The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
04e Tuesday, April 10, 2012 - 5
MINORS
From Page 1
Brown said if someone under
the age of 17 needs to be taken
into custody, they attempt to have
at least two officers on hand at all
times. She added that while most
University students are of age,
the University has an open cam-
pus, multiple summer camps and
the newly opened C.S. Mott Chil-
dren's and Von Voigtlander Wom-
en's Hospital, so younger people
often visit the University.
When University Housing
security suspects a student under
the age of 18 is consuming alcohol
in a residence hall, the policy is to
notify DPS. Brown said this policy
is in place to ensure that a parent
is notified and safety is ensured.
"The health (of students) is
always the primary concern,"
Brown said.
Li said she wishes this policy
had been better explained to her
when she came to campus.
"I felt like they could have done
a way better job educating us," Li
said.
SUSTAINABILITY
From Page 1
energy consumption at the Uni-
versity, as students often aren't
conscious about their electricity
use.
To combat this problem, the
University recently renovated sev-
eral residence halls and increased
overall* sustainability by imple-
menting energy-efficient technol-
ogy.
Robert Yurk, University direc-
tor of housing planning and
design, said the University is
attempting to surpass energy con-
sumption standards set forth by
the American Society of Heating,
Refrigerating and Air Condition-
ing Engineers.
"Our initiative is to exceed that
code by 30 percent so we're not
just meeting the minimum, but
exceeding that," Yurk said.
The newest energy conserva-
tion efforts will be implemented
during renovations on East Quad
and -Baits II Residence Halls this
summer, according to Logan.
"The work we are going to be
doingatBaits II this summer is not
only going to replace an old and
inefficient boiler, but also to look
at improving energy efficiency of
the windows and the roof system,"
Logan said.
Renovations to Couzens Resi-
dence Hall, which were com-
pleted in September, reused more
than 95 percent of the existing
building's external structures to
install low-flow shower heads,
" which aid in water conservation,
according to the University's
Division of Student Affairs.
ROBOTICS
From Page 1
ronment and infrastructure."
Burns showcased the futuris-
tic cars - which he, along with
a team from Google, designed -
through animations depicting the
automobile as lightweight, elec-
tric and able to communicate with
other autonomous cars so that
intersections can run smoothly
without stoplights or without
traffic slowing down.
Some of the robots displayed
at the event include a remote
controlled one that is being used
to map North Campus, a smart
wheelchair programmed to navi-
gate routes and detect obstacles,
and an autonomous robotic air-
craft.
Engineering senior Adrian
Underage students who are
treated at University Health Ser-
vices also have different proce-
dures from legal adults. UHS
director Robert Winfield, Univer-
sity chief health officer, also said
many of their policies were made
because of state law.
Winfield added that if there is a
"substantive problem," like stitch-
es or antibiotics, UHS will try its
best to get in contact with a parent
and get permission fist. However,
for minorillness like colds, parent
notification is not usually needed.
"We try to behave responsibly
and within the limits of what the
law dictates," Winfield said.
Even when an underage stu-
dent does not want their par-
ents notified, UHS is sometimes
required to do so in certain situ-
ations, Winfield said. However,
according to state law, doctors
are exempt from this requirement
if the medical treatment is about
STDs or drug additions.
At most emergency rooms,
when dealing with time-sensi-
tive medical issues involving an
underage student, policy is to
"stabilize" them and then make
every effort to call a parent, Win-
field said. If it is an emergency,
they will immediately begin
treatment and then try to contact
dependents.
LSA freshman Angubeen
Khan, a student who was 17 when
she began college, said she real-
ized that UHS did oot receive her.
medical forms upon starting at
the University. Many of the forms
required a parent's signature, so
it took extra time for the forms to
travel from her, to her parents and
then to UHS.
"It could have taken a day and
the process ended up taking two
weeks," Khan said.
Being underage can also hinder
student socially. Both Khan and
Li recalled not being able to have
fun with some of their friends
when they went to clubs in Ann
Arbor since they typically require
patrons to be at least 18 years old
to enter.
Despite this, they said they
were able to find other ways to
meet people and enjoy their time
at the University.
"I still found other things to
do," Khan said.
BURKE
From Page 1
Burke said he consulted Mor-
ris as he made his decision, and
Morris told him to make sure he
would have no.regrets about his
choice. Burke said he ultimately
made his decision on Wednesday
during his drive home to Colum-
bus.
