NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 10, 2004 - 5
TREVOR CAMPBELL/Daily
Business School
Dean Robert Dolan
applaudes the $100
million donation made
to the University by
real-estate mogul and
University alum Ste-
phen Ross yesterday.
B-SCHOOL
Continued from page 1
-ing room-only crowd in Hale audi-
torium. "Steve Ross's donation will
animate every part of the Business
School's aspirations and plans. ... It
will help students who aren't even born
yet," she said.
"Steve's gift is a key milestone in
our University-wide fundraising cam-
paign," Coleman added.
"This is a powerful expression in
someone's belief in us," Dolan said.
Business school junior Sukaina
Sangji said she was amazed when she
heard the news of the donation.
"It is an extraordinary amount of
money. It is great for the school. The
new additions and improvements they
want to do look really cool. It is just
really great," she said.
Sangji said the gift will signal to
employers and other business schools
the quality of the University.
"Now everyone in the country can
see that the (Business) School is to be
reckoned with. The alumni go on to
do so much. There are very successful
and generous alumni from this school,"
Sangji added.
ROSS
Continued from page 1
ew's philanthropy choice. Fisher men-
tioned - more than once - that he
does not exclusively support the Uni-
versity's archrival.
"I donate to Michigan too," he said.
This is not Ross's first gift to the
University. In the past, he has donat-
ed $5 million to the funding of a new
academic center, $1 million for an
endowed professorship at the Business
School, $50,000 to the College of Lit-
erature, Science and the Arts, the Arts
for Henry Pearce Endowed Scholar-
ship and additional funds to support
scholarship athletes.
The donation comes amid the Uni-
versity's fundraising campaign, titled
"The Michigan Difference: A Cam-
paign for Michigan." Before the dona-
tion, the University had raised more
than $1 billion. The money raised from
the campaign will be used for projects
throughout the University.
University spokeswoman Julie
Peterson said the gift "energizes and
excites our donors," and that the Busi-
ness School is now more than half way
to its goal of raising $350 million.
Did you sleep throuah our first ma meeting? Le i slators rebuke W hite
Don't worrv, there's another next Thesdav
House's overtime
Judge supports Oracle bid
for takeover of PeopleSoft
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a sharp
rebuke of a new administration policy,
the House moved yesterday to block the
Labor Department from carrying out
overtime rules that critics argued could
deprive millions of workers of their
overtime pay.
The 223 to 193 vote in favor of
season defeat in Congress in two days.
On Wednesday the Senate disregarded
a White House veto threat and voted to
prohibit Bush from giving federal immi-
gration jobs to private workers.
"The administration has chosen this
time to institute new regulations which
for the first time in 80 years scale back
Judge rejects government's
antitrust lawsuit to block hostile
takeover bid of software maker
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A federal judge yesterday
rejected the government's bid to block Oracle Corp.'s $7.7
billion hostile takeover bid for rival software maker People-
Soft on grounds that the deal would throttle competition in a
narrow market niche.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker's decision provides a
major boost to Oracle's bid for PeopleSoft, which has repeat-
edly cited antitrust concerns as one of the primary reasons
for snubbing its unwelcome suitor. The Justice Department
and 10 states, siding with PeopleSoft, brought an antitrust
lawsuit here to block the bid nearly seven months ago.
The suit, contested in a monthlong trial this summer, rep-
resented another dramatic chapter in a Silicon Valley soap
opera starring Oracle's flamboyant chief executive officer,
Larry Ellison, and a feisty former subordinate, PeopleSoft
Chief Executive Officer Craig Conway.
PeopleSoft has rebuffed Oracle buyout offers four times
in the past 15 months, but the company now may find it
more difficult to resist its relentless rival since the judge has
removed the antitrust hurdle.
Since the antitrust case began nearly seven months ago,
PeopleSoft has become more vulnerable because of a sales
slowdown that has decimated its profits and stock, which
figures to make Oracle's $21-per-share offer more appealing
to many investors. PeopleSoft has blamed its disappointing
performance on customer anxieties that were aggravated by
the highly publicized trial.
PeopleSoft's shares rose 46 cents to close at $17.95 on the
Nasdaq Stock Market before Walker released his ruling, then
surged $2.45, or nearly 14 percent, in extended trading. Ora-
cle shares gained 7 cents to close at $9.93 on the Nasdaq, then
added 30 cents in extended trading.
"This decision puts the onus squarely on the board of Peo-
pleSoft to meet with us ... so that shareholders can accept our
offer," Oracle chairman Jeff Henley said.
Without setting a timetable, PeopleSoft said its board of
directors will review the implications of Walker's decision. The
company emphasized that the board has previously concluded
Oracle's bid is "inadequate from a financial point of view."
blocking the
rules defied the
White House. A
threatened veto
applied to veto a
massive spend-
ing bill, now on
the House floor,
if it contains any
language tam-
pering with the
rules that took
effect Aug. 23.
"This is one
step in the leg-
islative process.
"This is the place
where making ends
meet happens because
people have overtime
pay. Republicans
cannot grasp that."
- House Democratic leader
Nancy Pelosi of California
workers' entitle-
ment to overtime
pay," said Rep.
David Obey (D-
Wis.), a sponsor
of the overtime
proposal.
Democrats
sought to depict
the issue as an
election-sea-
son example
of the Bush
administration's
insensitivity to
pay plan
latest evidence of how dead wrong the
Bush administration is when it comes to
meeting the needs of America's strug-
gling middle class."
The White House and most Repub-
licans insisted the rules would update
an antiquated overtime pay system and
make an additional I million lower-paid
workers eligible for overtime.
"I do think that the clarity that
comes with these new rules will help
better protect American workers," said
Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), chair-
man of the House Education and the
Workforce Committee.
It was unclear how much impact the
House vote would have on the biggest
overhaul of overtime regulations in
more than half a century.
The Senate has yet to take up the
health and education bill. House GOP
Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said he
expected that the provision would be
removed when the House and Senate
meet to work out the final version of
the bill.
He said that by that time there will
be "overwhelming evidence" that the
rules are benefiting tens of thousands of
workers.
Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette
of Ohio, who voted for the amendment,
suggested there was a middle ground.
We are continuing to work with the
Congress," said Trent Duffy, a spokes-
man for President Bush.
Democrats, united against the
rules, were joined by 22 Republi-
cans in voting for the amendment to
a $142.5 billion health and education
spending bill.
The vote was Bush's second election-
worker rights,
saying the overtime privileges of up to
6 million workers were at risk.
"This is the place where making
ends meet happens because people have
overtime pay. Republicans cannot grasp
that," said House Democratic leader
Nancy Pelosi of California.
Democratic presidential candidate
John Kerry said the veto threat is "the
College tools for success.
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