Friday, December 3, 2004 News 3 SOLE renews protests of 'U' labor practices Opinion 4 Sam Singer on East- West alliance Sports 11 Notre Dame a must- win for cagers One-hundredfourteen years ofedaorzlfreedom Weather 28 TOMORROW: 2004 The Michigan Daily - - - - - - ------- - ---------- ------------------------- M -Ai -p M UP I I; I I I I I I I I, I, v, I I I I I I I, 18 111 a I; Ago RNA I A; A Ag I; OR ol RA P i A; RP I; OR www.michiganday.com Ann Arbor, Michigan * Vol. CXV, No.45 Same-sex benefits could lead to suit By Donn M. Fresard Daily StafReporter A little more than a year after the University defended its admissions policies in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, another courtbattle may be on the horizon - this time regarding the University's right to grant same-sex benefits to its employees. Gov. Jennifer Granholm decided Wednesday to pull same-sex partner benefits from new con- tracts with state employees until a court can decide whether they are legal after the passage of Propos- al 2. Supporters of the amendment said the Univer- sity is likely headed to court, if it continues to offer University likely to go to court if it continues to offer benefits to gay couples its own domestic partner benefits and if the court rules the state can't offer them. Proposal 2, which was passed by state voters in last month's election, amended the state constitu- tion to ban gay marriage or similar unions, mean- ing that same-sex partnerships can't be recognized as equal to marriage "for any purpose." Prior to the election, the proposal's opponents argued that its wording was vague and that it was not clear whether it would affect domestic partner benefits for state and public university employees. "It's our legal position that the proposal that passed is not relevant to our decision on what to offer our employees," University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said yesterday. "We intend to con- tinue offering the benefits, and if those benefits are challenged we will defend our right to do so." But Patrick Gillen, an attorney at the Thomas More Law Center who was a principal author of the amendment, said the University's interpreta- tion of the amendment is wrong and subject to legal challenge. "There's no question in my view that the amendment precludes domestic partner benefits (for public employees)," Gillen said. "I think it's substantially certain there will be litigation." Gillen said he would not rule out the possibility that he or his law center would sue the University themselves. Robert Sedler, a professor of constitutional law at Wayne State University, said it will be unclear whether the amendment legally bans any domestic partner benefits until a state court provides a rul- ing. If courts rule that it does, he said, the Univer- sity's last line of defense would be to argue that, as a constitutionally autonomous institution, it is exempt from the amendment. Asked about the autonomy argument, Gillen called it "extraordinarily far-fetched." "It would be extremely unusual, I believe unprecedented in the history of the United States, if a state university was exempted from a require- ment of the state constitution," Gillen said. See PROPOSAL, Page 7 Board debates changes to 'U' code of conduct One amendment, proposed by MSA, calls"for special penalties for hate crimes By Kristin Ostby Daily Staff Reporter A University committee is evaluating sev- eral major proposed changes to the State- ment of Student Rights and Responsibilities - known as "the code" for student behavior - which would include special penalties for hate crimes and allow students facing expul- sion to be represented by an attorney. But a member of the committee said the Univer- sity has already made up its mind to refuse to allow legal representation. The Student Relations Advisory Committee, the board responsible for reviewing the code, is currently evaluating 19 Students amendment proposals. S The Michigan Student meet to' Assembly proposed 18 of the changes, includ- proposed ing the amendment to 1 allow students facing I OSCR will pres expulsion to have attor- tions for code chs ney representation. tosfrcd h "Right now a stu- p.m. in the Michil dent is allowed to Students can g be accompanied by www.umich~edu/- an attorney, but the attorney can't rep- There will be a resent them," said on Wednesday frc Joshua Gewolb, the Union. chair of MSA's code of conduct advisory board and a Law School student. "In cases involving expul- sion - which is a life-altering punishment - we feel it's appropriate that students be represented by an attorney." Keith Elkin, director of the Office of Student Conflict Resolution, the body that enforces the code, said he is opposed to such an amendment because it would com- pletely change OSCR's process. "It changes it from an educational process to one that is like a criminal court process. The other major problem is there's going to be a fun- damental inequity in that, on the one hand, students with the most money are going to Jeffery Frumkin, University chief negotiator, assistant provost and senior director of Academic Human Resources, and Ronald Morash, associate dean of the College of Arts, Science, and Letters at the University's Dearbom campus, looks over signatures on LEO's contract in May. ecturers reopen negotiations !' d I 3f a g g 0 be able to hire better lawyers." Elkin added that this proposal is also unbalanced because it only allows the accused, and not the accuser, to have an attorney present. "And then the other thing is, once you introduce lawyers on both sides, then the University would have to have a lawyer there," he added. "It just totally changes the nature of our process." OSCR will present its recommendations for the code changes to the evaluation com- mittee at a public meeting today at 1 p.m. in the Bates Room of the Michigan Union. The committee is then expected to spend a month gathering feedback and make rec- ommendations to President Mary Sue Cole- man in January. But Gold said the committee's recom- mendations won't change the University's position. "My own feeling is unless the chair officials f OSCR is open for p further suggestions 'scuss ... then there's noth- ing (the committee) changes can do," Martin Gold, a member of the code evaluation committee ent recommenda- and an emeritus pro- :nge today at 1 fessor in psychology Dan Union. said. "(Elkin is) the ive feedback at head of the office. -oscr. He's going to have to live with all this, forum discussion and because he has to am 4 to 6 p.m. in live with this, I think it's right for the Vice President for Student Affairs and the presi- dent of the University to weigh (Elkin's) decisions