The Michigan Daily - Thursday, November_10, 1994 - 3

Assembly
*to advise
students
on code
By CATHY BOGUSLASKI
Daily Staff Reporter
Students charged with violating the
Statement of Student Rights and Re-
sponsibilities could soon have a Michi-
gan Student Assembly member help
them during their hearings.
At Tuesday night's meeting, the
assembly confirmed Students' Rights
Commission Chair Vince Keenan as
the first member of its Advisor Corps,
group of students trained to help
counsel students at code hearings.
Keenan said he and future Advisor
Corps members will "help people who
don't know the code" by providing
them with information about their
rights. However, the advisers would
not be able to speak for students during
code hearings.
The Statement of Student Rights and
Responsibilities is the University's code
of non-academic conduct. MSA hopes
to train more advisers soon, Keenan said.
so,
MSA again voted down a proposal
to provide more funds to the Ann Arbor
Tenants' Union (AATU)Tuesday night.
The proposal would have trans-
ferred$3,001 from theassembly's capi-
tol goods reserve fund to AATU.
"The AATU works," said Rackham
Rep. Josh Grossman. "Every time we
vote no on (funding) it, I'm shocked."
MSA Vice President Jacob Stern
said AATU should receive its funding
through MSA's Budget Priorities Com-
mittee (BPC), just like other student
groups."Not going to BPC (for fund-
ing) just shows how worthless this or-
ganization is," Stern said.
LSA Rep. Jonathan Freeman said
nants' union supporters are still opti-
mistic about funding for AATU. He
said AATU will ask BPC for funds.
AATU received about $23,000 in
funding from MSA last year.
Only part of November's election
schedule ended Tuesday. Next week,
students will be asked to cast their
iallots for MSA representatives.
Twenty-three spots will be up for
grabs in a campuswide election start-
ing Wednesday and ending Thursday.
Threeparties and nine independents
will be campaigning for a seat on the
assembly. Representatives are elected
for one year. Students also will vote on
two ballotquestions. Onequestion asks
voters if the student fee should be in-
reased by 25 cents to fund AATU.
. The second ballot question, spon-
sored by Freeman, asks students if the
student fee should be increased by 18
cents for one academic term.
Freeman said the question was in-
tended to replenish the general reserve
fund after the assembly transferred
money from that fund to the tenants'
union. The assembly voted down sev-
eral attempts to make this transfer.
 Freeman said the question was im-
portant when it was proposed, but was

no longer useful since the transfer was
not approved by the assembly. He said
he will ask the election director about
removing the question from the ballot.

FUN IN THE MUD

Stamps to cost
32 cents by Jan.

Los Angeles Times
WASHINGTON - Postal rates
will rise in January, with the standard
first-class stamp jumping to 32 cents
from 29 cents, the chairman of the U.S.
Postal Service warned Tuesday.
"Ourcustomers shouldplan accord-
ingly," Sam Winters, the chairman,
said during a meeting of the Postal
Service Board of Governors.
The Postal Service already has ap-
plied fora 10.3 percentrate increase for
all classes of mail. The independent
Postal Rate Commission is expected to
announce within a few weeks its ruling
on the rate request.
Approval is widely expected, and
postal officials, along with most big
mailers, have been assuming that the
higher rates would take effect on Jan. 1.
But Winters made it virtually official
Tuesday, promising that the new rate
structure will begin with the New Year.
Anticipating the higher rates, many
big advertisers, mail-order merchan-

disers and mass mailers will send out
tons of extra mailings late this year to
take advantage of the current rates.
After the rate commission an-
nounces its decisions, Winters said, the
board of governors will act "in a most
timely manner." The rate increase
would be the first since 1991, when the
price of a first-class stamp rose to 29
cents from 25 cents.
Proposed rate increases usually are
contentious, with competing groups of
mailers trying to negotiate lower rates
for themselves by shifting more of the
burden to other classes of mail.
This time, the big mailers, includ-
ing magazines, newspapers, catalog
publishers and direct marketers, sup-
ported an across-the-board rate hike of
10.3 percent. In return, the Postal Ser-
vice promised to conduct a major study
to re-examine the classification and
pricing system that has remained largely
unchanged since the Postal Service be-
came independent in 1971.

JOE WESTRATE/Daify

Co-ed intramural football teams brave the rain and the mud at Mitchell Field last night.

