NEWS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 16, 2005 - 3
ON CAMPUS
Talk to focus
on transgender
issues
The Office of Lesbian Gay Bisexual
and Transgender Affairs will hold a lec-
ture on "Demystifying the Transgender
Umbrella" in Room 3909 of the Michi-
gan Union from 12:00-1:30 p.m today.
Student-made
documentary to
premiere at Lloyd
"Mural," a documentary film by
LSA student Sultan Sharrief, will
premiere at 5 p.m, tonight in the Hill
seminar room of Alice Lloyd Resi-
dence Hall.
The film follows a group of Uni-
versity students as they create and
install a mural in Detroit.
'U' prof leads off
'Einsten's Legacy'
lecture series
In, the first installment of a five-
part lecture series, "The Invisible
Universe: Einstein's Legacy," Astron-
omy Prof. Joel Bregman discusses
"X-Raying Black Holes."
The event will be held tonight from
7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in room 1800 of the
Chemistry Building.
CRIME
NOTES
Drunken students
set off fire alarm,
then flee
A caller reporter that three subjects
pulled a fire alarm in the Hale Audito-
rium of Assembly Hall and fled toward
the South University Avenue area, the
Department of Public Safety reported.
Two of the subjects were taken into
custody and cited for setting off the fire
alarm, as well as receiving minor in
possession citations. The other subject
got away.
Unarmed robbers
accost student on
Diag
A subject reported an unarmed rob-
bery in the area between the Diag and
the Chemistry Building, according
to DPS . The subject said the robbers
demanded money from him, rummaged
through his backpack and took his cell
phone before fleeing on foot.
Laptop stolen in
undergrad library
A caller reported that his laptop com-
puter was stolen from a study table on
the fourth floor of the Shapiro Under-
graduate Library while he was in the
bathroom, according to DPS reports.
THIS DAY
In Daily History
Student emerges
from four-year
stay in local
church attic
Sept. 16, 1959 - Cheng Guan Lim,
the former Engineering student who
spent four years in the attic of a
local church, will begin classes on
Monday in the literary college.
Lim, a transfer from Albion College
in 1952, had seen his academic record
slip and his funds run out by 1954.
The pressure was too much.
Before the fall semester he threw his
identification into the Huron River and
resorted to living in the rafters of the
Head of 'U' hospitals retires after 8 years
By Christina Hildreth
Daily Staff Reporter
When was the last time you had to solve a
$13-million problem?
For Larry Warren, retiring director and
chief executive officer of the University Hos-
pitals and Health Centers, it was July 1996.
Just days after his appointment to head one of
the nation's leading hospitals, he faced a $740-
million budget with only $727 million in rev-
enue.
In just a few short months, Warren turned
the budget around, posting a profit in 1997.
Yesterday, after nine years of financial gains,
Warren announced his retirement, citing fam-
ily circumstances.
"It is with mixed emotions that I move ahead
with this decision. I have worked here a long
time and am grateful to many who have helped
me along the way," Warren said in a written
statement.
During his time at the helm, Warren tackled
many fiscal issues facing UMHHC. In spite of
Medicare cuts and rising drug costs, Warren
maintained profit margins, closing the 2005
fiscal year with a 5.4-percent profit and $1.31
billion in revenue.
In the midst of mass construction - includ-
ing the Cardiovascular Center, scheduled to
open in 2007; and the Rachel Upjohn Build-
ing on the East Ann Arbor Medical Campus
- Warren led an effort to streamline existing
operations. Officials said this allowed the hos-
pitals to better accommodate patients and cut
redundancy, thereby limiting costs.
While UMHHC officials said Warren's
leadership will be missed, his retirement was
not unexpected.
"I know Larry has been considering this
for some time, so I respect and understand his
decision," Dr. Robert Kelch, the University's
executive vice president for medical affairs,
said in a statement. Kelch oversees the U-M
Health System, which includes UMHHC, the
Medical School and M-CARE, a University-
owned insurance firm.
UMHHC officials said they expect to name
an interim director by next week, adding that
several candidates are being considered.
Meanwhile, Kelch and University President
Mary Sue Coleman have begun looking for a
professional search firm to assist in finding
Warren's successor.
"It will be a nationwide search, looking at
both internal and external candidates," said
Kelch.
He added that the ideal candidate is one who
has strong leadership skills and can "help us
go further but not change direction."
A history of blue
Warren began his professional career at the
University Hospitals in 1973, when he served
as a personnel representative and compensa-
tion analyst. He left the University in 1982 to
work at Mercy Hospital of Detroit, returning
in 1986 as associate hospital director. Named
interim director in 1996, he was confirmed as
permanent executive director in 1998.
Yet Warren did not spend all his time bal-
ancing books. His was involved significantly
in the community, serving on the board of
directors of the American Red Cross's Washt-
enaw County chapter for the past two and a
half years.
"His greatest value to me was his accessibil-
ity in terms of problem-solving and accessing
resources," said Pamela Horiszny, executive
director of the Washtenaw County chapter of
the American Red Cross.
"He has the expertise and the experience to
be someone who can come in and immediately
add value to a situation."
FreshmTan. tur'nout
at activists' initiation
event disappoints
By Laura Frank
Daily Staff Reporter
The passion was there, but the people weren't.
Last night's MPowered event, intended to
acquaint freshmen with progressive activist groups
on campus and the wide variety of ways to become
involved, was full of veteran student organizers
eager to share their love of activism, but lacked an
audience.
MPowered organizer Libby Benton, chair of Col-
lege Democrats, estimated that there were probably
fewer than 10 freshmen in attendance.
This year's MPowered involved five student
groups currently involved in active campaigns for
social change: Environmental Justice, Students
Organizing for Labor and Economic Equality, Stu-
dents Allied for Freedom and Equality, Student
Coalition to Cut Contracts with Coca-Cola and
College Democrats. The groups presented informal
workshops to explain the issues they are working on
and how new students can get involved.
The event focused on student groups with active
campaigns. "It's hard to get people excited about
issues," Reddy said. "It's easier to get people excited
about campaigns - things they can do right here,
right now."
The issues covered by the five groups varied
widely - from forcing Coca-Cola to improve
human rights practices to bringing fair-trade cof-
fee to the dining halls and campaigning for Univer-
sity divestment from companies supporting Israel's
occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
Israel no longer occupies the Gaza Strip.
While the groups do not necessarily agree on
individual issues, each is committed to involving
students in its campaigns and activism in general,
Benton said.
Many students were not involved in activism in
high school and, upon reaching college, find it dif-
ficult to know where to begin, added LSA senior
Deepti Reddy, an MPowered organizer.
MPowered organizers hoped to make it easier for
freshmen to become involved by providing infor-
mation about many activism groups and issues at
once and in an informal setting.
"There are so many acronyms and so many dif-
ferent groups, and that's intimidating," Reddy said.
Rama Salhi, president of the pro-divestment group
SAFE, said she believes interest in social activism
on campus is stronger this year than in the past, but
the disappointing turnout at MPowered showed that
it is still difficult to mobilize new students.
Marissa Falk, a LSA freshman who attended
the event, said many of her classmates are "more
wrapped up in other stuff" at the beginning of the
school year and don't have the time to become
involved in activism.
MPowered will hold a second event later this
semester, which organizers hope will be better pro-
moted and attended, Reddy said.
LSA freshman Renee O'Neill summed up the
general mood of the event: "If there were a lot of
people, it would have been really great."
MIKE HULSEBUS/Daily
Ilan Brandvain, LSA senior and member of the Environmental Justice group as well as the Coke
Coalition, talks about fair-trade coffee during MPowered at the Michigan Union yesterday.
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