(11je I £id~igan 40.aIVj Ann Arbor, Michigan Thursday, March 20, 2014 michigandaily.com 'DIVEST Judiciary invalidates student gov. election ADAM GLANZMAN/D Students occupy the Central Student Government chambers in the Michigan Union Wednesday night to protest the body's decision to indefinitely postpone voti on a resolution that will call on the University to divest from a number of companies that do business with the Israeli military. Divest sit-in calls on CSG to pass stalled resolution CSJ ruling states Engineering Council procedures violated Constitution By KRISTEN FEDOR Daily StaffReporter Early Wednesday morning, the Central Student Judiciary released an official ruling stat- ing the Engineering Council, the student government for the College of Engineering, violated its own constitution and bylaws by improperly conducting its December election. CSJ ordered the current UMEC Executive Board mem- bers to step down and be replaced by interim officers at the author- ity of the UMEC General Coun- cil. Permanent Executive Board members will be decided in the upcoming elections to take place at the same time as the winter Central Student Government elections. Engineering graduate student Kyle Lady, the Eta Kappa Nu rep- resentative for UMEC, and Engi- neering senior Kelsey Hockstad, an officer of Tau Beta Pi, filed the suit against UMEC for alleged undemocratic behavior earlier this month. Engineeringgraduate studentMichael Bensonserved as counsel for the petitioners. Lady and Benson both said they were pleased with the CSJ decision. "It definitely provides a mech- anism to try and improve the stu- dent government for engineers," Ladysaid. Petitioners found a myriad of irregularities with the UMEC elections, which took place in December. According to Article IV of the UMEC Bylaws, results should have been released to the public by Dec. 9. The Michigan Daily reported on March 10 that they were given to the plantiffs in Janurary; however, they have not yetbeen released to the public. Additionally, Rackham stu- dent Boying Liu received the See JUDICIARY, Page 3A Administrators meet with SAFE members, CSG leaders late at night By ALICIA ADAMCZYK Daily StaffReporter In response to the Cen- tral Student Government's decision Tuesday to indefi- nitely 'postpone voting on a resolution that would call for the University to divest from companies allegedly involved in human rights violations in Palestine, more than 100 Uni- versity students, alumni and community members came and went throughout the night during an "indefinite" sit-in in CSG chambers Wednesday to demand a vote on the measure. Students Allied for Free- dom and Equality, a pro-Pal- estinian student organization, arranged the sit-in and also sponsored Tuesday's protest in favor of divestment from com- panies including Caterpillar, Inc. and Hewlett-Packard. SAFE contends that the companies' involvement in Israel makes them culpable in the country's eviction of Pal- estinians from East Jerusalem, and do not want their tuition dollars invested in these com- panies. CSG postponed a vote on passing a divestment reso- lution by a vote of 21-15, with one abstention. In addition to demanding CSG vote on the resolution, SAFE initially called on CSG to make all of its meetings open to the public and to allow students unlimited speaking time at meetings. CSG cur- rently allots 30 minutes for community concerns, and stu- dents are individually permit- ted three minutes of speaking time. Three members of SAFE met with Dean of Students Laura See SIT-IN, Page 3A GOVERNMENT Dingell, Levin to leave impact after retirement Michigan leaders established vital relationships on Capitol Hill By SAM GRINGLAS Daily News Editor When Sen. Carl Levin (D- Mich.) and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.) step aside from their congressional positions early next year, there may be more to forfeit than personal legislative clout. With almost a century of com- bined experience on Capitol Hill, Dingell and Levin's retirements could also signal a period of wan- ing Washington influence for Michigan. With federal research dollars and other policy initia- tives on the line, their retire- ments have an equally significant effect on the University. Aaron Kall, director of the University's debate team and expert on election politics, said the departures would have a last- ing impact. "Any time you have such long- serving members of Congress retire, it's inevitable there would be some decline in influence," he said. However, clout is difficult to measure, as connections with political leaders are difficult to replace and dependent on per- sonal relationships. An ear at the White House or connection to committee chairs or members of the leadership carries weight and provides additional entry points to trumpet the state's priorities. Levin has also been a fixture of the Sunday morning political talk show circuit - representing the state on millions of screens across the country. "Those things are invaluable," Kall said. "Phone calls, commu- nication could lag a little bit if those kind of connections are lost with these retirements." Cynthia Wilbanks, the Uni- versity's vice president for gov- ernment relations, said she is confident that Levin and Ding- ell's successors will champion the state's priorities and it's pub- lic institutions upon entering See RETIREMENT, Page 3A Safelide app seeks to increase efficiency New interface will provide alerts, updates for students By KRISTEN FEDOR DailyStaffReporter With the help of a new applica- tion, student SafeRide users now have the option of orderinga ride directly from their phone or com- puter. The app, called Campus Saf- eRide, alerts users when rides are en route and arrive at a pick- up stop. It launched this past weekend. Engineering seniors Andrew McGrath and Summit Shrestha, both Computer Science majors, created the app as a continuation of a class project they worked on together. McGrath was a SafeRide driv- er for more than a year and said he noticed certain inefficiencies with the program - faults he wanted to fix with the creation of the app. When presented with a class assignment that provided See SAFERIDE, Page 3A Hunter Morrison , director of the Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium Initiative, speaks at the CLOSUP lecture series at the Ford School of Public Policy Wednesday, Po liy exe at Oo town for urban renewal Panel discusses planning for a greener city By MAYA KALMAN For the Daily Youngstown, Ohio - a town that lost over 60 percent of its population since the 1960s - may be an emerging model of urban planning, panel- ists at a Ford School of Public Policy discussion Wednesday said. The optimistic outlook on Youngstown has strong implications for the futures of Detroit and other transition- ing cities throughout the coun- try. The Ford School's Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy hosted a panel discus- sion titled "Lessons from Youngstown: Planning for a Smaller, Greener City" with about 40 community members Wednesday afternoon. The panel featured Ian Beniston, Hunter Mor- rison and John Russo, all urban planning professionals involved in the Youngstown Project. Urban Planning Profs. Margaret Dewar and June Manning Thomas moderated See URBAN POLICY, Page 3A WEATHER HI: 49 GOT A NEWS TIP? WT___ER _ H:_49 Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail TO MOR ROW - LO: 3 news@michigandaily.com and let us know. NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM Campus group asks s about college experience MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS INDEX Vol. CXXIV, No.h86 02014 The Michigan Daily michigondailycom NEWS ... ........... 2A SPORTS ........................ A SUDOKU U .................. 2A CLASSIFIEDS ..............6 A OPINION .... ...........4A THE B-S IDE..................1B