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Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 127
©2004 The Michigan Daily
LABOR NEGOTIATIONS
'Lecturer vote authorizes strike
By Alison Go
Daily Staff Reporter
Nearly 90 percent of the Lecturers' Employee
Organization voted yesterday in favor of author-
izing a walkout on Thursday. The walkout would
also include members of the Graduate Employ-
ees' Organization and students and professors
who support the LEO platform.
Members voted 331 to 43 to give the union's
bargaining council the authority to walk out if
the council deems it necessary.
LEO, which serves 1,300 non-tenure-track
faculty on the University's three campuses,
plans to walk out Thursday unless the Universi-
ty administration makes "sufficient movement
toward satisfying the goals of the strike plat-
form," said LEO president Bonnie Halloran, a
lecturer on the University's Dearborn campus.
Negotiations have been in progress since
August 19. The administration and LEO will
return to the bargaining table today and
Wednesday. "There are fundamental issues the
University feels very strongly about," Universi-
ty spokeswoman Julie Peterson said. "But we
are very concerned about the idea of interrupt-
ing classes."
Since the negotiations began, there have
been 34 bargaining sessions, including four
extended sessions over the past week. The
teams have reached tentative agreement on 17
contract articles, Provost Paul Courant said in
an e-mail to deans, directors and department
chairs last Thursday. However, University
administrators and LEO said they have no
definitive plans if the walkout does occur.
LEO's main demands involve wage compen-
sation, health benefits and job security.
Concerning wage compensation, the Univer-
sity has offered to set the minimum full-time
salary for LEO members at $28,000 in Ann
Arbor, $20,800 in Dearborn and $20,000 in
Flint, Courant said. This would cost the Univer-
sity about $300,000 annually.
According to LEO, this would be an addi-
tional $200 per person per year, an offer the;
group says is not enough to meet its demands.
"This is a basic embarrassment that that's
how much they offer their faculty," Halloran
said. "That offer is unacceptable. They have to
make us a more reasonable offer on salary."
LEO's platform on wages includes an increase
in the base salary rate, equal wage across cam-
puses and annual cost-of-living increases.
The union is asking for a minimum full-time
salary rate of $40,000 for lecturers at all three
campuses, with an additional 5 percent increase
in the minimum for each year of service. The
cost of LEO's wage proposals would be over $12
million in fiscal year 2005, Courant said.
Because they also are part of Michigan's
public school system, Halloran said members
of LEO deserve to be compensated similarly to
public high school teachers, whose minimum
See STRIKE, Page 2A
Rankings
rise for
some 'U'
schools
By Yasmin Elsayed
Daily Staff Reporter
The University's Medical School
has been ranked 8th in the nation for
the past two years, but the U.S. News
and World Report reported Friday that
the Medical School had risen to 7th in
its latest rankings of the country's best
graduate schools.
According to the latest rankings,
the Business School also rose from
13th to 10th, the Law School
remained 7th and the College of Engi-
neering and the School of Education
each dropped two spots, to 8th and
10th respectively.
University Medical School Dean
Allen Lichter said student quality is
key to the rise in rankings.
"We have steadily increased our
scores in each area that the ranking
considers, but our most meaningful
gains have come due to the quality of
the students we attract," he said.
"When residency program directors
rank the school they would most like
to have students enter their training
programs from, we tie for third nation-
ally, just behind Harvard University
and Johns Hopkins University."
Sunil Thakur, president of the Busi-
ness School's Student Government
Association, said many of Dean
Robert Dolan's new initiatives are
starting to show results. He credited
the "rebranding and repositioning of
the school," such as a new logo and
curriculum, for the rise in rankings.
"We have a lot of bright new facul-
ty," Thakur added.
Although The Wall Street Journal
and other publications typically rank
the Business School in the top three or
four in the nation, Thakur said U.S.
See RANKINGS, Page 3A
C~ N LE~AV~S DIAG SMOKING
Hash Bash '04
turnout not as
I.. high as expected
By Ashley Dingo"
and Donn M. Fresard
Daily Staff Reporters
The smell of incense wafted through
the Diag Saturday as costumed demon-
strators, middle-aged activists and
hacky-sack-playing students gathered
together amid the sound of bongo
drums to participate in Ann Arbor's
33rd Annual Hash Bash.
Hash Bash organizer Adam Brook
said he was pleased with the turnout,
which the University's Department of
Public Safety estimated at 1,500.
Brook had previously said he expected
50,000 people to attend.
The event began at the Ann Arbor
Federal Building at 11 a.m., when
demonstrators congregated and
marched to the Diag for the "High
Noon" rally. Attendees later moved to
Monroe Street for a block party.
Speakers at the noon gathering
included writer Jack Herer, author of
"The Emperor Wears No Clothes,"
poet John Sinclair and George Sher-
field, director of the Michigan chapter
of the National Organization for the
Reformation of Marijuana Laws.
"In the end this was one of the best
we've had in years," Brook said.
A main focus of this year's event was
the issue of marijuana use for medical
purposes. Julie Bonnett, a musician and
hemp vendor, was one of several
women dressed as a "naughty nurse" in
order to promote awareness of the med-
ical marijuana initiative.
