Divestment
* voted down
MSA rejected a proposal to
create a committee evaluating
the University's investments in
companies that support Israel.
PAGE
Fall 2005
NE lTUDEign DI)TIN
JNIVERSITY
-iNExv STUDENT EDITION
Binge
Drinking
The number of students who
drink has not shown a steady
increase, but the number who
partake in binge drinking has.
PAGE8C
SECTION C
Harvard
hype: Isit
deserved?
B-School named No. 1 in nation
ou will see them.
And you will
laugh.
They are the maize
and blue T-shirts that, in
big block letters, read,
"Harvard," and in smaller
letters underneath, "the
Michigan of the East."
One set of you will
laugh because you like it.
You think that Harvard is nothing special and
that Michigan is pretty damn special.
For instance:
- Harvard has a crappy football team and
in general isn't very good at sports (except,
I hear, squash). We, on the other hand, cram
into the Big House the most football fans in
the nation almost every week, and, by the way,
our softball team just won a Division I national
championship.
- Harvard has Larry Summers (Mr.
Maybe-women-aren't-made-for-science) for a
president. We have Mary Sue Coleman (Ms.
Kicks-some-biochemistry-ass). Score one
point for Michigan in the women's movement
category.
- Harvard students have been known to
leave campus, and often, to get to a decent
pary - apparently the boys at MIT around
the corner are the ones that actually know
how to get down. Michigan has year after year
been described by Newsweek as the university
"Hottest for Greeks with Brains." No one really
knows what that means, but because frats are
THE place to be as a freshman, it translates
into Michigan being one bad-ass party school.
If Newsweek says so, it must be true.
All this is not too shabby for Team Yay the
University of Michigan.
But then there is the other set of chucklers.
You are the set who will laugh because you
think comparing Michigan to Harvard (on a T-
shirt, no less) is absurd. You think the Univer-
sity is not as spectacular as it wishes it was.
For instance:
- Michigan's endowment, the amount of
money that we receive in private donation, hov-
ers around $3.5 billion. Harvard's is $20 bil-
lion. That's even more impressive (for Harvard;
pathetic for us) when you note that they have
about 150,000 fewer living alumni than we do.
- Michigan's last two commencements
speakers (a gauge, for some, of how awesome
one's school is) were a Xerox CEO and an auto
journalist. Harvard's were John Lithgow (is that
the guy from "Third Rock from the Sun"?!)
and Kofi Annan.
- Michigan's assorted colleges (LSA, Engi-
neering, Law, etc.) do very well in the various
" rankings. Harvard's almost always do better.
And even if professors and administrators at
this university say how rankings don't paint
the entire picture, you can't help but think that
that's the kind of talk that comes from people
who aren't No. 1 (or two or three).
So now what?
Well the thing is - and here is where I
negate everything I've just written and where
you realize you just wasted several minutes of
your life - most of this doesn't matter.
It sure is nice to have the best professors,
the best sports teams, the best school supplies,
the best parties and every other superlative
achievement out there - but all that doesn't
translate into the best experience for you.
In 1960, on the steps of the Michigan Union,
the then-senator John F Kennedy expressed
his thanks to the crowd "as a graduate of the
Michigan of the East, Harvard University" (and
I suspect this is what started this whole childish
j comparison).
However, his comment, while forever
immortalized on cutesy T-shirts, wasn't the
most important part of that particular speech.
This was the address that you read about in
all the little pamphlets and recruiting goodies
that you get as a pre-frosh - it's the speech
where Kennedy first proposed the idea for the
Peace Corps.
How much more impressive is creating the
Peace Corps than going to Harvard? Tempo-
rarily forgetting that he was the 35th president,
it's a lot more impressive.
Now I'm not saying we should all pack
up our bags and head off to Africa to teach
AIDS awareness (although if you want to, by
all means), but college is certainly an actions-
speak-louder-than-words moment - only on a
macro scale.
Everything you do here - actually going to
class, writing for the school paper (and we're
hiring), playing ultimate Frisbee or volunteer-
ing your time - will matter more than just
being here. The words "University of Michi-
gan" or "Harvard University" look great on
nn.. hin+ them 4n1k inst the same for the thnn-
By Michael Gurovitsch
SEPTEMBER 22,2004
Daily Staff Writer
Less than two weeks after receiving the
largest donation in University history, the
business school had another reason to cel-
ebrate: a No. 1 ranking.
The University's recently renamed Ste-
phen M. Ross School of Business beat out
the traditional Ivy League powerhouse
programs to earn the top spot in the Sep-
tember Wall Street Journal ranking of full-
time Masters of Business Administration
programs.
"It's a September I'll remember," Ross
School of Business Dean Robert Dolan
said, "and the work that's gone into it."
The rankings were compiled based on
a Harris Interactive Survey of about 2,800
recruiters. The criteria included leader-
ship potential, ability to work in teams
and analytical and problem solving skills.
The rankings also take into consideration
faculty quality, core curriculum and career
services.
The Journal's ranking system is dif-
ferent from others because it relies on the
actual recruiters' opinions. While other
rankings focus on the "inputs," like stu-
dents' test scores, the Journal focuses on
the "outputs," Dolan said.
Trailing the University in this year's
rankings are Carnegie Mellon's Tepper
School of Business, Dartmouth's TIck
School of Business and the Wharton
School at the University of Pennsylvania.
Last year, the Journal ranked the Univer-
sity third, behind Wharton and Tuck.
"In the business school business, the
two (rankings) that are most looked at are
Business Week and The Wall Street Jour-
nal," Dolan said.
Michigan placed sixth in Business
Week's rankings, which were released in
October.
