,,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 TOMORROW LO:20 GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Broken pipe causes flooding in Chemistry Building MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE WIRE INDEX AP NEWS....................3A ARTS.....................7A Vol. CXXI No.t80 OPINION.. ......... .4A SPORTS .......................8A vJ2llTheMichigan Daily NEWS..................5A THE STATEMENT.......... 1B michigandoilycom