The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, December 2, 2010 - 7A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, December 2, 2D1D - 7A
FINANCIAL AID
From Page 1A
refocus the scholarship so that it is
geared toward helping need-based
students. He added that Snyder
plans to focus on trying to lower
the cost of tuition.
Last February, Democratic Gov.
Jennifer Granholm's budget pro-
posal included plans for an altered
version of the Promise Scholar-
ship through a $4,000-tax credit,
given to students who earn a col-
lege degree at a university in the
state and then work for one year
in Michigan, as part of an effort
to stimulate the state's economic
recovery.
However, the proposal never
came to fruition, leaving thou-
sands of students still without
funding.
In a statement issued to The
Michigan Daily yesterday, Gra-
nholm's spokeswoman Katelyn
Carey wrote that the governor is
discouraged by the fact that legis-
lators haven't funded the scholar-
ship, especially given her quest to
increase college graduation rates
by making college more afford-
able.
"Doubling the number of col-
lege graduates has always been
a top priority for Governor Gra-
nholm and she remains deeply
disappointed that it still remains
unfunded," Carey wrote. "The
governor has worked to put the
toughest educational standards in
place and the Michigan Promise is
an important step in reaching that
goal."
State Rep. Joan Bauer (D-Lan-
sing), chair of the House Higher
Education Appropriations Com-
mittee, said she doesn't foresee
a reinstatement of the Michigan
Promise Scholarship similar to
Granholm's proposal because of
the vast funding needed to sup-
port it and the state's large budget
deficit.
"I don't see the Promise grant
becoming as it was under Gra-
nholm just because of the sheer
magnitude of financial resources
needed," Bauer said. "I don't see
that being something we discuss
a great deal next year, but I think
we need to have a very serious
discussion about financial aid in
general."
Bauer said financial aid and stu-
dent loans will continue to be a
major focus in the upcoming legis-
lative term, particularly in simpli-
fying and modifying the system as
a whole in order to lower student
debt.
"What I would foresee is
revamping the financial aid sys-
tem," Bauer said. "We have been
really taking a look on the whole
issue of financial aid and trying to
come up with a system that makes
it simpler, that will address the
whole issue of college being acces-
sible and affordable to our stu-
dents."
Cynthia Wilbanks, the Univer-
sity's vice president for govern-
ment relations, said the large state
deficit will make it difficult to
create large-scale programs like
a revamped Michigan Promise
Scholarship. However, she added
that the legislature and Snyder
RSG
From Page 1A
Ford School of Public Policy... (you)
have Ph.D. students in humanities
or the arts, or social science who
would be out in the fields or in a
remote library, and scientists and
engineers that are working at a lab,
so there's really no good way to dis-
tribute them."
Benson said that instead, RSG
decided to pursue different ways
to promote the election including
a Facebook advertising campaign,
widespread posting of fliers on
North Campus and e-mailing the
entire Rackham student body.
"Every time we sent those out
we'd see a significant spike in vot-
ing," Benson said.
In addition, Benson said during
the meeting last night that RSG
would look to work with other gov-
ernments again in future elections.
At last night's meeting Manoj
Jegannathan, fall 2010 RSG elec-
tions director and Rackham stu-
dent in the Naval Architecture
program, said in a presentation
that RSG saw an increase in voter
turnout from both fall 2009 and
winter 2010 elections, with 563 of
the 8,005 total Rackham students
- 7.03 percent - voting in the elec-
tions within their respective divi-
would be analyzing the budget
thoroughly to see how govern-
ment programs can help students.
Like Bauer, Wilbanks said she
believes the incoming legislators
will work toward a more structur-
al change to the financial aid sys-
tem as a whole rather than specific
scholarship developments.
"I can say that at least for a
number of state legislators who
have served the last several years
and were very unhappy with
the elimination of the Michigan
Promise Scholarship, as well as
the deep cuts that were made to
other financial aid programs like
the competitive scholarship pro-
gram, there has been an inter-
est in looking at a more holistic
approach to financial aid for stu-
dents attending Michigan univer-
sities and community colleges,"
Wilbanks said.
While Bauer said lowering
tuition costs for students would
continue to be a major initiative in
the legislature, she said it will be
challenging and she doesn't antic-
ipate any increased funding for
universities because of the large
state deficit.
"I hate to say this, but I think
there's absolutely no chance there
will be any additional appropria-
tions for universities," Bauer said.
"I think the issue for them is how
great, how deep will the cuts be in
their funding."
Despite this, she said she hopes
the legislature realizes thatinvest-
ing in education plays a major role
in fixing the ailing state's econo-
my.
