LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 6, 1997 3A

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'U' faculty
recognied for
their scholarship
The American Academy of Arts and
*ciences has named four University
faculty members to become fellows in
the organization, selected for their con-
tributions to science, scholarship, pub-
lic affairs and the arts.
Those elected for membership
include biological chemistry Prof. Jack
Dixon, sociology Prof. James House,
law Prof. Yale Kamisar and anthropolo-
gy Prof. Joyce Marcus.
The AAAS includes about 4,000 fel-
ws and has chosen 151 new members
as well as 14 foreign honorary mem-
bers.
Health ed. award
goes to 'U' dean
The Healthtrac Foundation will pre-
sent Noreen Clark, dean of the School
of Public Health, with the award for
outstanding performance in the field of
*ealth education.
Clark's research on the management
of chronic disease has led to many
accolades. One such accomplishment
is Clark's development of a nationally
known and used educational program
for health care facilities, focusing on
decreasing hospitalizations and med-
ical emergencies in low income fami-
lies resulting from asthma.
Clark is in the process of evaluating
program for self-management of
eart disease by the elderly.
Clark has received several other
awards for her work and has served as a
leader in several organizations including
the Society for Public Health Education.
Institute for
Humanities gets
new director
The University's Institute for the
Humanities has appointed Prof.
Thomas Trautmann as its new director,
Trautmann, professor of history and
anthropology, specializes on studies of
India, and has authored five books,
including, "Aryans and British India."
As the institute's director, Trautmann
plans to strengthen interdisciplinary
work, especially within several human-
ities departments.
" The institute hosts several public
events involving humanities through-
out the academic year.
Internships open
in lobbying field
Paid internships are available to
Native American and Alaskan Native
students through the Mashantucket
Aequot Tribal Nation. The internships,
ocated in Washington, D.C., involve
meeting with Native American Indian
lobbyists and government officials,
working with federal organizations and
attending Congressional hearings.
Students applying for the intern-
ships should be interested in public
policy and be willing to represent
Pequot interests.
Applications must be submitted for
the winter term by Nov. 1. For more
nformation, call (202) 942-9000.
Study abroad

scholarships
available
Two scholarships to cover transporta-
tion costs for students who wish to study
overseas are available from the Council
on International Educational Exchange.
The council's travel grants offer
between $500 and $1,500 to assist
undergraduate students traveling to
developing countries.
The Bailey Minority Student.
Scholarships are available to students
of color participating in CIEE pro-
grams around the world.
Scholarship applications are due no
later than Oct. 15. For more information,
check the CIEE Website at
ttp://www.iee.org or contact'William
Nolting at the International Center.
- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter
Marla Hackett.

MSA ponders A2 Tenants Union fundix'

$

By Susan t Port
Daily Staff Reporter
The Ann Arbor Tenants Union has
been a source of controversy for years
for the Michigan Student Assembly.
The tenants union is the last of the
renters' rights unions in the state and
has provided students with housing
advice and collected MSA funding for
more than 30 years.
On Oct. 7, MSA plans to vote
whether to allocate $20,000 to the ten-
ants union - or to completely pull the
plug on the organization's funding.
A resolution proposed by MSA
Campus Governance Chair Dan Serota
plans to eliminate the current tenants
union funding and create a new student-
run housing aid service.
"The service will do a lot of prelimi-
nary work that will present the students
with all their options," Serota said. "The
tenants union makes promises and

never follows through."
Adding fuel to Serota's campaign
against AATU are accusations that this
summer, the union was frequently
closed, did not answer the complaints of
students and incurred large debts.
RC junior and AATU Executive
Board Member Davidde Stella said a
new student service would not match
the quality service provided-by the ten-
ants union.
"Students will not have the range of
knowledge and experience to run the ser-
vice," Stella said. "They cannot devote 40
hours" per week to the union.
Pattrice Maurer, former director of the
tenants union, said there is some truth to
the accusations made by Serota and oth-
ers.
"Really, this is the first year that there
is substance behind the controversy,"
Maurer said. "I have looked at the
records and talked to different people to

get a sense of what this crisis is."
Maurer said that this summer, a lack
of personnel hurt the union's ability to
supply services to students.
"I will admit the coordinator was not
doing all he could do to recruit new
people,' Maurer said. "The problems
started in April now are being fixed."
But despite AATU's recent hardships,
starting a new program does not make
sense, Maurer said.
The tenants union was formed in
1968 by the University to function as a
student organization and has continued
to be funded by MSA. In the 1980's,
the assembly halted its practice of
funding the union's entire budget, on
the heels of charges that AATU was
supplying too many services to the
community, and ignoring student
needs.
MSA President Mike Nagrant said
debate on AATU funding is especially

