1
4A -- The Michigan Daily - Monday, April 13, 1998
ulI14e £Id~iunabl
420 Maynard Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Edited and managed by
students at the
University of Michigan
Editor in Chief
JACK SCIIIACI
Editorial Page Editor
NOABLE QUOTABLE
'We think it's time Detroit Edison
stopped poisoning *our environment'.
- Metro Detroit Restdent Jessie Deertnwater; an nI-n w/lar activist with
Citizens 'Resistance at Fermi IT on the exected osing ofthe Monroe,
Mih nuclear power plant, the 28th-lartgest in the Countv in the year 2025
Unless otherisec noted, unsigned editorials reflect the opinion of the majority of the Dailtis edi raI bol
Allother articles, letters and cartoons do not necessarily reflect the opinion of T'he Michigan Dall
KAA MRAN HAFEEZ
FROM THE DAILY
Driving up pri
Fine, rate increases take advantage of students
N!
A ttending a university can be a huge drain
on the finances of both students and
their families. Students attending the
University - the most expensive public
school in Michigan - are placed under an
especially large financial strain. The city of
Ann Arbor, however, seems to believe that
University students are in possession of
excess stores of money that they should be
contributing to the city's coffers. This myth
has led the Ann Arbor City Council to raise
parking fees to 80 cents per hour - a hike of
20 cents - and to increase parking ticket
fines from $5 to $10. These increases burden
the budgets of University students and raise
unnecessary funds for the city.
University students will be the drivers hit
hardest by the change. Ann Arbor residents
have driveways in which to park and
University faculty members have lots. Since
the University does' not provide nearly
enough parking for its student body, students
are left out in the cold to deal with exorbi-
tantly expensive parking meters. Students
cannot afford to pay an extra 20 cents per
hour to park on the street, and even less can
they afford to pay an extra $5 for a parking
ticket. Many students are forced to consider
parking tickets an inevitable result of the
University's abysmal parking situation, and
the doubling of the fines will hit the student
body's slim pocketbooks hard.
The parking meter increases were cited by
councilmembers as an effort to alleviate the
parking congestion in downtown Ann Arbor
by forcing drivers into the parking structures.
Not only is this effort untimely, with the
planned closing, demolition and rebuilding of
several downtown parking structures, but it
inevitably will have a negative effect on down-
town businesses. High parking meter rates
dissuade students and Ann Arbor rednts
from driving downtown to shop or eat but +e
doubled parking ticket fines may pro: das-
tating. A $5 fine is nothing to laugh about hut
receiving a $10 fine will lead drivers to head
to less-congested areas of town to b w or
dine, which will cause downtown busineses
to suffer from diminished clientele.
These increases are supposed add $1
million to Ann Arbor's general fund a
fund that Councilmember Stephen
Hartwell (D-4th Ward) cited to be sufi
ciently prosperous. The city's finances are
already benefiting from inoluntary dona-
tions from the pockets of University stu-
dents through meter fees and parking tick-
ets issued by meter monitors. The city
police are already excessively diligent in
their observation of parking meters - the
unnecessary sight of a fanatical police offi-
cer racing a driver to reach an ex pired
meter is not an unfamiliar one.
Ann Arbor should stop treating the
University's student body like second-cass
citizens and end its unfair targeting of stdens
with such legislation as the increase in park-
ing fees. University students already pay a sig-
nificant amount of money to the city of Ann
Arbor, especially through parking tickets and
street parking meters, and Ann Arbor should
adjust its posture toward the Universiy and
stop treating its students as the soure of an
endless supply of money. With the lack ofsuf-
ficient parking on the University campus, Ann
Arbor should be more leniEnt with its tickt-
ing instead of raising the parking rates and
ticket fees in an effort to 'quee additional
money out of the meager budgets of the
University's student body.
7 s - - - .-.,
- - - -
PAN
..
