LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Monday, March 10, 1997 - 3A
Campaigns underway for top LSA-SG post
Former School
of Health
professor dies
0. Former University Prof. Arthur
Southwick died in Ann Arbor last
Monday at age 73.
"ubuthwick, a professor emeritus of
health services management and policy
in the School of Public Health and a
'professor emeritus of business law in
the School of Business Administration,
received both his business and law
degrees from the University.
Southwick became an assistant pro-
'ssor at the University in 1956 and
was promoted to associate professor in
1961 and then professor in 1966.
Southwick served on the board of
editors for the American Journal of
LAw and Medicine and on the editorial
'advisory board of issues in Health Care
Technology and Hospital Risk Control.
'Fimeral services were held last
'Friday at the First Presbyterian Church
in Ann Arbor.
Former 'U' profes-
sor dies at 85
Retired University Prof. Chai Yeh
died Feb.. 14, after 20 years as a
University faculty member. Yeh, a
professor emeritus of electrical and
"cmnputer engineering, died at age
85:
Yeh came to Ann Arbor in 1956 as a
search engineer for the Willow Run
aboratories in Ypsilanti. He joined the
University faculty as an assistant pro-
fssor in 1961 and was promoted to
professor in 1964.
"Before coming to the University, Yeh
yas a visiting professor at the
University of Kansas, a research engi-
neer at the Radio Research Institute, a
professor at the Southwestern
Associated University in Kumming,
hina and a professor at Tsinghua
niversity in Peking, China.
- Veh pioneered research in the fields
ofphotonics, fiber optics and solid state
electronics. He published papers in
scholarly journals on radio electronics,
microwave electronics, solid state elec-
tronics and opto electronics. Yeh also
published two books, "Handbook on
Fiber Optics" and "Applied Photonics,"
after his retirement in 1981.
diabitat for
J~iumanity to hold
-meeting today
Habitat for Humanity of Huron
Valley will hold a meeting tonight at
7:30p.m. at the New Center, located at
1100 North Main Street.
The meeting is expected to include
oductions of new board members
1nd Habitat families. Members plan to
recognize donors and volunteers.
Habitat for Humanity builds homes
in-6ooperation with low income fami-
lies in areas across the country. The
ocal chapter plans to build five new
homes between June 21 and July 5.
Local churches of varying denomina-
tions and other philanthropies organi-
zations provide the funding to build
homes.
scholarship
deadline nears
Saturday is the application deadline
.;or the Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace
T'eliowship.
The fellowship provides funds for
'raduate students who are interested in
arms control and security issues to
...ork with arms control organizations
Washington, D.C.
The fellowship lasts four to six
months and provides a stipend, health
insurance, and travel to and from
Washington, D.C.
More information on the fellowship is
available at the University's Center for
Russian and East European Studies or at
http://www clw org/pub/clw/scoville/.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Jeff Enderton.
By Katie Plona
Daily Staff Reporter
Although sometimes overshadowed by the race
for Michigan Student Assembly president and vice
president, the campaign for LSA student govern-
ment's top two leaders is underway.
Running on the Michigan Party slate are juniors
Adam Schlifke and Yejide Peters for president and
vice president, respectively. On the Students' Party
slate are presidential candidate Lauren Shubow
and vice presidential candidate Geeta Bhatia, who
are both sophomores.
Shubow, Bhatia and Schlifke are currently LSA-
SG members. Bhatia and Peters are MSA veterans,
and Peters is still an assembly member,
"I think we have a good combination of experi-
ence and fresh ideas," Shubow said of the
Students' Party team.
Peters said increasing the communication lines
among students, LSA-SG members and the
school's administration is a Michigan Party priori-
ty.
"We both have a good grasp on academic con-
cerns," Schlifke said.
Schlifke said he wants LSA-SG to hold more
public forums on student concerns, besides spon-
soring campuswide activities, like Groovawolva
and Diversity Days.
To forge a greater connection between LSA stu-
dents, Peters suggested talking to student groups,
inviting student leaders to interact with LSA-SG, a
Meet the Deans Day and visits to students in resi-
dence halls to explain what LSA-SG does.
Bhatia said the biannual LSA bulletin sent to all
LSA students is the most reliable way to let students
know about LSA-SG and how it serves students.
