The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, March 23, 2012 - 3
The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Friday, March 23, 2012 - 3
NEWS BRIEFS
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich.
Durbin to fight
polluting ferry
The U.S. Senate's second-
ranking Democrat said yesterday
he would fight a Michigan fer-
ryboat company's plan to con-
tinue dumping coal ash into Lake
Michigan while researching a
new method of powering the ves-
sel.
Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois
described as "far-fetched" a pro-
posal by Lake Michigan Carferry
Service to convert the S.S. Badger,
the nation's last working coal-
powered steamship, to liquefied
natural gas. The 410-foot Bad-
ger hauls about 100,000 passen-
gers and 30,000 vehicles a year
between Ludington and Manito-
woc, Wis., operating from mid-
May and mid-October.
It discharges more than 500
tons of waste ash from its coal
boilers during a typical season.
Coal ash contains trace amounts
of heavy metals including arsenic,
lead and mercury.
DALLAS
Komen execs
out over Planned
Parenthood flap
At least five high-rankingexec-
utives with the Susan G. Komen
for the Cure breast cancer char-
ity have resigned in the aftermath
of the organization's decision to
eliminate its funding for Planned
Parenthood.
The departures include three
officials from Komen's Dallas
headquarters, as well as CEOs
of affiliate groups in Oregon and
New York City. Although some
cited personal reasons, the resig-
nations suggest that Komen is still
in turmoil, even after reversing
course and restoring the money
to Planned Parenthood.
Komen spokeswoman Leslie
Aun said she could not speak to
individuals' reasons for leaving
but acknowledged the effects of
the controversy among support-
ers.-
KABUL, Afghanistan
Afghanistan to
look at every detail
in pact with U.S.
Afghanistan's president said
yesterday that his government
is "taking a magnifying glass" to
proposals for the country's stra-
tegic partnership deal with the
United States.
In a speech at the graduation
ceremony for Afghanistan's mili-
tary academy, Hamid Karzai also
reiterated a pledge that any deal
reached will respect Afghan sov-
ereignty.
Talks on the pact, which will
set the rules for U.S. troops who
stay on after the majority of com-
bat forces leave in 2014, have
stalled on several occasions in
recent months as Karzai has
demanded more control over how
American forces operate in the
country.
Afghan and U.S. officials both
say they want to sign the deal by
a NATO summit in May.
MEXICO CITY
Hackers shut down
* sites for Pope's
upcoming visit
The hacker group Anony-
mous in Mexico crashed at least
two of the websites for Pope
Benedict XVI's upcoming visit
to Mexico on Thursday, claim-
ing the papal visit is a political
move to support the conserva-
tive National Action party.
Samuel Najera, spokesman
for the Mexican Episcopal Con-
ference, said its web page on the
papal visit was blocked by "a
cyber attack."
W "We have been aware of the
threat that has been making the
rounds on social networks, that
was brought to fruition today,"
Najera said.
"For the moment, this does
damage to the logistics" of the
papal visit, Najera said.
0 -Compiled from
Daily wire reports
NEW REPUBLIC
From Page 1
detail complicated econom-
ics and governmental affairs,
Scheiber said he tried to write it
in a way that most people could
understand.
"I tried to keep it as free of
Washington jargon or econom-
ics jargon as possible," he said. "I
tried to make ... the explanations
pretty intuitive."
Scheiber explained the most
important element of his book
is that it's built around the indi-
vidual characters involved in
the financial decision making
process. Scheiber said he tried
to geta real sense of Obama's key
advisers by interviewing every-
one from their high school class-
mates to current colleagues.
"There's this small group of
people who had a ton of power
and responsibility at the begin-
ning of the administration,"
he said. "The hope of the book
was to try to help you under-
stand why they made the deci-
sions they made and what they
brought to it themselves."
During the lecture, the main
topic of discussion was whether
or not Obama's bipartisan atti-
tude was a strategic move or
political naivety. After the lec-
ture, Scheiber participated in
a question and answer session,
to further discuss the differing
opinions.
Public Policy Prof. John Cior-
ciari said the Ford School invited
Scheiber to speak because his
work deals with contemporary
economic policy and resolving
the economic crisis, popular dis-
cussion topics within the school.