the coordinator was not doing aHi
he could do to recruit new people."
- Pattrice Maurer
Former director, Ann Arbor Tenants Union

heated because the union does not have
to apply to the assembly's Budget
Priorities Committee for funding like
other student groups on campus.
Instead, its annual funding is usually
built into MSA expenditures.
"The Ann Arbor Tenants Union start-
ed as a student group and got $20,000,
but never had to go through the BPC,"
Nagrant said. "Other student groups
only see a couple of thousand of dollars
a semester."
MSA Vice President Olga Savic said
she served on the board of the tenants
union two years ago and learned what

an important role the organization
serves in students' daily lives.
"I was one of the few who really took
the time to really learn about the different
services the tenants union provides,'
Savic said. "At the time, I was the only
person who cared. After I lost my seat, no
one bothered to keep the relationship
going."
Nagrant said the important question
for tomorrow's meeting is which system
will best serve the students.
"The question arises: Are we utiliz-
ing the money in the best place?"
Nagrant said.


Education funding


solution tops state
legislative agenda


f

VISHEN MOHANDAS LAKHIANI/Daity
Two-year-old Barret Bryson enjoys a snack before joining his parents on the Tour de Sprawl bicycle tour Saturday. By par-
ticipating in the 25-mile ride, participants hoped to draw attention to the negative effects of urban sprawl.
Cyclsts urge limits on urban
l ho i
S raI 11 R1 rntSl O

LANSING (AP) - State lawmakers
return to the Capitol again this week,
hoping to settle a court judgment on
unpaid special education funds for the
third week running.
While two plans remain on the table,
little compromise has been witnessed
yet between the Republican-controlled
Senate and the Democratic-controlled
House.
The issue is how to repay school dis-
tricts for the so-called Durant case, in
which 84 public school districts sued
the state in 1980 over inadequate spe-
cial education funding.
The Senate last week passed a com-
plex plan offered up by Gov. John
Engler three weeks ago. Now, the GOP
governor is pressuring House lawmak-
ers to put a rush on it.
"It took 17 years for this court case to
be solved; it should not take even 17
days for the Legislature to resolve this
issue," Engler said late last week.
"My plan has been out there since
September22, and all the elements of my
plan have been part of previous negotia-
tions. I challenge the House members
now to roll up their sleeves for
Michigan's schools and get the job done."
But several Democrats from both
chambers object to his plan to sell $768
million in bonds to fund special-educa-
tion reimbursements for schools that
weren't part of the lawsuit but still were
shortchanged.
The Senate-passed legislation would
dip into the Budget Stabilization Fund
for about $211 million over three years
to make the court-ordered payments to
84 districts. It would pay the remaining
districts $768 million immediately, cov-

ering the cost by selling bonds payable
over 15 years.
But Democrats say putting the state
into debt to repay the schools is unwise.
"The governor's so-called 'compre-
hensive solution' to Michigan's school
finance needs is a dangerous shell
game,' said Senate Minority Leader
John Cherry (D-Clio).
"He knows that in the years to coive
he is not going to be able to meet the
state's commitments to schools,"
Cherry said. "So he has devised a need-
lessly complex scheme of finahetal
smoke and mirrors to hide this crisis
while he makes kids bail him out of it."
Officials said Engler and key law-
makers already were discussing a com-
promise, but the governor said no solu-
tion came late last week.
Negotiations were to continue this
week. And House lawmakers planned to
take up school repayment bills tomorrow.
Rep. Robert Emerson (D-Flint) said
the biggest problems with Engler's
package are the bonding to repay
schools that weren't part of the original
suit and tying school employees' retire-
ment plans in to the mix.
"The court didn't say we had to pay
these people, let alone over time with
interest" Emerson said. "I'm not sure
for the reason for the borrowing, but
I'm certainly willing to consider that
for part of the solution."
Emerson, chairperson of the House
Appropriations Subcommittee on K-12
Education, last week gave up on an ear-
lier plan to pay the non-suing districts
$77 million from the state's Budget
Stabilization Fund each year for the
next 10 years.