"I feel very strongly that we
need to be investing in education
in Michigan, if we are to turn our
state around," Bauer said. "It con-
cerns me greatly that an all-cuts
budget, without any additional
revenue, is probably goingto mean
big cuts for education at all levels,
but particularly higher educa-
tion."
Wilbanks said it is essential that
Snyder and all the legislators care-
fully examine the budget before
attempting to structure higher
education funding and University
appropriations, especially since
they are such major portions of the
state budget.
"WehavetogiveGovernor-elect
Snyder time to study all aspects
of the state budget, including the
state support for universities and
students, which represents a sig-
nificant portion of the state's gen-
eral fund," Wilbanks said.
Wilbanks said she and other
University officials are excited to
hear Snyder's plans to focus on
University development to help
foster economic growth, an issue
which she said will play a crucial
role in developing programs with-
in the University.
"We have heard (Snyder) say
that higher education is impor-
tant to the economic diversifica-
tion of the state and I think all of
us are pleased with his recogni-
tion of that," Wilbanks said. "He
has worked closely with the Uni-
versity of Michigan in helping to
develop regional economic strate-
gies that help leverage the type of
work that we are doing to improve
Michigan's economy."
sion. .
Within these divisions in the
elections, 16 candidates contested
for positions.
The results were divided among
the four divisions of RSG, which
include Division I: Health and
Biological Sciences, Division II:
Engineering and Physical Sciences,
Division III: Social Sciences and
Division IV: Arts and Humanities,
and Education.
Three full term seats were elect-
ed in Division I, four full term seats
and three half term seats were
elected in Division II and three full
term seats were elected in Division
III.
Division II saw the highest turn-
out with241students participating,
while Division IV, which had one
open seat, had only about 20 stu-
dents vote in the elections. How-
ever, the Division IV election saw a
four-way tie, which will be decided
by the RSG executive board at their
meeting on Wednesday.
Despite the increase in over-
all voter turnout in the elections,
RSG members mentioned that they
looked to improve promotional
efforts and to reach out to Division
IV, especially in future elections.
The representative-elects of
RSG are invited to begin attending
the official board meetings starting
next Wednesday.
Students gather on the Diag last night for a Hanukiah lighting hosted by the local Chabad House in honor of the first night of Hanukkah.
DISORDERS
From Page 1A
components and peer pressure
components."
Lawson wrote that CAPS has
many psychological services stu-
dents can turn to if they suspect
they are suffering from an eating
disorder.
"Students can make an appoint-
ment with a CAPS counselor, or
they could request an Eating Pat-
terns Assessment - a special group
of three sessions designed specifi-
cally to get a better understanding
of the role of food, mood and exer-
cise inthe life of a student," Lawson
wrote.
Lawson also described another
service at CAPS called Stories of
Recovery, which is a support group
for students working to overcome
eating disorders and is led by pro-
fessionals in the field.
In addition, staffers at CAPS
and UHS work together to treat
students who are struggling with
eating disorders, as the doctors and
registered dieticians at UHS collab-
orate with the counselors and social
workers at CAPS to provide the best
treatment plan for students, Stocks
said.
And though there are many
resources for students on campus
to help them with these particular
issues, Stocks said it is a little more
difficult to treat college students
than other patients. One of the
most effective forms of treatment
for people with eating disorders,
Stocks said, is the Maudsley meth-
od, which relies on a family support
system to helpa patient through his
or her condition.
"Students in college are gener-
ally farther away from their family,"
Stockssaid. "This makes it more of a
challenge to treat students in a col-
lege setting."
Some students were surprised by
how many studentson campus have
or have had an eating disorder. LSA
freshmen Megan Baker and Bren-
nan Schiller said they haven't seen a
lot of issues with disordered eating
on campus, but they have noticed
students' struggles to remain thin.
"I've noticed a lot of people are
really conscientious, they'll go work
out right after they eat," Schiller
said.
Some studies have claimed that
certain groups within a university
contribute to increased levels of eat-
ing disorders on college campuses.
These include a study published in
February in Northwestern Univer-
sity's research journal "Sex Roles,"
which suggests that the soror-
ity rush process leads to increased
levels of eating disorders and body
shame amongcollege-aged women.
The study - called "Here's
Looking at You: Self-Objectifica-
tion, Body Image Disturbance, and
Sorority Rush" - focused on 127
freshman women at "a U.S. Mid-
western university," according to
the study's abstract. The women,
some of who went through the pro-
cess of rush and some who didn't,
took four online surveys about eat-
ing habits and self-esteem at four
different times during and after the
rush process.
The study found that women
who went through the rush pro-
cess responded more positively to
the questions about disordered eat-
ing and body self-objectification,
as compared to more negative
responses from women who didn't
participate in rush.