V IEWPOINT
SeA has improved 'U' student life
Br MIKE NAGRANT AND OLGA SAVIC
Dear students,
The time has come where some of us are
graduating, moving on or just moving up in the
University. The Michigan Student Assembly
nov has turned over, and the new and exciting
leadership of Trent Thompson and Sarah
C'hopp will be leading you next year. Olga and
I would just like to take this opportunity upon
leaving office to thank you for your input, your
pra~es. your criticisms, and most of all, for
gi\ ing us an opportunity to serve you. Olga
would especially like to thank James Miller for
his thoughtful columns mentioning her.
We have tried hard to make MSA a place
where all students of this University have a
voice and where we make a difference in every
single one of your lives. For some of you, this
difference is great, and for some of you, our
w ork has seemingly made no difference in
your busy lives.
The strength of our student government
relies on the strength of its constituents. It is
our duty to serve you and to adequately repre-
sent you so that you have faith in your govern-
ment. In order to retain student confidence, we
have, as an assembly, worked on and complet-
ed the following initiatives this year:
* Cutting MSA internal budgets by $2,000
and returning this money to student groups and
student services
* The Environmental Theme Semester
E Iow-cost health care for all students who
nedit
* Support of the Ann Arbor Tenants Union
U okinig with lTD to reduce printing
coandenhance computing packages
The Affirmative Action 101 forum to
discuss the role of affirmative action in the
Un iversity
* Preserving free speech and lobbying the
administration so that all students can chalk
the Diag without worrying that their hard work
w ill be powerwashed away
* Keeping the Harlan Hatcher Graduate
Library open until 2 a.m
* Securing an American Sign Language
class
* Lobbying the University Board of
Regents to keep tuition at the rate of inflation
® Working with other student leaders to
bring you a speakers initiative, which brought
free, high-profile speakers like Jeanne White
(Ryan White's mother) to campus
* Expanding and providing you with more
class evaluations through Advice Online
* Bringing you more convenient voting
through online elections
Working to secure student representation
on the board of regents
* Creating the Fireside Chats, giving you
an opportunity to speak directly with President
Bollinger about your concerns
* Funding student groups in excess of
$200,000 to support student community initia-
tives and community service
* Lobbying the state legislatures on text-
book prices, and trying to secure more money
for financial aid and the University
* Getting Wok Express out of the Pierpoint
Commons on North Campus
® Creating a voter registration system
throughout residence halls
N Creating a lecture mentorship program
to provide students a better opportunity to
interact with their professors
This really isn't even a comprehensive list,
but please take some time and look through it
and see that MSA has in some way made a
direct or indirect impact on student life. If you
do, we think that you will realize that we as
your student government are concerned with
more than our resumes and our egos.
If these initiatives do not make a difference
II our life, then please take the time to tell
MSA what it is your heart desires. We guaran-
tee that 45 hard-working students will try and
fix it for you. We also realize that it is our job
to go to students instead of making them
always come to us. MSA still has some work
left to do in bridging the gap between itself in
the student body, but we think this year we
came a long way. Once again, thank you for
supporting us and good luck in whatever you
do at the University and beyond.
Nagrant and Savic are the firmer MSA
president and vice president, respectively.
They can he reached over e-mail at mjna-
gran a umich.edu and osavic(aumich.edu.
Thank-you notes
and love letters
I t seems fitting to wre my last col-
umn sitting here on the Diag. For
four years, it has represented the heart
of my University experience. It's where
students come to relax, Sudy, sunbathe
and be seen. It's where campus tour
guides bring prospective students and
parents to tell them the te eothe 'M
It's where young alumn bring their
babies and toddlers
to scoot around and
chase squirrels. It's
where I sit and
watch the people
pass by.
At the heartof
the Diag lies the
infamous gift from
the class of 1953:
the bronze block
M' which is as
familiar a symbol to ERIN
us as the American MARSH
flag that flies at the t\
Diag's north edge.
Sidewalks radiate
off the Diag like arteries andveins
bringing in and sending away the
University's children; they are her
lifeblood. Without the people who live,
work, study, visit and play here,
University buildings would *and silent
and vacant. They would have no one to
watch over.
