The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Possible shuffling
of Ford's leaders
Friday, February 10, 2012 - 3
YOU CAN DANCE, YOU CAN JIVE
Two of the architects behind
Ford's remarkable turnaround are
retiring, and their departureshave
intensified the guessinggame over
who will become the next CEO.
For now, Chief Executive Alan
Mulally isn't going anywhere. The
energetic, 66-year-old Kansan
is considered a hero for bringing
the company back from financial
disaster. He insisted on yesterday
that he'll continue to lead Ford.
But the retirements of two
top lieutenants - CFO Lewis
Booth and Product Development
Chief Derrick Kuzak - on April
1 remove two of the five inside
contenders for the CEO job. Their
departures have renewed water
cooler talk about who takes over
for superstar Mulally.
LANSING
Gov. Snyder ties
extra K-12 school
funding to learning
Michigan's governor said
Thursday that the state should
capitalize on its brightest econom-
ic outlook in a decade by opening
its checkbook to school districts
- but only those that can show
their students actually are learn-
ing from year to year.
Republican Rick Snyder's plan
for districts to compete for $70
million in extra state money is
part of a growing trend in perfor-
mance-based education funding
as cash-strapped states look for
ways to do more than just spread
scarce dollars around.
With Michigan heading into
a new budget year without the
chronic deficits that plagued it for
the past 10 years, Snyder wants to
reward schools for how well they
educate, not for merely having the
best and brightest students. Sever-
al states have tied financial incen-
tives to standardized test scores,
but-&"der's-plan is somewhat dif-
ferent.
WASHINGTON
Pentagon eases job
limits for women
New orders from the Penta-
gon: The military on Thursday
formally qpened thousands of
jobs to women in units that are
closer to the front lines than ever
before, reflecting what's already
been going on as female American
soldiers fight and die next to their
male comrades.
The new rules, affecting thou-
sands of jobs, will break down
more of the official barriers that
have restricted the military posi-
tions women can take. They're
being sent to Congress, and if
lawmakers take no action after
30 work days the policy will take
effect.
The changes still aren't coming
fast enough for some in Congress
* or the military. They noted that
the rules still ban women from
serving as infantry, armor and
special operations forces, which
are considered the most danger-
ous combat jobs.
GUADALAJARA, MEXICO
15 tons of meth
found in Mexico
Thehistoric seizure of15 tons of
pure methamphetamine in west-
ern Mexico, equal to half of all
meth seizures worldwide in 2009,
feeds growing speculation that
the country could become a world
platform for meth production, not
just a supplier to the United States.
The sheer size of the bust
announced late Wednesday in
Jalisco state suggests involvement
of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, a
major international trafficker of
cocaine and marijuana that has
moved into meth production and
manufacturing on an industrial
scale.
Army officials didn't say what
drug gangs could have been
behind the dozens of blue barrels
filled with powdered meth. Army
Gen. Gilberto Hernandez Andreu
said the meth was ready for pack-
aging. There was no information
on where the drugs were headed.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
TERESA MATHEW/Daily
Engineering Sophmomore Heema Karunakaram participates ina dance workshop in the Michigan League yesterday.
PROPOSAL the additional detail on the new
From Page 1 funding that is tied to perfor-
mance metrics so we can analyze
the impact."
ing decreases were contin- Wilbanks did not respond to
gent upon a tuition cap of a an interview request for further
7.1-percent increase for in-state comment.
students. Last June, the Univer- In a town hall meeting that
sity's Board of Regents voted to was streamed live on his Face-
increase tuition by 6.7 percent book page, Snyder praised the
for in-state students and 4.9 per- metrics for addressing the rising
cent for out-of-state students. higher education costs.
University President Mary "We made a major commit-
Sue Coleman said in an inter- ment to education, putting more
view with The Michigan Daily dollars back to work in educa-
that she is concerned about tion," he said. "College is too
the longetivity of the funding expensive, and that's a challeng-
increases Snyder has proposed. oing area."
