The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com Wednesday, September, 5, 2012 - 7A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, September, 5, 2012 - 7A CENTRAL STUDENT GOVERNMNT Assembly holds first meeting of semester CSG members talk administrational matters, positions By GIACOMO BOLOGNA Daily Staff Reporter Despite taking office more than five months ago, the Cen- tral Student Gove.....,_. han- dled mainly administrative procedures in its first meeting of the semester on Tuesday. The new assembly lost mul- tiple meeting opportunities at the end of last semester when approval of the March elections took much longer than antici- pated. That, coupled with sum- mer meetings designed only to give out student organization funding, meant a fair portion of the meeting was spent elect- ing committee positions and discussing plans for the year. No new resolutions were pro- posed, and no old business was discussed. CSG president Manish Parikh and CSG vice president Omar Hashwi - who upheld their campaign promise to dress in business casual attire - spoke to the group about their plans for the semester. Parikh said he already start- ed new projects with multiple representatives. Specifically, he said he is working on social media initiatives and videos for CSG with LSA representa- tive Harnek Singh, creating a centralized student calendar with assembly speaker Michael Proppe,, promoting tuition equality with LSA representa- tive Daniel Morales, and com- municating with the student governments of other Univer- sity schools with LSA represen- tative Arielle Zupmore. He added that. CSG execu- tive positions will be decided in the upcoming weeks, noting that he has received 40 candi- date applications for a handful of executive positions, and he said he expects to receive more before the application period closes on Sunday. , In his address to the assem- bly, Hashwi said representa- tives need to make sure they do the majority of their positions' duties outside of Tuesday night meetings to ensure they remain productive during their weekly time together. "I know these meetings may seem really boring, most of the time they are," he said. "But this is not the time where we should be getting stuff done ... these meetings are just to talk about what we have done." Earlier in the meeting, all of the chair and vice chair positions were determined in uncontested elections, and several took place only after multiple students declined nominations to run for the posi- tions. The assembly also consid- ered holding an election for the vice chair of 'the execu- tive nominations committee after the status of its current office-holder, Rackham rep- resentative Jennifer Dibbern, was deemed unclear. Rackham assembly representative Pat- rick O'Mahen said h( " sure if Dibbern is still actively enrolled at the University. Dibbern was dismissed from her position as a graduate stu- dent research assistant LA. but attended classes in Rack- ham with a different concen- tration. The incident attracted significant coverage when a press conference was held in January by Dibbern and the Graduate Employees' Organi- zation - the union of graduate student instructors and gradu- ate student staff assistants at the University - who claimed Dibbern was unfairly dismissed from her position for her ties to GEO. The newly-moved SAPAC office, now located inside the Michigan Union. SAPAC office fin new home in Union Director says move is beneficial to program, students ByBRANDON SHAW Daily Staff Reporter An important resource for University students, faculty and staff has moved closer to the people it serves. The Sexual Assault Preven- tion and Awareness Center, which provides support services to survivors of sexual assault and educates members of the University community on sex- ual violence, moved last month to the Michigan Union from its previous location on North Uni- versity Avenue between Thayer and South State streets. SAPAC director Holly Rider- Milkovich said the new location puts it closer to its most impor- tant campus partners, including Counseling and Psychological Services and the Office of the Dean of Students, both located in the Union. Rider-Milkovich said the North University location had the benefit of discreetness, but the Union location is more con- venient for inter-departmental TRANSIT From Page 1A Marcia Higgins (D-Ward 4) and Carsten Hohnke (D-Ward 5) were not present at Tuesday's meeting. Eli Cooper, the city's trans- portation program manager, said without the study,1 there would be a significant strain on Ann Arbor's transportation systems in the future. He noted that as more jobs come to the city as a result of the establishment of new Univer- sity facilities, more cars may cre- ate congestion and force asphalt to deteriorate more quickly. one of the main issues that councilmembers considered was thecostofthe study;whichwould have borrowed $60,000 from the city's general fund to supplement federal and state grants. Kunselman voted in favor of the project, but said he worried POLICE From Page 1A All three incidents are clas- sified as fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, which involves an instance of sexual assault that does not include penetration. A campus-wide crime alert was only sent out for Monday's inci- dent. DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said