"It seemed like it would both
be a good opportunity to have a
book that's gotten a lot of good
coverage, to have him discuss
that, but also to deal with a topic
that we know interests a lot of
our students and community,"
Ciorciari said.
Ann Arbor resident Bill Tyler
said while he hasn't read the
book yet, he is impressed with
the way Scheiber writes and
expresses his ideas in The New
Republic.
"I read a book review of it in
The New York Times," Tyler
said. "(Scheiber) received a very
good review, and I'm interest-
ed in how he'll summarize the
issues in the book here, and how
he'll present his sources."
LSA freshman Sarah Myint
said while she was glad she
came to the lecture, she didn't
plan to buy Scheiber's book and
was frustrated that the discus-
sion focused largely on party
politics.
"I was really looking for an
unbiased talk," Myint said. "I
still felt there was a bias in favor
of Obama, and I was unflattered
with the bias against the Repub-
licans that I heard."
Though Myint was unim-
pressed, Ciorciari said he'
thought the event went well.
"Even on a day when it's
warm and the weather's beauti-
ful and people have other things
to do, we managed to get some
students, we have some faculty,
we also had a lot of people from
the community who came in,
and that's sort of the purpose of
this," Ciorciari said.
DRUG
From Page 1
idosis Type IV. Additionally, he
noted that it may be able to treat
neurodegenerative diseases like
Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
Xu noted that his team has
always had a keen interest in
understanding the calcium-flow
process and its effect on the lys-
osome.
"Researchers (compared)
various functions with diseased
and non-diseased control cells,"
Xu said. "We found that calcium
flow, but not other functions, is
reduced specifically in diseased
cells."
Xu said a method known as
calcium imaging led the team to
find and synthesize new chemi-
cals that have the potential to
increase calcium flow to the
lysosome.
"Once we found the chemi-
cals, we tested their effects in
cellular recycling, which is also
commonly known as lysosomal
transport," Xu said.
However, Xu said more
research is necessary before
commercialization of the drug,
including additional experi-
ments and optimizationofchem-
icals for better performance.
"We need at least two years
to conduct these animal experi-
ments, and if these experiments
are successful we will consider
pre-clinical and clinical trials on
human patients," Xu said.
Rackham student Dong-
biao Shen, a graduate student
research assistant in Xu's lab,
said he believes the science
behind the drug is groundbreak-
ing.
"Our work introduced a novel
concept of enhancing cellular-
waste clearance by manipulat-
ing (the protein) TRPML1 with
small molecular drugs," Shen
said. "This work might provide
an alternative strategy to treat
lysosomal storage disorders and
common neurodegenerative dis-
orders."
On March 13, the team pub-
lished their findings in Nature
Communications, a multidis-
ciplinary journal that prints
research in biological, physical
and chemical sciences.
LEARNING
From Page 1
world," he said. "(We have) a tre-
mendous opportunity to improve
in the state of science education."
Following several years of
teaching and mentoring gradu-
ate students, Wieman said he
realized his students did not
emerge as competent physicists
until they had spent at least two
to four years in the lab. He added
that this insight significantly
changed his teaching methodol-
ogy, and he began to center his
classes more on engaging and
motivatingstudents with materi-
al they had studied before class,
rather than transmitting new
information.
"There (was) some fundamen-
tal underlying reason for this,"
he said. "I started approaching
teaching and learning just howI
approached science."
Wieman added that students
need intensive practice to devel-
op an expertise in their subject.
"You have to go do this for
10,000 hours and you get to
world-class expertise and really
a different brain," he said.
He added that this technique
has been confirmed by studies
that show students learn more
effectively when a professor uses
quizzes and interactive lecture
materials in class.
"Traditional lectures (are) not
an effective way to learn," he
said. "We're not being ineffec-
tive in our teaching, we're being
anti-effective."
Wieman cautioned that the
new approach is difficult for
many professors to adapt to
because they often resist change,
and there is little incentive to
restructure lessons because
many universities focus on
research rather than teaching.
Rackham student Mark Rep-
pell said he came to the lecture
because he might be interested
in teaching in the future, add-
ing that interactive classes have
been most helpful in his learning
experiences.
"I feel like when you are
engaged and you have to actu-
ally think during the class peri-
od instead of just writing notes
mindlessly are actually classes
I've learned the most in," he said.
