Monday, April 12, 2004
News 3A Bush announces
Mich. headquarters
Opinion 4A Zac Peskowitz knows
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Arts 5A Elisha Cuthbert is
"The Girl Next Door"

At last: your Spring Game football fix ... Sports, Page 8B
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Michigan Daily

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www.michigandaily.com

Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXIII, No. 132

©2004 The


LABOR NEGOTIATIONS
Post-stike
ta.:lks leave.
* lecturers,

Student set to stand
Freshman will appear in court Wednesday forfiring off BB

trial
gun in dorms

'U,

at odds

The case
Student faces three charges
Police say engineering freshman
John Conover allegedly shot a BB
gun at a driver.
Conover has been charged with
assault with a dangerous weapon,
assault and battery and a minor in
possession of alcohol infraction.
The penalty is up to four years in
prison.

By Mona Rafeeq
Daily Staff Reporter
A preliminary hearing for a student fac-
ing charges for assault with a dangerous
weapon is scheduled for Wednesday.
According to Department of Public
Safety reports, Engineering freshman John
Conover allegedly shot a BB gun pellet out
of a West Quad Residence Hall window at
a passing driver on Sunday, March 28.
The driver was not injured, but DPS
charged Conover with assault with a dan-
gerous weapon and a minor in possession
of alcohol violation. He was also charged
with assault and battery.
DPS Lt. Chris Spork noted that

Conover's weapons violations could be
twofold.
"First, he violated his lease by keeping a
dangerous weapon in his room, and sec-
ond, he violated the weapons ordinance for
the University," he said.
Conover's attorney, John Shea, said that
even if the assault with a dangerous
weapon charge is dismissed, Conover
could still be charged with assault and bat-
tery. This is a misdemeanor that can carry
up to four years in prison.
"It is unlikely that the penalty would be
that severe if my client was found guilty,
because he has not faced other charges
before," Shea said. He said his client has
continued attending classes.

By Alison Go
Daily Staff Reporter
Since the Lecturers' Employee Organization's walk-
out on Thursday, the University and LEO have made
no definitive agreements in negotiations.
There has been "slow, positive discussion, but we're
not anywhere near being ready to signing a contract
yet," LEO President Bonnie Halloran said about nego-
tiations since the strike.
While Friday's bargaining session at Wolverine Tow-
ers made little progress toward the signing of a first
contract between LEO and the University regarding
LEO's wage compensation and health benefits
demands, the University presented a new job security
proposal that would redefine the appointment process
for lecturers.
"It was our bargaining team's assessment that we're
very close to settling" an agreement on job security,
University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said.
The new plan, "which the LEO and the University
are in substantial agreement on," includes a three- to
four-year probationary period for new lecturers that
would end in a defined review process for every lec-
turer, she said. After this time period, as long as the
teacher passed the review, demand for the course was
strong and the budget resources were available, lec-
turers would have the "presumption of reappoint-
ment," which Peterson said is an increased form of
job security.
The specific details and time in probationary period
will depend on whether a lecturer is defined as level
one, two or three or is an adjunct faculty member. As
of now, level one lecturers have their contracts up for
renewal each term, teach specific courses and are typi-
cally employed part-time. Those at level two go up for
renewal every year while level three lecturers have
contracts for three to five years. Level two and three
lecturers tend to teach a broad range of courses, may
have administrative or service responsibilities and are
more likely to be full-time employees. Levels are des-
ignated from the outset of hiring.
The proposal calls for level one lecturers to be hired
per term for the first three years, then after a success-
ful review to be hired annually, Peterson said. After six
years and two reviews, they could receive multi-year
contracts.
Level two and three lecturers would receive a series
of year-long appointments for four years and then
would undergo a major review. If approved, they would
be appointed for a three-year contract. After another
review at the end of that contract, they would be eligi-
ble for five-year contracts. Lecturers in level two
would be eligible for promotion to level three after the
first review.
The two teams were also "discussing salary pretty
See LEO, Page 2A
The lines are still open
Latest talks between lecturers
and 'U' fall to resolve dispute
On Friday, administrators presented ajo
security proposal.
Salary remains a disputed point in the ongo-
ing discussions.
Talks will resume Thursday afternoon and
continue Friday.

