Monday, April5, 2004 News 3A Get a feel for the new Rackham Building Meet the best water polo team east of the Mississippi ... SportsMonday, Page 8B Weather Opinion 4A Cox fails in duty to represent Michigan Arts 8A "Hellboy" sets fire to the box office hI:46 TOMORROW: 55139 One-hundred-thirteen years ofeditorialfreedom wwwmichigaindad y. com 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 -