The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Monday, April 1, 2013 - 3A
NEWS BRIEFS
GREEN BAY, Wisc.
Water levels in
Great Lakes bad
news for shippers
Water levels on the Great
Lakes are so low that shippers
are being forced to leave as
much as 15 percent of their cargo
behind, said industry experts
who are working to find ways to
alleviate the problem.
Lakes Michigan and Huron
are about 26 inches below their
long-term monthly averages, and
Lake Superior is about 13 inches
lower, the U.S Army Corps of
Engineers has said. Even though
the lakes are expected to rise 2 to
4 inches in the next month, that's
small consolation for shippers
who are finding the waterways
difficult to navigate.
So officials gathered this week
in Green Bay to discuss the issue
and considersolutions, the Green
Bay Press-Gazette reported.
ANCHORAGE, Alas.
Alaska Troopers
helicopter crashes
0 during rescue
An Alaska State Trooper heli-
copter carrying two troopers and
a rescued snowmobiler crashed
Saturday night in the south-cen-
tral part of the state, and no sur-
vivors have been found, an agency
spokeswoman said.
Trooper spokeswoman Megan
Peters said the crash site was
spotted Sunday, but she could
not immediately confirm that the
three on board were killed.
Wreckage of the helicopter
burned, but Peters said it was not
known how the fire started or how
long it lasted.
DOHA, Qatar
Afghan leader in
Qatar to discuss
peace talks
Afghan President Hamid Kar-
zai met with the emir of Qatar in
Doha Sunday to discuss the pos-
sible opening of a Taliban office
in the Gulf state.
The move could foster peace
negotiations with the Islamic
fundamentalist movement in a
bid to stem violence as foreign
combat forces prepare to with-
draw from Afghanistan by the
end of 2014.
The Qatar News Agency said
Karzai met with the emir, Sheik
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani,
and other senior government
officials on Sunday. He also held
talks with Qatar's ambassador
to Pakistan during a tour of an
Islamic art museum in Doha.
The report didn't give details,
but Afghan Foreign Ministry
spokesman Janan Mosazai has
said the talks would include the
peace process and the opening of
a Taliban office.
-Compiled from
Daily wire reports.
University shifts focus
Oil spill planned
to non-resident students to overtake Diag
Lack of state
funding made up
for with higher-
paying students
By JENNIFER CALFAS
Daily StaffReporter
Thousands of University stu-
dents pack their bags each win-
ter and hop on an AirBus headed
toward the airport. Once they
arrive, they disperse to 50 states
and 127 countries.
Out-of-state students con-
stitute 38 percent of the stu-
dent population - quadruple
Michigan State's 9-percent
non-resident population, more
than triple University of Cali-
fornia, Berkeley's 10 percent
and exceeding the University of
Wisconsin's 25 percent non-res-
ident cap. Paying nearly $39,000
a year in tuition with room and
board, these students add $88
million to the University's gen-
eral fund annually.
Although the University's
non-resident population has
hovered around 35 to 38 percent
for the past 10 years, it's on the
rise. Due to financial contribu-
tions to the University and the
decliningnumber ofhigh-school
graduates in the state, non-
resident students are a growing
demographic on campus.
After a decade of state fund-
ing cuts for higher education -
over half of which have come
since Republican Gov. Rick Sny-
der took office in 2011- the Uni-
versity's general fund relies on
tuition fees to make up for fund-
ing lost from the state.
In 1970, state appropriation
served as 64 percent of the gen-
eral fund and tuition accounted
for another 26 percent. Now,
due to a decrease in state appro-
priation - which constitutes
$273,056,700, or 16.6 percent
of the University's budget -
tuition continues to increase
and provides 70.2 percent of the
University's current budget.
As the Board of Regents have
approved an average 5.09-per-
cent tuition increase each year
over the past decade, the impact
on non-resident tuition grows.
At the Mackinac Policy Con-
ference in May 2011, University
President Mary Sue Coleman
said she hopes to see more non-
resident students attend the
University.
