The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, September 9, 2010 - 7A
W SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily
Howard Dean rallies the crowd gathered at Rackham Auditorium last night, encouraging them to get involved in the midterm elections.
Dean: Dems must win mi terms
for Oba-mt P a to conti nue progress
From Page 1A
out the nation and to work tirelessly
to make their desires heard.
"So many Americans think all
we have to do is vote and get our
guy in, or our women in, and then
they're going to do the work and
we're going to go back to whatever
we were doing before," Dean said.
"It doesn't work like that. If you
want your country to work, you
have to work every single day."
Although voters will not be elect-
ing the next U.S. president, Dean
9 said the upcoming elections are
just as pivotal, because President
Obama will need in November's
elections Congressional support to
continue to accomplish policy ini-
tiatives.
"Barack Obama is not on the
ballot this time, but he is in many
ways," Dean said. "He can't get
anything done, unless you send
these guys back to Congress."
Dingell echoed Dean's senti-
ment, encouraging audience mem-
bers to prevent Republicans from
WELCOME
From Page 1A
Week, which has been going on
since the fall of 2002, took place
during the official first week back
to campus. But to avoid competition
with Meijer Madness and other
Welcome Week events, Jones said
they pushed their events one week
later. This scheduling also gives
students the option to stop by the
events after their classes, he said.
Student-athletes this year will
also experience change in their
welcome week reception, which
began on Sept. 7 and will end on
Sept.12.
LSA senior Alex Wood, president
of the University's Student-Athlete
Advisory Council, said student-ath-
letes in previous years attended a
nighttime banquet - the sole event
of past welcome weeks.
"This is the firstyear (for the lon-
ger event), and we really tried to put
together a program from Tuesday
to Sunday to get this year's fresh-
OPEN HOUSE
From Page 1A
because they wanted to talk with
Coleman, others came to see the
inside of the University presi-
dent's house, enjoy refreshments
like cookies and cider or just to kill
time.
But with Coleman grinning,
shaking hands and posing for pic-
tures with students, nearly every-
one left the open house saying they
were happy they came.
LSA freshman Aditi Shetty said
she was happy with the conversa-
tion she had with Coleman, who
she described as "an icon of the
University."
"We talked about her house and
the architecture," Shetty said. "In
hindsight, it was probably a rosly
boring conversation to any outsid-
er, but I thought it was really inter-
esting, because when do you have
the chance to talk to the University
president?"
LSA sophomore Rebecca Guer-
riero said she decided to come to
the open house because her friends
were coming.
"I didn't really know what
to expect. I didn't even know if
we'd get to meet her," she said,
impressed with the event and with
Coleman. "It makes the University
seem like home. You come here and
you see her and it's like, she's just
overturning Obama's work in office
thus far.
"The Republicans have talked
about change, and about taking the
country back," Dingell said, "and
I'mgoingtoask, back to what? Back
to Bush? Back to Hoover? Back to
1900? Back to Louis the 13th?
"We're talking about change
and hope and making America bet-
ter for our people," Dingell added.
"This country is going to move for-
ward whether the Republicans like
it or not. And we're going to drag
them kicking and screaming into
the 21st century."
Schauer also spoke about con-
tinuing to establish Democratic
ideals in order to help families,
through strengthening programs
like Medicare and Social Security.
He said he believes the Democratic
Party tends to focus on the issues
of the many, while the Republicans
are more focused on the issues of
certain individuals.
"It's a question of our values,
what kind of people we are," Schau-
er said. "And the Republican Party
en welcomed into the Michigan
family and give them tips to suc-
cess," Wood said.
Planned welcoming activities
include a senior panel in which
first-year student-athletes are
given the opportunity to ask ques-
tions of senior athletes, networking
tips at the University Career Center
and a screening of "Invictus" dur-
ing a finale event titled "Wolverine
Wow," according to the SAAC.
Wood said the movie screening
- intended for the entire athletic
community - would take place
on the 10-yard line in the recently
re-dedicated Michigan Stadium
and will feature popcorn vendors.
Wood added that the focus on
helping student-athletes make the
college transition partly reflected
the Athletic Department's owns
transition under the new leader-
ship of Athletic Director David
Brandon.
Another welcome week event,
Explorth, aims to "showcase and
highlight North Campus" by offer-
ing the chance for students as well
believes it's every person for them-
selves. And we know we are stron-
ger when we are together."
Peters emphasized the impor-
tance of job creation in a strug-
gling economy as well as protecting
Michigan's resources like the Great
Lakes.
"There isn't anything more
important than jobs," Peters said.
"We've had positive job growth, but
we've got to be focused on more. We
need to be focused on what it's going
to take to keep this economyggoing."
