,,I.IV Ill')'\I NIX II
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
michigandaily.com
The Muslim Student Association meet last night to discuss upcomming events Michigan Muslims Banquet and "Laugh in Peace," a comedy event they are cv-
hosting with Hillel and Mulew called The event will promote relations between Jewish and Muslim students on campus.
STATE OF THE UNION
Obarna focuses on fiscal
policy in State of the Union
CAMPUS COMMUNITY
Students
urge'U'to
start Israel
program
Petition to the Michigan Student Assembly
and LSA Student Government
encourage study this semester.
Created by WolvPAC, . a
abroad program student group committed to
brouht efostrengthening the U.S.-Israel
brought before MSA relationship on campus and
beyond through political activ-
By RACHEL BRUSSTAR ism, the petition calls on the
Daily StaffReporter University to address the cur-
rent lack of a study abroad
Students have the option of program in Israel, which LSA
studying abroad through the sophomore and WolvPAC mem-
University on every continent ber Caroline Canning called
but Antarctica. But, there is "unacceptable."
one country that has never been "We thought it was unac-
offered as an option for under- ceptable that Michigan doesn't
graduate students - Israel. have partnership with any
The University's lack of prestigious and world-renown
undergraduate study abroad Israeli universities," Canning,
programming in Israel has also arepresentative of LSA-SG,
recently sparked a grassroots wrote in an e-mail interview.
effort on campus, with stu- As of last night, 648 members
dents petitioning for a Univer- of the University community
sity-sponsored_-tudy abroad signed the petition. WolvPAC
program in Israel. However, aims to obtain 1,500 signatures
the University doesn't sponsor by mid-February.
study abroad programs in coun- However, this isn't the first
tries with U.S. State Depart- attempt by students to call for
ment travel warnings, which a University-sponsored study
Israel currently has. abroad program in Israel. Pre-
The petition was drafted in vious efforts were made by
November 2010, released to the WolvPAC, as well as the stu-
University student body after dent organization American
winter break and proposed to See ISRAEL, Page SA
President stresses
need to cut
domestic spending
By BETHANY BIRON
Daily StaffReporter
President Barack Obama's
delivered his annual State of
the Union address last night in
the nation's capital, stressing
the importance of bipartisan-
ship particularly in regard to
issues of fiscal and economic
policy.
Among the topics Obama
addressed was education
reform which he said is a factor
in encouraging more diversi-
fied job creation and re-estab-
lishing the country as a global
force. He also focused on the
growth of technology and sus-
tainable initiatives, calling this .
effort "our generation's Sputnik
moment."
In his speech, Obama said
that since Republicans now
hold a majority in the U.S.
House of Representatives, the
two chambersof Congress must
make an effort to work together
to solve national issues rather
than get caught up in partisan
bickering that has plagued past
split Congresses.
"With their votes, the Amer-
ican people determined that
governing will now be a shared
responsibility between par-
ties," Obama said. "New laws
will only pass with support
from Democrats and Repub-
licans. We will move forward
together, or not at all, for the
challenges we face are bigger
than party, and bigger than
politics."
Michael Traugott, a Uni-
versity professor of commu-
nication studies and research
professor at the University's
Institute for Social Research,
See OBAMA, Page 2A
MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY
MSA postpones budget vote
over funding discrepancy
p
TWo budget meeting due to concerns about
potential errors and discrepan-
roposals differ cies.
The assembly decided to
by $40,000 postpone passing the budget
until it could be further dis-
By ROBIN VEECK cussed with the MSA Trea-
Daily StaffReporter surer Ambreen Sayed, though
Raymond asked MSA to expe-
chigan Student Assem- dite the process so that com-
ice President Jason Ray- mittees and commissions
I urged the assembly to would have immediate access
ove its winter 2011 budget to the funds.
st night's meeting. How- "We have commissions who
MSA deferred the bud- need this money very, very
pproval until next week's soon," Raymond said at the
meeting. "We need to pass this
budget as soon as possible."
MSA's new Compiled Code,
approved last fall, states that
the budget should be proposed
and approved by the assembly's
third meeting of the semester
- which was last night's meet-
ing. But MSA instead directed
the MSA Finance Committee
to further analyze the budget.
MSA representatives,
including Business Rep.
Matthew Eral, chair of
MSA's Finance Committee,
See MSA, Page5A
Mi
bly V
mond
appro
at la
ever,
get a
STUDENT ORGANIZATION
University Debate Team beats Harvard
Police officers and University officials discuss lighting near campus at an event last night in the Michigan Union.
Police, students talk poor
ighting in wake of crimes
After recent Last week, the University
of Michigan Debate Team
struggles, team defeated Harvard University's
debate team at the University
gains momentum of Georgia Tournament, taking
first place in what Aaron Kall,
ByKIMBERLY PAGEAU the director of the University's
For the Daily team, said is "one of the most
significant debate wins in a
Despite several hurdles, decade."
the University's Debate Team Though the team faced chal-
recently placed among the top lenges such as a top debater fall-
college debate teams in the ing ill and a grueling schedule,
country. LSA senior Edmund Zagorin
and Public Policy junior Maria
Liu, both on the debate team,
rose to the occasion to defeat
Harvard in a 3-0 victory. Dur-
ing the debate, Liu became sick
with food poisoning, but perse-
vered nonetheless.
"For them to bear down and
fight those obstacles for the win
was great, and I'm very happy
to see that," Kall said.
Kall and David Heidt, the
team's assistant director, were
See DEBATE TEAM, Page SA
Increased lighting
would be costly
endeavor for city
By SUZANNE JACOBS
Daily StaffReporter
In the wake of recent violent
crimes targeting University stu-
dents, members of the Univer-
sity's Greek community gathered
last night in the Michigan Union
Ballroom for a panel discussion
on campus safety.
Among the panelists were
officers from the University's
Department of Public Safety and
the Ann Arbor Police Depart-
ment, as well as members' of
the Michigan Student Assem-
bly Student Safety Commission.
Representatives from University
Housing Security, Parking and
Transportation Services and the
Office of Community Relations
also participated in the discus-
sion.
Dean of Students Laura Blake
Jones opened the forum with a
recap of recent incidents, which
include two indecent exposures
in November in the Oxford hous-
ingarea. There was also an armed
See LIGHTING, Page 6A
WEATHER HI:26
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