The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Wednesday, January 11, 2012 - 5A
In first meeting, Assembly
appoints official positions
Owners Paul Drennan, Adam Lowenstein, Robbie Schulz, and Justin Herrick stand outside of their new bar, LIVE.
BAR
From Page 1A
them all the luck in the world."
Lowenstein said both he and
his partners are looking forward
to bringing another dance club
to the downtown area. LIVE will
feature music performed by vari-
ous DJs during the weekends and
live music throughout the week,
he said.
"We're really excited about the
idea of taking over Live (at PJ's)
because this building is unlike any
other in Ann Arbor," Lowenstein
said. "There's no other dance club
that's this close to Main Street."
The Last Word, located down-
stairs from the club, is named
after a prohibition era cocktail
that originated in Detroit. Low-
enstein said they felt the name is
fitting, as the bar is going to sell
a mix of prohibitions drinks -
beverages modeled after those
served during the prohibition
NIH
From Page 1A
School of Nursing, said NIH
funding is central to the Universi-
ty's scientific efforts, adding that
the Nursing School had just risen
to the sixth-largest beneficiary
of NIH funds in the country, up
from eighth last year.
"NIH funding is critically
important to the University and to
the School of Nursing," Villarruel
said. "It provides opportunities, it
provides resources to advance the
sciences and to make an impact
on people's lives. It's the basis for
funding discoveries and for mak-
ing that impact."
According to Steven Kunkel,
senior associate dean for research
at the University's Medical
School, the lack of concern byoffi-
cials stems from the University's
ability to absorb the additional
costs.
Still, Kunkel said the amount
of money the University now
must pay in compensation due
to the NIH reduction might
only amount to "a few hundred
CHAPLAIN
From Page 1A
Arbor community, especially
in a way that incorporates his
faith.
"One of the things that make
up communities is religious out-
lets," he said. "All of the other
faith communities in large part
have had organizations and
people who are committed to
addressing those things and the
Muslims just now are being able
to slowly address some of those
same concerns within their own
community."
Safi added that his job as
chaplain is not to head or direct
Muslim organizations on cam-
pus, but rather to advocate for
the Muslim community and
provide support for Muslim stu-
dents.
MMAA, in collaboration with
the Muslim Student Associa-
tion, began the hiring process
in September, but had been con-
templating appointing someone
for the position for a number of
years. Members of both MMAA
and MSA said they wanted to
find a chaplain who had previ-
ously experienced what it is like
to live as a Muslim student on a
college campus.
MSA president Eman Abdel-
hadi said both organizations
era - and more modern cocktails
found in high-end bars around
the country.
With The Last Word, Low-
enstein said the group wants to
expand onthe successfulbartend-
ingthey've had at AlleyBar, one of
their other local businesses.
"We're going to take (what
we've done at Alley Bar) even fur-
ther," Lowenstein said. "We set
out with the goal of being Michi-
gan's best cocktail bar ... and
there's a lot of details that go into
that."
The owners said they plan to
make their own bitters, foams,
juices and aging cocktails, as well
as experiment with molecular
mixology in creating drinks.
Lowensteinsaid renovationson
the spaces are not quite finished,
and that he and his partners are
giving both business spaces a gen-
eral facelift, including new paint
and decor before the businesses
open in February.
"LIVE will feel like the same
thousand dollars," noting that
in the past only about 10 percent
of Medical School researchers
were receiving the full amount of
money allotted by NIH.
"It's not the end of the day, it's
just a little bit of an irritant more
than anything," Kunkel said.
"This is just a blip on the radar.
This is not going to be anything
that's going to make us re-think
how we do grants or anything."
To bridge the gap in the sala-
ries of researchers impacted
by the $20,000 NIH reduction,
Kunkel said chairs or deans will
need to use funding within their
department budgets to com-
pensate investigators. He added
he believes the Medical School
will find the funds to maintain
researchers' salaries, which the
University negotiates yearly.
"There'll be some repercus-
sions, no doubt about that," Kun-
kel said. "As long as they don't
reduce it more and more every
year ... this one-time reduction
probably will be able to be assimi-
lated into the budget."
Kunkel said the Medical
School is not in "crisis mode" yet,
strove to find a chaplain who
students feel comfortable turn-
ing to for guidance about their
spiritual needs and who can to
serve the interests of the Mus-
lim student body.
Adelhadi added that student
feedback was an important com-
ponent of the hiring process.
