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Ann Arbor, Michigan

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

michigandailycom

STUDENT GOVERNMENT
Hearing on
election to
be held this
weekend

MLENELACASSEUaily
LSA freshman Anne Canavati and LSA senior Ben Clark help clean oil off of plastic sea creatures during a mock oil spill that hoped to raise campus awareness
regarding the dangers of offshore drilling in the Diag Tuesday.

Group
Students transform
Diag to raise
awareness
By CHARLOTTE JENKINS
For the Daily
The realities of incidents
like the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil
spill were portrayed on a much
smaller scale on the Diag mid-
day Monday.

stages
In front of prospective stu-
dent tour groups and students
walking to class, four students
donned yellow HAZMAT
suits and scrubbed oil off of
inflatable sea creatures and
held signs that read, "Oil Hits
Home" and "Windmills Don't
Spill."
On Tuesday, the Central
Student Government's Envi-
ronmental Issues Commission
in partnership with the NGO
Oceana, hosted Drilling in the

mock oil spill

forUM to defend
Osborne, Sakwa in
CSG legal battles
By GIACOMO BOLOGNA
Daily StaffReporter
The Central Student Judi-
ciary will be hearing appeals
this weekend as Central Student
Government parties youMICH
and forUM remain locked in a
legal battle for both the presi-
dency and control of the assem-
hly.
The University Elections
Commission will be defending
its rulings before CSJ in a hear-
ing against forUM Saturday
morning and a hearing against
youMICH Sunday morning.
forUM appealed the UEC's
decision to disqualify LSA junior
Chris Osborn, the presidential
candidate of forUM, and his
running mate, LSA junior Hay-
ley Sakwa, for influencing voters
while voting.
youMICH appealed the UEC's
ruling to award no demerits to

forUM for charges it abused an
e-mail listserv. While the UEC
ruled that there wasn't enough
evidence, youMICH is presum-
ably attempting to bring the
total demerits against forUM -
which already has eight - to 10
or more, which would disqualify
the party that won a majority of
seats on the assembly.
As a party, forUM was award-
ed eight demerits after the UEC
found forUM guilty of violat-
ing donations limits to a party.
According to the election code,
students are to donate only $150
to a party, hut both Osborn and
Sakwa gave $300 to the party.
During the UEC hearing,
forUM counsel argued that the
money was given to the party as
part of its dues before the rule
took effect.
The UEC, however, found that
campaign finances are subject
to accrual accounting, meaning
that the timeframe of a dona-
tion is less important for what
purpose it was used. forUM was
awarded four demerits for both
Osborn's and Sakwa's dona-
See HEARING, Page 3A

Diag in honor of Earth Week.
The mock oil spill was
designed to show the "dirty and
dangerous" side of oil depen-
dence and garner support for a
future with more environmen-
tally-friendly fuels.
In front of the oil spill, the
group set up a mini wind farm.
Probably unplanned, wind
power also blew pamphlets and
posters off tables and the oil
spill loose from its position.
Beth Wallace of the National

Wildlife Federation and Vir-
ginia Shannon from Environ-
ment Michigan spoke at the
event.
Wallace discussed the
Obama administration's deci-
sion last year to approve
drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
She said off-shore drilling is
"extremely risky" referring to
recent major oil disasters, such
as the Gulf of Mexico Spill and
the Embridge Energy pipeline
See OIL, Page 3A


SCIENCE
Research to
better plastics
manufacturing

'U' researchers
study effects of
copper and light
By RACHEL PREMACK
Daily StaffReporter
You're likely touching some-
thing right now that had its
roots in propylene oxide.
The compound is used to
produce plastics, and thanks to
University researchers, its pro-
duction may be revolutionized.
A paper published in the
March 29 issue of Science Maga-
zine reveals that the addition of
copper and intense light - near-
ly 140 times more intense than
an average sunny day - pro-
vides a more environmentally
friendly way to bond propylene
and oxygen.
Suljo Linic, an Engineering
associate professor, who led the
research, said the substance
that could catalyze propylene
oxide would be the "holy grail"
of the chemical engineering dis-
cipline because the highly ver-

satile compound has an intricate
synthesis. Engineering graduate
student Andiappan Marimuthu
and University alum Jianwen
Zhang also authored the article.
"It's a gateway chemical, and,
ideally, you would just be able to
use it by just combining propyl-
ene and oxygen," Linic said.
Currently, producing pro-
pylene oxide requires or yields
hazardous compounds, such
as chlorine or isobutane. Linic
said copper can be used in the
process of catalyzing propylene
and oxygen if in its pure metal-
lic form. However, when oxygen
bonds with copper on the sur-
face of the copper nanoparticle,
it negates its catalytic abilities.
Though copper remains
metallic in the core, the reaction
between the substances occurs
at the surface of copper, so its
core is insignificant. The addi-
tion of a light source, though,
retains copper's catalytic func-
tion.
Linic said light removes
oxygen and reduces the cop-
per oxide coating on copper
See PLASTICS, Page 3A

CAMPUS EVENT
Students
educate
campus on
child abuse
Social Work School
plans events for
awareness month
By HILLARY CRAWFORD
Daily StaffReporter
Instead of spring flowers, the
grass outside the School of Social
Work is sporting different kinds
of lawn ornaments.
Early Tuesday morning, sev-
eral students and professors
gathered to place 75 pinwheels
into the frozen earth to com-
memorate children who died in
state-mandated foster care in the
past year.
The event was the first of sev-
eral that the Social Work School
has planned in honor of National
Child Abuse Prevention Aware-
ness Month. This is the first year
theschoolhasorganizedeventsfor
the nationally recognized month.
Robert Ortega, associate professor
in the School of Social Work, hopes
thatitwillbecome atradition.
"This (childabuse andneglect)
is something that goes on around
See ABUSE, Page 3A

ADAM GLANZMAN/Daily
Engineering junior Luke Walocko, a midshipman in the Naval ROTC, accepts the American Legion AGard for
Military Excellence at the ROTC awards ceremony at Rackham Auditorium Tuesday.
RCmembers receive
awards at tni-service event

Army, Navy, ing the efforts of the Universi-
ty's Army, Navy and Air Force
Air Force honor members.
About350 members, parents
students and veterans filled Rackham
Auditorium, where 44 differ-
By WILL GREENBERG ent awards - for excellence in
Daily StaffReporter academics, physical fitness and
leadership -were presented
The ROTC program hon- to more than 100 cadets, mid-
ored its Leaders and Best at shipmen and sergeants.
the annual Tri-Service Awards Guest speaker Colonel Ron-
Ceremony Tuesday, recogniz- ald Shun, chief of staff at the

U.S. Army Tank Automotive
and Armaments Command
Life Cycle Management Com-
mand, spoke primarily to the
graduating ROTC members
about how to become great
leaders and what to expect in
the future.
"These are the start of their
careers where they will have
an opportunity to put these
skills to use," Shun said.
See ROTC, Page 3A



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INDEX
Vol.CXXIII, No.96
C2t13 The Michigan Daily
michigondoilycom

N EW S .... ............... .... 2 A A R T S -. ... . ...... .. ...... 7 A
OPINION .....................4A SUDOKU.................... .3A
SPORTS ......................5A STATEMENT ............. 1B