The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com Tuesday, January 11, 2011- 7 The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 7 SPECTRUM CENTER From Page 1 has been 40 years since the office first opened its doors. He said he's appreciative that the University supported the establishment of what was a controversial office at the time. "The University took an enor- mous risk in creating the office and sustaining it, and 'm grateful," Toy said. The Spectrum Center's staff, volunteers and allies have strived to stay strong over the years, Toy said, despite hardships they have faced from inequality and discrim- ination that have plagued LGBT students at the University. "We are connected," he said. "We are family." Royster Harper, the University's vice president for student affairs, said at the event that the Spectrum Center has played a pivotal role at the University for helping stu- dents gain a better sense of self and increasing tolerance for the LGBT community. "(The center) has helped us dis- cover who we are and what's inside us," Harper said. "Our differences are as important in making us human as our similarities." Jackie Simpson, director of the Spectrum Center, said that in light of recent character assaults against LGBT students like Michigan Stu- dent Assembly President Chris Armstrong, it's particularly impor- tant to have organizations like the Spectrum Center encourage open discussion and tolerance. Armstrong was the target offor- mer Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell, who cre- ated a blog about Armstrong which claimed he was promoting a "radi- cal homosexual agenda." "If you look at the events of the past year, like the harassment of Chris Armstrong and the suicides COLEMAN From Page 1 loans after ten years of working as a civil servant - for recent graduates. SACUA Vice Chair Gina Poe, a professor of Anesthesiology, said University faculty members are especially good at organizing symposiums that make research conducted at the University more known in the public arena, and said events like these could help the University get more research fund- ing. "What should come out of these symposiums are grant ideas from the industries," Poe said. Lusmann also suggested that legislation absolving student loan payments should be drafted to pre- vent the continued "brain drain" in Michigan by providing a monetary incentive. He added that the monetary incentive would keep some of the "best minds" in the state. COLEMAN HIGHLIGHTS BABY CLOTHES COMPANY Coleman also mentioned several honors that members of the Univer- sity community received at the end of 2010. Engineering senior Allen Kim was recently named "College Entre- preneur of 2010" by Entrepreneur Magazine. Selected as a finalist in August, Kim will be featured in the January issue of the magazine. Kim won the title for his company Bebarang, formerly called Bebaroo, which is an online rental service that delivers brand name baby clothes at discount prices. Coleman and oth- ers have called Bebarang "the Net- flix of baby clothes.' Coleman said she was also pleased that the University received two awards for architecture in 2010 - The Best of the Best Award from McGraw-Hill Construction for the renovations to the Big House and the award for Excellence in Archi- tecture from the American Institute of Architects. SAMANTHA TRAUBEN/Daily University alum Alma Davila-Toro and LSA senior Carla Fernandez-Soto at the Spectrum Center's 40th anniversary yesterday. on college campuses around the country, I feel it's important to have a place of acceptance and a place that says we care," Simpson said. Simpson said as the center reaches its 40th anniversary, she hopes it will continue to establish itself as an important institution on campus that helps generate thoughts about LGBT issues among students. Social Work graduate student Timothy Corvidae, a staff member at the Spectrum Center, said that students who enter the office "walk out with a much bigger vision." "The fact that there is a need for (support) is what brings us togeth- er," Corvidae said. "We're not a sin- gle-identity community, so we can't be a single-issue organization." LSA freshman Heather Coo- per, who attended the anniversary event, said the Spectrum Center is a crucial part of campus because it provides a "safe" place where LGBT students can feel comfort- able discussing issues they are fac- ing. The Spectrum Center's celebra- tion will continue throughout the year with a monthly film series, a health panel series, speakers and various entertainers. According to the Spectrum Cen- ter's website,oneofthemainevents occurring this year is the Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference (MBLG- TACC). This is the first year the University has been chosen to host the conference, which will run from Feb. 25 through Feb. 27. MBLGTACC is the largest national student-led LGBT con- ference. This year, it will fea- ture speakers like Mara Keisling. executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Mandy Carter, founder of the National Black Justice Coalition. It will also feature performances, workshops and presentations by groups like the Sexual Assault Pre- vention and Awareness Center and InterGroup Dialogues. Gabe Javier, assistant director of the Spectrum Center, said the con- ference will benefit the University because it provides a forum to dis- cuss prevalent LGBT issues. "(It's) goingto be a great point of energy for our campus as a whole," Javier said. "It's not just a celebra- tion for Spectrum Center, but it's for the University." EVALUATIONS From Page 1 even before the Internet made it easy to do so, Weir said. "Back then