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Monday
March 8, 1999
1 ..:
Two found dead in home
Police suspect
fight ended in
murder-suicide
By Jaimle Winkler
Daily Staff Reporter
The bodies of a University student and her boyfriend
were discovered in an apartment located on East Kingsley
St. on Friday afternoon, according to Ann Arbor Police
artment officials.
oth individuals apparently died as a result of gun-
shot wounds, but AAPD is still investigating exactly
what happened. Officials told The Ann Arbor News
this weekend that their original theory appears cor-
rect.
"It looks like a murder-suicide, just as we originally
thought," Roderick'told The Ann Arbor News.
The woman, Natasha Qureshi, an LSA senior and her 22-
year-old boyfriend Christopher Groesbeck, a recent
University graduate, were found inside Groesbeck's apart-
ment, AAPD officials said. An acquaintance of Groesbeck's
*covered the bodies after receiving a call from Groesbeck's
other, who was concerned about her son.
Memorial services for Qureshi and Groesbeck have not
yet been planned.
AAPD officials reviewed autopsy results and interviews
of friends, family and apartment complex residents before
constructing a theory about what happened in the apart-
ment shortly before the couple died, AAPD Deputy Chief
Craig Roderick told The Ann Arbor News in a report on
Saturday. But AAPD officials would not confirm the infor-
mation yesterday.
Groesbeck tried to end his on-and-off relationship with
t ureshi on Feb. 25, before she left for a Spring Break trip
to Toronto.
Last Tuesday, after returning from Toronto, Qureshi
received a permit from the AAPD to purchase a gun.
Three days later, early Friday morning, she went to
Groesbeck's apartment and confronted him. AAPD offi-
cials told The Ann Arbor News Qureshi cut her wrists with
a knife before firing three shots at Groesbeck, hitting him
in the neck and chest. Qureshi then scteamed and shot her-
self.
AAPD Sgt. Lyle Sartori said Groesbeck's mother
structed a friend to go to the East Kingsley apartment
Friday afternoon when she became worried because her
son did not show up for work. A building manager allowed
Groesbeck's acquaintance into the apartment, Sartori said.
"At approximately 3:17 p.m. the Ann Arbor Police
Department were dispatched to 727 East Kingsley," Sartori
said. There, AAPD officers discovered Groesbeck and
Qureshi. Officers also found a knife and a gun in the apart-
meit.
"The two were romantically linked and evidently had
Aen in a fight earlier," Sartori said. The two, both from
erling Heights, had been dating for a year or a year-and-
See DEATHS, Page 7A
Provost reacts
to GEO plan
for wal out
By Nick Faizone
Daily Staff Reporter
As University students return from
Spring Break, the possibility of a
Graduate Employees Organization walk-
out or strike looms on the horizon.
These job actions, scheduled to begin
Wednesday, could mean cancellation of
all discussion sections taught by graduate
student instructors who choose to partic-
ipate in the protest.
GEO member Stephen Arellano said
he and other members of the organiza-
tion held meetings during break to pre-
pare for the one-and-a-half day walkout.
Arellano added that while positive
negotiations with the University could
cancel the job action, it is improbable this,
will occur.
"The University has been stalling and
seeing whether the union has the solidar-
ity to hold a walkout," Arellano said.
He added that he believed the
University would continue to delay nego-
tiations until GEO proved its strength
through a protest.
Arellano said that while he hopes the
walkout will be effective enough to pre-
vent a more serious action from taking
place, a strike might be CEO's only
option if its issues remain unresolved.
"We may be forced into a situation
because the University will not give us a
voice" in contract negotiations, Arellano
said. "The strike could be our only source
of power, something that's rather unfortu-
nate."
In response to the possibility of a
walkout or strike, Provost Nancy Cantor
sent an e-mail to all full- and part-time
faculty members informing them of the
status of the negotiations between the
University and GE O.
In the e-mail, Cantor said she was dis-
tressed by the possibility of the job
actions because they "threaten to inter-
rupt the education of our undergraduate
students."
Cantor also stated that she believed the
University had been "responsive to the
financial and educational needs of our
graduate student instructors;' according
to the e-mail.
Communications Prof. Michael
Traugott, who received the message from
Cantor, said that while he understands
why GCEO would stage a walkout, he
does not support the job action.
"I think the best way to settle the issues
is at the bargaining table, possibly with
help," Traugott said.
Traugott added that he believed medi-
ation between GEO and the University
might be an effective step in contract set-
tlernent.
Traugott also said he believed
University faculty would step in to teach
the discussion sections of GSIs who
choose to protest if a walkout took place
this week.
"We have an obligation to see that stu-
dents get the instruction they're paying
tuition for,' Traugott said. "The faculty
stepped in (when a walkout occurred
in) 1996 and I think the same will happen
again.
But University Chief Negotiator Dan
Gamble said he still hopes the University
will be able to reach a contract settlement
before a walkout takes place.
"We don't want to infringe on under-
See GEO, Page 2A
DAN U UNNELL/Uaily
Valentine's Day stickers still hang In the window of University alum Christopher Groesbeck's
apartment Saturday where he and LSA senior Natasha Qureshi were found dead at about 3p.m. Friday
afternoon. Matching stickers hung in the window of Qureshi's apartment.
