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One-hundredfourteen years ofeditorialfreedom
www.michikandaiy.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXV, No. 110 x2005 The Michigan Daily

Work study

canceled for summer

Despite cuts, program
will remain the same for
fall and winter semesters
By Kingson Man
Daily Staff Reporter
From students to the provost's office to
University President Mary Sue Coleman, all
levels of the University hierarchy were struck
with surprise yesterday at the news that the
work-study program for spring and summer
terms would be suspended this year. Pamela

Fowler, director of the Office of Financial Aid,
explained the situation in plain terms: "We're
out of funding."
According to the University's website
for student employment, the financial aid
office "will be unable to include work-study
awards in the financial aid packages for stu-
dents attending during Spring and/or Sum-
mer 2005."
The website maintains, though, that there
are no anticipated changes in work-study aid
packages during the Fall 2005 and Winter
2006 terms.
Coleman said she had not been informed of
the cancellation, and both University spokes-

person Julie Peterson and Senior Vice Provost
for Academic Affairs Lester Monts declined
to comment on the situation.
The federal government pays for the work-
study program and allocates changing amounts
each year. Individual universities are then
responsible for budgeting the amount received
to last the entire year.
This year, there was a cut of nearly half a
million dollars from the federal work-study
funds, leaving $4.2 million for the three Uni-
versity campuses to share. Of those, "the Flint
campus used more than usual," Fowler said.
Projections for work-study funding that
had served well in previous years also fell

short this year due to greater-than-expect-
ed usage of the funds during the academic
year. More students than before had worked
their full allotment of work-study hours and
had come back for extensions or requests
for more money and working hours, Fowler
said.
During the last spring and summer terms,
the Office of Financial Aid had earmarked
$185,000 for work-study funds. This amount
represented the 3 percent of the yearly bud-
get that had been left over from the academic
year. Nearly 200 students had received some
type of work-study support during that spring
and summer period, and a similar number is

expected to qualify for the defunct program
this year.
In a work-study job, 75 percent of the sal-
ary is paid by the government and is applied
directly toward college costs, with the employ-
er paying the remaining 25 percent. This
makes work-study students especially desir-
able to employers.
Julia Mehney, an LSA junior who receives
work-study assistance, said she believes the
cuts will cause many students to look for jobs
off campus.
As an alternative, Fowler suggested that
there were "thousands" of non-work-study
See WORK STUDY, Page 7

Pope John
Paul suffers
heart failure
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope John Paul II suffered heart
failure during treatment for a urinary tract infection and was in
"very serious" condition today, the Vatican said.
Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls said in a statement
that the pope, who was being treated at the Vatican, was given
cardio-respiratory assistance after his heart failed yesterday
afternoon.
"This morning the condition of the Holy Father is very seri-
ous," the statement said.
However, it said that the pope had participated in a 6 a.m. Mass
today and was "conscious, lucid, and serene."
The 84-year-old pontiff's health declined sharply after he
developed a high fever yesterday brought on by the infection. He
wished to remain at the Vatican, Navarro-Valls said.
The statement confirmed previous reports that the pope had
received the sacrament for the sick and dying last night.
St. Peter's Square was quiet this morning with a few tourists
and pilgrims stopping to look up at the pontiff's third floor win-
dow. As always Swiss guards in the colorful uniforms stood by at
the open bronze door, which by tradition is closed upon the death
of a pontiff.
Earlier hundreds of people had gathered, concerned about
the fragile pope. A few knelt on the cobblestones to pray, others
wrapped blankets around themselves as they kept vigil through
the night.
"There's nothing we can do but pray. We're all upset," said Agri-
culture Minister Giovanni Alemanno, who was in the crowd.
Formerly called the last rites, the sacrament is often misunder-
stood as signaling imminent death. It is performed, however, not
only for patients at the point of death, but also for those who are
very sick - and it may be repeated.
The Rome daily La Repubblica reported today that the sacra-
ment was administered by John Paul's closest aide, Polish Arch-
bishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, who serves as his private secretary.
Dziwisz had given the pontiff the same sacrament on Feb. 24 just
before the pope underwent a tracheotomy to insert a tube in his
throat at Gemelli Polyclinic, the newspaper said.
According to its account, John Paul had attended Mass yester-
day morning in his private chapel, then did paperwork from an
armchair. Abruptly, at 6:45 p.m., John Paul turned ghostly pale
and his blood pressure plummeted, the newspaper said.
Navarro-Valls told The Associated Press by telephone that "the
Holy Father today was struck by a high fever caused by a con-
firmed infection of the urinary tract."
The pontiff was started on "an appropriate" course of antibiot-
ics, Navarro-Valls said. Vatican radio later described the pope as
stable and responding to the antibiotics.
The Vatican medical staff appeared confident it could handle
the crisis with the sophisticated medical equipment installed for'
the pontiff.
After his heart failed, the pope was provided with "all the
appropriate therapeutic provisions and cardio-respiratory assis-
See POPE, Page 7


