NEWS The Michigan Daily - Monday, October 24, 2005 - 3A ON CAMPUS University holds Housing Fair Students interested in finding housing for next year can attend the Housing Fair in the Michigan Union today from 1:00 to 5:30 p.m. This University-sponsored event will have information for students about both on- and off-campus housing options. The event will take place on the second floor of the Michigan Union in the ball- room, and refreshments will be provided. Students invited to join Muslims at Fast-a-thon 0 The Muslim Students' Association will hold its annual Fast-a-thon on Wednesday. Students are invited to "go hungry for change" by fasting with Muslim students for a day during Ramadan. For every stu- dent that signs up to fast, local businesses will donate money to hunger action orga- nizations. Interested students can sign up in the Michigan Union from 3 to 5 p.m. today and tomorrow, and on the Diag from noon to 3 p.m. tomorrow. Participants will fast from dawn to dusk on Wednesday and break fast with Muslim students at 6:30 p.m. at the Wedge Room in West Quad Residence Hall. Dinner will be provided. Ludacris tickets still available Students still interested in purchasing tickets to the Ludacris concert at the Hill Auditorium on Nov. 3 can purchase them at the Michigan Union Ticket Office. CRIME NOTES Student arrested for dispute with girlfriend A female student reported a fight between a boyfriend and a girlfriend in Mark Markley Residence Hall on Satur- day night around 7 p.m. She said she wit- nessed the two students verbally arguing and saw the male push the female. The alleged witness also said the male suspect became verbally abusive toward her. The male was arrested and spent the night at the county jail, according to the Depart- ment of Public Safety. DPS said it would be up to the county prosecutor's office to issue a warrant. Woman taken to ER after spaghetti r sauce assault DPS reported a woman was taken to the University Hospital Emergen- cy Room after having hot spaghetti sauce thrown at her. The victim said the incident occurred in the city of Inskter in Wayne County. She was transported to the UMER from her home in Ypsilanti. Inkster Private Detectives is investigating the case. Subject may have broken nose playing basketball A caller notified DPS that a per- son potentially broke their nose from being hit with a basketball while participating in a game on Saturday around 4:45 p.m in the CCRB. Since a report was not filed, the DPS shift supervisor speculated the alleged victim was a student and the injury was an accident. THIS DAY In Daily History Presidential candidate aims for student support Oct. 24, 1984 - Democratic presi- dential candidate Walter Mondale spoke yesterday at the Diag in attempt to gain support from University students and close The little things matter on Gandhi day By C.C. Song Daily Staff Reporter Despite only getting two hours of sleep, LSA junior Suman Chhabra was energized for work on Saturday. "I'm tired, but it's good," she said, as she cheered up other students at Saturday's Gandhi Day of Service. It is the third year that Chhabra, has participated in the annual com- munity service event, which was founded by the Indian American Stu- dent Association eight years ago to help students embrace the values of Mahatma Gandhi. Chhabra said she was thrilled when she learned on Saturday morn- ing that she would volunteer at Gleaners, a food bank located in Detroit. Although the work was exhausting and mainly involved stuffing boxes with food to be sent to Hurricane Katrina victims, Chhabra said even doing the small things matter. "I've learned the importance of being selfless. Gandhi's day has taught me that any active service strengthens the community," she said. About a 150 students gathered for the start of the event in room 1800 of the Chemistry Building by singing Indian and American national anthems. The students then departed and went their separate ways to the community service sites they had chosen to volunteer at. Rohit Setty, the keynote speaker at the event and a Rackham student, aimed to inspire the volunteers, telling the students that Gandhi's vision was not based on individuals receiving acknowledgement for their good deeds, but rather to an individual's selfless contribution to the society. He spoke on the values that Gandhi had - peace, compassion, service and equality - and that these values are best embraced through build- ing a community. Since the Day of Service started at Michigan a few years ago, the col- leges in 35 states have adopted the day and the South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, an organization that organizes a national Gandhi Day of Service every year. Anjali Modi, an LSA sophomore and the service co-chair of IASA, said that the goal of Gandhi Day of Service is to provide an opportunity to volunteer for students who seldom have time for community