0 The Michigan Daily- michigandaily.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, November 23, 2010 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
LOWELL TOWNSHIP, Mich.
Seventeen-year-old
girl dies after deer
hits her minivan
A 17-year-old girl has been killed
after a deer struck by another vehi-
cle was flung into her minivan in
west Michigan.
Michigan State Police tell The
Grand Rapids Press that Barbara
June Barnick of Ionia died follow-
ing the crash at about 5:20 p.m.
Sunday in Lowell Township. They
said Barnick's 14-year-old nephew
was a front seat passenger, and that
a 1-year-old and a 9-year-old were
in the back seat.
Police said the children were
wearing seatbelts and that none
suffered life-threatening injuries.
Police said a car passing in an
eastbound lane struck a deer, which
was catapulted across the road
and collided with Barnick's 2008
Chrysler Town and Country. Her
vehicle went off the road and hit a
tree.
No further details were released.
CHICAGO
Security protests in
airports could slow
down holiday travel
CHICAGO (AP) - As if air trav-
el over the Thanksgiving holiday
isn't tough enough, it could be even
worse this year: Airports could see
even more disruptions because of a
loosely organized Internet boycott
of full-body scans.
Even if only a small percentage of
passengers participate, experts say
it could mean longer lines, bigger
delays and hotter tempers.
The protest, National Opt-Out
Day, is scheduled for Wednesday
to coincide with the busiest travel
day of the year. The Obama admin-
istration's top transportation secu-
rity official implored passengers
yesterday not to participate, saying
boycotts would only serve to "tie up
people who want to go home and
see their loved ones."
"Justoneor two recalcitrant pas-
sengers at an airport is all it takes
to cause huge delays," said Paul
Ruden, a spokesman for the Ameri-
can-Society of TravelAgents, which
has warned its more than 8,000
members about delays resulting
from the body-scanner boycott.
WASHINGTON
* First Lady to
announce details of
salad bar plan
A White House official says
Michelle Obama will announce
details of a plan to put 6,000 salad
bars in public school lunchrooms
within the next three years.
Mrs. Obama was expected to
make the announcement yesterday
at Riverside Elementary School in
Miami.
The National Fruit and Veg-
etable Alliance, United Fresh Pro-
duce Association Foundation and
Food, Family, Farming (F3) Foun-
dation are joining to support Mrs.
Obama's campaign against child-
hood obesity.
The first lady has made boost-
ing fruit and vegetable consump-
tion a major goal of her effort to
get people to eat better. Riverside
Elementary recently opened a
* salad bar.
The White House official spoke
on condition of anonymity to
speak ahead of the announcement.
VATICAN CITY
Pope seeks to start
debate on condoms
Pope Benedict XVI sought to
"kick-start a debate" when he said
some condom use may be justified,
Vatican insiders say, raising hopes
the church may be starting to back
away from a complete ban and
allow condoms to play a role in the
battle against AIDS.
Just a year after he said con-
doms could be making the AIDS
crisis worse, Benedict said that for
some people, such as male prosti-
tutes, using them could be a step
in assuming moral responsibility
because the intent is to "reduce
the risk of infection."
The pope did not suggest using
condoms as birth control, which
is banned by the church, or men-
tion the use of condoms by mar-
ried couples where one partner is
infected. ,
Still, some saw the pope's com-
ments as an attempt to move the
church forward on the issue of
condoms and health risks.
- Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
SACUA
From Page 1
of $100 million from the 2010 to
2012 fiscal-year budgets and $120
million from the 2013 to 2017 fis-
cal years.
Pollack said she feels the Uni-
versity has done well overall with
regard to budgeting, compared
to other public universities, as
it hasn't forced faculty or staff
to take any furlough days and
even issued some faculty salary
increases.
Following Pollack's discus-
sion of the budget, Ed Rothman,
SACUA chair and a professor of
statistics, said he's concerned the
health benefits offered by the Uni-
versity won't be able to match the
rising costs of health care.
Pollack said the University has
been comparing its health care
package to other institutions and
has found that overall its benefits
are in line with comparable plans.
But because this is an overall mea-
sure, Pollacksaid singularbenefits
might be higher or lower than the
average.
SALARY TASK FORCE
SHARES FINDINGS
Larry Boxer, a professor in the
Department of Pediatrics and
Communicable Diseases and chair
of SACUAs Salary Task force, also
discussed the task force's findings
at yesterday's meeting.
