LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Monday, February 17, 1997-3A
U' chosen for
:worldwide
symposium
The University has been chosen as
Oe of 20 universities worldwide to
participate in the International Student
Symposium on international negotia-
tion this summer.
The program is sponsored by the
Institute for International Mediation
and Conflict Resolution (IIMCR)
; and provides an environment where
students from all over the world can
interact with renowned personali-
..ties, decision-makers and policy
jxperts.
The symposium features informal
open discussions about various
political and social issues, talks
from an array of well-known guest
"speakers, and field seminars of guid-
ed tours of international organiza-
tions.
The symposium will be held in
The Hague in Netherlands, between
July 21 and Aug. 15. Interested stu-
*ents are encouraged to' apply
through IIMCR's website at
http://www. delve. com/IIMCR. html.
The deadline for applications is April
15 and is on a rolling basis. Furthur
queries can be directed to IIMCR's
offices in Washington, D.C., at (202)
828-0721 or via e-mail at
IIMCR@erols.com.
Website available
.or entrepreneurs
Student entrepreneurs interested in
starting their own businesses can check
out a website newly opened by Internet
Association Corporation.
' The website, located at
"ttp://www.startyourownbusiness/,
aims to provide students with advice
and information on entering the busi-
ness world, as well as avenues for net-
orking and sponsorship.
The website features chat rooms for
business advice, a virtual mall of shops
set up by student entrepreneurs and a
registration link for setting up store-
fronts over the Internet.
University faculty members and
established entrepreneurs are also wel-
come to log on to the website to offer
business advice and strategy.
-Evening to
eature ethnic
dances and dice
The Jewish Community Center of
Washtenaw County will be hosting an
evening of dancing, food and gambling,
at the Klezmer Dance Party on
Saturday night.
Party-goers will be led through a'
ariety of ethnic and folk dance steps
y dance instructers. A range of
Middle Eastern and Jewish cuisine
will be available for those with a taste
jor exotic foods.
The party will be held Saturday at
.7 p.m at Washtenaw Community
College's Morris Lawrence Building.
'Tickets are $15 in advance, $18 at the
door, and $10 for students. Tickets
are available at the Jewish
Community Center and Schoolkids
Oecords. For more information call
971-0990.
exchange project
Ito interview host
families
The World Heritage Student
Exchange Program is looking for inter-
*sted adults to help teen-age foreign
students assimilate to life around the
Great Lakes region.
Adults who enjoy working with teen-
:agers, have time to help establish the
project in their neighborhood and
appreciate multi-cultural bonding are
encouraged to sign up to be part of a
host family. Applicants will be
screened by community representa-
tives.
Families will not be paid for their
services, but all expenses are reim-
bursed. Training will be provided at an.
upcoming workshop. Call (800) 888-
9040 for more information.
ECB tutors unite with Detroit student mentees
By Kerry Klaus
For The Daily
It wasn't quite like meeting a mystery
date on MTV's "Singled Out," but it
certainly was surprising.
After a two-month online relation-
ship, mentors from the English
Composition Board Peer Tutoring
Program and their mentees at Detroit's
Murray-Wright High School met face
to face Friday morning.
The University tutors have been help-
ing their college-bound cybermentees
to prepare writing samples for
American College Test portfolios.
"I think it's weird to meet someone
that you've never seen, just talked to
over a computer' LSA senior Anne
Kolkman said.
Each ECB mentor was paired with
one mentee at the beginning of the
tutoring program.
"I was nervous because when you talk
online, it's different than seeing some-
one face to face,' said Murray-Wright
sophomore Lakisha Bomar. "You don't
know what their reaction's going to be."
The students came together for the
first time at a presentation in Murray-
Wright's Snead Auditorium. They
laughed and hugged as they exchanged
T-shirts featuring their respective school
logos.
"This is a celebration which will
indeed spread around to all of Detroit
public schools," Murray-Wright
Principal Sallie Polk said.
"Today we connect names and faces,"
said Murray-Wright sophomore
Shanita Rutland. "Today our partner-
ship becomes a friendship."
Murray-Wright sophomore Darwin
Brooks said, "I was really looking for-
ward to this. It
was kind of
exciting."
The Murray-
Wright students
gave their men-
tors a tour of
the high
school's new
technology cen-
ter, where they
will continue to
work online for
"Todayiv
connect ng
and faces.
