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Tuesday
December 1, 1998
e.
V"t OWN?
Med school to fund $10.6M
upgrade
By Mike Spat.
Daily Staff Reporter
Since its founding in 1817, the
iversity has grown from a meager
building campus to a bustling com-
munity with three times as many
libraries as it once had buildings.
But many University buildings, rang-
ing in age from just more than a year to
multiple decades, are in desperate need
of renovations and improvements -
something the University Board of
Regents considers at nearly every meet-
ing
t its Nov. 19 meeting, the board
-roved the latest in this set of
improvements - a $10.6 million pro-
ject, that will update the Medical
Science II and Buhl buildings. The pro-
ject will be funded by the Medical
School.
While this project is not the largest
endeavor the board approved this year,
Interim Associate Vice President for
Business Operations Hank Baier said
this project is an important one.
"This type of renovation needs to be
done periodically to meet changing pro-
gram needs," Baier said.
Chief Financial Officer Robert
Kasdin, in his request to the board for
approval, said the improvements will
update completely the Buhl Building
while also connecting it to the Medical
Science Building.
"This renovation is part of a larger plan
to upgrade instructional and research
space as well as support program
changes in these buildings within the
Medical School," Kasdin told the board.
The changes will allow for a consoli-
dation of the human genetics depart-
ment and an update for piping and elec-
trical systems.
"We always look to make improve-
ments," Baier said. "The Medical
School facilities and faculty all get real-
ly involved in the decisions."
Regent Olivia Maynard (D-
Goodrich) said the improvements,
while not part of the Master Plan, coin-
cide with the overall plan for the
University.
The Master Plan is being formulated
by administrators and will develop
plans to make the pieces of the
University better work together as a
system, Maynard said.
"Some things can't wait," Maynard
said. "If you want to have the best ...
you do need to keep up.
"We all wish you wouldn't have to,
but then the world wouldn't be as excit-
ing," she said.
In addition to this new renovation,
the board discussed and ultimately
approved renovations for the emer-
gency department of the University
Hospitals.
Concerns, Maynard said, about the
project's effect on parking were dis-
pelled through the discussion.
Earlier this year the board approved a
$79 million renovation plan for Mason
and Haven halls. The project, which
actually will renovate the Perry, LSA
and Frieze buildings along ,with West
Hall, will be jointly funded by the state
and the University. Work on those
buildings is scheduled to begin soon.
DAVID ROCHKIND/Daily
The Medical Sciences Building Is one of two buildings that will be renovated as
part of a $10.6 million project approved by the University Board of Regents.
Thieves
gobble up
electronics
uring break
By Jennifer Yachnin
Daily Staff Reporter
Several students found themselves victims of theft after
returning from the Thanksgiving break this weekend.
Department of Public Safety reports list several break-ins
at rooms in both West Quad and Mary Markley residence
halls.
"There's probably a very small increase over breaks
ause the people that do this know traffic in the halls is
n," said Alan Levy, director of housing public affairs.
Levy said Housing officials advise students not to leave
valuables or irreplaceable items in their rooms when they are
absent.
"Most of the time the thefts that get reported are usually
not solved," Levy said.
Because most thefts are not solved, Levy could not say if
.the suspects are University affiliates.
During the weekend, a student in West Quad told DPS
officials he found his doors and windows unlocked
Anday when he returned from the weekend. The student
ported his computer missing. The student said the sus-
pect probably gained access through a window in the
room.
In two other cases, which DPS officials think may be relat-
ed, items were taken from two Mary Markley rooms.
The first resident told Housing officers someone entered
his room through an unlocked window and took a watch and
several computer games.
A second resident found his Nintendo 64, two controllers
and about 50 CDs missing from his room. The victim's room-
mate said he found the window open when he returned from
' weekend.
ousing security officers make routine rounds in the resi-
dence halls, and during vacations officers are "sensitive" to
the fact that student population is low, Levy said.
"We do have increased security during the holidays," DPS
spokesperson Beth Hall said.
Hall said Housing officers work in conjunction with DPS
officers to increase security. DPS patrol units are instructed
to pay special attention to the residence hall areas, Hall
added.
See THEFT, Page 2
Dreaming of a light Christmas
California
teachers to
stage strike
By Sarah Lewis
Daily Staff Reporter
Teaching assistants at eight University of California cam-
puses have plans to go on strike this morning and withhold
their labor until the end of the fall quarter unless the univer-
sity's administration agrees to recognize their right to collec-
tively bargain.
The TA organizations at California had been threatening to
strike since October if their universities did not grant them
the right of collective bargaining. They even have staged
strikes in the past, but this one is the biggest so far.
