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One hundredfve years of editorialfreedom
Wednesday
January 24, 1996
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nures
dOff
Hospitals
Budget reduction
forces hospital to trim
$28 million from
budget this year
Jodi Cohen
Staff Reporter
s part ofa large-scale budget reduc-
ion, University Hospitals has an-
ounced it will lay off 71 nurses as of
March 1.
The victims ofthe $28 million reduc-
tion received their layoff notices be-
tween Monday and today, hospital
spokesman Michael Harrison said.
Those nurses with the least seniority
were chosen as the first to go, espe-
cially nurses hired within the past six
rwths.
It was especially poor that the hos-
pital hired them and then decided they
don't need all those people," said Fred
Vocino, labor relations representative
for the Michigan Nurses Association.
Harrison saidthe hospital hired about
25 of the nurses for extra help.
"The intent wasn't to hire them with
the thought that they would have to be
laid off six months later," he said.
the hospital is eliminating some po-
sitions entirely and filling others with
senior staff displaced from their depart-
ments.
"You have a system designed to
ensure that the people who have the
least invested would be terminated,"
Vocino said, explaining that senior
nurses whose jobs are eliminated will
move into the laid-off staff's posi-
tions. "It is going to affect the long-
ta' nurses in that they may not be
a e to remain in the positions they
are in."
The layoffs are part of the final stage
ina five-year $90 million budgetreduc-
tion program. To reach this goal, $28
million must be cut from the budget this
year.
"We are looking at reducing many
things," Harrison said. "Nursing is the
most visible right now."
garrison said he does not know how
much money will be saved by the cut in
the 2,200-member nursing staff.
Harrison also said he did not know if
this reduction, following previousnurs-
ing layoffs in 1987 and 1991, is the
most extensive cut.
Vocino said University Hospitals'
layoff decision is indicative ofa nation-
wide decrease in hospital staff. The
increase in managed care has led to the
td lacement of many nurses in hospi
tettings, he said.
Vocino also said the association will
use a federal grant to train the laid-off
nurses in home-care environment jobs,
a growing field in the nursing profes-
sion.
Harrison said the reductions should
not affect the quality of care at the
hospital.
"I don't know all the intricacies of
those areas (that) are losing nurses
AIbe covered," he said. "Ifwe thought
it would suffer, we would do something
different."
.1
Clinton challenges nation
thi i dgdrsshts
-,common pagoals
The Washington Post
Borrowing generously from Republican
themes, President Clinton last night declared
that the "era of big government is over" and
sought to ease middle-class anxieties with an
upbeat vision of a nation pulling together to
ready itself for the new century.
With Republicans bruised by weeks of vi-
cious partisan budget battles sitting mostly
silently in their seats, Clinton used his election-
year State of the Union address before a joint
session of Congress to point out how many
goals he and Republicans share, without dwell-
ing on how strenuously he and Congress have
fought over how to achieve them.
He is for a balanced budget, but not their
balanced budget. He is for welfare reform, but
not their welfare reform. He is for family.
Individual responsibility. Self-reliance. The
fight against crime. The battle against drugs.
But they disagree on government's role.
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas,
the leading Republican presidential candidate,
made the differences between presidential rheto-
ric and presidential action the theme of his
televised response. In a tough address, Dole
said that though Clinton's "words speak of
change, his deeds are a contradiction."
Clinton, Dole said, is the "chief obstacle" to
a balanced budget, the "rearguard of the wel-
fare state" and "the last defender of a discred-
ited status quo." Predicting a winter of chal-
lenge, Dole said congressional Republicans
will keep sending Clinton the elements of their
agenda and "challenge President Clinton again
and again to walk the talk he talks so well."
Clinton, far less sharp in his approach and
much more conciliatory, instead re-enlisted in
the smaller government movement in words
that could come out of the mouths of Republi-
cans. "Big government does not have all the
answers,"Clinton said. "There is not aprogram
for every problem. We know we need a smaller,
less bureaucratic government in Washington
- one that lives within its means.".
The speech comes at an extraordinary mo-
ment for Clinton, as he pauses in the bitter
struggle with reigning Republicans over bal-
ancing the budget and his tough re-election
campaign. Hillary Rodham Clinton, in the bal-
cony with daughter Chelsea at her side, was a
visible reminder of the President's continuing,
intractable problem with the Whitewater in-
vestigations and their many offshoots. It was
Hillary Clinton's first public appearance since
the announcement Monday that she has been
subpoenaed to appear before a grand jury.
Clinton made no mention of those troubles
last night.
Instead, the President broadly laid out what
Cinton's Goals
1 $1,000 in college scholarships for the top
5 percent of graduates from every high
school.
® Turning the FBI loose on youth gangs.
r An increase in the minimum wage.
M A challenge to Hollywood producers to
provide entertainment children can enjoy, as
well as a TV ratings system like those used
in movies.
Balancing the'federal'budget.
* Enactment of a line-item veto.
* An extension on the debt limit.
Enactment of a welfare plan.
0 A demand that the, GOP "never, ever"
shut the government again.
* A challenge.of GOP stands on welfare
reform, tax cuts, the minimum wage, health
insurance, Medicare and Medicaid.