--ShC
Murray-Wrig
"I hope we can keep in mind that writ-
ing is fun," said Music junior Laurah
Klepinger.
Friday's meet-
ing was the culmi-
we . nation of a project
that has been in
lames the development
stage for nearly
three years.
anita Rutland "It was stu-
dent-initiated,"
ht sophomore said Mark Haas,
program develop-
ment director for
the University's Academic Outreach
program. "They created the essence of
this idea which is a partnership today."
Previous University tutors originated
the idea of working with high school
students.
"This was a moment we all worked so
hard for"said Barbara Monroe. a coordi-
nator for the ECB Peer Tutoring Program.
- The success of the English cybermcn-
toring program may' lead to expahsi6ns
of peer tutoring programs in the future.
"Someday I'd like to see math and
science programs for Murray-Wright
and other Detroit schools" Haas said.
In the meantime, Detroit Public
Schools superintendent Mary Jea)Hlarie
was satisfied with the current progress
that was evident in Friday's event.
"This is truly a success story I Will
always remember," Jeanmarie said.'
The ECB is currently accepting nom-
inations for new cybermentors. For more
information, contact the ECB olfc& 'at
764-0429.
the rest of the semester.
"This is really just the beginning. I
hope I can just really encourage her to
write a lot," LSA junior Dana Treuhaft
said about her Murray-Wright mentee.
--m-9
Newspaper Guild
0 Ks unconditional ,,
back-to-W(
DETROIT (AP) - While insisting
that the 19-month-old newspaper strike
is far from over, Newspaper Guild
Local 22 members yesterday approved
an unconditional offer to return to
work.
About 200 members met behind
closed doors for about two hours before
the vote. Local 22 President Lou
Mleczko said about 60 percent had
approved the offer, but he said there
was no exact count because they raised
hands.
Mleczko said many members dis-
liked the idea of an unconditional offer,
but wanted to show solidarity with the
JEANNIE SERVAAS/Daily
Ty Yang break-dances on the floor of the Michigan Union on Friday for Detroit high school students in the Lighthouse
Program. Yang was one of several University students who introduced members of the program to University life.
Minimum wage hike still
tops House, Senate agendas
four other
locals that have
made offers
and a fifth that
is expected to.
The Guild is
the only union
whose bylaws
require an affir-
mative vote to
make an offer.
"It's ano
strategy tc
conLtractg
Local gi
)rk offeri,
The Graphic Communictioi's
International Union, or press~4n 's
union, is also expected to sublii its
offer, possibly as soon as today, said
Carol O'Neal, a striking Free: ess
plate worker who attended a meegnl of
Local 13N on Sunday in Warren:-
"There's no way in hell they want this
(offer) unconditional, but they knew it's
a new strategy, so they accepted it
reluctantly," she said.
The pressmen's local president, Jack
Howe, did not return telephone calls
Saturday or yesterday.
Newspaper officials have five days
to respond after all the offers are sub-
mitted. Bit dis-
putes, incIuding
whether the stfike
is over itrifair
~getaeConomic,, c
tices or econm-
ics, are expected
to drag on, or
Lou Mleczko months in ie
uild president courts regard s
of what the newvs-
paper does.
Ellwood declined to say whether the
newspapers would accept the unions'
offers.
If the newspapers reject the offer, the
unions say they will ask the National
Labor Relations Board to seek a fe&-i-
al injunction to immediately return
them to their jobs. ' '
Rejecting the offer also could bin
the accrual of back pay for striping
workers - if the newspapers late3ar.e
found to have committed unfa Udr
practices. An administrative lawjtge
is expected to rule on that matter'in
coming months, and appeals are likely.
Ellwood said that if the newspapers
accept the offer, they would hire strik-
ing workers as jobs become available.
She said the newspaper would set up
procedures for the hirings in conjunc-
tion with the unions.
But Mleczko said he wouldview
reinstatement of only some sqtring
workers as a rejection of the uicrdi-
tional offer and ask to have the NLRB
seek a federal injunction to immediate-
ly reinstate all striking workers.
Votes expected tomor-
row on two bills to
take effect in July
LANSING (AP) - For the fourth
week in a row, the chief item on the
Legislature's agenda is a measure that
will affect less than one-tenth of one
percent of Michigan residents.
But those who advocate bringing
the state minimum wage in line with
the federal government's higher rate
say it's worth the effort to give those
earning the state's lower wage of
$3.35 an hour their first raise in 16
years.
