NEWS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, December 1, 2004 - 3 ON CAMPUS LSA dean delivers 'State of the College' address LSA Dean Terrence McDonald and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Edu- cation Robert Megginson will address students, faculty and staff and take ques- tions about the state of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts today. This "State of the College" address will take place in the Pendleton Room of the Michigan Union at 6 p.m. The dialogue will focus on the current and future ini- tiatives the college is taking. Exhibit focuses on AIDS in S. Africa An exhibition today unites major South African artists to address the issue of HIV and AIDS in South Africa. The works represent a new artistic activism and incorporate a spectrum of insight- ful perspectives and creative media. The exhibition is being shown in room 0520 of the Osterman Common Room of Rackham Graduate School, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 'U' scientist to discuss health patterns of Latinos Hector Gonzalez, an assistant research scientist in the Department of Epidemiology, will speak about the ways in which the association between social status and health of Latinos runs contrary to expectations. Mexican Americans have health outcomes similar to or better than non-Hispanic whites, despite higher risks for poor health. The presentation will discuss this paradox along with research on the health of older Mexican Americans. The event will take place today from 3 to 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Public Health Building. CRIME NOTES Laptop stolen from Ed. building A caller reported a stolen laptop computer to the Department of Public Safety on Monday. The computer was a laptop, and the caller said it was taken from the School of Education at 610 E. University Ave. on Nov. 23. DPS has no suspects in the case. Scrolls stolen, porn accessed at School of Ed. A caller reported to DPS on Mon- day that two Chinese scrolls were stolen from the School of Educa- tion and a computer was accessed to download pornography there. Patient threatens * patrons at family medical center A patient was escorted out of Bri- arwood Family Medicine at 1801 Bri- arwood Circle on Monday. The patient was reportedly making threats to patrons at the practice. Study finds strong link between race, employer response C alif researcher finds Arab Americans most likely to face job discrimination By Carissa Miller Daily Staff Reporter Employment agencies often discriminate against job applicants on the basis of their names, said researcher Sirithon Thanasombat, who presented the results of a Discrimination Research Center of Cali- fornia study yesterday in Hutchins Hall. The study, titled "Names Make a Difference," is the DRC's third report concerning the temporary employment industry. Between August and Novem- ber 2003, the DRC sent 6,200 resumes to temporary employment agencies throughout California. Though the resume applicants were fake, they all possessed equal qualifications. The goal of the study was to find out whether identifiably ethnic names on the resumes affected the rates at which the agencies would grant e-mail or telephone responses. The report states that applicants from some ethnic groups received responses from agencies with greater frequency than white applicants or applicants of other ethnic groups. The state of Michigan is ranked third in number of complaints in the United States. "This (report) is a snapshot of employer behavior in the real world today," said Thanasombat, program coordinator of the DRC. " And though this study was limited to temp agencies and entry-level positions, stereotypes still come up in legal firms and other upper-level employment." The names that were compared in the study derived from five groups: Asian Americans, Latinos, blacks, Arab Americans/South Asians and whites. Response rates from the agencies varied between each of the groups, as well as between men and women in certain groups. Overall, names that were stereotypically associ- ated with Arab Americans/South Asians and Asian Americans received lower response rates from job agencies than identifiably ethnic names of any other group, suggesting that members of these ethnic groups experience persistent discrimination in employment because of their names Latinos received the highest response rate with 33 percent, followed by whites and blacks with 32 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Thanasombat speculated on the reasons behind the differences. "We think the Latinos came out first because it was thought that they had bilingual skills, which is especially important in California," she said. "The backlash against Arab Americans and South Asians in the aftermath of September 11 could also explain their low response rate." The study also concluded that the number of civil rights violations claimed by employees has increased in the last three years, but Asian Americans tended to MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily California researcher Sid Thanasombat speaks in Hutchins Hall yesterday regarding research findings showing the evidence of hiring disparities based on names on applications. file lawsuits less often than other groups. Thanasom- bat said this indicates that employers can and do dis- criminate against Asian Americans without fear of legal repercussions, which explains the low response rate. While the average response rate was higher for women than for men in all groups, the gap was par- ticularly evident with Arab Americans/South Asians and whites. But the other groups showed smaller gender gaps. The response rates for black men and women mirrored the statewide rate of 31 percent and Asian American men and women fared equally poorly. These results indicate that race is a bigger factor in employment discrimination than gender, but that those agencies that look beyond racial lines often dis- criminate based on gender stereotypes, Thanasombat said. "It is really scary that this type of discrimination exists," said Chad Doobay, a Law School student who attended the presentation. "I was surprised by the gender difference - the fact that there is a gender bias just further shows that we have a lot of work to do to achieve equality." As an extension of this research, in the future, the DRC plans to use equally qualified pairs of people to explore the different types of employment discrimi- nation in the United States. 