LOCAL/S TATE The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 8, 2000-- 3 *CRIME DPS issues crime alert after student's attack The Department of Public Safety has issued a crime alert after a female student was attacked, knocked down and her purse stolen outside Randall Lab on East University Avenue pedes- trian mall last Thursday. DPS has no description of the perpetrator(s) of the crime. DPS asks anyone with infor- mation about the attack to call 763- 1131. Suspect defecates qn° Bursley room An unknown person defecated in a Bursley Residence Hall room some- time Saturday morning, DPS reports state.pThe offense occurred while the occupants of the room were asleep. DPS did not report having any sus- pects in the defecation. competing cab drivers scuffle A Blue Cab Co. driver slapped a driver from Ann Arbor Taxi Co. early Sunday morning, DPS reports state. The incident occurred while both cabs were parked in front of Mary Markley Residence Hall. The Blue Cab driver reportedly drove off after the slapping. Female injured at Vance Marathon Huron Valley Ambulance was dis- patched to the Indoor Track Building early Sunday morning in response to reports of a female feeling ill, accord- ing to DPS reports. The woman was suffering from back spasms after par- ticipating in the 30-hour Dance Marathon this weekend. Utah spa receives vulgar e-mails An employee of the Bull Frog Spa in Salt Lake City reported receiving multiple e-mails from a University e- mail address Wednesday afternoon, according to DPS reports. The mes- sages contained offensive and "foul" *nguage, DPS did not report having any suspects. Student sends threatening emails to FAO A student began sending threaten- Sg e-mail messages to a person in the udent Activities Building Wednes- day afternoon, DPS reports state. The student was angry at not receiving financial aid even though they felt entitled to it. DPS did not report hav- ing any suspects. Gambling brawl erupts at Union Two men were seen gambling on Oe lower level of the Michigan Union on Thursday evening, DPS reports state. After being interrupted by another man trying to stop the game, the two gamblers became confronta- tional and "took a swing" at the third man. The two gamblers then left the Union through the north exit. DPS has descriptions of the suspects, but did not report making any arrests. PS finds fake parking permit A fraudulent parking permit was discovered Thursday morning by DPS officers, reports state. The permit was found in a vehicle registered to a stu- -dent living in Mary Markley Resi- dence Hall. The permit number was registered to a staff member in the d iversity's department of dermatol- ogy. Upon being contacted, the owner of the permit said she had not allowed anyone to copy the permit. DPS is investigating the matter. = Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter David Enders. New post addresses intellectual prope rights By Jodie Kaufman Daily Staff Reporter Members of the Senate Advisory Commit- tee for University Affairs welcomed James Hilton, the recently appointed media rights special assistant to the University provost, to its meeting yesterday for a discussion on intellectual property rights. Hilton described his new job as a result of his "whining." "My whining was rewarded," he said. "As a teacher I kept running into obstacles in every role I played, for example the secretarial staff could not copy materials for me because they were worried about infringement of the copyright law, which would result in a fine of $100,000 per instance." When faculty members publish their articles in journals they give up their copyright to the publish- er, Hilton said. SACUA member Barbara MacAdam was con- cerned that this is going to prohibit professors from using the materials they need. "Faculty members need to be able to use a wide range of new materials for their courses," MacAdam said. SACUA Chairwoman Sherrie Kossoudji attrib- utes many of the copyright issues with the influx of new technology. "The single problem is that technology and events are moving faster than the laws," Kossoudji said. Hilton said that through the post, he has learned a great deal about copyright laws. "Copyright issues are pervasive, not impenetra- ble and there are a lot of surprises,' Hilton said. Most professors run into trouble with their ideas as being copyrighted, Hilton said. "Copyright has little if anything to do with pro- fessors' ideas,"he said. SACUA members shared concern about the University's stance on these issues. "People in this institution are so conservative in setting practice and policy, they are creating barrio ers that fair use (policies) absolutely allows you to do," MacAdam said. Hilton said his goals are "to find ways to engage the University community in conver- sations about copyright and intellectual