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NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, February 6, 2004 - 3
'U',
By Melissa Benta
Daily Staff Reporter
ombudsman acts as student advocate
* Prof to discuss
religion in antiquity
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Prof. Isaiah Gafni will lecture on the
influence of geographic location on the
development of religion Monday at 7
p.m. in the Michigan League Ball-
room.
The lecture, titled "What a Differ-
ence a Place Makes: Jews and Chris-
tians East of the Euphrates," is part
of a lecture series called "Judaism
and Christianity in the Roman
World." The Frankel Center for
Judaic Studies is sponsoring the
series.
'U' opens Angell
Hall's rooftop
telescope to public
People will have the opportunity to
look through Angell Hall's rooftop
telescope tonight from 8 to 11 p.m.
Most notably, the double star Albireo,
made up of a blue and an orange star,
is expected to be visible.
The event is free, and the Student
Astronomical Society will be avail-
able to answer questions. The roof
can be accessed through the eleva-
tors on the State Street side of
Angell Hall.
Dance concert
held to celebrate
St. Petersburg
As part of the University's cele-
bration of St. Petersburg's 300th
anniversary, Alonzo King, founder
of the San Francisco LINES ballet,
will perform a dance set to the
music of Shostakovich's String
Quartet no. 15. tonight at 8 p.m. at
the Power Center.
Among the other performers are
University dance faculty Peter Spar-
ling, Jessica Fogel, Gay Delanghe
and Ruth Leney Midkiff, who will all
perform pieces inspired by Russian
poets and composers in an event
titled "Dances for Petersburg." Stu-
dent tickets are $8.
Opportunity to
volunteer overseas
offered
The Career Center will offer stu-
dents the opportunity to volunteer
overseas for at least two weeks and no
more than two years. An informational
meeting will be Monday from 4 to 5
p.m. in room nine of the International
Center.
Professor will
discuss European
anti-Americanism
Lars Rensmann, political science
professor at Free University in
Berlin, will give a lecture titled
"Hannah Arendt and the Problem of
European Anti-Americanism."
Rensmann, also a research affili-
ate for the European Studies Coun-
cil at Yale University, will speak in
room 3308 of the Modern Lan-
guages Building today from 4:10 to
6 p.m. The event is sponsored by the
Department of Germanic Languages
and Literatures.
Culture bus to send
students to event
at Detroit museum
The Arts at Michigan Culture Bus
will take students to the Wright
Museum of African American Histo-
ry for a musical titled "Sarah, Ella &
Pops" Sunday from 1:30 to 5 p.m.
The musical, by the Plowshares
Theatre Company, remembers Ella
Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and
Sarah Vaughn. Actor James Bowen,
singer Sheila Alyce and Detroit jazz
musician Marcus Belgrave are
among the many performers of the
show.
The event is part of the Brown v.
Board of Education Theme Semester.
Students can purchase tickets for
$11.50 on the University website.
MLK panel focuses
on American
security policies
Nabih Ayad, Kary Moss and Brian
Silver will take part in a panel Mon-
day at 4 p.m. in the Michigan
League Hussey Room. The event is
part of the University's 17th annual
Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Symposium.
Nabih Ayad is a member of the
Arab-American Defense Council.
in
Ironically, an important student advocate on
campus says he feels lost and unknown in the
University bureaucracy. Robert Holmes, the
University ombudsman, provides students with
confidential counseling service to get advice
and settle disputes with the University.
If students feel that they are being treated
unfairly or that the University has made an error,
the Ombuds Office can assist them in resolving
the issue, Holmes said.
"Number one, I help - through information
- to empower students to be good advocates for
their position. Secondly, I give them options that
perhaps, in the heat of the moment, they didn't
consider," Holmes added.
The Ombuds Office acts as an impartial
mediator in disputes.
"There's more than one party to every story,
and beliefs are often mutually exclusive and in
opposition to one another," he said.
Furthermore, confidentiality is guaranteed
to students who choose to meet with the
Ombudsman, Holmes said.
Students are not required to disclose any
personal information -
such as a name or student
ID number - and the UVI II
Ombuds Office will not. ..
share any information 4VDFIO&s1fU
without written permis- IgnygfAfsy ro
sion.
"The only time I (break) Hd
my pledge of confidentiality Ut iivers
- which happens rarely - is ments as anhr
if I feel a student will be dan- .
gerous to himself or others,"ff d
Holmes added. N -e10
The Office of Student"
Conflict Resolution works x R+ ttep0n
closely with the Ombuds nd +nt SX
Office in channeling stu-
dent complaints. OSCR has
the power to remove a student from housing,
courses and activities. It can suspend or expel
a student. It can also order students to per-
form community service for various infrac-
tions.
