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Friday, January 20, 2012 - 5

East Stadium bridges to
be completed on Nov.14

At meeting,
project members
discuss project
development
By TAYLOR WIZNER
Daily StaffReporter
Drivers in Ann Arbor who
pass the intersection of East Sta-
dium Boulevard and South State
Street will have to continue tak-
ing detours until construction
of the East Stadium Bridges
Improvement Project is sched-
uled to be finished on Nov. 14.
At a public meeting last night
near the Ann Arbor Senior Cen-
ter, Michael Nearing, the proj-
ect's senior project manager,
discussed the progress being
made on the bridges. Nearing
said the bridges over South State

Street and the Ann Arbor Rail-
road, both built in 1928, were
demolished last November and
are still under construction, an
endeavor that has continued to
block the direct route to Michi-
gan Stadium and other Univer-
sity athletic facilities.
The construction was due to
the dangerous conditions of the
bridges and the city received
funding from the U.S. Depart-
ment of Transportation, the
Michigan Department of Trans-
portation and the city of Ann
Arbor's 2006 Street Reconstruc-
tion Millage.
As part of the renovations, the
project also installed retaining
walls and a staircase on South
State Street, and replaced the
storm sewer and water main
under the street.
After the new bridge opens in
November, the final landscap-
ing and restoration of the area

around the bridge is expected
to be complete in spring of 2014,
Nearing said.
"It's going to be interesting
to see when the football season
starts," Nearing said. "People
will just have to deal with the
detour. There is an outdoor
hockey game scheduled at the
stadium for Jan. 1, but the proj-
ect will be complete by then."
The project is progressing
on schedule, Mike Lea, resident
engineer of the project said at
the meeting. Though there were
minor problems when replac-
ing the sewer and water main,
workers were able to divert the
issue by avoiding the blocked
the areas while building under-
ground.
"We had to change the pipe
and there was a storm sewer
issue, but (they have) been
resolved and we are moving on,"
Lea said.

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
University President Mary Sue Coleman addresses the University's Board of Regents at its first meeting of the new year
yesterday

From Page 1A
At the meeting, Slottow added
that an unknown donor may
provide further funding for win-
dow upkeep at the arena, which
is home to the Michigan hockey
team.
"There is a possibility that we
may have a donation to enhance
the window treatments to go to
potentially historic windows for
Yost," Slottow said at the meet-
ing. "If you can imagine the size
of the windows on Yost, you can
imagine it's not a small under-
taking."
The regents also approved $9
million in funding for improve-
ments to Schembechler Hall-
the Michigan football team's
practice facility. In addition to
adding 7,000 square feet to the
building, the renovations will
include an overhaul of the entry-
way to the building that will be
integrated with the museum in
an effort to improve accessibili-
ty and highlight the collection of
football memorabilia displayed
there.
Boiler replacements were also
approved for Northwood Apart-
ments I, II and III. Slottow told
the regents that the new systems
would increase heating efficien-
cy, increase safety and decrease
, the University's liability.
The regents also approved an
upgrade to the Edward Henry
Krause Building Auditorium,
which will include new seating,
lighting and fire safety systems
GSRAS
From Page 1
Dibbern's assertions.
"We understand that the
University is prohibited from
commenting on academic per-
formance, but these claims are
not academic performance relat-
ed," the GSRAs wrote. "They
are pure slander and should be
discounted publicly by the Uni-
versity."
At the University's Board
of Regents first meeting of the
year yesterday, Hanlon said he
reviewed Dibbern's past aca-
demic records and supported
Goldman in her decision to ter-
minate Dibbern for academic
reasons.
"I have personally reviewed
the academic records in this
case, and I'm convinced that
the academic decisions made by
the faculty were justified, cor-
rect, and appropriate, and that
the decisions were made on aca-
demic grounds," Hanlon said. "I
think that the faculty depart-
ment followed a thorough and
fair process, and I want to offer
my strong support for them."
In an e-mail sent to Dib-
bern in August and acquired
by AnnArbor.com, Goldman
expressed her dissatisfaction
with Dibbern's progress in the
lab and asked for more dedica-
tion to her research.
"I realize you have manyother
things going on but an increase
in your focus on research is
urgently needed," Goldman
wrote. "This will probably
require you to decrease your
involvement in non-research
related activities."