Scheduling becomes easier with 'U' alum's software

By SPENCER DICKINSON
For the Daily
How does the University make sure
your bio section isn't scheduled on top
of someone's French class? What about
scheduling one-time lectures so they
don't conflict with regular classes?
With thousands of students, hun-
dreds of classes and dozens of lectures,
it's harderthan you think. But thanks to
a new program developed by a
Rackham alum, it's getting easier all
the time.
In the past, classes were scheduled
in a room in the LSA Building by a
woman named Stella Theros.-
She worked for the University for
40 years, the last 20 of which were

spent wedging lectures, sections and
special events into the space available
using a card system. Larry Jones, a
database clerk in the scheduling office,
said Theros actually did most of the
scheduling "in,her head."
"Stella worked great," said Jones,
"but no one else could have done the
job because no one else knew what she
knew."
Today, Jones and Leah Dailey, an
academic services clerk, use software
called Schedule 25 and Schedule 25E
to do her job in ways Theros never
could.
"We still have the card system as
backup," said Dalley, "and we haven't
got the computer to schedule final ex-

ams yet, but it makes the job much
easier."
The biggest improvement offered
by the new system is the ability to
schedule events at the last minute.
Rackham student Debbie Waugh was
looking for a room where she and the
rest of the University's Duplicate
Bridge Club could meet.
Dailey hit a few keys and found a
room to suit her needs in 30 seconds.
Waugh, who was using the system for
the second time, said she was "very
pleased" with the results.
"We weren't able to do that two
years ago," Dalley said. "The registrar
has had good feedback and fewer com-
plaints since we started using the sys-

tem."
The University isn'ttheonly school
to use this program. Currently, 130
universities use the system.
Some have systems that are almost
entirely automated. Jones cited the
University of Iowa as one such institu-
tion, but said the University is moving
in the same direction. "We're working
on (improving) the system every day,"
Jones said.
Schedules 25 and 25E were devel-
oped in Oregon by James Wolfston, a
1977 Rackham graduate. Wolfston is
still in contact with his adviser, com-
puter science Prof. Bernard A. Galler.
"Bernie liked my idea and gave me
some help early on to work on it,"

Wolfston said. With this support,
Wolfston founded Universal Algo-
rithms Inc. and developed what he calls
"the first workable computerized solu-
tion to mass classroom scheduling."
This program developed into Sched-
ule 25 and later 25E, which the Univer-
sity has been integrating since 1992.
This semester is the first time the soft-
ware successfully did all LSA schedul-
ing.
Wolfston said Universal Algo-
rithms, which employs 13 in Portland,
Ore., "has really taken off." Their latest
project is a series of automated guides
that help vacationers "schedule" their
next getaway.

Defeated Wolpe recalls his
rmistakes along campaign trail r

EAST LANSING (AP)-Athome
in his condominium after200,00Omiles
and almost two years on the road,
Democrat Howard Wolpe spent Tues-
day quietly contemplating his guber-
natorial campaign that went nowhere.
"We peaked too early," he joked,
able to muster a laugh a two days after
his landslide loss to incumbent Gov.
John Engler.
Quickly, however, the serious side
of Wolpe so evident during the cam-
paign took over. "Clearly there was a
Republican tide moving last night," he
said, noting not a single GOP incum-
bent lost a race for governor, U.S. Sen-
ate or U.S. House.
"This was just an election-year di-
saster for Democrats across the board."
Wolpe said Engler benefited from
an economy improved by President
Clinton's policies. Ironically, the GOP
also gained from anti-Clinton senti-
ment.
But even without that, Wolpe said,
the cut in property taxes Engler pushed
probably decided the outcome.

"That was the one thing that I heard
everywhere. Englersucceeded in mak-
ing himself the beneficiary of the prop-
erty tax cut," he said.
Engler re-election campaign direc-
tor Dan Pero mocked the Wolpe effort.
"It's almost as if the Democrats had
no strategy to run a general election
race after they won the primary," he
said.
Political analysts also have
skewered the Wolpe campaign.
"If there was one thing that con-
verted a 10-point loss into a blowout, it
was the anemic start of the Wolpe
campaign, the loss of the whole period
from Aug. 2 to Labor Day," said Craig
Ruff, president of Lansing-based Pub-
lic Sector Consultants Inc.
Wolpe conceded he took too long
to name state Sen. Debbie Stabenow as
his running mate. He praised her cam-
paigning ability.
He acknowledged that Engler and
the GOP painted an image of him early
as a tax-and-spend liberal, but he said
he was powerless to defend himself.

"Once we got the nomination, the
party had no money," he said.
A traditional Democratic Party
money source, the Michigan Educa-
tion Association, had spent its cash
promoting the primary candidacy of
Larry Owen, Wolpe said, and the party
itself was $200,000 in the red from the
previous election.
"They began to successfully do the
attack on me, to define me, before we
had an opportunity to be able to re-
spond to that, so we were constantly
playing defensive catchup," he said.
Wolpe insisted he had a clear vision
on the economy, education and crime
laid out a vision for the future, which he
was criticized as lacking, but said he
lacked resources to get thatmessage out.
He thought victory was still pos-
sible in September when a poll showed
him 16 points behind Engler. After
that, the margin ballooned to 26 points
and he said, "You always hold onto the
possibility of some breakthrough."
An uptick in Clinton's standing re-
newed his hope late in the race, but it

Michigan Gov. John Engler and Senate Majority Leader Dick Posthumous (R-
Alto) celebrate their victories yesterday.

was harder to believe the last 10 days.
"I was just so determined to have the
best showing possible because I wanted
to help the entire ticket if we could.... I
just recognized it was uphill in terms of
my own candidacy," he said.
He took some solace in the fact
that the GOP was able to pick up just
one seat in the state House, despite
Engler's margin.
But Wolpe said it was enormously

disappointing that he couldn't derail
the national GOP sweep in Michigan.
He was glum about the rising cynicism
he thinks the election illustrated, but
not about his personal loss.
Wolpe said he's unsure what he'll
do in the future, but wants to remain
involved in somefacetofpublic policy.
"I'll be spending time with my fam-
ily and try to find a way to avoid eating
at McDonald's every day," he said.