'U' makes gains in hiring female scientists, engineers By Andrew Perrine For The Daily The list of widely known scientists is dominated by men, but a University pro- gram is working to break this mold. The ADVANCE program seeks to increase the number of female science and engineering professors at the Univer- sity, and as the five-year program passes its halfway point, some women faculty are saying it is accomplishing its mission. Hiring of female professors in science high-priority packages reach their desti- nations faster and more efficiently. Cohn added that she was also able to include her assistants - all of them female - in a conference held by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, giving them valu- able experience in the world of academia. However, Cohn stressed that her experi- ence is not representative of the experience of women faculty members as a whole. "The problem is not solved.," she said. An ADVANCE report published this year also warned that because the ences" felt the departmental climate was "colder and less positive" than either their male colleagues or females in other departments such as the humanities and social sciences. Computer science Prof. Martha Pol- lack said bringing women faculty togeth- er and having open conversation is key to improving an unfriendly work environ- ment and feelings of isolation. Pollack is a member of Science and Technology Recruiting to Improve Diver- sity and Excellence, a committee that advises departments on ways to identify qualified women and minorities for faculty positions. She explained that ADVANCE attacks the problem of changing institu- tional climate "by raising awareness and bringing in new women faculty." "That in itself will make a huge differ- ence," she added. Abigail Stewart, a professor ofpsychol- ogy and women's studies and a principle investigator in the ADVANCE project, said, "The most important resource is of course the science and engineering facul- ty themselves - men and women - who have worked hard to understand how to make improvements in this area." ADVANCE is trying to ameliorate the difficulties faced by male and female faculty members as they attempt to bal- ance their professional duties with raising children. Cohn, a mother of two, pointed out the difficulty in not being able to attend - meetings with her male colleagues after 5 p.m. because she is obligated to pick up her children from daycare. ADVANCE hopes to improve Univer- sity policies that give modified duties to faculty who must care for infants and to make it easier for women professors with children to get tenure. Also, ADVANCE aims to provide on-site childcare. Engineering junior Stephanie Ritok said the gender of her professors makes lit- tle difference to her. "There's still the same amount of knowledge. It doesn't matter to me if they're male or female," she said. While the improvements in female hir- ing since 2001 are significant, the differ- ence between today and 20 years ago is greater. Engineering junior Evan Quas- ney said his mother, a member of the University's class of 1978, was-part of the extreme minority of female students in the civil engineering department. "There were no female professors at all that she knew of," he said. and engineering has increased sig- nificantly since 2001, according to leaders of the proj- ect, which is fund- ed by the National Science Founda- tion. In 2001, only 20 percent of pro- fessors hired by the University were women, while this year that figure has risen to 40 percent. As a result, the LC T 7 % You're not going to have women deans if you_ don't have more tenured faculty." - Amy Cohn Engineering Professor 2002-03 academic year was the first full year affected by ADVANCE, "it is too soon to draw conclusions about ADVANCE project efforts to recruit and retain women scien- tists from these numbers." But by female-to-male ratio of professors in sci- ence and engineering, an area historically dominated by men, is increasing. Industrial and operations engineering Prof. Amy Cohn said the ADVANCE program has made a tangible difference for her, adding that in her first three years at the University have "largely been phe- nomenal." Through ADVANCE, Cohn received the Elizabeth C. Crosby Award, a grant that helped her hire graduate and under- graduate research assistants who help her efficiently complete her last research proj- ect. Cohn's project involved ensuring that actively recruiting young female pro- fessors in the sciences, ADVANCE also hopes to put more women in positions of power in the science departments. "You're not going to have women deans if you don't have more tenured faculty," said Cohn. "You're not going to have women tenured faculty without increasing numbers in junior faculty." While programs that award money can sometimes spark resentment, Cohn said she hopes that ADVANCE instead fosters open discussion. ADVANCE reported that a survey conducted prior to the program's start indicated that women in the "hard sci- I THIs DAY In Daily History City Council tries to raise penalty for pot possession Dec. 1, 1989 - Members of the Ann Arbor City Council attempted to raise the city's $5 penalty for poses- sion of marijuana to $25 for a first offense, by placing a measure on an upcoming ballot. Mayor Gerald Jernigan said the standing law sent the wrong message to the city. 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