The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, February 4; 2011 -- 3 1
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, February 4, 2011 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
DSO officials to
offer proposal to
striking musicians
Detroit Symphony Orchestra
management officials say they are
submitting a contract proposal to
striking musicians as their walk-
out reaches the four-month mark.
Orchestra President Anne Par-
sons said yesterday a proposal
will be provided this week but
declined to say when or what it
includes. She says it comes amid
mounting pressure from revenue
losses stemming from the strike
as well as a $54 million bank loan
that symphony leaders are trying
to renegotiate.
Musicians' spokesman Haden
McKay says he expects the pro-
posal today and will return to the
bargaining table if union negotia-
tors see something to work with.
CHICAGO
Lake Shore Drive
reopens after snow
piles on Windy City
Chicago emergency officials
say they've reopened the city's
Lake Shore Drive after a massive
blizzard left the vital thorough-
fare filled with hundreds of aban-
doned vehicles.
Chicago police say crews
worked overnight to clear snow
and vehicles and emergency offi-
cials reopened the drive before
dawn yesterday. Hundreds of
motorists were stranded, some for
as long as 12 hours, when a bliz-
zard that began late Tuesday left
more than 20 inches of snow. It
was the third most severe storm in
the city's history.
City officials said 900 vehicles
were stranded on the roadway.
An Associated Press tally counted
up to 1,500 cars, buses and other
vehicles.
City officials said closing the
drive earlier would have resulted
in disastrous traffic and possible
accidents on other city streets.
MIAMI
Valentine's Day
flowers checked
for bugs and drugs
Amid the peak Valentine's Day
flower season, U.S. agents are
working overtime to make sure
pretty love bouquets are not used
as transportation by exotic South
American plant pests or cocaine
traffickers.
More than eight out of every
10 cut flowers imported to the
U.S. during Valentine season pass
through Miami International
Airport, with Colombia and
Ecuador by far the largest sources
of roses, chrysanthemums, ger-
bera daisies, Peruvian lillies and
dozens of other varieties popular
every Feb. 14.
Those countries are also sourc-
es for insects that could wreak
havoc on American crops and gar-
dens - and for cocaine and other
drugs sold on American streets.
VILNIUS, Lithuania
Company plans to
staff only blondes
* at 'fantasy resort'
Empoweringblondes or stereo-
typing them?
The jury is out on a Lithuanian
company that plans to build a
"fantasy resort" staffed only by
blondes in the Maldives.
Olialia (pronounced Oh-la-LA)
has created a business empire
in Lithuania, using its troupe of
glitzy models with platinum hair
to market just about anything
from potato chips to pop music.
There's Olialia pizza and Olialia
cola, even Olialia computers.
With the Maldives resort - and
plansfor an airline linkingittothe
Baltic republic - Olialia is taking
its blond ambition to a new level.
"Blond is light. It attracts peo-
ple like sunshine," brand manager
Lauryna Anuseviciute, a 24-year-
old former model, explained at
the Olialia office in downtown
Vilnius.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
E-TEXTBOOKS
From Page 1
at the University Library.
Hollar, who chairs the work-
ing group, said textbooks on
CourseSmart are 50 to 60 per-
cent cheaper than their print
counterparts. However, students
enrolled in the five test classes
this semester didn't have to
worry about paying for course
materials since the University
covered the cost of their e-books.
Scott Campbell, an associ-
ate professor of Urban Planning
and the coordinator of doctoral
planning studies at the Univer-
sity's College of Architecture and
Urban Planning, teaches a course
in the trial program. He said he
appreciates the effort to get text-
books online.
"The more they are available
online the better," Campbell said,
emphasizing the reduced cost as
a key incentive to use electronic
materials.
But Campbell said that not all
the textbooks he needed for his
course were available online.
"I submitted a list of maybe
nine or 10 texts, and a few weeks
later, the library came back to me
and said ... two were available,"
he said.
Rackham student Sylvia Har-
ris, who is taking Campbell's
course, said she liked the expe-
diency of getting her textbooks
online.
"At the beginning of the
semester, when everybody is get-
ting organized and trying to fig-
ure out which books they need to
buy, we can jump right into the
reading material," Harris said.
School of Information gradu-
ate student Debbie Blumenthal,
who is also taking a course in
the pilot program, said one of the
perks of using online textbooks
is not having to carry around so
many books.
