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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

WE GOT THE BEAT-


michigandaily.com
RACKHAM GOVERNMENT
Graduate
students to
elect RSG
leadership

MCKENZIE BEREZIN/Daily
Dancers perform at the Javanese Gamelan Music and Dance performance held in Hill Auditorium Tuesday. Garnelan is a musical ensamble including
percussion instruments that combines traditional Indonesian music with dance,
STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Students run for CSG rep.
Most candidates greater battle may lie in the Cen- Defend Affirmative Action Party representatives. After choosing
tral Student Government repre- will be running 16 prospective some candidates from within
under forUM, sentatives election. candidates. One candidate will the organization, youMICH
Out of the 58 LSA candidates be running to represent momen- sought additional student lead-
youMICH tickets running for CSG representative, tUM. ers on campus who it believed
LSA students can choose and Since youMICH has run "really wanted to make a change
ByAMRUTHA SIVAKUMAR rank 21 representatives in order several of its current men- on campus," Ruza said.
DailyStaffReporter of preference. bers in previous elections, LSA "We reached out to people
The two biggest parties, sophomore Laurel Ruza, you- who cared about student gov-
The presidential and vice youMICH and forUM, are run- MICH chair, said the party pri- ernment, cared about student
presidential elections may seem ning over 20 LSA candidates marily looked within its own issues, anybody that we saw
contentious this year, but the each. Not far behind in size, the organization for prospective See CSG, Page 3A

Two tickets face
off in election
for pres., VP
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
Rackham Student Govern-
ment elections began Wednes-
day at 12:01 a.m., and two
Rackham student tickets are
squaring off for the presidency
and vice presidency.
RSG Treasurer Phil Sac-
cone and Vice President Kaitlin
Flynn have the upperhand in
RSG experience as they chal-
lenge RSG board member Ryan
Roberts and Dave Marvin, who
is not currently affiliated with
RSG.
Roberts was previously the
president of the University of
Michigan Engineering Coun-
cil, the student government of
the College of Engineering, and
Marvin was formerly a steward
with the Graduate Employees'
Organization. Marvin is cur-

rently a leader of the movement
urging the University to divest
all investments from fossil fuel
industries.
Both groups expressed cau-
tion over pursuing graduate
student secession from Central
Student Government, an idea
that was proposed in the fall. In
the fall RSGelections, 69 percent
of the 9.5 percent of Rackham
students who voted supported
pursuing secession.
While not taking a hard
stance, Saccone said that seces-
sion is an option that should
be delved into further. Still, he
stressed that RSG should use the
current channels to work with
CSG.
"It's important that we work
on the levels that are now avail-
able with us with CSG, not just
with the executives, but also
with the reps that serve their
graduate student body on CSG,"
he said.
Flynn noted that she has had
difficulty getting in touch with
Rackham CSG representa-
See RSG, Page 3A


HIGHER EDUCATION
Fla. proposal for
STEM degrees
irks Coleman

Experts disagree on
impact of lowering
tuition for science
and math majors
By RACHEL PREMACK
Daily StaffReporter
Artists, philosophers and his-
torians might have reason to be
wary of a Florida initiative that is
garnering the attention of higher
education officials across Michi-
gan.
A higher education reform
task force commissioned by Flor-
ida Gov. Rick Scott is suggesting
lower college tuition for "high-
demand" degrees, many of which
involve the Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math fields.
Scott has identified science and
technology as the future of Flor-
ida's economy and, consequently,
two fields in which students can
readily find jobs.
In a 2011 interview with the
Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Scott
seemed to doubt the need for
more liberal arts majors.

"Is it a vital interest of the
state to have more anthropolo-
gists? I don'tthinkso," Scottsaid.
The initiative set off a national
dialogue about the role of public
higher education institutions,
and, more pointedly, whether
or not some degrees are bet-
ter investments for taxpayers.
In Texas, Governor Rick Perry
has mulled similar proposals to
lower fees for STEM degrees in
order to encourage students to
pursue those fields instead of lib-
eral arts.
In February, University Presi-
dent Mary Sue Coleman said the
initiative discredits the worth
that all degrees promise. She
noted that a finance student, for
instance, could participate in a
classics program that would pro-
vide skills that student could use
in his future career.
"What the humanities do
so well is really help students
acquire a discipline of inquiry
and problem solving," Coleman
said. "(I dislike) the notion that
some degrees are less valuable
than others."
No similar measures have
See PROPOSAL, Page 3A

AUSTEN HUFFORD/Daily
LSA sophomore William Morgan debates on Feb.10 during the Owen L. Coon Memorial Debates in Evanston, Ill.
He will be competing at the National Debate Tournament in Ogden, Utah this weekend.
A deaal utureA

EVENT PREVIEW
German
opera to
take stage
at League
Show explores
tension between
comedy and tradegy
By TEHREEM SAJJAD
DailyArts Writer
This weekend, the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance has
assembled an opera perfor-
mance that will be a rollercoaster
ride for Ann
Arbor audi- Arne
ences. Rich- auf Naxos
ard Strauss's
"Ariadne auf Thursday at
Naxos" first 7:30 p.m.,
appeared at the Friday and
University in Saturday at8
1954. The opera p.m.andSun-
fuses Ital- day at 4 p.m.
ian slapstick
comedy and Mendelssohn
Greek mythol- From $10
ogy, resulting
in a dramatic
production with highs, lows and
unexpected turns that will leave
the audience spellbound.
"It's a wonderful Ger-
man opera; the music is very
See OPERA, Page 6A

University team
hopes to win
national title for
first time
By AUSTEN HUFFORD
Digital News Editor
~ - - --- - -
EVANSTON, Ill. - In
a terraced lecture hall at
Northwestern University's
Kellogg School of Manage-
ment, Business sophomore
Ellis Allen looks around
the room at his teammate

LSA sophomore Alex Pap-
pas and their two competi-
tors from Concordia College.
They're competing in the
first round of the Owen L.
Coon Memorial Debates last
February. Allen - wearing a
lavender button down, khaki
pants and sneakers - seems
relaxed and lighthearted. He
smiles and casually asks the
room "Ready?"
He looks at his laptop,
takes a deep breath and starts
his timer.
Allen begins speaking at
a furious rate, his manner
completely changed: He's

intense and stressed. Some
words are heard -"anthro-
pological," "economy," "pric-
es,"- but his diction is so
fast that his sentences are
literally incomprehensible
to the average ears. His head
shakes back and forth as his
eyes move across the laptop
screen. He takes only ragged,
gasping breaths. Everyone
else frantically takes notes,
straining to hear every word.
For the next nine minutes he
continues like this until four
timers go off within mil-
liseconds of each other. He
See DEBATABLE, Page SA


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