Students in MSA were given
the opportunity ask Safi ques-
tions about his plans as chaplain
while he was still going through
the interview process, and Adel-
hadi said students have been
communicating with Safi since1
he took the position last week.
"We can already see the dif-
ference it is making on stu-
dents lives," she said. "People
are already reaching out to him
and trying to make connections
with him. They are seeing the
value that this person can bring
to campus."1
Annie Sajid, vice president of
external relations for MSA, said
she has observed Safi at vari-;
ous MSA events and noticed his
commitment to interacting with1
students and facilitating dia-i
logue.
Sajid added that because Safi
is the first person to take on the
position, there is some uncer-
tainty about how exactly he can
best serve Muslim students on
campus. However, she said Safi'si
ability to be flexible in how he
place, just fresher when you walk
in," Lowenstein said. "The Last
Word will definitely feel different
than Gracie's"
Apart from the change in decor,
Lowenstein and his partners are
also changing how customers can
access each business. Customers
visiting Live at PJ's and Goodnite
Gracie could previously move
freely between the two business-
es, but the new establishments
will have separate entrances
with no customer access between
them.
Lowenstein said he and his
partners want to ensure each
business has its own identity.
"We'll have some crossover in
terms of demographic and people
that are going back and forth and
drinking," Lowenstein said. "But
in terms of the identities, they're
not just going to be one ... and in
the end they might be separate
people that come here and come
there, kind of like (BTB) Cantina
and (Good Time) Charley's."
but added he is concerned that
this year's reductions might be
the start of a long-term effort by
the federal government to shirk
responsibility for funding scien-
tific research.
"This first round - it's raised
some eyebrows, but it's nothing
that's going to be something that
we can't handle," Kunkel said.
"I think just what people start
thinking about is that if they low-
ered it this year ... will they be
coming next year to do it again
and the next year to do it again."
Often, a University researcher
will apply for three or more grants
- which can be worth upward of
a few million dollars each over
several years - and write off20 to
30 percent of his or her salary on
each grant, Kunkel said.
The University's Medical
School is the country's fifth-
largest beneficiary of NIH funds,
according to Kunkel. The Uni-
versity's latest available research
report for the 2010 fiscal year
reported that the University
received more than $507 million
- or 44.5 percentoftotal research
expenditures - from NIH.
approaches his new role is eas-
ing the transition.
"I appreciate that he is so
open minded and willing to
learn and be engaged with com-
munity members," Sajid said.
In addition to offeringspiritu-
al guidance to Muslim students,
Safi will also communicate with
the University about the needs
of the Muslim population.
"We have always had to rely
on individual students' relation-
ships with the administration
and often times those bonds can
break when people graduate,"
Abheladi said. "With the chap-
lain here we have someone who
can come to know the University
very well and become that face
for the Muslim community."
Safi said the implementation
of the chaplain position is a nat-
ural and necessary development
for the Muslim community on
campus, adding he is eager to
continue to work with students
and other individuals - both
within the Muslim faith and
beyond - who are committed to
improving society.
"We want to work with peo-
ple," he said. "We don't want to
tell people what to do or impose
anything on people. We want to
work with them to address con-
cerns they already have. That
is the goal of what a chaplain is
supposed to do."
Incoming officials
discuss upcoming
plans
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
Under a new name and a new
semester, the Student Assem-
bly of the Central Student Gov-
ernment - formerly known as
Michigan Student Assembly -
made appointments for positions
at their first meeting of 2012 last
night.
Business senior Matthew Eral
and LSA junior Aditya Sathi
were both re-elected as chair
and vice-chair of the Assem-
bly for semester-long terms.
The Assembly also elected the
chairs and vice-chairs of CSG's
standing committees - Finance,
Rules, Resolutions, and Com-
munications - which are also
semester-long positions. All
eight of the chair and vice-chair
positions were uncontested.
Eral said he and Sathi are
looking forward to bridging the
gap between students and CSG
and better cater to the needs of
the campus community, adding
that the organization's recent
ROMNEY
From Page 1A
For Koziara, asewell as for many
political experts, the margin of
victory reaffirmed the appeal of
Romney's economic credentials
in an election cycle that will like-
ly center on improving the econ-
omy. Though his rivals took aim
at the former Massachusetts gov-
ernor this week for his corporate
history, Koziara said he remained
the most viable economic candi-
date.
"At the end of the day, Mitt
Romney understands job cre-
ation much better than President
Obama," he said.