"My overarching concern is ThoughSnydersaidthetuition
that it's only one-time money," increases this year were favor-
Coleman said. "That's very dif- able measures, he added that he
ficult because if it doesn't go in plans to consider further ways of
the baseiteuld be taken away reducing costs that will be effec-
next year." tive in the long run. He pointed
Coleman added that she is to encouraging dual enrollment
particularly concerned about the of high school students into col-
formula funding method Snyder lege programs as a possible solu-
has recommended because it tion.
will be difficult for well-estab- "If you think about it, if you do
lished institutions like the Uni- enough of that, you could bring
versityto improve much more on down your college costs a lot
their current performance. because you might be able totake
"We're a mature institution, awholeyearor so off your college
we graduate a lot of students - up to a year - and that would
already, and we already have a mean huge savings," he said.
very high graduation rate," Cole- During the online event, Sny-
man said. "And it seems like one der also outlined his vision for
of the things that they're looking education in the state. He advo-
at is the increase in numbers (of cated a plan called P-20, which,
graduates), and we're already unlike the traditional K-12
so high that we're not going to education, would emphasize
grow substantially." achievements from preschool
In the University's fiscal year through college.
2013 budget development let- Mike Boulus, executive direc-
terreleased in November, Cole- for of the Presidents Council,
man initially expressed concern State Universities of Michigan,
with Snyder's formula funding said Snyder's budget offered few
model, arguing that the Univer- additional funds in most areas,
sity shouldn't be compared to including higher education.
other state universities to receive "This is a pretty lean budget,
funding. and there's very little increase in
"The objective of formula this budget," Boulus said.
funding should be to allocate Boulus said while the Presi-
funding based on the value that dents Council welcomes any
each university brings to the additional funding to highereodu-
state, so that the formula pro- cation, he believes the hike was
vides financial incentive for each minimal.
university to maximize that "This is what I call a small
value," Coleman wrote. step toward restoration," Bou-
In her letter, Coleman sug- los said. "I wouldn't even call it
gested that the state use the an increase; I'd call it additional
Carnegie Classification of Insti- funds. I think that's an accurate
lotions of Higher Education - a statement to make. The money is
framework for understanding one-time money. It's not there in
institutional differences of uni- year two of his budget."
versities across the country - to Boulus added that the gover-
determine appropriate funding nor's proposed increase is not
for state universities. enough to replace major losses
Cynthia Wilbanks, the Uni- from budget cuts of several state
versity's vice president for gov- universities in recent years.
ernment relations, released a "It's $36 million for higher
statement yesterday that sup- education - a relatively small
ported the proposed increase amount when you put it in per-
allocations to higher education, spective to what we've lost in the
adding that it will be important past decade. We lost $213 mil-
to thoroughly examine formula lion just last year," Boulos said.
funding logistics when finalizing "And when you put that on a per-
the budget. student basis, last year's cut was
"We are encouraged to see $827 on a per-studentbasis.
the proposed increase in fund- Regarding the formula meth-
ing for higher education," Wil- od for higher education funding
banks said. "It's important to get allocation, Boulus said the met-
rics should compare state uni-
versities relative to their fellow
institutions.
"It's a good investment strat-
egy, and I think the metrics that
the governor has selected are
fair," Boulus said. "But it takes a
look back on past performance
without any measure against
peers. I think it can be improved,
so that you look at these metrics
not just against yourself in past
performance but against your
peers and progress made over
time."
LSA senior Amanda Caldwell,
president of the University's
chapter of College Demo-
crats, said this year's 3-percent
increase does not make up for
significant cuts in past years.
"We've had cuts after cuts
after cuts. It has been way
more excessive than 3 percent,"
Caldwell said. "It's moving in the
right direction, but we need to
make more drastic moves over
the next years."
