Archive for July, 2008
McCain’s opposition puts affirmative action in spotlight
By Charles Gregg-Geist, written on Jul. 29, 2008
Though race has been a central issue in this year’s Presidential race, affirmative action has seen little discussion. John McCain’s support for a ballot initiative that would ban race- and gender-based affirmative action in Arizona is putting the issue back on the national stage.
McCain has not supported moves to end affirmative action in the past, saying they were too “divisive” since 1998. But he came out in support of the ballot proposal in his home state Sunday, marking a concrete difference between himself and Barack Obama, who supports affirmative action.
Ward Connerly, whose American Civil Rights Initiative is behind the proposal in Arizona and several other states, has been pushing for McCain to support the ban in part because it would provide that contrast with Obama.
Democrats have said in recent days that McCain switched his position specifically to appeal to the conservative Republican party base, which generally opposes affirmative action. McCain has tried to paint his support of the measure as an outgrowth of his long-held opposition to quota systems.
Obama, who also opposes quotas, said McCain “flipped his position.” Ballot proposals like the one in Arizona were really “designed to drive a wedge between people,” Obama told a gathering of minority journalists, the AP reported.
Barack inspires Germans at Berlin rally
By thesara, written on Jul. 29, 2008
By Chris Meszaros
Daily Staff Writer
BERLIN, Germany — You could say there was anticipation.
And the 200,000 people that gathered in front of Berlin’s Victory Column clearly showed there was interest.
But like most Americans, what enticed most Europeans to come to Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s speech was his promise for change.
Not just a change in the Oval Office and in foreign policy in Iraq, but also for greater respect for Europe.
“We’re looking for a president that will find a diplomatic way of solving problems,” Jakob Lang of Greifswald Germany, a small town in the northern part of the country, said. “We’re sick of being shoved around.”
Obama’s speech promised greater cooperation between the two continents and promised to help “tear down new walls” that separate Europeans and Americans.
It was hard not to notice the parallels between speeches given in Berlin by former presidents John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan. Obama drew several parallels to a new wall that divides the politics of America with those of Europe.
Many Germans at the rally recognized this problem and said they sought greater cooperation with America’s new administration.
“The relationship between our two countries is important,” Lang said. “Germany is looking for a new tone and for an improvement of the political climate between Germany and America.”
Obama’s speech covered topics ranging from foreign policy to climate change, but held an underlying theme was unity throughout the world. The senator said that this theme made Berlin the perfect location to symbolize that goal—the city is historically tied with being the divider between East and West, between old and new.
With a crowd of over 200,000 fans, Obama’s speech was clearly a hit among Europeans who are looking for a new political beginning and to repair relations among the two continents which has been strained under President Bush.
“Most Europeans like Obama because he is someone that we can work together with,” Andreas Müller of Berlin said. “America and Europe must work together on issues like Iraq, climate change and the economy if we want things to improve.”
In his speech Obama hinted at seeking greater international cooperation and bringing the war to a speedy conclusion.
That implication struck a chord with many Germans at the rally.
“The biggest concern for the future is the war in Iraq,” Sarah Strobel from Saxony said. “It is important that America leaves Iraq as quickly as possible.”
Crime of enthusiasm cut embarassingly short
By thesara, written on Jul. 28, 2008
The joke’s on you, Spencer Taylor.
Dressed in a purple suit and face paint resembling the Joker’s character from the newest Batman film, the 20-year old man of Three Rivers, Michigan thought he had found a way to score Batman swag from the lobby of his local movie theatre last Sunday morning.
Taylor may have thought the infamy of the character’s costume would grant him the anonymity and immunity that it did for Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. Unfortunately for him and a small, bemused audience, he failed to emulate the celebrated maniac and was taken away by police.
In a hurry, Manager of the Three Rivers 6 cinema Brian Willoughby tells the story:
“He tried to steal a wall banner and tore a poster case off the wall,” he said. “I wrestled him to the ground and called the police on him.”
