OPINION 4 This week, the first three hearings under the University's new Code of conduct will be heard. Students will now realize why they opposed this Code in last November's MSA election. When the Black Crowes came to Hill Auditorium this weekend, they turned the building into a gigantic party. Read Scott Sterling's review of the concert. Michigan guard Jalen Rose was ticketed for loitering outside a Detroit crack house last October, according to reports in today's Detroit Free Press and WXYZ-TV. Today Partly sunny; High 36, Low 26 Tomorrow Cloudy, flurries; High 38, Low 30 WE One hundred two years of editorial freedom Uni Vol tiN.9An Arbor, ichgaTesa, Mrc ,e©99 Te ichga3Dil Growp # develop trst at course by David Carrel 4 Dail Feaure rite Negotiations continue on TA c The bargaining teams agreed to ontract A University course is attempt- ing to provide organizations, groups and societies with a form of learning unavailable in the classroom - trust. This course is not listed in the University course guide, nor is there an exam at its completion. Instead, participants must go out- side their normal environments and inside themselves to complete the Challenge Ropes Course. The ropes course - which is offered by the University's Department of Outdoor Recrea- tional Sports - is an experiential education program involving group initiatives in an outdoor environment. Utilizing elements both close to the ground and 40 feet in the air, the course integrates cables, ropes and other props into a se- quence of increasingly difficult group-oriented activities. Instructors say such unconven- tional situations force the group to work together through coopera- tion, communication and creative problem-solving - each of which develops a foundation for trust and growth. Adrienne Garrison, the Challenge Ropes Course adminis- trative director, said the course of- fers organizations a setting in which to come together more ef- DOUGLAS KANTEFVDaily Two instructors cross the wires at the University's Challenge Ropes Course, sponsored by the Department of Outdoor Recreational Sports. Both instructors risk their lives and limbs, suspended 35 feet above the ground. fectively than simply a meeting each week. "The ropes course focuses on people being together, learning to- gether, with the opportunity to see each other in a new light. It pulls people together fairly quickly," Garrison said. She added that the experience increases an individual's ability to understand and communicate with the other group members. Adrienne Bradley, an LSA se- nior whose sorority went through the ropes course, agreed with Garrison's analysis. "I just felt great. The group I worked with was able to work to- gether effectively. It was a bunch of individuals coming together," Bradley said. In addition to being fun, in- structors said the course's extraor- dinary feature is its ability to adapt to and fulfill a group's particular needs and goals. For example - The Nitro - a low-ropes element, demands that the group cross a muddy, slimy area. The only way to get from one side to the other is by swing- ing across by a rope. If one person falls, everyone must go back to the beginning. Lawrence Kovacs, the Challenge Ropes Course assistant site supervisor, said he creates a scenario - personalized to help each group attain its goals - to motivate the participants. Kovacs explained that for a fi- nance club, he dubbed the muddy area Charles Keating's backyard. If anyone were to fall in, every- body would lose their assets. He said such a setting uses a familiar context to develop cooperation. For members of the University's Grounds Crew, Kovacs told the participants that everyone had won a trip on a cruise. However, when they ar- rived at the dock, the boat had al- ready left and they needed to swing from the dock to the boat. While the ropes course facilita- See COURSE, Page 2 extend the contract to March 15 to allow further negotiation by Kenneth Dancyger Daily Faculty Reporter After more than three months of negotiations - including a five- week deadline extension - bargain- ing teams from the University and the Graduate Employee Organization (GEO) continued bargaining for a new teaching assistant (TA) contract last night. The negotiations were not com- pleted by press time. The teams verbally agreed to ex- tend the contract's March 7 deadline one day to allow for a final attempt to settle the contract's financial provisions. Walter Harrison, executive direc- tor of University relations, said the University's main concern is to ne- gotiate a successful contract with GEO. "The University's traditional stance has been not to discuss any issues ... except at the bargaining table," he said. Colleen Dolan-Greene, Univer- sity bargaining committee chair, could not be reached for comment. Union members voted to dis- tribute a strike authorization form to its membership at its Thursday meeting. A "yes" vote would give GEO's Steering Committee the power to call a strike. "If there is a strike, I hope the students support us," said Jon Curtiss, GEO bargaining committee chair. "What's good for us is good for the undergrads." First-year Engineering student James Derderian said he wouldn't support a strike because he said many TAs do not deserve a salary increase because they are unquali- fied teachers. "If they're expecting a raise, the standards for TAs should go up