Tuesday, October 4, 2005
News 3 Asian students protest
'Drew and Mike'
Opinion 4
Sports 8
Sam Singer: Delay
celebration - DeLay
may get off
Henne returns to
form against State
HE WHITEhundreE MAKf [eenyear oUD AT AS iC . A S, PAGE 14
One-hundred-ifteen years ofedzkornalfreedom
www.mzch:kandadly.com Ann Arbor, Michigan Vol. CXVI, No. 4 ©2005 The Michigan Daily
Bush
chooses
lawyer
for Court
Nominee to replace O'Connor
has no prior judicial experience, was
Bush's personal attorney
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush named White
House counsel Harriet Miers to a Supreme Court in transition'
yesterday, turning to a longtime loyalist without experience as
a judge or publicly known views on abortion to succeed Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor.
Miers "will strictly interpret our Constitution and laws. She
will not legislate from the bench," the president said as the
60-year-old former private attorney and keeper of campaign
secrets stood nearby in the Oval Office.
Miers' was Bush's second selection in three months for
vacancies on a high court long divided on key issues. The
announcement came shortly before the president attended a
ceremony marking John Roberts's new tenure as the nation's
17th chief justice.
"The wisdom of those who drafted our Constitution and
conceived our nation as functioning with three strong and
independent branches has proven truly remarkable," Miers
said at the White House before departing for the Capitol and a
confirmation campaign already taking shape in the Senate.
Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) said through his spokes-
man he wanted a confirmation vote by Thanksgiving, a com-
pressed, seven-week timetable by recent historical standards.
Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee,
pledged thoroughness.
"There needs to be, obviously, a very thorough inquiry into
her background as a lawyer and her activities, people who will
know her on the issues of character and integrity, which we
will find out," he said.
In conference calls and interviews, the White House worked
aggressively during the day to tamp down concern among con-
servatives determined - as Bush has pledged - to turn the
court in a new direction.
Despite criticism, initial reaction suggested Bush had man-
See BUSH, page 7
Lecturers
unhapy
revponse
By Ekjyot Saini
Daily Staff Reporter
After months of frustration with the
University over the way employees are
classified, the University's lecturers'
union finally received what they consid-
ered a half-hearted answer yesterday.
The University was scheduled to
respond to complaints from the Lectur-
ers' Employee Organization last Friday
regarding 20 cases where LEO believed
that lecturers were put into the wrong
classifying category. The University
replied to the union yesterday and only
conceded to having misclassified four
lecturers, all of whom teach in the Col-
lege of Literature, Science and the Arts.
Classification is important to lecturers
because it impacts their duties and wages.
The University has classified lecturers by
giving them titles ranging from lecturer
I to lecturer IV. The titles are decided
based on the amount of time that a lec-
turer spends in a given department and
the type of duties they perform. Lecturer
I and II titles are for those lecturers who
only teach classes, while lecturer III and
IV titles are for those who teach and per-
form administrative and advising duties.
The current problem arose because
LEO felt 20 lecturer IIs, who were per-
forming administrative and service duties
alongside teaching should be classified as
lecturer III or IV. The University, on the
other hand, charged that those lecturers
did not meet the time requirement for the
two higher classifications.
LEO President Bonnie Halloran said
she was extremely disappointed that the
University only agreed to reclassify four
See LEO, page 7
President Bush escorts White House counsel Harriet Miers from the Oval Office yesterday, in Washington, after he nominat-
ed Miers, the first women president of the Texas State Bar and Bush's former personal attorney, as his choice to replace
retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Student
alleges
I sexual
assault
Federal higher ed committee draws criticism
Commission created by Bush
administration includes former
'U' president James Duderstadt
By Margaret Havemann
Daily Staff Reporter
An advisory committee introduced by U.S.
Education Secretary Margaret Spellings will
involve the federal government in higher edu-
cation to an unprecedented level, according to
some academics, and will be to the detriment of
the system.
Spellings has appointed a commission of
nineteen members, ranging from former Univer-
sity president James Duderstadt to Richard Ste-
phens, a senior official at The Boeing Company,
to address such issues as the affordability and
accessibility of college.
