' Tuesday, October 7, 2014 -- 3
The Michigan Daily -- michigandaily.com
The ichganDail - ichganailyom uesayOctoer , 214-
NEWS BRIEFS
DETROIT
Prosecutors lose
appeal in Detroit
officer's trial
Michigan's appeals court on
Mondaylet stand the dismissal of
a manslaughter charge against a
Detroit police officer who killed a
7-year-old girl during a raid.
In a brief order, a three-judge
panel said it was barred from
intervening.
Officer Joseph Weekley mis-
takenly pulled the trigger and
killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones dur-
ing a chaotic search for a murder
suspect in 2010 that was record-
ed by a reality TV crew. Wayne
County Judge Cynthia Gray
Hathaway last week dismissed
the most serious charge, involun-
tary manslaughter, after prosecu-
tors finished presenting evidence.
DENVER
Colorado Senate
candidates clash on
energy development
Democratic Sen. Mark Udall on
Monday defended his support for
a carbon tax, lashing back at criti-
cism from his opponent who says
plans to slash carbon emissions
at coal-fired power plants raises
energy costs for homeowners.
In the second debate between
Udall and Republican Rep. Cory
Gardner, Udall took a more
aggressive stance than he has in
the past, saying the changes by
the Environmental Protection
Agency are an opportunity for
green energy companies.
"We are ready for the EPA
regulations. Carbon pollution is
real," Udall said. "Climate science
is showing us that we have to
act."
STOCKHOLM
Nobel Prize for
work on brain's
navigation system
How do we remember where
we parked the car? And how do
we figure out a shortcut to work
when there's a big traffic jam?
The brain, it turns out, has a
GPS-like function that enables
people to produce mental maps
and navigate the world - a dis-
covery for which three scientists
won the Nobel Prize in medicine
Monday.
Husband-and-wife scientists
Edvard Moser and May-Britt
Moser of Norway and New York-
born researcher John O'Keefe
were honored for breakthroughs
in experiments on rats that could
help pave the way for a better
understanding of human diseases
such as Alzheimer's.
"We can actually begin to
investigate what goes wrong" in
Alzheimer's, said O'Keefe, a dual
British-American citizen. He
said the findings might also help
scientists design tests that can
pick up the very earliest signs of
the mind-robbing disease, whose
victims lose their spatial memory
and get easily lost.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands
Kurdish protesters
occupy Dutch
Parliament
Hundreds of Kurdish protest-
ers have occupied the Dutch Par-
liament building and are calling
for more action to combat the
Islamic State terror group.
The official Twitter feed of The
Hague police says the demonstra-
tion late Monday is peaceful and
that officers are in talks with the
protest leaders. Police advised the
public not to go to the square out-
side Parliament.
National broadcaster NOS
posted video on its website show-
ing chanting protesters inside
the Parliament building holding
a banner that said in Dutch "Stop
the silence. Support Kobani," a
reference to the Syrian town close
* to the Turkish border that was
under attack Monday by Islamic
State fighters.
-Compiled from
Daily mire reports
Councilmember Christopher Taylor listens asresidents of Ann Arbor discuss
issues in the community at the City Council meeting Monday.
SAM MOUSIGAN/Daily
SACUA member Bill Shultz speaks at the SACUA meeting in the Fleming Administration Building Monday.
SACUA
From Page 1
Another important item on
the docket was the recently
implemented Fitness For Duty
policy. Enacted by a group of the
University's deans, the program
assesses situations in which
an employee is experiencing
observable difficulty safely per-
forming his or her job. SACUA
had a few concerns with the new
policy, primarily that the deans
both refer faculty for FFD evalu-
ation and dictate FFD outcomes.
"All reports go to the dean,
who is the final decision-maker,
so you have the case of the pros-
ecutor and the judge being the
same person," Masten said.
There were also questions of
whether or not faculty should
be financially compensated
while under FFD review. Ulti-,
mately, the committee decided
the policy required thorough
examination and SACUA voted
to continue discussing it at the
next meeting.
SACUA acts as a .liaison
between faculty and a variety of
important assembly committees
and makes decisions about which
issues fall under each commit-
tee's jurisdiction. They discussed'
Monday the Committee on the
Economic Status of the Faculty
and ways to improve transpar-.
ency regarding faculty salaries.
University President Mark
Schlssel recently told Masten
they he had been receiving push-
back from the Business school
on this initiative. Moving for-
ward, SACUA will consult with
Schlissel throughout the semes-
ter, and their first official private
meeting is scheduled for next
Wednesday.