After making him wash his face, Three Rivers police slapped Taylor with charges for felony larceny and malicious destruction of property. Check out the full story, and before and after face-paint pictures, from the Kalamazoo Gazette.
Affirmative action ban might affect 100 scholarships at University of Colorado
By Charles Gregg-Geist, written on Jul. 27, 2008
As Ward Connerly’s American Civil Rights Institute pushes affirmative action bans like the one in Michigan onto the ballot in more states around the country, universities are trying to figure out what the passage of such a ban would mean for them. The University of Colorado completed its assessment of the effects last week. An affirmative action ban will be on the ballot in Colorado this November.
Affirmative action is one component of the secondary part of CU’s two-part admissions process. The primary part examines things like GPA, test scores, extracurricular activities and letters of recommendation. The second considers work and research experience as well as criteria that might qualify students for affirmative action based on race, gender, legacy and socio-economic status.
The proposed ban would eliminate the considerations for race, gender and ethnicity, but have no other effects on the admissions process, the CU report concluded. The report also said the university’s outreach programs wouldn’t be affected, but didn’t come to a clear conclusion regarding scholarships with specific provisions based on race or gender. The scholarships with such provisions were established by donors who set the criteria, which CU said made their status under the ban uncertain. There are about 100 with such provisions at the school.
In Michigan, public universities cannot consider race or gender in awarding scholarships, but private institutions may, and many do.
Michigan’s hate crime law could see an expansion
By admin, written on Jul. 24, 2008
Michigan’s current hate crime law might see an expansion if state Rep. Paul Condino, a Democrat from Southfield, and other Lansing lawmakers get their way.
Condino announced yesterday that he would introduce a bill at the beginning of August to create a more comprehensive version of the state’s existing hate crime law.
If passed, Condino’s version of the bill would mean that crimes against gays, lesbians, and people with disabilities could now be legally charged as hate crimes. The House Judiciary Committee chairman’s bill would also mean that hanging a noose and burning a cross could be considered property crimes in a court of law.
Though the legislation isn’t likely to be discussed until after the November elections, talk of Condino’s new bill came almost exactly two months after the Detroit based Triangle Foundation found that hate crimes against individuals in the lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual communities were up by more than 133 percent in Michigan for 2007.
According to the Triangle Foundation’s Youth Initiatives Coordinator Brett Beckerson, though, the LGBT advocacy group has never used Michigan’s current hate crime definition to calculate any of its statewide statistics.
“We define a hate crime just like the FBI defines it,” Beckerson said in an earlier interview. “If you googled or looked up the word hate crime in the encyclopedia, that’s how we’d define it.”
Greater LGBT inclusion into Michigan hate crime law is something that the group has been working towards since 1997 according to Beckerson, but it will probably be another few months before any serious talks of Condino’s bill will take place.
Ann Arbor city tensions; the live mini-feed
By thesara, written on Jul. 22, 2008
“The thing is, John at first said he was against it, and then he changed his mind,” says Tom Wall, referring to Ann Arbor mayor John Hieftje’s alleged waffling on the new $47-million police-court facility proposal. “That doesn’t settle right in my stomach.”
Hieftje doesn’t miss a beat. “Well, I hope Tom gets some antacid or something,” he replies with a charismatic smile. “It took me over a year to change my mind.”
We’re off. Tonight at 7 p.m. a debate between Hieftje and his opponent, Ann Arbor resident Tom Wall, begins a live broadcast of Ann Arbor politicians sounding off–and facing off–over platforms for the August 5th city elections.
Hieftje, who has won the past five consecutive 2-year terms as Ann Arbor’s mayor, is comfortable and personable at the podium. Wall, a former special education teacher who runs a driver’s education business, got 9,000 votes when he ran as an independent two years ago. He speaks less smoothly, but remains confident.
Included on Hieftje and Wall’s plates tonight were transportation, parking, local green space and the said county courthouse contreversy.