With Burke's return, Michi-
gan remains a projected top-
10 team in the country next
season, aided by the arrival of
recruits Glenn Robinson III,
Mitch McGary, Nik Stauskas and
recently added point guard Spike
Albrecht.
"Losing our first game to Ohio
was one of the most disappoint-
ing times of the year for us,"
Burke said. "And I just felt like
we have some unfinished busi-
ness. With the recruits coming
in, with the returning players, I
feel like we have a great chance
of winning a national champion-
ship.
"I just saw how bright the
future was for this team."
It's the third-straight offsea-
son that Michigan coach John
Beilein has dealt with having his
best talent set their sights.a little
higher. After the 2009-10 season,
guard Manny Harris left after
his junior year, and last season,
Morris entered the draft after
his second year.
Burke, could have continued
the trend, but he chose to go the
other way.
"It's a good problem to have,"
Beilein said. "We've got some
young men that really have
potential to play in the NBA, so
we want them to look at this,
take their time, do it the right
way. We never want them to have
any regrets."
Burke's teammates were large-
ly uninvolved in the decision.
"Some of us would talk to
him here and there," sopho-
more guard Tim Hardaway Jr.
said. "But we knew it was a lot of
stress dealing with this, and we
tried to stand back as far as pos-
sible because we know it was a
tough decision."
Burke defied all expectations
this season. He turned out to be
just as good, or even better, than
Morris, leading Michigan to its
first Big Ten Championship since
1986 and racking up plenty of
accolades for it. After averaging
14.8 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.6
assists, he was named Big Ten
co-Freshman of the Year, select-
ed to the All-Big Ten Second
Team and got the nod as an AP
All-America honorable mention.
He continued to challenge
these expectations well after the
season ended. Fans were sur-
prised when his father said that
Burke was "seriously consider-
ing" entering the draft, and he
dropped another surprise when
he decided to remain at Michi-
gan after many outside of the
program were resigned to him
leaving.
"Time will say what was the
best decision for him," Beilein
said. "I think it was a great deci-
sion for Michigan basketball."
Outside Ann Arbor, other Big
Ten universities have also made a
continued effort to focus on sus-
tainable efforts.
According to the Illinois Cli-
mate Action Plan, the University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
is aiming to meet at least 5 per-
cent of its electrical energy needs
through renewable energy sys-
tems by 2015 and 25 percent of
these needs by 2025.
U of I spokesman Timothy
Andrew Blacker said Illinois has
achieved over 99, percent of the
school's seven-year goal in just
three years.
"These are indeed incredible
results but should not be taken
as an opportunity to change our
focus," Blacker said.
U of I has seen a 19-percent
decrease in energy consumption
in its main campus buildings in
the 2010 fiscal year, as compared
to the 2008 fiscal year.
Indiana University, mean-
while, is implementing similar
initiatives by setting achievement
goals for carbon neutrality
efforts. University officials there
have worked to spread behavior
modification strategies to stu-
dents and staff and utilize new
building designs to maximize
efficiency.
Benjamin Inskeep, IU's sus-
tainability metrics, evaluation
and planning intern, said the
school is attempting to control
energy use despite a growing stu-
dent population.
Inskeep said total energy con-
sumption at IU increased 15.8
percent from the 2005 fiscal year
to the 2010 fiscal year.
He added that between 2005
Choy, president of UM::Autonomy,
demonstrated his club's RoboB-
oat at the event. The autonomous
RoboBoat was created by the club
to compete at the International
RoboBoat Competition and is pro-
grammed to drive itself through
a buoy coarse and complete
tasks without instruction from a
human, Choy said.
Choy said he became interested
in both the project and robotics
because of the innovative spirit
he saw in his teammates.
"The definition of robotics is
pretty loose, so when people say
that they do robotics, I assume
they do anything as they want
with engineering," Choy said.
"Half of it is practical, but most
of it is just seeing if their crazy
ideas will work in the end. You
get around with a bunch of crazy
people that want to take engi-
and 2010, the school's student
population increased from 37,958
to 42,347. Total building square
footage and energy costs also
grew during the period, which
pressed the school to improve
energy efficiency.
Similar to IU and the Univer-
sity of Illinois, the University of
Michigan's past endeavors have
proven to be a success.
