The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom
Monday, February 14,2011 -5A
9 Decision by Attorney Grievance
Commission to be made by June
From Page 1A
statements, on the blog he main-
tained.
However, Armstrong wasn't
the only person Shirvell made
anti-homosexual remarks to. An
Attorney General's office report
states that Shirvell also con-
tacted former state Rep. Leon
Drolet (R-Clinton Township)
via e-mail last February and
used homophobic language in
the message, according to a Jan.
23, 2011 article in The Michigan
Daily.
Gordon said she is surprised
Shirvell is standing behind his
libelous comments about Arm-
strong, especially considering
SKYPE
From Page 1A
play an incredibly important
role as economic leaders in our
community," Silverman said.
"(I) decided I could create more
positive change, I think, in the
private sector."
Silverman left Skype in Octo-
ber and is now the executive
in residence at the California-
based venture capital company
Greylock Partners. He stressed
the importance of goal setting
* and finding inspiration for aspir-
ing entrepreneurs.
"What great leaders do is they
inspire people around a common
vision," he said.
Silverman discussed his cre-
ative philosophy by describing
his experience developing Evite.
com - a website that offers
online event invitations and
other planning tools.
"I wanted to build a compa-
ny for a product that was truly
useful," Silverman said. "It was
uniquely enabled by the Inter-
net. I wanted it to be viral ... and
I wanted it to be fun."
Silverman said though it may
that Gordon asked the State Bar
of Michigan to take away or sus-
pend Shirvell's law license.
"He's still refusing to take
responsibility for anything,"
Gordon said. "Chris and I
believe he's hiding behind the
First Amendment."
In her written reply to the
Attorney Grievance Com-
mission, Gordon wrote that
Thomas's response doesn't help
Shirvell's case because lawyers
are held to higher standards
beyond the First Amendment,
Gordon said.,
Thomas's response hasn't
been made public at the request
of the Attorney Grievance Com-
mission.
When contacted by the Daily
on Saturday, Thomas said he and
Shirvell hadn't received Gor-
don's reply and could therefore
not comment on its contents.
"I'm not in a position to
respond," Thomas said.
Gordon said the commission
is supposed to serve Thomas the
document soon. In addition, the
commission is still considering
the complaint filed by Gordon
last fall. Gordon said she expects
the commission's decision on
how to proceed with Shirvell by
June.
Gordon and Armstrong ulti-
mately want Shirvell to publicly
retract his statements about
Armstrong.
MUBARAK
From Page 1A
think he'd be back on the Diag
celebrating so soon after protest-
ing against Mubarak.
"Even when we were here on
the Diag on the first day of the
protests, I wasn't expecting that
(Mubarak) would resign or step
down," Tawfick said as he waved
a small red, white and black
Egyptian flag. "I was protesting,
and I was thinking we just want
the whole world to know what
is going on in Egypt and that the
people are against the govern-
ment. We weren't expecting this
to actually happen with peaceful
protests."
LSA sophomore Sarah Awad-
Farid said she was watching Al-
Jazeera's online stream at her
job at the Institute for Social
Research Friday afternoon when
she found out Mubarak resigned.
"I went to my boss and said,
'Listen, I got to go. I have to go
make phone calls to my family. I
have to celebrate,"' Awad-Farid
said. "So I left, but they were'very
nice about it."
Awad-Farid said she spoke to
her family in Egypt on the phone
Friday, and they were ecstatic.
"Because they live in Cairo
near downtown, you can actu-
ally hear the beeping of the car
horns, the celebrations and the
music in the background," Awad-
Farid said. "They've honestly
been waiting for this for so long,
and they did it in such a dignified
way that, if anything, they have a
right to celebrate. They're so joy-
ous, and I'm so proud of them."
Abdelhadi, who was also
working at the ISR at the time,
said she became incredibly emo-
tional when she first heard the
news.
"I was at work and I started
crying," she said. "I called my
mother - she was weeping,"
Abdelhadi, who was born in
Egypt, said. "We grew up with
this super suppressive govern-
ment, and you always feel the
weight of it anywhere you go in
Egypt and now it's gone."
Abdelhadi said her whole
family took part in the celebra-
tions.
"They're euphoric; they're all
out celebrating," she said. "My
grandfather is 82 years old. I'm
so glad he made it for this.
Abdelhadi added,"People have
this new found sense of owner-
ship and inspiration and dignity,
and I feel like this is my coun-
try, and I want to be a part of it
again."
- The Associated
Press and Zach Bergson
contributed to this report.
be difficult to initially figure out
what aspiring entrepreneurs
want to do, he said having large
ideas and following through
with them will be much more
rewarding than settling for
smaller ventures.
"When you try to do some-
thing big, great people want to
join you," he said. "When you're
doing something really mean-
ingful, the world conspires to
help."
But being an entrepreneur is
filled with both successes and
setbacks, Silverman said.