Wall closes his statement talking about his plans to fix “any frustrations” the city has had in the past eight years. “I’m not in the mayor’s office, I don’t have access to the books (about the budget),” he said. “A mayor that I produce is the kind of person who gets out, shakes hands and talks to people,” he said.
Hieftje remarks that Wall could have studied and learned about books that are available in his weekly office hours. “I’m available if they want to come in and talk to me,” he said, adding that anyone who wants to be mayor should learn about the budget.
A lively, patriotic march plays through the closing credits. Up next: city councilmember Stephen Kunselman.
9:43 p.m–Kunselman (D-Ward 3) says he wants to increase the supply of smaller housing units. That means that students are being consolidated near campus. Stay tuned for any zoning changes in your neighborhood.
City council and mayoral candidates will be profiled in The Michigan Daily the week of August 4th.
City council postpones student apartment complex
By admin, written on Jul. 22, 2008
At a meeting of the Ann Arbor City Council held last night, council members voted to postpone their decision on the construction of a new student-housing complex set to be built off of Maple Road on the west side of the city.
Known as the “42 North” project, the proposed complex would house 640 people in apartments designed to hold four or five occupants. The new complex would also allow each resident to have an individual parking space.
Though the City Council voted 10-1 to reject the same project back in January, apartment complex developers reworked their initial plans and presented them for a second time on Monday.
City council members discussed and reviewed the newest set of construction plans at last night’s meeting, but the latest postponement was meant to give Ann Arbor city officials more time to work out remaining details with project developers.
Stormwater and sewer drainage near the new apartments was the latest issue raised by nearby neighbors of the potential complex at Monday’s meeting.
City Councilwoman Joan Lowenstein (D- Ward 2) said a number of Ann Arbor residents were concerned about drainage issues, particularly because the proposed complex would sit on the highest point in the entire city.
“A lot of areas east of the proposed location have had problems with basement flooding and sewer backups,” Lowenstein said. “So they have concerns and I don’t really know if they are justified at this point or not.”
Lowenstein said many of the residents were concerned that the new apartments could exacerbate some of the problems that nearby residents already have.
Regents approve medical campus expansions
By thesara, written on Jul. 21, 2008
The University Board of Regents at the July 17 meeting approved almost $52 million in plans to expand facilities for the University’s medical campus.
A new Information Technology facility will replace the existing IT location in the Taubman library. “I guess they need a bigger one,” laughed Bruce Spiher from public relations at the University Hospital.
But seriously, the “massive” project–which proposed last December–will be the first devoted solely to IT and should contribute to a rapidly evolving medical campus.
“The use of information technology is expanding beyond the space we have to support it,” Spiher said.
The 47,000-square-foot, tornado-resistant building will host 11,000 square feet of data center, 7,500 square feet of support space and 28,500 square feet of infrastructure.
Groundbreaking is set for August 2008, and occupancy will begin in December 2009.
Scraping up the smaller portion of the $52 million are two properties on Wall Street off of Fuller Street that were recommended for purchase to fulfill “conceptual” plans from June 2005 for medical campus parking, classroom, research or adminastrative purposes, said the Ann Arbor News.
One property, 8100-square-foot vacant lot on 1059 Wall Street, was recommended for purchase at $162,000. Developers negotiated pricing for the second, a small apartment building on 953 Wall Street, at $790,000.
University representatives could not be reached for comment about the development, but you can view these and other long-term development plans on the University Health System’s Master Plan website.
Solar car team overcomes penalties to keep large lead
By Charles Gregg-Geist, written on Jul. 19, 2008
The University’s solar car team is enjoying Winnipeg, Canada right now, more than an hour ahead of its closest competition, the team from Principia College. Continuum arrived at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba at 11:32 this morning and the team is now enjoying themselves at a barbecue thrown by the college.
College of Engineering senior Jeff Ferman said the team was happy with the progress Continuum had made since leaving Sioux Falls, South Dakota Friday.
“The drive today was wonderful,” Ferman said. “We’ve been going right at the speed limit.”