According to Planet Blue Oper-
ations, the University avoided
$5.2 million in utility costs in
2010 through Planet Blue's over-
sight. In addition, the University
has reduced overall energy use
by 14 percent since 2010 from the
Planet Blue energy-saving pro-
gram.
The Shapiro Undergradu-
ate Library, one of the buildings
working with Planet Blue Opera-
tions, has decreased energy con-
sumption by 37 percent in the last
fiscal year, which translates to
approximately $360,000 saved,
according to the program's site.
The UGLi also conserved gen-
eration of 1,125 metric tons per
year of carbon dioxide from 2010
to 2011, which is equivalent to
removing 225 automobiles from
the roads.
Despite an uptick in environ-
mental awareness in recent years,
Logan said progress cannot
continue without assistance of
University students, and the Uni-
versity plans to reduce and reallo-
cate $120 million through energy
conservation by 2017.
"We recognize the fact that
energy conservation and efficien-
cies in a residence hall depend a
great deal on student behavior,"
Logan said.
neering further and mess around
with their ideas."
After the demonstrations, the
University hosted a ceremony in
which the panel members award-
ed high school robotics teams
merits for their robots. Students
from the Advanced Technology
Academy in Dearborn won first
place.
Mary Jo Ferguson, the team
coordinator for the Advanced
Technology Academy, said the
team attended the event because
it helped them practice dem-
onstrating and promoting their
robot.
"We are trying to practice talk-
ing about ourselves and our robot
because we are interviewing for a
Rookie All-Star award," Ferguson
said. "What brought us here was
to meet sponsors, but we've met a
lot of other cool teams too."
GSIkA
From Page 1
the Public Employment Rela-
tions Act 336 of 1947 to explicitly
identify GSRAs as students, not
public employees, which disal-
lows unionization. The Republi-
can-controlled House passed the
bill with immediate effect. Two-
thirds of representatives must
vote in support of immediate
effect of a bill, but the House has
been passing bills with a simple
voice vote, and Democrats argue
that their request for a roll-call
vote wasn't honored.
This gap in implementa-
tion would give the Michigan
Employment Relations Com-
mission time to rule on whether
GSRAs can unionize, an issue it
was scheduled to be discussed
before the bill passed with
immediate effect.
MERC will hold its monthly
meeting today and the abil-
ity for GSRAs to unionize will
be discussed. While there was
no certainty that MERC would
issue any ruling on the issue,
Lynn Morison, an attorney for
the state Bureau of Employ-
ment Relations, said MERC
could theoretically vote on the
issue.
Still, Morison emphasized
that MERC focuses to rule
according to the legislature, not
against it.
"It is MERC's role to adminis-
ter the law as it is," Morison said.
"Now if the law is changed then
it will be MERC's role to admin-
ister whatever it's changed to.
As far as I know, MERC is not
in any kind of dispute with any
part of any other part of govern-
ment. We're just trying to do the
role that has been assigned to
MERC by the Legislature."
Rackham student Liz
Rodrigues, communications
chair of the Graduate Employ-
ees Organization, said GSRAs
had been negatively impacted
when the bill was passed with
immediate effect before the
case was scheduled to be heard
by MERC a month ago.
"The damage has already
been done," Rodrigues said.
"The MERC ruling has been
denied to the GSRAs so they
won't have a, chance to have
their status as workers recog-
nized."
Rodrigues said the next step
for GEO is a ballot initiative
in the fall to "protect collec-
tive bargaining rights." Unions
throughout the state are work-
ing to get an initiative on the
ballot that would forbid right-
to-work legislation.
Stephen Raiman, founder of
Students Against GSRA Union-
ization, said he was pleased
that the Ingham County Court
decision against immediate
effect was being reviewed, but
he added that he did not believe
it was appropriate for the bill
to be a political battle between
Republicans and Democrats,
"The court has decided to
leave our bill out of the parti-
san fight over legislative proce-
dure," Raiman said. "We're not
interested in being involved and
we're upset that the union and
the Democrats in the House of
Representatives have chosen to
involve us in this battle that we
want no part of."
State Rep. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann
Arbor) said he was "disappoint-
ed" with the Republicans' use
of immediate effect. He noted
that more than the required
number of representatives have
been calling for roll call votes
on many bills that Republicans
had been passing with immedi-
ate effect.
