ANOTHER LENS IH A Daily photographer gains a new perspective of football. UINSIDE O'lli I~ ) NI I 4 1 )1 1lt 0W41110N Ann Arbor, Michigan Wednesday, November 23, 2011 michigandaily.com IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS... I1-I CAMPUS CRIME DPS holds first public meeting on 'U' crime Erin MacLiesh, a Michigan Union employee, selects a tag from the Alpha Kappa Alpha angel tree, which provides gift ideas for underprivileged children, yesterday. UNIVE RSITY CONSTRUCTION Law School rents apartm en to house Lawyers Club residents Campus crime rate has decreased 30 percent since 2010 By ADAM RUBENFIRE Daily StaffReporter In a show of transparency yesterday morning, the Uni- versity's Department of Public Safety invited members of the public to participate in one of the department's internal week- ly crime meetings. Overall crime rates are down 30 percent compared to 2010 data -with 837 overall crimes reported at this time last year, compared to 585 this year. All the statistics represent crime on campus, where DPS has juris- diction, according to DPS sta- ti~tics. There has been a general decline in campus crime, but an increase in aggravated assaults and arsons, DPS Executive Director Greg O'Dell said at the meeting yesterday morning. See DPS, Page 3A Students forced to move out of four Prime Student Housing properties By ANDREW SCHULMAN DailyStafReporter When the Lawyers Club clos- es for renovations next year, first-year Law School student Randy Abbott will no longer be able to get cereal from the club's dining hall while wear- ing in his sandals, one of many things he said he will miss most about the Club. "It's a short walk," he said in the club's dining hall yesterday. "It lets me keep my Rainbow (sandals) on 24/7. I appreciate that." Abbott is one of many stu- dents who will be impacted by the coming renovations to the residence hall in the Law Quad- rangle. In preparation for the closure of the Lawyers Club, the Law School reached an agreement with Prime Student Housing to lease four of their properties exclusively to Law School students. As a result, many students who were plan- ning to re-sign in the buildings for the coming year will be dis- placed. The Law School rented apartment buildings at 726 S. State Street, 721 S. Forest Ave- nue - also called Forest Place Apartments - 520 Packard Road and 511 E. Hoover Avenue exclusively for Law students. Sarah Zearfoss, director of admissions at the Law School, said the school's intent in reserving the buildings was not to displace other students, but to seek additional places for prospective first-year Law School students to live during the quad's construction. "We've been quite open about it, and it seems to be that it would have been, frankly, irresponsible of the Law School not to come up with some alter- native," Zearfoss said. The renovations are being funded by a $20 million gift from University alum Charles Munger, who is vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway. Law School Dean Evan Caminker wrote a letter to Law School students and faculty in March, explaining the need for the renovations. "We have long recognized a need to address aging infra- structure and structural issues in the residential buildings, and this gift provides the means to do so in addition to creat- ing more contemporary living See LAWYERS, Page 6A UNIVERSITY RE.ESEARCH AOSS professors aid in search for life on Mars A MOTOWN MOMENT NASA mission to red planet launches Saturday By ZACH BERGSON Daily StaffReporter The University will have a chance to make another discov- ery on Mars when a new mission blasts off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Saturday. Nilton Renno and Sushil Atreya, professors in the Uni- versity's Department of Atmo- spheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, are key investigators in a NASA mission called the Mars Science Laboratory. The mis- sion will use a new and techno- logically advanced rover called Curiosity to investigate whether Mars is, or once was, able to sup- port microbial life. Renno, who is known for discovering evidence of liquid water on Mars in 2008 dur- ing the Phoenix Mars Mission, said MSL is the most ambi- tious Mars program since the Viking missions in the 1970s. Renno added that his main goal throughout the mission is to use MSL's instruments to peer below Mars's thin layer of salts in the soil to look for evidence of organics - carbon-based molecules that are the building blocks of life. Atreya, who was involved in the conceptual development of the mission, said he will use MSL's premier lab, the Sample Analysis at Mars, to search for evidence of life and learn more about the evolution of the plan- et's climate from its warm and wet past to its present cold and dry conditions. Atreya added that the SAM lab will use a mass spectrometer, gas chromato- graph and tunable laser spec- trometer equipped on Curiosity to analyze the atmosphere and surface for evidence of organic elements. In a Nov. 16 University press release, Atreya wrote that he is optimistic about finding organ- ics on Mars. "Organics have been raining down on Mars from meteorites, comets and interplanetary dust particles for 4.5 billion years," Atreya wrote. "And Mars prob- ably has its own indigenous organics, whether they're con- nected with life or not." However, in an e-mail inter- view, Atreya wrote that it is also possible that MSL won't find any organic material. "Whether any organics will actually be found in Curiosity's exploration region in Gale Crater will depend largely on the preser- vation potential of the site as on Earth," Atreya wrote. "Organics can be destroyed or transformed by oxidation by such things as ground water, peroxides or per- chlorates, all of which are or were present on Mars." But even if organics aren't present in the region MSL is exploring, Atreya said they could exist in other parts of the planet. See MARS, Page 6A REALITY TV ''prof. mimics Guido lifestyle For two weeks, Moore lived like 'Jersey Shore' characters By SABIRA KHAN Daily StaffReporter Since its premiere in 2009, "Jersey Shore" has become an American pop culture sensa- tion. But while GTL - the iconic motto of Gym, Tan and Laundry from the show - has entered the vernacular of the American public, few people have adopted it as a lifestyle like Screen Arts and Cultures Prof. Candace Moore. Moore, who gave the key- note address at a conference See LIFESTYLE, Page 3A EIN KIRKLAND/Daiy Former Motown Records Press Officer Al Abrams discusses and signs copies of his new book at the Bentley Historical Library yesterday. MI CH IGAN STUDENT ASSEMBLY MSA election turnout falls By GIACOMO BOLOGNA Daily StaffReporter, More than 40,000 University students failed to vote in this semester's student government election. About 5 percent - or 2,189 of 42,716 University students - cast ballots to fill vacancies and elect representatives in the MSA, LSA Student Government and other student governing bodies last week during the two-day-lopg online election, which began last Tuesday at midnight. Twenty-two candidates were elected to MSA in the campus- wide elections. The new rep- See MSA, Page 6A WEATHER H :5 TOMORROW LO: 41 GOT A NEWS TIP? NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail Rihanna releases raunchy new album news@michigandaily.com and let us know. 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