The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Thursday, March 22, 2012 - 3A
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Thursday, March 22, 2012 - 3A
* NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Panel: Detroit in
"severe financial
emergency"
A review team appointed by
Gov. Rick Snyder to examine
Detroit's troubled finances deter-
mined yesterday that a "severe
financial emergency" exists in the
city, a finding that could lead to
the appointment of an emergency
manager should state and city
leaders fail to agree on an alterna-
tive solution in time.
Before the unanimous vote
clarifying the depths of Detroit's
fiscal problems, review team
member and former Michigan
Supreme Court Justice Conrad
Mallett Jr. said the city's "old way
of doing things has got to stop."
The panel's vote came one day
after an Ingham County judge
sidelined a state-appointed emer-
gency manager for the city of
Flint, putting the mayor and City
Council back in charge because of
open meetings violations. Michi-
gan officials criticized the Flint
ruling yesterday and pledged to
appeal.
BOULDER CITY, Nev.
Obama pledges to
* pursue promise of
clean energy
President Barack Obama says
that as long as he is in the White
House, the U.S. will continue to
pursue the promise of clean ener-
gy.
Speaking at a solar power facil-
ity, Obama says he will not stand
by and let countries like China or
Germany corner the market on
new energy technologies. He says
clean energy will not only reduce
America's dependence on foreign
oil, it also will create jobs in the
U.S.
Obama mocked Republicans
for having a lack of imagina-
tion and dismissing clean energy
technologies just because they
are new. The president says
America must take risks and stay
ahead of the curve in order to be
competitive.
TOULOUSE, France
Jewish leader:
Toulouse suspect
readied new attack
A French Jewish leader says
the gunman suspected in seven
recent killings and claiming alle-
giance to al-Qaida was about to
strike again.
Marc Sztulman of Jewish
group CRIF said President Nico-
las Sarkozy told community lead-
ers the suspect was ready to attack
again yesterday morning, before
French police decided to surround
his apartment building in the
southwestern city of Toulouse.
Twelve hours into the stand-
off between the gunman and
police, Sarkozy said the suspect is
still "surrounded by the forces of
order."
CAIRO
Egypt's Brother-
hood mulling run
for president
The Muslim Brotherhood,
Egypt's most powerful political
group, said yesterday it is consid-
ering running its own candidate
in upcoming presidential elec-
tions, dropping its previous deci-
sion to avoid direct participation
in the race.
The group appears to be play-
ing one of its last cards in a power
struggle against the ruling mili-
tary council, after it failed to
force the military to replace its
Cabinet with a new one appoint-
ed by the Islamist-dominated
parliament.
If a Brotherhood fields a can-
didate and wins the presidency,
the group would control the two
main branches of power. In par-
liamentary elections, the first
since a popular uprising unseat-
ed President Hosni Mubarak
last year, it won nearly half the
seats.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports
DOG THERAPY
From Page 1A
say how they miss their family
dog or how hard it was for them
to lose their dogs."
Farrehi said she rescued Tig-
ger from North Philadelphia a
few years ago, and she immedi-
ately realized Tigger's potential
to become a therapy dog due to
his friendly and calm demeanor.
"The human-animal con-
nection has been studied for
some time now," Farrehi said.
"We know pets can help reduce
stress, blood pressure and even
make us healthier."
Farrehi added that she start-
ed developing the program last
year and piloted "therapy dog
hours" in partnership with the
Counseling and Psychological
Services and College of Engi-
neering this academic year. The
official office hours program
was approved this semester,
Farrehi said.
"Students usually come to
visit Tigger when they are
stressed out and need to relax,"
Farrehi said. "The therapy dog
is there for students to pet and
interact with, and generally help
them feel good."
According to Farrehi, the
feedback from students has
been entirely positive and has
garnered enthusiasm around
campus from students of all aca-
demic disciplines.
"We joke that Tigger's paws
never hit the ground while he's
on campus because everyone
wants to hold him," Farrehi said.
"We've had such a wide range
of students, and Tigger is lov-
ingly referred to as 'Dr. Tiggs' by
many students."
Laura Blake Jones, associate
vice president for student affairs
and dean of students, said Tig-
ger provides the College of
Engineering with an innovative
approach for the COE to reach
out to students.
"There is a growing body of
research that supports the use of
pet therapy in medical settings
and schools," Jones said.
Jones added that pet therapy
is an effective way to supple-
ment conventional counseling
methods offered on campus.
"All those connections and
conduits to help get students
to the resources and having a
healthy campus community is
what we are about doing," Jones
said. "And this is an important
part of it."
Engineering Dean David
Munson said he believes many
mental problems commonly
affecting large communities
also impact University students.
"We are not immune. Men-
tal health issues are prevalent
and need to be de-stigmatized,"
Munson said. "We need to
be proactive and care for one
another. Fortunately, we have
outstanding resources on our
campus to assist in this effort."