Connie Razza, a fifth-year graduate student and spokesper-
son for UCLA's Student Association of Graduate Student
Employees, said they also have the support of the United Auto
Workers union, which will pay picketing TAs, readers and
tutors $150 per week for the duration of the strike.
Under current California state law, the TAs are not consid-
ered employees, so the university system does not have to rec-
ognize their unions. And the university administration is stand-
ing firm on its belief of student role versus employee role.
Robin Fisher, the associate dean of UCLA's Graduate
Division, said the university's policy "set for all the campus-
es is that the teaching assistants are not eligible for collective
bargaining.
"Weconsider them to be primarily students, and under
California state law, that makes them ineligible," Fisher said.
He said there is always the possibility the state law will
change, but immediate recognition for the TAs to collective-
ly bargain is not realistic. He said the university system has
not yet decided whether to bring in replacements for the
striking TAs or give final exams that are easier to grade.
"The faculty and university as an institution is committed
to providing their services in a timely and appropriate fash-
ion," he said.
Razza said that whatever decision the universities make to
finish out the semester, it will not replace the teaching the
TAs have always done.
"The qualitative teaching that we do cannot just be picked
up in the middle of the course," Razza said. "It would short-
change undergraduate education."
DAVID ROcHKIND/Daily Although some might question the TAs' decision to strike
nt of Christmases have been white, right before finals, it appears many undergraduate students
Sousounis reported a six in 10 support the striking TAs.
With La Nina, there may be lower "The administration is responsible for the disturbance in
mperatures, Sousounis said. our education," said Liz Geyer, external vice president for
See STRIKE, Page 2
Census ruling could
affect aid, districts
The Domino's Farms Christmas Light Show shines last night. Since 1889, 53 percen
said University meteorologist Dennis Kahlbaum. Assistant meteorology Prof. Peter S
chance of a white Christmas this year -- at least one inch of snow on the ground. W
temperatures toward the end of the month, despite the recent deceivingly warm ten
Group calls "
for an end
toClinton
inquiry
By Kelly O'Connor'
Daily StaffReporter
In a concentrated effort to curb the lengthy
impeachment proceedings of President
Clinton, a group of citizens concerned with
the waste of their money and time plans to
flood Washington D.C. with postcards
expressing their sentiments this week.
Ann Arbor chapter Coordinator Janine
Easter said she thinks the group stirs people's
interest because they are tired of the constant
bombardment of information about the
President Clinton investigation.
"We all think of it every time we pick up the
nnrva nr mtA he n ,," no. ctpr ad 'The
WASHINGTON (AP) With money and votes
across the nation at stake, the Clinton administra-
tion asked the Supreme Court yesterday to reject a
Republican challenge and let it adjust the 2000
census results to make up for an expected misrep-
resentation of minorities.
No census finds everyone, but the government's
plan "will best achieve the Constitution's goal of
determining the number of persons in each state,"
Solicitor General Seth Waxman told the court. "It
is in effect a quality check" on the initial head
count to be conducted April 1, 2000.
But lawyers for the Republican-led House and a
group of private citizens insisted the proposal vio-
lates the Constitution and federal law.
"A 100 percent head count is the only permissi-
ble means of apportioning the population," said
Michael Carvin, representing private citizens from
six states. So far, two lower courts have ruled the
government's plan unlawful.'
Adjusting the census likely would help
Democrats because minorities and city residents
handed out.
The court is expected to aim for a decision by
March to give the government time to plan for the
2000 count.
Also yesterday, the court:
* Declined to hear an appeal from a California
police officer ousted as a Boy Scouts leader
because he is gay. The Boy Scouts' ban on homo-
sexuals has been challenged in California and
other states, and El Cajon police officer Charles
Merino's case was the first to reach the nation's
highest court.
Dodged a dispute over the nuclear industry's
most perplexing problem - how and where to
store thousands of tons of highly radioactive waste
permanently and safely. The Energy Department is
studying the feasibility of building a fuel burial
site at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
In the census case, the Constitution requires an
"actual enumeration" to divide the 435 members
of the House of Representatives among the states
based on population. But the justices appeared
----DAVID ROCHKIND/D
Janine Easter, president of the Ann Arbor chapter of the national Mad as Hell effort to curb
the impeachment process of President Clinton, says she "won't take it anymore."
cards state the group's motto: "We're mad as
hell, and we're not going to take it anymore."
The back side states the group's four main
demands. stnn the imneachment effort ston
We are asking the representatives to
"please listen to America outside of
Washington, D.C.," Easter said.
Mad as Hell National Campaign Co-chair
I