Peters said LSA-SG and the LSA administration'
should hold monthly meetings to report on their
activities and to open better communication lines
between the two bodies. Peters also suggested that
students should be appointed to LSA department
committees to encourage participation and com-
munication.
"We won't know unless we try," Peters said. If
administrators see a student interest, they would be
receptive to this idea."
Shubow said the two prime concerns of the
Students' Party are academic issues and public
awareness.
Like the Michigan Party, Shubow said the
Students' Party wants to work to appoint student rep-
resentatives to the LSA administrative committees.
"We really want to have more student represen-
tatives in all committees," Shubow said. "That's
something that we're going to work for toward a
long-term goal."
Bhatia said the biggest downfall of the current
LSA-SG body is a lack of motivation, a character-
istic that Bhatia said she has been trying to change
since she gave up her MSA seat in January to
move to LSA-SG.
"Our government lacks motivation," Bhatia said.
Among the Students' Party's other goals is an
attempt to re-evaluate course descriptions so stu-
dents can better gauge the workload of classes,
perhaps through survey techniques, Shubow said.
"You would know how to balance (your classes)
out," Shubow said.
She said members of the curriculum committee
seem receptive on working with LSA-SG on creat-
ing better course descriptions.
Shubow said she and Bhatia want to continue
the work they have been doing to allow more class-
es to fulfill the Race and Ethnicity requirement.
"We have drafted a letter and we've got a list of
about 25 to 30 courses that we believe fit (the Race
and Ethnicity definition)," Bhatia said.
Expanding the course selection for the Race and
Ethnicity requirement and revising course descrip-
tions is also a plank in the Michigan Party platform.
Back to school
Parties haggle over
education curriculum
I
LANSING (AP) -Gov. John Engler
is trying to use President Clinton's
speech last week to the Legislature to
paint Democrats as being on the wrong
side of the charter school issue.
But Democrats got ammunition from
Clinton's address, too.
And they plan to fire their first shot
this week when they bring forth a vote
state mandate in violation of the
Michigan Constitution.
He also says a uniform curriculum
across the state would help ensure a qual-
ity education for all schoolchildren and
has widespread support among parents.
When Lansing-based EPIC/MRA
polled last month on who should deter-
mine what is taught in schools, 40 per-
cent said it should be set at the national
level, 31 percent said the state should
in the House ono
back a statewide
Michigan's
public schools.
The presi-
dent's fervent
promotion of
national
achievement
tests make
Engler - who
announced
Michigan
would partici-
pate in the exams
a measure to bring
core curriculum in
"A mandatory
core curriculum is
a bad idea."
-State Rep. Ken Sikkema
House Minority Leader
do it, and 19 per-
cent it should be
left to locals.
Just one per-
cent volunteered
that there should
be no such stan-
dards.
The telephone
survey of 600
Michigan likely
voters was -con-
- look odd if he
AP PHOTO
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich) reads Dr. Seuss' 'Horton Hears A Who' to a group of students in Southfield, as part of a program
to promote March as reading month.
aw school rankings flawed
U.S. News error
responsible for
miscaculations
By Heather Kamins
Daily Staff Reporter
U.S. News and World Report pub-
lished its highly anticipated graduate
school rankings edition last week with
one flaw - the law school rankings
were miscalculated.
The rankings that appeared in the
March 10 issue of the weekly magazine
and in its 1997 America's Best
Graduate Schools guidebook, were
incorrectly ranked because of a com-
puter miscalculation that was not
detected until after the magazine was
printed.
Though the University's School of
Law remained in the seventh spot after
the rankings were recalculated, 35 of
the nation's top 50 law schools were
originally misranked.
Wayne State University's School of
Law was one of the schools that moved
up in the rankings after the recalcula-
tion. Originally WSU placed in the
third tier of law schools, but after the
recalculation it moved into the second
tier.
WSU School of Law Dean James
Robinson said there are serious prob-
lems in the way U.S. News and World
Report determines its rankings.
"I do not feel that the rankings are
helpful to (prospective) students,"
Robinson said. "I'm glad that we are in
the second tier if there are rankings, but
there are serious flaws in the methodol-
ogy.
Vice President for University
Relations Walter Harrison said this mis-
take exemplifies the unsubstantial
weighting of the rankings.
