The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
BLOOMFIELD HILLS, Mich.
Partnership to
boost science
learning in Detroit
Public schools students in
Detroit will get a leg up on learn-
ing as part of the district's col-
laboration with the prestigious
Cranbrook Institute of Science.
A partnership, announced
yesterday at Cranbrook's Bloom-
field Hills campus north of
Detroit, allows inner city stu-
dents hands-on exposure to sci-
ence and technology and access
to the institute's collection of
250,000 items and specimens.
Field trips to Cranbrook and
family outreach programs at sev-
eral Detroit schools are part of
the partnership. Institute mem-
berships for Detroit families and
professional development in sci-
ence for Detroit teachers also
will be available.
TRAVERSE CITY
Farmers eager
for right to kill
attacking wolves
John Koski is itching to pick
up his rifle after losing dozens
of cows to hungry wolves on his
farm in Michigan's Upper Penin-
sula - and it appears he'll soon
get his chance.
A legal shield that has pro-
tected gray wolves in the west-
ern Great Lakes region for nearly
four decades will disappear today
when the animal leaves the feder-
al endangered species list. With
that milestone, a primal struggle
that was waged in this rugged
backcountry for more than a cen-
tury will resume, although in a
more restrained fashion.
"It's about time," said Koski,
67, one of many ranchers eager to
begin shooting wolves that prey
on livestock. Likewise, hunters
are pushing for the chance to
stalk a foe legendary for its cun-
ning that has long been off-limits.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.
Romney failed to
disclose income
from Swiss bank
Mitt and Ann Romney failed
to list investment income from
a Swiss bank account on finan-
cial disclosure forms filed last
year. Other income was missing
from the disclosure documents
required of presidential candi-
dates..
A Romney spokeswoman said
yesterday the adjustments would
be trivial and would not alter the
overall picture of the Romneys'
finances. The former Massachu-
setts governor has estimated his
wealth at as much as $250 million.,
The Swiss account was held in
Ann Romney's blind trust. The tax
returns show the Romneys made
$1,783 in interest income from
that account in 2010.
BANKGKOK
Elephant meat
trendy in Thailand
A new taste for eating ele-
phant meat - everything from
trunks to sex organs - has
emerged in Thailand and could
pose a new threat to the survival
of the species.
Wildlife officials told The
Associated Press that they were
alerted to the practice after find-
ing two elephants slaughtered
last month in a national park in
western Thailand.
"The poachers took away the
elephants' sex organs and trunks
... for human consumption,"
Damrong Phidet, director-gen-
eral of Thailand's wildlife agen-
cy, said in a telephone interview.
Some meat was to be consumed
without cooking, like "elephant
' sashimi," he said.
Poachers typically just remove
tusks, which are most commonly
found on Asian male elephants
and fetch thousands of dollars on
the black market. A market for
elephant meat, however, could
lead to killing of the wider ele-
phant population, Damrong said.
Compiled from
Daily wire reports
BUDGET
From Page 1
questioned formula funding,
but Wilbanks said she would not
necessarily be opposed to the
implementation of performance
metrics.
In November, the University's
Board of Regents sent a letter
to State Budget Director John
Nixon, developer of the for-
mula, stating that they felt the
model might not account for the
University's value to the state
in terms of its more specialized
endeavors, like research.
University President Mary
Sue Coleman echoed this senti-
ment in an interview last month,
saying that the metrics model
would not best serve the Univer-
sity's interests.
"I've never seen a formula
that could be fair," Coleman
said. "I'm very concerned since
the funding level in the state
is the bottom 10 percent in
the nation among states, that
somehow we would do harm to
institutions right now -by say-
ing, 'Ok, suddenly we're going
to have a formula that seems
willy-nilly."'
State Rep. Joan Bauer (D-
East Lansing), vice chair of the
State House of Representatives
Higher Education Appropria-
tions Subcommittee, predicted
only a small percentage of the
state budget will be directed to
the performance-based model,
while the majority of higher
education funding would be
allocated under the traditional
system.