very heavily. And since he's made his decisions, I don't know what there is to discuss." Another change proposed by MSA would allow OSCR to formally consider whether a student who violated the code was moti- vated by a bias based on race, religion, gen- der or sexual orientation - in other words, whether they committed a hate crime. "We feel that it's important for the state- ment to reflect the fact that a student is more culpable if their misconduct was motivated by bias than if it was not, and See CONDUCT, Page 7 By Ekjyot Saini Daily Staff Reporter The Lecturers' Employee Organization went back to the bargaining table with the University yesterday in order to address grievances filed by lecturers who were let go by the University for the winter semester. LEO signed a contract with the University in June after a lengthy process of negotiations, which also involved a one-day walkout by union mem- bers. The controversy stems from the ambiguity con- cerning the reason as to why the lecturers were let go. Numerous lecturers were let go over the sum- mer, and LEO claims that the University initially said they were laid off due to budget cuts, but then UDGET CUTS later claimed they were fired due to poor job per- formance. Under the contract, lecturers who are laid off are placed on a waiting list and must be re-hired if their department has openings in the future that they are qualified for. But the University does not have to re-hire lecturers if they are fired. LEO claims that the University has placed new faculty into positions that the lecturers feel they were qualified to fill. The University has not pro- vided a statement as to why the lecturers were let go. Yesterday's meeting involved the three lecturers from the English department who filed grievances and representatives from LEO, the English depart- ment and the academic human resources depart- ment. Both the University and LEO expressed optimism after what they said was a productive meeting. University spokeswoman Julie Peterson said that the meeting provided positive discussion. She said the parties were closer to a solution at the end of the meeting, but no final decision was made. LEO President Bonnie Halloran said, "The meeting was longer than expected because of the positive direction it was taking." Halloran would not reveal any of the details of the proposals that the University put forward because of binding confidentiality negotiation rules. A second LEO meeting was held yesterday eve- ning with union members to discuss the proposals that the University put forward at the earlier meet- ing. "Members have some concerns that we will See LEO, Page 7 State shortfall may cause tuition 1k By Jameel Naqvi budget in line with the revised revenue esti- Daily Staff Reporter mates, according to Greg Bird, spokesman for the Office of the State Budget. Bird could not University students may face unexpected say whether higher education funding will be tuition hikes next semester if the state decides cut under the plan. to make up for lower-than-expected tax rev- Higher education cuts would lead to tuition enue and sluggish economic growth with fur- increases, if administrators stick to statements ther cuts to higher education funding. they've made in the past. AtJuly's budget pre- The House Fiscal Agency, which estimates sentation to the University's Board of Regents, state revenue, projects a $430 million budget Provost Paul Courant said, "If there are mid- shortfall for fiscal year 2005. This amount, year reductions in the state appropriation, though severe, is less we would ask the board to than half of the $900 The House Fiscal approve mid-year tuition million shortfall the increases to offset those state experienced in Agency projects a reductions. After two years each of the past two fis- in base and one-time reduc- cal years. $430 million budget tions, we simply do not have At today's emergen- sufficient budgetary or pro- cy revenue estimating shortfall for the gram flexibility to sustain conference in Lansing, Fiscal Year 2005. another cut without a new the state principals source of revenue." - the directors of the In the past, the Univer- House and Senate fiscal sity's budget cuts - which agencies and the state treasurer - will recon- amounted to a combined $57 million in 2003 cile their slightly varying projections of the and 2004 - have resulted in larger classes, state's revenue for FY 2005, which began on fewer library hours and vacant faculty posi- Oct. 1, and release an official estimate. tions. The state restored a portion of the Gov. Jennifer Granholm is working on a money it cut from the University's funding spending reduction plan to bring Michigan's See BUDGET, Page 7 Students looks to 20th anniversary of Bhopal disaster By Iris S. Perez For the Daily Today marks the 20th anniversary of the catastrophic incident that killed 3,800 residents of Bhopal, India, by a noxious gas leak whose repercussions are respon- sible for the loss of 20,000 lives to date. On Dec. 3, 1984, at 12:05 a.m., thou- sands of Bhopal residents were awakened by deadly methyl isocyanate gas becloud- ing their town. The disaster exposed an estimated half a million people to the gas and has left survivors suffering from exposure-related illnesses such as cancer, severe birth defects, menstrual abnor- malities and tuberculosis among other illnesses. Yesterday, student members of the Uni- versity groups Students for Bhopal and Environmental Action at the University of Michigan members stood outside of the Chemistry Building reading testimonials of Bhopal victims as students entered and exited the building. Students also plastered 20 vivid posters on the walls of the building that provided information on the disaster. "Each poster is a fact. Our main goal is to have Dow (Chemical) give money to Bhopal. Under the court of law Dow is responsible," said Deepti Reddy, an LSA sophomore and Students for Bhopal mem- ber. The lethal gas seeped from the Union Carbide pesticide plant. Union Carbide was bought by Dow - the largest chemi- cal organization in the world - in 2001. The-site is still considered highly toxic and has contaminated the water sup- ply residents drink from everyday with importunate organic pollutants, hazard- ous levels of mercury and other lethal chemicals, students said. Dow Chemical refuses to take liability for the incident, placing liability on the pesticide plant. The plant has paid the full settlement of $470 million to the Govern- ment of India in 1989 and has provided monetary and medical aid to victims. However, the Indian government agreed to this financial settlement without consulting the victims and cleared Union See BHOPAL, Page 7 I' 5 5..