LOCAL/STATE THIS WEEK . ยง=~i~~!I~~1P ' -- - -- .p s Evening stroll I ' 1 1\ l./ C111J 1 111 J 1 U 1\ 1' I Five years ago... University President Lee Bollinger announced an increase in the school's bureaucracy with the creation of three new vice-presidential positions. The vice president for university relations position was split into three positions: vice presidents for media relations and government relations and University secretary. Bollinger named Cynthia Wilbanks and Lisa Tedesco to the jobs of vice president for govern- ment relations and University secre- tary, respectively. Bollinger said reasons for the change involved splitting up duties, noting that there were "too many jobs and too many roles to fill." Ten years ago... The Ann Arbor Tenants Union vent- ed its dismay at the recent decision by the Michigan Student Assembly to cut off its funding. MSA President Craig Greenberg said tenant advocacy was available through other University offices, including the University Off- Campus Housing office and the Hous- ing Law Reform Project through Student Legal Services. But AATU staffers said those two offices presented a conflict of inter- est because they were connected to the University. He said he thought University Housing officials forced Greenberg to make the decision. "It wouldn't surprise me if they had a hand in this because they've always tried to get rid of tenants," AATU staff member Pattrice Maurer said. Sept. 11, 1986 The College of Literature, Science and the Arts announced that it is rais- ing English standards for foreign teaching assistants. TAs now have to receive an 80 percent on an exam given by the English Language Institute, as opposed to a 60 percent previously. TAs who did not pass would have their teaching appointments delayed. In addition, if a TA had previously received poor ratings from students, they would have to retake exams. "For too long our college's under- graduate teaching effort has suffered from the employment of foreign-born teaching assistants who do not speak and understand English well enough to function with maximum effective- ness in the classroom," LSA Dean Peter Steiner said. Sept. 11, 1981 University Housing officials announced that Mary Markley Resi- dence Hall would now offer continu- ous lunch service from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Most students reacted positively to the change, saying it would allow more flexibility within their schedules. "It's more convenient. If you come back from class later, there's no rush and there's fewer crowds," LSA sopho- more Erick Remer said. Sept. 12, 1973 The Michigan Daily reported a new Ann Arbor Police Department crack- down on cyclists. AAPD officers would be enforcing a city ordinance that forbade bicycles to lean against buildings while interfering with pedes- trians. "We just don't want people to walk through a jungle of bikes to get where they're going," AAPD Capt. Robert Conn said. Sept. 9, 1969 The Michigan Daily reported that President Robben Fleming was con- sidering punishing faculty members who participated in a national Oct. 15 strike against the Vietnam War. "Traditionally, in this country, peo- ple are not paid while on strike," Flem- ing wrote in an Aug. 7 letter to the Senate Advisory Committee on Uni- versity Affairs. Sept. 7, 1967 Two hundred University plant employees staged a walkout alleging unfair labor practices against the University. Union leaders said the University had paid workers not to join unions, among other issues. Sept. 7, 1980 The ROTC reported a 30 percent enrollment increase this year, with 111 students in its Army, Navy and Air Force training programs - up from 78 last year. ROTC officials attributed the trend to a growing conservatism on campus and Soviet activity in Afghanistan. But some students in the program said money played a more important role in convincing them to inin N y a thirA of c,,Atetc in The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 10, 2003 - 3 MSA defends 'U' autonomy against critics of 'Gay' class JASON COOPER/Daily A student travels down the Shapiro Undergraduate Library corridor yesterday evening. Many students are starting to return to the UGLi as classes resume. HEALTH CARE Continued from Page 1 "We did look at some other universities. We also looked at some large private sector employ- ers in the area and how they deal with their salaries," said Richard Hirth, a committee mem- ber and associate health management and policy professor. "A lot of universities have already gone to a graduated premium contribution ... to a greater extent that Michigan has." For example, Comprehensive Healthcare Insur- ance Plans - major health care plans for faculty and staff of the University of Iowa - require cus- tomers to pay 10 to 20 percent of their premiums. Employees at Northwestern University also foot part of the bill for their health insurance. "For single-person coverage, we found employee contributions ranging from zero to as much as 56 percent of the premium cost," said University Human Resources spokesman Dave Reid. "For family coverage, faculty and staff contributions went as high as 60 percent for some plans." Despite the relative cost-efficiency of Universi- ty health care, some faculty members - particu- larly graduate employees - have expressed dismay over the policy changes. This year, gradu- ate faculty will have to shoulder the higher premi- ums along with historically low pay raises. "We're among the lowest-paid employees of the University," said Graduate Employee Organi- zation President David Dobbie. "It's definitely unfair to burden us to pay health care costs." Since 1999, salaries for graduate student instructors have decreased 1.5 percent, according to Dobbie and the organization's website. In addition to low pay raises, Dobbie said forc- ing graduate faculty to foot the cost of health care violates their contract. "Our health care benefits are bargained, so if the University wants to change our benefits, that's the equivalent of saying they won't respond to bargaining." But Peterson said the University will not breach staff and faculty contracts. If the policy changes come into conflict with labor contracts, the University will enter into collective bargain- ing with employees. "We would renegotiate when the contract expired," Peterson said, adding that she does not believe the current policy changes violate gradu- ate faculty members' contracts. Citing modest pay raises for all University employees, Peterson said faculty and staff subscrib- ing to University health care will feel the effects of sluggish salaries and ratcheted premiums. "Salary increases are very restricted this year," she said. "The only comfort I think we can offer is that everyone, everywhere, is in the same boat." According to the Associated Press, health care premiums have seen their highest increases since 1990, and this year portions of family health plans paid by employees grew 12.9 percent nationwide. By Andrew Kaplan Daily Staff Reporter Following a trail of controversy over the University English course "How to be Gay," the Michigan Student Assembly passed a reso- lution last night supporting the University's "academic freedom" in deciding its curriculum. The resolution, which passed without dissent, runs afoul of remarks made by state Rep. Jack Hoogendyk (R- Kalamazoo), who has said the course imposes ideology on students. In addition to supporting the academic validity of 60 courses Hoogendyk has called Galardi into question - including the English 317 section - the resolution also opposed the lawmaker's oversight bill, which would withhold public fund- ing from state universities that failed to comply with a curriculum review system. "We shouldn't be controlled on what we're learning about and what is or what isn't suffi- cient knowledge," MSA President Angela Galardi said. "If the enrollment is constant, then someone is obviously getting something out of this course." Although advocates of the resolution had originally slated it for a later vote, they said an upcoming conference of the Association of Michigan Universities - which assembly rep- resentatives will attend - convinced them to move the vote forward. "I sent (the resolution) out early because it's an issue that students need to know about and I want to give people enough time to ask questions," said Rules and Elections Committee Chair Pierce Beck- ham, who sponsored the bill. "I moved it because I heard state politicians would be at the AMU confer- ence. ... MSA students needed to take a stand before then." Section 002 of English 317, titled "How to be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation," discusses "the general topic of the role that initiation plays in the formation of gay male identity," according to the LSA website. The class also "examine(s) a number of cultural artifacts and activities that seem to play a prominent role in learning how to be gay," but does not offer students an "introduction to gay male culture," the website states. On passing the resolution, MSA agreed to send letters to state politicians "expressing its stance on this issue." Among other unopposed resolutions, funding for the 2004 Association of Big Ten Schools confer- ence also gained assembly approval. After months of planning, MSA will hold a vigil to honor the victims of September 11th. The ceremony will take place on the Diag tomorrow at 8 p.m. GOP race for U.S. House widens TIPTON, Mich. (AP) - A 16-year Republican state House member who left in 1998 because of term limits is run- ning for the U.S. House seat being vacated by Nick Smith. Tim Walberg of Tipton served in the Legislature from 1982 to 1998. Smith (R-Addi- son) has said he will not run in 2004, honoring a pledge to serve no more than six two-year terms. The Republican-leaning 7th U.S. House District includes Adrian, Battle Creek and Jack- son. It has parts of Lenawee, Hillsdale, Jackson, Washtenaw, Eaton, Branch and Calhoun counties. The district does not include- Ann Arbor, stopping just west of the city. John Dingell (D- Dearborn) represents Ann Arbor in the House. Walberg joins a Republican field that includes state Reps. Gene DeRossett of Manchester and Clark Bisbee of Jackson, Calhoun County Clerk Anne Norlander and former state Rep. Paul DeWeese of Eaton Rapids. No Democrat has entered the race. "I am a conservative Repub- lican," Walberg said. Zogby: Arab Americans' political clout grows DEARBORN (AP) - Arab Americans are gaining political muscle, with