Easter observance

"Any disciplinary action taken by the
University would be between him and the
University," Shea added.
DPS Lt. Crystal James said Conover
was arraigned March 29 and pled not
guilty. An arraignment, the initial step in a
criminal case, is a first appearance in court
for an alleged offender.
Shea said the preliminary hearing on
Wednesday is likely to be adjourned
because he has not received any reports
from DPS.
He said that his client was mischarged
with the allegations of assault with a dan-
gerous weapon and that the gun that
Conover used was a toy pistol. "It was not
See CHARGES, Page 3A
-DPS looks
into recent
anti-gay
chalking
By Ashley Dinges
and Adhiraj Dutt
Daily Staff Reporters

Administrators at the Office of Les-
bian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Affairs in the Michigan Union found a
discriminatory epithet written on their
office door Thursday morning. The
Department of Public Safety reported
Friday that it was uncertain what was
written, though LGBT Affairs adminis-
trators say it was a homophobic slur.
A caller from the office reported the
incident to DPS on Thursday and said
the slur was written overnight, DPS Lt.
Chris Spork said.
The LGBT Affairs Office has an
inner and an outer door and the epithet
was written on the inner one. DPS took
photos of the door and is currently
reviewing reports.
DPS currently has no suspects.
"Our officers observed what
appeared to be white chalk marks on
the inner door," Spork said. "Our
officers were unable to read what
was written."
Assistant director of the LGBT
Affairs Office Kelly Garrett said "fag"
was written on the office door, though
the writing was difficult to read.
"(It is) unlikely they wrote some-
thing else like 'fig,'" she said. "It was
so messy ... but when you really
looked at it closely, it looked like it
said that."
Though the epithet was written in
chalk, Garrett said there is no chalk in
the LGBT office and that there were
student meetings in the building
Wednesday night so any passerby could
have written the slur.
"It was someone just being obnox-
ious, it wasn't a direct attack," Garrett
said. "It looked like an opportunity for
them to be homophobic."
The Office of LGBT Affairs allows
people to report hate crimes through a
link located on its office's website,
www.umich.edu/-inqueery/newssub-
scribe.html. Garret said recording hate
crimes allows for the reports to be used
See CHALKINGS, Page 3A

EUGENE ROBERTSON/Daily
Father Thomas Firestone blesses the sacraments during Easter Mass at St. Mary's Student Parish yesterday.

WAR IN IRAQ
Kidnappers demand U.S. pull out of Fallujah

Images of minorities

0

0

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Insur-
gents who kidnapped an American
civilian threatened in a videotape
released Saturday to kill and mutilate
him unless U.S. forces withdraw from
the city of Fallujah.
Meanwhile, insurgents holding three
Japanese hostage said they would be
freed in 24 hours. The captors had
threatened to burn the civilians alive
unless Japan pulled its troops out of
Iraq, a demand Japan refused.
The tape of the American, broadcast
on the Arah TV station Al-Jazeera.

home in Macon, Miss., confirmed that
her husband had been captured. She
said he works for the Houston-based
engineering and construction company
Kellogg, Brown & Root, a division of
Halliburton, and referred all other
comment to the employer.
"I am in good shape," the voice-over
quoted Hamill as saying. "They were
good to me. They gave me antibiotics.
I have no idea what is going on Fallu-
jah. I hear there is a siege and people
are living in some sort of prison. ... I
hone to return home one day, and I want

in entertainment
kindle new activism

By Michael Kan
Daily Staff Reporter

After explaining to students on
the Diag how offensive the Come-
dy Central TV show "Banzai" was
to Asians, LSA senior Shana Fu
said the students walked off unin-
terested. saving that she was just

culing Asians, was one of the pro-
grams the group condemned.
Still, there was a lack of concern
among the many students passing
by said Fu, UAAO's advocacy
chair.
"There's a different understand-
ing between different ethnic
groups. For outsiders, they might

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