2012 09 05

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ONE-HUNDRED-TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF EDITORIAL FREEDOM Thursday, September 5, 2013

Ann Arbor, Michigan

michigandaily.com

Gift benefits Big day for big money high-profile departments Stephen Ross gets the maize-carpet treatment for $200-million gift

Reaction mixed among students on donation recipients By SAM GRINGLAS Daily Staff Reporter

The Ross School of Business 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 University that some argue affect a small percentage of the school’s overall population or are already well-funded. Justin Pope, a former Associated Press national education reporter who was once a KnightSee GIFT, Page 6A

By PETER SHAHIN AND JENNIFER CALFAS Daily News Editor and Daily Staff Reporter

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 recordbreaking$200-million donation, which will be split between his namesake school and the Athletic Department. Nearly 10 years after a $100-million donation 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 quotation from Ross on the back: “You get by giving.” The crowd, which included many high-level University administrators, collected 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 Companies 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 facility 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 audience 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-million 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 latest 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

ANN ARBOR

Mixed Use Party loses candidate for council

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 to her co-chair in the Mixed

WEATHER TOMORROW

HI: 76 LO: 59

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-discriminatory 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 member Jane Lumm (I–Ward 2). The party’s other candidate, Sam DeVarti, a student at Eastern

Michigan University, is also still running against Councilmember 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 personal reasons. “Although personal reasons require that I withdraw from the election, the Mixed Use Party has my unwavering support,” Vresics said in a statement. “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

GOT A NEWS TIP? Call 734-418-4115 or e-mail news@michigandaily.com and let us know.

Print edition to be rebranded as The Ann Arbor News By AUSTEN HUFFORD Online Editor

In an effort to streamline production and content delivery, the MLive Media Group announced Wednesday that AnnArbor.com would cease to exist as a standalone website, instead integrated into the larger MLive.com. This move puts the news outlet in line with several other city papers around the state, including The Grand Rapids Press and

NEW ON MICHIGANDAILY.COM The Liner Notes: Gearing up for an exciting fall MICHIGANDAILY.COM/BLOGS/THEFILTER

INDEX

The Flint Journal, which are housed on MLive. AnnArbor. com was its only separately marketed 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 Champion, the company’s southeast Michigan General Manager, said AnnArbor.com was a “huge success,” citing high market penetration. “This transition brings together two of the most successful digital news platforms to leverage the best of them both,” the letter stated.

Vol. CXXIII, No. 125 ©2013 The Michigan Daily michigandaily.com

The publication’s twiceweekly print editions will also be rebranded as The Ann Arbor News, and will contain AnnArbor-focused content from 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 general financial difficulties in the industry in 2009. At the time of the paper’s closing, Ann Arbor became the largest city in America without a professional daily newspaper, and The Michigan Daily became the only daily print See MLIVE, Page 7A

NEWS.........................2A OPINION.....................4A S P O R T S . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7A

SUDOKU.....................2A CL ASSIFIEDS...............6A B-SIDE ....................1B


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