"You can go on any computer
that has web access or even any
wireless device and do your read-
ing," Blumenthal said.
But Harris pointed out it's a
problem when instructors don't
allow laptops in classes that
require electronic textbooks.
"It's just hypocritical to say
we're in a paperless world, but we
are not going to use the vehicle
that you use to look at the reading
material in class," she said.
Additionally, the University
program allows students to high-
light passages of the text or take
notes directly in the software..
But the online technology isn't
without some concerns.
Jyoti Mazumder, a professor
of mechanical engineering at the
University who teaches a course
participating in the program,
said his students "have lots of
complaints" about the platform.
"It's very user-unfriendly,"
Mazumder said. "It takes several
clicks to get to the information
you need, (and students) can only
download one page at a time. So
far students are not very happy
with it."
Blumenthal expressed similar
frustrations with the online text-
books.
"There (are) certain features
that don't work," she said. "It's
convenient, but it definitely
needs work. It could be better."
According to Hollar, the
working group surveyed the stu-
dents and instructors last month
to get their general perceptions
on the project. More in-depth
surveys and focus groups will be
conducted next month to hear
about their experiences, she
said.
"I'm sure that there are
going to be ways this tool can
be improved, and we're hoping
that when we will get the stu-
dent feedbacks, that will give us
guidance on how this tool can be
improved," Haller said.
MSA
From Page 1
two proposals of MSA's win-
ter 2011 budget that showed a
$40,000 difference between two
proposed winter budgets. But
Sayed wrote in an e-mail inter-
view after the meeting that such
a discrepancy isn't out of the
ordinary, as funds tend to fluctu-
ate.
"MSA finances are a fluid pro-
cess," Sayed wrote. "On a weekly
and sometimes dailybasis, trans-
actions are continuing to occur
as a result of previously approved
allocations. Thus, changes in the
budget from previous versions
that you have seen are inevitable
and not a result of mistakes or
inaccuracies. Such changes are
fully explicable and not surpris-
ing."
Sayed added that MSA trans-
actions are "fully transparent"
and available to the public.
After Sayed addressed the
assembly, MSA passed its winter
2011 budget, totaling$341,406.
The resolution to amend MSA's
Compiled Code was tabled dur-
ing last night's meeting and will
be open to further consideration
during nextweek's meeting.
MSA also discussed the reso-
lution to support the creation of
a University-sponsored study
abroad program in Israel. The
resolution was originally intro-
duced to MSA at its meeting last
week by Public Policy represen-
tative Steven Zuckerman, a Pub-
lic Policy representative for MSA,
who co-wrote the resolution.
LSA sophomore Caroline
Canning, who was involved in
starting the original campus-
wide petition for an Israel study
abroad program, addressed the
assembly during community
concerns to speak about the reso-
lution. The petition was created
by WolvPAC - a student organi-
zation that works to foster great-
er ties between the United States
and Israel.
LSA senior Mohamad Issa,
an LSA representative for MSA,
proposed to make an amendment
to the resolution to include the
West Bank asa potential location
for students to enroll in a Uni-
versity-sponsored study abroad
program.
This proposed amendment
spurred considerable dialogue
among members of the assembly,
who discussed whether support
of Issa's amendment was politi-
cally motivated and whether it
would detract from the work
already done by students who
drafted the original resolution.
Members of MSA voted
against Issas amendment in a
roll-call vote, with nine members
voting in favor of the amendment
and 16 members voting against
it. The assembly did not vote on
the proposal to support a study
abroad program in Israel.
Issa said he is hopeful for
future MSA resolutions on the
establishment of University-
sponsored study abroad pro-
grams in the West Bank and
other worldwide locations cur-
rently not offered. He said in an
interview after the meeting that
he participated in a Michigan
State University-sponsored study
abroad program in Damascus,
Syria - a place the University
doesn't have a program in.
COMPOSTING
From Page 1
"Green Backs for Green Acts"
program. The initiative was
created in response to the city's
worries about the water treat-
ment plant, Artley wrote in an
e-mail interview.
"The impetus for it was con-
cern that (the University) was
contributing too many nutrients
to the city's waste water treat-
ment plant, causing problems
there," Artley wrote. "Offer-
ing the pre-consumer program
was a great way to alleviate this
issue while creating a nutrient-
rich soil amendment."
Instead of throwing away
unused food, Artley said the.
program hopes to reuse it in a
productive way.