The race for the Republican
nomination now turns to South
Carolina, a battleground for the
candidates because of its robust
socially conservative Republican
base, Political Science Prof. Ken
Kollman said.
STARBUCKS
From Page 1A
LSA senior Sarah Beery and
Business senior Kristen Stack
said they typically meet for cof-
fee at the South University Star-
bucks once a week. Both said
they like the visual appeal of the
updated store.
"It looks more uniform,"
Beery said. "Before there was
a mismatch of a bunch of dif-
ferent chairs and tables, but
name change serves as a founda-
tion for reinvention and invigo-
ration of the group.
"(CSG), in the students' eyes,
maybe hasn't been the most
effective in years past," Eral said.
"Starting with a new name and a
lot of new great initiatives right
off the bat will help give us a lit-
tle bit of new momentum that I
think student government hasn't
had in a couple years."
Eral said his and Sathi's pri-
mary objective is to increase
transparency and make the ini-
tiatives of the Assembly more
visible to the campus commu-
nity.
In addition to working toward
increasing awareness, Sathi said
his and Eral's elections provided
them with the opportunity to
work with the Representative
Outreach Task Force - a group
created last year to ensure
representative accountabil-
ity and improve communication
throughout CSG.
Though the Assembly
achieved quorum at every meet-
ing last semester, many repre-
sentatives did not attend the
meetings. Sathi said the Repre-
sentative Outreach Task Force is
dedicated to "making the legisla-
tive branch live up to its expecta-
While Kollman called the New
Hampshire primary "an impor-
tant opportunity" for Romney to
showcase his strength, he said
the South Carolina contest could
test his broader appeal to the
Republican electorate.
"You sort of want to know how
someone like Romney will do
there, because on (social issues)
he might not be as appealing in
a place like South Carolina as he
would be in New Hampshire,"
Kollman said in an interview
before yesterday's primaries.
Though the race for the
Republican presidential nomina-
tion is gaining momentum, some
University students said they are
not paying much attention to the
contest.
LSA sophomore Vishruta
Kulkarni said she had not fol-
lowed the primary closely
because she found it difficult to
compare the candidates at this
point in the election.
now everything looks clean.
It's a lot more modern, which
is nice."
"I love (the renovations). It
looks beautiful," Stack added.
Stack said the updates are
practical, particularly in provid-
ing additional seating for stu-
dents to study.
"I think there's more seat-
ing, which is one of the things
we were most concerned about,
especially around finals time
there's never seating around
here," she said.
tions."
Sathi added that his re-elec-
tion serves as reassurance for his
work in CSG thus far, and that is
excited for the new semester.
"Itshowsuthat I've done my job
" he said. "I think I'm doing the
right things, and I need to con-
tinue in that direction."
Eral expressed similar antici-
pation for the semester.
"I'm definitely honored that I
got re-elected by the Assembly,"
he said. "I'm excited to serve
again for another semester."
At the meeting, CSG President
DeAndree Watson discussed
the recent name change, noting
that the organization is still in a
transition period. He encouraged
representatives to use the name
CSG more frequently around
campus.
Watson said he is optimis-
tic about students' adoption of
the name change, adding that at
yesterday's Winterfest, students
already expressed awareness
of the name change and CSG's
newly formed objectives.
"I think the fact that (stu-
dents) are aware of what we do is
a positive sign," Watson said.
-Danielle Stoppelmann and Emily
A. Kasti contributed to this report.
"It's a huge spectrum, and all
the candidates are on different
parts of it," Kulkarni "It's just
really hard to compare because a
lot of things they think are simi-
lar and then there are things that
are completely opposing."
Kulkarni said she would follow
the election more closely once the
Republicans nominate their can-
didate and the general election
begins this fall.
LSA sophomore Meagan
Strickland, echoed Kulkarni's
sentiments, adding she will begin
following once the amount of
information stopped becoming
"completely overwhelming."
"We're just in a really crucial
point of almost like rebuilding
and getting things done," she
said. "It's kind of like the climb-
ing out the hole, so it's really
important to have somebody in
office who's goingto dowhatthey
say they're going to do and make
strides."
University alum Sarah Chang,
who graduated in 2007, said she
is a regular customer at the Star-
bucks location on South Univer-
sity, and said she particularly
took note of the aesthetic chang-
es to the store and the additional
seating.
"I love the colors and the fact
that there's a lot more space,"
Chang said. "It seems like
they've maximized the space
very effectively and the ambi-
ance is really comfortable and
warm."
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