The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Tuesday December 13, 2011 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Tuesday, December13, 2D11 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
MANCHESTER, N.H.
Romney, Gingrich
get aggressive in
campaign remarks
Trading accusations of greed,
Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich
challenged each other yesterday
to return millions made in private
business as the race for the GOP
presidential nomination turned
increasingly acerbic and personal
at the start of a three-week sprint
to the Iowa caucuses.
Far from Iowa, the two men
campaigned miles apart from
each other in next-up New Hamp-
shire, where Romney has long
dominated in polls but where
Gingrich is aggressively working
to make inroads.
Romney called on Gingrich to
return the estimated $1.6 million
he received for providing stra-
tegic advice to Freddie Mac, the
quasi-government agency that
guarantees home mortgages.
BLACKSBURG, Va.
Hundreds mourn
officer slain in Va.
Tech shooting
A Virginia Tech police offi-
cer ambushed in a shooting that
revived memories of the 2007
massacre on campus was eulo-
gized before hundreds as a loving
husband, father and public ser-
vant.
Bagpipers somberly escorted
the flag-draped coffin of Deriek
W. Crouse into acampus coliseum
for yesterday's funeral as officers,
family, friends and dignitaries
looked on.
Gov. Bob McDonnell called the
Army veteran who had served in
Iraq a lifelong public servant.
Crouse was slain Thursday
during a routine traffic stop in the
coliseum's parking lot. A student
at a nearby college who police said
shot Crouse was found dead after-
ward of a self-inflicted gunshot
wound-nearby. Investigators said
they found no link between them.
LOS ANGELES
Lowe's criticized
for pulling ads from
Muslim TV show
Lowe's Home Improvement
has found itself facing a backlash
after the retail giant pulled ads
from a reality show about Ameri-
can Muslims.
The retail giant stopped adver-
tising on TLC's "All-American
Muslim" after a conservative
group known as the Florida
Family Association complained,
saying the program was "pro-
paganda that riskily hides the
Islamic agenda's clear and pres-
ent danger to American liberties
and traditional values."
The show premiered last
month and chronicles the lives
of five families from Dearborn,
Mich., a Detroit suburb with a
large Muslim and Arab-American
population.
A state senator from Southern
California said Sunday he was
considering calling for a boycott.
TORONTO
Canada pulls out
of Kyoto Protocol
Canada's environment minis-
ter said yesterday his country is
pulling out of the Kyoto Protocol
on climate change.
Peter Kent said that Canada is
invoking the legal right to with-
draw and said Kyoto doesn't
represent the way forward for
Canada or the world.
Canada, joined by Japan and
Russia, said last year it will not
accept new Kyoto commitments,
but renouncing the accord is
another setback to the treaty con-
cluded with much fanfare in 1997.
No nation has formally renounced
the protocol until now.
The protocol, initially adopted
in Kyoto, Japan, in 1997, is aimed
at fighting global warming.
Canada's previous Liberal gov-
ernment signed the accord but
Prime Minister Stephen Harp-
er's Conservative government
never embraced it.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
Spruce tree cut down,
stolen from the Arb
es
Of
Bota
Arbo
grinc
To
natur
arbor
Wedr
retur
was r
O':
cials
300 f
appe:
the fc
a tre(
arbor
O'
appri
abou
the t
for u
Officials individuals who are underesti-
mating its worth.
timate value of Arboretum officials report-
ed thatthe tree is worth about
tree at $400 $400, according to University
Department of Public Safety
By STEVE ZOSKI spokeswoman Diane Brown.
Daily StaffReporter However, O'Dell said he per-
sonally thinks the tree was
ficials at the Matthaei worth $1,200.
nical Gardens and Nichols Brown said charges filed
retum say they've been against the suspect(s) in the
hed. incident would depend on what
m O'Dell, collections and parts of the tree, if any, are
al areas specialist at the recovered. She also noted that
etum, said he noticed last the value of the tree affects
nesday that one of the arbo- the severity of charges the
n's two Serbian sprucetrees perpetrator(s) could face.
educed to a mere stump. ' "In larceny and in malicious
Dell said arboretum offi- destruction of property, the
found tracks that led about consequences change when the
eet to Geddes Road and dis- value of the property increas-
ared afterward. This marks es," Brown said.
