LOCAL/STATE The Michigan Daily - Monday, January 26, 2004 - 3A Meijer cuts 1,900 management positions McDonald's theft ends in arrest of pilfering suspect DPS identified and arrested a sus- pect who robbed the McDonald's at Pierpont Commons Wednesday after- noon. The suspect was not affiliated with the University and stole an unde- termined amount of money from the restaurant. No injuries were reported as a result of the theft. Late-night civil dispute unfolds on Law Quad property A fight broke out between two peo- ple on the Law Quad after 2:30 a.m. on Friday. DPS reports show the individu- als have no affiliation with the Univer- sity. The incident is under investigation. University property damaged by water A caller reported to DPS Friday afternoon that a water-flow problem damaged property in the School of Information North Building. The prob- lem was weather-related, and only Uni- versity property was damaged. The value of the damaged property is unde- termined. Vending machine panel smashed by unknown person DPS reports indicate the front panel of a vending machine in East Quad Residence Hall was shattered early yesterday morning. DPS currently has no suspects. DPS picks up suspect wanted on two warrants A DPS officer located and arrest- ed an individual in the Shapiro Undergraduate Library early Satur- day morning. The subject was want- ed on a traffic warrant and an assault warrant held by the Washte- naw County Sheriff's Department. After the arrest, the subject was transferred to the Washtenaw Coun- ty Jail. The individual has no affilia- tion with the University. Thief steals laptop b from hospital office A caller reported the theft of a lap- top from an office at the University Hospital Friday afternoon. DPS has no suspects, and the value of the stolen laptop is undetermined. Window of Markley entrance shattered A window panel of one of the main entrances to Mary Markley Resi- dence Hall was shattered after early yesterday morning. DPS reports show the destruction was intentional. There are no suspects. Caller reports boxes burning outside South Quad A caller reported to DPS that 10 to 15 boxes were on fire outside South Quad Residence Hall, on Monroe Street late Saturday night. By the time the Ann Arbor Fire Department arrived at the scene, the fire was extinguished. DPS reports indicate there are no suspects. Fire extinguishers stolen from Markley, Bursley DPS reports state that an officer dis- covered early yesterday morning that a fire extinguisher was stolen from the 1400 wing of Little House in Mary Markley Residence Hall. Three other fire extinguishers were noticed missing from Bartlett House in Bursley Hall around the same time. Officers rou- tinely inspect residence halls for miss- ing fire extinguishers. There are no suspects known for either theft, and no relationships between them was estab- lished. CD player snatched from CCRB women's lockerroom A CD player was stolen from a locker in the women's lockerroom of the Central Campus Recreation Building late Friday morning, GREENVILLE (AP) - As part of a continued restructuring effort designed to keep Meijer Inc. competi- tive, the retailer said Saturday it has eliminated about 1,900 management positions at its stores. Meijer said it is reducing the num- ber of its managers from about 42 to 30 per store. The family owned and operated grocery and general merchan- dise retailer has 158 stores throughout Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio. Some team leaders will be offered non-supervisory positions. Those who leave Meijer will receive a severance package, health care continuation options and assistance finding new jobs, the company said. "As part of our continual transfor- mation, we have been studying the industry's best practices," Meijer spokesman John Zimmerman said. "As a result, we have determined we need to streamline our stores' supervisory structure in each store. "These are hard decisions to make but they're necessary decisions," he said. Zimmerman said Meijer will create about 6,500 new jobs with the planned opening of five stores this year and eight in 2005. Meijer's restructuring started five months ago. Before the latest round of cuts, the company employed about 75,000 people. "You make these moves when you're strong and when you know that you're not a unique (retailing) format, and you've got competitors coming into your market with this same format that you have to compete against," Zim- merman said. A displaced manager, speaking on condition of anonymity, said rumors of possible cuts started circulating a few weeks ago. The manager said the rumors intensified until the past week, when managers learned their fates in one-on-one conversations with supervisors. "Everybody all week was walking around like zombies," said the former manager, who was not offered another job within the company. "They didn't know if they were the ones that were going to be cut." Multistate retail chains such as Wal- Mart Stores Inc., Target Corp. and Kmart Holding Corp. have adapted the superstore concept that Meijer devel- oped during the 1960s. Dutch immi- grant Hendrik Meijer opened the first Meijer store, a grocery, in Greenville in 1934. Outside a modern Meijer store that now stands in Greenville, longtime customer Nora Kam said Saturday she expects the management cuts to reduce the quality of service she is used to receiving at the retailer. "I'm sure it will affect it somewhat, but I really don't know how much," said Kam, 65, of Greenville. As competition forces retailers to evaluate their organizations, some ana- lysts say Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal- Mart is Meijer's biggest concern. They say job cuts and other changes indicate that Meijer is implementing processes and technologies that will enable it to pass along savings to its customers. Meijer Inc. started experimenting in October with a new cost-cutting bag- ging system at a store in the Grand Rapids suburb of Wyoming. If the ring-and-bag system, as it is known, is installed in all Meijer stores, nearly 8,000 mostly part-time bagging jobs would be lost, the retailer said. Drumming to a different rhythm DIVERSITY