Some Universityexperts, howev-
er, are not convinced that this find-
ing is entirely accurate.
Lawson wrote that she believes
that eating concerns are an issue in
any living community and that the
Greek community should not be
singled out.
"I think it's important to reach
out to the Greek community around
body image and eating concerns,
but it's also important to reach out
to all communities at (the Univer-
sity)," Lawson wrote. "Eating dis-
orders affect men and women of all
races, ethnicities, socio-economic
classes and backgrounds, and aren't
bound to what or who we may think
has one."
LSA freshman Jill Clancy, who
went through the recruitment pro-
cess this semester, said though she
never felt any pressure to feel thin
or look a certain way, she said many
girls are often conscious of their
appearances.
"I hate to say this but some
(sororities) do have the certain ste-
reotype to be the blonde Barbie,"
Clancy said. "I had a good rush
experience, but I think a lot of it is
about stereotypes."
ASIAN CARP
From Page 1A
Many government officials and
interest groups, who have clashed
on other measures regarding the
regulation of Asian carp, jointly
expressed support for the bill in
recent months.
Confident that the legislation
would garner enough support,
House leaders passed the bill under
suspension of the rules - a process
that allows for expedited consid-
eration with limited debate and
requires a two-thirds majority for
passage.
Rep. Judy Biggert (R-Ill.), who
sponsored the legislation, praised
its victory as a triumph of bipar-
tisanship, according to a press
release.
"I'm very pleased we were able
to work with our colleagues from
Michigan to secure enactment of
this measure, and grateful for the
support of my colleagues from
throughout the Great Lakes states,"
she said in the press release.
Joel Brammeier, president and
CEO of the group Alliance for the
Great Lakes, said in an interview
that he supported the bill but ques-
tioned its impact.
According to Brammeier,
because bighead carp are already
outlawed in all of the Great Lakes
states, the bill will be a good mea-
sure for other watersheds, but
won'thave much of an effect on the
Great Lakes system.
"It's a little bit like closing the
barn door after the horse has run
away," he said.
UnLock Our Jobs, a coalition of
business groups formed to protect
commercial interests from what
they view as unwarranted Asian
carp regulation, also expressed
AIDS
From Page 1A
versity Health Service - hosted
an event in the Michigan League
called the "AIDS AnywHERE
Forum," which featured several
keynote speakers with informa-
tion on HIV/AIDS transmission
and those affected by the disease.
"Instead of just sharing about
HIV from a medical standpoint,
we're actually hearing about
it from people who have HIV,
which is completely different,"
said Roslyn Taylor, a coordina-
tor of special projects for PULSE.
"We wanted to get people who
actually have it and discuss the
real life situations with HIV."
Yesterday, on World AIDS Day,
people were encouraged to wear
red to support the fight against
HIV/AIDS. In addition the day
included a screening of the movie
support for the measure.
"To be perfectly clear, the
coalition doesn't want Asian carp
advancing to the Great Lakes any
more than our so-called oppo-
sition," said Mark Biel, chair of
UnLock Our Jobs.
One possible target of the legis-
lation is a religious group, which
is said to ritually release the fish
into Lake Michigan, according to
Prof. David Jude of the University's
School of Natural Resources and
Environment.
Several other regulatory mea-
sures pending in congressional
committees are more widely con-
tested.
The Close All Routes and Pre-
vent Asian Carp Today Act, pro-
posed by Sen. Debbie Stabenow
(D-Mich.) and Rep. Dave Camp
(R-Mich.), directs the U.S. Army
Corp of Engineers to immediately
close several key waterways.
The bill was introduced several
months before the Supreme Court
denied a request from Michigan
and four other Great Lakes states
for an injunction to close the water-
ways.
The CARP ACT intends to pro-
vide a physical barrier that pre-
vents the Asian carp - already
prevalent in the Mississippi River
- from advancing farther into the
Great Lakes.
According to the Environmental
Protection Agency's website, the
invasive carp, which can weigh as
much as 100 pounds and grow to
four feet in length, "pose a signifi-
cant risk to the Great Lakes Eco-
system."
However, UnLock Our Jobs has
defiantly opposed the passage of
the CARP ACT, citing its potential
to slow the transport of commodi-
ties valued above $16 billion that
move through the Chicago locks
"And the Band Played On" - a
film about the debate in the sci-
entific community following the
discovery of the epidemic - pre-
sented by student group OUT-
break. Following the screening,
the group hosted a discussion
on the differing perspectives of
HIV/AIDS in the U.S. and China.