when it was paper, even though the faculty members saw the results, there were often steps taken so they wouldn't actu- ally see the handwriting, so that was a confidentiality technique back in the old days," Weir said. But students worrying about anonymity was not the main rea- son they were lying at SOSU and UNI. The study, which will be published this year in "Market- ing Education Review," found that students tended to fib in order to make instructors they like look good and ones they don't like look less favorable to administrators who read the evaluation, accord- ing to the The Des. Moines Regis- ter article. LSAhsenior Quincy Westhuis said she could understand why students would lie if they wanted to portray a professor in a better light. "I think sometimes people probably exaggerate if they don't like the class, but they like the pro- fessor," Westhuis said. LSA sophomore Hannah Fiels- tra said she thinks lying on course evaluations is pointless because it's the only chance students have to voice their opinions about pro- fessors and classes. "If you lie on a course evalu- ation, it's not really going to help anyone," Fielstra said. LSA sophomore Alicia Biggs said she tends to make her answers more moderate when fill- ing out course evaluations, mostly because of the University's avail- able responses to questions. "I tend to play them down because only the comments section is open, everything else is always agree or disagree, and I never choose the extreme," Biggs said. According to Weir, however, lying on University course evalu- ations is not one of the main con- cerns or faculty members. Weir said since the switch from paper to electronic submissions in December 2008, there has been a significant drop in the number of students who fill out evaluations. "We've done a lot of research about what happened in other schools and colleges, and in fact, it was a pretty well documented thing that when you go to elec- tronic evaluation, the participa- tion rate drops," Weir said. "We've been trying to look at a number of different ways to encourage response rate." Biden visits Afghanistan to assess war progress U.S. official says relations with Karzai going well KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Mon- day to meet with President Hamid Karzai and assess progress toward a key objective of handing over security from foreign to Afghan forces. The U.S. plans to begin with- drawing combat forces from Afghanistan in July but remains concerned that gains made in the nearly decade-long war could be reversible. There are also questions about the ability of Afghan security forces to take up the fight against a virulent insurgency. NATO hopes Afghan forces will assume full responsibility for security by 2014. Tensions have surfaced between the Obama administration and Karzai, whose government is plagued by charges of corruption. U.S. officials have expressed grave concerns about how this is affect- ing efforts to stabilize and rebuild the country. Just a month ago, Obama came to Afghanistan but did not meet with Karzai. The White House said that foul weather foiled plans to take Obama to the presidential pal- ace in Kabul from the Bagram Air Field military base where he land- ed, and that technical difficulties prevented the two presidents from talking by secure videoconference. Although the two leaders spoke briefly by telephone, the change of plans was seen by some in Karzai's circle as a snub. And it was unclear whether part of the reason for Biden's visit was to smooth things over with Karzai. A senior U.S. official traveling with Biden tried to present a united front, saying the U.S. and Karzai are "very much on the same page" after a NATO summit in Lisbon in November and the December U.S. review of its war strategy. The offi, cial said the visit comes at a "pivot point in our policy" with the U.S. moving from atroop surge last year to the planned start of a pullout and it would give Biden an opportu- nity to discuss progress toward the transition. ' The official spoke on condition of anonymity and was not autho- rized to talk to the media. NATO and U.S. officials insist they are making progress in quelling the insurgency. In an end-of-year review of strategy in Afghanistan, the Obama admin- istration said the U.S. had made advances in its push against the Taliban in the south - the insur- gents' traditional stronghold - but acknowledged that "gains remain fragile and reversible." The Taliban has repeatedly shown its ability to regroup, despite constant offensives by the interna- tional coalition, and to carry out attacks across Afghanistan seem- ingly at will. Last year was the deadliest for NATO forces in the country, with more than 700 troops killed. Afghanistan is also suffer- ing from a lack of social services, unemployment is rife and Afghans complain that they have seen little tangible improvement in their lives since the 2001 invasion that top- pled the Taliban. The insurgents, in turn, have tried to capitalize on that frustration, tapping into the discontent to win new supporters. Karzai has accused foreign gov- ernments of meddling in Afghani- stan's internal affairs, most notably taking issue with criticism follow- ingfraud-plagued presidential elec- tions in 2009 and parliamentary elections last year. The White House official said Obama has made it clear that the U.S. was not "here to govern Afghanistan, we're not here to nation build." He said the purpose of the mission was to help Afghans U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, right, speaks with Gen. David Petraeus, NATO's top com- mander in Afghanistan, during a press event in Kabul, Afghanistan yesterday. reach