Friday, March 12, 2004
Opinion 4
Sowmya Krishnamurthy
criticizes hip-hop
Arts 5 The Daily interviews
WWE's Ric Flair
Sports 8 The basketball team
has one last chance
to dance
Exploring the surreal world of online comics ... Friday Focus, Page 10
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wwwmnichigandaily.com
Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 111
02004 T he Michigan Daily
FACULTY AND STAFF
Lecturers may walk out in April
By Michael Kan
Daily Staff Reporter
Frustrated that the University has reacted too slowly to its
demands, the Lecturers' Employee Organization is resorting
to stronger measures, threatening to hold a walkout April 8
in order to compel University officials to accelerate the bar-
gaining process.
Since August 2003, negotiations between LEO and the
University over what they call low wages and lack of job
security for nontenured lecturers have occurred every Friday.
Originally LEO, formed in May 2003, hoped a contract
would be signed this month resolving these issues, but no
concrete solutions have been agreed upon. Instead, many
within the organization feel the University is reluctant to
make any fundamental changes to their employment system.
"The University has been politely and professionally ;
CRIME
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house conflic
stalling," LEO Vice President Dennis Pollard said.
This week LEO has been issuing a notice to many of the
non tenure-track lecturers, outlining the possible measures
the organization might take if the pace of negotiations does
not improve. If the vote for a walkout is authorized during
LEO's March 23rd meeting, ballots will be mailed out to
lecturers who then must vote by March 27th. If the initiative
passes, non-tenure track lecturers said they will not teach
any of their classes on Thursday April 8.
After the walkout, LEO would further discuss other possi-
ble actions, such as protesting and withholding grades until
the administration settles with the union.
The Graduate Employees Organization made similar
threats last year when they faced potential rises in health
care. After several negotiations, they reached a compromise
with the administration. Pollard said while the University
acknowledges there are problems with the job conditions of
lecturers, administrators still do not want to make any fun-
damental changes to the employment system.
"They seem to be unable or unwilling to revamp the
entire system. They want to tinker with parts. We think it
needs to be rethought and reworked, to make the fundamen-
tal change," Pollard said.
Although lecturers number about 1,600, or one third of
the University's teaching staff, Pollard said the University
seems to almost be abusing their services.
"Most of the lecturers in my department make around
$28,000 a year. That might be someone who has been teach-
ing for 20 years."
The University will not satisfy LEO until they improve job
conditions and recognize that lecturers are professional staff
that cannot be taken advantage of, Pollard added.
"We are trying to stop the University from thinking of us
as casual labor, almost like migrant workers. They need to
"The University has been politely
and professionally stalling.
- Dennis Pollard
LEO Vice President
start thinking of as professional educators."
But University administrators said they see success in the
negotiation's progress and don't think lecturers will need to
take stronger measures.
"We believe that the negotiations are moving at a good
pace. It's important to understand that this is not a renewal
of a contract. This is the construction of a contract from the
bottom up. It will take time," University spokeswoman Julie
Peterson said.
See LEO, Page 7
Alpha Tau Omega
admits involvement in
Feb. 13 incident
By Donn M. Fresard
Daily Staff Reporter
The judicial board of the Greek
system is set to issue a formal ruling
today against the Sigma Alpha
Epsilon fraternity for its involvement
in a fight at the Delta Kappa Epsilon
fraternity house last month, recom-
mending a set of sanctions that
includes payment for half the dam-
ages to the DKE house.
The fight resulted in several minor
injuries and extensive damage to the
DKE house, including 16 broken win-
dows. Members of Alpha Tau Omega
were also involved, ATO president Joel
Stone said, and may also have to pay
for damages.
In response to a complaint filed
by DKE against SAE, the Greek
Activities Review Board ruled in a
hearing on Tuesday that SAE was
partially responsible for the inci-
dent, said Jared Stasik, Interfraterni-
ty Council vice president and GARP
chief justice.
Stasik said he would not com-
ment on the specifics of GARP's
recommendation until the panel
delivers a formal decision today to
the presidents of the fraternities
involved.
But SAE president Dustin Nelson
described the set of sanctions, which
he said had been given to him in
advance of the formal announcement.
"The ruling was that we were only
half responsible for the damages," Nel-
son said.
In addition to paying for half of
the damages to the DKE house,
SAE will be required to host a phi-
lanthropy event by next year and
issue a formal apology to DKE, Nel-
son said.
See GREEKS, Page 3
'U', DPS finish
flyer investigation
By Ashley Dinges
Daily Staff Reporter
The University's Department of
Public Safety closed its case regarding
flyers posted last week throughout
Central Campus with a photo of and
warnings about English lecturer Ray-
mond McDaniel. The flyers, discov-
ered last Thursday, accused McDaniel,
who also teaches in the Lloyd Hall
Scholars Program of knowingly trans-
mitting sexual diseases to students.
