Wednesday, October 19, 2007
News 3A Despite fuel
costs, students
continue to drive
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One-hundredfafteen years of editoril freedom
Opinion 4A
Jeff Cravens
doesn't want your
child left behind
Arts 5A 'Elizabethtown'
nothing but eye candy
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www. mickandaily. com
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Vol. CXVI, No. 13
-2 -The---g-anDaiy-----
02005 The Michigan Daily
Can higher ed save Michigan?
Former 'U' president: State
headed for economic disaster
unless it increases higher ed
funding significantly
By Anne VanderMey
Daily Staff Reporter
There is a popular bumper sticker on the
streets of Detroit that reads: "Will the last
person out of Michigan please turn off the
lights?"
Detroit, once the nation's industrial capital,
is now the nation's poorest city, with a third
of its residents living below the poverty level,
according to the U.S. Census Bureau. But
Detroit may only be the tip of the iceberg, for-
mer University President James Duderstadt
says, unless Michigan acts quickly to reinvent
its economy by ramping up its investment in
higher education.
A report that Duderstadt recently complet-
ed, titled "A Roadmap to Michigan's Future,"
makes several suggestions to legislators on
how to steer the state clear of economic disas-
ter. Central among them is the recommenda-
tion that the state increase funding for higher
education by 30 percent.
The report is the culmination of three
years of research into Michigan's economic
problems. It intends to act as a guide for state
leaders and legislators in assessing and over-
coming the challenges posed by the struggling
economy.
Duderstadt has served on several public
and private boards and commissions dedi-
cated to the study and improvement of differ-
ent aspects of Michigan's economy, including
federal science policy, engineering research
and higher education.
Facing declining revenues in recent years,
the state has dramatically cut funding for
higher education. State appropriations have
dropped by 20 to 40 percent over the last five
years, according to Duderstadt's report.
The report is focused on handling the chal-
lenges posed by the modern global economy.
Duderstadt said Michigan's economy must
transform itself from an antiquated system,
dependent upon manufacturing and factory
jobs, into a new globally competitive knowl-
edge-based system.
"As a state, Michigan now has to compete
not against Ohio or California, but against
China, Bangalore and Shanghai." Duderstadt
said. "The future of the state is very much tied
to what happens at a global level."
See DUDERSTADT, Page 7A
Arthur Miller remembered
Strikers:
Regent
an insult
to Miller
By Ben Beckett
Daily Staff Reporter
While University Regent Andrea
Fischer Newman celebrated the
memory of Arthur Miller last Fri-
day, members of a striking airline
mechanics union protested her par-
ticipation in the tribute to the world-
renowned playwright, saying her
involvement in the Northwest Air-
lines labor dispute was an affront to
Miller's legacy.
During the naming ceremony for
the new Charles R. Walgreen, Jr.
Drama Center and Arthur Miller
Theater, members of the Airline
Mechanics Fraternal Association
picketed Newman, a Republican
from Ann Arbor who is a senior vice
president for government affairs at
Northwest Airlines
The AMFA has been on strike
against Northwest Airlines since
Aug. 20 over layoffs and contract dis-
agreements. When the airline decid-
ed to lay off many of its mechanics
and cut pay for those still with the
company, the mechanics' union
began its strike.
The airline continued to operate
with replacement workers but was
still forced into Chapter 11 bank-
ruptcy. Since then, the airline and
the union have been unable to agree
on a contract, and the unionized
mechanics have continued to strike,
attacking the airline for misleading
its employees and using unqualified
replacement workers who they say
have made flying conditions unsafe.
Repeating their message from a
previous strike outside the regent's
apartment, mechanics accused New-
man of misleading employees about
the financial well-being of the com-
pany before it declared bankruptcy.
Strikers said they were protesting
at the theater's naming ceremony to
raise awareness of the union's griev-
See PROTEST, Page 7A
DPS issues crime alert
Three students reportedly robbed
while walking near campus
The Ann Arbor Police Department is
investigating reports of three unarmed rob-
beries of students that took place Monday
night and Tuesday morning.
A group of four to five males, aged late
teens to early 20s, reportedly assaulted
and robbed lone male student pedestrians.
No weapons were displayed.
The alleged incidents took place on
the 800 block of Church Street, the 1700
block of Geddes Avenue and the 800 block
of Sybil Street.
Anyone who has information on the rob-
beries is encouraged to call the Depart-
ment of Public Safety at 763-1131.
Council
approves
student
committee
Group of students and City
Council members will meet to talk
about city issues that affect students
By Jeremy Davidson
Daily Staff Reporter
The recent wave of pressure on City Council from
student leaders yielded its first tangible result on Mon-
day when the Council unanimously voted to establish
a joint committee of students and Council members
that will meet to discuss issues in city government
that affect students.
The committee, first proposed in late September
by Ward 2 Democratic candidate Stephen Rapundalo,
will consist of five students appointed by Michigan
Student Assembly President Jesse Levine and two
Council members appointed by Mayor John Hieftje.
Levine said MSA's City Council liaison, Laura
Van Hyfte, will fill one of the five student seats on the
committee, and the other four seats will be open for
any students who apply.
