LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, December 9,1997 - 3
r
Student receiveS
{ .chemical bumns
from explosion
A student was burned by an
nknown chemical in a University
building Friday, according to
Department of Public Safety reports.
The student was conducting an
experiment using hydrogen peroxide
and sodium thiosulfate mixed with
water in one beaker. A second beaker
contained sodium hydroxide mixed
with water.
When the student mixed the two
lutions, a small explosion occurred.
e student received first degree burns
on the face and right forearm by look-
ing over the top of the beaker.
The student was taken to the emer-
gency room at University Hospitals to
receive treatment for the burns. '
Students take
out aggression
en Markley bikes
A student reported to DPS that he
saw two or three men jumping up and
down on bicycles attached to a bike
rack located outside of the third wing
of Mary Markley residence hail
Saturday, DPS reports state.
The student observed the destruction
from his window and gave DPS offi-
'cials a brief description of the students.
The description did not provide enough
formation for police to identify the
bike attackers.
When DPS responded to the call,
officers found several bikes that had
been knocked over. There was no dam-
age to any of the bikes, DPS reports
state.
Jacket stolen
-mthe School
f Dentistry
A $300 jacket was reported stolen
from the School of Dentistry on Friday,
according to DPS reports.
The owner of the coat did not report
the incident to DPS himself. The call
was made by the wife of the owner's
employee. The caller informed DPS
that she was calling on behalf on her
hfusband's boss.
DPS advised the woman that the
owner needs to call the department
himself to make a report.
Biohazards found
in campus trash
A custodian who took out the trash
from the Medical Science Building on
Friday, found a biohazard bag in the
ular trash, according to DPS reports.
lnside the compactor was a lidded
pail marked "biohazard - blood and
sharps."
The custodian said that it did not
appear that anything had leaked or
spilled.
Rocks thrown at
Law Quad window
The night manager at the Law Quad
reported that a person threw a rock at a
resident's window Friday, according to
DPS reports.
A resident of the Law Club informed
the night manager that an unseen per-
,son threw a rock through the window
of her room.
DPS followed up the call and met the
resident and night manager at her room.
%hicle spray
painted; door ajar
" A DPS unit reported Saturday that a
vehicle looked like someone had bro-
ken into it.
The construction vehicle, parked
near Kipke Road, was found with spray
paint on it and with one door fully
pen.
4 The DPS officer secured the door
and reported that the inside of the cab
looked undisturbed. There was no
license plate on the vehicle.
-Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Stephanie Hepburn.
SACUA addresses compensation in letter
By Chris Metinko
Dail StaffRe xrter
Citing policies of faculty governance bodies at
other schools that allow members to receive addi-
tional benefits for their service, the Senate Advisory
Committee on University Affairs agreed yesterday
to send a letter to the Office of the Provost express-
ing interest in appropriate compensation.
At the heart of the compensation debate is the
fact that many members of SACUA, the faculty's
main governing body at the University, feel release
time - which reduces the professors' courseload
- is appropriate compensation for serving on the
nine-member board.
"This is having a genuinely negative impact on my
research," said Gordon MacAlpine, a professor of
astronomy. MacAlpine said he loves teaching, but
attending SACUA meetings, other faculty committee
meetings, teaching two classes of 185 students and
conducting research is extremely difficult.
The University is "going to derive more value
from you if you can keep up with your research,"
MacAlpine said.
SACUA chair Louis D'Alecy, a physiology pro-
fessor at the Medical School, wouldn't describe
the letter to the provost as a formal request for
SACUA members to receive compensation, but
rather a "written clarification of the ongoing inter-
est of SACUA of compensation for its members."
The announcement that members of LSA's exec-
utive committee will receive compensation and the
realization that other universities compensate their
members of faculty governance brought the issue
of compensation to tle table.
"If eve are going to do a service to the people that
come after Us, we have to articulate this issue of
release time for central faculty governance," D'Alecy
said
Presently, only the SACI.JA chair receives the ben-
efit of possible additional release time. The chair's
department, however, isn't required to grant the time
off but still receives money from the Office of the
Provost to counter the costs of the absent chair.
At last week's SACUA meeting, University
Provost Nancy Cantor expressed concern with the
money's use if release time is not given.
"The principle here is appropriate compensa-
tion," said biology Prof. Lewis Kleinsmith,
Besides discussing the issue of compensation
for members. SAC A members also articulatcd
changes about the faculty electronic forum That
was organized earlier this month so thecultv could
ex pres the i r op i nions about diversity on the
Unis ersitvs camps, and its admissions pelicies on
SACI A's Websit e.
The site will nowx be open to faculty members
and students. who can get a faculty member to
sponsor them. All entries on the site mus be attrib-
uted.
"Ifyou're willing to make a statement, you must be
willing to put your name on it;' said SACUA mem-
ber Donald Deskins, a sociolkgy professor.
T he address of S AC t s Web page is
htt p:in un wch. eduA-sacuaornoments.htnl.
N > N, ,
Rs c msot taerSe
psycolo y co rse ~ '8' '~N"N N N 'k
By Diba Rab
Daily News Reporter
When students living in residence
halls encounter problems with campus
life, they often tum to their resident
advisers for help.
A new University policy aims to make
sure that RAs will be well trained to han-
dle questions. The Office of University
Housing is requiring RAs totake athree-
credit psychology course during the win-
ter semester.
"The job has become increasingly
demanding and we, as a professional
staff, need to help prepare people for all
kinds of situations;'said Mary Hummel,
associate director of University Housing.
While few students see the class as a
benefit, many say it is a burden.