service and would like to contribute. "A lot of students want to get involved in the community, but it's easier for them to come out for just one day. And although one day may seem short, they really get to help a lot," Modi said. The day of service is an eye-opening experience for many students who come from upper- or middle-class families, Modi added, because many of these students never realized that a day of volunteering could impact the community significantly. Lizzie Neilson, an LSA senior and a service day volunteer at Glean- ers, said she truly appreciated the Gandhi Day of Service for providing an opportunity to help hurricane victims. She added that despite living in the United States., many peo- ple who wanted to help were unable to travel to New Orleans. "Being at Gleaners meant a lot to me," she said. Fred Anthony, the volunteer coordinator at Gleaners said that the service day had made a difference and that he was willing to have the students come back next year. "I'll always welcome them to come back. The nice thing about col lege students is that they catch up easily with what we do here. And they also have an idea of why they are here. Gandhi's day proved to be a good example," Anthony said. B-SCHOOL Continued from page 1A comments, expressed concern that the Univer- sity would be tearing down two relatively new buildings; the University built Assembly Hall in 1972 and the Paton Accounting Center in 1976. He added that although classrooms in Davidson Hall, built in 1948, were substandard, most teach- ing is done in other classrooms that are already semi-circular. Associate professor of Finance Lu Zheng said she is satisfied with the classrooms she has been teaching in. "I think (the rooms we use) vary a lot, but I think (they) were functioning," Zheng said. But Associate Dean of the Business School, Graham Mercer, said that the new classrooms are essential to the kind of interactive environ- ment the school wants to provide. He said that after a long period of consideration, Business School administrators had come to the conclu- sion that, not only were different classrooms nec- essary, but simply renovating old buildings was out of the question. "(We had) a couple of little a-ha moments when we realized we couldn't accommodate the class- room sizes we needed without building some sort of new building," Mercer said. During the construction period, classes will be held in underutilized space within Davidson Hall, the Executive Education Building and classrooms normally used by LSA students - all of which would be technologically updated to accommo- date Business School class requirements. Faculty offices will be temporarily moved to the either Wyley Hall or the Executive Education Residence building, which usually houses visiting students and professors, Dolan said that the Busi- ness School has already made arrangements with nearby hotels for these students and professors. The remaining $70 million in construction costs will be partially paid with a $30 million long-term loan; the other $40 million will come from alumni donations, none of which has yet been raised. The new building will significantly add to the amount of space in Business School buildings, giving the school the flexibility to hire 10 percent more faculty members. Dolan said that the school will also have the option to create new degree programs and possibly enroll more students. An important new part of the building will be the "winter quad," a place associate dean Mercer described as the "heart of and soul" of the new Business School campus. Currently, the school has an outdoor courtyard that stu- dents can socialize and study in. But Dolan said that in the winter months the area is largely abandoned. "We have a great courtyard, but the problem with that is it's really great in July and August when hardly anybody's here," Dolan said. The new commons will be a three-story-high atrium capable of seating 500 people. The design is likely to include a cafe or restaurant. Dolan said he hopes that it will bring a sense of unity to the campus. "If I said to you now, meet me at the Busi- ness School, I would have no idea what you meant," Dolan said. He said he hopes this new room will become the standard meeting place for students and faculty, contributing to a sense of community on campus. Anuj Kapoor, a junior in the Business School's BBA program, said that he is satisfied with the current Business School campus. He said that he isn't convinced that the Business School needs the renovations. He added if the money went to other schools at the University, it could be used in projects that really need it, such as residence halls that are fall- ing apart. "Do we really need to make the Business School better? Not really. ... It might give us a jump from number three to number two (in the ratings), but I doubt if it's going to make that much of a difference in education." The