From my sunny bench seat. I can see
most of the buildings that knave con-
tained me for the thousands of hours
I've worked here: the Ugh, the Grad
Chem, East and West Engin, Nat Sci,
Angell-Mason-Haven. Somewvvere to
my left stands Couzens Hall, where the
freshman gang Ri-e-da was boirn. Over
to my right stands the Student
Publications Building, which :feels to
me as natural as breathing. Sattered
about stand several varieties of trees,
strong, tall and beautiful. Itcluded
among these is my favorite one - a
maple on the east edge of the Di ag; the
one that blushes first, brightest and
loveliest each autumn.
I've known since I came here fiat my
undergraduate experience wouki end
too soon, and so it (almost) has. A s I sit
here, I wonder lots of things: I wonder
why high school never went this 'ast; I
wonder if I will ever find another place
as dear to my heart as this one; I wnder
if my future children will sit on this
bench 30 years hence and wondr the
same things.
Much of what I feel about this city
and this school can best be expresseid in
two of my favorite types of correson-
dence: thank-you notes and love letters.
Mom always said that writing thank-you
notes is a good way to show people you
appreciate what they've done and who
they are. And who hasn't saved t*eir
first love letter? Maybe it's scrawled in
crayoned, childlike script, or maybe i is
a mature, quietly beautiful statement of
affection. When I think of the signii-
cant impact the University his
impressed upon me, I think of these tw4o
cherished types of communication.
So many words come to mind when I
think of Ann Arbor and the University
of Michigan: dynamic, magnetic, eneri7
getic. I know that an institution of the
magnitude doesn't happen all on its
own. I know there are a multitude of
financial and educational benefactors.
present and past, who have made it their
lives' work to bring the University to the
tremendous height at which it stands
today. Great things are learned and dis-
covered here. Truly magnificent people
have chosen to dedicate their brilliance
to the University. We are so lucky.
Thank you to all of the professors,
administrators, faculty and staff who
have made this experience such a posi-
tive one. Thank you to all of the teach-
ers who have so inspired and changed
me with their lessons.
Thanks to the dearfriends I've made
along the way. Whether it's Executive
Session or all my beloved 'J's, you all
know you hold a special place in my
heart.
Thanks to Mom and Dad, who made
the sacrifices necessary to send me
here. I'm indescribably grateful.
Finally, thanks to all of you students.
Maybe we had a class together. Maybe
we lived in the same freshman dorm.
Maybe we never met. You've made my
University experience richer, more
interesting and more educational.
Thanks for choosing to share your expe-
riences with the University.
I remember the day I moved here -
it was just after my high school gradua-
tion, in the spring of 1994. I remember
how, before, I had always felt that some-
thing was missing - like I had had a
blanket that was too small. No matter
which way I turned it or how much I
stretched it, it wouldnever reach up to
the tips of my ears and still cover my
toes. Ann Arbor and the University of
Michigan have given me that bigger
blanket. It surrounds me and wraps me
in comfort, security, knowledge and self
assurance. I luxuriate in it.
The sun is beginning to set on the
Diag. Soon it will fall dark, and the stu-
in the money
Increased salaries bode well for higher educatio
U niversity professors will find bigger pay-
checks in their mailboxes this year, fol-
lowing figures released last week. The 1997-
1998 fiscal year marks the largest increase in
U.S. college faculty salaries in more than a
decade, according to a study by the American
Association of University Professors. The
year's 3.4-percent increase brings salaries for
full professors to just under $80,000 at
research institutions. Well above the national
mean, the University pays its full professors
an average of $91,900.
In the face of a mere 1.7-percent inflation
growth, the nationwide faculty pay hike will
prove a welcome recruiting tool for institu-
tions seeking to lure highly-qualified per-
sons into professorship. But both the
University and other schools nationwide
must effect further salary growth to place the
vocation on par with other professions in
competing for high-quality personnel.
Though the general salary increase may
delight faculty, the good news is tempered by
the fact thai professors' inflation-adjusted
salaries lag 4.4 percent behind the 1971-1972
rate. The lack of salary gains over the last
quarter century have deterred many well-edu-
cated persons from entering academia.
Institutions' inability to compete for top
faculty scholars severely limits the quality
of instruction and research. As both of these
aspects of professorship contribute heavily
to the overall quality of collegiate institu-
tions, it behooves colleges to devote more
resources to raising faculty salaries.
