Jrv 41v 1 t News: 76-DAILY Advertising: 764-0554 One hundred six vyearofeditontfreedom Tuesday February 18, 1997 Regents to vote on fees Agenda contains proposal for * 4-percent room and board fee hikes By Katie Wang Daily Staff Reporter Students living in residence halls next year may face a hike in housing rates if the University Board of Regents approves a 4-percent increase at its monthly meeting on Friday. University Housing and the Division of Student Affairs will place before the regents a proposal to increase room- and-board rates, as well as family housing rental rates, by 4 cent. his request includes a 3-percent inflationary increase to maintain current programs and service levels. An addition- al 1-percent increase is included to meet debt service requirements for renovation projects at Alice Lloyd and Couzens residence halls. "I think it is a fair increase, it's in line with inflation," said Seth Myers, an LSA - uP? first-year student. "I don't Goig pthink it's anything outra- geous." Myers is a member of * ethe Single Student Housing Rate Study Committee, a student-run group that has backed the increase. A student living in a double will see an increase in the room rate from $6,137.44 to $5,342 if the proposal is approved. Room-and-board rates 9:1-2 '96-7 '97-* have increased by 20 per- cent since the 1991-1992 * Proposed increase school year. In 1991, the cost of room and board for Residence hall rates a double room was $4,084. may rise 4 percent "You can get much nicer, under a proposal larger apartments than for 1997-98. campus housing for much less," LSA sophomore Kate Montgomery said when she heard of the proposed increase. 0 tSA sophomore Juliane Morian said she is satisfied with t current room-and-board rates for her single room in Helen Newberry residence hall, but said she would not con- tinue to live in the residence hall if a hike in the rates occurs. "I don't think they're too expensive now, but the increase is going to deter people from living in the residence halls," Morian said. "I don't think I would live in the dorm next year if I had to pay more." Students living in family housing may face a fee hike of about 3.9 percent, if the increase is approved. This includes .9-percent inflationary increase and an additional 1-per- cent increase for debt service, a utilities infrastructure pro- ject. This week's regents meeting also marks the first meeting where President Lee Bollinger will preside. Bollinger said he is looking forward to working with the regents and already has met with each of them individually. "There is a surprising amount of institutional knowledge in that group of individuals," he said. "I am very pleased with how much they know about the institution. I think they have tremendous knowledge of what it means to be a board an excellent institution of higher education. These are just outstanding individuals," he added. Bollinger will join Regent Olivia Maynard (D-Flint) and S. Martin Taylor (D-Grosse Ile), who took their posts at last month's regents meeting, as new faces in the Regents' Room in the Fleming Administration Building. Maynard and Taylor filled spots vacated by former regents - Nellie Varner (D-Detroit) and Deane Baker (R-Ann Arbor). -Daily Staff Reporter Heather Kamins contributed to this report. Piece by piec Bollinger active in 1st two weeks By Heather Kamins Daily Staff Reporter The lights at Lee Bollinger's resi- dence on 815 S. University Ave. glow into the wee hours of the morning. With 18 days under his belt as University president, Bollinger's range of activities has stretched from hockey games to Congressional breakfasts. Bollinger said the scope of activity on and off campus has kept him working late into the night. "Busy and exciting - that basically sums it up," Bollinger said. "It's been full and rich. I have been work- ing from early in Busy a exciting - sums it ul Unive "The Medical Center has been under such stringent financial conditions with the general policy of reducing the bud- get, downsizing and hiring freeze. As an academic, that situation makes me nervous," Bollinger said. The fund will function to end the hir- ing freeze in the University Medical Center, Bollinger said. "Still the overriding purpose of the Medical Center is to fulfill teaching and research func- tions in the - l . medical school " P fand related top- 3a ics," Bollinger - Lee Bollinger said. S P sWhile many rsity President students still may not recog- nize the new president on the street, Michigan Student Assembly President Fiona Rose said Bollinger has made his presence felt on campus. "You can feel it in the air,' Rose said. "People are happy. He has been wel- comed with open arms. I think there has been a discernable change on cam- pus. "He has made it his primary goal to get out and meet people. He is out in the community doing things." Bellinger said his first priority has been creating and sustaining relation- ships with the. University Board of Regents, executive officers, deans and faculty. "I said at the beginning that I would beginby working with the main bodies and groups that have a large stake in the See BOLLINGER, Page 7 the morning until late at night." Bollinger officially took office as University president on Feb. 1. During the past two weeks, he has been meet- ing with federal, state and University leaders to gain a greater