The Michigan Daily - michigandaily~com h Thursday, October 21, 2010 -- 5A MAIN STREET FromPage 1A that many residents have called the city inquiring about the plan, but the earliest a proposal could be reviewed would be at the council's Nov. 4 meeting. "I know everyone's interested in seeing if it's been brought forward, " she said. Brown said students shouldn't worry about the closure affecting their walk to football games, given STREETLIGHTS From Page 1A strated that residents experienced streetlights as being a pedestrian and property safety benefit," Tay- lor said. "The vehicular standards are certainly not sufficient for residential property and personal safety." City Council is now looking for alternative cost-cutting measures that will not compromise its citi- zens' feelings of safety and com- fort, Taylor said. He added that the city is in the process of installing LED lights in the nearly 22 percent of streetlights that belong to the city. The remaining streetlights in Ann Arbor are owned and operat- ed by DTE Energy, which has not yet reached an agreement with the city regarding LED technology. "It's not an ordinary customer relationship," Taylor said. "These are lights not owned by the city, so we are sort of negotiating some- thing we don't have direct leverage with." The University is also making efforts to cut costs and energy consumption that result from streetlights. According to a state- CHARGES From Page 1A unit based in Southeast Michi- gan. "It's very unfortunate that this man used his uniform and his status to access a place in an unauthorized fashion and essen- tially just used very bad judg- ment," Brown told the Daily. After being questioned, Uni- versity Police deferred the case to ANNIVERSARY From Page 1A "The program is about learning how to make your own reality," Baetzel said. Students from all majors and backgrounds can apply to be a part of Michigan in Washington. The University of California houses the students admitted to the pro- gram in a residence hall five blocks away from the White House. Pro- gram participants write a 25-page research paper and take required classes and electives while in the capital. Baetzel said that though most associate the program with the political science department, it's open to students from all majors. "We'd like to see more stu- dents outside of political science do this," Baetzel said. "There's a perception that you have to be a 'straight A' student, but we're look- ing for blended students." LSA seniors Kelly Behr and Marianna Golovan met in D.C. during the fall 2009 semester of the program. They said they're excited to be a part of the fifth anniversary celebration because it will help them build on the rela- tionships they made through the program. "The five-year reunion is going to be a great opportunity for net- working because they are going to have a job panel of those people who have given us internships before," Behr said. Golovan said she plans to net- work at the event as well. She said she values the relationships she has established through the pro- gram, adding that she and Behr are now best friends. "It's a wonderful opportunity to learn to be a professional while still in college," Golovan said. Behr said that the Michigan in Washington program was part of what attracted her to the Univer- sity. Public Policy senior Jared Gamelin said he decided to go to D.C. for the winter 2010 semester because it gave him the opportuni- ty to study somewhere else besides that much of the plan deals with the other side of the stadium. She added that - like the stadium's recent no water bottle or handbag policies - the plan is one of many to greatly reduce the risk of harm to patrons. "It's another evolution in increasing the safety and security for patrons," Brown said. "From a public perspective, this is the next big plan." A similar plan could be used for large events at Crisler Arena, Brown added. ment from Jim Kosteva, direc- tor of community relations, the University is "actively reviewing alternative technology approaches to providing lighting on campus." Kosteva said the University's overall goal includes reducing its energy footprint and cost, but he stressed that "safety is of para- mount concern." "Our personnel are continually monitoring the progress of tech- nology in providing energy effi- cient lighting; however, as of yet, they have not found a new light- ing methodology that delivers the desired amount of lighting inten- sity that would meet our safety criteria," Kosteva said. "They will continue to follow advancements in the electrical lighting indus- try." Taylor said for the time being, City Council members and resi- dents are pleased with the repeal of the original lighting reduction plan. "It was a good effort to do the city's work for less," Taylor said. "We sought to pull back our lights to (the vehicular) standard, and we determined during the course of this pilot program that that stan- dard was inapplicable to the resi- dential experience." prosecutors and the man may face criminal charges of illegal entry and possession of a weapon in the stadium, Brown said. Though Brown said the incident was a "collective issue" for police officers and athletic staff, she said University Police are taking mea- sures to make sure it does not hap- pen again. "We're continuing to review all of our protocol but again I stress that the public wasn't put at any kind of risk," Brown said. campus and was more affordable than studying abroad. "I was looking for a real-world experience in the field that I want to go in to," Gamelin said. "You can't really beat living in D.C." Gamelin added that the pro- gram provides a great opportunity for students toget what D.C. has to offer