as well," Derderian said. Curtiss argued that students should "understand the TAs are pro- fessionals and adults. We're not over-grown undergrads, we're (teaching) for a living." LSA first-year student David Stowell said TAs are not required to have a teaching license - making them students, not teachers. "They're people who want to make money, they're not people who want to educate others," he said. Some students expressed their support for a settlement agreeable to the TAs. "I think (a strike) would be good for them, so it wouldn't bother me," said LSA first-year student Kim Gaines. She added she is very happy that TAs are making students aware of their cause by handing out pamphlets and speaking in class. I *Students, DPS officers meet to discuss campus safety, stereotypes by Sarah Kiino Daily Staff Reporter Concerned students and Depart- ment of Public Safety (DPS) officers initiated a round of discussions about student-officer tensions at a workshop in the Michigan Union last night. More than 10 students and 15 officers agreed they need to work out problems of a lack of mutual re- spect, an unwillingness to listen and compromise, and a lack of communication. The dialogue was held in an in- formal format of small group discussions and interactive activities. Ede Fox, MSA president and or- ganizer of the dialogue, said she wanted to open communication be- tween students and police officers to "tell them how we feel and how we want to be treated." Associate Dean of Students Richard Carter, who attended the workshop, said, "We hope to create opportunities for our public safety officers and students to communi- cate with each other and build stronger relations. "There are always tensions be- tween public safety and students. This is a way of abating these tensions," he added. Fox said the organizers aimed for a diverse representation of students. "We invited a variety of people to come and talk about how (they) feel so when we want to talk about specific issues, there is a channel," Fox said. The officers and the students each broke into brainstorming groups to address their perceptions of each other and the causes of stu- dent-officer conflicts. The officers and the students then presented their ideas to each other. The students described the offi- cers as overbearing, systematic, rigid, a tool of the University's ad- ministration and less capable than the Ann Arbor Police Department. Police officers said they see the students as diverse and intelligent, but also idealistic, naive, and "not understanding the implications of their actions as adults." The students expressed concern about the Union entrance policy. Students said they found too many officers spending their weekends positioned in the Union instead of on the streets. They also said officers treat minorities unfairly. Some students said they think it is unnecessary for DPS officers to be armed. DPS officers feared that students had negative views of them because students usually only see officers if something bad happens - if stu- dents are a victim of a crime or if they are arrested. DPS officers also said students do not realize DPS exists to help them. Officers also said students do not see them as individuals. "My biggest pet peeve on cam- pus is not being seen as a human be- ing," said David Betts, DPS Crime Prevention Supervisor. Although the tensions between the officers and students are still far from being resolved, both groups are optimistic for the future. "I have a clearer sense of the history of where the two groups come from," said Todd Sevic, senior counselor at Counseling Services. "Tonight reflects the complexity of all this ... it's not just us against them." J.R. DeVaugn Williams, Black Greek Association president and Engineering senior, said, "This is the beginning of a mutual respect. "There has been a lack of respect (between the two groups)." Another dialogue is scheduled to be held next month. 'U' chooses Monts as new OMA head Girl Scouts continue to sell cookies on campus by Saloni Janveja Daily Feature Writer by Jennifer Silverberg Daily Administration Reporter A new individual will assume a new title and take on the new goals of the Office of Minority Affairs (OMA) beginning July 1 pending approval by the University Board of Regents. Lester Monts, professor of ethnomusicology and dean of under- graduate affairs at the University of California-Santa Barbara (UCSB), will succeed Vice Provost for Minority Affairs important part of the University. If we achieve these goals, everything will hopefully move into place." The official title of the OMA di- rector is being changed to indicate growing responsibilities in a broader base of University affairs, Monts said. "I think it's to have the person who takes the position more in- volved in the total scheme of things," he said. "A lot of time peo- ple take positions like this and al- though they bear a high title, they are left out of the loop." Although he is not yet familiar with the Office of Minority Affairs, It's Girl Scout cookie time. The three girls sporting snappy, blue uniforms stood on the corner of South University Avenue and East University Avenue among hundreds of boxes of their well-known, mouth-watering cookies as they called to pedestrians to buy their products. Passersby paused to produce an almost constant flow of customers, I -. ~*'j - ' ~ ~-.IU~'. 3 I I