COUNCIL
From Page 1
pedestrians who walk into the
blind spots of cars and expect
them to stop.
"Stopping for the pedestrian
at the curb is not about them
being endangered," Kunselman
said. "It's about being courteous
for them to cross. They've never
been in danger standing at the
curb. It's the pedestrians that
step into the road is where the
danger begins."
The city's current ordinance
was enacted in:response to the,
death of a University student,
who was hit by a car while cross-
ing Plymouth Road last year.
"Every accident that has
taken place in the community
since this ordinance has been
changed, it has been pedestrians
(putting) themselves in a posi-
tion of danger because some-
body was nice to stop for them,"
Kunselman said. "Partly, that
stopping was because we cre-
ated a law that mandated driver
courtesy."
After a discussion among the
councilmembers that was closed
to the general public, Mayor
John Hieftje (D) rebutted some
of Kunselman's arguments.
"There is no evidence to say
that anyone has been damaged
or hurtbecause our ordinance is
slightly different," he said.
Kunselman also sponsored
legislation last year to amend
Ann Arbor's crosswalk legis-
lation. The ordinance passed.
through the Couni l but was,
vetoed by- Hieftje, who told the
council during the discussion
in December that "Changing
the ordinance, I just don't see a
wayhow that can possiblyhelp. I
think the city is safer for pedes-
trians now than before."
Hieftje, who was a vocal
supporter of postponing the
vote Monday, said he wanted
to see what the state or the
Council's Pedestrian Safety
and Access Task Force would
recommend.
"I think we should stop fid-
dling with this until some
further action by either our
Pedestrian Task Force or by the
state,"'he said.
Councilmember Sally Hart
Petersen (D-Ward 2), who
also supported delaying the
vote, has been involved with
State Rep. Adam Zemke's (D-
Ann Arbor) efforts to alter the
state's crosswalk rules. The
Michigan Uniform Traffic Code
requires drivers to stop or slow
for pedestrians walking across
a crosswalk; not pedestrians
approachingthe crosswalk.
"I don't think it's necessary
to try and redo our ordinance
again only to have it changed at
the state level, and perhaps the
state will come up with some-
thing that we can all agree on,"
Petersen said.
She said she would like to see
Ann Arbor wait for new state
rules before approving another
amendment to the city's ordi-
nance.
"What I would not want is for
the city of Ann Arbor to again
superimpose its own rules over
the ste'srules,"shesaid.
ELECTIONS
From Page 1
The cuts resulted in a 6.7-percent
tuition increase for in-state stu-
dents, as well as changes to class
sizes, the closing of several aca-
demic centers and other down-
sizing measures.
Snyder's campaign office was
not available for comment after
multiple interview requests from
the Daily.
Nationwide, fiscal year 2013
reflected a boost in government
highereducationfundinig,accord-
ingtothe State Hjgher 5ducation
Executive Officers Association.
State and local funding grew by
0.7 percent after years of reduc-
tion, though this level growth
was not as strong as in other years
of economic recovery.
"These data indicate that
recovery has begun, albeit more
slowly than after the recession
of the early 2000s, when educa-
tional appropriations per student
increased 5.0% during the first
year of recovery," SHEEO's fiscal
year 2013 report read.
SHEEO reported other
nationwide data that points to
declining federal funding in the
midst of soaring tuition costs.
For each full-time student, edu-
cation appropriations went from
$8,579 in 1988 to $6,105 in 2013,
which is $85 greater than the
lowest data point. Meanwhile,
net tuition revenue per full-time
student increased from $2,685 to
$5,475 - the highest tuition rate
in the study.
Back in Michigan, Schauer
said he has also developed sever-
al ideas regarding student debt.
Snyder has approached stu-
dent debt by encouraging dual-
credit opportunities - which
allow students to earn college
credit in high school - and
through incentives for univer-
sities to not raise tuition. His
primary initiative has been to
tie some state funding to a uni-
versity's ability to keep tuition
increases below a specified cap.
Schauer said two of his primary
approaches are the creation of a
student loan refinancing author-
ity and an increase in need-based
aid to lessen student debt.
Refinancing refers to the pro-
cess of taking out a second loan
at a lower interest rate, typically
due to factors such as market
fluctuations or changes in indi-
vidual credit score. at allows
paying off the original loan with
higher interest rates. The prac-
tice is available for other types of
loans, such as mortgages, but not
for manytypes of student loans.