Clinton said "the era of big government is.
over," but said citizens cannot be "left to
fend for themselves."
he called seven challenges for an "Age of
Possibility," sketching a future in which indi-
viduals, community and other segments of
society take more responsibility for making
America work.
Among the challenges Clinton outlined for
the nation was to strengthen the American
family, to provide educational opportunities
for all Americans, to help Americans achieve
economic security, to protect the nation against
criminals and drugs, and to protect the environ-
ment.
In a brief segment on foreign policy, the
President also said the nation's challenge is to
maintain its leadership in the international fight
for freedom and peace. And finally, he listed
what he called the nation's challenge to politi-
cians to produce a smaller, less bureaucratic
government that earns the "respect and trust of
the American people."
He challenged Congress to pass new cam-
paign finance reform as a step in that direction.
Ending his address with the same "big gov-
ernment is over" assertion as he began, Clinton
said that despite that, "We cannot go back to
the era of fending for yourself. We must go
forward to the era of working together as a
community, as a team, as one America to solve
our problems."
With government funding disappearing and
Republicans in charge of Congress, Clinton had
little to offer in the way of new government
programs, a traditional State of the Union device
for Democrats and even some Republicans.
See UNION, Page 2
AP PHOTO
President Clinton waves to a joint session of Congress during his State of the Union address last night.
Loclsquestion promises
By Stephanie Jo Klein
Daily Staff Reporter
While President Clinton last night stressed "self-
reliance and teamwork" in the federal government,
members of the Michigan Legislature and the Univer-
sity community said they were skeptical of real suc-
cess in future federal efforts.
Clinton's pleas for cohesiveness and cooperation
between Republicans and Democrats were greeted in
the House chamber with loud applause and several
standing ovations. However, House Speaker Newt
Gingrich (R-Ga.) was noticeably unmoved.
Rep. Lynn Rivers (D-Ann Arbor) took issue with
Gingrich's actions: "It was a telling moment ...
(when) the President specifically asked for everyone
to work together, Newt remained seated."
Local legislators said they hoped Clinton's sugges-
tions on education, welfare and crime can be made
into sound legislation.
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-Holland) said he was en-
couraged that Clinton backed his challenges with
realistic legislative solutions.
Hoekstra said he will wait cautiously for change -
"This man, over the last two months, has been ex-
tremely partisan. The question is, which Bill Clinton
will show up tomorrow morning?"
Political science Prof. John Kingdon said he thought
Clinton's speech and the response by Sen. Bob Dole
(R-Kan.) served as successful opening bids for the
1996 presidential campaign.
"The election of '96 will really settle ... (what
Dole called) the titanic struggle for the soul of our
country," Kingdon said.
LSA sophomore Nicholas Kirk, secretary of the
University's College Republicans, openly criticized
the President.
"A man's word used to be his bond, but Clinton is
bankrupt in that area," Kirk said.
Dole's response bordered on meanness, said State
Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D-Salem Twp.). "I'm con-
fident that Republicans feel co-opted (that Clinton
spoke of family values) ... as if Republicans have a
corner on values and sense of community and family,"
she said.
Max Apple speaks
to student Hopwood
Award winners
By Alice Robinson
Daily Staff Reporter
Giving away large sums of money is
not something Prof. Nicholas Delbanco
does every day.
But yesterday the director of the En-
glish department's Hopwood Awards
Program got the opportunity to hand out
almost $3,000 to this year's winners.
The Hopwood Awards recognize
University students for their excellent
works of poetry, essay or fiction. Vari-
ous other awards and fellowships were
awarded following the Hopwood un-
derclassmen recep-
tion, which was
held at Rackham
Auditorium.
Winners said
they were thrilled
when they learned
they received the
awards, announced
last semester.
"I opened the en-
velope and started Apple
jumping up and
down," said LSA first-year student Laura
Brown, who was honored for her essay
-about alcoholism, "Different Faces."
The prizes range from $100 to $500.
Top Hopwood
Underclassmen
Contest Winners:
Essay
Joseph R. Groenke, first-year
RC student from Mio, Mich., for
"Education."
FICtion
Rebecca Hoggan, LSA
sophomore from Richmond, Va.,
for "Far We Are, and Strong."
Poetry
8 Melanie Kenny, first-year RC
student from Houghton, Mich., for
"Personal Mythology."
of "Roommates" and a former
Hopwood winner, addressed the crowd,
mostly student winners and their fami-
lies.
As he talked about life with his 90-
year-old grandfather in the late 1960s,
faces in the audience went from stern
looks of deep concentration to pleased
and amused expressions.
The Clements Library's collection of 19th century documents now on display details the experiences of free African
Americans and how they reacted to political and social change. The documents will be on display through March 6.
Clements exhibit depicts lives of
free blacks in the era of slaver
By Allan lzikson
For the Daily
A new exhibit on display at the
Clements Library depicts the African
American struggle for racial equality
from a slightly different perspective.
Exhibit Information
Clements Library
906 South University Ave.
764-2349
Open noon-2:30 p.m., Monday,
Arlene Shy, head of Clements
Library's Reader Services, said she
hopes this exhibitwill bring more people
into the library.
"We hope that it will add another
dimension to our understanding of rac-
ismin this nmintrv ,',andheln its l1 nd-tr
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