while still attending the Uni- versity. "Your overall college experi- ence is going to be a lot different when you get to step away from the Ann Arbor bubble," he said. Recent University graduate Salim Alchurbaji was Gamelin's roommate during the winter 2010 semester. He said he decided to apply for the program because he thought it would "be a great step- ping stone." "It was a great opportunity to kind of get my feet wet in D.C.," Alchurbaji said. "There's always opportunities to network and meet people." Alchurbaji said one of his favor- ite experiences of the program was getting the chance to meet one of his role models - Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health an organization that aims to bring social justice in health world- wide - while interning with the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition. But Farmer was only one of the many public health professionals Alchurbaji said he met as a result of the program. "I'm plugged into a great net- work of public health, policy, advo- cacy, humanitarian relief work and non-profit organizations," Alchurbaji said. LSA senior Seth Buchsbaum interned for the office of Energy and Climate Change in the White House while participating in the program during the winter 2010 semester. He said he's confident that he will get a job after he graduates because of the connec- tions he made during his time in D.C. "The vast majority of my work was actually substantive," Buchs- baum said. - Jordan Steiger contributed to this report. Stimulus spending a key issue in midterms GOP in states nationwide attacking Dems for 'failed stimulus' project DENVER (AP) - A photo of President Barack Obama hangs on the wall in CoraFaye's Cafe, a short walk from the Denver muse- um where Obama signed into law the most sweeping U.S. economic package in decades in an attempt to put people back to work and end the worst downturn since the Great Depression. But the folks tucking into fried chicken and cornbread at Cora- Faye's roll their eyes when asked whether the 2009 stimulus made a difference. "Are you kidding?" said Donn Headley Sr., a 61-year-old whose heating and air conditioning com- pany closed last year because of slow business. Republicans nationwide are attacking Democrats with a "failed stimulus" campaign drum- beat. In ads, debates and campaign TOWN HALL From Page lA - after the Gay Liberation Front in Ann Arbor asked the University to develop an organization that would cater to the needs of homo- sexual students. Toy said he hopes to foster an environment of increased toler- ance at the University by quelling hateful speech and cheers at hock- ey games, which he hopes Uni- versity Athletic Director David Brandon makes a priority. "The climate at hockey games is totally sexist and totally homo- phobic, and that situation has got to get addressed," Toy said. Extending the conversation beyond sexual orientation, the panel emphasized decreasing seg- regation in the classroom and on campus, particularly within the College of Engineering. Holloway said many students view the liberal arts and humani- ties classes as pivotal places for learning the basics of respectful discussion and diverse interac- tion, but many don't think they can learn the same values in the more science and math-based and less interactive discipline of engi- neering - a notion he believes is false. "Sometimes as engineers, we tend to step back and say we do analytical stuff that's all very clear cut and scientific, and so we don't have that same kind of issue, we don't interact in the same way," Holloway said. "Of course that's garbage, because we interact with each other in exactly those ways. "Our ability to interact with each other in a respectful way, to hear each others' needs, to take into account how various stake- holders have competing needs and how to balance those are very important as engineers," he added. Scott, a University alum, said while integration has greatly increased since he graduated in 1975, he still sees students of the same ethnicity clinging together and not venturing outside racial boundaries. mailers, they deride the $814 bil- lion program as having reinforced out-of-control spending and doing little to help. In reality, the stimulus program has done more than Republicans often claim - and less than Demo- crats may want to admit in the face of a sluggish economy and high unemployment. Moreover, the spending continues into next year, meaning the impact of the pro- gram cannot be fully measured. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported last month that 1.4 million to 3.3 million peo- ple are employed because of the program, a blow to Republican claims that the stimulus failed to increase employment. The stimulus program has kept many state and local governments fiscally viable, and the money has been a boon to the construction industry, financing thousands of road and bridge projects. In other areas - tax cuts, Medicaid health benefits, unemployment checks, food stamps - the stimulus has provided some relief to millions suffering in a tough economy. Still, there is broad skepticism that the stimulus package helped the nation's economy, according to a new AP-GfK poll. A plurality of likely voters say the bill had no real effect on it. About three in 10 say it did more to damage the economy while about the same share think it helped to bring about improve- ments. Most Democrats say it did more to help, the AP-GfK poll found, while a narrow majority of Repub- lican voters think it did even more damage than would have hap- pened otherwise. And those with doubts about the bill's effective- ness are far more apt to say they trust Republicans over Democrats to do a better job handling