"If a student has a complaint against anoth-
er student or if the Uni-
versity has a complaint
.against a student, a for-
mal complaint can be
R : v ;k K.filed (with OSCR) and
vbudsman there can be sanctions,"
Holmes said.
° m He said students are
plices'or nsh-. referred to the appro-
priate office based on
-" the nature of their com-
in ttg plaint.
ideftiaIfty.' "I am the opposite of
}$OSCR in a sense,
because I deal with stu-
} 'ti'tns k dents' complaints
. against the University."
Unlike OSCR, the
Ombuds Office does not have the authority to
issue sanctions. The Ombuds Office functions
in an informal setting. Students do not have to
complete paperwork, they simply sit and talk
with the Ombudsman, Holmes said.
He said hundreds of students use this service
every year. Yet many students still do not know
about the functions of it, such as LSA sophomore
Mary Shelly
"Now that I know about it, if I had a really
big problem I would probably go there. If I
couldn't deal with it on my own, I would go
there," Shelly said.
LSA junior Ryan Bonneville said that he
wouldn't use the Ombuds Office because he is
not familiar with it.
"I would prefer to use (OSCR) because I
know about it and I know where it is," he said.
Holmes advises students to imagine the other
person's perspective when attempting to resolve a
conflict.
"It's important to put yourself in the shoes
of the other person. Sometimes this allows
you to see yourself and the conflict in a dif-
ferent way, Sometimes this helps you to
understand where others are coming from,"
he added.
Hopwood awards serve
as test of writing ability
By Caroline Saudek
For the Daily
For most students, the reward for
good work comes in the form of a good
grade, but for some creative writers at
the University, the reward comes in the
form of a check for up to $7,000.
The Hopwood Program gives out
awards twice a year. The deadline for
submissions to the spring Hopwoods,
which tend to have more applicants
and give out larger awards, is Tuesday
at noon.
Last week the winners of the fall
awards were announced at an awards
ceremony -22 students, ranging from
freshmen to graduate students, won a
total of almost $20,000.
The Hopwood Program distributes
on average $120,000 per year to talent-
ed undergraduate and graduate student
writers at the University in an effort to
encourage creative and innovative
writing.
Established in the will of Broadway
playwright and Michigan alum Avery
Hopwood, the Hopwood Awards began
in 1930. Over the years, the Hopwood
Program has expanded to include vari-
ous fellowships and awards, some of
which take financial need into account.
Once submissions are collected for
the categories of essay, short fiction
and poetry, the winners are chosen by
judges, many of whom are well-known
writers. Arthur Miller, Sinclair Lewis
and Joyce Carol Oates have all judged
Hopwood submissions in the past.
Michael Byers, a writer who won a
Hopwood Award while he was a
graduate student at the University in
1996, said these awards are unique
because they create a link between
older readers and younger writers
who would otherwise not have expo-
sure to each other.
"It gives undergraduate and graduate
students a way to test themselves
against a real audience.... (The) judg-
ments are true and honest," he said.
Although the awards are fiercely
competitive and carry substantial pres-
tige, many winners say that the Hop-
woods do not create animosity within
the writing communities on campus.
Irene Hahn, a Rackham student and
winner of the Cowden Fellowship, said
that the Fine Arts program at Michigan
is unique because of the camaraderie
that develops among students and with
professors. As a result, competition for
the Hopwoods does not create as much
tension as one might expect.
"We're all just happy for whoever
wins. ... We know it is an arbitrary
decision," Hahn said.
LSA senior Sarah Rubin, who won
an award in poetry this year, said the
existence of the Hopwood Awards has
a positive impact on the writing envi-
ronment.
"I think it makes the (English) pro-
gram a little more competitive, but it
makes it a little bit better," she said.
"People tend to write more towards an
audience than just for themselves."
Winning an award can also provide
needed encouragement to writers
preparing to enter a challenging and
often ruthless field.
"It's not a profession that people
know that they can become successful
in. Winning a Hopwood gives you
validation and recognition," said LSA
freshman Uyen Bui, who won $1,000
in the fiction contest. "For me, it
strengthened my desire to write
because something came out of it,"
Bui said.
Rackham student Irene Hahn is one of 22 students who won Hopwood Awards
last week. The deadline for students to submit work for spring Hopwood Awards is
Tuesday.
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THE JOHN MARSHALL
LAW SCHOOL
Op en House
T he John Marshall Law School invites you to attend an open house to
learn how flexible schedules, groundbreaking specialties and 21st
century curricula can help you in your career.
Saturday, Feb. 7; 10 a.m. to noon
Thursday, Feb. 12; 6 - 8 p.m.
Students and faculty will share their insights into John Marshall's