)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 WEATHER HI: 46 GOTANEWS TIP? NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM INDEX NEWS...............2A SUDOKU.......OKU ...........3A Call 734-418-4115 ore-mail The Working Ethic: Keep calm and carryon (really) Vol. CXXIII, No. 92 OPINION....... .......4A CLASSIFl EDS....,........ 6A TOMORROW LO: 25 news@michigandaily.com and let us know. MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THEPODIUM ©2013 The Michigan Daily SPORTS......................7A B-SIDE...................1B michigandoilycom rw'