"Incorporating that into classes
is a good idea, especially in math
and science."
Math Prof. Robert Krasny
said he found the lecture inter-
esting, but noted that he already
employs Wieman's recommen-
dations in his own teaching.
"I am encouraged by what he
says and inspired, but I think I'm
already doing it and I just intend
to keep on doing it," he said.
Krasny said small classes and
an incentive for faculty to alter
their teaching styles are "abso-
lutely crucial" in improving sci-
ence and engineering education
at the University.
Obama lauds his energy policy
President
visits site of
potential pipeline
construction
CUSHING, Okla. (AP) -
President Barack Obama firm-
ly defended his record on oil
drilling Thursday, ordering the
government to fast-track an
Oklahoma pipeline while accus-
ing Congress of playing politics
with a larger Canada-to-Gulf
Coast project.
Deep in Republican oil coun-
try, Obama said lawmakers
refused to give his administra-
tion enough time review the con-
troversial 1,170-mile Keystone
XL pipeline in order to ensure
that it wouldn't compromise the
health and safety of people liv-
ing in surrounding areas.
"Unfortunately, Congress
decided they wanted their own
timeline," Obama said. "Not
the company, not the experts,
but members of Congress who
decided this might be a fun
political issue decided to try to
intervene and make it impos-
sible for us to make an informed
decision."
Facing fresh criticism from
Republicans who blame him
for gas prices near $4 a gallon,
Obama announced Thursday
that he was directing federal
agencies to expedite the south-
ern segment of the Keystone
line. The 485-mile line will run
from Cushing, Okla., to refiner-
ies on Texas' Gulf Coast, remov-
ing a critical bottleneck in the
country's oil transportation
system. The directive would
also apply to other pipelines that
alleviate choke points.
"Anyone who says that we're
somehow suppressing domestic
oil production isn't paying atten-
tion," Obama said, speaking at
the site of the new Oklahoma
project.
Republicans said the moves
were little more than a publicity
stunt, arguing that it wouldn't
help Canadian company Trans-
Canada build the pipeline any
sooner. Construction is expect-
ed to begin in June with comple-
tion next year.
"The American people can't
afford more half-measures on
energy from the president," said
Kirsten Kukowski, a Republican
National Committee spokes-
woman. "No matter what he
says, the reality is he killed the
Keystone pipeline and the ener-
gy production and 20,000 jobs
that went with it."
Environmentalists were also
critical of Obama's move. Susan
Casey-Lefkowitz of the Natural
Resources Defense Council said
it was "downright foolhardy to
cut corners on safety reviews
for permitting" the Texas-to-
Oklahomaline, "especially when
the industry has a history of oil
spills."
Obama's order urges speedy
review of the Cushing project
and directs federal agencies to
incorporate previous environ-
mental studies of the Keystone
proposal that included the
southern route.
The use of previous studies
should help move the project
forward more quickly than if
a review of the project start-
ed from scratch, although it's
unclear exactly how much time
the expedited review will save.
Republicans call the presi-
dent's actions a belated attempt
to take credit for a project over
which he has relatively little
control. While federal agencies
such as the Army Corps of Engi-
neers and the Interior Depart-
ment play a role in the approval
process for the domestic por-
tion of the pipeline, states have
a more direct say in approving
the route.
Shawn Howard, a spokes-
man for TransCanada, said the
company welcomed Obama's
support for the Oklahoma-to-
Texas portion of the pipeline
but couldn't say whether his
involvement would impact the
timeline for completing the
project.
The full Keystone pipeline
became a political flashpoint
late last year when congressio-
nal Republicans wrote a provi-
sion forcing Obama to make a
decision and environmental
groups waged a campaign to kill
the project. Obama delayed the
project in January.
Obama has been highlighting
his energy agenda this week in
Nevada, New Mexico, Oklaho-
ma and later Thursday in battle-
ground Ohio, a trip that reflects
the degree to which high gas
prices have begun hitting con-
sumers in their pocketbooks.
For Obama's advisers, rising
gas prices pose a threat to his
re-election bid because they
could undermine the benefits
of a payroll tax cut that he made
the centerpiece of his jobs agen-
da last fall - Congress approved
the tax cut extension in Febru-
ary - and throttle the economic
recovery.