ourth-consecutive year that Brown said if the suspect(s)
e has been cut down in the are charged with larceny and
retum, according to O'Dell. the value of the tree is between
Dell described the tree as $200 and $1,000, the penalty
oximately 10 feet tall with for the crime would be 93 days
t a four-inch trunk. He said in jail, a fine of $500 or three
ree was most likely taken times the value of the prop-
se as a Christmas tree by erty. If the tree is more than
SLOTTOW
From Page 1
dent Mary Sue Coleman sup-
ports investment in a new
program called Michigan
Investment in New Technol-
ogy Startups because analysis
of University faculty start-ups
over the past 20years has shown
a 70-percent annual return,
which makes it a safe invest-
ment.
At the University's Board of
Regents meeting on Thursday,
Slottow will present the MINTS
program that proposes invest-
ing up to $500,000 - with the
potential of an additional $1
million - in University faculty
start-ups. He projectsthat there
will be an investment of about
$20 million to $30 million in
MINTS over the next 10 years,
or $3 million each year.
"It's good for faculty, and it's
good for the endowment," Slot-
tow said.
FACULTY DISCUSSES
RESOLUTION ON
PEACEFUL PROTEST
Later in the meeting, the Sen-
ate Assembly discussed a reso-
lution expressing the faculty's
solidarity with peaceful pro-
tests on college campuses, spe-
cifically at the University.
The resolution was drafted
in response to the recent events
at the University of California,
Davis and the University of
California, Berkeley that led to
police violence against peaceful
protesters, SACUA Chair Kate
Barald said.
"Not that there's any incident
here that led to this, and cer-
tainly, we hope that no incident
will have a need for this kind of
resolution," Barald said.
Despite unanimous support
for the resolution, the Senate
Assembly did not meet quo-
rum and therefore, could not
pass the resolution discussed at
the meeting. SACUA members
passed the resolution at their
meeting last week.
SENATE ASSEMBLY
DISCUSSES RESOLUTION
FOR REPORTING CRIMES
The Senate Assembly also
discussed a resolution that
expresses sympathy and sup-
port for the survivors of the
Pennsylvania State University
sex abuse scandal. The resolu-
tion cites potential causes, such
as inequities in power between
survivors and perpetrators and
among people reporting the
crime, as well as an underre-
porting of criminal behavior.
It also includes suggestions
for action that can prevent simi-
lar events from occurring at the
University, such as educating
$1,000 in value, Brown said the
suspect(s) could be sentenced
to no more than one year in
jail and charged with a fine of
no more than $2,000 or three
times the value of the property
stolen.
Brown said there has been a
yearly trend of December tree-
cuttings in the arboretum, but
detectives have had difficulty
solving the crimes.
"What I understand from
previous years (is that) they
typically are reported in the
month of December, and we
don't have a lot of success in
finding suspects," Brown said.
O'Dell said the tree was
donated by Ilene Forsyth, a
professor emeritus of history of
art, whose home shares a prop-
erty line with the arboretum.
He added that he thinks future
tree cuttings could be prevented
through additional DPS patrols
and a neighborhood watch in the
area bordering the arboretum.
There are plans to replace
the tree next season, according
to O'Dell.
the community and developing
training programs for faculty
and staff.
"The objective here was to try
to get information to people who
could act as early as possible in
the process because I think all
of us noted that the main issue
beyond the act and the lack of
reporting was the cover-up,"
Barald said.
Last month, former Penn
State football coach Jerry San-
dusky was charged with child
sex abuse. Former Penn State
head football coach Joe Paterno
and former Penn State President
Graham B. Spanier were dis-
missed from their positions, asa
result of the incident.
Barald said the resolution -
passed by SACUA last week - is
i portant.sth e areZ
entities on campus a empoy
people who deal with minors -
including high school students
and small children - for day
camps, day care, sports pro-
grams and music camps.
Earlier in the meeting, Slot-
tow mentioned that in Cole-
man's e-mail regarding the
Penn State scandal, which was
sent to all students and faculty
on Nov. 15, included was a link
to an anonymous hotline and
compliance website on which
individuals can report when
they observe something they
believe to be "unethical, inap-
propriate or illegal."
STUDY BY THE NUMBERS
From Page 1 Collegegraduation rate differences
the phenomenon is replicated in
gender differences, as women
continue to graduate at a higher The percent increase in the graduation
rate than men.
