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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

MARIJUANA ORDINANCE
Officials
discuss
. ,
city's pot
licensing
Medical Marijuana
Licensing Board
talks zoning issues
By SYDNEY BERGER
For the Daily
Though the Ann Arbor's Med-
ical Marijuana Licensing Board
has received at least 10 medical
marijuana dis-
pensary appli- PAN Ap.
cations since =4 '
August, it has
0
yet to grant any
licenses.
In its second
meeting, the
board met in the conference
room of Ann Arbor City Hall
yesterday to discuss the impli-
cations and amendments to the
licensing and zoning medical
marijuana ordinances that were
passed in June.
City Attorney Stephen
Postema said at the meeting
that the board is still discussing
the legality of the dispensaries'
actions. The city doesn't want to
halt the application process, but
would like a thorough discussion
before making any decisions, he
said.
"There are aspects of the dis-
pensary model that certainly
See LICENSING, Page 11A

FEDERAL LEGISLATION
New plan
to reduce
student
loan debt

A clown leers at a student during a Haunted Bell Tower event on North Campus last night.
UNIVERSITY TECH NOLOGY
Gmail t replace 'U'
e-mal system next yr.

Federal repayment
system to lower
forgiveness from
25 to 20 years
By ANDREW SCHULMAN
Daily Staff Reporter
Student loan holders still
salving the wounds of tuition
increases and dwindling
financial aid nationwide may
soon find fewer reasons to fret
about financing their educa-
tion.
To ease student loan bur-
dens, President Barack Obama
announced yesterday a broad-
ening of the income-based
loan repayment program.
Graduates who participate
in a new "Pay as You Earn"
option will be able to pay 10
percent of their discretionary
income until the balance of
their student debt is forgiven
after 20 years. Though Con-
gress passed similar measures
last year that were set to take
effect in 2014, the new option

will be available starting next
year.
Under the current income-
based repayment system - in
which 450,000 borrowers
nationwide are enrolled -
graduates pay 15 percent of
their discretionary income
toward their loans, and for-
giveness is only an option after
25 years. The 15-percent cap
has been in place since 2007,
but Obama wrote in an Oct.
25 White House press release
that student borrowers need
"even more immediate relief."
"In a global economy, put-
ting a college education within
reach for every American has
never been more important,"
Obama wrote. "But it's also
never been more expensive."
According to Pamela Fowl-
er, executive director, of the
University's OfficeofFinancial
Aid, 2,037 in-state undergrad-
uate students had an average
federal debt of $20,183 during
2009-2010, with an average
monthly repayment of $236.42
under the standard 10-year
repayment plan. Meanwhile,
See LOAN, Page 5A

Google, 'U' sign
10-year contract
to provide Gmail
services
By HALEY GOLDBERG
Daily Staff Reporter
Students who forward their
Universitye-mailstotheir Gmail
accounts won't need to anymore.

Google and the University
officially joined forces this week,
after finalizing their agreement
to work together on the Univer-
sity'sNextGenMichigan Collab-
oration Project. The University
signed on for a 10-year contract
with Google for the company to
provide services such as Gmail,
Google calendar and Google
dots for Universitystudents, fac-
ulty and staff. With the change,
the University will replace
its current Internet Message

Access Protocol infrastructure,
which includes umich e-mail,
with Gmail servers.
Bill Wrobleski, director of
infrastructure Projects for the
NextGen Michigan Program,
said the NextGen Michigan
Collaboration Project, taglined
"Keeping U Connected," strives
to develop the "next generation
of technical infrastructure"
and to successfully deliver the
Google platform to the Univer-
sity community.
See GOOGLE, Page 11A

MICHIGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY
Assembly faces low
rep. aftendance at
weekly meetings

Wazoo Records owner strives to keep vinyl alive

Out of 57 MSA
representative seats,
only 38 are filled
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
At the Michigan Student
Assembly's meeting every Tues-
day night, 57 seats are supposed
to be filled by the student gov-
ernment representatives. But at
recent meetings, attendees might
have noticed a large number of
empty seats.
MSA has faced ongoing chal-
lenges this semester to fill seat
vacancies at its weekly meetings,
hindering its ability to effectively
represent the student body, MSA
officials said. The problem is two-
fold - not all of MSA representa-
tive seats are filled, and for those
that are, attendance has recently
been low.
Speaker of the Assembly Mat-
thew Eral said 38 of the avail-
able 57 representative seats on
the assembly are occupied. Three
schools - the School of Natural
Resources and the Environment,
Medical School and School of
Social Work- never elected MSA
representatives this term.

"It boggles my mind," Eral
said. ".. There is no way that in
the University we cannot find ...
people that want to represent stu-
dents and debate issues on their
behalf."
In addition to the complete lack
of representatives in the three
schools, eight colleges - LSA,
College of Engineering, Rack-
ham Graduate School, School of
Information and the College of
Pharmacy - have representa-
tive vacancies. Rackham, which
has a total of 10 possible seats
in the assembly, hasn't sent any
representatives to meetings this
semester since all of the original
write-in representatives resigned.
Eral said the problem of low
attendance at MSA meetings is a
two-way street between represen-
tatives and their constituents. He
said students don't seem to under-
stand the importance of their
representatives attending MSA
meetings.
"The reps don't feel pressure
from the constituents, and the
constituents' don't (receive any
news) from the reps," Eral said.
"There's very little communica-
tion in terms of MSA directly to
the students."
MSA President DeAndree Wat-
See ASSEMBLY, Page 1 1A

Since 1996, John
Kerr has been
educating A2 on
music classics
By CHELSEA LANDRY
Daily Staff Reporter
A narrow staircase sur-
rounded by decorative murals
shields devoted music loverson
their way into Wazoo Records
from the hustle and bustle of
State Street.
A tiny music shop across the
street from the Diag, Wazoo
Records was founded in 1974
and changed locations sev-
eral times before opening its
doors on State Street in the
early 1980s. The current store
owner, John Kerr, bought
Wazoo Records in 1996 after
working at the store for 18
years.
"This is my dream job," Kerr
said. "I feel that doing this is a
service because I know music
plays a big role in my life, as
I'm sure it does in (the lives of)
others."
An Ann Arbor native, Kerr
explained he left the city to
attend Kalamazoo College
before spending a few years
"figuring out what to do" in
California. He later returned to
Ann Arbor and began working
at Wazoo, which was his favor-
ite record store growing up.
Wazoo offers a wide selec-

Wazoo Records owner John Kerr at his shop, located atX361/2 South State St., on Friday. Kerr purchas
Arbor establishment, which specializes in vinyl records, in 1996.

tion of music with no focus on
any specific genre, Kerr said.
He said Wazoo balances musi-
cal classics with a considerable
selection of alternative bands
- a combination that also suits
his personal preferences.
"Most people who are true
music lovers have a variety of
tastes," he said.

Kerr said he believes
Wazoo's distinct combination
of new and old music makes it
unique.
"We started out as just used
vinyl, (but) over the years we
started to branch out," he said.
"It was a slow evolution, but we
got to the point where we had
more and more new music. But

CON T IN UING S E R IES:
B BEHIND THE BUSINESS
we've still kept the old."
While vinyl records were
once almost obsolete, Kerr
said he believes there is now
See WAZOO, Page 11A



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