NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 19, 2004 - 3
ON CAMPUS
Women's pay in Mich. lags other states
Transgender
students hold Diag
remembrance rally
In honor of members of the trans-
gender community who have died
in the past year, the Office of Les-
bian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Affairs will hold a rally on the Diag
today at noon.
A vigil will also be held tomorrow at
6:30 p.m. to commemorate the Trans-
gender Day of Remembrance, followed
by a showing of the film "Ke Kulana He
Mahu at about 8:15 p.m. in the Michi-
gan League.
The vigil is also organized by the
LGBT Office.
Blood Battle
wraps up with
final day in Union
Today is the last day of the Blood
Battle, which pits the University of
Michigan and Ohio State University
in a competition to see which school
can donate more blood.
Students interested in donating
blood can make an appointment at
www.givelife.org to avoid waiting in
line.
As part of the battle, the fraternity
Alpha Phi Omega will be holding a
blood drive in the Michigan Union
from 2 to 8 p.m today.
Near Eastern
Studies prof to
* talk on Mideast
The Center for Middle Eastern
and North African Studies will host
Carol Bardenstein tomorrow for a
speech on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
Bardenstein will talk at the Inter-
national Institute about "Engender-
ing the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict
from 11 a.m. to noon.
Bardenstein is a professor of Near
Eastern Studies at the University.
Lounge holds
tailgate party for
battle with OSU
The U-Go's Lounge in Pierpont
Commons on North Campus invites
all students to come to the con-
venience store and sports lounge
tomorrow to watch Michigan battle
archrival Ohio State for the Big Ten
Championship and a likely trip to the
Rose Bowl.
The lounge will provide free
snacks.
Campus orchestra
* holds concert in
Hill Auditorium
The Campus Symphony Orchestra
will perform Sunday night at 8 p.m.
in Hill Auditorium. The concert will
include pieces by Ravel, Franz Liszt,
Totentanz, and Symphony No. 4 by
Tchaikovsky.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
Homeless people
arrested for
trespassing
Nov. 19, 1991 - Four members of
the Ann Arbor Homeless Action Com-
mittee were arrested for trespassing in a
downtown office building, among them
a University student and one a homeless
taxi driver.
The protestors wanted to bring atten-
tion to their demand that Ann Arbor
buildings with vacant space be used as
low income housing. They asserted that
the building had 10 to 15 empty rooms,
a common situation for downtown
buildings.
While the four tried to establish resi-
dence inside - carrying sleeping bags,
toothbrushes and toilet paper into the
building - their fellow group members
protested outside.
The four had agreed beforehand that
they would not leave the building until
arrested. They were booked for tres-
passing and later released on personal
r recognizance bonds.
By Julia Heming
For the Daily
A study released this week reports that women's
wages in Michigan are lower than in almost all
other states.
The national Institute for Women's Policy
Research reports that women in Michigan make
two-thirds of the average male income, and it
ranked the state 49th, with only Wyoming below
it. The District of Columbia, Hawaii and Maryland
were ranked first, second and third.
The institute, a Washington-based nonprofit
research organization, studied the status of women
in all 50 states by examining factors such as politi-
cal participation, employment and earnings, social
and economic autonomy, reproductive rights and
health. While Michigan's rankings varied over
these different areas, the results in employment
and earnings stood out.
"On a whole, Michigan has higher wages for
women than many other states, but comparably
to the wages that men receive there is room for
improvement," said Erica Williams, coordina-
tor of the research program and co-author of the
study. "This can be attributed to a low percent-
age of (Michigan) women who complete four
years of higher education.... The low number
makes a difference in what types of jobs women
can get, as seen in that 36 percent of women are
in managerial positions."
Business Prof. Lynn Wooten said the discrep-
ancy in wages between men and women in Michi-
gan is due to "the economic infrastructure of the
state."
"Michigan has blue-collar roots - many cen-
tered around the automobile industry - and men
generally have those high-paying jobs," she said.
She points out that women tend to have more
"pink- collar" jobs such as secretary and child care
positions.
In addition, Wooten said the difference in
wages could be a result of the high number of
unions in Michigan. Wooten said fewer women
participate in unions, but high-paying jobs tend
to go to unionized workers. The United Auto
Workers officials said 25 percent of their mem-
bers are women.
The Stephen M. Ross School of Business has
initiatives encouraging women to get involved
in higher paying professions. "We are trying to
remove the glass ceiling to get more women into
"Michigan has blue collar roots - many centered
around the automobile industry - and men
generally have those high paying jobs.
- Business Prof Lynn Wooten
higher paying jobs and getting higher wages to
pink-collar jobs traditionally held by women,"
Wooten said.
LSA junior Ashwini Hardikar, a core mem-
ber of the University's chapter of Amnesty
International, has worked to promote women's
rights both domestically and abroad. She said
one explanation for the wage disparity is the
lack of health insurance offered by many jobs.
This discourages single mothers with a greater
demand for health insurance from applying for
these positions.
"The best way to combat this is to be assertive
by networking with other women. It starts in the
community - you can affect change very visibly
if you start small," she said.
Despite lower women's wages, the state
received a high ranking in the category of wom-
en's political participation. While the study did
not include data from the most recent presi-
dential election, the female voter turnout from
1998 and 2000 elections, as well as the pres-
ence of female politicians such as Gov. Jennifer
Granholm, helped boost the state's ranking in
this section.
The report stated purpose was to provide infor-
mation on the progress of women's equality and on
the existing barriers to that equality.
Williams said the only way to facilitate
change is to show the state government that
issues of women's equality are important.
