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One hundred seven years of editoIr freedom
Wednesday
April 15, 1998
t, < : 8
I
Michigan
*Theater"
returns
to roots
By Peter Meyers
Daily Staff Reporter
By the time University students
return from summer break, the
Michigan Theater will be very dif-
ferent from when they left town.
The historic theater is undergo-
ing a $4.4-million renovation that
will peel off the current facade to
restore the theater to its 1928 look.
Several rooms also will be added
to the theater's north side. The north
side addition will include a 200-seat
screening room that "will have
state-of-the-art equipment," said
Michigan Theater Executive
Director Russell Collins.
Unlike the main 1,700-seat the-
ater, which hosts traveling Broadway
shows, rock concerts and other per-
formances, the screening room will
only be used for movies, Collins said.
The new room will increase the
selection and frequency of movie
screenings. Most movie distributors
don't allow theaters to run movies for
less than seven straight days, Collins
said. With all the events the theater is
used for, it can rarely set aside seven
days for consecutive showings.
The theater opened in 1928 as a
place to view silent movies accompa-
nied by live organ music. This "mul-
timedia" design set up the theater to
cater both to video and musical per-
formances, he said.
The renovations will be extensive,
beginning with the theater's facade
and adding decorative turrets to the
corners of the building. The marquee
itself, which dates back to when the
See THEATER, Page 2
£
~1
Harrison u
for Hartfor
presidency
p
d
By Jennifer Yachnin
Daily Staff Reporter
Vice President for University
Relations Walter Harrison is one of
three finalists for president at the
University of Hartford.
"I'm very flattered to be asked and
very excited to be learning about the
university," said Harrison, who was
informed he was a finalist about two
weeks ago.
Harrison currently is visiting Hartford
to become acquainted with the students
and campus, although he said he is
familiar with Hartford from his days as a
student at nearby Trinity College, where
he graduated from in 1968.
"I'm very happy at Michigan, but
this was a good opportunity to see if I
would like to lead a university,"
Harrison said. "I'i here to learn about
the University of Hartford and for them
to learn about me."
The two other candidates are
Rosanne Wille, provost at the City
University branch of Lehman College
in New York and Stuart Fagan,
provost of Roosevelt University in
Chicago.
In addition to his post as vice pres-
ident, which he has held for nine
years, Harrison was also appointed
as secretary of the University this
past January when University
President I ee Bollinger combined
the two jobs.
As secretary, Harrison oversees the
uses of the official University seal on
documents and diplomas and acts as a
liaison between the University Board of
Walter
Harrison
One of three
finalists for
president at the
University of
Hartford
Has acted as
vice president for University rela-
tions for the past nine years
Appointed as secretary of the
University in January by University
President Lee Bollinger
Regents and the rest of the University
Community.
Regent Philip Power (D-Ann Arbor)
said that if Harrison were to leave the
University, the loss would be felt by the
board.
"It will have a pronounced impact
because he is a liaison between the
Board of Regents and the communi-
ty," Power said. "Obviously someone
would have to be found to fill that
position."
Power added that Harrison brings to
his current position a wealth of infor-
mation about the University communi-
ty and its internal systems.
"He brings to the post great knowl-
edge and understanding of the
University," Power said. "He's a very
able guy."
See HARRISON, Page 5
SARA STILLMAN/Daily
The Michigan Theater is to undergo a $4.4-million renovation this year that will restore the theater's original 1928
appearance and add a new screening room.
I
I
linton race
OUSTON (AP) - Giving a sharper focus to his
rational dialogue on race, President Clinton yesterday
rged Americans to look to the world of sports as an
xample of how individuals of different races can join
n a common effort.
"It is important that people see that in athletics in
erica that the rules are fair, that people get their fair
hance," Clinton said in leading offa 105-minute nation-
Ily televised discussion on the role of race in sports.