"I will be looking for qualified, representative
and committed candidates for this committee,"
Levine said.
Van Hyfte said she was pleased that the liaison
position was incorporated in the committee. "I'm
happy I'll be able to have an even greater involvement
with City Council and its interactions with MSA and
the student body," Van Hyfte said.
In earlier drafts, the proposal for the committee
had seven student representatives. Van Hyfte said five
representatives was a better idea because a smaller
group would be able to carry out strong dialogue and
also come to conclusions in a more timely fashion.
Levine pointed out that the student community is
made up of 39,000 undergraduate and graduate stu-
dents who put hundreds of millions of dollars into the
Ann Arbor economy annually.
"This committee will allow those students direct
access to city government," Levine said.
Rapundalo, who defeated LSA senior Eugene Kang
in the Democratic primary this summer, addressed
the Council at its meeting Monday night to urge
members to approve the committee. Rapundalo said
his experience running against Kang got him think-
ing about the student perspective.
"Students in Ann Arbor feel exiled from the city
- it shouldn't be this way," said Rapundalo, who said
he learned the value of student-community relations
when he was president of the student government at
the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond. "Stu-
dents are legitimate members of the community."
Councilman Leigh Greden (D-Ward 3), who
I See CITY, Page 7A
EUGENE ROBERTSON/Daily
Robert Miller, son of esteemed playwright and University alum Arthur Miller speaks during the Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Drama Center
and Arthur Miller Theatre naming ceremony last Friday at Rackham Auditorium.
Theater to embody playwright's spirit
By Bernie Nguyen
Daily Books Editor
Robert Miller, a man of average height wearing
a light brown blazer, stood behind a glass podium
in Rackham Auditorium Friday on the same stage
his father stood on in 1981.
He then spoke affectionately of his father, call-
ing him "Dad," and of the legacy the famous play-
wright left behind - the legacy of Arthur Miller.
A large crowd of all ages gathered at Rackham
on Friday to celebrate the dedication that Miller
gave to his craft. The tribute to Miller's life was
part of a greater naming ceremony for the future
Charles R. Walgreen, Jr. Drama Center and Arthur
Miller Theater. Arthur Miller died earlier this year
at the age of 89.
Miller "made America look at itself," said Uni-
versity President Mary Sue Coleman, who was a
speaker at the tribute. She spoke of Miller's name
as being iconic in the world of arts, but proudly
maintained that the University "will always see
him first and foremost as a loyal alumnus."
The new theater, which will be the only one
to bear Miller's name, will be an important new
center for the development of the arts at Michigan,
Coleman said. She detailed the origins of Miller's
humble beginnings as a University student and
also spoke of Walgreen's University roots. Wal-
green, a University alum and former president of
the Walgreen drug-store chain, donated $10 mil-
lion to the construction of the drama center. The
center, which will be built at the entrance to North
Campus, is expected to cost about $43 million.
The tribute also served to celebrate the fruition
of several years of planning. The idea for a theater
bearing Miller's name first began to circulate in
1998 under then-University President Lee Bol-
linger, though at the time plans tentatively placed
it on Central Campus.
Praising what she called "the power of a
gift," Coleman drew a parallel between the
Avery Hopwood Awards in Writing, which
initially drew Miller to the University and sup-
ported his career as an undergraduate, and the
donation from Walgreen, which enabled the
plans for the new North Campus drama center
and theater. Coleman described both venues as
a beginning for the School of Music and the
University community. It will allow the pub-
lic to "experience the human condition as it
unfolds in the theater," she said.
After Coleman's speech, members of Miller's
family and others read selections from the writ-
ings of the playwright.
Robert Miller read an excerpt from a letter
written by his father in 1956 to Francis Wal-
ter, then chairman of the House Committee
on Un-American Activities.
See MILLER, Page 5A
Legacy of the Million
Man March endures
*61 University students attend
march to address issues facing
blacks nationwide
By Jacqueline E. Howard
Daily StaffReporter
Crossing generations and race, tears flooded
eyes, shouts filled the air and voices broke into
song as thousands stood united in Washington on
Saturday to commemorate the 10th anniversary of
the Million Man March.
Known as the Millions More Movement, tens
of thousands of people flooded the National Mall
focused on issues facing blacks nationwide.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who
helped organize the previous march, spoke at the
rally on the delays in relief efforts for Hurricane
Katrina victims.
"For five days, the government did not act.
Lives were lost," Farrakhan said. "We charge
America with criminal neglect."-
Ten years ago, the Million Man March was
started by black men who gathered to advocate
brotherhood within the black community.
"The march symbolized a group of people
getting over their differences and individual
beliefs," said Gerald Duncan, co-chair of the
Michigan Student Assembly's Minority Affairs
FROM THE EDITOR
A headline in the Oct. 12 edition
of the Daily incorrectly stated
that Stephen Hendrix, the son
of Detroit mayoral candidate
Freman Hendrix, pleaded guilty
to drunk driving. In fact, Hendrix
pleaded not guilty. We regret the
error. Please continue to report
all errors in the Daily to
corrections @michigandaily.com.
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