100%

Scanned image of the page. Keyboard directions: use + to zoom in, - to zoom out, arrow keys to pan inside the viewer.

Page Options

Download this Issue

Share

Something wrong?

Something wrong with this page? Report problem.

Rights / Permissions

This collection, digitized in collaboration with the Michigan Daily and the Board for Student Publications, contains materials that are protected by copyright law. Access to these materials is provided for non-profit educational and research purposes. If you use an item from this collection, it is your responsibility to consider the work's copyright status and obtain any required permission.

November 16, 2004 - Image 3

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Michigan Daily, 2004-11-16

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.


NEWS

The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, November 16, 2004 - 3

ON CAMPUS
Court justice Scalia
to give law school
lecture
Supreme Court Justice Antonin
Scalia will give a free lecture at
Rackham Auditorium today at 4:30
p.m. The talk is part of the DeRoy
Lecture for the University Law
School. Scalia was nominated in
1986 by President Ronald Reagan.
Scalia has also served as a law pro-
fessor at the University of Virginia
and the University of Chicago.
Detroit Observatory
holds free open
house
The Detroit Observatory on East
Ann Street is inviting the public to
its open house today from 1 to 4 p.m.
to view its scientific artifacts. The
observatory, built in 1854, has tele-
scopes and other instruments from
the 19th century. Tours of the obser-
vatory and its museum are free for
University students.
Workshop helps
*with public
speaking skills
The University of Michigan Toast-
masters Club is hosting a workshop
to help teach public speaking skills.
The workshop, "How to 101: Public
Speaking" will be held in the Michi-
0 gan Room in the Michigan League
today from 7 to 9 p.m.
CRIME
NOTES
Broken window
* found in Markley,
BB gun suspected
A housing security officer found
a hole in a windowpane on the fifth
floor of Mary Markley Residence
Hall on Sunday night, DPS reports.
The hole is likely to have been
caused by a BB gun. There were no
suspects or witnesses.
Smokers asked
to leave Yost Ice
Arena
Three men, who were smoking
cigarettes, were repeatedly asked to
leave Yost Ice Arena Sunday night,
DPS reports. After several verbal
warnings, they left the arena.
Vehicle damaged
in parking lot
An unattended vehicle parked in
the East Medical Center parking

lot was found with damage Sunday
night, DPS reports. The vehicle's
tail light and fender were broken.
THIS WEEK
In Daily History
Mail explodes,
injures professor 's
* assistant
November 18, 1985 - A package
sent to a University psychology pro-
fessor exploded in the arms of the
professor's assistant.
Nicklaus Suino, who was opening
a package addressed to Prof. James
McConnell, suffered only minor
injuries. Suino was treated for flesh
wounds to the arm and cuts to the
stomach.
The Washtenaw County Sheriff's
department had no suspects yet.
But co-workers say the bomb may
be connected to a textbook on human
behavior written by McConnell, which
includes controversial theories.
The theories include how to per-
form behavior modifications and
when it should be used, said Charles
Morris, associate chair of the psy-

