One hundred eleven years ofeditoriafreedom ti NEWS: 76-DAILY CLASSIFIED: 7640557 wwwmichigandail y. com Friday March 8, 2002 Vol IXl X1 0 it ,. IBc ISM Funding bill gains lawmaker support By Loule MeIzibsh Daily Staff Reporter An agreement struck last month to maintain the University's current level of funding from the state while limiting tuition increases to less than 8.5 percent has broad support in the state Legisla- ture, several lawmakers said yesterday. So far, the bill has already been approved by the Senate and awaits action by the House Appropriations Committee. "I think things are pretty much agreed to as far as getting the bill passed and signed by the governor," said Sen. John Schwarz (R-Battle Creek), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommit- tee on Higher Education. If the proposal sails through as expected, the University's appropriation from the state for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, will be $363.6 mil- lion, the same amount it received for the current fiscal year. The agreement was made towards the end of last month when the heads of Michigan's 15 uni- versities promised to limit their tuition increases in exchange for not seeing any cuts in their state appropriations. Marilyn Knepp, associate vice presi- dent for budget, planning and adminis- tration, said the University should have no problem keeping tuition increases within the 8.5 percent limit. "The recommendation (interim Presi- dent B. Joseph White) and interim Provost (Paul) Courant will take to the Board of Regents will definitely be below 8.5 percent for most students," she said. But, Sen. Alma Wheeler Smith (D- Salem Twp.), ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, cau- tioned that the state may be setting itself up for cuts in higher education funding in the future. "We're using one-time only money to hold everyone harmless;' she said, referring to the use of the state's rainy day fund and Medicaid trust fund dollars as well as tobacco settlement money for the higher education budget. "Next year if we don't see a remarkable rebound in the economy, institutions will see cuts in their budget." This is in stark contrast to the higher education appropriations process for the current fiscal year which was not resolved until just before the Oct. 1, 2001 deadline. "This is pretty historic where all the presidents got together and agreed ahead of time - they had zero dollars added and none taken away in exchange for a cap on tuition increases," said Rep. Paul DeWeese (R-Williamston), a mem- ber of the House higher education sub- committee. "That's never happened before. Everyone thought this was a win-win situation." f The Senate subcommittee will be hearing testimony from several universi- ty heads, including the University of Michigan's White, today at 9:30 a.m. in the Clements Library. Patriotic flare Barry selected as new head of Life Sciences By Shannon Pettypiece Daily Staff Reporter Deputy General Counsel Liz Barry will be leaving the legal world to fill the position of man- aging director of the Life Sciences Institute. "I am really pleased to have this opportunity to be a part of this exciting venture at the very beginning," Barry said. "I am really looking for- ward to drawing upon my administrative ability I have gained here at the University." In addition to serving as a top administrator for the Office of the General Counsel, Barry also served on the team of lawyers defending the Uni- versity's use of race in admissions. Barry said she enjoys her position with the general counsel, but was unable to pass up an opportunity to work in the life sciences. "I have really enjoyed the work that I have been doing in the general counsel's office and that is why it is hard to leave something that had been so pleasing. This is just a unique opportunity to make a significant contribution to the University," Barry said. Although Barry has spent most of her career practicing law, she said her experience as a senior administrator has given her the skills needed to succeed at her new position. "What convinced me to take on this position is the real potential to make a meaningful difference with the life sciences. The University is one of the very few places that is really poised to do the best "... She was just at the head of the class. On a scale of one to 10, she was a 12. -Jack Dixon Co-director of the Life Sciences Institute in this area, and I am really excited to be a part of this venture," Barry said. "My position for the institute is going to be forms of support for the scientific staff by taking on the administrative tasks." The position of managing director came out of a structural redesign made after the previously appointed co-director Scott Emr, a medical pro- fessor at the University of California at San Diego, decided not to come to the University. Jack Dixon, co-director of the Life Sciences Institute, said he selected Barry based on her extensive range of skills and talents. "I got to know her over the last year and every time I've met with her and talked with her I was always impressed with how intelligent she was and how quick she caught on to things. She has a great style, she is well organize and extremely thoughtful," Dixon said. Dixon added that even though Barry is coming See BARRY, Page 7 UDAI DROHKINU aiy Signs of patriotism have increased across campus since Sept. 11. inside: Patriotism may be more visible, but some question its validity. Page 3. DPScanine unit assists in suspect search By Mraret Engoren Daily St Reporter Responding to increased criminal activities in University residence halls, the Department of Public Safety has created a canine unit. Two tracking and bomb-sniffing dogs currently assist police when investi- gating criminal activities on campus. "We have considered a canine squad for a few years, but