prop- erties issues - to help the University navigate through the swirl with an eye toward some basic guiding principles, and to listen to the different needs and concerns of the Uni- versity." Hilton said he is taking immediate steps to help the University community with intellectual proper- ties and copyright issues. Hilton's immediate steps include "beginning work on a Website which will serve as a discus- sion, education and answer destination ... working with units to better understand current practices, tensions and desires around use, ownership and deployment" Jackie Lawson, who will take over as SACUA's chairwoman May .at the University said she is. concerned about distance learning. Lawson and Moji Navvab, incoming SACUA vice chairman will lead SACUA for the 2000-2001 term. "Pretty soon chalk and talk will be obsolete and so will bricks and mortar rendering us as faculty obsolete except for being the creators behind termi- nals." Lawson said. As for being on top of policies regarding intel- lectual properties and copyright issues, Hilton said the University could be a leader. Also visiting the meeting was Research Policy Committee Chairman Richard Ford. Ford said a real concern the "University should have is who is in control and what they are present- ing in lecture." Ford also expressed concern that an intellectual properties lawyer is needed to help the University investigate these issues. "So many of the issues need someone to be on the legal side," Ford said. Hilton said the University is in the process of searching for an intellectual properties general counsel. Anti-sweatshop groups hold protests nationwide MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily Graduate student Leon Brown practices "participant observation" as he sits in on an Ann Arbor City Council meeting yesterday. City counciltakes up I,,ving wage Anti-sweatshop demonstration at University of Pennsytvania attracts nationwide attention By Jon Fish Daily Staff Reporter As members of Students Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality prepare to meet tomorrow with University President Lee Bollinger concerning the University's possible endorsement of the Worker Rights Consortium labor policy, other college anti- sweatshop groups are staging protests on campuses across the nation. While other schools are considering the WRC, the University's Advisory Committee on Labor Standards and Human Rights has been examining the student- developed proposal since October. Yesterday, 13 members of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania's group. Penn Students Against Sweatshops, "Negotiat stormed President Judith Rodin's office, demanding Penn drop out of seem to t the Fair Labor Association and join the WRC. US anywho The FLA is a White House-spon- sored coalition of human rights groups and corporations. The student activists contend the FLA's corporath presence discredits the group. The student activists at Penn are part of the United Students Against Sweatshops, an umbrella organization for many student anti-sweatshop groups, including SOLE. PSAS member Miriam Joffe-Block said the WRC was introduced to Penn's administration in October, but the protest against the FLA has lasted since April. Like the University of Michigan, Penn's administra- tion has set up a committee to study the feasibility of implementing the WRC. "The committee is basically a stall tactic," Joffe-Block said. This protest, reminiscent of SOLE's 51-hour occupa- tion of Bollinger's office last March, comes at the heels of the University of Wisconsin chancellor's deci- sion not to join the WRC. Currently, only five schools have endorsed the WRC - Brown University, Haverford College, Loyola Uni- versity in New Orleans, Bard College, and the Univer- sity of New Orleans. Student anti-sweatshop activists at Loyola University in Chicago are staging a fast to protest sweatshop labor and show their support for other student groups. The fast, which started Sunday evening, is scheduled to last until Friday evening. "We're staging this fast to make people more aware of the issues and show our solidarity with other student groups, such as Penn," Loyola Students Against Sweat- shops member Mara Dillon said. Protesters in Los Angeles, including some Universi- ty of California at Los Angeles students, removed their clothing in front of a local GAP, because they'd rather "wear nothing, than wear GAP," The Daily Bruin reported yesterday. Similar protests were staged in Austin, Texas by the University of Texas Students Against Sweatshops. ions don 't 5e getting ere. Laura McSpedom USAS organizer USAS coordinating committee mem- ber Sarah Jacobson commented on the protests. "I think that all these protests are really explicitly linked together to make a concerted effort toward making the WRC succeed," she said. USAS