Corrections
The totals from Michigan's U.S. Senate race were: Spence Abraham with 1,576,578 votes, Bob Carr with 1,300,263
-Notes and Jon Coon with 127,954 votes. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily.
Della Sigma Phi was condemned by the city. Its charter was revoked by the University. This was incorrectly reported
in Monday's Daily.

Howard U. fires 400 from its staff

Washington Post
WASHINGTON - Howard Uni-
versity, facing declining enrollment
and a budget deficit, began firing
nearly 400 administrative employees
yesterday as part of a restructuring
effort that Interim President Joyce A.
Ladner called "especially painful" but
necessary "if Howard is to survive
and prosper."
The firings rocked the nation's
largest black university as employees
- including the director of financial
aid and the head of the school's sup-

port services - were told their jobs
were being abolished and they would
get their regular pay until the day
before Thanksgiving.
"I had no inkling, no warning,"
said Esme Bond, a research associate
at Howard's Moorland-Spingarn Re-
search Center, who has worked at
Howard for nearly 20 years. "I don't
know what I'm going to do. I laugh to
keep from crying."
Trying to close a $6.9 million bud-
get deficit, Howard is reducing its
administrative staff of 2,100 by about

25 percent in an effort to save as much
as $6 million this year and about $14
million in 1995-96, officials said.
Some of the money saved will be
reinvested in academic programs and
laboratories.
"We have needed for a long time
to bring the size of the Howard Uni-
versity work force in line with our
basic mission," Ladner said in a state-
ment. "By reducing excess staff posi-
tions ... we shall have a better match
between our needs and our limited
resources."

Q Amnesty International meeting,
764-5619, Dana Building, Room
1028, 7:30 p.m.
D Archery Club practice, 913-5896,
Sports Coliseum, 7-9 p.m.
Q Circle K International weekly
meeting, 663-2461, Michigan
Union, Pond Room, 7:30 p.m.
" Intervarsity Christian Fellow-
ship, 764-5702, Dana Building,
Room 1040,7 p.m.
" MCAT Prep Class Face-Off,
sponsored by Pre-Medical
Union, 995-5489, Michigan
Union, Pendleton Room, 6:30
p.m.
Q Meditation and Diet, sponsored
by Meditation forUniversalsCon-
sciousness, 747-0885, Michigan
League, Room D, 7 p.m.

tional Students," sponsored by
International Center, International
Center Building, Room 9,3 p.m.
U 'InformationalMeetingaboutU-
M Summer Study Abroad Pro-
gram in Jamaica," sponsored by
Office of International Programs,
Modern Languages Building,
RoomB116,5-6 p.m.
0 "Islam in America," lecture, Imam
Quicke, sponsored by Muslim
Student's Assocation, Law Quad,
Room 100,7 p.m.
[ "Maximizing Limited Experience
on Your Resume," sponsored by
CP&P, Student Activities Build-
ing, CP&P Conference Room,
4:10-5 p.m.
U "Professional Development for
International Spouses," spon-
sored by International Center, In-
. .ninn Ci-nti - kinr nn

Q "The Law School Application
Process," sponsored by CP&P,
Student Activities Building, 12:10-
I p.m.
Q "The National Health Care De-
bate: A Terminal Case?" spon-
sored by Labor Party Advocates,
Ann Arbor Public Library, 7p.m.
Q "Thursday Night at 6:30: Prob-
lems in the Communications
Department and U-M Adminis-
tration," discussion group, spon-
sored by U-M Students of the Ann
Arbor Libertarian League,
Dominick's Restaurant, Upstairs,
6:30 p.m.
Q "TV Night," sponsored by Hillel,
Hillel Building, 8-11 p.m.
Q "Visiting Writer Marilynne
Robinson Reading From Her
Work," Rackham Amphitheatre,
5 p.m.

THE PUERTO RICAN ASSOCIATION
OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
PRESENTS THE
12TH MICHIGAN-PUERTO RICAN WEEK
November 13-19, 1994
Nov.13: A Taste of Puerto Rican Cuisine
Enjoy the best of typical Puerto Rican Cuisine. Recipes of the most traditional
dishes will be available.
1:00 P.M. * Trotter House
Nawni. Vn e a501.The Envimnmeital Cenode1Enocide in Puerto Rico Continues

i