LINE OF BEWORD WARS Defense tasked wThe Daily and State News go down MSUs dynamic offense. head-to-head in dueling columns. SPAGE 8 a PAGE 7 WIie ffiidc igan0ailjj ONE-H -HINDREI WENTY-TWO YEARS OF E TOH \L FE ) Friday, October 14, 2011 Ann Arbor, Michigan michigandaily.com FEEDING TIME BOARD OF REGENTS Finances, returns at 'U' grow in 2011 report SSA junior Taylor Franz and LSA sophomore Zoe Parsigian feed a squirrel near the Diag yesterday. STATE BUDGET Mich. Fi~m Ofice faces cuts, new incentiestm fo 2012 Endowment reaches all-time high at $7.8 billion By KAITLIN WILLIAMS Daily Staff Reporter FLINT - The University's endowment has reached its high- est amount ever at nearly NOTEBOOK $8 billion, according to the University's 2011 financial report released yesterday. At its monthly meeting here yesterday, the University's Board of Regents discussed the University's financial health, renovations to Yost Ice Arena, improvements to campus build- ings and Winter Commencement honorary degree recipients. As of June 30, the University's endowment was valued at $7.8' billion, according to the report released at the meeting. The Uni- versity has also seen a high rate of investment returns at 24.3 percent from investments made with endowment funds. At the same time last year, the endow- ment was worth $6.6 billion. Timothy Slottow, the Univer- sity's executive vice president and chief financial officer,wrote in the financial report that the investment rate is one of the highest among universities. "As a result of their dedication in building on our strong founda- tion and tradition of excellence, we continue to have the resourc- es to make strategic investments in the facilities, programs and people that make our institution one of the best public research universities in the world," Slot- tow wrote in the report. Over the last decade, the University has overstepped the customary benchmark for investment returns by approxi- mately 3 percent, White said. She also mentioned that the hard work of the University's invest- ment office, led by the Univer- sity's Chief Investment Officer Erik Lundberg, has paid off in the 2011 fiscal year. In an interview after the meeting, Lundberg said the endowment is instrumental to the University's operation, and he anticipates further growth in the future through increased gifts and smart investing. Lundberg said he is excited about the establishment of the University's new initiative, the Michigan Investment in New See FINANCES, Page 6 Office's budget I reduced by $90M this year By HALEY GLATTHORN Daily Staff Reporter A tighter budget and a maze of red tape might keep celeb- rity-stalkers on campus from encountering their favorite movie stars on the streets of Ann Arbor. The budget of the Michigan Film Office, the state's distrib- utor of film tax incentives, was slashed to $25 million for the 2012 fiscal year - down from $115 million in fiscal year 2010. The reductions were included in Republican Gov. Rick Sny- der's budget, which was passed by the state House and Senate and took effect Oct 1. The new incentive system will grant a film a set amount of money based on the Film Office's criteria, which evalu- ates the number of jobs the film would create and the percent- age of the production filmed in Michigan, among other fac- tors. Under the old percentage- based system, films could be awarded up to 42 percent of their total operating costs. Ryan Kazmirzack, a spokes- man for Snyder, said the admin-' istration sought to establish a grant-based system because the potential cost of some films under the percentage-based system made budgeting the program too volatile. "If the film industry did $1 billion worth of business in Michigan, then the taxpayers would have to come up with $420 million to write them a check," Kazmirzack said. "(This) meant the more suc- cessful we were as a state, the more it was going to cost tax- payers. It was impossible to budget for because (we did not) know how much it was going to cost." See FILM, Page 6 UNIVERSITY ACADEMICS Sophomore Initiative helps students explore 'U' majors In class challenge, students had $4.30 per day to buy food By RAYZA GOLDSMITH Daily Staff Reporter For two days, 71 University students ate off $4.30 per day. But their spending wasn't limited because of financial need. They took on the eat- ing challenge for a Univer- sity class called "Twenty Two Ways to Think About Food" - a course offered under the pilot program Sophomore Ini- tiative - to experience what it was like to live off the average monetary allotment for people receiving food stamps. The Sophomore Initiative was started this fall as a way to increase programming for sophomores as they make their way through the in-between stages of college, according to Philip Deloria, LSA associate dean of undergraduate educa- tion and one of the creators of the program. Deloria, who also teaches "Twenty Two Ways to Think About Food," said sopho- mores have outgrown freshman seminars, and have not neces- sarily chosen their concentra- See SOPHOMORE, Page 6 STUDENT START-UPS Clean Energy Venture Challenge seeks eco-friendly business ideas Le Dog employee Jennifer Smith posts the daily special soups at Le Dog on East Liberty Street on Wednesday. One of the most popular items is the restaurant's lobster bisque Le Dog owner draws crowds with 300 varieties of famous soup $100,000 to be divided among winning groups By STEVE ZOSKI For the Daily On a campus where environ- mental sustainability has been put at the forefront, student entrepreneurs are trying their hand at green solutions. Dozens of University stu- dents are competing in the Michigan Clean Energy Ven- ture Challenge, in which stu- dent teams from Michigan universities and colleges create an environmentally friendly business. The competition - which began in September and is now underway for the fourth year - has changed the elimi- nation process from previous years and increased the compe- tition by adding twice as many teams. Half the students who enter the competition - previously known as the Green Energy Prize - are University of Michigan students, according to Amy Klinke, assistant direc- See CHALLENGE, Page 3 Lunch time hoping to secure their favorite bowl of soup. favorite opened in Despite its select mid-day hours Monday through Friday, city 32 years ago the restaurant - Le Dog - has had Ann Arbor locals flocking By CHELSEA LANDRY to the East Liberty Street loca- Daily StaffReporter tion lunch the past 32 years. Le Dog owner Jules Van At lunchtime on any given Dyck-Dobos said he knew he weekday, a crowd of people wanted to pursue a career lines up in front of a vibrant in the culinary arts from a red 200 square-foot restaurant young age and was inspired CONTINUING SERIES: BEHIND THE BUSINESS by his grandmother's cooking in .Hungary. After Van Dyck- Dobos's family relocated to the United States and eventually settled in Ann Arbor, he decid- ed to attend Michigan State University to pursue a culinary See LE DOG, Page 3 WEATHER GOT A NEWS TIP? NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM E A H ER Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail Graphic novelist Jim Ottaviani talks "Feynman" TOMORROW - O news@michigandaily.com and let us know. MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THE WIRE INDEX AP NEWS.. ............3 NEWS....................6 Vol. CXXII, No.f29 OPINION-..................4 CLASSIFIEDS ................6 ©201t TheM ichigan Daily ARTS ............. S..........5 SPORTS...7...................7 michigondoily.com