NEWS The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, September 14, 2005 - 3 ON CAMPUS Dance group auditions to be held tonight Impact Dance will hold auditions from 8 to 11 p.m. in the Michigan League Ballroom. The student-run group performs a variety of dance styles throughout the school year. Group will teach Latin culture at mass meeting La Voz Latina, a Latino student group, will be holding a mass meet- ing in the Angela Davis Lounge of Mary Markley Residence Hall beginning at 8 p.m. Students will have the opportunity to learn about various Latino groups on campus. 0 Amateur 'ham' radio holds mass meeting today The University of Michigan Ama- teur Radio Club will hold a mass meeting from 7 to 8 p.m. in room 3437 of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Building on North Campus. New students and those interested in amateur "ham" radio are encouraged to attend. CRIME NOTES From bench to hospital: a drunken man's saga An ambulance was requested for a drunk man passed out on a bench of the Undergraduate Library facing Ulrich's bookstore, accodring to the Department of Public Safety. The 33-year-old man was uncon- scious and unresponsive due to excessive alcohol intake. He was taken to the University Hospital emergency room by the Huron Val- ley Ambulance. Unarmed robber flees before police can catch up A robbery occurred near South Forest and Hill streets Monday night. The perpetrator had no weap- on, but instead used force. The Ann Arbor Police Department described the suspect as a 5'10" male with a small goatee, wearing a sleeveless undershirt. The suspect fled the scene on foot heading towards Oak- land Street. Wheelchair bandit still on the loose A caller reported Monday that a wheelchair was stolen during the Notre Dame vs. Michigan game in the Big House. A DPS supervisor said the owner was most likely not in the wheel- chair when it was stolen, and it was f probably left unattended. There are no suspects, at this time. THIs DAY In Daily History Many employees strike after labor dispute with 'U' Sept. 14, 1967 - Dorm picketing by University staff intensified as a labor dis- pute continued over Public Act 379, which grants bargaining rights to public employ- ees. The University administration brought a suit to court arguing that PA 379 is inap- plicable to the school and infringes on its traditional constitutional autonomy. In protest, 200 employees working all Granholm's chief of staff steps down LANSING (AP) - Gov. Jennifer Granholm is going into her last year in office and her reelection campaign without chief of staff Rick Wiener. Wiener, 58, said yesterday he will leave his post on Nov. 1. John Burchett, head of the Democratic governor's office in Washington will take over for Wiener. Burchett will begin some of his new job responsibilities next month. Wiener said he isn't worried that his departure will hurt the governor's campaign. She's expected to face Republican businessman Dick DeVos in the November 2006 election. "I would never, ever desert her if I were worried about that," Wiener told reporters Tuesday. Granholm has not yet officially said she's run- ning, but a "Granholm for Governor" Website urges supporters to donate their time and money to her campaign. Burchett, a native of Grosse Pointe Woods, has been friends with Granholm and her husband, Dan Mulhern, since the three met while attending Har- vard Law School, said Granholm communications director Genna Gent. Yesterday, Granholm called Burchett a "tremen- dous closer, a tremendous organizer and an incred- ibly smart person." Burchett, 43, has served in a number of positions in Washington since moving there in 1997. Before heading east, he was an assistant corporation coun- sel in Wayne County, specializing in real estate and economic development projects for three years. Granholm was Wayne County's corporation counsel before she won the attorney general's seat in 1998. She won the governor's race in 2002 and asked Wiener to head her transition team and then to be her chief of staff. Daniel Beattie will replace Burchett as the direc- tor of Michigan's office in Washington, Granholm announced later yesterday. Beattie, 39, currently is the office's deputy director and handles a num- ber of issues, including transportation, energy and natural resources. Granholm emphasized that it was Wiener's deci- sion to leave. "While I knew about it a couple of months ago, and I've done everything I can to try to convince him to change his mind, this is Rick's decision," Granholm said. "He will not be leaving the team, he will just be in a different role." Wiener said he would not discuss his future plans until after he leaves the administration. He was the state Democratic Party chairman from 1983-89 and then ran a lobbying business in Lan- sing with his wife, Raj. He divested himself of his share in the lobbying business before becoming chief of staff. Then-GOP Chairwoman Betsy Devos had com- plained last year to the state Ethics Board that a conflict of interest existed with Wiener working as Granholm's chief of staff while his wife owned