The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com February 1, 2012 - 5A The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com February 1, 2012 - 5A ENERGY From Page 1A portions of their endowment in energy is not uncommon. The University of Texas, a school long regarded for its connection to oil, has 6 percent of its endowment invested in energy related assets, according to Bruce Zimmer- man, University of Texas Invest- ment Management Company president. Ohio State University has 8 percent of its endowment invested in energy assets as well, according to OSU spokesman Jim Lynch. LSA junior Maggie Oliver, chair of the environmental issues commission in Central Student Government,.has been involved with sustainability initiatives on campus, most promjnently in the push to eliminate the sale of plas- tic water bottles on campus. Oliver said that while she wishes the University would move more quickly in developing sustainable efforts, she under- stands paying for them with funds that receive contributions from energy investments. Oliver herself received a scholarship from Shell to attend Camp Davis, a University operated teaching and research center located near Jackson, Wyoming, where she studied geology. "I do understand it for now," Oliver said. "Yes, we need the world, we need the environment but the society we live (in), it does run on money, so there is that aspect of it too ... I do know that we have to meet in the middle at some point and that's the only way that real changes and sus- tainable changes will take place." Oliver added that she hopes the University aims to become more involved with alternative energy. "The environment is always kind of pushed aside but it should be a priority," Oliver said. "Every- thing does revolve around the environment and we need to start caring about it and (making) it more important because it is becoming more and more impor- tant to people." While the amount invested in sustainability efforts is less than the returnfrom theenergysector, the University is making efforts to add variety to the energy sec- tor. At last month's regents meet- ing, the board approved a $25 million investment in RK Mine Finance, a company associated with financing ore companies. "The natural resources focus of JEOPARDY From Page 1A S than what she had anticipated. "The studio was smaller than I imagined it to be and the game goes a lot faster than you think it goes," Shi said. "When you're standing in front of the game board there's adrenaline and it feels like the whole show lasted five minutes but actually it was 30 minutes long." Shi admitted to being nervous, but said that the experience is one she will never forget, adding that the people around her made the experience especially memo- rable. "The other contestants were really great and they were from schools all over the country, big schools (and) little schools," Shi said. "They were all just really bright and really talented and really interesting people. Meet- ing (host) Alex Trebek was cool." When asked about any inter- esting stories from filming, Shi was elusive with the details. "You'll have to watch the show," Shi said. Besides pursuing her under- graduate degree at the Univer- sity, Shi is also involved with the University's Red Cross Club and the University of Michigan Undergraduate Research Jour- nal. She also plays violin in the this fund provides The1 further diversifi cation to our ener- em gy portfolio which is concentrated in the oil and gas illy industry," Timo- thy Slottow, execu- 4D Glb; tive vice president and chief financial officer, wrote in a ARC Frr communication to the regents. Cgary Al Coleman said Cadent E she thinks the money spent on Rye Brook', sustainability ini tiatives, is wellC ,m1Cr spent. ay Al "It was one of those investments Denham' that there'll be a Boston, M/ big return," she said. Encap En According to Houston University spokes- man Rick Fitzger- Kayne Ar ald, depending on Los Angele the specifics of the project, money for JOG Cap sustainability proj- Ca Igary, Al ects comes from University funds, Lime Roc including the gen- Westport, I( eral fund, as well as from federal MA P grants and part- Pao1AlIto, C nerships with cor- porations like DTE Merit En Energy. Dals TX "One time projects, where Natural ( it's going to take Gr enwich an investment now, not an ongo- SCF Partr ing operational Houston T cost, will look for other resources," Sentient Fitzgerald said. "Often that comes ' from investment Yorktown proceeds, some of those that aren't New York restricted for spe- cific purposes." Of the $14 million commit- ted to the sustainability initia- tives, the University contributed the largest amount to the Planet Blue program with a $10 million investment. The University's increase in sustainability initiatives was spurred from student feedback and the benefits it will provide for both the University and the plan- et, Coleman said in an interview with The Michigan Daily. "In some sense we were responding to interests and requests from students which I always love to do if we can, num- Michigan Pops Orchestra and volunteers at the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System. Shi said she learned of the competition because she regular- ly watches the show, and decided to apply. "I wanted to audition for it because it's been one of my favor- ite shows for a long time," Shi said. "I started watching it when I was in elementary school and I try to watch it whenever I can." Shi said she is a fan of the show because it encourages contestants and viewers to be knowledgeable about a variety of unrelated topics and fields of study. "I think it has a really great message that it's cool to know a lot about everything, or know a little about everything at least," Shi said. Maggie Speak, contestant producer for Jeopardy!, said the application process for the show has two components - an online exam and an in-person test and personality interview. "All of the college students have to take a 50-question online test to qualify to be in the pool for the in-person interview," Speak said. "Out of that, every year, we pick about two to three hundred (students) for in-person auditions ... At the in-person auditions we are test-givers, we give another 50-question test ... and then what we do is we have the players play ROMNEY From Page 1A Fla., Romney confidently cast himself as the GOP's likely