Legislative Update

In Washington

Congress left the Capitol for their August Recess on Aug. 5, after the House passed the last of the 12 appropriations bills needed for the FY08 federal budget. White House veto threats loomed large as House Democrats did their best to attempt to attract Republican votes in order to assemble veto-proof majorities for these funding bills. The Senate recessed earlier in the weekend and has thus far passed only one appropriations bill.

Congress is scheduled to return on Tuesday, Sept. 4. When they return, they have until Sept. 30, the end of the federal fiscal year, to finish their spending bills. It is likely to be a busy month, one made all the more interesting by the fact that four House members and five senators are running for president. Election politics will likely soon overshadow legislative business, making it difficult to finish the budget.

In Washington, the University of Minnesota works year-round with other land grant institutions and research universities to advocate for resources for student aid and research and to advance federal policies that serve all of our campuses. University experts are regularly called upon to testify before Congress, and members of Congress are frequently invited to campus to speak and to learn more about a host of public policy issues and faculty research findings.

For more information, visit the Office of Federal Relations.

Feature Story

Solar Vehicle Project

The U of M Solar Vehicle Project was founded by a group of undergraduates in the University's Institute of Technology in 1990. The team built their first solar vehicle, Aurora I, in just three years to compete in the 1993 GM Sunrayce. The University's team is made up of undergraduates and has grown to include as many as 50 students in a variety of disciplines. The project has remained true to its original purpose as a student administered, designed, and built project that teaches members about engineering and management in a complete product-development environment.

Historically, development has followed a two-year cycle that culminates with competition in the North American Solar Challenge (NASC). Team members spend the first year learning about the previous car, learning how to race a solar car, and creating concept designs for the next car. The new car is built and tested throughout the second year and is completed in time for the qualifying race called Formula Sun. Cars that prove safe and road worthy at Formula Sun go on to compete in the 2,500-mile NASC race. The University of Minnesota placed second in the 2005 NASC race.

The NASC race stops in many cities and towns all across the United States and Canada. This offers thousands of young people the chance to see what engineering students can do and inspires many of the best and brightest students to enter engineering and energy-related fields of study.

The NASC race was sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). However, funding was cut near the end of 2005, and a 2007 race will not take place. There are some indications that a new NASC-like race may be organized for 2008. Eighteen teams from around North America attended a conference in 2006 to decide upon rules for a 2008 race. All that remains is to find a funding source. The University?s team is hoping for renewed funding of a national race that would allow the continuation of the award winning solar vehicle project.

More information on the U of M Solar Vehicle Project.

Upcoming Events

Connecting With Government: Featuring Congressman Jim Ramstad
Aug. 14, noon-1:15 p.m.
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey Institute
Sponsored by the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance, "Connecting with Government" is a series of public talks by Minnesota's government leaders as part of a commitment to foster informed and substantive discussion on important matters of public policy. All are invited to this free public forum.

U of M Statewide Speakers Tour
Aug. 7- Sept. 10
The University of Minnesota Alumni Association, along with deans and faculty members, will travel to more than 35 Minnesota cities to talk about the U of M and how its teaching, research, and outreach benefits communities. Speakers will discuss their cutting-edge research and the U's involvement with society's most pressing issues. Join us at any of the upcoming events:
Aug. 7, Detroit Lakes Rotary Club
Aug. 23, Red Wing Kiwanis Club
Sept. 10, Redwood Falls Rotary Club
Full tour schedule

Thank your senators

On July 24, the U.S. Senate unanimously (95-0) passed its version of the Higher Education Act. Within its 608 pages, the bill (S. 1642) has much for the University of Minnesota and all of higher education to celebrate. Take a moment to thank senators Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar for their support of the Higher Education Act. Learn more about this issue and send a thank you.

Advocacy Tip

Meet your elected officials at the fair

August is the perfect time to meet your elected officials at your county fair or the Minnesota State Fair. Be sure to tell them why you advocate for the University of Minnesota and that you look forward to their continued support of higher education.

Spotlight

Peer-to-peer networking and copyrighted material

For many U students, walking around campus without their iPod or other MP3 player is as unthinkable as showing up to class dressed as Bucky Badger. When classes begin this fall, expect a certain percentage of students, faculty, and staff who are "early adopters" to showily display their new iPhones.

All new technologies cause new challenges and problems, and these music players are often filled with music and video files that have been illegally shared or downloaded.

Sharing copyright-protected data, including music, movies, software, and games, is made easy through the use of large bandwidth broadband connections, which although once limited to colleges, universities, and other large institutions are now widely available to computer users at home, work, and school. The technology by which these files are often shared online is called peer-to-peer (P2P), and it has legitimate purposes beyond illegal file sharing.

Research done by the Student Monitor, a marketing firm, suggests that more than half of college students have at some time downloaded music or movies illegally. According to one study cited by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), college students accounted for 26 percent of all music downloading on P2P networks and 21 percent of all P2P users.

"We take illegal copyright violations very seriously," said University of Minnesota assistant vice president and chief information officer Steve Cawley. "We continue to take steps to educate students and to curb and punish illegal file sharing, but, quite frankly, the entertainment industry has made colleges and universities a disproportionate target of its rhetoric, legal action, and Washington lobbying efforts."

The University has taken a number of steps to curb illegal downloading. Investments have been made in bandwidth-shaping technology, which allows its network to prioritize certain kinds of traffic - say for transfer of huge chunks of data needed for genetics and proteomics research - while making other types of traffic painfully slow.

Bandwidth shaping and filtering represent only one aspect of the University's comprehensive approach to preventing the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material:

• New student orientation sessions include an educational component on illegal file sharing.
• Students, as well as faculty and staff, are held accountable and are bound by University policy, which prohibits the unauthorized distribution of copyrighted material.
• The University has progressive discipline policies for illegal file sharing, and depending on the number of offenses, a student can face action under the student judicial code of conduct, academic probation, and removal from the University's network.
• Students living in residence halls must also abide by a user agreement prohibiting copyright violations through file sharing.

Although illegal downloading is likely to continue to be an issue in Washington, a recent survey indicated that illegal downloading has declined among 8-18 year-olds over the past three years, with the percentage of those who downloaded without paying dropping from 60 percent to 36 percent. Perhaps this is a sign of a cultural shift that bodes well for future college students' attitudes toward copyright issues.

The University of Minnesota will continue to advocate for reasonable solutions to the challenges posed by illegal peer-to-peer networking activity, and the issue will no doubt continue to be raised in Congress.

See the University's Federal Relations Web site for updates on this issue.

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