a stage "where they can fully assume the responsibilities of gov- erning the country and securing the country." "That's exactly what (Obama's) vision is, and it's also President Karzai's vision as I understand it," he said. American troops are the bulk of the 140,000-strong NATO force that has been battling the Taliban. The White House said Biden, who last visited in January 2009, met Monday night with U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghani- stan. He also plans to visit U.S. troops and tour an Afghan Army trainingcenter. Biden is also reported tobe head- ing to Islamabad this week to deliv- er a message that the U.S. will send more help to Pakistan, which U.S. and Afghan officials see as a key partner in routing the Taliban. The Taliban's top leadership is believed to be hiding somewhere along the rugged and porous Afghan-Pakistan border, but Islam- abad has resisted pressure to crack down on them. The challenges faced by NATO forces in Afghanistan were brought home by an alliance announcement Monday that airstrikes had killed three Afghan police officers and wounded three mistaken for insur- gents settingup an ambush. The incident was at least the fourth in roughly a month in which coalition troops killed civilians or friendly forces in error - lapses that have threatened to further sour Afghan attitudes toward the foreign troops. In Kandahar, scene of some of the fiercest fighting of the war, a suicide car bomber struck a bor- der police convoy Monday, killing at least two officers and a civilian, said Zalmai Ayubi, the spokesman for the Kandahar provincial gov- ernor. NATO says it is making progress in battling the Taliban with major offensives in the southern provinc- es of Kandahar and Helmand. An extra contingent of more than 1,000 U.S. Marines will be deployed in Helmand in what coalition spokes- man Brig. Gen. Josef Blotz said Monday was a temporary operation to take advantage of gains on the ground. JEWELRY From Page 1 to Peru again to find a designer she would want to use in the long run. While the company originally created general types of jewelry like rings, necklaces and bracelets, Jones said that as a student, she saw the need for a class jewelry niche. Jones said she decided to pursue class jew- elry opposed to other types while in one of her business classes here. The idea was then solidified after a sur- vey she conducted showed that 90 percent of women in the survey said class jewelry options for females are unfashionable. "It's about time women have something to celebrate their achievement and have something they actually want to wear. It's sophisticated and subtle and some- thing you want to wear," said Jones of the class jewelry Heart Graffiti produces. Once she decided she wanted to add class jewelry to Heart Graffiti's product line, Jones applied for and was given licensing rights to the University of Michigan trademark in June 2010. Since then, she has created seven pieces for women to choose from, ranging in price from $145 to $435. The company also has five pieces of jewelry designed for Michigan State University students, according to the Heart Graffiti web- site. While most of the jewelry is sold online through Heart Graffiti's website, Jones also has a deal with M-Den. - Jones said she is working with her sales representatives on campus to spread awareness about the prod- uct and create a client base within the sororities at the University..The company has also held several trunk shows near campus. The company's first class jewelry item sold was actually for a woman who graduated in 1972, she said. With four lines of jewelry, Jones said she's sold about 50 pieces from three of the lines and 12 items from Ecole, which means "cool" in French and is the class jewelry line. Jones said the line is growing slowly, but she foresees doing well around graduation. LSA senior Sarah Hanson said she hasn't considered getting a class ring because of their high price tag and limited options for women. "I got a high school ring, but I never wear it because the girl options are so ugly," Hanson said. "To be honest, I haven't even really looked into the ones for college." But she said that if the rings avail- able were more fashionable, she would consider getting one. "I'd only get a ring if it was some- thing I would wear a lot," Hanson said. "Grad stuff costs so much that it would have to be worth it." Business junior Allison Haney, a sales representative on campus for Heart Graffiti, said the company's class line as well as other lines have been well received. "I lovemyMichiganclassbracelet and always get tons of compliments on it," Haney said. "The fashion line of jewelry is really classy and origi- nal, and it also matches the class jewelry wonderfully." U' U..i'1.. 1 Campus Mind Works Wellness Groups FREE drop-in education and support groups for any U-M student with Depression, Bipolar, or Anxiety When: Tuesday January 11th from 5:00-6:30 p.m. Where: North Campus, Room 133, Ch rysler Center Visit www.campusmindworks.org for more information. No pre-registration is required.- /_YI & A:.% &. Are you a sopnomore with a passion for the environment' Apply for the Graham Institute's Undergraduate Sustainability Scholars Program by January 19, 2011! Each year, 25 high-achieving undergraduate students from diverse majors are accepted to this 11-credit, interdisciplinary sustainability leadership program. In addition to earning a sustainability certificate, scholars enjoy special access to, and funding for, field-based sustainability experiences. Details and application at www.graham.umich.edu. [ RAHMINSTITUTE W iiurigarung neen ng Universitytof Michigan' x y r TIN.