Bailey said she and Dynarski rt1 oy 98h ometheets r20h0
cannot explain the differences
in graduation rates across theyo
groups, but their findings bring
to light many questions regard- Theprlnincestentsegradatn
ing preparation for higher educa- ra af rlyw1980s tden rrhr
tion among low-income students.
"One of the things that is an
important difference is (the) gap
in high-school graduation," Bai- r
ley said. "You're not going to do fpmle d w rddcom-
well in college if you don't have ed tce < <arly200s
a good education going into col-
lege."2
While the number of students
graduating from college has Thepercentmoreofhigh-income
increased among low-income female students who graduated com
families and high-income fami- pared tomen in the ear ly1980s
lies, Bailey and Dynarski found
that growth in university gradu- same schools (and) they're from
ation rates from low-income fam- the same families," Bailey said.
ilies is occurring more slowly. "We don't typically think of kids
When comparing incoming from the upper end of the income
high-income college students in distribution goingto bad schools,
the early 1980s with those in the so why is it that girls in those
early 2000s, Bailey and Dynar- environments are doing so much
ski found an 18-percent increase better? This has to be something
in the graduation rate. For about how girls respond to the
low-income students assessed same environments differently,
across the same time period, the or boys and girls face environ-
increase was only 4 percent. ments differently."
Bailey said the discrepancy Bailey said women have high-
between these numbers can be er rates of success not only in
explained by a variety of factors, U.S. high schools, but also in high
and one specific reason has not schools in other countries. The
yet been identified. phenomenon has occurred con-
"You can trace it back and sistently for decades, she added.
back because there are differ- According to Bailey, the trend
ences in resources, differences in has brought up concerns that
environments, all sort of things," society is putting too much pres-
Bailey said. sure on women to succeed and
Bailey and Dynarsaki also holding men back.
found that among incoming col- The study does not indicate
lege students from high-income how the gaps in higher educa-
families in the early 2000s, more tion attainment between income
women graduated than men by 13 levels and genders should be
percent compared to 2 percent in handled. Bailey said more infor-
the early 1980s. mation is needed before any
Unlike the factor of varia- changes in policy are made.
tions in upbringings between "You need to understand the
low-income and high-income sources of these differentials,"
families, Bailey said the gender- Bailey said. "The common expla-
related findings are difficult to nations people like to give don't
explain because women have really explain these trends.
been outperforming men who Before we jump to policy impli-
were raised the same way. cations, we need to have much
"Sisters and brothers go to the better answers."--
R .ยข f.,-
i
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ENGINEERS
From Page 1
department is at the forefront
of new technologies, Kim said.
Students and alumni can
record a video message directly
to the website, link to a You-
Tube video or enter a simple text
entry.
"It can be a holiday memory,
or they can talk to us about a
holiday tradition - whether it's
cultural or religious - or they
can send a greeting," Kim said.
"It's perfectly fine to send a sim-
ple greeting. We'd love to show
them on the map."
While the map has a con-
centration of uploads from Ann
Arbor and across Michigan,
it also has messages tagged in
places as far away as Iran and
Sri Lanka.
Ben Collins, the main web
designer for the project, said
the geolocation technology
used in the holiday website was
first used to track the Univer-
sity Solar Car Team's progress
across Australia in the Veolia
World Solar Challenge in Octo-
ber.
Collins and Kim said they
predict the technology will bet-
ter connect Engineering stu-
dents and alumni, particularly
by featuring projects and the
impact they have around the
world.
The technology used on
the holiday site also has much
broader implications and pos-
sibilities, according to Collins.
one potential project may be to
develop a computerized map of
North Campus, Collins said.
Engineering senior Samantha
Luber uploaded a holiday greet-
ing to the website after receiv-
ing an e-mail from the College of
Engineering with information
about the project. Luber said the
new service is an innovative way
for students to experience the
cultural diversity that the Uni-
versity offers.
"You have students from all
over the world, and there (is)
no centralized place to see how
different traditions and cultures
celebrate holidays," Luber said,
"This makes an interesting way
to see what everyone is doing
from a map perspective."
-p.- OK
ERIN KIRKLAND AND ALDEN REISS/Daily
The 2011 managing editors of The Michigan Daily thank our readers for reading our coverage, following us on Twitter
and 'liking' the Daily on Facebook this year.
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