Rheingans said the World
AIDS Week events intend to
cover a wide variety of topics
pertaining to the disease in order
to target multiple audiences.
"It depends if somebody wants
movies or research; the events
focus on specific communities,"
she said.
Rheingans added that the
week also stressed the impor-
tance of HIV/AIDS testing.
"We're really trying to encour-
age people to get tested," she
said. "At every event, we'll have
handouts where people can get
information to go get tested."
each year. According to the interest
group's website, closing the locks
could cost billions of dollars in
delays and increased product costs.
Rep. Biggert echoed the senti-
ments of the group, saying that she
also opposes the bill.
"Measures like these may catch
headlines, but they won't catch
carp," she said in a press release.
A second contested measure,
also introduced by Stabenow and
Camp, would require the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers to complete
a study of how to best separate
the waterways within 18 months.
According to Brammeier, a cur-
rent study from the Army Corp is
expected to take five years.
The study "is nothing but an
attempt to force the hand of region-
al officials to pursue hydrological
separation," Biel said.
The fault lines in this debate
appear more geographic than par-
tisan, with support for regulation
centered in Michigan, Ohio and
Minnesota - states whose econo-
mies are heavily dependent on
Great Lakes tourism.
Nine of the 12 co-sponsors of the
House version of the CARP ACT
represent Michigan.
This summer, in a letter to Presi-
dent Obama, outgoing Democratic
Governor of Ohio Ted Strickland
warned that Asian carp pose both
an ecological and economic threat
to the state.
"Ohio's $10 billion a year Lake
Erie tourism industry would be
destroyed - along with 114,000
jobs," he wrote in the letter.
Politicians in Illinois may look to
balance ecological concerns with
the financial impact of regulation
on commercial shipping, which is
particularly importantto the state's
economy. The Chicago locks are
also a crucial component of Chica-
Testing is available to Uni-
versity students during World
AIDS Week in multiple locations
like the Spectrum Center in the
Michigan Union, the Office of
Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs
in the Union, University Health
Service and the HIV/AIDS
Resource Center in Ypsilanti.
The Ypsilanti center, Rhein-
gans said, is a useful resource for
the community for issues associ-
ated with HIV/AIDS.
"It's the only local AIDS orga-
nization for our area," she said.
"If anybody who is a student has
HIV, they can go to that orga-
nization and get some support
with services (such as) coordi-
nating medical appointments,
access to medication, or hous-
ing."
Rheingans said a main goal for
World AIDS Week is for all of its
events to run smoothly and to
foster collaboration among par-
go's sewage treatment system.
Debate over the extent to which
the carp are an ecological threat is
still ongoing.
This is in part due to the capture
of an almost 20-pound carp in Lake
Calumet by a fisherman this past
June. The carp was the first to be
caught past the electric barrier,
which was putinto placeto prevent
the migration of invasive species
into the Great Lakes basins.
For some, this fish and subse-
quent DNA samplings provide
evidence of the inadequacy of an
electric barrier to control carp
movement and the need for a per-
manent hydrological separation.
Others, including Biggert, inter-
preted the catch of just one fish as a
sign of the success of current mea-
sures.
"The fact that months of collec-
tion and fish kills have yielded only
a single fish confirms that no self-
sustaining, breeding population
of Asian carp has reached beyond
the barrier system to threaten Lake
Michigan," she wrote in the press
release.
Jude, who said he supports an
eventual hydrological separation,
added that he is also cautiously
optimistic, adding that some stud-
ies suggest the fish couldn't even
survive in Lake Michigan due
to low plankton levels and cold
waters.
"Even if we get carp into the
lakes it's going to take a long time
for them to colonize," Jude said.
"One or two fish isn't going to cut
it."
Catfish farmers first imported
Asian carp in the 1970s as a means
of removing algae from their ponds.
But, in the 1990s, Asian carp
spread into various waterways in
the Mississippi River Basin when
the ponds overflowed.
ticipants. All of these efforts, she
added, serve the ultimate goal to
raise awareness of the complex-
ity of the issue of HIV/AIDS.
"We really want to have stu-
dents realize that just because
they're here on the U of M cam-
pus, they're not unaffected by
HIV," she said. "We want stu-
dents to learn how HIV can
affect everything."
Taylor echoed Rheingans' sen-
timents, saying that the overall
goal was to illustrate how far-
reaching the issue is for every-
one.
"We wanted to break down the
stigmas and stereotypes around
the virus," Taylor said. "A lot of
people still believe that HIV/
AIDS is a disease that mainly
affects the homosexual com-
munity, which is incorrect. We
wanted to prove and show to
everyone on campus that we are
all susceptible to HIV/AIDS."
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