LOCAL/STATE

The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 8, 2000-- 3
A

CRIMF

'U' ties for 25th place in national ranking

Woman trailed
from CCRB
A woman was followed by an
unidentified man while walking from
the Central Campus Recreation Build-
ing to Mary Markley Residence Hall
on Tuesday night, Department of Pub-
lic Safety reports state.
When the woman stopped to let
the man pass, he grabbed her arm
before moving on. The woman was
uninjured, DPS did not report hav-
ing any suspects.
Valet backs car
into work station
A valet at the East Medical Center
could not stop a car and backed 10
feet into the valet booth Sunday night,
DPS reports state.
The valet said the woman who
owned the car did not advise him that
the brakes were faulty before he got in
aind put it into reverse.
Subject sets fire
to toilet paper
An unknown person set small fires
in a restroom at Towsley Center at
1515 Hospital Dr. on Monday after-
noon, according to DPS state.
The fires were reported by the
building's housekeeping service.
Rolls of toilet paper appeared to be
he fuel used,
DPS does not have any suspects.
Suspects swipe
sodas at stadium
Seven beverages were stolen
from the Domino's Pizza stand at
Michigan Stadium during the
Michigan football game against
03owling Green on Saturday after-
noon, DPS reports state.
DPS officers made contact with one
of two suspects. The suspect was
released.
Phones stolen at
Shapiro Library
Two inexpensive phones were
stolen from the third-floor circulation
esk of the Shapiro Undergraduate
ibrary on Friday afternoon, DPS
reports state. DPS has no suspects.
Loft lifted from
West Quadrangle
A loft was stolen from the court-
yard of West Quad Residence Hall
Friday evening, DPS reports state.
DPS has no suspects.
Couple fall, jump
from roof at an
off campus party
One man and one woman were
injured at an off campus party Sunday
night, DPS reports state.
The subjects fell and jumped,
respectively, from a roof at the
arty.
4 Both were transported to University
Hospitals emergency room and treat-
ed for injuries.
lan sprayed by
fire extinguisher
A man was sprayed with a fire
extinguisher during Michigan's foot-
11 game versus Bowling Green on
aturday.

It was unclear from the report why
the man had been sprayed. No injuries
were reported.
Coins taken from
tampon machine
Coin boxes were stolen from the
tampon machine in the fourth floor
women's restroom in Lorch Hall on
Wesday night, DPS reports state.
DPS did not report having any sus-
pects.
- Compiled hb Daily StaffReporter
David Enders.

By Jacquelyn Nixon
Daily Staff Reporter
U.S. News & World Report ranked the University
25th in its listing of national universities - a part of
the magazine's America's Best Colleges 2001.
The University shares its ranking with Universi-
ty of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Univer-
sity of California at Los Angeles.
Princeton University, Harvard University and
Yale University were the top three.
University of California at Berkeley and Univer-
sity of Virginia tied for 20th place, the highest
ranking for a public institution.
Michigan State University ranked 72nd and
Michigan Technological University finished 73rd.
The ranking is based on surveys that cover
aspects such as academic reputation, student reten-
tion, student selectivity, faculty resources, financial
resources and alumni donation rate.
U.S. News & World Report Director of Media
Relations Richard Folkers said many schools don't
approve of the rankings.
"But going to school for one year is equal to the

price of a car and we want to give students the
information they need to make an informative deci-
sion," Folkers said.
Folkers said the ranking is only one important
tool to finding a school that is appropriate for the
student. "It doesn't really matter whether the
schools is number one or 40. It's more about what
kind of learner the student is, the grades a student
makes, if the school is close to home and the fami-
ly's financial situation," he said.
LSA Dean Shirley Neuman said they are some-
what representative of the resources and reputation
of a university.,
"Reputation gets the big picture roughly right;
the top fifty universities in the rankings, give or
take a dozen or so, probably are approximately the
top 50 universities in the country, and this may
even be true of the top ten. But the difference
between being number 5 and number 8, or number
15 or even number 25 in a reputation survey
doesn't have a very solid basis," Neuman said in a
written statement.
"The ranking system is partially accurate for
what it measures. Mostly it measures the resources

"The resources make the University such a great
school."
Sheila Madhavan
LSA freshman

available to a university and its 'reputation,"' Neu-
man said. "Students are not overly influenced by
the rankings," she added.
Under a separate ranking of public universities,
the University tied for third with University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Michigan State Uni-
versity took position 33.
"The resources make the University such a great
school. I know it's one of the top schools in the
nation," LSA freshman Sheila Madhavan said.
The Princeton Review ranked colleges across the
nation earlier this year by more specialized cate-
gories, such as extracurriculars and student life. In
addition to placing fourth under the category of
"major frat and sorority scene," the University
ranked 12th as a party school, trailing behind Flori-

da State University in first place and Michigan
State third.
"Ann Arbor is an awesome college town and
there is so much to do since you are in the middle
of everything," LSA freshman Maria Marandino
said.
The Review ranked the Ann Arbor 18th as a
"Great College Town" and 6th place in filling the
school stadium. The University finished 5th for its
library resources.
The University-also finished second in Motber
Jones magazine's seventh annual Top 10 Activist
Campuses in terms of results in student protests.
The University, along with the University of Ore-
gon, were noted for student anti-sweatshop
activism earlier this year.