University spokesman Rick

at an estimated cost of $1.7 mil-
lion.
FUTURE FEDERAL
RESEARCH FUNDING
UNCERTAIN
While presenting the annu-
al report on research to the
regents, Forrest revealed a
sobering long-term outlook for
the fate of federal funding to
University research.
The report noted that while
2012 research funds from the
federal government this year
increased slightly from 2011, the
future did not appear to be as
promising.
"In a time of flat or declining
federal funding for research,
how does (the University's)
research enterprises continue
to thrive and to grow?" Forrest
asked. "Not just to maintain
itself, but to really move strong-
ly into the future?"
Forrest noted that the Uni-
versity's $1.2 billion research
budget comprises the third larg-
est category of the overall Uni-
versity budget-following the
health system and the academic
units. Forrest added that since
1976, the research budget has
consistently tracked upward.
In an interview after the meet-
ing, Forrest said the upcoming
budget is unpredictable because
of potential congressional bud-
get fights and this fall's election.
He also cited a U.S. or European
debt crisis as a potential threat to
research funding.

"A lot of this federal fund-
ing supports a vast research
infrastructure at this Univer-
sity," Forrest said. "There's the
human capital and the infra-
structure capital and both of
those things can be quite at risk
if times change. We'll just have
to watch."
Forrest predicted that the
tenuous budget situation would
persist for five to 10 years.
REGENTS APPROVE
WAYNE COUNTY
HOSPITAL EXPANSION
The regents also approved
a $39 million, 25-year lease of
property and the construction
of a building along the I-275 cor-
ridor in Wayne County as part of
an effort to expand the Univer-
sity of Michigan Health System.
Ora Pescovitz, executive vice
president for medical affairs,
and Slottow wrote in a commu-
nication to the regents that the
facility will be approximately
100,000 square feet and house
a variety of medical specialists.
The building is designed as an
"expansion site" to the nearby
Livonia Center for Specialty
Care, which is less than a half-
mile from the new building.
"This is a very important
facility, pivotal to our strategic
efforts," Pescovitz said at the
meeting. "It's largely designed
to respond to the burgeoning
clinical need near I-275."
The building is scheduled to
open in 2014.

BRIDES
From Page 1
gowns are donated to the Cancer
Support Community. The Ann
Arbor boutique opened in Sep-
tember and since its opening,
numerous brides have aided the
fight against cancer by purchas-
ing a gown from the program or
donating a dress after their wed-
ding.
"Really, it's making your
wedding more than just about
the day; it's about giving back,"
Edwards said. "I think a lot of
brides really value that. It's more
than just buying just a dress."
She added that brides choose
to shop at the boutique because
of its altruistic efforts, low prices
and varied selection, as "no two
dresses are alike."
"A lot of people get caught up
in the hype of spending... money
on their wedding, and every-
thing is about them. This is just
a good way to give back," she
added.

While women at the organi-
zation's Toronto location have
developed friendships through
sharing a bridal gown, Edwards
said the Ann Arbor branch of the
charity is too new for women to
have developed that connection.
However, Edwards said she has
witnessed instances of emotion-
al connection between brides.
"Some of the dresses that are
donated actually come with let-
ters," she said. "Sometimes, the
bride will write a letter to the ,
next bride who wears her dress
... it's a really sweet idea."
Other stores in the commu-
nity have collaborated with The
Brides Project to advocate for
the Cancer Support Community
of Greater Ann Arbor - includ-
ing Middle Earth and the Selo/
Shevel Gallery on Main Street -
through offering their window
displays to promote the effort.
Richard Wedel, manager of
Middle Earth, said he was happy
to lend the window space to
assist the organization.
"It's a good, local organization

