~11E £ dpan 0.axlj
(IIW 111 )1 4 INI 111 iikS1 118 I HI IIO
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thursday, September 5, 2013
michigandaily.com
Gift benefits
high-profile
departments
Big day for big money
Reaction mixed
among students on
donation recipients
By SAM GRINGLAS
Daily StaffReporter
The Ross School of Busi-
ness and the University Athletic
Department are not first-time
beneficiaries of real-estate mogul
Stephen Ross.
Though many students
expressed appreciation for Ross's
$200-million donation at a glitzy
celebration Wednesday crowded
with top University officials and
students, others took to social
media to question the choice of
recipients - units of the Uni-
versity that some argue affect a
small percentage of the school's
overall population or are already
well-funded.
Justin Pope, a former Associ-
ated Press national education
reporter who was once a Knight-
See GIFT, Page 6A
Stephen Ross gets
the maize-carpet
treatment for
$200-million gift
By PETER SHAHIN AND
JENNIFER CALFAS
Daily NewsEditor and
Daily StaffReporter
A maize carpet lined the
entrance to the Ross School of
Business Wednesday morning.
Just hours after the University
announced the largest single
donation in the school's history,
a celebratory event - including
a performance by the Michigan
Marching Band - welcomed
Business students and adminis-
trators.
The event was held to thank
philanthropist and real estate
mogul Stephen Ross's record-
breaking$200-million donation,
which will be split between his
namesake school and the Ath-
letic Department. Nearly 10
years after a $100-million dona-
tion to the business school that
bears his name, Ross said the
newest donation will "finish the
job and do it right."
Students packed the event,
donning maize shirts that read
"Welcome Home" with a quo-
tation from Ross on the back:
"You get by giving." The crowd,
which included many high-level
University administrators, col-
lected in the Business School
atrium and heard speeches
from Ross, University President
Mary Sue Coleman, Business
School Dean Alison Davis-Blake
and Business graduate student
Damian Chatman, president of
the school's student government
association.
Ross, who is founder and
chairman of the Related Compa-
nies and has a Forbes-estimated
net worth of $4.4 billion, said
while his first donation helped
advance the Business School,
the new gift will take it to new
heights.
"It's really exciting also to
know that we can see this facil-
ity knowing that we can finish
the rest of the campus and really
make it the best business school
in the country," Ross said.
Coleman spoke to the audi-
ence before Ross, first joking
about the timeliness of the
announcement: "I think the first
day of classes every-year should
start this way."
Coleman said she was
with Ross in 2004 when he
announced his first $100-mil-
lion donation, adding that she
was thrilled the most recent
donation happened during her
term as president.
In an interview with The
Michigan Daily, Ross said he
was actively recruited by the
Business School for the lat-
est gift. Besides the extensive
renovations to the "business
campus," the donation will also
help provide financial aid and
an expansion of career services.
Separately, the $100-million gift
to the Athletic Department will
help fund a variety of programs
See MONEY, Page 6A
CITY GOVERNMENT
Mixed Use Party loses
candidate for council
ANN ARBOR
AnnArbor.com rolled into main
MLive website in media shakeup
University alum
drops out of City
Council race for
personal reasons
By TAYLOR WIZNER
Daily News Editor
University alum Jaclyn
Vresics, who was running
for the first ward seat on the
Ann Arbor City Council this
November as an independent,
has withdrawn her campaign
for personal reasons, according
S to her co-chair in the Mixed
Use Party, Will Leaf.
The Mixed Use Party is a
group of students and Ann
Arbor residents that want to
simplify Ann Arbor's zoning
plan. The party is running on
a platform of "non-discrimina-
tory zoning" which deals with
assigning districts based on the
potential harms of individual
buildings rather than on the
type of neighborhoods.
Mixed Use Party candidate
Conrad Brown, a University
alum is still running against
incumbent city council mem-
ber Jane Lumm (I-Ward 2). The
party's other candidate, Sam
DeVarti, a student at Eastern
Michigan University, is also still
running against Councilmem-
ber Stephen Kunselman (D-
Ward 3).
In a statement, Vresics said
she will continue to support the
party, though she can no longer
continue campaigning for per-
sonal reasons.
"Although personal reasons
require that I withdraw from
the election; the Mixed Use
Party has my unwavering sup-
port," Vresics said in a state-
ment. "I have full confidence in
Conrad and Sam as candidates,
and I maintain my belief that
the party's platform will bring
See COUNCIL, Page 7A
Print edition to be
rebranded as The
Ann Arbor News
By AUSTEN HUFFORD
Online Editor
In an effort to streamline pro-
duction and content delivery, the
MLive Media Group announced
Wednesday that AnnArbor.com
would cease to exist as a stand-
alone website, instead integrated
into the larger MLive.com.
This move puts the news out-
let in line with several other city
papers around the state, includ-
ing The Grand Rapids Press and
The Flint Journal, which are
housed on MLive. AnnArbor.
com was its only separately mar-
keted website.
MLive said there would be no
staff changes as a result of the
website's closure.
In an open letter to readers,
Dan Gaydou, MLive's CEO and
president, and Laurel Cham-
pion, the company's southeast
Michigan General Manager, said
AnnArbor.com was a "huge suc-
cess," citing high market pen-
etration.
"This transitionbrings togeth-
er two of the most successful dig-
ital news platforms to leverage
the best of them both," the letter
stated.
The publication's twice
weekly print editions will also
be rebranded as The Ann Arbor
News, and will contain Ann-
Arbor-focused content froni
MLive.
AnnArbor.com is the latest
incarnation of the 174-year-old
Ann Arbor News, a daily print
publication that covered and
the University's campus, which
ceased printing amid gener-
al financial difficulties in the
industry in 2009. At the time of
the paper's closing, Ann Arbor
became the largest city in Amer-
ica without a professional daily
newspaper, and The Michigaa
Daily became the only daily print
See MLIVE, Page 7
I
WEATHER HI:76
T OMORROW L 59
GOT A NEWS TIP?
Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail
news@michigandaily.com and let us know.
NEWONMICHIGANDAILY.COM INDEX NEWS.......................2A SUDOKU................2A
The Liner Notes: Gearing up for an exciting fall VolCXXIIINo.125 OPINIIO N........,...........4A CLASSIFIEDS...............6A
MICH IGANDAI LY.COM/BLOGS/TH EFI LTER ©2013The Michigan aily S P RTS ......................7A B-SIDE. . . B........1
michigondaily.com
4'