DPS and the University were con-
ducting separate investigations, but
they have both stopped. DPS looked
into who posted the harassing flyers,
while the University investigated the
accusations made on the flyer.
"It's not being investigated as a
criminal matter. It appears to be a one-
time incident. We have closed the
case," said Lt. Robert Neumann, head
of criminal investigations for DPS.
Neumann said if the postings con-
tinue, it could develop into a more
serious case and DPS would resume
investigations.
"If somebody engaged in a pattern
of harassing conduct against some-
body, then it could fit the definition of
stalking. But at this time, that is not
what we have," Neumann said, in refer-
ence to the flyers.
University spokeswoman Julie Peter-
son said the University cannot continue
investigation of the case because no stu-
dents have come forward and the flyers
were posted anonymously.
"Right now we do not have a com-
plaint from a student besides for the
anonymous flyers. That does not give
us the opportunity to conduct a formal
investigation," Peterson said.
Unless another student complains of
harassment by McDaniel, the Universi-
ty will not investigate the incident fur-
ther, Peterson added.
"There's really no basis on which to
pursue it at this time," she said.
Although the accusations are not
being investigated at the time, one stu-
dent in McDaniel's class who wished
to remain anonymous said the flyers
haven't made her more concerned
See FLYERS, Page 2
AP PHOTO
Demonstrators hold up their hands as a signal to stop during a demonstration yesterday in Seville, Spain, after 10 bombs exploded in Madrid during the morning rush
hour, killing at least 190 people and Injuring more than a thousand more.
Terrorist bombing in Spain kills 192
MADRID, Spain (AP) - Ten ter-
rorist bombs tore through trains and
stations along a commuter line at the
height of the morning rush hour yes-
terday, killing more than 190 people
and wounding 1,200 others three days
before Spain's general elections.
Spain initially blamed Basque sepa-
ratists for the bombings, but the interior
minister also said other lines of investi-
gation were opened after police found a
van yesterday with detonators and an
audiotape of Quranic verses near where
the bombed trains originated.
The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-
Arabi said it had received a claim of
responsibility issued in the name of al-
Qaida.
The e-mail claim of responsibility,
signed by the shadowy Brigade of Abu
Hafs al-Masri, was-received at the
newspaper's London offices and said
the brigade's "death squad" had pene-
trated "one of the pillars of the crusade
alliance, Spain."
"This is part of settling old accounts
with Spain, the crusader, and Ameri-
ca's ally in its war against Islam," the
claim said.
Spain had backed the U.S.-led war
on Iraq despite domestic opposition,
and many al-Qaida-linked terrorists
have been captured in Spain or were
believed to have operated from there.
After an emergency cabinet meet-
ing, a somber Prime minister Jose
Maria Aznar vowed to hunt down the
attackers.
"This is mass murder,"he said.
The bombers used titadine, a kind
of compressed dynamite also found in
a bomb-laden van intercepted last
The Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said it
had received a claim of responsibility in the
name of al-Qaida.
month as it headed for Madrid, a
source at Aznar's office said on condi-
tion of anonymity. Officials blamed
the ETA separatist group at that time.
Police found a van with detonators
and an Arabic-language tape with
Quranic verses in the town of Alcala
de Henares, 15 miles east of Madrid,
Interior Minister Angel Acebes said
last night.
Police found seven detonators and
the tape on the front seat of the van,
Acebes said during a news conference.
He added that ETA remained the
"main line of investigation" in the
blasts, Europe's worst terror attack
since the 1988 bombing of a Pan Am
jetliner over Lockerbie, Scotland, that
killed 270.
Three of the four trains bombed
yesterday originated in Alcala de
Henares and one passed through it, the
state rail company said.
Panicked commuters abandoned
bags and their shoes as they trampled
each other to escape the Atocha termi-
nal, where bombs struck two trains.
See BOMBING, Page 2
SOLE calls for publicized wages
By Victoria Edwards
Daily Staff Reporter
Members of Students Organizing for Labor
and Economic Equality bombarded the office
of University President Mary Sue Coleman
with between 80 and 100 calls yesterday in
support of greater University wage disclosure.
During SOLE'S demonstration yesterday on
the Diag and Haven Hall, members offered
their cell phones to students to call Coleman
Peterson said the committee typically
reviews such proposals and passes a recom-
mendation before Coleman responds to them.
"We have a process for handling issues like
this, and it's the Advisory Committee. And the
Advisory Committee is the process through
which SOLE must go," Peterson said.
She added that the committee most likely
will not pass the recommendation today, and
that Coleman will not be present at the meeting.
At the demonstration yesterday, seven
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