The need to augment faculty salaries is
underscored by the association's finding
that faculty today find themselves paid sub-
stantially less than other professionals with
similar educational background. The study
found a 42-percent disparity between col-
lepie faculty nay and the nay of other simi-
translates to a $62,000 discrepancy in
salaries between the highest-paid engineers
or lawyers and the highest-paid college pro-
fessors. Consequently, many high-c'aiber
graduates who can require large :aarL
must turn to other professions to do
In recent decades, many institutin hae
diverted funds from faculty salaries in
response to overwhelming demand f or lower
tuition. While the effort to control tuition
increases has made college more accessible,
the decision to directly slash faculty payhs
brought about a general decrease in the qu-
ity of education at many schools. Instituons
must devise other methods of fund realoca
tion to control tuition without sacrificin he
grade of education and research.
Ranked first in the state by a argin of
more than $15,000 in annual compensation.
the University, in particular, ha u.: hi h
salaries to make itself one of the most di
able institutions for college dues
ested in professorships. But while the
University fares well in regional compar-
isons, its average salary pales when uxa
posed to other top-flight schools such as the
University of California at Berekelcy.
Despite the University's advanage over
other institutions in wooing professors it sill
falls behind other highly trained profesion
in employee compensation Acordnl
University officials should not feel compla
cent with the school's current high ak in he
region, but should ivestigate adon
means of bringing professors' pay in line with
other professionals with similar educaion.
While this year's large growth in prof
sors' pay outstrips all yearly growth within
the last decade, it merely represents uiver-
sities inching in the right directon. Tne
quality of American higher educaion rs
on institutions' commitment to feriur fe-
LET TERS TO THE EDITOR
Town Hall
lacked 'U'
minorty input
TO THE DAILY:
A the chair of the
yAffairsConmission
ofth ichigan Student
sembh. I beliee it would
a e been appropriate for
BrI n Rleich to contact the
commission and other stu-
dn groups of color for their
nput into and advertise the
I on n Flall Meeting on Race.
Reich listed the Black
Stdet Union 'and the
Minority Affairs Commission
s sporters of the event,
which was not the case. If it
Src the nc that Brian
Reich would have contacted
t M rity Affairs
Commision, he would have
known that many Native
Amerians were not in favor
ofPresident Clinton's
,niiaive.
After many attempts to
contact Reich to help plan
and or aniz' this event, he
owl told me that he would
c at those student-of-color
this campus that he was
advised to contact. Reich
failed at securing an inclusive
dialogue that would truly
encompass the entire
University campus. It is
important that if he and MSA
are to be representative, then
they must contact the repre-
sentative students and organi-
zations.
KENNETH JONES
LSA SOPHOMORE
CHAIR, MSA MINORITY
AFFAIRS COMMISSION
Response was
in 'poor taste
TO THE DAILY:
I found the recent letter
by Darin Glasser and Sean
Corrigan ("Pi letter rein-
forces stereotypes," 4 6 98)
to be in extremely poor taste.
In their letter, Glasser and
Corrigan immaturely express
their displeasure over an ear-
lier letter by Tom Strait
regarding an error in the
Daily ("Pi's decimal approxi-
mation was wrong," 4/1/98).
and Corrigan so much. It was
politely written, and more
important, what it said was
true. Even if Glasser and
Corrigan have some sort of
problem with the publication
of correct data, there was still
no need for them to question
Strait's personal life or
express the desire to be able
to make fun of him in class.
All that Glasser and Corrigan
succeeded in doing was
demonstrate their own fool-
ishness by stooping to child-
ish name-calling and picking
on someone they know noth-
ing about.
Everyone certainly has
the right to free speech, but I
had hoped that those of us at
this University at least pos-
sessed some sort of good
taste and manners when it
came to expressing our opin-
ions. The only thing which
Glasser and Corrigan's letter
managed to enlighten me
about was the fact that they
claimed to be seniors - I
find it astounding that two
individuals with such an
aversion to correct informa-
tion could have actually made
it that far.