Continued from Page 1A facilitate discussions about those issues and also give students a better understanding about the dif- ferent minority groups on campus, she added. One of the workshop topics was minorities in academia. Faculty members discussed issues Uni- versity professors face in promoting diversity in students' educations. A specific issue professors deal with is students resisting different view- points in "Race and Ethnicity" courses. American culture Prof. Maria Cortera described instances where her students would make remarks about certain ethnic communities based on preconceived perceptions of the minori- ty group they were studying. But she said it was difficult to tell those students that their opinions might offend others in the class. "Telling them (their comments are unaccept- able) the wrong way could make them look like a racist," she said. But psychology Prof. Phillip Akutsu said stu- dents could overcome resistance by telling those students to take a minute to reexamine the remarks they make, letting them realize their comments can be offensive to others. "It allows them to back up on their own thoughts and to rethink what just happened," he said. Another workshop discussed why people with disabilities are minorities. Faculty members and students began the discussion by comparing the issues racial minorities face to the issues people with disabilities contend with. They found that both groups suffered from many of the same social problems, such as feel- ings of disassociation, lack of access to public institutions and fear of other social groups. Members of the workshop later explored the issue of the lack of rights people with disabilities experience everyday, such as how some handi- capped people in the past were forced to be car- ried in order to enter certain buildings. "They have to give up the freedom of control- ling their own body. They have to be touched," English Prof. Tobin Siebers said. People with disabilities give up their right of privacy and can also sometimes feel like a burden to others, Tobin added. LSA junior Pete Woiwode said he enjoyed how faculty members went beyond their own position by participating in the discussions with the stu- dents. It also reaffirmed to him the importance of diversity University staff, he said. "In order to teach adequately about our socie- ty and the world, you need different viewpoints. It's short-sighted to think that one ethnic group can teach about the different types of people," he said. LSA freshman Julia Ris said the workshops were productive in learning more about diversity on the campus. "I think it's important for every- one to spend time with other groups. We need to get outside of our own groups," she said. EUUNE RUt SUN/Uaily Sinaboro performs traditional Korean drumming at its fourth annual concert in the Michigan League's Mendelssohn Theater Saturday night. COLLECTIVE Continued from Page 1A we've connected on such a deep level in such a short time," she said. She added that she looks forward to taking the energy and sense of community from the concert and the workshop back to groups she is involved with on campus, such as Anti-War Action! and the Environmental Justice Group. "I feel very empowered to make activism a big part of my life," she said. "(The concert) was even more remarkable than the workshop because it brought it to a larger audience. Everyone was blown away. ... Everyone was laughing together and crying together, it was quite an experience." Long Hairz Collective member Brian Babb, a University alum, said he traveled from Oakland, Calif. to honor King and to join with students as part of the legacy of a symposium dedicated to making King's dream a reality. "The MLK Symposium is like no other com- memoration I've been to," he said. "What you have is a lot of folks from different (backgrounds) cele- brating his work, celebrating his life, celebrating his memory and really living his dream of peace, jus- tice and love." Babb added that part of the purpose of the con- cert and workshop was to remind people that they can make a difference. "I hope that people go away with an openness to their own voice and an understanding that their own voice is just as significant as Dr. Martin Luther King, JR.'s," he said. LSA junior Danica Williams, who attended the concert, said the group's vision really resonated within her and that the sense of community created by their art felt like meditation. "It's beautiful, the words and the way they're voiced out - you can see there's a lot of passion and meaning behind what they say," she said. "I think the message is about love, it's about finding that peace inside yourself and applying it to others in your life - if you have love inside you, it's going to come out and help others even if you don't even realize it." HOUSING Continued from Page 1A tion, renewal and construction of residence halls will occur." The housing director will also be responsi- ble for working with students and the Resi- dence Halls Association. "We'd like someone who will work with and recognize the goals of RHA," said RHA Director Amy Keller, one of two students on the committee. "The person we're looking for will be open to change and possibilities for the University." Other members of the advisory committee include Department of Public Safety Director William Bess and Engineering graduate stu- dent John Norton. Zeller, who vacated the position Jan. 1, 2003, is now the assistant vice chancellor for housing at the University of California, Irvine. At the time of his departure, Harper said renovations to residence halls and the possi- ble construction of a new hall would progress more smoothly if Zeller stepped down. F I the daily rri ein s apuzzle The rceton Review 1-800-2-REVIEW FRSHMNI SOPHOM/ORES + JUNIORS!!! Want to work during Spring/Summer/Fall Semesters? The Michigan Daily will give you the opportunity to gain the following business experiences: * Sell Advertising to Local and National Businesses * Manage your own account Territory * Work in a team-oriented environment " Earn Commission-based pay Please pick up application at THE MICHIGAN DAILY Student Publications Building