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,.