Spellings announced the creation of the Com-
mission 'on the Future of Higher Education in
a speech a little over two weeks ago and justi-
fied the committee's creation by pointing to the
amount of federal financial support given to col-
leges and universities and lack of transparency
received in return.
The government is surprisingly unaware of
what colleges actually do, Spelling said.
Even though she added that the committee was
not an excuse to introduce a bigger government
role in higher education, education experts and
academics continue to be apprehensive about the
role of the commission.
There is a widespread fear that this unprec-
edented government involvement in higher
education will ruin what makes the U.S. higher
education system the best in the world: the fact
that it is its decentralized and highly competitive,
said Neal McCluskey, an education expert at the
Cato Institute, a public policy think tank.
Because there is no national agenda set for
universities by the government, McCluskey said,
"Schools are innovating and putting out the best
product in order to attract the best students." If
the government begins to set a systematic set of
goals and requirements, the competition - and
motivation to excel - disappears, McCluskey
said.
"We should leave the education system as a
free market, which it is very close to being. That
is what has made America No.1, so why ruin
that?" he added.
Duderstadt, who was the University's president
for eight years beginning in 1988, said that his
inbox is full of messages from people concerned
about the commission. Many people have e-
mailed him saying that the commission threatens
a system that they believe has propelled America
as the world leader in higher education. But, he
said that those concerns are unfounded.
"I had no reservations at all (about joining
the commission) because I think it's important
See HIGHER ED, page 7
By Rachel Km.r
Daily Staff Reporter
A 20- year-old University student said
she was sexually assaulted on Saturday
afternoon in Pittsfield Township. The
woman said that the man claimed to be a
23-year-old male claiming to be a Univer-
sity student.
The alleged victim said she met the sus-
pect earlier in the day and agreed to go to
lunch with the person. She said they ended
up returning to the suspect's condominium
on the 4100 block of Packard Street around
1:30 p.m. The alleged victim reported the
incident in East Quadrangle Residence
Hall at 6:10 p.m. Saturday.
Pittsfield Township Police Depart-
ment detective Lt. Steve Heller said that
the alleged victim voluntarily went to the
suspect's condo.
'There was some consensual contact;
however, he pushed further and refused to
stop when she told him too," Heller said.
The identity of the suspect is still in ques-
tion - the victimsaidshe onlyknewhis first
name. She said she thought he was a student,
yet the PTPD could not confirm it.
The PTPD said they think they have
located him, yet are still investigating the
issue before they press charges.
Before they send the case to the prose-
cutor's office, Heller said the PTPD would
have to administer further interviews with
the alleged victim and suspect.
Heller also said that there is physical evi-
dence that hasn't yet been tested yet.
The alleged victim never received a rape
kAt h .inP TT) caul thawne . n .
PICKETING SCAB WORKERS
Researchers say new center
will remain independent
By Tomislav Ladika
Daily Staff Reporter
Although some interest groups voice concern
that a new University research center may succumb
to the influence of corporations that provide part
of its funding, University scientists say that proper
safeguards are in place to maintain the center's
independence.
After several years of
planning, the University
opened a new Center for
Risk Science and Com- nyou d
munication last month, Complicated sci
citing a need for more
research assessing and questi s, minor
communicating the
potential risks involved can have a jo
with industrial prod-
ucts.
Director of the center,
David Garabrant, a pro- Director of Integrit
fessor of occupational
medicine and enidemi-
a
r
y
pendence," some interest groups are particularly
concerned with the partnership between industry
and universities conducting risk-science research.
In January 2003, a group of Yale University
researchers published an article in Journal of
the American Medical Association that said
risk-assessment projects funded by industry
tend to release results favorable to companies
more often than studies funded by the govern-
ment or other non-affili-
ated sources.
ing wtHarvard University has
faced criticism for similar
nti fic reasons in the past. Criticism
t'icof the Harvard Center for
subtle details Risk Analysis arose in 2001
after then-director John Gra-
Smpact ham - the keynote speaker
at a symposium opening the
University of Michigan's risk
- Merrill Goozner center - was nominated by
in Science Project President Bush to a key regu-
latory position in the Office
of Management and Budget.
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