LOCAL/STATE
The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 29, 1999 -- 3
HIGHER
EDUCATION L
Two unions
authorize strike
effectin MSU
Members from unions represent-
ing more than 1,000 workers at
Michigan State University have
authorized a strike that could disrupt
campus life.
Local 1585 representing
groundskeepers, maintenance workers
and food service workers numbering
940 members, and Local 999 repre-
senting plumbers, carpenters and elec-
* cians numbering 220 members, have
called for wage raises between 3 and 5
percent.
The strike is expected to shutdown
food services, said Jim Rhodes, presi-
dent of the carpenters union.
No talks are scheduled, Rhodes said.
GM gives first
*onation to MSU
General Motors Corp. has donat-
ed $30 million for use by Michigan
State University engineering stu-
dents.
The money will finane110
Unigraphics stations, software and
technical support. The equipment
can service 250 engineering stu-
dents per semester who work draw-
ing blueprints and 3-dimensional
ages.
GM, Unigraphics Solutions, Sun
Micerosystems and EDS plan to
donate $190 million in computers to
40 Mexican and U.S. universities.
Oregon student
illegally peddles
merchandise
University of Oregon senior
Jeffrey Levy has been convicted of
illegally distributing music, movies
and software and could face jail
time.
By distributing items such as mp3s
on his Website, Levy violated the 1997
No Electronic Theft Act, which makes
it illegal to reproduce copyrighted
materials.
Levy's operation was discovered
*en university computer managers
noticed a high volume of traffic
from one of its servers to Levy's
Website.
Levy's sentencing is scheduled
for Nov. 22. He faces up to three
years in prison and $250,000 in
fines.
Program helps place welfare recipients
By Melissa Haris
For the Daily
As they approach their one-year anniversary,
members of the campus chapter of National Student
Partnership are enjoying success in their battle
against unemployment.
Yale University students Brian Kreiter and
Kirsten Lodal founded NSP in August 1998 in their
mission to utilize the untapped resource of college
students in attempt to better communities.
"College kids are seen as selfish, lazy and self-
centered. The truth is they have the desire but lack
the venue to help others," said NSP Regional
Director David Singer, an LSA senior. Singer found-
ed the Ann Arbor chapter last October.
The campus chapter has 25 volunteers and has
successfully found employment for 10 community
members under the guidance of Singer and Regional
National Student Partnership
completes 1st year on campus
Director Molly Norton. NSP volunteers assist in
placing clients, who are often welfare recipients,
into jobs that match their skills.
By helping clients build resumes, conducting
mock interviews and pinpointing what type of
employment a client is seeking, NSP attempts to
place unemployed and under-employed individuals
in positions where they are most likely to find suc-
cess.
By January, organizers plan to have 18 chapters
established at colleges and universities across the
country. Currently about 1,000 students are involved
in NSP's 10 chapters nationwide.
NSP opened a national office this summer in
Washington D.C. with two full-time employees
including Program Director Cory Sorenson, a '99
University alum.
Sorenson, an active member of the Ann Arbor
chapter, decided to continue her involvement in NSP
after graduation, when she said she realized that "no
other job could possibly be as important or fulfilling
as the one I currently hold with NSP
"It is invigorating to see how one college stu-
dent can make such a lasting difference by not
only helping to improve the daily lives of indi-
viduals, but by bettering the community as a
whole,"Sorenson said.
Last month, local NSP members participated in
the "Welfare to Work: One America" conference
held in Chicago.
NSP delegates, representing the only student
organization at the conference, also met with
President Bill Clinton during the event.
"It is amazing to see college students coming
together, involved in something bigger than them-
selves:" said NSP volunteer Dana Reed, a Business
senior who attended the conference.
Students interested in joining NSP can visit the
organization's office at 416 East Huron St.
- The Associated Press contributed to this report.
UAW expects GM, Ford to
follow DamlMerChrsyler deal
DETROIT (AP) - Negotiators for the United Auto
Workers and General Motors Corp. worked around the clock
before taking a break yesterday afternoon, a sign that an
agreement on a new contract for about 180,000 workers
could be near.
The talks intensified after workers at DaimlerChrysler AG
approved a new four-year deal with raises in each year and
job security clauses. The UAW expects GM and Ford Motor
Co. to follow the same basic terms in their contracts.
While there's been no official word on progress in the
talks, a strike or other union action seems unlikely. GM has
been working on improving relations with the UAW after last
summer's 54-day strike at two Flint parts factories, and nei-
ther side seems willing to interrupt a record year for U.S.
vehicle sales.
The strike virtually shut down the automaker's North
American production, costing GM about $2 billion in lost
revenue and a chunk of market share it has yet to recover.
The strikes were largely over plant work rules and the loss
of work to outside suppliers, issues certain to be back on the
table in these talks. GM has said it needs to be more flexible
and efficient to compete.
The UAW represents about 143,000 workers at GM, about
80,000 fewer than it did in 1990. The job losses have come
from GM closing factories, using fewer workers on assembly
lines, relying on suppliers for more work and not replacing
workers as fast as they retire.
GM also has spun off its Delphi parts unit into a separate
company with 42,000 UAW employees. GM said Delphi
could be more profitable and compete better if it went after.
business from other automakers - something it couldn't do-
as a division of GM.
Consequently, the UAW has made protecting jobs a major
goal. The DaimlerChrysler contract includes clauses aimed.tf
keeping job levels near current totals.
The union has also proposed a ban on outsourcing and the
right to strike over sourcing issues - including sending new
work to a supplier that a GM factory could do. And it asked for
an "America First" pledge, saying GM should invest in plants in
the United States rather than expand in foreign countries.