The University's chapter of
College Republicans could not
be reached for comment as of last
night.
State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann
Arbor) also noted that the 3-per-
cent increase is not sufficient.
"We know that our univer-
sities will really be struggling
with the cuts that came down
last year, and the state budget is
in a position to make up some of
those cuts, and 3 percent doesn't
really do it," Irwin said.
Irwin added that he feels
many state legislators are not yet
putting ahigh enoughpriorityon
education.
"We know that in Washtenaw
County, investing in K through
12 and higher ed. is a good invest-
ment for the future," Irwin said.
"And unfortunately, we have had
a hard time getting that through
to the folks (in the state legisla-
ture)."
Irwin said world-renowned
Michigan institutions, like the
University, may lose their pres-
tige if they continue to suffer
from cuts.
"The luster on the crown jew-
els in our higher ed. system has
started to fade," Irwin said.
If the governor intends to
boost the state's high-tech econ-
omy, he should be investing high-
er education, Irwin said.
"In general, I'm just really
confused on how our governor,
who brands himself around
words like 'innovation' and 'com-
peting for the new economy,' can
turn around and propose big-
ger cuts to the institutions that
actually provide that benefit for
people in the state of Michigan,"
Irwin said. "Innovation is driven
by those institutions."
-Daily Staff Reporters
Aaron Guggenheim, Peter
Shahin and Andrew Schulman
contributed to this report
INNOVATION
From Page 1
gram in Entrepreneurship, which
offers certification in entrepre-
neurship to students.
More than 15,000 students
have been involved in the center's
entrepreneurial programs. Eighty
.start-ups have been involved with
TechArb - a start up -incubator
in downtown Ann Arbor - and
more than 100 speakers have spo-
ken at the center's lecture series,
Entrepreneurship Hour.
Neal said students involved
in the center's programs are not
solely focused on making money,
but rather on impactingthe world.
"It's really about changing
people's lives and doing it in a
sustainable way," Neal said. "We
really want to encourage students
to think big -and destructively
about changing people's lives for
the better."
The center has a number of
goals for the upcoming years
and plans to launch a master's
program in entrepreneurship
this fall. In the next five years,
Neal said he wants to continue to
expand the resources available to
students to faculty members and
researchers.
Neal attributes much of the
center's success to high levels of
support from University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman and
David Munson, dean of the Col-
lege of Engineering.
"It's hard to imagine a better
case scenario than to have the
dean (of the College of Engineer-
ing), the (University) president as
well as the governor and the pres-
ident of the United States all sup-
portive of the work we are doing,"
PEACE CORPS
From Page 1
office, and the fact that we have
many graduates going in to Peace
Corps, and then many Peace Corps
volunteers (are) coming back to
campus to get graduate degrees."
Since the University's nursing
program was added to the Peace
Corps website last month, the
school has alreadyreceived phone
inquiries about the program,
according to Davis. Currently,
more than 80 academic institu-
tions have Master's International
programs in various studies. The
Master's International program
was established in 1987.
Davis said she believes the
program will draw in students
because of its unique nature.
"We know the interest is out
there," Davis said. "People who
are already interested in Peace
Corps are looking at these pro-
grams and seeing that Michigan
has a nursing program, and we're
the only ones so far. It's specially
groomed to draw students who
are interested in service and in
nursing."
The University currently ranks
fifth in the number of Peace Corps
COLEMAN
From Page 1
edged that University officials
recognize that the buildings are
in "terrible" shape.
Harper and Coleman spoke
candidly about the University's
plans to update both the IM
Building and the Central Cam-
pus Recreation Building. The
University has already hired
consultants and is working
with a student advisory panel to
determine what the best course
of action should be, Harper said.
Coleman added that a sur-
vey sent to students last week
was intended to determine how
often students use the buildings,
and if students would be will-
ing to pay an additional fee to
underwrite the renovation and.
maintenance of the buildings.