Rothman said the task force
was created to investigate if the
salary reduction plan in the Uni-
versity's medical school - which
was applied across the medical
campus in 2007 - could affect
other units on campus.
Reading the task force report
given to SACUA, Kim Kearfott,
SACUA member and professor
of Engineering, said the group
found that the salary reduction
plan won't have an impact on
other University departments. But
despite the findings, Kearfott said
she was concerned that the salary
plan could be used as precedent
for the creation of salary plans in
other schools.
Boxer said thatunder the medi-
cal school's current plan, a faculty
member's salary can be lowered if
he or she refuses to take on extra
teaching hours or fails to perform
at a high level when conducting
research. A faculty member's sal-
ary could also go down if the fac-
ulty member opts to reduce the
amount of time he or she works as
retirement nears.
Salary reductions are made at
the time of the annual review of
faculty, Boxer said.
The plan was widely accepted
by the medical school's clinical
departments, but hasn't yet been
adopted by the school's science
departments, Boxer said.
Rothman also discussed the
task force's examination of how
the salary planaffected Bylaw So9,
a University Board of Regents's
bylaw that determines what issues
constitute a faculty grievance.
Because one of the issues consti-
tuting a grievance is demotion,
Rothman said he's concerned that
the medical faculty could claim
their reduced salary under the
plan as a grievance.
Boxer said he doesn't believe
there was ever any discussion in
the medical school about a salary
reduction constituting a demotion.
Kearfott and other faculty
members also expressed disagree-
ment with the fact that new facul-
ty members are not made aware of
the details of the salary reduction
plan in their letters of hire.
SACUA Vice Chair Gina Poe
said she feels there will be an
influx of grievances from medi-
cal school faculty members who
were hired just before the salary
plan was implemented and may
not be aware of its implications
as their third-year evaluations
approach.
RECYCLING
From Page 1
received these new lids yet.
"However, regardless of what
recycling bins are currently
labeled, all recyclables can be
placed in them," she said.
Officials hope the ease of recy-
cling will encourage more people
to place their reusable materials in
recyclingbins instead oftrashcans.
Single-stream recycling has
enhanced recycling efforts at the
Big House, particularly since plas-
tic cups are now accepted recy-
clables, according to Richardson.
She wrote that with the help of the
newly labeled bins there's been an
increase in both the recycling rate
and amount of recyclables collect-
ed this football season compared
to the 2009 season.
Residence halls have also
made the switch. According to
Richardson, University Waste
Management Services has made
a concerted push to improve stu-
dents' awareness of the new sys-
tem-through posters, table tents
in dining halls and distributing
educational materials to residen-
tial advisors.
LSA junior Heather Burcham
said she hasn't been a big recycler,
but thinks she will recycle more
now because of the new system.
"We don't recycle at home," she
said. "It's a good way for me to
get started with it by just putting
everything in one bin."
Last Monday, Waste Manage-
ment Services planned America
SQUIRRELS
From Page 1
ral conditions, it's reasonable for
people to feed them. He said squir-
rels, more than any kind of wild
mammal, seem more comfortable
around humans.
However, Myers said, there are
some downsides to the constant
attention given to the squirrels.
"From our perspective, squir-
rels can be pests sometimes and
we encourage them too much," he
said. "You also don't want to get
too close to them, they could bite
you."
The food given to them also
leads to "unusually high densi-
ty" squirrels, Myers said. Larger
squirrels have a higher chance of
losing most of their fur as well assa
higher probability of transmission
of parasites.
Though these fatter squirrels
are pretty easy to spot on campus,
they've become a more visible part
of campus culture partly due to
the University's Squirrel Club that
was founded a few years ago.
Club founder and University
alum Jason Colman said the group
started as a late night dorm con-
versation and grew into a group
full of squirrel enthusiasts.
"First of all, it's fun." Col-
man said. "Secondly, a lot of peo-
ple enjoy feeding the squirrels
because they miss their pets at
home. The squirrels are the cam-
pus pets and they are cute and
fuzzy. It's also a stress reliever."
He said the best way to feed and
Recycles Day to educate members
of the University community on
the new system. Richardson orga-
nized charter buses to transport
about 25 University staff and stu-
dents to takea tour of Ann Arbor's
MRF and learn more about how
the recycling process works.
"We received a lot of positive
feedback from those who attend-
ed, andthere are many others who
would have liked to attend, so we
will likely plan something similar
in the spring," Richardson wrote.