a lobbying firm. The bipartisan board unanimously voted against starting an investigation, saying DeVos did not mention any instances of wrongdo- ing in her complaint. Yesterday, Wiener listed the grueling schedule that goes with a campaign as one of the reasons for his departure. I "I likened the situation to kind of like driving a car. I'm not out of gas, and I wasn't out of gas, but as I looked at my dashboard, the light was blink- ing," he said. "I felt at the time, and continue to, that at some point I would run out of gas." Wiener said the timing of his announcement was good. He pointed to a recent bipartisan spend- ing agreement for the fiscal year that starts in a few weeks and to the progress that's being made on adjusting business taxes and boosting the state's economy. Bill Rustem, an environmental aide to former Gov. William Milliken who now is vice president of Lansing-based Public Sector Consultants, said Tuesday's announcement is understandable. "It's far enough in front of the election so that they're able to develop new relationships," Rustem said. "You can't do it in April next year because you would be in the throes of the campaign." Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema, a Wyo- ming Republican, said in a statement that Wiener was a tremendous asset to Granholm. "I've known Rick for 30 years and have always appreciated his forthrightness," Sikkema said. "It's been a pleasure working with him as the gover- nor's chief of staff because his honesty and integ- rity always shined through. Rick represents what is good and decent about public service. He set a high standard that we should all aspire to." U.S. Rep. Sander Levin (D-Royal Oak) gave Wiener credit for the experience he brought to the job but said Burchett brings a wealth of experience as well. UVA appoints diversity chief RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Uni- versity of Virginia officials yes- terday named a national expert on college diversity to a newly created position combatting racial tension on campus. William Harvey, 57, former vice president of the Center for Advance- ment of Racial and Ethnic Equity in Washington will begin as the vice president and chief officer for diver- sity and equity at the Charlottesville campus on Nov. 1. "Bill Harvey has long been a strong voice on matters of diversi- ty," University of Virginia President John Casteen III said in a statement. "I look forward to the impact he will have on our curricula, on teaching and learning within the university and on the larger community." He faces molding the newly cre- ated position from scratch, while making changes at a school known as a racial tinderbox. The university has grappled with a string of racially charged inci- dents, including a 2002 incident in which students painted their faces black and attacks on minority stu- dents in 2003. }ast month, police rsponded to three reports of racial epithets yelled from passing cars, and two incidents of similar slurs written in front of a dorm room and an apart- ment. About 10 percent of the school's roughly 13,000 undergraduates are black. "Of course it was disturbing," said Harvey, who has tasted campus racism first hand. He recalled how, as a freshman during the '60s, he got his own dorm room at his suburban Phila- delphia college, because adminis- trators wouldn't let a white student room with him. "Even though there are some things that are happening on cam- pus that are quite positive, obvious- ly there are some things that need to be addressed," Harvey said. His appointment follows a nine- month search. The President's Com- mission on Diversity and Equity, a year-long study launched in Septem- ber 2003, urged creating the post. Duties include implementing commission recommendations and taking the school's overall racial temperature, school spokeswoman Carol Wood said. "This person will really be the leader ... reporting directly to the president to assess the culture of the university," she said. Harvey, the former dean of the School of Education at the Univer- sity of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, also will have appointments in the Curry School of Education and the Afri- can-American Studies Program at Virginia, Wood said. Harvey said what encouraged him about the University of Virginia was the seeming commitment to change. He pointed to Access UVa., a recently expanded university pro- gram offering financial aid to many economically underprivileged minorities as well as the creation of his own position. Harvey planned extensive inter- views with students and staff to pin- point the racial climate, as well as statistical studies and forums. He called cleaning up the uni- versity's reputation "a challenging prospect." "I don't have any illusion I'm going to go in there today and tomorrow thing will be different," he said. DYUYOR OWN THING 'A; 'A JUST THE DON'T IIF A rr MALL., a a www.AnnArborStudentExchange.comI Debate Wolverines sports, sell your car, join a soccer team, promote a campus event, find a roommate, sell used textbooks, discuss OUTSIDE OF ORDINARY