anonymous Business School professor expressed a similar concern that the school's pre- occupation with ratings may not benefit it. "Maybe we'd all be better off if they stopped playing the rankings game," he said. TEACH-IN Continued from page 1A their opinions and discussing sensitive issues, said Megan Biddinger, president of the Graduate Employees' Organization. "We've achieved good campus climate today," she said. "(It was) not just a lot of different peo- ple in the room for the sake of having them there." A positive campus climate means not only a more wel- coming environment for minorities, but also improved relations between University communities, including undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff, Biddinger said. An environment that encourages respectful and open communication would improve the quality of educa- tion at the University by allowing students to ask harder questions and explore ideas further, she added. But creating a dialogue is only the first step for chang- ing campus climate; students must actively fight stereo- types and discrimination, said Sharon Lee, president of Students of Color of Rackham. Event organizers asked students to sign pledges com- mitting themselves to at least three actions during the academic year to curb discrimination and make the campus climate more positive. One of the most important actions students can take is to speak up when they witness discrimination or hear racial slurs, said SCOR member Melynda Price. "When you see other people being discriminated against, you need to speak it and recognize it for what it is," she said. "Saying what happens, there's a power in that." The Office of Student Affairs has compiled a list of University offices to which students can report incidents of discrimination. The list will most likely be mailed out to the entire student body this week, said Dean of Stu- dents Sue Eklund, who attended Friday's event. The OSA is also in the process of reevaluating its existing services for minority groups and bringing together students, officials from the Department of Pub- lic Safety and staff to discuss the issue of ethnic stereo- types in the context of crime prevention, Eklund said. SCOR and the other groups will continue to work together to determine the specific measures the Univer- sity should take to continue to improve the campus cli- mate, said Hugo Shi, SCOR's political action chair. NAVY Continued from page 1A The old sea stories ranged in topic from Landis hav- ing to "buy booze for the Officers Club", to old accounts of duty, to the post wartime inflation of Japanese yen. Current Navy ROTC members both from the Uni- versity and Eastern Michigan University were also present at the ceremony and most were in awe of the tradition at hand. "The military heritage of our navy is one of the things you can gain," said LSA senior Midshipmen Jonathan Zang, battalion commander of the Navy ROTC unit at the University. Other Navy ROTC members said it was exciting to learn about the experiences of the V-12 members: "It was a crazy time to be in the military, it was a crazy time to be anywhere," said EMU junior, Sgt. Michael Morrison. "We're so much about tradition," he added. During the reception, the V-12 alums were presented with certificates for their contributions, while the wives of the V-12 alums were also honored with the pinning of corsages, blue and yellow of course. The commanding officers of the University's Navy ROTC unit said they were just as excited to be hosting the alumni, but for additional reasons. Captain Michael Owens said that the alumni connect very well with the student midshipmen, and spending time with former servicemen gives the officers in train- ing the opportunity to see what the military is really like. Because of the benefit to ROTC students, the unit has recently stepped up efforts to have alumni events. Zelek, a key organizer for the event expressed that the gratitude received from alumni is overwhelming. The alumni enjoy coming back because when they do "they have someone to share sea stories with ... they have someone to reminisce (with)," he said. The V-12 participants have come together every five years since their 40th reunion, with numbers shrinking at each meeting, according to Jim Thomp- son, one of the V-12 alums. However, the future of V-12 reunions was unclear to Landis. "(Will) we have any more?" he asked, "Let's not wait five years. Every year is precious." SUPER PON2SI EPIC MIL BE INTER VIEHING ON CAMPLS FOR: PROOCT MANAGSMENT PROBLEM SOLVR SOFTWARE DEVELOPER information Session Tuesday, 10125108 1303: EECS 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm Check out our web site at wwwapicsystems.com for additional opportunities - all include great benefits and a casual work environment. I STUDENT TRAVEL &, BEYOND MM" Hey, Freshmen, Sophomores, and Juniors... .is yourj"-b .r, simply not cut tin ?~