"If you're going to do an
entrepreneurial venture, you're
going to face some pretty hard,
pretty scary days," he said.
He explained this was the
case when Silverman initially
came to Skype in 2008.
"It was in the midst of an
industry that was in some tur-
moil," he said. "Most of my
friends told me that I would be
crazy."
Silverman told audience mem-
bers that in thinking about their
entrepreneurial pursuits, they
should consider how products
can benefit people worldwide.
"When I really thought about
it, Skype does something great,
it does something meaning-
ful," he said. "As you're think-
ing about your entrepreneurial
ventures, I'd encourage you (to)
think about things that really
are bold and audacious."
Silverman also stressed the
importance of pushing the sta-
tus quo to make a difference.
"Times change, capabilities
change, people's expectations
change - sometimes overnight,"
Silverman said. "We need to be
willing to constantly challenge
these conventional wisdoms
when you really want to unlock
greatness."
In an interview after Silver-
man's speech, LSA freshman
Nancy Xiao said she enjoyed the
lecture and is impressed with
Silverman's life experience. She
added that the eclectic nature of
the audience - which included
Business School and College of
Engineering students, among
others - indicated the broad
appeal of Silverman's presenta-
tion.
"I don't think it's business,
I think it's energy," Xiao said.
"And I think it's the enthusiasm
to make something happen."
AUDI
From Page 1A
igation, technologies that alert
the driver of distractions, driver
preference technologies, urban
area diagnostics and crash anal-
yses - the University's specific
field of research.
Flannagan said the University
has a long history of participa-
tion in projects involving crash
data analysis.
"We are world leaders in
transportation data analysis,"
Flannagan said.
The UMTRI has worked with
numerous automotive com-
panies in the past, including
General Motors Company, Toy-
ota and Ford Motor Company
as well as the National High-
way and Transportation Safety
Administration.
The University's research
with Audi is primarily vehicle-
based rather than evaluating
places or intersections where
accidents happen frequently.
Flannagan's team is looking at
crash records to determine the
most likely scenarios that cause
accidents. These documents
include police report crash
records, a national crash record
database and a database specifi-
cally for crash investigators.
Flannagan said she plans to
give Audi a list of five to 10 sce-
narios that commonly lead to
crashes. Rear-end collisions and
a driver's failure to judge gaps
between vehicles are among the
most common, she said.
Because of accelerated popu-
lation growth in cities, Audi
expects everyday commuter
challenges to increase according
to a Jan. 18 press release from
the Audi of America News Chan-
nel. In order to prepare for the
future, Audi started the three-
year project with the University.
The press release states that
once the crash analyses for
accident scenarios are evalu-
ated, Audi will be able to figure
out specific causes of accidents,
which will play a part in the
company's technological devel-
opments.
"Our plan is to integrate the
best technologies from the best
partners available and adapt
these for the automotive world,"
Rupert Stadler, head of Audi AG,
wrote in the pressrelease.
Flannagan expressed her
excitement about the Univer-
sity's involvement in the project
and said she is curious as to what
will come of it.
"Our involvement is just a
small part in what is an incred-
ibly ambitious and exciting
project they're trying to put
together," she said.
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PIKE,,
From Page 1A
the check at the Cancer Center.
Karen Hammelef, director of
1 the Cancer Center's patient and
family support services, said
the $41,640 donation will be
split among the patient and fam-
ily sectors, with money going
to support counseling, mental
health services and chemother-
apy education.
LSA sophomore Joey Ives,
a member of Pike, said after
the presentation that meet-
ing the Cancer Center doctors
and learning how the frater-
nity's donation would be used
affirmed the importance of the
Rivalry Run.
"Today really brought life to,
the work we're doing,"'Ives said.
LSA sophomore Gene Taras, a
Pike brother and co-director of
the run, said the center's affili-
ation with the University made
the donation more personal for
him.
"It means a lot more know-
ing it goes to specific people at
the University where we study,"
Taras said.
Pike members usually partner
with the University's chapter of
the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity
(Fiji) for the run, but since Fiji
participated in a different fund-
raiser this year, Pike decided to
team up with OSU's Pike chapter
for the run.
To raise money for the Cancer
Center, Pike got local sponsors
and garnered donations from
fraternity members' friends and
family.
Business junior Mike Adel-
man, a Pike member and co-
director of the run, wrote in an
e-mail interview that fundrais-
ing was more difficult this year
because Pike didn't have anoth-
er fraternity on campus to rely
on.
"We had to work much hard-
er (because) we were doing it
alone," Adelman wrote.
Hammelef said she was
impressed by Pike's ability to
raise more than $40,000 by
itself.
"What's impressive is that
they did all this on their own
with totally word-of-mouth
marketing," she said.
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PLANNING TO REGISTER FOR
SPRING/SUMMER CLASSES."
ifr0, now is the time to
apply for financial aid.