A March 6 National Public
Radio story highlighted many
of the physical and psychologi-
cal therapeutic benefits students
can receive through spending
time with animals.
Rebecca Johnson, director of
the Research Center for Human-
Animal Interaction at the Uni-
versity of Missouri's Sinclair
School of Nursing, told NPR that
an individual's level of oxytocin
rises after an interaction with
animals.
Johnson pointed out that not'
only does oxytocin induces feel-
ings of joy within humans, it
also has profound effects on our
brain's ability to heal and gener-
ate new cells.
Engineering senior Luree
Brown said her experience with
the therapy dog has been very
positive.
"You just look into his eyes,
and you instantly feel better,"
Brown said. "Dogs have an abil-
ity to tell your feelings, and he
returns the love that you need.
Mental healthiness is almost the
hardest healthiness to obtain,
however, Dr. Tiggs makes it
easy."
Brown added that a therapy
dog takes away the anxiety some
people have when seeking con-
ventional therapy.
"The therapy dog greets you
with excited wags of his tail,"
Brown said. "I think that he
has become a celebrity on cam-
pus now. People from all majors
(and) ages are lining up just to
have a session."
RECYCLING
From Page 1A
"We had a little bit of a blip
last year because a lot of people
were donating their used fea-
ture phones, wanting to buy new
smart phones," he said. "We had
to work down our inventory a
little bit, but we're back on the
growth curve and growing20-25
percent a year."
McKeown said the company
prefers "recommercing" the
phones they receive because it
allows for the reuse of old phones
instead of remakingnew ones.
"Recommercing is better than
recycling because it gives (cell
phones) a second or third life and
you won't have to make a new
one," he said. "Those phones
that are at the end of their useful
life, we recycle those with our
recycling partners. We're zero
landfill ... we audit our partners
so we make sure we have things
done the right way."
McKeown said the environ-
mental impact ReCellular has
made has been significant.
"We've saved hundreds of
thousands of pounds of landfill,"
he said. "We recycle enough
gold to make five to six thousand
wedding bands, and we recycle
enough copper to actually wrap
the Statue of Liberty."
Rita Loch-Caruso, aprofessor
in the School of Public Health
and the Department of Envi-
ronmental Health Sciences, said
improper disposal of electronic
devices can be hazardous to the
environment because they can
release potent chemicals into
the air.
"Among the many concerns,
electronic devices have toxic
chemicals that can get released
into the environment during
recycling," she said. "Exposure
of workers (in the recycling
industry) is also a concern."
Loch-Caruso explained that
many of the harmful chemicals
that electronics emit are "endo-
crine disruptors," which means
that they interfere with hor-
mones in humans and animals
and can result in a variety of
permanent developmental prob-
lems.
LSA senior Jennifer Thomas
said she switches phones when
her contract ends every two
years, and chooses to keep her
old phones rather than throw
them away or recyclingthem.
"I don't think I've ever
thrown (a cell phone) away,"
Thomas said. "I feel like I have
a stock pile at home ... I gave my
latest one to my nephew to play
with."
LSA junior Megan Cole
explained that while she recy-
cled her first phone herself, her
current carrier, AT&T, now recy-
cles her phones for her.
"When I was with Verizon
still, I took it to an electronic
recycler, but the second time
when I switched, AT&T took it at
the store," she said.
i
HEALTH CARE
From Page 1A
said. "Everything we can do to
assure a higher level of insurance
for poor students is a good idea."
Winfield added that while
more than 3,000 students sub-
scribed to University-offered
insurance program a decade
ago when premiums were about
$1,000, only 1,350 students are
enrolled today as premiums are
now near $3,000.
"We are seeing people drop
out at the rate of 150 to 250 (stu-
dents) every year," Winfield said.
"We're facing this problem and
not yet sure how to solve it."
The UHS survey also found
that of the students who have
insurance coverage, 67 percent
responded that they were cov-
ered by their parents' plans,
while 30 percent said they were
not and 3 percent said they were
unsure. Of those who were cov-
ered by their parents' plans, 80
percent said they were covered
before the enactment of the
health care reform.
"Every time you manipulate
something, you change the cost
of the insurance, and students
are price-sensitive," Winfield
said. "I would prefer to see that
all students have to have a mini-
mum level of health insurance.
I think that is not explicit in the
ACA law, which says everybody
should have health insurance, but
the penalty is such that it doesn't
really rise to the level of feeling
mandatory."
Mark Fendrick, co-director of
the University's Center for Value-
Based Insurance Design, said one
of the most important facets of
the reforms is the free high-prior-
ity preventative care Americans,
including University students,
can now receive with no co-pay.
These "high-value preventive
treatments" include obesitycoun-
seling, immunizations, cholester-
ol screening, depression testing,
tobacco use counseling and tests
for sexually transmitted diseases,
according to Fendrick.