the economy. Negative perceptions have turned the stimulus into a politi- cal stick for Republicans to wield against Democrats: -In Colorado, rookie Demo- cratic Sen. Michael Bennet and three House Democrats are strug- gling to fend off challengers who routinely point out their votes for the stimulus. Out-of-state interest groups allied with the GOP air ads calling it a failure and a spending spree. -Rep. Jim Marshall, a con- servative Georgia Democrat who has resisted vigorous challenges from Republicans before, may be undone this year by a challenger whose ads conclude: "Times are hard. Jim Marshall made them worse." -In southeast Michigan, Dem- ocratic Rep. Gary Peters ousted a Republican incumbent two years ago. This election, Republican challenger Rocky Raczkowski campaigns on the stimulus daily with a blunt, if unscientific, assessment: "It ended up being super-duper government waste." -In Texas, 20-year incumbent Rep. Chet Edwards told The Dal- las Morning News this month his vote for the stimulus might cost him re-election. -In Maryland, first-term Dem- ocratic Rep. Frank Kratovil voted against his party on health care and supports a balanced bud- get amendment. No matter. His Republican opponent, Andy Har- ris, depicts Kratovil as a profligate spender for supporting a final ver- sion of the stimulus law. SALAM RIDA/Da Panelists and attendees of a town hall that focused on campus diversity hosted by UMEC chat at the event last night. "The fact that minority stu- dents are here does not mean that they are necessarily included and engaged," Scott said. "You can walk around campus and see diversity, and see that diversity moves in clumps. Our center is all about trying to change the para- digm." Holloway said the College of Engineering is also working to increase diversity in gender in the engineering field. He added that the college has been trying to implement various techniques to enroll more women in engineer- ing programs, especially comput- er engineering which has been a predominantly male-driven con- centration. "One strategy that we are try- ing to peruse is to recruit faculty that are more representative of the student body, and we've actu- ally had some pretty good suc- cess with women faculty in some departments," Holloway said. Scott said while female enroll- ment in computer science engi- neering is low, information technology companies are con- tinually looking to recruit female employees, adding that women engineers should not be discour- aged by the prevalence of men in industry. "Women do as well or better than men in industry from an IT standpoint," Scott said. "Corpo- rations are doing everything they can to encourage women to go into computer science and computer engineering because there's a des- perate need for that talent going forward." In addition to embracing racial and gender equality, Segal said he believes students need to be more aware of the prevalence of dis- abilities and unreported mental disorders on campus. Segal said he hopes that students with mental disorders will someday feel more comfortable about being open about them in order to get rid of negative stereotypes. "Most of the disabilities that are on campus are invisible," Segal said. "A person with a disability has their own sort of needs, wants, desires, comforts, and securities around the issue. There's a lot of stigma within these groups to be public and identify themselves." Segal said that because students he works with want to keep their mental disorders secret among friends, when he encounters them on campus they often ignore him. "There's still a lot of work to do to get people even comfort- able with their own disability, to see it not in such a stigmatized way, because we all carry a bunch of stereotypes, particularly with mental health issues," Segal said. Engineering senior Bethany Glesner, honors and services director of UMEC, said the group decided to throw the event after receiving grievances that meet- ings were failing to focus on improving the state of campus life. "We had gotten complaints in the past that our general body meetings were boring and not useful, so we were trying to come up with a way to get not only the student organizations involved but also the student population at large to come and actually partici- pate," Glesner said. "People are willing to talk about campus climate and people are willing to help if you have problems," she added. "There are resources and campus climate can be a problem, but it can also be improved." IFree residential u.d -furnitreci i Friday, Oct. 22 through Sunday Oct. 24. Daily Noon - S p.rn t athe1 Sintersection of/ : East University and Oakland Sstreets. np % For Ann Arbor a residents and 4 property sA ; managers Olly -uGHBN JT rr Those leaving any other materials, depositing furnilare from non-Ann Arbor properties, or using the site during off-hours are subiectto illegal dumping in es The siteis monitorod 24 hours Michigan Ethics Union "The Ethical Implications of Facebook's Privacy Settings" Thursday, October 21s, 5pm - 7pm Shapiro Library, Screening Room, 2nd Floor The Michigan Ethics Union (MEU) is a collaborative effort between Consider Magazine and the University of Michigan Ethics Bowl Team. It sponsors monthly events and publications to stimulate dialogue among Michigan students on contemporary ethical issues. Join us October 21st for our first meeting of the year, where we will be discussing the ethical implications of Facebook's privacy settings and serving FREE food. Look us up on Facebook! Search Michigan Ethics Union Questions? contact us at: "meom"mO:"edo University of Michigan ETHICS BOWL TEAM WANT TO WRITE FOR DAILY NEWS? E-mail berman@michigandaily.com to get started.