By Alero Fregene
For the Daily
Warm winds and ample sunshine
greeted more than 100 University stu-
dents, faculty and Ann Arbor residents
as ,they gathered at Burns Park on
Saturday for the first annual Tour de
Sprawl.,
On the 25-mile tour around Ann
Arbor, participants cycled or rode the
AATA buses to convey the message
that urban sprawl is having detrimental
effects on Midwest regions.
Along the way, speakers highlighted
the messages, "Protect Michigan's
Environment for our families, for our
future" and "Sprawl costs us all."
Subdivisions including Country
Village, Saginaw Hills, and Scio Hills
were among the stops on the route.
"We are trying to provide greater
awareness of land-use issues in the
Washtenaw County. Land use is a
very important environmental issue,"
said Jeff Kahan, a professional city
planner who spoke at the event. "The
tour will give people an opportunity
to see in the field examples of innov-
ative and bad ways to use the land."
Amy Cole, a participant and
Rackham second-year student, said
urban sprawl occurs when "people
leave the inner cities, urban areas,
because of crime or economic reasons

and move to areas of low density."
Other participants tried to explain
the real reasons for urban sprawl and to
discount some popular myths.
"(People) perceive suburbia to be a
representation of their success," said
Anselmo Canfora, a graduate student
instructor in the College of
Architecture. "Suburbia is a result of
urban sprawl.
"Most people are unaware that
urban sprawl has a great environmen-
tal impact," Canfora said.
Apart from wasting land, urban
sprawl has other costs, including traffic
gridlock and increased property taxes
as more people move to the suburbs.
"I have lived in Ann Arbor for a
while;' said Jonathan Levine, an asso-
ciate professor of urban planning. "I1
have seen the urban sprawl and don't
like how it looks."
State Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith
(D-Salem Twp.), who spoke at Burns
Park, said, "urban sprawl costs money
and the very important land that
allows us to survive."
Brett Hulsey, Sierra Club's mid-
west regional representative, said
Saturday's bicycle tour brought visi-
bility to the issues of urban sprawl.
"Our midwest tour de sprawl will
familiarize the public with the costs of
sprawl - traffic gridlock, threatens

drinking water, having to build more
schools and increased property taxes;'
Hulsey said.
Hulsey also explained the effects
that urban sprawl has on students.
"One of the reasons (that) rent is
higher for students is because of the
high property taxes," he said.
"Students should be worried about
(urban sprawl) because they will have
to pay one-eighth of their property tax
to deal with the costs of sprawl. So
the new developers should pay for the
roads, the schools, the sewers, not the
existing tax payers" he said.
Although migration from urban to
rural areas has its costs, Smith said she
is not totally against such movements.
"I moved out into the country
because it was a beautiful place to
live," Smith said.
Speakers and participants encour-
aged students to lobby for more regu-
lations on urban sprawl.
"Call grass-root public attention.
Get on legislators, they have lost their
focus. Talk more about more compre-
hensive zoning. Get more regional
cooperation," Smith said.
Hulsey said students also can help
by discouraging the development and
use of "sprawling malls such as
Briarwood Mall" and live close to
where you work or go to school.

MARTHA COOK BUILDING
HAS A FEW VACANCIES FOR
IMMEDIATE OCCUPANCY
eThe most beautiful Women's Residence Hall
in the Best Location on Campus
eHistoric Building
on S. University - next to Law Club
*Spacious Carpeted Rooms
19 Meals a week
*Freshwomen through Grad Students
"A diverse, multi-ethnic, international population
"A close knit family atmosphere with only 140 residents.
Safe, Protective, Caring Environment.
763-2084
email: mscher@umich.edu


Grosse Ile ranked safest

DETROIT (AP) - With one seri-
ous crime reported for every 100 res-
idents, the suburb of Grosse lie was
Michigan's safest community in
1996.
"When you have such low crime sta-
tistics, it doesn't take much to notice
when something isn't right," said
William Barron, the township's police

chief
According to statistics in an FBI
report, six of the state's 10 safest
communities are in the metro Detroit
area.
Benton Harbor ranked as the
state's most dangerous city, with
16.5 crimes reported per 100 resi-
dents.

Opportunity has never been
SALSARIFFIC. We're renovating
all our Detroit area restaurants
and we need employees as bright
and energetic as our new fresh
look! Come learn how you can
GET SALSAFIED. Wehave
these openings:
i "FOOD/COCK-
TAIL SERVERS
"BAR STAFF
"HOST/
HOSTESSES
*KITCHEN STAFF
Get in on the fun!
We offeroo
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schedules,
advancement
opportunity and
'' , ! superior training.

GROUP MEETINGS

U Students For LIfe, 663-3226 Michigan
Union, Welker Room, 7:30 p.m.
EVENTS
- "Diag Day for Mental Health

Q "Lone Star," Movie screening, spon-
sored by The College of
Literature, Science and the Arts,
Michigan Theater, 6:30 p.m.
U "Memorial Service for People with
Mental illness," sponsored by The
Alliance for the Mentally Ill of
Washtenaw County, St. Clar's
Episcopal Church/ Temple Beth

U "Scream In," sponsored
Mentality, The Diag, noon

by

SERVICES
J Campus Information Centers, 763-
INFO, info@umich.edu, and
www.umich.edu/-info on the
Wnld Wie wAWh

I

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