In addition to boosting recy-
cling at some University loca-
tions, the single-stream system
has increased recycling activity
throughout Ann Arbor and Ypsi-
lanti, with the amount of recycla-
ble material brought to MRF more
than doubling, according to Thom-
as McMurtrie, city solid waste
coordinator and systems planner.
He added that the amount of
recyclables received from curb-
side residential programs in Ann
Arbor increased 17.3 percent,
while the recycling rate increased
from 33.3 percent to 38.5 percent.
The amount of disposed waste
also decreased 5.9 percent.
McMurtrie and Richardson
agreed that the next few months
would better indicate the success
of the new program.
"It has been less than three
months since the switch," Rich-
ardson wrote, referring to this
semester. "We'll have a better
handle on increases in recycling
as the year progresses."
Ann Arbor's recycling infra-
structure had to undergo major
interact with the squirrels is to
master the "squirrel noise" which
he demonstrated by making con-
tinuous clicking sounds.
"It's absolutely key that you
have a good squirrel noise," he
said. "Practice. Practice in front of
the mirror when no one's around."
He said that making the squir-
rel noise, crouching down and
holding out a peanut will capture
the creature's attention, making
it get on its hind legs and observe
you curiously as it approaches you.
Current Squirrel Club president
and LSA junior Peter Fengsaid the
group is still around because it's a
curious novelty of the school and a
source of pride for tour guides in
explaining the wide range of cam-
pus groups.
"This legend keeps it alive,"
Feng said.
He said there are over 900
members on the mailing list and
speculates these students were
attracted to the group because of
how "small and chubby" the squir-
rels are. He added, "A lot of people
think they're pretty cute too."
The 900 or so Squirrel Club
members aren't the University's
only fans of these furry critters.
LSA senior Evan Begun said
he is "obviously a big fan" of the
squirrels.
"I only like the ones in the Diag
and the Law Quad though because
they are receptive to human
advances," Begun said.
He also said he feels bad for the
"scrawnier ones" in Ann Arbor.
LSA senior Scott Schwartz said
the Ann Arbor squirrels are "fan-
changes in order to put the single-
stream system into place. Accord-
ing to the city's recycling website,
it cost $3.25 million to upgrade the
MRF to a single-stream collection
line.
McMurtrie wrote in an e-mail
interview that the plant was shut
down for about six weeks while
the new sorting line was installed.
In that time, the city's recyclables
were transferred to another facil-
ity.
According to a Michigan Radio
July2010 video, thenew machines
are used to loosen, separate and
package the various materials into
bales. Workers watch conveyor
belts to make sure the machines
are sorting effectively. From the
MRF, the recyclable materials are
sold to companies like Anheuser-
Busch and the Packaging Corpo-
ration of America to make new
goods, McMurtrie wrote.
"The new system is more auto-
mated than the previous system,
so the same number of sorters can
process quite a bit more material,"
McMurtrie wrote.
"He added that "the old two-
stream system processed between
four and ten tons per hour, while
the new plant's capacitylts 20 tons
per hour.
As part of the transition, the
city had to invest in new recycling
bins for residents, adding another
$1.4 million to program costs,
according to the city's website.
However, savings from single-
stream recycling are expected to
repay the investment within seven
years.
tastic."
"They're docile and they're
smart," Schwartz said. "They
know a lot and they're not easily
scared. I like that."
However, LSA senior Honesty
Lee said he likes the squirrels but
doesn't like the idea that they are
constantly being fed.
"They become really fat and
that's why they become docile,"
Lee said. "That's why they've
become, I'd say, unnatural. You
know, squirrels aren't supposed to
be enormous."
"I'd say they're abnormal," he
added.
Medical student Tom Michni-
acki said he enjoys the squirrels
despite their size.
"They're entertaining," Mich-
niacki said. "I think there could be
repercussions to feeding them but
they seem pretty hygienic. I doubt
they have that many diseases so
it's probably not that bad to feed
them."
Myers said the category these
squirrels fall under is "tree squir-
rel" - more specifically known as
fox squirrels - but there are two
other types of squirrels on campus
that one wouldn't expect to fall
under the squirrel category.
Chipmunks and woodchucks
are also types of squirrels in the
"ground squirrel" category, he
said. The chipmunks zip around
campus at their leisure during the
summer months and the wood-
chucks are usually found on North
Campus. Both of these animals
hibernate, whereas the fox squir-
rels don't.
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