D~eaths revi ve memorieso
of Williams'
By Michael Grass
Daily Staff Reporter
The Friday deaths of an LSA senior and a
University alum may remind some of the stabbing
death of University student Tamara Williams at the
hands of her ex-boyfriend Kevin Nelson on Sept.
23, 1997. Friday's incident, which many believe
may be a case of domestic violence, reflected the
disbelief and horror that followed Williams' murder.
LSA senior Natasha Qureshi and her boyfriend
Christopher Groesbeck, a University alum, were
found Friday morning at Groesbeck's East
Kingsley Street apartment in an apparent murder-
suicide, Ann Arbor Police Department officials
said.
"We're still in the shock stage, figuring out
stabbing-
what we're going to do about this;' Sexual
Assault Prevention and Awareness Center
Director Virginia Chitanda said.
Williams, then an LSA senior, was living with
Nelson and her daughter Kiera in the North
Campus Northwood V family housing complex
in September 1997.
Williams' Northwood neighbors called the
Department of Public Safety after Nelson began
attacking Williams. The stabbing took place 200
feet from the front door of her home.
After vain attempts to stop Nelson, neighbors
watched him continue to stab Williams. A DPS
officer fired shots at Nelson after he refused to
release his knife.
See WILLIAMS, Page 7A
Fire and ice
MSA candidates
prepare for race
By Jewel Gopwani
Daily Staff Reporter
And they're off!
During spring break, Elections
Director Andrew Serowik announced
this month's Michigan Student
Assembly candidates, signaling the
official start of the winter elections.
Serowik said campaigning "is proba-
bly going to be intense;" citing that the
three parties running this semester are
stronger and larger than in past years.
This semester 60 students are run-
ning for 23 open assembly seats, and
six students are running for president
and vice president.
Three slates are running for the posts
of MSA president and vice president.
These include Jessica Curtin and Erika
Dowdell, representing the Defend
Affirmative Action Party, Sarah Chopp
and Sumeet Karnick,'representing the
Students' Party and Bram Elias and
Andy Coulouris representing the
newly-formed Blue Party.
Coulouris, who served a full term in
November 1997 as an LSA representa-
tive on the assembly, commented that
the state of the assembly is something
that needs to be changed next semester.
"MSA isn't doing its job if it does-
n't try to make student's lives a little
See MSA, Page 3A
MSA Winter 1998
Executive Slates
8 Blue party;
Bram Elias (P)
Andy Coulouris (VP)
N Defend Affirmative Action
Party: Jessica Curtin (P)
Erika Dowdell (VP)
Students' Party:
Sarah Chopp (P)
Surneet Karnik (VP)
AP PHOTO
A fresh mantle of snow drapes a statue of Benjamin Franklin In front of a Detroit
office building yesterday.
sow, students back
AP PHOTO
Firefighters in St. Clair Shores, Mich. try to save a building under construc-
tion from flames yesterday.
By Nick Bunkley
Daily Staff Reporter
Students who spent their Spring
Break in a tropical climate found any-
thing but spring in Ann Arbor when
they returned this weekend.
Heavy snowfall shattered students'
v ons of warm weather and brought
memories of the blizzard that
dumped several feet of snow on
Michigan in January.
Like January's blizzard, this week-
end's snowstorm came at the end of a
University vacation period, making
travel back to Ann Arbor in time for
treacherous route when theysdrove into
the snowstorm.
"It completely took us by sur-
prise," said Pat Cupples, an LSA
sophomore.
Driving on a highway east of
Windsor, Ontario, Cupples said at
times he couldn't see where he was
going but snow on the side of the road
made it impossible to find anywhere to
pull off.
"The visibility got to the point where
we were following the tracks of the cars
ahead of us," Cupples said. "What was
probably a half-hour drive turned into
VP welcomed to new position at Meredith
By Jalmie Winkler
Daily Staff Reporter
Last week, Meredith College
president, a woman they
described as "charming" and
"quick to smile" - University
Vice President for Student
Affairs Maureen Hartford.
Hartford, who will be the
first female president of the
all-female institution, begins
chose its seventh
hometown of Charlotte, where some of her fami-
ly still lives.
"It is my honor to be chosen as the new president
of Meredith College," said Hartford in a written
statement, "This college is built on such strong foun-
dations, with a history rich in the tradition of educat-
ing women to excel."
In setting out to find its new president, Meredith's
Presidential Search Committee did not make a con-
scious decision to look for a woman.
The committee "crafted a profile that could have
(the chosen president) was a woman;' Hockaday
said.
The college boasts of being the largest all-female
college in the Southeast with more than 3,500 stu-
dents - approximately one-tenth of the University's
population, but it has been lead by men since its
founding in 1891. Its current president, John Weems,
took office 27 years ago.
While working on her degree at the University of
Arkansas, Hartford's doctoral dissertation researched
women and education, a study that included students
andR nr~aitnt f Mef ~redith.VLHartford fouind within
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