by the time the other two assaults were reported to the police, too much time had lapsed since the alleged crimes. The other tw" incidents were posted to DPS's website Tuesday morning. Brown added that DPS and the Ann Arbor Police Department work and better suits the orga- nization's strategic vision and objectives. She noted that the U .. position as a cornerstone of stu- dent life at the University allows SAPAC to educate as broad an audience as possible by making itself more prominent on cam- pus and may allow it to reach students who may not have known the service existed una now. ' Rider-Milkovich said the proximity to the rented offices of student organizations also provides abeneficial component in allowing students 'coming and going to those organiza- tions to see SAPAC, and it also serves to forge further strategic partnerships between SAPAC and other campus groups. While the new space is some- what smaller than the old loca- tion, Rider-Milkovich said it is designed to meet the needs of SAPAC's clients.-The new loca- tion and its renovation was designed with the assistance. of focus groups and blueprints designed by current and for- mer SAPAC students and volun- teers. "From the placement of walls, to the moving of where walls would have been, right down to the color we ended up painting the walls, this is very much a student-led, stu- dent-inspired location," Rid:. Milkovich said. Another component to the Union location is increased privacy for confidential visits. Unlike the previous location, there is now an open area for volunteers and full-time staff to convene duringthe week, but also a more enclosed area for visits by students seeking per- sonal resources and services. When SAPAC celebrated its 25th anniversary last year, Rid- er-Milkovich said current stu- dents and staff members were surprised by the irony of the move, as SAPAC was founded in the Union in 1986. "We told them we were mov- ing to the Union, and they said, 'back to where it all started,"' she said. "One thing, though, hasn't changed at all," Rider-Milkov- ich added. "We continue to try every day to build awareness that there are resources avail- able on this campus for sur- vivors of sexual and intimate partner violence, and we hope that this move makes those resources even more acces- sible." U don leaders confront backlash at public event about how much the city would have to contribute, especially from the general fund. "We are all over the place," Kunselnian said. "The idea that we are going to be building a lot of things for mass transit without any idea of how we are going to pay for the operations.leaves me with a little concern." Lumm said she was dissatis- fied with the information provid- ed from similar studies that are currently being performed. "We continue on this path to implement studies without ask- ing basic questions... So in the spirit of transparency, the com- munity deserves to understand the whole picture," Lumm said. "I don't, and they don't. And I believe that rather than embark on another transportation study we owe the community some answers first." Toward the end of the dis- cussion, Derezinski pledged his support for the study. In an inter- view after the meeting, he said he felt the councilmembers made an oversight. "Thinking down the road, not getting the data I think is a big mistake," Derezinski said. "If we finally come to a crisis where everything is just stagnated in terms of transportation then it is so much more expensive to fix the problem, but if we start now we can solve a problem in an effi- cient and prudent way." Briere wavered between both sides of the debate. She said in an interview after the meeting that her vote came down to what would be the greatest benefit to Ann Arbor residents. "I'm still stuck on how the rest of us (besides the Univer- sity) benefit except indirectly," Briere said. "I want someone to make that connection for me. Not somebody telling me another study they need to do." Prime Minister, Treasury chief chastized for economic policy LONDON (AP) - The pub- lic's verdict was clear: Prime Minister David Cameron and Treasury chief George Osborne .:d a chorus of boos at Lon- don's Paralympic Games - a rare flash of hostility toward their belief that a sharp aus- terity drive is the best way to repair Britain's debt-ravaged economy. Anger is mounting amid a grueling four-year program of cuts to public sector jobs and welfare payments, which Osborne has conceded will need to be extended by at least two years and which some opponents worry has fueled Britain's slump in" ro'-st recession since 2009. Seeking to win back support and boost his prospects before the 2015 national election, Cameron on Tuesday made the first major overhaul of his Cabi- net and 100-strong ministerial team since taking office in 2010. While Cameron left most senior allies in place, he sought to sharpen his e"-mic mes- sage by promoting, a crop of young fiscal conservatives, and looked to exploit the success of the Olympic Games in appoint- ing Paul Deighton, chief execu- tive of the London organizing committee, as a new finance minister. Osborne- architect of the unpopular 81 billion pounds ($130 billion) in budget trim- ming - gave an uncomfortable smile late Monday as he faced loud heckles at a Paralympic Games medal ceremony. Cam- eron, meanwhile, heard both boos and