Brendan Campbell, President of
College Democrats, helped orga-
nize the event as an opportunity
for students to hear more from
Democratic legislators in the area
and become inspired to vote and
help the Democratic Party in the
upcoming elections.
"We wanted to make sure stu-
dents were excited and energized
by this election," Campbell said.
"We wanted to get people motivat-
ed to volunteer, motivated to come
out and vote, motivated to help us
elect our candidates in the fall."
as faculty and staff to learn about
and see all that North Campus
has to offer, said Jennifer Wegner,
Student Affairs program manager
for the College of Engineering and
Explorth committee member said.
"It's very active," she said. "We
know the best way to see (North
Campus) is to actually walk around,
go to the buildings you might not
normally go into and learn things
about cool design studios, for
example."
Though various groups on North
Campus hosted the event last year,
this year's version - slated for Sept.
15 - will be bigger with more musi-
cal performances, an open jam ses-
sion and more food.
The event starts on the North
Campus Diag where participants
are given a "passport" highlighting
major visiting points. Once the par-
ticipants see as many spots as they
desire and receive a stamp at each,
they can turn the passport in for a
chance to win a raffle prize.
Students were also welcomed to
Central Campus last week with a
LSA sophomore Andie Shafer
said she found the event to be an
important means to get young stu-
dents excited about the election.
"I thought it was really rousing,"
Shafer said. "There was a lot of
energy in the room. I thought it got
people really excited, because I feel
a lot of our generation has kind of
dulled down after the Obama years.
And I think this was a quick burst
of energy that everyone needed."
LSA junior Ronald Cade said
he felt the event was important,
because it inspired students to vote
in an election that he said would
be crucial in allowing Obama to
continue to have an impact on the
nation.
"I think thegovernor'selection is
going to be very important, and the
term election for Congress is pretty
critical because I don't think Presi-
dent Obama has gotten enough
done that he would've liked to have
gotten done," Cade said. "I think
another two years with a Demo-
cratic Congress will really help him
finish these type of things."
variety of performances, speech-
es and other anchor events like
Artscapade, Gayz Craze, Esca-
pade, and Maize Craze said Debra
Mexicotte, assistant director of the
University's Office of New Student
Programs.
Taste of Michigan, a signature
Welcome Week event, aims to
"bridge" the gap between the Ann
Arbor community, Greek Life and
the general student body, Ryan
Knapp vice president of public rela-
tions for the Interfraternity Coun-
cil said.
The event allowed students
to get a sense of the various din-
ing options in Ann Arbor with 13
companies, including Buffalo Wild
Wings and Silvio's Organic Pizza,
giving out food samples.
The event is put on by all four
Greek councils in conjunction with
LSA Student Government, Knapp
said.
- Daily News Editor
Eshwar Thirunavukkarasu
contributed to this report.
TEXTBOOKSj
From Page 1Ac
the legislation, adding that it
will likely allow students to takec
advantage of sites like Chegg.c
"The Higher Educations
Opportunity Act is a step in1
the right direction as it creates
transparency in the textbooki
industry for both students and
professors," Couch wrote.
The new law will also allow1
students to make more use oft
Half.com, according to Amanda
Coffee, a public relations spe-i
cialist with the company. The1
site gives users the chance to
compare prices from a variety of
booksellers.
"The Higher Education
Opportunity Act is a huge step1
towards providing students and
families on a budget with great-,
er selection and better deals,"
Coffee wrote.
The legislation could also
mean an increase in students
taking advantage of the Univer-
sity's UBook program, which1
is an online forum hosted oni
CTools that facilitates used book
exchanges.
Gretchen Weir, assistant vice
provost for academic affairs,
said she couldn't predict how
the new legislation will affect1
UBook, but she added that the
goal of the program is to offer
students another way to get
cheaper textbooks.
"It was devised as a way for
students to save money as a way
to buy and sell books without a
middle man and was part of a
larger effort of the University
to create a used book market on
campus," Weir said.
Representatives from Barnes
and Noble, Inc. and Ulrich's
Bookstore declined to comment
on the new legislation.
Jackson, the LSA junior,
said that while he thinks the
RECYCLING
From Page 1A
away from double-stream recy-
cling, which involved separating
recyclables by mixed papers and
mixed containers before plac-
ing them curbside. Now the city
uses a single-stream recycling
system. RecycleBank has taken
advantage of the move, allowing
all recyclables to be placed into a
single cart.
Thomas McMurtrie, the city's
solid waste coordinator, said the
efforts to consolidate recyclables
were part of a larger effort, which
includes the RecycleBank part-
nership, to make recycling more
accessible.
"We're making recycling con-
venient and easy for everyone,"
McMurtrie said.
With this new emphasis on
environmental consciousness,
city officials said they hope to
see recycling rates double or even
triple during the Ann Arbor-
RecycleBank partnership, which
began on Sept. 1 and will last 10
years.