nomi- nee. He said he was eager "to lead this party and our party and our nation," criticizing President Barack Obama for a lack of lead- ership. "Mr. President, you were elected to lead, you chose to fol- low, and now it's time to get out of the way," he said at the event. Romney's victory in Florida, a state worth 50 delegates at this summer's Republican National Convention, reestablishes his prospects as the most electable opponent to President Barack Obama in November's gen- eral election, according to LSA junior Brian Koziara, external vice chair of the University's chapter of the College Republi- cans, said. About half of Florida voters reported that electability was the most important factor in their decisions at the polls. Data shows that Romney performed better than Gingrich among elderly and Tea Party voters, two metrics Koziara said Gingrich dominated in past primaries. Koziara said the margin of vic- tory alone, and as a rebound from his loss in South Carolina a week and a half ago, allowed Romney to regain lost ground after Gin- grich handily beat him there. "If (Gingrich) would've gotten Florida, that would've signaled that he had a fair shot at possibly challenging Romney on the nom- ination," Koziara said. "The fact now that Newt only has South Carolina and Romney won big in New Hampshire and Florida, which are two states he's going to need in the general election - I think that's important." ' By failing to capitalize on his South Carolina win, Gingrich .may have missyd an opportunity to maintain his staying power in the race, Koziara said. Though the former Speaker said in a speech last night that he would continue to campaign voracious- ly in upcoming states, Koziara said the fact that many of those states are "Romney-friendly" further jeopardized his chances of earning the Republican nomi- nation. Koziara said he's confident that Romneywill win Michigan, adding that he believes Rom- ney will likely need to wait until Super Tuesday - when 11 states hold their primaries on March 6 - to have a chance to lock up the Republican nomination. Michigan Republican Party spokesman Matt Frendewey said all of the candidates are expected to campaign in Michigan, bar- ring any candidates from drop- ping outof the race - a possibility Koziara said he did not expect of any of the candidates, with the exception of former Pennsylva- nia Sen. Rick Santorum. Frendewey said he is anxious- ly awaiting the Michigan prima- ry, because he expects the state's Republican voters to come out in force to knock out Obama out of the White House. "Michigan Republicans are fired up," Frendewey said. "They're ready for change. They're tired of the failed poli- cies of President Barack Obama." He said the state's Republi- can voters might be particularly incensed by what he said were the president's failed promises on health care, the financial defi- cit and the rising cost of higher education. University students expressed mixed sentiments on their atten- tion to the Republican contests, though some said they would watch the Michigan primary at the end of the month, which coincides with the University's spring break. LSA juniors Thomas Jones and Lois Dodson said they were following the race somewhat closely, having watched a few of the debates, though added they would likely be more attentive to the Michigan primary and the general election. Engineering sophomore Olivia Nordquist agreed that she would tune into the Michigan primary at the end of the month. She said she thought results of the prima- ry might be telling in terms of the state's transformation since the last general election. "Michigan will be a state that matters because we have such a strong Democratic base," Nor- dquist said. "But right now we're a Republicanstate. So I think my vote will matter." The next contest in the Repub- lican race will be held in Nevada on Feb. 4, followed by Maine, Colorado, Missouri and Min- nesota the following week. The Michigan primary, along with the primary in Arizona, will be held on Feb. 28. -The Associated Press contributed to this report ber one, and I think it's really important," Coleman said. "In the long run, many of the things that the students suggested and that we agreed to invest in will save money for the University." While the University funds many sustainable efforts, the proposed solar panel field that Coleman announced to be built on North Campus would be paid for entirely by DTE. The contract between the University and DTE has not been finalized, so no cost estimate for the project or pro- posed construction start date was available, DTE spokesman Scott Simons said. a mock-version of Jeopardy, just like playing the game." The mock game allows the producers to get a sense of each potential contestant's personal- ity and to gauge how the contes- tant will perform on the actual show, according to Speak. "We do a short personality interview to get to know them a little bit and that's kind of fun for us too," Speak said. "They get to talk about what their interests are, what they hope to do when they get out of school and what they would do if they won the $100,000." There are no specific qualifi- cations for College Champion- ship contestants, except that they must be full-time college under- graduates and can't hold a previ- ous bachelor's degree, Speak said. "You don't have to be from An Ivy League school to become a .winner on Jeopardy," Speak said. "That's just notthe way it works." .Speak said it's contestants like Shi that make her job worth- while. "I think sometimes we all get a little downhearted about what our future looks like and then when you get to meet the kinds of kids that are on the College Championship for Jeopardy, they're just really incredible," Speak said. "They care about their future, they care about other people and they give me great hope for our future." HEARING From Page 1A us to try to stop the hearing or at least put it on hold until we can be a party at this hearing, until we can have our rights represented at the meeting." The motion questions MERC's Dec. 13 decision to send the GSRA's case to an administra- tive judge, given the precedent of a 1981 MERC ruling that stated GSRAs are students, not public employees. Both Schuette and The Mackinac Center Legal Foun- dation - on behalf of SAGU - filed appeals with the Michigan Supreme Court. Raiman said the hearing's format is unfair because both the