"What most institutions do is
that they have a mandatory stu-
dent activities fee to fund recre-
ation facilities," Coleman said.
"We wanted to test to see if that
was acceptable to students."
Other construction projects
Coleman and Harper addressed
include plans for a new School
of Nursing building, renovated
laboratories on Central Campus
and expanded laboratory facili-
ties on North Campus.
Like recent fireside chats,
Harper and Coleman again
addressed transportation dif-
ficulties for students traveling
between North and Central
Campuses.
Kinesiology freshman Andrea
Neal said.
There are several practicums at
the centerin whichstudentslearn
to apply entrepreneurial skills
to coordinate with University-
affiliated and student-organized
groups on a number of events and
programs, including TechArb
and 1000 Pitches - MPowered's
annual entrepreneurial competi-
tion.
BusinessjuniorAlex Schiff said
the practicums have been among
his favorite classes at the Univer-
sity. Schiff, a former Michigan
Daily columnist and co-founder
of Fetchnotes, an online note-tak-
ing application for short messages
and notes, said the Entrepreneur-
ship Practicum helped him devel-
op the idea for his company.
Engineering alum Gillian Hen-
ker is the co-founder of Design
Innovations for Infants and
Mothers Everywhere, a company
that develops low-cost medical
devices for emerging markets.
She said the Center for Entre-
preneurship taught her to better
communicate with professionals
in the business world, adding that
the practicum she took was "a
great way for hands-on learning."
Henker said one of the great-
est benefits of the center for her
company was being a part of
TechArb.
"Within TechArb, we've defi-
nitely evolved as a business sig-
nificantly," Henker said.
Henker added that entrepre-
neurship is burgeoning at the
University, as students and facul-
ty continue to develop innovative
business ventures.
"Professors are realizing that
having this entrepreneurial skill
set will better prepare people,"
Henker said.
volunteers, nationwide. Accord-
ing to Davis, it was only natural
that the University took the lead
in implementing the new nursing
program because of its close ties
to the Peace Corps.
"I think it's keeping with our
tradition with the Peace Corps,"
Davis said. "It makes sense that
we would be at the forefront of
something like this, we have a
history with the Peace Corps."
The University has a storied
history with the Peace Corps,
starting with former Kennedy's
impromptu speech late at night
to students on the steps of the
Michigan Union in 1960 as he
campaigned for president.
In his speech, Kennedy encour-
aged students to spend two years
assisting people in countries
around the world. This call to
action inspired University, stu-
dents to sign a petition pledging
to volunteer their time abroad,
which led to the formation of the
Peace Corps in 1961.
In fall 2010, the University
commemorated the 50th anniver-
sary of the Peace Corps program
with various symposiums and
events, including a 2 a.m. reen-
actment of Kennedy's original
speech.
Acosta inquired about how
the University was addressing
transportation between the two
campuses, particularly during
peak hours. Coleman highlight-
ed the fact that Harper has been
riding the buses to better under-
stand the situation facing stu-
dents living on North Campus.
"I feel your pain," Harper
said, in regards to experiencing
bus transportation.
Harper said she is continuing
to work with the University's
Parking and Transportation
Services to improve transporta-
tion for students, adding she is
frustrated by the failure of PTS
to consider ' the time students
spend waiting and walking to
the bus when measuring perfor-
mance.
"They are really clocking 'get
on the bus, get off the bus,' but
that's not the lived experience,"
Harper said. "It's leave my house,
wait, get on the bus, get off the
bus (and) walk. Transportation
is (only) clocking when the bus is
supposed to be there, so we keep
having intense conversations."
According to Coleman, the
University is currently in the
process of acquiring new buses
to alleviate congestion. Harper
said adding buses would comple-
ment existing transportation
resources, which will provide
better operating hours both on
weekdays and weekends.
"Particularly, students on
North Campus say they still
live on the weekends, so they'd
like to be able to travel," Harper
said.
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