)NE-HI NDI)II EI)-TWENTY-TI RI EE YEARS OF EIDITORITAL F)REEDOM
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, March 28, 2013
michigandaily.com
ANGLIN'.
CSG ELECTIONS
Party chair
e-mail calls
out Swider
PAUL SHERMAN/Daily
In a Physics 141 lab, Engineering freshman Juan Carlos Torres uses a gyroscope to study angular momentum at Randall Labratory Wednesday.
RIGHT TO WORK
House rep. defends bill that
would fine 'U' for contracts
Leader of forUM
threatens UEC suit
after confrontation
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily News Reporter
A seemingly innocuous cam-
paign e-mail sent by the party
chair of forUM to members of his
fraternity has quickly escalated
to a threat of filing lawsuits with
the Central Student Govern-
ment's University Election Com-
mission, according to a series of
messages obtained by The Michi-
gan Daily.
Eaghan Davis, forUM's chair,
sent an e-mail Wednesday to a
non-University listserv of the
members of the Phi Kappa Psi
fraternity, of which he is a mem-
ber. The e-mail encouraged
brothers to vote for forUM in the
election and ended saying "This
is who we're running against"
followed by the headshot of LSA
freshman Nick Swider, the presi-
dential candidate for momen-
tUM.
A member of the listserv sent
the e-mail to LSA junior Jill
Clancy, the momentUM vice
presidential candidate, who then
e-mailed Davis.
"I expected more professional
tactics from you as party chair,"
Clancy wrote to Davis. "I feel
it is inappropriate that you are
emphasizing physical appear-
ance above our platform and
what we envision for our Univer-
sity."
Davis responded, apologizing
for the "crude joke to fraternity
brothers that was in poor taste."
However, Davis didn't stop there.
"Clearly I'm disappointed that
a member of my own fraternity
showed you an email,but I would
also like to remind you that our
legal team has 6 violations of the
UEC election code by momen-
tUM," Davis wrote.
"If you go public with this
email - we will submit every
UEC violation," Davis added.
Davis also offered to include
Clancy on a lawsuit forUM
plans to file against youMICH
Wednesday.
In a joint statement, Swider
and Clancy said they were upset
with the initial e-mail, but more
so at the ensuing e-mail from
Davis.
"What's even more unfortu-
nate is that it was followed by a
foul play - a threat to derail our
campaign that has focused on
no ethos more than a clean cam-
paign," the statement said. "It's
especially disappointing that
any of the candidates would have
to deal with this kind of issue,
especially when we each prom-
ise so much to the University in
the interest to better the learning
experience for the students."
Public PolicyjuniorAlexander
Lane, forUM's communications
director, said Davis is not the
person in charge of legal affairs
See E-MAIL, Page 3A
Pscholka: I'm
standing up
for students
By BEN ATLAS
Daily News Reporter
Last week, state Rep. Al
Pscholka (R-Stevensville), chair
of the Appropriations Subcom-
mittee on Higher Education,
proposed a higher-education
budget bill that would increase
funding by $31 million, though
the University would lose 15
percent of state funding.
College administrators have
been vocal against the measure
because it penalizes universities
that agree to union contracts
before the so-called right-to-
work law takes effect, though
Pscholka says the universities
who do so are being unfair to
students.
"What's really unfair is that U
of M students and parents have
paid a 90-percent increase in
tuition over the last 10 years,"
Pscholka said. "My bill includes
a $31-million increase in higher
education. Some universities
have chosen to participate in
that increase, others have taken
the choice not to participate."
The bill stipulates that if
any higher education institu-
tion signed or extended a new
union contract before unions
are banned from requiring all
members of a workplace to pay
union dues, it would be ineligi-
ble for the state's "performance
funding" unless the contract
saves at least10 percent in costs.
This portion of funding would
amount to $41 million for the
University for the 2013-2014
academic year.
The University, along with
several other higher-education
institutionsinthestate,renewed
several union contracts within
See CONTRACTS, Page 3A
SUSTAINABILITY
Group wants to
rid endowment
of investment
in fossil fuels
New campus
organization hopes
to raise awareness
of revenue sources
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily Staff Reporter
The University has divested
funds from its endowment for
social reasons only twice - the
first time from South Africa dur-
ing apartheid, the other from
tobacco companies in 2000. A
group of students on campus,
the Divest and Invest Campaign,
wants to make fossil fuels the
University's third target.
Rackham student Dave Mar-
vin, a leader of Divest and Invest,
said the campaign wants the Uni-
versity to divest from companies
"primarily involved in the extrac-
tion, production, transport, or
burning of fossil fuels," which
accounts for about $900 million
of the nearly $8-billion endow-
ment.
According to Marvin, the
$900-million figure came mainly
from Freedom Of Information
Act requests but doesn't account
for private equity or venture capi-
tal portions of the endowment.
Marvin said that the first step
of divestment would be to pro-
hibit any new investment in these
companies. A five-year period of
divestment would then follow,
but he noted that the campaign
is aware that the University has
some contractual agreements
with companies that make the
five-year goal a soft deadline.
"The goal of divestment is not
to financially harm these com-
panies. We have no illusions that
we could ever do such a thing,"
Marvin said. "It really is about
drawing attention to the perni-
cious practices of the industry in
terms of their contributions to
politicians, contributions to think
tanks which are running a sus-
tained campaign to discredit the
science of climate change."
On Monday, Erik Lundberg,
the University's chief investment
officer, told members of the Sen-
ate Advisory Committee that the
Board of Regents has established
a policy of selecting investments
based on potential returns, not
social or political purposes.
"We can't let our personal
views influence the investments
we pursue," he said.
LSA senior Megan Pfeiffer,
another leader within the cam-
See ENDOWMENT, Page 3A
CSG ELECTION
Campaign
apologizes
after video
offends
youMICH says
portrayal was
intended to be
'light-hearted'
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
After youMICH released a
video early this week in which
student personality "Da'Quan
Carter" endorses the youMICH
candidates for president and
vice president, students took
to social media to denounce or
defend the campaign material.
The video was originally post-
ed on youMICH's facebook page
but has since been replacedwith
an apologetic statement, which
said the video was "intended to
be a light-hearted promotional
video done for the campaign by
a campus comedian:'
The post continues, saying,
"Our intention was never to
be racially insensitive--it was
never meant to come at the
expense of any racial identity. "
Some people believe the charac-
ter - played by a white student
- portrays offensive stereo-
types of African Americans.
Several candidates from
forUM denounced the video and
Public Policy senior Alexander
Lane, forUM's communications
See VIDEO, Page 3A
CAMPUS EVENT
Dingell reflects on federal
debRepublican budget
Congressman
dismisses Ryan
plan as 'fiction'
By ASHWINI NATARAJAN
Daily StaffReporter
At the Ford School of Pub-
lic Policy on Wednesday, Rep.
John Diygell (D-Mich.) gave
his views on the nation's issues
to a 25-person panel of the
University's chapter of The
Can Kicks Back, a millennial
organization striving to fix the
national debt.
The event was in honor of
the organization founding of a
University chapter. Members
of TCKB partner, the national
Fix the Debt campaign, and
students attended.
The topic of discussion
focused mostly on the effects
of the growing national debt
on the younger generations,
also covering major topics such
as climate change and how the
deficit is shaping federal law.
Dingell said Congress has
to fully understand the fiscal
problems they're voting on
and make sure legislative mea-
sures passed are fully carried
through.
"It's not just the making of
the budget; It's making sure
the budget is properly imple-
mented," Dingell said. "This is
See DINGELL, Page 3A
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