"It's been very exciting to see
a report from the Kaiser Fam-
ily Foundation that showed that
approximately 73 million Ameri-
cans between the ages of 0 and
64 have private coverage, and
because of this expansion of pre-
ventive services in the Affordable
Care Act, 54 million Americans
have access to high-value preven-
tive treatments that they did not
have before," Fendrick said.
In November, Fendrick was
invited by the offices of Sen. Tom
Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Mike
Enzi (R-Wyo) to testify before the Affordable Care Act and the
the Senate Committee on Health, health plans to take the results of
Education, Labor & Pensions those screenings one step further
about a policy developed by the to allow those individuals who test
University regarding the value- positive easy access to providers
based insurance design. Fendrick and treatments," Fendrick said.
explained that the model includes Winfield said financial aid for
reducing barriers, such as co- health care coverage would be
pays, for patients and providing preferable, but not probable with
access to some of the high-value the current economic climate. He
medical services that were includ- added that students face a double-
ed in Obama's health care law. edged sword when choosing to
Fendrick added that the cover- pay for their own health insur-
age of preventative measures is a ance coverage.
good start, but there needs to be "If you don't have insurance
increased accessibility to treat- and you get sick, you have big
ment for individuals who are financial difficulties," Winfield
diagnosed as high-riskor test pos- said. "On the other hand, if you
itive in preventative medical tests. have insurance that's so expen-
"What I would love to seesive, then you might not be able
extended is, say, once a Univer- to stay in school. The lynchpin is
sity of Michigan student were financial aid, depending on the
to be screened for depression or cost of the insurance."
screened for sexually transmit-
ted diseases ... (I would like for)
VIOLATIONS
From Page 1A
hearing for that," Borock said.
"Yes, there are 10 hearings
scheduled, but that doesn't mean
there are 10 valid complaints or
any valid complaints."
Twenty-seven demerits have
already been issued to candi-
dates who missed a manda-
tory candidates' meeting. LSA
sophomore Louis Mirante, the
MForward vice presidential can-
didate, and LSA freshman Swati
Sudarsan, an MForward candi-
date for assembly representative,
each received two demerits as
the result of a complaint filed by
members of youMICH concern-
ing chalking on the Diag. Addi-
tionally, MForward, as a party,
received two demerits as a result
of the violation of chalking pol-
icy, which concerns guidelines
for proximity of campaign chalk
material to other campaigns'
advertising.
Since presidential and vice
presidential slates are issued
demerits as a pair and not indi-
vidually, Mirante and LSA junior
Aditya Sathi, the MForward
presidential candidate, have
three total demerits - Sathi
missed the candidates' meeting
and Mirante received two from
the hearing concerning chalk-
ing.
A source affiliated with CSG
who wished to remain annony-
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FACEBOOK
mous said these demerits have
been part of a strategic plan by
youMICH and OurMichigan to
remove their rivals through tech-
nicalities.
"OurMichigan seems to be
trying to sue other parties out of
the election and deny the student
body's democratic right to choose
which campaign should win,"
the source said. "youMICH,
although they haven't alleged as
many suits, tried to sue MFor-
ward out of the election."
The source added that you-
MICH alleged that each of
three instances of MForward's
supposed chalking infractions
should result in four demerits,
which would give MForward 12
total demerits. With 12 demerits,
MForward and all 37 of its candi-
dates would be disqualified from
the elections.
Of the 14 complaints, eight
Respondent observing it, it's doing a disser-
ent ytorMICH vice to all students," Mersol-Barg
yen MFor ward said. "It's not part of a strategy to
Iey Tina GallagherMFctrad win."
,en Manish Parikh(Independent) Borock added that there are
ty Tyktus Manish Par ikh(Independent) safeguards to prevent a campaign
youMICH from suing its way to electoral
victory, including a provision to
have been filed by LSA junior maintain "equity"
Robert Bowen. Bowen was for- "I interpret to mean that ... if
merly the campaign manager there are extenuating circum-
of MForward but Public Policy stances that the UEC can be more
junior Kevin Mersol-Barg, the lenient or if somethingis particu-
OurMichigan presidential candi- larly egregious, malicious, wan-
date, said Bowen is now affiliated ton, willful then we can be more
with the OurMichigan campaign.
Mersol-Barg also said the
source's claims about OurMichi-
gao are untrue.
"OurMichigan, for one, can
win on its own merits," he said.
"We have more endorsements
than any other candidate or slate
of tickets. I think our work speaks
for itself"
Mersol-Barg added that
wrongdoings by other parties '
were so egregiousthat OurMichi- L ''
gan also had to file complaints. t)
"If we let all of these other
candidates get away with com-
mitting these grave violations (to)
harsh," Borock said.
He continued, saying that a
candidate being disqualified does
not reflect well on the elections.
"I don't think that's good for
the University. I don't think
that's good for the students,"
Borock said. "The point of an
election is to have students
choose who their student body
leaders are."
Borock also mentioned that
turnout for the election has
already exceeded his expecta-
tions, noting that over 14 percent
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