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WALKOUT
Continued from Page iC
ended after 11 hours.
"We are really happy with the turnout today. All
over campus, there is a lot of noise, a lot of energy,"
GEO organizing committee member and Rackham
student Rachel Meyer said. "I think we've done a
good job shutting down the University. If you look
around, the parking lots are empty, the common
spaces are empty and there aren't a lot of students
walking around between classes."
GEO President and Rackham student Cedric de
Leon said many of the construction sites were also
abandoned by noon. University Spokeswoman Julie
Peterson said work continued despite the picket lines.
Peterson said financially, the University was not
grossly affected by the walk-out and the slowed con-
struction, but no cost estimate could be made.
"The impact from a one-day strike is not enormous.
Disruption of classes was kept to a minimum," she
said.
"It was what was expected. There was certainly
some public message made."
De Leon said the final decision to hold the strike
happened after negotiations ended at 4 a.m. Union
members said despite the advances made during the
weekend, core issues, such as child care and wages,
were not discussed.
Members said they would not forget about those
issues because it is important the new contract meets
the needs of every person in GEO.
"There are still groups out there that need our help.
We will stay out as long as we need to make sure
everyone gets a better contract," GEO member and
Rackham student Irfan Nooruddin said at the closing
rally, adding that the GEO will not back down on the
remaining issues.
"Issues of justice and principle can never be com-
promised."
During the walk-out supporters stood near building
entrances in an attempt to speak with anybody who
entered them.
Picketers said they understood students' dilemmas
about not attending class, but not all excuses were
convincing.
"We're getting the impression that some professors
are giving quizzes just to spite the union," Rackham
student Wojciech Beltkiewicz said.
"A lot of students have been saying they have
quizzes," she added.
Kinesiology senior Dan Eldred said he attended his
classes in Angell Hall despite his personal feelings
about crossing the picket line.
"I did feel a little guilty. I didn't make eye contact
with them when I passed them because I knew that
they would question me. I wanted to avoid being both-
ered," he said.
Other students, including LSA junior Martina
Graef, who entered Angell Hall from an entrance con-
nected to the Diag, said she did not run into any pick-
eters at all.
"There were students supporting the GEO out there,
but there was really no picket line that I had to cross,"
Graef said, adding that a picket line would not have
changed her decision to attend class. "I would have
crossed it. ... I know that there is a strike, but if the
professor is holding class, I'm still responsible for the
material."
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane
Brown said the strike ended without any legal misfor-
tunes.
"The picketers (were) cooperative and followed the
officers' requests without complaint. We simply asked
for voluntary compliance and did not have to take any
additional measures," she said.
CONTRACT
Continued from Page1C
Another issue he said the union may
address in the future is the unionization of
graduate research assistants, which GEO
could aid by either bringing them into its
membership or working with them to cre-
ate a separate union.
Despite the potential for more contract
disputes during the next round of negotia-
tions, Dilley said he would like his succes-
sors to be able to settle the disagreements
with the University without resorting to the
threat of a strike.
"We'd much rather bargain with the Uni-
versity," he said. "I hope sincerely that
things will be different."
Organizers emphasized that before
beginning to work on a new contract, the
union must enforce the one they have.
"We fully expect the University to live
by the contract they have signed," Meyer
said. "But in the event that does not hap-
pen, we'll make sure that it does."
While some GEO leaders counted votes,
others were participating in a national con-
ference of the Alliance of Graduate
Employee Locals.
Dilley, who attended the conference, said
other GSI unions there looked to GEO for
leadership because of their strong position
and new contract.
"Everybody sees what GEO has and
that's what they strive for," he said.
PRESIDENT
Continued from Page C
Bollinger was announced last year to
be a finalist and then lost to former U.S.
Secretary of the Treasury Lawrence
Summers, he believes Bollinger is the
exception to the rule.
"Everyone involved are people who
are themselves in a position of responsi-
bility," Lewis said. "In many other
instances, individuals will find them-
selves compromised if they are publicly
identified as a candidate in a public
search."
When asked about a list of finalists,
Deitch would not offer a list but said
"there is one finalist and she is with us
(now)."
Making a list of candidates public,
even after the announcement, would
violate a promise to those who chose to
accept their nominations, Lewis said.
Though she said she never intended to
leave Iowa and was not looking for
another job when University committee
members asked her to consider the posi-
tion, Coleman said she is happy to be part
of the University community and looks
forward to "the experience of a lifetime."
"I just wanted you to know what a
thrill this is," she said, adding that part of
the thrill of being elected University
president comes from her passion for
public university education.
"I have to tell you, when I called my
mother, my 88-year-old mother - she
lives in Colorado - she cried and she
understood what it meant to be named
president," Coleman said.
"Iowa is a fabulous place to be," she
added. "I was very happy at Iowa. Many
good things were happening at Iowa. I
agreed to become a candidate because
the University (of Michigan) is such a
great university."
As president at Iowa, Coleman said
she was involved with students on a
number of levels, ranging from making
Madonna videos of herself for the
school's dance marathon to working
with student organizations and student
government to making herself available
for student comments.
The president always makes an
appearance at the school's dance
marathon. "I always make a fool of
myself," Coleman added.
Besides her Madonna impersonation,
Coleman said there are other things she
would like the student body to know
about her. "I'd like students to know that
I'm an open person, accessible, that I care
about the ideas students have," she said.
At Iowa, she visited sororities and f-
ternities, answered student e-mail and
started a Fireside Chats program co-
sponsored by the University of Iowa stu-
dent government, where 500 students a
month are invited to informally meet
and discuss topics of interest, she said,
adding that the event is publicized and
open to all students, regardless of if they
receive an invitation, she said.
Coleman is the first woman president
at the University, but said she did not
feel that being a woman holding the title
would change the job description.
"This is a hard job, a stressful job for
men and women and I think the pres-
sures are the same," she said.
As far as the president's role in the Ed
Martin investigation and other issues,
she said integrity is a central issue.
"The president is going to be involved
with the regents to see that the informa-
tion comes out. It is extremely important
for the public to have absolute confi-
dence in the integrity of the University,"
she said.
DEBBIE MIZEL/Daily
Coleman listens as Presidential Search Advisory Committee chair and Rackham Dean Earl Lewis (left) tells members of the
media why he believes Coleman was the best candidate possible.