But things haven’t been going as well as they might for the team. Continuum would be even further ahead of the pack if not for some costly penalties they picked up on the drive into Sioux Falls.
The team was set back twenty minutes for four counts of speeding. But the big penalty the team picked up was for an hour and ten minutes when Continuum’s emergency braking system began to wear out.
Continuum uses “regenerative braking” most of the time, Ferman said, because it regains some of the power that would otherwise be lost by braking. But they use mechanical brakes, like those found on any other car, when they need to stop quickly.
When they used the mechanical brakes to slow Continuum’s descent down a hill towards a stoplight, they had some trouble stopping, but just thought the driver hadn’t begun braking soon enough, Ferman said. About five miles later — after successfully stopping at a number of lights and stop signs using the regenerative braking system, Ferman emphasized — they tested the brakes and realized that their brake pads had worn through. Though they were only five miles from the site they’d chosen to stop for the night, but two miles later they pulled off the road, he said.
The team won’t file an objection to the penalty, Ferman said, but he also maintained that it hadn’t made any errors.
“While (our brakes) were reduced in one form, we have redundant systems for a reason,” he said. “We were operating safely.”
But he added, “Given that the penalty was for running with an un-ordinary brake system, we did do that, so we’re not going to appeal that.”
The team will submit a brief to race officials explaining why they decided not to stop immediately. But for the most part, the penalties seem to be in the past, and the team is pleased with their position. They even got to partake in a parade today, Ferman said.
“Morris (Manitoba) has an annual stampede,” he explained. “It just happened that this weekend was the parade.”
When Continuum arrived at the little town the parade was just getting organized. At first team members were worried they’d have to stop and wait for it to finish, but that didn’t happen.
“Rahter than wait for it, they let us join the parade,” Ferman said.
Parading through the town with the horses did slow Continuum by about ten minutes, but Ferman seemed philosophical about the loss.
“It would have been worse… if we had come later. They did stop teams,” he said, and added, “We did get some good press from it.”
Solar car team leads North American Solar Challenge Race
By Charles Gregg-Geist, written on Jul. 17, 2008
For many students, summer is a time to work, take an internship, and see their families. For others, summer is a chance to travel — to leave Ann Arbor, to leave their home town, and see a little more of the world. For 18 undergraduates, it’s an opportunity to usher a solar-powered car across the continent from Dallas, Texas to Calgary, Alberta.
Right now, the University’s Solar Car Team and their car Continuum are parked in Sioux Falls, South Dakota waiting for their competition to catch up. They arrived in Sioux Falls yesterday at 12:35 p.m., an hour and 40 minutes ahead of their closest competition, the team from Principia College. The next team to arrive, from Bochum University of Applied Sciences in Germany, pulled in an hour and 35 minutes after that, around 3:15 p.m.
The University’s team was also the first to qualify for the race, and won the right to start first by outlasting the other cars on a racing track. Engineering senior Steve Hechtman, Continuum’s project manager, said the early start allowed them to escape bad weather and was part of the reason the team was able to take a big lead.
“The front-running teams were able to use their battery packs to get out in front of the storms, but the slower teams got caught up in the storms and that really slowed them down,” he said.
Another reason for its success is the car’s ability to stay on the road. Hechtman, who is also one of Continuum’s drivers, said they haven’t had any mechanical errors or even a flat tire. Some “electrical bugs” kept them off the road for about 20 minutes in the first day of driving, he said, but there haven’t been any other problems in the 22 hours they’ve spent on the road.
In fact, he said the biggest constraint so far has been the speed limit, which has been about 55 mph on most of the highway they’ve driven. But they’ve done a good job staying at a legal pace, and haven’t picked up any penatlies, which are assessed for traffic violations.
We’ll see if they can keep it up. At about 2400 miles, the NASC is the world’s longest solar car race.
I’ll keep you up to date on the team’s progress here on The Wire, but you can also check the team’s blog for reports from the road.