University and GEO - the parties who will be presenting in front of the judge - agree that GSRAs should be classified as employees with the right to organize. Though Schuette, SAGU and others opposed to unionization will have an opportunity to sub- mit evidence at the hearing, they will not be allowed to challenge evidence presented by GEO or cross-examine witnesses called by lawyers by the University or GEO, according to Raiman. Even if GEO proves successful in the hearing, Raiman said his group will continue fighting. "If we don't get the result that we hope ... then we'll have to try our best to run a campaign to win this election, to educate GSRAs to see the hazards of unionization and the costs of unionization." SAFETY From Page 1A ment,-Joe Piersante, interim exec- utive director of the University's' Department of Public Safety, and Ann Arbor Police Chief Barnett Jones to increase communica- tion between the city and cam- pus community about improving safety efforts. Jones said the organization aims to determine how the city of Ann Arbor and the University can work together to improve safety in the community, specifically by garnering input from students. "It's a collaborative University and city effort to ask ourselves, 'How effective has this been?' and what more could we be doing," Jones said. Jones added that the group is a multi-faceted program that brainstorms creative ways to keep students safe. "I'm hoping that this commit- tee will come up with three or more ideas of things we can do," Jones said. "Because we want to continue to be responsive to the needs and continue to do things that are really relevant for stu- dents." Rider-Milkovich, chair of the workgroup, noted that the group - which has not yet had its first meeting - will use the skills of a diverse group of administrators to devise new methods of safety education. "We think of this not only as helping students stay safe while they're on campus and while they're part of the University of Michigan community, but also giving them skills that they can move forward once they gradu- ate," Rider-Milkovich said. Rider-Milkovich said sexual assault is only one type of crime SAPAC works to prevent, adding that she plans to use her exper- tise in sexual assault prevention to aid the group in preventing all forms of crime. "In my role as chair, I will be helping the group to really focus in on the spectrum of safety ini- tiatives that are already in place on campus and looking for ways to enhance what we have and really create the comprehensive framework of safety education," Rider-Milkovich said. Seto said he is involved in the workgroup to demonstrate his department's commitmentto stu- dent safety. "AAPD is there to pledge the full support of the police depart- ment in this initiative to improve student safety," Setosaid. "Ithink our other role is ... along with the University of Michigan police and the Dean of Students Office, to collectively evaluate ideas that may improve student safety and see how we can implement those in a collaborative effort." Seto said though DPS and AAPD already collaborate on a regular basis, the workgroup may help them improve their relation- ship. "I think this workgroup may be a way for us to solicit other ideas from other people that may be in the workgroup so that we can see how we can even improve on that," Seto said. In a statement to The Michi- gan Daily on Monday, Piersante said he hopes the group will aid DPS in improving its current efforts to educate students on crime prevention. "We support efforts to raise awareness among our students as to how they can contribute to our community's safety, while also reducing their personal safety risk," Piersante said. "I look forward to hearing recom- mendations from the workgroup regarding suggested enhance- ments to our current efforts." LSA junior Josh Buoy, a stu- dent safety assistant in the Dean of Students Office and a chair of the Central Student Govern- ment's Student Safety Commis- sion; said the Beyond the Diag program continues to serve as a holistic approach to student safety. "It's definitely small steps (leading) to a larger goal," Buoy said. Buoy said as a part of Beyond the Diag, the division of student affairs has been sending month- ly e-newsletters to students liv- ing off-campus with articles and tips from the University Health Service, the Department of Pub- lic Safety and Counseling and Psychological Services. Beyond student safety, the program also looks to increase safety for all members of the Ann Arbor community. "The safety component is one very important component of what we're doing," he said. "But equally important as the safety component is the community aspect as well." Buoy said three neighborhood ambassadors have been assigned to create programs for students in different neighborhoods to encourage "neighborhood iden- tity," adding that the ambassa- dors will work with Ann Arbor City Council members to estab- lish associations within each neighborhood. Buoy said the program aims to assure students that the Uni- versity is still concerned for their well-being even though they live off-campus, and the organiza- tion hopgs to continue to foster a connection with students mov- ing out of the residence halls by distributing posters and fli- ers with information about the group. Jones, who has continued to pass out information and can- vass neighborhoods as part of the program, said the initiative's focus on community involve- ment ensures that students are looking out for their neighbors, adding that Beyond the Diag is particularly conducive to com- munity-oriented policing. "They're better witnesses and better prepared to invoke the criminal justice system when needed because they'll have more information to give us," Jones said. Laura Blake Jones, associate vice president of student affairs and dean of students, said Uni- versity students have been at the forefront of Beyond the Diag. "We've been building the pro- gram from the ground up and all of it has been student initiated," Jones said. Buoy and his fellow student safety assistant, LSA junior Stephanie Hamel, have been at the core of the program, Jones said, ensuring that students can relate to the program's initia- tives. ."We're trying to make what goes on ... relevant to the off- campus students," Jones said. " DO YOU DREAM IN PIXELS? JOIN MICHIGAN DAILY DESIGN E-MAIL MAHANTI@MICHIGANDAILY.COM f