"Today we're in support of the
medicinal marijuana, because the drug
war needs to be ended," Bonnett said.
Bonnett wore jewelry made of fake
marijuana leaves and a nurse costume
which read, "Free the weed."
DPS reported six arrests for viola-
tion of the controlled substance act, in
this case marijuana. Two of the six
were University students.
DPS only issued tickets for the "High
Noon" event. The Ann Arbor Police
Department was responsible for issuing
violations for the Federal Building
march and the Monroe Street block
party, but they said they could not pro-
vide statistics for the number of arrests.
"(Arrests in) the last two years are
considerably down from previous
years, but the crowds are also smaller,"
DPS spokeswoman Diane Brown said.
Eight other citations were given dur-
ing "High Noon," including four tick-
ets for sales and solicitation of
merchandise such as necklaces and
shirts and two tickets for possession of
alcohol on the Diag.
Brown said the majority of tickets
given in past years have been to non-
students. "In the last six events, includ-
ing (Saturday), DPS has arrested or
cited 212 persons, four of whom were
U-M students," Brown said.
A DPS arrest for possession of mari-
juana can generally lead to a fine of up
to $2,000 and one year in prison, while
use of marijuana is a $100 fine and up to
90 days in prison. But these penalties
can vary depending on the amount in
possession, and repeat offenses.
The AAPD fine for use of marijuana
on city property is $25.
DPS enforces state law infractions,
while AAPD enforces a city ordinance
that differs from state law, which
results in the differing penalties.
Brook suggested that DPS should
take a more lenient approach to
See HASH BASH, Page 2A
JOEL FRIEDMAN/Daily
Anthony Franclola of Fort Wayne, Ind., lights a bong for his wheelchair-bound mother, Jeanean Franciola of Manchester, during the
Hash Bash rally on Saturday. Jeanean Franclola has multiple sclerosis and said she smokes marijuana to give herself an appetite.
New Ford School building to have more space for classes
By F Saf Arine
Daily Stf Reporter
By the 2006 fall term, the University hopes to
have completed construction of the Joan and
Sanford Weill Hall, a new building to house the
Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy. The
structure will include classrooms, faculty offices,
research centers and career services.
The 80,000-square-foot, five-story building
will be located on the northeast corner of South
State and Hill streets and will provide a new
entrance to Central Campus, said Rebecca Blank,
dean of the school.
Currently, the school's facilities are divided
between three locations: Lorch Hall, a former
apartment building called the Oakland Annex
and the Huron Annex.
"Classroom space is our biggest crunch,"
said Claire Hughes, development and alumni
relations officer for the Ford School. "Imagine
getting a sense of community among students
(in that situation)."
Hughes said the new building will create
meeting places for students as well as more room
for computers. "Students have to meet in the hall-
ways," Hughes said, referring to the current
facilities. "Computers for checking mail are out
in the hallways too," she said.
However, Pooja Patel, a Rackham student
in public policy, said she has never had a
problem with classes in more than one build-
school during the fall term.
But Blank said the new building would give
the school more space for receptions.
"I'm particularly delighted to have a place
where we can hold lectures and bring people
in from the University and the community,"
she said.
Blank added that plans for the building
have been in the works for the last two years
and fundraising began once the University
Board of Regents approved a design in June.
To raise enough money for the $32 million
project, the University has provided $17 mil-
lion and donations are expected to cover the
rest of the costs. The school received $5 mil-
lion in a donation on February 18 from San-
ford and Joan Weill, friends of former Presi-
dent Ford. Ford, a University alum, later
requested that the University name the build-
ing in honor of the donors.
Blank said she hopes fundraising is com-
plete by early this summer, after which con-
struction of the building will start. "(The
Weill donation) did not complete the
fundraising but we're close to completing it
at this point," she said "(By late summer) we
want to have a hole in the ground."
Robert A.M. Stern Architects, the company
that worked on the Harvard University Business
School as well as buildings for Columbia and
Stanford universities, sketched designs for the
new school.
ing. "I've never really heard anyone com-
plain terribly about having to walk," said
Patel, a graduate student instructor for the
Fem Fair addresses issues of violence, choice
By Mona Rafeeq
Daily Staff Reporter
Most women may not think they
will ever need emergency contracep-
tion, but at last Friday's Fem Fair on
i the Diaa nurse-midwife Lisa Kane
Lowe, who wrote more than 60 pre-
scriptions at last year's Fem Fair, added
that the emergency contraceptives con-
tain progestin, a hormone which is also
found in birth control pills.
Students who wanted a prescription
were instructed to fill out two forms that
"The trip is for anyone who wants to
go. You don't have to be strongly
involved in pro-choice activism and
you don't even have to participate in
the march;" she said.
Some groups participating in Fem
Fair wanted to inform students
power over their own bodies in a night-
time setting that is protected," said
LSA junior Jeff Rezmovic.
Although men are invited to partici-
pate in the march that follows the rally,
Men Against Violence Against Women
will also organize a dialogue on vio-
V -