"Equal opportunity laws are already present,"
she said. "They need to be implemented and
enforced."
'U'
said to pull students
away from other schools
By Brian Gougherty
For the Daily
As a result of the decli
pus has already reorganize
blame Ann Arbor or Mich
This year's increase in University's undergraduate and know that we recruit the sa
graduate student enrollment may have contributed to enroll- University spokeswo
ment drops in six of Michigan's other 14 public universities, possible other universit
despite rising numbers of col-
lege-bound teenagers. Some feel that the increase in
The most dramatic decrease.
was at Western Michigan Uni- enrollment at the University
versity, where 1,349 students is directly related to a
were lost this year, accord- b
ing to a report by the Detroit decrease in student bodies
News. Enrollment at Eastern
Michigan University, Lake of other state universities.
Superior State University and
the University's Dearborn campus declined by the hun- of-state universities may
dreds. public universities, and
Some feel that the increase in enrollment at the University's different people.
Ann Arbor campus and other larger schools like Michigan State "All institutions have ver
University is directly related to a decrease in student bodies of ent marketplaces," DesJard
other state universities, said Linda Brown, registrar at the Uni- head is problematic. ... Fc
versity's Dearborn campus. Dearborn's enrollment figures have in a national market; they'
held relatively stable up until this year. Northern Michigan does n
"Students who apply to U of M Dearborn usually apply to U Michigan Tech saw a sl
of M Ann Arbor and MSU tootBrown said. while Northern Michigan s
This year's freshmen class at the University is the largest This year's freshmen cla
ever. University administrators attributed the large enrollment and administrators say par
to a more complex application process and greater-than-normal new application with more
interest from students accepted into the University. interested.
ne, the University's Dearborn cam-
ed its recruitment process. "We don't
igan State," Brown said. "We simply
ame compilation of students."
man Julie Peterson said, "It's
ies felt the ripple effect of (our
increased enrollment)."
But others said the data
shouldn't be taken as an indica-
tor that smaller state universities
are at the mercy of larger ones.
Education Prof. Steve DesJar-
dins said many things need to
be considered when determin-
ing the reasons for enrollment
drops. He said private and out-
y draw students from Michigan's
that different schools appeal to
ry different missions and very differ-
ins said. "To compare them head-to-
or example, Michigan Tech operates
re a well known engineering school.
ot operate in this market."
light decline in enrollment this year
aw a slight increase.
ss at the University is the largest ever,
in of the reason may be because the
essays weeds out students not really
ALEAINDER IA(L)MZ~/Daily
Beatrice Umetesi, center, speaks in Haven Hall yesterday on the Lessons of
Genocide in Africa panel. Isabelle de Rezende, Umetesi's French translator, right,
and Jose Kagabo, from the Institute for Humanities also sit on the panel.
Refugee recalsflight
from Rwanda conflict
By Jeremy Davidson
For the Daily
Armed with American money and
a pair of blue jeans, refugees fled
the genocide in Rwanda by paying
off Congolese soldiers at a river
checkpoint.
Beatrice Umetesi, a Rwandan
native, witnessed and chronicled the
plight of refugees like herself during
the mid-1990s.
"Fathers abandoned their fami-
lies at the river bank, insisting they
would hire a boat for the family,
when in fact they handed the Con-
golese $20 and crossed the river
alone," Umetesi said.
Umetesi, author of the first-person
account "Surviving The Slaughter,"
spoke yesterday in Haven Hall about
her book and experiences. Umetesi
survived the Rwandan genocide, in
which ethnic Hutus massacred hun-
dreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis.
Umetesi described life in the
Tingi-Tingi refugee camp in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, for-,
merly known as Zaire. She said the
camps were plagued with fear, over-
population and lack of security and
essentials for living.
Of the 500,000 refugees who start-
ed the 400-kilometer journey from
Rwanda to Tingi-Tingi, only 150,000
arrived, Umetesi said. Of the refugees
who arrived at the camp, no children
younger than four survived, and most
pregnant women, elderly and others
who were not as strong perished in the
camp. She said throughout Rwanda and
the Congo during the conflict, many
refugees suffered similar experiences.
Umetesi said she eventually
trekked 2,000 kilometers from
Tingi-Tingi to the city of Mbanda-
ka in the Congo, before escaping to
Belgium.
David Todem, a biostatistics profes-
sor at Michigan State University, said
he met Umetesi in Belgium when he
was doing graduate work there. "I per-
sonally witnessed the effect of her suf-
fering. She was very lucky to escape."
Todem said at the lecture yesterday.
In "Surviving the Slaughter" Ume-
tesi re-tells the story of her and her
family. "It is not a history book, or
a dramatic interpretation. It is a per-
sonal account of the events as they
happened to those I know," Beatrice
said, emphasizing the fact that the
book was told in the first person in
order to enhance the vicarious expe-
rience of the reader.
Her goal with the book was to bring
those who committed the atrocities in
Rwanda and the Democratic Republic
of Congo to justice, and warn future
generations in order to try and prevent
this type of atrocity from occurring in
the future.
"If readers can put themselves in my
place, then I hope it will prevent the
horrors of war to occur in the future,"
Umetesi said.
Umetesi and other visiting pro-
fessors at the lecture were critical
of the United Nations' negligence
in their response to the atrocity.
"The key thing in Africa is that the
U.N. tries to put political action
first. They need to put people first."
Todem said, echoing the message of
Umetesi's book.
Umetesi was vehement about this
point. "I don't care about history or
splitting hairs over facts. I want the
people who committed the crimes to
be put on trial and for the interna-
tional community to focus on taking
care of the victims," Umetesi said.
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