Republicans view rising gas
prices as emblematic of Obama's
energy record and hope to
tag him with the blame even
though no president has much
control over prices at the pump.
Gas prices have risen more than
50 cents a gallon since January
in response to a standoff over
Iran's nuclear program that has
threatened to disrupt Middle
East oil supplies.
GOP presidential hopeful
Rick Santorum, campaigning
at a Harvey, La., company that
services oil rigs, said Obama's
administration should open
more federal lands for leases to
boost U.S. oil production and
revenue for the federal govern-
ment.
"Here's an opportunity for us
in this country to do something
about it: increasing jobs, lower-
ing energy prices, decreasing
the deficit, all of the things you
would think the president of
the United States would be for,"
Santorum said.
Mitt Romney, Santorum's
chief rival for the Republi-
can nomination, has labeled
Obama's top energy advisers
the "gas hike trio," urging the
president to fire three Cabinet
secretaries because of the high
prices.
Obama was ending the day
with a stop in battleground
Ohio, talking about automobile
research and development at
Ohio State University in Colum-
bus. The president has cited his
decision to raise fuel efficiency
standards to 55 miles per gallon
for new vehicles by 2025 as an
important step in conserving oil
and savingconsumers at the gas
pump.
HEARING
From Page 1
of some these cases are, that's
going to look poorly on the indi-
viduals who have allegedly par-
ticipated in some actions that
violate the election code," he
said.
Even when the prelimi-
nary results are released, it is
unlikely that the elections will
be truly over as other students
have expressed intentions to
file additional complaints with
the UEC.
LSA junior Sean Walser, the
chair of MForward, said his
party already plans to file com-
plaints if preliminary results
show that they lost.
"We do have several com-
CANNING
From Page 1A
students.
"I'm really excited for next
year and to really get the ball
rolling with all of our initia-
tives," Canning said. "Melissa
and I, in speaking to a lot of
different student groups on
campus, have already started
brainstorming campus-wide
initiatives to roll out with a lot
of collaborators."
Canning said a major focus of
her administration will be con-
necting with students.
"We want to hear their input
and really want to empower
campus leaders to get involved
and to really be able appreciate
... their role as LSA students,"
she said.
Despite her enthusiasm, Can-
ning said last night that home-
work will be taking precedence
today before she begins work
choosing her executive board,
but only temporarily.
"Tomorrow morning I actu-
ally will be working on my
thesis proposal, so I'm going to
have put student government
aside for the day," Canning said.
"But for the rest the weekend
I'll be fully devoted to choosing
our new executive board."
In addition to the candidates
up for election, students also
voted on a number of ballot
initiatives. LSA students voted
on modernizing changes to
LSA-SG's by removing the LSA
judiciary and simplifying the
plaints ready to file should we
lose. We have various infrac-
tions that have been complet-
ed and we believe that would
result in demerits," Walser said.
"We would be willing to file
those ... against various parties"
Parikh said that after the
divisive climate generated from
yesterday's election, it's impor-
tant that student government
works toward increasing unity
among student groups and indi-
viduals moving forward.
"I think what this campus
requires right now, no mat-
ter who wins this election, is
unity, not division," Parikh
said. "There have been various
incidents over the past year that
have split campus, events like
that have kind of split campus
along party lines."
organization's mission state-
ment.
The LSA-judiciary has not
been active for a number of
years and all LSA-SG dis-
putes are settled by the Cen-
tral Student Judiciary,andthe
amendment simply codified the
practice.
The new mission statement
also became much shorter than
the original document. The
constitutional changes were
approved by the voters 88 per-
cent to 12 percent.
Another initiative asked stu-
dents whether they would sup-
port the availability and use of
University-approved reusable
water bottles in Michigan Sta-
dium during football games.
Currently water bottles are
not allowed to be brought into
the stadium, but 65.8 percent
of respondents said they would
support this initiative and buy
the water bottles.
The third question gauged
support for letting students
who conduct research teach
one-credit classes about their
findings. Only 6.5 percent of
respondents said they would
disapprove of this measure.
Another 9.7 percent said they
had no opinion.
The final measure asked
whether students would be
supportive of a new religion
major. While less than 13 per-
cent of students said they
would be interested in major-
ing or minoring in Religion, 67.1
percent thought the program
would be beneficial to other
students.
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