An avid fan of college basketball and major profes-
ional sports, Clinton is well versed in sensitive issues
, white dominance in coaching and sports team
wnership. He said that if professional sports wants
ore minority coaches but cannot find them, "then
here's something wrong with recruitment."
The meeting, broadcast live on ESPN, was the second
f Clinton's three planned nationally televised town hall
eetings on race. The first was in Akron last December.
The 11-member panel discussed several topics but
tudent regent
ifort still faces
hallenges
y Gerard Cohen-rignaud
aily Staff Reporter
ast month, 60 percent of students voting in the Mich
ent Assembly winter elections approved a fee inerf
esignated to fund a campaign aimed at establishing a
ent seat on the University Board of Regents. Now Iv
eaders are waiting for the day in June when the regents
ecide the fate of the fee increase.
"The regents run the University, and the students certa
eserve a seat at the table to decide how their own lives
oing to be run," said Student Regent Task Force Co-C
ram Elias, an LSA sophomore.
The $4 increase in MSA fees would be used to hire a 1
>ather the 310,000 signatures necessary to add a ques
statewide ballot asking voters to voice their suppor1
he installation of a student regent.
MSA leaders are currently considering various firms
he signature gathering campaign. Among the candidate
dvantage Consulting, which charges the industry norr
1 per signature.
forum focuses on sports
returned often to the relative shortage of minorities in
top sports management jobs. Georgetown University
basketball coach John Thompson said blacks must be
given more opportunities, even if they are not seen as
sure-fire coaching successes right away.
"I'm sick of us having to be perfect to get the job,'
Thompson said. But Thompson took exception when
former Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown
also suggested that black college stars turn more often
to black agents in launching their professional sports
careers.
Joe Morgan, a member of baseball's Hall of Fame,
said baseball has made only small progress.
While noting that some of the greatest players in base-
ball history are black, "once they're finished, there is no
place for them to go" in the sport business, he said.
Morgan said baseball has failed to aggressively
recruit talent in urban black areas. One reason for that,
he said, is a lack of black scouts for major league teams.
Clinton said he was optimistic that talking about
race in the context of sports can help the nation deal
with broader racial issues.
"America, rightly or wrongly, is a sports crazy
country," he said. "And we often see games as a
metaphor or symbol of what we are as a people."
At the close of yesterday's program, Clinton said he
hoped the message would get through to America's
youth that athletics can help develop racial harmony.
"The lessons learned from athletics carry over into
good citizenship, including attitudes about people of
different races," Clinton said. "If that happens, we're
going-to be a lot better off."
Black men have found enormous success in
American sports. Many of the best marketed and high-
est paid professional athletes, such as basketball's
Michael Jordan and baseball's Ken Griffey Jr., are black.
Yet certain glamour positions, such as quarterback in
professional football, are dominated by whites.
Doin' the worm
SARA STILLMAN/Daily
Ann Arbor resident Yukari Nibun uses the National Bank of Detroit ATM on
Main Street yesterday, one day after it merged with Banc One Corp.
Bank mergers may
affect job market
By Jason Stoffer
Daily Staff Reporter
Three of the largest banking
mergers in history were the buzz
this week on Wall Street, but
experts say the effects of the bank-
ing industry's consolidation will be
felt in cities outside the nation's
financial capital - including Ann
Arbor.
The financial press reported
Monday that BankAmerica Corp.
and NationsBank Corp. agreed to
join forces in a $60 billion merger,
and that Banc One Corp. and First
Chicago NBD Corp. will combine
Brophy said the new financial ser-
vices firms will increase efficiency
by streamlining overlapping opera-
tions. He said streamlining may
make fewer jobs available in the
short run to students seeking to
enter the banking industry.
"If you put bank A and B together
they'll be looking to eliminate jobs,
and there will be bankers put out
onto the street,' Brophy said. "In the
short run, its going to be tough (for
college graduates) to get jobs (in
banking). If nothing else, it'll put
downward pressure on starting
salary."
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