"We have capacity, and
these students come paying
the full freight," Coleman said.
"They actually add tremen-
dously to the economy of the
state of Michigan."
In 2011, the entering fresh-
man class was 74 percent of
non-resident students from
families with $100,000 or more
income a year, while only 55
percent of in-state students hail
from families from the same
socioeconomic status.
Since non-resident tuition is
comparable in price to a private
university, the University has
less socioeconomic diversity
than it desires. Martha Pollack,
vice provost for academic and
budgetary affairs, said fixing
this issue is at the forefront of
the University's goals for its next
capital campaign.
While the University grants
nearly $190 million to students
for need-based and merit-based
scholarships, they do not meet
the full needs of non-resident
students. To create more eco-
nomic diversity and meet every
student's financial needs, the
goal of the University's next
capital campaign is to provide
full need-based financial aid to
non-resident students.
While the capital campaign
will not begin until November,
the University is already putting
programs in place to begin the
effort. Pollack said last year the
University took half a percent-
age of non-resident tuition to
use as financial aid for non-res-
ident students to meet full need
for students from "Zero EFC" -
zero expected family contribu-
tion - backgrounds.
While Director of Admissions
Ted Spencer said in an e-mail
that all admissions consider-
ations and decisions are made
blind to student need, Univer-
sity Provost Phil Hanlon said a
prospective student's decision to
attend the University should not
be hindered by a lack of financial
aid.
"The students' decision may
not be need-blind," Hanlon said.
"We try really hard to provide
financial aid to a student who's
admitted, depending on what
their need is. We're not where
we want to be; we have a ways to
go still."
While Pollack said the Uni-
versity doesn't purposefully
accept more non-resident stu-
dents due to their financial
contributions, the non-resident
population is at a high due to a
decreasing number of Michi-
gan's high-school graduates.
The state's population consti-
tutes 3.3 percent of the nation's
population, a decrease from
4.4 percent in 1970. Due to
this decrease, there are fewer
18-year-olds eligible for accep-
tance to the University and a
smaller applicant pool from
within the state. While there
were 190,000 18-year-olds in
the state in 1976, there will be
155,000 18-year-olds within the
next year. By 2026, the number
will decrease to120,000.
Pollack said that, accordingto
her calculations, the University
admits five percent of all high
school graduates from the state.
"We try to admit a class so
that the last student we admit
from in-state is just as quali-
fied as the last student we admit
from out-of-state," Pollack said.
"That's why as you see a drop-
off from in-state population,
you're seeing an increase in out-
of-state population."
Joe Greene, the principal
at North Farmington High
School in Farmington Hills,
Mich., said the students who
have equivalent grades to grad-
uates that have been accepted
to the University received more
deferrals and denials in early-
action decisions this year. The
school usually matriculates 40
to 60 seniors to the University
each year.
Greene said he believes the
University continues to enhance
its diversity by accepting non-
resident students, but should
consider "broadening its stan-
dards" to accept a wider variety
of students. He cited former Uni-
versity President James Angell's
belief that the University should
provide "an uncommon educa-
tion for the common man."
"This is a tough leadership
challenge for the University to
figure out," Greene said, adding
there's an intrinsic obligation
to seek a student body that's as
diverse as possible.
While he said the University
must meet full need-based aid
standards of its in-state stu-
dents, Greene acknowledged
thatprovidingaid to out-of-state
students would create a more
diverse student population.
As the next capital campaign
emphasizes providing full finan-
cial aid to its non-resident stu-
dents approachesthe University
plans to inspire donors to target
their donations to scholarships
and human capital rather than
buildings and renovation.
"We need to fashion this in
a way donors can get excited
about the difference they can
make in people's lives so a
lot of this will be storytelling
about what students have done
and what the impact of hav-
ing various scholarships has
been," President Coleman said.