Dolan - in addition to recruiters, the
Journal and CNBC - credit the "Action
Based Learning" system as a key factor in
the school's prestige. The system is based
upon students working in real-world sce-
narios with real stakes.
When Dolan, a former professor of mar-
keting at Harvard University, took over as
dean in the summer of 2001, he decided to
expand the out of the classroom opportuni-
ties that were piloted in 1992.
"(I) saw it as a comparative advantage
over other schools," Dolan said. "It's a phe-
nomenal investment in time and money.
(The ranking) is a validation of the basic
strategy."
The Ross School currently has more
than 260 field-based programs. Projects
range from managing a portion of the
endowment fund to working with groups
such as the "Landmine Survivors Net-
See RANKING, page 3C
School receives $100
million donation
By Michael Gurovitsch
SEPTEMBER 10, 2004
Daily Staff Writer
The University Business School
announced a donation on Sept. 9 of $100
million from alum and real estate mogul
Stephen Ross. The donation is nearly
three times the largest sum ever contrib-
uted to the University in its 187-year his-
tory, and is about 50 percent more than
the largest gift to any business school in
the United States.
The University Board of Regents met in
a special session in September to approve
the renaming of the business school as the
Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
"I will never lose sight of what a truly
exceptional education the University of
Michigan offers," said Ross, who is found-
er, chairman and chief executive officer of
a real-estate firm worth over $8 billion. "I
am living proof of that."
The majority of the money - around
$75 million - will go toward building
new facilities, while $25 million will be
earmarked for an endowment fund at the
Business School.
Business School Dean Robert Dolan
said he expects to submit a facilities pro-
posal to the regents later this year, which
will likely call for a major overhaul of the
school. "We have exhausted our footprint
here. Some buildings will most likely not
be here in five years," Dolan said.
Dolan added that he hopes to create
a facility with more study group space
and gathering areas for students and fac-
ulty, which is consistent with the Business
School's philosophy of action-based learn-
ing and teamwork.
University President Mary Sue Cole-
man announced the donation in front
of a standing room-only crowd in Hale
Auditorium. "Steve Ross's donation
will animate every part of the Business
School's aspirations and plans. ... It
will help students who aren't even born
yet," she said.
See DONATION, page 8C
MIKE HULSEBUS/ Daily
With new policies, new building plans and a No. 1 ranking, it has been a big year for the Michigan business school.
New residence, academic hail approved
By Aymar Jean
JANUARY 27, 2005
Daily StaffWriter
Advancing further its plan to revamp on-campus
housing, the University received approval from the
Board of Regents for the North Quad Residential
and Academic Complex, a combination of student
housing and academic offices set to open in 2008.
The approval comes in spite of protests from some
community members and historic preservationists,
but with the support of prominent student organi-
zations and neighborhood associations.
The new residence hall would be the first con-
structed at the University in over 35 years and is
a major endeavor under the Residential Life Initia-
tives - a long-term plan to renovate and modern-
ize on-campus housing at the University.
Under the current project formally approved yes-
terday by the regents, the architectural firm Einhorn
Yaffee Prescott based in New York - which reno-
vated Mason and Haven Halls in 2003 - would
develop the $137 million complex where the Frieze
Building is currently located.
But in order to accomplish this, the Frieze Build-
ing must be completely demolished, including
its historic fagade on State Street, said University
President Mary Sue Coleman and other University
officials. Razing the building - most of which was
built in 1907 - will cost an additional $5 million.
The University will try to preserve the adjacent
Carnegie Library on Huron Street - also built in
1907 - but cannot guarantee its preservation.
The residential portion of the building will
include 500 suite-style living spaces in various
configurations, dining facilities and other amenities
like film-editing labs and viewing rooms.
Hoping to forge an intellectual crucible where
students and faculty interact outside the class-
room, administrators and developers will also
house three academic units in the building: Film
and Video Studies, Communication Studies and
the School of Information, a graduate program.
The Language Resource Center, currently housed
in the Modern Languages Building, will also relo-
cate to North Quad.
"The essential theme for North Quad is really
that learning takes place everywhere," University
Housing Director Carole Henry said.
A critical aspect of the new complex, which
Coleman said would be a "gateway to the Uni-
versity," is the use of cutting-edge technology.
Administrators consistently described a technol-
ogy-saturated space that would match the skills
and wits of tech-savvy students.
See NORTH QUAD, page 3C
GEO strikes, protests lack of negotiation
By Ekjyot Saini
MARCH 25, 2005
Daily Staff Writer
Resounding chants of "No contract
- no work, no peace" could be heard
all over central campus as members of
the Graduate Employees' Organization
staged a one-day walkout in protest of the
University and its alleged lack of coop-
eration in negotiations on March 24.
Graduate student instructors were
joined by students, members of other
unions and various faculty and staff
in picket lines in front of University
buildings and construction sites. Plac-
ards that proclaimed "I (heart) my
GSI," "Honor thy GSI" and "Will teach
for food" were prominently displayed
and caught the attention of those who
were unaware of the isses.n
all the support it could muster.
"Over the next week, we need you
to start thinking about April 4. We are
going to need your help," Wilson said to
GEO members.
LEO President Bonnie Halloran
offered her union's support in a show
of solidarity. Various LEO members
also cancelled classes and marched
alongside GEO in its picket line. It was
a scene similar to last year, when GEO
members stood with striking lecturers.
"LEO and GEO stand together,
shoulder to shoulder," Halloran said.
She added that the lecturers' union,
which was formed two years ago, had
learned a great deal over the years
from the older GEO and would con-
tinue to support the group because
they all desire respect, living wages
and benefits
m,.