New student board examines 'U' budget

"y Kristin Ostby
Daily Staff Reporter
Midway through its first year of
existence, a groundbreaking student
committee is working to understand
the complexities of the University's
budget.
Fostering communication between
students and University administra-
tors is a key objective of the Divi-
sion of Student Affairs Advisory
Board, and members of the recently
formed group say working with Stu-
dent Affairs' budget is essential to
maintaining that dialogue.
University President Mary Sue
Coleman approved the board's for-
mation in April partly in response to
protest by Student Voices in Action,
a coalition of University student
groups.
SVA pushed for the development
of a student advisory board because
the group was dissatisfied with
budget cuts and changes to student
services, some of which have been
reversed after the University had
some of its state funding restored
earlier this year.
Court
declines
]Kmart
dispute
WASHINGTON (AP) - The
Supreme Court yesterday declined
to consider whether retailer Kmart
Corp. should have been allowed
to pay more than $300 million to
key suppliers immediately after
filing for bankruptcy protection.
Justices let stand a lower rul-
ing that declared Kmart had no
authority to pay suppliers such
as newspaper chain Knight-Rid-
der Inc. The court said Kmart had
not proven that the suppliers were
so critical to Kmart's operations
to justify payments to them over
others.
The case stemmed from
Kmart's Jan. 22, 2002, filing for
bankruptcy protection. In a typi-
cal Chapter 11 bankruptcy case,
companies are given a temporary
legal reprieve from paying off
debts and obligations until they
can improve their operations.
Kmart, however, obtained
approval from a bankruptcy judge
to pay off debts immediately to its
"critical vendors" - about 2,330
suppliers, including 1,070 news-
papers - that it deemed neces-
sary to maintain goodwill.
This is not unusual - key ven-
dors may refuse to do business
with a financially troubled com-
pany without some assurances of
payment, according to bankrupt-
cy lawyers.
The Chicago-based 7th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals dis-
agreed, ruling that Kmart had not
shown that business from suppliers
such as Knight-Ridder - which
distributes the retailer's weekly
advertising circulars - were any
more necessary than companies
such as Capital Factors Inc. which
were excluded.
The Supreme Court's move yes-
terday leaves the lower courts split
as to whether companies filing for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

should be allowed to pay key sup-
pliers first.
The trio of cases justices
declined to hear involved a hand-
ful of key suppliers who are fight-
ing back after Kmart demanded
they return the money. They argue
that the bankruptcy code doesn't
give federal courts authority to
tamper with reorganization plans
after a bankruptcy judge has
approved it.
The suppliers also claimed they
weren't given proper notice or
allowed to present their side when
U.S. District Judge John Grady in
Chicago ruled in April 2003 that
the payments weren't proper.
Kmart's bankruptcy led to the
closing of about 600 stores, termi-
nation of 57,000 Kmart employ-
ees and cancellation of company
stock. The retailer emerged from
bankruptcy in May 2003 and in
March posted its first profitable
quarter in three years.

The board was
Vice President for Student Affairs
E. Royster Harper said she hopes the
board's discussion will help students
and administrators see eye to eye on
such issues.
"With the diverse set of students
(on the board), it is another way for
us to keep open the lines of commu-
nication to make sure we are getting
student input on initiatives and proj-
ects that we are working on," she
said.
The board met for the first time in
September, and has met every three
weeks since, primarily to talk about
the Student Affairs budget.
Harper said she has attended two
of the board's meetings this term in
order to help explain the intricate
budget process.
Students will spend most of this
term's meetings gaining a fuller
understanding of the budget's intri-
cacies, Harper said. Then, next term,
members will give input on the bud-
get based on the emerging concerns
of students.

created partly in response to

"In January, we'll talk about goals
and objectives," Harper said, adding

Rheingans in an e-mail.
Only 1 percent of the University's

that the needs of the stu-

,CCT T

dent community would "In ja
be part of that discus-
sion. talk
"We will ask (the
group) for their feed- and o
back and advice about
core services that we're
providing," she added.
The board consists
of undergraduate and
graduate students, inter-
national students and
students with diverse
ethnic and racial backgrounds. It is
comprised of 15 members, three of
whom are members of the Michigan
Student Assembly. Members went
through an application process to
get on the board.
"We do not speak as representa-
tives of every student on campus. We
simply provide a student perspective
of the issues presented to us," said
LSA senior and co-Chair Carrie

.nuary, we'll
about goals
ibjectives."

