March 3, 2011 - 5:44pm
A week's worth of Daily: The top news stories from last week, according to the Daily News staff
BY BETHANY BIRON
‘U’ OFFICIALS EXPECT MORE THAN 80,000 TO ATTEND COMMENCEMENT
President Mary Sue Coleman and Provost Teresa Sullivan discussed during Monday’s Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs meeting security procedures for the 2010 Spring Commencement ceremony, for which President Barack Obama will be the keynote speaker. Coleman said University officials have predicted an attendance of more than 80,000 people, doubling last year’s 40,000. Because of the anticipated increased attendance and advanced security measures, the ceremony will begin an hour earlier than originally scheduled — at 11 a.m. rather than at noon.
To read more about the regents' meeting click here.
CHANGE TO ‘U’ ENDOWMENT PAYOUT RATE A POSSIBILITY
University officials are considering making alterations to the annual payout of the University’s endowment after hearing a report presented at the University’s Board of Regents meeting on Thursday by the board’s Finance, Audit and Investment Committee. In the routine report, members worked toward evaluating the efficacy of the current system, which includes a five-percent annual payout rate. While final decisions have yet to be made, any change would come at a difficult time for the University, which is facing budgetary concerns with a possible 25-percent cut in state appropriations.
To read more about the University’s endowment payout policy click here.
MSA ELECTIONS YIELD LOW GRAD STUDENT VOTES
Numbers show that very few graduate students participated in last month’s MSA elections, something that Rackham Rep. Hamdan Yousuf and others are hoping to change. Yousuf — who was elected by the 28 votes that he cast himself — and other graduate students serving on MSA are working to better advocate for and represent graduate student issues on campus in order to create an increased interest in MSA among Rackham students.
To read more about the graduate student turnout click here.
COLEMAN DEFENDS SMOKING BAN, TALKS DISABILITY CONCERNS ON CAMPUS AT FIRESIDE CHAT
In this month’s fireside chat between students and University President Mary Sue Coleman and University Vice President for Student Affairs Royster Harper, issues like assistance for students with both physical and learning disabilities as well as the University’s Smoke Free Initiative were discussed. After talking about ways to increase services and programs for the disabled, Coleman responded to comments from students who said she failed to seek student input on the campus-wide smoking ban. Coleman claimed discussions took place with both smokers and non-smokers during the development of the initiative, which is scheduled to take effect in July 2011.
To read more about this month’s fireside chat click here.
‘U’ DEVELOPING NEW ROOMMATE-MATCHING WEBSITE FOR INCOMING FRESHMEN
University Housing is creating a new social networking website with the intent to assist incoming students find roommates. The website will give students more choices in selecting their roommates and will allow users to send and receive messages and take surveys that allow them to create personal profiles. The students remain anonymous and the website avoids hobby and interest questions in order to inspire more diversity among roommates. The website was tested in a trial run last fall for incoming students living in Mary Markley Hall.
