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.