General Fund
is earmarked
for Student
Affairs. The
General Fund
is a pool of
money col-
lected from
tuition, state
appropria-
tions and
other revenue

- E. Royster Hart
Vice President
Student Affo
all academic
units. The fund

student protests
ing to the board.
Student Affairs programs such as
Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, the
Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual
and Transgender Affairs, Univer-
sity Health Services, the Office of
Greek Life and the Office of Student
Activities and Leadership get size-
able portions of that money.
The rest is doled out among other
Student Affairs programs.
"As you can see from this, (Stu-
dent Affairs) has to use its revenues
wisely each year," Rheingans said.
Another complication of the Stu-
dent Affairs budget is that its time-
line conflicts with that of the state
of Michigan. "(Student Affairs') and
University's budget years begin in
July each year, whereas the state's
budget begins in October," Rhein-
gans said.
She added that the gap between
the cycles means that Student
Affairs cannot really determine the
size of its budget until months after
the state makes its move.

that goes
toward almost
and administrative
for the Division of

Student Affairs amounted to nearly
$10 million in Fiscal Year 2004.
After allocating about 72 percent
of that money for Student Affairs
salaries and 20 percent to the Michi-
gan Union, the Michigan League,
and Pierpont Commons, little more
than one million dollars is left for
Student Affairs' operations, accord-

Detroit schools
may cut 4,000 jobs

DETROIT (AP) - The city's strug-
gling public school district is consider-
ing cutting up to 4,000 jobs and closing
25 to 40 schools to help eliminate a
$198 million budget deficit caused in
part by declining enrollment, officials
announced yesterday.
Details of a deficit-reduction plan are
expected to be announced over the next
few weeks, Kenneth
Burnley, chief execu-
tive for the Detroit C h0b
Public Schools, said
in a written state- The city hq
ment. And the district nate the $
expects to submit a
plan to the state with-b
in the next 90 days to N This year'
eliminate the deficit1asba3264O
by June 30, 2006. at40
The deficit for the
year ending June 30, The district
2005, includes a$150 et $66.8 m
million shortfall this he state
fiscal year and a
$48.7 million deficit
from the 2003-04
fiscal year. The deficit remains despite
$76 million in earlier cuts.
In addition to job cuts and school
closings, the district said the deficit-
reduction plan is expected to include:

I
ii +

working with the state Legislature to
allow the district to issue deficit-reduc-
tion bonds payable over the next 15
years; asking the state Legislature to
maintain $15 million in supplemental
funding; bargaining with labor unions
on wages and benefits; and seeking to
eliminate the deficit over a five-year
period instead of two years.
Last week,
Detroit Pub-
Cutlic Schools
announced it lost
,es to eim! 9,307 students
98 million since fall 2003
and warned that
school closings
student count and job cuts
16, down from .were likely. This
fall dow f year's student
count was at
: is expected to 140,716, down
lion less from from 150,023
last fall.
As a result
of the drop in
enrollment, the
district was expected to get $66.8
million less from the state than last
fall - more than the $42 million it
had budgeted to lose from projected
enrollment drops.

DOWNLOAD
Continued from page 1
and Cflix at www.cdigix.com, and payments are
made via credit card. Although this is an opt-in ser-
vice, Cdigix President Brett Goldberg said he is con-
fident student response will be positive.
"Our catalog is huge and the price is great. For the
price of a latte, you can get access to over a million
songs," Goldberg said. "(The University) is our larg-
est campus to date, and we are eager to get started."
He cited the example of Napster, which provides a
similar download service at $10 a month.
Like Napster, Ctrax allows users to get music

through tethered downloads, which means the music
stays on the user's hard drive and cannot be trans-
ferred to another file. The files can be played on Win-
dows Media or Real Network players on PCs only.
Ctrax users then have the option of buying individual
tracks at 89 cents each.
Goldberg said students should not worry about los-
ing access to their catalog of music once they leave
school.
"We have put together a plan with another estab-
lished company that will allow users to keep their
music and become a subscriber of that partner com-
pany," he said, adding that the program's details will
be announced in a couple weeks.

For now, Zanger-Nadis said he is just relieved to
know the University is addressing the problem of
illegal downloads. "I like it that the University and
a lot of musicians are coming around to the idea of
Internet as a form of music distribution. It is good
that people are acknowledging the problem and find-
ing solutions to it," he said.

-=mom%

,.----

1HE TRUTH IS...
THE INTERNET
IS GOODI FOR TWO THINGS.
JIM'?OHHS .COM
IS THlE OTHER 014E.

Back to Top

© 2024 Regents of the University of Michigan