increased campus crime forced us to hasten our plans," DPS Director Bill Bess said. The dogs were purchased in February. In addition to the new canine unit, which Bess stressed "is only used to track suspects and investigate campus crime - not to search for drugs," DPS has increased the number of police patrolling residence halls and has instituted a 24-hour locked door policy. "It is much more effective for DPS to increase the number of police patrolling the residence halls than it is for the residence halls to be locked 24-hours a day," LSA sophomore Kevin Gray said. "More police may deter crime, but the locked doors don't because people are able to get in by following after students who swipe their cards." The overall crime rate is not significantly higher this year than it has been during the last few years, but the number of peeping tom cases has increased, Housing Security Director Ian Steinman said. The increasing crime rate has also forced the University to explore a number of other security options, Bess said. 5.5 hours of bargaining time added By Maria Sprow Daily Staff Reporter Graduate Employee Organization members' estimates of whether their planned strike would become an actualization rose from "very likely" to "100 percent" at last night's bar- gaining session. Despite the GEO and University bargaining teams' agreement to 5.5 hours of addi- tional bargaining time this weekend, the statement was the strongest yet that negotiations are not going positively. Though GEO members could not comment on the exact reason for the change in estimates, they said the Uni- versity's bargaining team indirectly asked for the shift to occur. "The University dared us (to strike)," GEO President and Rackham student Cedric de Leon said. Now that the union's membership has officially voted in favor of taking Monday's work action, only two things stand in the way of the walk-out - the bargaining sessions now planned for Saturday and Sunday. At a press conference yesterday morning, GEO Chief Negotiator and Rackham student Alyssa Picard said in order See GEO, Page 7 LESLIE WARD/Daily The bulletin board outside of the East Quad Security Office features police sketches and reward posters for suspects in the recent home Invasions. . "We understand the current criminal behavior in the residence halls is unacceptable," Bess said. "Peeping toms, thefts, break-ins and assaults have gotten a lot of publicity. We are working with the community to stop this." The most important thing the University community can do is to understand the risk and act accordingly, Steinman said. "We have sent two mass e-mails to all residence hall residents alerting them to the current situation and what they can do to protect themselves," Steinman said. "Students need to know to lock their doors and to report suspicious people in their residence hall." See SAFETY, Page 7 Gramlich: New policies need long-term focus Film Festival marks 40 year anniversary in AZ By Andy TaylorFabe Daily Film Editor Festival events By Ted Borden Daily Staff Reporter In a speech to the Senate Banking Commit- tee yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave his most upbeat assessment of the economy in over a year, stating he believed a recovery from recession is currently under- way. Meanwhile, on campus, government poli- cy experts from the Federal Reserve discussed the success and failure of recession-related government policies and mused on the current state of the economy. "The downturn wasn't so bad and we seem to be going up again," Edward Gramlich, member of the Federal Reserve Board of Gov- ernors and former dean of the School of Pub- lic Policy, said. "The recession has put economic policy-making back on the table." Gramlich, along with Paul McCracken, dis- tinsuished nrofessor at the Business School. and Michael Moskow, president and chief exec- utive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, weighed in on the policies of reces- sions past and present in the panel "Policies to Escape Recession: What Should We Do?" Gramlich stressed that policies need to focus on the long-term and said that "the most important variable is growth of productivity," which in turn influences the federal budget. "The general budget needs to be balanced over the long run," he said, although he added that deficits will occur and are allowable in times of recession. Policies need to be simple, according to McCracken. "If you devise the most artistic policy, Con- gress will spend the next 10 years arguing over it," he said. McCracken praised policies of the 1990s, which resulted in economic sur- pluses. He also pointed out that the economy "generally tends toward reasonable stability See GRAMUCH. Page 7 The 40th annual Ann Arbor Film Fes- tival begins its week-long program this Sunday with an opening gala at the Michigan Theater. The festival, which is one of the oldest in the country to deal exclusively with 16 milimeter film, attracts filmmakers from all over the world, from Ann Arbor to Singapore, and explores a variety of styles and visual techniques, ranging from tradi- tional narratives and documentaries to experimental films to animation. The screenings begin Monday night and go until the following Saturday with multiple shows each day in the main theater of the Michigan Theater. Although each of the 108 films is only showed once, the winners of the $18,000 prize money will have their films screened on Sunday evening. JESSICA YURASEK/Daily Edward Gramich, member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, spoke yesterday afternoon on the state of f.a' entries, the Michigan Theater's screen- ing room will be used to celebrate the history of the film festival by showing over 50 alternative films, like "To War or Not to War,' a film about conscien- tious objectors, and previously released ai 1 I p I I