"I'm glad that the court of
appeals is going to take this
on," Irwin said. "I'm glad that
they're going to the look at the
details of this insidious practice
that the House of Representa-
tives has fallen into."
Irwin added that using
immediate effect for legislation
is a tactic that has been used by
both Republicans and Demo-
crats in the past, but argued that
does not mean its use is justi-
fied.
"If in the past, either Demo-
crats or Republicans ignored
that constitutional provision,
they were wrong to do it then
and they're wrong to do it now,"
Irwin said. "We're just trying
to stand up for what's obviously
right and keep the Republicans
accountable for the people of
the state of Michigan."
Irwin said the use of immedi-
ate effect by the Legislature has
"degenerated" over time.
"Now, in 2012 and 2011,
immediate effect votes we're
just like a reflex," Irwin said.
"It's gotten to the point now
where it's completely routine
and it's completely against the
spirit and the letter of the con-
stitution ... It's never been this
bad."
Irwin, who is in his first term
as representative, added that
claims concerning Democrats'
previous abuse of immediate
effect are irrelevant because
many members of the House
were not members of the ses-
sions that used immediate
effect.
"I've always thought this was
a really insidious and horrible
way to run the Legislature,"
Irwin said. "I've always thought
they should count the votes."
umerous bomb threats target
University of Pittsburgh campus
WANT TO WORK IN THIS OLD
BUILDING THIS SUMMER?
Faculty alter
teaching practices
in wake of scares
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Doz-
ens of bomb threats at the Uni-
versity of Pittsburgh, including
at least four yesterday, have
made professors start holding
classes outside and forced secu-
rity officials to Vut in newbuild-
ing access measures and offer
a $50,000 reward for informa-
tion.
Some students "are definitely
afraid," said Brian Haughwout,
a junior who had one of his final
exams changed to a take-home
because of the disruptions.
"But I think just shutting
down the university would be a
mistake," he said, adding that's
probably what the person mak-
ing the threats wants.
The threats began in mid-
February, at first targeting a
landmark building at the center
of campus. But in recent weeks
numerous buildings have been
threatened. Four threats had
been made by mid-afternoon
Monday, starting at about 4 a.m.
Student Dawn Diehl, who's
studying for a master's degree
in library science, said it wasn't
until a few days ago that the
bomb threats started to affect
her in terms of "my feelings of
security." .
"So now it's pretty alarming,"
she said. "We've never had an
experience like this. I kind of
have that feeling like, where's
this going to end?"
Diehl was surprised yester-
day to find all but one door to
the main library locked and'
everyone's bags being searched.
Under new security mea-
sures, students and faculty
members will need school IDs
to get into buildings. Non-resi-
dents won't be permitted in dor-
mitories.
University police, the FBI
and the U.S. Secret Service
have said they have a person
of interest in the investigation.
Authorities say some of the
threats have been traced to or
through computers in Austria,
but nobody has been charged
with making them.
Fifth-year chemistry student
Brian Graham said the first
threats were written on walls in
buildings and he hoped security
officers would catch the perpe-
trator. But, he said, threats then
started arrivingby email.
"I think it's a little bit more
nerve-racking," Graham said
of the latest Wave of threats. "I
have to either stay later or come
in different hours. I would be
about to leave home, and then
there'd be a bomb threat."
Graham says he's confident
that Pitt officials are doing what
needs to be done to protect
students and find the person
responsible.
"It seems that they're taking
all the appropriate steps," he
said.
The threats have caused
some professors to . move
classes outdoors or offer them
online and have led some stu-
dents to stay off-campus. The
university, located a few miles
from downtown Pittsburgh,
has about 3,800 full-time facul-
ty members who serve 34,000
students.
The university is urging fac-
ulty members to make arrange-
ments for students to make
up classes or exams missed
because of evacuations, but it
says there are no plans to end
the semester early.
No bombs have been found,
and nobody has been injured,
but police say the building evac-
uations will continue if war-
ranted. There have been about
25 threats targeting numerous
buildings, with some of those
threatened multiple times.
U.S. Attorney David Hickton
in Pittsburgh issued a state-
ment Friday commending Pitt's
response and confirming the
threats "are being vigorously,
aggressively and thorough.
investigated through every pos-
sible mean" by the region's Joint
Terrorism Task Force, which
includes the campus police and
the FBI.
E-MAIL JACOB AXELRAD
AT AXELRAD@UMICH.EDU