that's doing good work," Wedel
said. "(Brides can) save some
money and do good at the same
time."
In addition to the window
space, Middle Earth distributes
information about the charity,
which Wedel said has received
"a lot of attention."
Barb Hiltz, executive direc-
tor for the Cancer Support Com-
munity, said she is enthusiastic
about the project and the finan-
cial assistance it provides.
"It is one of the things we are
looking to do to kind of think
creatively about sustaining the
free cancer support services that
we provide," Hiltz said.
She said donations areused for
avariety of.different programs at
the Cancer Support Community,
including grief counseling, sup-
port groups, educational classes
and recreational activities.
"It's exciting to have a proj-
ect that ... has to do with such
a happy time in people's lives,
whereas cancer is often the
opposite of that," Hiltz said.

TFA
From Page 1
ing a real problem," Grieb said.
"College students have ... all the
know-how to implement little or
big incremental changes to help
improve the entire education sys-
tem."
LSA senior Blair Daniels said
Kopp's speech inspired her to
apply for TFA because the pro-

gram appeals to her.
"My friend just got into Teach
for America and she encouraged
me to do ittoo," Daniels said. "I've
been tutoring kids in Detroit, and
I like it a lot."
Kendra Hearn, a clinical assis-
tant professor and TFA's certi-
fication program coordinator at
the School of Education, said she
is impressed by TFA and similar
organizations that encourage
people to work in urban and rural

environments in need of teachers
and resources.
"The students in these schools
will often have a rotating door
of substitute teachers or people
who are even less prepared,"
Hearn said. " ... We stand as a
nation to really look hard at how
we go about getting passionate,
well-prepared, highly effective
teachers into every single child's
classroom, regardless of their zip
codes."

Fitzgerald said the University
does not endorse GEO's claims.
He added that after Dibbern
stopped working in Goldman's
lab, the University continued to
provide GSRA benefits to Dib-
bern as scheduled, until her
position expired on Dec. 31.
"From the University's per-
spective, many of the allega-
tions that were made at the press
conference were just wrong,"
Fitzgerald said. "She was paid
her stipend, her health benefits
and her tuition waiver through
the end of the year as it was
scheduled even though she was
no longer in the lab earlier than
that."
During the public comments
section of the regents meeting,
Engineering graduate student
Stephen Raiman, founder of
Students Against GSRA Union-
ization, Victor DiRita, medical
school associate dean for gradu-
ate and postdoctoral studies,
Physics Prof. Finn Larsen, and
Cagliyan Kurdak, associate pro-
fessor of physics and director
of the applied physics program,
spoke against GSRA unioniza-
tion.
Raiman said many of the
individuals who initially agreed
to sign GEO's petition did not
receive enough information
before signing. DiRita, Larsen
and Kurdak discussed that char-
acterizing GSRAs as employees
would harm the relationship
between the GSRAs and their
advisers, and ultimately be det-
rimental to the GSRAs.
"I understand that some of the
students view the GSRA union
as a possible resource to address
conflicts between the adviser
and the graduate student," Kur-
dak said. "(But) by interjecting

the union into such situations,
many cases that could have been
resolved to the benefit of the stu-
dent's career may automatically
be escalated to the point that
there can be no real solution that
benefits the student."
Members of the Senate Advi-
sory Committee on Univer-
sity Affairs, the University's
lead faculty governing body,
released a statement yesterday
demonstrating their support
of the University's opposition
to granting GSRAs the right to
unionize.
"We on SACUA, who are
active faculty members from
many different academic fields,
in our roles as researchers and
teachers, concur entirely with
University of Michigan Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman's state-
ment to the Regents of the
University in our firm convic-
tion that graduate students in
their role as research assistants/
associates are fully engaged aca-
demics in training and are stu-
dents and not employees," the
statement read.
On Monday, former Univer-
sity President James Duderstadt
wrote a letter expressing his
concern against GSRA unioniza-
tion to Julia Stern, the adminis-
trative law judge who will decide
on the GSRAs' right to vote next
month.
"Adopting such a practice in
Michigan, which would stand
in sharp contrast to the rest
of the nation, would seriously
handicap and damage our state
universities in their efforts to
attract the outstanding gradu-
ate students and research grants
necessary to maintain our pro-
grams in disciplines critical to
this state," Duderstadt wrote.