CTOOLS
From Page 1
on an instructor-by-instruc-
tor basis at schools across the
country. After reaching out to
instructors at the University,
Cahan and Kucher said they
have received mixed reactions
about the program.
"Some are fine with CTools,"
Kucher said. "But there are
others who are definitely inter-
ested in using a software that's
easy and can enhance the expe-
rience that students get."
Sean Demonner, director
of Teaching and Learning at
Information and Technology
Services at the University, said
he's heard positive responses
from instructors at the Univer-
sity about CTools, particularly
regarding its tab sections.
"The University receives
consistent feedback from
instructors that Assign-
ments, Gradebooks, Forums,
Announcements and Resourc-
Bauer said that it would not
be fair to fully instate a new per-
formance-based model in the
budget this year since universi-
ties haven't had adequate time to
prepare for the changes.
"To me it wouldn't be fair to
drop this on this current budget
when they haven't had ample
time to say, 'Ok, here are the
things they're going to look at,'
Bauer said. "There's still lots of
moving parts."
State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann
Arbor) said he thought the per-
formance-based model might
be problematic since it could
preclude schools that do not per-
form well from improving in the
future.
"You want to reward the best
and brightest," Irwin said. "But
how do you come up with a fair
way to do that - how do you
come up with a (method of) per-
formance-based pay forteachers
that doesn't ultimately just pay
the teachers based on the qual-
ity of the students, not based on
the quality of the teaching."
Regardless, Irwin said educa-
tion is the state's most impor-
tant mission and he hopes to see
increased allocations to higher
education in the budget.
"We should be making (it) a
priority," he said. "It's the most
important thing the state does.
It's the biggest determinant to
our economic prosperity long-
term ... there's really no excuse
for the cuts that we've passed
along to college students and
young kids in the last decade."
-Tui Glasgow-Rademaker
contributed to this report.
es (tabs) are central to their use
of CTools," Demonner said.
According to Demonner,
the University has used learn-
ing management systems like
CTools for many years, and
is currently in the process of
developing the Sakai Open
Academic Environment - an
advanced platform that will
replace CTools in the future.
"We envision a future aca-
demic technology that is
marked by ease of use, reliabil-
ity, academic social network-
ing and the ability to integrate
with other important services,
such as Google Apps, for edu-
cation and online storage appli-
cations," Demonner said.
LSA senior Mallory Edel said
she isn't satisfied with the cur-
rent CTools layout and would
be happy to see upgrades to the
system.
"Teachers don't really take
advantage of it," she said. "I
like the idea of it, but (instruc-
tors) don't utilize all of its capa-
bilities."
NCRC
From Page 1
North Campus Research Com-
plex as well as the prospects for
the future of that important facil-
ity," Coleman said.
David Canter, executive direc-
tor of NCRC, said researchers and
groups have been moving into the
complex at a surprisingly rapid
pace, estimating that the facility
is currently approximately one-
third filled.
"We've been able to be quite
successful, especially in the last
12 months, of getting groups to
move in," Canter said. "At the
beginning of this month, if we
take everybody in alab-type role
- faculty, researchers, start-up
companies, private companies
- we have about 300 people in
labs, and we'll expect, probably,
to have another one to two hun-
dred more move in the next six
months."
Stephen Forrest, the Univer-
sity's vice president for research,
said that while the NCRC is
LANGUAGES
From Page 1
semester, according to Linguis-
tics Prof. Marlyse Baptista, a
co-director of this year's theme
semester. Final topics for theme
semesters are chosen by the LSA
Dean's office and past topics
have included Water, The Uni-
verse and What makes life worth
living?
Barbra Meek, another co-
director of the theme semes-
ter and associate professor of
anthropology and linguistics,
wrote in an e-mail interview
that language was chosen for
this semester because of its vast
importance to humans.
"Language is the ultimate
meaning-making system, repro-
ducing traditional beliefs as well
as articulating novel thoughts
and ideas," Meek wrote.