issues of relevance to them ones that should be equally important to Americans as a whole, a leadingArab American leader said yesterday. The Sept. 11 attacks "had a terrible impact on the (Arab American) com- munity. But it has not had an impact on our empowerment," said James Zogby, president of the Arab Ameri- can Institute. "There's no doubt we're on the radar screen more than before," he said. Zogby's comments came as he announced a national Arab American community leadership conference to be held in Dearborn in October. Four Democratic presidential candi- dates - Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Richard Gephardt and Joseph Lieberman - are scheduled to speak at the three-day event that will group hundreds of community lead- ers. Organizers hope to draw at least two other candidates. The aim of the conference, which will be bipartisan, is to allow Arab American leaders to talk with the can- didates on key issues like U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, civil rights and immigration. A Bush Administra- tion representative has not yet been determined. Of particular concern is launching a meaningful and substantive debate on Middle East policy - discussions Corrections: The women's soccer photo on page 8B of Monday's Daily should have been credited to Jason Cooper. Campus Notes on page 3 of yesterday's Daily were compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Emily Kraack. Catch an error? We need to know about it. E-mail the Daily at corrections@umich.edu 2 years after attacks, one amily comes to realize: "This as~ home' James Zogby, president of the Arab American institute, addresses a news conference yesterday in Dearborn. Zogby said Arab Americans' political power is growing. Zogby says have been missing in the United States for decades. "In the 30 years since the end of (the Vietnam War), we have sent more money, sent more weapons, sent more troops ... lost more American lives and invested more political capital in the Middle East, and (there has been) no real debate about the policy," Zogby said. "And the policy has been a dismal failure." Community leaders say the upcoming conference will provide representatives of the nation's more than 3 million Arab Americans with a chance to drive home the message that these issues affect Americans as a whole. DEARBORN (AP) - For a while after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Fadlal- lahs thought of leaving. But realistically, that was never an option. This city of 100,000, where the main streets are home to Ford Motor Co. and the slew of shops crowned by bilingual Arabic and English signs, is where Susan and Imad Fadlallah and their four children feel they belong. "There's a sense of loyalty because what this country gave us, our home- land failed to provide," said Imad, who immigrated in the 1970s from Lebanon and now is the principal at Stout Middle School in Dearborn. The United States "gave us a sense of hope," added Susan, a successful pharmacist who also came from Lebanon in the mid 1970s and whose father, Nabih Berry, is that country's parliamentary speaker. The Lebanon they left behind was one mired in civil war. The conflict gave the Fadlallahs what they see as a deeper understanding of the United States' founding principles. "Here, you have an appreciation for human rights," said Susan. "There's an understanding and respect that we're all different and it's OK to be different" But Sept. 11 raised questions about that belief for the couple. In an interview three months after the terrorist attacks, Imad said he feared being caught up in the Justice Department investigation that included the detention of about 1,200 Muslims and Arabs, interviews with 5,000 others and the passing of the USA Patriot Act, which gives the government broad powers to monitor citizens. Thoughts of leaving entered their mind. But after the December 2001 inter- view, letters from around the country came in. Of 20 letters, 19 urged them to stay. They said "Don't lose faith," and "This is still a good country." Only one, laced with expletives, said, "Go home." They showed "the good people, the real Americans, were still out there, even with all the negative publicity" about Islam and Arabs, said Imad. Since then, the Fadlallahs, like many other Arab Americans, are "day by day trying to do our part to change both the perception about Muslims in this coun- try, the religion as a whole and about the region," said Susan. They do it in part to help their chil- dren and to give something back to their adopted country. "We're going to be leaving behind our most precious possession in life - our children," said Susan, referring to Silan, 4, Rima, 10, Ali, 15, and Mah- moud, 19, a senior at the University. "They were born and raised in this country. To them, this is home. What kind of home are they going to have, though, if people still look at us with suspicion?" Shortly after the attacks, "I didn't know how to deal with the people around me,"recalled Susan. 1 IF YOU ENJOY TEACHING CHILDREN... 11 870U La iQUOi 81 QaW Check out the LUs newest**** , * drm entertatnment gr p. 215 S State 3 flr Above Mrireek wwc...;:.I Cool ClOthes, Cheap Prices! 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