An estimated 100,000 people work
for companies that do not have to meet
the federal government's higher stan-
dards because they don't do business
outside Michigan and gross less than
$500,000 a year.
However, no one appears to know
how many people actually are paid the
state minimum wage.
Regardless, votes are expected
tomorrow in the House and Senate
on cleaned-up versions of two bills
that both raise the wage to $4.75 an
hour on July 1 and to $5.15 an hour
six months later. Those increases
mirror the federal minimum wage
changes.
According to an agreement
between House Democrats and
Senate Republicans, different provi-
sions will be attached to each bill.
Both then will be sent to Gov. John
Engler, so that credit on a minimum
wage hike can be shared between the
political parties.
The extra provisions include lower-
ing the age when the minimum wage
must apply to 16 years old from 18 and
raising the hourly salary for tipped
restaurant employees by 13 cents to
$2.65 an hour.
A $4.25 "training wage" for employ-
ees younger than 20 years old also
would be allowed for 90 days, and
employees would be able to choose
time off over money as compensation
for overtime.
The House has been moving slow-
ly so far, voting on just three signifi-
cant issues in its first three weeks.
This week may be no different, as
there is little else on the chamber's
calendar.
House committees, by contrast, have
their first week of busy schedules as
more items from the majority
Democrats' 90-day agenda start moving
through.
For example, the tax panel plans to
look at letting low-income seniors defer
property taxes beyond the current 5-
year limit and setting up a state income
tax check-off box to fund a Vietnam
memorial.
And the Human Services Committee
will vote on a bill permitting tax deduc-
tions of up to $5,000 per child for day-
care costs.
Another of the Democrats' 90-day
priority items would address how the
state notifies the public of the dangers
of eating certain Great Lakes fish. A
bill requiring the adoption of a 1993
task force's recommendations on the
issue is being discussed in the
Conservation Committee.
Finally, the Education Committee
will take up a measure to override Gov.
John Engler's plan to strip the State
Board of Education of much of its
duties.
One of the governor's executive
orders makes state Schools Chief Art
Ellis administrative head of the depart-
ment starting March 10. The other
transfers the board's administrative
powers in 139 areas to Ellis effective
July 1.
The responsibilities being transferred
range from minor ones such as approv-
ing community colleges' names to more
visible ones such as developing stan-
dardized tests and overseeing charter
schools.
The orders still would let the board
set policy in those areas to be carried
out by the department.
But a bipartisan majority of the board
has asked Engler to dump at least part
of his plan. The governor so far has not
responded to the request, board
President Kathleen Straus, (D-Detroit),
said last week.
A House proposal would stop
Engler's reorganization efforts.
Sponsored by Rep. Laura Baird, (D-
Okemos), it' needs majority votes in
both chambers within 60 days of the
orders' effective dates to be success-
ful.
The Senate also has little.pending on
the floor aside from the minimum wage
hike.
Some minor issues ready for votes
include bills spelling out penalties for
possessing drugs in a public park and
making it a crime to impersonate an
employee of a public utility.
A third measure would include car-
jacking in the felony murder law. That
would mean violators could be sentenced
to life in prison without parole if they
murder someone during a carjacking.
KNOW OF NEWS?
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"It's another
strategy to get a contract," Mleczko
said. "We think this is the latest, best
economic pressure we can put on the
company - and legal pressure."
Detroit Newspapers Inc. Vice
President Susie Ellwood called the vote
"absolutely" good news. Detroit
Newspapers, which runs business and
production operations for The Detroit
News and the Detroit Free Press, says
the strike will be over if the newspapers
accept offers from the six striking locals.
The decision to make the offer was
made by three international union pres-
idents - Ron Carey of the Teamsters,
Morton Bahr of the Communications
Workers of America and James Norton
of the Graphics Communications
International Union.
The three internationals cover five of
the six locals, and Guild Local 22 is in
the process of affiliating with the CWA,
said Nancy Dunn, a spokesperson for
the unions.
Four of the six locals have already
made their offers. Mleczko said the
Guild likely will submit its offer today.
I .' '
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- Compiled by Norman Ng
for the Daily.
GRtOUPMEETINGS
flRBhU. *usdv 7411''!_91 ndilIIHall.
Gallery, 11 a.m.-4 p.m.
U "Arts Committee," sponsored by
The Michigan Union Planning
World Wide Web
D English Composition Board Peer
Tutoring, Angell Hall, Room 444C,
.-I
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