Theme semester program-
TICKETS
From Page 1
"There is just a tremendous
interest in this based on the lines
that were just zigzagging around
all of central campus," he said.
"What we did was see what we
could do ... (and we decided)
there may be some interest in
having a venue where students,
staff and community members
could gather to watch the speech
live."
Fitzgerald said the University
is excited to have Obama on cam-
pus.-
"It is always an honor to have
the president of the United States
to come to your campus," he said.
Demand for tickets remains
high - with people even selling
their tickets for $150 on Craig-
slist - even though students
and community members who
received tickets were asked to
write their name on the ticket
and provide photo identifica-
tion before they entered the
event.
Despite their perseverance,
FOLLOW
THE,
DAILY'S
TWITTER
ACCOUNTS
ahead of schedule in occupying
the complex, it is still in the pro-
cess of developing the. types of
programs it will hold.
"You need new people, but you
also need some new programs
and that's a little bit more com-
plex," Forrest said. "Programs
involve figuring out the interre-
latedness you want between the
various activities, and that takes
time."
He added that the interdisci-
plinary nature of the program
allows for various academic pro-
grams to work collaboratively in
research endeavors.
"It provides a tremendous
opportunity to bring groups from
different disciplines together to
solve large problems," Forrest
said. "If you get different mixes
of people and disciplines, you
find that you're solving different
problems, and if you're solving
different problems, you have the
opportunity to expand the rest
of your research while making a
bigger impact."
Forrest said one of the NCRC's
greatest accomplishments so far
mingincludes a number of cours-
es as well as events focused on
the nature of language in society
such as lectures, films, museum
exhibits and workshops.
"The course offerings enable
students to investigate mul-
tiple facets of language, includ-
ing biological, social, cultural,
anthropological, communicative
and literary," Baptista wrote.
"In short, LSA theme semester
courses offer a unique platform
for interdisciplinary collabora-
tions and exchanges on a single
topic."
Theme semesters Program
Coordinator Jennifer Nguyen
said one of the unique things
about the theme semester is that
it approaches language from a
number of unique angles, includ-
ing humor, education and endan-
germent.
Beyond the importance of
language, the theme semester
also strives to draw attention to
some students who waited in line
emerged ticketless.
Kinesiology junior Melanie
Lee and her friends decided to
avoid the Wednesday night may-
hem and arrived at the ticket line
at 12:15 p.m yesterday. She said
she is disappointed she didn't get
a ticket, but understands other
students wanted tickets more
than she did.
"I'd love to go. How many
chances do you get to see the
president speak?" she said. " ...
(But) I would have spent the
night if I was a die-hard Obama
supporter."
She said while she wishes
accommodations would have
allowed for more students to
attend, she intends to go to a
viewing of the webcast.
Public Policy junior Gabe
Pachter said he arrived at the
Finin inth -nri- a -an -wia
Friday, January 27, 2012 - 3
is the Michigan Venture Accel-
erator, alab and office space that
aids start-up businesses.
"For the first time, our fac-
ulty have first class lab facilities
to start their companies," For-
rest said. "They have ... all those
things that make a ventue suc-
cessful."
Both Canter and Forrest men-
tioned that researchers at the
NCRC are currently working on
Biointerfaces, a collaborative
program among the life sciences,
physical sciences and engineer-
ing disciplines that specializes in
cutting time and costs for devel-
oping treatments of diseases.
The complex also plans to
incorporate classrooms into its
buildings to allow for increased
student involvement. However,
Canter said there are various
ways for students to become
involved beyond the classrooms.
"Obviously we already have a
capacity and a capability of hav-
ing graduate students in labs," he
said. "Education is not always a
formal classroom setting within
a research school."
languages that are disappearing,
Meek said.
"One final reason for choos-
ing language, then, is to raise
awareness of endangered lan-
guages and the significance of
their loss," Meek wrote. "Lost
grammars, lost histories and lost
knowledge."