COLOR ME LEAFY

GEO
reaches
contract
with 'U'
By Alison Go
Daily Managing Editor
After 15 hours of bargaining, negotia-
tors from the Graduate Employees' Orga-
nization and the University reached an
agreement on a new contract for graduate
student instructors early this morning. The
tentative contract resolved two of the most
contentious issues between the two parties
and averted an open-ended strike that was
tentatively scheduled to begin Monday.
The agreement, which still needs to be
voted on and approved by GEO sometime
in the next few days, includes increases in
salary and health care coverage. It comes
more than a week after GEO's GSIs and
their supporters staged a one-day walk-
out.
Under the contract, GSIs will now
receive annual salary increases "equal to
the average salary increase for faculty in
the College of Literature, Science, and
the Arts," University spokeswoman Julie
Peterson said.
The agreement, which runs through
March 1, 2008, guarantees a minimum
increase over the next three years of 2.5
percent and 3 percent the last two years.
Originally, GEO asked for increases of
5 percent for the first year and 3 percent
for the next two years, while the Univer-
sity wanted a four-year contract withan
increase of 2 percent for the first year and
2.5 percent for the following three.
The two parties also agreed on substan-
tial salary increases for low-fraction GSIs,
or GSIs who work less than part-time.
When it comes to benefits, the Universi-
ty says it will pay half the health insurance
premiums for GSI who work less than 10
hours a week. This is a net increase in
compensation over the University's previ-
ous payment plan, Peterson said.
The University initially offered to
pay full health care premiums as long as
GEO acquiesced to a four-year contract.
The duration of the contract is now three
years. In a previous interview, GEO Presi-
See GEO, Page 7

EUGENE ROBERTSON/Daily
Ben Montgomery, a fifth-year Ecology and Evolutionary Biology graduate student, examines the effects of leafy
spurge on the pollination of native plants - specifically, the hoary puccoon - in the E. H. Kraus building on Monday.

Artists find beauty where
others see genetic disorders
Touring exhibit
* aims to break stigma
surrounding genetic
conditions with art
By Wendy Lee
For the Daily

Hash Bash organizers
hope to increase turnout

DPS expects live music to draw
greater numbers than last year's
650 at pro-marijuana rally on Diag
By Rachel Kruer
Daily Staff Reporter
The tradition of Hash Bash in recent years has been
up in smoke. In recent years, dwindling numbers
of attendees have characterized the event. In 2003,
Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Diane
Brown said that only 650 people attended the rally for
the legalization of marijuana. In previous years, the
number had been in the thousands.
This year, Hash Bash will be organized by the
University chapter of National Organization for the

open as the live entertainment.
Political science Prof. Albert Price, who will speak
at noon tomorrow, said he will focus on how the puni-
tive ramification are more harmful than the effects of
marijuana.
"At some point, the cost supercedes at the point.
Young adults are the most likely to be hurt by policy
than the drug," he said.
Price added that Alaska voted to legalize marijuana
as evidence that even a state dominated by a Republi-
can legislature condoned this.
Even amidst the celebration, marijuana laws will be
enforced. Those visibly under the influence of mari-
juana can receive punishment of 90 days in jail and
a $100 fine, Brown said. Possession of marijuana is a
criminal offense punishable with up to one year in jail
or a $2,000 fine.

In an era when the possibility of elimi-
nating certain conditions through genetic
engineering is rapidly nearing, a photog-
rapher and an epidemiologist hope to use
a traveling art exhibit to help people see
genetic conditions as a contribution to
diversity rather than a disease.
Positive Exnnure is a nonnrofit owani-