"The whole thing is really inconve-
nient" said an LSA junior and RA, who
wanted to remain anonymous. "They're
putting RAs in a bind. It's ambivalent
because it's a new course, and you don't
know what it's going to be like."
Bursley RA Melinda Anderson said
she doubts that the class will teach nec-
essary practical skills.
"I don't think the class will be very
helpful to students,' said Anderson, an
Architecture fifth-year student. "I don't
think a class can teach you how to be an
RA. I think you just need to get your feet
wet."
The course, listed as Psychology 404
for the winter semester, will consist of
three basic components, said Jeanine
Bessette, assistant director of residence
education.
"The emphasis of the course will be
on community building, multicultural-
ism, on campus and institutionally, and
conflict communication," Bessette said.
But a few RAs agree that the new
course would be helpful.
"I think it's a good idea. It should help
RAs better prepare for situations that
they may encounter," said LSA senior
Harland Holman, an RA at Mary
Markley residence hall. "I think the
University is trying its best to help RAs
and make them better."
LSA senior Sama Faik, a Markley
RA, said it's unfair to require students to
take the class.
"The course is going to hinder the
pool of people that apply. Less,
Engineering and Nursing students are
going to apply because they can't afford
the credits," Faik said.
Despite this popular belief, an early
application deadline and the new course
requirement did not deter applicants,
said Jacqueline H ickmon, assistant
director of residence education. This
year's number of applicants remains the
same as last year, she said.
Applicants, who are not guaranteed
LSA junior and RC resident adviser Melissa Burton talks with RC first-year student Megan Saltzman.
RA positions, must still take the class if
they want to be eligible for an RA posi-
tion next fall.
But Hummel said the course will be
helpful to potential RAs.
"it has discussions and will teach
skills that are really professional -skills of 2.5 and the completion of 48.credit ,
you need to know today," Hummel said. hours.
"It will be a good blend of theory and For more information regarding the
practice:' course, contact Bessette at 764-8515 or°
Other prerequisites for resident staff jbesset@umich.edu or Hickmon at 764'
include a minimum grade point average 1152 orjrnims(umich.edu.
'U', local students use
art to unteach racism
READ THE DAILY ONLINE
By Kristin Wright
Daily Staff Reporter
Visual representations of the exis-
tence of and solutions to racism lined
the walls of the William Monroe Trotter
House on Saturday.
The "Expressions on Racism" exhib-
it represented the enthusiasm and com-
munity involvement of eight members
of the Residential College course
"Unteaching Racism."
A sociology class assignment snow-
balled into the initiation of an official
MSA-funded campus student group
whose aim is the same as that of the
class project - unteaching racism.
English Prof. Helen Fox, who teach-
es the course, which was offered for the
first time this fall, said she is impressed
with the enthusiasm and creativity of
the students.
"They did this all on their own initia-
tive," she said. "I gave them some ideas,
but in fact they didn't go with any of
them."
The members of the group divided
into three groups that each focused on
the existence and effects of racism
among various age groups in the Ann
Arbor community.
"They made their contacts with a real
variety of people in the community,' Fox
said. "And they didn't necessarily have
experience with these age groups."
Half of the group visited a second-
grade classroom at Angell Elementary
School on S. University Avenue once a
week for four weeks to encourage open
dialogues on racism.
"I think you forget how young sec-
ond-graders are;' said LSA junior Pratt
Kumar, an Expression on Racism group
member. "It's tedious for them to write a
sentence, but they have so much to say."
The second-graders designed artistic
displays to express the importance of
racial harmony and equality.
Poster boards decorated with phrases
such as "We have to stick together" and
"People are people" cut out from maga-
zines were placed around the room to
support the theme of racial togetherness.
Paragraphs written by the children
expressing feelings about racism
included thoughts such as "It doesn't
matter how I look. Treating people
badly is wrong."
"They're a lot more involved than I
thought they would be,"Kumar said. "It
turned out really well."
LSA junior Sara Porter visited the
Tinkham Center, an alternative high
school in Ann Arbor, and LSA junior Risa
Buberniak and LSA senior Liz Budnitz
went to Ann Arbor Community High
School on N. Division Avenue to encour-
age discussion about racial problems.
LSA juniors Colleen Grady and
Alexandra Reitzes encouraged involve-
ment of senior citizens at the Jewish
Community Center of Washtenaw
County on Birch Hollow Drive.
"The real thing that we're saying
about senior citizens is that they have
such a perspective on what's going on
now,' Reitzes said.
Grady and Reitzes visited the senior
citizens once and taped a two-hour con-
versation on their feelings about the
existence of racism and what can be
done to eliminate it.
WAKE UP (When Action and Art
Kindle Education to Undue Prejudice) is
the name chosen by the group members
to symbolize their efforts as an official
student group beginning next semester.
WAKE UP plans to arrange events
for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan.
19, and will have an information table
at Winter Fest.
IRE
L4.LNLi R
What's happening In Ann Arbor today
GROUP MEETINGS
U Affanza, 647-9621, Michigan Union,
Room TBA, 7:30 p.m.
Q Cieptomaniacs and Shopiffters
Anonymous, 913-6990, First
aRontist Church. 512 E. Huron St..
EVENTS
Q "Ann Arbor Art Center's 19th Annual
Holiday Gifts Show," Sponsored b
the Ann Arbor Art Center, 117
East Liberty St., 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
U "Annual Christmas tree sales"
across from CIC desk.
SERVICES
Q Campus Information Centers, 763-
INFO, info@umich.edu, and
w ww umir-h ard/~info on the