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