According to a press release
issued by the city, recycling rates
in participating cities Rochester
Hills and Westland are up 241
percent and 458 percent, respec-
tively.
"We have a very robust multi-
family community," said Nancy
Stone, spokeswoman for the city
of Ann Arbor. "Our understand-
ing with RecycleBank is that we
want to work with them to devel-
op a multi-family (housing) pro-
gram and eventually a business
program as well."
Expanding the program to
students in unique housing situa-
tions may bring a new set of chal-
lenges, McMurtrie said, including
legislation will give students
more options, it probably won't
change the way he shops for
textbooks.
"I definitely support the
opportunity to find the best
deals and appreciate it, but I
always end up waiting until the
last minute anyways," said Jack-
son. "Then again, I do think it
is a really good idea and might
utilize it next semester."
Some students also hope that
by forcing textbook publishers
to disclose the prices of their
textbooks to professors, more
instructors will take notice of
how much their course books
cost and try to keep costs down.
"I hope that this new law
will make the professors more
aware of how much all these
books cost, and then make final
decisions based on that," Bey-
ers said. "I feel that if professors,
know that a book costs $200 for
a student, they might not choose
that book for a course."
But Associate History Prof.
Farina Mir said the new legis-
lation won't have much of an
effect on how she chooses books
for her courses.
"I try to keep the cost of my,
textbooks within the range of
$100 to $150," said Mir. "I don't
need to have a publisher tell me
how much the textbooks are. I
look into the prices myself."
Mir said she does try to be
conscious of the total cost of
textbooks when picking them
out.
"Sometimes I do choose a
more expensive book because of
the work the book is doing, but
then I make concessions with
my other additional textbooks,"
Mir said. "After all, if the aver-
age college student takes four
classes a semester, and each
class's textbooks are over $100,
then that is a rather large por-
tion of a college student's educa-
tional expenses."
dealing with high turnover rates
in campus-area housing.
"Our plan is to evaluate the
program over the next year and
then come back with a recom-
mendation to City Council,"
McMurtrie said. "It's more diffi-
cult with group housing because
it involves multiple people using
shared (recycling) carts."
Mailings with instructions for
signing up to participate were
sent out to a significant portion
of the nearly 33,000 total homes
in Ann Arbor. For those students
living off campus in houses and
invited to participate in the initia-
tive, the benefits of recycling each
week can add up.
Melody Serafino, a spokeswom-
an for New York-headquartered
RecycleBank, said participants
can earn an average of $130-$200
per year in rewards.
"The main incentive for the
student who probably is on a bit
of a budget ... is the rewards pro-
gram," Serafino said.
The rewards program allows
recyclers to turn their acquired
RecycleBank points into food,
home goods, entertainment items
and more at RecycleBank.com for
use at local businesses, including
Arbor Brewing Company, Down-
town Home and Garden, The Vil-
lage Apothecary and Zingerman's
Deli.
Education senior Rebecca
Long, who lives off campus in a
house divided into multiple apart-
ments, said she'd be inclined to
focus more on recycling if she was
offered incentives.
Along with bolstering local
business and offering residents
rewards, the initiative will bring
additional funds to the city while
decreasing overall city waste.
"The city sees it as a quadruple
win," Serafino said.
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Students meet with University President Mary Sue Coleman during an annual open house yesterday.
like my mom. It was really cool."
Also on hand to visit with stu-
dents at the event were University
Provost Philip Hanlon and Dean of
Students Laura Blake Jones.
Hanlon said he enjoyed talk-
ing with students at the recep-
tion, saying it is a valuable way to
get feedback from students about
their experiences at the Univer-
sity.
"I enjoy interacting with the stu-
dents," Hanlon said in an interview
at the open house. "I like to hear
about the great things our students
are doing, what their aspirations
are and what their problems are, if
they have any."
In an interview during the event,
Jones echoed some of Hanlon's
comments, saying she thought the
event was a great way for students
to interactwith top administrators.
"I just think it's so special that
this is something that President
Coleman does with students,"
Jones said. "It's a wonderful wel-
come to campus for new students
or send off for seniors."
And many seniors were on hand
for the event, including LSA seniors
Caitlin O'Gara and Fima Zaltsman,
who said they came because they
wanted to talk with Coleman about
her biochemistry background.
"We were really excited that
she's a chemist because we're both
chemists too," O'Gara said.
LSA sophomore Tessa Adzemov-
ic also said she decided to come to
the event to get a chance to chat
with Coleman about biochemistry.
"I was interested because I know
she was a biochem professor,"
Adzemovic, a biochemistry major
said. "I wanted to ask her about
that, but also I just wanted to see
what she was like."