In California and Wiscon-
sin, where similar refinancing
authorities have been proposed,
policymakers have suggested the
establishment of funds to protect
loan issuers against losses. Other
options include purchasing loans
from their original lender and
then backingthe new, lower-rate
loans themselves.
Schauer said his vision of a
student loan refinancing author-
ity for Michigan could function
as a "public-private partnership."
"The student loan refinanc-
ing authority doesn't necessarily
need to cost anything," he said.
"It could be a way of investing
state pension funds, or pooling or
aggregating other private sector
dollars."
According to Schauer's plan,
need-based scholarships would
be initially funded by savings
from increased efficiencies inthe
way government is run through
audits of every department and
the cancellation of several con-
troversial government contracts.
Schauer added that he believes
thatinthe longterm,theincrease
in aid will produce state revenue.
"It's not a zero-sum game,"
he said. "But in the short term,
it will take a commitment of
resources. What I'll start with is
by cutting some of the wasteful
programs and contracts within
state government."
He referenced Aramark, a
prison food services company
that took over the contract for
Michigan's prisons in Decem-
ber 2013 from state employees,
as one contract he would elimi-
nate. The company - which
currently operates uner $145
million contract - has faced
multiple complaints of inappro-
priate employee conduct and
food quality issues.
Like Snyder, Schauer has pro-
moted higher education as a way
to energize the state's economy
through building knowledge
capital in the state. He also point-
ed to a post-graduation factor
- namely, whether Michigan's
communities encourage. gradu-
ates to stay - as important for
the overall state discussion about
supporting higher education.
As of 2013, the last year for
which data was available, rough-
ly 37 percent of the class of 2012
left the state after matricula-
tion, according to a study by
the Detroit Economic Regional
Chamber.
"You know, there is a brain
drain here in Michigan," Schau-
er said. "We have the ability to
use some of these policy tools
to help address that brain drain,
but there are a number of other
areas as well. We need jobs. And
we need healthy, livable dynamic
cities that provide quality of life
and attract smart, talented cre-
ative people, including our col-
lege graduates."
MARRIAGE
From Page 1
riage.
The Sixth Circuit's decision
to uphold or strike the lower
courts' decision would lead to
the legalization of same-sex
marriage in Michigan, Ken-
tucky, Ohio and Tennessee,
Kaplan said.
"Today's decision only sheds
a window more on states like
Michigan that don't allow for
this fundamental right," Kaplan
said.
Schuette, who is up for re-
election in November, issued
a statement regarding the
Supreme Court's refusal to hear
the appeal.
"Michigan joins Ohio, Ten-.
nessee andKentuckyin awaiting
a decision by the Sixth Circuit
in our pending cases, which we.
expect will be resolved soon,"
said Schuette spokeswoman Joy
Yearout.
When Schuette appealed the
district court ruling in March,
he stated that a 2004 voter-
approved prohibition of same-
sex marriage shouldbe upheld.
"In 2004 the citizens of Mich-
igan recognized that diversity
in parenting is best for kids
and families because moms and
dads are not interchangeable,"
Schuette said in a statement.
"Michigan voters enshrined
that decision in our State con-
stitution, and their will should
stand and be respected."
Mark Totten, Schuette's
Democratic challenger in the
upcoming election, said in a
statement the attorney general's
argument is morally flawed, and
criticized his usage of taxpayer
money for expert witnesses in
the trial.
"There's a word for an Attor-
ney General wasting taxpayer
funds pursuing personal ideo-
logical crusades instead of
protecting Michigan families:
extreme," Totten said.
LECTURE
From Page 1
have their own explanations of
disabilities," Mathew said. "Our
concern is more about empower-
ing them today."
Assistant Information Prof.
JoyojeetPaloriginallymetMathew
at a conference and helped oversee
the Global Information Engage-
ment Project, an Information
School partnership with interna-
tional research, nonprofit and edu-
cational institutions.
"The access to technology in
India is really lacking," Pal said.
"Even though there is a will to do
it at a government level, the cost of
technologymakesitreally difficult."
Allyson Mackay, a gradu-
ate student in the Information
School and one of the event's
organizers, said she wanted
students to experience real-life
applications to their studies.
"I hope students see that
there's a real connection between
the work that they're doing here
and what they're learning at the
School of Information, and how
they can impact different groups
and not just a mainstream audi-
ence," she said.
Mathew said his main goal is
to change current cultural atti-
tudes.
"Resignation as part of the
culture is a barrier, and I want
to change this to a 'can-do' atti-
tude," he said. "Using technol-
ogy, this stereotype of 'you are
not capable' for people with dis-
abilities will change."
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