"We need to describe for people
what the need is. They don't
necessarily understand our
unmet need, particularly for
out-of-state students. We can't
be need-blind."
CSG aims to raise
awareness about
sustainability with
week of events
By PAULA FRIEDRICH
Daily StaffReporter
The Central Student Govern-
ment's Environmental Issues
Commission kicked off their
celebration of Earth Week with
a potluck-style dinner in the
Dana Building Sunday night.
Representatives from various
sustainability focused student
organizations sat, ate and chat-
ted about plans for the com-
ing week. Most plans concern
the Diag, which become center
stage for events held this week
by multiple student and com-
munity organizations promot-
ing sustainability.
LSA senior Dana Rollison,
the commission's chair, said the
goal of the week is to increase
awareness of environmental
issues on campus. Relatively
new initiatives will be high-
lighted, such as the push for the
University to remove endow-
ment investments from the fos-
sil fuel industry, which will be
on the Diag Wednesday making
a "photo petition" to send to the
University's Board of Regents.
"The University is so involved
with sustainability research,"
Rollison said. "They have made
it clear in the past few years that
sustainability defines the Uni-
versity of Michigan, they have
made it a goal to decrease car-
bon emissions (and) decrease
waste."
Sunday's "Food Day on The
Diag," headed by the University
of Michigan Student Sustain-
ability Initiative and the CSG
commission, featured a collec-
tion of student organizations
and local businesses show-
casing local and sustainable
food practices alongside an art
installation.
"It's kind of like a papier-
mache tree that's lit up in the
middle of the Diag, and the
roots represent our member
groups which are all the student
groups that are working on sus-
tainable food initiatives around
campus," said Rackham student
Arielle Fleisher, a of member
the UMSSI. "The branches
represent our goals which are
focused on education, commu-
nity building and production."
Tuesday, the commission
will partner with conservation
groups Oceana and the Sierra
Club for a mock oil spill, an
art installation meant to raise
awareness for events like the
2010 oil spill in the Kalamazoo
River. The installation is one of
many events happening around
college campuses in April, said
LSA senior Lydia Geschiere, a
Oceana campus representative
and EIC board member.
"It's literally a giant, shiny,
slippery tarp with hazmat suits
just like an oil spill," Rollison
said.
Other events will focus on
sustainable transportation and
climate change.
Mandela rests in
hospital on Easter
Former president
recovers after
Pneumonia scare
JOHANNESBURG (AP) -
Former South African President
Nelson Mandela had a restful
day in a hospital Sunday and is
improving following treatment
for a recurrence of pneumonia,
the government said.
The office of President Jacob
Zuma thanked South Africans
who prayed for 94-year-old
Mandela at Easter church ser-
vices this weekend, as well as
people at home and around the
world who showed their "love
and support in various ways"
for the anti-apartheid leader
and his family.
"We also thank foreign gov-
ernments for their messages of
support," Zuma's office said in a
statement.
The government "is satisfied
that the doctors are providing
the former president with the
best medical care possible to
enable his recovery and com-
fort. They have reported a
further improvement in his con-
dition," the statement said.
Mandela was admitted to
a Pretoria hospital near mid-
night Wednesday. It was his
third trip to a hospital since
December, when he was treat-
ed for a lung infection and also
had a procedure to remove
gallstones. Earlier in March, he
spent a night in a hospital for
what officials said was a sched-
uled medical test.
"The whole world must come
together and pray for him,"
Zacheus Phakathi, a security
guard, said Sunday at an out-
door service on a hill overlook-
ing Johannesburg.
In Pretoria, the capital,
Henry Hyar, a restaurant wait-
er, standing by a hospital where
Mandela is believed to be, said it
was unfortunate that Mandela
could not be with his family at
home during Easter.
"I'm not happy about it,"
Hyar said. "We're praying for
him to get better as soon as pos-
sible."
On Saturday, Zuma's office
reported that Mandela was
breathing without difficulty
after having a procedure to
clear fluid in his lung area.
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