The UAW also wants Delphi workers covered under the GM
national contract for the foreseeable future. Other demands
included adding compensatory time off to overtime pay and
giving the UAW a seat on GM's Board of Directors.
ALLISON CANTOR/Daily
Martin Powers speaks yesterday in the Rackham Amphitheater after receiving the
Michaelson Davidson professorship in Chinese arts and cultures in the history of
art department. His address was titled "Representing the People."
Pro0f.: historians often
negl ect Chinese works
Underwood healing from wound
College Board
Marts Website
The administrator of the Scholastic
Aptitude Test, the non-profit College
Board, has created a for-profit
Website in order to stay competitive
with on-line commercial SAT prep
courses.
The Website, www collegeboard.com
offers practice test software, college and
financial aid applications, low-cost
tutoring and chat rooms.
8. Texas unveils
campus statue
to honor MLK
A statue dedicated to Martin
Luther King Jr., was unveiled in the
East Mall of the University of Texas
on Friday.
The statue, sculpted by Jeffrey
illa and Anna Koh-Varilla, shows
ing standing at a podium in pastor's
robes with hands stretched out, as if
giving a speech.
Images of important moments in the
civil rights movement and quotes from
his speeches are etched in the side of
the podium.
The unveiling followed a speech by
Martin Luther King III, the son of the
slain civil rights leader.
UT student groups at the had been
'king for almost 12 years to erect
the statue of King.
- Compiled by Daily StafflReporter
Jewel Gopwani from wire reports.
i
By Robert Gold
Daily Staff Reporter
The contributions of Chinese artists to
the development of Enlightenmenft ideals
is often overlooked, said history of art
Prof Martin Powers yesterday to a crowd
of about 100 people in the Rackham
Amphitheatre.
Powers, reading from his essay,
"Representing the People," described
European and Chinese writers and
artists since the Enlightenment who
were social radicals, adding that histori-
ans during the Romantic period over-
looked Chinese contributions when
writing about social ideals.
"Romantics talked of the spirit of the
people," Powers said. "Spirit is so
vague. It was easy for them to rewrite
history."
He said many of the political ideals
attributed to Europeans - such as mer-
itocracy and liberty - were expressed
in China as well. A better idea, he sug-
gested, is to study the histories of social
issues "across nations."
Rackham student Roz Hammers said
Power's argument that social principles
have developed cross-culturally is sig-
nificant.
"It helps break down ethnic stereo-
types," Hammers said. "I think that it's
important that diversity doesn't mean
separate."
Throughout his talk, Powers empha-
sized the painting and literature by
VIRGINIA
Continued from Page 1
But Louise Dudley, director of univer-
sity relations at the University of Virginia
said it is not yet clear how the ruling with
affect the school's affirmative action
practices.
Although the committee has not yet
released any conclusions, Dudley said
Virginia's board is looking for ways other
than using race in admissions to increase
campus diversity.
Chinese artists that represented "the
people" as a political entity.
Powers gave specific evidence of
Chinese radicals fighting government
oppression through artistic expression,
including the painting "People's
Destitute" by Zheng Xia in 1073. The
work of art depicts common people suf-
fering from a drought that occurred that
year. Xia blamed the Chinese govern-
ment for the people's condition and was
exiled from the country.
Art was used to diminish the
problems of the common people.
Powers described how in the 12th
Century, the "Chinese Court
responded with pictures of people's
conditions." The people were shown
as "plump."
"Maybe people never had it so good,"
Powers added sarcastically.
Powers explained the expressive
power of art and how social radicals
used it to advance their cause.
"Appeal to the universality of the
human condition was used to gain sym-
pathy for disadvantaged people,"
Powers said.
Powers also said in this respect, his-
torians are still in the Romantic era.
Many audience members left the lec-
ture impressed
"His command of the visual and con-
textual sources is amazing," said
Rackham student Leela Wood, who
studies art history.
"It would be helpful to do more out-
reach," she said.
Virginia is currently looking for two
new administrators to assist in recruiting
and reaching out to students who do not
attend the best high schools in the state
and may not think of applying to the
University of Virginia.
Dudley said at the Board of Visitors'
October meeting, it plans to review a
proposal to expand its summer pro-
gram for disadvantaged high school
students.
LANSING (AP) - As Miami
Dolphins rookie Dimitrius Underwood
recovers from a suicide attempt that left
him severely cut and bleeding on a down-
town street, his mother blamed a "cult
that's posing as a church."
Underwood was able to talk and get
out of bed yesterday following surgery
Sunday, a Sparrow Hospital spokesper-
son said. He was listed in fair and
improving condition.
What police say was a self-inflicted
slash to the neck was the latest turn in the
life of the former Michigan State
University defensive end, a first-round
pick of the Minnesota Vikings.
He left the Vikings in August without
explanation a day after signing a five-
year, $5.3 million contract. A reporter
later found him in a hotel, where he said
he had been torn between his faith in God
and his football career.
Underwood was released by the
Vikings. When Underwood decided to
return to football to support his family,
the Miami Dolphins picked him up on
waivers. He played one preseason game
on Sept. 2, then injured his shoulder.
Underwood's mother, Eileen, told The
Miami Herald she wanted to speak out
against a church Underwood began
attending while at Michigan State. She
might take action against it.
"There are controlling spirits in there;"
Underwood, an ordained minister, told
the newspaper in yesterday's editions. "I
visited one time and the pastor was talk-
ing about if a young man and woman in
the church are dating and then they break
up, he won't let them date anyone else for
six months.
"That's not in the Bible. I know the
Bible. That's just someone trying to con-
trol people. It's a den of witches sitting up
in there."
Correction:
Michigan State University Department of Residence Life Director Ann Bolger was incorrectly identified in
Monday's Daily.
What's happening in Ann Arbor today
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