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. WANT TO WRITE FOR NEWS? E-mail aber@michigandaily.com to get started. 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. L1Q] 'LIKE' THE DAILY ON FACEBOOK U I I j1 I ' l PLANNING TO REGISTER FOR SPRING/SUMMER CLASSES." ifr0, now is the time to apply for financial aid.