organizer Laura McSpedom said she supported the students' efforts. "We're definitely supportive of students taking direct action to get their universities off the FLA and By Jon Zemke Daily Staff Reporter Ann Arbor joined Ypsilanti, Detroit and New York among other cities to adopt a living wage ordi- nance last night with a 7-4 vote by the Ann Arbor City Council. "This is the right thing to do," said Councilman Chris Kolb (D- Ward V), who was one of the seven council members to vote in favor of the ordinance. "This is what we must do." The living wage ordinance man- dates contractors and grantees of the city to pay their employees a mini- mum wage of S 10 per hour or $8.50 per hour plus medical benefits. The ordinance doesn't pertain to city employees directly, only to the employees of contractors or grantees who receive money from the City of Ann Arbor. But the proposal doesn't mean that all employees of the contractors or grantees will be paid the minimum wage. Only those that work on the site or in the facility that is contracted with the city will have to be paid the living wage. City Administrator Neal Berlin provided a draft resolution to the mayor and council listing three options on how the living wage will be designated. Each option also pro- vided "an estimated financial impact." The first and most expensive option listed guaranteed all "seasonal and temporary employees" a mini- mum of $10 per hour. According to Berlin's memorandum to the council, he estimated the cost at $429,000 plus the ripple effect of existing posi- tions more then $10 per hour. The second option would cost the city an estimated $83,000 to pay part-time and seasonal positions that continue for more than 1,040 hours per year. The final option would extend to positions that exist beyond 10 contin- uous months in the fiscal year at a cost of S88,700. The council will take the options under advisement and decide how the living wage will be designated at a later date. The only positions exempt from the ordinance are bona fide training programs, work study programs and summer youth training programs under contractors and grantees. The only contractors or grantees that could be exempt from the living wage are those that receive less than $10,000 per year in funding or carry less than 10 employees. The effects on the living wage on the University are yet to be determined. The University derives S89,000 in funding from the city of Ann Arbor and doesn't fall under either of the contractor's exemptions. In public commentary before the City Council debated and voted on the issue, five members of the Ann Arbor community came out and endorsed the ordinance. Ann Arbor resident John Martin said the living wage would be benefi- cial for non-profit organizations in the city. "It's an opportunity for non-profits to walk and talk," he said. During the vote, the lines were drawn right down party lines with all the Republicans, including Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon, voting against the ordinance. "We'll end up depriving people of jobs," said John Upton (R-Ward II). "We'll end up depriving senior citi- zens who want to work for S6.50 an hour and we're impacting students who want jobs." But the majority of council mem- bers are Democrats, turning the vote in favor of passing with a comfort- able margin. "We have the will at this table to join other cities in the living wage," said Elizabeth Daley (D-Ward V). "I think we also have-the will to measure the effects of this ordi- nance." onto the WRC. In the case of Penn, I think this is a totally legitimate'. and probably wise move. Negotiations don't seem to be getting us anywhere." McSpedom said many schools seem to be unneces- sarily dragging their feet in signing onto the WRC. "We've been patient and it's gotten us nowhere. You come to a point where it becomes clear that the univer- sities won't take action until forced." McSpedom and Jacobsen agreed the University of Michigan's endorse- ment of the WRC is key. "Michigan signing would def- initely give the WRC greater legitimacy," Jacobson. said. Meanwhile, the students at Penn are waiting to meet with their administration. "We're planning on putting' more pressure on the administration until they meet with us," PSAS member Anna Roberts said. THIS SUMMER IN NEW YORK MV> Two sessions June 5-July 13/July 17-August 24 Day, evening, and weekend undergraduate and graduate courses EXPLORE A NEW CAREER EARN COLLEGE CREDITS I Correction: Dance Marathon raised $20,000 more than last year. This was incorrectly reported in yesterday's Daily. THE CALENDAR What's happening in Ann Arbor today tuition for visiting students: rgraduare: NYS residents $160/credit; ,sidents $325/credit uate: NYS residents $185/credit; :sidents $320/credit 'uest a Summer Session Schedule, call BaruchColleqe A WLU- I. .