understanding of the campus. "I certainly have a clearer vision of my objectives," Bollinger said. "It is still going to take me months to know what I want to accomplish." While his work has taken him as far away as Washington, D.C., Bollinger's vision has also turned to University Hospitals in Ann Arbor. In accordance with his effort to maintain academic excellence in the University Medical Center, Bollinger said he has allocated $3 million for the purpose of retaining and recruiting the very best faculty. JENNIFER BRADLEY-SWIFT/Daily Nine-year-old Lauren Kohler of Fenton works on a piece of artwork, "Phosphorescent Racoons," at the monthly meeting of the local chapter of the Embroiderers' Guild of America at the First Presbytarlan Church on Washtenaw Avenue. Ic Stdetsprepaiefor midterm, tres**. By Greg Cox For the Daily The temperatures in February may be low, but for many students, stress levels are at a season- al high. University students are entering one of the most dreaded times of the semester - midterms. Whether it's because of extra papers to write or multiple exams for which to study, students associate midterms with reduced hours of sleep and extra time at the library. Biology lecturer Eric Mann said the lost sleep and stress associated with exams can lead to health concerns. "Studies have shown that students under stress have fewer natural killer cells, the body's first line of defense in fighting illness," Mann said. "Students getting sick really isn't surpris- ing, as it has a physiological cause." Mann added that the increased stress can also cause ulcers and migraine headaches. Help in dealing with stress is available to stu- dents, however. Outside support is often critical, whether it's from a call home, a talk with friends or a visit to the University-provided counseling services, University officials said. Jim Etzkorn, a psychologist at the University's Counseling and Psychological Services, said many students who experience stress around midterms do so because they feel they must excel on their exams. See STRESS, Page 7 Engineering first-year student Lenny Krol studies in his room yesterday in Bursley residence hail on North Campus. Krol said he has four exams this week. panel debates facts, fictions of welfare By Jeffrey Kosseff Daily Staff Reporter With media flooding the airwaves and *ewspapers with numerous suggestions for getting rid of "welfare as we know it," public policymakers and journalists gathered yes- terday to discuss the nation's welfare status. Although the panel was not able to come to a consensus, many speakers agreed the welfare debate has been one of the most pub- licized in the nation. "There is no more important issue in urban America than this debate," said W harles Eisendrath, director of the Michigan urnalism Fellows, the group that spon- sored the forum. Wendell Primus, former U.S. deputy assis- tant secretary for human services, said pub- lic relations watered down and changed wel- fare policy in the Clinton administration to mnke it mpcli-rindly Presidential nomination in 1992. "He used the issue of welfare reform to distinguish himself from other candidates," Primus said. But some journalists said public opinion. on welfare is not primarily shaped by the media's treatment of the issue. "I think the media was a small player" said Jason DeParle, a correspondent for The New York Times. "Reporters didn't do a good job at covering welfare issues" The debate has focused on the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, which Clinton signed into law last year. It mandates work for welfare recipients and cuts benefits to legal and illegal immi- grants. Cecilia Munoz, deputy vice president for research, advocacy and legislation at the National Council of La Raza, said the bill is damnin o inmmigrants who have been liv- Albright assists French relations PARIS (AP) - Speaking some French and even a little Russian, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright smoothed over some of the bumps in recent U.S. relations with France yesterday while keeping an anxious eye on Asia. Albright pleased the French by inviting President Jacques Chirac "to put his shoulder to the wheel" in Arab-Israeli peacemaking. She also succeeded without ruffling French feathers in sidetracking a proposal for a five-power summit to allay Russian concerns over NATO's projected expansion eastward. "We've had some ups and downs, why not have an up peri- od?" a pleased French Prime Minister Alain Juppe told Albright at the end of their meeting. And Foreign Minister Herve de Charette, who like Juppe has had some rough times with the first Clinton administra- tion, was velvet smooth during a joint news conference with Albright at the Quai d'Orsay. "We did everything to dispel the impression there are clouds in the relationship;' he said. Chirac greeted Albright with a kiss on each cheek, and de Charette went one-up, kissing the U.S. secretary of state five times, according to State Department spokesper- son Nicholas Burns, four times on the cheek and once on ADDIE SMITH/Daily Joumalists Rita Henley Jensen, M.Gashy Greely and Kevin Fobbs take part in a panel discus- sion about welfare and its treatment by the media yesterday. are extreme." New York University nolitical science "It requires a regime where the recipients Iet help to work." Mead said. "To do that tI