In addition to language-relat-
ed events and classes, physical
changes are also being imple-
mented around campus for the
theme semester, including a
mural developed by Univer-
sity students that was officially
revealed in Palmer Commons on
Wednesday.
The mural, along with Festi-
fools, an annual puppet parade
held in Ann Arbor, and the "Lan-
guage of Mudra," a dance perfor-
mance that expresses language
through hand gestures, are some
of the more artistic expressions
of language this semester, Nguy-
en said.
an hour before leaving for class.
He later returned to wait an
additional hour and half, but still
didn't get a ticket.
Pachter said there were sev-
eral hundred people in front of
him upon arrival and at least 150
people when the tickets ran out.
"It was frustrating, but I am
not devastated," he said, " ... I
think it would have been great to
see the president talk ... but I feel
like he is going to be in Michi-
gan a lot this year because of the
(presidential) race." .
He said he doesn't plan on
watching the webeast because he
doesn't feel that it would be much
different from witching any of
Obama's other speeches.
"I feel that it would be ... really
to cool to see in person how he
appeals, but if I watch itcon (tele-
vision), it doesn't really matter to
me (where they are)," he said.
o Or dd you fear what COULD
happen if you become
confined to said area?
The U of M Anxiety Disorders Program
is looking for volunteers with a fear of
encosed spaces to participate in a:
Claustrophobia Research Project
wins saclces
Toeagoodmatfor our sdy,
youmareditionally: ntct
-betn15yeauicrs4 4-8
Six people die in
building collapse
in Rio de Janeiro
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) - A
janitor finishing up the day's
work, an accountant closing the
books for the month, a computer
technician installing software:
each had a reason to stay a little
late at work.
They were among those
trapped when three buildings
suddenly collapsed into a pile
of rubble in downtown Rio de
Janeiro. Rescuers pulled out at
least six bodies, according to
the city morgue, and 16 people
remained missing yesterday as
the smoke from small fires drift-
ed above the wreckage.
Authorities were still inves-
tigating the cause, but officials
speculated that illegal construc-
tion work damaged the struc-
ture of a 20-story building and
caused it to crumble, wrenching
down two other office build-
ings alongside at about 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday.
The janitor was among the
six injured extracted by rescue
crews from the heap of bricks,
metal and glass. The accountant
and the computer technician are
among the missing. Their friends
or relatives took shelter from the
scorching sun in a nearby build-
ing, hoping for news.
Francisco Adir was trying to
get information about a friend,
Flavio Porrozi, 23, who had been
attending a computer course in
the largest of the three build-
ings.
"We think he's alive. At 3 a.m.
he managed to call his girlfriend
and say, 'Hello, love,' before his
phone went dead," Adir said.
"The rescuers haven't given us
any information, but the family
is hanging all their hopes on that
phone call."
Five of the six bodies pulled
out have been identified in the
city morgue, and Porrozi is not
among them.
As the hours ticked by, rela-
tives of the missing tried to keep
despair at bay.
"We last heard from him at 8
p.m. when he called his wife to
say he wouldn't be much longer,"
said Luis Cesar Vasconcelos,
whose brother, computer techni-
cian Luis Leandro Vasconcelos,
remained trapped in the debris.
"Since then, there's been no sign
of him, but the family is hopeful
to the end."
The state's governor, Sergio
Cabral, issued a statement saying
the government was doing all it
could to support the families of
the victims.
"We're still living a moment
of shock," he said. "There is still
hope of finding survivors, and in
a last instance, of rescuing bod-
ies."
One of those pulled out alive
was Marcelo Moreira, a jani-
tor in one of the buildings that
crumbled near Rio's historic
Teatro Municipal and the Fine
Arts Museum.
Are you afraid of:
Elevators? SmalRoorms?
Cellars? Locked Rooms?
annels? ScayTrans?
caves? Sitting in a arber's Chair?
Waiting in Line at a Grocery Stoe?
*n0nU
@MICHIGANDAILY
@MICHDAILYNEWS
@MICHDAILYSPORTS
@MICHDAILYARTS
A A