"These rankings are arbitrary,"
Harrison said. "They set up a bunch of
very complex criteria that have no con-
nection to the actual quality of the
school. I hope people will pay attention
to how silly this makes them look."
Robinson said he is working with a
group of law school deans from around
the country to draft a letter about their
concerns to send to the magazine.
Robinson said he expects deans from
almost all of the nation's law schools to
sign the letter.
Robinson said the category that ranks
the school's reputation among acade-
mics is a major problem in the ratings
process.
"It is hard for a dean in
Massachusetts to know about a school
in New Mexico," Robinson said. "Once
you get beyond the elite law schools in
the country, it is very difficult to evalu-
ate. At the end of the day, the ratings do
more harm than good."
Michigan Student Assembly
President Fiona Rose said this recent
miscalcualtion in the law school rank-
ings is a good reminder of "how transi-
tory these numbers can be."
"(The rankings) are prone to miscal-
culations, clearly, and they are prone to
misrepresention by the magazine,"
Rose said. "It reminds us how bad of an
idea it is to base one's educational deci-
sions on these numbers."
University of Minnesota at Twin
Cities is another school that benefited
from the recalculation. Originally, the
school was ranked at 23, but after the
recalculation it moved to the 20th spot.
Minnesota Law School Prof. John
Cound said it is good for potential stu-
dents to have information about law
schools, but is critical of the magazine's
ranking methods.
"The difference between 23 and 20 is
very slight," Cound said. "The only dif-
ference is that last year we were rated
22. Twenty-three would have been a
fall, whereas 20 is an improvement. I
don't think that we have either fallen or
improved since last year."
U.S. News and World Report said the
recalculated rankings will be printed in
this week's edition of the magazine.
doesn't also support uniform standards,
Democrats say.
"Where's the argument?" said Rep.
Jim Agee, (D-Muskegon). "I - don't
understand how you can support test-
ing, if you don't support the standards
you're going to test:'
The Democratic bill, sponsored by
Agee, would encourage schools to
adopt a state-developed core curricu-
lum in math, reading, writing, science
and social studies by promising them
$5 extra in state funding per pupil if
they do so. The state has a model cur-
riculum now, but it is not required.
Agee says his approach answers con-
cerns that requiring schools to teach the
core curriculum, which was dropped by
Republicans in 1995, was an unfunded
ducted Feb. 17-20, and had a margin of
error of plus or minus 4 percentage
points.
But Republicans say they have no
intention of returning to a statewide
curriculum.
Senate Majority Leader Dick
Posthumus, (R-Alto), called Agee's
measure "dead on arrival" in his GOP-
run chamber.
House Minority Leader Ken
Sikkema, (R-Grandville), said local
school districts are required to have a
curriculum, so there is no need for the.
state to impose its own - especially
when Agee's proposal would cost the
state an extra $8 million.
"A mandatory core curriculum is..a
bad idea,' he said. "It's a piece of 1eg
lation that has no impact'
1
4"
"4
Uffizk'c htauihsin nAnn Arbohta' v
*e our nuest
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""E"
GRoup MEETINGS
--tBible Study, 741-1913, Angell Hall,
G-144,7 p.m.
Q Biomedical Engineering Student
Association, H.H. Dow Building,
Room 1013, 7 p.m.
J Women's Book Group, 662-5189,
Guild House, 802 Monroe, 12-1
p.m.
,,VENTS
s ; aN sc4 # re n n w a ss... 1
U "Girl Scout Cookie Booth," spon-
sored by The Girl Scouts, corner
of East University and South
University, 3-6 p.m.
0 "New Developments In Clubhouse
Programming " sponsored by
The Alliance for the Mentally Ill
of Washtenaw County, St.
Claire's Episcopal
Church/Temple, 2309 Packard,
7:30-9:30 p.m.
U "Rosh Hodesh Service," sponsored
by Hillel, 1429 Hill Street, 7:30
SERVICES
U Campus Information Centers, 763-
INFO, info@umich.edu, and
www.umichredu/-info on the
World Wide Web
Q English Composition Board Peer
Tutoring, Angell Hall, Room 444C,
7-11 p.m.
U Northwalk, 763-WALK, Bursley
Lobby, 8p m.- 1:30 a.m.
J Psychology Peer Academic Advising,
647-3711. East Hall, Room 1346,
II