create an atmosphere of acceptance
on campus. If the policy is imple-
mented, students who choose the
open housing option residence halls
would be able to choose a room-
mate of any gender.
"It's good for the campus com-
munity because it respects stu-
dents' freedoms and rights," Horky
said. "Implicit in this initiative is
that we believe that students have
the right and freedom to choose
how they live."
Though both the Residence
Halls Association and MSA passed
resolutions supporting open hous-
ing, plans to incorporate the new
housing option have yet to go into
effect in any residence halls.
Horky said that the Open Hous-
ing Initiative's report to residence
hall administrators will be a key
step in implementing the housing
on campus.
"Ultimately, if housing is going
to be supportive, then the other
administrators will respect that
and also support the change,"
Horky said. "We hope to have
it available for students that are
returning to housing this coming
year. The following year itwould be
ideal if first-year students coming
into the system could use it, so that
would be fall 2012."
According to Horky, the Open
Housing Initiative has been work-
ing to spread awareness of the
option on campus.
"We're trying to focus on res.
halls specifically" she said. "We're
doing panels in the res. halls, were
doing bulletin boards for the RAs.
We're doing flyers, and all that kind
of thing."
Open Housing Initiative repre-
sentatives will also be distribut-
ing flyers and answering questions
about the option on the Diag on
Oct. 28. MSA President Chris Arm-
strong, who ran his campaign for
MSA president partly on imple-
menting an open housing option,
said in an interview last night that
he is optimistic about the future of
the initiative.
"I think that as I've mentioned
before, it's really been an initiative
that has gained momentum," Arm-
strong said. "I think that it's some-
thing that a lot of students really
care about."
- Samantha Norman
contributed to this report.
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