Winging it

Ameritech told to
enhance service

LANSING (AP) - A state agency
ordered Ameritech Michigan yester-
day to submit a plan to enhance ser-
vice standards.
The Michigan Public Service Com-
mission also ordered Ameritech to
explain whether it is following state
rules that provide customers with cred-
its during service outages.
In addition, the MPSC asked
Ameritech to report whether it is giv-
ing some service requests higher prior-
ity, including requests from law
enforcement and physicians. State
rules don't require higher priority for
emergency requests, but the MPSC
expects those requests to be answered
more quickly than regular requests.
The MPSC's actions come after
weeks of customer complaints against
Ameritech, a regional phone company
based in Chicago.
Complaints of slow repair service
and other problems have been reported
in other states, including Illinois and
Indiana.
"We are aware that nearly 2,000
Ameritech Michigan customers con-
tacted our office in August to voice
their frustration with the company's
quality of service," MPSC Chairman
John Strand said in a press release.

"We have taken action today to ensure
Michigan consumers that we take very
seriously our duty to establish and
enforce quality standards for telecon-
munications service in Michigan."
Ameritech spokesman Dave Pacbol-
czyk said that the company has a plan
in place to improve service. It plans to
hire more technicians, improve tech-
nology along phone lines and spend
more money on service, he said.
The new orders are different from
an MPSC order issued last month,
which required Ameritech to tell about
its service quality and file a detailed
business plan. In that report,
Ameritech said it had been plagued by
the loss of 10 percent of its technicians
and managers in 1999.
The new report is due to the MPSC
by Sept. 28. In it, Ameritech must pre-
sent enhanced service standards that
will be used on an ongoing basis,
MPSC spokeswoman Mary Jo Kunkle
said. The company also must lay out
its plans to enforce those standards.
In- the two separate orders, due Sept.
21, Ameritech must tell whether it is
following MPSC rules that allow cts-
tomers to receive $5 a day for every
day their service is out after a four-day
grace period.

AP PHOTO
Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. George W. Bush calls himself the "underdog" in the presidential race, as
he addresses the media yesterday at Willow Run Airport in Ypsilanti while flanked by retired General Colin Powell. Bush
later spoke to veterans in the Detroit suburb of Westland.

Rogers named to
Dirty Dozen' list

I

LANSING (AP) - Saying environ-
.mental issues will be pivotal this elec-
tion year, a national conservation group
yesterday put Michigan congressional
hopeful Mike Rogers on its "Dirty
Dozen" list of candidates targeted for
defeat in November.
"Rogers has a strong anti-environ-
mental record," said Deb Callahan,
president of the national League of
Conservation Voters. "Mike Rogers is
out of step with the vast majority of

Michigan voters who care about clean
air and water."
"When it comes to clean air and
water, Mike Rogers sides with polluters
and against people," she said. "We now
have a chance to stop his anti-environ-
mental legacy in its tracks by defeating
Mike Rogers in November."
Rogers, a Republican from Brighton,
is locked in a close race with Dianne
Byrum, a Democrat from Onondaga for
the 8th District congressional seat.

Stabenow, Abraham
break out large birds

LANSING (AP) - Call it a case of
fowl play.
Michigan's U.S. Senate candidates
taunted one another with giant birds
yesterday, each claiming the other was
refusing to debate.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Stabenow (D-
Lansing) sent a person dressed as a
duck to U.S. Sen. Spence Abraham's
headquarters, claiming Abraham was
"ducking" her request for three tele-
vised debates.
Later in the day, Abraham (R-
Mich.) sent a person dressed as a
chicken to Stabenow's headquarters
and accused Stabenow of "chickening

out" on a proposed debate at the Eco-
nomic Club of Detroit.
On Wednesday, Stabenow had chal-
lenged Abraham to three live, prime-
time debates to be televised statewide.
Abraham's campaign hasn't commit-
ted to those debates, but has said it
will discuss debate possibilities with
Stabenow's campaign.
Abraham's campaign, meanwhile,
has accepted the invitation to debate
before the Economic Club of Detroit.
But Stabenow's campaign says it won't
commit to that debate unless Abraham
also participates in the three televised
debates.

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