cheers when his image was shown on a jumbo screen inside the Aquatics Center. The outbursts were rare amid the upbeat mood of Brit- ain's summer of sports but underscored resentment over cuts to welfare payments, par- ticularly a program assessing whether those who receive dis- ability payments should contin- ue to be eligible. Those checks are being car- ried out by ATOS, the lead technology company for the Olympics and Paralympics. "When people were first told that there would be cuts to benefits and tax rises over the next five years, they seemed to accept it. Now that those cuts are starting to bite, people are. beginning to complain," said Victoria Honeyman, an expert on British politics at the Uni- versity of Leeds. In another indication of the country's mood, Britain's ex- Prime Minister Gordon Brown - the former Labour Party leaderwho was hugelyunpopu- lar while in office and defeated in the May 2010 election - was cheered during an appearance at the Paralympics. Cameron's Conoervative Party and the smaller Liberal Democrats formed a coalition government after the incon- clusive election and pledged to cut Britain's debts, which had piled up amid the global finan- cial crisis and costly banking bailouts. Osborne has acknowledged that he is a lightning rod for public dissent. "In a difficult economic environment, it is not surprising that the chancellor is not the most popular mem- ber of the government," he told the BBC on Sunday. However, Cameron backed his friend and longtime ally by keeping him in his post - sig- naling that the U.K. won't ease up its austerity program, as some including the Internation- al Monetary Fund have urged. The staffing shifts do offer hints of change on other issues. Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt lost his post after criti- cism of his close ties to James Murdoch, media mogul Rupert Murdoch's son. Maria Mill- er, a junior welfare minister' and previously an advertising executive, takes on the task of implementing new regulation in the wake of Britain's phone hacking scandal - which erupted in 4 Murdoch tabloid. Hunt becomes Health Secre- tary, though campaigners have already raised concerns. In his previous job, he questioned a section of the Olympic Games opening ceremony which hailed the actievements of the publicly fundedhealth care sys- tem. Justine Greening, a fierce opponent of expanding Lon- don's Heathrow Airport, was switched from Transport Sec- retary to Britain's aid minis- try - a move that could let the government authorize building a third runway. Advocates insist a new run- way is needed because British business is being hampered by a lack of flightsto Chinaand many developing economies. Those opposed say the impact would be severe on communities close to Heathrow, including Green- ing's Parliamentary district. Sayeeda Warsi becomes a member of Foreign Secretary William Hague's team. Warsi, the first female Muslin, o' oe in a British Cabinet, has stirred controversy by attacking Paki- stan over women's rights and in claiming that prejudice against Muslims was pervasive in Brit- ish society. Veteran legislator Ken Clarke, 72, leaves his job as Justice Secretary. His replace- ment, Chris Grayling, is likely to take a tougher line on penal policy. To take his new economic role, Deighton will be appoint- ed a Conservative member of the House of Lords and begin work next year, once he has completed Olympic and Para- lympic duties. Liberal Democrat David Laws, a staunch supporter of the - austerity program, returned with a joint role in the education department and Cabinet Office, which handles government administration. Laws quit in 2010 after he admitted claiming taxpayers' money to pay rent to his long- term partner, which is banned under Parliamentary rules. Cameron hopes the moves will kick-start a government that has been humbled in recent months by policy reversals. A series of planned tax rises were ditched amid public dissent and opposition fromn his own party nixed Cameron's pledge to transform Britain's unelected, 700-year-old House of Lords into a mainly elected 462-seat chamber by 2025. have an increased presence on and near campus during the first weeks of the school'year because more students are active then. Holly Rider-Milkovich, direc- tor of the University's Sexual Assault Prevention and Awareness Center, said students should con- tact someone if they feel violated. "We want students to reach out whenever they experience conduct that doesn't feel right to them," Rider-Milkovich said. "They may not choose to label itas sexual assault, but they may feel 'what happened to me just didn't feel right."' Rider-Milkovich noted that sexual assault is one of the most underreported crimes. "As the rate of reports rises, that doesn't necessarily reflect that we have an increase in the number of incidents, just the number of those reporting," Rid- er-Milkovich said. SAPAC visits are confidential, and the center offers services to students who have, been victims of anytype of sexual assault. "Once a student connects with SAPAC, we continue to provide support for the entire time a stu- dent is at the University," Rider- Milkovich said. SAPAC is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. in the Michigan Union. It also offers a 24-hour crisis line at (734) 936- ~~. dJ FOLLOW THE DAILY ON TWITTER @michigandaily