"The goal of our pre-con-
sumer food waste composting
program is to divert vegetative
prep waste from the landfill and
waste water treatment plant,
by way of the garbage disposal,
and have it turned into a useful
product," Artley wrote.
Betsy Barbour, East Quad,
Mary Markley, South Quad and
West Quad residence halls have
dining halls that currently use
pre-consumer waste compost-
ing. Food waste in the dining
halls is mixed with wood chips
and is arranged so that air can
circulate and the produce can
decompose more efficiently,.
according to Artley.
Dining hall employees test
the food waste after it has
decomposed to see if it can be
used as fertilizer or soil, accord-
ing to - the University's Plant
Operations website.
The program has been "very
successful to date," Artley
wrote, and the University deliv-
ered more than 60 tons of food
waste to Ann Arbor's compost
site in 2010.
"I think the program has
been very effective," she wrote.
"We continue to collect veg-
etative prep waste from our
campus participants and have
ongoing interest from potential
new customers as well."
Looking toward the future,
Artley said her department
hopes to delve into post-con-
sumer composting, which would
focus on composting remaining
food on consumers' plates like
apple cores and banana peels.
"There is great interest both
in our department and beyond
for a post-consumer food waste
composting program as well,"
she wrote.
LSA junior Angeles Men-
eses, who lived in the residence
halls her freshman and sopho-
more years, said she believes
post-consumer waste recycling
would be "a good step to going
green," especially in the resi-
dence halls.
"People end up getting stuff
on their trays that they end up
not wanting, and it becomes
a big deal, especially with as
many students who live in the
dorms," Menses said.
She added that she thinks
such a program would enhance
existing residence hall practices
like recycling.
LSA senior Jaclyn Silverman,
who is an Environmental Stud-
;es major and frequented the
"diniing halls her fashman year,
said she believes post-consumer
waste composting is something
that should be instituted imme-
diately for residence halls. She
added that she was surprised
the University didn't already
have a post-consumer waste
system in place.
INITIATIVE
From Page 1
cipal investigator.
"We set an ambitious goal for
ourselves," Coleman said, "that
by 2015 we would double the
number of minority students
earning bachelor's degrees in the
fields where we mosteneed gradu-
ates - math, science, technology
and engineering."
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily following the
event, Coleman said the Univer-
sity and partner schools need to
work even harder to meet the
ambitious goal.
"What we've seen already is
a 28-percent increase year after
year in the graduation of these
four institutions," Coleman said.
"That's terrific, but we're going to
have to step it up to get to what
our goal is."
However, Coleman said the
28-percent increase is still better
than what many other schools
have seen in the same time
period.
"I think if you compare us
nationally with what we've
done, we've done well," she
said. "But we have aspirations,
and I think this new collabo-
ration will really help us reach
that goal."
PJ's Records
& Used CDs
The Best
Music Selection
in Ann Arbor
Since 1980
617 Packard
Upstairs from
Subway
633-3441
Open 7 days
Paying $4-$6
for fop CD's
in top condition
Also buying
premium LP's.
Lester Monts, the University's
vice provost for academic affairs
and senior counselor to the
president for the arts, diversity
and undergraduate affairs, also
spoke at the event and highlight-
ed the impact of MI-LSAMP.
"Nine community college
partners represent a direct link
between the four major public
research universities and the
academic talent within these
community colleges," Monts
said. "What this new partner-
ship can provide are valuable
relationships for community col-
lege students and professors with
engineering faculty, students and
staff at the universities."
Students involved in the pro-
gram also attended the event
yesterday to showcase projects
they're working on.
Rodney Singleton, a graduate
student at Michigan State Uni-
versity, spoke at the event and
said MI-LSAMP was having a
profound impact on his life.
"I can stand here and truly say
LSAMP has changed my life,"
Singleton said.
Singleton began his involve-
ment with the MI-LSAMP pro-
gram after his freshman year. He
joked that he initially joined the
program not only because he was
interested in math, but because
he wanted togain extra brownie
points with his mother.
Jokes aside, Singleton said he
is now working on research in
vehicle infrastructure integra-
tion, which focuses on vehicle
communication with roads and
other vehicles.
"I know this might seem a
little science fiction or some-
thing you might see in a movie,
but these are things that we are
working on right now," he said.
Singleton's research is one of
many projects occurring as part
of MI-LSAMP, with other efforts
focusing on the development of
autonomous robots and solar
energy in automobiles.
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