Cuba seeks oil through
drilling rig in Havana

Spanish oil decades of bad blood between
Cuba and the United States.
company leases The U.S. trade embargo essen-
tially bars U.S. companies from
drill for $500,000 doing oil business with Cuba
and threatens sanctions against
HAVANA (AP) - A huge foreign companies if they don't
drilling rig arrived yesterday in follow its restrictions, making it
the warm Gulf waters north of far more complicated to line up
Havana, where it will sink an equipment and resources for the
exploratory well deep into the project.
seabed, launching Cuba's dreams To avoid sanctions, Repsol
of striking it rich with offshore oil. chose the Scarabeo-9, a 380-foot-
The Scarabeo-9 platform was long (115-meter), self-propelled,
visible from Havana's sea wall semisubmersible behemoth capa-
far off on the hazy horizon as it ble of housing 200 workers. The
chugged westward toward its rig qualifies for the Cuba project
final drill site about 30 miles (50 because it was built with less
kilometers) from the capital, and than 10 percent U.S.-made parts,
60 miles (90 kilometers) south of no small feat considering Amer-
Key West. ica's dominance in the industry.
Spanish oil company Repsol While comparable platforms
RPF, which is leasing the rig for sat idle in the Gulf of Mexico, the
about a half-million dollars a day, Scarabeo-9 spent months navi-
said it expects to begin drilling gating through three oceans and
within days to find out whether around the Cape of Good Hope
the reserves are as rich as pre- to arrive in the Caribbean at tre-
dicted. mendous expense.
"The geologistshave done their Even after the rig is in place,
work. If they've done it well, then the embargo continues to affect
we'll have a good chance of suc- just about every aspect.
cess," Repsol spokesman Kristian The Scarabeo-9's blowout pre-
Rix said by phone from Madrid. venter, a key piece of machinery
"It's been a long process, but now that failed in the 2010 Macondo-
we're at the point where we dis- Deepwater Horizon disaster, is
cover whether our geologists have state of the art. But its U.S. manu-
got it right. It's a happy day." facturer is not licensed to work
It's been a long, strange jour- with Cuba so replacement parts
ney for the Scarabeo-9, Repsol must come through secondary
and Cuba, a process shadowed at sources.
every step by warnings of a pos- It's also more complicated to
sible environmental debacle and do things like the maintenance

necessary to keep things run-
ning smoothly and decrease
the chances of something going
wrong.
If it does, Cuba would be hard-
pressed to respond to a major
spill on its own, and getting help
isn't as simple as making a phone
call to Washington. The embar-
go would require licenses to be
issued for all manner of equip-
ment and services for an emer-
gency response.
Few U.S. companies so far
have gotten permission to work
with the Cubans in the event of a
spill - representingjustl5percent
of all the resources thrown at the
Macondo blowout, according to
an estimate by Lee Hunt, presi-
dent of the International Associa-
tion of Drilling Contractors.
Two U.S. companies have
received licenses to export cap-
ping stacks, crucial pieces of
equipment for stopping gushing
wells, but related services like
personnel and transportation
have not been green-lighted,
Hunt said.
"So what you have is agreat big
intelligent piece of iron without
a crew," he said. "You can't just
drop it on the hole and hope (the
spill) will stop. It's not a cork."
Even Tyvek suits worn by
cleanup crews cannot currently
be exported to Cuba because
potentially they could be used for
the construction of bacteriologi-
cal or chemical weapons, Hunt
added.

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